RuneScape Forum Archive | Warding Design Blog

Mar

2024

Bishoped

Posts: 51 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Dear Jagex:

I appreciate your ongoing efforts to develop and enhance Old School RuneScape. For the most part, I believe the development team has done a fine job. We have seen a variety of great content releases, bug fixes, and quality of life updates. The player base seems to be receptive to most of these changes, but this proposal has received a significant amount of backlash. I am of the opinion the release of this skill can be a game-making or game-breaking update after considering your updated proposal. Because of that, I felt compelled to share my opinion so that you may be made aware of the overall implications of the details surrounding the development and release of the Warding skill and the critical issues with the Warding skill proposal itself. I invite comments from any other community members to continue the dialogue about Warding. And before moving forward, I humbly ask Jagex to tread with caution, due diligence, and the utmost care in developing this concept, especially considering the lack of any poll data and beta testing. My comment requires multiple posts to submit, so please look to the following posts for my evaluation and opinion.

20-Apr-2019 04:09:55 - Last edited on 20-Apr-2019 04:13:58 by Bishoped

Mar

2024

Bishoped

Posts: 51 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Overall:

* Content should enhance, improve, diversify, and grow the user experience.

+ Content should not be developed and pushed for the sake of releasing content.
+ Content proposals should be aligned with the vision of keeping Old School RuneScape “Old School” in fact and appearance.
+ Content identical to or bearing resemblance to RuneScape 3

* Content that fundamentally changes the user experience should be surveyed/polled prior to and during its development.

+ The invitation of player comments is useful, valuable, and an admirable approach, but it is non-binding, and we have no guarantee that our comments will effect any change regarding the proposal.
+ Developing a new skill prior to polling the player base runs the risk of wasting man hours on a project many see as dead-on-arrival.

* Content that fills in gaps or addresses areas of opportunity should be done in a plausible, rationale, and efficient manner.

+ If a gap can be addressed/filled without the addition of a new skill, then that should generally be the course of action, unless the proposal is conceptually unique and exciting.
+ Such additions/changes should not be made so complex and convoluted as to lead a player to make a cost-benefit analysis to avoid the content.

* Content from the release of a new skill should be unique, valuable, and stand the test of time.

+ Most skills, except for combat and slayer, can be trained on a stand-alone basis, which gives them the undeniable unique attribution of a skill.
+ Interaction with other skills provides for a way to generate value from training the skill. (e.g. Smithing ores you mine, burning logs you cut, making potions with herbs you farm, etc.)
+ Uniqueness and value together are the fundamental attributes that make a skill stand the test of time, and any skill proposal is incomplete without these attributes fully addressed.

20-Apr-2019 04:10:24

Mar

2024

Bishoped

Posts: 51 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Warding:

* Warding was initially pitched to fill in gaps and subsequently pitched to also fundamentally change combat.

+ The goal of this skill proposal has significantly shifted from just providing a way to craft magic gear and imbue equipment to including fundamental changes to combat, the addition of weapons, and limited benefits for skilling.
+ The skill proposal, at the present time, does not have a main theme that defines the general purpose of the skill in a simple, understandable, and intuitive manner. (e.g., Construction is primarily for building your POH, with secondary benefits arising from improving your POH regarding restoration, transportation, storage, etc.)
+ The ambiguous nature of the proposal does not suggest that Warding is a raw material, finished goods, or combat skill; rather, a haphazard combination of the three.

20-Apr-2019 04:10:54 - Last edited on 20-Apr-2019 04:19:21 by Bishoped

Mar

2024

Bishoped

Posts: 51 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Warding (continued):

* The initial proposed purpose of Warding can be fulfilled without the addition of a new skill.

+ Crafting magic gear is a gap worthy of being addressed by an update but need not be addressed by the release of a new skill. (e.g., consolidate with crafting, runecrafting, magic, etc.)
+ Most of the gear mentioned in the proposal is already acquirable elsewhere, some of which already possessing processes to craft.
+ The gaps addressed appear to be primarily purposed for lower level players and ironmen, excluding the greater half of the battle robes.
+ The relevant battle robes do address bonuses that melee and ranged have already addressed but could be implemented to be crafted or obtained without the addition of a new skill.
+ The proposed imbues system is unclear and more complex than the current imbues system.
+ The current imbues system functionally addresses jewelry/gear improvement and can be rescaled to whatever difficulty is deemed fair, instead of consolidating a new system with the addition of a new skill.

