Tip.It Times Tip.It Times - 25th November 2012

[tripsis]

Time for a new release of the: >>>Tip.It Times!<<<

 

 

 

WRITE FOR THE TIMES - SUBMIT A GUEST ARTICLE:

Remember, YOU can write an article for the Tip.It Times! You can apply to write full time, or just submit a "one-off" guest article any time you want! Our editors will work with you to ensure that your article is ready for publication. All guest articles can be submitted to @tripsis or any other Editorial Panel member. For more information, including details on how to apply full time, read this forum thread: http://forum.tip.it/topic/209138-how-to-write-for-the-tipit-times/

 

I'd like to remind people of the rules pertaining to Times threads:

 

[hide=Read these rules before posting in this thread]

Rampant flame wars have taken control of virtually every week's times discussion topics. The following guidelines must be followed when posting on this topic. Posts that ignore these guidelines will be removed.

 

1. You are invited and welcome to express like or dislike on articles and a particular author's writing style. It is not acceptable, however, to flame or personally insult an author. Posts that aren't anything but an attack will be removed from the topic.

 

2. Spelling and grammar errors can be reported to tripsis by PMing her and they will be fixed promptly. It is not necessary to post them on the discussion topic.

 

3. Off topic posts that do not discuss the content of that week's articles will be removed. This is not the place to discuss the direction of the times, how much you love or hate the times, etc. Off topic posts will be removed.

 

By keeping within these guidelines, Times discussion topics will mean more for the Panel and Administration than just a place for flame wars. Flame wars do not provide any useful feedback to the Times, which is mainly what we're aiming for with these topics: feedback.

 

This policy is effective as of now, November 17, 2010. Any posts prior to the creation of this policy may or may not be removed according to the new guidelines.

[/hide]

 

When replying please make sure to clarify the article you are replying to! Thanks!

 

If you spot any typos or mistakes in an article then please PM them to @tripsis. :)

 

Enjoy the articles!

[decebal]

Should we even expect "RS2 servers"? I was under the impression that Jagex didn't like the idea of throwback servers. Sure, people will enjoy them, but they won't stay on those servers for too long and then the servers will die.

[Kaida23]

I think it unlikely. Unlike RSC, there would be no real clear break point between RS2 and RS3. Maybe if they'd waited to release EoC and Next Gen at the same time it might have been clearer.

[Alg]

Should we even expect "RS2 servers"? I was under the impression that Jagex didn't like the idea of throwback servers. Sure, people will enjoy them, but they won't stay on those servers for too long and then the servers will die.

It seems like it would just be an attempt to appease a group that won't be happy regardless of what you do for them.

[Ginger_Warrior]

Should we even expect "RS2 servers"? I was under the impression that Jagex didn't like the idea of throwback servers. Sure, people will enjoy them, but they won't stay on those servers for too long and then the servers will die.

It seems like it would just be an attempt to appease a group that won't be happy regardless of what you do for them.

Yeah, and where do you draw the line here? People quit over Ancients. People quit over free trade removal (although it went back eventually). People are quitting over EoC.

 

What would be the best cut-off point to say "This is RS2, and this post-RS2"? Impossible question.

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

For some of the rankings provided by The Floating Pen, I think there are too many unknowns to objectively make ratings. Initial impression and optimism can be high, but I wouldn't give something like Player Owned Ports an automatic 4/5. All one can do is speculate anyway, and speculation doesn't do this community good.

[The Floating Pen]

Yes indeed, there are many unknowns. Obviously, a proper ranking cannot be assigned until after those updates are released, but I thought I would attempt to assign ratings according to what we know - they are essentially predictions regarding how the updates will be.

 

Why is speculation harmful to the community? I would love it if you could elaborate on this point. Personally, I am of the opinion that speculation is by no means harmful and should be encouraged at times (building anticipation invites players to stick around).

[Alg]

Why is speculation harmful to the community? I would love it if you could elaborate on this point. Personally, I am of the opinion that speculation is by no means harmful and should be encouraged at times (building anticipation invites players to stick around).

"Hold on to your Robin Hood Hats, folks!", "The Bank of Runescape", "CHOOSE YOUR FATE" (caps necessary), the Runespan announcement-announcement... The community doesn't do too well with speculation. Even the harmless ones end up with people disappointed because they expected an average update to be the one that includes everything they could possibly have wanted (Or in more recent times, the one that will irreversibly kill the game forever).

 

The beta scientist top examine really drives the point home. Normally I'd agree that speculation isn't inherently harmful, but I've seen what Scapers do with it.

[Inkler]

'That uncertainty just goes to show that it is in the very nature of RuneScape to be a constantly changing game. If you are going to quit over a change to a very dynamic game, you were playing the wrong game to begin with.'

actualy that is wrong,it may seem so now,before andrew sold it it was not so,and there were more players then than there are now,the new jagex has by far driven away more players than they have gained.

there is a large group gathering that wants rs2 servers,where the game will not be constantly changing,the next issue that will cause problems with this however is the large collection of untended bugs and glitches that jagex seems too busy to fix,also,without the new updates of greed missing they would have to have insanely high membership fees.

in my opinion i think jagex desires to lose all of us old players,the game originaly was designed/intended for ages 13 and up,i think they have gone for 13 and under,these players,while more prone to cheat are easily bored and therefore like the constant changes,plus they are unaware of what was,and only see what is.

java is not a good programming language for state of the art graphics etc.this will continue to be a problem as well.

just fyi,i started playing before rs2,the game was less than a year old.

