As many of us may have already tried in the past, the Runescape client that was provided by Jagex prior to the current version was nothing more than a featureless browser that did nothing but browse RuneScape’s main website which was not very useful at all, even for lower memory machines.
I’ve been using the newer official client now instead of Swiftkit for a while and I can safely say that it is a lot better – it does exactly what I want it to do; play Runescape quickly and easily. The good thing about this Windows-only client that is being used now is that it almost completely eliminates issues with Java from peoples’ computers. This program comes with Java and some other necessary files already built into it!
Runescape's latest official client
I believe that this client is heading the right way – they do need a few extras that would make game play within it a little bit more bearable such as a screenshot manager and a hiscores look-up tool. That was essentially all I ever used SwiftKit for… if Jagex staff can provide those two things, they would probably gain a much more significant user base for this client which I believe is something they should hold as a priority.
There has been talk about an upcoming Runescape client, however I’m not sure if this is exactly what they were talking about. Needless to say, the client does its job better than its predecessor – which is a good thing. But what other features can be moved into the client without compromising the simplicity of it?
I didnt know they updated the client, Ive just downloaded and installed it now, I’ll be sure to test it, and yes they need a screenshot tool, and highscore look-up and it will be near to perfect and gain a larger user audiance for the client!
Edit: I can also see alot of spare space which could provide IRC chats, HS look-ups and more clearly above the actualy game play screen. Its also an open source download, so I might download its coding source and edit it my self, if its VB compatiable.
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/2740/catsam.jpg
Your picture looks a lot like what Swiftkit is now… I don’t see myself using anything other than Swiftkit, It has everything that I possibly need for playing Runescape, and the people behind Swift have a lot of experience making tools for Runescape. I just don’t see what a Runescape client will bring to the table.
It can bring an alternative to the table. A client created by Jagex simply cannot outdo the usefulness of Swiftkit, I do however think that minor improvements could be made to the client rather than turning it into an overdone mess. Swiftkit is awesome but it is largely distracting from the actual game, it has a lot of features so it is only right that it does serve as a slight distraction.
I understand that sidebars etc can be removed from the view menu but I like the official RS client because the game takes up a large majority of the space, which is what I like to see. I want my whole window to be Runescape, not just a portion of it. It would be really nice to have an alternative that doesn’t suck – so it’s better than Jagex’s previous “client”. Surely if the game client was updated they must be looking at ways to improve it more.
Just to make sure the message came across properly as Im half asleep – I’ve been using SK for a long time and even used it in the SS days, I still use it now. I’m suggesting that Jagex should ‘get with the times’ so to speak, and make something maybe not at the level of SK but at least give it some sort of functionality to make the game easier to play…
PS: The picture above your comment is not mine.
Finally another blog that doesn’t talk about skill level ups nobody cares of.
I used both programs and still prefer SK for the IRC, for the ability to quickly look up other people’s stats, the ability to save my screenshots automatically (though I can also do that with FRAPS), the treasure locator and a few others. Then again I’m too used to SK, I never really played the game on Firefox since 2006 & got used to SK instead of their client.
Sure you may prefer their client, but even with a few more updates I don’t think it’s a good enough reason to bash on SK, it’s still a good program and one of the most used.
Maybe I should have rephrased my post a little bit more – it’s better than Swiftkit *for me*. I admit it is a wonderful client and it cannot be matched feature-wise. What I was looking for was a simple way to play Runescape without the clutter and this was it.