Is Runescape Worth Playing in 2016?
For many players, Runescape was their first MMORPG. Released in 2001 as a Java-based browser MMORPG, Runescape (RS) is one of the oldest MMOs around. Given its age, when people learn that I play RS, it’s pretty common for me to be asked “is Runescape still worth playing?”
Of course it is!
These days I tend to use the lightweight client and play from there instead of from a browser. The graphics have improved a lot from when it was first released in 2001. I believe that the game is still quite fun.
Playing the game is as fast, easy, and free as ever. So it’s truly a no-brainer that you should log in and give it a go. Old RS players will enjoy the nostalgia of an old school game while new players can have fun exploring all the free content.
In this blog post I will answer a few questions that you might have.
Is Runescape dead?
It sounds weird but this is a legit question. Many MMO games do not survive for this long a time. Even if they are still running on the developer’s servers, a game is still considered “dead” if no one plays it anymore.
Since its glory days back in 2012 when the 200th millionth account was registered, the population of RS has declined but there is still a large number of core players who are passionate about the game.
Yesterday, as I was crafting in Varrock bank west a player randomly stood beside me and starting crafting, too! You can see that from the picture above.
Honestly, when people ask me if Runescape is dead yet, I have to laugh and tell them, “No way! People still love playing the game.”
Tons of people still play – not enough for RS to make the news but more than enough for the game to stay alive and feel crowded. Check out the pic below – this shows what I mean. If you smith, there will be other people there smithing, too.
You won’t be alone in any of the popular places.
How is it different from the old Runescape?
If you played a few years ago then you might have heard some news about big changes that the developers have made to Runescape. The skilling part of the game is still what it was before but combat has changed quite a bit.
In 2012, the “Evolution of Combat” (EoC) update was released. This was very controversial at the time since it was a major change. If you log in today what will be immediately obvious is the new action bar. Each combat skill now has skills you can deploy during combat.
Before the EoC update, characters simply auto attacked 99% of the time and use one special skill based on the weapon they had equipped.
These days, people can still choose to auto-attack or they can actively use skills. I believe most people use the auto attack style for routine combat tasks and actively use skills for bosses or more difficult mobs.
Are the graphics still sucky?
Yes, yes they are!
Hahahah this is the one area that has not changed at all. The graphics are still pretty bad. They have improved very slightly but not nearly enough.
If you want to play Runescape, I’m afraid that you will have to settle for the same old ugly graphics.
There are a few positives. RS has tons and tons of customization when it comes to how your character will look. I really don’t even know how many wearable items there are. When I run around the game world, I still see some players that have some very funny or unique looks, which is a big plus if you enjoy dressing up your character as something cool or strange.
Still, Runescape has never been known for it’s awesome graphics, right? Gameplay is where it’s at.
Apart from the nostalgia, is Runescape really still worth playing?
I can also rephrase this question as: “Okay, it’s good for nostalgia but as a game, does it measure up to other MMORPGs?”
There is a lot of competition these days. I think that is one reason why RS is not as talked-about now. In terms of other MMORPGs, technology has marched on and RS cannot compete with the modern titles like Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn or Guild Wars 2.
However, keep in mind that Runescape is a browser-based game. The real question is whether or not RS a good game if you compare it to other browser-based MMOs.
My opinion: yes, Runescape can compete with other browser MMORPGs in terms of fun gameplay. While other games like Drakensang Online and Knight’s Fable concentrate on combat, RS has both combat and a metric ton of skills, minigames, quests, and events. Except for the graphics, RS is actually one of the best browser-based MMORPGs around.
It has three combat styles (melee, magic, and ranged), 26 skills, 203 quests, and over 30 minigames and activities. That’s the reason why there are players who have been active in RS for more than ten years – you never run out of things to do.
Is Runescape pay to win?
Okay, having said all that good stuff about RS it would be unfair of me not to mention the downsides of playing the game.
In 2001 RS was purely free to play. Then in 2002 a paid membership option was launched. For ten years Runescape derived its income from these monthly subscriptions. All was good… until a truly horrible thing happened. The Squeal of Fortune (SoF) was released in 2012. This event is a landmark in RS as it marks the first-ever time there was a way to convert real life money into in-game items, experience, and gold (though the rewards are based on random spins). In other words, RS got a cash shop and became pay to win.
