The Evolution of Combat: BETA discussion

[IridiumBunny]

Just did my barrows run for the beta costume only.

 

If you just want to get the costume, you don't need to kill all brothers, just open the chest. I did the four melee brothers with blood barrage and soul split, never got close to death and they still died pretty fast. I ignored the other three because I didn't bring another combat style and on opening the chest I still got the message that I earned the beta piece.

 

Considering the number of glitches, unbalanced gear, stupidly powerful Akrisae, etc, still in the beta, I think this was a poor choice for a beta event at this time (they could have skipped a week or two to get some new patches out before making us go there...), so was just glad to get through it quickly.

[Ruinous Edge]

I only killed guthan and ahrim, found tunnel in verac's crypt, looted chest before Verac even appeared, I got the costume unlock notice, killed Verac for the hell of it then tele'd back to barrows entrance, will try Barrows start to finish when the lag fest eases off, maybe sunday evening ish, will be my first time doing it since ROTM so looking forward to fighting Arkisae (sp?)

Edit: any news when the steam punk outfit is credited to our live accounts? was vague in news post.

[Patch_umz]

I killed all 6 of the original brothers (I haven't done ROTM yet) with very minimal effort. All using Magic (Divine Storm + Extremes + Augury) in melee range, even Karil (to see if I could do it, which I easily could).

 

I was in gano and using just an Armadyl Battlestaff, I took very little damage with standard protection prayers up. And when I did it again (this time using Snare, since my Magic is too low for Entangle) I barely needed anything.

 

With Divine Storm, Extreme Magic Potions, and Augury, I was maxing out with 4200 crits on Karil, lol. (Oddly, I was hitting Karil harder than the others, haha... just missing a ton more. Clearly all RNG, but still)

 

I wish I could've tested Akrisae, since people keep saying how stupid he is now, but alas.

 

So yeah, as long as you have something like Augury, you can even mage Karil. And definitely mage the others no problem.

 

Though I'm annoyed at the lack of updates, this is still fun ^^.

[Den]

After trying it out, Akrisae is by far the most difficult indeed. Styleswitching isn't the problem, it's the ability bar lag. Also, dualweilding two different classes should be done for Akrisae, or switch weaponry but have your worn gear mixed. Should make things easier.

[Riptide Mage]

Where are you even supposed to see there is a weekend event? The latest news I see about the beta is from July 20th.

 

[Patch_umz]

Where are you even supposed to see there is a weekend event? The latest news I see about the beta is from July 20th.

If you want beta news, check the public (when logged in) beta events forum. Never ever check the home page, it's a giant waste of your time.

[Ruinous Edge]

it's mentioned on main page news post not under the combat beta tab;

 

Combat Beta Featured Event 4: Barrows

 

1 day ago

 

From 4pm on Friday 10th August to 10am on Monday 13th August (BST), all players with an active RuneScape membership subscription will be able to participate in our fourth Combat Beta featured event: the Barrows. You’ll need to take on the ever-unrestful spirits of the Barrows brothers in their tombs in order to loot the prize chest and secure the final point for the unique beta tester reward - The Mad Scientist Outfit:

 

For those of you not in the know, the Mad Scientist Outfit comprises of five pieces in total, but it can only be obtained by attending all four of our Combat Beta featured events. To qualify for this final piece, you’ll need to:

• Be a RuneScape member – if you’re not already, subscribe here!
  
• Be on a beta world between 4pm Friday 10th August & 10am Monday 13th August (BST).
  
• Successfully loot the final chest in the barrows. You must claim the loot to fully qualify.
  

Once you’ve completed all four weekend events, you’ll be awarded the costume on your live (non-beta) account. You can get more information on this and upcoming events over at our Combat Beta events forum.

The Combat Beta forums are only accessible to members, so you’ll need to log into the forumshere and then:

• Get the event details from this weekend’s event thread at QFC: 307-308-3-63920434
  
• Give us feedback on the event after you’ve participated at QFC: 307-308-4-63920438
  

Don’t forget – this is your one and only chance to complete the final weekend event necessary for obtaining the Mad Scientist Outfit! Be sure to get involved by subscribing and then battling through the Barrows on the beta worlds this weekend.

