Evolution of Combat - Revolutionary or Disaster In The Making?

Evolution of Combat has been a real game changer indeed. As Runescape Wiki summarized, EOC brings "a variety of new content including powerful abilities, dual weapon wielding, new Magic and Ranged equipment, and new Prayers. In addition, the combat triangle has been massively balanced, monsters have new attacks, and the combat level formula has been revised." 

I remain rather ambivalent about this update. This update was a mixed bag of effects for me, helping me with training on one hand while causing me a significant deal of monetary loss on the other. (On hindsight though, the monetary loss was mostly due to players engaging in panic-selling, so I can't really pin the blame on the update.)

The aims of EOC can be found on Mod Mark's DevBlog. What I'd do is to pick a few aims to discuss, and hopefully give a picture of how I see EOC from the comments.

1) Refocus combat to be more about player skill - ... making it more about mastering techniques, rather than navigating interfaces at speed.

This is a rather sound argument, and the new abilities do warrant a little more attention than just waiting for the special bar to be filled up. The abilities could make monster slaying faster if used appropriately, so that's one incentive right there. However, I just seem to prefer the old system of click-and-wait. Getting Momentum activated in the shortest amount of time possible is usually my priority, then I can sit back and multitask while my character kicks some serious monster ass.

2) Encourage variety in combat equipment - ... The problem is, at the moment, there aren't many reasons to change from your favourite weapons or armour. We’d like to give you those reasons.

Well, this is valid. One personal benefit of EOC is that I'm a lot motivated to utilize Magic and Ranged for PVM situations. I've actually managed to gain quite a number of levels as a result. That being said. I am slightly annoyed at now less effective to tear through almost anything with my melee gear, as I used to.

3) Make it fun! - ... In-game combat - particularly training on standard enemies - currently involves clicking on a creature and waiting. We'll do a whole lot more to make these situations challenging, rewarding and - ultimately - more fun.

Honestly, I don't see much of a difference. With Momentum activated, it is the exact same game, except I don't get to use the flashy special moves. In fact, if you use the right gear, it is probably less challenging (which I suppose is a good thing, but makes this point moot).

4) Make it easier to access - Several combat options (special attacks, combat styles, spellbooks) are tucked away, hard to access, or on various different interfaces, so we’re planning to bring all those options together.

Without the action bar, the combat options are still located on different tabs - not really a significant change (or at all). On the sidenote, I really love the inclusion of the action bar, which is tremendous help even in non-combat situations. Tip: If you don't already know, you can put items such as the Explorers' Ring on the action bar to serve as an alternative one-click teleport!

5) Allow players’ combat levels to truly represent their ability – The combat level calculator is complicated and encourages players to not train certain skills in an attempt to create a false impression of their damage potential (pures). 

This is one of the statements that I don't agree with. I don't think having a whole load of level 200 players running amok is the best idea that Jagex has had. For the longest time, maximum combat level is something that is pretty respected and sought after. Now, you have way too many players who have maxed combat levels. That definitely takes some fun off players who've been training Prayer and Summoning in order to get that coveted level 138. *points to self*

6) Be brave, but be traditional where possible - We are a game with a proud heritage and a player base with clear expectations of the game they want to play. We don’t want to make a game that we can’t even recognise anymore.

I think this is complete and utter bull. EOC is brave, but there is nothing traditional about it. By revamping the entire combat system, a huge deal of the game is fundamentally changed. I'm pretty sure old-timers who have stopped for a while and return to the game after EOC would not recognize it anymore. Yeah, I think this is pretty much an unnecessary justification for EOC, neither does it make any sense.

Of course, comments are entirely my own opinions and there is nothing I'd welcome more than fruitful debate on my outlook on these aims and their results.

Though I'm not in love with the new system, I'm going to tone down with the whining and live with it, very much like how I have with the other bad decisions (in my opinion) that were made by the developers. In a couple of years, people would have forgotten about the 'old days' and be perfectly fine with EOC being the norm... until Jagex comes along and decides to throw in another game changer.

Squeal of Fortune, Soloman's General Store - The New Priority for Jagex?

As promised, I'll be sharing a few thoughts on major updates I've seen since my return, starting with the much debated release of the Squeal of Fortune (SOF). This particular update has generated a great deal of discussion among the RS community. The main concern many had with this update was the fact that SOF rewarded various experience lamps and necklaces, and the spins can be bought with actual cash. Had the rewards been purely cosmetic, there wouldn't have been backlash to this extend (or at all).

This issue with buying spins is brought to a whole new level with the 2012 Christmas event where players scurried to collect different colored presents, which were most easily obtained through SOF. The purple dragonstone present even had it's street price elevated to 50M  immediately after release before crashing to 13-15M the following day. The relative ease in which we can obtain the present from SOF in addition to the high demand for said presents made the notion of purchasing steeply-priced spins so much more alluring. Although I'm not discounting the fact that free spins can be obtained as drops and rewards for completing daily challenges or quests, they do not come in frequently, nor are they aplenty as rewards/drops.

Presents come significantly easier from SOF. 

Another new inclusion that I don't really like is the special pets from the Soloman's General Store. The items were only obtained through microtransactions, and for a while, remained purely cosmetic. Then came an update in August when the bank boosters were released, generating yet another wave of controversy. Back to the special pets, which were a relatively recent release, are followers capable of foraging, banking and scavenging loot at different stages of their growth. Of course, if you want to throw more money in, you can always buy extra items that would speed up their growth.

A full description about the pets, their abilities and treats to speed up their growth can be found on the official site.

Maybe it's just me, but I think Jagex is losing subtlety when it comes to making the players pay. Back when I first joined, though membership did offer some benefits when it comes to training speed and bank spaces, it was mostly justified; members had a lot more skills and items available to them, hence the need for a larger amount of bank space. It has been a tad blatant in the recent couple of years from what I've observed. Starting from the removal of free-to-play users from the highscores, which I honestly saw as a rather dick-ish move to attract more members, to all these nice little items and pets for people to pour their money in.

I'd be lying if I said that these new pets not appeal to me at all, and I might very just well get one of them when I do have spare cash. I understand that it is probably within company objectives to maximise profit. Still, I wonder what it is that's making the company throw all subtlety away to embark on such an aggressive route of profit-making.

I'm back (I hope?)

Looks like I'm back to blogging again. I've been fairly busy with National Service, in which I was actually conscripted into the Navy and I'm finally done with it. I actually renewed my membership a little over 3 months ago on a whim and it seems that I'll be staying for a while (hopefully). 

I haven't had the chance to go a lot of writing over the past two years, except for a few articles I've written for my unit. I reckon that blogging might help me ease back into my writing habits, so here I am. Besides, I actually enjoyed blogging about Runescape. As unfortunate as it sounds, real life just isn't as interesting as the pixel human I have onscreen.

There have been plenty of changes while I was away, and I got caught in the whole whirlwind that is Evolution of Combat shortly upon my return. I will devote the next few posts to discussing the more recent changes to the game, particularly the Evolution of Combat.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Cheers,

Tiz.