Jagex has always stumped me with their lineups for the year. A few months back I had expressed some concern with the announcements and RuneFest. The idea was put to rest with a fairly solid few months so for this year. Unfortunately that itch is back again and it’s more annoying than ever. The month of May has to have some of the most boring overused filler I have seen in years for RuneScape and just reading the behind the scenes leaves a bitter taste in my mouth of lackluster, one shot, content.

Starting out I want to address the next quest in the Sliske story arc. Yes this is a heavy hitter for the year. But I would live on a street in a box if I was to find that this was a bigger deal than the quest for April with the finale to the Myreque storyline. Something that came just in time to not feel like repeated content and to also really create a more immersive feel. I would say good on Jagex for that, but like Java, they are trying to push those 5th age questlines out the door like a friend who has overstayed their welcome.

The Sliske quest series is a huge part to the story and hopefully the beginning of the end for God content being the only massive content Jagex truly cares about. When the Gods returned to start the sixth age I was really excited, now however I ache for the days of true mystery that quests of old provided. And I will say this now, adding a new member to the Barrows family seems ludicrous to me. So calling the new reanimated character a Barrows sister is cringe worthy. It sounds like they need to redo some lore to make that happen. So why do it at all? I wasn’t aware that everyone that Sliske reincarnates is a Barrows member. What does that make Gregorovich? Shouldn’t he be a part of the barrows family?

Hopefully the quest will be good, but I will just have to get past the glaring factor of creating a Barrows sister just to be politically correct. I would care a lot more if the new character had a separate meaning and stand alone relevance to the plot.

Invention Tech Trees. Why can I not get excited about this? They don’t seem to really be adding much here so I am tempted to just move on, but if I said that for everything there would not be an article here. 10 new technologies, including two new cannon types. Hey every other technology that they are promising is skilling related them I can get behind the update, otherwise, it’s just some fluff of an update.

Duel anywhere. Because the wilderness is so dead, let’s just forget that we brought it back and make the duel arena only about the money! I will say that I am not completely against this update but I have a hard time trying to understand how this really helps the wilderness problem. In case anyone forgot, the wilderness requires a player to enter it to fight other players. At least Jagex showed some restraint by only making this a for fun thing. And if there is any other glimmer of hope out of this update is that in five more years players will be so used to EoC combat and the system will be so balanced that the wilderness will be back in full swing on it’s own. Wishful thinking right?

May oh May, what have we here. Another fetchy filler month this time being called Mega May! How much more impressive can Jagex make these useless pieces of content sound? I swear, if there is 3 more of these dang month things this year… I shouldn’t say that because I know that there is one for each already.

I am most interested in the graphical rework out of all the content for the month. Why? Because Pest Control! My favorite minigame has had a graphical rework which should increase traffic and hopefully some attention to the game so everything can be boosted. But even playing it now brings back the rich memories of being a member for the first time and playing pest control with friends just because it was fun. The graphical rework I am sure will be nice, but it’s the first step to bringing some light to the fading minigame.

What is with everyone and boss pets? I don’t really want to spend any time on the micros for the month so I will just ask why? Please let me know below, is it a rarity thing? A style thing? Both? I have no clue because I could have cared less, but if there is something really impactful for quality of play or even fun, let me know because I am very interested.

I think that a way that Jagex could really work to improving their release schedule is to simply devote more time to the bigger pieces of content and to lessen the one shot content like these seasonal events. I would love to see Jagex to theme their content around one thing like they did last month. It really brought some gravitas to the quest update and also really focused on improving the area based on that update. I am talking about when the did the elves update or the desert summer way back in the day. Really focusing on one area of the game and bringing it up to speed.

Jagex has an undeniable recipe for success as the game is still around with growing numbers, but focusing on the one off pieces of content is a worrying trend that players could get fed up with, just like the yearly releases of Call of Duty. The repetition kills player interest over time.

Anyway that’s all I have this month, sorry for the mounds of salt I am leaving behind but sometimes an opinion just needs to be let out and hopefully heard. Until next time, happy gaming!