tortilliachp

To many of you who are replying: I maintain what I said in my first post: there are proxy arguments that are the root of the whole discussion. This is not really about being able to kill the icye wyrm or not, it's about the direction Jagex are moving in. that's what terrifies people: the fact that the gameplay they enjoy the most might not be the type of gameplay that Jagex intend to focus on in the future. It's so much more important to those with higher levels, as they are the ones with most time invested in the game, just as pkers are the ones with most time invested in pvp-style activities. This argument is about something bigger than the icy wyrms: it's about what some deem their right to participate in all content because of skill levels, where others feel that quests and other requirements should be a prerequisite to many things. If the new kingly implings (which are arguably very profitable when you come across them on your travels accross Gielinor) required a quest, I bet there'd be the exact same uproar, maybe even more if it was related to the more common dragon imps. this issue is so important to so many people because they're talking about a single issue, and thinking about the future of the game, and large new portions of game-content. That's threatening if you have 200+ days of ingame time.

exactly. I asked and got my answer: basically: 1. their sound system can't make high enough quality music that many will listen to it. 2. They won't use common styles becase "some people dislike those" therefore they choose to continue in a malfunctioning, bad type of film-music orchestration. Basically, they admit there is no hope for runescape music in the near future. 3. They won't implement more experimental beats, solos, or other musical features this generation really appreciates. Hopefully they'll be more successful with sound effects, more people listen to those, they actually serve a slight purpose in the game after all.

basically, I got the answer I wanted. 1. their sound system can't make high enough quality music that many will listen to it. 2. They won't use common styles becase "some people dislike those" therefore they choose to continue in a malfunctioning, bad type of film-music orchestration. 3. They won't implement more experimental beats, solos, or other musical features this generation really appreciates. Basically, they admit there is no hope for runescape music in the near future. Hopefully they'll be more successful with sound effects.

fremnik area, useful to get kingdom, saves most on teleport time for my type of play.

tip.it account: 2004, rs account, early 2003.

-yes, content-less praise is spam. My comparisons were with the extremities of free speech, as it is there the boundries are neutrally descernable. I personally believe the boundries of publication lie where there is a utilitarian purpose for a post, other than "using my right". This logic emnates partially from the existance of moral boundries more absolute, thus my comparisons function as a basis for further presicion in where the boundries lie (in my opinion at least). They were not intended as direct comparsions, and as an intelligent reader, i think you understood that. yes, there are real responsibilities that come with free speech. Especially so, when concerning publication: you have an ethical and moral responsibility to ensure that the content of what you publish has meaning for others. If everyone were to excersise their right of free speech every time they had a strong opinion on something, the asides of monologue would stifle all dialogue. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to excersise our right when it is important, and has effect. Now every publication has editors. The editors have a responsibility to ensure that their publication serves a purpose. Thus, our editors, the moderators, are responsible for moderating the forums such that posts are useful to other people. Yes, this is at the discretion of tip.it, but there are arguably some standards that are universal. There are arguably posts that are spam, many of these only posting an opinion, with no attempt at dialogue. It is the responsibility of the moderators to ensure that the forums serve a purpose, and cater to a constructive community.

It has all to do with how you ask questions. Do you have any examples of previous intelligent questions they've either a) skipped answering or B ) answered "we cannot tell you that" or something to that extent? about not listening to sounds / audio: if Jagex can do anything about that, ask about it. They've given us an opportunity to ask what we want. That's a perfect opportunity to tell them about what's not working. They don't want praise, they want to improve.

some improvement is better than no improvement though? giving in and giving up helps nothing and nobody.

the audio team is involved in every piece of content that goes live. You can fish for information on every single topic within the game. How can that be something people don't care about?

Removal of the fire-cape requirement for Ice strykewyrms. on topic: today is the Audio-team Q&A. Many have complained of the sounds being required to fight Jad. How about asking a question in regard to this, so Jagex might change Jad in such a way to get around those with audio-related disabilities? There's a lot of complaining about how Jad would be easier with changes, couldn't sound changes make things clearer, but still have the same difficulty in actual actions? Yes, that would've been a good idea to have implemented before they publicizes their comprimise. I think now it's kind of a moot point. why? They want to play the content, do they not? Or are you claiming it was all along just for the ability to kill the icewyrms? making content playable to those with disabilities, as long as it doesn't compromise the content for others seems beneficial to everyone involved?

Removal of the fire-cape requirement for Ice strykewyrms. on topic: today is the Audio-team Q&A. Many have complained of the sounds being required to fight Jad. How about asking a question in regard to this, so Jagex might change Jad in such a way to get around those with audio-related disabilities? There's a lot of complaining about how Jad would be easier with changes, couldn't sound changes make things clearer, but still have the same difficulty in actual actions?

