Runescape Bonds

[Imp334]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kx5H9ziXiI
An Important Message from Mod MMG

Watch the video to hear Mod MMG explain the inconvenient truth about gold farmers and why Bonds are essential for the future of RuneScape.

Hi everyone,

From today, your gameplay investment can work in your favour with Bonds: a new in-game item - purchased on our website and tradeable in-game - which can be redeemed for RuneScape membership, spins, RuneCoins and more.

RuneScape is your game, and Bonds give you more freedom and choice than ever before: pay for your membership with your in-game wealth; securely gift membership to a friend or fellow clan member anywhere in the world; access all premium content by trading Bonds in-game any item, resources or gold; and enjoy the full RuneScape experience, free of bots and gold farmers. Read on for more information!

RuneScape Bonds
What are Bonds?

Bonds are new in-game items, allowing you to pay for selected account-related and out-of-game benefits with in-game resources. Bonds are initially purchased just as you would purchase membership, but they can then be freely gifted or traded with other players. They can be redeemed in-game for membership, spins or RuneCoins. Soon afterwards we plan for them to be usable for charitable donations and - in the future - perhaps even the Jagex Merchandise Store. We've even set up a way to use Bonds to buy RuneFest tickets this year - see our FAQ for details.

Bonds may be purchased via our website's Billing Page. They cost $5/£3/€4.25 per Bond and can be redeemed in exchange for 14 days membership, 8 spins or 160 RuneCoins.

You'll be able to freely determine how you exchange your Bonds - be it on the Grand Exchange or in player-to-player trades - and how much in-game wealth you wish to buy and sell them for. Just like any other item on the Grand Exchange, the community will determine how much Bonds are worth in relation to other items.

How Does It Work?

Purchase: Player A purchases a Bond from the Billing Page with their credit card or PayPal account for real money. The bond can then be gifted, traded, or consumed.
Gift/Trade: Player A and Player B agree a trade for the Bond - either as a gift, or in return for in-game resource or currency of any agreed value.
Consume: Player B can then use that Bond for themselves and receive membership, spins or RuneCoins. Alternatively, they could re-trade it.

The value that players determine for a Bond trade is entirely up to them.

A Bond is purchased in a tradeable state. Once gifted or traded in-game, the Bond becomes untradeable. Players who want to re-trade their Bond to another player will need to pay a trade tax, which will be 10% of its Grand Exchange value. We've added this tax on secondary trading to act as a gold sink and to prevent excessive merchanting of Bonds.

Why are you adding Bonds?

With this update, our aim is to unlock your investment in your account: giving hardcore players a way to get more than ever for their time and dedication, and more freedom for everyone in how they trade. On top of that, we hope to see this open up the full members' game for many more free players, those who can no longer afford subscription and - crucially - to deal a death blow to the long-standing issues with gold farming.

Bonds are a critical part of our war against gold farmers and of fixing the damage they have caused to the game economy. By allowing real players to meet the demand, gold farmers can no longer exploit it and are cut out of the system, preventing the injection of billions of additional GP per day into the economy, remedying the massive inflation caused, and thereby stabilising the economy overall.

The key to Bonds is that there are now two paths for players to access and enjoy every bit of content the game as has to offer. No player need ever feel excluded, since they can access everything the game has to offer, by whichever method they choose – through play or traditional payment. To see how Bonds might benefit you personally, take a look at these various player perspectives:

Everybody benefits from Bonds…except gold farmers!

RuneScape veterans can use their in game achievement to fund their membership.

Player Examples
Hi, my name is Simon and I have been playing RuneScape for 8 years. I have a completionist cape and my levels are all maxed! I have worked very hard over my years of playing, and now I sit on a small fortune of resources, items and gold. Rather than keep spending my own money, I can now trade some of my game wealth for Bonds, redeeming them for many months of unbroken RuneScape membership without having to spend another dollar myself! ☺

Gives a helping hand to new players wanting to progress.

Player Examples
Hi, my name is Sam and I have been playing RuneScape for 6 months now. I love training combat, but some better equipment and armour would really help me. I want to buy Bonds and swap them for some ganodermic armour. I might finally be able to join my friends on a Nex run!

The ability to gift your friends.

Player Examples
Hi, my name is Jessica and I have been playing RuneScape for three years. My free friends would really like to play with me but they can't always afford membership and I don't like playing on the free world. I'm going to give my friends Bonds as gifts, which they can redeem for membership so we can hang out together.

Give a helping hand to your clan members.

Player Examples
Hi, my name is Lisa and I have been a dedicated clan leader before you even launched citadels back in 2011! I run a clan of over 100, but many don't have regular membership which fragments our group and means some of the clan get left out. We are a tight group and very much look after each other - our clan will work together using the new Bonds system to help our clan members who cannot afford membership. Our clan is going to be the best in the world!

Bonds help stabilise the game economy.

