New Slayer Creature: Fire Cape Required!

[Supra]

To be honest i liked the idea of fire cape requirement, but prob because by look of it so few people have fire cape to kill the monster which means more kills for me lol . But saying that i don't mind them changing it so you wont need the cape to kill them, just be a bonus to have for killing them. The only thing i don't want them to change on these is the fact they have to be task to kill. I think it's about time slayer's have items now that we have got through training the skill that will remain stable for quite some time now, unlike other slayer specific drops like abyssal whip, boots etc that were really never stable for a long period of time due to people only training slayer to get the lvl to camp at these monsters. I would like to see more of these updates myself as slayer is my favorite skill that i will always train throughout my rs time.

[Kaye]

welll...at least you can't camp at them with, or without, the impending update/compromise

[TrixStar]

I just wish for once Jagex would stick to their guns when they do an update.

[TrixStar]

long read but goofd

With the introduction of the Elite Ardougne Achievements diary, Jagex allowed for development in new and exciting directions; for the very first content was released that would be playable only to the very masters of the game, to those relentlessly patient few who have meticulously trained most skills to exceptional levels. Those who were elite in the eyes of Jagex. The reception on the Runescape official forums, and right here in the tip.it community were astoundingly, and refreshingly positive. Even though only a fraction of the community could enjoy the content, the community as a whole saluted Jagex for reassuringly and resoundingly proclaiming "“Runescape is the Jagex future”. How could we believe that Runescape was to be the main focus of a company if they were designing a new, large game?

Companies all have public faces, and spokesmen who project an image of the company onto the community, an impenetrable public relations façade users are not meant to see beyond. Yes they claimed Runescape would live for ever, but with a new game in the makings, did we believe them? Should we have believed them before they showed, through affirmative action in releasing elite content, that Runescape's future was secured? With 2010 being the "“year of awesome” we were right to be sceptical through the end of 2009, as Jagex have continued projecting a rosy-red Public image improbable if not impossibly the truth. That, however, is an analysis worthy of an article to itself. Runescape is to flourish in the future, with challenges to all, also the elite few.

This new and exciting direction for Runescape, launched in 2009 has shown the very best of the ‘new Jagex' under new leadership; skills have received very much needed high-level updates, most significant of which is arguably the high level herblore update. How Jagex released this content, and tellingly how they removed the use of extreme potions from pvp worlds and bounty hunter is vital in understanding the ideology in Cambridge.

The brilliance of Jagex at its finest was shown in the update, and dealing with it. In rendering the potions created at higher levels untradeable, lower level content was not made easier overnight, other than for those who have invested millions of coins, or long hours to developing their herblore levels: The lessons from the smithing skill were learned. Looking back on my first Runescape memories from 2003, Jagex were taken aback with the success of its game. Enthusiastic posts with new records of players online simultaneously spurred new game servers; Jagex was simply unprepared for success, and the longevity of the game was not of primary concern. What if smithing was only useful to a handful of players, the rest relying on a few suppliers for their armour and weapon needs? No problem, others will be herblorists supplying the smiths and others with the potions they require. Niche players was the game demographic, nobody was expected to be a "“do it yourself” player. However, Runescape is now a happy ten-yearold moving quickly towards its arduous and rebellious teens. How will Jagex, as sole parent, cope? As any other tween, Runescape has to reinvent itself. It has needed that for quite some time, where the niche player has completed her goals. What lies beyond the horizon? Little, level 99 is the maximum either way.

The ingenious solution of the herblore update in 2009, where everyone is forced to do it themselves, is a showcase and industry necessity for MMORPG's to keep up with their clientele. Looking at the rise in price of herblore-related items, and the vitalization of a stagnating Runescape economy, the update was a resounding success from day 1. However, requiring the ‘do it yourself' aspect to stand any chance in PvP situations was too tall an order. It would alienate almost all those who relish in PvP situations from participating in their favourite gameplay within runescape. Here the crucial question is: How could Jagex release a game-changing piece of content with such a fatal flaw?

