Jonanananas

On "If 2 became 3": Maybe you should have included the original reason why it's called runescape 2, as this was a complete engine rewrite. I see no reason to call this Runescape 3. On the suggestion to add a 2006 Runescape...in theory it might sound good, but there are several huge downsides to this. First of all, they don't have the code anymore. They would have to recode large parts of it, which obviously takes a lot of time. Then there's the HUGE design decision of who you would want to let play it, and how you would deal with the levels. If you take away the levels, most players will play for a few hours to relive the "noob experience" and then quit because they don't want to relive the whole grind that got them to their current levels. Not everyone of course, but I bet it would be the majority. If you let levels carry over, it essentially wouldn't be Runescape 2006 and I think it would be a very noticeable change. E.g, talk about bossing and such when everyone and their brother is maxed combat....with what bosses? The giant mole? I can't imagine how this would be worth the time they would need to invest. It would take long to code, it would have to be supported by at least some Jmods and the popularity will quickly be declining after the first weeks. On the article about f2p runescape: It sounds a bit like the article I'm currently writing on :unsure: I fully agree that F2P has to remain an attractive game in order to make the whole of Runescape work. Not sure about the highscore changes though - I assumed it would be a hit for new players as well, as I checked the highscores quite regularly when I was a new player, but that might be my skewed personal view. I still don't think it was a wise move by Jagex but the harm is probably not as big as it seems to be. Don't have any real comments on the third article. Yup, entertaining skilling methods would be great. I'll read the fictional once it's complete :)

Oh gawd the forums are horrible now. I have to scroll on every freaking page. Didn't they learn anything when everyone complained that the highscores were too big....? I'm not one of those guys constantly complaining about change, and I think getting a new website is great....but there's so much stuff here that adds *omg cool looking st00f* and distracts usability... Why aren't you able to choose a thread page on the top anymore? Why can't you see who posted the last post on a thread? Why do I have to scroll to see one page of a forum? Why is the option to go to a page you type in gone? Why is the font so awful to read(light text on dark background too....)? Adventurer's logs look horrible too....sure that 30 cm warrior looks great, but I want to see the stats and recent events of that person, not some stupid piece of artwork. -.- The whole site also has a feel like every other MMO site out there. Sure there are reasons for that...but I kinda liked the uniqueness...it just feels like a cheap ripoff of some other MMO, idk. About the f2p changes: God, for a moment I thought F2P weren't able to trade more than 25k worth in a day O_o I wouldn't put it past Jagex with 25k of unbalanced trade, I think that's ok. Shouldn't hurt f2pers much and will restrict gold farmers.

It's pretty foolish to call me 'arrogant' and 'short sighted' when you're making bogus statements to support your point of view that you don't support Jagex's move. You'd actually need a certain level of high scores to check against so you'll have taken some time in achieving those goals to appear there in the first place. You won't have achieved those by at least exploring the game and achieving at least some quests first. Nobody starts RS going 'oo high scores'. A genuine newcomer goes along 'Whats that then? Where's that go? How do I get there? What do I do with this........'I died again'. Your other facts are also fabricated and I don't agree with them. There's not proof that this will make the game unnatractive to new players. Thats your point of view as an experienced player. A newbie won't have the experience of having the scores taken away from them so they've no axe to grind with Jagex. Its 'Oh right I have to get members for that then'. The only players that will *genuinely* stop subscription will be minimal. The rest of it is hot air that's all been said before. Pressure from high scores? That's if you're foolish enough to let yourself be under some sort of pressure. There's much more to the game than just high scores. I did like the negative discussion about the game point though. What's new? Check out these forums. It's the same old whingefest from the same old people. Perhaps some of them should make good on their promises to leave. It'll be better for the game. First of all, just to clarify - I called your reasoning short-sighted and arrogant, not yourself. Not intended to be a personal attack ;) Again, you are argumenting from your own point of view. When I started playing runescape, the highscores *were* relevant to me, even though it took some time to get on them. I can't say what would have happened if I didn't have access to them at that point, but it would have been different and I can imagine that it could result in some new people not getting membership when they would have before this update. And of course there's pressure from the highscores, else it would have been foolish as hell from Jagex to do this move. After all, you can see that there is negativity towards this update, and with nothing positive to balance that(i.e. more people subscribing/staying subscribed) it would be stupid even to do that. I personally haven't cared about highscores for a long time now, but other people obviously do. Not quite sure what you mean with your last point honestly. Aren't people allowed to vent their frustration about an update while still continuing to play? Or is this about people saying "I quit!" and then being back a week later?

Actually, when I first started playing Runescape, I was checking the hiscores quite often. I looked up my friend, trying to beat him, and that was provided with me goals. When I was bored, I'd go around exploring, questing or whatever. It's definitely not clear to say how much thisis going to hurt the amount of new players coming into the game, but just basing it off your personal experience is kind of ignorant and short-sighted. I think what we all can agree on is this: 1.This *will* make the game more unattractive for new players by a certain amount 2.A certain amount of old players will be fed up enough to stop their subscription 3.Another certain amount might at least be fed up enough to stop telling other people about Runescape or might talk negatively 4.A certain amount of players will feel the pressure to remain on the highscores, be it after they have achieved huge goals and quit, or if they're f2p. The only question is business wise, does the first section outweigh the second one? I think it will in the long run, but that's down to opinion, seeing that we don't have any accessible facts.

Tbh, they haven't given a BS reason, you just have to read a bit more carefully "We want the hiscores to reflect the full range of content that RuneScape has to offer, and hope that they will be a big draw to the full, members’ game for those interested in high-level RuneScape competition on a level playing field." So it's clear that they *want* to keep f2p out and not just as the victim of a big sweep...The only thing that has a chance of happening atm(considering the outcry is not strong enough to make them change their stance) is the introduction of a hall of fame for 200m people, to make clear who got that first. I think it's more like 1)People are upset about the decision itself 2)People are upset about Jagex messing with f2p like they're worth nothing again.

If you are subscribed before this update, you have a 14 day tolerance. If you aren't a member at the time of the update and subscribe afterwards you have a 7 day tolerance. But if you let it lapse that long and resubscribe, then yes, the 200m guy would be at the end of the 200m list.

I've found that if you're searching for a specific news post on the homepage(e.g. I want to check the comments on the new tip.it times article and use the link on the homepage) it takes longer than with the old page, because the headlines have almost no contrast from the main body, whereas you have the clear differentation on the old page.

I notice that those who agree with this step mostly are saying "Be happy for what you got" Sorry guys, but that's not how it works in real life. It may be stunning to know, but there are actually a lot of free games out there. Sure, the important ones all have a feature to get money, be it an extension or a pay2win system - that's not the problem. The problem is that those f2p games are direct competitors, and if f2p players are unhappy with f2p runescape, they'll migrate to another game. F2P Runescape is needed for the members conversion and I am convinced that Jagex is in the long run cutting in its own flesh with updates like this. Think about it, this is about getting more f2pers to subscribe as members. Do you actually think that despite all the other advantages P2P has, f2pers are going to subscribe for that? Some will of course, high level players who want to keep their ranks, 200m members will keep playing...but those are some individuals, not the mass of people. At the same time, you will have a number of f2pers who decide NOT to pay Jagex in the future, maybe even P2Pers quitting because of it. It will also hurt the f2p community, and the worse this gets, the less people will eventually be converted into members. What would you think if you join a game with only few people playing, who are telling you how Jagex screwed them over when you might be talking about getting membership? Regardless if you think f2pers "deserve" it or not, I stand by my opinion that simply businesswise, this is a stupid move. And on the new KB....some people have mentioned that players won't be leaving the runescape site anymore...Is this maybe an attempt to prevent people from learning about the possibilites to buy gold? That's the only reason I can think of why they would try to replace fansites in this manner...

