Alex 43

All right, then. Casual day. Log on. Ah, the evolution of combat update has been applied to Runescape. Cool. I played the beta for a bit, so I sorta know how things work.

Checked out the update on the Runescape news for more information. Looks like despite an incredibly dynamic change, Jagex are encouraging that the new combat system is an option rather than a forced change. I like that; perhaps I may not like the new system and would rather stick with the back and forth style I’ve grown up with.

Enter the Runescape world. Ah, all my equipment is gone! Oh, nope, it was just banked, and I get 15 more bank spaces and a free teleport there for the inconvenience. Totally worth 30 seconds of my time. Put my stuff back on.

All right, let’s try out this new interface. Spellbook now has an abilities interface for all types of combat. Just click on an ability to use it; it supplies all the details just by hovering the mouse over it. That’s simple and convenient.

Got the action bar now. As I recall, I can set practically anything, from dropping inventory items to eating food to spells and abilities to even equipping certain weapons in the midst of combat. Pretty boss. Ah, but having it open makes me have to press enter to chat. No matter, I’ll just close it by clicking the top-right button, it minimizes to a very thin bar, and it’s Runescape proper again!

And hey, check out the abilities! Tthere’s an ability that unsnares me and cures my poison for free once every 30 seconds! Pretty boss, considering how often I get poisoned during my treasure trails. There’s one that heals me after a battle if I’m not about to fight something else; very useful for slayer and treasure trails. And there’s one that lets me jump forward 10 squares instantly – if I could get the timing down, I could probably use it to make myself move faster around the Runescape world. Useful for resource gathering! … and treasure trails!

Oh, and now I can choose to train any of my stats during combat no matter the weapon! Sweet! Would be much more handy if I wasn’t already level 99 everything except ranged. And I train ranged with all my ranged weapons anyways.

Also, casting spells take a lot fewer runes; some even removing the altogether need for some. For example, surge spells no longer need bloods and deaths; just some fires and airs. Rune prices might go down as a result. …or they might go up.

And there’s a new make-x interface that lets me know the cost, profit, and experience gain of doing something with several items. This will really help me levelling up as well as manage my finances.

Granted, it’ll take some time to getting used to. But I got used to playing Runescape the old way, right? I got used to playing minigames like Castle Wars and fighting Tormented Demons. Again, give it a few minutes and some test targets and I’ll have it down! … oh wait, that’s right, I already got used to it by playing the Beta. Derp.

The Evolution of Combat: Simply awesome! 5 out of 5 hundreths of a tenth.

So why are there still complaints?

Ah, there’s lots of things that are all out of whack, though.

First off: prayer. Watching a few videos and trying it out myself, there are no longer 100% protection prayers. Instead, they simply reduce damage by half in the same way a Staff of Light does. Apparently this is to make combat and boss fighting a lot more interesting. Plus, with armor boosting your health now, you can no longer rely solely on prayer to keep you alive. I personally like that; I’ve had a surplus of food built up in my bank, and all I’ve been using nowadays were nothing but prayer potions. Some of the higher level prayers like Piety and Turmoil don’t boost your stats as much anymore either. But watching after some boss-fighting videos and seeing the bosses go down in half the normal time regardless… yeah, I really don’t see a problem with this one.

Secondly: special attacks. They have been all but removed. Dragon claws no longer have that 4-hit spec, Saradomin swords no longer have that healing blade, and dragon daggers are no longer that cheap and viable special-drain DPS form. Instead, with abilities (including a 4-hit threshold), all weapons have the same kind of “special attack”, so you can instead do that 4-hit special with a dragon 2-hander or chaotic long. I personally would prefer that. Dragon dagger is over-rated nowadays.

Thirdly: a few weapons got a bit nurfed. I have to hit an imp 10 times with my Staff of Light, which might I add is now 2-handed, to kill it instead of the usual whack-and-run. Battlestaves no longer offer an additional melee bonus; you’ll have to cart a sword with you as well instead of having an omni-weapon like that. Also, my Saradomin Godsword, without its special attack, is just like any other Godsword now (save for a good use at God Wars).

Remember guys. That’s Runescape. I got messed over several times in the past, but that only gave me the incentive to try something new. Runescape will still and always be fun. Even more so now with a whole new methodology behind what you most commonly do in the game.

Cheers, cannoneers!