Good luck!

The RuneScape Team

 

[strilmus]

anybody know how to deal with akrisae's bullshit tactics?

[Ruinous Edge]

I've heard he has 100% protection rate on his prayers, so maybe it's a glitch seeing as no protection prayers now are meant to be 100%, looking forward to fighting him when lag at barrows dies down. So far Den's idea seems best mix armour and dual wield styles and hope for the best. Just a shame armour swapping kills your adrenaline, when it seems so vital with Akrisae. Do super restores work yet to restore your adrenaline? maybe they may bridge the gap of armour swapping.

[strilmus]

problem with akrisae is that he has both magic and melee (which can hit pretty hard without protection) so you shouldn't really take off the mage armor unless you can successfully avoid his melee attacks (but ranged binds suck)

 

perhaps i should just fake him out with a fast alternate wep until he switches and then go back to magic

[Sy_Accursed]

Where are you even supposed to see there is a weekend event? The latest news I see about the beta is from July 20th.

 

Right on the front page:

[Ruinous Edge]

problem with akrisae is that he has both magic and melee (which can hit pretty hard without protection) so you shouldn't really take off the mage armor unless you can successfully avoid his melee attacks (but ranged binds suck)

 

perhaps i should just fake him out with a fast alternate wep until he switches and then go back to magic

Problem is people have reported using a weapon different to the armour class they are wearing and hitting a lot of 0s, so you could prolong the fight and waste more food/prayers.

[HunterDexter]

After this event, I'm sure of it, I will never ever use combat again once this update goes live. You may say 'adapt to it and stop crying', well, I don't care, I enjoyed RuneScape for its simplistic combat which I could play at leisure, without having to focus my head at a screen and my fingers at the keyboard constantly. Runescape was always something I played while doing other stuff, I just can't adapt to such a big change, so I will leave this aspect of the game. I find it sad to see my much beloved game 'evolving', while change could be needed, this is a 180 degree turn in direction, which I find very difficult to live with.

[Patch_umz]

After this event, I'm sure of it, I will never ever use combat again once this update goes live. You may say 'adapt to it and stop crying', well, I don't care, I enjoyed RuneScape for its simplistic combat which I could play at leisure, without having to focus my head at a screen and my fingers at the keyboard constantly. Runescape was always something I played while doing other stuff, I just can't adapt to such a big change, so I will leave this aspect of the game. I find it sad to see my much beloved game 'evolving', while change could be needed, this is a 360 degree turn in direction, which I find very difficult to live with.

Out of curiosity, what year did you start playing in?

[HunterDexter]

My first year in high school, must be end 2003- begin 2004.

[Sir_Squab]

After this event, I'm sure of it, I will never ever use combat again once this update goes live. You may say 'adapt to it and stop crying', well, I don't care, I enjoyed RuneScape for its simplistic combat which I could play at leisure, without having to focus my head at a screen and my fingers at the keyboard constantly. Runescape was always something I played while doing other stuff, I just can't adapt to such a big change, so I will leave this aspect of the game. I find it sad to see my much beloved game 'evolving', while change could be needed, this is a 360 degree turn in direction, which I find very difficult to live with.

Jagex says the plan is to balance the abilities so people who want to just casually kill stuff without worrying about any abilities can. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen.

[HunterDexter]

As seen with todays event, you can clearly see it's far from that objective. The way protection prayers/curses are going to work force you to use defensive abilities, or to take a huge stock of food with you.

[The Floating Pen]

I believe Barrows is considered a boss-type gameplay, as in gameplay that will challenge you and force you to use abilities.

 

Slayer tasks should be easy enough without any abilities.

