10/29/13 - RuneScape Close To Eradicating Gold Farming

[God Of Lego]

I cannot wait until Mod MMGs RuneFest and end of year speaches.

[ilovecuttingyews]

reminds me of governments applauding their anti-drug policies saying that each new policy is that much closer to finally eradicating drugs from existance!

I guess that makes Jagex's recent moves equivalent to governments decriminalizing and regulating drugs to stamp out black market drugs which has worked fairly well IRL from the reports I've heard. Whether the same concept would hold for RS remains to be seen but I seem to recall someone saying that it worked in another game.

[Troacctid]

You can have a personal opinion of something and still hold it separate from doing your duties that seem to conflict with it. Additionally, it's less of a positive statement and more of a "everything that Jagex said about the bonds update has been fabricated nonsense."

 

Most people don't have a problem with Jagex selling bonds. And while they understandably can't just say, "We wanted a piece of the pie to bolster our profits since you guys don't seem to care" it's still a little frustrating to the average player regardless of what your stance on RWTing is.

 

It is exactly what Jagex would do if they legitimately wanted to stop gold farming for the long-term health of the game. I don't see the fabricated nonsense.

[Guest Smelly Paws]

Whether or not I support third-party RWT is irrelevant. I'm not a lemming of Jagex just because my name is written in green. I have my own views, as does each member of our staff. However, I keep my RuneScape life, what ever it may entail, separate from the work I do here on Tip.It and it doesn't in any way affect the job that I do, as Kim pointed out.

 

Nobody has said you have to support or even agree with decisions Jagex makes.  I don't.  You do seem to condone RWT outside of the scope of Jagex and whether you disagree with their stance or not it is still firmly against the rules of the game.  What you say in private is your business.  Publicly, you're speaking under your moderator banner for a fansite that is not supposed to encourage any type of play against the rules.  When someone in your position says it, you're giving players excuses to think it's ok to do it.  Correct me if I'm wrong and publicly say that it's bad to buy gold from traders outside of the game environment.

 

You see no benefits at all by actually giving the money to Jagex :rolleyes: .  Most of my answer to that is summed up very well with the post below by Everto. Who makes the game? Who updates it and keeps people interested in it for some many years?  The benefits that aren't obvious to you are that we keep the game, the cash made goes into the company that makes the game so we as a gaming community benefit from continuous development.  Jagex have the right to do what they do and they can charge what they want.  Players should vote with their cancelled accounts or refrain from buying any in-game features if they don't agree with it, not look for reasons to circumvent the game rules and dilute its integrity.  We've seen what that does, an example being the high scores.

 

On the subject of immorality, Everto's example of sweatshops is one aspect of it.  We don't know where the rest of the money goes either.  Organised crime? Funding terrorism perhaps? Who knows. I know I might be a minority on this last aspect but I was also brought up to think that cheating by breaking rules was a form of immorality too.

 

I've got a job that pays me very well, and soon I am not going to have much time to play. I want to enjoy the benefits of having t80 and t90 gear, and while I do MH every day it is just not fast enough. I could research which sites are legit and illegally buy gold for much cheaper, but you know what? Gold sellers obtain their gold by forcing people to "play" RS for very long hours in sweatshops while paying them next to nothing. That isn't someone I want to give my money to. And besides, I have been playing RS off-and-on since 2001. I don't want to risk being banned, and I also don't mind supporting the company that created a game which has brought me enjoyment for more than 10 years. Even if I disagree with many of the decisions Jagex has made and continues to make, I am still grateful to be able to enjoy RS.

[Aiel]

 

Whether or not I support third-party RWT is irrelevant. I'm not a lemming of Jagex just because my name is written in green. I have my own views, as does each member of our staff. However, I keep my RuneScape life, what ever it may entail, separate from the work I do here on Tip.It and it doesn't in any way affect the job that I do, as Kim pointed out.

 

Nobody has said you have to support or even agree with decisions Jagex makes.  I don't.  You do seem to condone RWT outside of the scope of Jagex and whether you disagree with their stance or not it is still firmly against the rules of the game.  What you say in private is your business.  Publicly, you're speaking under your moderator banner for a fansite that is not supposed to encourage any type of play against the rules.  When someone in your position says it, you're giving players excuses to think it's ok to do it.  Correct me if I'm wrong and publicly say that it's bad to buy gold from traders outside of the game environment.

