Pros
Fantastic community resources for improving at the game, both in terms of mechanical skill and general game knowledge
A combat system with a virtually limitless skill ceiling, meaning there’s always something you can be doing to improve yourself
A community that values and respects skilled players without being overly-toxic to newcomers like many other MMOs (e.g. World of Warcraft)
Hardly ever forces the player into doing anything, meaning they can play the game however they want, whether that is fighting bosses, crafting, gathering or killing monsters, with all these parts of the game being highly fleshed out after decades of development.
Fantastic economy that makes it so content released over a decade ago is still good moneymaking and relevant in the current stage of the game.
Almost everything is tradeable, from the highest-level weapons in the game to powerful unlockable abilities, making it so that as long as what you like to do in-game makes good money, you only have to do what you want, as you can buy your upgrades with gold. Furthermore, the existence of iron-man accounts makes it so that even if you prefer the more standard systems in MMOs where these items are untradeable, those players can enjoy the game in that way and earn everything themselves without using the Grand Exchange.
Power creep is incredibly slow compared to other MMOs, and the game actively practices horizontal rather than vertical progression, meaning old content doesn’t stop being difficult, with a boss released 7 years ago being widely considered the hardest boss in the game to this day (Telos). This means that at any given time, RS3 has so much more relevant content than other MMOs.
You can easily sustain your membership with in-game gold once you have learned how to make money efficiently, essentially making the game free.
Puts huge emphasis on character growth over time, leading to you having a character with numerous small but noticeable permanent power boosts that make them incredibly satisfying to play, as you know that those boosts came from you actively seeking them out, not them just being given to you by levelling up.
Cons
The community, while useful, can be overly negative about patches and updates
Tutorialisation is practically nonexistent, leading players to rely entirely on community-generated resources.
It can take a long time to really “click” with the game, as the game’s movement (tile system) and combat can feel very clunky to new players.
When I Like to Play
Complete quests
Earn new upgrades
Enjoy the combat system
Improve my combat skills
Shoot for speedrunning records
Fantastic community resources for improving at the game, both in terms of mechanical skill and general game knowledge
A combat system with a virtually limitless skill ceiling, meaning there’s always something you can be doing to improve yourself
A community that values and respects skilled players without being overly-toxic to newcomers like many other MMOs (e.g. World of Warcraft)
Hardly ever forces the player into doing anything, meaning they can play the game however they want, whether that is fighting bosses, crafting, gathering or killing monsters, with all these parts of the game being highly fleshed out after decades of development.
Fantastic economy that makes it so content released over a decade ago is still good moneymaking and relevant in the current stage of the game.
Almost everything is tradeable, from the highest-level weapons in the game to powerful unlockable abilities, making it so that as long as what you like to do in-game makes good money, you only have to do what you want, as you can buy your upgrades with gold. Furthermore, the existence of iron-man accounts makes it so that even if you prefer the more standard systems in MMOs where these items are untradeable, those players can enjoy the game in that way and earn everything themselves without using the Grand Exchange.
Power creep is incredibly slow compared to other MMOs, and the game actively practices horizontal rather than vertical progression, meaning old content doesn’t stop being difficult, with a boss released 7 years ago being widely considered the hardest boss in the game to this day (Telos). This means that at any given time, RS3 has so much more relevant content than other MMOs.
You can easily sustain your membership with in-game gold once you have learned how to make money efficiently, essentially making the game free.
Puts huge emphasis on character growth over time, leading to you having a character with numerous small but noticeable permanent power boosts that make them incredibly satisfying to play, as you know that those boosts came from you actively seeking them out, not them just being given to you by levelling up.
Cons
The community, while useful, can be overly negative about patches and updates
Tutorialisation is practically nonexistent, leading players to rely entirely on community-generated resources.
It can take a long time to really “click” with the game, as the game’s movement (tile system) and combat can feel very clunky to new players.
When I Like to Play
Complete quests
Earn new upgrades
Enjoy the combat system
Improve my combat skills
Shoot for speedrunning records