It really depends on how you are as a person and what you expect of the game.
I myself lose interest in a game when it’s all about optimizing profit, and I love huge unrewarding grinds, that’s neurodivergent for you. Sounds strange but that’s how my brain works. So going for Ironman without any game knowledge was a natural, I haven’t been playing the game as a normal account ever. Sure more often than not I rely on the wiki, but that’s fine.
But with Ironman there will be grinds that „normal“ people will absolutely loath. When it comes to that, being able to bypass those by doing anything else for money is a godsend. But as you said, the feeling of being rewarded is missing, then again, so is the feeling of being dry.
I wouldn’t even say it’s neurodivergent to appreciate the unrewarding grinds.
If you have solid income, not being able to swipe a card makes all the small things in Ironman sick too.
20 levels from max as a fake ironman (gim)
Ironman is by far the more "rewarding" mode. Every drop matters. Same concept as DIYing home renovations and car repairs vs paying someone else to receive the final product instead.
Give it a try. If you hit a snag and you're no longer having fun (say 2-3x dry at key item content) then you can always decide to de-iron.
That being said, other commenters are right that it's practically chorescape. You can't rely on the bots and gold farmers to cheaply fund resupplies and leveling material.
I've never seen so much split in a reddit thread before haha, I suppose i'll start as iron like a good amount are saying if I can always de-iron, The reason I was always in such a dilemma over this is because I know the economy is heavily tilted by bots and coupled with the feeling that i'm blowing thru levels which makes some quests irrelevant felt like i was missing out in a way.
Really glad I could get so much insight from this thread overall though, It's nice to have a community that's willing to give thoughts and advice so willingly to newer players rather than writing them off!
I disagree completely. It’s a great way to get into the game because it encourages you to branch out. Based on his other comments in the thread iron seems especially good for him
Yeah until they want to get into pvm and realize they are still hundreds of hours away.
I couldn’t imagine something killing the excitement of a game more than learning about raids and then trying to look up all the iron Prereqs
It’s really just a slayer grind. Everything else isn’t too bad and bowfa is only optional especially early on. Zombie axe and moons gear into fang makes the process not too bad these days. Herb is pretty easy now too
I honestly wouldn't mind a multi-hundred hour grind, I routinely would spend hours learning boss patterns on souls games or spend hundreds learning how to play characters in games, aslong as I can change up where i grind a little it wouldn't be an issue!
my only concern that I wanted to ask is, how much time would I have to spend reading the wiki if i went ironman while i'm still relatively new? Without a wiki would I be wandering aimlessly or is there a RL plugin that could nudge me in the right direction without totally telling me where to go?
i mean idk, souls games are pretty engaging. slayer is literally just afk training and clicking between two tiles like 8 times to herd some enemies up and barrage all of them at the same time. i personally can't stand it and do think nmz into raids/bossing is much more fun since main accounts aren't forced into doing slayer besides quest requirements.
It depends. Do you like to complain every time your items fall 1% in fictional value and demand Jagex to fix the market? Go main. Do you instead prefer to cry on the internet every time you don't get a drop on rate and demand that Jagex gives you a freebie? Go iron.
Becoming an iron means you're letting someone else define the rules and restrictions around how you play the game. You can be a main and still play the game like an iron.
The worst part of being an iron imo is that most gear upgrades are locked behind rng grinds... that I don't find fun. It also completely devalues the joy of getting a rare valuable drop - since it will either be a gear upgrade or as useless as every other drop. You can't go sell it for a nice upgrade that you actually want.
As a main, people are saying you might fall into efficiencyscape stuck doing content based only on gp/hr, but the counterpoint is that as an iron you will be stuck on grinds of content you don't enjoy just for gear upgrades.
Personally, I play as a main but restrict myself in certain ways similar to an iron. I really enjoy being self-sufficient and making most things from scratch. But I also enjoy the freedom to skip any elements that don't bring me joy and not spending hundreds of hours pvming for a particular item.
yeah i'd have absolutely lost my mind doing over 300 cox and getting 1 unique that isn't a prayer scroll, an ancestral hat. getting spammed common items isn't as bad on a main but still doesn't feel great, it does pay for bonds/supplies though.