 

You see no benefits at all by actually giving the money to Jagex :rolleyes: .  Most of my answer to that is summed up very well with the post below by Everto. Who makes the game? Who updates it and keeps people interested in it for some many years?  The benefits that aren't obvious to you are that we keep the game, the cash made goes into the company that makes the game so we as a gaming community benefit from continuous development.  Jagex have the right to do what they do and they can charge what they want.  Players should vote with their cancelled accounts or refrain from buying any in-game features if they don't agree with it, not look for reasons to circumvent the game rules and dilute its integrity.  We've seen what that does, an example being the high scores.

 

On the subject of immorality, Everto's example of sweatshops is one aspect of it.  We don't know where the rest of the money goes either.  Organised crime? Funding terrorism perhaps? Who knows. I know I might be a minority on this last aspect but I was also brought up to think that cheating by breaking rules was a form of immorality too.

 

Breaking rules is not inherently immoral. And I don't know why you'd have sweatshop workers collecting gold when it would be way cheaper to just run bots. 

[Sy_Accursed]

Because it's not always more efficient to run bots.

Bots can screw up or be unable to do the task, especially since botwatch got better lately.

Plus even if it is done with bots there still a sweatshop behind it usually, just instead of 1 user to 1 system doing actions its 1 user to several systems making sure the bots aren't messing up and replacing those that do.

 

There is a very well publicised MASSIVE business out in China etc. of sweatshop gold farming on various online games; it's why some big name games just outright block players for those regions and even on rs players in recent months have had trouble with auto-bans if they live out that way.

[Aiel]

I'm not sure goldfarming sweatshops are that bad relative to other sweatshops anyway (working with computers is inherently less dangerous then working with manufacturing equipment).

[ilovecuttingyews]

I'm not sure goldfarming sweatshops are that bad relative to other sweatshops anyway (working with computers is inherently less dangerous then working with manufacturing equipment).

According to http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam it's not always as clear as that.

[Jeffwilson99]

I want to know how they target the problem of god farming in game. Surely they trade all trades in the game. IT must be clear when people are buying gold, strangers just handing over large sums of coins. I assume they are tackling both sides of the problems, but I don't see why more isn't done in game to prevent third party RWT. 

[helring]

I want to know how they target the problem of god farming in game. Surely they trade all trades in the game. IT must be clear when people are buying gold, strangers just handing over large sums of coins. I assume they are tackling both sides of the problems, but I don't see why more isn't done in game to prevent third party RWT. 

 

It really depends, they'd really have to track it. Sometimes people do giveaways on different sites and often has never met the winner(s). This might appear at a quick glance to be RWT even though no one paid for anything. I also have a purple that was given to me by a friend on irc, but he's muted in-game. I have one of his alts on my fl but not the actual account that he gave me the hat with because that's useless when he's muted. I kind of wondered if I showed up in their "rwt" stats even though I didn't buy the p hat, cause their system would have to notice an unequal trade of that size, but I'm hoping they had a way of filtering out something like that.

[Lord Zophar]

And what about people who go Vorago together, and give away 200m+ splits of Wands?

[Tim]

And what about people who go Vorago together, and give away 200m+ splits of Wands?

they probably monitor friend chats, time added, adventure drop logs etc for those instances.

[Stev]

Nobody has said you have to support or even agree with decisions Jagex makes.  I don't.  You do seem to condone RWT outside of the scope of Jagex and whether you disagree with their stance or not it is still firmly against the rules of the game.  What you say in private is your business.  Publicly, you're speaking under your moderator banner for a fansite that is not supposed to encourage any type of play against the rules.  When someone in your position says it, you're giving players excuses to think it's ok to do it.  Correct me if I'm wrong and publicly say that it's bad to buy gold from traders outside of the game environment.

You're right, I am speaking under my moderator banner. However, you seem to think that because I'm a moderator that I can only argue, debate, and put forward facts for Jagex' benefit and completely forget about the other side of the coin. Sorry, I won't.

