How to Fix Bonus XP Weekends

[GuidesForScapers]

A very, very simple suggestion.

 

1) Announce them 1 day before. Announcing them 2 weeks before causes HUGE fluctuations in price, if they announced it 24 hours before it started, the prices would still rise, but nowhere near to the same scale. Also, in the 24 hours people could gather their own materials if they don't buy easily on the GE. People would still be able to put them to use, but the economy would recover within the next update or two.

 

2) Make it 1 day. If the duration was 24 hours, then the price rises would recover FAR faster. Instead of being high for the duration of the weekend, they would drop in the next GE update.

 

3) Have a fixed multiplier. For the full 24 hours, given a 2x multiplier. Maybe reduce it to 1.5x after 12 hours, as a full 24 hours of double experience is a bit generous. This would get rid of the confusion and huge rush, people wouldn't be forced to spend every second logged in skilling. They could do what they needed to and not feel pressured into doing nothing but skills and grinding. If people miss out because they aren't on for the day or they can't play for long, tough.

 

Meh, i think this would fix the issues with prices and would make it FAR more simple/enjoyable.

[Kimberly]

I found it enjoyable; I just had the common sense not to train the buyable skills. Gaining money isn't boring, grinding is. People don't realize that. I had no problem buying 10k ess, some astrals, some cosmics, and law runes to train at ZMI, for example.

 

I still don't understand why those who intentionally abstain themselves from the weekend should be getting special treatment when they can instead gain the materials themselves, as you suggested in your own post, or train another skill entirely. Having it last a long period of time ensures that everyone gets a chance, everyone has fun, and everyone gets a good chunk of exp.

[Jack]

A very, very simple suggestion.

 

1) Announce them 1 day before. Announcing them 2 weeks before causes HUGE fluctuations in price, if they announced it 24 hours before it started, the prices would still rise, but nowhere near to the same scale. Also, in the 24 hours people could gather their own materials if they don't buy easily on the GE. People would still be able to put them to use, but the economy would recover within the next update or two.

 

2) Make it 1 day. If the duration was 24 hours, then the price rises would recover FAR faster. Instead of being high for the duration of the weekend, they would drop in the next GE update.

 

3) Have a fixed multiplier. For the full 24 hours, given a 2x multiplier. Maybe reduce it to 1.5x after 12 hours, as a full 24 hours of double experience is a bit generous. This would get rid of the confusion and huge rush, people wouldn't be forced to spend every second logged in skilling. They could do what they needed to and not feel pressured into doing nothing but skills and grinding. If people miss out because they aren't on for the day or they can't play for long, tough.

 

Meh, i think this would fix the issues with prices and would make it FAR more simple/enjoyable.

 

Okay I'll break down your post part by part by looking at my personal opinion aswell as Jagex's.

 

Announcing the Double Xp Weekend 2 weeks before is solely for good business. Businesses are made to gain a profit unless they're non-profitable organisations (charities). Jagex knew school was starting for their worldwide base of players and a lot of players cancel their membership to focus on their schoolwork. By doing the Double XP the weekend just before school starts, Jagex has hoped that players will buy membership for that 1 month extra, therefore gaining more profit. You have to understand that if Jagex really really cared about the GE, and what it can and can't do, then they would have done something by now as there is a growing amount of Merchanting clans and clanchats. By announcing it earlier anyway, it's allowed the general flow of money on the game to circulate faster with more members buying items and spending cash. This is not a bad thing. Although prices go up, they go up for the better as more money is spent and taken out of the economy. Something that is important right now.

 

It's a Bonus XP Weekend. A Weekend is 'the end of a week, esp. the period of time between Friday evening and Monday morning'. It would be unfair for Jagex to advertise such things if it's only going to last 1 day. It's not fair that members also pay a month of members only for 1 day of extra XP. Jagex is rather loyal to their customers and I praise the decision they made to allow the weekend to be more flexible knowing that people would be busy at the same time as preparing themselves for school and the end of summer. I do agree with you that prices on the GE will recover faster but once again this weekend wasn't a bad thing for the RS economy despite the prices raises.