There's less than 1 hour left till today's Q&A. There are always rants about how the questions asked and answered in each Q&A are useless, and reveal little about what's really going on at Jagex HQ. Here at tip.it, we can make that change. We just have to think a little, and grab the bull by the horns: 1. Intelligent players such as those found here at tip.it need to ask questions. 2. Questions need to be prepared beforehand. 3. Questions NEED to be asked early on in the session, preferably right at the start, as the first questions have a much higher probability of being answered. 4. Questions NEED to be asked in the right format. 5. Questions NEED to be asked in such a way that they require intelligent responses. explanations: 1: you are responsible for asking questions if you want something from the Q&A's. Smart people with insight in how the game works are the only people capable of asking smart questions. 2. Questions need to be prepared as they need to be posted quickly, and we all need to sit down and think before we know what aims we have for a Q&A, do we want to learn more about the new skill? do we want to know about long-term strategy? Do we want to give ideas for new and exciting options? What do we want to know? 3. The first questions get looked at first. it simply makes cynical sense. 4. The right format for asking a question is: -ask 1, max 2 questions. That's the only way you're going to get longer, more detailed answers. -make the question (s) short, and to the point. Convoluted language allows mods to slip away with convoluted, non-essensial answers. -If you have many questions, make seperate posts for each one. 5. This is where it gets important. let me illustrate by use of examples. Ask questions in smart ways: -What sounds have you been working on for the new skill? reply: sorry we cannot tell you that! rephrase the question: What can you tell us about the Audio team's work with the new skill? reply: *This is not known yet, therefore it m ust be asked to find out* - Avoid asking yes/no questions by asking for an extent: Was the new audio player a success? reply: YES! rephrase: To what extent was the new audio player a success? Reply: *thinking pause* or second option: "What improvements will we see to the new audio player in the near future?" -Questions asking why or what reasoning lies behind certain decisions require responses that give light to the reasoning, the thinking in Cambridge: Why does *insert area of sound related issue* need an update? Reply: *thinks before answering* -Negatives turn things around, and move Jagex out of their normal mode of operation: Why shouldnt ingame music resemble popular music more?? Other important clauses that require little explanation are terms such as what purpose does *insert question* serve in the grand scheme of Gielinor? Can you post 75 words on (forcing a longer more detailed response) now let the question discussion begin, and please ask questions today! We all want intelligent replies, so we have to ask intelligent questions

reading this topic, and all the others, i can't help but ask myself: if Jad was a quest, would there be rantings? I think player greed " i have a right to do this and that" with only a level, ignoring the fact that a lot of game content requires quests, has reached new level. you have no right to anthing, be you 99 slayer, 200m hunter xp, or whatever. Jagex gives you the right to participate in its content. that is something to be humble about.

i felt you guys did a better job picking the good ones on the previous topic. You could all get a job at jagex! :o

My apologies if this is considering a different post, but how would "u mad?" be classified as name calling? over zealous moderating is how it would be classified as that. no, the post was no part of a discussion, so it didn't belong on this board. it's the exact same thing if i were to spam ".o" on every post on this board.

Fool, I have 92 slayer. isn't it quite immaterial for the good of the game whatever levels any of us have? This is about something bigger, namely what direction the game moves forwards. similar click-to-manage content may be released in any aspect of the game. On the topic of the post quoted from the RSOF: the post uses a common strawman fallacy: either all compromise is good, or all compromise is bad. any post that generalizes to such an extent should not be taken seriously, as the entire premise of the argument relies on tricking the reader to believe it's either all or none when that is not the case at all. Don't let yourselves be fooled by a guy with a clear agenda he wants to manipulate you into believing.

hi y-guy! ot: having the right to say something doesn't mean you should, and it certainly doesn't mean a community should be obliged to endure your bemoanings. Even with a right to free speech, this right must be executed with reason, respect and humility. A national right to free speech does not guarantee a right to publication, which is what posting on open boards on the internet consists of. Because I can moan and groan freely in private, does not entitle me to anything on public forums. I can guarantee you that the tip.it community will not regain the sophistication, activity, vibrance and friendly community since its foundation through 2004 without more rigorous moderation. defending free speech as a right is good, that does not mean the public should endure the destructive use of it. Because you have a right to burn flags, make hateful religious cartoons or bemoan every update does not mean tip.it should publish those views or endorse those actions. the right to free speech must be used selectively, and foums mods are obligated to make a selection that promotes constructive contributions thus constructive development of this community. If the destructive moaners leave, the rest of the community is better off, and new users are more likely to stay.

