It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Jagex has changed over the past year. I'm not going to insult anyone's observational skills by assuming that they haven't seen what’s been happening - unless you happen to be new, in which case, welcome! This seems to have been the month where all of those changes finally exploded in a mess of bad feelings and large profits and chances are that you saw that as well. Everyone has been talking about the Squeal of Fortune (I've even seen someone compliment it), but there seems to be something missing from the last few months. Not 'integrity' or 'fair play', though those are good guesses which would probably be right on any other article.
It's the content.
Jagex has devoted quite a bit of effort to getting players to stay subscribed. Yet somehow they've done this without actually doing anything really substantial to get players to stay subscribed. Over the past few months, the majority of content has been small, yet usually welcome changes. Not all of the content they have brought out has been bad. This month's Dungeoneering fixes seem to have no downside now that the key issue is fixed, and potion flasks are a must-have for players interested in any kind of combat. There has also not been a shortage of graphical updates and this month is the first of the year without at least one. That's about it, though. Most of the 'new' content has been promotional or relatively small. It expands on existing content (Sagas, for example) or only affects a small amount of the game (like Bakriminel bolts, for PKers with high skills).
Still, many of the updates have been filler. Promotional items, more loyalty content, content that players will use for a couple of hours on the release day and forget about afterwards. It's likely that this is a part of the reason that players are so opposed to the promotions: It's hard to love them when there isn't content to back them up. So far, all we know about May is that there will be even more rewards for maintaining a subscription, with vague promises of content contrasting the clarity in which the promotion itself is described.
Of course, this could all change very quickly. The Runespan, a new method of training Runecrafting, is due out next week along with the Behind the Scenes for May. If it managed to live up to its hype, it might be the first skilling update in years to have a lasting impact on the way players train. This is especially important because it's the one skill that is almost universally hated by players, and as a result, a chance for Jagex to win back many of the players that their love of filler and promotions has alienated. Similarly, the summer months might bring a slew of new content since it is often the busiest time of the year for RuneScape activity and Jagex often roll out the big update guns around that time. A lot could happen. This might even just be the slow part of the year since the game is mainly played by a younger audience, and they're in school. They aren't going to stay subscribed when they have no time to play, without a good reason.
So it could go either way. It all comes down to whether or not this trend toward filler content and promotions is permanent or if it's just their way of getting through the slow months. At this point, I'm not willing to bet on either option... unless it isn't legally gambling to do so.
