[Aragon]

Runescape is a game with a unique set of weapons and armor. There is one specific thing that really ticks me off about it though, it’s that we don’t have enough variety. Once you reach 20 Defence, you can wear Mithril Armor, which is a Blue – purplish color. If you don’t like the color of it, then basically you have to get over it because there is no armor as good as it is in its class. If you liked the color black better than you do the color blue/purple, you most likely won’t wear it because the armor’s effect is worse than Mithril’s, and you wouldn’t be getting the full advantage as you should at your level.

When I am doing a Slayer task, nearly everybody is wearing the same exact thing. Bandos armor, with a fire cape. There is no variety whatsoever! Once you reach a high Defence level, “congratulations, you can now wear the same thing as everybody else!” Sure Bandos is exciting, but there’s nothing unique to it when you know everybody else wears it.

The purpose of this thread is to hear your opinions. Do you agree with this? If so, what could Jagex do to add more variety to the game’s weapons and armor, and how would it affect the game itself, and it's players? If you don't agree with this, why not?

[I Flareon I]

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The purpose of this thread is to hear your opinions. Do you agree with this? If so, what could Jagex do to add more variety to the game’s weapons and armor, and how would it affect the game itself, and it's players? If you don't agree with this, why not?

It would be great to see more variety when it comes to armour, Mystic Armour is a great example, 3 sets of clothing with 3 different colours.

For Melee Armour it would be nice to add things like trimmings and somehow get different coloured armour, we could use the Crafting skill to put gems on our armour (and use magic to enchant the armour to the gems colour) and Smithing could add little spikes to it

Heck! we could even use Firemaking to set our Magic Robes alight! (imagine walking around in clothes with flames burning brightly on the trims)

Variety is always a good thing in my eyes, seeing everyone in Bandos and Slayerhelmets is getting lame now since everyone looks the same:-/

[kyoshin]

Instead of just the same armor with different colors. i would like to see more equipment. Not having one item that is clearly the best. have each be better in some ways and worse then others.
add modifiers to them or something. it would give variety to the game >.> and variety is good

[Bolshevik]

I think that you do bring up a good point Aragon because there are very few choices in armor, and not much variety in the choices when you reach a certain level. The only possible way I see for anything to be done in the game, is for Jagex to actually add in different variations of armor, spanning between the levels. Maybe making you able to wear a different type every five levels, instead of every ten. There is going to be a lot of meshing together, like when you see people wearing the same armor, simply because there are a lot of people who play this game, and know that, that certain type of armor is the best for doing a certain task. Not everyone can afford the best gear, so some settle for a step or two under the best, which is probably where you are at the moment. It's a tough decision to say the least, but I would have to agree, it'd be nice to see some variety in the game, maybe a few new types of armor here and there to favor other people.

[Hedgehog]

This is a very good point; there's very little variety in terms of armor. One option would be to simply allow you to choose a trim color or design to add to the piece of armor, but that would effectively destroy the rarity of trimmed armor from Treasure Trails. To make armor have a color/design, it'd cost money, and give some variety to the same item.

Another possibility would be a much bigger update: allow armor and/or weapons to be upgraded. Perhaps make it so that armor can be equipped with a certain type of item that enhances the armor in some way (not just by giving it more defence, but some other special effect; maybe it increases Agility by 4 or something). Not only would this give more variety to the actual skill sets of armor, but when you equip your armor with an enhancement, it could change color so that it gives variety to the way armor looks as well.

[Fishhhh]

what i think would be cool is if you could change the colour of every item not just your main clothing. so like a bright yellow whip or something. so its still abby whip just yellow lol. that might stop everybody wearing the same thing. :]

[Hersch]

I never really thought about this, but it actually is pretty true. There is little variation in armor. However, I don't really think anything will rectify this. You can add more weapons and armor, but the fact of the matter is the majority is always going to favor a particular item that is the 'best'. Allowing players to trim their armor probably wouldn't make much of a difference either - everyone would still have the same items, they would just be trimmed. As Hedgehog said, however, that would ruin the trimmed rewards from Treasure Trails anyway.

