RuneScape.

[Coaster]

Wow, no posts since EoC came out, eh? _{They ruined my all-green F2P colour scheme and it's blue now T-T}

Played on and off (mostly off) since Classic days. (anyone remember the good old tried-and-true vanilla anti-bot test that pretty much every account activation system on the Internet uses, and having to use it in the sleeping bag way back in the day?)

I was a member for some summers, slowed down eventually, and now I've not much improved over where I was when I started playing WoW instead (which I later quit because I lost internet for two years and now find that game heinous). I do still play a bit of Runescape from time to time, though.

Unfortunately, my years-long hiatus was before they introduced the concept of character renaming, so if anyone here still plays, you can find me coerce me to get back on the F2P worlds as eli36397.

[Ian Wolf-Park]

A few of us have already posted our usernames on this thread, although I'm not sure if they are active anymore. You might have a hard time finding me though, as I'm currently a member.

[Ian Wolf-Park]

Looks like a new referendum is coming out Feb 15 (and no, it's not about revoking EOC). Rather, it's the return of the 'old school' Runescape (aka Runescape 2, the successor to Classic). However, the poll is members only, but here's what you need to know:

If you are against the idea, then you should - naturally - abstain from voting. However,if you are supportive, or would simply like to do a cool thing for your fellow Runescape friends (both retired and active) by making it a no-charge service as well as a benefit for free players (which is very much our aspiration), then please do register your vote and encourage all your friends to do the same!

If you choose to abstain from voting, before you do so, please understand: the Evolution of Combat will not be removed from the main game in any event. Although some of our resources and time would be reallocated initially to the reinstatement of the 2007 servers, the main game would still continue to receive its regular updates, as well as the massive updates promised for 2013.

You can also view the news post if you want more information

[Ian Wolf-Park]

An update on Old School Runescape. It looks like it will remain members only

[Coaster]

Talking of free players, we're changing the trial system so that new players once again start off as a free player. To do this, we're making Burthorpe and Taverley part of the free game, as well as the associated quests and training areas within it. We are also allowing free players to train members’ skills up to a maximum of level 5, giving them a taster of the kind of content there is on offer for players who subscribe.

Hasn't happened yet, but this sounds pretty cool. I wonder what happens in the case of former members who already have more than 5 in those skills, though?

[Ian Wolf-Park]

Mar 2, 2013 17:24:07 GMT -5 Coaster said:

Talking of free players, we're changing the trial system so that new players once again start off as a free player. To do this, we're making Burthorpe and Taverley part of the free game, as well as the associated quests and training areas within it. We are also allowing free players to train members’ skills up to a maximum of level 5, giving them a taster of the kind of content there is on offer for players who subscribe.

Hasn't happened yet, but this sounds pretty cool. I wonder what happens in the case of former members who already have more than 5 in those skills, though?

If it doesn't split the base even further (which most likely will happen, given what happened with EoC): the purists or pre-EoC/ old school players who believe that Burthope and Taverley should remain members only, and the 'newcomers' or modern day/post EoC players.

I myself am an old school player, having been on and off the game since 06, but I'm probably in the minority of people that mostly supports the changes to the game (if there are any), even though I did vote for the 'Old School' Runescape (as if my couple of previous posts did make that obvious). This upcoming update to Burthope and Taverley won't affect my main account as much, so I'm not too concerned about it, but I definitely see a lot of potential in this.

And I doubt that former members would be heavily penalized in any way, other than the fact that they won't be able to access anything beyond level 5 in those. Time will tell what will happen, though.

[Coaster]

Update on the extra F2P content:

- Taverley and Burthorpe, for the most part, are accessible, though there are still tons of "subscribe to do x" messages in the area. None of the guilds in the area are accessible, though, nor is the Taverley Dungeon (commence rage and Big NO) or the west half of White Wolf Mountain. The area to the north of Rimmington and west of Falador's wall has also been opened up (excluding the Witch's House quest area, which is still members-only), though there's really nothing to do there except kill Dark Wizards and use the spiffy shortcut in Falador's wall (which is the only usable Agility shortcut).

- Members' skills are, in fact, trainable up to level 5, except Construction. Most of the skill-related items up to level 5, including basic traps, herbs, seeds, the first few potions, and the like, are free-to-play items now. Messages and subscribe windows will pop up when you continue using the skills after reaching the cap (even if you are already past it from a former membership).

- "Let Them Eat Pie", "Death Plateau", "Wolf Whistle", and "Druidic Ritual" have been made free-to-play and are re-completable for most of the rewards if you've done an earlier version. The tutorial tasks leading up to Death Plateau are also completable.

- Flax still cannot be picked (what the?) so bowstrings must be obtained from vendors or the Grand Exchange. Some thieving stalls are still inaccessible (why'd they put them in there?), and it looks like there is only a patch or two available for farming.

Overall, it's nice (and admittedly very generous) to get that much of the content bumped over, but the subscribe spam is a bit much. Really, I'm just cheesed off at missing out on Taverley Dungeon, though. To me, that would have been the difference between "awesome rocks your socks off update" and the current situation of "nice, but still very annoying".

_{I wanna slay me some dragons. T-T}

[Coaster]

Having gotten Prayer to 60, Attack to 70, and surpassing level 1337 all in one hour, compounded with the fact that I'll have two weeks off in the middle of this exam season, I figured it was time to cave in and buy one month membership. You can now find me as Elrel instead of eli36397.

[Ian Wolf-Park]

And here's the Runescape cinematic theme (well, the classic Runescape main theme using an orchestra), just in time for the release of Runescape 3, coming this summer. No really, just listen to this Behind the Scene and you'll see why I called it the cinematic theme.

Click for the video link

[Coaster]

...Aaand hither comes Runescape 3. With a two-month-long event.

Listened to a bunch of the revamped wandering music last night. Between nostalgia and a straight-up hike in production quality, I think I might pay for this game again. :K

[Coaster]

Lots of stuff happening recently.

Not only is the first world event in RuneScape 3 ending in a week... but you can apparently buy gold and such with real money now.

And, on the flip side, membership, RuneCoins, etc. can now be purchased with in-game gold. like so.

The idea is that since you can essentially buy gold from the company itself rather than from gold farming/bot sites, and that's supposed to basically remove the perceived need for gold buying.

Considering that Guild Wars 2 has had their Gem system (similar implementation) from the get-go and still has their fair share of gold seller problems, I'm not too confident in how well it will work in that aspect, but hey, membership without paying a penny sounds nice.

[Ziporen]

Wow. Well, I can't really say I'm surprised. The ideas have been going around for a while. If I wasn't emotionally detached from the game the ability to get memberships that way might have brought me back.

Regardless, it'll be interesting to see how things play out. I'm doubting how well it will work.

[Ian Wolf-Park]

And again, no surprise, the base has been split on whether or not Bonds is a good idea. Like Ziporen, I'm not surprised by Jagex's decision. Obviously, it won't eradicate all of the gold farmers/bots and I'm not too confident at this attempt

[Coaster]

More necromancy. |D

So KBD and the Giant Mole are now also free-to-play, and there's stuff like God Wars Dungeon 2 coming out for members which I'm not paying much attention to because I'm not currently a member and never even got very far in God Wars Dungeon 1. <_<

(Also, Prifddinas has been around for like a year now? And speaking from when I was on membership, it's the most amazing hub other than that the population is obviously lower. Teleport right next to a bank and Grand Exchange, and whatnot. xD)