waheera1

Well I did rather like the thought behind the cooking article, but it seems a little pointless to me. Do we really need foods healing 30+? At present we don't have anything in game that absolutely demands that - none of the bosses NEED anything better than we already have, the sole exception being the Corporeal Beast. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it would take a lot more than a 30hp heal to enable someone to solo Corp and I have no desire to see more overpriced foods added to an almost saturated market. The second article to me was the much better read. Well thought out, sensibly written, an interesting and largely untouched topic - pretty much everything a good article needs. That's not to say Ts_Stormrage's article wasn't equally well put together, it just didn't really strike a chord with me.

Simply because I'm in a pedantic mood today I'll point out that quality itself is not subjective, it is the perception of quality that is subjective. :-P But seriously, quality can be defined within certain parameters by assessing the extent to which an update achieves the purpose of the designers, generally with the aim of improving the quality of the system. Whilst I appreciate that the number of bugs recorded does make for a very convenient barometer of success, I would argue that the industry standard should be NO BUGS AT ALL. Excuses about the fallibility of mankind do not cut it in a professional environment - I for example would be rapidly out of work if I made even one or two mistakes of a much lesser magnitude than those created by Jagex' teams in this year's bugs. Likewise I suspect that most multinational companies would take a very dim view of errors affecting thousands and thousands of their precious clients. I'm not saying the Jagex teams should all be sacked, since that would be counterproductive and do more to ruin the game than anything, but they should have the dignity and honesty to admit to their huge fan-base that they have committed catastrophic errors. Instead there have been no front-page apologies, no widespread accountability accepted by Jagex, and their moderators continue to dodge the probing questions that might imply guilt on Jagex' part. So, mini-rant over, there is no way in which the presence, or lack thereof, of bugs in an update should ever be considered an acceptable measure of the quality of an update. A good update is one that brings value to the game to some people - I do not expect every update to please me, nor is it absolutely required that even the majority should be wowed by an update. Just because an update comes without bugs does not mean it is a good update. It just means that the QA team have done their job properly for a change. Edit: Just read your responses to the other person in the above post. Sorry to contradict further but Jagex literally controls the economy with their drop rates and the like. Many people would argue the pvp tricking that went unchecked for so long is the greatest single cause of gratuitous wealth which is what has pushed the prices up. Oh and I'm pretty much certain that WGS came out at the end of last year. So that cannot be counted as one of this year's triumphs.

There has been a drop in quantity and a RISE in quality if you ask me. There has been a significant drop in the number of bugs in updates. Although for the first few months of 2009 there wasn't, now it's actually quite rare to find a major bug in their updates. In all the considerable time I've played Runescape in its current format (ie post what is now known as RSC), this year has been by far the worst for gamebreaking bugs. Now it may well have dropped past the first 6 months, but frankly if it hadn't I wonder how many of the old diehards would've bothered to stay. NEVER in the four years previous to this one were there so many bugs created by Jagex that resulted in forum wars between jagex and the players or mass bannings for bug abuse with no acceptance of accountability by Jagex for their part in the shambles. I'm not saying that the removal of BTS was the cause of this but it's alarming how, when under allegedly less pressure to deliver, the developers have served up more massive bugs this year than have been seen since the bygone days of RSC. Aside from which, judging the quality of an update by the number of bugs it does or does not contain seems a rather sad indictment of what we as players have had to expect from jagex... N.B. I do actually quite like the new format even though I was vehemently opposed to the removal of BTS. Whilst I utterly despise twitter as the most pointless method of propagating egocentric comments on generally meaningless topics, I suppose I'm blessed with more tolerant friends who keep me updated on the most recent speculation.

