How would you rate the new, bot-free RuneScape experience?

I get membership again tomorrow for the few weeks over christmas, and i noticed that now the game seems to be significantly 'emptier'. I would have thought yesterday (Monday 7pm British Time) would have been peak-time but only 89 thousand were on.

So how would you rate the game now, taking into account everything, general playability, the economy(ies), end-game boss areas, gathering and skilling, in comparison to the 3/4 years of decline and why?

(Are there less world servers now?)

It's not a bot free experience though. Some bot programs have adapted and others have flat out rebuilt new ones to work around Jagexs fixes. Theres fewer bot programs right now i suppose with new ones being made. But then if my bot program of choice died I'd simply switch to another. Which is what every botter has done.

The reason (in my opinion) that RS seems rather empty is because of how terrible the game is now. The updates are few and far between and when they do come out there poor. Jagex is becoming a complete ***** (although most people seem alright with that right now can't think why) theres no sense of accomplishment, everything is cheapened and made easier and handed to you on a plate. I'd be bored if i played this game from new today. There insistance on trying to copy other MMO's instead of trying to be unique and do there own thing only further points out how technically limited they are compared to other MMO games. Instead of trying to play to there strengths there running after other MMO's trying to be just like them.

Without the Gowers in charge there clearly just an average developer whos lost the plot and are rather effectively running there only success (everything else they've attempted to make/got behind has failed) into the ground. At it's peak it was pushing 200-300k people online. It's been dropping for years now. It's not a coincidence that this happens as the overall quality drops from the game.

I'd rate it 2/10. They get a 2 cause of all the content already in game it's about the only thing it has on other MMO's these days.

7/10, also I play Skyrim.

And yet, there are people who no-life in game to get levels or resources which I would say is equivalent to botting (the only difference being they are spending all the time at the computer). That is clearly part of the game is it not? Is that how the game is supposed to be played...spending long periods of time leveling or doing whatever?

^That's a good point, indeed. Not sure how we can deal with that though. Some people have the opportunity to spend more time in-game than others. Not sure how to level out that playing field. Don't think you can or perhaps should. Doesn't seem fair though does it? As an occasional player I know that I will not be able to really compete fairly against someone who doesn't have the same real life commitments as I do. At least it's a real person and not just the computer running a macro that I'm trying to compete against. That does mean something to me.

Colour based bots are slowly becoming widespread, hopefully they take care of them.
But 8/10 since they got rid of basically all of the bots for a long time.

That's another thing, too. This bot period lasted so long that it has greatly affected many people's gameplay in a positive manner which others may never experience. Levels and resources were much easier to get, inevitably benefiting those playing. It affected how available resources were and how fast levels could be gained even by genuine players, giving them an unfair advantage over past and future players. Past players had to work harder with fewer resources (not to mention without the GE) to get their levels and new players face that same past condition. I'm not saying there is anything that can or should be done to fix this...only that it was a period of time beneficial to those playing at that time. That's unfair, but it is what it is.

To summarize: If only it could have been done sooner.

That's why I used the non-English servers eventually. Not a single bot in sight that I could see. I suppose the gathering skills would be quite a bit competitive. Indeed it was better for non-gatherers.

I too have began to see more bots filter back into the game in the recent days. I hope Jagex can prevent it from destroying the progress they've made on the issue thus far.