OSRS vs RS3

[God Of Cubone]

Can someone help me decide which is more worth playing? I played OSRS when it first came out for a while then stopped playing for 10 years or so. Pro's/Con's would help, or general input of what the difference is.

[Aquasword480]

Originally posted by Graysonn:

Originally posted by Aquasword480:

The content release is virtually the same to borrow someone's list and tweak it (and their wording) for more accuracy...

That comparison only works if you're assuming that the amount of content released is on a equal basis to the quality of the content, which is certainly not the case.

Comparing the likes of the 10 minute slime quest in February from RS3 to OSRS's death rework and a boss is incredibly silly. It's not about the 'amount' of updates per month or year, it's what it actually adds to the game as a whole. I don't think it's fair to include the rehashed events like the beach or winter weekends either.

It's debatable (at least this year) what game had a bigger wealth of content, with RS3's archaeology skill and everything that came with that or OSRS' Morytania focus with the quests/Darkmeyer but summing it up by tallying updates is a very poor way of looking at it.

You're right on average RS3's content is both larger, more substantial in how it changes the game, and visually/mechanically more impressive. But you know what I tried to avoid bringing that up and treat them as 100% equals rather than OSRS being shown as a smaller, more reserved, and limited in visuals/mechanics. Which mind you isn't an inherently negative thing it's part of what is critical to OSRS this constant balance of trying to keep the game the same and still grow. While RS3 is a contrast of continuous growth that isn't afraid to really shake things up. That's why it didn't feel fair to compare it that way because they are going for very different things.

Now just because both of those updates happened in February does not mean I am comparing those directly, I'm simply comparing the overall amount by end. Obviously when broken down the Slime Quest would be compared to OSRS's Porcine of interest, both incredibly short quests. Much like how you would compare OSRS's new boss to RS3 getting a new boss in December. The list shows the content released in the order it was released which allows you to compare both the amount AND the rate at which the amount was released.

Temporary seasonal events are a core part of RS's history and content. I'm sorry you don't get to discount them because RS3 celebrates more seasons/holidays more consistently. I will no more discount the Beach than I would Halloween.They both are major seasonal content celebration and are reoccurring expected events people expect and get extremely annoyed if missed. For the record OSRS used to do midsummer event celebrations like the beach as well but the last one was in 2017 and they skipped them for 2018, 2019, and 2020.

That being said since I copied this list from someone else, but tweaked it, I will agree that winter-chill off should be removed it's nothing substantial or meaningful and I removed Phosani's nightmare from the original list for the same reason so that's my bad.

[supernet2]

Originally posted by Discordian:

Most of this is incorrect. OSRS is 3D. Random events aren't a factor in bot detection anymore.

Edit: Yeah it was always 3D but poorly done. I keep mixing up good 3D slow garbage vs bad 3D Fast and mobile.

No just personal experience. 7+ Years of invested in game time(about 14k hours overall gameplay time, i believe its around 9k+ hrs of logged login time not including forum time and wiki time invested in the game itself which accounts for the other 5kish hours) speak otherwise.


Personally, it boils down as i originally stated, what do you want? I mentioned my glaring problems with the platform.

Actually the community has gotten far more toxic than i've remembered. RSC user basis also seems more friendly and willing to help, except the PK zone still a back stabbing adventure. If i remember correctly the mods also liked to throw around their weight and control folks. If you did something they didn't like that didn't violate rules, they'd still ban you or find a way to mute you. To me that speaks volumes about the community experience from the free staff to the paid staff experience's i've had.

Don't even get me started on the overwhelming false bans and the other nightmare situations that unfolded in my personal time and experience with runescape.

Bot issues, power abusing mods, bad management of forums, toxic community that as you can tell have gotten worse (use wayback machine to look at their forums) and you'll find plenty.

From a gaming standpoint, its fun free to play or membership wise but that was during the old days when the community wasn't full of trouble starting clowns and folks still had common decency.

Anyway i'd suggest checking out runescape classic, public or private servers, those who choose public are still pretty laid back alot of veteran players as well. The private services have a great community as well, little to no microtransaction garbage with membership content ungated, and you can enjoy alot of what was offered in the past still today. Some still work on portable devices for runescape classic (i helped pioneer the psp web browser build during the rsc days, i nolonger have the dev build i made but im sure you'll find it somewhere on the net if you look hard enough).

RS2/RS3 improved 3D graphics immensely though, but alot of hassle came, like the bot challenge mumbo jumbo. You walk away to use the restroom or anything and don't log out? You can risk a ban if you don't respond within a set time to the anti-bot event challenges. Maybe thats changed i can't say haven't logged in in years for the fact i was banned as a bot with out knowing i was a bot(While on active duty in the armed forces). No room to appeal. So that adds to my strong dis-taste of the management overall.

They also implemented a new way to trade because folks can't be responsible and ungullible fools, and because hacking was very rampant in the past (more like people just were idiots and gave their passwords away freely or paid others thinking they'd get help only to find their content gone, hence gave birth to also the ingame bank pins).

Anyway try out both if you really want to, in rsc days grinding was the key to success, rs3 they... made it more of a pay to win and implemented more microtransactions. Also the communities become more toxic. I could be wrong but look at not just the steam forums but as i mentioned wayback machine runescape classic and rs2/rs3 forum chatter. Decide for yourself. Im just weighing in with my personal experiences though. And although alot of it was fun for me, it eventually got boring because of the mentioned quirks i had mentioned.