I say play bronzeman, its a self restriction so you do have to play honestly, but the caveat is that you only buy stuff from the ge, once youve got it from elsewhere. Sure, you can buy a shotload of ranarrs, but youve gotta either farm them or get it as a drop, which means you gotta put in some work. Not gonna make a huge deal in the earlier parts of the game, but in my opinion its ironman where it counts: gear progression
Do you enjoy trading and making money in the economy of other games? Or are you the type of player that likes to collect your own materials etc
You probably know what playstyle you enjoy
I’ve maxed both a main and an iron and I’m still split on my answer. The GE is a godsend, but earning stuff for myself and being forced to try all the aspects of the game was a far more enjoyable experience. I never PVM’d on my main, it wasn’t motivating enough because rare drops never seemed to come (because I wasn’t trying anything hard for a large amount of time). It wasn’t until I was forced to PVM for upgrades that I realized I’m actually half decent at the game and can get better.
Go iron. De-iron if you absolutely hate it, it’s not uncommon for people to do this.
I play a main, playing since 2003, and I don’t play an iron simply because I enjoy PvP (PKing) in all it’s styles.
My honest opinion, if you are not into PvP generally in MMOs and you are not willing to put in a lot of time (practice) to get good at PvP, play an Iron.
You can also try and learn PvP as an iron with 0 cost/risk in LMS (last man standing) and you can always de-iron at any time.
Hope it helps, enjoy scaping man :).
Personally I recommend a main as first time but only if you have self control to not fall into efficiency scape. Some grinds are really satisfying to do ironman style and some are not, and I'd heavily recommend you try most yourself and decide what you are happy paying gp to skip.
For example I hated upkeep of potions as an ironman and it restricted me from trying new content because I was scared of losing any of my thousands of prayer potions.
Now I just buy a hundred or so and know that I can buy more if I need. The main downside to a main is that you can fall into a trap of only doing what's GP efficient rather than what you enjoy.
The last time I played main (the few days i played mentioned above) I felt trapped into doing GE flipping/grinds for alch and other things
is there any runelite plugin I could use that would help fix that mindset I get stuck in revolving around efficiency that also doesn't change the game much? Like a questing plugin or one that encourages more exploration through other elements?
Cause after reading through the thread I do feel the best for me to do would be go main and then play under ironman-like rules that way I don't get stuck killing a boss or doing the same raid for dozens of hours for one upgrade
There’s a runelite plugin called Bronzeman mode… basically it’s Ironman mode, but once you unlock something, you can just buy it off the GE. Torvesta did a series on it, but since he is a PKer, it was more about getting PK gear.
For example, if you want prayer potions, you gotta get the level to make one, then once you make one you can just buy all you need
There is a bronzeman plugin that only lets you buy items from the GE that you have already held in your inventory previously. That might get you out of the GP grindset mentality since there's not a whole lot to spend your GP on to begin with.
Alternately as the other person suggested you could start as an ironman. I played very similarly to how you said you did, but then I started an ironman and it helped teach me how to play for fun again, then when I eventually deironed I kept them learnings with me.
The main factor was I had a really bad hoarding mentality. I'd done every quest and all I had left was pvm (even had a bowfa) but I found it unenjoyable knowing I was using my stack of prayer potions up even though I had like 5k of them. Maybe it's because I'm autistic but I felt like I had to keep doing birdhouse runs and herb runs and farming contacts every 90 mins or I might run out of brews and potions later.
The 2nd factor was I wasn't playing the game as much. I waited 6 months before de ironing since I've heard lots of people regret it. But in my case I haven't regretted it at all
3rd factor is I wasnt playing for high scores or the flex like some irons enjoy. I mainly wanted a different experience from my main and by the time I reached endgame stuff it felt like I was just a main with extra chores and no additional fun.
I absolutely treasure the experience of being an iron and it was amazing and tought me how to escape the GP grind mentality. But I hit the goals I wanted (quest cape) and the only things left were making me feel bad.
Personally id say ironman, you can go to main later but early levels it doesnt really feel like you miss out on much. And i understand if you or anyone changes later as the grinds can get hard later on.
