Tip.It Times Presents: The Plight of the Safe Spot

[Wizz]

Eh it was an ok Article

[Earth_Poet]

Interesting article.

 

 

 

People don't use safespots when ranging or maging because they are cowards. They use them because it makes logical sense within the game. If you wish to train range for a lengthy time it makes sense to find an efficient and safe strategy.

 

 

 

I didn't even know safespots were disappearing because of graphical updates. It does seem like a big issue because that can alter some players' style and strategy of playing.

 

 

 

The downside of using safespots is that you really are at the mercy of a limited number of monsters. There's a balance between being courteous and competitive, just like most other aspects of this game. It's not only meleers. I've had other safespot users try to muscle in and take control of the very spot I'm in! If there's room to share I try to stay out of the way. If it's crowded, or if I was there first, I'm defending my turf and it's every player for themselves.

[Fey_Warrior]

 

It may be a game flaw, but how else are rangers and mages supposed to fight? The purpose of both styles is distance, and there's really no other way to do this other than safespots. Especially since, from what I recall, range and mage armor isn't particularly effective against melee attacks.

 

 

 

And to those who claim the article is poorly written; few, if any, of the posts here are more well-written than the article itself. Think about that.

For those who say it's a bug for Rangers this omits the fact Jagex recommends Rangers use of safe-spots in the Game Guide:

 

How do I train my Ranged skill?

Remember, you have the ability to attack your opponent from a distance. Think creatively! When possible, use fences, gates and obstacles to your advantage. You will gain a greater advantage over your opponent by doing so, especially when fighting melee opponents.

 

and

 

Ranged - The Basics

The most accomplished rangers will use the terrain to gain an advantage over an enemy, as they are relatively weak in hand-to-hand combat.

 

So safe spots are a part of the game for anyone who intends to use range, as an effective combat style, and changes to them are an issue for players whose primary combat skill is ranged or for that matter magic.

 

 

 

Obviously, which spots and where Jagex did not specify, so it's likely they will be changed whenever the advantage is considered too great, or else they didn't intend for that safe spot in a particular position in the first place.

[snefru0]

Grrr! To write an article and present it for publication takes a good deal of courage. I am not sure, but I believe it may have been her first try. Thanks to all the offensive and downright cruel responses I wouldn't blame the brave souls who write these articles to stop and let you do without. If you dont like an article maybe try and do better yourself?

 

 

 

This site is free... It is run by volunteers. Be polite and show them some respect.

[Sunli]

 

There have been 23 replies in this thread, three of which concerned safespots and the rest on the writing style. I agree that personal attacks are unneccessary, however.

 

 

 

 

 

Which is sad, this is a discussion thread about content...Not the authors writing style.

 

 

 

Some are to dense to understand that -.- There will always be people who so desperately wants attention that they jump on any occasion to criticise an article or a post so they can emphasize how smart and clever they are. Well they have the abilities and skills to recognize good spelling and grammar dont they? :lol:

 

 

 

Lenin expressed my thoughts about that nicely:

 

 

 

 

And to those who claim the article is poorly written; few, if any, of the posts here are more well-written than the article itself. Think about that.

 

 

 

But lets not forget why we are here:

 

 

 

 

 

I also liked the article very much - mostly because I often use safespots when ranging, and like Turtle, I also need places for my litle neeb to train safely.

 

 

 

I must say, I like the way Jagex sometimes remove safespots and make new ones that we have to find our selfs. The game should be challenging and new! Safespots at waterfiends, at demons or at dragons; I love testing out where my neeblet can stand next time she has the urge to range or mage!

 

 

 

Some hate safespots and call them cowards hide-aways, I like to call them good strategy :

 

 

 

 

It may be a game flaw, but how else are rangers and mages supposed to fight? The purpose of both styles is distance, and there's really no other way to do this other than safespots. Especially since, from what I recall, range and mage armor isn't particularly effective against melee attacks.

[stormveritas]

Very nice, pleasantly concise article.

 

 

 

Of the killing arts, range is definitely my favorite. I enjoyed this article and can definitely relate to it - very frustrating to gear up to range and find your precious safe spot obliterated by a graphical update.

 

 

 

As per the criticism, I think it's an unfortunate byproduct of living in the "everything sucks" era.

