Alright, here’s an essay on what’s upsetting everyone.

To Jagex:

I think the main reasoning behind not supporting the Refer-A-Friend program is that RuneScape was never a game where these programs would have seemed to fit. Whereas games like WoW have had microtransactions, bonus experience, etc, for awhile, RuneScape was always a game of everyone on the same level. No benefits. No bonuses. No rewards.

None of these changes in themselves are that big of a deal. Sure, they’ll get players upset to see a new marketing direction, however, it’s not any one particular change. It’s the combination. Stuff like Bonus XP Weekends, Ornate Katanas, the Loyalty Program, the new Referral Program, the huge increase of botting, return of Free Trade and Wilderness, and etc.

Old habits die hard. Your marketing strategy has changed so much, so quickly, that the players that have been loyal for years have trouble keeping up. RuneScape was always a game that was spread through word of mouth. Obviously, that is not working as well as it used to, and a solid advertising program is now needed. This can be blamed in fault as much to the players as much as to Jagex.

To the Player:

These riots don’t do anything to benefit either side. Construct feedback. Post reasoning. Show that you’re unhappy with the direction the game is headed, but do it in a beneficial way. Rioting just makes everyone involved look like a bunch of kids throwing a temper tantrum.

Please though, keep in mind that this is a new Jagex: a new marketing strategy, and one that is in use pretty much industry wide. Sure, it may not seem like one that Jagex would have bought into years ago, but this is a different environment. Word of mouth referrals aren’t working. People are leaving RuneScape, and there has to be some way of getting traffic back. If you don’t like the current methods, offer an alternative. Jagex may just take it up instead.

To Everyone:

The program may be good. It may be bad. At this point, it’s too early to tell. Hold back your judgement, and tell me two, three, six months down the road what your opinion is on it. Has it drastically harmed RuneScape? The answer will probably surprise you.

These programs are not the core of the game. The content is. Yet this year, through all of the problems Jagex had with player relationships in marketing strategies, they have by far made up with one of the best years of content — this month especially, with ABSOLUTELY STUNNING graphic changes across half of the RuneScape world, a new quest in an amazing series, and awesome minigame updates. Overall, the content is what keeps me playing or makes me leave, and let me tell you, they have done a lot to keep me playing. Overall, that’s what’s important, and that is what we should be judging by — not some 10% bonus that can only be active 10% of the time — yearly, that’s about 1% experience gain. For me, that’s about the difference of playing one minute more per day. Is it really that big of a deal?

Take yourself back to September 2004 – Runescape 2 has just been released, Legends’ quest is the hardest in the game, and the newest quest, Tai Bwo Wannai Trio, is the best Runescape’s technology can offer. Over the next 6 years, Jagex will massively refit the Runescape game and engine: over 100 new quests will be released; trading and PVP will both be turned on their heads; six whole new skills will be released. Behind the scenes, two key features will be added to quests: persistent world map changes (see Garden of Tranquility) and individual player bosses (see Desert Treasure).

Well, congratulations if you remember this far back, because it really has been six years. More importantly, those two key quest features still haven’t trickled back to some of the key quests in the game. Today I’ll be looking at three old, core quests in the game, and the points where the lack of technology really shows.

Note that the rest of this post contains spoilers about the storylines of and tasks required in various quests.

Legends’ Quest

This was once the peak of your questing career. Your reward: Access to the Legends’ guild. Nowadays there are better areas, harder quests, and cooler rewards available, but starting Legends is a prerequisite for a section of Recipe for Disaster, and finishing it is required for While Guthix Sleeps. Lame as it may have become, Legends’ quest will still be completed by a lot of players.

Problem areas

• On the way to in to unblock the spring, you fight 3 guardian spirits. There are a number of spawns of each in the cavern – presumably so that multiple people can fight at once – and they remain once you’ve defeated one.
• After your second fight with Nezikchened, you move a massive boulder out of the way to unblock the spring. Although the boulder promptly rolls back into place, the quest considers you successful

Underground Pass

This is the difficult, frustrating, and downright creepy prerequisite for Regicide, which is the prerequisite for Mourning’s End I, which is the prerequisite for.. Well, you know. You can’t skip this quest, it’s core to the Plague City storyline, and unlocks the far west Elven area of the world map.

Problem areas

• At the very beginning of the pass, you burn a bridge… Or wait, a rope in the bridge-lowering mechanism. This causes the bridge to lower and allow you to cross. The rope then somehow magically fixes itself and raises the bridge again.
• Remember squishing the unicorn? Everybody remembers squishing the unicorn. Once you’ve viewed the squish cinematic, you’re teleported to a “room” of the dungeon just next door to the room with the original, still intact unicorn. (That’s right, you didn’t squish him. He was pre-squished). Future attempts to pass through the unicorn room will instead transport you to this new, squished unicorn room.
• During that incredibly frustrating section with the bridges which you fall off of, you kill a few demons. Those demons promptly respawn and remain aggressive, although their apparent lack of death does not hinder your future quest progress
• When returning for Regicide, Iban’s throne room still shows Iban cursing at you and casting nasty magic on the floor. However, when you go to enter the room, you’re transported again to a “completed” room on some empty part of the world map. This room contains some friendly wizards and the well of voyage as opposed to a back-from-the-dead Iban.

Waterfall Quest

This gives you access to the good old fire giant caves under Baxtorian Falls, and is a prerequisite for Desert Treasure. ’nuff said.

Problem areas

• When boarding the raft, you can clearly see a broken raft downstream. You’re promptly teleported to this broken raft, from where you can see the original raft still outside the house.
• At the end part of the quest, you modify the chalice room by raising the steps. From now on, when you enter the door to this room, you are teleported to a second, “modified” chalice room. From outside of the door you can clearly see the original chalice room, with no steps.