Thoughts after returning from a long break

[Roberthree]

I left the game a bit after summoning came out, and returned for about a month when dungeoneering was released, left again and came back for bonus XP weekend. (I always wind up regretting missing them when I eventually come back so I opted in on this one. Turns out summoning is unaffected so I wasted a lot of time) Here are some thoughts and experiences I've had about the modern RS in comparison to the RS as I recall.

 

The Bad.

 

1) Dungeoneering is still obnoxious.

When I left the second time, there was talk of making dungeoneering more solo friendly. As far as I can see, this never happened. Soloing dungeons is still ludicrously slow xp and using pugs still isn't very good. I also don't understand the motivation behind "prestige". It just makes it even harder to find people to group with since they have to be on the exact same floor as you are. These two problems compound on each other, you have to get a group to get good xp but finding a group is super hard because of the whole prestige thing. I've just been dumping lamps and tears of guthix into this skill, mostly. (I actually dumped a dragon lamp into it not realizing I could have gotten more xp just taking it to the museum lol. I really should read the wiki before I do things)

 

2) Scammers are even scammier

Yesterday I was at the Grand Exchange (which now is four booths and you can't click on the bankers from directly above...) and I saw a level 137 guy with some skillcape (I think it was mining) and a red Halloween mask who was offering to double gold. He had a few level 80 somethings walk up to him trade him and walk away shouting "Omfg" and similar things. I expected a scam but I was curious so I pulled out 100k and traded it to him. He traded me back 200k. He told me he was quitting and was giving away most of his money. I went back to my bank and pulled out 5m (note that I had about 35m at the time, so loosing 5m wasn't that big of a deal), I traded it to him and he logged off. At that point I burst out laughing because his scam had worked perfectly. I was actually kind of impressed. They guy had a character at level 137 with hundreds of millions of gold, but he was still sitting there with a very clever little scam going. The scammers I remember were like level 80 and wore rune, not 137 and in masks. Just think; if I hadn't got greedy and gone for seconds the scammer would be out 100k. That's fantastic right there. I wish that Jagex followed up on tickets like Blizzard does in WoW because I want to know what happens to that guy.

 

3) Everything is very high leveled now.

Another observation I've had is that jagex seems to expect people to have skills in the 90s, when I left it was more typical for things to stop really being relevant past 85 or so unless you wanted a skill cape. This has been a bit of a shock for me, since when I left I could do almost anything I wanted while now there's a significant portion of the game I can't even reach. For example, before I could use every prayer, now I need 95 prayer to have all of them. Before I left I was getting close to the best level for slayer, 85; now whips are like 400k and there are level 99 slayer monsters. When I left, GWD was the pinnacle of boss monster content. I remember soloing the sara boss, that was fun. You had to kite it. I don't even know if people still do that. Now there's Nex and the Corporeal Beast and such, who make the ol' commander look like a complete pansy and require groups. And I touched on this in my dungeoneering bit, but groups in RS are typically really hard to find. Especially if you aren't absurdly high leveled.

 

4) Herblore vs the rest of the crafting skills.

This one I just don't get. Why did they give Herblore a bunch of un-tradeable potions? None of the other skills have high level perks like this. I can't catch un-tradeable super fish with my 99 fishing, nor can I make un-tradeable super bows with my 99 fletching. A smith can't make super armor, a runecrafter can't make super runes, I just don't get why they picked herblore and handed it enormous perks. I like that it made herb prices absurd because I like farming, but I hate that it's now a requirement for any high level content to use overloaded potions and saradomin brews (a combination I find ludicrously overpowered ).

 

 

The Good.

 

1) Free Trade

It's back! Enough said. I love the GE though. A thousand times better than shouting in w2 for a year.

 

There's my little rant, hope you enjoyed and don't take it too seriously.

[deacon377]

Dungeoneering is still obnoxious.

And shall remain so until the end of days.

 

 

 

Scammers are even scammier

I too, could not believe the ammount of "Doubling gold" and "trimming armor, free, need xp" going on around the GE

 

 

 

Herblore vs the rest of the crafting skills.

This one I just don't get. Why did they give Herblore a bunch of un-tradeable potions? None of the other skills have high level perks like this. I can't catch un-tradeable super fish with my 99 fishing, nor can I make un-tradeable super bows with my 99 fletching. A smith can't make super armor, a runecrafter can't make super runes

Maybe it should be that way? What's the point of getting a production skill like smiting up to 99 with the exception of a skill cape? I can understand the point of maxing prayer, or consitution or fishing/gathering skills in general, but outside of that it's relatively pointless and as such has no real incentive for me to actually earn them.

