RuneScape Forum Archive | (F2P) QoL Improvements v2

Seasons Past

Posts: 559 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I was thinking about parity among combat styles at low levels and came up with some suggestions. I posted the ideas in one of my threads, but I think they actually fit better here:
Seasons Past said :
Thoughts on combat style parity with respect to ammunition:

-Ranged ammunition has always been equipable. Therefore, it typically occupies no inventory space.
-Magic “ammunition” became equipable with the release of rune pouches. However, rune pouches are costly and have additional requirements which include membership.
-Runes tend to take up more space than Ranged ammunition, as spells typically require more than one type of rune. This is especially the case when considering that runes also serve non-combat purposes.
-It doesn’t make sense for mages to pay 19M for a large rune pouch to get the same convenience warriors and rangers enjoy by default. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

16-Mar-2023 02:21:50

Seasons Past

Posts: 559 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Seasons Past said :
[...]
1. Simplify rune costs for spells in the Standard Spellbook, by:

1a. Removing air runes from most teleport spells. Updated rune costs would include:
-Varrock Teleport:

1 law,

1 fire

-Lumbridge Teleport:

1 law,

1 earth

-Falador Teleport:

1 law,

1 water

1b. Removing air runes from combat spells based on water, earth, and fire.
-This would mean that each type of elemental spell would only require its namesake rune type (e.g. water runes for water spells).
-This would also mean that players would be able to autocast using any elemental staff variant.
-Air spells would remain the same.

-In both of the above cases, the inconvenience of having to deal with an extra inventory space is more significant than the cost of the air runes required.

2. Consider introducing a weaker version of the small rune pouch. The new pouch would have the following characteristics:
-No requirements
-Equipable in the ammunition slot
-Would only store one type of rune
-Much lower capacity than the small rune pouch (e.g. ~ 1,000 runes instead of 16,000)

-The small rune pouch could be made equipable and/or tradeable to boost its value. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

16-Mar-2023 02:25:25

Oct

2013

Rikornak

Posts: 9,169 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

In general I do not see an issue, that different classes have different inventory management - it's just a bit in the nature of the thing, that melee basically has no consumables at all, until they would be able to make armour spikes much, much later. I'll come to the rune pouch a tad bit later, but in general I do agree with you, that especially at low levels they shouldn't need multiple kinds of runes at once.

While magic got a lot better following the release of the EoC, it still has a couple of issues compared to the other styles - with elemental spells other than air basically being way more expensive to use the most notable one.

This said I suggested the following for those spell for myself already:

- All strike, bolt, blast, wave and surge spells are now unlocked on the same level, have the same damage potential and only use the elemental rune fitting to them.

That they needed different levels was given the fact, that they basically got more powerful than the lesser elements - but now they're just intended to be different combat styles - akin to using a mace instead of a sword. Which also leads to the issue with the damage potential - depending on your level and weapon a fire spell could be more powerful than an air spell of the same tier - with wave and surge spells being the only exception, in which you could choose the element as you like when it comes to dealing damage alone. But alas, you still will just stick to air spells, since it is able to come up with one rune alone. And honestly - that also could upgrade elemental staves other than air.

Removing a second elemental rune from low levelled teleport spells certainly is a good catch. I think they could increase the amount of the remaining rune instead for instance. So 1 law + 5 element. Adjusting levels also could help, since most standard spellbook teleports are unlocked late... not solely the f2p ones, but that probably goes a bit too far for this thread. Improvements: Tooltip / (F2P) QoL v2
Quick Fixes: Invention

16-Mar-2023 06:55:43

Oct

2013

Rikornak

Posts: 9,169 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Now the small rune pouch. This thing in its current form is awful. It always stemmed from the same source as the large one, it can't be upgraded, it can't be equipped - so you're basically stuck with it when you've accidentally bought/crafted it.

To be fair I just would get rid of thing from abyssal runecrafting and introduce it somewhere (something like runespan or GOP) as a f2p obtainable reward, since it still would be fairly appealing to be fair. Maybe making it equipable, since 'just' saving one inventory slot is a bit lacklustre, maybe making it tradeable for those who do not want to engage in whatever activity it will come from. If tradeable it could still also be made from abyssal threads, I could imagine the ability to sell it to free players could make them more valuable than just to create large or grasping variants.

But all in all - there isn't really a need to introduce something even more awful, when this thing could be repurposed.

A different thing I once thought about was allowing players to equip a lot more of things into the pocket slot, since that one is rather uninteresting for low levelled players. Stuff like runes, thread, bait,... doubtfully it would be a game changer, but that's basically QoL - and that's what this thread is about. Improvements: Tooltip / (F2P) QoL v2
Quick Fixes: Invention

16-Mar-2023 07:10:02 - Last edited on 16-Mar-2023 07:17:59 by Rikornak

Oct

2013

Rikornak

Posts: 9,169 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Just a thought at how teleport spells at low levels could look like if done decently. Rune distribution is changed a bit to be more diverse. Some unlocks are signficantly lowered or removed for the same reason.