I fail to see why ending the article the way the author did was irritating. The article was about people on the RSOF going overboard in complaining about an update, and after the article was finished the author wished a Happy Thanksgiving to the TipIt community. I think criticism of the article is fine, but to presume you know the authors intent in a holiday greeting is a bit much. I don't presume to know the author at all, but having spent the article ranting about people the author has never met before, making that statement seemed a little strange to me. There's a tenuous link in the final paragraph between thanksgiving being a time of giving thanks and contentment, against the people who dislike the event given to it and their alleged ignorance of the idea behind Thanksgiving. You're probably right that I'm reading too much into it, just seemed an odd way to close off a rant... As to Ketchup2209: I'm sure you know what everyone is talking about when they complain about the lack of a theme - i.e. they expected a thanksgiving themed reward. The only reward themed to that was the re-release of last year's emote, rendering the "work" done for the event last year completely wasted. I'm not especially bothered about the theme myself as far as it goes, but the reward is frankly a disappointment. As to your second paragraph - you couldn't be further from the truth. My first ever skill cape was... can you guess yet...? Yep, that'd be the Quest Cape. If I played just for the rewards or the "respect" of other players etc I'd've been too busy chasing meaningless 99s. So no, I'm more concerned with playing for the enjoyment of the game and its many interesting stories, along with the select group of good friends I've made over the years I've played. Yes, I got a reward. Was I satisfied with the reward for the eventually fairly dull daily demands? Well, no. Having cleverly quoted my previous comments it seems you completely failed to read the first sentence. I said that the premise behind the event was fantastic and that I love the concept. How then do you conclude that I didn't enjoy the event as it was being played out, given that I'm clearly quite pleased to see Jagex take this new approach?! So basically, you're completely off the mark there about me not enjoying the clues. The only part of it I really didn't enjoy was the uncertainty about exactly when it would be taken down, forcing me to log on at inconvenient times if I wanted to ensure I completed the event. As to the second part of your sentence though - why would anyone NOT do an event for an unknown reward?! Since Jagex would never create an event "reward" that could either unintentionally harm players or spoil the game, you'd frankly be rather stupid if you didn't do the event. It could theoretically have been something as daft as the rubber chicken, a few xp lamps, or perhaps even a little extra something for members like a Thanksgiving dinner to put on your POH table (rather like the Christmas Tree from 2006). I would most likely have done the event even if I'd known the reward, but at least then I'd've known what was coming.

Useful DYK this week, thanks for that. :-) Not so convinced by the articles. Don't really see anything wrong with Storm's article so can't see why it's being slammed quite so much on this feedback forum. Perhaps not especially interesting, but not worthy of the vitriol being heaped upon it. Seems I have to bring up an issue with the second article most people have missed - is it me or is this a rant about ranting? My personal take is that the turkey event was more satisfying to me than the second part of this year's thanksgiving event. The entire premise behind the event was fantastic - I love the concept behind it, but is the reward themed or remotely worth having? I have always been keen on holiday events and would've happily accepted the emote as a separate entity from the magnifying glass, but since it's unlikely I'll ever reclaim that little magnifying glass from Diango, was it worth the time to me? No. Now, I realise I will get flamed for making the above points, but that is in fact the issue I have with the second article in its entirety. Must we be content just because what we get is what Jagex have decreed we will have? If you honestly think that the answer is yes, then naturally my comments will draw little sympathy, but since when was criticism an activity to be criticised?! If I choose to comment on my dissatisfaction with an element of new content, that does not make me one of the "trolls who do nothing but flame the creators of this game that we all play and enjoy." "Yes, I do agree, there were times where Jagex could have fixed problems better (the Wilderness being one notable example), but surely it can be said that Jagex's updates are with the best of intentions and mostly with good judgement?" This is entirely subjective - just because you think that's the case doesn't make it the gospel truth, or more valid than the viewpoint of a disgruntled player who gives criticism in the hope that improvements may come of it. What most irritated me however was the attempt to disarm any vociferous critics with the rather cheesy "Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone" that followed the blind tirade against the aforementioned "trolls"... I'm pretty sure that the holiday spirit wouldn't invoke such brutal criticism focused at unknown people, so whilst I would happily wish any of my friends a Happy Thanksgiving it begins to sound hollow in the context it's given in. If you wish to wish everyone a truly Happy Thanksgiving then do so gladly and with compassion. If you wish to lambast everyone who disagrees with you then by all means do that too (although perhaps rants would be a better place for that). Please don't attempt both in the same article, it really doesn't sound convincing.

