Earth_Poet

I think hearing the honest thoughts from a relatively new player is interesting. It's fun to hear some people reminisce about RSC, but I am intrigued to hear what the newer players think about the game today with no experience of how we evolved and arrived to today's Runescape. As for the question posed at the title - How could it feel the same? The game, the community, and I as a player have changed so much since I first logged in. Some have changed for the better, some for the worse. As far as gameplay I feel the basic strategy has remained the same. New items, new places, and new skills - but I think the way I approach things as a player is relatively the same.

Thank you for the compliment! I admit the idea sounds intriguing, but I feel the Times has already put together a talented staff.

Dragon crossbow: Entertaining idea, but I tend to agree with some of the posters that range is a bit overpowered, and they have the best balanced armor of any class. They also have a larger variety of high end weapons to choose from ever since they got their make-over a couple of years ago. Censor: I'm actually in favor of completely removing the censor. I could say things like "Boy, I sure hope somebody kills Obama soon," or "All Mexicans are worthless" and they can be much more offensive than "Suck my [wagon]." Furthermore, everybody knew how to get around the censor if you wanted to give a friend your email address or direct them to an interesting website. There are a few individuals, be it a small child or an overgrown adolescent, who seem to entertain themselves with simple curse words. Jagex has suggested numerous times to place these individuals who are harassing or offensive on your ignore list. But are Jagex's motives to cater to an older audience? There have been other updates that would seem to counter this theory. There are so many tutors and helpful NPCs to soften the entry of a new player into the game. Gravestones have significantly reduced the risk of dying. I agree with you. What is the mission statement? Clans: I agree with the last statement. You know what you are risking by entering a PVP world. IMO this was how it should have been all along. Skillers aren't being lured into areas they'd rather not be in only to be ambushed by players at the Abyss or Mage Arena. PKers can fight others that are willing to fight back.

One should not be afraid of dying as it is a natural course of life. I believe if your faith is strong and your conscious clean then you should have little worries and... Oh wait, you mean in Runescape? Heck yes, I'm afraid!!!!

I'm pretty convinced it's a joke, but it was still funny to me.

edit: great articles!

I think this article made me see something I never thought about before. Now that I think about it I've been training combat lots more this year than before. Good article. On the DYK: Fortunato also happened to be a wine expert in Poe's story, and since he's the wine seller in RS I'm thinking that's why he was really named that. Not really an impressive find...this is Freshman English 101 stuff, and how does it help players?

lol I loved it! =D>

I like this story. It seems appropriate with Halloween coming soon (at least in the US.) I like the description "vitriolic, red-eyed stare." "November the 17th" is not a complete sentence. This is very creative. I enjoyed reading it. Thank you for sharing! :thumbup:

Interesting article. People don't use safespots when ranging or maging because they are cowards. They use them because it makes logical sense within the game. If you wish to train range for a lengthy time it makes sense to find an efficient and safe strategy. I didn't even know safespots were disappearing because of graphical updates. It does seem like a big issue because that can alter some players' style and strategy of playing. The downside of using safespots is that you really are at the mercy of a limited number of monsters. There's a balance between being courteous and competitive, just like most other aspects of this game. It's not only meleers. I've had other safespot users try to muscle in and take control of the very spot I'm in! If there's room to share I try to stay out of the way. If it's crowded, or if I was there first, I'm defending my turf and it's every player for themselves.

Maybe for pures who want to train at dagannoths? I'm reaching a little bit. I don't know :lol:

I appreciate the heck out of it. There was always this argument that Runescape players play for content rather than graphics. That was mainly to answer questions like "why are you playing a game with such horrible graphics?" I think HD closed that gap a little bit. It only mildly resembles the game I started playing now. I was impressed. I was thinking if they were ever going to really step it up that they would have to move to a hardware version. I never thought they could get this out of a browser based game.

