The Tip.It Times


Issue 199gp

The Coal in our Stockings

Written by and edited by Tip.It

A few weeks ago an interesting article came by about how Jagex had missed a big opportunity when introducing the Dragon Platebody. I wasn't entirely sure that I agreed with that. I was left with a distinct "but what about..." feeling to it. So I decided to to do a little research and compare it to some of the other game improvements.

This year we've seen a tremendous, almost revolutionary change in RuneScape in nearly every field imaginable. Trade scammers have been completely removed, the Bank interface has improved a hundredfold, Minigames and Miniquests have been introduced to F2P, Clans can safely battle one another with many options to choose from. We can lend one another a certain amount of items, we've had High Definition even for widescreen introduced to us, you can now favourite some of your worlds, we had our first ever Thanksgiving event, we even saw PK-ing brought back to us, and of course our first ever Grandmaster Quest.

As for in-game character improvements the list is even longer. The long awaited Summoning skill, new ways to level the less exciting skills of Runecrafting and Farming, a very welcome addition to Slayer in the form of both Smoking Kills and the Chaos Tunnels. Blood Rune crafting, a Minigame that uses ALL BUT THREE skills available with rewards that DOUBLE your normal XP rate, As A First Resort gave us the ability to run for what seems like forever, and weapons of incredible power for those brave enough to risk it all facing other players. Just to name a few.

Compare this to some of the previous years we've had. Personally this year has been the best with updates in almost every field, but 2005 is a close 2nd with Desert Treasure, Barrows, Slayer and Mournings End. But as awesome as those updates have been, they simply cannot compare to this year's.

And, like always, people have been dissatisfied with some of the updates, especially the more recent ones. The level 3 rewards from both Fremennik and Falador Diaries wouldn't live up to their expectations, and the Fremennik one would be a blatant attempt to reduce junk trading, Stealing Creation and its rewards did not work properly right away, or what about the incredibly overpowered Dragon Claws. And of course, the Dragon Platebody failed to live up to the expectations of many in the fields of coin value, novelty, or usefulness.

So yes, Jagex have their work cut out still. But if next year is anything like this, we can see them unlocking current "frozen" items on the Grand Exchange, making junk trading obsolete to everyone but those wishing to transfer coins illegally. We can certainly expect them to test out the next updates better, but aren't you glad they put most of their testing efforts into the PvP worlds rather then some tool that does or doesn't give you the XP you'd expect from it? A wise man once said; "Do a task correct the first time, and nobody will see how hard the task was."

I guess in the end it depends on your point of view. People like me aren't the ones who rush in head first into a new update, and are therefore immune to fatal bugs. This attitude deprives us of 5 of the the 10 million we would have had if we sold our Lump, Slice or Shard the day we obtained it. Others sacrifice everything to get to the finish line first, and run the risk of being disappointed with the results.

In my opinion, we've been spoiled this year. A LOT! So what if an update is not entirely what you had hoped or expected it to be. Some people even think that, since we now have weapons that can 2-hit or even 1-hit the most prepared players, we've hit a glass ceiling when it comes to new items. Does this mean it is the end? Only for some. And it is those people that receive the Coal in their stockings this year.

I would like to wish everyone both personally and on behalf of the Editorial Panel a Merry Christmas. May your turkey taste great, your gifts be appreciated, and your family and friends be close to you.

Did You Know...
... that while on a Treasure Trail and having to perform a "Uri emote" you can wear whatever you like in the equipment slots not mentioned in the Clue? This means you can have half of your combat gear ready, should you have to face a Double Agent. (Thanks to The Tal Shiar Alliance!)

Do you have any thoughts or comments about what you've just read? Want to discuss these articles with your fellow RuneScapers? We invite you to discuss the articles in this forum topic.

Letters to the Editor are now being accepted! If you have some thoughts to share with the Editor about this or any other Tip.It Times article, please refer to this forum topic for more information on writing a letter to the Editor. Selected letters will be published in the Times' usual space on the main website during those weeks that no Tip.It Times article is being published.


Do you have any thoughts or comments about this week's articles? Want to discuss these articles with your fellow RuneScapers? We invite you to discuss them in this forum topic.


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Will you use Menaphos to train your skills?



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