An excellent conclusion to a well-written fictional series. Bravo Zonorhc! TS_Stormrage, I'm afraid that your article failed to interest me even remotely as being from a different country, my payment options are different. jp7725, well written and all, though again I'm sorry to say that whilst I experienced similar things as yourself when beginning as a 'scaper, I still don't find it all that interesting! Nothing personal, or even a fault of yours, just me!

First up, I have to say that aside from this sentence: "This is a game that, whether you like it or not, is mostly played by children the ages of 10-18, most of whom go to public schools and who probably encounter other RuneScape players daily." I thought this was a very strong week of articles. Very sorry to point out to the author that the public school generalisation is ridiculously wide of the mark, but that's just because I'm pedantic! :P [/hide] I think Makoto, that you missed the point of the first article. The point being made is that the security tag is an entirely unnecessary device for the purposes of players, and thus is a shameful attempt at boosting profits. I, and the author alike, would argue that this "much needed security booster" is in fact an entirely pointless concept given the existing safeguards that exist. As for Jagex being unable to afford more staff, have you ever stopped to think about the fact that Jagex is a multimillion pound corporation? Sure, they may not be as big as Blizzard, but they can damn well afford to improve upon their abysmal customer service with the profits they turn over. The author was fully aware of the fact that "security is a good thing to have", but what good is it to protect an account which at most has cost around £200-300 of physical wealth, if you're too stupid to protect the computer it runs on, which undoubtedly costs considerably more... Hence investing in good antivirus and anti-spyware software solves any security issues excepting a very determined hacker, and prevents your computer being messed up. If, as you rightly point out, "Passwords and PINs are only as strong as the person that types them in, and if they use their favorite something-or-other, or some other socially engineerable password, then it's not strong at all." then if you get hacked it's your own damned fault for being such a berk. Jagex should not and does not need to panda to the ridiculous demands of a player core who are too lazy to take care of their own security issues. Offering an in-game incentive as a reward for investing in this entirely useless piece of hardware is shamefaced profiteering and wholly unnecessary. When will Jagex stop pissing around with our money and get working on some GOOD QUALITY updates for the actual game I wonder...?

The first thing that must be pointed out is that while the use of third-party software may not be relevant to your Runescape experience, there are thousands of players that find it vital. Many players use it to better organize large clan wars and try to give themselves an advantage over their opponents, and many more simply use them for the conveniences of them. Also, in the four years that I've been playing I've met exactly one person who happens to live in the same town as me. I don't want to put down the dangers of predators stalking the internet, but much of the software we are discussing doesn't make you much more vulnerable than on Runescape, and in my personal experience so far I haven't noticed predators overrunning the place. If we are talking about small children, than it should be the parents' decision on what permitted, and the parents should be monitoring internet activity, not Jagex. However, if we are talking about full grown adults like me, then it is my decision on what to choose, so long as it's not giving me an unfair advantage like macros. Yes, you are correct that Jagex can't legally condone any programs that aren't under their design and supervision. They don't want to be liable for any problems out of their control. So the risk then shifts to the players who still choose to use the programs. While Jagex chooses not to condone third-party software, they don't have the right to tell me what software I'm allowed to download. Contrary to popular belief, I didn't buy my computer just to play Runescape on. Some of the programs aren't exclusively used for Runescape. The popular ones that are, like Swiftkit, are helping to make the game more efficient by providing all of your tools in one place. It makes up for the shortcomings in the game, like that worthless client they made available for download. The ironic thing is Jagex knows this. I don't think it was a coincidence that on the same day Jagex tried to ban Swiftkit (then called Swiftswitch), in the very same post, they promised us a clan chat. Yes, the game can still function without the extra software, but I can also eat mashed potatoes without a fork. It makes it more convenient, more organized, and more fun for thousands of players. If you choose not to use them then that is your choice, but just as you have made your choices, I have made mine. I saw the real point to this article as this: If Jagex truly doesn't want us using third-party software, then have a long ways to go in upgrading their game. I believe we're in agreement... The point I was trying to get across is that regardless of how useful people may find 3rd Party Software, it will never be recommended by Jagex, for the reasons I stated. Naturally, for adults like the two of us there are fewer risks, and it is entirely our own right to decide whether to use 3rd party software ourselves. I agree that for younger gamers it should be the parents' job to monitor their children, but in the real world that often doesn't happen and thus again Jagex have to cover their back. I fully agree with your closing sentence though. I for one have been almost wholly disappointed by this "year of upgrades", let's hope they can change that.