[Alg]

We've been complaining about many of the same things since before Andrew sold his shares, and I'm not sure if they're relevant given how much gaming has changed since then. They can't sustain a game that only appeals to the veterans anymore. It was a choice between modern trends to attract new players or a dwindling older playerbase and they chose to modernize. Evolve or die.

 

We pretty much cry "greed!" at every update, and completely ignore the fact that the standard for "free" MMOs is considerably worse when it comes to buyable content. I mean, here I can buy experience and cosmetic items. Other games let me buy experience, characters/classes, and sometimes endgame gear.

[Dracae]

If it were up to me, and it is not, there would be no RS2 servers. Pre-EOC servers would split the community unnesiserily, since it is absolutely needed to forse a major part of the players to adapt or they never will.. I would be one of them, I did not look forward to EOC, but I also realised I ahd no choice and put a big mental permanent marker line below the old, this helped me give the new a chance. I was suprised how easily I learned.. sure there is still 100s of anoyances, bugs, mistakes, but the overal premise is logical, balanced and sound.

Now, if there were to be pre-eoc servers, many would not give EOC a try.. splitting the playerbase.. but if they were going to make them, and they might, then they wil NOT anounce them and not make them untill later, when most dinosaurs finaly gave in and adapted.

[Poppe]

The thought of "Rs2 Servers" really reminds me of what I'm seeing with the RSB Warring community (the p2p clan war community) right now, which I was apart of for many years. Pretty much only one clan has even decided to give EOC a try... the rest have decided they will whine to high hell and start warring on private servers.

 

Two major things really bother me with that: The first is the EOC is a chance to breath need life into warring. RSB Warring has been basically the same for the past four years, the only change is a few gear upgrades, but the format and strategies are ... predictable. I understand not liking change, but completely resisting change frustrates me. It is not if they are quitting either, none of them plan to leave Runescape, they just plan to play on private servers instead which will soon raise its own problems of hackings, poorer programming, and the risk of Jagex getting it shut down as it is copyright infringement.

 

Second problem is something I see in every single game I've played and I'm not sure if it is a problem with foruming communities or if its a problem with me. But it seems in every major game's forums, the forumer's feel they know whats best for the game more then the developers and with that comes almost a sense of entitlement. Now I don't mean tip.it at all in that, its honestly why I've migrated here from the RSB (Runescape Official Forums) because there isn't that sense of entitlement here (and far less trolls as well). Now sure, the gamers spend more time in the game then the developers, that is just the nature of the relationship. But gamers in their feedback will always have a ting of bias in what they don't like. An example of what I mean is the sticky in suggestions on the RSB for changing the crystal key chest as Jagex plans to update it's rewards. Some of the suggestions are wildly unbalanced such as switching the dragonstone to an onyx or new crystal items with every key, etc. because people want to make money off there stock of crystal keys... Well if everyone uses their stock of crystal keys to get hoards of onyx then the price of an onyx will be that of a dragonstone within a day.

 

Typically I have more faith in the developers to keep the long term success and enjoyment of the game in mind better then the players. Now that isn't true for everyone, but I think for a game's community as a whole it is true. I'm sure anyone will take a few maxed cash stack without stopping to think if the free maxed cash was offered to everyone also then the money would soon be worthless.

 

Okay! Huge digression in all of that but I get across what I feel about the community still threatening to quit over EOC. This is why I'm not in favor of throwback servers at all for "Rs 2." I suppose in closing, in the build up to EOC's launch I wasn't looking forward to it at all. I had concerns of it changing slayer for me and making it unenjoyable, but just by waiting and giving something new a fair chance, I bet many of the people still against EOC might actually like it or find something new it in they do like.

 

I still hold out hope that all the RSB warrers will play with their private servers for a few wars and get sick of it and come back and adapt to EOC.

[jayc3399]

All the people who want rs2 servers just show how much this MMO has turned into a single player game. If they were to create pre eoc servers they would have to be seperate from current game like rs classic is. They don't want to divide the community so it won't happen. The other thing all these people don't realize is if they got their pre eoc servers they would never receive another update. To be honest hosting a single pre eoc server and letting it rot would let everything get this whinny bs out of their systems.

 

 

[thejollyroger]

Both articles: The Tip.It community is starting to look forward to future RS updates (with a measure of anticipation) instead of nostalgic lament for the past (and a short-termed memory at that).

 

Keep rolling on this momentum.

[Geauxtiger1]

I would consider myself in the whining category pre EOC. I was not looking forward to the change; much directly related to the updates and how they slow down my game play. Now that the update is here, and as I am learning the art of combat better, I actually like the change. There are some things I don't like and some of the game play is more burdensome; but that is probably because I haven't figured it out yet.

 

Haven't tried a quest yet so I have little trepidation with that..........