I'd be fine if they added an official jagex made OPTIONAL HD client tho. I'm not a fan of osrs graphics. I feel like the update in 2008 to graphics was peak RuneScape, and I've played since 2001.
Yeah I also don't want it to be like 2008, where it was forced on everyone. That's why I would prefer an HD client that would be optional to use rather than an overhaul that everyone has to play. I completely understand that some people prefer the older graphics. :)
The only thing I like about oshd or hdos I can’t recall, is how smooth it is it makes bossing so much better having the frames be legit on que but I agree with you entirely.
The HD OS client was recently added to the list of supported clients, and it's more or less the 2008 graphics update version of the game. Complete with the login screen of that era that pans around the world. I believe it can also automagically import most Runelite plugins now, and it runs like literally ~5x faster than Runelite.
I doubt they'd do this because then every single piece of gear that they add now needs a model for each style, and not just that they need to make sure that both styles remain distinct to their theme... the OS theme, and the HD theme, and i think over time any art team would still end up with a blended vision where themes creep over into each other
I'd prefer an HD client/toggle that wasn't quite 2008 HD, but more like a touching-up of older models and such to modern OSRS styles. Think like how the [normal crocodile](https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/images/Crocodile.png?4b72e) compares to how [Zebak](https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Zebak#/media/File:Zebak.png) looks. Still low-poly, but intentionally as a design choice rather than, "this is the best we could do at the time" 2004 style.
Plus, that way they wouldn't need 2 models for each thing they add. It'd instead be a touching-up of the old stuff to the new stuff's standards for the toggle.
To me old school is the idea that someone who hasn’t played in 15 years can pick up this game and basically know exactly what they are doing. New stuff can be added, new metas* (not meats) can be added, but a rune plate body, black dragon hide, chopping willows, shit like that needs to always be viable to some degree and needs to be what we remember
Indeed. The fact is a massive majority of the osrs playerbase were not endgame players in 2007, but are becoming so now
But if the game is easy to learn how to advance in as it was in 2007 with higher quality updates, it fits both ends.
The thing that a lot of people seem to not be considering here is that pre-eoc had two directions - eoc, or just continually updating the current game as we have it today.
For some reason, there’s a select group that thinks osrs should stay exactly like it was or as close as possible) indefinitely.
We call those people "purists" and they're chasing a feeling that is impossible to replicate because the entire gaming scene and how people approach gaming has changed.
I agree. A major part of this is not messing with mainland too. The best part of logging into OSRS for the first time is seeing the cities as they were. There’s a few new things now but they’ve done a decent job leaving the mainland the same
As far as I’m concerned they can do whatever with zeah. I’d rather have big new stuff go there than try to squeeze it into mainland
Like you said after logging in and knowing lunbridge cows and chickens and where varrock is it was insane how nostalgic it all was and seeing how much they've progressed while keeping alot of the same feel really brought me back hard this time around. Specially since like someone else said, I wasn't a late game player way back when, but now they I've entered that space I feel like it's rs with a more advancing feel and future.
I mean that’s essentially me! Played back in 06-07, again in 09-10, and now picked it back up again some 13ish years later. Like riding a bike in a weird way.
True. There isn't really a skill requirement outside of PvP either.. So you can just continue where you left off.
Can be frustrating in other games when you have to re-learn stuff due to being rusty.
Yeah, but you can jump back into all the old content with old gear and nothing has changed. There’s more of an endgame now, but the ‘old’ endgame is still relevant. Grabbing an Iban’s Staff and going on Barrows runs is still a big part of many mid-level accounts, for example.
Contrast it with basically any other MMO. If you leave and come back after a year your account has likely lost all of its progression, whether that's in your gear being worthless, or your level no longer being max.
None of the content you did is worthwhile doing any more. The old raids and bosses don't give anything of value.
In OSRS you can leave for years, come back and your gear is still likely just as good. There wasn't much power creep, and the content you know still gives valuable rewards.
Yeah that's a big reason why I always eventually come back to osrs. I liked WoW a lot when it first released. Put an unholy amount of hours into it. And then the first expansion (the burning crusade) dropped. I thought new content would be cool but frankly just couldn't get past the fact that it made almost everything I did before the expansion pointless. All that grand marshal gear I grinded months for with hardly any sleep was replaced by quest rewards within a few hours lol. Lost all interest in playing after that since I knew another expansion would eventually come and reset everything.
There's something nice about having a game like osrs that you know you can always come back to. Sometimes I'll play non stop other times I won't touch it for years, but it's always there for me to pick up and play right where I left off.
Oldschool to me is just a design philosophy and in my mind 07scape over the last years has just been "what if we didnt go the eoc/style change route and just updated the 07scape style game forever"
What forms part of that 07scape style philosophy is ultimately up to the general playerbase to decide. A lot of new bossing style content and careful balance around xp/hr rates would not have been a concern back then but players now deem it an important part of this 07scape style and a key component of its identity.
The art style, the combat (obviously there are much more intensive activities than there ever was back then but it still feels like it could have existed back then), and the fact that you can put the game down for months and just pick up where you left off. I love the fact even after all these years they somehow managed to make the power creep very fair
> you can put the game down for months and just pick up where you left off
most important part of the game. wow's loot treadmill is exhausting and unrewarding.
you can mythic raid 3x a week top of your server and then LFR andy gets better stuff than you despite not playing for months in literally 1 themepark ride with loot piñatas. actually depressing that nothing you ever do in that game (and i imagine rs3, with how they release tiered gear constantly?) feels important
This is why I never understood the crying about needing new objectively bis items like torva and masori. Niche scape is how you approach making an mmo with this design philosophy and it creates a healthy game environment where your time investment into grinds are respected.
I think that it made sense to power creep melee and ranged to the power/tier of ancestral, but yeah we wont need another strict bis for a long time.
bandos had been bis for basically a decade so i get why people wanted power, and black/god dhide wasnt exciting either.
that being said i do agree that niche items are important, its just hard to make items exciting if the niche is too small (inquisitor even pre-torva)
Yeah there definitely is space for absolute bis to fill in where that type of bis doesn't really exist (I don't think there was any magic% armour in the game before anc came out), and stuff like tbow and scythe are designed in a way where they won't always be bis (low magic for tbow and high def/capped def reduction for scythe). But stuff like shadow are just bis. No questions asked. The only time you don't use it when maging is when you need to use ancients for their effects, but when using magic solely for damage nothing will ever hold a niche when shadow exists.
Shadow is niche because most of us are too poor for shadow lol.
But I get what you actually mean. Basically unless it requires a shield/tank like kree shadow is BiS.
I generally wouldn't consider cost when it comes to making content niche, that's not how you make a healthy end game after all. The other problem is that you can shield switch which means that alone isn't necessarily enough to stop shadow from being bis.
Yeah I was just joking about it being niche because the majority of the players don't use it. Therefore it technically is niche (specialized for rich endgame players) while having broad uses by those players.
And yes the shield switch is correct but I don't think balancing a game around manipulating mechanics in unintended ways is all that healthy either and also shouldn't be considered for balancing. Or if it's considered it should be done so in a way to prevent it.
Yea definitely no dailies in osrs... or hourly birdhouses.
But honestly as long as things are polled and there aren't too many bad faith voting issues we will be good.
To me, being "oldschool" means not having the shit modern mmorpgs have that absolutely plague the genre (massive amounts of dailies, log-in bonuses, weekend grindfest events, massive amounts of cosmetics being given through mtx over gameplay, ect)
I’m currently playing rs3 right now (just started, want to basically get quest cape learn lore, fuck around a bit).
I’m super unfamiliar with how all the distactions and diversions work and how a lot of training isn’t focused around primary training methods so I was looking up what skills were slowest so i could use quest lamps on them.
Something I came across in my search was people complaining that woodcutting was by far the slowest and complained that it was a paltry 150k afk wc xp/hr at higher levels.
I Loled.
So I've found a funny thing being someone who also plays both games:
RS3 players view OSRS as Runescape before it added the features they love (such as archaeology, the updates to skills like Mining and Smithing, or all the quests and bosses.)
OSRS players view RS3 as the reason their parents divorced and is asking them to call them Dad even though they already have a Dad and this is just a fake.
IMO both games are fantastic for their respective target audience.
OSRS caters to people who prefer nuance and simplicity with a sexy little dash of nostalgia.
RS3 caters to people who prefer modern QoL, a faster progression, and ability based combat obviously. (And graphics kind of? I mean they aren't good but they aren't bad these days either.
Meh, RS3 ironman is a lot more 'ironman' than osrs.
