Ghosttalon

I'm just going to throw this out there and feel free to shoot me down; obviously I'm no dungeoneering expert and it's far from being one of my favorite activities. Post-EoC, I'm having a much easier time crushing things in there, so I now prefer maul over 2h. So if you insist on going one-handed, it might be worth trying a warhammer over longsword... Crush weakness seems to be more common than the other two styles, and especially since Mysterious Shades seem to be the most dangerous foes now (even the low level ones are putting out some ridiculous hits). Plus I seem to now be able to adequately melee things I wouldn't have dreamed of trying to bash on before EoC. Also keep in mind f2p gets 2 basic abilities that are 2H only, another argument in favour of 2h weapons.

*runs away* Hah, naw, can't be worse than RSOF now can it? Thanks for the welcome both. :smile:

To those of you stating that stopping bots is technically impossible. True, the way the game is. It wasn't so long ago that Jagex had made a "tough" decision that virtually stopped bots in their tracks; gold-farming was economically not feasible. Of course, the current CEO would have us believe that period in Jagex's history was a decline to game death. (I still refuse to believe this piece of marketing chicanery.) I love free trade, but I hate bots. I remain optimistic that if Jagex wanted to they could leave free trade and yet make the disincentives for botting so drastic that it would be severely curtailed. And honestly, I guess that is the current experiment. They appear to currently be playing a game of whack-a-mole with bots. One area gets cleaned up, but they pop up somewhere else. It remains to be seen whether, two years after they told us they were confident they could control the mess that most of us knew had to be released by reinstating free trade, it will, in fact, remain under control. Whether these 'high-profile' folks from CW or dungeoneering feel put out or not by their 'loss', I'd say this was a win, for Jagex, and for legitimate Rs players. See Jagex? I will give positive feedback when you do something right! And to Donnie, I enjoyed my gameplay experience in areas that are now botted and can no longer be enjoyed for that reason. Those that felt the need to cheat them because they didn't enjoy them? Well, I truly wish they would have moved on to something else and left those of us enjoying the content, alone.

Obviously, Donnie, I do get it. But MontyChuck has more than ably framed a response that I would have given almost verbatim. A lot has been written overnight about who is "responsible" for this mess. Responsibility is a trait of an individual. I have given Jagex it's fair share of grief on RSOF for mishandling their antibot measures, but the fault, dear players, lies with you. However well or poorly Jagex has dealt with the issue, the individuals that make the choice to bot are clearly going against the agreement that was part of signing on to the game; they are shirking their responsibility to the game, and more importantly, the game's community. I stand by my assertion that how you view and treat your own goals, not to mention other people, on an online multiplayer game will be very similar to your attitude to those things where it does matter, in real life. Step back and evaluate that for a moment. If you want to not "jump through hoops" then go back to your individual console games, use the cheat codes, and be done. Oh but wait. No one to "show off" to there, is there? So what? You have nothing to show off, same as having nothing to show off when you cheat a 99, or a completionist cape, or anything else that takes effort to get. If you have problems with the particular hoops, complain to the game's maker. I certainly agree that 5k Castle Wars games is a ridiculous requirement. And as long as it's in place I have no intention ever of going for, or getting, a completionist cape. Life is too short to spend in 5k 20 minute games for an old fart like me. :razz: But those that have the time to spend, and want to do that, well I'm not going to belittle their achievement by plunking my character down in CW while I'm away at work or something. Cheers.

