Old School RuneScape relies on a unique model for new content. Players can vote in surveys to decide which content should be introduced. After 150,000 fans chose a new skill, there are now 3 skills to choose from. However, these have sparked heated debates among players.
Why is a new skill so special? In 2013, the developers released Old School RuneScape. The MMORPG was based on the state of 2007 – both in terms of content and graphics. Meanwhile, the old RuneScape – often referred to as RuneScape 3 – continued with new graphics and new content.
Over the years, Old School RuneScape has continued to evolve, but in a different direction than the original MMORPG. Players were allowed to vote in surveys, and only features that received at least 75% approval were implemented. By the end of 2022, 80.9% of the 191,000 survey participants voted in favor of a new skill.
What kind of skill will it be? That is what the players are now allowed to vote on. The options are:
- Sailing
- Taming
- Shamanism
All skills have been roughly outlined by the developers to give players insight into their ideas. However, these are being hotly debated.
The Fear of Boredom and Old Mistakes
What is behind the skills? With Sailing, the focus is on exploring the seas in the game with a ship. You can buy, craft, or steal ships. Depending on the quality of the ship, you should be able to travel at different speeds.
At sea, you can experience various adventures, including battling sea monsters, finding hidden treasures or new fishing spots, as well as navigating through difficult zones. There will also be obstacles like storms or blockades.
With Taming, you can tame creatures in the world and make them your friends. You need to provide food and shelter and train them in various activities. Flying creatures are said to be able to find hidden treasures in high places that would otherwise be inaccessible. Other creatures can dig such treasures out of the ground.
Shamanism involves natural and spiritual items that you can collect in the game world, such as stones, mushrooms, berries, or certain animals. Most of these items are meant to be non-tradable to encourage players to collect and explore.
The items are then used to create ritual circles in the world. There, you can generate items like totems or oils and enhance your armor with magical bonuses.
In a developer video that lasts over two hours, the three skills were presented in more detail and community questions were answered:
How are players reacting to the skills? Very differently. All three skills have fans and critics. This leads to heated debates on reddit:
- Some players hope for sailing to fulfill their dream of a pirate life. However, there are concerns that it will focus too much on mini-games, as seen with the dungeoneering of RuneScape 3, which is not well received in the community. Also, the controls of the ships are being debated, as movement in Old School RuneScape is done with mouse clicks, which might hinder the navigation experience.
- Many are excited about the exploration aspect of shamanism, which fits well with the previous contents of Old School RuneScape. However, there is skepticism about the magical enchantments of the equipment, with some fearing balance issues.
- Taming has – at least according to Reddit – the fewest supporters. While they love the idea of having a companion, some critics refer to the current pet system and find the skill too unimpressive and boring.
There is a fierce debate about the skills on Reddit, and currently, anything seems possible. There is no clear favorite in the community. And even if one emerges from the survey, the skill does not necessarily have to be implemented in the game.
After the survey, the next one follows immediately and it could tilt everything
What happens after the survey? Once a winner is determined, the developers will meet again to further develop the concept of the skill. This will then be presented in detail, and another survey will take place. In theory, a majority of players could oppose the skill in that survey, and then it would not be implemented.
However, if the skill passes this third survey, it will be implemented, and a beta phase will follow.
What do you think of the model of Old School RuneScape with the surveys? And which skill do you find the most interesting?
Players have just set a crazy record in Old School RuneScape:
Player sets an insane speedrun record in an old MMORPG, taking only 711 hours
