There has always been loads of discussion on Player-Versus-Player tactics, and there always will be. The ability to form your own rules on PvP, and then argue or discuss such ideals with other members of the community you’re centered around in, is just too great of an addiction to pass up. Whether it’s tempered flame, or a reasonable discussion, the onslaught of accusations and the intelligent insight by individuals in a community is the true base of where these ‘player made rules’ are formulated. It’s not because certain individuals want an advantage over other players, or as said through-out forums ‘they make these rules up because they are too weak to PvP with the realism (Overheads, One-Iteming...etc) of RuneScape.’ However there is one of these realism ideals of RuneScape that has come under discussion in every kind of PvP community, unlike overheading that is only debated amongst solo PvPers, or attacking/defending debates with clans, Teleporting is an issue that is always presented to every kind of PvPer. This issue pops up in Clans, Solo Pkers, and even the updates that involve the extended network of teleports can even stir up trouble!
In non-PvP objectives in RuneScape teleporting is useful. It provides you with a quick means of transportation to point A and B, with no repercussions except for minor expenses for the runes. It provides magic experience, and can be used an indefinite amount of time. It truly is what drives RuneScape around and around. The economy, mini-games, monster hunting, and practically anything Jagex could implement into the game will be impacted by this element of game play. Without Teleporting, RuneScape would be slow, and would get rather boring spending 12 minutes to walk from Varrock to Castle Wars, to play a quick game with an old time friend. However you look at RuneScape you can expect Teleporting to be under examination, whether as a use, or as means to achieve a goal faster.
However Teleporting has received immense negative light through the years in PvP oriented aspects of RuneScape. Teleporting in the Wilderness would label you as cowardly. Teleporting in a clan would get you rejected by your own clan and possibly even several other clans. Basically the majority of the PvP community who were involved in clans, or forums would shun you, and keep you out in the rain. The term NH (Non-Honour) Pker was born from Teleporting. However the use of Teleports only focused around new Pkers and those just wanting to enrage the ‘Honour Pkers’. It wasn’t odd to have 1 in 10 opponents Teleport away from you. Many Pkers were still frustrated by such means, but it was entirely reasonable to Teleport for those select individuals that did Teleport for several reasons (beginners, watching fights...etc).
Many Pkers argued that the three inventory spaces (or now one space) were much more useful for food, as it prolongs the length of time that you can fight your opponent for. This was definitely beneficial in low level areas in the Wilderness, where if you ran out of food, you could just hop to a safe area, without being attacked. However when you went to levels 10 and 30, a lot of Pkers were unable to run away, and thus resorted to Teleports. This of course made tons of sense, and was quite logical. Why would you go into the medium level areas, by yourself, and be potentially killed, because you ran out of food?
Many asked this question to themselves, and for a short time Teleporting was a normal thing to do. Eventually however it caught on that you could ‘hug’ or ‘snag’ someone on trees or objects in the Wilderness. Many people realized they could easily get away from their enemies with such tactics, and thus replaced the Teleports with food, knowing they could get away regardless of their food count. This however did increase the possibility of death, but it also gave the sense of risk, which has constantly fueled millions in RuneScape for monster hunting, and even in real life with thrill seekers, or why the majority of us have the urge to go sky diving. To me, this is where the Wilderness started to mature.
This emotion that would formulate while hunting someone out at the legendary Castles or Hills was why pures, mains and really anyone could get hooked on PvP. It’s why there were so many PvPers out there daily, losing their money regularly, but continuing to achieve the emotion, or the thrill. This is the main reason why those who do Teleport usually do not PvP for a long time, only try it a minimal amount of times, or do not like the emotion, and hence why there’s so many skillers in RuneScape, who prefer to obtain assets rather than attempt to foolishly lose them. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with how you play RuneScape.
Now let’s stop analyzing the past and look at what we have to work with now, and the current issue that I’m bringing to the table. If anyone has tried out the PvP Worlds, you’ll notice that Teleporting occurs right outside of safe areas, as well as areas far away from banks, and of course deep in the Wilderness. The PvP Worlds brought several changes that we had to adapt to. First of all there is now a larger range in who can, or you can attack. It’s no longer +1/-1 to your combat as a base level, but it’s now dependent on Summoning, and Jagex’s base equation for your combat level. This means those 10-15 combat levels higher than you, are able to attack you, anywhere, anytime. This really doesn’t matter close to safe areas, as you can just run away. Nor does it really matter if we apply the same logic that you can run away easily if you ‘hug’ or ‘snag’ your opponent on an object to get away. All this does is increase the risk, and it introduces a new emotion.
This new emotion is fear. We no longer can go to a location and control who will be able to attack us. Now if you travel anywhere you’re basically vulnerable to be attacked by those who can probably kill you in 5 hits, in F2P or P2P. You no longer can just walk into a PvP Area and expect a ‘fair’ fight with someone. You are now vulnerable to be killed by those much higher than you. The only ones who are able to benefit from this are the big fish, or the highest levels. They don’t need to run, nor do they fear anything. Perhaps they deserve this for playing for so long, or perhaps it’s just a flaw that Jagex thought was needed to prevent RWT. In any case the majority of RuneScape suffers with fear. This fear, or the ability to not control exactly who you can attack within a reasonable combat level sets the stage for new tactics to form. It resets how the old PvPers have adapted, and now they must relearn how to ‘hug’ or ‘snag’ their opponent all over again to get away and utilize that extra 3 or 1 space of inventory.