Or did it?
The SoF has been replaced by Treasure Hunter which is basically the same thing but with a different graphical interface. Basically, people can now buy random rewards that directly affect gameplay by giving them advantages over other players.
In addition, there is also a way to buy Runescape gold. Jagex is now selling bonds that can be traded for gold or items.
Clearly RS is now unapologetically pay to win… for a certain value of “win.”
I mean, can you really “win” RS at all? There are people like me who have been playing for ten years and they still have not maxed out all skills, much less done “everything” and “won” the game.
The fact is, one of our more hilarious sayings in my clan chat channel is that “if you win in Runescape you lose at life.” This is because of the enormous amount of time it would take to truly complete all quests and max out every skill in RS.
To put it another way, in other browser games, if you dropped $10,000 in the game’s cash shop, you would be on the top of all the hiscores for sure. In Runescape? Nope.
Is Runescape worth playing in 2016? My final word on it.
Yes, try it out, I think you will love it.
In 2016, I will still be on RS still playing the game along with my friends and clanmates. Some possible future updates: a new skill called invention, a new Aquarium (fishing) room for the player-owned houses, a new god wars dungeon, plus the usual updates with more quests and skill improvements.
Thank you for reading my long, rambling post. If RS is not exactly what you were looking for then you can find more games at the Bestmmorpg2016.com home page.
Are you a current or old RS player? I would like to know what you think. Please leave a comment below and it will be published as soon as I read it.
In my honest opinion, i feel that RS3 is a dying game. I felt as though they lost its identity when it went to combat bar, as i felt like it was trying to copy WOW which in a way is a direct competitor to Runescape. I don’t get as into the game as I used too, that could be because of my age and my change of interests.
However OSRS is where i still feel that will keep RS alive, I think that purely based on the nostalgia factor. I do enjoy osrs more then rs3 that could be because no-one really plays RS3. Or it could be because I haven’t been on it enough time to really appreciate what rs3 is doing to the game.
I have been playing RS since 07. So when it really start to incline and get more and more members. But I think its finished its stagnation and is now destined for decline. Would that be alright for me to say?
Also I do play OSRS on occasion , would I be able to join your clan? oN rs3 i’m level 96. On osrs i’m level 34.
I haven’t played since 2010 came back today logged into old school and took me back to the tutorial please help how do I get all of my stuff back?
You should have your items unless you gave it away when you quit. Going back to tutorial happened to me on one of my chars but my bank was still there. Have you checked your bank?
Oldschool is not RuneScape. Its a ‘new game.’
I just play RS3 to fund my osrs membership with bonds 😀
I played Runescape about 8-9 years ago. It was one of the best games I’ve played, even though I was f2p. I never had to the money to get membership. But the best thing I miss is definitely pre-EOC. I remember spamming “selling hides 100gp ea” at the al kharid bank and it was truly the best when a buyer chooses to buy yours over someone else’s.
I miss playing Runescape. I feel sad that my favourite game in the past has come to such a state where I probably wouldn’t touch it anymore.
I guess this is probably one of the cons of technology. I am perfectly happy if I could play the 2007 era Runescape again, with membership this time. And with the people whom used to roam the streets on runescape. These days the streets are filled with toxic kids.
Just play Old School Runescape.
I started my account back in 2004. I quit when eoc came out. I was a heavy skiller and quester. Had 1600 plus lvl and at one time had a quest cape. I knew where eveything was. Every npc, dungeons, monsters, location, shortcuts, guild, items. When i logg in now i cant find half of these things anymore. So much has changed beyond just the combat. I just can’t get my self to relearn a game i mastered. However i still pay for my account lol. Its dead but i miss it sometimes.
I first played this in 2005. It was my first contact with MMOs, and it’s still the only one I managed to get a considerable amount of time playing (I got bored of WoW after only a week). I remember back then finding this game too complicated and quitting, but after giving it a second chance I’ve gone and went back several times for more even at present days. I liked it so much I couldn’t adapt to any other MMORPG which didn’t have a GE-like system, especially those with an insane variety of items to trade such as RS.