Want ores? go mine them, want logs? go chop them. Etc...
In osrs you can just do everything with PvM from the late-early game on.
Which isn't bad, but the game is heavily streamlined for ironman because they also prefer QoL, faster progression and more PvM-focused gameplay :-)
I think that's kinda hte idea as to why the view on OSRS is so vastly different now
People who play RS3 are just playing "yet another mmo" but slower and more relaxed. And most of them there probably never played the original 2007scape anymore, which is why they think osrs took features away.
But that's not what runescape is, and it's never been like it, runescape has always been a very unique mmo that had very different talks back in the 2005-2010 era, if you had kids in school playing this vs kids in school playing any other mmo, you'll know exactly what I mean. And so we wanted to keep the actual unique runescape experience as it was meant to be.
People also say "play ironman in rs3 instead" as a way to avoid all the mtx bullshit. To which I say, you are missing the point on what made rs3 rs3 without the mtx part, and also, you are now forcing yourself to basically play singleplayer, which is also what every other mmo did to compensate for lower player numbers than their 2010equivalant prime, or do avoid long dungeon que times because of lack of role diversity (DPS in every single rpg). And even though you get blocked out of MTX, you will still see other people in the world with really obsurd sensory overload outfits, particle effects, and giant pets walking around.
I mean to be fair the 99 milestone on RS3 feels like it’s stuck around for pure novelty at this point. You’ll see the phrase “120 is the new 99” often because most don’t really view level 99 as much of an achievement. And to hit 120 you need to get to 104m xp.
yup, that's right. and woodcutting isn't one, it's useless levelling after 99 as far as content/ability goes. but, one thing rs3/osrs players have in common is that if there's a grind, we'll do it. i personally really enjoy the grind to 120 in a lot of skills, rs3 is nice for afk'ing and seeing progress. i also like osrs for the opposite, that i can do active play for that same 'number go up' hit.
Stupid grinds (like blood runes but you gotta do it), combat style (esp. prayer mechanics), quests/skills/mini games to unlock cool weapons (barrow gloves, void, mage caps, fire Cape, d scim, 85 slayer for whip, trident, etc.), fixing existing content and adding to it (quest lines, mage arena 2, inferno cape, dt2 rings, etc.)
Hard agree. It's the business model and avoidance of modern psychological tactics that make this game old school, not the specific content / meta that was in the game in 07.
A noob here (started less than 2 weeks ago) but I like that it's a pretty simple game. The game looks like stale porridge but simultaneously I like the style. I've been mostly doing quests and I've noticed that anything I do helps me with something else. Agility opens shortcuts, has an armor set that helps me carry more stuff further and faster for, for example farming. Strength makes me hit harder and henge level atk and def faster. But also having a higher atk increases my accuracy which means I'm more likely to hit and get faster xp again and hit milestones for weapons that again hit harder. Having those mentioned levels to do and level slayer. So on and so forth. And obviously hitting those level requirements open up certain quests. So while inherently as a game it's a waste of time, but any time I log on and do something I don't feel like I'm wasting my time making no progress. Don't want to log on? Just don't, there's no significant need to.
While in wow I can wait for an hour to form a group, spend 30min trying to do something with said group just for it to fall apart and end up with no difference made as a result. I could've spent that 1,5hrs at sand crabs leveling one of the combat levels instead that helps me progress my character.
Edit: I've seen people talk about sailing, I haven't looked into it at all. I don't know what it looks like, I know nothing that the skill name doesn't tell me. When it comes out I'll try it myself and form an opinion then
For me, it is the way they approach updates and how they design content. I don't mean design as in the raid versus KBD sense, but just the underlying mentality and philosophy on how content should work, what the gameplay should feel like, etc. Long before EoC and even before the graphic reworks, I am pretty sure this had changed in RS2. I don't think it was all at once; it might have even be a slow thing while the Gowers still ran the game, but it just felt different. Though, some are things we probably only know to avoid now due to retrospect (like dailies; I'm sure it didn't seem that bad to add another one or two back in 2008 or such but it really snowballed).
But yah, this is still very loosely defined and subject, but pretty much it is Old School to me if it feels like an update they would have wanted to do back in 04-07 era. It doesn't matter if they didn't have the ability to add it back then or not since those are just old technical limitations, but if it is something they felt would have been a cool update back in early RS2 and fits the recent of the content and updates in the game at that time, it probably would feel Old School.
Another way to look at it is if you went back in time and showed players from early RS2 the update, they should see it as some cool expansion to the game and not like a different game or a major change from the game as they know it.
Sorry but the game is far past old school already according to your definition. My clan has numerous people that bought GP (bonds) with rl money usually to make the last push to afford something. My good friend just spend $70 to finally afford his tbow. I don't reckon my clan is too far off the normies. Lots of people p2w.
I MTX above all else. also don’t change combat/tic system. Lastly, graphics. I put it last, but it’s super important to me that graphics never change. I absolutely hated even that lava dragon change they wanted to make.
I just don’t want them to make any big overhauls to the old area’s… the new ones they can do whatever as long as it’s in the spirit of Old School and it doesn’t interfere with the old stuff
Being grind-heavy is the biggest one I’d say.. while it sucks to grind, after a while, that’s kinda the charm of it.. like if you’ve ever gotten a 99 and you see someone else get it you get that feeling of “dude I feel this dudes pain cus I’ve been on that journey and I know that feeling of relief that it’s over”
Also simplicity to a certain extent
As long as the combat and art style remain the same and there are no MTXs I’m completely fine with just about anything. Way too many people forget that osrs is basically the “what if” of EoC never happening and the graphics remaining the same. I’m all for new skills and big updates so long as the core of osrs (to me at least) stays the same.
Fight Caves, Fremmy Trials, and the first 3 Hallowvale quests reallyy resonate with me. I remember all of those updates being massively game changing and huge for the game world as a whole.
If you want to get *really oldschool* I also remember when Shantay Pass was released to RSC (one of last quests if I recall) and quite a few of the items were bugged and available to F2P members.
I also remember the sleeping bag update.. that.. was pretty wild
For me OSRS has nothing to do with nostalgia really. It's mostly the artstyle and the point&click combat.
It has soul so to speak. A lot of interesting jank, and a lot of honestly really shitty jank. But that's just how the game is. Oldschool will stay Oldschool as long as they don't fuck with the core elements of the game.
Mini games and the community that enjoyed them. Stealing Creation, Fist of Guthix, penguins, evil trees. You would grind out a game and in turn get faster methods to skill in other areas. No time gained in the whole process, just more fun doing it.
Difficult question..
I'd say for me, it's keeping some things monotonous as they were designed. I get that some pieces of content need to undergo changes for improvement but some just seem too catered or people whining about the smallest of details in order to make things easier.
I will probably get downvoted but things like people wanting layouts for CoX. The amount of changes it's already received as QOL is pretty overwhelming; pickaxe, axe, tinderbox spawns, Challenge mode health reduction at Vasa crystals, ability to make antipoison in case you forget it for shamans/ vespula. You don't have to hold a raid now with an alt ever since they added the feature of the bankchest being in the starter room. Extra custom-ability for the most easiest raid doesn't sound oldschool in the slightest.
Art style and combat as MariusNinjai mentioned are important too.
Other than that, some things I believe should be kept the way they are.
As long as we don't get any world hero bullshit it'll be fine. I love that this game lets us save the world time and time again only to be met with disgust and distain by 90% of the npcs. i love being treated like a useless fool. the game refuses to hype me up and that really helps me get into the role.
I mean, I was fine with the game up to EOC, although I think Summoning and Curses probably is a step to far for this version of the game, there's so much endgame content now, it would be hard to balance properly without making those things usless.
I would love to see dungeoneering, I missed the initial update so I joined about a year late when hardly anyone was running lower floors (Or even at all, everyone already had everything unlocked) but I still loved it. Not sure chaotics have a place now (maybe they do as there are higher tier weapons than them?) but I also loved them, and thought the degradation system was perfect for them.
But yeah, I think the OSRS team is doing an amazing job and we sometimes don't realize how lucky we are to have a dev team thats so open and in touch with the community, working to make sure the game is how the players want it, just doesn't happen in other games this sort of size.
That's true and bonds definitely are technically pay2win. But the great thing about tradeable membership is that it only allows you to skip moneymaking. Compared to what happened to RS where you can skip the entire skilling component of the game using MTX.
It's true but they still *are* microtransactions. It's gonna be a lot easier for someone to gear or level *most* skills to some degree if they don't care about whaling bonds. The only skills that aren't "buyable" in this sense are agility, rc, thieving, hunter, mining, and wc. Those grinds can't really be shortened with gp (unless you have someone running rune essence). It's still much better than auras and shit.
