Omali

Good evening, Tip.It'ers, Those of you who know me are likely acquainted in one way or another with the link in my signature. I run MMO Fallout, a website that takes a hard look at the businesses that run MMOs, focusing primarily upon the public relations, internal events, and customer satisfaction. The aim is not to tell people which MMO to play, but to give information on the companies behind them, and the trends of the games themselves, and to provide the avenue through which the player can give the title a try for themselves (which MMO Fallout always recommends making free use of the many trials available, regardless of our opinion of the company). I'm working on a new editorial series titled Taking The Plunge, which generally involves me getting opinions on various topics for the community, and for my first piece I wanted to talk about Runescape, with one particular topic in mind: Runescape stands as one of the few remaining MMOs that does not provide a test server for players, and as a result it seems that all of the stress-testing and live-bugs are discovered once the updates launch. This of course ends up being much to the chagrin of players, who find themselves dying mysteriously, being logged out due to µ, murdered in the Thzaar fight pits waiting room, and more. Many MMO developers see test shards as priceless tools to use, as it allows them to not only stress test updates in a secluded environment, but to allow players to offer feedback on balancing, and to fix more obscure bugs, before the update goes live. Now, Jagex has said some years back that they don't have any plans on ever adding in a test server, but what caught my eye back then was the sheer number of people who considered the introduction of a test server to be a bad thing. Do you think Jagex should never put in a test server, or they should but with restrictions? Whether you agree or disagree with a test server, I'd specifically like to hear some thoughts as to why you feel that way, rather than a simple yes or no. I should also point out that I won't be injecting my own opinion into this, I'd like to hear what you think. Remember the following constants, however (virtually all MMOs follow these constants): 1. Your character in the live servers can be copied over to the test server, but only once per ___. 2. What you do in the test server will have no bearing on the status of your live character (experience, levels, etc) 3. A reminder to players that the server is for testing purposes, and that they should be purposely trying to break and exploit it.

Right..but Revenants like to rape you at random secluded spots in the wilderness where you expect to be safe Scratch that. THE WILDERNESS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SAFE. NO, wildy suposed 2 hav peeveepee, WE PAY WE SAY RIOT N WERLD 60 FALDOR! Everyone go to falador and put on ur retributon prayar and spam @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

It's always funny when updates come out and at least one person with "retired" on their name posts something like "wow that update is terrible, glad I stopped playing months ago lol good luck with that guys." because it begs the question as to why someone who quit, and apparently gladly, is still frequenting a fan site for the game.

Now there is the Qeltar I fell in love with so many years ago in a totally manly way. I'd like to see more of these ideas, they really are great. I think the Abyssal Whip is just a weapon that was forged in the abyss. As for why the abyssal demons carry it, perhaps it was made out of the leathery bits of their siblings? The pieces of the dragon plate that the tormented demons drop are parts of its body. They were created by Lucien, and as such were likely given the Dragon claws when they were brought into Runescape. Advances in skills like these are usually lore'd out as advances in research. The entire Runecrafting skill is noted in Runescape's history as researchers finally cracking how to access the rune essence mines, as in Runescape classic's era they were still running on the runes that Guthix had given them. In Runescape lore, the overload potions were likely just an advance in research. As gross as it sounds: In all likelihood the barbarians use the bodies of the dead penance from Barbarian Assault. So yes. I'm not saying Jagex does this, but the normal explanation in dungeon crawlers and RPGs for why big bosses drop weapons and armor is because they swallow them whole alongside the poor saps who were wearing them. Dragons are natural collectors of shiny objects and treasures, however. Chinchompa are one of the many exotic creatures in the Piscatoris region that can't be found anywhere else in Runescape, including the monkfish, a few species of kebbits, the white rabbit, ferrets, among others. The draconic visage, if you take the name literally, may be the dragon's face. By forging it to an anti-dragon shield, you somehow utilize the anti-dragon shield's ability to absorb dragonfire, with the visage's innate ability to spit fire. As for how it fits, I believe the mechanic was discovered (at release) by Oziach. Oziach is the master smither you meet in Dragon Slayer. Hopefully those will explain it, at least somewhat.