 

 

 

For whatever reason, people think they appear more cutting edge and "selective" by simply refusing to commit to enjoying anything. Music, movies, comedy acts, and people in general are attacked as a result - a true echo of the cowardice in our society.

 

 

 

After all, if you -don't- like something and it ends up being generally heralded as popular, then you simply appear "picky". If you do commit to liking something that is then frowned on by the public, it opens you up the risk of being labeled :gasp: uncool.

 

 

 

Case study example #1 is comedian Dane Cook. He was for three years the fastest growing, popular, wildly sought after comedy acts in the world. He was leapfrogging to movies, selling out arenas, and becoming no less than a household name.

 

 

 

What happened? Very simple. Radio DJs and disgruntled comedians went out of their way to attack how unfunny they thought he was (which I'm sure had nothing to do with the implicit jealousy reserved for someone wildly more successful than you in your career) and *boom*, all the same people who were buying his CDs and T-Shirts suddenly were put off by this garish, boring, unfunny comedian.

 

 

 

Same thing here. The article doesn't suck at all, but it's a hell of a lot easier to say it does than to have the balls to admit to enjoying it and see other people disagree with you.

[danelennon]

I hadn't actually noticed that any had disappeared and so it doesn't particularly bother me. As long as none of the safe spots that I use disappear then I don't care :P I'm selfish like that.

[Armadyllo]

Granted, it's hard for a ranger/mage to train EXCEPT at safe spots, and even Jagex recommends it. There are relatively few places where they've set up tables or fences to help rangers, such as the dwarf beer hall under White Wolf or the Lathas training camp. I still hate doing it, though. It's bizarre to have a major feature of combat training depend solely on the inability of a monster to navigate around a rock.

 

 

 

It's a short article. That doesn't mean it needs to be longer unless the author's got more stuff to say on the topic. Frankly, it's fine as it is. Maybe I'd have been more interested in reading a lengthy article about game design or current player concerns instead, but we can hardly blame the author for being interested in combat training!

 

(Before anyone tells me to go write my own article, y'all had plenty enough of mine already, and this author's far less verbose.)

[SirHartlar]

"Ooh that was terrible"

 

"Wasn't written good at all"

 

"Not good at all"

 

etc

 

 

 

Ok then. Next week we are going to have a Guest article from Sir_Hartlar. Then one from everyone else who bagged this article. If you aren't happy with it, then go and write one yourself. And it better be good. I think this was a pretty good article, even better then a few The_Editor wrote. But since no one knows who the editor is, no one ever bags out his articles. It just seems that because it is a Guest Writer everyone feels the need to add in their 2 cents and say how they can do a way better job.

 

 

 

I would quite happily write one for the Tip.it Times if I could find a good topic to carve from and develop a talking point. It would give me a chance to adapt my writing style for the Forum audience, and even if I got mostly negative replies at least it gives me a chance to reflect on what I did wrong. You can try and make me look like a bad guy all you like, I simply gave my opinion on an article I personally didn't feel was good, which is perfectly within the forum rules.

[Huta]

I didn't like it. The subject covered and the style it was presented in didn't hold attention. While I'm no literary critic, something about the article just didn't convey well.

 

 

 

Seriously, I just didn't like it. No [cabbage] about bandwagons either.

 

 

 

And you know what's funny? Watching various TET members jump on people because they dared to go against the PC flow on these boards and say that the article sucked. If you don't want negative responses, don't release something in public. If you don't want to be judged on your singing ability, don't join American Idol. If you don't want people to discuss your writing, don't post it on international web boards. Amazingly simple.

 

 

 

Ok then. Next week we are going to have a Guest article from Sir_Hartlar. Then one from everyone else who bagged this article. If you aren't happy with it, then go and write one yourself. And it better be good. I think this was a pretty good article, even better then a few The_Editor wrote. But since no one knows who the editor is, no one ever bags out his articles. It just seems that because it is a Guest Writer everyone feels the need to add in their 2 cents and say how they can do a way better job.

 

 

 

Interesting to see how this forum's view of "open discussion" is limited between between "stay positive" and "don't dare say your true opinion". :

 

 

 

The only people I see on bandwagons here are several various unnamed people from the Tip.It staff and TET that refuse to accept the fact that people actually have individual tastes and opinions that don't always reflect their own.