[StabbyU2]

I would just say to play both
They both have their own meta's OSRS is harder grind IMO but it is cool.
RS3 is alot more pleasing to look at and has many more skills.

In closing I would start a new account on both and see which one suits you better some play both some just play OS some just play RS3 but I plan on playing both i already have a pretty decent OSRS account i am going to make a new one for RS3 though.

[Espionage724]

I'm more familiar with OSRS, and it feels more rewarding when grinding, at least with the "old school" methods.

Like I'm used to doingAbyss RC, and as an Ironman, I needed to do DT in order to do that ideally. Or fletching bows and high-alching them for money.

Those two methods specifically aren't necessary on RS3; you have lodestone access from the early levels and can just use Edgeville. And money seems to come a lot easier, along with being able to mass-sell bows to stores at a flat rate. I can still do them on RS3, but I'm just doing them to do them, or I guess it isn't the most optimal thing I could be doing. Some might say RS3 is easier in-general, but really it's just that there's different methods available to accomplish things.

Both games are great, but sometimes I just prefer the old-school tedious way of doing things, which happens to work out better on OSRS.

[indio68]

what is osrs by the way?

[Magpie]

Originally posted by indio68:

what is osrs by the way?

OSRS (Old school runescape)
how the game was back in 2007 before stuff like EOC (evolution of combat) came in

[Aquasword480]

Originally posted by Magpie:

Originally posted by indio68:

what is osrs by the way?

OSRS (Old school runescape)
how the game was back in 2007 before stuff like EOC (evolution of combat) came in

Correction that's how it started out, now it's evolved to be its own thing. The general basics are the same but they've added a lot to the world, the equipment, etc..

[StabbyU2]

I agree with Aquas on what OSRS is

[Chilled Nomi]

Ive been on and off since 2005 and prefer RS3 to OSRS but both are good to me. RS3 suffers from a lot more dead content and people locked in a mindset that any second wasted is "xp waste" while OSRS has a bigger bot problem but is much more simpler and slow paced to me.

[Justfrost]

all these people defending rs3 and hating on osrs make me wheeze, yall really stating OSRS is for old people who can't adopt to change even though RS3 is not even a runescape title worthy anymore, its evolved and strayed away from the thing that made runescape what it is into just like every other mmo with its boring EoC and horrible UI. Rs3 at this point is just WoW with different graphics and skills you can waste your time on.

Not to even mention that most people played OSRS because it had that medieval feeling to it that many people enjoyed, getting better gear and showing it off to people at the G.E actually meant something and told a story.

Rs3 has taken all of that away, right from the start of a new account you can drop 10$ for a full set of glowing, fiery set of cosmetic armour and be on the same level of visual style as someone who played the game for ages. Getting better gear is just for the stats now since everyone uses cosmetics so you can't even see what they are wearing without inspecting everyone.

I'm not a hater of RS3 and I would very well enjoy it but the cosmetics are just absolutely immersion breaking for me, they have no fit in the Runescape lore at all and most of them just make no sense.

[Dr. Atrocious]

Originally posted by Justfrost:

all these people defending rs3 and hating on osrs make me wheeze, yall really stating OSRS is for old people who can't adopt to change even though RS3 is not even a runescape title worthy anymore, its evolved and strayed away from the thing that made runescape what it is into just like every other mmo with its boring EoC and horrible UI. Rs3 at this point is just WoW with different graphics and skills you can waste your time on.

Not to even mention that most people played OSRS because it had that medieval feeling to it that many people enjoyed, getting better gear and showing it off to people at the G.E actually meant something and told a story.

Rs3 has taken all of that away, right from the start of a new account you can drop 10$ for a full set of glowing, fiery set of cosmetic armour and be on the same level of visual style as someone who played the game for ages. Getting better gear is just for the stats now since everyone uses cosmetics so you can't even see what they are wearing without inspecting everyone.

I'm not a hater of RS3 and I would very well enjoy it but the cosmetics are just absolutely immersion breaking for me, they have no fit in the Runescape lore at all and most of them just make no sense.

The funny part about them saying it's "for old people" is that the player base is essentially the same for both RS3 and OSRS. They're mostly returning players or players that never quit.

[supernet2]

Gonna have to update my statement. Accounts actually 19yrs old (did we lose account active progress from 2001 and 2002?) Account was unbanned from false pretense so i started playing again, community isn't to toxic, except for so far in free areas i've seen the more rich acting high and mighty but thats extremely small and far and inbetween from what i've seen. Might reconsider membership myself given the portable app makes it easier to play.

[John Helldiver]

OSRS is 9/10 afk skilling while watching netflix on second monitor. Even combat is afk with the nightmare zone. If you want to play runescape as your main game play rs3.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by SwollLincoln:

OSRS is 9/10 afk skilling while watching netflix on second monitor. Even combat is afk with the nightmare zone. If you want to play runescape as your main game play rs3.

A good chunk of RS3 skilling is also AFK. The combat system against the majority of monsters is also AFK worthy with Revolution and Legacy.

Really the only place this game isn't AFK is when you're using Full Manual against things that don't fall over after 2-3 attacks, or doing Clue Scrolls and moving around the world.

[the evil one]

Real AFK is being in a different room for at least a few minutes, very inefficient for a lot of stuff but not everything
People say AFK when they mean low intensity a lot