 

People can get much cheaper gold at little to no risk - that's a fact. I don't care if your title is green, red, purple, blue, or white. It's a fact. So are the other facts that I've mentioned. Therefore, I don't see Bonds putting near the size of dent in third-party RWT companies wallets that Jagex believes. Again, my position doesn't influence that. However, I've never said people should buy gold elsewhere or encouraged them to, I'm saying that they could.

 

I'm putting forth reasons why I don't think Bonds will be successful in eradicating third-parties. Or, should I put on my blinders, blindly follow Jagex, believe every words they spill (because their word has proven to be so incredibly reliable in the past), and think/know/argue that we'll soon be seeing the best possible outcome for Jagex. How about that permanent bot nuke (v1 v2 v3 v4 v5 v6+)?

[NukeMarine]

 

People can get much cheaper gold at little to no risk - that's a fact. I don't care if your title is green, red, purple, blue, or white. It's a fact. So are the other facts that I've mentioned. Therefore, I don't see Bonds putting near the size of dent in third-party RWT companies wallets that Jagex believes. Again, my position doesn't influence that. However, I've never said people should buy gold elsewhere or encouraged them to, I'm saying that they could.

 

 

If it's a fact, you can't say little to no risk. Either risk is present or it's not. If it's present, saying it's little risk does not put it in perspective. I'm sure these companies that don't give a crap about Jagex's policies are all above board when it comes to credit card and trade laws so long as a profit is to be made. However, what happens when these guys close up shop once Runescape dies (any day now according to some) and still have that CC info on file? I'm sure none of them will ever consider making use of that info.

 

Here's what I don't get Stev. You sound like buying gold is just fine, unless it's through a mechanism that Jagex sets up. Trust ALL the anonymous gold selling sites, but don't trust Jagex. Thing is, Jagex set up a mechanism for gold sellers over 10 years ago when it created RuneScape and gave the ability to trade. Jagex just introduced another method of trade and now you act like they're going crazy.  

 

By the way, Jagex is not selling gold. Jagex is just selling membership, spins and runecoins like they have for months and years now. It's just now in a method to trade that membership, spin or runecoin to others as you see fit. Yeah, the primary purpose for someone buying bonds for $5 will be to sell to another player for ingame gp as their own numbers seem to show. If nobody wants membership, spins or runecoins then the bonds don't sell. Now, it's BS when Jagex claims this is not RWT cause that's exactly what it is. However, it is not gold selling like you're trying to equate. 

 

Since you seem to have the inside track on numbers, how are all the sales from the gold selling sites? You claim the prices are stable (easy data to get) but has the volume of sales increased or decreased? That'd be real info into if this experiment (money grab) by Jagex is actually working.

[Jeffwilson99]

And what about people who go Vorago together, and give away 200m+ splits of Wands?

 

Well like Tim pointed out, I would like to think they could distinguish between legit players and gold farmer accounts or the middlemen dealing gold. But I guess it all depends on how much they monitor specific interactions between player's accounts, and how they process that information.  

[Ts_Stormrage]

 

reminds me of governments applauding their anti-drug policies saying that each new policy is that much closer to finally eradicating drugs from existance!

I guess that makes Jagex's recent moves equivalent to governments decriminalizing and regulating drugs to stamp out black market drugs which has worked fairly well IRL from the reports I've heard. Whether the same concept would hold for RS remains to be seen but I seem to recall someone saying that it worked in another game.

 

That was Mod Jacmob ;)

 

These bonds are only a half-assed solution, because in other games, they did a little more...

More on this in my upcoming article...

[Aiel]

 

 

People can get much cheaper gold at little to no risk - that's a fact. I don't care if your title is green, red, purple, blue, or white. It's a fact. So are the other facts that I've mentioned. Therefore, I don't see Bonds putting near the size of dent in third-party RWT companies wallets that Jagex believes. Again, my position doesn't influence that. However, I've never said people should buy gold elsewhere or encouraged them to, I'm saying that they could.