There is a large difference. that is the point of this topic. numbers used by the calculators and planners themselves cannot be copied and used further with these same tools. hope that clears things up :)

[Crew edit: Merged this post #2 through #5 with the preceding post as the topics were similar. Thanks! - Speedyshel] commas within numbers on the skill calculators and planners have bugged me for quite a while. An easy fix could make the calculators and planners so much more user-friendly. In assigning myself a target level, the experience to which it equates is helpfully given: target level: 99 (13,034,431 XP) However the commas in this number means i cannot copy and paste the value, if i am to use the Xp value further. Similarly, both the " gained experience" and "final experience" values given upon using a planner are given with commas. They can therefore not be used further without deleting the commas. I can appreciate that the numbers are tidier to read with commas. can they not simply be grouped in tripple digits without the commas? I know it's a detail, but it should be relatively simple to fix, and save so much aggravation amongst calculator users.

the positive feedback is very flattering. much appreciated! If you have a topic you want an article on, I'm sure I could figure something similar out, which I would of course send to the tip.it times an aspect i found i didn't cover is how the new skill might fit into the "integration direction" Jagex is taking, or not. Obviously the new skill will determine the direction the game develops in, and as with all major content release, the game may develop significantly, or as the case with construction, hardly have any long-term effects. With expanded banks, with more room, all the other aspects of the skill could be implemented as different household objects to fill the empty and unused houses and areas all over the game. Jagex have, after all, admitted that most new quests and activities can easily activate areas that are inactive and barren today. Considereing then the implementation of burners next to altars in churches, rather than a house with a dedicated room, easels and banner stands, combat rings in the shady basements of pubs, quite frankly, the implementation of construction could have been excecuted much more dynamically, as a natural part of the game. But that was not to be, and it could never be, because of the runescape economy. Jagex desperately needed a money-sink. Construction was their solution, which was a shame. So as we can see, construction could have integrated and activated unused parts of the existing game. will the new skill? I sincerely hope so, but if the newly released peninsula in the wilderness is not part of a major quest, I think we are looking at another wasted opportunity. Jagex have already said the new skill will not be costly. What other reasons could there be not to integrate the game further? I see few possibilities, none of which are realistic, do you?

whatever the skill is, i just hope the "completely different way of leveling it, not like summoning compared to herblore" means it has more to do with clicking abilities, strategy, tactics, economics, analysis or something more multi-dimensional. something that all the grinders cannot accomplish, something that develops the game on a more intellectual level, not in an academic way, but rather so we have to think a little.

hence this little notice: after thinking about it, i figured i could give it its own topic, as few people seem to have read it other places.

intelligent and relevant question for the next Q&A: Does Jagex have an in-house economist for assessing how the runescape economy should progress? :) anyway, based on the real-world capitalist model, an economy has to grow for it to improve, is that neccessarily true for runescape? If not, what kind of model for an economy would you want if you could choose any, as one can in the makings of a game?

off-topic posts should simply be deleted. That is what moderation means. non-constructive posts, be they opinions or not, are spam and should be deleted. Only posts that are part of a discussion, belong in this forum. Moaning about a topic without giving a reason is by this definition spam. I feel moderators can show a harder line in moderating, the tip.it community would benefit, and show greater maturity.

With the introduction of the Elite Ardougne Achievements diary, Jagex allowed for development in new and exciting directions; for the very first content was released that would be playable only to the very masters of the game, to those relentlessly patient few who have meticulously trained most skills to exceptional levels. Those who were elite in the eyes of Jagex. The reception on the Runescape official forums, and right here in the tip.it community were astoundingly, and refreshingly positive. Even though only a fraction of the community could enjoy the content, the community as a whole saluted Jagex for reassuringly and resoundingly proclaiming Runescape is the Jagex future. How could we believe that Runescape was to be the main focus of a company if they were designing a new, large game? Companies all have public faces, and spokesmen who project an image of the company onto the community, an impenetrable public relations façade users are not meant to see beyond. Yes they claimed Runescape would live for ever, but with a new game in the makings, did we believe them? Should we have believed them before they showed, through affirmative action in releasing elite content, that Runescapes future was secured? With 2010 being the year of awesome we were right to be sceptical through the end of 2009, as Jagex have continued projecting a rosy-red Public image improbable if not impossibly the truth. That, however, is an analysis worthy of an article to itself. Runescape is to flourish in the future, with challenges to all, also the elite few. This new and exciting direction for Runescape, launched in 2009 has shown the very best of the new Jagex under new leadership; skills have received very much needed high-level updates, most significant of which is arguably the high level herblore update. How Jagex released this content, and tellingly how they removed the use of extreme potions from pvp worlds and bounty hunter is vital in understanding the ideology in Cambridge. The brilliance of Jagex at its finest was shown in the update, and dealing with it. In rendering the potions created at higher levels untradeable, lower level content was not made easier overnight, other than for those who have invested millions of coins, or long hours to developing their herblore levels: The lessons from the smithing skill were learned. Looking back on my first Runescape memories from 2003, Jagex were taken aback with the success of its game. Enthusiastic posts with new records of players online simultaneously spurred new game servers; Jagex was simply unprepared for success, and the longevity of the game was not of primary concern. What if smithing was only useful to a handful of players, the rest relying on a few suppliers for their armour and weapon needs? No problem, others will be herblorists supplying the smiths and others with the potions they require. Niche players was the game demographic, nobody was expected to be a do it yourself player. However, Runescape is now a happy ten-yearold moving quickly towards its arduous and rebellious teens. How will Jagex, as sole parent, cope? As any other tween, Runescape has to reinvent itself. It has needed that for quite some time, where the niche player has completed her goals. What lies beyond the horizon? Little, level 99 is the maximum either way. The ingenious solution of the herblore update in 2009, where everyone is forced to do it themselves, is a showcase and industry necessity for MMORPGs to keep up with their clientele. Looking at the rise in price of herblore-related items, and the vitalization of a stagnating Runescape economy, the update was a resounding success from day 1. However, requiring the do it yourself aspect to stand any chance in PvP situations was too tall an order. It would alienate almost all those who relish in PvP situations from participating in their favourite gameplay within runescape. Here the crucial question is: How could Jagex release a game-changing piece of content with such a fatal flaw? This question leads to a critical observation in understanding all elite content being released in Runescape: developing elite content is something completely new to the Jagex staff. They need experience in making this content, and they have to experiment to get it right. Releasing such inherently flawed content as the extreme potions is a guarantee that the learning curve at Jagex HQ is steep. This learning curve made another two-fold jump with the release of Ice Strykerwyrms and their Fire cape requirement. We players learn the attitudes of Jagex through game updates and actions, rather than the fine words of the year of awesome. Similarly, the lessons Jagex learn are obviously important, also to discuss and interpret. But how do we analyse the future of the game and what Jagex true plan and aim for the game are? This is where the relentless and important community discussion has its place. Why did Jagex introduce the fire cape requirement in the first place? We cannot know, yet we can examine the likely possibilities. If Jagex showed a wish to integrate high levelled requirements from many skills and areas into elite content, this content is truly elite. It is not a question merely of hours played, skills grinded to astounding degrees, the content is for elite players, those proficient within all areas of the game. In the words of the Ugthanki kebab, this option looks scrummy! A new dimension would be added to the game. Currently almost all the highscores show an excessive amount of time required in attaining top rankings, multiple times the experience required for any in-game benefits, thousands of pointless hours at mini games with minimal reward, the sole exception here seems to be duelling tournaments. This is maybe the only area where skill currently determines who tops the highscores. With only one area of prowess to officially determine those with clicking skills, deep understanding of strategy in PvP situations, was not slayer a perfect candidate for releasing content requiring more prowess, rather than large amounts of free time and admirable persistency? This is where a second interpretation of why Jagex chose to change the requirement comes in, one, in the words of the Kebab, that tasted a bit dodgy. You feel a bit ill. This regards a common attitude held by the cynical that Jagex are populist, and have simply caved in to the demands of a small minority of ranters on the official forums. This should indeed worry us if it were the case. However, it is highly unlikely that it is. How can we know that Jagex have not simply caved in to the ranters? If they caved in once, without other motives, the happy spelunking in a gigantic cave system would be ruined. Once the first cave falls, no other cave is safe, and staying with this metaphor, how do we know that Jagex has secured its mine of a game, developed over a decade, avoiding divine intervention as the one we players experience in Blood runs deep? We know because they have not caved before, even though the pressure has been immense, and the economy of Jagex has been at stake, which was the case with the anti-Real World Trading campaign. Believing Jagex have caved in is a destructive attitude leading to further ranting on the official forums. Jagex have become professional over time, we still remember the development of their now superficial public relations image which is invariably in touch with the harsh reality of the business world. As Jagex did not fold their hand to the ranters, why did remove the fire cape requirement for ice strykerwyrms? The official position and the cause of most of the rants on the official Runescape forums, have led a rationale of mobility and accessibility. The fight caves are almost impossible to the hearing impaired, to those with motion disabilities. Further, to those with restrictive internet connections, prayer switching has always been hard, it has been rendered almost impossible by the 0.6 second delay (one in game time unit) Jagex implemented to avoid so-called prayer flashing as an effective money saver. Does Jagex feel this balancing fix hits the disabled and internet impaired unnecessarily hard? That would be jaw-droppingly surprising if it were true. Jagex must have known about these issues for a substantial period of time, again, why would they release flawed content they knew they wished to change? A professional company wouldnt, so Jagex didnt. No, there must have been other factors in play. Another vital question to ask is: why have the disability and accessibility challenges of Runescape not been explored on the official Runescape forums previously? Why is this new with the Ice Strykerwyrm update? Unsurprisingly, it is a question of economy. Money makes the world go around, well, coins makes Gielinor recognizable and predictable. As politics ran run into an issue, economics has run into the strykerwyrm update and the fire cape requirement. Just as high levelled rune crafters complained at the recent multiple rune update devaluing their quite literally precious money-making abilities, high level slayers are not too concerned about the direction Runescape is headed, rather they are concerned about money. Everyone the Author has asked about a more integrating direction of high-level Runescape has quickly warmed to the idea and embraced it. This direction really does look Scrummy! to high levelled players, as it ensures further enjoyment in their spare time of Runescape without growing tired of a game with no further challenges and goals. Naturally, those striving towards higher slayer levels, who believe themselves unable to attain the coveted fire cape, have wished for the requirement to be changed. Accessibility and mobility reasons given have largely been proxy-arguments for the reality of the matter: Although unable to get the fire cape, we want a piece of the light staff profit. What a preposterous and discerning claim! Some of you might exclaim contemptuously, however the argument is strongly embedded in reality. The telling reasons for the economic motifs in the discussion require a historic perspective, as all contextual analysis does. In the release of the fire cape itself, there were next to no complaints about the high difficulty of the mini game. There was an overall understanding that only a certain few deserved the fire cape, it should remain exclusive, Runescape had taken a turn away from repetitive boredom as the only way of showing off fancy equipment. new frontiers were ready for the taking, but Jagex didnt follow this type of equipment up. Further underscoring the economic motif is the lack of rants at the release of the much forgotten Rogues Den mini game. Here clicking ability reached new heights as a requirement for the illusively rare rewards. The release of Sorceress Garden warranted little complaint and the recent release of Nomads Requiem was hardly debated either, even though this was the ultimate integration of boss fighting and questing on the highest level. Why was there no uproar similar to the ice-wyrm fire cape revolt? There was no money involved. As is often the case (economics and understatement go hand in hand), whenever someone is posed to loose out on profit, someone else is gaining. The opposing argument has largely been that a fire cape requirement fosters much needed exclusivity in the high-end of slayer. This has also been a front for own economic interests to a large degree; however this is where the interesting position of Jagex re-enters the now more detailed picture. What is Jagex economic motif for removing the fire cape requirement? The light staff cannot serve its mage-friendly task of stabilizing parts of the combat triangle unless it is accessible. It cannot be accessible unless its exclusivity does not put it in the hand of merchants, just as the blessed spirit shields with sigils remain too exclusive to benefit the masses, especially in pvp combat. The effects in pvp of the much needed damage-reducing qualities of the spirit shields quickly balance over-hitting Armadyl Godswords and Dragon Claw specials. Jagex learns from its past mistakes, and so the staff of light is to be accessible to many, it is not to be another item ready for manipulation by merchanting clans. The limitation of the fire cape amongst those with 93 slayer or more was something Jagex did not foresee in strangling the already bottle-necked supply of light staves. Without a clear, honest public relations team at Jagex HQ, Jagex proxy-arguments will continue to shock the Runescape community, as their impact seem profoundly negative in comparison to the small calculation mistakes Jagex occasionally need to correct. Why honesty is sacrificed for image is something that will confront Andrew, Paul, Mod MMG in the future. The danger of projecting an image, is that others perceive you by that image and most often the real thing is less xenophobic to a knowledgeable community as the Runescape community clearly is in affairs regarding Gielinor. In removing the fire-cape requirement, Jagex did not cave in to rants of a small minority on the forums. Initially releasing the requirement is much more telling on Jagex behalf, and I can only hope further skill, quest and clicking skill activities are the future of elite content within the game. So should you. (I posted this on the original forum topic, and on the tip,it times topic for the 21st of February, it was also submitted to the tip.it times this weekend. I feel this is an outlook many may wish to see, and the other postings got little response. )