 

 

 

Free Trade

It's back! Enough said. I love Hate the GE though. It's a terrible place, where haggling becomes nothing more than a chore rather than a social event with fellow players, all competing to ploy their hard earned goods, and a consitant sense of alienation is always looming.

A thousand times better worse than shouting in w2 for a year.

 

fixed.

[D. V. Devnull]

Sadly, even RuneScape's Free Trade isn't entirely back. Unless Jagex silently removed it, there is a 25K unbalanced trade limit on all new accounts currently. Honestly, until Jagex forces people's effort to be worth something, makes items you have to put together always worth more than their parts, and also gets rid of that stupid trade restriction for new accounts, then RuneScape's Free Trade will never be totally back from the grave. This one finds that truly depressing, and can tell you that 2006 was a better year. :(

 

~D. V. "Just a note of what this one is aware of..." Devnull

[Roberthree]

Maybe it should be that way? What's the point of getting a production skill like smiting up to 99 with the exception of a skill cape? I can understand the point of maxing prayer, or consitution or fishing/gathering skills in general, but outside of that it's relatively pointless and as such has no real incentive for me to actually earn them.

 

I would be fine with this. As long as it was consistent you know? Although I'd be afraid that instead of it being a perk (Ie, I have 96 smithing so I get better armor) it would be a requirement like overloads are.

 

About the GE, I know some people liked merchanting but I always found trading to be a hassle and I remember spending more time trying to sell my goods than I did actually getting them.

[Red Star]

Holy damned hell! You actually fell for a doubling money scam? I hereby point and laugh at you.

 

I agree with your concerns on points 3 and 4, although in the case of 4, the other skills should also get these untradable perks at high-levels - just not in such an overpowered way. There should be an incentive to leveling.

[deacon377]

Maybe it should be that way? What's the point of getting a production skill like smiting up to 99 with the exception of a skill cape? I can understand the point of maxing prayer, or consitution or fishing/gathering skills in general, but outside of that it's relatively pointless and as such has no real incentive for me to actually earn them.

 

I would be fine with this. As long as it was consistent you know? Although I'd be afraid that instead of it being a perk (Ie, I have 96 smithing so I get better armor) it would be a requirement like overloads are.

 

About the GE, I know some people liked merchanting but I always found trading to be a hassle and I remember spending more time trying to sell my goods than I did actually getting them.

 

 

Eh, I can understand that.

 

To me, there was some inescapable excitement about being in an area like world 2 fally. A place that was entirely organized by people, that had an unspoken code of ethics (that we all know was regularly broken, but on the whole was followed.)

A good joking rule of thumb I used when giving advice to new players in RS was "If you can't find it in world 2/1 Fally park, you do not need it."

 

Maybe I'm looking back with rose colored glasses on but I honestly cannot remember a time when I didn't have fun in Fally. The place had a certain air of excitement constant change yet it maintained a steady stream of goods with players valuing their own goods , and I can't help but feel that regardless of whether or not the GE left, it could not be replaced.

Players today are so dependent on getting their goods cheaply and quickly that another mass exodus would happen with the player base. Needless to say that the "updates" which removed free trade and the wild maimed the social trading aspect of RS...and it seems pretty permanent.

 

As far as temporary restrictions on trade with new accounts, as another person above me mentioned; why do you need more than 24k or however much it is as a new player?

Jeesh man, I remember running iron from the mines in alkahard all the way to the bank for like, 3 days just to save up for my mithril scimmy.

If I can do it, these nubs can too.

[Red Star]

I would, in fact, not have a problem with the removal of the GE, either. For me, the biggest problem would be regarding all those random items that you sometimes need and would have real trouble procuring on your own, but which have little market. For example, if I would need an adamant square shield, but didn't have the smithing level for it, what would I do? It'd be a hella lot more difficult to get one that way than now. Otherwise, I too enjoyed Falador.

[Jonanananas]

I also don't understand the motivation behind "prestige". It just makes it even harder to find people to group with since they have to be on the exact same floor as you are.

 

That's actually not true anymore. Jagex updated this a few months ago, you just have to be on the same theme as the other players now if you cannot share one floor.