 

 

If it's a fact, you can't say little to no risk. Either risk is present or it's not. If it's present, saying it's little risk does not put it in perspective. I'm sure these companies that don't give a crap about Jagex's policies are all above board when it comes to credit card and trade laws so long as a profit is to be made. However, what happens when these guys close up shop once Runescape dies (any day now according to some) and still have that CC info on file? I'm sure none of them will ever consider making use of that info.

 

Here's what I don't get Stev. You sound like buying gold is just fine, unless it's through a mechanism that Jagex sets up. Trust ALL the anonymous gold selling sites, but don't trust Jagex. Thing is, Jagex set up a mechanism for gold sellers over 10 years ago when it created RuneScape and gave the ability to trade. Jagex just introduced another method of trade and now you act like they're going crazy.  

 

By the way, Jagex is not selling gold. Jagex is just selling membership, spins and runecoins like they have for months and years now. It's just now in a method to trade that membership, spin or runecoin to others as you see fit. Yeah, the primary purpose for someone buying bonds for $5 will be to sell to another player for ingame gp as their own numbers seem to show. If nobody wants membership, spins or runecoins then the bonds don't sell. Now, it's BS when Jagex claims this is not RWT cause that's exactly what it is. However, it is not gold selling like you're trying to equate. 

 

Since you seem to have the inside track on numbers, how are all the sales from the gold selling sites? You claim the prices are stable (easy data to get) but has the volume of sales increased or decreased? That'd be real info into if this experiment (money grab) by Jagex is actually working.

 

If you're stupid enough to put your CC details into a RWT site without paypal, google wallet etc. as a middleman, you're probably going to end up a victim of CC fraud at some point anyway. And I believe that Stev is saying the same thing I've been saying: illegal rwt is the same as jagex rwt, unless you view the rules as some divine guidance set forth by the almighty Gower brothers to guide us to a life of morality and justice.

[Omali]

 

If you're stupid enough to put your CC details into a RWT site without paypal, google wallet etc. as a middleman, you're probably going to end up a victim of CC fraud at some point anyway. And I believe that Stev is saying the same thing I've been saying: illegal rwt is the same as jagex rwt, unless you view the rules as some divine guidance set forth by the almighty Gower brothers to guide us to a life of morality and justice.

 

Nothing's been set forward by the Gower brothers in years. 

[Aiel]

 

 

If you're stupid enough to put your CC details into a RWT site without paypal, google wallet etc. as a middleman, you're probably going to end up a victim of CC fraud at some point anyway. And I believe that Stev is saying the same thing I've been saying: illegal rwt is the same as jagex rwt, unless you view the rules as some divine guidance set forth by the almighty Gower brothers to guide us to a life of morality and justice.

 

Nothing's been set forward by the Gower brothers in years. 

 

That was a joke. And I'm sure the original RWT rule was under the Gower brothers.

[NukeMarine]

 

 

 

 

People can get much cheaper gold at little to no risk - that's a fact. I don't care if your title is green, red, purple, blue, or white. It's a fact. So are the other facts that I've mentioned. Therefore, I don't see Bonds putting near the size of dent in third-party RWT companies wallets that Jagex believes. Again, my position doesn't influence that. However, I've never said people should buy gold elsewhere or encouraged them to, I'm saying that they could.

 

 

If it's a fact, you can't say little to no risk. Either risk is present or it's not. If it's present, saying it's little risk does not put it in perspective. I'm sure these companies that don't give a crap about Jagex's policies are all above board when it comes to credit card and trade laws so long as a profit is to be made. However, what happens when these guys close up shop once Runescape dies (any day now according to some) and still have that CC info on file? I'm sure none of them will ever consider making use of that info.

 

If you're stupid enough to put your CC details into a RWT site without paypal, google wallet etc. as a middleman, you're probably going to end up a victim of CC fraud at some point anyway. And I believe that Stev is saying the same thing I've been saying: illegal rwt is the same as jagex rwt, unless you view the rules as some divine guidance set forth by the almighty Gower brothers to guide us to a life of morality and justice.

 

 

So, are you disagreeing with Stev's statement that buying gp comes at little to no risk? I'm not the one claiming it's safe, he is. Also, unless I'm reading Stev wrong he finds Jagex offering a method for players to sell gold to each other via spins, membership or runecoins to be more abhorrent and game breaking than the honest, hard working gold sellers on the other sites.

