This is a piece that I wrote for my college work today - It's all about the current happenings in Runescape with the introduction of PVP Worlds - It's very long, just so you know.

 

 

 

The 15th of October, 2008 marks the day when Jagex finally listened to all the pures constantly rampaging around the message board and brought PVP worlds into the world, providing pures with new and exciting ways to get all their items plundered because they underestimated their prey, and then the obvious occurs - they complain to the uncaring public on the forums.

 

 

 

Somehow, I think that this isnt much of an improvement from what we had before, but hey, at least we actually have an excuse to laugh at their pain when they cry because their little money making scheme backfired, and we also have a fun new way to try PVP Combat without reintroducing Real-World-Trading, which resulted in the death of the old Wilderness. I tried this, and I have to admit, its a lot harder than I thought it would be - Ive had my face kicked in several times by people with weapons that no sane person would risk, and swarmed by pures in multi-combat areas like Falador. So, eventually, I decided to give up and go onto World 83, my homeworld, to raise some money to defray the cost of my lost items. My three best ways of making money are killing Ankous, collecting stuff from Miscelenia, and Woodcutting.

 

 

 

I think it goes without saying that I had had enough of combat for the day, after dying about twenty times that day already, and Miscelenia only takes 5 minutes of my time per day. Well, Woodcutting it is, then. I thought to myself. I got out my casual gear and Dragon Axe, and went to the Magic Tree grove near the base of the inattentive, scorpion-losing sorcerer to see if I could get at least a few logs.

 

However...There was NOT A SINGLE OTHER PERSON THERE. Any woodcutter worth his food seasoning would know that this is an incredibly unusual occurrence. And they stayed this way for a whole 45 minutes before a random woodcutting pure came to join me and mock my taste in headgear (I wear an Omni-Tiara most of the time, so what?).

 

 

 

Eventually I had literally accumulated 600 magic logs in that time - usually it would take twice the time to get that. So, I went to the Grand Exchange to sell my goods...And was utterly horrified to see there was literally only 5 other people at the most populated area of the game world.

 

 

 

What the hell was going on!?

 

 

 

It was then, when I looked at my freindlist, that I realised that practically all of the people who frequented this world were all battle-locked in the PVP world that I had left. This was pretty much exactly like when Summoning was released, only people were going to a different world entirely rather than just parking themselves in Pikupstixs house and trying to remove the oxygen with random yelling and flashing letters. I had never seen something like this before - it was as lonely and eerie as walking through a battlefield after the final blows were stuck, with just a few survivors dotted around.

 

 

 

Only, the battle was still raging on, just in a parallel world.

 

 

 

Its now been two weeks since that happened. People are starting to come back to this world, but still not nearly as many people as there used to be. See, World 83 is, strictly speaking, meant to be dedicated to the Duel Arena. For the uninitiated, the Duel Arena is a place where people can bet money on a fight between themselves and a friend/rival/victim/enemy, and could win the staked money for winning the battle. However...Think about it - the allure of bigger, better rewards for a higher risk, rather than just getting a (to them) measly 60k an hour on average, is probably somewhat hard to resist. Therefore, the combination of greed and an increased challenge, has resulted in the mass migration to the PVP world from World 83.

 

 

 

Of course, in some ways, this is actual beneficial to the average, jack-of-all-trades player such as myself. There are a lot of ways this has improved my gameplay recently, mostly to do with the usual crowds. For example - and this is personal experience, this may not apply for others by the time this makes it to print -

 

Jellies are completely abandoned. There is rarely more than one person at Ankous at any one time. The Mining, Crafting and Fishing guilds are all like ghost towns. Hell, even densely populated areas such as Piscatoris, Ardenouge and even VARROCK have had their crowds cut by about 40% at least. This has resulted in me being able to fish, mine, battle and thieve with relatively little competition.

 

 

 

Though, one has to wonder - How long will this golden era last?

