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In the golden days.
But with this unprecedented move by Jagex, they will return. Or so we think.
Remember when the wild came back to us? Something we begged and cried for yet turned out to be our worst nightmare due to all of the new abilities and weapons that now were able to enter our "ideal" battleground.
Today, we have EOC, a rather lackluster, twisted version of what Runescape combat always wanted to be, but failed hard to emulate.
But now, we have 2007 servers. Untouched, fully stocked with only the abilities, weapons, graphical updates that existed during then. A memory that we have a chance to relive.
In that memory, it was PvP that drove RuneScape to its popularity, not PvM like today's Runescape. But sadly PvP had to be sacrificed so RuneScape would go on (wilderness taken away to stop gold farming and stolen credit card use). Copycat versions of the wilderness tried to take it's place (Bounty Hunter, the Crucible, PvP worlds).
And for a time, in their own right, they did. But none had the appeal that the wilderness had, the era that 2007 had.
So here we have it, coming down to this: 2007 Scape vs post-EOC RS, or better yet, PvP vs PvM. Which one will win?
When PvP was the focus of RS, or had a greater impact (wilderness), we saw constant 100k+ people online during weekends. In today's PvM driven RS, we are lucky to see 100k being broken.
I think RuneScape was so great to us back then is because the unexpectedness of a foe that we would face. In PvP, we didn't know what our opponent brought to a fight. We could only control what we had in our inventory, what levels our skills were, and hopefully a quick prayer that our connections wouldn't lag out in DM. In PvM, you know what styles your foe will use, and you can counter effectively, nowadays if you have the geepee, it wouldn't be a problem to worry about.
There is a huge potential for what will come once these servers come back. This is our chance to compare to versions of RuneScape and see what is truly better. People will argue that nostalgia holds one back, and while that is true, in this case, it may be the best way forward for RS and it's developers.
Like many have said, you have nothing to lose by voting. I'm not here to espouse either position, because there is a great chance that our "ideal" version of RS will be perverted by our view of the current version. Our expectations may be too high for this retro-version, people think that they know EXACTLY what there getting when they really don't.
Players will have to start from scratch.
An economy will be non-existent.
Only the die-hard players will persevere in this brave, new world.
New players may not fully appreciate the simplistic RS if a free version is to be had (assume that 750k votes will be obtained).
And the biggest fear of all, maybe this retro, heralded version of RS isn't all so great as we thought it would be.
And there's a great chance that this simplistic, bold '07 RS could be the key to Jagex's growth as a company. They now have the opportunity to house both RS and let their consumer decide on the choice of their product (if 750k votes is reached obviously).
The Old vs The New
And what about the clan community? A community that has persevered like no other (then again this is really the only MMORPG that I've ever played, but you can see why :D). You guys are so dedicated to your clans because they have bred most of your memories on RS.
Those memories, as well as others from skilling and PvM back then, are what is driving this poll today.
If Jagex would learn to tap into what and why the clan community can sustain such longevity, couldn't they learn to apply that on a model for all RuneScape players to be swallowed into, so then their membership subscriptions would not decline?
If you could get 9-15 year old's to have such dedication to a game because of a clan or another aspect of a game, couldn't you do it again, but with even more fervor as you have seen the untapped might of having a strong community in general (this applies not only to the clan scene, but to all communities centered around an aspect of RS)?
Players of RS now have a chance to explore what it was like back then. There are now many firsts to be accomplished on this server. The first to this skill, The first to x amount of money. The first clan. Just like when RS started (I wasn't there but I find it reasonable to assume the following premise): There were many firsts to be had, many lands to explore. The unknown to be conquered.
This venture by Jagex really shows that RuneScape is about and what it has always been about: the game should have always been PvP because that's what drives people to come back. The interaction, whether it be staking for phats, luring someone for bank, DMing in single edge, fangirling over Elvemage videos (ok ok, this one just might be me, but he's the reason why I created a pure), having a conversation chopping down mages south of Camelot, alching at w132 fletching guild, and many more memories.
Or it could turn out like the wilderness return, something we wanted and cherished, but was ultimately a shell of what the wilderness had been.
I hope I've stayed fair and neutral (ok not really, I want to play 2007 servers very badly haha), but I've only touched the tip of the iceberg, the surface of the lake if you will with this intro into a discussion.
Originally, I planned to have a bunch of questions to ask you guys about what I've said. But there's really only one question.
What makes RuneScape back then so great that it merits a revival?
If you can approach that question with a balanced view, I think people actually start to prepare for 2007's return, and meet it with ideals in our eyes and reality in our mind.
Edited by Tiger R4nged, 16 February 2013 - 02:27 PM.