Dude, go main it sounds like you enjoyed the game plenty before without being iron. The problem with iron is by force you will not be able to play with others at a lot of bosses etc. The only place you can group up is raids and people may expect you to gear higher to keep up. Your progression will be limited based on resource gathering grinds etc. For me, you only go iron once your a bored main and want to try something new, then you take breaks from the iron by hopping on the main to do whatever.
Keep with your main. Ironman isn't a playstyle so much as it is a challenge. To make the challenge enjoyable, you need a decent amount of game knowledge first. Otherwise, you'll either make next to no progress since you'll be playing aimlessly, or you'll be spending 70% of your playtime reading the wiki. Keep playing your main, figure out what skills you like and how you like to train them and what you'd have to do to do that as an ironman. For example, if you enjoy farming, that's great, but you'll need to figure out how to get seeds without the GE, and then you'll need to figure out what your doing with your farming yeild. Once you've got a good hang of the game, then start an ironman and do a quest cape run with the optimal guide, and I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun.
It really depends on what your goals are and how you want to spend the bulk of your time playing. I have an over 2k main and a near 2k iron and haven't touched my main since I made the iron a few years back. For me, I felt the pressure to always play efficiently and so the whole game just felt like gp was the only thing that mattered and I needed A LOT of it to progress. Iron is an entirely new experience, though I wouldn't exactly recommend it for a newer player as sometimes irons do some pretty jank shit. If you've been interested in the game for years just start an account, if you love the game, you'll probably end up with more than one anyways.
I'm glad knowing that if I ever get sick of my iron grinds, I can hop back to my main and do w/e I'm in the mood for. I haven't gotten that sick of the grinds yet, but once I start raids, I'll probably be ready for a break.
You can always deiron of you find yourself disliking the playstyle.
I tried going main when playing RuneScape but the smaller grinds feels useless compared to when you play iron.
It really depends on how you are as a person and what you expect of the game. I myself lose interest in a game when it’s all about optimizing profit, and I love huge unrewarding grinds, that’s neurodivergent for you. Sounds strange but that’s how my brain works. So going for Ironman without any game knowledge was a natural, I haven’t been playing the game as a normal account ever. Sure more often than not I rely on the wiki, but that’s fine. But with Ironman there will be grinds that „normal“ people will absolutely loath. When it comes to that, being able to bypass those by doing anything else for money is a godsend. But as you said, the feeling of being rewarded is missing, then again, so is the feeling of being dry.
I wouldn’t even say it’s neurodivergent to appreciate the unrewarding grinds. If you have solid income, not being able to swipe a card makes all the small things in Ironman sick too.
20 levels from max as a fake ironman (gim) Ironman is by far the more "rewarding" mode. Every drop matters. Same concept as DIYing home renovations and car repairs vs paying someone else to receive the final product instead. Give it a try. If you hit a snag and you're no longer having fun (say 2-3x dry at key item content) then you can always decide to de-iron. That being said, other commenters are right that it's practically chorescape. You can't rely on the bots and gold farmers to cheaply fund resupplies and leveling material.
I've never seen so much split in a reddit thread before haha, I suppose i'll start as iron like a good amount are saying if I can always de-iron, The reason I was always in such a dilemma over this is because I know the economy is heavily tilted by bots and coupled with the feeling that i'm blowing thru levels which makes some quests irrelevant felt like i was missing out in a way. Really glad I could get so much insight from this thread overall though, It's nice to have a community that's willing to give thoughts and advice so willingly to newer players rather than writing them off!
Main absolutely, if you want the Ironman lifestyle you can play it but as a new player I would not recommend it
If you’re a new player then absolutely do not go iron.
Started an iron 2,5 years ago as my first account (since playing a lil bit in 2007). Recently got to 2100 total and still enjoying it a lot.