I think it's an absolute travesty that the majority of forum users dismiss the fictional articles out of hand. Many of the recent contributions have been of an extremely high quality whilst exhibiting their authors' vivid imagination and a fine grasp of story-telling techniques. It would do no harm to take the extra minute or so that it takes to read them, and realise what you're missing, rather than just posting "sorry, I don't read fiction articles." Those words are hollow and meaningless - if you were genuinely sorry you would do something about it... Anyway, mini-rant over, I really thought Zonorhc did a fantastic job on this first installment, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest! Good job. Now to the rest... Brave New World: This was a well written article, full of Necromagus' wealth of knowledge. However, it was also ENTIRELY irrelevant. There were numerous ways in which the Jagex of old could be compared to the company they now are. I have recently become disillusioned with the game, as periodically happens when I realise just how pointless it is, and thus have cancelled my membership and basically quit. No doubt I will return, but the truth of the matter is I'm just getting bored. I've not got maxed skills, but then again I don't really want that - levels are a monument to wasted time, and as such are irrelevant to me. Hence I spend a lot of time setting deliberately meaningless goals like getting complete sets of armour from the barrows, various minigames and fun tasks with incindental levelling alongside, and helping my friends as much as possible. I'm fond of quests, and thus hate Jagex' stupidity in removing the regular promised updates which for years promised a reasonable quest AT LEAST once a month, regularly 2 or more. What I find astonishing, and frankly appalling, is that having successfully tested and launched RS2, and running it so well for so long, they're now floundering. Updates are few and far between, rarely meeting with even majority approval and regularly riddled with bugs, promised updates such as Mobilising Armies are now over 7 months late, and Jagex seems to perpetually favour the incompetent player. All of these things have begun to rankle somewhat, as Jagex continually prove themselves unworthy of my hard-earned cash. I realise that was somewhat off topic, but I hope you will now understand vaguely from that why I hate your article Necro. I also do not see why you wrote in the final paragraph: "Jagex should be applauded for successfully introducing this full overhaul of their game, which made sure that RuneScape would stay healthy for years to come, which is more than could be said for the majority of MMOs out there." That was, as you said yourself, over 5 years ago now. Why does it deserve applause now? They've kept going, and that is an achievement, but I suspect there is more behind their success than their game - often player interaction in game etc keeps people coming back for more. Also: "Jagex wouldn't be Jagex if they simply rested on their laurels after this, as they continue to expand and improve their game even to this day." Really? That is exactly what they are doing... They have a big fan base, they're relatively secure, but they're stagnating. The recent push for popularity by MMG and others strikes me to be a sly and hollow attempt to curry favour by dressing up poor standards with pretty words. I would have enjoyed your article more if you had made it relevant by bringing up such facts. I realise you may not share my views, but I like to think that Tip.It readers enjoy topical debates. History has its place, but it is something to learn from and compare the present to, which this article singularly failed to achieve. Third Party Communication: Racheya, I appreciate this is your first article, and well done for writing it well. However, it remains a relatively pointless topic as Jagex can NEVER condone 3rd party communications or out-of-game liaisons. 3rd Party Software can damage computer systems, meaning that Jagex cannot condone them without running the gauntlet of being sued by every unfortunate victim. Even thoroughly tested software from approved links cannot be guaranteed by Jagex, therefore they will never condone/advertise them. Communications outside of the game lead to far more severe complications. A sad fact of life is that paedophilia does exist and chat rooms have long been associated with a risk of stalkers/fraudsters/sex pests and the like. For a games site which has a fan base comprising thousands of under-age kids, Jagex again cannot condone contact outside the game as, should the worst happen, they would likely face huge fines and possible closure. I agree that the friendships made in game are valuable and something to treasure and enjoy, but perhaps they are most often best left in game...

