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RuneScape 2007 Year in Review and Report Card - Game Interface Updates and Enhancements RuneScape 2007 Year in Review and Report Card - Jagex Policy Issues, Rule Changes and Related Game Updates

Having covered new content and updates, as well as game interface changes, let’s change gears a bit. In this section I will look at some modifications and enhancements to the RuneScape website and related features. As you’ll see, there weren’t a lot of changes here, but some of them were pretty big ones.

Grade: B-

It’s no secret that Jagex has always hated the fact that so many of its players go to third-party web sites to find walkthroughs and other help for RuneScape quests. The company wanted to help stuck players without giving away the entire quest, so it created the QuestHelp system, which provides tips and limited numbers of spoilers for those who have trouble with a difficult quest.

The concept behind the feature is good, and the information provided is top notch. The problem is with the limitations on use, which are rather strict: you can get at most two hints and one spoiler in any 24-hour period. I understand that Jagex doesn’t want to give away the answers to quests that take hundreds of hours to develop, but at the same time, the company has to recognize the limitations of the majority of this game’s target audience. Severe restrictions just mean that players go back to the third-party sites and the excellent QuestHelp tips get rarely seen. I wouldn’t suggest full quest walkthroughs right on the RuneScape site, but the ability to get a little more help than the current limits would be welcome.

Grade: F

While I gave the general music update released on this day a glowing report (and a grade of “A”), I am very annoyed that Jagex also put music on its login screen that I have no ability to permanently disable. I have music turned off in the game for a reason—I don’t want to hear it! And that means I also don’t want to have to hear it start up every time I reboot my machine, every time I close and reopen my browser, and every time I change worlds using the conventional world selection screen.

Grade: A+

This feature is another silver lining that came out of the big cloud I call the “third party client fiasco” in early January 2007. One reason players often used third party clients was to let them quickly change worlds, which was always a bit of a nuisance when done the conventional way. With this update, though, a new button was added to quickly let players switch worlds without having to go back to the world list or reload the client. A superb idea, well-executed (Figure 67).

Grade: A-

The idea behind these polls is admirable—giving players the chance to affect future content additions and updates. I only wish that Jagex would make it clear that it is not acceptable for immature players to browbeat others into voting for “their choices”. And especially, I’d like to see the company prohibit that nonsense from overrunning the RuneScape forums every time a poll comes out.

Grade: A

This feature was a really nice surprise when I first saw it. Even though these diaries don’t affect gameplay at all, they are a welcome step on Jagex’s part towards improving communication between its customers and its mostly-unseen developers. And communication is an area that’s been sorely lacking for the last couple of years, so it’s good to see some work being done in this area.

Grade: A+

This feature is something experienced players have been requesting for years—literally. It took long enough, but Jagex finally gave us themed worlds; this simple but important change single-handedly saved several “specialty” activities that were going by the wayside, such as the Shades of Mort’ton minigame.

RuneScape 2007 Year in Review and Report Card - Game Interface Updates and Enhancements RuneScape 2007 Year in Review and Report Card - Jagex Policy Issues, Rule Changes and Related Game Updates