29 replies to this topic

[spoonheb]

Today Mod Mark did a Reddit AMAA (ask me anything, almost).

There were a few interesting things said and definitely some information about future updates. I have picked out what I thought were the most interesting things either said or confirmed by Mod Mark. I also added in some questions based on how frequently they are asked.

I have marked the questions and answers by what category they best fit in to, there are many more Content questions because that's what we're most interested in and there are a variety of things to be asked (It's also where we fish for spoilers ).

Content

Spoiler

Q: To succeed in RS, one typically either needs lots of luck or lots of time. Elite boss drops have a very small chance of occurring, and the XP curve to 99 is steep. Will there be changes to implement content that rewards how "skilled" a player is? Dungeoneering and Player-Owned Ports are good first steps.
A: Yes.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Are the dragonkin related to the Wushanko Isles and that hole in the Pincers?
A: Perhaps. The kin are a mysterious bunch. Check out more info on them next year :)

Content

Spoiler

Q: Will the new skills have their own "stories" like Dungeoneering?
A: Kind of....

Legal

Spoiler

Q: What is your opinion on 2006scape, the 'fan' project that is trying to recreate Runescape as it was in 2006? Is Jagex planning on taking action against it for violating copyright?
A: We have a legal team that deals with copyright issues. Naturally I loved the game back in 2006 too, but I prefer to look forward rather than dwell in the past.

Microtransactions

Spoiler

Q (comment): $ 25.00 for a pet. Jagex'd
A: Sorry, my role here focuses on games design not the price points of store items.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Any plans on changing the 'Make-X' interface. It is difficult to clean herbs during herb runs at the moment.
A: Is it? That surprises me. I guess I tend to ID (lol, oldskool) herbs in a batch... I'll check that out.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Can you move the quests back to a tab? It's a real hassle trying to check it during a quest.
A: We are looking at some improvements to the noticeboard now.
(Similar question) A: Yes there are fierce battles in the office right now to decide how the tab will be used.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Can you please fix teleporting in dungeoneering, it currently doesn't let you teleport with the map open. It is also buggy when attempting to home teleport, meaning you have to attempt to home teleport twice (in dg).
A: OK

Personal

Spoiler

Q: What decision do you most regret regarding Runescape?
A: Changing the smiley faces that used to represent your friends list and ignore list. I miss those faces.

Other

Spoiler

Q: As an aspiring game creator, whats some advise you can give on content development? What ratio of time you say to invest in graphics compared to content? I remember when runescape first started, the content was incredible but the graphics were lackluster (though I know some players didn't really mind) and that seemed to still work really well.
A: We had a very small graphics team back then, and we had far less artists than developers. That's not the case anymore. I genuinely believe that to make a great game in the current MMO market, you need amazing visuals, audio, narrative design and, of course, fantastic gameplay. They are all part of the arsenal that we use to tell a great story :)

Content

Spoiler

Q: You promised an "elegant solution" to gambling some time ago. Is that still in the works and are we likely to see it any time soon?
A: Yes. Early 2013.

Personal

Spoiler

Q: What games do you enjoy outside of Runescape?
A: Right now I am playing XCOM - enemy unknown on my console and a minigolf game on my phone.

Botting

Spoiler

Q: How have you been dealing with bots after the nuke, botany bay, and EoC updates? I personally still see loads of bots almost anywhere, at any profitable or experience-heavy locations. As the 'Og Blog' says, many prices have dropped due to the EoC update, making certian high level armors much more common-- but the common goods and wares have also been steadily dropping, despite the fact that these are consumed in huge amounts for skilling.
A: We are still banning many bots every day. Sorry to hear that isn't transparent to you. The war against bots is a daily struggle, and we don't want to ban any legit players by mistake, so we do these things very carefully.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Are there any plans to create some kind of money sink in the near future? Are there any plans to put a stop to player-run gambling and 'flowering'? Many players find these to be a nice side activity, but I feel that it is causing a small portion of players to control massive amounts of wealth.
A: Yes.

Other

Spoiler

Q: Looking at these questions and their upvotes / downvotes, everyone is getting downvoted in some way, regardless of question / response.
Its interesting to wonder if this is a reflection of Runescape's community. My question is pretty straightforward: Do you think Jagex is doing a good job satisfying their community? And why?
A: I read a fascinating article on "the psychology of dislikers on you tube". If I find the link Ill post it here before I'm done. (I did not see the article added.)

