Training most skills is useless

[Deltaer]

Can anyone tell me what the point of training most skills is nowadays? Besides the quest reqs, which really only take most skills up to 60... is there a point at going beyond?

 

 

 

With the introduction of the g/e, specialization has become the key. You only need one money maker skill (maybe two; can get boring sticking with only one skill for money) to sustain your character and become rich. Why? Because it's so easy to transfer your items into cash nowadays, and to acquire any item you need through the g/e.

 

 

 

Before.. let's say if you were doing a quest.. you would have to gather the items yourself (e.g. make a mithril bar).. because there was no efficient way of trading. Going to world 2 and trying to get that single mith bar would take forever (most people sell in bulk), and the hassle wouldn't be worth it. So you needed smithing back then. But now, you really don't.. you go to the g/e, and buy that mith bar within seconds.

 

 

 

So, there is NO point in training other skills past the 60ish quest-req-mark. In fact, doing so is economically efficient, and more costly to you!.. unless you like to take your total skill level.. but again, it is inefficient looking at it from an economic viewpoint.

 

 

 

I think herblore is a cool skill... and I've really been meaning to take it up from my lousy lvl 52, but really, there's no point. The herbs cost more than the potions, so even if you were gathering the herbs yourself, it would be more profitable to just sell them off... and again, the point of a higher herblore lvl is? If I can just go to the g/e and buy the pots I need instantly.. there really is no point. And looking at it from an even broader perspective, why waste time training herblore when I can focus on one of my moneymakers and make money that way? Turns out that training the skill is just way too costly (not just talking in gp terms, but thinking very much of opportunity cost).

 

 

 

So that's one example of a useless skill.. combat seems to be the best money maker (e.g. Avansies, green dragons, boss hunting etc.) and if you stick to killing higher lvl monsters, it will always make you the most money... so really, I've got my money maker skill, and I cant motivate myself to train the other useless skills out there.

 

 

 

Anyone else feel the same way?

[Great_one]

All of that is true now, but you are loosing the most basic point of the game! To have fun! Some people like myself find it fun to train 24 different skills, and to level them all up to level 70 or w/e your goal is. There is also accomplishment still in this game that isn't a 99, such as getting ranked in all(or a specific rank) getting all skills to a certain level, and even getting your total to that next landmark.

[Ezz]

Yep, I feel the same. But it's a new era. And as you said, that kind of creates "specialization" in the game, which is kind of an RPG thing. Could be a good thing in some ways. The newbs might start playing in different ways than we do (like not training certain skills, only for quest reqs, etc.).

 

 

 

But yeah, it sort of feels boring :?

[Siobhana]

Well, if to want to look at ut cynically there is absolutely no point in even playing RS. Beside the fact that we find it fun. For me personally I like training skills because I have a weird thing about watching numbers increase. In my way of playing you could say there's no "point" in going on a pvp world and killing other players (which I never do), but for others that's the main reason they play.

 

 

 

To each her own, whether it be skilling, questing, gathering money or items or pvp'ing :P

[No_99_Melee]

I agree with you... It seems that today the only reason to train a skill is to see it at level 99 and to be able to say "Oooooh pretty cape". Lots of people do it for the recognition of the skill level as well...

 

 

 

No one really trains skills because they have to in order to do something. They just do it if they're bored and have nothing better to do.

[Deltaer]

All of that is true now, but you are loosing the most basic point of the game! To have fun! Some people like myself find it fun to train 24 different skills, and to level them all up to level 70 or w/e your goal is. There is also accomplishment still in this game that isn't a 99, such as getting ranked in all(or a specific rank) getting all skills to a certain level, and even getting your total to that next landmark.

 

 

 

I understand that.. but for me, it's not exactly fun grinding skills that will not help me in anyway during the game. And I don't care much for total skill level. I look at the game from an economic perspective. If it's costly to train some skills, I won't do it (unless it's for a quest req).. I'd rather have a few extra million xp in my bank to use on skills that I actually care about (e.g. summoning and prayer are costly), than to use it on a skill that I'll probably never use for added benefit again (like I said, my moneymaker is combat).