 

I have my own opinions about the multiplier. I personally think that you should have been able to activate your own timer with a click. For me, I didn't actually realise my time I had and lost half my 2.7x XP due to this. I'm sure I can say the same about a lot of players. When you think about how many people might have done this, it makes this weekend feel purely like a Marketing scheme rather than something for the players. I'm probably being too harsh though. I agree with your points about players being under pressure to use every minute wisely, so a personified timer would work better in my opinion. Turn it off when you don't want the double XP. There were times I didn't want 1.5x XP. If it's double XP, it should actually be double XP for the weekend. I believe that if you look at the averages and work out the maths, for some players who played for about 20ish(?) hours that overall it wasn't even Double XP for them, more like a little bit extra xp. Why would I use a 1.5x XP Multiplier for Magic when I can get Stealing Creation Hats and gain 2x the XP from 1 Stun for example?

 

There's a lot of flaws in the Double XP Weekend, yes. But for future improvements there has to be a certain level of what's possible otherwise you'll end up with more flaws because of far-fetched plans. Sorry I posted so much against you, but what you posted wouldn't fix a Double XP Weekend.

[rthensley]

Making the announcement 1 day in advance gives almost NO time to prepare. It would not be possible to produce your own supplies in only one day. Producing your own supplies would be even more difficult for those who could only log on a couple of hours before the event.

 

Making the announcement 1 day in advance would also give a HUGE advantage to those online at the time of the announcement. Those people would immediately rush to the GE and buy supplies. Those not fortunate enough to be logged in, would not be very happy about not being able to buy any supplies.

 

Only having 1 day of bonus experience is perhaps the most unfair way to do it. All players have a much better chance to benefit from the increased experience if the "bonus time" is spread over the course of a few days.

 

A fixed multiplier would only encourage grinding. It would almost force people to play continuously to gain the maximum benefit. Again, not a very good thing.

 

Really if the last bxp weekend was too confusing for some people, they obviously didn't READ how the weekend was going to work.

[rthensley]

"There's a lot of flaws in the Double XP Weekend".

 

It was NEVER announced as a "double" xp weekend. It was a "Bonus" xp weekend. A very big difference. There was never any intent to allow player to have double xp the entire time.

 

 

"Although prices go up, they go up for the better as more money is spent and taken out of the economy."

 

Not entirely correct. A lot of money did change hands, but the vast majority of it was not taken out of the economy. For example, Player A buys 500 million gps worth of Torstol herbs from Player B. The money was not taken out of the economy. It just changed hands.

 

Now if Player A bought 500 million gp woth of shards, that money would have been taken out of the game.

 

 

"Why would I use a 1.5x XP Multiplier for Magic when I can get Stealing Creation Hats and gain 2x the XP from 1 Stun for example?" You would do that if you didn't like SC. BUT, the better answer is that you would have prepared properly and known not to use your 1.5x multiplier for magic.

 

 

"For me, I didn't actually realise my time I had and lost half my 2.7x XP due to this."

 

I hope it does not sound like I am being mean to you, but didn't JAGEX tell us all when the bonus xp would start? Didn't you also get a message in your chat window when you logged in that said the bonus xp had started? If people did not realize that the bonus time had started, isn't it really thier own fault?

[Jack]

"There's a lot of flaws in the Double XP Weekend".

 

It was NEVER announced as a "double" xp weekend. It was a "Bonus" xp weekend. A very big difference. There was never any intent to allow player to have double xp the entire time.

 

If so then I am completely mistaken. I play RuneScape solely for my clan and I don't notice every little thing announced. Seeing as it was announced as Bonus XP weekend it looks as if there still is flaws when inactive players like I call it Double XP weekend! (For example) :P

 

"Although prices go up, they go up for the better as more money is spent and taken out of the economy."

 

Not entirely correct. A lot of money did change hands, but the vast majority of it was not taken out of the economy. For example, Player A buys 500 million gps worth of Torstol herbs from Player B. The money was not taken out of the economy. It just changed hands.

 

Now if Player A bought 500 million gp woth of shards, that money would have been taken out of the game.

 

Yes, I already made that point about how money is circulated faster where it changes hands. Money was still lost from the economy however which was my point...

 

"Why would I use a 1.5x XP Multiplier for Magic when I can get Stealing Creation Hats and gain 2x the XP from 1 Stun for example?" You would do that if you didn't like SC. BUT, the better answer is that you would have prepared properly and known not to use your 1.5x multiplier for magic.

 

I didn't use SC hats for Magic during the weekend after 2x XP. The point I'm trying to make it that it's a waste of time as I had to wait all weekend to use my SC Hats to reach the level I aimed for because of the XP I wasn't going to receive. Read the rest of my paragraph to fully comprehend what I mean by this as I can't be bothered to type it out again although I do admit I am guilty of not preparing aswell as I could have.

