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Shn said :

...As a software engineer, I can say Andrew Gower is an extremely talented programmer. He would have no issue writing a "drop" command or a timer that could drop a bunch of rares.

I don't dispute that, but since we needed a 'second-chance' for Scythes - Andrew suggests this is a manual process. And that was almost 1 year after Santa Hats were released into the game. It further suggests that, if the timer wasn't available in October 2003, I doubt it was available in December 2002, meaning Santa Hats will have been manually 'dropped' (using a command of course):

https://runescape.wiki/w/Update:More_Scythes_dropping_today

" I will be dropping Scythes at:

Sunday 4pm (Eastern US Time)
Sunday 5pm (Eastern US Time)
Sunday 6pm (Eastern US Time)
Sunday 7pm (Eastern US Time)

and then I'll be going to sleep! "

03-Jul-2020 19:45:43

03-Jul-2020 19:51:18 - Last edited on 03-Jul-2020 19:56:11 by 4p

nyxiah said :
I personally believe the spawn was programmed, and not something he did manually as you suggested.

Halloween scythes are not exactly in the same boat since you only could obtain one, so they system did change throughout 2002-2003.

It would seem a bit backwards to remove an automated function. Allowing a player to only pick up one item is unrelated to the '::drop' command we've been discussing as they're two completely different functions.

I've been using different sources to try explain how it's impossible for there to ever be 100k Santas in the game, and it's being discarded due to 'personal beliefs' and some trades you mentioned you saw a few years ago... so I'll just leave it now

03-Jul-2020 20:01:45

If we assume that a batch job was executing the Santa hat drops, please look below.

The formula for calculating the # of Santas entering the game is:
# Santas Dropped at a time * # Drops per hour * % Picked up * # Different Locations at time of drop * # hours dropped

That being said, I created this graph. I think this will really narrow down the estimate on how many Santas were dropped.

Creator of RuneRares (no longer available). Been playing 15+ years.

03-Jul-2020 20:25:30 - Last edited on 03-Jul-2020 20:50:53 by Shn

@nyxiah

My sources quite clearly shows the following:

- Scythes appeared on the floor in random places at random times: https://runescape.wiki/w/Update:Halloween_Drop
- Santa Hats appeared on the floor in random places at random times: https://runescape.wiki/w/Update:Merry_Christmas

And:
- Jagex Mods had to be in the office to trigger the 'drop' (Scythes (Holiday Item))
- Andrew said he didn't want to stay up all night to do it (Scythes (Holiday Item))
- Jagex Mods had to be awake to trigger the 'drop'
Above 3 points covered here. It mentions that US players were upset, but unfortunately they have to be in the office to drop items: https://runescape.wiki/w/Update:More_Scythes_dropping_today

We know the process that was used for the Holiday Item dropped on October 2003, so we can assume the same process was used in December 2002 for Santa Hats.

If the technology available for them to trigger a 'drop' in October 2003 meant they had to be in the office, and awake.... we can assume there is a manual process, and we can assume that manual process was the same in December 2002 (because what benefit would you have by removing automation?).

We can then start to realise that 100k+ Santa Hats in 2009 isn't an accurate number at all, because there was likely not that many in the game in the first place.

I've made claims and used sources to help my claims. All you've said is that you believe there were 100k+ Santas in 2009, just because you believe there were 100k+ Santas in 2009... and that makes it difficult to have a proper discussion about it

03-Jul-2020 20:43:16

Shn said :
4p said :


" I will be dropping Scythes at:

Sunday 4pm (Eastern US Time)
Sunday 5pm (Eastern US Time)
Sunday 6pm (Eastern US Time)
Sunday 7pm (Eastern US Time)

and then I'll be going to sleep! "

@4p This is a good point. I would think Scythes dropped (Oct 2003) would be very similar to how Santas were dropped. This implies the JMod has to log in and spawn the drops. This is very good information.

The formula for calculating the # of Santas entering the game is:
# Santas Dropped at a time * # Drops per hour * % Picked up * # Different Locations at time of drop * # hours dropped

That being said, I created this graph. I think this will really narrow down the estimate on how many Santas were dropped.



Thanks Shn... I love a good graph!

I always worry I'm not being clear enough or I'm coming across too strong... hopefully what I'm trying to say is now starting to make sense

03-Jul-2020 20:45:15

4p said :


Thanks Shn... I love a good graph!

I always worry I'm not being clear enough or I'm coming across too strong... hopefully what I'm trying to say is now starting to make sense

Hi 4p,

I edited my original post. Please take a look at it. I'm now making some data to support your hypothesis that there was [I]not[/I] a batch job, and Andrew had to manually log in. The graph I originally made was assuming Jagex was using server-side batch jobs to issue Santa hats and that is probably not the case.

I actually believe your hypothesis so I'm redoing some of the data. Creator of RuneRares (no longer available). Been playing 15+ years.

03-Jul-2020 20:52:33