However with new equipment, you no longer need to decide between food or runes. You can use rings in F2P or P2P to Teleport. This means you receive the best of both worlds. You can optimize the duration of your fight, but you are also guaranteed to be safe if you run out of food. Now that fear is crumbling away, and it feels better, until you run into a certain problem. This problem is that everyone is now Teleporting. Walk into any hotspot like Barbarian Village, Varrock Wild, or Falador. You pick a fight by yourself, or with a team, and before you can land 4 flying arrows on a target, they’ve Teleported to safety. You’re no longer getting kills unless you’re with a huge amount of players, who can quickly kill 1 or 2 players before they can Teleport with the rest of their group. You aren’t getting kills, thus you aren’t making money from that food, pots or arrows, and heaven forbid you die, as you’ll never make money then, or you’ll have to go skill!
Right now, we’ve just examined the true cause of the lack of popularity of PvP Worlds. There’s no one to kill, and when you do, you’re not guaranteed a worthwhile drop (this is a different story though). A prime example of this is to go to any single combat area in a PvP World. There will be no one there that doesn’t Teleport, or Teleports when you hit an extremely high hit, like a 30, or 40, or where you can constantly hit a relatively high number on them with say Range. Now go to a multi combat area, and you’ll find that everyone is Teleporting, just at the sight of a larger enemy. People are losing money through PvP because of this and thus the majority of the old PvPers who could make money from kills, and can’t be bothered to skill for money, are not enjoying PvP Worlds, and thus the popularity dwindles down. This is why the PvP Worlds have 3 or 4 worlds for both F2P & P2P that are generally active towards teams or clans. Lumbridge is perhaps the only place where you can go to be guaranteed a fight with someone, but who knows if you’ll be interrupted by two or three other people before you can run out of food. There is barely any money to be made from PvP Worlds, and the only ones using the PvP Worlds are those that are in clans, teams, or are the rare PvPers who skill and do PvP.
If Jagex wants to make these PvP Worlds more acceptable, or reasonable to play in, they need to implement features that counteract these effects. Perhaps they could induce penalties to those that Teleport, or finally give into the need of a Teleblock like spell for F2P’ers, as there are tons of P2P customers who enjoy F2P more so than P2P PvP. Even if they were to make a world where you could not Teleport, would be a step in the right direction. Even if they are able to identify or remove the element of fear that is driving PvP Worlds into the ground would enable them to create something to counteract this.
However until then we’ll have to put up with entire groups of PvPers Teleporting, and we’ll have to continue to skill for money to continue to use the PvP Worlds. There may be nothing wrong with Teleporting for those who want to remain safe, but for those that want to make a profit or have fun from PvP, as skillers do from Herblore, or Smithing, or Fishing, we’ll be in a constant cycle of fear. Just think if your fish, ore, or plants could Teleport away while trying to obtain them, what kind of RuneScape would we be in then!
If you have played Runescape for at least six months to a year, you are generally able to distinguish changes in both game play and what forum users like to call “generation shifts.” There are also those main in game improvements that help spur these changes. Such things as the Grand Exchange and Trade Limitations being the most recent and widely seen among all players. But there is one update that I believe that had led to the change in attitude and mindset and in-game activities such as events and gatherings; Clan Chats.
Clan Chat was a highly praised addition to the game. It allowed for users to congregate in their own personal chats and be able to converse with people in different worlds en mass. Friends list used to be able to accomplish this as well but not to the extent that a Clan Chat could. A Clan Chat meant you could talk with all your friends at once, if they were in the same Chat. Then with the implementing of Loot Share and then Coin Share, these just added to the goods that these things could provide. But with all the good it provided, it also changed many things that even affected the normal game play of most Tip.iters at the time.
Before Clan Chats were invented, meeting in groups and taking breaks from a normal routine was obviously seen among those from Tip.it in World 99 Edgeville. From my own personal experience, huge masses gathered and enjoyed each other’s company at this place. They did not care whether they were missing out on the chance to gather a few extra experience points that day or missing out on the resources that were calling their name. No, people enjoyed the friendships that were wanting to be kept alive, that is why people hung out. But with the creation of Clan Chats, one was able to “hang out” with friends over a chat room while able to continue their skilling or slaying or whatever activity people were participating in at the time. They could continue the inside jokes, the fun, the enjoyment, all at a relatively long distance from the actual avatar that was away. The numbers that were present at World 99 Edgeville dwindled. This was just only the beginning.
The next thing I witnessed, was the drop in events and activities. Users no longer needed to wait till the weekend to chill with their friends at the nearby TET event or random cabbage bombing. People could now keep up conversations with each other throughout the week and thus no longer needed to meet with each other to talk. They did not need a meeting place in game to see their friends. They were only a Clan Chat away.
Lastly, with the emphasis taken off the need of meeting people and dropping your gather tools to continue friendships, people went off and continued to skill or slay. You could multi task even further now. One would be able to collect coal and still be able to enjoy the company of their friends. Another could gather a few more hides while killing blue dragons in the Ogre Enclave while laughing at a joke that was just said probably from someone in Trouble Brewing, twenty worlds apart. Something like this, for me, was just inconceivable.
Yes, I do know that there were such things that allowed mass people to chat with each other. Some of those things being IRC and Instant Messengers and other useful tools. The only reason why Clan Chats took off so well, is because once something is implemented in-game, it is surely going to be used much more than its counterparts by outside sources. Something that is so easily useable with that of the Clan Chats was surely going to be a win with the developers, but the repercussions are still being felt as I walk into World 99 Edgeville and miss all the green dots just wandering around on the mini map. Call me nostalgic or whatever, but it has made a difference. Not all in game updates affect only game play, but also possibly the attitudes and mindsets of those that play the game as well.
Did You Know...
... while on ape atoll as a monkey, your magic panel is disabled, so remember to bring teleportation jewellery/teletabs!!! (Thanks to Siobhana!)
Do you have any thoughts or comments about what you've just read? Want to discuss thes 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.
