runelite would have picked up the QOL eventually.

 

the other changes have drastically changed the game...

 

i feel like they are creating content to justify worker salaries

If OSRS was released and stayed the same with no updates, it would had died. If you look at the player graphs, if GWD was never added to oldschool, it would had died by the end of 2013.

they had their main game rs3 to worry about

 

osrs isnt even oldschool anymore.

Regardless, if OSRS stayed as it was in 2007, without GWD, without any kind of QOL, without the GE, it would had been shut down. If you want to play an absolute static server, private servers exist.

The main RS3 game already seemed to have it's course firmly set towards pay to win / bonkers exp boosts in addition to the unpopular EOC update. As someone who has not played it since the EOC update, it is basically unrecognizable now.

I picked up RuneScape again in 2019 - initially it was the nostalgia that engaged me, but it was new content that hooked me back in to the point I am still currently playing OSRS. I think for a lot of current OSRS players, it is the difference between playing a game similar to the original vibe of RuneScape or not playing at all, and Jagex would have been dumb to leave that on the table once it was proven that old school as a concept could work.

I agree. RS3 is such a mismash of graphical styles in addition to the pay to win.

I mean, the latest big boss is Zamorak himself. It looks AMAZING

https://runescape.wiki/w/Zamorak,_Lord_of_Chaos#Gallery

But the token drops, which are lvl 95 melee armor, look horrible and untextured. Because of the way they apply textures.. https://runescape.wiki/w/Zamorak,_Lord_of_Chaos#Signature_drops