The Tip.It Times


Issue 8799gp

It's getting chilly... so let’s cover-up

Written by and edited by Racheya

Although I have been out of Runescape for the past three months, I was lucky enough to return on the day Quiet Before the Swarm was released. This was my first time playing in three months so obviously I did not jump on reading this update, but went back and read ones from the past three months. After finishing this, I logged on; only to be flooded hearing people’s rage over what, at the time, I didn't think was a big deal. “Cool, climbing boots are now 75K, I think I have a few hundred of them” was my exact thought. But when I was informed that the high-alchemy value was so high, I was amazed. Then I went further into the issue and explored the mystical lands of the Runescape Official Forums in search for a Jagex response.

I sifted through hundreds of threads to find one particularly interesting thread that my friend had mentioned. This thread contained the idea that the climbing boots update was merely a distraction from another, non-Jagex like update that had came before it. This thread was quickly hidden so I could not read it fully for myself, but my friend had summed it up for me as best as he could. Before I carry on, one has to know one update by Jagex that they claimed they were drifting away from. They even took steps to reverse these types of updates that the previous CEO had suggested be implemented. Figured out what update it is yet? If you didn't, it's promoting members to F2P. Many simple things like the thieving option on NPC's and various NPC were even taken out of F2P to demonstrate their commitment to this. Also they removed Gnomecopters, one of many players' favourite rides, in which you could view the wacky world that members can experience.

Now that some background has been established, the FREE one-week trial of members for F2P that Jagex has now started to offer is more shocking to you than it may have been before. One does have to note that it requires a credit card to get the trial and if not cancelled after the seven days, the card will be charged for a month of membership. So why the sudden shift in policy again? Why would you go from promoting members to F2P, to saying that was an old policy and abolishing, to basically offering F2P a full taste for a week and then asking "$5.95 or back to F2P for you!"? I am well aware that most games offer a free trial of some sort for people to try out the game, but that is what F2P was designed for, although Jagex claims otherwise. Although it can fully function on its own, F2P is the starting realm of every person in RuneScape and where the basic skills are learned until one thinks they want to move on. It is the undeniable truth that F2P is RuneScape's free trial so why offer another one that could potentially prey on the forgetfulness of some busy people? It is obviously a way to try and get more members to join, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but why would they go against their principles of not shoving P2P down F2P players’ throats?

There are a lot of unanswered questions after this update; however, one thing is certain. People would have asked these questions if the change were not followed by something equally outrageous. This was the climbing boots update, which sparked furious arguments across the entire community of Runescape. Is it possible that their update to rock climbing boots was an outrageous attempt to cover-up something equally off the wall? Was there a reason that this update was never properly announced? Slipping through, unnoticed, by many members? We may never know.

And, Happy 4th of July to everyone that celebrates it!


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Will you use Menaphos to train your skills?



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