 

 

 

We have to consider several factors here: Firstly - people who are into combat used to have to do trade skills, either to make money or resources for themselves. However - people are beginning to make money off the items looted from the corpses of the fallen in PVP worlds, so they could say Why should we bother?, Especially if they get a hold of one of the new PVP weapons, that impossibly sell for amounts in the eight digit range...But seriously, call me old fashioned here, but I dont want to spend 30 Million gold on a defective weapon, despite it having the best stats in the game. To paraphrase Ben Yhatzee Croshaw, theres something very wrong about a weapon that breaks in an hour, one that ostensibly isnt made out of glass or chocolate, and why do I forget how to use it on any world other than a PVP one? I know its PVP-orientated, but I still dont think the price tag matches up with its incredibly user-unfriendly nature. So, My point is, why would these people try to get money in the old conventional ways? This explains the lower concentration of skillers, but it also lowers the supply of certain essential goods like coal. Therefore, people who are desperate for it will offer high prices for it in the GE, and some of the remaining skillers will capitalise on this. This will cause prices to spiral upwards, making things harder and harder for skillers over time, because this change might cause the prices of other goods to fluctuate.

 

 

 

However, the flip side to this is the fact that some pures may freak out from the loss of items. This can result in them trying to level up their skills to get money back, which would result in more competition for resources. This could result in a new breed of skillers - ones who only do it so they can go back into the fray of the PVP worlds. This may also be completely against the so called Pure Code, but...I dont completely understand their reasoning with anything that they do. I mean, I get flamed for what they call Safeing - Im not certain what it means, but I believe it means healing when youre at high-ish health. What most pures fail to understand is that losing massive amounts of health in PTPPVP worlds in the blink of an eye is possible and common when youre attacked with the right things. Which brings me to my next point.

 

 

 

This so called War Economy shift has bumped up the price and demand of the WMDs of each side of the combat triangle. Melee WMDs include Dragon 2handed Swords, Abyssal Whip/DDS combos, Saradomin Swords, and of course, the almighty Godswords, But the latter two are mercifully rare to see on a PVP world. All of these weapons can deal damage quickly, especially against mages, and some of them can turn the tide of a battle in an instant. The best/worst thing about them is that they can be switched in battle - For example, I saw a random lvl 90 with a Dragon Longsword and no armour at one point, so I foolishly engaged him. However, to my horror, he then pulled out a Saradomin Godsword and Barrows armour and within four seconds I was on the floor with a hole where my face once was and none of my items because I was too surprised to activate my Protect Items prayer. So, I went to the bank, got my most powerful Slash/Crush resistant armour and re-engaged him. He must have been expecting this, however, because he brought out a full set of Ahrims Battlerobes and an Ancient Staff, and within seconds I was trapped in a block of ice, wondering where my 74HP had gone in those ten seconds.

 

 

 

As you may have noticed, these are the WMDs of magic - Ancienters. Being able to blind you, freeze you and drain your health, people with access to these spells are not to be taken lightly. However, some people use Modern Magic, and some people, provided theyre in a Multicombat zone, use Lunars for stuff like Potion Share, Vengeance and taunting. For example, there was a war going on between two teams of five people (that were both too high level to attack me, thankfully), and one team got destroyed by the other apart from one person. Three of the people of the winning team then randomly walked over to the survivor and surrounded him, used Lunar Magic to bake pies in front of him, then killed him. Unhelpful and random, but bloody hilarious.

 

 

 

Finally, theres Ranged. Theres two things that are very powerful, especially to mages. Firstly: The Seercull Bow. This has a special attack that cripples the victims magic level if it connects, which can bring Ancienters to a standstill, which gives the ranger time to move in for the kill while the mage scratches their head and fumbles with their spellbook to find a new spell.

 

Secondly, Armour Pierce Bolts. These can totally mess up people with metal armour if they hit - when they activate, they completely ignore the victims armour and defence. Very handy.