[klankaos]

Huta, there's nothing wrong with not liking the article. What I'm getting out of the people who are saying stuff like that is that you should, if you're going to say you didn't like it, at least provide a little bit of C/C for the author in your post. Don't just tell him the article was crap, tell him how the article could not be crap.

[Rollyboy]

Some mid-high level monsters in f2p have lost their safe spots. Even in areas where players should logically be able to range/mage over an obstacle (e.g. Ice warriors where you mine blurite - use to be able to safespot over the rocks). That's why trained most of my ranged/magic levels in p2p or I'd be stuck with the low level monsters f2p.

 

 

 

For those of you who use melee as your primary form of combat, please keep in mind that in a room of NPC's, only few are targets for those who use safe spots. Be courteous of each other and enjoy the journey of experience and loot

 

 

 

I couldn't agree with you more. If there are the same monsters in a room, then it would respectful to go for the other non-safable ones. But if it's a single monster in a room then other factors would come into play; such as who got there first, if other worlds are full (in other words competition) etc ... then depending on the situation it's fair game.

 

I don't think Vhellcat meant "If there is a ranger let them train and you have to leave". That would be silly.

 

 

 

But I have to say, when it comes to training very, very, very few RuneScape players are courteous.

 

 

 

I think Jagex should put in (or think about) more safe spots. There are a lot of areas/monsters that are not used at all. This would ease up other areas and put old areas into good use.

[fire737]

Not the best but a good read nuntheles.

[mikeg0477]

I'm a melee guy, so safe spots don't mean much to me. Ok article, though. :|

[pokemama]

I hate training range. (1) it's interminably slow and (2) there weren't enough safe spots *before* Jagex started removing them. If not for Fubai's guide, I would never range at all.

 

 

 

It feels easier to acquire food (fishing) to supplement melee than it is to mine ore, smith bolt tips and fletch arrows for the ~25% loss rate. Ranger armour doesn't protect well, and the whole point of ranging is to attack from a distance. How does that work if the monster walks right up to you?

 

 

 

A Jagex poll showed that some people dislike training magic due to the expense of consumables (runes). Both rangers and mages need safe spots. If they don't want to neglect these parts of the combat triangle, Jagex needs to provide a reasonable amount of places to train them.

 

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

*** Disclaimer: This post represents only my personal opinions and not Tip.It ***

 

 

 

I don't want to keep this conflict going, but ... some people have stated that it's only TET and staff that object to opinions. You may not be perceiving the big picture. The people objecting to the pointless and unproductive criticism HAVE VOLUNTEERED and given up their own personal RL time to entertain you, or to provide events, or to keep this forum and website going, and have gotten complaints and crap for it, lol.

 

 

 

If you don't like the writing styles seen in the Times - don't read it. It's already hard to find writers for the Times, and you lot persecuting them doesn't make it better. People write for a while and then quit. It's *hard* to write an article - try it yourself and see. Submit your own article and find out what it's like to put up with armchair quarterbacks who don't take risks themselves.

Dude. They're not using the internet to exercise their freedom of speech.

 

They're using the internet to exercise their freedom from being punched in the mouth. -http://www.userfriendly.org

Would you be happier if the Times feature was discontinued? It's not my department in any way - I'm speaking as a user only. But frankly I don't know why the involved staff hasn't gotten tired of putting up with this kind of "cabbage".

 

 

 

Nobody asked for critiques of the article. The intent is to discuss Runescape - that's the purpose of our General forum. Maybe in the Varrock Library they want literary critiques (I don't know), but I see no productive purpose for them here. Discuss the subject of the article - safe spots and Jagex. That's where the focus should be.

 

 

 

*** Disclaimer: This post represents only my personal opinions and not Tip.It ***

[killerbeer0]

I, personally, find safespotting to be quite simple. I haven't noticed a lack of good spots around if you're resourceful enough. To be completely honest you can safespot nearly anything, anywhere.

 

 

 

And if I can't safespot a slayer task very well (jellies grrrrr, the one spot is rubbish) I melee it, can't [bleep] about free xp eh?

[Pron00b]

I don't understand why ppl are bashing the topic rather than discussing it either. Most of the topics for the past 2 months have been about the economy and there were even a few topics that seemed almost identical. This weeks topic is interesting due to the controversial nature of safe spots.