I know there can be excessive Jagex bashing. It is true that some players live on being unhappy and look for any possible way to pick apart anything new, but there are times I think it serves a point. It may seem like a thankless job over at Jagex Towers, but it's not. The players in general do appreciate the game. If they have any doubt all they have to do is check their bank accounts. We help keep them full. There are some reasons behind the bashing though. First of all, Jagex has become this big, faceless entity behind the game. There is very rarely any personal interaction between the common player and the developer. A lack of any kind of relationship makes it psychologically easier to negatively attack. In other words, it's easier to beat up on someone that you don't know, especially if you think they are vulnerable. It doesn't make it right, and it's not completely their fault, but that's just how people are. Government never gets it right, Authors never get it right, movie directors never get it right, and Jagex never gets it right (even if they do!) At the same time, criticism serves a purpose. You can't expect us to all bow down at the developer's feet and thank them for the privilege of playing their game. The player is a customer that enters into an agreement with the developer. It's not a "mother hen" type of relationship. It's a business (although I do applaud Jagex at times for taking moral attitude to try and help protect its player). As a member, I pay a fee in exchange for a service of entertainment. If I am not happy I stop paying. It is their game, but there is a reason they constantly remind us on the main page that they listen to our suggestions. We have some affect on the outcome of the game. I think most of us have gone through that period of willing to help. I do ignore now if I am busy, and I know this sounds a bit rude, but I've learned that I don't HAVE to stop for anybody in this game. I don't think "Ugh! An underage person! Get away from me!" I think about the experiences I've had trying to help people. It starts with a simple question like that, or "can you help me with quest?" Usually what it ends up meaning is "can you hold my hand and walk me through step by step on what I need to do, giving me whatever items I need to accomplish my tasks? then add me so you can help me with all my other future needs?" I have fallen into these long adventures with some players. I actually helped walk a player all the way through hero's quest. At the end, he said "Cool." and logged off. Not even a thank you! I've had one stranger come up to me and ask "If I give you my password can you do Monkey Madness for me?" #-o If it's something specific I can help with I don't mind saying something like "try ranging them." If it sounds like a vague question that looks like its going to veer me off track then I ignore it, whether you are an underage kid or my 40 year old neighbor. There are way too many maps, in game signs, and guides up now. I learned to keep walking. I know better now. That would kind of defeat the whole purpose of having player to player trade at all. We could just use the general stores then. The reason why is because of simple economics. There is a greater demand for raw materials for the experience points. Same reason you want them. The more desire for them then the more expensive they will be. If they implemented your system then you wouldn't be able to sell your finished products at all to any players. Everybody would be training the skills for raw materials so at the very least they could use for themselves. The Grand Exchange has its flaws, but this isn't one of them. It isn't the reason why raw materials go up and finished products go down. It's the players own doing, and how they choose to play the game.

what i really like is when i'm asking if anybody else is having lag issues when they shouldn't be and a tipit mod locks me up and shuffles me on this bloated 18 page thread whose discussion has deviated far from what I was talking about. But hey, that's ok. i think tipit has been less helpful and useful to me over the last few weeks. the technical problems i've experienced on this site i have no problems with on any other site i use, but it's my fault right? The Tip.It Times isn't worth reading anymore, but that's just opinon I guess. The biggest update of the year comes out on runescape today and let's shuffle everybody's discussion into one thread to make it....what...easier? so i guess now it'll be interesting to see how fast this account can get banned. have fun tip.iters.

Holy cow. I like the graphics and all but I ran into all sorts of problems on the beta. Not a good place to relearn everything when you log in at steel dragons. It kept jumping in and out of full screen mode for me. The world was full so I tried to switch to a British server from America and experienced the worst lag I ever have for the game. I don't really understand as my specs are well beyond the requirements. I've never had problems with runescape before on my comp. Graphics look good, but I'll be happy playing the old version until they iron out the problems. Off topic: anybody know what a "slight increase" in membership fees is?

Actually, Gameboy, I think that was the point of the article. Why not revisit and improve existing content, and maybe rekindle interest in the game rather than keep pumping out places and items that nobody ever uses execept to get through a quest or minigame? Quality over quantity would be nice. It's nice that they can churn out 2 quests a month, but what if just one really big quest a month, or every other month?