Taverley (5): 1 Law, 5 Air
Lumbridge (10): 1 Law, 5 Water
Varrock City Square (15): 1 Law, 5 Earth
Grand Exchange (15 + Varrock Easy): 1 Law, 5 Earth
Varrock Church (15 + Varrock Medium): 1 Law, 5 Earth
Falador (20): 1 Law + 5 Water
Camelot (25): 1 Law + 5 Air
Seers' Village (25 + Easy Seers' Diary): 1 Law + 5 Air
Ardougne (30): 1 Law + 5 Water - Quest requirement to use is removed
South Feldip (35): 1 Law + 5 Fire - I think it's reasonable to increase this one, since it's not super relevant early on
House (40): 1 Law + 5 Earth
Yanille (45): 1 Law + 5 Earth - Diary requirement to use is removed
Watchtower (45 + Watchtower quest): 1 Law + 5 Earth
Paterdomus (50 - new): 2 Law + 5 Fire

Spells higher levelled than 50 remain unchanged. Improvements: Tooltip / (F2P) QoL v2
Quick Fixes: Invention

17-Mar-2023 09:26:54 - Last edited on 17-Mar-2023 09:28:20 by Rikornak

Seasons Past

Posts: 559 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Rikornak said :
[...]
This said I suggested the following for those spell for myself already:

- All strike, bolt, blast, wave and surge spells are now unlocked on the same level, have the same damage potential and only use the elemental rune fitting to them. My bad, I now see that you posted that on page 1 under the combat section. I agree with that suggestion. The elements in this context are damage types and should not be unlocked at different levels. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

17-Mar-2023 23:26:43

Seasons Past

Posts: 559 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

For teleport spells, increasing the number of the primary elemental rune in order to balance a reduction in the cost of combat spells, I think is a reasonable trade. If a player teleports while holding an elemental staff, the spell would only cost a law rune. If the player would prefer not to switch weapons every time, the spell costs a few additional elemental runes; so the cost of the spell is reduced from its current value for those wielding an appropriate weapon but is more or less kept the same or modestly increased otherwise, while being made more convenient in both situations.

The changes to the level requirements I also think are reasonable. I think unlocking a new teleport spell every 5 levels is the right amount of distance between unlocks and would be much easier for new players to grasp than the current distribution. Unlocking a spell at level 10 to teleport to South Feldip Hills, a members’ area, never made sense when Lumbridge Teleport unlocks 21 levels later; it should be the other way around.

I also see the benefit of having the associated elemental runes in ascending order of the required Magic level of the teleports. However, I noticed that there are no fire runes, with the exception of Feldip, until Paterdomus.

Not to get too philosophical, but I always thought the elemental runes were chosen for teleports based on (loose) thematic associations. Varrock is a center of business and activity, hence fire. Lumbridge is “home,” so it is an earth destination (as is the POH). Falador is neither earth nor fire, so

w

h

ate

ve

r

floats your boat I guess.

I do think there could be an advantage to keeping the traditional rune associations for those three iconic locations, but I don’t see a problem with adding or changing others, such as Paterdomus. I would also suggest adding Draynor and possibly other locations. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

17-Mar-2023 23:36:54

Seasons Past

Posts: 559 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Revisiting some of the Magic suggestions:

Magic weapons

For the lesser runic staff, I’d prefer it to be directly upgraded into stronger variants, rather than simply being higher level. (I remember commenting something like this on Mod Shogun’s thread, to which I believe you responded.) I think this is the only way to make runic staves truly worthwhile. Otherwise it’s difficult to justify throwing the Runespan points at one - even as a long-term investment, and even if you wait until you have 75 Magic to purchase the greater version. The lesser version as it stands is completely useless, as unlike the higher versions the former can’t be charged with spells.

I would suggest:
-Removing the lesser runic staff, refunding Runespan points as applicable.
-Adding a reward to the Runespan shop allowing the runic staff to be upgraded to level 60, 70, and 75 variants. The cost of each upgrade would be cumulative.
-Upon being upgraded to tier 75, the runic staff would automatically be replaced with a greater runic staff. This would minimize the risk of potential difficulties in the event of trying to rename or refund existing items.

I’d be in favor of making the level 50 runic staff F2P. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

18-Mar-2023 00:40:02

Seasons Past

Posts: 559 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

As unpopular as this will be, what if instead of buffing god staves, they were nerfed and made F2P? God staves (and capes) could be unlocked at level 50 and retain their special attacks, even on F2P worlds. This would give F2P some high-powered combat content for their range, which I think would offer a taste of what membership would be like. Obviously, though, it would be fun on its own and would not just be to promote membership.

To address fears from traditionalists, it’s not like any advanced player uses level 60 weapons - with or without special attacks - for any serious purpose, so these players would not be losing anything in practice. The most concern would be for mid-range members, who would have to switch to other tier 60 weapons. However, these are easily available and inexpensive, so even then I don’t see any significant issue. To improve their relevance for P2P, god staves could be given an optional upgrade to level 65, similarly to what you suggested. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

18-Mar-2023 00:48:50 - Last edited on 18-Mar-2023 00:53:59 by Seasons Past

Oct

2013

Rikornak

Posts: 9,169 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I must admit, which rune is used is a bit weird of course. That said existing runes also can be fairly random for that matter.

Basically I chose air for taverley, since it is the very first rune, which can be crafted from the get go. Lumbridge with water and Varrock with earth were chosen for the altars that are close to them (albeit it also could be air for varrock, but then all spells up to 30 would solely use air and water). Fire in general started to be used later, since it's the last elemental rune you're able to create. As it stands it's also just currently used for taverley, where it no longer would belong, when it's basically the first teleport you unlock and - varrock. Yeah and trollheim and ape atoll, which I do not really plan to touch in here. Other than that I tried to remain true to whatever runes those teleports currently use. Paterdomus got the fire rune, since it's not used super much up to that point, Feldip more as a replacement, since Varrock lost it.

It's certainly not perfect and was just a quick draft how those standard teleports could look like. Improvements: Tooltip / (F2P) QoL v2
Quick Fixes: Invention

18-Mar-2023 07:09:41

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(F2P) QoL Improvements v2