Runescape year: 2010

Full summary of major changes in Runescape during 2010 from the Informer. Amazingly Dungeoneering appeared in Runespace in April 2010 - less then 9 months ago! Somehow it feels like Dungeoneering was part of the game for a lot longer.

And here are my personal highlights of the year:

• Quests! Jagex continues to make awesome quests. I wouldn't say they outdone 2009 quests, but still I enjoyed pretty much all of them. Especially the Love Story.
• Dungeoneering - duh! A new skill which I found very relaxing.
• Bonus XP weekends - I loved the preparation for the second one (I missed three weeks before the first weekend). It also helped me to get 99 in Herblore, which was nice :)
• Canting Away summer and winter festivals - pure fun and joy
• Partnership with Sal's - very important, huge and somewhat scary step for Runewise
• Series of interviews with Ruescape and Stellar Dawn fan site founders, owners and developers - apart from enjoying the actual interviews I also had very interesting time reaching out and talking to all involved fan sites. Priceless experience.

Best Quests in MMOs

I was thinking about this Tip.it article which talks about variability Jagex started to introduce into Runescape quests. Tried to imagine where it could lead and how such variability could enhance questing experience. And then I thought, wait a second, this is really pushing the boundaries of MMO questing. Has anybody else done it?

Well, naturally, I went out searching. Nope, no one did it before. Jagex is indeed leading the way in this area. All possible types of MMO quests are represented in Runescape, but what is more important apparently Runescape quests (while still within the same limits as the rest of MMO quests) are the best out there!

Just a few quotes from various "MMO questing discussions" (not from RS forums!):

"My first mmorpg was runescape, i loved the quests but when i moved to wow clones mmorpgs i tough: “what the hell this quests are very stupid and too easy” i really felt they were the same,” kill this kill that kill this and go collect that”
Because while you are doing a runescape quest you are knowing the story step by step
When you are doing a wow quest you know the story of the quest right from the beginning"

"Runescape has the best quests ever(No I am not saying it has good graphics-.-)Lots of story line and the quests are interested plus theres LOTS of quests.I don't know how much quests there are but if I took a (TRUTHFUL) guess I would say like 100-150 quests. May not seem much but the quests are a bucket load of fun. I don't think theres even 1 single quest on runesape that is like "kill 50 of these and return to me" ^^ the quests can take a long time too but there still fun. Quests in other games are boring and don't last long."kill 10 of these and get 10 of these ores" they last like 10 minutes. I've known players(with lives) spend 1 week on a quest."

Also take a look at this post about "lack of variety in MMO quests". The part that cought my attention was:

"So how do we solve the problem of 'deja vu' questing in RPGs? Sadly I don't believe we can. Quest types in RPGs will always be limited to the same four types. There is however hope in reducing the questing 'deja vu factor' through clever disguises. I've seen techniques like creative story telling, appealing quest UIs, cinematic cut scenes and clever NPC interaction used to make receiving a quest more entertaining and enjoyable. "

All of the techniques listed above are being used in Runescape quests (almost in every one of them).

So yes, I believe that we are getting the best MMO quests in Runescape. Of course, I have biased opinion about Runescape in general, but in this case I think it's rather objective one.

Exclusive RSC Content

Interesting twist on the "old quests removal/replacement" movement Jagex has started this summer. Suddenly RSC got two exclusive quests (and the third one is coming). See Aximili E I's post about it.

Questing

Took some time and completed three quests I had long postponed: Elemental Workshop III, Quiet Before the Swarm and Love Story. Gee, I am glad I did them in exactly this order.

Elemental Workshop III was bad. Not exactly hard, but extremely tedious. I actually like sliding puzzles and this one was indeed beautifully designed, but I am not prepared to do exclusively sliding puzzles for 3 hours in a row!

First two times I tried I couldn't make it in 50 turns, but that was OK. I was finally able to complete puzzle #1 and get a hand on the mechanics. Puzzle #2 was fun, but puzzle #3 was already tiring. I was ready for the end of the quest right there and then. But no. There was also puzzle #4, which I did, but couldn't make #5 without restarting #4! Made one bar and... After some poking around I somehow shut down and lowered the rotating thingy in the middle and had to go back to #3!!! I was almost screaming with frustration at that point... I made it through at the end, but I truly, really hoped there won't be Elemental Workshop IV. Ever. Please.

Quiet Before the Swarm was OK. But I had enough of puzzles at the moment and couldn't appreciate it fully. Maybe I shouldn't have done it right after the Elemental Workshop. Too late. Anyway, going through conversations with nine (!) knights was tedious as well as prying information from five of them in the "mind space". Other then that it was quite good and even relaxing. The bridge problem was cool, I am now giving it out to friends in RL :)

But then I went through the Love Story and loved every second of it. What a blast!
My hero in the game summed up the whole experience perfectly in this one phrase:

Can't say it better, can I?

So that's what I did during last two days...

And there is only one question nagging at me: "why? oh why, can't all quests be on the level of Love Story? why does Jagex keeps mixing Elemental Workshops in between?"

Co-Op Quests in Runescape

A post from Jamie about doing quests with a friend. It is indeed fun. I remember doing Dragon Slayer with a friend and, guess what, I still remember this quest very well, when I completely forgot many others which I did alone.

But do we need more quests which would require two people to get through? I don't think so. I agree with Jamie that it makes sense to have quests designed in a way that they would flow nicely for two people, but I wouldn't like to see more quests that would require a partner.

Maybe I am just a "lone wolf" type of player, but I think I am far from being an exception in this regard.

Four Arcticles about Runescape Questing

Being passionate about Runescape questing, I am very pleased with the latest Tip.it Times release. The whole paper (4 articles!) is dedicated to Runescape questing and all four articles are great and bring up good points.

The best reward in a quest is an adventure, and not a bunch of genie lamps you may get at the end! With rather limited amount of role-playing going on in Runescape, quests provide a great opportunity to dive into the fantasy world and experience it to the fullest (even if for a short time). And yet again, I'd like to encourage you to approach quests without using any guides. Yes, it'll take much longer to complete, but you'll get yourself a true adventure to live through.

I also agree with Necromagus that it would be nice to have more quest lines somehow logically completed. It is good to have a few loose ends here and there, but not so many! It is almost cruel to keep players waiting to hear an end of the story for several years.

And, finally, yes, My Arm's Big Adventure is near the top of my list of favorite quests too :-) If you haven't completed this quest yet, I envy you. Yeap, I really do.

The articles:

• Tying Up Loose Ends
• The Big Adventure
• Once upon a Time...
• The Underlying Reward

Interview with Paul Gower

Interesting interview with Paul Gower about the way quests are being created. A lot of questions about the Curse of Arrav quest and Mahjarrat series. But they didn't ask about Ali the Wise!

Quest Cape on a rise?

Merch Gwyar's observations about a shift in Quest Cape perception in Runescape community. I do agree, it seems like Quest Cape gains more significance in eyes of Runescape players as time passes. Skill capes are not rare anymore and Quest Cape indeed shows un-faltered dedication to the game. It is much faster for a new player to get Cooking, Thieving or Firemaking cape than to complete all the quests nowadays. And then keep it that way.

P.S. I still value my Farming cape more, but I guess it may change in the next few years...

Passionate Questing

Now, that's the way to do quests! What a drive! I can only envy 02Daz16.

Questing in Runescape

Something unusual happened to me when I was doing the Glorious Memories quest yesterday. I've been quite busy IRL lately, so it took more than a week for me to get going with the new quest. Finally, this Saturday, I carved out a few hours and prepared to enjoy the adventure. My first steps were quite normal though: I talked to various Fremennik chiefs, saw their versions of dreadful events which took place in an icy cave some 20 years ago and gathered directions to the actual cave. The directions were straightforward: "go east from Rellekka, then turn north along the mountains and finally cross some ice field to get to the cave". However it took me a while until I found the cave: I went all the way to the hunting area, visited eagles in their icy cave, then returned back and up the snowy slope of the mountain by the fairy ring. And, bingo! The cave was there, as icy as it could be! I ventured inside, met Erjolf and together we found the frozen "yeti"-like creature inside. So far so good. I helped Erjolf to melt the ice around the creature and it turned out to be one of Mahjarrats. Hmm, I thought, quite strange for the yeti quest, checked the quest tab and saw that Fremennik chiefs still wanted me to investigate the cave. Fine. so it went, I helped the Mahjarrat to regain his peaceful slumber and returned back to Erjolf with a trophy. And then the quest ended. What?!! How about all those Fremennik chiefs? I checked the tab again, they still wanted me to investigate the cave. Hmm, I went and talked to them again - to no avail.

You are probably laughing already, but only at that point did I realize that I found different icy cave and completed the Tale of Muspah quest instead of the Glorious Memories one.

Then I thought, wow, wasn't it great? Instead of following step by step instruction I ended up living within a story of my own creation within Runescape. I only wish I could repeat this experience, but alas, it would be very hard. I envy players who still have many quests to complete. If they choose to do them without guides, but as part of their adventures within Runescape, they have a great chance of becoming entangled in such stories and enjoy them to the fullest.

Runescape Quests: past and future.

Overview of Runescape quests, tendencies and trends from Runetower. Enjoy!

P.S. Also starting from this post I plan to include little widgets with my favorite songs to some of the posts. Thanks to Fire Nile7 for teaching me how to make these cute widgets :_) I am sharing favorite books already, so why not music? I hope you'll find something you like from those snippets from time to time.

Quest Cheating in Runescape

I didn't know players do this kind of stuff in clans. Switching accounts and letting someone else to complete quests and skill... I mean, that's what RWT companies are doing nowadays... I agree with G, it is cheating. In my opinion, clans should not tolerate it. And surely not encourage it!

The Joy of Quests

Another good article from Tip.it. This one is about Runescape quests and various rewards they can bring. I pretty much share author's enthusiasm for questing. The only thing I'd like to add is: "try to avoid using quest guides". If you want to enjoy questing, do it your way, don't turn it into a mindless following of someone's recipe. Yes, it would take more time to do quests this way and you may die more often, but, believe me, it makes all the difference.

Yes, there are situations (especially nasty riddle or extremely hidden clue) when you pretty much don't have any other choice other than to peek into a guide, and that's OK, but in majority of the cases it is possible to complete quests without ever consulting someone else's guide.

Happy questing!

How much are Runescape quests?

Was poking around, looking for something interesting and stumbled on the members quests price list on one of the major RWT sites. Who would think that people would actually pay that much for someone to do quests for them...

Majority of the quests were $11.99 with a few exceptions. Kind of gives another perspective on quests difficulty (or rather length).

$3.49 - All Fired Up

$5.99 - Wolf Whistle

$9.99 - Swept Away

$12.99 - Spirit of Summer

$14.99 - As a First Resort, Catapult Construction, Dealing With Scabaras, Icthlarin's Little Helper, Kennith's Concerns, Legacy of Seergaze (Myreque Part 4), Meeting History, Perils of Ice Mountain

$15.99 - Smoking Kills, Summer's End

$16.99 - Rocking Out, TokTz-Ket-Dill

$17.99 - Animal Magnetism, Enakhra's Lament, Enlightened Journey, Family Crest, Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf, Garden of Tranquillity, Ghosts Ahoy, Haunted Mine, Heroes Quest, Holy Grail, King's Ransom, Land of the Goblins, Legends Quest (oh, boy), Lunar Diplomacy, My Arm's Big Adventure, One Small Favour, Plague City, Regicide

$23.99 - Monkey Madness

$31.99 - Desert Treasure

$59.99 - Recipe for Disaster, While Guthix Sleeps (already in the list...)

$69.99 - Fighters Torso (Not really a quest, but... sad...)

The Grandmaster Quest (While Guthix Sleeps)

DONE!

It took me about 6-7 hours to complete it without a guide. Very, very long quest with a decent story and generous rewards. 400K exp went to Runecrafting (Yay!). The final battle wasn't very hard, though it took me two attempts to beat the boss (during the second attempt I prayed against Magic and had DFS equipped and the battle went much easier).

If you intend to tackle the quest without a guide, just two little tips (I think Jagex went overkill in these two areas):

• Wear the Ring of Charos when talking to the laundry man.
• Have a death rune with you when trying to get to the Lucien's camp.

