It seems as though there hasn't been much _public_ progression in RSPS in the last few years.
Most remarkably, during COVID, popular private servers have peaked and then come crashing down.
To me, there's still an obvious interest in the scene. Why the stagnation?
People are bored to see what they've seen for the past two years or so.
It feels like creativity has been lacking and no new idea's (as in not a few idea's but like constantly updates with unique aspects) have really been popping up to Runescape Private Servers for a while.
The custom scene has become a tumor where everything is about donating as much as you can to become the best and the private servers that do not have a too big of a p2w aspect got boring over time due to the fact I stated above.
Also the custom private servers I see releasing nowadays is just standing in a room and clicking pickachus and waiting for you to do 50k damage and then click another one (there's 0% skill needed and it's litteraly not fun to play since all you do is
click and wait).
To me (and what I've heard from others) a private server is quick play, and if nothing drastically changes have been done in a server for a few years straight, then it might gets boring (same as Oldschool Runescape at the moment).
For example an economy reset on servers like Runewild, Roatpkz, Alora and other big servers could do alot. A fresh start, new gameplay.
A server (or second world of an exsisting server) that resets seasonal would be an option to try out aswell.
The big players in the scene could make this difference, but are too afraid of the possible consequences (which I fully understand).
I think the quality of servers is improving imo, a lot of good projects in the works atm as well as some great servers online. I think the majority of custom servers are pretty bad currently though, with the exception of very few.
The barrier to enter the RSPS scene and be successful has greatly increased. Players in general are down (still a good amount though), prices of starting/running a server have increased, the quality of servers is much higher and its just harder for people that haven't been doing RSPS for a good few years.
I feel like its only improving because 'better' servers are being leaked; which makes questions seem more advanced than the previous average. Majority of these people arent learning shit. Only active people that are taken rsps seriously are newbies, leechers, and p2w owners, very limited to those who actually have a decent project going.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raw Envy [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
You've got some good points there. But also with top-tier servers focussing on getting as close to Oldschool Runescape itself they lack on creativity and unique aspects. I'd love to see some more expiremental content by them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raw Envy [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Also yes, I think it's way harder to get on the list if you're newly starting up a server.
Advertisement has become more expensive and forms of advertisement has changed. Where a toplist was the absolute number one way to get new players it has now changed to a combination of toplists, Discord servers, social ads, youtube video's etc (,_ those are assumptions and not based on any facts though). Also the biggest servers have bought all the advertisement slots on toplists, hired all rsps youtubers etc.
Comparing with Private servers releasing back in 2012 the standard (and expectation) is way higher nowadays.
Realistically though, all of the servers that have been released/leaked aren't good. They're either full of bugs, shit code, dupes and exploits or they're years behind on content and no one knows how to use them enough to make them good enough to compete with the top servers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melvin [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
I think people do leech/host a lot because of it though, but that's probably always been a thing :lolbert:
I actually agree with Melvin, nowadays its like 3 people with actual servers and bunch of leechers and shit. Maybe with osrs and rs3 getting more players recently this scene gets also some fresh air but I highly doubt it tbfh.
++Quote:
Originally Posted by Nes [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
At this point we have enough data to emulate the entire runescape game perfectly, and add 4813240 custom items if we want.
Creativity seems to be at an all time low
osrs is dying and osrs players are moving to rs3 btw :OQuote:
Originally Posted by Ethan [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
not true, a couple of content creators have moved to rs3 but they don't represent the entire populationQuote:
Originally Posted by Nes [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
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In terms of stagnation, OSRS servers is what RSPS players have become used to, and what they want.
RSPS is a business, why take the risk with something entirely unique (OSRS servers are still different to one another), when you can just launch another oldschool server and rake in the cash (easier said than done obviously).
Unique servers *have* been done, even recently, but players don't want it.
That being said, 'different servers' are being worked on as we speak, i.e. Nalore, so it will be interesting to see how that goes, but for now OSRS servers are the 'safe bet'.
Players who play OSRS and go to RS3 will probably realize it's too newschool for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
That seems to imply a gap to be filled.
I think that the general quality of whats available to the public has increased and naturally, the same old shit can come off as stagnant.
The OSRS / CUSTOM SERVER releases appear to work and be profitable. Trying to branch out from that (which i'd personally like to do) feels like a gamble.
In the large scale of things it isn't. We're at a small portion of the people who want to play a good version of runescape.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilG [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Jagex has fumbled a lot of things up, god knows how.
