With the release of the new Distinction capes, a lot of people developed a new set of goals. The seemed insanity of the trimmed completionist cape provides the hardest achievement to date, but not without criticism of being “too much.” This leads me to ask myself, “What really is ‘too much?’”
When I first began to play Runescape, I thought leaving the area of Lumbridge would be crazy. Slowly, I progressed and my idea of “too much” changed from raising my Runecrafting above level sixty to ever obtaining level 126 combat. I then purchased members, and again my idea of too much changed, this time to ever getting a 99. Again, it changed soon after to ever achieving all skills above eighty, and now, I have achieved that. My point behind this is that “too much” is subjective, and I wondered why people thought this cape hit that point.
I thought perhaps players felt that the skilling requirements are too demanding. Players have been asking forever for updates geared toward high level players, and this cape sets the bar pretty high. The cape does require a maxed account, so I figured it was a possibility, but I can't say that I've seen much for complaining about the maxed cape, so I have dismissed the idea.
I also considered that it might be the item achievements that upset players. That thought was quickly replaced too, when I realized there weren't that many of such goals. My theory then turned to mini-quests. It does require Shattered Heart finished, which, if a player hasn't already started, takes thirty weeks to complete, a time consuming goal indeed. Highest rank of White Knight is also on the list, as well as defeating all monster champions, another two goals that take quite a while to complete. Add in the mini-game requirements, such as 1250 rank in Conquest and 5000 games of Castlewars, and it begins to show the clock will have spun around many times before you achieve this trimmed cape. And that's when it struck me. It's the time.
I guess it's silly on my part to not realize it sooner, but the reason people are complaining is because they are impatient. I understand it's an excessive amount of time to spend, but this is the high-leveled update of all high-leveled updates, the holy grail of achievements. It's not just going to be given away. I guess this paragraph is sort of a rant in disguise, even if I don't mean it to sound that way, but personally, my goals aren't to get something just because it's there.
Over the course of this article, my question was answered, at least to myself. “Too much,” to me, is what I don't feel like doing, and that is spending excessive time to get a cape. The cape, after all, is just a cape, albeit one of prestige, but far from being a game breaking item. So, why complain about it being “too much” when you're not forced to get it? I don't want to turn this into a debate about the difference between fun and efficiency or something, just a little opinion there, but I do encourage you to share what your “too much” point is. I know for me, when I really thought about it, wasn't quite what I expected.
