Runescape – Page 50 – MMO Fallout

Squeal of Fortune Isn’t Pay To Win, But It Is A Waste Of Money

Back in April, Jagex started selling spins for Squeal of Fortune, igniting a heavy discussion on the company’s changing position on microtransactions and real world trading. After all, Jagex has lead us to believe for years that buying an advantage is the most evil thing a person could do, next to punching an orphan with one hand while drowning his puppy with the other. How much does Jagex hate real world trading? Enough to neuter the game for years at the expense of their subscriber numbers and the good will of their community. So far Jagex’s response to criticism has been to change the rules to allow Squeal of Fortune.

Now that Squeal of Fortune has been out for a few months and players have so graciously invested their own money for the sake of science, we can finally get a consensus on whether or not the mini-game does indeed offer an advantage. And the answer is absolutely not. Through many thousands thrown at Jagex, the general consensus that I have seen is that Squeal of Fortune does indeed offer a good amount of gold and experience, at incredibly expensive prices. Compared to gold farmer prices, the equivalent at $200 in spins offering just a couple million gold and a few hundred thousand experience is worth maybe $10.

It would be unfair to compare Squeal of Fortune to a pay to win model. A pay to win model would offer an advantage, like flying a plane because it is faster and often more cost effective than driving. Using Squeal of Fortune to replace playing the game is more like making the same trip by hand-pulled cart. A longer, less comfortable trip that will take far more time and cost more than any sane person should pay.

You’re going to need deep pockets if you want Squeal of Fortune to take you anywhere, to the point where your money could be better spent on upgrading your computer several times a month. Or at the casino.

Squeal of Fortune Isn't Pay To Win, But It Is A Waste Of Money

Video of the ____: RuneScape Fingers, Dual Wielding

RuneScape’s beta goes live in just a few days, and the last of the Behind the Scenes videos has been released. In addition to the numerous changes to the way players fight, Jagex has revealed that players will also be able to dual wield weapons. Check out the video to see it in action.

Even at eleven years old, RuneScape is committed to keeping the game fresh and new, with massive upgrades including the combat system, the high definition graphics upgrade just a couple years ago, and the continued addition of new skills, new areas, and new mini-games. Dual wielding is a feature that has been long requested by the RuneScape community.

Note: Don’t go spending your RS gold on extra weapons to stock up. According to reports, you will need special versions that won’t be released until the update.

RuneScape Employing The KISS System

One feature that sets sandbox games apart from themeparks is that, while the latter uses a singular experience system to determine the player’s base stats, the former relies on separate leveling and generally does not assign an overall level. RuneScape is the exception to the rule, basing its combat level off of a complicated formula involving eight different skills. The formula for determining combat level (and there are three of these) is:

$left lfloor frac{text{def} + text{con} + lfloor frac{text{prayer}}{2}rfloor + 1.3 times (text{att} + text{str})}{4} right rfloor$

With RuneScape’s upcoming combat update, currently in closed beta, Jagex will be employing the Keep It Simple, Stupid rule of engagement. Three of the skills are being taken out of the equation and the formula is a simple: X + defense +2, with X being the highest combat skill from the list of attack, strength, magic, and ranged. Another effect of this is that combat levels will rise, to a maximum of 200 (over the current 138). On one hand, this might be the first time an MMO has raised the level cap without increasing the experience limit.

Why is Jagex doing this after ten years? Well RuneScape’s code is over ten years old, and in that time much of the older equipment and spells has become completely useless. By rebuilding the combat system from the ground up, Jagex is able to employ a whole host of new systems without having to deal with legacy code and compatibility issues.

RuneScape’s combat upgrade goes into open beta in under a week, when MMO Fallout will be writing a preview.

Preview Upcoming RuneScape Combat Update

The beta for RuneScape’s upcoming combat change is just a few weeks away, but you can get a short preview by watching the above video. The combat preview starts about one and a half minutes into the video, and does not show any of the new interfaces or the combat ability bar, but does showcase several moves players will be able to unleash once the update goes live.

Check it out above. If you haven’t had a chance, sign up for the RuneScape combat beta, set to begin later this month.

PSA: Account Security And The RuneScape Beta

Hello, RuneScapers. If you check your calendars, you may already know that today is June 1st, or the day that beta signup begins for the major RuneScape combat upgrade set to begin later this month. For the safety of the community, I’ve decided to throw together a few helpful tips to safely getting yourself into the beta.

Log into the game. Starting today, every account has a special item that will take them directly to the beta signup page.
You need to be a member to sign up.
You do not however, need to be a member for one consecutive year to sign up. Just for guaranteed access.
Even if you are eligible for the longtime member benefit, you should still sign up for the beta to ensure everything goes through.