 

I always found membership to be a form of real world trading and had no problem with it (others did). I understand that real life will offer advantage in game such as having loads of free time to play (others do not believe this). I do see a clear distinction in the RWT Jagex offers and what offsites offers though. The offsites damn near ruin the game experience in the use of gathering bots. 

[Stev]

If it's a fact, you can't say little to no risk. Either risk is present or it's not.

I don't understand your logic. There's risk with everything. Can I not say that playing baseball is little to no risk of injury simply because risk is present? Either it's there or it's not?

 

Here's what I don't get Stev. You sound like buying gold is just fine, unless it's through a mechanism that Jagex sets up. Trust ALL the anonymous gold selling sites, but don't trust Jagex. Thing is, Jagex set up a mechanism for gold sellers over 10 years ago when it created RuneScape and gave the ability to trade. Jagex just introduced another method of trade and now you act like they're going crazy.

I've never said that it's not fine buying from Jagex. However, for the average-Joe third-party is still far more appealing. It's cheaper. The only benefit is, like was said, that the money will be reinvested into the game. However, how much did SoF add to their income and their worth-while updates since have been... Vorago?

 

When you buy other things, let's say a vehicle, do you buy it directly from the manufacturer? Do you ensure that you buy it new from a Ford dealership, paying (for lack of a better term) out the ass, for the sole reason that your money (as if you alone make a difference) will be reinvested and improve your next vehicle purchase? Also, saying that I don't think it'll work is going crazy?

 

However, it is not gold selling like you're trying to equate.

OK, then they're selling "wealth". Their sole purpose is to allow people to buy an item to sell to another player who has enough in-game wealth to spare for membership, RuneCoins, spins, etc. No one buys them (for $) for the membership, RuneCoins, and spins (again, because they'd be getting 1/2 the product/service for their dollar).

 

Since you seem to have the inside track on numbers, how are all the sales from the gold selling sites? You claim the prices are stable (easy data to get) but has the volume of sales increased or decreased? That'd be real info into if this experiment (money grab) by Jagex is actually working.

Would various companies (two that I know of) being almost entirely sold out of stock be a good enough indicator? I can tell you, they're (those two at least) doing fine.

[NukeMarine]

 

If it's a fact, you can't say little to no risk. Either risk is present or it's not.

I don't understand your logic. There's risk with everything. Can I not say that playing baseball is little to no risk of injury simply because risk is present? Either it's there or it's not?

 

Then just say it's little risk. At most, someone will ask you to put that into perspective such as out of x gp trades there's been y complaints compared to something similar with Amazon or Yahoo. If these gp sites are on the up and up and can prove it (large amounts of anecdotal evidence suffice) then I'm cool with the statement that Jagex is bs'ing on that part. Off topic but baseball has a high risk of injury (2 per 100 hours of play in US Navy at least), though the severity may vary.

 

 

Here's what I don't get Stev. You sound like buying gold is just fine, unless it's through a mechanism that Jagex sets up. Trust ALL the anonymous gold selling sites, but don't trust Jagex. Thing is, Jagex set up a mechanism for gold sellers over 10 years ago when it created RuneScape and gave the ability to trade. Jagex just introduced another method of trade and now you act like they're going crazy.

 

I've never said that it's not fine buying from Jagex. However, for the average-Joe third-party is still far more appealing. It's cheaper. The only benefit is, like was said, that the money will be reinvested into the game. However, how much did SoF add to their income and their worth-while updates since have been... Vorago?

 

When you buy other things, let's say a vehicle, do you buy it directly from the manufacturer? Do you ensure that you buy it new from a Ford dealership, paying (for lack of a better term) out the ass, for the sole reason that your money (as if you alone make a difference) will be reinvested and improve your next vehicle purchase? Also, saying that I don't think it'll work is going crazy?

 

Ok, then that's fair in that you don't care where people buy their gp. I prefer Jagex's method at the moment though those that have billions of gp will probably prefer a method that lets them get money directly for their gp (they could give a crap about membership, spins or runecoins). I won't get into what counts as worthwhile updates because that'll give you 100 different answers from 100 different people.