I’ve seen most of the [drastic] changes it got from Farming to Invention and, to be honest, none of them really affected me but GE and EoC, and even that only to a certain degree. I never enjoyed the PvP aspect of the game, even when it was at its peak back in 2007, as what kept me playing were the quests and doing activities with friends, mostly minigames such as Barbarian Assault and fighting bosses. The microtransaction features brought by Treasure Hunter and Solomon’s Store are either vanity stuff or very small improvements aimed for OCD skillers. An average player should get the best experience possible without spending a single dollar on anything but membership.
My biggest rant with RS3 was being unable to defeat the newer bosses using legacy combat, but when Revolution style came out (makes basic abilities auto-attack) I started to accept the new system more peacefully. Also I prefer the legacy interface over the RS3 one for its simplicity, though I recognize how powerful the customizable interface can be.
Overall, my veredict is: yes, runescape is still worth playing in 2016, even though it’s not as glorious as it once was.
There was a time when members had access to everything. They were like gods of runescape for f2p community but now there is lots of stuff where even members need to spend real life money.
And rs3 community is really boring, no one wants to talk no one is interested in anything they just stand in g.e and show off their runescape wealth thats all. There are very few people left who work on their skills. I am sure this game will be completely dead by 2020 but I can proudly say I have witnessed the best era of runescape. I joined in 2004 and like Bryan Adams said “those were the best days of my life”.
I have to disagree with what u said about no one talking anymore. There are loads of people i have meet in rs over a couple of weeks. I have to say runescape is currently one if the most social mmorpgs out there. I have to say that a lot of people are willing to talk sometimes u just have to start the chat 😀
Honestly, i love runescape and i don’t think it’s dying anytime soon but i have to agree with nobody talking, at least in public, they are usually in private chat or clan chat most of the time, even then there are just some people that rather stay to themselves too.
I played Runescape from 2006 until end 2007 actively. There were 200k-250k players online everyday. Since they came with the godwars update and removing wilderniss i quit playing the game. After that i wanted to give it one more shot and then EoC came. Yup screw this game. As an old player in my eyes this game is dead. The community nowadays consists of new players from young ages. There are very few that play and that have been there from 2004-2007.
Just as this Evolution of Combat thing came out, I quit Runescape – which was in 2009 btw., not 2012. From what I heard, a whole lot of players did as well.
It just changed too much of the game which I liked to play, and to be honest, the Squeal of Fortune was one more thing which disturbed me about the game – which came out some time even before Evolution of Combat change.
Recently I’ve logged in about two or three times back in, whenever I figured out how to log in on my old account, on the newer laptop the game didn’t like, just to see what became of the game today. Not subscribed, what striked me most obvious, was the really empty FTP German server (didn’t try the English ones), compared to “back then”. Pretty much same old graphics, lots of new, and hard to figure out, interface, especially combat. But heavens, such an empty game, compared to when I quit!..
A shame, really. This was my most first, and still most loved MMORPG, the way it was back in 2009. But, its good times have long passed now, it seems.
of course a free world will be empty, there are barely any bots now as bot detection got good, and everyone is a member after a couple months as you can pay memberships with in-game gold, there is literally no reason other than being very new to be f2p now. And no idea what T is talking about, the vast majority of players are actually from 2007, many returning since the launch of the nxt client (made the graphics amazing) and elf city (priffnidas, new high level hub instead of varrock ge), and the loads of crazy bosses quests and content that has been going out. Even I am a returning player who quit in 2008 having played since 2001, and I can assure u the community is better than ever, just don’t try visiting the older skilling spots, there are way better options now but youll have to quest alot to get there
This game has been dead since EOC released, i’ve been waiting for pre eoc ever since, it saddens me because the game was so fun before all the SOF Or ”Spins” full of cosmetic overrides good for nothing,
i think JaGex is sucking from the peoples money buying cosmetics because they know that their game went from 100,000 players down to 50,000, they know damn right EOC killed the game, Most people play OSRS which i totally don’t like since you have to start all over.
but i’ll wait some years, they took 5 years to bring back the Wilderness maybe they still have time to realise what real RS was like what people really enjoyed PKING in worlds with over 1000-2000 even full of people.