I thought the main objective was to provide good versions of runescape lol.
Those graphs aren't really reliable to me due to the huge amounts of bots that are basically running Oldschool Runescape at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Also I don't think you're right saying players don't want unique servers, but that's something you can discuss about for countless of hours since there is no objective reliable arguments for it at all.
It is indeed a gamble, but if you love to do it and up for some risk I think it could definitaly be worth trying out.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilG [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Having the choice to play your favourite version of runescape would seem more accurate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyluur [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
Even 1:1 emulations of runescape require a little something new to keep them interesting. Could be as simple as Tournament systems or Live Event Girls™
But surely, if there was some huge movement from OSRS to RS3 as you claim, the graphs would actually support that, regardless of bots?Quote:
Originally Posted by Nes [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
You'd expect to see OSRS fall and RS3 increase, yet neither have changed, and they still rise/fall with each other and have remained largely the same despite this apparent mass migration from one to the other.
Anyway, not sure what this has to do with OP :luke132:
Yeah, that's what I'm saying too haha maybe I worded it wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilG [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
i'm not saying the servers that are live now aren't creative, I'm saying that we can do a lot better =]
I probably couldn't make 5% of the models these servers have
I also don't think it helps with these huge releases when servers have issues on launch, major ones even. Worst case scenerio a rollback or delay.
For a OSRS/Rs3 Player trying a server for the first time after mabye hearing bad things about 'RSPS' his view on them will instantly be something negative.
I hate that how ever since OSRS was released the private server community just became a race to who can implement the newest updates from the game first. The server would then have a bunch of players, become really popular for a bit then slowly die out, change ownership/alias and re-release again under a new name.
We have tons of tools that could be used to create interesting and new content but they are put towards making Pokémon & Spongebob npc's or as far as new and interesting maps we have people just making donator zones and small edited Edgeville home locations. At this point I really don't see the point in playing half the servers out that just copy jagex's every update/move. I would rather just play the real game knowing that there is no potential for it to just disappear at any moments notice.
All pretty innovative if you ask me :)Quote:
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This does give me motivation to start up an unfinished project of mine though :hm:
Only a few servers in that list stand out to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dust R I P [Only registered and activated users can see links. Click Here To Register...]
I like creativity in RSPS, not just emulation =].
Like you said, public progression is low and that's why creativity is low. There aren't a lot of actually competent developers in the rsps realm because there are not a lot of modern resources on how to create competent code. I think a custom server (but not dreamscape level custom) with some nice custom features could really breathe some life in to the general. There are quite a few ideas in my head about how to bring some pep in to OSRS' step, and I have slowly been making progress (on a 634 pvp server though lmao) that I think would set an example of how to fill a sorely needed niche in the pvp server area of things.
I think one of the biggest things lacking in RSPS in general is balance between systems and unique ideas. These days when I think about unique it's usually something very unsubstantial and lacking the sort of mental impact that good content needs. RSPS has the potential for a lot of variety while also keeping the variety balanced with stuff near it's intended power level, while OSRS' base is much much larger and has to be much more rigid for the level of player retention it has gained over the years. There are many RSPS and there are only a few experimenting and it hurts to see because variety is the name of the game. I think it's perfectly okay to draw inspiration from OSRS but you need to add your own flavor to it or it will become indistinguishable from all of the other OSRS emulation servers. More developers need to study the concept of horizontal progression vs vertical progression and try to create a game with a good hybrid. The diablo series of games are actually an extremely good example of a well thought out progression system and I've been wanting to see something even remotely similar put in to the community.
I think the barrier to entry has definitely increased as player base has shrunk and people are fighting harder with non-dev resources to compete for that base.
Currently in the planning stage with a new project that has creative and unique ideas, but even with a good engineering plan it feels like solid dev and community engagement alone is going to be nowhere near enough. Been thinking about making a thread just for this point with a checklist of pre-release items because mine has gotten so long. Several years ago, you could throw up an advertisement thread, invite a few friends, and have your players vote; that was enough to start growing if you had a solid server. Now, it seems that you have to invest significant time/resources into marketing graphics, youtubers, discord managers, etc. The OSRS demand is also off-putting for people who want to build a server off an unmodified 503+ cache. I have no interest in bringing a blowpipe or serpentine into a 592 server, but my players would probably want them. If the goal were maximizing profit like it is for a lot of servers, those items would be there regardless of how it changes dynamics.
The idea of "build it and they will come" is definitely less promising in 2021 which probably discourages a few people from challenging the status quo