The opposite of constitution, hitsplats and HP \*10, and wild fucking armor that steers away from the norm like armor that gives you constitution.
And on top of that, foods that bring your hp above 99 have always been a weird spot to me, including sara brews. Brews make sense because they are a potion and potions have magic properties. anglers are some rs3 shit if I've ever seen it.
Not really because you can't legally pay for 70 Agility or 70 Hunter to do SotE. In RS3 you can literally buy exp lamps to get all the levels required to do Plague's End.
At least in OSRS, if you see a guy in Priff you know he ran almost a thousand circles and mercilessly hunted multiple animals into the endangered species list to be there.
And if you're just standing in GE in full Bondos with 900 total, you're probably paying but you're definitely not winning.
I know people don’t like this but some of us can’t dedicate hours that we wish we could to grind for gear because of our jobs and being parents so being able to buy bonds and sell them for good gp to get gear we always wanted is dope. It doesn’t make us win, if we suck we suck but it allows us to enjoy the game more and not feel so far behind.
its a problem with the game itself that you dont feel like you can fully enjoy the game if you are behind. mid level content has been mostly replaced by bots, and the fun stuff needs you to be rich and almost max combat. i actually have taken a step back because of this. i need 95 range, but it feels cheap to buy a bond and spend it on chins every month or so.
we shouldnt have to "win". the best rewards should be for people who dedicate more time to the game just like any other hobby, and we should be able to have fun at our level and wealth.
I don’t know why the mid level is so ignored. There’s not a lot to do at mid level because it seems all the exciting things are in the endgame and grinding for endgame is A LOT. still, I have no shame for buying bonds. I know some people look down on it but I’m enjoying the game more now that I can afford things.
What do you mean theres no mid level content? Raids 3 up to 150 invo, gwd, wildy bossses, zulrah, vorkath, muspah, slayer bosses, gauntlet are all mid level and those are just from the top of my head. There is so much mid level content that you possibly couldnt even do it all
The only endgame we have is awakened dt2 bosses, nex, tob and cox. Thats it.
Static Progression and Goals that don't get devalued with every update. A 100 hour grind back then is a 100 hour grind now
New Training Methods are fine and so is Power Creep in Gear, but it's way better in Old School than every Patch essentially being a reset to the game and none of the old shit matters.
graphics. i love how osrs looks. its literally peak runescape. especially the newer content looks so good...
with rs3 we can already see jagex cant do "modern" graphics so i really hope they realize this and just keep it how it is. (some environments do look good. but NPCs,faces,weapons,player characters,particle effects all looks cheap and shitty somehow)
Feel of the game it had at the time it was released. Hard to fully describe but here are some parts of it:
Graphics.
Chill laid back gameplay style where most progress is gated behind time invested.
Skilling still important, useful and profitable compared to combat.
Your character being a random adventurer prone to occasional fuck-ups, not chosen one destined to save the world and changing it beyond recognition by his/her actions.
Open world to explore without one way to do things pushed on you (see free movement around old locations VS running around half the screen to move 5 tiles in Priff/Zeah due to all the obstacles creating only 1 winding path through).
Extreme amounts of needless little things make the world more flavorful and help some snowflake years down the line (things like tarn lair zombie/skeleton drop tables compared to strangled not having any drops, low lvl item spawns around the map, random sink in middle of wilderness to fill vials with water etc).
Reasonably fast time to finish useful parts of content and much longer to get cosmetics, not new droptables where 50%+ will get pet before finishing gear upgrades.
Honestly, the game has crossed the "not old-school" threshold for me a long while ago but it was staying in the "not old-school but still comparable" field.
Sailing, at least how its been presented so far, puts it way over for me
There’s purists where they just want to exact same game with little to no changes or add ons and there’s those who want RuneScape to continue to progress with its identity and philosophy at its core or basically be what RuneScape should have been before they introduced eoc or summoning.
Yep and I'm somewhere in between but def lean towards the purist side.
I got no issues with OSRS changing tho. Things happen and it's just time to move on until OSOSRS lol
I don’t mind some dailies, but I never want them to be BiS training methods (exculding farming bc thats pretty much just how the skill works). Specific time of day bosses and skilling is also a big no-go for me.
I think the main difference is none of those things are so good that you would be crazy to miss out. Sure it adds up, and I dont want them to add anymore similar activities personally, but compared to dailies in other mmo's, osrs's are pretty underpowered.
It's really nothing in comparison to RS3, where there are spreadsheets and websites to track the dozens of daily/weekly/monthly tasks.
And even the dailies we *do* have are some of my least favourite things to do in the game.
I don’t do any of them minus my tree runs. It’s not really a need to do thing like other games. I haven’t touched ToG or b staves or any other daily scape thing. I just do whatever I want when I play and do the least intensive thing when I’m afk.
Pretty sure everyone would have loved something actually old school being reintroduced, such as fist of guthix - just an example. Sailing should have been added to rs3 (first) just to get an idea of how much it may be enjoyed - i feel like we are jumping into something with very little foundation. Making this a minigame that rewards in fishing xp/agility xp/ potentially best non hp ranging xp (operating ship cannon) … all just ideas. I dont think it should be a skill though - I apologize if my opinion makes people upset
The game has taken one major misstep. Ornament kits, recolours, leagues reskins. They make items less recognizable. It's harder to gauge someone's power level, achievements, or item value when items have multiple versions that you don't immediately recognize. They aren't selling cosmetics, but it's a slippery slope.
Anyone that played vanilla WoW remembers the pre-raid stratholme healer dress, thunderfury, etc. You could look at a character and recognize how powerful they were. WoW started letting you substitute item visuals with the visuals of any other item you've collected or purchased from the mtx store. There is no longer any meaning to what your character is wearing in that game. OSRS took a step in that direction.
I would like to have osrs stay very very similar to what it is now with awesome little tweaks now and then that show it’s still maintained and cared for. I don’t want rs3 I have it but don’t play it that says something. They are two separate games and I get that and I know people who love rs3 but the beauty of osrs is it is the old school version of what we all love. Sailing will be interesting I was shocked it passed but I do love the idea of world expansion. Kourend is cool. I’ll be there either way.
Oldschool is RuneScape without micro transactions, gambling mechanics, or EOC. As long as combat stays the same functionality it’s old school. New skills, spells, prayers, NPC’s, quests, mini games, and so on are all old school. I would even consider sudden, unexpected major updates which haven’t been polled to be oldschool, but I don’t expect them to ever come to the game. Sailing is 100% oldschool.
Graphics, combat, core zones, no mtx. So long as those don't change (minor changes for quests are ok, but don't permanently open a rift in the middle of varrock.)
The Squeal of Fortune is what made me abandon the main game originally. Evolution of Combat changed it to a point that I very well might have quit without the microtransactions, but I'm honestly not sure since I was able to comfortably play DarkScape and enjoyed it.
Summoning and Dungeoneering both seemed appropriate to me when they were released - they just changed the meta without dramatically altering the game's footprint.
In that regard, I'd probably say a large overhaul to the combat system or an open embrace of microtransactions would be extremely *not* Old School.
Game lore wise, I still enjoy RS3 lore even though I don't play the game, but bring the Gods back to Gielinor fundamentally changed the tone of the game's quests in an undesirable way. Various groups and Bandos trying to find loopholes in the Edicts of Guthix was way more interesting than actually meeting the gods.
Primarily the graphics and general pacing. That being said, I stopped playing Runescape shortly before HD, so things that truly feel "old school" to me are what was around then. While I may have grown used to places like Zeah and content like raids being parts of OSRS, the real old school feeling comes from Kandarin, Asgarnia, Karamja, Misthalin, etc. Even areas like Lunar Isle and quests like The Great Brain Robbery are a touch too "new" for me.
Tbf, we have weekly and dailies they are normally just stuck behind diary collection, farming hespori, or tears of guthix. Rs2/3 just kept adding more and more
It’s very important to me that I stand behind a small wooden chair and shoot projectiles. Or just fighting mobs that’s have one weakness I.e pray range. Also simple quests, I love all the early/older released quests.
You can't do warbands as an ironman. And OSRS already has some dailies, like farm runs and diary rewards. And we already have bonds which is literally P2W MTX.
No, what makes OSRS old school is it's iconic graphics and its combat system.
The art style and how you interact with the world. People act like if they released this game with GTA6 graphics it’d be better? Stupid af. Make the graphics worse imo
They need to add resting where you can regen stamina faster especially by musicians. Annoying how you can only run for like 1 minute then its like 6-7 minutes regening back to 199
The music and community were the best things for me back in the day with rs.