 

 

 

My highest non-combat skill is.. fishing, lvl 81.. I've only taken it up one level since I came back to the game a few months ago. With the g/e, there's no point anymore. As buying monks/sharks from the g/e is less costlier for me than actually fishing them on my own.

 

 

 

So really, I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to train any skill but combat, which kind of sucks.

 

 

 

Yep, I feel the same. But it's a new era. And as you said, that kind of creates "specialization" in the game, which is kind of an RPG thing. Could be a good thing in some ways. The newbs might start playing in different ways than we do (like not training certain skills, only for quest reqs, etc.).

 

 

 

Well actually, specialization is a real-world thing.. It just completely defeats the purpose of all these skills in runescape.. which is a negative we got with the g/e.

[Dragonlordjl]

Such is the reason I have 142m total exp and 89% of that is combat-based. The point of training skills is to gain experience and total levels... Both of which I couldn't care less about. You don't unlock anything interesting past around 1/4 of the experience required for 99, and what is even worse is that with most skills, the best methods of training are low-leveled! That means that with most skills, you are stuck competing with thousands of other players because the high level methods do not give enough experience to justify the time involved in using those methods. Furthermore, most skills COST money, and with the resource-gathering skills like mining/fishing/wcing, you can accumulate wealth much more quickly with combat than you can with any of those skills.

[Kenshinjapan]

Playing runescape is useless...The point is to have fun

[Deltaer]

I don't think people understand what I'm really touching at here.

 

 

 

I'm not debating whether playing RS or not is useless. I believe just as long as you have fun, there is a point to it!

 

 

 

I do find RS enjoyable.. so I don't find the game pointless. I find certain aspects of the game pointless. Because combat is the most efficient way to build your character, I find other "moneymaker" skills useless.. or if you don't like combat, and have another moneymaker, that still makes the rest of the skills useless.. because all you need is one or two skills to play the game efficiently and effectively.

 

 

 

So my problem is that huge portions of the game have turned out to be useless; in the sense that they are too costly, with no added benefit for training the certain skills.

 

 

 

So the game seems to have a million things to do in it, but really, when you think about it, it's kind of small.. I don't find it fun to do things that are costly to my character, which include most of the skills in the game. It's just not smart!

[Lunar_Drifter]

Most of the features of real life are useless. For example, why bother with working when you can win the lottery? It's economically inefficient to spend time cleaning your house when you can hire someone to do it for you while you do something else that is economically efficient, such as working and earning money. I mean, most of the features of real life are pointless if you focus on one or two things to make yourself successful.

 

 

 

 

Now that's only one perspective. Who defines monetary gain as efficient? In regards to your topic, not everyone plays to be economically efficient. There's a Rate This! thread where the character has never made a trade in his entire lifespan. That is severely below efficient, yet it works for him.

 

 

 

Looking at it with disregard for personal playing style and only addressing what you're discussing- yes, everything is pretty much obsolete. There's no point in training skills other than to say "I have this level. I can do such and such." Boss hunting is the best money maker period; it's not consistent like RC might be, but it works. If you boss hunt (GWD, corp) for the same amount of time as you make money another way, boss hunting will probably come out on top.

 

 

 

Now, if everyone had that mind set, boss hunting would be worthless as the supply would exceed the demand by far and crash the prices, making other forms of money making the best.

 

 

 

Basically, it's all about diversity. People do what they enjoy and that balances out the economy. Period.

 

 

 

You stated a fact and asked for our opinion on it. There's no arguing what you said, at all. All you're going to get on this thread is posts that either a) take your topic 100% literally and say "well if that's so, then playing RS is useless to" or B) talk about "playing to enjoy" which is not even on topic.

[Lielac]

Why do we do the complete money-drain skills?

 

 

 

1. So we can show off.

 

2. Because it's fun.

 

3. Because we have WAY TOO MUCH MONEY from doing the producer skills.

[Gigatiran]

This post is pointless and has been overstated one too many times. Even if there are no benefits to training a skill past a certain point, some people like the skill, some people want 99, some people want 200m xp. It's all up to what you wanna do, if you don't like training certain skills, don't. It's a game, have fun with it, I think too many people have forgotten to have fun.

[Maleficus1055]

I train skills because I like the feeling of accomplishment. If I like the skill its fun and I feel pretty good after I reach a goal. If i despise a skill and achieve a goal, I feel amazing, so its great.

