20 April 2006 - Rune Essence adjustment

[biggy08755]

Today we have made an adjustment to rune essence mining due to players breaking rule 7 and rule 12, using macros to mine the rune essence and then sell it.

 

 

 

As you are probably aware we have various systems in place to detect people breaking rule 7 and ban them. These systems work very effectively at detecting people breaking this rule, and make macroing a really bad way to try and train a high level character.

 

 

 

The problem we are now solving is not a problem with our macro detection systems which are still working well, but rather a problem with banning being an ineffective punishment against abusers who only use very low level accounts, and who have no intention of ever playing the game properly.

 

 

 

Over the last few weeks we have banned literally hundreds of accounts a day for macroing at the rune essence mine. However the bans were ineffective as the abusers could just create more low level accounts that they didn't care about to mine more. We also track trades so we can ban the recipient of the illegally obtained items, but the abusers in this case were swapping the runes for gp, and then selling the gp for real world money on auction sites. Of course the person buying the gp for real world money gets banned, because we track the money they received in an unbalanced trade to a macro account, but the seller doesn't care that their customers get banned shortly after, as they have their real world money by then.

 

 

 

The fundamental problem is that rune essence was one of the few areas of the game which could be used to generate a reasonable amount of RuneScape money on a 'throwaway' low level free account. Normally to earn large amounts of money quickly you need to level up an account first, and then of course you care if it gets banned so our normal deterrant is effective.

 

 

 

We have therefore split rune essence to have 2 grades. Normal essence can only be used to make the six basic runes, whereas pure essence can be used to make any rune. You can mine both types of essence at the same place as before. The kind of essence you receive is automatically decided when you mine the rock. You will always get pure essence only if your mining is over 30 and you are on a members' world, otherwise you will get normal essence.

 

 

 

As a one-off event whilst we introduce this, existing essence in your bank and inventory will have been automatically converted to pure essence if you are a member or have other members-only items in your bank.

 

 

 

Since free players can only craft the six basic runes anyway, the normal essence is just as good for its intended purpose of letting free players do low level rune crafting. However it is not so useful for selling to members who want to make law and nature runes (who we believe buy the vast majority of rune essence in Runescape) which should reduce its price significantly and make it a much less appealing proposition for real world traders.

 

 

 

The only people who should be significantly affected by this are players mining very large amounts of essence on free accounts purely to sell to members. There are better way of making money on high level free accounts anyway, so this change should only really affect players trying to making large amounts of money on a low level free account - which is of course the exact idea.

 

 

 

We would also like to yet again remind our players NOT to break rule 12 and be tempted to buy RuneScape gold for real world money. Nearly all the gold being offered for sale in this way was generated by cheating on 'throwaway' accounts. If you buy it not only are you encouraging further cheating, but you run the very real risk of being banned yourself as the money you receive is dirty money and will be tracked. Again we have banned countless players for breaking rule 12 and fuelling this problem, and will continue to do so.

 

 

 

We hope most players will agree we shouldn't let rule breakers spoil this game, and we are determined to not let them do so. As well as banning, where necessary we will also make minimal changes to the game to make rule breaking unviable.

 

 

 

 

 

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Personally I think thats the end of ess mining on f2p

[ChewyShoe]

I don't, essence won't go lower than 10gp a unit if you ask me.

 

 

 

Pure essence will go way back up though, also if the problem is people trading for real life money, what makes jaqex think they won't just make memebers account? Its only $5 per account, I am sure a million sells for well over that. All I see is more incentive for the cheaters to p2p their accounts, which ends up in more money for jaqex.

 

 

 

Surprise surprise.

[Silentsurf]

Well, there would be less ess sellers than ever before...

 

And selling low amounts of it...

 

 

 

Before the adjustment: Selling 100k ess! 50 ea!

 

 

 

After the adjustment: Selling 100 ess 20 ea!

 

 

 

The temptation of being rich in a game is over whelming and makes you feel like you've achieved somthing great... except it's a game...so... it isn't exactly ... "great"

[meb]

They screwed both sides... Members don't mine their essence and they can't buy it from f2p'ers. Well done Jagex.

[gspbeetle]

right, ess supply become less and no more nats making now... good i already got 50 runecraft

[woodsball_101]

Wow, all of the F2P ess miners industry just got basically shut down.

[Stallion4589]

i dont think jagex screwed up at all. it seems like a very sensible change to make to deter macroing. of course, everyone will still be able to buy cheap normal essence, but it will mean that macroers will be unable to sell their normal essence without becoming a member. thus, macroers will think twice before attempting to macro on a members account. this update may affect prices, but it certainly will upset those macroing. a very good update for everyone (except macroers).

[robin123654]

good try jadex...but i dont think it will change anything...

 

unless make it harder for members too get ess

[lordkafei]

Well....

 

 

 

I have been f2p for a few weeks, but I have old member's items in my bank. So all my essence just got changed to a "members object" (I assume this is now "pure essence").

 

 

 

Which means I can't use all the essence I have been stockpiling legitimately (mining on my own and buying from general stores).

 

 

 

Thanks a freaking lot, Jagex. What's next... members coal and f2p coal?