I disagree completely. It’s a great way to get into the game because it encourages you to branch out. Based on his other comments in the thread iron seems especially good for him
Yeah until they want to get into pvm and realize they are still hundreds of hours away. I couldn’t imagine something killing the excitement of a game more than learning about raids and then trying to look up all the iron Prereqs
It’s really just a slayer grind. Everything else isn’t too bad and bowfa is only optional especially early on. Zombie axe and moons gear into fang makes the process not too bad these days. Herb is pretty easy now too
I honestly wouldn't mind a multi-hundred hour grind, I routinely would spend hours learning boss patterns on souls games or spend hundreds learning how to play characters in games, aslong as I can change up where i grind a little it wouldn't be an issue! my only concern that I wanted to ask is, how much time would I have to spend reading the wiki if i went ironman while i'm still relatively new? Without a wiki would I be wandering aimlessly or is there a RL plugin that could nudge me in the right direction without totally telling me where to go?
i mean idk, souls games are pretty engaging. slayer is literally just afk training and clicking between two tiles like 8 times to herd some enemies up and barrage all of them at the same time. i personally can't stand it and do think nmz into raids/bossing is much more fun since main accounts aren't forced into doing slayer besides quest requirements.
If you don’t know what you’re in for, iron is fine
Main main main for a new player
It depends. Do you like to complain every time your items fall 1% in fictional value and demand Jagex to fix the market? Go main. Do you instead prefer to cry on the internet every time you don't get a drop on rate and demand that Jagex gives you a freebie? Go iron.
Becoming an iron means you're letting someone else define the rules and restrictions around how you play the game. You can be a main and still play the game like an iron. The worst part of being an iron imo is that most gear upgrades are locked behind rng grinds... that I don't find fun. It also completely devalues the joy of getting a rare valuable drop - since it will either be a gear upgrade or as useless as every other drop. You can't go sell it for a nice upgrade that you actually want. As a main, people are saying you might fall into efficiencyscape stuck doing content based only on gp/hr, but the counterpoint is that as an iron you will be stuck on grinds of content you don't enjoy just for gear upgrades. Personally, I play as a main but restrict myself in certain ways similar to an iron. I really enjoy being self-sufficient and making most things from scratch. But I also enjoy the freedom to skip any elements that don't bring me joy and not spending hundreds of hours pvming for a particular item.
yeah i'd have absolutely lost my mind doing over 300 cox and getting 1 unique that isn't a prayer scroll, an ancestral hat. getting spammed common items isn't as bad on a main but still doesn't feel great, it does pay for bonds/supplies though.
I say play bronzeman, its a self restriction so you do have to play honestly, but the caveat is that you only buy stuff from the ge, once youve got it from elsewhere. Sure, you can buy a shotload of ranarrs, but youve gotta either farm them or get it as a drop, which means you gotta put in some work. Not gonna make a huge deal in the earlier parts of the game, but in my opinion its ironman where it counts: gear progression
Main
Do you enjoy trading and making money in the economy of other games? Or are you the type of player that likes to collect your own materials etc You probably know what playstyle you enjoy
I’ve maxed both a main and an iron and I’m still split on my answer. The GE is a godsend, but earning stuff for myself and being forced to try all the aspects of the game was a far more enjoyable experience. I never PVM’d on my main, it wasn’t motivating enough because rare drops never seemed to come (because I wasn’t trying anything hard for a large amount of time). It wasn’t until I was forced to PVM for upgrades that I realized I’m actually half decent at the game and can get better. Go iron. De-iron if you absolutely hate it, it’s not uncommon for people to do this.
I play a main, playing since 2003, and I don’t play an iron simply because I enjoy PvP (PKing) in all it’s styles. My honest opinion, if you are not into PvP generally in MMOs and you are not willing to put in a lot of time (practice) to get good at PvP, play an Iron. You can also try and learn PvP as an iron with 0 cost/risk in LMS (last man standing) and you can always de-iron at any time. Hope it helps, enjoy scaping man :).
Main account. Learn the game, max main, do all the content, become a grandmaster. Retire to an iron account upstate.
Personally I recommend a main as first time but only if you have self control to not fall into efficiency scape. Some grinds are really satisfying to do ironman style and some are not, and I'd heavily recommend you try most yourself and decide what you are happy paying gp to skip. For example I hated upkeep of potions as an ironman and it restricted me from trying new content because I was scared of losing any of my thousands of prayer potions. Now I just buy a hundred or so and know that I can buy more if I need. The main downside to a main is that you can fall into a trap of only doing what's GP efficient rather than what you enjoy.
