Be warned if you are new to this game

[Cryolite]

Experienced player here since 2005.
And no, I didn't switch to osrs during the split. Instead I stayed in rs3 for years.

Here are things you need to beware of:
- There is ubiquitous predatory micro-transactions (MTX). I am sure many gamers here are aware of how EA went with their notorious reputation of having extensive MTX, and how it rose to gaining immense praise in Jedi Fallen Order by keeping their promise of not adding MTX.
In rs3 (which is this version of the game and they just call it RuneScape), you will be struck with updates that are basically promotions of new lamps like smouldering lamps, bubbling lamps, hydra lamps, celebration lamps, etc. that function to give you free xp/bonus xp. Then they would urge you to keep buying more, the strategy would remind you of a corny mobile game full of MTX where you can see a "plus" button twerking every second.

- The combat may not be to your liking. It uses a tick system combined with ability rotation that takes reference from WoW, and surely they wouldn't admit it and would claim to be all original which is left for you to judge once you get there. In order to be efficient, you need to keep pressing the hotkeys corresponding to each ability you are to use, including the basic ones, manually. We call that manual combat, or simply manual. Or you can simply click them, which is even worse imo. This contrasts with revolution or legacy mode in which you can lay back and let your character do the attacking and use the abilities on their own. However this may not be optimal for your dps. Basically you need to press an ability every tick in order to be efficient i.e. have high dps. If you do not get efficient enough, you will be mocked and looked down upon by highly elitist PvMers. And in some very high end bosses you would want to go manual in order to deal enough damage otherwise you would not be able to kill the boss. Theoretically many or any bosses can be done with revolution, though it would require a longer fight duration and may not always work in high enrages (as the boss difficulty raises).
As someone who had been bossing with manual, I can tell you it was extremely tiring to keep doing that for an hour of an instanced boss fight. Just imagine having to press keys every second, at the same time multitasking about eating, prayer, positioning, mitigating certain special attacks, etc. Quite some academic studies seem to suggest multitasking may damage your brain in the long term, you can try searching on google scholar.

- It feels like a chore to play the game instead of relaxation. Why does it feel like that to me? In the game you are bombarded with loads of repeatable events that would make you more efficient in gaining xp and wealth. You would feel compelled to do them otherwise you might lag behind others. It can include doing a grim reaper task every day, which can usually take at least an hour. Then you have buying items from NPC shops at a low price and earning a profit selling to players at the Grand Exchange, which can take around 30 mins. And then there are some daily challenges, like doing some runecrafting lasting for another 30 mins. You also got some events like Sinkholes and Guthixian Cache, taking another 30 mins. Adding these up you already lost 2.5 hr a day doing things enforced upon you. You would be left with little to no free to time actually explore the game and do things freely however you want. Yes you may argue that you do have the freedom to not do those things I listed, but trust me, when you get to that position you would want to do them and it would exhaust your mind out.

- Many minigames are dead. These include trouble brewing, castle wars, fist of guthix, and most importantly, clan wars. Clan wars is a minigame that used to be the most popular and fun thing to do in the entire game back in the days, many players agree it is the main reason that motivated them to train their stats, and it is their childhood and source of fun back then. After the eoc split it is no longer the case, the purple portal (clan challenge battles) is close to dead such that nobody would advertise and let you join instantly. Instead you can hope to join a long term clan and wait for a clan wars event to come to hopefully get a hand on such a fun experience and even then it's nothing like back in the days. There are many more dead content in the game due to no player wanting to touch them.

- Devalued cosmetics and annoying MTX pets. In the past, having a certain cosmetic item actually meant a lot as you needed to spend many many millions just to get a stat wise useless cosmetic like a party hat but would make you look extremely cool standing out of the crowd. You needed to sacrifice stats in order to look cool. Looking cool back then was a luxury and would really earn you the prestige. Nowadays, you can simply use overrides to add these cool items onto your high stats armor. You would no longer need to make such a dilemma between looking fancy and being good in combat. Cosmetics are heavily devalued. Not to mention the art style has changed to having some flashy rainbow eye-catching plastic non-Medieval clothings that simply hurt your eyes instead of please them. Back then the cosmetics were much more modest and had a huge charm behind the seemingly low resolution graphics and simple design. Oh and don't forget, there are many many cosmetics you can buy with your real money now.
About the MTX pets, one of the most obscene example is the Drake pet, which is a large orange wing flapping monster. Whenever it appears, it would block other players' view, cause lags, and is absolutely detrimental to players who want to immerse in the beautiful scenery of Gielinor. You'd know what I mean when you play.