This question leads to a critical observation in understanding all elite content being released in Runescape: developing elite content is something completely new to the Jagex staff. They need experience in making this content, and they have to experiment to get it right. Releasing such inherently flawed content as the extreme potions is a guarantee that the learning curve at Jagex HQ is steep.

This learning curve made another two-fold jump with the release of Ice Strykerwyrms and their Fire cape requirement. We players learn the attitudes of Jagex through game updates and actions, rather than the fine words of "“the year of awesome”. Similarly, the lessons Jagex learn are obviously important, also to discuss and interpret. But how do we analyse the future of the game and what Jagex' true plan and aim for the game are? This is where the relentless and important community discussion has its place. Why did Jagex introduce the fire cape requirement in the first place? We cannot know, yet we can examine the likely possibilities.

If Jagex showed a wish to integrate high levelled requirements from many skills and areas into elite content, this content is truly elite. It is not a question merely of hours played, skills grinded to astounding degrees, the content is for elite players, those proficient within all areas of the game. In the words of the Ugthanki kebab, this option looks "“scrummy!” A new dimension would be added to the game. Currently almost all the highscores show an excessive amount of time required in attaining top rankings, multiple times the experience required for any in-game benefits, thousands of pointless hours at mini games with minimal reward, the sole exception here seems to be duelling tournaments. This is maybe the only area where skill currently determines who tops the highscores.

With only one area of prowess to officially determine those with ‘clicking skills', deep understanding of strategy in PvP situations, was not slayer a perfect candidate for releasing content requiring more prowess, rather than large amounts of free time and admirable persistency? This is where a second interpretation of why Jagex chose to change the requirement comes in, one, in the words of the Kebab, "“that tasted a bit dodgy. You feel a bit ill.” This regards a common attitude held by the cynical that Jagex are populist, and have simply caved in to the demands of a small minority of ranters on the official forums. This should indeed worry us if it were the case. However, it is highly unlikely that it is.

How can we know that Jagex have not simply caved in to the ranters? If they caved in once, without other motives, the happy spelunking in a gigantic cave system would be ruined. Once the first cave falls, no other cave is safe, and staying with this metaphor, how do we know that Jagex has secured its mine of a game, developed over a decade, avoiding divine intervention as the one we players experience in Blood runs deep? We know because they have not caved before, even though the pressure has been immense, and the economy of Jagex has been at stake, which was the case with the anti-Real World Trading campaign. Believing Jagex have caved in is a destructive attitude leading to further ranting on the official forums. Jagex have become professional over time, we still remember the development of their now superficial public relations ‘image' which is invariably in touch with the harsh reality of the business world.

As Jagex did not fold their hand to the ranters, why did remove the fire cape requirement for ice strykerwyrms? The official position and the cause of most of the rants on the official Runescape forums, have led a rationale of mobility and accessibility. The fight caves are almost impossible to the hearing impaired, to those with motion disabilities. Further, to those with restrictive internet connections, prayer switching has always been hard, it has been rendered almost impossible by the 0.6 second delay (one in game time unit) Jagex implemented to avoid so-called "“prayer flashing” as an effective money saver. Does Jagex feel this balancing fix hits the disabled and internet impaired unnecessarily hard? That would be jaw-droppingly surprising if it were true. Jagex must have known about these issues for a substantial period of time, again, why would they release flawed content they knew they wished to change? A professional company wouldn't, so Jagex didn't. No, there must have been other factors in play. Another vital question to ask is: why have the disability and accessibility challenges of Runescape not been explored on the official Runescape forums previously? Why is this new with the Ice Strykerwyrm update? Unsurprisingly, it is a question of economy.

Money makes the world go around, well, ‘coins' makes Gielinor recognizable and predictable. As "“politics” ran run into an issue, "“economics” has run into the strykerwyrm update and the fire cape requirement. Just as high levelled rune crafters complained at the recent ‘multiple rune' update devaluing their quite literally precious money-making abilities, high level slayers are not too concerned about the direction Runescape is headed, rather they are concerned about money. Everyone the Author has asked about a more integrating direction of high-level Runescape has quickly warmed to the idea and embraced it. This direction really does look "“Scrummy!” to high levelled players, as it ensures further enjoyment in their spare time of Runescape without growing tired of a game with no further challenges and goals.

