Okay, yes, I admit it, I enjoy gardening. There, I said it out loud. So yes, it stands to reason I enjoyed the newest quest released on Tuesday by Jagex, Garden of Tranquility. Which, as a matter of fact I did enjoy far more than I expected.
The Garden of Tranquility quest is firstly very easy to do and secondly rather entertaining. The cut scene when you "borrow" the statue of Saradomin from Falador square had me in stitches. Poor Billy didn't quite have a good first day on the job! (I wonder if the Gate Guard Union knows anything about this?)
Queen Ellamaria reminded me vastly of my mother-in-law. High and mighty but the Wise Old Man in Draynor loves to gossip! And what gossip he shares! Seems Queen Ellamaria is as lowly as any of us Lumbridge Newbies. Good fun really and my only disappointment with the quest was the smallish reward. Higher level seeds would have been nice but I will forgive Jagex this error due to the highly amusing content of this Quest.
Also updated this past Tuesday was the Gauntlets from the Family Crest Quest. As many people know, your reward was to select a Gauntlet of your choice from three. This was a one time choice and you had to stick to what you picked, forever.
I realise that some people needed a change because of mistakes they made in the selection but I feel Jagex could have offered a change within 24 hours of doing the quest, as a one time opportunity. Yes, I know that many people are thrilled with the change. And I will admit I hopped right out and changed to cooking gauntlets so I could for the first time ever not burn my shark, but the truth of the matter is that Jagex continues to reduce the effort needed to gain levels in various skills thus making the time spent by old school players rather pointless. It is almost a slap in the face each time updates of this manner come about. Makes you wonder if they worship the all mighty dollar more than they appreciate the people that helped them build this Mega-Community by remaining loyal through thick and thin.
But enough about my pet peeves. This week, there is also a second part contributed by a guest who goes by the name of Trapical.
A brief reflection
Runescape today is a tremendous game, there is no denying that. However, it is unfortunate that most of today's players are unfamiliar with Runescape's times of yore - the classic days.
When RuneScape first started over four years ago there were two servers, no wilderness, no runite, no female armour, no Asgarnia, and most noticeably there was no members. In those early days a Mithril plate was the best armour you could get, and no one could smith adamantite. Since there was no wilderness, most people could be attacked anywhere on the entire map, the only way around this was to be in Lumbridge or sign up to be a "non-pker". I bet most of you didn't know that eh?
I personally think the weirdest thing was the fact that most everyone knew each other. You would be walking from Lumbridge to Varrok and you would see people killing each other by Stonehenge and you would recognise about half the PKers there. Even if you didn't PK, you knew who was good and who wasn't.
Things change as the game evolved and as the ages of Runescape passed the land increased, players retired, and more and more people joined (I'm taling 2k to 120k!). In those early times you had to cook and bake all your food, high level cooks became the richest people in Runescape by selling pies and stew. After a few years new skills like fishing came out, and everything changed once again.
Everyone talked about how RuneScape would last forever, and how one day it would have one million players and everyone would have a player owned house. Soon members was revealed, people were thrilled at the concept. As I aged though High School I watched Runescape evolve on a monthly basis; soon the land was doubled, then dragon items came into existence, and few months later there were gnomes walking around.
People began to speak of the "good ‘ol days" when the land was simpler and everyone got along. Now I can't help but smile when I wonder what those players think of today's RuneScape. With the (effective) recent fall of Runescape Classic everyone is, essentially, forced to play the modern Runescape that. It would be safe to assume that most players reading this haven't even heard of RuneScape Classic.
This RuneScape is so different from its roots that it is sometimes hard to even connect the two. I know of many players that loved the original game with all their heart, and now they have forgotten all about it. I weep for the fall of this truly classic, indomitable game which had simplicity as its best strength - yet I accept that time brings change, be it for the best or otherwise. I end with some screenshots and links in the hope that more people will get to learn about the origins of RuneScape.
| RuneScape Classic Screenshots | ||
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Further Reading:
RSC goes p2p only
RSC pictures thread
