The Tip.It Times


Issue 1099gp

Random Events – Still Neglected

Written by and edited by Tip.It

Do you remember when we were given by Jagex a set of charming and delightful "State of Play" Articles, the ones that sounded "too good to be true"? Although they were true, and some of the updates quite celebrated, these articles gave us something to believe in, hope for a brighter future. After some very unpopular updates from December 2007 we needed that. All but one of these "goals" were completed. One was seemingly neglected and perhaps forgotten in the illustrious slew of updates in 2008...

On March 27th, 2008 Jagex said:

“We had planned some work on the random events of RuneScape quite some time ago. We were looking to see if we could remove most of them, because a decent number were not particularly good at stopping modern-day bots. Since the threat of bots and macros has been largely removed, we feel that this is a perfect opportunity to address the problem again. For the moment, we are concentrating on our PvP mini games to compensate for the Wilderness changes, but the random event proposal has been approved and is in the pipeline.

NOTE - 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!"

The above blurb is quite interesting. Jagex admits Randoms on some scale are inadequate for Macro Detection and perhaps incompetent against macros. Macros are in effect – defunct – possibly because Real World Trading currently is severely crippled if not nonexistent. Randoms need a earnest overhaul, and since it is taking Jagex a long time, be it simple oversight or too many things on their plate I will attempt to help make things "easy" for them.

Currently the rewards for most Random Events are uninspired, many as drab and simple as you can fathom. Perhaps if they did not appear and distract me to often gift me with a meager 20 GP I would not be so harsh about the large majority of randoms being a complete waste of time. I could have pick-pocketed a guard and made more GP than the reward for some of these randoms. Don’t get me wrong and be mistaken, books of knowledge and genie lamps are among my most adored and beloved things in the game and half keys and gems are always welcome. I do not hate the concept of randoms, nor do I hate all randoms. How could you not like the various rewards from those wonderful mazes. However the scraps of GP? Stop squandering my time. Let the Randoms reward me generously, we all now know that for the most part they may no longer serve a purpose at all in the effort to actually stop macros, and is that not the primary purpose of a random event? So instead of removing them what naturally do I think they should they do? Bestow me with free useful items and not annoy me with small amounts of GP. If outdated, ineffective randoms are going to bother me, at least make them worth my time with free experience and good useful items that could make a random event special and desired by all players. They do not have to be what they once were, a simple tool for stopping cheaters - In this age they could be a sign of good times and a sign of a macro free game. After all, it is foolhardy to not believe Jagex has other monitoring asides random events to bust cheating. I mean if they went off of random events alone, I'm sure someone would be banned for dropping my Pickaxe or Hatchet and letting one of those certers note their inventory thus letting them stay at the resource longer.

Some may ponder and think of new exciting randoms that could be "fun" but why not improve the randoms we have – has anyone at Jagex tried to capture molly? She moves at a much accelerated rate than the poor claw can – I don’t know if anyone at Jagex has ever played a claw game, but the prize typically is static and not just moving around in the cage. To me as someone who knows little about programming, The fact shes different each time should be plenty enough to keep bot's from winning. Also If I get disconnected in pinball, sadly as if my dropped connection isn't enough - I have to start over. Is that necessary? Also I may be blind, but that quiz show has gotten so minuscule I have to look hard to see it. I have the costumes from the costume events - can I receive something other than GP? How about an extra costume part of my choice? I might want to collect mime masks for some frivolous reason. Why not some new rewards? Offer me a token that can be exchanged for points in certain mini games (Pest Control, Fist of Guthix, etc.) Let them heal me or restore my potions, prayer and summoning. Recharge my Glory - heck, offer me the option to bank an item or everything in my inventory.

Stop the kidnapping randoms in bad times – I can't even begin to describe how livid and annoyed friends have become when they get a maze while waiting for say "The Great Orb Project" mini game to begin, now they don’t get to play with their friends, sure they get a reward that may be nice if it's a maze or a key half, but chances are they did not and in turn they missed the game with their friends. Missing the game will probably offset any reward. What player needs or wants Dr. Jekyll while fighting metal dragons? My worst fear is getting a visage or nice drop and whisked away - would you not hate to lose a clue-scroll that way. Seems scary to lose loot to a random, perhaps that gives it an edge of "Risk" in fighting,making it more fun.. but an unnecessary risk to me.

Although I guess it is "random", generally after burying a bone after a battle is when I experience Randoms... bury a dragon bone to make room, get a random, buh-bye visage, but it's OK because it's an anti-macro system right? If you answered "Right" to me that's unsatisfactory. It's self admitted to being outdated, and even if it isn't, I don't see why we should fret over losing a possible drop. I don't see why it would be "ok" in these days to lose loot to a random. I sometimes see these forum posts where a player stuck in a maze for a long amount of time.. hours upon and hours. Can we have a "help" option? - Let arrows on the mini-map point you to the doors after the time expires. Please players by making randoms more rewarding for the time involved. I laugh every time I get "random-napped" when I teleport after training a skill– it’s rather sad when you find "randoms" predictable after you play so long – at first they used to always makes me feel guilty and accused if I got a few. I wonder how many people feel guilty and accused when receiving them; good rewards would nullify that worry.

Perhaps I am spoiled by the Diversions and desire everything to be as fun as I find the penguins or hunting for shooting stars - Little things like those two aforementioned activities give me so much more replay value. I think randoms could be very different and more enjoyable for all, more rewarding like diversions and less of a hindrance to our daily RuneScape journeys.

I feel remorseful for Mod Vince, the new "Head of RuneScape", He wants us to let him know what we want and desire, so I am going to start to tell him the elementary things a jaded player wants to see, his once core audience who still soullessly clicks away in this mundane gaming experience that is more enjoyable than I make it out to be, because I care and enjoy the game enough to issue a plea such as this. Mod Vince, if I was a child I would grab your leg and scream fix randoms, but I'm not, I'm just an old fool with a desire to see my reasonable desires I have held for years realized. So as the first ramblings of the Catherby Curmudgeon draw to a close - Shout out what YOU want fixed or changed with randoms - I'm sure you won't be as grumpy as this Curmudgeon

With Love and Spite,
The Catherby Curmudgeon





Did You Know...
... that an Amulet of Glory with charges and wielded, also generates more Gems on Free to Play worlds when Mining? So if you are Mining on a site that is normally busy on P2P, realise that there is no difference in speed or amount of gems, no matter what world you mine on! (Thanks to The Tal Shiar Alliance!)

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Will you use Menaphos to train your skills?



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