Why wont they realize? that EOC killed Minigames like Soul Wars, Fist of Guthix, Clan Wars
Pking itself,
Do they not want to Realize ? or they just want their game to be dead?, it truly saddens me, years and years of waiting, i swear I’ve never had as much fun on an MMO Like team Pking in F2P
in Runescape
Just recently, Jagex sold the game to a Chinese company! Hope they don’t make changes too much, I actually still play a bit every now and then. I’m still subscribed and the people in my clan still play, too.
That is false, Jagex did NOT sell the game to a Chinese Company. There was talk between the two about a sister game as far as I am aware.
Pre eoc exists. There is a setting and world created for it. It’s called Legendary Mode. That’s what I use whenever I play. It’s pretty much the same game but better quests and items.
Runescape is Far from being dead. “Dead” is suggestive in this matter. It is dead to you and some share this opinion. However the game is very much alive today.
yea right… rs has been dead for years now. those people you are seeing online as far as numbers, are bots. there may be a few hundred players who are real at most. no one plays anymore. the game sucks bad now. its over. it will never make a come back it will never be the same and its a past memory for the world. it was awesome before 2010. now though, its dead, its quiet, there is no real players anymore, no one talks and its empty as hell. its over…r.i.p. runescape
Bloody hell. I really have no idea what Runescape you’re playing but I’ve seen very few bots since I’ve been playing the past month (I’m very good at spotting bots) and in the past month I’ve came across 3 clan events, one of which I joined as a guest and participated in.
Osrs is full of bots, rs3 is good
To be honest I think the biggest factor in reducing player count was the effective removal of bots. This crashed G.E prices, reduced the numbers of participants in mini games – for instance – soul wars. It also meant that a lot of players lost accounts (even if they did deserve it), little doubt some of these were high levelled and significant members of the rs community. – And many of these players would not have made new accounts etc afterwards.
I am in no way pro botting, but I am also able to see that rs became a game built on botting.
This also combined with the fact that EoC made the game less unique (seemed like they were trying to make it like other mmo’s, missing the fact people played rs because they liked it) this also combined with many other updates which added a lot of unnecessary content and made the game less browser friendly and larger than it needed to be.
Furthermore it has been turned into more of a p2p game rather than f2p, practically nagging you to spend real money at every opportunity – usually a good way to piss off customers.
The game is in a decline. Recently I attempted to pick the game back up and restart fresh, just to see the game from a new players perspective. Many of the low level areas were completely deserted.
Many of the players on member worlds are over 2000+ total, and group dungeoneering with low level players is non-existant. I have 2 accounts one with 2300+ and one 600+ total. Do not waste your money.
Waste is all! The point of the game is to have fun! Game’s in general are a waste of money yet we’ll continue to buy them. Runescape is no exception. I personally believe the current Rs is doing pretty well. Even if there are less people playing. Btw, most of which were bots.
I started back and until three later 2013’s, and it really declined with the elimination of the free and open traded system, upon which many sharp minded players enjoyed the ability to profit from a system that itself didnt necessitate skills. With its death and the implementation of the Grand exchange, the game was dumbed down.
Another blow was the restructure of the wilderness and jegex’s idea of re-establishing it ultimately also led to a system designed upon being forgiving for new comers and those underestimating the players PvP base. The greatest days where when you truly had freedom to play the game as you wished.
The last time i logged in, the game had updated so there was “gear belts” and optimized cheat inventories, where in the old days, you had to manage everything you brought in order to fulfill quests, beat bosses, and trudge your way through. Not even death now is something that is cut in stone. You may return for items you’ve dropped, if you even drop them.
Ultimately the game is softer and dumber, and not something i enjoy, even when i go back for nostalgic memory.
what are you even talking about, the game’s gotten harder than ever as endgame pvm content actually requires loads of skill now and isnt hurr durr click pray attack and wait, nor is it a grind to get to higher levels – rs3 is actually the first time ive had real fun in rs other than rng pking (because it used to be totally rng based too) and ive played on and off since 2001. go watch something at youtube like Telos 1111% no food and get a grip at something youll never be able to do no matter how much in game gear and cash u get, because it takes insane reaction time and coordination, creating a now real learning curve in the game. Wildy and free trade were reimplemented long ago too, as bots got wiped out (they were the main reason for the removal, and the main reason i quit in 2008)
Sure, Runescape was never “destroyed”. In fact nothing has destroyed Runescape or caused it to die.