Great article! I find this an interesting topic. Some graphical updates, though pretty, have made life in RS just a little more of a pain in the butt. You have already pointed out the new ores that are difficult to see, especially if you aren't right next to them. The mining animation was really annoying and even though Jagex claims that it didn't make mining slower it sure as heck feels like that to a lot of players. There were big petitions pleading to go back to the old mining animation...ignored of course. Those slayer monsters like gargoyles and spectres have become a little more difficult to click on now because when they do their attack animation they move back and forth from square to square. I really don't need extended death animations that make it just a little longer to get the loot. Just fall over dead and gimme! lol. Don't get me wrong. I like some of the new graphic updates. I don't like it when it comes at the cost of making things a little more frustrating for players. And I do like how you point out that other aspects such as fishing trawler and castle wars constantly go overlooked. One of my biggest pet peeves in the game was how you "danced" with your enemy when you were trying to attack. They've finally fixed it, but look how long it took to get around to it!

I think I missed the point of the article, but I have never felt loyalty to any clans. Your comparison seemed to be "fans" of football rather than players since you pointed out that players trade and come and go and do not show the same loyalty as the fans do. Are there clan "fans" who are not in a clan, but follow them and root for them religiously? Or are you comparing fans of football to the actual clan members? In the latter case I think I would disagree with you. It's not about rooting for your clan, it's about brotherhood I'd imagine. A bond you share when you take on tasks together and build trust for one another. But then again, I've never felt that with any clan and thus don't share any loyalty.

this is where i go "woot! first post!" right? on topic: i enjoyed the first article. the second article didn't really speak to me, but i'm sure others will enjoy it. i just wasn't as affected by the trade changes as i thought i would be. the only thing that might even have some impact on the way i play is that raw materials have gone up a bit, but i can live with that to see fewer gold farmers in the game. as far as gift giving...i would help out my friends here and there, but i stopped giving things to random strangers a long time ago. i found that even after i did they would follow me around and pm me and harass me to give them more stuff. it's kind of nice not to deal with a random beggar who is wanting a "free million" from me. i'm sorry that the second article's author is upset, but i just don't see the end of gift-giving as the end of runescape. i'm not saying i agreed with all of the updates last month...just feels that this was a rather minor issue compared to the bigger picture....but like i said i'm sure others will enjoy it

if they would've taken the time to make this information available about what their plans were (instead of blindsiding everybody) and gathered player suggestions in the first place it might've saved a little bit of the grief. also, if some players would've been mature and made suggestions and complaints decently instead of trying to burn the forums to the ground things would've worked out more smoothly. i am glad to see things could possibly come back together, but both sides played this one out poorly to begin with.

some kiddies seem to have no decency at all. if you have ever had someone close to you commit suicide you would realize how sick pulling a prank like this is. let's make fun of the handicapped while we're at it. it would be about as cute and funny.

When I started playing Runescape I didn't know that there were players that had become famous. There are certain names that stand out now since I have played, but I'd still say that would be fame on a small scale. Do you think Zezima has to wear a disguise when he goes to the grocery store? Are the paparazzi camped out at his house? My family doesn't know anybody from this game. Most of my friends don't even know that I play. It's not like I stroll into work the next day and yell, "Guess who just got a mining level!" Nobody cares. Nobody knows me in the game. I don't expect anybody to ever know my name. I don't play to get noticed. I play because it's fun. I was in a clan with two players who have maxed out their skill total. Both of them have said they rarely get a second look. As far as power that would involve loyalty. Everybody's loyalty shifts, even my own. Within the game just play for enjoyment. Having friends that you can speak deeply with and count on should be enough for anyone. Very interesting article. I suppose there are some players who play the game with grandiose plans of fame or power, even if they can't admit it. :-w

Ha! Mind if I put that in my signature? Back on topic though, I pretty much agree with what Gidion is saying. You can't call people weak for deciding to quit a game after their favorite aspect has been removed. :boohoo: lol. ya do what you like. i stand fully by that statement.

this pic is a couple of years old now. pre runescape days more recent pic

I'm sticking around. I'm an American and George Bush is my President. I'm used to disappointment.