Allow me to help you out. We'll keep that in mind. Thanks. ;) Wonderfully sardonic. But really guys, why is all this flaming going on regarding price manipulation etc rather than focussing on the forum topic, ie the articles? Seems a bit daft as nobody will ever win. Price manipulation/establishing monopolies IS illegal in real life, but at the same time nobody is breaking in game rules (as things stand anyway)... You're just wasting energy trying to battle each other to submission...

Alarmingly I'm of the view that the fictional articles are rapidly becoming better reads than the factual ones. Some people have complained recently of the DYK section being too obvious, but then again I can't help thinking the same of many of the factual articles... Tolerable, but the gold star this week goes to our fiction writer! :-) bravo. =D>

That is what the private messaging system is for. ;) But anyways, I really enjoyed working with this weeks articles. I like how there are the two articles based on totally different things, but intersect in a common theme. Its almost like the authors planned this before starting their articles. =P~ Heh, the things I never knew existed...! :wall: I agree, I think this was a strong week and a good read. Shame everyone seems to be caught up in a Wikipedia flame war instead of commenting on the quality of articles. We all complained at the less popular ones, now there are good ones people complain about Wikipedia and it's (un)reliablity and ignore the articles?! Sheer brilliance...!

Completely off topic here, for which I apologise profusely, but I have to say: Deathmath that is one hell of a sig! Your artist has done an excellent job there. :-)

Wikia/Wikipedia isn't always a reliable source. It even says on the front page, "The wiki...that anyone can edit!" Just backing what you said up with a credible source. Maybe not runescape wikia, but wikipedia is as reliable as anything else on the internet, probably more. Please...I don't know why so many idiots think wikipedia isn't a reliable source. It is. Just because anyone can edit it doesn't mean its unreliable. Its constantly checked by "mods" that remove any false edits. I'm not sure on this, but maybe the edits have to go through a "mod" before getting into wikipedia. Those "idiots" are right, to be fair... Largely yes, Wikipedia is fine and probably does just give facts, but at the same time it should never be relied upon as your only source of information. Universities ALWAYS state that you shouldn't use Wikipedia simply because anyone can edit anything and, whilst most mistakes are usually edited out soon after, some can remain for weeks.

Brace yourselves guys... I actually enjoyed all of the articles this week!! :-o :shock: First article: A very mature appraisal of the update system and the unique survivability of MMORPGs. Well written too. Good job. Pillow Talk: Very informative, and once again well written. Perhaps a little heavy for those of us looking for lighter reading, but I enjoyed it so I'll applaud it! I don't think we need worry about auto-ers though, Jagex are taking an extremely hardline approach to macros, and difficulties in RWT should hopefully prevent any influx of rule breakers. That said, I'd imagine it's possible to deliberately transfer large sums with the new pk worlds... Kingdom Collapse: This one made me chuckle. It was well written for the most part, but I loved the little bits like "For nearly six minutes it was chaos". Oddly specific and perfectly timed for the fantasy world of Runescape! :-) Fact: Very interesting one, frankly I'm a little surprised Jagex haven't experimented with much faster, but low hitting weapons too. Or hugely accurate ones, with a low max hit... Any thoughts?