I like your wording, says a lot about you. Not "You feel the need to lie" or "you feel the need to twist reality" just that I refuted your post. And of course it was to draw attention to myself, because anyone who disagrees with you must be an attention seeker who is simply riding your popularity coattails. Player A: Makes absurd statements. Player B: Refutes said statements. Player A: "lol nerd" Remember when we could have legitimate discussions? No, but I have been playing that game for over five years running. I try to buy the latest edition each year, and the 2009 edition came with emotes.

But I couldn't afford the internet a thousand years ago! I disagree. I think they're trying to do what Blizzard is doing with World of Warcraft: Reinvent it. Renaming stuff that doesn't need to be renamed. I will agree, calling Dungeoneering a skill is a bit of a stretch, but an expansion pack? Now you're pushing it. I don't see it as much of an insult. I haven't touched crafting since around Enakhra's Lament release. I haven't used the past two distractions and diversions (summoning and the one before it) because I find them useless, cumbersome updates that advertise to no one. Agree to disagree.

Look pie, I don't have hours to write up a response to your post, but I'm just going to say: You've pretty much summed up why this entire debate is moot.

Well, I give you points for honesty, anyway. I see what you did there.

It's not cowardice, it's simply a decision that spending an hour properly responding to your overly verbose post is not worth my time. Anyone who knows me knows I hardly shy away from an argument, but when the other party doesn't even make an effort to make concise, well-thought-out points, it's not worh the bother. Nobody read your post, and they wouldn't read an equally lengthy reply; thus, the only reason to write it would be to convince you, and sorry pal, you're just not that important. ;) Translation: I'm trolling, and thanks to 96 pages of this thread, most of TIF knows it by now, so your main recourse is to simply disregard every point people make, be it small or large, and focus on calling them asshats and condescend to them by just saying their points are bad without backing up your statements, and that they're not important enough anyway. As Cyanide and Happiness would put it, you're essentially Rubber Arm Man. Sorry Tim Burton, marketably your movies may do well but intellectually you haven't had an original thought since Edward Scissorhands.

Translation: WARNING: THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT OPINIONS BUT IF I CALL THEM OPINIONS IT MAKES ME IMPERVIOUS TO PEOPLE CALLING ME WRONG. Are you sure Hunter was abandoned? Because these complaints I've been seeing since Hunter's release of overcrowded spots tells a different story. Summoning was only a fiasco until they made some fixes and released batch 2, after which it became a pricey change to a huge change to the game. Yes, it needed balancing after it was released, but it became eons more useful when batch 2 released. As for the batch being delayed, cry some more. Delays happen. Lulz gona maak sum nee slappurs. So the skill actually takes time to level? I'm sorry it doesn't suit your tiny attention span. You mentioned every skill after construction, but: 1. You didn't point out any problems with summoning other than that it was unbalanced at release. Obviously broken? Huge failure? Summoning was neither. 2. You didn't make any valid points on Hunter other than some lame-brain comment that it was abandoned which, if you talk to any hunters, can be easily refuted. 3. For Dungeoneering you just made some comments that it's "not a skill" and "doesn't make sense". Yes, it takes long to skill up and the very useful rewards are expensive, but other than semantics for your other talking points you bring nothing to the table. In short, you're wrong. Not only that, but you kill any valid comments you had on Dungeoneering because you threw out lies on the other skills, made yourself look like a smartass child with your regurgitated condescension (It's a minigame, er sorry, an activity). Key to Dungeoneering is it is different. Your average whiner hates change as it is, but different change? That's [bleep]ing terrifying.

On behalf of the fallen warriors now inhabiting the Wilderness, we are offended by your inability to spell revenant correctly.

I love this form of propaganda. Don't like something, so disregard it as not "real" or "serious." Do tell, what is the difference between a "serious" and "not serious" skill? If I were to go to Andrew and say "what is up with dungeoneering" would he go "it was a joke, lol? " I don't see how pets made summoning silly. Oh no, you can have vanity pets that follow you around and eat food, no other MMO has ever done that before. Your other points here are valid, but do they make Dungeoneering "totally stupid?" No. Well accept my apologies that Dungeoneering isn't just another skill you can semi-afk train in a catatonic state at your computer for hours on end. I have it on good word from a parallel universe (where Dungeoneering was released as a mini-game) that you registered there as well to complain about how mini-games shouldn't be that complicated, and that if Jagex were to put out a "mini-game" too difficult to just jump into, that they should have just called it a skill.

