I don't understand what reqium said about a effigy giving you 135k xp in rc. From experience you never get to choose any one skill more then one time.
Yeah, his/her logic is flawed. You would never get that much in one skill from one effigy. Also you have to be doing combat to get the effigy so it's not like you're adding that on to experience that you're already getting.
I did find the quest article interesting 
Of course you will never get an effigy which requires runecrafting 4 times in a row(or can you? I'm not sure about that lol). Anyway, keep in mind you will probably get multiple effigies. Okay, that part of the article maybe wasn't worded the best way and leaves some side open for attacks, but you have to admit that it IS a lot of experience.
And the part about doing combat....Yeah, you're killing monsters. And you're getting Runecrafting XP for that. And Thieving XP. And Smithing XP. And Construction XP...
Need I go on? People who do combat, which has nothing to do with skilling get skilling XP. Why, o why?
Players were already battling Waterfiends, Dragons, Tormented Demons or whatever.
Why? Because they got money off it, or maybe charms. And now? They get some nice shiny XP as well, for the sole reason to satisfy some Members who only care about XP and not how they get these.
It's called a Distraction and Diversion. I ask you, what's distracting you here from grinding? You get the drop, you get some XP and its over.
I'm normally not the one to complain about Skills getting easier, but I am honestly outraged at updates that give XP just for the sake of it.
If Mining gets a bit easier because of the BA assault horn, who cares? It offers a new way of training and adds more variety.
If Woddcutting gets a bit easiert because of the Sawmill addition, who cares? It offers a new way of training and adds more variety.
Easier Skills aren't the problem, as long as new content gets added with it.
But I am, honestly spoken, outraged at something like the Effigies, which don't add any content at all but just offer free XP.
And to make it even worse, to players who DON'T even deserve it!
I DO NOT DESERVE skilling xp for killing monsters!
Shattered heart is almost the same, however, there is at least the goal of the statue, apart from that it's impractical because of two reasons:
1.A lot of the methods which yield Stones are actually the ones giving lower xp than others.
2.You need to get stones in all skills before you can get new stones again.
So shattered heart isn't that bad.
But Effigies...tbh, I hate them, and I hate it that there are so many players who like them, just because they can't be bothered to train skills the normal way. I hate this kind of attitude where it's only about the levels and not HOW you get there. I don't want a 99 without any work - but sadly, there are a lot of others who do. I personally find this pathetic.
Regarding the Quest Article: Interesting view, and although I don't find "grinding" that bad, there's one point I wholeheartedly agree with - What the hell is wrong with quest requirements? On the forums I often see a lot of players complaining about too low requirements, and I wonder...who cares? I want to do a quest because I like quests and not because I want to feel great just because I have some stupid level requirement.
As a restriction for quests which give good rewards, OK. But apart from that- Why?