To err is to human. Nobody is perfect. Don't tell me you don't make a single grammatical or spelling mistake. If you're going to criticise my comments on grammar, at least get your own right. To err either 'is to be' or just 'is', not 'is to'. Fair point, yes I could send in corrections (and for the purposes of this response I'll ignore your own mistakes above), but as a reader that's not my job. It's a little like saying J.K. Rowling doesn't need to bother about grammar in her Harry Potter books because the readers can just write back with corrections. :P In my opinion the corrections should be made before 'going to press', especially given many of the errors in this week's articles would be easy to fix. The only reason I comment on errors is because I feel they detract from my reading experience and in fact can often completely ruin a good post. Hah. In your face. Do you think I wouldn't have checked out that the real idiom is "to err is human"/"to err is to be human"? I was just making my point. "To err is to human" is a mistake. So what? I mean what the hell? We're all humans. We make mistakes. Its not like we are perfect. Great argument... I feel so stupid... :^o

To err is to human. Nobody is perfect. Don't tell me you don't make a single grammatical or spelling mistake. If you're going to criticise my comments on grammar, at least get your own right. To err either 'is to be' or just 'is', not 'is to'. Fair point, yes I could send in corrections (and for the purposes of this response I'll ignore your own mistakes above), but as a reader that's not my job. It's a little like saying J.K. Rowling doesn't need to bother about grammar in her Harry Potter books because the readers can just write back with corrections. :P In my opinion the corrections should be made before 'going to press', especially given many of the errors in this week's articles would be easy to fix. The only reason I comment on errors is because I feel they detract from my reading experience and in fact can often completely ruin a good post.

How ironic then that you enjoyed an article that was in essence just one long complaint... :P And you justify this comment how exactly? Surely if your opinions were so irrefutably correct then you wouldn't be part of the minority? I'm frankly surprised and appalled by the closed-minded comments of many of the posters on this forum topic. I personally think that diverse opinions are an excellent thing, so I can't understand why people are instead concerning themselves with a kind of "I'm right, everyone else is wrong, so there" type approach. Aside from anything else it shows immaturity and intolerance. If you disagree with someone, explain it. If you are capable of writing a logical and well-reasoned argument against a certain point then people may take note and eventually agree. Ridiculous comments like Forerunner's above achieve precisely sod all.

Sorry, but if you make a ridiculously stupid comment like that I WILL shoot your argument down in flames. Mage does need updates, sure, I'll take your point there. I find it overly expensive for what it gives, even on ancients. However, if you think "all meleers do is afk training" you're frankly a buffoon. I have 99 defence, 91 attack, 85 strength, 94 hitpoints... Oh, and did I mention 85 slayer? Hmm... shocking that NONE of my levels were obtained by afking, pest control or soul wars... In fact, I trained to 100 combat on f2p, where it is (to my knowledge anyway) virtually impossible to afk safely... I know a good many players with fully maxed combat skills, none of whom afked their levels... Yes, it's true that some people spend their time at armoured zombies/desert bandits etc with a bunyip, not looking at the screen at all, but that is not the only way people train melee skills. If you don't want me to slate your argument, don't make it such a rubbish one. Mage needs an update, yes, but you have no idea if that's what you think about melee.

Hm. I wonder how you manage to find them "weak and drivel-like" if you never read them. One of our authors (Zonorhc) is an English major. I plan on majoring in English/literature/related myself. Believe me when I say that we would not publish anything that was mere idle fan fiction. That is not to say you should expect something life-changing, but drivel? I take offense at that. At least read it first. I would happily engage in a discussion over an honest opinion formed from reading the material. To hawkxs, this week's is 1166 words. So your average of 1000 is about right. We can definitely try to extend the length a bit. No guarantees though. =D> Well spotted! :-) As for your earlier response to my post, I have no preference on length at all. Personally if something is well written and entertaining I will read it whether it be 500 or 5000 words! In terms of encouraging people to read it, I think perhaps people are becoming jaded by the inconsistent non-fiction posts which increasingly frustrate many readers. As a result, reading poorly written non-fiction articles may be leading some to believe that the fiction articles can only be worse. It is a shame, but I suspect there is not a lot you can do about it except continue writing to your personal high standards (there have been some poor quality fiction articles, but I have so far enjoyed yours). That being said, I think the length of article you have been writing is good, but don't be afraid of extending them if you feel it is appropriate. If people don't read them anyway it won't affect them, whilst readers like myself would enjoy the greater detail.