 

"For me, I didn't actually realise my time I had and lost half my 2.7x XP due to this."

 

I hope it does not sound like I am being mean to you, but didn't JAGEX tell us all when the bonus xp would start? Didn't you also get a message in your chat window when you logged in that said the bonus xp had started? If people did not realize that the bonus time had started, isn't it really thier own fault?

 

So you think Jagex expected every player to get their RuneScape account completely and perfectly ready for the Bonus XP to start? As soon as the message pops up? Sorry but that's false. I don't log off for the night leaving my character ready to skill and there aren't many who do (unless they're training Combat or a skill where you don't have to move). Of course there are going to be a lot of players who don't read News and Announcements. I personally have my Clan Messages On/Private On with everything else set to Hide when I am not warring. Therefore I didn't see the message saying it was active. The time shouldn't just start when you teleport somewhere. It should start when you want it to as it's your time and your Bonus XP.

 

I was trying to disprove how the original post would fix Bonus XP Weekends. I don't see the point of you highlighting my post about this when I was discussing the topic title.

[rthensley]

"Seeing as it was announced as Bonus XP weekend it looks as if there still is flaws when inactive players like I call it Double XP weekend!"

 

Correct. But the flaws are the players who don't take the time to actually read about the update. If you are going to call yourself "inactive", I really don't see how you can call it "flaws" that you didn't completely understand how the weekend was going to work. But, to each his own.

 

 

 

"I didn't use SC hats for Magic during the weekend after 2x XP. The point I'm trying to make it that it's a waste of time as I had to wait all weekend to use my SC Hats to reach the level I aimed for because of the XP I wasn't going to receive. Read the rest of my paragraph to fully comprehend what I mean by this as I can't be bothered to type it out again although I do admit I am guilty of not preparing aswell as I could have."

 

I completely understand what you are saying. Essentially you had planned to use your SC hats to train magic. It did not make sense for you to use them with the multiplier. So you had to wait to use your SC hats. Really that is just a minor inconvenience. Granted you had to wait to use your hats, but you still could have recieved tons of bonus xp in another skill (saving you time).

 

 

 

"So you think Jagex expected every player to get their RuneScape account completely and perfectly ready for the Bonus XP to start?"

 

No. I do not. However, JAGEX DID give every player the OPTION to do that. You apparently chose to not do so. Many other players took advantage of the advance notice and were properly prepared to start the weekend.

 

 

 

"Sorry but that's false."

 

Again, you had the OPTION to do that but did not take advantage of it. It may have been false for you, but it was true for many, many people.

 

 

 

"I don't log off for the night leaving my character ready to skill and there aren't many who do (unless they're training Combat or a skill where you don't have to move). "

 

That was a choice you made. You could have done that. Many did. I did.

 

 

 

 

"Of course there are going to be a lot of players who don't read News and Announcements."

 

Those players have to live with the choices they make.

 

 

 

"The time shouldn't just start when you teleport somewhere. It should start when you want it to as it's your time and your Bonus XP."

 

When I first read this idea, I kind of liked it. Now that I have thought about it, I don't think I do.

 

Two things.

 

First. I have no knowledge about writing software codes. I am assuming JAGEX could have used your suggestion. I just wonder if they would have created the possibility of more bugs/glitches during the weekend.

 

Second. If JAGEX would have implemented the weekend like you suggest (being able to toggle on/off your multiplier), here is what I (and many others) would have done. I would have picked my skill to train. Let's say Herblore. Bought/Gathered my supplies. Pre-mixed my potions. Arranged the potions and secondaries in my bank in the order I wanted to make the potions (to increase my maximum xp gain).

 

Actually, this is exactly what I did anyway. Here is what I would have down differently.

 

Multiplier is turned off. Withdraw pre-mixed potions & secondaries. Turn on multipliier. Mix potions. Turn off multiplier. Bank potions. Repeat. I could have stretched out my multipliers by doing this.

 

Multiplier turned off. Almost complete a 5:5 large dungeon. Turn on multiplier. Finish Dungeon. Turn off multiplier. Repeat. Think about the HUGE Dungeoneering xp I could have received this way.

