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Bringing new players into Rs


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Oct. 25, 2011. The beginning to a new era of RS. Not only has Jagex successfully combated bots, we still have free trade.

(However, bots can always return, but I'm hoping that it proves too frustrating, so that the bot makers wont even waste their time or effort on Rs)

 

Runefest: From what I've gathered, Jagex wants to make the game a more enjoyable and entertaining experience, and fix many of the problems that faces RS today such as grind and the unbalanced combat triangle.

 

Now, I wouldn't say Runescape is dying, after the bot nuke, we get a more realistic number of actual players which seems to go from around 130k-90k players in the peak times like weekends or after the American players get out of school, down to 40k-30k players on the school nights. Also, note that not everyone is on 24/7, so the active player base is much larger than 130k players. Probably close to a million or even more. I'd say a million active players is pretty damn good. Not as much as what Rs was pre 2007, and definitely not as much as WOW or COD, but it's still a decent populated game.

 

Now to the point of this thread, I'd say the key to longevity in RS, is the ability for new players to pick the game up and stay with it.

 

The problem from today, compared to back when we all started is that RS, technologically wasn't that far behind in terms of cosmetics. Well actually they've always been behind considering the Playstation 2 was released around 2000-2001. Haha, wow never realized that Runescape really isn’t that old of a game, compared to like the 64 or ps1. Ofc, gameplay has very little to do with cosmetics though.

 

I’d say runescape was revolutionary in the mmorpg market. It was almost like a pioneer, for bigtime successful mmorpgs in America, besides everquest. WoW, and Guild Wars didn’t come around until 2005, and there are so many more out today. I mean honestly I’d have to say the three main mmorpgs games for the USA back around the early 2000s, was Diablo II (well not really a mmorpg, but it felt like one), Runescape, and EverQuest. (I could be wrong but I think EverQuest was pure p2p) Of course there was Starcraft, warcraft, age of empires (game besides RS I've put the most time into, truly sad Microsoft got rid of ensemble studios), but they’re rts style games. Btw, Neopets doesn't count, lol mine are definitely starving, hopefully whoever owns Neopets, puts them out of their misery. Lol jk

 

Now, I’m going to say we are remnants of the people who didn’t move on to the more advanced mmorpgs in 2005, due to financial reason, nostalgic reasons, and perhaps a few others.

I understand the Runescape gets new players, but from my personal experiences most people have been playing for 4 or more years. I hate to say this but, I think the main reason why most of us were interested in Rs in the first place was because, it was completely free.

 

 

So why should new players in the mmorpg market, choose Runescape, out of todays mmorpgs or the upcoming ones? What should Jagex do, to make their game more attractive, and not a game built around veterans of RS? I’d just like to hear peoples opinions on this.

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Capes in order: Firemaking - Cooking - Construction - 99 Dungeoneering
- 120 Dungeoneering - Quest - Strength - Prayer - Herblore - Constitution
- Attack - Defence - Ranged - Runecrafting - Magic - Fletching - Mining

- Farming - Smithing - Slayer - Woodcutting - Summoning - Thieving - Hunter

- Fishing - Agility - Crafting - Divination - Max - Completionist

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Only a small portion of gamers can stand the mindless grinding that makes up most of Runescape's gameplay. Other MMORPG's have grind, but it's neither the main focus nor as repetitive as Runescape's. There's a reason why people who play other MMORPG's think Runescape is some kind of a joke.

 

If we want new players to come to Runescape, the game should revolve around the skill of the player, not how many hours a day they can slave away woodcutting trees and running laps on an obstacle course. However, you might as well call it a different game altogether at that point.

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they need to update the backbone, all f2p quests should be redone in a new fashion, make them seam more like One Piercing Note. they could also offer 1-2 free members months for new player, that they can unlock whenever they want to.

 

as for general changes in game play, I'm personly happy if they remove even more of the grinding, being a player reasonably hig total lvl 2,355, rank 14,805, i know this might pain u in that aspect, but i rather see the game more attractive from a adventure aspect, than that of the lvl goal oriented feeling many of us have today.

Changes im hopping for to make the game more action.

A successful change to combat to make it more involving (seams jagax is already working on that from what i have read from the rune feast)

More quests with cut-seens and voice acting.

