‘Bot Nuke Day’ – Thoughts…

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Mark Gerhard created a news article on RuneScape’s homepage stating that Jagex will be releasing their “most formidable bot-busting weapon” in RuneScape’s history on the 25th of October 2011. One can say that Jagex are being a bit too ambitious, or you could say that maybe they are trying to reassure players who have had enough of bots.

Bot Nuke Day

Bot Nuke Day on the RuneScape Homepage

Let’s get down to what we know will happen on the 25th…

Codenamed ‘Clusterflutterer’ (if only you knew what I thought that said the first time I saw it), this prevention technology will effectively stop reflection bots from working. What is a reflection bot, you say? Lucky for you, I’ve done my research!

Reflection bots apparently read incoming packets sent from RuneScape’s game servers to your computer which allows them to determine where certain objectives are. For example, if you were in Draynor, the packets would indicate the location of a Willow tree, thus allowing the bot to find the Willow tree and play the game for you.

Most who have done their reading would know that there are not only reflection based bots out there in the world of RuneScape – there are also injection bots. These bots use a more complicated way of manipulating the way RuneScape behaves.

Injection bots use code already made by someone else that can be injected into the client, changing various areas of the game. For example, an injection bot can change the colour of a certain rock or read item codes to figure out what is what. However, these are easier to detect, so Jagex sees reflection bots as a much higher risk to RuneScape.

Though many have said that injection bots will not be affected, Jagex has stated that they will be affected just as much as reflection bots, which leads us to think that RuneScape may very well be ‘bot-free’. But for how long?

Clan Citadels – Cool!

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Well hey there, it has been a while fellow bloggers! I don’t commonly write posts anymore, but I figured something this large would need some sort of coverage – especially since I’m an active member of the clan community.

Quite recently I saw a thread on Surreal’s forums covering a news post JaGeX made at some point last week stating they are developing a new concept called Clan Citadels. We’ve been treated recently to the clan system update which introduced customisable clan capes, mottos, forums, high scores and much more.

The clan update that JaGeX released was in my opinion something that truly changed the face of the game forever. It’s reached out to new and current clans and to this day gives clans more variety and makes them much more approachable and maybe even successful.

concept art

Clan Citadel concept art

Based off this clan system, having a castle in the sky with your clan symbol everywhere, being able to build your own skilling hotspots, a partyroom, a senate and even battlefield that only your clan can see and share is something that is truly groundbreaking for a game like Runescape.

The July Behind the Scenes article stated the following about the upcoming update:

Our graphics department have been busy adding over 4,000 new models and over 20,000 new animation frames to the game for Clan Citadels, making an environment that we are particularly proud of.

Clearly this is going to be a huge update to the clan structure in Runescape and I can only hope that all of this effort is actually appreciated and used for months and possibly years to come. This sounds like something that would really make or break itself in terms of functionality.

JaGeX have stated that any experience gained in the “maximum of seven” skilling hotspots which you can build with your clan inside your citadel will be less than what you get from the ground – which makes sense, but is a let down at the same time. Oh well, you can’t have everything you want, right?

My only concern about this update is that it may decrease prices of resources even more – though prices at the moment are horrible, they could get worse by allowing clans to have their own custom space for various resource collecting skills (assuming that is the case with the hotspots)

Either way, this update will make its mark and I will look forward to covering the rest of the story as it unfolds. I personally cannot wait for the Development Blog which will definitely tout much more information and a better look at what we should expect from it.

JaGeX and Clans

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As you may already know, JaGex, the owners of Runescape have released a new update which concentrates on the clan community within the game. This was an update that was widely looked forward to and it most certainly did not disappoint… much.

Though JaGeX did make a massive step forward taking the risk in providing free tools to assist users to make Runescape clans, they made a few mistakes that are costing the clan community more than they are giving.

I was not amused that this update changed the face of what a clan is in Runescape. Many people see it as either a ‘free cape ride’, or a ‘group of randoms that pk together’. Though this is all well and good, most of these ‘clans’ serve the same purpose as a Clan Chat always did… a chat.

My gripe with this change is that players who are new to the clan world are directly exposed to a mess of free capes and wannabes. I thought being in a clan was about honour, experience and leadership – now that is all changing.

The quality of clans needs to step up, and JaGeX was probably better off making it more difficult to run a clan because overall, you get better quality and a stronger community. Now we must deal with the consequences of making a Runescape clan a 5-minute job.

Guthix help us.

I’ll never ‘quit’ Runescape?

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It may or may not have become apparent to you that seeing as I haven’t been posting a lot – I’ve actually turned away from Runescape a little. I wont say that I have quit the game, because I still have things that I would like to achieve sometime later when I have more time on my hands; but I will say that I have stepped away from it more and more. Why?

Well for starters, Runescape is a simple time game with some strategy added into the mix. I don’t have enough time to plan a good gameplay strategy or grind extra hours into my study or social life to get things done in a virtual world. I’ve gone through this quitting fiasco so many times its like a ritual now… start playing, quit, start playing, quit. It’s a never ending cycle!

Then it hit me, all these years, no matter what the circumstances… I always found my way back into Runescape. I have friends who walked away from the game many years ago and have now come running back due to free trade and wilderness. It’s near impossible to stay completely clear of the game and that’s something that scares me a little! :P

Though I can admit, I do enjoy the game sometimes. I mean, I have my times during the year when I really can’t be bothered logging in, but other times I have these skilling outbursts where I end up absolutely beasting it! It’s very weird :D

Being very experienced in the clan world, I see so many people come and go from Runescape, the amount of people that have joined clans, left them and joined back again because they’re back into the game is ridiculous. What is it about Runescape that keeps people coming back?

Is it the economy? Ha! No. Is it the community? Quite possibly. Though Runescape has a community that is increasingly moving to outside sources of communication to leave their messages, Runescape has one of the warmest, most open communities in the gaming world. The amount of friends you make on this game is amazing, and for me its the community that keeps me coming back, the clan world, too.

But then this raises the question – HOW do you quit Runescape entirely without drastic methods? Is it possible to just do the ‘cold turkey’ method and just leave?

Who knows. XD

Runecape Mods – What’s the Point, now?

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Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that JaGeX takes the time to hand pick players from Runescape to enforce the rules of the game; but it’s now come to a point where I’m thinking any other player has about the same amount of a say in a report as a Player Moderator does.

Now that the filter has been removed from Runescape, JaGeX have given players the option to hide profanity or show it. Meaning that Player Mods no longer can report people for profanity, which I bet is the most reported-for thing in Runescape besides macroing.

Essentially, the benefit between Player Mods and normal players (besides the crown!) is the ability to mute other players on demand. With this introduction of the optional filter, should the muting powers still be as useful as before? Of course not!

It’s going to be interesting to see whether or not JaGeX needs more Player Mods now, because there is so much leniency shown by that one action to the filter, who knows what’s coming in the future? Mature worlds? A flood limit pushed even further?