[Meziko]

I think this is a poor update. It seems to me that Jagex has become quite desperate for a solution to this macroing essence problem, so they've decided to introduce a new essence mining system that disadvantages a majority of players, in that f2p players can only mine the 'normal ess'. Thus another money-maker in the very limited list for f2p players has been extinguished. Jagex repeats quite often how real money exchanging for rs gp disadvantages honest players? yes i couldnt agree more, but then they solve the problem with a system that does the same..disadvantages honest players. I think a better alternative should be dreamt up, o and making the appearance of the 'normal ess' & 'pure ess' look the same..? lets all welcome another scammable option that has just recently entered the game :roll:

[FunnyGiant]

since (real) essence can no longer be bought from us free players, will it cause a rise in the price of natures/laws etc?

[ikzelf100]

i am happy mien34k rune essences are pures now and nto thise stupid f2p rune ess

[Spark_Fx]

since (real) essence can no longer be bought from us free players, will it cause a rise in the price of natures/laws etc?

 

 

 

Probably by like 50gp ea.

[Hobgoblin11]

Oh Hell

 

 

 

O have 45k of rune essence in my bank. I was waiting for the price of essence to rise above what I bought it for. I F2P at the moment, and so all of it has been converted to the much lower value Normal Essence. Jagex seem to have missed the point that F2P'ers merchant ess and are not breaking the rules. They say that it shouldn't effect F2P'ers as all we can do is craft basic runes anyway.

 

 

 

I have just lost a significant amount of money. Thanks Jagex. :wink:

 

 

 

EDIT: Wait one darn-didldly second... I just checked and it says all of my essence is a 'Members object'. So, good news that it has not dropped in value, but the cheeky sods make me have to sign up to members to get my essence back!! Charming! I guess i need to learn to read the update properly :oops:

 

 

 

Still, it doesn't help the people who have always been F2P and that are merchanting it. The have all just lost a fair amount of money.

[Doomster]

Thinks.... "maybe I should buy a ton of runes now".

 

 

 

This is really going to mess up the rune and ess market.

 

 

 

Would be nice is they re-thought it and made one of the rune mines (random each time) give pure ess and the teleport guy tell you which to go to after some dialog.

[ixfd64]

Funny. All of a sudden, there's a huge influx of sales involving massive amounts of essence.

[ArtCrazy]

Glad I already had enough ess in bank to last till lvl 54... I might think twice on the price to sell the upcoming nats for ;)

[iroxudont]

i think that will be positive and negative consequences. all we can do until they appear is wait. everything until there are only hunchs.

[robin123654]

only 1 reason why did this this clearly...

 

all macroers must become member now

 

another proof how greedy jagex is..they dont care about macroers..

 

only there bank account matters.

 

*curses j4d3x..again..*

[Mullein]

As a member I never bought ess anyway...nor did I ever mine it. I get so much from doing slayer in noted form there never was a need to buy it.

 

 

 

I applaud Jagex for trying to do something to curb the macroers though it is to be seen how much of a dent this will actually put into it. I am just glad it isn't me that has to try to figure out how to fix such a massive abuse problem...I for sure think this is a step in the right direction.

 

 

 

As always the bad people have made a situation where the solution will effect the honest players as well. We have always had to deal with it. But they are trying to do something and that is always better than ignoring the issue.

 

 

 

Mullein

[warshadow212]

Congrats Jagex!

 

 

 

I really sincerely think its great to shut down those nooby autoers, cheap bastards that play with macros r not players, jus cheaters and low-lifes. Hell, if they made the separate hack prgm - they got no life!

 

 

 

But, now that Jagex made 2 types, rich f2pers can't trade with p2pers (on f2p worlds, duh) for p2pers' rune ess (it can happen).

 

 

 

Congrats Jagex! Hire some more experienced guys to help you with ur company, and get a tuneup on ur common sense.

[Human_Clay]

...Still, it doesn't help the people who have always been F2P and that are merchanting it. The have all just lost a fair amount of money.

 

 

 

u can say that again. i just discovered 20k rune essence. normal ones that is in my bank... so much for making profit on them. thanks jagex :?

 

 

 

why not just make a random event for essence mining instead that teleports u to somewhere and have to do something, like another version of the annoying leo?

 

 

 

oh and if ur interested in buying 20k normal essence for 30 each feel free to pm me lol :lol:

[peterdeath]

Thanks for posting this. I can't access Runescape at the moment which is really annoying me.

 

 

 

This is great news for the legitamate players of Runescape who do put work into their accounts. However, I still think that level 30 mining is too low, as I could get that on a noob account within a couple of hours. If I was a macroer and wanted easy real world money, I wouldn't mind spending two hours on getting 30 mining, if it would earn me ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã100 on eBay. Also, if people sell 1000 ess for ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã10 ($14), they could spend $5 on membership - and still make a profit. I still think Greenslime89's idea of moving portals to stop macroers would be more suitable.

[Google90]

All they had to do was put a revolving door in Aubry(sp?) shop. A door that moves from left to right of the house....or a teleport inside and outside the house, that just randomly moves around the shop...the 7th graders in Special Education in my school could have thought of that

[McGuff1]

I always thought somebody "Selling 150K Rune Ess" sounded fishy. At least they are trying to resolve a macroing problem. I have 20k ess I bought for 40 each and haven't been able to sell for anything close to that.