Player Examples
Hi, my name is Kevin and I'm a long-time member. I'm happy with how I currently pay for RuneScape membership and I probably won't use Bonds. However, I see the improvements this will make to the game economy, such as cutting out the rampant inflation caused by gold farmers injecting billions of GP into the game daily. I welcome the gold sink the bonds system introduces and the protection it provides against merchanting.

Helps protect players from real world fraud

Player Examples
Hi, I am Katie and I'm embarrassed to admit it but I bought gold from a gold farming site. The website re-used my parent's credit card details and racked up thousands of dollars in fraudulent online purchases. They contacted the police but were told there was nothing they could do to help as the website is based in China and the bloody website is still running!

If Bonds had existed a few months ago I would never have tried anything like this.

Helps prevent hijacking and DDoS attacks

Player Examples
Hi, I am t0m_thumb and I searched the web for ways to make gold. I downloaded Powerbot and it installed a malware on my computer. My RuneScape account, Facebook, Twitter and email were all hacked and my bank account has been completely wiped out.

Kick gold farmers right where it really hurts!

Player Examples
I am a8jk13tjkp and I am a corrupt gold farmer. I've scammed, hijacked, DDoSed and defrauded millions of RuneScape players over the years.

Now that players can trade Bonds with each other in exchange for any in-game resources, my business is completely screwed!


If you would like to find out more about why Bonds are so crucial to the continued fight against gold farmers, please check out the recent dev blog from Mod Jacmob, who talks about the inconvenient truth of gold farming and botting, and the detrimental impact it has on your game.

To find out more about Bonds - including more information on how they benefit the game, the decision to introduce them, and how they work to prevent gold farming - please visit the new Bonds information page or the FAQ.

Personally, I think this is a great solution which directly benefits all players. In combination with existing efforts like BotWatch, and your help, we will wipe out gold farmers for good and ensure the long-term health of the game and community.

Mark Gerhard
CEO - Jagex Games Studio

What do you think about this newspost?

[Fothas]

True Jagex gold selling. Never been a fan of RWT and with so many buyable skills all this does is allow people with money irl a legal (not against the rules) way to buy GP. All this does is further devalue skills and push the game to a totally maxed player base.

[Viz]

Basically Jagex wants to make more money from you.

[Jax]

Really dangerous move from Jagex

[syfyqueen]

BOGUS!! I don't see how selling "bonds" will stop gold farming. Since I have already pre-paid for almost 2 years of membership, I won't be buying any bonds. However, I'm sure people who can't afford to pay for mems would love for someone give them a bond. I guess we shall see if this new idea works to stop gold farming or not.

[Amatista]

dunno much bout em but i get the basic idea, unsure how i feel on this, one hand i like it because there are some things i want from solomons and im to cheap to really pay for it with real cash but i dont really see how its gonig to change gold farmers...maybe a dip in there sales but who really goes to gold farmers for what the bonds are supplying us with in term of a trade in? heard this morning 1 was 7m...7m for 14 days of membs? 14m for one month? yea no thanks.

[zerocoollll]

jagex will prob control the bonds price compete with whatever the gold farmers are selling gold for

[Oobz]

One plus side to it, kids who can't afford membership will have a way to play on members servers. If they are 7m each, that can be made in a day or 2 quite easily.

[Cally Raven]

Still not sure about this, as Oobz says it means kids can make their membership in a couple of days but I think maybe it's just another way to generate money for jagex.

[Viz]

BOGUS!! I don't see how selling "bonds" will stop gold farming. Since I have already pre-paid for almost 2 years of membership, I won't be buying any bonds. However, I'm sure people who can't afford to pay for mems would love for someone give them a bond. I guess we shall see if this new idea works to stop gold farming or not.

I think it's a case of Jagex saying "if you cant beat them join them" as this is essentially Jagex rolling out their own gold farming system and hoping people buy their gold instead of other peoples

[Obitus Dator]

The main concern should be about people buying levels though. Because you can trade these for frosts/herbs/seeds/ore/wood - anyone with enough cash can now buy 99 in a whole load of skills, without putting the effort in in-game. It's now pay to win.

[Dima]

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Personally, I don't mind at all. Can't see this affecting my happiness.
Armour prices go too high? No problem, I'll fight in rune.
Resources cost too much? I'll go get them myself.

I look at players who bought all that crap from Solomon's store and keep wondering how long it keeps them entertained. If you believe you enjoy the process as much as the result, the only negative side this update should have on anybody is the fact that it came instead of new content.

[jc_hammy]

Gotta go with DeeKay on this one. If you let it affect you, then its a problem. I have continued to plod along and scratch out money where I can. To an average player, I don't think this is a big deal. Realistically, I would think that if people are dumping gold for membership, it is going to remove some of the gold in the game. Prices will come down and each coin will essentially be worth more now than it is. It doesn't seem like that long ago that having 10 million in the bank was a big deal, but now people are making that in a day.

[Oobz]

The more I think about this the more I think Jagex are not getting another penny off me. 12-14m gp per month for membership seems pretty easy to do. As long as the price of a bond does not increase too much that is.

[syfyqueen]

Love the cartoon Deekay - it's sooo true! :lol: