The Future of Runescape

So I've been playing Runescape for the past 12+ years and have definitely seen the ups and downs of the game. The biggest down for me was the release of EOC and then the excitement of 07 (old school) brought me back soon after. I'm sad to say now that "excitement" I once had for the game has now gone away. The first time I actually quit Runescape was after EOC and personally I don't see the point in devoting all that time to 07 currently as the game itself doesn't bring me enjoyment.

That being said, where do you guys see Old School in the next few years. I know this is something that's been discussed on these forums before but I'd like some more thought put into this. The player base from what I see is declining. A lot of my old friends have quit and moved on. OSRS will surely last but how alive will it be (active users at one time) in the upcoming years.

 

Runescape dosen't had much years back..

 

I'm wondering how much it is actually declining. It seems that our perception of it declining might be amplified by the fact that a lot of this forum and other friends are veteran players who came back for 07, and that population is the most likely to be fleeting. I'm part of that population - I've been playing for 13-14 years and my time of playing the game is over.

Runescape has to focus on getting new players that haven't played the game yet. They've used all of their trump cards to get veteran players back- they brought the wilderness back, they brought back old school, there's not much left for them to fall back on.

If they are in fact declining substantially, they don't have much time left before the effects are irreversible. There's no more excuses for veteran players to return - this is their last chance to swing.

 

What i'm wondering though is, what CAN they do to make new players come to runescape, update wise?

 

I can't see OSRS surviving for much longer... like you said, the game is slowly but surely declining. OSRS is simply just not appealing as a game except to veteran players who are here for the nostalgia factor, and little is being done otherwise to attract new players to the game.

What's more, this ongoing tournament was a huge way for the OSRS team to bring in new people to the game (the Twitch stream peaked at around 22k viewers, which is insane for a Runescape stream), but it ended up being a complete joke after it got DDOSed and the tournament had to be postponed. Granted, there's not much Jagex could do about this particular issue, but it's still very disheartening to see this kind of thing happening.

 

It is my personal belief, that with a game like 07, where Jagex simply aren't bothering with ensuring it has 100% uptime, hinting towards the constant DDOS attacks on the servers, will obviously cause a decline in players, why do we want to pay to play a game that we are mostly being kicked off, disconnected from, and lagged within? We don't. Why do people want to die whilst pking, pvming, staking, questing, because of these lags and dc's, they don't. It's a waste of money in all honesty, and paying bond's seems tragic giving these circumstances.

I've seen plenty of my friends, log out during the time these dc's happen, and plenty more switch back to RS3 to avoid the hassle, given that they've released Legacy and Legacy styled combat.

Although 07 does still give some couple thousand players a nostalgia feel, personally myself I love the game for that reason, and to attempt to skill to my desired levels, the second chance, is a good feeling, but once again with the constant disconnections, the game is slowly if not already, become a joke and is becoming a joke to play.

I would not see how any new players would want to remain in a game like this. Would it really last for that reason? I have my doubts.

 

My play time was; 2005-2012(RS2) and 2013-2015(OSRS) but I have noticed that I don't even bother playing OSRS anymore, I think my time is finally over after 10 years of RS.

but I will never forget my golden age of RS 2005-2011. :'(

Reason for quitting OSRS is the community and changes, like G.E for example. It ruins my fun, everyone just stands there, I wanted to play like in 2006, before the GE.
Also, people are just... different, more closed off & rude.

 

I have played myself for 10-12 years, as mentioned above the golden age was ~2005-2011.Driven by said nostalgia,i gave 07 a go, however i lost an interest after around 6 months.

As Bogla stated, Runescape has to attract new players, the sad thing is i don't see a single reason why someome would start 07.

I think the player base will keep going down, unless Jagex comes with something spectacular.But let's be real here, the only thing they are spectacular at, is ruining Runescape.

 

It really was, I remember how in 2011 Varrock square w1/w3 was often full of people, By late 2012- it was empty.

And yes, it will just continue to go down,
"the only thing they are spectacular at, is ruining Runescape." - love this, it's so true.

 

Oldschool has a lot of big updates coming. DeadMan mode, new bosses, Zeah, and much more. I'm excited for these to come out.

 

I'm sure Oldschool will last quite a while as Jagex have learnt from their mistakes and now are actually listening to the players opinions much more than before, also streaming Q&A Sessions. Jagex have become a lot more talkative to the community for the last year. I do think that this game is going to last for a long time, I'm sure Jagex will not let it go easily.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

The future looks grim. They can't even maintain server stability.

 

Started playing in late 2005. Stopped playing when Rs3 came out. Came back for Rs07, but god damn the enjoyment I used to get out of the game is not there anymore.

My opinion about the future of runescape is that it will die out slowly and only a couple of Thousand players will keep continue playing it(which is happening right now).

 

This, this & this.

The DDOS/ DC issues with the server will be the eventual death of 07 RS. Mark my words.

 

I am really looking forward to Deadman mode. I'll play again when it comes out

 

I want to say deadman mode might bring in some new players but I think we can all agree that its going to get new people in for the first week or two but then it will quickly die down as people stop playing. I don't think it will be dead content, just a limited amount of people playing it (I am excited for it though!)

 

If EOC never came out, what do you guys think the average users online would be atm?

I still play, but more or not just to RWT / PK / Stake, barely anything else.

 

I think it would be at the 100K mark, easily.

But then there's the aspect where people just stop playing, get bored, have a life, updates aren't necessary or not full-fulling, or ruin the game play ( ridding of gambling, "fixing" staking etc... So it's arguable.

 

I hope to see OSRS last at least another 5 years, me personally, I enjoy it alot and I make some money on the side from it doing what I love.