 

I've been against the idea of safespots from the beginning. I could never understand why it made sense for a dragon to be unable go around a rock/stalagmite.

 

And as for the respect that people using safe spots apparently deserve. I respectdully disagree. Sure if it doesnt slow me down ill let a ranger/mage hav the monster they're after but I dont see why people think they automatically should get sole acess to a monster just because they're using a safespot? They r technically abusing the poor pathfinding of npcs and it's not like they dont hav an advantage already. Why should we that use melee sacrifice our time to make their already easy task even easier? And I've run into some rather disrespectiful rangers/mages as well.

[rdizle]

:thumbdown: if you cant stand getting hit for 3 more damage you don't need a safe spot but it is annoying in the fight caves

[Sunli]

I don't understand why ppl are bashing the topic rather than discussing it either. Most of the topics for the past 2 months have been about the economy and there were even a few topics that seemed almost identical. This weeks topic is interesting due to the controversial nature of safe spots.

 

I've been against the idea of safespots from the beginning. I could never understand why it made sense for a dragon to be unable go around a rock/stalagmite.

 

And as for the respect that people using safe spots apparently deserve. I respectdully disagree. Sure if it doesnt slow me down ill let a ranger/mage hav the monster they're after but I dont see why people think they automatically should get sole acess to a monster just because they're using a safespot? They r technically abusing the poor pathfinding of npcs and it's not like they dont hav an advantage already. Why should we that use melee sacrifice our time to make their already easy task even easier? And I've run into some rather disrespectiful rangers/mages as well.

 

 

 

I must disagree with you. The combat triangle; magers, rangers and meleers is a concept made by the game-developers. As another user here already mentioned, this is what Jagex them self says how you should plan your tactics when ranging or maging:

Remember, you have the ability to attack your opponent from a distance. Think creatively! When possible, use fences, gates and obstacles to your advantage. You will gain a greater advantage over your opponent by doing so, especially when fighting melee opponents.

[Armadyllo]

Sure they recommend it; if they gave bad training advice they'd look really silly. (It happens.)

 

 

 

It's still a weird game feature that you can shoot at a terrifying monster from around a small rock and the monster doesn't have the sense to run away or step around the rock. If my first sighting of RuneScape was watching someone "having fun online" by spending the afternoon shooting at respawning monsters in complete safety by standing behind a fence, I'd come away with a rather bad impression of the gameplay. As a long-established feature of a long-established game, it's fine. We don't mind that it hinges on limited route-finding; it's just the way the game works.

[frogact]

Regardless of what anyone thinks about safe spots, the design of this game requires them. I've always thought it a little strange that a dragon can't step over a small pile of human bones and that a giant is too dumb to walk around a table, but because of the way this game is made, range and mage(in combat) can not be trained as efficiently as melee without the use of safe spots which brings imbalance. In other games it is possible to range a creature from a distance with a character that is agile enough to dodge attacks. In other games mages are powerful enough to kill something from a distance and finish it before it reaches them with a melee attack. That is not the case in runescape.

 

 

 

A few posts back level 86 ranger said that he never uses safe spots. I'd very much like to know how you did that. Did you range cows for 5 years?

 

 

 

Lastly, when I began to read this topic I was completely disgusted by the rude treatment of the author. Then I realized that those comments are likely coming from people who have nothing of any real value to say about the topic up for discussion but must hear themselves say something. so...I decided to cut them slack for being socially disabled and not flame them all to hell which is what they deserve. How's that for anger management?

 

 

 

I admire your bravery, kittyKat, and appreciate the time you spend to better this community. I wish more people would follow your example. I hope you keep writing!

[Huta]

Although I never ranged much compared to my other combat skills, I hated safespotting. I always use valuable arrows/knives. Got most of early ranged levels tanking hobgoblins and ghouls for champion scrolls.

[Exploit]

Read was short but to the point. Didn't realize alot of spots were taken out with the graphics changes since I've been away :/

[Contagiouz]

I liked reading this article, mostly cause I like ranging THIS much :P

 

Anyway, I use safespots whenever I can, especially when training Slayer. Makes a trip last longer, eh :)

 

I hope not too many safespots have disappeared but I don't mind, the graphical update was :thumbup:

 

Safespots & Ranged FTW.