Reportedly Jagex has been sending out emails with details, but as no one here at MMO Fallout has received anything, we’ll play the safe side and just recommend you ignore any emails claiming to be from Jagex with details on signing up. With the item you receive in-game, there shouldn’t be any need to open said emails in the first place.

And finally, here are some juicy details about the upcoming combat changes to whet your whistle:

Special attacks will be removed, replaced with ability bar.
All 4 godswords will be getting the same stats (Hilts will be cosmetic).
Barrows/void sets won’t be changed.
The Enhanced excalibur special attack will be removed.
Two handed weapons will have different special actions than one handed weapons.
You “Unlock” abilities by leveling your skills.
Not all actions are F2P
Unlock abilities by completing Grandmaster Quests(?)
The new abilities are not prohibited in any way in PVP, however you will have lots of abilities you can also use in PVP to help mitigate incoming damage.
Things in the game that currently effect your special attack bar are being re-purposed to effect a new feature which we haven’t announced yet.
Full release date is unknown but planned in September (if everything goes smooth).
At release you will automatically unlock special abilities you have the stats for.
The currently common used “Spec weapons” will increase stat-wise.”

More to come!

Jagex Details Beta Information For Combat Upgrade

Good news, scapers. Jagex has officially unveiled the news on beta signups. The details are sparse, with more to come, but they cover pretty much all of the important basics:

Beta signups run from June 1st to June 19th.
Anyone with 12 months of consecutive membership is guaranteed full, unlimited access.
Another 50,000 will be chosen in addition to the above group.
The beta will launch on the 26th of June.

Afraid of forgetting? Don’t worry about it. All players will be given an item on June 1st reminding them to sign up for the beta.

As a long time RuneScape member, MMO Fallout will bring previews of the new RuneScape combat system when we are allowed to talk about it.

Summer 2012: Beta Test New RuneScape Combat System

Remember that major combat overhaul I’ve been talking about? Earlier this month, Jagex’s Mark Gerhard revealed that the update is coming late in the summer. In fact, the update is going to be such a significant change to RuneScape, the largest since RuneScape made a major engine update in 2004, that Jagex has seen fit to perform a public beta test at the end of June.

As this is such a significant evolution of the game, we’ll be running our first ever BETA test, starting in the week commencing with the 25th of June. We value your input, and we know you are the best people to tell us what works and what doesn’t.

This is rather interesting, as the last time Jagex held a public beta was when RuneScape transitioned to RuneScape 2 back in 2004.

Next week we’ll be sharing many more details and how to get access to the Beta test, so check back in with us and be ready to mark your calendars for the big day!

Check out the full news post at the link below.

(Source: RuneScape website)

Jagex Leak: Combat System Overhaul Icons

In case you don’t play RuneScape, earlier this month CEO Mark Gerhard responded to player criticism over the controversial Squeal of Fortune with the following message:

…it should be evident that we just gearing up for our most exciting and biggest content year ever……….. including a complete upgrade to the combat system later this summer!

The update may come sooner rather than later, if the above leaks via the RuneScape official wiki are to be believed. According to reports, the combat overhaul will bring RuneScape more in line with other MMOs, introducing a hot bar (which the above images would presumably fill) and balancing out the combat system to work as intended.

More information to come, hopefully soon.

Jagex Announces May Madness, Madness In May

[Update] It appears I was right. There is a countdown on the RuneScape forums that is leading toward the 28th.

If metrics from Google searches here at the MMO Fallout office/Dunkin Donuts are anything to go by, last year’s bot nuke in RuneScape did its job: Destroy injection/reflection bots at the time. As Jagex stated then, this was not a permanent solution and bots would be back in some fashion. Earlier in January, Jagex revealed the next generation of their anti-bot technology: Project Optimus, to be released at an unknown date. Last month, we noted that Jacmob, an ex-bot maker who was hired by Jagex to fight bots, stated that the next bot nuke was coming shortly, likely in March. As March has come and gone and the number of returning bots rises, it is safe to assume that the update was not ready for launch.

Jagex has announced Mad May, which will offer bonuses to RuneScape members in the form of extra loyalty points, an item that offers double experience, the standard weekly updates, and what Jagex has referred to as “wild weekends,” a vague comment that each weekend will bring something new and exciting.

So why mention the update now, instead of waiting for the monthly Behind The Scenes article? If history has anything to say on the subject, Jagex has something to celebrate. It could be the next bot nuke, a major update to the game, or perhaps Mark Gerhard adopted a cat. We’ll have to wait until May to find out.

(Source: RuneScape Website)

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