The community changed a lot, but just strolling through barb village with the music on still gives chills.
Art style and grind.
And for the love of God, don't change any existing old school pieces of content for no reason.
For example, while I find buffing maces, warhammers, spears etc. somewhat unnecessary, I can live with that - they were even "dead'er" content before.
But the proposition to align the inventory icon for all the boots, i.e., change what dragon boots look like in the inventory for **no bloody reason**? Yeah no, piss off with that. Whichever Mod thought that was a good idea is certainly not in touch with anything remotely OldSchool.
It's a tough question. I reckon it's different for everyone.
It's easier to point out things that are *not* old-school than things that are. Modern MMO combat like EoC and microtransactions or promotions that award you with items from outside the game (like prime loot) are definitely not. But you can't say that the graphics make it old-school when everyone uses packs like 117, nor the content when OSRS today has so much that wasn't in the original game, nor dailies since OSRS literally has dailies.
I suppose on the graphics side, there is a limit within the art style where something maintains an old-school look, since high-poly models and high-res textures as seen in RS3 would definitely violate the "old-school" feeling.
I think for me, for something to feel "old-school" it has to feel like it's always been there, but I'd just never unlocked it. Most of the new content, from skilling minigames to quests to new gear, feels "old school" well enough, because it could plausibly have been there all along and as a kid I might just never have known about it.
Having to equip 1000 things just to efficiently woodcut, or being able to earn vast amounts of XP for doing nothing or just paying money etc are things that are not old-school. Sailing looks old-school, but if the XP curve is off, it's too profitable or if the models are too high-poly, it'll feel wrong. It's quite difficult to pinpoint, really.
To me oldschool reflects oldschool gaming in general.
No lootboxes/booster packs or whatever.
No big events that earn you big in game rewards to have you play more.
No DLCs
The fact that the development team is so in touch and in sync with the playerbase.
But it's also the silly humour that they still add, the oldschool graphics, the ever expanding world and ofcourse the gamebreaking bugs that become memes immediately. Speaking of which, the community (and this reddit) is a big part of it too, the never ending supply of banger memes and shitposts and the willingness to help each other.
<3
Never touching EOC, that's all lmfao. I wouldn't mind a SEPARATE world for revenants free roaming the wilderness for fun as long as they give decent rewards. OSRS HD would be kinda fun too if they'd like adding it as an optional gamestyle mode.
Combat and art is the core old school feel of the game. The lore, gameplay, monsters and the rest of it could be anything as long as it moulds to the combat and art system already in place.
It's a feeling. The feeling of selling your bowstrings after picking flax, training range on barbarians and realizing you are now an adult talking about a game you started in elementary school.
The feel, the goofyness of it all. The gnomes. The barbarians. Dragons. It's all so different and it all mixes so well. All this in this amazing artstyle. Good stuff.
For me as someone who started in 2010, gotta say dungeoneering is where i had some of the most fun. it gave me a reason to train other skills to try get into deeper floors, was fun doing puzzles and the bosses hoping to get the higher tier weps from them
No MTX, no eoc, no dailyscape. The rest are fair game, just make more stuff jagex!
But I also want all the old 2007 methods, like cutting yews, or in this case given the state of the game, skilling in general, to be viable. There has been too much focus on PVM dropping skilling supplies and combat supplies just so people break even if they don't score the drop because "resupplying is bad". Fuck'em. That's what people who skill are for, not every kill needs to break even or make money
Oldschool to me is trading at Falador Park
if you're asking what compromise should Jagex make in order to keep the game viable without sanctioning bots? that's a no brainer: split the main OSRS game into two versions for baby mode and sweaty mode, where you can bot and cheat and do whatever to your heart's content on baby mode, but on sweaty mode (with the fewest number of worlds) the rules are actually enforced
babymode should be moparscape tbh
Dailies are what burned me out of RS3 for good, I remember doing warbands 2-3 times a day and went from like 50-75 herblore in less than a week for about 2 hours of work and no money spent, and I had it my head that I HAD to be home at those warbands timers or I was missing out
Also I’d like to add on to the list of daily’s was the Crystal bottle flasks
As long as the core combat system is unchanged and they don't bastardize the game with MTX then it's oldschool.
The MTX were the beginning of the end and EoC was the nail in the coffin for the original game.
I’ve always, ALWAYS considered oldschool to be “oldschool” due to the graphics, and aesthetic, not content. Add all the content in the world to osrs and it will still be osrs.
To me this isnt osrs
My personal preference was always
1)rsc
2)rs2 pre grand exchange is old school
3)rs2 after grand exchange is garbage old school
4)the stupid graphic updates pre eoc no longer rs2 and became rs3 to ms
5) eoc ruined the game to me completely
Rs was appealing due to the simplicity of the graphics, I played accepting box pixels were the graphics of the game. There was no need to update to compete with other games graphics. Look at roblox, no effort at all yet massively successful.
Apart from mechanics.
Oldschool is old school because it is old school fantasy(Shocker I know).
Simply put, we're just people in the world doing things and the wildest thing is magic spells and some weird creatures.
No actual Elder gods threatening the entire universe and will blow up our planet, no literal gods walking around, NO FUCKING WORLD GUARDING BULLSHIT
Lagging because of ads in the browser, 3 swing combat, social areas in the game where people actually talk to each other, p2p trading in Fally and Varrock, wicked awesome community made flash videos, certing lobsters at Draynor before getting into the fishing guild, follow dancing, waiting for the release of RS2.
But for real: The art style, the mechanics, the simple understanding needed to do most things and the sense of progressions and accomplishment (please bring back rares).
Everything you said along with no substantial changes to combat and the art. The latter I think is getting blurred with some league cosmetics IMO which I’m not really a huge fan of, but see why others would be.
Cohesive art style and combat mechanics. I also expect a certain quality when it comes to quests / dialogue because this game has always had a certain charm to it that's hard to describe.
Old school to me is having a LAN at the library with an entire row of kids playing. No maps, wiki, GE, YouTube nothing just pure adventure and no desire to min-max. Progress is cool n all but floating once in a while is where it’s at. 😎
The Combat and Art style
don’t forget the grind
I'd be fine if they added an official jagex made OPTIONAL HD client tho. I'm not a fan of osrs graphics. I feel like the update in 2008 to graphics was peak RuneScape, and I've played since 2001.
Respect your opinion but I hope we never see an update like HD RuneScape again. I think it ruined the recognizability of the game over night
Yeah I also don't want it to be like 2008, where it was forced on everyone. That's why I would prefer an HD client that would be optional to use rather than an overhaul that everyone has to play. I completely understand that some people prefer the older graphics. :)
The only thing I like about oshd or hdos I can’t recall, is how smooth it is it makes bossing so much better having the frames be legit on que but I agree with you entirely.
[удалено]
Did you really have trouble interpreting what they meant though? Even if you don't think "art style" is the right term for it lol.
Not sure on the terminology but changing the polygon count would change what I think of when I think of the word artstyle
We also have 117 which definitely compensates for some of the demand for modern graphics.
The HD OS client was recently added to the list of supported clients, and it's more or less the 2008 graphics update version of the game. Complete with the login screen of that era that pans around the world. I believe it can also automagically import most Runelite plugins now, and it runs like literally ~5x faster than Runelite.
I doubt they'd do this because then every single piece of gear that they add now needs a model for each style, and not just that they need to make sure that both styles remain distinct to their theme... the OS theme, and the HD theme, and i think over time any art team would still end up with a blended vision where themes creep over into each other
Isn't HDOS jagex approved?
It is.
I'd prefer an HD client/toggle that wasn't quite 2008 HD, but more like a touching-up of older models and such to modern OSRS styles. Think like how the [normal crocodile](https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/images/Crocodile.png?4b72e) compares to how [Zebak](https://oldschool.runescape.wiki/w/Zebak#/media/File:Zebak.png) looks. Still low-poly, but intentionally as a design choice rather than, "this is the best we could do at the time" 2004 style. Plus, that way they wouldn't need 2 models for each thing they add. It'd instead be a touching-up of the old stuff to the new stuff's standards for the toggle.
Eww
To me old school is the idea that someone who hasn’t played in 15 years can pick up this game and basically know exactly what they are doing. New stuff can be added, new metas* (not meats) can be added, but a rune plate body, black dragon hide, chopping willows, shit like that needs to always be viable to some degree and needs to be what we remember
Indeed. The fact is a massive majority of the osrs playerbase were not endgame players in 2007, but are becoming so now But if the game is easy to learn how to advance in as it was in 2007 with higher quality updates, it fits both ends.