yup

Tbh, even if we say Jagex 100% only cares about money and nothing else(and on top of that say that we're okay with that), it's STILL stupid. Runescape from the outside frankly, looks like a horrible game. Only if you have played it for a while you do understand why it's actually a great game. By continuing to deteriorate the F2P game, they essentially destroy their game in the long run. Sure, if you think simply, more membership incentives -> more members, but it doesn't work like that. Would you be the full version of a bad game? Obviously not. The same applies here. Of course member's runescape should be far superior, but f2p should still be a good game, just with less stuff to do. As said, for most players, you will actually spend months in f2p before you even think about getting members. If something in f2p makes you quit before you get to the stage of thinking about membership, that's one customer lost. And f2p runescape to a large portion consists of levels. There aren't that many activities to do. How in seven hells is a game centered around levels supposed to keep the broad mass of people playing if they can't compare themselves? I personally don't give a damn about highscores...but I really understand the frustration of those affected, and can't put into words how stupid this move really was #-o

I'm guessing they don't want to have to deal with separate tags for someone who may not have more than two articles, then. Interestingly enough, one of my articles is tagged under "Jonanananas" and two under "guest" O.o Regarding the Article by Makoto: I agree that F2P is underserved, but I don't really think it has that much to do with bots. Sure, having nothing but levels making up the game makes a good precedent for bots...but it works almost the same way in members. Re:How Runescape ruined my life - I kind of agree here, I have to say I often was a bit shocked how easily people would say "I'll skip school" or "I'll be too ill for work that week". I've found that grinding really ruins the fun for me. I can't stand it no matter what and I've decided some time ago that I'll stop immediately once a certain activity isn't fun for me anymore. That means that despite quite some playtime my levels are still low and I can't access everything I'd like to, but so be it. Re:Fictional article - Sorry but I couldn't be bothered to read the third installment here after the first two. I started out but stopped soon enough. I think you have a nice base story, but the way it's written makes the whole thing very confusing, especially in terms of how the dialogue is scripted. If actions happen in between, please add those. The huge number of factions doesn't make things easier either. Please try to rework that story.

Very nice guide, makes me want to go back to Pyramid Plunder really. Now I woud just need 75 runecrafting...>.> One thing that you could add is the option not to plunder on world 64 but instead have a small group of friends or just people with the same interest plundering together. This mostly eliminates the changing doors and speeds up trips a bit. You will just have to agree on which method for banking you will use to keep nobody waiting.

Overall it sounds good. Some rebalancing really is due. However, first of all I'm doubtful of how successful they are here. Balancing different classes against each other in all kinds of situations is really difficult. Also, I'm a bit worried about those hotkeys and abilities...generally nice concept, but I hope they don't go overboard with it like in a lot of other RPGs and stuff...

I will probably reply with more later on, but for now just a tip for the writer of the first fictional: Please make sure that all actions happening between dialogues are clear. It doesn't make for good reading if Person A says something, and the next one is Person B in another city.

There's not really a "better" group. W71 relies mostly on the forums, and on the penguins being trapped. They have a lower amount of people so most traps hold a fair while. W60 relies on chats and reports. A big part is obviously also trapping, but as penguins are free more easiliy here(a lot of people/trapbreakers) it's a bit shifted. Just try out what suits you. If you like w71, hunt on w71, if you like w60, hunt on w60. Personally, penguins would be a lot less fun to me without the friends chats. Of course, with so many people logging into 60, it may very well be that 71 is the wiser choice if you are intent on getting your pengs quickly ;)

oh friendslist is down, that's why my gamebar shows 0 people online...