A real reason to start pking, atm thers not much to be gained in this are, most former pro pkers are just dueling nowadays.

Change of graphics. (trees,rocks, walls, buildings, nps etz)

 

And from what i have been reading these are all changes jagax are trying to achieve, so all in all keep going, and adverting the game, and i think we might see that number of players go up withing the next year or so.

 

edit: like it or not if runescape is becoming a different game with every update, and i love the game its becoming

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I feel that they have done a fairly good job of creating 'trailers' for RS, as far as visually appealing, but they lack a clear story behind them and also the visuals in these trailers often doesn't reflect the graphics of the game.

 

I think that if they can fill in those gaps in a way that the new player plays the game and is immediately met by whatever advertisement they saw there would be more players starting and continuing to play over time.

 

Here's an example of the trailer I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdRUcFqL2lQ

Obviously Jagex has made steps to fill in the gaps, since you can see the signature heroes in the trailer and also in-game, but they still have a long way to go with graphics and story for it to make sense to a new player.

 

Spoken from somebody whose played RS for 7 years..

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I think a major graphics overhaul would do the most good. It's great that RS is a browser game and all, but this isn't 2001 anymore. A small downloadable executable could bring about much more advanced graphics that wouldn't be too taxing on anyone's computer.

 

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If we want new players to come to Runescape, the game should revolve around the skill of the player, not how many hours a day they can slave away woodcutting trees and running laps on an obstacle course. However, you might as well call it a different game altogether at that point.

It is refreshing that someone with near totally maxed-out levels has the perspective to call RuneScape for the spade it is. Sometimes people on here talk about 'competing' in the high scores--I remain adamant that the only skill people truly compete in is Dungeoneering, since it's the only major activity on the high scores table which holds a prerequisite for real life ability (organisational skills, communicating, memorising keys/doors effectively, managing others as a keyer) in order to complete efficiently. "Having patience" isn't a talent, and you sure as hell don't need to manage others to grind 99 Woodcutting on choking ivy.

 

The problem you're always going to have with this argument, is the cohort of people (most of which seem to occupy this website) who maintain that 'some people find grinding fun'. How do you change the entire basis of RuneScape in order to attract new players, keep the "grinders" happy, but still provide something unique about the game compared to other MMORPGs? My suggestion would be a greater emphasis on the 'Multiplayer' element of that acronym, since it's the necessity to work in groups of five which seperates Dungeoneering as a skill to other "skills" in RuneScape.

 

One thing I've learned is that when people are in their own groups, they'll usually make fun by their own accord in-keeping with the values/interests they share. This is no less true for the efficienados than it is for those who 'play the game for fun'. I just wish RuneScape itself did more to put people in groups, rather than forcing people to grind in solitary confinement for weeks on-end just to have a chance at playing with 'high-level content'.

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Tv advertising

 

And they should change the kiddie image of rs as well

The newest quest sure took a lot of the kiddie image away for me. Quite "graphic." I was shocked at some points. Plus the voice acting made it all the more real seeming.

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Agree with redo the free to play quests to seem more catching. "Oh, a magic guy lost some beads, now I have to go kill 20+ little demons. Okay." Doesn't really hook me into wanting to play runescape. I started playing scape because of friends and such, and I honestly think what hooked me into the game was the cool loading music and those torches with runes, then being dumped into the middle of an adventure. Perhaps its because I've been playing for a fair bit of time now, but I think the new tutorial isn't up to a good enough standard.

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They need to expand dungeoneering and give it a purpose beyond 120 and 200m. If they made the finale repeatable with a larger exp bonus than f60 (and it worked exactly like completing a normal floor), that'd be a pretty big step forward in terms of providing more challenge (assuming the final boss - if there is one - is a challenge). Dungeoneering probably has the most potential of any aspect of Runescape.

 

I'm looking forward to the proposed changes, but I don't think it'll be enough. I'm almost certainly going to be playing SWTOR far more often than Runescape.

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I'm not too sure about anyone else, but this is my story:

 

I found RS about 7 years ago from a bunch of friends at school. I thought it was great because at the time i loved playing games like Nox and baulders gate, which had similar gameplay but lacked the interaction that RS had.

 

Nowadays, the gaming quality has been upped so much with new gen computers/consoles, a new player logging into runescape, quite frankly, would not be impressed.