Everything else flows quite nicely without a guide.

Good luck!

P.S. Anyone knows what's up with that fog in Shilo village? It's hard to see...

P.P.S. How come dead Slayer masters are still employed in Gielinor?

Around Twenty Billion Huge Favors

Passionate, funny and well written outcry about abundance of "go fetch me stuff" type of quests in Runescape.

Just one sample quote:
Another silly example of this is the quest Jungle Potion, a classic example of a "fetch quest", a quest requiring the helper/victim of the quest-giver to run a marathon, and while you're at it you've got to bring back animals, potions, rocks, teddy bears, or in this case: herbs.

Why do you do quests in Runescape?

Well, I personally like them (except for Mourning Ends Part 2 and Rat Catchers, of course). I find most of the quests pretty funny and entertaining and I am doing them without following any guides unless I am getting stuck completely.

But at the same time I know that many people dislike quests and do them only when they absolutely have to, for instance, to unlock a new skill or area on the map. And along the way they complain about "stupid Jagex making yet another dumb go-fetch-me-stuff quest". Kind of lame type of remark, don't you think? In this regard I was glad to see different attitude about the same issue from Topper (and I hope many other players like him). Here is the direct quote: "Doing all the parts that I don’t really enjoy makes the fun parts of the game… more fun."

Do I need to add anything else? I don't think so.

What do we fear in Runescape?

Excellent article in the recent Sal's newspaper by Merch Gwyar. Scroll down to the "Fear And Loathing in Lumbridge" part of the page. Finally, I see a justice paid to the Haunted Mine quest (Yes, I was one of the victims and died there). I would also mention Darkness of Hallowvale quest there - it is so dark and depressing.

P.S. To readers from Sal's. If you know some of Sal's mods or newspaper mods, could you, please, ask them to take a look at the issue I raised here about the newspaper? It is really really inconvenient to link individual articles from Sal's newspaper... Thanks!

Why people do Quests?

Nicely written and heart lightening article from Sal's newspaper. Also just in time for my newly obtained Quest cape :-)

Runescape Quests

Quests, Stories and Tips

2007

Aug 26. How to re-obtain Quest Items
Oct 19. Back to the Roots. Friendship and Kindness.
Oct 26. When is the best time to do a quest?
Nov 1. Why people do Quests?

2008

Feb 3. Oo'glog's Pools and Spa
Feb 20. Runescape Facts and Trivia
Apr 26. The Key Quest
May 11. Legacy of Seergaze or Death by Snails.
May 18. TokTz-Ket-Dill - The TzHaar’s Test of Trust
Aug 20. Why do you do quests in Runescape?
Sep 17. Summer's End and Spirit Beast
Oct 30. Halloween in Runescape!
Nov 24. Around Twenty Billion Huge Favors
Nov 26. The Grandmaster Quest (While Guthix Sleeps)
Nov 30. While Guthix Sleeps Guide and Analysis
Dec 2. How much are Runescape quests?
Dec 10. What does Fremennik Diary have to do with Clue Scrolls?

2009

Jan 10. The Joy of Quests
Mar 6. The Aftermath of While Guthix Sleeps
Mar 12. Quest Cheating in Runescape
Mar 18. The Chosen Commander quest
Apr 26. Questing in Runescape
May 30. Passionate Questing
Jun 2. Quest Cape on a rise?
Aug 16. Four Arcticles about Runescape Questing
Aug 18. Fur and Seek adventure
Oct 12. Co-Op Quests in Runescape
Oct 18. Guide to Questing without Guides

2010

Jan 12. What is the price of the Quest Cape?
Jan 15. Guide to killing Nomad from Nomad's Requiem
Jan 16. OMG. I killed Nomad.
Jan 17. Nomad's Requiem Reviews
Jan 22. Killing Nomad with a Familiar
Jan 25. Strange power unleashes itself on Runescape
May 5. Buyers and Cellars
May 15. A Fairy Tale Part 3
May 30. Elemental Workshop III
Aug 7. Questing
Oct 19. Rs Halloween 2010 Event Guide
Dec 18. Best Quests in MMOs

2011

Mar 4. Vitruvius