I'm going to ignore the outburst that makes it look like my post was bordering on singling out a particular age-group as causing all Runescape's current problems. That would be an oversimplified mischaracterization of my position. But no, I am not of the "new generation", however one may want to define it. I don't know why you would even say I was, unless you looked at my "crappy" Runescape stats, my "mediocre" achievements, my far-from-completed quest list, or something. Those indicate nothing. The most they indicate is that I do other things with my time than play Runescape. But it is not my job to justify to you, Vezon, why I think I'm entitled to my opinions on the current group of people who play MMORPGs, as a gamer that has experienced interactive multiplayer gaming long before Runescape was a glimmer in Andrew Gower's eye. So, leaving that aside, to the botter that bothered to respond: Everything you choose to cheat on in a multiplayer game affects something, and someone, somehow. Even cooking rocktails, you're not playing in a vaccuum. And I think it is your inability to realize or understand this that is most telling. You have no idea of the consequences of your actions, so how on earth can you possibly show remorse for it? I am now in a game where I feel compelled to go out of my way to make sure I am not aiding and abetting cheaters. I currently would like to see 99 Smithing, for the first time ever, to have a skill that once, long, long ago now, in this game was a pretty cool skill. Once upon a time I would have gladly bought ores, knowing that was helping support a player who had put in the effort to work on his/her bank. I can't do that anymore. I can't buy ores from anyone else. I have to get everything myself because there is no other way to guarantee that the ores I am getting weren't part of a botting cadre employed by a player like you, Snuggzz. You can say you weren't employing bots in such fashion; maybe you personally weren't. But your word is meaningless now. And others like you certainly do this, whether you do or not. Others have already given counterexamples to how your example of rocktails doesn't "affect anyone else" as you thought. Beyond the fact of what impact it does or does not have on the game's economy, there is an impact to you, personally, and to other players in this game. Your attempt to pass off your "achievement" has made you and many others who may have legitimately gotten there suspect. Your word is no good. You taint the game. But that's ok, right? Because you can just brush it all off with, "So what, just an online game, no one knows me; I'm anonymous behind my computer screen, who cares?" "Who gives a crap about anyone else? This game world is all about me, me, me." There are too many of you, you, you that act the same way in real life to just pass over this and say it doesn't matter. I'm sure you can now sit back, and wonder who the hell I am to judge you so. Maybe rightfully so. It's just the opinion of another disgruntled, disillusioned, disheartened and disgusted Runescape player in 2013. Made possible by people like you. Your actions alone may have been innocuous enough (you thought), but collectively you and your friends have made a travesty of what was once a really nice game.

I have used this site for many years, and it's way past time to say thank you to Tip.It for being my go-to resource for so long. Your dedicated team of information gatherers, web designers, calculator constructors, editors, etc., is simply awesome! As my first post on these forums was soapboxing, I thought maybe I had better take time to say something here as well. :smile: I wish you all, from those who make the game we play and have loved to play; to those of us who play Runescape, whether casually, intensely, for one aspect or many; to those who diligently keep this site a trove of information; a happy, healthy, and fun-filled 2013.

This is my first post on Tip.It, and it had to come to this topic to motivate me to do so. I care. How you play a game that involves others, no matter how silly, how time-wasteful, how much of a grind, is a direct reflection of how you view others in this thing we call "real life". I have no problem that some of the people banned have come here to speak. My problem is in the apparent attitude that "Oopsie, oh well, I got caught. Haha!" They don't see (or care) about the direct consequences their actions have had on making a game that many of us once loved less and less enjoyable. Regardless of whether there "is a spoon" or not (see earlier in thread for 'Matrix' reference), this was a way we chose to spend our free time, and to have no remorse nor even much idea that what you do in a MMORPG also affects the enjoyment of free-time of living breathing people around the world, just shows that the new generation of MMO players is a rather frightening lot. I agree that Jagex holds partial responsibility, with a new (within the last 2-3 years that is) emphasis on xp gain, "completionist" requirements, and dandy little carrots dangled before our noses for getting to the "end". But that doesn't excuse someone's personal decision to shortcut the game. Botting, even AFK'ing, Castle Wars has ruined what many of us remember as a really fun game. There is no fun game there any longer. There is only the tedium of winning a couple tickets if one happens to be on the side with fewer players sitting on their bums. Or losing if the other way around, but always adding one more notch to 5K games. Do I see the lure to sit? Sure. 5k games is a ridiculous requirement. But sitting is self-reinforcing. It's not a gameplay strategy; it's a gameplay bypass. I'm just as glad to see effort put into banning players who are trying to pass themselves off as having achieved something in this game, as I am when loads of gold-farming bots are defenestrated. One is just as important as the other. And this wasn't a publicity stunt on Jagex's part, because it's taken 9 days for me even to take notice of it (through the feed at the top of this site's homepage). It is sad that those who choose to post about their behaviour here show no real remorse in being part of the problem that many of see as "ruining our game", silly as such a pastime might be. As others have said, if the game is such that you feel you need to cheat to play it, then it is no longer for you and you need to find something else, not ruin it for the remainder who are enjoying it. Good job, Jagex. Good luck REAL players, and Jagex, in having a 2013 better than 2012 was. Cheers.