BioIce

You want to start cutting down on bots, then cut into what they do: make the game less tedious. Since it's clear Jagex is edging closer to all out real world trading anyway. I want to see a P2P feature where you can put your character to sleep when you log out and it gains experience in a skill of your choice at a high rate while you're offline. The downside's obviously no loot or gold. Want to knock out the gold farmers? Host a gold service. The focus won't be entirely on selling the gold itself for pennies per million, but the customer service - less risk of hacking, easy transactions and guaranteed security. With that implemented, they can provide players with a way to pay membership through gold - something on the order of hundreds of millions of gp for a month's worth of membership. The game's focus would then become less material and skill-level oriented leaning more toward activities that clans do, like turf battles for a measly crop of rune rocks. If this all sounds familiar, then take a wild guess what other MMO does this and has been doing well in its niche.

Huh. I thought most people more or less followed the unwritten rule that if you're going to get your hands dirty, make sure you don't get caught. After all, there's that old saying: "Treason doth never prosper; what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason." Ask yourself this, Rudes. The times and experiences you personally had with Setelima, does it make the past any less precious because of this?

I'm certain that's wrong. Before the update the population was 180k. The only time the population rocketed close to the before-update population was during the previous weeks. The after-update population certainly never exceeded the before-update numbers when the console build changes. Can't use that line of reasoning now, a lot of them are using bots for when they're away. If this were the trade limit era you'd see the current 176k right now down to 80k average at this hour. EDIT: Have a graph. Take note of the day, August 31. It never rose to 220k that day. http://www.sercrui.com/graph.php?tl=1314714600&tu=1314973800&sn=9999&pf=on&grn=2

Those numbers are off. Yesterday's update brought the population down to 70-80k after an update when before there were 180k people online. For hours the population in many worlds hovered at 300+ people. Now, if you quote the numbers from the last two weeks when it only took about roughly an hour before the population returned to 180-200k, the console build was 662 for the past three weeks. The bot programs using game IDs didn't require updating. This week they did. During the trade limit era the numbers always popped back up very close to the original population count. And from what I remember, it was about the same number of people as now after an update: 70-80k played in the mornings. Anyway, the game coming out for Nintendo might just reinforce the stigma Runescape can't ever seem to shake away: a newbie's stepping stone MMO with mediocre, outdated, grind-based gameplay mechanics.

That rarely ever happens even on accounts with addresses marked for close watching. Trade transfers have been going on since classic.

[Mod Edit: REmoved bad quote] A lovely example of the side effects from competing game systems. Cross-platform between consoles won't be coming any time soon.

Emily said this in future updates: It's stickied.

You cannot get cross-platform gameplay when Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are in fierce competition with each other if the screaming fanboys you find everywhere backing up their purchase weren't enough of a clue. Gerhard's chasing after a pipedream. Look at what's happened between Steam and EA, the latter began cutting out games from the Steam library because they want to put it up on Origin. And when the next console comes around, you'll also have to consider if the MMO you're playing in the previous console will be available in one of the next generation. Which at least is what FFXI and Phantasy Star Universe have done by moving to the 360. EDIT: Keanu wasn't talking about whether the game is going to be free or not. He's stating the free game has the usual big problem: bots.

Dust is technically a spinoff of Eve Online. It is exclusively PS3 and perhaps Vita - the only cross-platform interaction happening is supposedly with Eve players. It won't be for PC. And Eve Online has had its own share of uproars. http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/25/eve-online-controversy-erupts-in-protests/

I was thinking of Final Fantasy XI. Available on Windows, PS2, and the 360.

MMOs have no place on the console unless you're a brand name like Final Fantasy with the backing of a big name like Square Enix. They should continue planning a release of Runescape for handheld devices, the ortho mode for it is available and seems to work well enough.

That was an addendum to Ieyura's post, not Sees' article. Obsolete methods and gear for F2P - F2Pers have been asking for things like that ever since the adamant arrow update showed Jagex is willing to rebalance the free game. If it isn't the splitbark for mages, it's the rune arrows they're after. IMO F2P shouldn't seriously ask Jagex for anything apart from a stable game and the continued existence of being free. More than that seems like begging. And since many members are very selfish when it comes to protecting what they see as theirs, giving away obsolete content might make them go, "And for what reason did I pay members for? Why are my perks being reduced? Hell with this!" Even giving the canoes to F2P kicked up a small outcry. You're always supposed to pay up or shut up when it comes to faster leveling, which is a pity. EDIT: You might think it's not very good, but there are plenty others who do not share the same opinion as you.

Doesn't apply to the crash. That's a previous thread related to the more current "Did the fix work?" EDIT: I can still log onto my mules and pures. Last week's problem was not being able to get in the game either through the browser or the client.

That is not related to the current crash. That was last week's problem. This is a new one.

Crash is eerily reminiscent of a recent incident where some players accidentally - not purposely, it was a side effect of their actions - crashed the server hosting several worlds. Far too many member worlds are down, with only about four F2P down. Population is at a steady 99k.

New things for F2P have always been added at a very glacial rate. It's only been recently that they seem to have given F2P more than usual - and then stopped. Artisan workshop, the urns, the dungeoneering skill, the FOG minigame, opening duel arena to F2P, the Great Orb Project, the canoes, a new quest (Bloodpact), the roach stronghold, the Forinthry dungeon, hellhounds despite dropping nothing useful, corrupt dragon, and plenty more. All these things could have been P2P only and stuck the free game in the early RS2 era. Be grateful for what you have.

No, nothing will change. If anything, I feel their losing will accelerate their moneymaking schemes.

Population at a steady 211k. Even the troubles earlier this week only brought that down to 180k.

If you're having trouble loading the site, it's the advertisements. Firefox + adblock + noscript, the page loads near instantly.

Of course they should be held responsible. I never implied otherwise. It's their game, and you're the paying - formerly paying but surely loyal - customer. Heh. And even the custom clients will keel over from this problem if they randomly load onto a UK lobby. It's been almost a week since this happened, and it's still not fixed.

One of the perks of being members is faster leveling. Making things specifically easier for F2P devalues the idea. You could argue the runecrafting gloves and swordfish gloves, as well as the urns, contradict that point. I can only say that Jagex is inconsistent. The master runecrafting robes won't be for F2P. I think they're supposed to entice the F2P guild to ponying up for members. EDIT: Forgot, they gave the canoes to F2P as well this year, didn't they.

What a buncha jokers. If you're still having problems it might be time to invest in non-browser solutions.

I don't live in the UK either. When I started getting these problems a few days back, I noticed it was lobby-related. So yes, you can still be connected to a UK one. If you play on a browser there's nothing you can do except cross your fingers and hope the game loads. (I don't though. No problems for me.) Seems they're on it, their messenger boy Mod Mozza is on the problem in support.

The problem is on their side, not yours, contrary to anything they may say. The issue is with their servers, specifically the UK ones. Clearing the Jagex cache every single time does little except leave it up to random chance that you won't get linked to a UK one. I know this because of manual attempts connecting to their UK lobbies and game servers and it always gave an "error connecting to server." Everything else is alright. parameters.put("lobbyid", "1111"); parameters.put("lobbyaddress", "lobby12.runescape.com"); That's what I'm using, and it's stable. EDIT: just checked and the game worlds are fine, it's just the UK lobbies that have gone haywire. Lobby 19 did not work. I'm using a barebones downloaded client to check FYI.

Probably paid back for it along with his appeal. Maybe this time he'll learn the value of discretion.