Personal

Spoiler

Q: Because of your success at Runescape, have you gotten job offers from other companies in the industry? Are there any notable positions you have turned down?
A: Yes, but I love this company and the game. I have no desire to go anywhere else.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Not game design related but have to ask: When are bank boosters coming to the loyalty shop??? :):):)
A: 2013.

Other

Spoiler

Q:I used to play Runescape and was heavily invested in the market. I just found it fun to play the market, and at one point I had 80-100 party hats, halloween masks, santa hats, half bottles of wine, etc.
THEN, the big dupe happened. They were dropping party hats in Varrock left and right, and the market plummeted. This is when I stopped playing. It wasn't the fact that the market crashed, because it ended up coming back which is great, but it was the fact that, in the event of the crash, mods did absolutely nothing to save the market.
My question is, do the mods still talk about this? Do they have regrets about the way they handled it? In the event of another giant dupe, would they handle it the same way? I quit because of my fear that it could happen again. It never ended up happening again, so I regret quitting and giving my items away to friends, but also am grateful to have gotten away from the addiction that day.
A: Generally we don't like talking about bug abusers, doing so would give them credit, and I don't like giving credit to low lifes

Community

Spoiler

Q:How are you guys dealing with the huge loss of players due to the EOC update?
A:Right now I'm focusing on making the EoC as good as I know it can be. I genuinely believe its the best thing for the game and for the long term future of RuneScape. Its sad to see that some people have decided to quit, and we are doing everything we can to address the feedback points on our forums.
(At least he didn't say people are quitting because of EoC?)

Graphical

Spoiler

Q: 1) The world map looks a bit out of date any plans for updating it?
2) Will there be a Varrock graphical update soon?
A: 1 & 2) Yes

Bug Fix

Spoiler

Q: Any ETA On saga fix?
A: I was chatting to Jake earlier today about this. It should be in the first update of January. Sorry its taken a while to fix it.
(still that long?)

Content

Spoiler

Q: How's the Level my X update shaping up? I currently see a lot of the gear in game as lacking individuality; it can more or less be classified to archetype and tier- will LV my X do anything to fix this?
A: Now that EoC is live we can start focusing on mega cool stuff like "level up my x". it is indeed centered around making unique items that compliment every users individual styles of gameplay and skill focus.

?

Spoiler

(I believe a few questions were confused here): I think that the impact to legitimate gameplay was too high a price to pay, which is fundamentally why we put it (the wildy and free trade return) to a player vote.

Botting

Spoiler

Q: Are you satisfied with the state of Botany Bay?
A: With the area itself, yes. Sadly the war against bots is a tough fight and it often takes us longer to do things than we originally expected.

Content

Spoiler

Q: How will the new pocket slot be used, other than for scrimshaws?
A: Right now we are keeping our options open. I can say that it will feature heavily in the 2nd new skill next year.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Are there any plans to make skilling possible (and balanced) without having to use external factors?
Doing skills the right way (mining ores and smithing them), is way less effective than doing a boss for money, and buy ores to train smithing with after. How will this be fixed?
A: Id like to improve the GP earning potential of many aspects of the game. However, some activities will always remain XP focused, and I don't believe that all skills should generate the same amount of wealth.

Technological

Spoiler

Q: What made you decide to put Runescape on the Java system, as opposed to a standalone launcher or something similar?
A: We are branching out beyond JAVA next year. At the time, it was the language that offered us what we wanted.

Content

Spoiler

Q: With the recent EOC update many of the special slayer drops such as the abyssal whip and the dark bow as well as other slayer items have dropped drastically in value. Any chance loot tables with existing slayer monsters will be boosted in the future?
A: Yes. We are also looking at strengthening the effectiveness of some weapons and armour to improve their values.

Content

Spoiler

Q: I'm MageHunt502 from the Spanish Community.. What do you have prepared for the Communities on 2013?
A: Loads! Honestly though, were really going to be doing some amazing updates next year, and the community will have the chance to help shape the future of the world like never before.

Content

Spoiler

Q: Seeing as I know you can not release much information about unreleased content, what is there that you can tell us about the Zaros and Vampire story lines? I figure the two will tie in to one another due to the lore, but is there anything that you could maybe hint at about the future of these things?
A: Drakan and Vanescula will likely feature heavily in the future. I cant say how or where. Zaros has his own destiny and a long list of revenge plots.

I hope you enjoy reading through these, I did not ask any questions, I wish I had because there are some specific things I'd like to know about.
I know some answers were vague, but I tried not to include the extremely vague (or nonsensical) answers.
In no way here do these questions, comments or answers reflect my opinion of Runescape, Jagex, the Runescape Community and such.
Link to the Reddit : http://www.reddit.co...at_jagex_games/

I made a video on this and included my a variety of questions, along with the ones I was most interested in.

Edited by spoonheb, 20 December 2012 - 11:26 PM.

[Loco.]

spoonheb, on 19 December 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

Botting
Q: Are you satisfied with the state of Botany Bay?
A: With the area itself, yes. Sadly the war against bots is a tough fight and it often takes us longer to do things than we originally expected.

Some interesting questions and some vague answers, will be interesting to see future changes to the game.

[spoonheb]

LocoThugs, on 19 December 2012 - 07:45 PM, said:

Some interesting questions and some vague answers, will be interesting to see future changes to the game.

Yes, some answers were very vague one was "Yes" and when asked to clarify he also said.. "Yes".
But that's his way of not divulging any super secret info

[Ax e]

LocoThugs, on 19 December 2012 - 07:45 PM, said:

spoonheb, on 19 December 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

Botting
Q: Are you satisfied with the state of Botany Bay?
A: With the area itself, yes. Sadly the war against bots is a tough fight and it often takes us longer to do things than we originally expected.

Some interesting questions and some vague answers, will be interesting to see future changes to the game.

I've lost count of the number of times Jagex has said something along those lines. "WE WILL BAN ALL BOTS".. two weeks later.. "We knew it wouldn't be completely effective".

xDD

[Luftey]

Thanks for taking the time to post this, I rarely go to the Runescape Reddit, so odds are i'd have never seen it :D

Was a interesting read, thanks for posting it

[spoonheb]

Luftey, on 19 December 2012 - 09:16 PM, said:

Thanks for taking the time to post this, I rarely go to the Runescape Reddit, so odds are i'd have never seen it :D
Was a interesting read, thanks for posting it

I've never actually been on Reddit lol, I saw this mentioned on RS forums as it was happening. (what luck)

[Milktea4me]

I heard that Mod Mark was having a AMA real soon, but I guess I missed it. Glad to see a lot of good questions were answered.

[Barelyawake]

Really good questions, and though some answers we're pretty short it was a good read.


Good to know they might be balancing out weapons.

[Xtrm]

Quote

3) Can we have an ETA for the next task set?
Sure. Heres a reveal for you..... its in January!

I'm glad to see that, I believe it's going to be the Dungeoneering one considering how long it's been leaked in-game. We know it won't be the Elf tasks since that won't be until 2014...

Quote

5) After the 2x Dg weekend, can we expect the finale and/or Floor 61 soon?
No.

I'm disappointed. I'm not 120 Dungeoneering, but I love the RuneScape lore. And considering this was talked about at RuneFest 2011 and was originally supposed to be released in 2012. It kind of upsets me.

[Rodney King]

Quote

Q: Looking at these questions and their upvotes / downvotes, everyone is getting downvoted in some way, regardless of question / response.
Its interesting to wonder if this is a reflection of Runescape's community. My question is pretty straightforward: Do you think Jagex is doing a good job satisfying their community? And why?
A: I read a fascinating article on "the psychology of dislikers on you tube". If I find the link Ill post it here before I'm done. (I did not see the article added.)

Deflect deflect deflect! This guy is the original artful dodger.

Quote

Q:How are you guys dealing with the huge loss of players due to the EOC update?
A:Right now I'm focusing on making the EoC as good as I know it can be. I genuinely believe its the best thing for the game and for the long term future of RuneScape. Its sad to see that some people have decided to quit, and we are doing everything we can to address the feedback points on our forums.
(At least he didn't say people are quitting because of EoC?)

Number of great EoC threads on RSB - explaining game imbalances, and other major issues with how rushed the EoC seemed. Most have 300+ post, all have something in commmon.

Not one JMod post. Not even an acknowledgement of the problems. So your doing "everything we can"? How bout starting with a forum reply and acknowledging the player base....


EDIT: Overall - answers were vague and brief, no real insight to game improvements, imbalances, war on bots, new content/quests, what they are doing to tackle PvM and price depreciation of high lvl armour, almost nothing on PvP = just as I expected.

If you still have membership I'm sorry to say your pumping money into a dying game, especially when they can't give clear answers to reletivately straightforward questions....

Edited by Rodney King, 20 December 2012 - 12:27 AM.

[WaterTab]

Im pretty sure if someone reports advert bots with names like 'dgsfg24' or 'hgsadf45' that it is surely a bot.
Anyways, this answers many questions. Thank you

[Robin H PK1]

interesting that they are branching out from java, im guessing this is more to do with being given tools from working on the new Transformers Universe game.

[hot_hot_kid]

Awesome thread i learned enough to get to see parts of the future seems like lots planned for 2013 ;)

[zoth01]

Would love to see more skilling love in terms of profit. Although I completely understand why monster hunting is (and should be) way more profitable, I miss the days where I could make a good amount of gp while skilling.

[Duke Narked]

It will be interesting to see how they improved the "Skilled" players. Runescape is a game of Luck in those 1s and 0s, but to see something that rewards long term players that put a lot into their starts should be very interesting to see.

However, Mark's answer aren't as comforting as I would like to hope to see. There are still a lot of unanswered question regarding bots, items and the effects of gambling.

[fatcharley]

Quote

Q: Looking at these questions and their upvotes / downvotes, everyone is getting downvoted in some way, regardless of question / response.
Its interesting to wonder if this is a reflection of Runescape's community. My question is pretty straightforward: Do you think Jagex is doing a good job satisfying their community? And why?
A: I read a fascinating article on "the psychology of dislikers on you tube". If I find the link Ill post it here before I'm done.

How diplomatic..
His stubborness really amazes me; a man quite clearly consumed by arrogance, greed and gluttony.

[zxpurekillxz]

Mod Mark will forever go down as the man who ruined runescape. I feel sorry for this man, not a bad read

[JohnLegend]

LocoThugs, on 19 December 2012 - 07:45 PM, said:

spoonheb, on 19 December 2012 - 07:35 PM, said:

Botting
Q: Are you satisfied with the state of Botany Bay?
A: With the area itself, yes. Sadly the war against bots is a tough fight and it often takes us longer to do things than we originally expected.

Some interesting questions and some vague answers, will be interesting to see future changes to the game.

This is the same analysis made almost every time they do one of these :/ They always seem to just dodge questions unless the answer is obvious or right around the corner. This gets annoying

Quote

Q: What decision do you most regret regarding Runescape?
A: Changing the smiley faces that used to represent your friends list and ignore list. I miss those faces.

Facetious crap like this annoy crap like this annoys the hell out of me; yeah this is a game and we, even him are all players, but take this seriously, organ.

Edited by JohnLegend, 20 December 2012 - 10:24 PM.

[Mikko]

jagex doesn't actually ban any active player botters who are paying for their memberships. They have a random account generator that gives the account its displayname and whatnot and place it instantly into the botany bay to make it seem like the whole botany bay idea is working when its actually not. At the end of the day, jagex are really bad at catching actual botters. They could probably do a better job at it if they really put the effort in, but I think it's just not that big of a deal to them and they prioritise other things in front of the botting issue (such as adding new solomon content which means more income).

and this was more or less confirmed to me by a jagex moderator a while ago if you're wondering about source.

Edited by Mikko, 20 December 2012 - 11:31 PM.

[Darth koo]

Mikko, on 20 December 2012 - 10:56 PM, said:

jagex doesn't actually ban any active player botters who are paying for their memberships. They have a random account generator that gives the account its displayname and whatnot and place it instantly into the botany bay to make it seem like the whole botany bay idea is working when its actually not. At the end of the day, jagex are really bad at catching actual botters. They could probably do a better job at it if they really put the effort in, but I think it's just not that big of a deal to them and they prioritise other things in front of the botting issue (such as adding new solomon content which means more income).

and this was more or less confirmed to me by a jagex moderator a while ago if you're wondering about source.

If you got proof of this than prove it, Mikko, with a link of screen shot. The small amout of stuff we did get was interstering at least.