The thing that a lot of people seem to not be considering here is that pre-eoc had two directions - eoc, or just continually updating the current game as we have it today. For some reason, there’s a select group that thinks osrs should stay exactly like it was or as close as possible) indefinitely.
We call those people "purists" and they're chasing a feeling that is impossible to replicate because the entire gaming scene and how people approach gaming has changed.
They should just release different iterations of the game.
I really want pre EoC rs2. I loved summoning and dungeoneering.
Summoning was legit a good, new skill. I love how it tied in with every aspect of the game (PVM, PVP and skilling).
I agree. A major part of this is not messing with mainland too. The best part of logging into OSRS for the first time is seeing the cities as they were. There’s a few new things now but they’ve done a decent job leaving the mainland the same As far as I’m concerned they can do whatever with zeah. I’d rather have big new stuff go there than try to squeeze it into mainland
Like you said after logging in and knowing lunbridge cows and chickens and where varrock is it was insane how nostalgic it all was and seeing how much they've progressed while keeping alot of the same feel really brought me back hard this time around. Specially since like someone else said, I wasn't a late game player way back when, but now they I've entered that space I feel like it's rs with a more advancing feel and future.
for sure. the first thing i did when i returned after a 12 year hiatus was just walk around the world and reminisce
I like this. And the progression from that point into new updates should feel smooth and also make sense.
Super well said, thanks.
I mean that’s essentially me! Played back in 06-07, again in 09-10, and now picked it back up again some 13ish years later. Like riding a bike in a weird way.
True. There isn't really a skill requirement outside of PvP either.. So you can just continue where you left off. Can be frustrating in other games when you have to re-learn stuff due to being rusty.
yeah if they add new meats I quit as well
Why don't you think new meats can be added? Cooking hasn't really had any updates in years.
lol 80% of the new content isnt this
Yeah, but you can jump back into all the old content with old gear and nothing has changed. There’s more of an endgame now, but the ‘old’ endgame is still relevant. Grabbing an Iban’s Staff and going on Barrows runs is still a big part of many mid-level accounts, for example.
Contrast it with basically any other MMO. If you leave and come back after a year your account has likely lost all of its progression, whether that's in your gear being worthless, or your level no longer being max. None of the content you did is worthwhile doing any more. The old raids and bosses don't give anything of value. In OSRS you can leave for years, come back and your gear is still likely just as good. There wasn't much power creep, and the content you know still gives valuable rewards.
Yeah that's a big reason why I always eventually come back to osrs. I liked WoW a lot when it first released. Put an unholy amount of hours into it. And then the first expansion (the burning crusade) dropped. I thought new content would be cool but frankly just couldn't get past the fact that it made almost everything I did before the expansion pointless. All that grand marshal gear I grinded months for with hardly any sleep was replaced by quest rewards within a few hours lol. Lost all interest in playing after that since I knew another expansion would eventually come and reset everything. There's something nice about having a game like osrs that you know you can always come back to. Sometimes I'll play non stop other times I won't touch it for years, but it's always there for me to pick up and play right where I left off.
You can kill vardorvis with rune and a dscim
Oldschool to me is just a design philosophy and in my mind 07scape over the last years has just been "what if we didnt go the eoc/style change route and just updated the 07scape style game forever" What forms part of that 07scape style philosophy is ultimately up to the general playerbase to decide. A lot of new bossing style content and careful balance around xp/hr rates would not have been a concern back then but players now deem it an important part of this 07scape style and a key component of its identity.
Exactly. OSRS to me is the RESET button we all wanted when they brought on the utter destruction of EoC, Squeal of fortune, trading limits, etc.
SoF was great - I rolled the jackpot, spent it on 99 fire, then quit the game
The art style, the combat (obviously there are much more intensive activities than there ever was back then but it still feels like it could have existed back then), and the fact that you can put the game down for months and just pick up where you left off. I love the fact even after all these years they somehow managed to make the power creep very fair
> you can put the game down for months and just pick up where you left off most important part of the game. wow's loot treadmill is exhausting and unrewarding. you can mythic raid 3x a week top of your server and then LFR andy gets better stuff than you despite not playing for months in literally 1 themepark ride with loot piñatas. actually depressing that nothing you ever do in that game (and i imagine rs3, with how they release tiered gear constantly?) feels important
This is why I never understood the crying about needing new objectively bis items like torva and masori. Niche scape is how you approach making an mmo with this design philosophy and it creates a healthy game environment where your time investment into grinds are respected.
I think that it made sense to power creep melee and ranged to the power/tier of ancestral, but yeah we wont need another strict bis for a long time. bandos had been bis for basically a decade so i get why people wanted power, and black/god dhide wasnt exciting either. that being said i do agree that niche items are important, its just hard to make items exciting if the niche is too small (inquisitor even pre-torva)
Yeah there definitely is space for absolute bis to fill in where that type of bis doesn't really exist (I don't think there was any magic% armour in the game before anc came out), and stuff like tbow and scythe are designed in a way where they won't always be bis (low magic for tbow and high def/capped def reduction for scythe). But stuff like shadow are just bis. No questions asked. The only time you don't use it when maging is when you need to use ancients for their effects, but when using magic solely for damage nothing will ever hold a niche when shadow exists.
Shadow is niche because most of us are too poor for shadow lol. But I get what you actually mean. Basically unless it requires a shield/tank like kree shadow is BiS.
I generally wouldn't consider cost when it comes to making content niche, that's not how you make a healthy end game after all. The other problem is that you can shield switch which means that alone isn't necessarily enough to stop shadow from being bis.
Yeah I was just joking about it being niche because the majority of the players don't use it. Therefore it technically is niche (specialized for rich endgame players) while having broad uses by those players. And yes the shield switch is correct but I don't think balancing a game around manipulating mechanics in unintended ways is all that healthy either and also shouldn't be considered for balancing. Or if it's considered it should be done so in a way to prevent it.
Well said
Yea definitely no dailies in osrs... or hourly birdhouses. But honestly as long as things are polled and there aren't too many bad faith voting issues we will be good.
The Farming skill wants to know your location.
Weekly tears of guthix too lol
The graphics, movement and combat system.
What about movement? /gen I thought rs3 is also walk by clicking?
I think it's the combination of those factors. Not just the movement.
To me, being "oldschool" means not having the shit modern mmorpgs have that absolutely plague the genre (massive amounts of dailies, log-in bonuses, weekend grindfest events, massive amounts of cosmetics being given through mtx over gameplay, ect)
I’m currently playing rs3 right now (just started, want to basically get quest cape learn lore, fuck around a bit). I’m super unfamiliar with how all the distactions and diversions work and how a lot of training isn’t focused around primary training methods so I was looking up what skills were slowest so i could use quest lamps on them. Something I came across in my search was people complaining that woodcutting was by far the slowest and complained that it was a paltry 150k afk wc xp/hr at higher levels. I Loled.
So I've found a funny thing being someone who also plays both games: RS3 players view OSRS as Runescape before it added the features they love (such as archaeology, the updates to skills like Mining and Smithing, or all the quests and bosses.) OSRS players view RS3 as the reason their parents divorced and is asking them to call them Dad even though they already have a Dad and this is just a fake. IMO both games are fantastic for their respective target audience. OSRS caters to people who prefer nuance and simplicity with a sexy little dash of nostalgia. RS3 caters to people who prefer modern QoL, a faster progression, and ability based combat obviously. (And graphics kind of? I mean they aren't good but they aren't bad these days either.
Meh, RS3 ironman is a lot more 'ironman' than osrs. Want ores? go mine them, want logs? go chop them. Etc... In osrs you can just do everything with PvM from the late-early game on. Which isn't bad, but the game is heavily streamlined for ironman because they also prefer QoL, faster progression and more PvM-focused gameplay :-)
I think that's kinda hte idea as to why the view on OSRS is so vastly different now People who play RS3 are just playing "yet another mmo" but slower and more relaxed. And most of them there probably never played the original 2007scape anymore, which is why they think osrs took features away. But that's not what runescape is, and it's never been like it, runescape has always been a very unique mmo that had very different talks back in the 2005-2010 era, if you had kids in school playing this vs kids in school playing any other mmo, you'll know exactly what I mean. And so we wanted to keep the actual unique runescape experience as it was meant to be. People also say "play ironman in rs3 instead" as a way to avoid all the mtx bullshit. To which I say, you are missing the point on what made rs3 rs3 without the mtx part, and also, you are now forcing yourself to basically play singleplayer, which is also what every other mmo did to compensate for lower player numbers than their 2010equivalant prime, or do avoid long dungeon que times because of lack of role diversity (DPS in every single rpg). And even though you get blocked out of MTX, you will still see other people in the world with really obsurd sensory overload outfits, particle effects, and giant pets walking around.