 

RS is an old game with an old playerbase, and i think thats the way it's going to stay.

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They need to expand dungeoneering and give it a purpose beyond 120 and 200m. If they made the finale repeatable with a larger exp bonus than f60 (and it worked exactly like completing a normal floor), that'd be a pretty big step forward in terms of providing more challenge (assuming the final boss - if there is one - is a challenge). Dungeoneering probably has the most potential of any aspect of Runescape.

 

I'm looking forward to the proposed changes, but I don't think it'll be enough. I'm almost certainly going to be playing SWTOR far more often than Runescape.

dungeoneering is my only 200m and the only skill i miss accually...i dont play scape nearly as much as before......

 

thiers not many ways to eliminate the grind without makin skills faster or completely different then they are now

 

idk but if i had known how much runescape takes i probably wouldnt have started it and played another game with less time requirements.

 

YOur probably rght about the 4 years thing i see more higher lvls everywhere i go and ive been 138 for like 2 yrs or 3 so its not really biassed i barely see lvls 60-100 just out and about

 

RS is not well known and if it is its not known as a great game

 

I think this months updates were a step in the right directions - climber mode + special battles foor challenging fights for fun and one piercing note for bl00d.

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I think a major graphics overhaul would do the most good. It's great that RS is a browser game and all, but this isn't 2001 anymore. A small downloadable executable could bring about much more advanced graphics that wouldn't be too taxing on anyone's computer.

 

To be honest one of the things that drew me to RS on the first place and to a degree still do, is the fact that I can play it anywhere I want without having to download anything. Though I see what you mean... perhaps if you could run it from a thumb drive.

 

On another note one of the reasons for RS current kiddy image is the time it was advertised on mini-clip; but that is just my opinion

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I'd go so far as to say RuneScape has no future. The way the game runs, the engine, the .6 second game ticks, the lack of mousekeys, the death system, the need to grind to get anywhere, the lack of non RNG based end game, the REFUSAL of Jagex to allow accounts to be integrated (share gold between characters so I wouldn't have to grind out gold at 100k/hr for a pure, etc) and the idiotic PVP system all contribute to RS being a dying game. It might not be quick, and it won't be a surprise, but you really can't advertise/build up the player base as RS is now, with the way the game currently works. I wouldn't come back.

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Runescape to me will always hold appeal towards those who have stuck with it for multiple years. The interaction between players that exists in this game is much more than that of any games I have played. I will admit I have not played any other MMO, but I have still played quite a few PC games as well as console games and sure I enjoyed them a lot but I kept coming back to Runescape. The grind of Runescape made me interact with people through pming friends or using the friend's chat (recently). I made some great friends who I value more than my account. The grind has kept me here, if I wanted to escape the grind I can always go back to those games. Imo I see little scope for Jagex to recruit more players. The ones who are still here are their only customers imo. And they have us hooked, why else would most of us still be here after 5+ years.

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I'd go so far as to say RuneScape has no future. The way the game runs, the engine, the .6 second game ticks, the lack of mousekeys, the death system, the need to grind to get anywhere, the lack of non RNG based end game, the REFUSAL of Jagex to allow accounts to be integrated (share gold between characters so I wouldn't have to grind out gold at 100k/hr for a pure, etc) and the idiotic PVP system all contribute to RS being a dying game. It might not be quick, and it won't be a surprise, but you really can't advertise/build up the player base as RS is now, with the way the game currently works. I wouldn't come back.

 

While I see (and agree with) your point, I must disagree when you say "integrated accounts". Since the foundation of the game is built strictly on wealth, giving a "new" account copious amounts of wealth would unbalance the game such that only incumbents would be suited to play best.

 

There's also a point that the playerbase is "institutionalized" and wouldn't accept change easily. If RuneScape were to fundamentally change, the community wouldn't be able to take it.

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I'd go so far as to say RuneScape has no future. The way the game runs, the engine, the .6 second game ticks, the lack of mousekeys, the death system, the need to grind to get anywhere, the lack of non RNG based end game, the REFUSAL of Jagex to allow accounts to be integrated (share gold between characters so I wouldn't have to grind out gold at 100k/hr for a pure, etc) and the idiotic PVP system all contribute to RS being a dying game. It might not be quick, and it won't be a surprise, but you really can't advertise/build up the player base as RS is now, with the way the game currently works. I wouldn't come back.