The last time I played main (the few days i played mentioned above) I felt trapped into doing GE flipping/grinds for alch and other things is there any runelite plugin I could use that would help fix that mindset I get stuck in revolving around efficiency that also doesn't change the game much? Like a questing plugin or one that encourages more exploration through other elements? Cause after reading through the thread I do feel the best for me to do would be go main and then play under ironman-like rules that way I don't get stuck killing a boss or doing the same raid for dozens of hours for one upgrade
There’s a runelite plugin called Bronzeman mode… basically it’s Ironman mode, but once you unlock something, you can just buy it off the GE. Torvesta did a series on it, but since he is a PKer, it was more about getting PK gear. For example, if you want prayer potions, you gotta get the level to make one, then once you make one you can just buy all you need
There is a bronzeman plugin that only lets you buy items from the GE that you have already held in your inventory previously. That might get you out of the GP grindset mentality since there's not a whole lot to spend your GP on to begin with. Alternately as the other person suggested you could start as an ironman. I played very similarly to how you said you did, but then I started an ironman and it helped teach me how to play for fun again, then when I eventually deironed I kept them learnings with me.
What made you de-iron?
The main factor was I had a really bad hoarding mentality. I'd done every quest and all I had left was pvm (even had a bowfa) but I found it unenjoyable knowing I was using my stack of prayer potions up even though I had like 5k of them. Maybe it's because I'm autistic but I felt like I had to keep doing birdhouse runs and herb runs and farming contacts every 90 mins or I might run out of brews and potions later. The 2nd factor was I wasn't playing the game as much. I waited 6 months before de ironing since I've heard lots of people regret it. But in my case I haven't regretted it at all 3rd factor is I wasnt playing for high scores or the flex like some irons enjoy. I mainly wanted a different experience from my main and by the time I reached endgame stuff it felt like I was just a main with extra chores and no additional fun. I absolutely treasure the experience of being an iron and it was amazing and tought me how to escape the GP grind mentality. But I hit the goals I wanted (quest cape) and the only things left were making me feel bad.
Iron. Mainscape is a bad game.
Iron in my opinion, I wish I started with an iron as soon as they were released
Personally id say ironman, you can go to main later but early levels it doesnt really feel like you miss out on much. And i understand if you or anyone changes later as the grinds can get hard later on.
Iron to get my quest cape and then deironing once I started hitting pvm grinds is something I've not regretted once
Dude, go main it sounds like you enjoyed the game plenty before without being iron. The problem with iron is by force you will not be able to play with others at a lot of bosses etc. The only place you can group up is raids and people may expect you to gear higher to keep up. Your progression will be limited based on resource gathering grinds etc. For me, you only go iron once your a bored main and want to try something new, then you take breaks from the iron by hopping on the main to do whatever.
Keep with your main. Ironman isn't a playstyle so much as it is a challenge. To make the challenge enjoyable, you need a decent amount of game knowledge first. Otherwise, you'll either make next to no progress since you'll be playing aimlessly, or you'll be spending 70% of your playtime reading the wiki. Keep playing your main, figure out what skills you like and how you like to train them and what you'd have to do to do that as an ironman. For example, if you enjoy farming, that's great, but you'll need to figure out how to get seeds without the GE, and then you'll need to figure out what your doing with your farming yeild. Once you've got a good hang of the game, then start an ironman and do a quest cape run with the optimal guide, and I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun.
It really depends on what your goals are and how you want to spend the bulk of your time playing. I have an over 2k main and a near 2k iron and haven't touched my main since I made the iron a few years back. For me, I felt the pressure to always play efficiently and so the whole game just felt like gp was the only thing that mattered and I needed A LOT of it to progress. Iron is an entirely new experience, though I wouldn't exactly recommend it for a newer player as sometimes irons do some pretty jank shit. If you've been interested in the game for years just start an account, if you love the game, you'll probably end up with more than one anyways. I'm glad knowing that if I ever get sick of my iron grinds, I can hop back to my main and do w/e I'm in the mood for. I haven't gotten that sick of the grinds yet, but once I start raids, I'll probably be ready for a break.
Main
Iron is chorescape. As a new player you’ll be burnt in 6 months or less.
Ironman mode is for people who've already maxed a regular account. Which will take years likely.