 

As for your car dealership example, again it's off topic but many states in the US have laws that prevent direct sales. You have to go through a dealership to buy a car (Tesla motors brought this to light recently). However, in that case the dealership did buy the car from the manufacturer at least. With gp sites, except for membership I doubt they passed much cash to Jagex. They sure as hell aren't buying spins and runecoins to sell to others in game.

 

 

However, it is not gold selling like you're trying to equate.

OK, then they're selling "wealth". Their sole purpose is to allow people to buy an item to sell to another player who has enough in-game wealth to spare for membership, RuneCoins, spins, etc. No one buys them (for $) for the membership, RuneCoins, and spins (again, because they'd be getting 1/2 the product/service for their dollar).

 

Technically it's 80% the value if you don't look at the bulk purchase bonuses but I get your point. In fact this will present a problem sooner or later as people with gp to sell for membership, spins or coins (let me abbreviate that M,S&C) will soon not give a crap about getting more M,S&C.

 

I don't know the legality of it, but Jagex may create a method to let bonds be converted to store credit with a partner company like Amazon. Player A buys a bond for $5 from Jagex. Player A sells bond to Player B for 8m gp. Player B converts it to $4 in Amazon credit. Jagex profits $1 per bond. Now players that just want money for their gp have a vehicle to do it legally within the game. Again, this may be completely illegal depending on international trade laws and British law specifically.

 

 

Since you seem to have the inside track on numbers, how are all the sales from the gold selling sites? You claim the prices are stable (easy data to get) but has the volume of sales increased or decreased? That'd be real info into if this experiment (money grab) by Jagex is actually working.

Would various companies (two that I know of) being almost entirely sold out of stock be a good enough indicator? I can tell you, they're (those two at least) doing fine.

 

If they're selling out of their stock, why aren't they raising their prices? That's basic supply and demand there. Still it sounds like they're doing good contrary to what Jagex is claiming. Now if they're the exception and not the rule then Jagex's statement is fine.

 

Thanks for giving me the idea about Amazon store credit though. I'm sure I'm not the first to think about it, but it's a new thought to me.

[Guest Smelly Paws]

 

Nobody has said you have to support or even agree with decisions Jagex makes.  I don't.  You do seem to condone RWT outside of the scope of Jagex and whether you disagree with their stance or not it is still firmly against the rules of the game.  What you say in private is your business.  Publicly, you're speaking under your moderator banner for a fansite that is not supposed to encourage any type of play against the rules.  When someone in your position says it, you're giving players excuses to think it's ok to do it.  Correct me if I'm wrong and publicly say that it's bad to buy gold from traders outside of the game environment.

You're right, I am speaking under my moderator banner. However, you seem to think that because I'm a moderator that I can only argue, debate, and put forward facts for Jagex' benefit and completely forget about the other side of the coin. Sorry, I won't.

 

Are you making this up or something? That's not what I said at all in my response.  You're either not getting it or going out of you're going out of your way to distance yourself from taking responsibility for what you've been saying. Noted - you didn't respond to my request to publicly condem buying gold from other websites <_<

 

 

People can get much cheaper gold at little to no risk - that's a fact. I don't care if your title is green, red, purple, blue, or white. It's a fact. So are the other facts that I've mentioned. Therefore, I don't see Bonds putting near the size of dent in third-party RWT companies wallets that Jagex believes. Again, my position doesn't influence that. However, I've never said people should buy gold elsewhere or encouraged them to, I'm saying that they could.

 

I'm putting forth reasons why I don't think Bonds will be successful in eradicating third-parties. Or, should I put on my blinders, blindly follow Jagex, believe every words they spill (because their word has proven to be so incredibly reliable in the past), and think/know/argue that we'll soon be seeing the best possible outcome for Jagex. How about that permanent bot nuke (v1 v2 v3 v4 v5 v6+)?

Don't pretend that you've been trying to factual about this all along :rolleyes: . 

 

It doesn't matter whether bonds will be successful or not, that is up to the company.  Whether I agree with Jagex personally or not, I will go along with it because they decide how things will run.  It's called following the rules and spirit of the game.  They've done some good things, they've done some bad things.  At least they're trying. 

