Do we place too much emphasis on combat level?

[Smokie]

Ever since I started back in Nov. 2001, I've noticed that people always judge you by your combat level. Back then, you couldn't see a person's combat level, so everyone would lie and say they were 70 combat, and the only way to tell if they were telling the truth would be the hiscores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back then the hiscores only showed the top 2,500 players in any one skill. Yeah.. Not that I'm trying to give a history lesson or something lol. :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so basically my question is -- Do we judge people too much by their combat level? We'll call someone a n00b if they're level 3 combat. I see level 3 combats in the Mining Guild all the time. Most of them are rune miners, but people still call them n00bs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why? What's so important about combat that we call someone a n00b without ever taking the time to see how much experience they have with the game and how good their other stats are?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sure, combat is good for fighting and killing things, but there's a lot more to RuneScape than that. Okay, a lot of quests require a high combat level, but a lot of quests don't either. And a lot of quests require high level skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skills make your money too. You can get quite a bit of money from combat too, if you have 99 strength :wink:, so why do we say combat defines how n00bly or not-n00bly a person is?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(sorry.. sort of repeated the same thing over and over :lol:)

[punk4ever]

Well, they judge you by your combat level mainly because it's the only thing you can see. People won't look you up on highscores every time you pass by because that's too much of a hastle. The higher combat you are shows people your dedication to the game and how much you've probably played. That's my opinion :P

[goten_trunks]

maybe cuz alot of those level 3s are autominers :roll:

[monkeybud1]

Well like punk said all we see is combat and most ppl dont take the time to look everyone up on the highscores

[vmser]

maybe cuz alot of those level 3s are autominers :roll:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You got a point there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other then that, I used to care more about skill total then combat lvl, but its nice to have a high combat level to go with it (or to represent it).

[S1acker]

yep, now judgement seems to be passed mainly based on combat level.

 

 

 

People used to respect overall stats a lot more back in 2001

[chen_tha_man]

if they wear iron and bonze at lvl 30, i do

[Creaphis]

Combat level is the best representation of how long a person has been playing Runescape, and how experienced they are. Skill total would be a better representation, but that doesn't show, so combat level is just what people go by.

[S1acker]

plus server status probably gave more fame to skill total players then the high scores do nowadays

[funny_fell0w]

but u can have high skill total with a lv 3 character too.. i have a friend whose skill total is 500+ but with lv 3 character..

[buffrichie]

its becaue they cna kill more people

[Circle]

You can see combat level. If we could look up a person's stats or skill total, maybe they would be considered more while people judge someone.

[Smokie]

I understand that, but I'm not saying so much as judging by skill total rather than combat as I'm saying do we think more lowly of people with lower combat? Do we respect them less because of that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just wonder if we think of a person as less of a .. person if they have a lower combat level.. Given, most noobs are irritating beyond belief these days, begging for everything and working for nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it because of these level 7's who are ruining our days that we hate anyone of a lesser level? Automatically consider them dumber? I think a large part of the problem is that most of the level 7's who are begging a lot and telling you to "suck it" after you don't give them items are 7 year old little boys. :?

[runesmithie]

wnana know something funny?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a mindset of the higher combat lvl the older you are... there fore lvl 3 are equivilent to 5 yearolds/... I know its not true, but I can't help it...

[Guest]

I focus more on skill total

[Erinwolfrus]

Combat level is the best representation of how long a person has been playing Runescape, and how experienced they are. Skill total would be a better representation, but that doesn't show, so combat level is just what people go by.

 

 

 

I agree. Plus, you get items by killing monsters. The better you can kill= The better items you can obtain.

[stevepole]

i judge ppl on what they ask....or what there armor is to see if there skills are high to buy good stuff

[slimysteve]

yeah for my skill total i hav a low combat.... so i seem more of a noob than i actually are. So now im gonna train combat, because it "represents you"

[hell1234]

i think that since the combat lvl is all we see most ppl dont look at highscores so they just judge u on that lvl

[lonelynight]

i judge people on how they phrase words usually

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

like if they call me HEY 75 (lvl being my current lvl) i'll tend to ignore them or be mean for once :)

[Korskin]

I don't like fighting very much, therefore I'm not a very good fighter and I don't like to be judged by my combat lvl. It's not something I care about a lot, but it would be nice if you could choose another to skill to display. But if it's not supposed to be an optional thing, I can understand why Jagex chose to display combat and not some other skill such as woodcutting or similar.

[Thehumongus]

We judge by combat level because we have no other in-game ability by which to judge. That does not necessarily make it a good indicator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have always wanted the ability to 'examine' other players, just like we can with npc's. We could see a very short description of the character, followed by the skill total. Of course combat levels would still remain by 'mousing over' the character.

[jafnn]

yeah they do, they used to call me " ******* noob" now i leveled 10 combat levels and now the same sort of people call me a " ******* kill stealer" :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes i think we take to much notice of combat lvls, att first sight I myself even consider ppl whit non red or orange collors for there combat lvl to be lower leveled (not combat alone) players than me (even if they heve the same combat) :oops:

[Luva_coldone]

lets not kid ourselves ... the theme is medieval england ..its warlike ..its survival of the strongest .. the game is also built around developing skills to assist, ..ie crafting and cooking..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but ultimately, its your ability to fight is the measure of prowess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lol, hope u found this as funny as i did to type it

[Centuramage]

to give a bit of anecdotal evidence...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I 1st started my newest character, Centuramage, I decided to raise my mining 1st and keep my level a bit low so i could mine in the wildy without fear of being pked...So i created a tankmage that was level 22 and raised my mining up to 85...i was often called "n00b" and such even though not only was it my 4th character, it was also not quite a n00b character, just had a low combat level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We do put alot of emphasis on combat level and though that angers me, i think it's because it's the 1st impression we get of the RS character.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we scroll a mouse over a character, we see their name and their level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A higher combat level clearly indicates some kind of work having being done on that character whereas a lower combat level does not indicate anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, it seems that users associate low combat levels with the antithesis of high combat levels, assuming they've done no work at all, and this is simply not the case.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today i am level 81, nearly 82 in combat, and though this is not phenomenal by any stretch of the word, i do get my fair share of begging from people who assume that as a high level, i should be rich, even though i am in relatively poor financial standing for my level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some also assume that with a high level comes maturity, and let me assure you, i've found mature players in single digit levels and mature players in triple digit levels and i've found "n00bs" in both as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes no maturity, age, or skill at all to actually play RS, just an amount of time and a finger to click the mouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, i'm sure my plea falls on deaf ears as this one post will not change the RS community at all. there are simply too many people and it has gone on for simply too long to be worth it to most to make a difference in this behavior. so i'll stop this post here.