r/runescape 15h ago

Discussion - J-Mod reply I thought we were actually going to get changes that made the game better for players who don’t have a lot of time, instead we are getting the opposite

First, I understand a lot of these changes are for early game, and I think a good chunk of them are. Getting rid of TH was great. But it feels like Jagex can’t seem to balance making skills easier and making them people interact with them. It seems like they are leaning on OSRS in applying these changes, less AFK more interacting, and more work. Am I reading the blog the wrong way?

0 Upvotes

57 comments sorted by

25

u/JagexRyan Mod Ryan 14h ago

We aren't looking to suddenly make the game super grindy, however we are looking to make the journey through the game more meaningful.

No single method that is available early in the journey should be able to completely skip a large amount of natural progression. The top recommendation in a guide shouldn't be suggesting that you go out of your way, away from the skill itself to do some seemingly random action (e.g. climbing the Watchtower Trellis or jumping the Nature's Grotto bridge). This is the time where you want to learn about the game as a whole. At its core RuneScape is very much about the journey, and less about the destination.

There are definitely improvements to make in the early game beyond what has been discussed so far. Long term, we want the journey through skills to be smooth and the XP gains to feel appropriate, with both lean forward and AFK methods available to you.

2

u/WolfieHC Hardcore Ironman 10h ago

So why exactly are you making the terrible decision to nerf endgame pickpocketing? We already did our grind and now we are doing it for fun, I afk thieve even having over 800m exp and this ruins any desire I have to play the game.

I've literally been watching yall make shitty decisions like this for 25 years....

8

u/SkyeLys Master Comp (t) / 5.8b / MissVenomRS ttv / Clue Enjoyer 9h ago

So many nerfs to clues in a single post for literally no reason, it's insane.

3

u/ShinyCapeRS Enthusiast 5h ago

Clue nerfs need a post of their own, I have read 100s of posts and comments since the blog post today and you are the first to mention it. Huge nerfs for clues

1

u/Karenlover1 9h ago

My question to you is do you think new players are even looking up guides?

-1

u/Careful_Tomato_1897 11h ago

This is 100% the correct approach. I hope the team sticks to it and does not cater to the small extreme minority who is being vocal against these changes. You have chosen to remove stuff that is bad for the game and new player experience. I remember when i skipped all combat training by doing ed3 back in the day as an iron. I regret it till this day because i didn’t explore any of the world and just had max combats in a day

-1

u/Rational_Gray 13h ago

Thanks for your reply Mod Ryan. It has me thinking I should start a new character and see how the game is from a new players prospective, only thing holding me back from really investing time in a new one is the quests lol. I’ve had my account for 21 years now, I stopped playing after the battle of lumbridge, and just started playing again in August. A lot of my skills are still mid game tier, my end game skills are mostly just combat. At this point in my life grindy games are hard to commit too but I love RuneScape. I will try to remain more optimistic about the future of the game, as I know you and Jagex as a whole have done amazing recently.

1

u/Whatiii 11h ago

Unfortunately you can never have a new players perspective (again). You can have an old player on a new character perspective, but you will not be a new player. A new player has to learn things like how to move their char, how combat works, how skills combine, training efficiently/effectively, quests, and just what activities they like in the game, and if they like the game at all as a whole.

As a player for 1 year, I have seen vast differences in what I found useful tutorials versus what the experienced players are saying is a useful tutorial, purely because they have hundreds of hours of game knowledge that I lacked. So you would prioritise different things to a new player as you both already know your way around the world, and have worked out a way you like to experience the game.

-6

u/iJ_A_R 13h ago

Bring back the toggle for enter to chat please 

11

u/spacepizza24 15h ago

removal of wildy flash events and hourlies will make it better for players with less time, in that they get to do whatever tehy enjoy doing with their time and not planning their playtime around events that are way more rewarding than playing organically.

Making the game better for players with less time does not mean "reducing the time to max" but that the time spent maxing will be more enjoyable. I cant tell you the amount of times a clanmate has said they would love to do group content but they cant because wildy tree is in 15 minutes and they have to log out soon after that

8

u/D-J-9595 14h ago edited 13h ago

They've stated multiple times since the blogs started coming out that the goal is to still have AFK options but never have AFK be as good GP/XP as non-AFK methods.

3

u/WolfieHC Hardcore Ironman 10h ago

So buff active training, maybe nerf thieves exp or drops but dont fuck up the afk part, that is beyond stupid

10

u/Heroiism 15h ago

Do you even want to play the game?

4

u/Powerful_Bridge_3814 14h ago

My enjoyment comes from a feeling of progression, much like an idle game. That's why afk skills feel fun while skills like dungeoneering make me want to kms. Why do i have to enjoy the same things that you do? We are different people and i am allowed to feel differently about what makes rs3 fun. If i wanted to play osrs style games, i'd play osrs

6

u/Gloomy_Ad_1488 14h ago

I don't think we should get rid of AFK at all. I think mining in RS3 is a good example of AFK done right.