Oh, but various things have caused its player count to drop drastically in troves – such as the EoC, losing them tons of membership and players.
If you’re looking for an engaging combat system, Runescape is not your game. Play something like Blade and Soul. On that record, for a more full MMO experience, I would vouch for Old School Runescape above Blade and Soul, because it has more quests and more fleshed out content.
Hello,
EoC did not destroy RS, it changed it.
Runescape was killed by the Grand Exchange, Spins, XP Bonus and Fast Travel.
Runescape was HARD! You died, you lost almost everything. You wanted something, you had to get it yourself, or go to crowded trade worlds and find a buyer, and hopefully not get scammed on the way. You wanted to travel somewhere? You had to walk, or pay through the nose to teleport.
As an example, it took something like 6 years for the first player to get all their stats to 99 in RS2, but when Old School RS was released multiple players got to 99 within 3 to 6 months of it’s release – The game was made too easy!
World of Warcraft has suffered from this too, which is why Nostalrius private server had such an allure again; you couldnt fly, you couldnt fast travel to events, you couldn’t max level an account in 1 day with XP boosts.
And then, RS cut off the wildy to help people not get ‘scammed’ into being PKed. Fortunately despite this attack the PK community managed to adapt but it took an aspect out of lvl 1 wildy lurking and player baiting.
Still the GE was definitely the best and down right worst addition to the game and in my opinion the main game killer. It seriously helped casual botters with moving goods and made it super easy to get items for skilling whilst also creating the vast wealth gap between normal and rare/discontinued items. If you log into RS today you will find discontinued items up at 2 billion gold, and super rare items like a dragonfire shield at just about 1.5 million. It has made doing things like farming relatively difficult creatures no longer worth while. Thieving, woodcutting and fishing gets you nothing, well up into the lvl 85s now and mining and smithing (smithing especially) have been forgotten about. There is suppose to be a smithing overhaul coming in June however.
To make it great, RS needs to become difficult again. If they rebooted OSRS without GE or the loadstones (and mods didnt randomly drop super rares) then it would have more longevity.
“something like 6 years” lmao, you dont even know what youre talking about, there were 99s already in classic (zezima had a bunch, first 99s came within a year of release, and xp rates were way slower than they ever were in rs2), rs2 was never hard even on the grind aspect which was all there was to it, people were just less competitive, proven by how fast people have maxed everything (even gotten 200m xp runecrafting) in oldschool rs, which is basically rs2.
I have played this game back when I was 13/14 years old. However i quit because life gets in the way, but now that i have finally decided to play it again. I am now 21 years old and let me just say that the graphics and game playing experience have change. It is easier to level up and to be honest i may like it a bit more than i did years old. The times have change but runescape has a special place in my heart. Hurray for no life? 😀
Lol I use to play when I was 13 aswell, I’m now 20 and for the past few days I’ve been contemplating playing but I wasn’t sure if it was worth it
Same here, played from 10 to 16, now I’m 20 and I’m so nostalgic.
I think I could love it again.
Real life needs care, though.
I played RuneScape since 2008 and I enjoyed 2008 – 2011 the most. After EoC came out alot of people quit and complained that they want the old combat system back but jagex just ignored it and EoC destroyed the PvP aspect of the game and made everything easier (skilling). Im so sad what jagex did to runescape but I will never forget the memories I had between those years.
I started playing rs when it was at the peak time.(2007)
I enjoyed playing the game each and every moment.Though it had some updates still the game was cool.
But Eoc update was heck of the update which screwed many of us.
I remember the Gmt time 3:30 pm that had most of the servers full.
Yeah New players may enjoy the game.But just look out the rate of players enters to play rs now and 7 years before.
I am an old RS player, practically the only game in my childhood apart form SWBF2, and got me hooked on the mmo genre, so I owe a lot of good memories to it.
