Humbledragon Interview

Humbledragon is a long time Runescape player that has been playing a very long time. Almost near the day Runescape came out. I've interviewed him to try to get a taste of what the old Runescape was like. Also, some old things she had experienced so you can learn what it was like. I thought it would be interesting to know a little of the history.

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1.) Since when have you started Runescape?

A: I've been playing since the year 2000, around September. My friend Gabe turned me on to it. Eventually the whole school got into it. I was level 23 at the time, and generally ruled.

2.) What was it like when you first started RS? What was the average combat level seen when you were a level 3?

A: Well, it was small. Not just population-wise. The whole world of runescape was limited to 3 towns. The average player was 25ish, and the strongest monster was the black knight, at a fearsome level 43. Yeah after the entire western expansion to runescape, the wilderness was created, and was released at the same time as the dragon slayer quest. The western expansion was a big update that gave us Falador and the outlaying areas.

3.) Can you try and explain the old wilderness pking system, where everywhere was the wilderness?

A: Actually, the wilderness has remained intact. At the time, range and magic was not used at all. So there was not a pking "Triangle" really. It was virtually whoever had the best equipment won. I was once pked by a level 9. He was wearing rune legs, rune chain, and medium. How could I compete with that in mithril armour? All I had at the time was full mithril and rune short sword. I was level 33 I believe.

4.) What was the most expensive armour at first and how much did it cost?

A: I believe that the best money could buy you was a mithril square shield (though steel kites were seen more, as no one could smith mithril and the shops didn't stock it), adamant legs, adamant large helmet, and an adamant long sword. There was no black weapons when I began playing, only black armour, and it was impossible to get. The total cost was about 15k maybe 18k.

5.) How was the RS economy back then and what event made it go up the most to get most people rich?

A: The Runescape economy was based solely on mining and fishing. If you didn't mine or fish, there was no way to make money for you. At the time we had no items that would increase in value over time, until Christmas of 2001, when the party hat was released. Until the point you can make armour and sold it, and liked it, it was a tough business.

6.) About the large party hat controversy, can you explain it a little and express how you felt about it?

A: Well, party hats weren't as big of a deal when they came out. For a couple of months they sold for about 10k; a flat price. A party hat was something everyone had lying around. Then someone had the bright idea to begin merchanting it. So what JaGeX had on there hands, at that point, was an increase in the market that they weren't exactly ready for item-wise, and the prospect of the game becoming all about making fake money and getting an item they dropped for a spot of fun. Naturally, JaGeX was correct and found that the fun in the game had been stripped. So their plan was to simply stop allowing people to merchant the items all together; to stop it. But they realized that it would be unfair to the players to see their money disappear like that. So they simply continued to release fun items, but all the items past Easter of 2003 were non-tradable. People complained, and JaGeX got rid of Holiday drops altogether. So, that put the game back on track, in their eyes, because they began releasing items fast enough to keep up with the economy. In my opinion, it was the right thing to do.

7.) Can you explain a little about the black party hats and mask?

A: The black mask is a myth. The black and orange party hats were indeed, an actually item. However, unlike the conspiracy that many Runescape players have in their head that JaGeX got rid of them, they were actually gotten rid of by players. The amount of them was so small, and the amount of people literally dropping party hats that night was so great, that they just sort of went away.

8.) How did you think the behavior of the players was back then?

A: It was nothing short of atrocious. It was nothing but swear words, lots of "cybering" or text-based sexual activity. I'm happy the filter was introduced.

9.) How did you think JaGeX handled situations back then?

A: They were either sent to the black hole or banned, no questions asked. It was ineffective and hard to keep up with though. How could such a small staff keep up with that sort of bad conduct? So, a report button was added.

10.) When guilds were introduced, how did players react?

A: I know when the Guild of Champions was released, virtually EVERYONE wanted to be in it. The introduction of guilds gave players the opportunity to show off their accomplishments via certain items or capes, etc.

11.) What was it like when the Heroes Guild was released?

A: I think for each one of the BIG quest guilds it's been like that, due to the new items and abilities given for each guild. Besides, the dragon battle axe is hawt.

12.) What was the black hole like? Can you explain what it was like? For example, its location, etc. Just explain it so those people who are confused can get the picture.

A: Well, the black hole was a place where players were sent who scammed or said inappropriate things, etc. It was virtually just blackness, and you couldn't move around or interact with anyone. You were able to visit it in the dwarven mines, and were given a disc of returning to get out. However, they removed the black hole because players would buy two disc of returning, and then go down and trade with their "banished" player, thus rendering it obsolete and ineffective.

13.) Now I bet with the huge release of the Legend's Guild, players had a huge reaction to it. How did the legends guild make players react and what effect did it have on Runescape?

A: The Legends Guild created an economic spike for a good 2 months, due to the release of the dragon square shield. Aside from that, everyone wanted to get their hands on that cape. So, for a good 2 months everything was "training for the legends quest..." Aside from that, the easy access to many different items and skill-related objects, became much easier to make certain items, effectively lowering the cost of some things.

14.) What did you think when they were going to release RS2?

A: I didn't think of RS2 as much as more then a graphics update, until they were well into the project. They announced an idea in 2002ish? And 2 years later it followed through. So I lost anticipation after a while.

15.) When RS2 came out, what did you think about it because it was such a huge graphics update over RS1?

A: I was pretty stunned, to say the least. My character (A Female) no longer looked like a male with a huge chest. It was impressive. And being able to teleport to Lumbridge without runes during the beta was a ton of fun.

Written By: Grapequest
Proofread by: magic_falcon, Monk Basher and Frogger
Coded By: Frogger


Coding Addition By Frogger