[strilmus]

lemme elaborate on where barrows is right now

 

with the proper equipment, it's fairly easy to beat the crap out of all of them (even without the benefit of stunning the hell out of the melee bros), except for akrisae who is basically cheating right now

 

without the proper equipment (which akrisae forces you to do right now) you'll take some pretty harsh damage

 

it's still kind of two dimensional in that aspect but otherwise i'm still having fun because who doesn't like causing different things to happen during battle

 

in many ways the new system is enormously faster due to trading off with the benefits of autocombat

 

I still think there's room for involving hybriding if they loosen the requirements for type specific equipment using new gear

[Patch_umz]

As seen with todays event, you can clearly see it's far from that objective. The way protection prayers/curses are going to work force you to use defensive abilities, or to take a huge stock of food with you.

Not at all. I decided to try out Fight Caves earlier today and used no food at all, and no prayers/curses other than Augury (until Jad, of course). Yes you're "forced" to use defensive abilities, but then again, you're forced to use "abilities" or be the magikarp of RuneScape. I was using a staff (2h, so almost no defensive abilities) the entire time, and only switched to a shield every 10 minutes or so in order to use the Rejuvenate ultimate, which I feel is definintely not a lot of work. Granted Fight Caves aren't exactly difficult, they are still an endurance game, and the fact that I never even touched prot prayers or food says a lot about how fun EoC is going to be for non-boss situations.

 

If you don't use abilities, you deserve to waste money on food. The game wasn't relaxing before, it was boring. If I wanted to play an idling game I can do that on IRC where I level up by simply not doing anything in a channel for months. Interaction makes a game engaging and fun, if you can't handle a minimal amount of interaction with a game, I don't think you're cut out for playing games.

[HunterDexter]

To me, the game was never boring (ok, a lie, getting my MA ranks was a serious killer), I enjoyed it that I just had to click once in a while and could chat, watch videos or do some homework during the killing, and hopefully find some nice loot after I killed something. I find that relaxing, and I enjoyed that feeling for about 8 years. I also play other games like the Total War franchise and the odd battles at Battlefield Heroes, I enjoy those because of the immersion, but most of the time, I want something relaxing, ergo I play RuneScape. Now all of the sudden this "idle" game wants to become like the other MMOs out there, where you are forced to interact constantly. (This is also the reason I've never did a dungeon with a group, I solo so I can go at my own pace, clicking once in a while.) While some will enjoy the direction this will take, I can only feel myself sad, the gaming experience I've had the past eight years will vanish, forever, as you've shown in your post: I'll have to use a lot more food and I'll probably have to use a lot of defensive abilities.

I might look very conservative now, but it's just that I'll miss that one crucial aspect of RuneScape which drawn me to it, this is just my own opinion.

[Den]

Defensive abilities are hardly needed in most situations. Of course abilities will make something speed up, but doing things like slayer will still be ok to do without abilities. That is what Jagex are aiming for as far as I know at the moment.

[Patch_umz]

Defensive abilities are hardly needed in most situations. Of course abilities will make something speed up, but doing things like slayer will still be ok to do without abilities. That is what Jagex are aiming for as far as I know at the moment.

Yeah, autoattacks do pretty good damage, and you can manage without abilities if you really want.

 

But of course you can also level to 99 woodcut with oak trees... sooo...

[Urza285]

I actually found all the barrows brothers pretty easy just meleeing except I didn't do akristae because I'm a lazy ass. I would imagine it wouldn't be nearly as bad as people make it seem if you just used your basic abilities. I feel the abilities over basic do more damage, but in most cases you could manage just from basics alone.

[Barihawk]

After this event, I'm sure of it, I will never ever use combat again once this update goes live. You may say 'adapt to it and stop crying', well, I don't care, I enjoyed RuneScape for its simplistic combat which I could play at leisure, without having to focus my head at a screen and my fingers at the keyboard constantly. Runescape was always something I played while doing other stuff, I just can't adapt to such a big change, so I will leave this aspect of the game. I find it sad to see my much beloved game 'evolving', while change could be needed, this is a 360 degree turn in direction, which I find very difficult to live with.

 

A 360 degree turn? You do realize that's going in the same direction you were traveling in the first place?

 

As someone who has played for 8 years, I am pleased with these updates. The entire reason I stopped playing the game was the absolutely boring combat. Far too repetitive.