Don't get me wrong, there are many good things about this game, such as the complexity in boss mechanics, and the content rich well-designed quests (which make even WoW players envious). But the above definitely play a big role in preventing the amazing content of this game from being enjoyed by more players in the past.

[chancan]

You should post a review. All of this is very helpful and potential new players are more inclined to check reviews instead of the forum in order to make a verdict

[ProfessorGeode]

Originally posted by Nelsons other eye:

Who gives a ***** , if you don't want mtx then don't buy stuff end of story
There's nothing to "pay" to win here
300 threads spouting the same BS
Take your wall of text to the review section

Not that it is accurate anymore but technically you can max your account with somewhere around 13,000 usd. But... That number likely went up with invention divination and archaeology.

It really gives you no advantage though. Just Robs the player of any game knowledge or fun.

[chancan]

Originally posted by Nelsons other eye:

Who gives a ***** , if you don't want mtx then don't buy stuff end of story
There's nothing to "pay" to win here
300 threads spouting the same BS
Take your wall of text to the review section

This is what Stockholm looks like lads

[Cryolite]

Originally posted by Doosh:

You should post a review. All of this is very helpful and potential new players are more inclined to check reviews instead of the forum in order to make a verdict

Do I need to have downloaded the game through Steam to post a review? Right now I have RS3 installed but not through Steam and can find no way to post a review

[ProfessorGeode]

I believe you do need to have some time in game... Which means downloading it thru stream

[chancan]

Originally posted by Cryolite:

Originally posted by Doosh:

You should post a review. All of this is very helpful and potential new players are more inclined to check reviews instead of the forum in order to make a verdict

Do I need to have downloaded the game through Steam to post a review? Right now I have RS3 installed but not through Steam and can find no way to post a review

Yes. You need it installed with 5 minutes of playtime (but you can just leave it on the client's landing page for 5 minutes and then close it)

[Finah]

Sounds like you've just burned out lol. Think you should take a break

[.:SeeD Squall:.]

Does this game have world PVP?

[takes_reign]

Originally posted by Doosh:

Originally posted by Nelsons other eye:

Who gives a ***** , if you don't want mtx then don't buy stuff end of story
There's nothing to "pay" to win here
300 threads spouting the same BS
Take your wall of text to the review section

This is what Stockholm looks like lads

How so? As was said, if you don't like them don't buy them. Micro-transactions are strictly optional. It is those that maintain otherwise that have a questionable perspective.

[Ebony Drakeling]

just pay for a premier club membership year plan (when it's available) and enjoy your free mtx

[stat💀]

Jeez I played this game like 10 years ago when I was in college and it sounds like it is just as janky as back then. Talk about money for old rope!

[Cryolite]

Originally posted by .:SeeD Squall:.:

Does this game have world PVP?

PVP is a good point that you brought up, I forgot to add this point to my post.

What do you mean by world PVP? Like being able to kill players (pking) all over the world? Or having a dedicated world (server) for PVP?

If you mean pking everywhere, afaik it isn't possible. Back then before the split RuneScape had worlds that are dangerous everywhere except certain safe zones like banks.

You can still do PVP in the wilderness (wildy) with a risk of the items you bring, although not many players participate in wildy pking and it is considered relatively dead.
You can also PVP in some mini games like Clan Wars and Castle Wars, though as mentioned they are also dead.

For a server dedicated to pking, usually some unofficial worlds still have a few people doing pking in the wildy.

Oh and if you go to the most populated f2p world you may still find dozens of people playing at clan wars white portal, which is a very tiny bit of remnant of the true glorious days of clan wars.

If you want PVP then Old School RuneScape (osrs) is where you would be interested in. It has a very active PVP community, and they have PVP worlds where you can pk almost everywhere. There are also many YouTubers doing series on pking and surviving in PVP worlds as a hardcore ironman (you only have 1 life).