I just doubt that anything could be done that would effectively increase weapon and armor variety in the game.

[Sarrakas]

Hersch, on 05 November 2009 - 01:56 AM, said:

I never really thought about this, but it actually is pretty true. There is little variation in armor. However, I don't really think anything will rectify this. You can add more weapons and armor, but the fact of the matter is the majority is always going to favor a particular item that is the 'best'. Allowing players to trim their armor probably wouldn't make much of a difference either - everyone would still have the same items, they would just be trimmed. As Hedgehog said, however, that would ruin the trimmed rewards from Treasure Trails anyway.

I just doubt that anything could be done that would effectively increase weapon and armor variety in the game.

Suppose the new weapons and armor added have stats identical to the ones that already exist though, wouldn't that give people more of an incentive to choose that type of armor or weapon that they personally think looks best? Enhancements on the existing pieces of armor itself would add for more variety as well, regardless of whether they have an effect on the stats or are simply meant for looks. If different kinds of trimmings would be available, in different kinds of colours, not everyone would look the same either. Trimmed rewards from the Treasure Trails already get a lot of competition as it is, I don't think adding more variety would ruin those rewards completely.

[Hersch]

Sarrakas, on 04 November 2009 - 07:13 PM, said:

Suppose the new weapons and armor added have stats identical to the ones that already exist though, wouldn't that give people more of an incentive to choose that type of armor or weapon that they personally think looks best?

Perhaps, but what is the point of redundant items such as those? Personally, I don't think Jagex would bother implementing items exactly identical in stats to existing items besides the looks. I don't think the players would be too happen either, they always want new and better items, not new items that look different from previous ones. I just don't think the issue of variety is that big yet to permit Jagex to implement such an update as you suggested.

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Enhancements on the existing pieces of armor itself would add for more variety as well, regardless of whether they have an effect on the stats or are simply meant for looks. If different kinds of trimmings would be available, in different kinds of colours, not everyone would look the same either. Trimmed rewards from the Treasure Trails already get a lot of competition as it is, I don't think adding more variety would ruin those rewards completely.

Again, yes, but is it really that big of a difference? You can hardly notice a difference between a regular rune platebody and a trimmed one. Trimming items just doesn't seem to make that much of a difference, and thus I have my doubts on how effective it would be to increase armor variety in the game. In regards to Treasure Trails, you say trimmed rewards already have competition as it is, so do you really want to press luck further by increasing competition yet again by adding more trimmed items?

[Free Fiese]

Aragon, on 04 November 2009 - 07:47 PM, said:

Runescape is a game with a unique set of weapons and armor. There is one specific thing that really ticks me off about it though, it’s that we don’t have enough variety. Once you reach 20 Defence, you can wear Mithril Armor, which is a Blue – purplish color. If you don’t like the color of it, then basically you have to get over it because there is no armor as good as it is in its class. If you liked the color black better than you do the color blue/purple, you most likely won’t wear it because the armor’s effect is worse than Mithril’s, and you wouldn’t be getting the full advantage as you should at your level.

I don't think I've ever actually seen a game like RuneScape in which you could decide what the colour of your outfit is. I like the idea though, sounds amazing. Black dragon armour, oh yeah.

[n0 Fr1ends]

I think you should be able to customize your armor and weapons. You should be able to pick colors, handle style, and other small details. It would be a really cool feature to have.

[Devin]

I would be challenging for JaGeX to implement new armours and weapons to expand the number of viable choices, but it would not be impossible. The problem is that there is one weapon that is 'the best': the Rune scimitar. It is the most effective weapon for any task, be it monster killing, training, or PvP. (This is F2P, but can be seen in the lower levels of P2P) The system in place allows one weapon, or a few, to control the game. Would a scimitar work well on platemail in real life? I'm no weapons master, but my gut says that other weapons would work much better. A warhammer or mace could do much more damage to platemail than a curved sword. But they are too slow to be used, we can all attest to that. When was the last time you saw someone in a PvP would with anything other than a scimitar, or perhaps a longsword? The chances are slim to see such a thing.

What JaGeX needs to do is make specified weapons. A rock-paper-scissors style system inside the already present this beats that, which beats the other, and that in turn beats the first one. (Melee-Range-Mage). Picture a world where you see a variety of weapons; someone fighting with a longsword against a warrior weilding a deadly warhammer. Even more, it wouldn't just be weapons that are given specifications. Platemail and chainmail, as well as certain types or robes and hides should have profoud benefits against some types of weapons and would be a hinderance to those who wear them when being assailed by other types of weapons. Not only would you have people using a multitude of weapons, but combat becomes more complex tenfold. Which item you do use against that, and is he or she going to bring that along? The typical picture of a player clad in full rune (or maybe some chainmail *gasp!*) with a rune scimitar would be diminished. Of course there would be players who would still use that set-up, as it would still be effective, but others would come along and counter that.

Finally, as an added measure, all weapons and armour should have the ability to be customized. I know JaGeX has denied that this would come into existence, but it would be one of JaGeX's greatest feats if they implemented player customization features in regards to clothing and armour. Such would be the granddaddy of all updates, as it gives the true individuality and unique aura that all players could, nay, should, have.

[Slaywulf21]

I agree with this, trimmed armor would have another element to the game. Perhaps even another skill for this...

[JaKeX]

Well, I think Jagex could add a type of "armor dye" to the game to allow you to change to color to a set color, then also a reset. The colored ones would be un-tradable, but the reset would be sellable.

Good idea?

[The duck]

Variety, in Runescape. That is indeed a good thing to discuss about!
The armor variation in RuneScape is not that big, it is pretty standard. It reminds me of old RPG's where you would find (or buy) new armor, and sell the old armor directly. That is pretty much the cause in RuneScape too.

Then the question: How can you change it? Well, there are some solutions.

Give the combat system a revamp. Introduce specialisations in the the classes. Ever heard of the term 'zerker'? What if there is a real Beserker class? The options are endless. Of course, you will still have the buy-and-replace-armor problem, but now there are multiple classes. To give this even more effect, edit the skills a bit too. Instead of a maximum of 99 in a skill, give the mentioned Beserker a higher maximum strength level, and a lower maximum defence level. This may seem a bit unfair at first, but remember, other classes will have advantages too. World of Warcraft has classes too, and although I'm not a big fan of that game, the classes idea is still a good idea.
Of course, this idea might be a little hard to put in a game like RuneScape, but everything is possible.

Another, much easier method to counter the lack of variation in armor would be the possibility to dye your armor, pretty much the same idea as the the gilded rune items. But this wouldn't solve the problem, only ease it.

In the end, if you really want variation of armor, you need variation in combat too. Therefore, specialisation in the combat triangle might be a solution!

[Ash Ketchum]

I really don't see the armor in this game lacking any actual variety. It's only logic that players would choose to obtain the best gear possible for going about their needs - the amount of vanity items available for outfits and so on is fairly extensive in comparison to most games. It's the same in most games though for armor; everyone in World of Warcraft seeks after Best in Slot items or Tier gear which, at its highest level is the same amongst all players. If anything the ability for our individual characters to be so flexible within this game enabling us to wear suits for multiple setups involving all styles of combat is all the variety you could need.

[The Mess]

Free Fiese, on 05 November 2009 - 01:59 AM, said:

Aragon, on 04 November 2009 - 07:47 PM, said:

Runescape is a game with a unique set of weapons and armor. There is one specific thing that really ticks me off about it though, it's that we don't have enough variety. Once you reach 20 Defence, you can wear Mithril Armor, which is a Blue – purplish color. If you don't like the color of it, then basically you have to get over it because there is no armor as good as it is in its class. If you liked the color black better than you do the color blue/purple, you most likely won't wear it because the armor's effect is worse than Mithril's, and you wouldn't be getting the full advantage as you should at your level.