I know people say it is now a P2W game, but tbh, it’s not pay 2 win, it’s pay to rush. You can get all the (useful) items without ever having to reach for your wallet, or spending out of the membership. I think that this game has survived so this long because of that aspect, and that’s why I love RS
I started playing RS back in 2006. Between 2006 and the beginning of 2008 I played. Those were the best years. From most view points, its a lot of old RS players who hate the changes, but coming from new RS players, they love the game. The pay-to-win feature never effected my game-play. I got back on 7 years after leaving in 2008. I am 100 or so days till my 10 year mark. 🙂 I am almost maxed, and even then I have more too do. The game will always be my favorite, especially considering it has so many good childhood memories with friends.
Give it a try, with so many options you can’t possibly be bored.
Man… as a time when i discovery runescape… i can’t pay members at that time, all my friends don’t see rs with good eye. Even alone i play it for years, before i can pay a mounth of member… Then i become a member, i see the magic with my on eyes. I cut magic tree and it as amazing. I fight agains dragons with some odd stuff. I build up my house and levelup all i could. My combat skills are bad, but is okay. I do a lot of questions and day after day playing, with few times i got bad feels about the game, all the time are fun and enjoyble. I never get to much 99 or even go all the way to use a ultimate weapon. So i need to study more, stop playing a while. I pay all mouths even with one loggin in that mounth maybe i pay for a year without really play. When i back, have trees without loot, itens to easy levelup skills, stuff that suck my way to have fun. Then to finish my passion with this game the Cash time as started… i feel i quite love for my firsts years at this game… like i loved Tibia 7.5 ~ 7.8
The old days when you need learn how to play and don’t have a fuckup arrow in the monitor to follow as over and my will to play go with this… i don’t play mmorpgs for years right now and i just have this old odd feels about how i loved the dificult of play something without diary questions or arrows pointing the way or even a required quests to up the character… i just want some hard not newbi friendly game i need learn the game and play with other thinking like me… no a fuck up kid receive what they want game
When I was in middle school I was really behind when it came to the internet. I had dial up for a long time so no YouTube or Newgrounds for me. Although, there was Runescape. A game even I could play with my terribly slow internet and it ran really well! Not perfect, but still good. I remember being addicted…playing late into the night and atleast an hour before I had to catch the bus. After reading this I will definitley take a break from my Elder Scrolls binge and endure some nostalgia.
Well the graphics arent going to look good when you have minimum graphics settings on lmao. It actually looks quite good with maxed out AA and bloom on. NXT is on its way also which will bring shaders and better performance
I am an old player..level 101. Played since 2008, quitted for awhile in 2013 due to awful updates. Recently I started to replay it again. I logged in and tried to blend in with the new modern RS. I just..literally hard to suit again to it. Doing new quests, fighting strong monsters, upleveling skills..it just hard for me to do it again. I do not know why and what, but I am sad. Sad because this childhood game was awesome back in my newbie era.
Now it is very different. Smart graphics but difficult to ‘understand’ the whole process promptly. Cool combat system but slow buffer. Weapons that once were respected like Abbysal Whip, Godswords, God armours etc has now turned to garbage.
The introduction of EoS and SoF, that supposedly shouldn’t exist; was the main reason why I have lost my interest to this game before.
2008-2011 was the time man. Still remembered when Grand Exchange booth was first introduced in, many players surround the bankers to buy cool melees, making money, merching etc..before the ingame economy was messed up. Still remembered veteran players always chillin at the centre point of cities. Still remembered then, good-looking trimmed armour before the major update. I remembered Special Attack. I remember to combine runes to emerge magic spells without staff usage. I reminiscing memories that I have with this game. Jagex blew up this game.
RS is jacking off. RS used to have approx. 200-500k active players, but now?
Only 50k.
Yup, 50k. Unexpected really. Since EoS came out years ago, I have already expected a downhill on active players that playing..hey, it came true.
Remember the voting pole for the activation of EoS in middle 2012? Almost 3/4 players voted for “no” but times later, the developers quickly blocked the actual result, yet still proceeded to release the combat system(I saw it before).
Jagex at least has to make sure to pull back interest of quitted, old and the same time to new players. With these so called ‘major updates’, I would think that RS will fade away, gradually. Fist of Guthix that were famous ago, now has zero purpose. Same goes to Ghost Hunting in Wilderness, the maze thing(I forgot the minigame), etc member minigames. Most of the new rewards contributed almost nothing to combat(depends on combat styles and type of weapons.)