The queue goes *fairly* quickly...try to join, come back a few mins later and you should be in. Once you are on 60, finding the pengs is relatively easy, just look for the masses lol. If you haven't spied them today yet, hurry - those are 16 points you could lose out on. the reset will be in a few hours, with new locations. The fcs for world 60 are: world60pengs w60pengs w60pengu w60pengy and the additional ones world60bus canada_grrl If possible, please log out off world 60 again when you are done. If you really can't get on 60, check the D&D forums, look for the w71 thread, and log on there.

Well, there are definitely performance issues. I actually had to switch to low graphics in w60 today, got about 2 fps with my usual(max) settings. I didn't even get that in w2 ge before. That said, remember to spy your pengs today! Only about 5 hours left if you want to be able to get triple instead of just double points!

I thought the most penguin points you can have is 50? I think Tim thinks that his current points will get doubled....he has 30 or so of them now, and believes that will turn into 60 - which is wrong though.

What are reflection and injection bots? I'm looking forward to the 64 peng points next week! It's a max of 48, if you get them both on wednesday(16 points) and thursday(32 points) Boy, that time in World60pengs will be fun...all the masses turning up to get their points. Will be a rough week for us. Say hello if you see me ;)

Sorry, I didn't get you meant ban in the sense of "ban, instead of doing a rollback" but rather took it for the whole process of detecting and punishing bots. Sorry! I agree with that...but first of all, they have to be detected...and after that, you still have all the RWT bots that you will never be able to hurt with banning unless you have a detection method that has an extremely high rate of success and works quickly as well. I wouldn't know anything like that :/

... and gear? Should Jagex go the way of, say, Maple Story and make the game less grinding and allow people to buy cards that will allow them to "rent" better gear, et al? Do we want "rich kids" to better, stronger and faster than those who have worked for it? Which is one of the reasons why I, personally, being the unbound cynic that I am, looked at these recent comments issued from Jagex with a certain amount of skepticism. Yes bots are an issue. Yes they are ruining the game. But .. why not ban them? Okay so if you ban one bot two more come in its place. So what? Ban them too. Why just roll them back? Ban them. Keep banning them and don't stop banning them. To me it seems that this appeal to the Runescape faithful is more of a matter of Jagex trying to mitigate player dissatisfaction and possibly quell any potential for a real life riot that may occur at Runefest. Frankly I will be very interested to see what Jagex does about bots AFTER Runefest than any of the "lip service" they are providing right now. To me, it all looks like a bread and circuses scheme ... On the first quote: The idea Stormrage had was to make dedicated cheating servers - once you buy xp, items, or whatever, you can't go back. If you want to get your quest requirements without grinding, your extreme potions without work, your achievements without something to be proud of - go to the cheating server, be happy there(or not) but they won't be able to go back. If you intend to stay legit, compare yourself with legit players and just enjoy your time - you can still do that on the normal servers. Tbh, unless there is a method that can at least detect bots reliably for more than a few weeks at best - this is honestly the best suggestion I've seen about what to do on the issue. I can't say I really like it - but it's better than everythiing else I've heard. On your second quote: Oh if banning bots was so simple...but well I guess it isn't ?

Two things: First of all, removing free trade will obviously help, but it's no magical wonder weapon. People forget quite often that the number of bots was steadily increasing before the announcement too, and there were several quite crowded spots already. Second thing: You can forget about Jagex removing free trade. It would be terrible for PR and as long as the game keeps running and making a profit you won't see that happening.

I don't really have any comment on the first article.. Second one: Almost fully agree. Arguing that Runescape takes more skill than a lot of other games is just stupid, imo. It simply doesn't...but not every game has to be about skill. Runescape is pretty much unique, for me at least, and I play it for what it is instead of vainly trying to justify it to other people who don't like it. Fictional: Meh...I loved the first one...but the second and the third one are nothing new...It's just carrying on, stretching on with nothing much that makes me interested.

Hmmm this is interesting. It seems they have something specific planned, else it would be kind of a random post....stay tuned for the next week I guess and let's see if something happens!