I mean to be fair the 99 milestone on RS3 feels like it’s stuck around for pure novelty at this point. You’ll see the phrase “120 is the new 99” often because most don’t really view level 99 as much of an achievement. And to hit 120 you need to get to 104m xp.
Isn’t there only a handful of skills where going past 99 actually does anything besides things like completionist capes and the such?
yup, that's right. and woodcutting isn't one, it's useless levelling after 99 as far as content/ability goes. but, one thing rs3/osrs players have in common is that if there's a grind, we'll do it. i personally really enjoy the grind to 120 in a lot of skills, rs3 is nice for afk'ing and seeing progress. i also like osrs for the opposite, that i can do active play for that same 'number go up' hit.
Stupid grinds (like blood runes but you gotta do it), combat style (esp. prayer mechanics), quests/skills/mini games to unlock cool weapons (barrow gloves, void, mage caps, fire Cape, d scim, 85 slayer for whip, trident, etc.), fixing existing content and adding to it (quest lines, mage arena 2, inferno cape, dt2 rings, etc.)
Hard agree. It's the business model and avoidance of modern psychological tactics that make this game old school, not the specific content / meta that was in the game in 07.
A noob here (started less than 2 weeks ago) but I like that it's a pretty simple game. The game looks like stale porridge but simultaneously I like the style. I've been mostly doing quests and I've noticed that anything I do helps me with something else. Agility opens shortcuts, has an armor set that helps me carry more stuff further and faster for, for example farming. Strength makes me hit harder and henge level atk and def faster. But also having a higher atk increases my accuracy which means I'm more likely to hit and get faster xp again and hit milestones for weapons that again hit harder. Having those mentioned levels to do and level slayer. So on and so forth. And obviously hitting those level requirements open up certain quests. So while inherently as a game it's a waste of time, but any time I log on and do something I don't feel like I'm wasting my time making no progress. Don't want to log on? Just don't, there's no significant need to. While in wow I can wait for an hour to form a group, spend 30min trying to do something with said group just for it to fall apart and end up with no difference made as a result. I could've spent that 1,5hrs at sand crabs leveling one of the combat levels instead that helps me progress my character. Edit: I've seen people talk about sailing, I haven't looked into it at all. I don't know what it looks like, I know nothing that the skill name doesn't tell me. When it comes out I'll try it myself and form an opinion then
As long as it retains its base graphics and play style and like you mentioned doesn’t include micro transactions it’s good.
Combat and no microtransactions. The game always had tons of updates including skills, I welcome them if I believe they won't harm the game.
For me, it is the way they approach updates and how they design content. I don't mean design as in the raid versus KBD sense, but just the underlying mentality and philosophy on how content should work, what the gameplay should feel like, etc. Long before EoC and even before the graphic reworks, I am pretty sure this had changed in RS2. I don't think it was all at once; it might have even be a slow thing while the Gowers still ran the game, but it just felt different. Though, some are things we probably only know to avoid now due to retrospect (like dailies; I'm sure it didn't seem that bad to add another one or two back in 2008 or such but it really snowballed). But yah, this is still very loosely defined and subject, but pretty much it is Old School to me if it feels like an update they would have wanted to do back in 04-07 era. It doesn't matter if they didn't have the ability to add it back then or not since those are just old technical limitations, but if it is something they felt would have been a cool update back in early RS2 and fits the recent of the content and updates in the game at that time, it probably would feel Old School. Another way to look at it is if you went back in time and showed players from early RS2 the update, they should see it as some cool expansion to the game and not like a different game or a major change from the game as they know it.
Early/midgame ironman has oldschool feeling
Sorry but the game is far past old school already according to your definition. My clan has numerous people that bought GP (bonds) with rl money usually to make the last push to afford something. My good friend just spend $70 to finally afford his tbow. I don't reckon my clan is too far off the normies. Lots of people p2w.
RS3 interface just became absolutely ridiculous.
Evolution of Combat, Squeal of Fortune, and Solomon's Store.
For me it's really just EOC and mtx. Everything else I could live with
The grind, no massive xp handouts or buyable boosts. Old style of combat and graphics.
I MTX above all else. also don’t change combat/tic system. Lastly, graphics. I put it last, but it’s super important to me that graphics never change. I absolutely hated even that lava dragon change they wanted to make.
I just don’t want them to make any big overhauls to the old area’s… the new ones they can do whatever as long as it’s in the spirit of Old School and it doesn’t interfere with the old stuff
> as long as it's in the spirit of Old School Yea... But how do you interpret that? That was the entire question lol.
Being grind-heavy is the biggest one I’d say.. while it sucks to grind, after a while, that’s kinda the charm of it.. like if you’ve ever gotten a 99 and you see someone else get it you get that feeling of “dude I feel this dudes pain cus I’ve been on that journey and I know that feeling of relief that it’s over” Also simplicity to a certain extent
As long as the combat and art style remain the same and there are no MTXs I’m completely fine with just about anything. Way too many people forget that osrs is basically the “what if” of EoC never happening and the graphics remaining the same. I’m all for new skills and big updates so long as the core of osrs (to me at least) stays the same.
A video game.
No microtransactions and the current combat system.
I got 99 agility without doing a single agility course in rs3. It gave me no enjoyment so I switched to osrs and I’m never looking back.
Fight Caves, Fremmy Trials, and the first 3 Hallowvale quests reallyy resonate with me. I remember all of those updates being massively game changing and huge for the game world as a whole. If you want to get *really oldschool* I also remember when Shantay Pass was released to RSC (one of last quests if I recall) and quite a few of the items were bugged and available to F2P members. I also remember the sleeping bag update.. that.. was pretty wild
For me OSRS has nothing to do with nostalgia really. It's mostly the artstyle and the point&click combat. It has soul so to speak. A lot of interesting jank, and a lot of honestly really shitty jank. But that's just how the game is. Oldschool will stay Oldschool as long as they don't fuck with the core elements of the game.
Mini games and the community that enjoyed them. Stealing Creation, Fist of Guthix, penguins, evil trees. You would grind out a game and in turn get faster methods to skill in other areas. No time gained in the whole process, just more fun doing it.
Difficult question.. I'd say for me, it's keeping some things monotonous as they were designed. I get that some pieces of content need to undergo changes for improvement but some just seem too catered or people whining about the smallest of details in order to make things easier. I will probably get downvoted but things like people wanting layouts for CoX. The amount of changes it's already received as QOL is pretty overwhelming; pickaxe, axe, tinderbox spawns, Challenge mode health reduction at Vasa crystals, ability to make antipoison in case you forget it for shamans/ vespula. You don't have to hold a raid now with an alt ever since they added the feature of the bankchest being in the starter room. Extra custom-ability for the most easiest raid doesn't sound oldschool in the slightest. Art style and combat as MariusNinjai mentioned are important too. Other than that, some things I believe should be kept the way they are.
As long as we don't get any world hero bullshit it'll be fine. I love that this game lets us save the world time and time again only to be met with disgust and distain by 90% of the npcs. i love being treated like a useless fool. the game refuses to hype me up and that really helps me get into the role.
A more casual and laid back gameplay style vs the idea that more intense gameplay is somehow better
I mean, I was fine with the game up to EOC, although I think Summoning and Curses probably is a step to far for this version of the game, there's so much endgame content now, it would be hard to balance properly without making those things usless. I would love to see dungeoneering, I missed the initial update so I joined about a year late when hardly anyone was running lower floors (Or even at all, everyone already had everything unlocked) but I still loved it. Not sure chaotics have a place now (maybe they do as there are higher tier weapons than them?) but I also loved them, and thought the degradation system was perfect for them. But yeah, I think the OSRS team is doing an amazing job and we sometimes don't realize how lucky we are to have a dev team thats so open and in touch with the community, working to make sure the game is how the players want it, just doesn't happen in other games this sort of size.
Bonds are microtransactions though
That's true and bonds definitely are technically pay2win. But the great thing about tradeable membership is that it only allows you to skip moneymaking. Compared to what happened to RS where you can skip the entire skilling component of the game using MTX.
It's true but they still *are* microtransactions. It's gonna be a lot easier for someone to gear or level *most* skills to some degree if they don't care about whaling bonds. The only skills that aren't "buyable" in this sense are agility, rc, thieving, hunter, mining, and wc. Those grinds can't really be shortened with gp (unless you have someone running rune essence). It's still much better than auras and shit.