* The subsequent proposed purpose of Warding is not a unique and valuable addition as a new skill.

+ The skill proposal, at the present time, is a haphazard combination of ideas that can no longer be drilled down to a definable primary purpose.
+ The proposal amendments were a conceptual blend of the RuneScape 3 skills of Summoning, Divination, and Invention and consolidated into the initial proposal to create an unoriginal and unfocused concept.
+ The addition of RuneScape 3 content need not be under the guise of a new “Old School” skill, when such content could be polled on a stand-alone basis.
+ The weapon proposals are niche and, apart from the skull scepter imbues proposal, addressed by other items, just not within the scope of Magic combat.
+ The skilling ring imbues are extremely limited, not fully conceptually developed, and could simply be added to Nightmare Zone to provide a use for NMZ points.

20-Apr-2019 04:11:12 - Last edited on 20-Apr-2019 04:19:33 by Bishoped

Mar

2024

Bishoped

Posts: 51 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Conclusion:

* Fundamentally changing combat is more than just a content update proposal, it’s a business decision.

+ The effect of adding Battle Wards and Conjuring changes the scope of Warding from a raw materials & finished goods hybrid into an unrecognizable combat and skilling hybrid.
+ Modifying the mechanics of Summoning, calling it Conjuring, and rolling it into Warding, is in effect the same as proposing the addition of Summoning.
+ The addition of Summoning, in any form, fundamentally changes the combat system that your player base was drawn to.
+ The player base has voted down many of the proposed changes to PvP to retain the “Old School” feel of PvP that drew older players back to OSRS.
+ Pushing us toward or forcing us into a new combat system can irreversibly change the trajectory of the game and destroy your player base. (e.g., Evolution of Combat)
+ Any update or proposal with the potential to change the way the game is played at a fundamental level should consider a cost-benefit analysis with weight given to an increase/decrease in users, playtime, and revenue.

* Any RuneScape 3 content, whether identical or in likeness, should be polled on a stand-alone basis.

+ If you want to add Summoning, just make a poll for Summoning, with any modifications specific to OSRS addressed. (The same goes for Invention and Divination)
+ If RuneScape 3 content is being proposed to be added to OSRS, tailor the proposal to keep the “Old School” feel of the game, as this is the primary mission and purpose of this server.
+ A unique combination of RuneScape 3 content can work as a new skill, but great thought must be given to such a combination, such that it is relevant and beneficial to OSRS.

20-Apr-2019 04:11:42

Mar

2024

Bishoped

Posts: 51 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Conclusion (continued):

* The Warding proposal is incomplete and worthy of revisiting for amending, altering, or redrafting.

+ The main purpose of the Warding skill should be refined.
+ The perks of the Warding skillcape should be identified and disclosed.
+ The process for training warding should be simplified to an acceptable degree with processes broken down by XP/HR.
+ Skilling ring imbues, if retained, should address more than chopping wood and mining iron, etc.
+ The imbues system can continue to address current and future imbues and can be rebalanced instead of being rolled into Warding or addressed differently.
+ The purpose of filling the gaps for crafting magic gear should be revisited, and ideally, rolled into other skills instead of a new skill.
+ The subsequent proposal of conjuring, battle wards, and weaponry have significantly moved away from the initial proposed scope of Warding, and Jagex should consider whether any of these proposed items form the basis of a new skill that players want.
+ Any polls related to Warding should be transparent as opposed to hidden.

20-Apr-2019 04:12:08 - Last edited on 20-Apr-2019 04:16:55 by Bishoped

Mar

2024

Bishoped

Posts: 51 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Conclusion (continued):

* My recommendations regarding Warding is to substitute the proposal with an altered variant of Invention.