[la la la]

My suggestion is that they have bonus xp weekends for only certain skills to not ruin the economy. The skills I have in mind are: Mining, Fishing, Agility, Thieving, Melee stats, Hunter, and Woodcutting

[lordkafei]

My suggestion is that if you can't offer it for all skills without limitations, you should not offer it at all.

 

Yet I would bet dollars to donuts that we will eventually see Bonus Weekend III.

[Downfall]

I know that the fluctuations in price in terms of the economy can be annoying, but it also gives those resource collectors a chance to make some extra money from what they collect. Botters have put the prices of a lot of items down, bonus XP weekends restore prices (temporarily) back to what they should be, which I think gives some fair game-play for those who provide resources in the Grand Exchange that do not bot. In addition, not everyone is capable of playing in that one day - it would be a tad unfair if it had to span over 1 day because not everyone will get an even chance, with the most recent bonus XP weekend, everyone was allowed the chance to reach the lowest multiplier.

[Emerson]

My suggestion is that they have bonus xp weekends for only certain skills to not ruin the economy. The skills I have in mind are: Mining, Fishing, Agility, Thieving, Melee stats, Hunter, and Woodcutting

 

.....Ok so instead of causing skills to be backwards thanks to increased demand for manufacturing (thus devaluing the end product) we'll cause all raw materials to be unsellable from massive overproduction. Doesn't solve the problem in the slightest.

 

(A backwards skill is like herblore, end product is cheaper than the materials to make it)

[CaJ]

My take on this is decrease the amount of XP given. We had a lot of people rant and rave about Summoning the 1st Weekend, and Herblore the 2nd Weekend. You do realize, that more people had gotten 99 Summoning on the 1st Weekend than there ever was beforehand, so it was a big slap in the face for anyone who spent all their money on leveling the skill a few days before. During the 2nd Weekend, it was calculated that within the first 2-3 hours it was possible to gain 2-3 Million Experience per hour making Overloads in Herblore. Extremes are already overpowered, so this showed me again how the wealthy got the benefit and the others, left out.

 

To be honest I think that all buyable skills should be eliminated. I said this before and I'll say it again. Allowing them to be given the 2.7X modifier messed up the GE. The first day the Bonus Weekend was announced, I couldn't buy anything that was related to Herblore or Construction. Non-buyable skills like Fishing, Agility and Thieving are fine because they don't involve mass supplies in order to gain experience in. Lower the XP rate to around 2.0-1.5, and bring it down to 1.0 in 9-10 hours. That little 1.1X boost at the end was put there to convince players to keep playing, which does not constitute fair play. The non-buyable skills will at best, only save you 10-30 hours as opposed to training them normally. With Herblore, and Summoning, you simply save hundreds of hours, and that is far too much to be considered tolerable.

 

Jagex did this for the profit, how can we not see that? It proves that we are living in a recession, and player interests are changing. But how do we know if more players play today? How are we to assume that years ago, the 200,000+ players that were on at the same time were mostly bot accounts (with the default look)? Well, hey, I'm contradicting myself here, however I can't fully trust Jagex, and I can't fully trust the players either.

 

Then again, posts like these are often swept by the rug. I am just one person, and a sole person is nothing. Therefore we must commit ourselves to being team players, that this Bonus Weekend can be put as a event that fares well with the general public. Jagex have said that 2010 would be one of their biggest years yet, unfortunately they don't keep that promise if we get a Bonus Weekend, a skill name change, a pair of boots that alch for 40K+, and a reputation that is yet to be answered.

 

I still don't support the Weekend, and as long as I see big, unfair advantages come out of it, I won't commit to being excited about it. The changes I suggest, the removal of buyables, and a decrease in the XP Modifier, will perhaps balance out or maybe even counter-act the damage done to the economy, furthermore, the devaluation of skilling. It can be hard to maintain fairness, and life is never fair.

 

What my ideas come through to some prove to be the opposite for many. I find it obvious that people who support the weekend and the people at Jagex implementing another possible weekend, are those who don't see the long term effects it will put on the game. The very thing I would suggest not doing is to contribute to a massive inflation and overproduction of goods. You can say the Bonus Weekend helped restore the prices that the botters manipulated to skyrocket or plummet down on the price scale. However, just the other day I was surprised to find that Soul Runes went from 175 GP to 283 GP on the 5th of September, which is a 63% increase. Fortunately the price has gone down to 200 GP. Really though, how can you say that certain items will be made affordable and reasonable, when they made record highs and lows, especially with the Climbing Boots fiasco? How does this benefit and flourish the economy for the player community?