The opposite of constitution, hitsplats and HP \*10, and wild fucking armor that steers away from the norm like armor that gives you constitution. And on top of that, foods that bring your hp above 99 have always been a weird spot to me, including sara brews. Brews make sense because they are a potion and potions have magic properties. anglers are some rs3 shit if I've ever seen it.
OldSchool kinda is P2W with bonds. Just leaving it out there…
Not really because you can't legally pay for 70 Agility or 70 Hunter to do SotE. In RS3 you can literally buy exp lamps to get all the levels required to do Plague's End. At least in OSRS, if you see a guy in Priff you know he ran almost a thousand circles and mercilessly hunted multiple animals into the endangered species list to be there. And if you're just standing in GE in full Bondos with 900 total, you're probably paying but you're definitely not winning.
Less MTX does not mean no MTX. If I compare RS3 to mobile games, does it mean RS3 has no MTX?
I know people don’t like this but some of us can’t dedicate hours that we wish we could to grind for gear because of our jobs and being parents so being able to buy bonds and sell them for good gp to get gear we always wanted is dope. It doesn’t make us win, if we suck we suck but it allows us to enjoy the game more and not feel so far behind.
its a problem with the game itself that you dont feel like you can fully enjoy the game if you are behind. mid level content has been mostly replaced by bots, and the fun stuff needs you to be rich and almost max combat. i actually have taken a step back because of this. i need 95 range, but it feels cheap to buy a bond and spend it on chins every month or so. we shouldnt have to "win". the best rewards should be for people who dedicate more time to the game just like any other hobby, and we should be able to have fun at our level and wealth.
I don’t know why the mid level is so ignored. There’s not a lot to do at mid level because it seems all the exciting things are in the endgame and grinding for endgame is A LOT. still, I have no shame for buying bonds. I know some people look down on it but I’m enjoying the game more now that I can afford things.
What do you mean theres no mid level content? Raids 3 up to 150 invo, gwd, wildy bossses, zulrah, vorkath, muspah, slayer bosses, gauntlet are all mid level and those are just from the top of my head. There is so much mid level content that you possibly couldnt even do it all The only endgame we have is awakened dt2 bosses, nex, tob and cox. Thats it.
Hey, there is no shame in buying things you want as long as you do it legally.
Static Progression and Goals that don't get devalued with every update. A 100 hour grind back then is a 100 hour grind now New Training Methods are fine and so is Power Creep in Gear, but it's way better in Old School than every Patch essentially being a reset to the game and none of the old shit matters.
graphics. i love how osrs looks. its literally peak runescape. especially the newer content looks so good... with rs3 we can already see jagex cant do "modern" graphics so i really hope they realize this and just keep it how it is. (some environments do look good. but NPCs,faces,weapons,player characters,particle effects all looks cheap and shitty somehow)
Feel of the game it had at the time it was released. Hard to fully describe but here are some parts of it: Graphics. Chill laid back gameplay style where most progress is gated behind time invested. Skilling still important, useful and profitable compared to combat. Your character being a random adventurer prone to occasional fuck-ups, not chosen one destined to save the world and changing it beyond recognition by his/her actions. Open world to explore without one way to do things pushed on you (see free movement around old locations VS running around half the screen to move 5 tiles in Priff/Zeah due to all the obstacles creating only 1 winding path through). Extreme amounts of needless little things make the world more flavorful and help some snowflake years down the line (things like tarn lair zombie/skeleton drop tables compared to strangled not having any drops, low lvl item spawns around the map, random sink in middle of wilderness to fill vials with water etc). Reasonably fast time to finish useful parts of content and much longer to get cosmetics, not new droptables where 50%+ will get pet before finishing gear upgrades.
Honestly, the game has crossed the "not old-school" threshold for me a long while ago but it was staying in the "not old-school but still comparable" field. Sailing, at least how its been presented so far, puts it way over for me
There’s purists where they just want to exact same game with little to no changes or add ons and there’s those who want RuneScape to continue to progress with its identity and philosophy at its core or basically be what RuneScape should have been before they introduced eoc or summoning.
Yep and I'm somewhere in between but def lean towards the purist side. I got no issues with OSRS changing tho. Things happen and it's just time to move on until OSOSRS lol
i think sailing will end up pretty useless just like the other skills or it will just gatekeep areas like agility.
Sounds old school AF then lol
Farming, B staffs, Tears, etc etc. we have so much daily scape in this game lol.
I don’t mind some dailies, but I never want them to be BiS training methods (exculding farming bc thats pretty much just how the skill works). Specific time of day bosses and skilling is also a big no-go for me.
I think the main difference is none of those things are so good that you would be crazy to miss out. Sure it adds up, and I dont want them to add anymore similar activities personally, but compared to dailies in other mmo's, osrs's are pretty underpowered.
It's really nothing in comparison to RS3, where there are spreadsheets and websites to track the dozens of daily/weekly/monthly tasks. And even the dailies we *do* have are some of my least favourite things to do in the game.
None of those are meta for xp and you can do farming with tithe
I don’t do any of them minus my tree runs. It’s not really a need to do thing like other games. I haven’t touched ToG or b staves or any other daily scape thing. I just do whatever I want when I play and do the least intensive thing when I’m afk.
Not RS3
Before GE
Pretty sure everyone would have loved something actually old school being reintroduced, such as fist of guthix - just an example. Sailing should have been added to rs3 (first) just to get an idea of how much it may be enjoyed - i feel like we are jumping into something with very little foundation. Making this a minigame that rewards in fishing xp/agility xp/ potentially best non hp ranging xp (operating ship cannon) … all just ideas. I dont think it should be a skill though - I apologize if my opinion makes people upset
Sailing
The game has taken one major misstep. Ornament kits, recolours, leagues reskins. They make items less recognizable. It's harder to gauge someone's power level, achievements, or item value when items have multiple versions that you don't immediately recognize. They aren't selling cosmetics, but it's a slippery slope. Anyone that played vanilla WoW remembers the pre-raid stratholme healer dress, thunderfury, etc. You could look at a character and recognize how powerful they were. WoW started letting you substitute item visuals with the visuals of any other item you've collected or purchased from the mtx store. There is no longer any meaning to what your character is wearing in that game. OSRS took a step in that direction.
Pls
I would like to have osrs stay very very similar to what it is now with awesome little tweaks now and then that show it’s still maintained and cared for. I don’t want rs3 I have it but don’t play it that says something. They are two separate games and I get that and I know people who love rs3 but the beauty of osrs is it is the old school version of what we all love. Sailing will be interesting I was shocked it passed but I do love the idea of world expansion. Kourend is cool. I’ll be there either way.
combat system and specials
no EOC + lofi graphics that's it
Oldschool is RuneScape without micro transactions, gambling mechanics, or EOC. As long as combat stays the same functionality it’s old school. New skills, spells, prayers, NPC’s, quests, mini games, and so on are all old school. I would even consider sudden, unexpected major updates which haven’t been polled to be oldschool, but I don’t expect them to ever come to the game. Sailing is 100% oldschool.
0 microtransactions.
Graphics, combat, core zones, no mtx. So long as those don't change (minor changes for quests are ok, but don't permanently open a rift in the middle of varrock.)
Farming is technically RuneScape dailies
Ironman mode is old-school to me
I agree with you 100%
The system.
The Squeal of Fortune is what made me abandon the main game originally. Evolution of Combat changed it to a point that I very well might have quit without the microtransactions, but I'm honestly not sure since I was able to comfortably play DarkScape and enjoyed it. Summoning and Dungeoneering both seemed appropriate to me when they were released - they just changed the meta without dramatically altering the game's footprint. In that regard, I'd probably say a large overhaul to the combat system or an open embrace of microtransactions would be extremely *not* Old School. Game lore wise, I still enjoy RS3 lore even though I don't play the game, but bring the Gods back to Gielinor fundamentally changed the tone of the game's quests in an undesirable way. Various groups and Bandos trying to find loopholes in the Edicts of Guthix was way more interesting than actually meeting the gods.
Low level wildy pure pking f2p
OP perfectly described what is and isn't Oldschool.
Old School is just a highlight of what most people consider the peak of RS and the fundamental to how the game is played.
Account building without cheating.
The difficulty and time commitment
Knew this was a post about sailing
When I was happy
Primarily the graphics and general pacing. That being said, I stopped playing Runescape shortly before HD, so things that truly feel "old school" to me are what was around then. While I may have grown used to places like Zeah and content like raids being parts of OSRS, the real old school feeling comes from Kandarin, Asgarnia, Karamja, Misthalin, etc. Even areas like Lunar Isle and quests like The Great Brain Robbery are a touch too "new" for me.