I don't think I've ever actually seen a game like RuneScape in which you could decide what the colour of your outfit is. I like the idea though, sounds amazing. Black dragon armour, oh yeah.

I heard that in the new MMORPG Aion it is possible to dye your armour certain colours. But a lot of these games like WoW and such have "The best weapon" but there are many that are very close to it. I do not see a problem yet with the amount of weapons and armour in Runescape, it could be better but it is fine in my eyes as it is. Although the choice of customisation is lacking. Rune seems to be the most variable out of the lot, with God Armour and other trims.

I reckon they could implement a sort of ultra rare type of an armour, sort of like a "Shiny" type that we're in Pokemon games. (Yes i did just refer to pokemon ). These wouldn't have any stat differences, but have a sort of value in the rareness. Although i do like the idea of being able to dye your armour.

[Aragon]

As for the "trimming" armor idea-that's actually really nice. Each trim could have an effect to it, that makes an impact on your combat in some way. Possibly, have monster drop certain "power ups" for armor, and each power up gives a trim? Sounds pretty cool to me

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I really don't see the armor in this game lacking any actual variety. It's only logic that players would choose to obtain the best gear possible for going about their needs - the amount of vanity items available for outfits and so on is fairly extensive in comparison to most games. It's the same in most games though for armor; everyone in World of Warcraft seeks after Best in Slot items or Tier gear which, at its highest level is the same amongst all players. If anything the ability for our individual characters to be so flexible within this game enabling us to wear suits for multiple setups involving all styles of combat is all the variety you could need.

In WoW, it's rare to see people wearing the same gear as you. I talked to a friend that played Guild Wars the other day, and he said that he has never seen one person wearing the same thing he is wearing throughout the whole game (the exception to this is what the girls wear - they seem to always be wearing the same exposing clothes). He also said that if somebody could possibly make a list of all of the wepons and armor available in the game, it would be over ten pages long. Now that's saying something.

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I think you should be able to customize your armor and weapons. You should be able to pick colors, handle style, and other small details. It would be a really cool feature to have.

Yes! I agree - I'd love to be able to customize my rune scimitar

[Quesoman I]

I have an idea, the amount of clothing in runescape is huge, just that most of it gives no stats.
Why not combining two items together?
Lets say you have a dragon platebody, which gives good stats, but would prefer to wear an ele' shirt instead, well you combine both items to get an ele' shirt with the stats of a dragon platebody, this includes weight and value, ect.
You would keep in the bank the real ele' shirt, and take a dragon platebody to fight, but it looks like an ele' shirt.
If you lost it or something it would turn back to normal, and the 'edited' versions would be untraedable.
It would look in your inv, and dropped as the dragon plate, but with dragon plate (morphed) and only worn would look different.
I think it has potential.

Weapons would be fishy to change though, the animations and all that.

EDIT: I've been thinking about it, and I came to the conclusion that these shouldn't be allowed in PVP, this includes PVP minigames, so that people don't complain that they don't know what the opponent is wearing.
Weapons not allowed to change altogether, as it would b confusing for attack speed and so on.

Imagine wearing your partyhat without risking it, as it would be like a nosepeg at aberrant spectres!
You could wear your skilling outfit for combat!

This post has been edited by Quesoman I: 05 November 2009 - 03:41 PM

[Lola Driver]

There might be a simple way to handle this "issue". There are already dyes in the game, so why not just be able to colour your armour/weapons with the already existing dyes. No new items would have to be made. No new stat bonuses either, although I do like the the idea of being able to customize one's armour, particularily using skills to do it, and thusly improving it's defensive capability.