Curmudgeon, I'm afraid I dislike your article. Yes I can perfectly well see your point of view, and in many cases share it. But just as you seem to be bashing people for whining, you yourself are basically trying to assert your view on them. At best your comments (this in particular regarding your posts on this forum) are belittling towards those who seek to argue with you, which I have to say is a counter-productive approach. People will always hate Jagex updates, just as many will love them. You may love the short quest, many people don't, and no it isn't just because they like a pretty cape that they feel inadequate about. Personally I want a quest to be hard enough that the reward can justify the time spent on it, for example. You must also bear in mind that your own suggestions, as good as they are, are also borne out of frustration. Be wary of the generalised derogatory comments you make, because too many of them are wide of the mark and can turn even reasonable people against you. Consumers ALWAYS have a right to complain and attempt to make their voices heard. The fact that many Runescapers these days are young and immature does not automatically mean they should shut up and accept what they don't like. I just won't respect them if they go about their complaints in the wrong way. Goebbels once said: "All it takes for bad men to succeed is for good men to do nothing." Jagex are not the Nazi party, that's true enough, but if their consumers don't tell them what they want then how will they ever meet our demands? I suspect you, like me, are more frustrated by the immature flamings with OMG NOOB, JAGEX FTL, I HATE JAGEX kind of complaints than the fact that people are complaining. A rational argument is at least interesting on an intellectual level! All that said, I agree and wish people would stop flaming everything Jagex do without giving it a chance. I think that much of what they do these days is straying too far from the tried and tested successes of previous years, but I hope people can develop the patience and interest to give things a chance. New questline on Mahjarrat for example could be a corker at its later stages! Obvious solution to me would be make a very accurate weapon that's very slightly weaker than some of the favourite weapons like whip. I'd love a weapon that was almost guaranteed to hit, even if the max was only 25 instead of 35. Alternatively, a weapon that offered decent attacking stats but also offering substantial defence - would appeal to tankers and those with low defence. Takes away the need for it to be more powerful than existing weapons, but still makes them useful. Godswords do not really interest me from a pvp standpoint as I don't pk, but for example I love the SGS for certain slayer tasks. They're not all bad, Jagex just need to think carefully about the updates they release in future. As for the other articles: Hawkxs: I enjoyed this, not because I wish to indulge in any of the listed activities, or indeed because I'm especially worried about Tip.It collapsing (though I won't stop writing scathing reviews where required!), but because it quite simply said what there is out there to do. I recently entered a very friendly clan through a guy I met whilst slaying, and it opened up a great new side to the community aspect of Runescape, which honestly is the main reason I still play. Thus I appreciate anything that could open up a similar experience for others. NOM_ANOR: Not bad, unconvinced by the torture aspect as one would safely assume Roshea knows more than Cassie, but hey it is your story after all! Just curious as to where the rebellion has suddenly sprung from... I realise the stories are linked to previous runs of the fiction article, but details about key parts seem to be missing...

Well unusually I liked the fiction article much more than the featured article this week. It was interesting, entertaining, and well written. Sadly the same could not be said for Fight or Flight. I just found it didn't uncover anything new, wasn't particularly well constructed and was generally too shallow to be worth the effort of reading it. I'm curious as to what is causing the decline in quality of posts recently? Is it because a large number of the editorial panel are students on exams etc at the moment? Or is there no clear reason for this unfortunate state of affairs?

Very good point about a potential risk to inexperienced players.

Good job on the appropriate edits. :-) =D> Doesn't of course mean I wholly agree with you, and some of your grammar etc is still wrong, but you've certainly improved it! :-)

I wonder if anyone else spotted the obvious reference to The Goon Show in the Cockatrice responses? For those who don't know, it was a comedy radio show featuring Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and [bleep]e Milligan. Hilarious and well worth a listen! :-)