Now I logging in just to chill in Lumbridge and Varrock. Equipped dragon armour, anti firebreathe shield and abbysal whip before membership was expired back then. Opening conversation with random players beside me.
RS is dead long time ago. I hope RS will undergo a miracle one day.. Reconceptualization To Old State.
RIP Runescape
2001 – 2012
This is such a closed mind responce im sorry. OF COURSE the game will not have dragon, godswords and whips as the best gear years after their release. Neither would the game have survived if EOC hadnt come into play. These updates were needed in order to keep the survival of the game, not kill it.
You cannot expect a game to keep suited to your expectations while you no longer play it, sure if you came back and it was the same, you would enjoy it for a small while and then you would forget about it again. There was also a significant problem with real world trading and bots in the 2012 era, i remember not being able to find a yew tree without 5000 bots surrounding it. These changes began in 2009 with the removal of the wildy, which heavily reduced the real life trading market. Jagex were forced to do this, they knew players did not want it, but something happened with accounts selling money, credit cards got stolen and people back charged from jagex, thats not the correct story but it had something to do with jagex being unable to allow it to go on any further.
Runescape Never ever hit 500k active players at once; even if it did happen, as the max amount of players on a world was 2000. 250 worlds would be needed in order to allow 500k people online at once. The 200k mark was also filled with bots, a massive amount in fact as i said previously.
I completely agree with the negative effect of SoF on the game, it introduced a level of pay to win that has not been seen in runescape before. They changed it to Treasure hunter a few years ago, but it is still the same concept. Although, i actively play runescape and the only way to get a significant boost from treasure hunter, you would have to spend thousands to get a skill to 99; and 99 skills arent even respected any more.
120s are the new 99s. Instead of 13m xp for max level and a nice cape, you can now achieve 104m xp and get a sexier version of the cape. This was because of faster xp rates now in the game, 99s were too easy. This is just a result of the games progression which i think is good because getting a 120 is slower than it was to get a 99 back in the day for the majority of skills.
Runescape is no where near dead, there are massive updates that came out and are going to come out soon on the way and a massive playerbase that is more legitimate. We have had prifddinas released (elf city), were getting a new client coded in C++(goodbye java) and an entire new skill is coming out NEXT WEEK(invention).
The combat system was needed for the games combat to survive. before eoc, it was literally click, eat food, spec, click for every single boss. The new combat system is trickier to get used to, but it allows for much much much more complicated and rewarding bossses like araxxor and vorago. Weapons drop from these new bosses. Noxious weaponry is essentially the new god swords along with the other tier 90 weaponry.
My point is that you cant label a game dead just because it doesnt fit your expectations from the game you played years ago. The game had a dark period near the start of eoc but in the coming years rs will be the best it has been since the glory days up to 2012. It is a totally new style of game combat wise, but skilling and questing are identical apart from the graphics. I was skeptical back in june 2014, but i gave it a chance and made a new account which i do not regret at all. You should too
Brilliant response.
Amen, I definitively think this game still has alot of life. I was thinking about getting back into it actually.
Typical response from a shit rs3 fanboy. People like you are why rs believed they had to drastically change from what it once was to cater to noobs like you who struggled with the kbd before eoc made everything a joke.
You’re kidding right? I have played since 2001 and I love EoC. The game got boring! You don’t see WoW fans complaining that Blizzard changed the fuck out of it! When they did, why? Because they had everyone distracted by Diablo 3’s destruction. Runescape is still one of the best games out there. If you don’t like it f- yourself we don’t need you. Your complaints are ridiculous. Go find a goddamn game you like if you’re upset with Jagex and get the fuck off the forums. I’m sorry I’m not a fanboy but if you don’t like a game it’s as simple as shutting your f-g mouth and playing a different one.
Actually, all real WoW fanboys hate what Blizzard has done. Just use bit of google. That game is dying for exact same reasons as RS. Because they gave 0 fucks about players until it was too late.