+ Poll Summoning right now, whether it should be added to the game, what modifications it should have, and whether it should be rolled into a new skill.
+ The dissolving method of training Warding is perhaps the only identifiably unique way to train Warding on a stand-alone basis and should be separated from the alternative of equipment channeling, which is just a convoluted way to craft/smith magic gear.
+ Consolidate the ability to create magic gear into Crafting/Smithing with a simple process involving any other relevant skill requirements (e.g., Magic or Runecrafting)
+ The ability to dissolve drops/gear into raw materials for the use in artisan skills would be a valuable primary benefit to lower level players and ironmen, and, is a unique primary theme to base a new skill on.
+ The secondary benefits from such a skill (one we might call: Alchemy/Transmutation/Enchanting) could very well include an imbues system for improving gear, with imbue potential given to just about anything, including skilling equipment/tools and combat equipment/weapons.
+ The requirement to imbue top tier equipment can be scaled in difficulty in a meaningful and challenging way to enhance gameplay and provide value (e.g., Must dissolve zenyte shard to imbue zenyte jewelry, etc.)

20-Apr-2019 04:12:38

Rewns

Posts: 622 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Please do not make it conveniently time to hide voting polls for Warding, that's bullying the community and putting words in our mouth at your leisure. Developers develop and let us decide the outcome of what comes into the game, the people have already spoken. Listen.

20-Apr-2019 16:44:35

Oct

2014

iron itg

Posts: 94 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

What's with all the nonsense names? A name should be descriptive, not a goofy-sounding made up word. The whole concept is bonkers, and I don't like it at all. I don't want to draw goofy pictures on the ground to summon a pair of enchanted trousers from a heap of strangely-named magical earwax.

I think whoever developed warding might be better suited to a development position for RS3, where such content might be a better fit.

Lest Jagex forget: The enduring popularity of OSRS clearly shows that players think that the most recent 10+ years of runescape content is so bad that they're willing to start over again from nothing to see it disappear.

My advice? Let's not do that again.

One would think that would lead to some humility. Perhaps Jagex should ask players for ideas for content and poll along the way to develop styles and concepts rather than developing stuff and polling until it passes.

20-Apr-2019 18:58:18 - Last edited on 20-Apr-2019 19:02:58 by iron itg

Xx-Paine-xX

Posts: 73 Iron Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

i'll be getting membership just to vote no on this poll.

F*ck warding.

also

Stinkowing said :
Quacktypus said :
This adds nothing to the game that couldn't be added to an existing skill. Sailing pls

Also, I see a lot of ungrateful players here who just don't want change in osrs, and you know what?

You are the problem with osrs polls. If proposed game content doesn't pass and keeps failing to pass, the game gets boring and stagnant. People quit. Game dies, and it'd be the fault of people who, Guthix forbid, can't accept change in a game that is clearly not the same as it was in actual 2007!

Warding will work. Give it a chance, OSRS could benefit in player numbers and content with a new skill rs3 doesn't have. It's not divination, it's not invention, it is its own damn thing, and people who don't read and vote no to every poll out of spite are wrong that the game is becoming rs3.

I hope jagex stands firm and forces Warding through just to spite those awful players...no matter what marketing tag line or promise they make to players that it's the players game, ultimately jagex are the devs and usually know what's best for the game in the long run.

a lot of game content has already passed. wtf you talking about? dragon slayer 2, dragon platebody, etc. all those passed cuz people WANTED them. people don't want warding. it won't pass. get over it.

and lol at "you are the problem with osrs". we're the SOLUTION to jagex f*cking around the game. that's the reason things get polled. to make sure jagex doesn't make forced changes without consulting the community.

ironic how you say we're the problem when you want to go back to the time jagex forced things and disregarded the community's opinions. THAT is how the game died and turned into rs3 with so few players. meanwhile osrs has been maintained by the community through polls and has only INCREASED its userbase.

you are full of sh*t.

20-Apr-2019 19:25:05 - Last edited on 20-Apr-2019 19:33:31 by Xx-Paine-xX

Forums

Warding Design Blog