13-Feb-2013 - 2007 - Old School RuneScape... You Vote!

Mike · **Posted:** February 13th, 2013, 7:10 pm

Mark Gerhard wrote:

Hi everyone,

Last week, Mod Mark posted a thread on our forums highlighting some of the nostalgic and often passionate discussions within the community around a desired return of an ‘old school’ version of RuneScape. Specifically, the fine vintages of 2006 & 2007 appeared to be the high point of collective interest. Our team then set out to see if we had a backup that went that far back; if restoring the backup was even technically possible; and what specific content these potential old RuneScape backups might contain.

The team has spent many late nights and the past weekend digging through dusty old backups and restoring them, in the hope of finding more than just the old IT manager's MP3 collection of 80s rock power ballads! ☺

Finally, I’m very happy to report that we have indeed managed to recover a full RuneScape backup from August 2007. This is a complete snapshot of the game, which we have been able to verify would work, with some time and effort invested in it. Ironically, in October 2007 we actually changed our backup systems, so we have no complete content versions from August onwards that are viable for this purpose.

As I said at the start of the year, we’re all very focused on making this year fun, memorable and special to you, and a significant part of realising this mission is giving you a big say in what we focus on. That said, a huge amount has either changed or been improved since the heady days of 2007. The game has evolved, as have our tech, systems, and infrastructure. There will be a substantial amount of work involved to get these ‘old school’ servers back up and running again. However, if enough people support this project, this will be neither unachievable, nor a hindrance to the main game.

So, just like the poll for the return of the Wildy & Free Trade, which saw a jaw dropping 1.4 million votes , we will be running a similar poll and letting you - our valued members - decide the fate of ‘Old School RuneScape', given that you directly fund the game's ongoing development and supporting services. This decision - along with the level of service, investment and potentially any additional fee for the service - is truly up to you to determine.

However, before we invest any further resource into this project, we need to accurately gauge your level of support by understanding how many of you are really behind ‘Old School RuneScape’ as it was in August 2007. As such, we will set up a poll this week for players to show their interest in the 2007 service.

But before I get into the specifics, there is one thing that is very important to note. If this idea gathers sufficient support, then we will not need to take our current talent away from all of the exciting updates to be implemented into the current version of the game, as we will be able to hire a new dedicated team to work specifically on this project.

By giving you the choice to play either version of the game, we are demonstrating our commitment to listen and - wherever possible - incorporate your feedback. In the long term, we hope that this project will bring back many veteran players, as well as possibly encourage new players to join. They will be able to relive their old game experience to their heart's content, and - if they so choose - perhaps even join the main game. Over the next couple of months and subsequent years, we have an ever-growing plethora of exciting content waiting to be deployed into the Evolution of Combat, regardless of the reinstatement of old servers.

That being said, we have set out the following targets to help us figure out how much focus and resource we should put into this project:

Level 1 - 50,000 or more votes:

2007 servers will come back as a separate entity to the current Runescape game, with an additional membership fee of around $15. These servers will receive no content updates and only critical maintenance.

Level 2 - 250,000 or more votes:

2007 servers will come back as a separate entity to the main Runescape game, supported by a small development team, with a smaller additional membership fee of around $5 extra. These servers will receive basic maintenance for bug fixes and little improvements, with the possibility of integrating our modern anti-bot technology over time, if it becomes necessary.

Level 3 - 500,000 or more votes:

2007 servers will come back as a separate entity to the main RuneScape game, with a dedicated development team, with no extra membership fee. These servers will receive regular maintenance, some content updates and integration of anti-bot technology if necessary.

Level 4 - 750,000 or more votes:

2007 Servers will come back as a separate entity to the main RuneScape game, with a larger dedicated development team with no extra membership fee and the free portion of the game available to all. These servers will receive continuous maintenance, modern anti-bot technology if necessary and - crucially - regular members' polls to determine which updates you want to see prioritised.

These servers, at any of the above levels, would be the exact version from back in 2007 and would maintain the ‘old school’ vibe and rules. The old graphics, hiscores, log-in, are all part of the same archived build and would be retained. We wouldn’t ever add any micropayment updates.

This will be a members-only vote. While all types of players have invested time in the game, it is our members that ultimately fund the initiatives and therefore get to set the priorities. Your support allows us to continue to evolve this amazing game that we all care deeply about. Making the vote members-only has the benefit of ensuring the votes cannot be rigged, and is a reliable, secure way to calibrate interest from dedicated players.

If you are against the idea, then you should - naturally - abstain from voting. However,if you are supportive, or would simply like to do a cool thing for your fellow Runescape friends (both retired and active) by making it a no-charge service as well as a benefit for free players (which is very much our aspiration), then please do register your vote and encourage all your friends to do the same!

