Within a week of eachother, Jagex released The State of Play and Behind the Scenes - April, giving us a chance to peek behind the Jagex curtain to see what they have in store for us in the future! I, for one, was very pleased while reading these articles, especially due to the fact that some largely awaited updates are set to be released this month!
Let's start with the items that appeared in "The State of Play" and not in "Behind the Scenes - April".
FRIENDS LIST CHANGES
There's not a whole lot to say about this. It's nice that they have seen an error in a popular area of the game interface and are working to correct it. I will admit, however, that it was extremely generous of Jagex to be able to combine the communication systems for RuneScape and FunOrb.
ITEM LENDING
I am extremely excited for the release of this feature! While the removal of unbalanced trades, and thus item lending between friends, was a move that Jagex virtually had to do (although I am NOT going to get into that subject), they are still thinking about those players who were using the free trading system legitimately. Let's face it: free trade and item lending for unrestricted amounts of time will not be returning to RuneScape as long as Real World Traders and bots still pose a threat to RuneScape. However, an item lending system is the next best thing.
I would also like to give Jagex kudos for finding a way around the rule breakers. Players distributing items (notably in a rule-breaking manner) were what they were trying to force out with the removal of unbalanced trade, and removing unbalanced trade altogether was the only solution they could come up with. In effect, the return of the old "trading" methods whilst still preventing abuse of the system has got to be a mind-boggling feat, and I'm interested to see just how it will work.
CLAN WARS CHANGES
I am not a big follower on Clan Wars or combat ingame, so there's not a whole lot of comments that I can confidently make on this update. The only thing I can really pull out of my mind is that, since the removal of the old Wilderness, Jagex has been following a lot of popular user feedback on any combat-related mini-game. Just like the item lending system, they have to be careful on how free to let the games be, or else the thriving era of Real World Traders and bots will return.
RANDOM EVENTS
I was litterally surprised when I read this! I never thought that Jagex would remove random events from the game. I am extremely glad that Jagex has realized the fact that the random events were simply not serving their purpose, but still just cannot believe that they are thinking of removing random events.
Jagex has also recently added this modification to the news item: "We are certainly not removing every single random event. This proposal gives us the chance to reassess them, see if they are doing their job properly and then take action: removing those that do not work, adding to those that do and improving the rewards of all that remain!" Perhaps we will see a much more satisfying state of random events in the game?
Now let's take a look at updates that are coming this month, and in "The State of Play".
NEW PVP MINIGAME
The answer! The solution! It's finally almost here! To all the people who took a hard blow with the massive overhaul of the Wilderness, you may get a slice of the old Wilderness back with this new mini-game! Jagex has stated that it is nothing like other combat mini-games that we currently have access to, and it will require far more than just combat, much like the old Wilderness!
Like I stated before, I don't follow combat updates as much as others, but I do know that, if it's all that it seems based on their descriptions, this will give the never-ending Wilderness ranters something to play with.
GRAND EXCHANGE
The Grand Exchange in itself is perhaps one of the most commonly used tools in RuneScape. It is the center for the majority of RuneScape's economy and item exchanges. It however, also comes with a lot of difficulty in keeping track of and predicting prices! With the new Grand Exchange Database, Jagex has promised us charts and other tools that "give us a strong visual idea of market price trends over a long period of time." I am very excited to see this, and happy for all the people who will benefit from this tool!
In conclusion, I am convinced that Jagex has planned a bright future for us, and is trying to do everything that they possibly can to keep the community satisfied.
Did You Know...
...that it takes 1,300 dead Black Knights to become a White Knight Master? This allows you to purchase ALL White Knight equipment, although you do not need to kill 1300 Black Knights to wield it all. (Thanks to The Tal Shiar Alliance!)
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