 

While I see (and agree with) your point, I must disagree when you say "integrated accounts". Since the foundation of the game is built strictly on wealth, giving a "new" account copious amounts of wealth would unbalance the game such that only incumbents would be suited to play best.

 

There's also a point that the playerbase is "institutionalized" and wouldn't accept change easily. If RuneScape were to fundamentally change, the community wouldn't be able to take it.

 

Thats where some kind of analysis would have to take place. How long can RS last in its current state? Could Jagex afford to have 2 "types" of RS running, this one and a newer one with faster leveling, etc? Is it worth losing members now to regain those who retired/new players?

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Id love to see some data showing; of the active players (people who have gotten on in the past month), how many have been playing since: 2010, 2009,2008,2007,2006, etc. I bet most people who play, have been for many years now. What I mean by that is, most of the people who play rs arent new players. Most of the times I talk to a lower leveled player, they usually have a main (and no, theyre not one of those "I have a main hes lvl 138! Ill get on him and kick your ass" trolls). Im guessing most new accounts are veterans re-rolling an account for pvp purposes/for a good laugh.

 

 

 

 

Most of the people you talk to in RS will either respond to this question in 1 of 2 ways:

 

Question: "Why do you play Runescape and not another MMORPG?"

 

Answer 1: "Ive put too much time into RS and I cbf relearning/leveling in a new game"

 

Answer 2: "I have played other mmorpg's and im maxed on __Insert game here__"

 

Either they cbf playing another game or they cant quit RS until theyve "Beat" it like the other mmorpgs.

 

 

My opinion:

-If runescape is the first mmorpg you ever played, youll come back to it over and over.

-If say, WoW was your first mmorpg you ever played, youre less likely to get hooked on RS.

 

If Jagex wants to increase the playerbase, they need to make the game more appealing to people coming from other mmorpgs.

 

My $.02

 

 

EDIT: To go with Makotos statement, most of the people I talk to usually express a desire for RS to take a new direction. It goes along with the "Cbf releveling in a new game" answer. If you give them, a new game, I dont see why they would complain. TBH even the players who grinded prayer before *offer all* will admit they hate the grind. Sure theyll [bleep] and moan saying "We got it the hard way" but in the end they wont care because theyll have a more enjoyable game to play.

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They need to improve the free game. Particularly the free game at low levels.

 

Dwarven army axe should have been free. Wicked hood should have been free. One Piercing Note should have been free. The reason they're not is cuz the higher-ups at Jagex wanted them to be an incentive to subscribe, but you know what's an even better incentive to subscribe? A fun game. If they'd realize that and take it to heart, RuneScape would be in a much better place than it is now.

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I'd go so far as to say RuneScape has no future. The way the game runs, the engine, the .6 second game ticks, the lack of mousekeys, the death system, the need to grind to get anywhere, the lack of non RNG based end game, the REFUSAL of Jagex to allow accounts to be integrated (share gold between characters so I wouldn't have to grind out gold at 100k/hr for a pure, etc) and the idiotic PVP system all contribute to RS being a dying game. It might not be quick, and it won't be a surprise, but you really can't advertise/build up the player base as RS is now, with the way the game currently works. I wouldn't come back.

 

While I see (and agree with) your point, I must disagree when you say "integrated accounts". Since the foundation of the game is built strictly on wealth, giving a "new" account copious amounts of wealth would unbalance the game such that only incumbents would be suited to play best.

 

There's also a point that the playerbase is "institutionalized" and wouldn't accept change easily. If RuneScape were to fundamentally change, the community wouldn't be able to take it.

@Stonewall - I personally like the game's death system, although it's much too safe with little penalty outside of PvP. There's an easy fix by requiring something like a 30% "death tax" should your character die in high risk areas (boss dungeons and other high level areas). There are various ways to reduce grind, but it'll still be about doing Y number of hours for 1 to 99 in any skill.

 

@Makoto - Sorry, but that mindset does not in any way mesh with the reality of a game where on the 200 million xp thread you have common cases of billions in donations. Why is it perfectly fine for a friend to give your new account a 2 billion gp bank, but for some reason it's unfair and unbalanced if you give another of your own accounts the same amount? Now, I'm not saying I disagree with the theory. However, it's a theory that's competing with a 10 year old game economy with unlimited trade. Unless you bring back trade restrictions on top of creating another closed economy (see Runescape Reboot thread), there's no way to stop a new account getting large amounts of cash from "friends".

