In the MMORPG RuneScape 3, there is a promotion in September that offers a large bundle in the real money shop. This bundle includes, among other things, very powerful items that usually require a lot of grind and a minimum level. For the RuneScape community, this is the last straw. We at MeinMMO summarize.
What happened in RuneScape? Currently, there is a Pay2Win debate going on in “current” RuneScape. The two “Skilling Bundles”, which are available in the shop until September 25 for about €17, are to blame.
These bundles contain the so-called “Overloads”, which are causing quite a stir within the player community.
What are Overloads? This item is a very strong potion. The Overload combines all five attributes of your character into one potion and improves them by 15%. This makes it the optimal drink for every fighting player. The Overloads are not tradable, and to create them, you need level 96 Herblore, which corresponds to many hours of grind.
Many people therefore believe that the Overload is the most important reason to level up Herblore at all, as it is one of the strongest potions in the game and cannot simply be bought. The fact that you can get five of these valuable items in the September Skill Bundle for real money and thus bypass any grind makes the community angry.
“RuneScape 3 will be the worst Pay2Win game ever”
What exactly bothers the community? Many comments on reddit flood the channels of RuneScape 3. One of the threads with the most upvotes is titled “RuneScape 3 will be the worst Pay2Win game ever.” But is that true?
Is it Pay2Win? This is what many voices on reddit are also wondering, as opinions are divided:
- If you buy the bundle and thus the Overloads, you are not paying to be better than others, but to reach certain milestones faster and thus bypass the grind.
- The correct term for this would be Pay2Progress according to some users, not Pay2Win. Unfortunately, this does not lessen the community’s anger.
What do the users say? While many are simply venting their frustration on reddit, there are also some constructive comments. However, the overall mood in the community is rather negative.
- User Nyte_Crawler writes (via reddit): “For me, RuneScape is a game that happens on the grind. If people want to pay to skip it, they should. The game definitely makes it possible to skip a lot of time with money, but that doesn’t bother other players.”
- User Vez52 agrees (via reddit): “RuneScape 3 just feels weird compared to Old School RuneScape. I don’t use many microtransactions, but it only takes 10 seconds to spend $20 and buy Overloads…”
- Even-Ant7872 expresses concern about the future (via reddit): “Nobody cares whether a level 1 noob can use Overloads or not. […] The problem is that non-tradable items are held behind microtransactions. This worries me about the future and integrity of the game.”
The other items in the bundle are hardly mentioned at all. The player community is fundamentally only bothered by the possibility of buying Overloads with real money.
Is this the first Pay2Win debate? No. While the classic Old School RuneScape largely avoids microtransactions, they are already common in RuneScape 3. For example, you can already buy in-game currency with real money and boost your experience. This has led to discussions in the past, especially because the game actually relies on a subscription model to experience all content.
The bundle itself will disappear from the RuneScape 3 shop on September 25. So there’s enough time to stock up on Overloads if you want to spend the money. What do you think? Do you play RuneScape 3 and are bothered by the bundle, or do you not see it so tightly? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
Just recently, another RuneScape game made headlines, as a Twitch streamer loses €12,700 in gold and rages in front of his family.
