RuneScape Review: Is Jagex’s Popular MMO Still Worth Playing?

Over the last few years, I have frequently taken a moment to visit one of my first MMO stomping grounds for the sake of writing a RuneScape Review. With the first month of 2012 come and gone, it seemed like the perfect time to take another trek back into familiar - even nostalgic - territory, and see what Jagex Ltd has been busy with in the last few months.

RuneScape Bots: A problem no more?

Any gamer who has spent time on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO) has probably encountered a fair share of "bot" accounts. These robot-controlled characters are in direct violation of the terms and conditions established for most MMO titles, and yet task-based games such as RuneScape are especially prone to hordes of bots. This is especially frustrating when competing for materials (and thereby experience), but bot accounts also have a huge impact on the in-game market in titles like RuneScape.

Fortunately, Jagex has taken huge steps towards diminishing the bot population down to a very reasonable minimum, even going so far as to engage in - and ultimately win - a legal dispute with a bot developer, Impulse Software. The illegal iBOT software is no longer being made available by the developers, and anti-bot players can hope that further legal steps will be taken against other companies who blatantly and directly promote violations with the RuneScape terms and conditions.

As someone who has logged many hours in the RuneScape world and frequently encountered nuisance bot accounts, I immediately saw a big difference in how I often I was competing with hordes of other characters for basic supplies. Mining is no longer an infuriating chore, and fishing spots are frequented by chatting, interactive players rather than the silent, eerily efficient presence of bots. Of course, players will still encounter questionable situations and possibly even a bot or two - but the decrease in bot numbers is impressive, and a huge perk to returning to the game.

Game Updates and Unnecessary Changes

One aspect of RuneScape's frequent changes which disappointed me is Jagex's tendency to fix things that aren't broken. Perhaps it's just nostalgia talking, but I'm saddened whenever my character teleports using the new graphic and sound effects, and the changes to geographical locations - such as Burthorpe and Taverley for the new member's tutorial - are stark differences within a familiar setting.

Many updates, such as the implementation of the "Tool Belt," seem to be making RuneScape an even easier MMO to play. I can't help feeling that some of these "easymode" changes are actually to the detriment of the RuneScape experience, but perhaps that's just the veteran player - who logged many hours running back to the bank for basic tool supplies - talking. Are we spoiling the younger generation of gamers by making titles like RuneScape even more user-friendly? While I can appreciate some of the time saving changes, it does seem as though Jagex is lowering the bar on difficulty to compete with other MMOs that have long done the same.

Like death and taxes, membership price increases are certain.

Benjamin Franklin obviously wasn't a gamer, but his famous quote, "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes," can easily extend to include spikes in membership fees. In late January, Jagex broke the news that the membership fees for a subscription to RuneScape would be increasing from $5.95 a month to $7.95, unless players upgraded and subscribed prior to February 1^st. Fortunately, players who were already subscribed to the pay-to-play (P2P) version of RuneScape were automatically grandfathered into the new system at the locked-in rate of $5.95, until their membership payment lapses more than seven days.

While a $2 jump might not seem like much, one of the benefits of playing RuneScape is the notoriously low cost of subscribing. Although players can always revert to the free-to-play (F2P) version, the P2P option for RuneScape unlocks a whole score of content unavailable on the F2P servers: New skills, huge expansions to geographical options, smaller server numbers and more. Should Jagex choose to annually increase the monthly membership for RuneScape, I dare say they will be risking a huge drop in subscribers the closer they get to over $10 per month in fees.

RuneScape: Still worth the time?

Although RuneScape seems to be inching further and further away from the dynamics I remember best, I have to admit that a lot of Jagex's updates in the last year have been very positive. I was an adamant supporter of the reversion to "Free Trade" and the original "Wilderness" player-versus-player zone, though I would love to see less changes to the familiar sights and sounds within the RuneScape world I have encountered for so many years.

Even with the membership price increase, RuneScape still offers quite a lot of bang for your buck at $7.95 per month, and you never have to pay one red cent if you prefer the F2P version of the game. The huge reduction in bot accounts feels like a treat, and I appreciate Jagex going above and beyond to ensure successful anti-bot measures. Without a doubt, this is one I still have to recommend to the casual player, especially if you like an MMO you can come and go from without many penalties. RuneScape is a great choice for killing time on an idle Wednesday afternoon, or you can invest more fully and try to enjoy everything this surprisingly addictive browser-based MMO has to offer.

Sources:

RuneScape News, "New Members' Pricing," "Jagex vs. IBot & Anti-Bot Update," and "Troll Warzone"