 

But theres one special kind of bolt that, whenever someone brings out a crossbow, people fear that its going to be their ammunition of choice. I am of course talking about DragonFire Bolts. These things are utterly, utterly deadly. Their construction is very expensive - firstly, they have to be made out of Runite, which obviously takes a high level to mine and smith, and then they have to be tipped with Dragonstone Bolts, which require you to be lucky or rich to get - economically speaking, they cost about 40k to get just 12 bolt tips. And you also need a medium-high level Mage to enchant them to bring out the fearsome magic in them...But its all worth it. The bolts are imbued with Dragon Breath, and anyone whos even been hit by that in Dragon Slayer or anywhere else without an Anti-Dragon or Dragonfire Shield will tell you it hurts. A lot. The damage these things can deal is utterly barbaric. Ive only been hit by one of these things before, but it was unfortunately by a lvl 99 Ranger.

 

 

 

And through the combination of the bolt and the fire cremating me, I took no less than 54 damage.

 

I am not even kidding.

 

 

 

The fact it happens so suddenly makes it almost impossible to defend against, and by the time youve eaten food to heal yourself, another bolt is probably flying in your direction, and if the fire activates on that one as well, youre more than a little done for. One of my friends, who wants to stay anonymous, lost his Saradomin Sword this way, because he was, like I was, too surprised to hit Protect Items before he was burnt to a crisp. 8 Million Gold down the drain.

 

The loss of valuable assets like this have actually been known to cause some people to quit the game altogether, but most of the time it will just result in them going to certain lengths to procure the money again, such as resource gathering. More competition in time.

 

 

 

So, this brings me back to my main point - How long will the good times roll for people who arent that much into combat? In my opinion...Not much longer...For the current methods, anyway. Like I have said, the prices are going up for Armour, Weaponry, Ammunition and consumable resources. So, this is what I think will happen in the near future.

 

 

 

Weaponry - All Runite weaponry will rise for F2P PVPers, the WMDs will increase too because of higher demand, and fletchers may find that Magic Shortbows will begin to sell to people other than Mages - People can effectively use those for PKing without too much tears if they lose them.

 

 

 

Armour - Again, Runite will rise, and Barrows Armour will increase too, especially Ahrims.

 

 

 

Ammunition - Chaoses will lower, Deaths and Bloods will rise. Several bolts will increase in price, mainly the ones mentioned earlier.

 

 

 

Food- Items with healing lower than Swordfish will decline because of lower efficiency, and items with higher restoration will increase in price. Items like Manta Rays and Tuna+Sweetcorn Baked Potatoes will increase further because it can negate the high damage people can deal better.

 

 

 

So in my opinion, it is probably a good idea for skillers like myself to capitalise on the war economy while it is in full swing, or try getting resources such as Magic Logs while they are easy to acquire, then sell them when the prices peak from the inflation that may be about to occur.

 

 

 

...Or you could mess with pures, regardless of any monetary loss, to watch them cry and hollowly call you a noob because of their own incompetence. Your choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There. What do you guys think on this matter?

i think has the non-fighting type, that it will benefit skillers like me finally been able to make money from other skillers apart from woodcutting, with weapons and armour having an upsurge in demand it is easier to make money from mining (even easier with not that many miners to out mine you because they are on pvp worlds) by either smithing the ores yourself or selling them to smithers. I think PVP worlds is proberly the best update ever has it gives us skillers the true power because its up to us wether or not we supply the pvpers in my opinion.

Well, I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying what i beleive will happen.

Now that was a good read. =D>

Thank you =P

Very nice essay, thoroughly enjoyed reading it. You should post up some more essays if you get the time. :thumbup:

Yaknow, im actually considering doing that - if there's another good update that causes some sort of impact to RS, I'll do another. heck, i might even do this thing monthly =P

I stopped reading haft-way through, its a bunch of pointless ramblings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you write about runescape for your college work. Honestly, thats pretty pathetic >.> Lol, I wonder how the teacher is going to react. My money's on "wtf?"