I don't care. The RSOF will still be full of trolls, just segregated trolls.

Research shows that, despite any literal numbers on literacy, approximately nine-tenths of people become completely illiterate when tasked with reading a manual. "Why does my toast keep burning?" "Because you have it set to the supernova setting." "How do you set it back?" "You turn the dial..." "How the hell was I supposed to know that?" "Read the manual, or read the toaster. It's labeled." Real conversation between myself and a family member, when we bought a new toaster.

Jagex always makes it so new skills can't be leveled with tears of Guthix, lamps, etc, for about two weeks after release. When you go back to do Tears of Guthix next week, it should work towards dungeoneering.

More importantly, what's with the German WWI shaped room?

That was a Tip.It April Fool's day joke from 2007.

I'm not even bothering with the tokens for the moment. I'm not sure how many I have. Should also point out that my adventurer's log (see below) is broken. I'm level 17.

If you can't upgrade your computer then common sense will tell you that you won't be able to keep up with the latest games, not to mention ALL MMOs have their system requirements go up every few years. I was able to build my own computer to play the latest games on maximum settings, for $600. Building a computer to play runescape would cost a pittance in comparison. If we stifled innovation and progress every time someone was left out, whether it be by choice or not, then we would still be on dial-up because not everywhere has broadband/dsl/cable, playing our text-based games because "not everyone has a super compooter" and eating garbage because "not everyone has enough money for fresh fruits and vegetables." It's like when the US announced it would be joining much of the rest of the world by switching to digital broadcast instead of analog, and thousands of people went nuts because they had to spend ten bucks (The boxes are 50, but everyone got a $40 voucher) on a converter box. What a bunch of crybabies.

Quoted for irony.

I can use specifically constructed traits and opinion veiled as fact to do that too. Watch. I think you'll find this quite shocking: Runescape - A taco 1. Provided by a company - Provided by a company. 2. Can be enjoyed by yourself or with a group - Can be enjoyed by yourself or with a group 3. Extra perks for cash - Extra toppings for cash 4. Token based reward system - punchcard based reward system 5. Grinding levels - Grinding beef 6. Choice between 23 skills - Choice of beef, chicken, or fish 7. Unbelievable amount of hype prior to release of new features - Unbelievable amount of hype prior to release of new tacos 8. NOT A SANDWICH - NOT A SANDWICH (BUT OCCASIONALLY A TOSTADA) *edit* 9. "death" means nothing (you can buy your stuff back) - "death" means nothing (If you drop your taco or it's not right you can get a new one) Need I say more? Hopefully now people will recognize the elephant in the room: Runescape is actually a taco. More importantly, Tacos rule.

I guess this is the textual equivalent of a ten year old throwing himself on the floor of a Walmart parking lot and flailing his arms around over a toy.

Yea, Jagex has said that Dungeoneering is a method that will allow you to gain experience in skills, but doing so outside of the dungeon will always be a faster method. [insert macro image with the werd fail on it cuz it makz me look klevur lololololol]

In most of Europe (England included) you have to have a legal reason to fire someone, it's not like the US where you can fire much more liberally. I doubt any heads will role, because that would probably be illegal. Wow, that's a bit ridiculous. If one of my employees sucked at their job I should be able to fire them to make room for a better employee. Durr hurr. Because this happened due to an employee who "sucked at his job." This was triggered by something that obviously was not apparent nor present in the testing. Much like how the Construction pvp glitch would have never been uncovered, because of the specific pre-requisites for the bug to show itself, there is no one at Jagex who could have possibly foreseen that Runecrafting would suddenly go ape[cabbage] and start spewing out millions of exp.

The only issue I'm having is that Jagex needs to optimize this like, yesterday. I've been booted back to the Java loading screen too many times to count at the message about 3D objects, and if it happens again someone is getting shot in the kidneys.