RS was bearable for me until EoC. RS was not a game for that shit. They took what people liked and flipped upside-down. Sadly I staggered on this post looking for OSRS, RS3 is dead to me. Not because graphics, not because they tried to move on. Because they fucked everything up. Cool stuff is for those with wallets. You can max out your account in less than 48 hours with treasure hunter. Combat changes, skilling made mega easy. I was long term player with nearly maxed account. After update after update came what would punch me in the guts, I said screw it. I prefer if my 600 hour skill would not turn into 6 hour afk fest. If you loose 90% of population you did something wrong.
Have you even played RS3 and gave it a fair shot the past 6 months? I hear you kids crying over a game you dont even know. I will admit EoC in the beginning was compleet shit and rushed/forced. But they fixed all of it after they releaced RS3. And for the SoF no one is forecing you to buy the spins and even without it 99% of the players still woudnt be abel to race for xp as the top dogs have so much more free time to grind. And Jagex cares about its players with the we vote for the updates we want and we can add out own ideas what theu will add to the game if alot of players want it. And while you are talking shit about RS3 you have to admit OSRS isnt hard lol, its just takes time nothing more nothing les you only click with ur mouse and thats is. And even tho that is what OSRS makes OSRS ur combat is a joke comapird to RS3 as it is all RNG and RS3 takes skill.
I wrote this as both a RS3 player aswell as a OSRS player with a comp cape on RS3 and 1800+ total lvl on OSRS.
Cant be asked to get all the grammer misstakes out and you will prob act like a kid like you did be4 lol
I used to play runescape since about around 2001-2002 untill 2008-2010, when it was fun – you had the liberty of player-killing, training pures, trading freely etc… but now it’s just bad graphics overcrowded with too many windows and the toolbars are all messed up, I logged in every year maybe for a couple of days since 2010, then a day then a couple of hours and this year I had to exit after 5 minutes because it’s just filled with so much information that you want to puke… and it lags like shit.
There are way better games to play honestly than this old dog, which I feel really sad to say, almost brings tears to my eyes how the creators managed to ruin such a beautiful thing that was once apart of my childhood and a part of me, to have never look back and drop all hopes of it ever becoming the great game it once was.
You know you can use the old combat system and the old interface with a mode that came out called legacy? Its good for returning players. The game could never have survived without changing, and its unfortunate that you cant realise that a game must change to survive, especially one that came out in 2001 and is still going. The lag is your pc, not the games fault lol btw. Most of your qualms with RS can be solved by entering legacy mode and putting on minimum graphics.
me and a lot of the people you keep posting responses to remember better days, i cant believe how little can actually be done without being a member now, this game was my go to for a long time, magic was my big class i worked on but now you can do a couple forms of magic for F2P. this is one of the big reasons why the popularity of this game has declined so much, and thats something that cant be argued.
F2p hasn’t really changed, you couldn’t ever do much in F2p. Game needs to evolve. Don’t like it? Go play old school
No wonder why the game died off like it did right? Was it the right move to evolve or nah?
I sorry man but they’re right. I understand that the game is still a fun game and I’ve been playing for a long time(I was in the RS massacre), but its just not RS anymore. I’ve always enjoyed mid-level accounts in the 60-80 range, i had a skiller level 5 with four 99 skills, i had a Voider lvl 75 with a lava cape full void and 90 range and a Zerker pure w/ 75 att and 85 str. Back when runescape was fun accounts like these were useful and enjoyable to use, PKing was fun and PVP was a blast. Now i log on and theres no diversity, everyone has an even skill set(exp. 60at 60str 60def) my Voider is useless and well as my Zerker. I walk around and the majority of players are lvl 120+. It feels to me as if the people who still play are clinging on to nostalgia or something that will never happen, the game is declining and there is a reason there are fewer and fewer players every year.
BUT I have recently started playing Old School runescape and its a blast! in fact I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure there are more people actively playing old school than the new runescape. My Zerker pure is in the making and I have a fun skiller that I play on while doing homework. Back to the good ol’ days.
you are correct, as right now when I post this post, 31,700 osrs players, compared to the 26,860 rs3 players. (take the number of players seen on osrs page, substract from total of rs3 page (as they add osrs and rs3 numbers), to get the actual number of rs3 players).
I bet you havent tried to pk lol. Theres still zerkers, voiders etc etc. i have a maxed 1 def pure and I still have a little fun in all the activieties that does req def.