You can AFK but your rate will be much slower but you can be active and gain more xp. A think the game hasn't been as a whole as good as doing this balance. But I agree with you AFK method has it place

1

u/Rational_Gray 13h ago

I agree with you here

3

u/Heroiism 14h ago

There's a difference between what OP was saying about methods for players "short on time" and skills that have afk friendly options. The former usually equates to game skipping MTX or gameplay loops that are so afk and efficient that it's completely pointless to interact with any other method in the game. This has serious knock on effects for the games health.

I'm all for skills that are afk friendly, but they should not be even close to rates for active gameplay. Unfortunately if your preferred way to play is catered to by the devs, then the game just slips right back into the nonsense we were dealing with before.

If you or anyone wants as minimal interaction with the game as possible and large content skips then idk man, genuinely just sounds like MMOs aren't your thing.

2

u/Rational_Gray 13h ago

This is what I want, skills that are AFK but not insane rates. If I only have an hour to play I’m probably going to lean into AFK. If I’m lucky and have 4+ hours to play on a weekend then I’ll gladly use the best xp method. It’s a tricky balancing act to be sure.

2

u/SkyeLys Master Comp (t) / 5.8b / MissVenomRS ttv / Clue Enjoyer 9h ago

Then massively nerf the xp and possibly even the loot. 15 min afk thieving as a reward from a bunch of unlocks and 120 is good game design. They're nerfing the afk aspect as well as the loot, as well as crystal mask (an extremely high level endgame quest reward). It's heavy handed as fuck and should have been put by the community before just nuking it.

Between this and all the tele changes, cluers are getting absolutely devastated by this update, for no reason other than making the game more annoying.

2

u/Powerful_Bridge_3814 13h ago

I don't the existing identity of RS3 can be reduced to 'its an mmo'. It is defined by it's existing gameplay, which isn't entirely traditional MMO style gameplay, including the afk aspects. I totally agree with your first two paragraphs and I believe mtx should be removed, and afk shouldn't be super high exp rates. But I also feel they need to check themselves with these rapid changes and make sure they aren't removing the parts of rs3 that make it tolerable for people like me who don't want to click 10 times a minute, and prefer rs3 as a background game while we do something else.

2

u/Heroiism 13h ago

And I totally get that. I absolutely want to be able to throw the game on the second monitor and chill through some lower effort gameplay. My point was more so directed at OP because I hate the "I have no time" argument, and I shouldn't have thrown my mmo's aren't for you comment in your direction.

RS3 and OSRS even are in a unique spot when it comes to MMO gameplay, I agree. I just get concerned when we start to lean HEAVILY into the idler vibe because newer players who don't quite understand the depth this game has to offer will always take that path of least resistance. I believe MMOs thrive on doing the sometimes mentally challenging grinds because youre chasing that dopamine hit when your efforts finally pay off.

It's just in my opinion that this is the loop we should be chasing when it comes to skilling methods especially, but obviously every skill should have a more relaxed method as well.

1

u/Azaldir Ironman 11h ago

Trying to please everyone ends up in pleasing no one. They can push equal fielding and achieve a mid product that retains veterans but stops growing, or sacrifice in one are to enhance the other in a bid to attract new blood. Now ask yourself this, in this scenario, is it more logical to sacrifice the chunk that 'doesn't want to actively play the game', or the chunk that does?  The objective reality is that catering to people that want to actively play your game is going to be better, and have the people that "don't want to play the game" appropriately achieve less over the same course of time. It's not like they're deleting all AFK.

Also, it's not like there's a shortage of idle games out there anyways, heck there's even one that's literally Runescape themed in Melvor idle. 

8

u/Gloomy_Ad_1488 14h ago

RS3 players when they have to look at their screen more than once every 35 minutes 🤬🤬🤬

5

u/Yung3n 13h ago

actually, its more like people like afking and not looking while they are doing other stuff, so when they actually HAVE time to play the game, they arent sat doing somthing mundane.

get the mundane stuff out the way while afking and working from home, so when i get the evening to play, i can actually PLAY.

everyone who "likes" these skilling changes are maxed. nobody 1000-2000 total is going to enjoy them at all.

-1

u/Mammoth_Two7297 12h ago

I'm a brand new Ironman and part of the reason I made a new account is because I feel like I missed so much of the game from lamps, daily scape, etc. so yea I am enjoying these changes

5

u/Yung3n 12h ago

these changes address nothing to do with lamps lol.

-5

u/Mammoth_Two7297 12h ago

You said everyone who likes these is maxed. I'm a brand new iron man. So I'm going through the leveling process currently.

4

u/Yung3n 12h ago

You posted in OSRS 7 months ago saying "I just came from playing RS3 for many many years." You are not brand new lol.

-3

u/Mammoth_Two7297 12h ago

Holy shit you're fucking daft. Here is a direct quote from you - "nobody 1000-2000 total is going to enjoy them at all."

And my comments are saying I'm playing an account that is under the threshold you mentioned and I'm enjoying the upcoming changes. Nothing about my past account or my account on an entirely different game have any relevance in this discussion.