If you choose to abstain from voting, before you do so, please understand: the Evolution of Combat will not be removed from the main game in any event. Although some of our resources and time would be reallocated initially to the reinstatement of the 2007 servers, the main game would still continue to receive its regular updates, as well as the massive updates promised for 2013.

The poll will be live on the website this Friday 15th February for two weeks. We will also be uploading a video on YouTube expressing these ideas, and opening a thread on the members-only forums to discuss this topic. In light of the poll, we will be moving our next Q&A session - Around the Campfire with Mark Ogilvie - to next week, where we will be focusing on discussions around the ongoing poll.

On a side note, I want to remark that we truly appreciate how passionate and devoted our players are to the future success of the game. I’ve never seen any other community as active and passionate about shaping the future of their game experience. It’s truly an honour to be part of this community and I very much hope this initiative positively engages the current - as well as the lapsed - community.

Thanks for reading, the team and I are really looking forward to seeing what you decide!

Have (old school?) fun! ☺

Cheers,

Mark Gerhard
CEO

EDIT - Here's a link for the poll

Adbot · **Posted:** February 13th, 2013, 7:10 pm

Lord Rickles · **Posted:** February 13th, 2013, 8:17 pm

I hate everything about this. I hate that Jagex caved to idiotic "06-scapers". I hate that they dare devote developer time and money in maintaining this. I hate that from here forth, anyone with a dumb wish for the nostalgic experience of the past could potentially get their desire granted at the expense of time and effort that could be used towards other things.

And I know the irony of me feeling this way considering I just wrote an article about how I miss skulls in the wildy, but as my title says, that aspect of the game IS DEAD. It should REMAIN DEAD ONCE KILLED. We progress ever forward. Say "aww..." and move on. I pay Jagex to improve the current game, not maintain several "classic" versions of the game frozen at random points of time.

They put the threshold at how many votes they receive, but why can't we vote NO? They did the same thing with the free trade "vote". You aren't voting if you don't have options - you're signing a petition.

Uncle Dano · **12 99's on 12/12/12!**

I also agree that bringing back the old RS on dedicated servers, especially with the allocation of staff resources for maintenance, is not a good idea. I think that "old school" mechanics can be worked into perhaps certain areas of the existing game... for example, a portion of the wildy could be set aside as an area whereby you are skulled. Old school combat style could be worked into a special portal at clan wars. I also would rather see Jagex devoting staff resources to working on the new and improved RS, rather than splitting their efforts up.

EDIT: After thinking about this a bit more and reading the FAQ I have a few other sentiments to add to my opinion.
1) First and foremost, I hope that the focus for Jagex will be to continue to improve the existing game. I would hate the see the existing game suffer due to the lack of staff resources and corporate focus. However, I believe Jagex has considered this thoroughly judging from the various options they have provided, based on the results of the vote.
2) I think that this may in fact split the RS community. I don't know about you, but one RS game is already too much for me to handle. My efforts will continue to focus on training my one main character. I do not have the luxury of unlimited time to devote to playing RS Classic, the current RS and RS 2007. I do know that some people will probably stop training their current character and focus on developing their 2007 character from scratch. The interaction with these players in game will become reduced to just chatting with them, and not actually playing together in the same game. This I don't feel is good for the RS community as a whole.
3) Having said that, starting over does have some appeal. Training my character from scratch once again, knowing what I know now, would actually be kind of fun. However, I would also feel that I would be neglecting my main game... the current RS character that I've spent 7 years working on. It's not perfect, but it is the result of all my efforts.
4) Finally, I just have this real sinking feeling that bots will not be able to be controlled. I can imagine how frustrating the players will be in the RS07 version of the game, trying to train their character and having to contend with enormous competition from thousands of bots for the available resources. Jagex does have to focus their staff resources on eliminating bots and RWTing in the current game and in any other version of the game, to truly make it an enjoyable experience for the real players.

Well, just a few humble thoughts. I do not believe I will be voting in favour of this. I hope you all can appreciate my perspective.

Ranging God · **Posted:** February 14th, 2013, 9:34 am

Personally I can't wait for this to hopefully come out. I loved playing RS in 2006/7 and while I pay members, I have also played on private servers that have a normal 2006/7ish feel because I miss it. I would love to pay Jagex for the ability to play a stable version on 2006/7. My friend and I already are talking about making the old school ddp/whip pkers that I love so much.

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

I'll be curious to see the results. Personally, I don't think most people are going to want to divide their attention between two versions of the game. Classic still has a following, but it is small. I feel the same will be true for this. I think if enough people do want it, Jagex should consider providing it, but it should definitely be "he who benefits pays." If they have people pay for it and bring on new people to do development and maintenance for it, I don't think it'd be a huge problem or detract from the current game.

Jasonmrc · **Posted:** February 14th, 2013, 5:40 pm

If you know me, you probably know I detest the current state of runescape. Many of the changes done over the past few years have ruined the game, specifically for me, but also in general.

