My View On The Old Wildy / Free Trade Update

Today, Jagex announced a new update to Runescape. They announced the return of the Wilderness / Free Trade. They have created a Voting system where people can input any Runescape name and vote to reintroduce the old Wild / Trade System.

I hope everyone understands the vote is a FARCE. They are doing this simply to give players the ILLUSION that their opinions are guiding the game's fate. In reality, Jagex has already decided to pursue this project, and the amount of votes they get couldn't mean any less. They have been researching and developing this project for probably well over a year (maybe ever since they removed it in the first place).

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Really, this project makes very little sense at first glance. Jagex implemented trade limits to prevent Botting and Real World Trading (RWT). They figured that they could kill the market for Runescape Gold by making it impossible to trade (or so they thought). Obviously, as we know, there are as many people who buy Runescape Gold today as there were ever before. However, the real problem, botting on throwaway accounts has indeed been basically fixed with the new system.

- Remember these guys?​

So the question is, how on Earth is Jagex going to stop these bots from running rampant in a Free Trade system? As of right now, there are no effective ways to transfer off level 3 bots, so they are basically unprofitable. The unfortunate truth is that with a completely Free Trade System, Runescape bots are going to be EVERYWHERE. This is why I believe Jagex is not revealing the true story; why work so hard to fight Runescape Gold Buying, and Botting, to suddenly just let it run wild again? There is no way we will see a complete return to the old system. There must be a catch...

So what is the catch? Some possibilities:

- A wait period before a character can free trade (3 months, 6 months, etc)
- A Stat / QP requirement to free trade (50+ QP, 500+ Overall)
- Increased Botting surveillance (unlikely as bots are near undetectable in this day and age)

Another situation is that Jagex's proposed "Free Trade" / "Old Wilderness" system is actually not very "free" at all. Perhaps they will boost the trade limit by 10x (still nowhere close to free trade). Maybe they will bring back the "Old Wild" and keep random drops in the current PVP system. Although these seem like ridiculous updates, Jagex has been known to hype up a negative change to gameplay. They tried to act as if the original Trade Limit updates were going to be an awesome change. Good work, idiots.

I think we can all agree though, the old system was FUN. And maybe that's just it. Jagex realizes that competition among MMORPG's gets more heated everyday, and the best way to increase your member base is to improve your product. No one can undermine the entertainment value in Staking, PKing and even Trading when there are no limitations. The risk is high, the reward is high, and it's what made Runescape so popular in the first place.

 

Well said R2. I agree with everything.

I am quite curious as to what the change(s) are going to finally be. But, from what a lot of people saw earlier on, I believe the poll was just implemented in order to obtain a Guiness World Record, as they created a poll which they knew many people would be interested in.

 

Hm, im hoping there doing this because they realized putting restrictions on a GAME to stop cheating wasnt a good idea. And that a game should fun. Free trade and old wild = the best rs ever. I wonder why one of the biggest gold sellers feels this way? Is it cause when free trade is back you wont be so powerful?

 

They took off the Guiness World Record thing now since it caused alot of people to question them on the Runescape Forums.

 

Well if they made it just for that purpose, there are going to be a lot of angry players.

 

Great post Will, I agree completely. For starters, I believe that Jagex has already decided to implement free trade and the wildy because as it is now, RWT is practically undetectable and they CANNOT beat it. If I trade a blue phat for 630m, how are they to know whether or not it was RWT? They cannot win the war in the current state it is; with free trade at least they can have a chance at knowing if something is a RWT deal.

Secondly, the vote is 100% a joke. There is not a no option, and you do not need to log in. Jagex has already decided to implement these things, and is attempting to build some rapport with the customers by making it seem like they chose it. Lets be honest, if you read the overdramatic vernacular on the voting page, it is blatantly obvious the whole thing is a publicity stunt!

tl;dr, jagex has already decided on bringing free trade back, and the vote is just a PR move.

Now I have no idea how they will bring back all those old elements, however like R2, I imagine there will be some specific requirements and hinderances to stop RWT. I look forward to the next 2 months to see how this plays out. Sythe for life.

 

Thats what I figure is the most likely. God bless Jagex on a decent update. I look forward to R2P's new business once this comes into effect.

 

I figured it wasn't a true poll but just in case I've voted 100+ times.

 

Yes, I also agree with everything you said. The update will happen no matter what, they're just trying to get the votes for revenue and also to make the players think they're guiding the state of the game.

Although I don't really think there will be a catch, for the trade limit, I mean once "pking" is back there will be no point in putting in a catch as players can just kill each other as a means of transferring or just stake it.

The only problem I see coming is the throw away accounts. I don't know how Jagex will combat this, but I guess they have a plan.

We'll find out more information tomorrow as Andrew Gower said he'll be explaining in depth what Jagex is planning to do tomorrow.

 

I logged into runescape for the first time in 666 days (took a screenshot), bought membership and now working on a way to make some money so I can finally buy some gold to get started where I was. If they bring back this free trade I wonder how they are going to monitor it...

 

I agree with the part where you say that they are going to bring the old wildy back but with the same drop system, it's more than obvious i think. And also i agree with most of the things you stated there. They always said that wildy and free trade were never coming back in the forums, etc. So it's more than probable that there is a catch...

 

I agree with your argument.
Whenever they are about to or release new content, they make it sound better than it really is. Hopefully that isn't the case this time.

 

You have the same stand point i do on this matter, i want to believe they will give into what everyone wants to make the game more fun and enjoyable, but will they still have a limit/requirements or something to kill free trade anyway? I hope it returns to the "normal" state of Runescape like it was. *Cross Your Fingers*

 

Wow, I never thought of it like this.

I guess you all are right. Probably a scam to get more memebers

 

I think if the vote actually counted it would have two options. One- keep it how it is. Option two- go back to the old ways.

 

I didn't know that you are a slim exception that allows you to make a new thread about something that is already stickied.

*Let the flaming begin*

 

If you actually cared to read what R2P has wrote you would realize that he is explaining many different things if this comes into place. This thread has nothing to do with the voting.

I wonder what they will put in order to keep the trading open but without completely letting RWT run free.

 

I think bring back old Widy,but trade limit remains...

 

Actually, I think I know why they might be doing this. You see, they're releasing their brand new MMORPG called; "Stellar Dawn" sometime 2011. They are bringing the wilderness and free trade back in an attempt to milk what is left of the cash cow we know as Runescape. They want everybody back with memberships, first of all so that they can profit, secondly so that everybody will be there for the release of Stellar Dawn, thus profiting even more. (I'm guessing Jagex assumes Runescape will eventually die after the release of Stellar Dawn.) So, I personally think that this is all a plan to milk everything out of Runescape, and end it on a good note right before they release their new cash cow.

 

Idk if this is true or not, but i really have no idea what to believe anymore.