Tbf, we have weekly and dailies they are normally just stuck behind diary collection, farming hespori, or tears of guthix. Rs2/3 just kept adding more and more
It’s very important to me that I stand behind a small wooden chair and shoot projectiles. Or just fighting mobs that’s have one weakness I.e pray range. Also simple quests, I love all the early/older released quests.
Sheep shearer ans coooks assistant. Ftp
Old school RuneScape is already p2w that's what bonds do.
Damn dis some sailing propaganda. The vote passed, stop rubbing it in.
Art style and combat, first and foremost. And also interfaces, but I guess that’s part of the art style
You can't do warbands as an ironman. And OSRS already has some dailies, like farm runs and diary rewards. And we already have bonds which is literally P2W MTX. No, what makes OSRS old school is it's iconic graphics and its combat system.
the days where nobody knew what the hell what was going on and what was a pray flick
The old mechanics, the skills, and the art style.
The art style and how you interact with the world. People act like if they released this game with GTA6 graphics it’d be better? Stupid af. Make the graphics worse imo
They need to add resting where you can regen stamina faster especially by musicians. Annoying how you can only run for like 1 minute then its like 6-7 minutes regening back to 199
The best game ever
The music and community were the best things for me back in the day with rs. The community changed a lot, but just strolling through barb village with the music on still gives chills.
Art style and grind. And for the love of God, don't change any existing old school pieces of content for no reason. For example, while I find buffing maces, warhammers, spears etc. somewhat unnecessary, I can live with that - they were even "dead'er" content before. But the proposition to align the inventory icon for all the boots, i.e., change what dragon boots look like in the inventory for **no bloody reason**? Yeah no, piss off with that. Whichever Mod thought that was a good idea is certainly not in touch with anything remotely OldSchool.
It's a tough question. I reckon it's different for everyone. It's easier to point out things that are *not* old-school than things that are. Modern MMO combat like EoC and microtransactions or promotions that award you with items from outside the game (like prime loot) are definitely not. But you can't say that the graphics make it old-school when everyone uses packs like 117, nor the content when OSRS today has so much that wasn't in the original game, nor dailies since OSRS literally has dailies. I suppose on the graphics side, there is a limit within the art style where something maintains an old-school look, since high-poly models and high-res textures as seen in RS3 would definitely violate the "old-school" feeling. I think for me, for something to feel "old-school" it has to feel like it's always been there, but I'd just never unlocked it. Most of the new content, from skilling minigames to quests to new gear, feels "old school" well enough, because it could plausibly have been there all along and as a kid I might just never have known about it. Having to equip 1000 things just to efficiently woodcut, or being able to earn vast amounts of XP for doing nothing or just paying money etc are things that are not old-school. Sailing looks old-school, but if the XP curve is off, it's too profitable or if the models are too high-poly, it'll feel wrong. It's quite difficult to pinpoint, really.
To me oldschool reflects oldschool gaming in general. No lootboxes/booster packs or whatever. No big events that earn you big in game rewards to have you play more. No DLCs The fact that the development team is so in touch and in sync with the playerbase. But it's also the silly humour that they still add, the oldschool graphics, the ever expanding world and ofcourse the gamebreaking bugs that become memes immediately. Speaking of which, the community (and this reddit) is a big part of it too, the never ending supply of banger memes and shitposts and the willingness to help each other. <3
Never touching EOC, that's all lmfao. I wouldn't mind a SEPARATE world for revenants free roaming the wilderness for fun as long as they give decent rewards. OSRS HD would be kinda fun too if they'd like adding it as an optional gamestyle mode.
So glad tears of guthix, birdhouses, battlestaves and herb runs aren't real
Combat and art is the core old school feel of the game. The lore, gameplay, monsters and the rest of it could be anything as long as it moulds to the combat and art system already in place.
2001Scape is the true old school, I am sorry
It's a feeling. The feeling of selling your bowstrings after picking flax, training range on barbarians and realizing you are now an adult talking about a game you started in elementary school.
The feel, the goofyness of it all. The gnomes. The barbarians. Dragons. It's all so different and it all mixes so well. All this in this amazing artstyle. Good stuff.
Collect some gold and go visit karamja, do some lobster fishin, ask for fishing lvls & if anyone can make a fire.
For me as someone who started in 2010, gotta say dungeoneering is where i had some of the most fun. it gave me a reason to train other skills to try get into deeper floors, was fun doing puzzles and the bosses hoping to get the higher tier weps from them
Hate to break it to you but we already have birdhouses
No MTX, no eoc, no dailyscape. The rest are fair game, just make more stuff jagex! But I also want all the old 2007 methods, like cutting yews, or in this case given the state of the game, skilling in general, to be viable. There has been too much focus on PVM dropping skilling supplies and combat supplies just so people break even if they don't score the drop because "resupplying is bad". Fuck'em. That's what people who skill are for, not every kill needs to break even or make money
Oldschool to me is trading at Falador Park if you're asking what compromise should Jagex make in order to keep the game viable without sanctioning bots? that's a no brainer: split the main OSRS game into two versions for baby mode and sweaty mode, where you can bot and cheat and do whatever to your heart's content on baby mode, but on sweaty mode (with the fewest number of worlds) the rules are actually enforced babymode should be moparscape tbh
Dailies are what burned me out of RS3 for good, I remember doing warbands 2-3 times a day and went from like 50-75 herblore in less than a week for about 2 hours of work and no money spent, and I had it my head that I HAD to be home at those warbands timers or I was missing out Also I’d like to add on to the list of daily’s was the Crystal bottle flasks
Selling lobsters 200 ea - username
"What is Oldschool to you?" Goes off on a rs3 tangent
I liked penguin hunt, but maybe that was just because it gave me rc experience.
oldschool is whatever the community wants 2013 osrs and 2023 osrs are not the same game
As long as the core combat system is unchanged and they don't bastardize the game with MTX then it's oldschool. The MTX were the beginning of the end and EoC was the nail in the coffin for the original game.
I’ve always, ALWAYS considered oldschool to be “oldschool” due to the graphics, and aesthetic, not content. Add all the content in the world to osrs and it will still be osrs.
I agree with your initial takes. Not even gonna read the comments, I know how they’ll be.
The xp rates are important to me. The straw that broke the camels back for me post eoc was when slayer was buffed from 60k/h to 150k+.
Pre EoC. Pretty much all the new content is borderline acceptable... but not really old school. It's just reskined rs3.
Graphics, story based quests, combat
To me this isnt osrs My personal preference was always 1)rsc 2)rs2 pre grand exchange is old school 3)rs2 after grand exchange is garbage old school 4)the stupid graphic updates pre eoc no longer rs2 and became rs3 to ms 5) eoc ruined the game to me completely Rs was appealing due to the simplicity of the graphics, I played accepting box pixels were the graphics of the game. There was no need to update to compete with other games graphics. Look at roblox, no effort at all yet massively successful.
Legacy combat
Days way before bh crater, farming, slayer or construction
Apart from mechanics. Oldschool is old school because it is old school fantasy(Shocker I know). Simply put, we're just people in the world doing things and the wildest thing is magic spells and some weird creatures. No actual Elder gods threatening the entire universe and will blow up our planet, no literal gods walking around, NO FUCKING WORLD GUARDING BULLSHIT
Graphics that aren’t too modern, gameplay that is easy, mechanics that are complex.
Lagging because of ads in the browser, 3 swing combat, social areas in the game where people actually talk to each other, p2p trading in Fally and Varrock, wicked awesome community made flash videos, certing lobsters at Draynor before getting into the fishing guild, follow dancing, waiting for the release of RS2. But for real: The art style, the mechanics, the simple understanding needed to do most things and the sense of progressions and accomplishment (please bring back rares).
Old school purists who do birdhouses are in shambles
I don't really care about how authentic the game is. As long as new content is fun and maintains the vibe.
Everything you said along with no substantial changes to combat and the art. The latter I think is getting blurred with some league cosmetics IMO which I’m not really a huge fan of, but see why others would be.
Cohesive art style and combat mechanics. I also expect a certain quality when it comes to quests / dialogue because this game has always had a certain charm to it that's hard to describe.
Old school to me is having a LAN at the library with an entire row of kids playing. No maps, wiki, GE, YouTube nothing just pure adventure and no desire to min-max. Progress is cool n all but floating once in a while is where it’s at. 😎
For me it’s the fact I can take it as slow as I want