I don't know that having two versions is a good idea. You'll likely have your veterans playing RS07 and your newer players that are "Ooo'd" and "Ahhh'd" by the graphics and WoWness play the new Runescape. Not saying some of us won't play both or jump between occasionally.

I would rather see them remove and/or change some of the things they have previously added rather than clone the old RS just to try to win back veteran members.

You know, this move actually looks more like a business move than 'Listening to the players'. Why bring back a version of your game that you have said is not as good as your current one? They are probably feeling the loss of veteran members. This would also explain why they're waiting so long to present their financial report for the year. The fact that they would charge extra on two of the options supports this. Their are people who still only play Classic, yet Jagex doesn't charge them extra. Why charge 07 Runescapers extra?

Even if you don't agree with my opinions or the idea of bringing back RS07, It is worth considering voting yes. Let me explain why:

RS07 will likely return with only a few servers, 5-15 is my guess. These servers will cost Jagex less than Runescape's current ones because the RS07 game is significantly lighter, i.e. requires less resources to run and maintain. The server costs will probably be 30-80% cheaper, meaning 10 RS07 servers may only cost the same as 5 current Runescape servers. This would only add about a 3.3% server cost.

RS07 has the potential to bring back old veterans who would be willing to pay $5 a month again. Only they would have to pay, what is it? $8.99 now? Which some may. Also, if a player is paying $5 a month and can play either, Jagex would rather them play RS07 because Jagex would get more profit for less cost that way.

RS07 may also bring back players whose computers aren't top of the line or who bought prefab ones. I have a pretty nice machine capable of playing many high-end games on max settings with no lag. When I play rs on max settings with even a semi amount of players in the area, it lags noticeably. Enough to cause me to click wrong or too slowly. This isn't system lag though, because only Runescape lags. I could play any other game (simultaneously while playing RS) just fine, without lag. Many players can't handle max settings and while the settings are nice eye-candy, they're proven to lower game performance, not increase player efficiency, and thus ultimately lower player fun.

Regarding bots on RS07, sure there will be some, but it's not likely to be as many. Isn't classic susceptible to bots? Yet they don't plague it because the cheaters don't play it. RS07 will mostly appeal to veteran players who don't cheat by buying levels or gold. The current RS does because it has all the fancy bells and whistles. New, usually younger players, are attracted to that. But once they find out they actually have to work to get the high levels they just cheat and buy them.

RS07 won't be perfect, and it won't be for everybody. But it will not negatively affect the current Runescape.

Adbot · **Posted:** February 14th, 2013, 5:40 pm

Davo · **Posted:** February 15th, 2013, 11:01 am

I agree with Ranging God. I'm really excited for this, and I hope it reaches at least 500k votes. In all honesty I will not be dividing my attention between the two that much. I may log into the old servers to screw around here at there, but my main focus is still maxing in the current game.

Jagex is not going to remove the EoC or revert the "new school" features so this is going to be the closest thing to Pre-EoC we're going to get. They have stated MULTIPLE times that the maintenance of the old servers will not impact the current game. Depending on how many votes the servers get, they will have a separate team devoted just to the old servers. It's not like they won't be able to afford a team of 10 people (more than enough) to manage 2007 servers. There were nearly 500,000 registered accounts for 2006Scape before it got shut down. Assuming that 200,000 of those players come back to Jagex at $5 a month minimum, that's an extra $1 million per month. Those are happy and satisfied players too! Massive profit and happy consumers? That honestly hasn't happened since August of 2007. How ironic.

I don't understand why so many people are upset that Jagex is "caving in" to 06 Scapers... I'm an '04 Scaper. Also, this isn't Jagex caving in. They're finally listening to Player Feedback for once. This is truly a revelation in and of itself. Would you rather them stay close minded and force updates down our throats or are you just upset that they didn't listen to YOUR idea? Regardless, it's forward motion (or backwards depending which way you look at it lol), and I'm not trying to troll or bait or start heated arguments here.

All I'm saying is, if this passes with 500k votes, this will be a HUGE financial gain for Jagex, and it will be 110% more acceptable than micro-payments.

This update really isn't geared towards existing players at all (veteran or not). It's geared towards players that have quit due to the drastic and forced change throughout the years. It's to bring people back into the community and ultimately generate more revenue. But this time they're earning money in a way that benefits the players. Not implementing RWT. It is an EXCELLENT business strategy from a marketing point of view. Just as the Wildy/Free Trade was. Jagex is a company. A company's main goal is to make money. It is as simple as that. Jagex is not a non-for-profit organization. They are listening to the players finally and will be able to turn a massive profit from doing so. They could either introduce more micro-payment systems and increase membership price while ***** off players and potentially losing them, or they could offer something that retired players have wanted for years and turn a profit while gaining more of their players back.

