Alright, here's my input...
I joined this game maybe 2 or 3 years prior to the removal of FT and the Wildy. Enough time to see both the years before and the years after, without bias for either side.
But I can undoubtedly say the olden days were my golden days. I've never been good at PKing in any way, form, or anything. I've never been large on marketing, either.
But look at the COMMUNITY, the WORLD of Runescape between today and 2007:
- Not as many players 'hooking up'
- The communication between players often feels more forced
- You can venture through the wildy with almost no disturbance; Revs are a mere pest from time to time.
- The GE:
* Player interaction is again strictly cut down because of set prices. This means less bartering, less determination by the ordinary players of what the prices shall be.
* Marketing clans stifling and controlling the economy. Take from the poor and make the rich richer. But it's not what hurts the most: What hurts the most is that these few 'elite' control the market since there is no free trade.
- Where's the sense of satisfaction you got when you purchased a set of Dragon legs for 200k less than the next guy?
- The thrill (although not always happy) of being betrayed by a group you supposedily made nice with in the Wilderness.
- Luring into the wild.
- Drop traders being robbed for their dishonorable deeds.
Sure, you can say a lot of these may have been PROBLEMS for Runescape. But look at it in the long haul... problems are what make the game FUN! The thrill of trying to save another victim to lurers, the satisfaction of saving another victim from being tricked into giving away their armor to be 'trimmed'. The satisfaction that you learned, through gameplay, what to avoid and how to save others.
The thrill of interaction. The thrill of satisfaction from determining the price yourself. The thrill of traversing the wilderness in any way you saw fit.
The thrill of Runescape. THIS is the game I loved.
02-Jan-2011 19:24:47