 

As for bringing in new players, I'm at a loss. My daughter has become interested in the game recently, so it's reasonable to guess some parents out there that played the game are introducing their kids to it. The open ended quest and skilling aspects will attract an older crowd. I just don't see it attracting highly competitive, intricate gameplay minded players. Jagex would be better off creating a new game to attract those types.

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There's also a point that the playerbase is "institutionalized" and wouldn't accept change easily. If RuneScape were to fundamentally change, the community wouldn't be able to take it.

Thats where some kind of analysis would have to take place. How long can RS last in its current state? Could Jagex afford to have 2 "types" of RS running, this one and a newer one with faster leveling, etc?

Except this is exactly what happened whey they went from RSC to RS2.

 

As for bringing in new players, I'm at a loss. My daughter has become interested in the game recently, so it's reasonable to guess some parents out there that played the game are introducing their kids to it.

Or have inadvertently introduced them to it simply by playing it. That's what has happened with me. My kids have always loved watching me play and now my oldest wants to get his own account and start playing. He says several of his friends already play as well.

 

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There's a lot of venting on this thread and I'm not sure most of it is applicable to the original question. Creating an end-game past 120 Dungeoneering is not going to attract new players who would still have to spend many thousands of game hours just to get there in the first place. Making One Piercing Note free-to-play isn't going to attract new players because there's enough quests already to provide people with a taster.

 

In order to answer this question, you need to ask why people who try the game for a week or two don't decide on staying any further. In my experience from friends and family, they get told by the tutorial to go out and have fun, they get their skills to level 40-60 by simply playing around, they then realise that to progress any further they need to start grinding for it, and they quit because they don't come out of school/work to play a game that basically makes them feel as though they're running two jobs a day.

 

There either needs to be less grinding, or more of an emphasis on social interaction to make the grind seem less tedious. Creating incentives past the grind hasn't worked so far at attracting new players, and won't work now.

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The thing with Runescape is its the players who started obsessing about reaching the highest levels; one of the Gowers said that they originally envisaged a dedicated player reaching 60-70 in a skill, and that getting to 99 was just crazy. Xp rates have increased since then, but the point remains that competitiveness between players is what has driven 99 in all but a handful of skills to be seen as near worthless in terms of achievement, and this large number of 99 skills has lead to Jagex creating high end content that now requires that grind to 90+.

 

I think that Runescape definitely needs a well defined end game, more bosses like Nex, perhaps a special ranked PVP tournament for maxed players, and once there is a decent amount of 80+ content for all skills, raising skill caps to 120. Being maxed makes you one of a couple of thousand now, which is no where near as special as it used to be. And don't release any new skills until the current ones have been improved, 25 skills is more than enough for now.

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I'm sure i've said this before but i'll say it again. Jagex need to capitalise on the Facebook/Google+ casual gamers. I don't want to hear rants and moan about how secure Facebook is or lame or whatever but no one can deny that the potential for growth here is HUGE. CityVille has 76m players, SimsSocial has 66m players. By comparison RuneScape claims to have about 15m accounts (active).

 

Jagex need simply shove a SD version of the game into a Facebook frame (with a link to load in resizeable perhaps?) and just create highscores pages within Facebook for your rank of all Facebook players (including those who have linked to Facebook but still play on runeScape.com or the client etc) and your rank among your real life friends. Then it can shove messages (if you allow it) into your timeline which would basicly be anything that goes to your adventures log. As proven by the toolbar Jagex are able to tell you if your friends are online or what the status of your grand exchange offers are without you logging into the game. Anything which can be shown on the toolbar could be shown within a Facebook app also.

 

There are a lot of haters of Facebook but its got 800m+ users, thats a huge base to tap into, and at the end of the day it would be completely optional and someone who just wants to register and play through the rs.com site can and will continue to be able to do so without any loss in game play.

 

When it comes to encouraging play, Jagex have done a good job in removing grind at higher levels but I think they need to go a bit further in making some more lower levelled but high reward quests for free players to hook them into the game.

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