No need to be a jerk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great read :)

I stopped reading haft-way through, its a bunch of pointless ramblings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you write about runescape for your college work. Honestly, thats pretty pathetic >.> Lol, I wonder how the teacher is going to react. My money's on "wtf?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd say if you honestly believe people talk like "wtf?" in real life, that's pathetic. As far as writing about runescape for college work, I'd do it...if you are very familiar with something it makes writing an essay on it a thousand times easier, and probably more enjoyable. But of course writing about the economic issues in some foreign country nobody's ever heard of, and frankly nobody that's going to read it cares about, is less pathetic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anywho, I enjoyed it, it's always interesting to get a point of view from someone with a different perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. - If the crowds start to come back to regular worlds, just hop on to a pvp world and most of the skilling spots are completely empty, especially later at night (U.S. time)...as of right now there are 6 worlds with under 60 players and another with only 74...and I can guarantee most of those are in or near a bank.

Jump on the bandwagon!!!! Make as much money as you can by skilling the items needed for pvp and make some decent money off of this craze and get ready for the next update.btw if you go to a certain place i know where a lobby goes for 1.5k each pm me for great bargains

Pretty nice, but...

 

 

 

Pures won't skill. Pretty simple.

 

 

 

Also, the reason you don't see SS in fights is because they are the same as whip, except 2h, and can train str. Its much more expensive.

 

 

 

And about the surcull bow. Its special is really overrated. For one, hitting with it isin't that common. Plus, mages don't just have the leel REQs for the spell they are using.

 

 

 

Plus, if you arn't using your special with a DDS or DBS, you are pretty much dead anyways.

 

 

 

The dragonfire bolt is also overrated. Sure you CAN hit with dragon breath, but the chances are minuscule. I wouldn't be surprised if it's special activated in maybe 1 in 50 hits. Getting two in a row is unheard of. But with the GS and DDS, 54 damage really isin't anything.

 

 

 

Also, I disagree about the economy going up. I actually belive the opposite. Because you cannot actually "PK", as all the worlds are full with 1,3,4, safers, pj, and teams, its pointless. The market is being FLOODED with these items, as pures are once again going into "hibernation" in wait for a fix. Recently, the prices of Super sets increased. You can now buy the potions at lowest price. I got a whip in 3 seconds at lowest.

 

 

 

In either case, I think pures benefit. The market is still up, even though it is declining.

Very well written.

extremely well written! I think that the efect is major. I bought full rune for pvp since I don't wanna walk around in my zammy. Sold it 2 weeks later and got a 40k profit. That was nice but I think that the game will have less new high leveled players since they cannot get rune as cheap. I bought my rune a million years ago for 165k. Back in the days when people at school would buy 1 mil for 3.50$. Ya they wasted like 50 dollars each on those sites and then quit.

That was a very good essay. I personally, lost money by investing in sharks, but that was probably more to do with my feeble merchanting skills and negligable ineterst in the game than antything else.

Pretty nice, but...

 

 

 

Pures won't skill. Pretty simple.

 

 

 

Well, I just proved you wrong.

Pretty nice, but...

 

 

 

Pures won't skill. Pretty simple.

 

 

 

Well, I just proved you wrong.

 

 

 

Um...how so?

Pretty nice, but...

 

 

 

Pures won't skill. Pretty simple.

 

 

 

Well, I just proved you wrong.

 

 

 

Um...how so?

 

 

 

I just skilled with my pure.

Then its not a pure.

 

 

 

Pures are ones who specialize in combat only, and go out to PK. As much as we want to deny it, almost all pures recieve "funding" from their mains. Sure, there are others that use their pures to skill, but then its really not a pure.

Then its not a pure.

 

 

 

Pures are ones who specialize in combat only, and go out to PK. As much as we want to deny it, almost all pures recieve "funding" from their mains. Sure, there are others that use their pures to skill, but then its really not a pure.

 

 

 

That's a pretty weak insult.

Then its not a pure.

 

 

 

Pures are ones who specialize in combat only, and go out to PK. As much as we want to deny it, almost all pures recieve "funding" from their mains. Sure, there are others that use their pures to skill, but then its really not a pure.

 

I skill on my pure, your stupid if you dont, im lvl 70 with 99 range and 36m bank and never had to xfer anything due to my 83 hunter.

Excellent essay. Certainly explains why a lot of the usual skilling areas have been deserted, to put it lightly.