 

Certainly it isn't good to just turn the XP modifier on and off. Do you realize how this allows players to greatly exploit such skills as Summoning, Herblore, Farming, and Construction? You would see RECORD GAINS all across the board. I usually keep track of Runetrack.net and Runetracker, to analyze the daily records and compare them to the all-time highs. Okay, so a few people like Drumgun didn't take the advantage. I actually thought that the 1.1X cap on Summoning was a somewhat good decision, Jagex just didn't go far enough. The more weekends they plan on visualizing and putting into action, the worse my reputation goes with them. I'll say it again. If I just spent everything on had to level up Herblore or Construction to 99, just before the announcement of a Bonus Weekend, I would be red angry wouldn't I? It's been a big disappointment, and yet when you level up your stats to a level you otherwise wouldn't be able to reach without the XP Modifier, you don't feel the effect. The journey of getting somewhere is the best experience, and when you end it, it's all over. There is a heave of sigh at the end, knowing you made it happen. You may as well consider the weekend to be cheating, especially after I see one user here who suggests turning on and off the XP modifier in order to get the most XP he can get. That's being far too generous and convincing that you will get that level you dreamed about. I don't see how that doesn't encourage grinding by having an on/off switch.

 

For instance, I can make Mahogany Tables for Construction and benefit greatly in this way. I turn the modifier on right when I make the tables. I turn it off and ask the demon butler to bring me planks from the bank. As soon as he delivers them to me, I turn the modifier back on and make more tables. Making Extremes for Herblore? Same story. A few players on the Runescape Official Forums made real concise calculations on how this saves them hundreds of hours, which can add up to several days. Honestly guys, how is that fair play?

 

I certainly wish the Bonus Weekend didn't have to boil down on how wealthy you are and where you stand in skills. I conclude that many of the players who got 99 Summoning the first weekend and 99 Herblore the next weekend, truly don't deserve earning them. It was a big shortcut all the way through and it broke open the minds of what Jagex was really going after. Makes sense to gain some profit for the business and see some short-term membership for that extra push. Had it been more reasonable and more disciplined, I wouldn't be wasting this time on these boards making a bonfire out of it. Please explain why the 2-weeks notice is beneficial. Please explain why this offers more opportunities to the Grand Exchange, and to the economy in particular. Nobody ever saw this coming before the end of February, and in my experience, nobody suggested this on the boards. It just came along as a complete surprise and threw many of us off-track. Merchant clans were having a field day, because all they do is find a good item to flip that the leader recommends trying at the GE. What really gets me is why this had to happen nine years in the making. There are many people who still see a vivid, colorful picture of Runescape's future. However, on the other end of the spectrum, doing a Bonus Weekend 2-3 times each year (if Jagex actually plans on doing this) may prove to be fatal for the long term. If Jagex decides to hold various contests on their updates page and reward the winners a life time membership of Runescape, they may as well keep that promise. Same comes to FunOrb if they ever decide to host contests over there as well.

 

The thing many players don't want to see is Runescape fading away, that a dark cloud will come over and rain on Jagex for their decisions made at the meeting hall. We seen this happen with too many businesses already. Let's hope and persuade Jagex to not make the same mistake. This is why, for many, that the Bonus Weekend proves to be one of the most controversial updates yet. I would rather have something I can be happy about for years to come, then to get an artificial boost that isn't much different from botting your way to a high level.

[Shinobu_Sensui]

Okay I'll break down your post part by part by looking at my personal opinion aswell as Jagex's.

 

Announcing the Double Xp Weekend 2 weeks before is solely for good business. Businesses are made to gain a profit unless they're non-profitable organisations (charities). Jagex knew school was starting for their worldwide base of players and a lot of players cancel their membership to focus on their schoolwork. By doing the Double XP the weekend just before school starts, Jagex has hoped that players will buy membership for that 1 month extra, therefore gaining more profit. You have to understand that if Jagex really really cared about the GE, and what it can and can't do, then they would have done something by now as there is a growing amount of Merchanting clans and clanchats. By announcing it earlier anyway, it's allowed the general flow of money on the game to circulate faster with more members buying items and spending cash. This is not a bad thing. Although prices go up, they go up for the better as more money is spent and taken out of the economy. Something that is important right now.

 

Probly the only reason i can see why jagex would have bonus exp week then.