[Pie Naple]

Tbh i just like the feeling of accomplishment when i level a skill up. For example, a couple of weeks ago i got all skills 70+. I also got 80 summoning two days ago at 119 combat..Don't see many people with summoning that high with lower cb. I think it's just about the idea of doing something and feeling proud of it. There really is no point playing rs for anything but fun (unless of course you plan to train accounts up to sell or whatever those people do)

[Toad]

Most of community is diverse now, some want to be a pure, some want to be skillers, some want even stats, some hate certain stats, some have high combat rubbish stats.

 

 

 

Up to you what you want to do, so many WBMs wanting a crown next to their name.

 

 

 

Like Giga said many have forgotten it is a game, and it's for fun i've taken it too seriously before, but thats when it stops being a game and starts to be a chore or a job.

[EpicWin]

It actually is a bit like this, people just get skills to 99 and after that go after high experience. There still are people who try to be different from others and do stuff for fun. But many skills are actually useful at high levels, so the training isn't really useless. Agility/Summoning/Prayer being one of them.

[Lugia_Lvl138]

 

So that's one example of a useless skill.. combat seems to be the best money maker (e.g. Avansies, green dragons, boss hunting etc.) and if you stick to killing higher lvl monsters, it will always make you the most money... so really, I've got my money maker skill, and I cant motivate myself to train the other useless skills out there.

 

 

 

Anyone else feel the same way?

 

 

 

Story of my life :shock:. While I had decent money before GWD, I've made like 800m soloing the bosses. I find it hard to train most skills, because I could be soloing more bosses. Although, there is a reason to get the buyable 99s out of the way that no one has touched upon yet. Suppose they finally released the most ownage potion ever at 99 Herblore. All the merchants would buy out pretty much every Herb and second on the market. Prices would go up to insane amounts. If people are already willing to spend millions on a pixel cape, can you imagine what they would spend to access worthwhile high level content?

[Atom Smash40]

i train skills because i find it fun, even if others dont. i dont need to state which one i do since it seems everyone knows (and flames me) about it.

 

 

 

but yea, i remember when i trained my secondary skills to do quests (even when i could buy the stuff). one perfect example: smith. i forgot which quest, but i trained it to a lesser level than i am now to do it, and i think it was for a steel item or something that i couldve bought but instead made.

 

 

 

and i get a sense of accomplishment when i can be self sufficient like that. its refreshing, knowing it was all yourself that got you that item to finish that quest youve always wanted to do

[nerdboyxxx]

Honestly, I don't care about how much it costs or how much I get out of it; If I'm having fun, it's all cool. You're doing what you enjoy, I'm doing what I enjoy. 'nuff said. Sure, at an ecenomic viewpoint training skills is "useless", but why take it so seriously? It's only a game after all.

[nubbycubby]

Training most skills is useless

 

 

 

old news

[xSxqPowerx]

What you're complaining about is because of the players not the game.

 

Players are willing to spend to level skills, so they end up being expensive.

 

Combat is popular, so the combat items obtained from drops end up being the best way to make money.

[Dexek]

I personally like to train them. Some aren't as entertaining as others, but for the most part it's fun for myself. If it wasn't fun I couldn't see myself training, although I imagine that is everyones viewpoint. If you like training the skills, then by all means, train them. If you consider it to be useless and would rather not spend your time training them, then don't. They might not have many current uses, but it can be worthwhile to be prepared for the future. If we get a farming update that requires 90 farming in order to farm a herb that makes potions which restore prayer and boost all of our combat stats, then you can expect seed prices to sky-rocket as everyone attempts to achieve this goal. It's an unrealistic situation, but hopefully you get my point. :

[jettrider]

Make an account -> Grind to 120+ combat without training skills -> Go to GWD/new monster releases -> Make cash -> Buy skills to be able to do all quests -> Go to TDs or GWD if you feel like it -> Go corp whenever you get LSP -> buy the rest of your 99s.

 

 

 

Part of the reason I've quit for now is Jagex's lack of response to adding value to skills like Crafting, Herblore, Smithing, etc.

[I_am_Geed]

here come the rest of our lives.......

[Sir_Kurity]

Its not useless, you get a shiny new cape.