Naturally, those striving towards higher slayer levels, who believe themselves unable to attain the coveted fire cape, have wished for the requirement to be changed. Accessibility and mobility reasons given have largely been proxy-arguments for the reality of the matter: "“Although unable to get the fire cape, we want a piece of the light staff profit.” What a preposterous and discerning claim! Some of you might exclaim contemptuously, however the argument is strongly embedded in reality.

The telling reasons for the economic motifs in the discussion require a historic perspective, as all contextual analysis does. In the release of the fire cape itself, there were next to no complaints about the high difficulty of the mini game. There was an overall understanding that only a certain few deserved the fire cape, it should remain exclusive, Runescape had taken a turn away from repetitive boredom as the only way of showing off fancy equipment. new frontiers were ready for the taking, but Jagex didn't follow this type of equipment up. Further underscoring the economic motif is the lack of rants at the release of the much forgotten Rogues Den mini game. Here clicking ability reached new heights as a requirement for the illusively rare rewards. The release of Sorceress' Garden warranted little complaint and the recent release of Nomad's Requiem was hardly debated either, even though this was the ultimate integration of boss fighting and questing on the highest level. Why was there no uproar similar to the ‘ice-wyrm fire cape revolt'? There was no money involved.

As is often the case (economics and understatement go hand in hand), whenever someone is posed to loose out on profit, someone else is gaining. The opposing argument has largely been that a fire cape requirement fosters much needed exclusivity in the high-end of slayer. This has also been a front for own economic interests to a large degree; however this is where the interesting position of Jagex re-enters the now more detailed picture.
What is Jagex' economic motif for removing the fire cape requirement? The light staff cannot serve its mage-friendly task of stabilizing parts of the combat triangle unless it is accessible. It cannot be accessible unless its exclusivity does not put it in the hand of merchants, just as the blessed spirit shields with sigils remain too exclusive to benefit the masses, especially in pvp combat. The effects in pvp of the much needed damage-reducing qualities of the spirit shields quickly balance over-hitting Armadyl Godswords and Dragon Claw specials. Jagex learns from its past mistakes, and so the staff of light is to be accessible to many, it is not to be another item ready for manipulation by merchanting clans. The limitation of the fire cape amongst those with 93 slayer or more was something Jagex did not foresee in strangling the already bottle-necked supply of light staves.

Without a clear, honest public relations team at Jagex HQ, Jagex' proxy-arguments will continue to shock the Runescape community, as their impact seem profoundly negative in comparison to the small calculation mistakes Jagex occasionally need to correct. Why honesty is sacrificed for image is something that will confront Andrew, Paul, Mod MMG in the future. The danger of projecting an image, is that others perceive you by that image and most often the real thing is less xenophobic to a knowledgeable community as the Runescape community clearly is in affairs regarding Gielinor.

In removing the fire-cape requirement, Jagex did not cave in to rants of a small minority on the forums. Initially releasing the requirement is much more telling on Jagex' behalf, and I can only hope further skill, quest and ‘clicking skill' activities are the future of elite content within the game. So should you.


(I posted this on the original forum topic, and on the tip,it times topic for the 21st of February, it was also submitted to the tip.it times this weekend. I feel this is an outlook many may wish to see, and the other postings got little response. )


taken from tip.it

[scootch]

. Not about the money not about 99 . they have always caved into the ranters. I rember To see what TLC the player use to do. Before fletching her and bluerose started cutting wood and saving feathers. Jagex IMO Always Lies. They couldnt tell the truth If They were paid extra to. Jagex Is so far behind the curve. IMO They trying to make things harder One biggest Deals in all of runescape . Is how easy it is to buy Your levels. With slayer Hard to do that. Only good armor helps.

Nicely Put Trixs