Also, Waiting Gets More Harderer

In a coupla hours, my parents are dragging me off on another vacation I don't care about (shit). For 10 days. Of my 20 day school holiday.

Also, today, I quit EVE. I got what I came for and left because I didn't feel like selling one of my nice ships to pay for membership renewal, so I handed all of my stuff to a friend and told her not to get it blown up.

EVE's real nice and all, but I don't think I'm part of the niche that it fills out for. I want internet spaceships, not Serious Business Internet Spaceships. EVE's stressful and this frees up a lot of time in my schedule.

Today, I was on the verge of leaving on this vacation and I had 6 days of gametime left just before a 10 day vacation, so I asked around if someone could hand me 10 million (100k or so in Runescape terms) and I'd pay them later. I even offered collateral. Everybody accused me of scamming. EVE's just too paranoid and mean, even for me. One more reason I'm leaving.

I'll still be working on the reform whilst on vacation, but I won't have internet access.


Now, onto my rant.

Today's topic is: JAGEX DOESN'T KNOW WHAT MAKING ITEMS BETTER IS.

See, Jagex seems to think that stronger = better. They've spent so much time adding new and more horrendously overpriced/-powered items to the Runescape that they've lost contact with making the game better. The time they're spending on stupidly overpowered and rare stuff that fewer than a thousand people see should be better spent on making the experience better for a majority.

Take Torva, Pernix and Virtus' Crap. Those are armour sets dropped by Runescape's (latest) most powerful monster, Nex. Nex being the one who takes teams of dozens to kill, for a relatively small chance at a single expensive piece of crap. A full set of said crap, most of us will see less than once a month.

This crap also happens to be the best in its class and is another layer of whining and dreaming veterans have to dispel. Swarms of kiddies fresh out of Lumbridge who want something valuable as their 5-years-down-the-road goal. Problem between this and the original dream of a party hat set is that this is actually good for something, which makes crushing their dreams through use of common sense and realism that much harder.


Now, what every single player will see in an ordinary month of varied play is rune stuff.

Thing is, most of the rune stuff is for mid-level players. And we see it everywhere. Thing is, it's still biased toward the scimitar and 2hander. The huge array of other weapons don't see much use. Jagex releases tons of weapons and never spends time rebalancing them unless strictly needed.

It's common items like those that need updates and rebalancing. We don't need another Bestest, Rarest Item Ever. We need Good, Affordable, Accessible Items.

They're in the boat that thinks Expensive + Rare = Good.

Abyssal Whips aren't extremely expensive or rare and they're good. Dragon longswords are reliable weapons. The rune scimitar/2hander combo is a valuable PvP tool used by thousands of players.

Any drop specific to Nex is a crock of shit.

These items dropped by Nex are a mix of ego boost and hopeless dream.

Only the richest players will ever receive the full set, who use it to fuel their already enormous egos. Impressionable new people get caught up in that wake left by the ego and they want a set of that, too. Those new players are then caught in a horribly, horribly boring grind for money to buy a few pieces of armour. Time spent dong much more productive things.

Happened to me, too. My first major, boring grind was for a whip. That grind was the first time I ever felt like dropping Runescape, was how boring it was. Then came my grind for the 'V' on my banner carrier. That was what, 3 months of killing the pointless monsters for a number on a flag. I've effectively quit combat training after that champion's binge. I can count how many levels I've gained in combat skills in the last 2 years on 1 hand.

Jagex hasn't worked it out.

Last year was their year for the newbs and they messed it up. Freeplay didn't get any useful new weapons or bosses. Even pay-to-players only got quests and minor training areas. We don't need one-time quests or static training areas. We carry and use our items every single day. Balance and update those.

Almost every weapon in the range is underused. Halberds were meant to be a warrior's answer to a ranger behind the table. Spears are supposed to be a perfectly balanced for weapon for general use. They're underused because they need a buff. Put a bit more strength behind the Halberd and an armour piercing gimmick. Make spear poisons available to non-members and buff their strength. Give weapons a gimmick so there is no longer a best. Right now, the weapon with the highest slash bonus + highest strength + highest speed is almost always the best. Rectify that. Make battles unpredictable.

What Runescape really needs is an addition to the useful stuff. There's no need for junk like that dropped by Nex. It's to expensive to risk in major combat events and too overpowered for most everyday uses. It's only point is to show off. I know what it's like to show off rare stuff and get compliments (Lord Marshal's stuff, 4 99's, 5 Champions, Godsword, Armadyl Armour and Dragonfire Shield, bitches). It's a nice feeling, but not everyone is a multi-year veteran.

Most players are on the ground, slugging it out with Dragon Longswords and their first whips. Give them a chance to advance. The people whose asses you're kissing with top-of-the-line gear are individual established players. The grind-weary masses with their rune scimitars and first dragon plateskirts are the one's you're supposed to pander to. They're the subscribers you need to convince to stick around.

Don't encourage mindless rote learning and grinding. Encourage innovative thought and cost effectiveness (see previous post for where grinding for a nice, expensive item gets you)

Regards, IVIilitarus