This is mostly a reply to OP, though I will weigh in on the proposed new skills.
"No-one asked for a new skill" - neither did I. But when the possibility was floated, I was really intrigued. Even now, the possibility of a new skill is honestly kind of exciting - granted, the skills I like the least in OSRS are some of the later additions to the base game like Construction and Hunter, but there's room to add a whole new approach to the game.
I understand that maxing out your skills is a fun prospect to some people, or considered like a personal necessity to enjoy the game in the first place, but the idea that Jagex is holding a loaded gun to your head and forcing you to pour weeks or months of your time into getting 200m XP points is ridiculous. I apologise if that sounds flippant or rude, but if your opposition to the new skill comes from a sense of weariness at having to jump through hoops just to satisfy yourself, I don't think that's the fault of the game.
That being said, I just checked out the three current skill pitches.
Sailing sounds okay, but I'm not sure how I'd feel about updating the oceans or providing a new user interface. I think there's potential in sailing in a way that preserves the basic point-and-click gameplay of the game, like using a charter system where you plan out a seafaring route ahead of time. Maybe they could add a couple islands to the existing seas, and create like an archipelago that's good for sailing.
Not interested in taming whatsoever. That sort of thing doesn't interest me in RPGs, I prefer direct control.
Shamanism is way more up my alley, but I'm not sure I'd be happy with adding new drops to the drop table, especially untradeable drops. I'd be more on board if they added functionality to current items like sawdust, bear fur, bones and ensouled heads - carve the bones, extract life force from the heads etc.
I'd consider voting 'no' to all of them, but I'm still very interested in a new OSRS skill as a concept.
01-Apr-2023 15:26:06