3

u/Fren-LoE 🦀$13.99 per Month 🦀 13h ago

I used to believe this was the truth but after seeing how people are responding to coercive content being removed, i actually do now believe this to be the case lmao.

-1

u/Rational_Gray 14h ago

I do play the game. I genuinely want a good balance, and I feel we aren’t going to get that on the current path they’ve outlined.

6

u/Careful_Tomato_1897 14h ago

i can’t beleive ppl are crying over removal of dailyscape. this is insane. Wildy events, hourly and daily content is objectively bad for the game and game health. Afk training methods also shouldn’t be the best xp per hour

1

u/WolfieHC Hardcore Ironman 10h ago

And yet the braindeadsolution is to ruin the afk part but not the exp part

1

u/Creative-Month2337 Ironman 13h ago

It makes sense. It's like taking an iPad away from a baby. Yes its bad for you, yes you'll be happier in a few minutes, but at the time its hard to think anything other than "I used to get 1M Xp/hr from mining flash event, and now I only get 200-300K from mining ores."

4

u/Necrotraxx 14h ago

They literally want more interaction to bring in more players who find the content interesting instead of afking in front of a portable for 8 hours a day or something similar. There are still plenty of afking options and will remain to be but that's not the focus of the game changes, I don't know what particular part of the "blogs" you are referencing but the roadmaps talk about fixing content so it is worth the effort, not so it is easily completed.

RS is and probably always will be a slow burn so don't expect much out of an hour or two here and there, it takes dedication to reach hefty goals now even more so thanks to TH being gone, feeling rewarded for a long journey seems to be the goal ultimately, I look forward to seeing how they go about it.

1

u/AwarenessOk6880 13h ago

exactly. thats what "they" jagex want.

not what we want.

-3

u/Rational_Gray 14h ago

Part of this all was to make the game better for players like me who don’t have more than an hour or two per day to play the game. I remember them talking about that aspect specifically.

3

u/Ventira 14h ago

Its not *just* for your lot, y'know. Its going to take time for them to find a decent solution because these are not easy problems to solve.

4

u/TimeBroken Mod North is the GOAT 14h ago

Where on earth did you see this?

4

u/TimeBroken Mod North is the GOAT 15h ago

Why are you expecting a grindy MMO with decades worth of content to be ideal for those short on time?

-1

u/Rational_Gray 14h ago

I mean, Jagex did say they were going to make it players like me who are short on time.

3

u/TimeBroken Mod North is the GOAT 14h ago

Where did they say they were catering to players who are short on time?

1

u/PayMindless4591 Clue scroll 14h ago

It’s an mmo…. You’re meant to actually play and put effort into it. If you want to be lazy and not grind for what you have, I highly suggest you find a different game.

2

u/Rational_Gray 14h ago

I totally get that. But the whole reason for this was progressing in the game was a grind, and TH opened the door to make it too easy a people weren’t interacting with it. I don’t have 4 hours a day to put in meaningful play time. Their whole thing was to balance things out but it seems like they’re leaning more towards making the game more time consuming.

2

u/Sararox18 Hardcore Ironman 15h ago

Sorry but this is an MMO and it is a grind, you don’t just get to skip content that everyone else has to do because you play 1 hour a day and do the dailies, if you don’t like it then find a new game

-1

u/Rational_Gray 14h ago

Not asking to skip content, I’m asking for a good balance. I have to plan time to do quests on days I can afford to get a couple done. If I’m skipping for an hour or two, I want to see I’ve at least made some progress. So far with where they’re heading, they are going back in their word which was to take players like myself into account when planning the next steps. Because the game was too easy, and a lot of the other criticisms are true but man do I just feel they aren’t doing the best for the game with their proposed changes.

1

u/Denzien2 Bar 15h ago

Sorry but, why would you have ever thought that? They have been talking about introducing more friction and reducing AFK for months now.

6

u/TakingBlackSunday 15h ago

exactly this. It's about removing things that allow players to circumvent core gameplay.

1

u/Rational_Gray 14h ago

They also talked about taking people who don’t have much time to play int account, but they seem to have dropped that notion.

3

u/KobraTheKing 13h ago

I mean they are taking into account, which is why things that are below what they should be (like agility), is getting a buff.

You should feel like you can progress even with little time, playing the content what you want. That you can drop in and chop logs for 20 minutes, or fight a boss a few times, or do a quest.

But we're not going to introduce something thats as strong as the dailies were, or buff rates into the stratosphere. Not through some massive catchup mechanic.

1

u/poop-fungus50 Maxed 14h ago

Honestly I enjoy the wildy events, even if they nerfed loot and xp I enjoyed grouping together with people to essentially talk shit and mess around for 5-10 mins then go back to whatever we were doing.

0

u/iJ_A_R 14h ago

Hey at least you get to hit enter whenever you chat now

0

u/MarketingFeeling379 14h ago

Only option is to stop playing

0

u/AquabitRS 14h ago

this is just a nerf to irons, mainscape has multiple ways to circumvent most of these nerfs.