RuneScape Forum Archive | F2P Wilderness Empty

Oct

2020

Ghosttalon

Posts: 6,594 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I came back to the game today after many, many months' absence. I have played the game since 2007 (2006 on another character). I have a fair familiarity with the history of the wilderness and the changes over the years since PvP and free trade were first removed from the game in December 2007.

I am approaching the feedback from a f2p perspective first. I have yet to visit the changes on this character on members. The Wilderness on RS3 was fairly well-balanced in risk-v-reward and the capability of equipment versus what was out there. There was even some old-style PvP fun to be had on occasion if you watched yourself and knew what to look for. That started to change for the worse with the change to the Bandit Camp a year or two back.

When I went in today on a 120-ish level f2p character, the first thing that struck me was how ugly the overhaul was. OK, no big deal, taste in the scenery, artwork, and character models has been going in a direction opposite to mine for at least the past 5-7 years, by which I mean getting uglier and more child-like.

But then, the substance -- tons of mobs just removed, some of those have been iconic from the start:

Chaos Dwarves - gone
Hobgoblins - gone
Blue Dragons (not original, but gone from where I had come to expect them)
Mid-level Wilderness Green Dragons - gone
Lesser Demons - gone
Spiders, except for a few Deadly Reds at the old east farmstead - gone
Black Knights, Hill Giants in Lava Maze - Gone. There are still 2(!) Hillys left in the old eastern spot.
Ice Giants/Warriors - Gone.
Fire Giants - Gone.

The only thing really roaming mid- and upper-level Wilderness now are tons and tons of Hellhounds. Why?

As I was wandering around, I guess "threat" was increasing and I randomly got hit - hard - by some environmental mechanic.

This isn't fun and I cannot imagine this helped revitalize either the area or the game. I can think of literally no reason to "brave the (now almost solely PvE?) dangers" on F2P.

02-Oct-2022 23:37:10

Oct

2013

Rikornak

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

They've repurposed the northern wilderness for high levelled slayer - so obviously they can't spawn things f2p can't even fight and would rip them apart within seconds - and I don't think it would be reasonable if other things spawn in f2p (since yeah - it would confuse new players eventually becoming members). The only thing they could fight in theory would be the greater demon variants, but I doubt f2p could even have the equipment to manage those.

I mean a lot of things in the wilderness just were there, because why not - it wasn't even involved in environmental storytelling like the dark warrior fortress or the bandit camp - stuff was just there (sure who to blame, that stemmed from RSC). Is this really a loss, that this is gone? That said - there are things, that actually fulfilled purpose and that could be re-introduced if southern wilderness was reworked into a place of interest for medium levelled (and thus in extension free) players.

The environmental mechanic is there to keep your eyes open. You have to pray accordingly against it. I mean - that somehow could be communicated ingame, but it by far wouldn't be the most obscure mechanic RS ever had. Improvements: Tooltip / (F2P) QoL v2
Quick Fixes: Invention

05-Oct-2022 06:07:43 - Last edited on 05-Oct-2022 06:49:06 by Rikornak

Oct

2020

Ghosttalon

Posts: 6,594 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Now that it's been a few days, I understand ... sort of ... P2p wilderness becoming yet more slayer content with added frill annoyances has it's own issues in my opinion. I'll also not go into any more here on my increasing loathing for the random PvE mechanic.

But fair -- a lot of initial impression was based on how things were. I guess I'm evincing nostalgia for chaos dwarves and muddy chest access lol, for hobgoblins in a mine f2p has no longer been able to use for some time now... Access to fire giants had been a nice add in the highest dungeon for f2p ironmen. Etc, etc.

It feels like a whole lot of area has been subsumed by graphics, and they could've left f2p mobs alone if the space had been used better. Because let's face it, there used to be a lot of open empty space to traverse in previous versions of the f2p wilderness in between clusters of f2p landscape mobs. There has always been less content out there. But for what is out there -- does it have to be ALL hellhounds lol?

I suppose I could skull up and go search for others for some pvp out there, but the population has been so low I'm not sure even that is worth my time. And that in itself says something.

I like your idea about reworking low and mid-levels to throw f2p a bone.

Feel free to see this as a now old man's nostalgia rant. :-)

05-Oct-2022 09:13:58

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F2P Wilderness Empty

Ghosttalon

Rikornak

Ghosttalon