 

Nobody asked you to be a poster boy for Jagex but you give a strong sense of being anti-establishment. I expect this from a typical teenager but not from a twenty-something forum moderator of a fansite.  

[Ts_Stormrage]

@NukeMarine

That idea has been floating around in my head for a while now as well (see my earlier posts where I'm hinting at something related)...

 

It's part of a rather all-encompassing solution with more things picked out from other ideas, that I'll offer in my next article (one day to go)... I'm sure you'll like it :)

[Pinata]

Well... I'm a bit late on this whole bond thing. I finally have a weekend off in the past four or five months to seriously play some Runescape. I've been trying to catch up on all the missed updates that are still available. I'm not shocked one bit about Jagex creating bonds, but I'm still very disappointed. 

 

I actually kind of lost faith though after discovering bonds today... I was a chronic player 7-10+ hrs/day for the past four or five years (I have about 500 days played). I didn't quit persay, but I joined the military so computer/internet access has been extremely difficult, and non-existent during the training phases. 

 

This weekend I decided to come back to my favorite thing to do which is play video games, and well Runescape is my favorite game. Runescape 3 pretty much seems the exact same as Runescape 2 back in March when I left. Just a more customisable interface system really. Well, I suppose the RS Gods have become largely entangled in the game too, but I missed the whole BoL and still need to catch up on all the God related updates.

 

Anyways, on topic, I suppose this did put a severe blow to gold-farmers but essentially their solution to combat the problem was to become the problem. That is how I view it at least. 40% of players purchased gold I did find shocking. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, but tbh when I think about it I've had a few of my RS friends tell me they bought gold so it could be true. I never agreed to their decision, but eventhough I did play a lot I still understood Runescape is a game. If someone wants to use RL money on a unfair advantage, so be it, I don't think anything less of them as a person. That being said, RWT is still cheating, and if they got banned or stat/bank reset, I wouldn't feel sorry for them. Well I feel banning someone is a bit harsh (for botting/buying gold), but I'm 100% for stat/bank resetting. I traded my friend over 2 bill once, which they never gave back (they were supposed to). So in a way I had my bank reset, but I was able to move forward, so it's not a gamestopper. Actually, it may have been more difficult for someone like me, seeing as I didn't just buy it so it had more sentimental value.

 

 

 

I don't think bonds are the solution one bit. They should have focused on non-tradable gameplay imho. PoP/Dungeoneering is a great example. The highest level gear and most of the top end gear is currently buyable.

 

 

Buyable

Lvl 70 GWD/Barrows/Nex/Sirenic/Tectonic/Lvl 90 weapons/Spirit shields/glacor boots/automaton gloves/ganodermic/prayer/herblore/GWD necklaces/fury/rcb

 

 

Not-Buyable

Dg weps&shields/Dom gloves/cape slot items/300 MA rank/PoP armour/charms/cb skills

 

If more of those items were made unbuyable, perhaps people would be less likely to spend RL cash on gp, considering that wouldn't bring them any closer to their perspective item. Obviously some things will need to be buyable or making gp legitimately would be pointless too, but I'd rather have a few expensive buyable items like jewelery, and have armour/weapons obtainable through certain content. If Drygore was untradable, people would still go to KK to have the best melee weapons. There might not be much reason to go back after you get the weapons unless you lose them, but I feel that would be better than buying them off the GE to obtain them.

 

With the exception of 300 MA rank, I found playing through Dom Tower, sending voyages out everyday, and Dungeoneering with friends was a pretty good challenge for the items it offered. Took me a few months to get the PoP armour. Dom Tower took about a day, but then again it's only gloves, and getting Chaotics is no easy task. Even at 120 you're looking at 4-5hrs+ of gameplay. Imagine trying to get multiple chaotics at level 80-100 rates.

 

 

 

It's just a bit depressing to come back to the game and see Jagex keep making the same mistakes they've been making, and no change in sight. That being said, if you ignore all the SoF, Solomon, Bond, and other RL$ related schemes, the game is still worth playing. Lol well I don't really like EoC, but at least it doesn't involve my wallet, and Jagex legitimately tried to solve the problems to the old combat system.