If anything this will HELP the current game. If Jagex can get more revenue from this, they're obviously going to funnel it into the current game. This will hopefully bring better quality updates such as the upcoming HTML5 engine, new skills, and multi-platform integration such as mobile devices. As paradoxical as it may seem, taking a few steps into the past will enable them to leap forward into the future of the current game.

There is already 51k votes, so the servers are officially coming back. That's before most kids get home from school. Hopefully it will hit around 250k if not 500k by the end of the weekend.

Estor · **Posted:** February 15th, 2013, 1:35 pm

I really don't like this because they made it so only members can vote. It's stupid because most people who want the old RS back have already quit, and therefore don't have membership. OR they don't even know this is going on because they quit so long ago.

CreepyPirate · **Posted:** February 17th, 2013, 10:29 am

I'd be suprised if they got 500k or more votes. I don't think they have 700k subs so 500k would be pushing it. And there isn't going to be many that will pay extra to play on those servers even if they do vote yes.

Wont work out. They'll shut it down or just make it free for all members before the year ends. Shouldn't have to pay extra to play the unfucked up version of the game anyway. Interesting that he comes right out and says hes hoping this might bring back some of the older players. It wont.

07scaper · **Posted:** February 17th, 2013, 4:37 pm

Old school. WOOT

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

There are over 100k voters so far, but I dunno how many more they'll get. I think it'd be cool, same as still running RuneScape Classic servers. It gives another reason to be a member, but not for those who are new to the game. This won't draw people in, and it isn't likely to bring people back in huge droves.

I haven't played in a couple years, so I haven't particularly passed judgement on the EOC and similar updates. I dunno what kind of value this would add to the game at this point. I did have a great time playing from ~2004-2010, with the least amount of complaints happening prior to 2009 or thereabouts. Is that to say that there were no good updates past then? No. There were a few I didn't enjoy, but they added to the game.

I can't say for sure if the 2007-ish era RS was still around, expanding, and continuing, if I would still be playing. I generally don't have as much time as I used to to sit down and play one game anymore. A good deal of their audience may also be in that boat, having had grown up playing RuneScape, but are not able to continue for whatever reason. Unless their target demographics have changed dramatically over the last couple years, they're increasingly having to compete with other games (iOS / Android / mobile gaming in general, especially) that fill the same void. I don't think RS 2007 will fill the same sort of void that people are expecting, and having to restart back in 2007 does not sound appealing even if I did want to come back.

Jasonmrc · **Posted:** February 17th, 2013, 9:51 pm

Pfkninenines wrote:

I can't say for sure if the 2007-ish era RS was still around, expanding, and continuing, if I would still be playing. I generally don't have as much time as I used to to sit down and play one game anymore. A good deal of their audience may also be in that boat, having had grown up playing RuneScape, but are not able to continue for whatever reason.

You make a very good point.

We grew up on Runescape. I was like 12 when I started 7-8 years ago. I had a heck of a lot more time back then. All of us from that era have/are growing up and moving on to college or jobs or just other things in life. We don't have time, like you said, to spend playing a specific game for a long period of time. Probably one reason things like HL and TF are fun; because we can play them for an hour or so one night and just have fun with friends.

I don't like many things Jagex has done recently, but thinking about it through your point makes more sense. They have to cater to a new generation, one that is growing up with cellphones attached to their ears and game controllers melded to their hands(well, you know what I mean).

The game is very different now. The consumers are very different now.

Saint Aderes · **Posted:** February 18th, 2013, 8:11 pm

I hope everyone votes for it, just to help support those who do want it back. I most likely wont dedicate to the 2007 when it releases, but I know a few who will... so mainly voting for them.

I feel Jagex needs to focus more on improving whats already in the game and take a break from adding stuff in game. 10 years of adding stuff into 1 game is alot to try and keep up with.

Duke Juker · RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010

Saint Aderes wrote:

I feel Jagex needs to focus more on improving whats already in the game and take a break from adding stuff in game. 10 years of adding stuff into 1 game is alot to try and keep up with.

I completely agree with you. I don't see why everyone fusses over new content rather than improving and maintaining what is already there. I mean, it's not like you have to come out with new content every single month, otherwise who can keep up with it all? I think Jagex has put a lot of content into the game and has a lot to work with and to keep Scapers happy.

Lord Rickles · **Posted:** February 20th, 2013, 1:48 am

Double agreement with the last two posts. Jagex needs to find a nice mix of new content and updating/balancing existing content. In fact, they need to have a whole team of developers devoted to that. Sure, they do bug fixes every week, but some things could do with a major overhaul after 5+ years of being outdated and over passed as far as frequented content goes. I would love to see them focus on, say, minigames for a few weeks, and then something like agility improvements, shortcuts, etc the next few weeks. There is PLENTY of stuff to do in Runescape, they just need to make it worthwhile to do again.