Rare Items Rant

Jagex is seriously considering reintroducing rare items, both tradeable and non tradeable, back into the game. We can now all potentially get the party hats, dragon masks and the rubber chickens we've always drooled over. Obviously the implications on the economy will be huge but first I'd like to sum up what the developers are considering.

The developers are likely reinstating both tradeable and non tradeable items back into the game but the method by which they do so is still being polled. The options for both types of items are as follows:

1. Distribute them like before (dropping, holidays, etc.)
2. Appear as rare rewards from treasure trails.
3. Distribute them through very rare monster drops.
4. Buy them for cheap in an NPC shop.
5. Buy them for a lot in an NPC shop.
6. Have them given out as rewards from community events.
7. Give one of each rare item to every old school player.
8. Have them appear as rare drops when skilling.
9. Introduce new seasonal events for each of them.

Let me tell you, the community is hugely divided. The polls as of tonight are essentially right down the middle. But to me some choices have bigger ramifications to the game than others.

The first group of choices is numbers 4 and 5: buying them from NPC's. What will happen if the devs choose this is that the prices will have a fixed rate in the economy. No one will buy or sell them for more than they can get them at the store and they become as useful as the colored robes from Canifis. Maybe me and some veteran players might pull some nostalgia out of it but otherwise Jagex would have added a useless novelty with no real impact on the game: the worst option in my opinion.

The next group of choices with similar implications to the economy is 2, 3, and 8. These options all allow players of skill or experience to get these items. For non tradeable rares like the rubber chicken this offers an interesting badge of honor. Players could show off their sickle or Easter egg ring to pick up girls at the Ardougne Bar scene, or to showcase how much time they've spent on this game (although do we really want anyone to know?). I like the idea of this but I think it would be better suited to skill or monster specific items. For instance a rare woodcutting drop could be a golden branch (I don't know. Its an example). Again, the notion of non tradeable items gathered from the word seems interesting but it's not fitted to Yo-yo's and Reindeer hats.

For tradeable items it's different  If Jagex made it possible to obtain tradeable rares like Santa Hat's from treasure trails, skills, or monsters they've added yet another pricey piece of junk like berets or elegant robes to the economy. It won't change much. And do we really need more assholes like the picture below wandering around?

Finally the last group is 1,6,7 and 9. These are the “money” options and possibly the most risky. These options all limit the amount of these novelties released into the game. Maybe I shouldn't but I assume that Jagex wouldn't be stupid enough to allow players to obtain more than one per account. This would curb but not eliminate people stockpiling these for sale at a much later time. Realistically most smart players would have a bank looking something like this (excusing the other expensive items).

I'm sure the prices would eventually rise as they did with the holiday items in modern Runescape. And considering that blue party hats are currently a whopping 2.14 Billion goddamn coins on the Grand Exchange I don't think they would ever stop. 

The Runescape 07 items would act differently in the economy however. With no Grand Exchange there would be no definite prices to them, only a relative range. When the amount of rares in the game shrunk significantly or when certain players stockpiled them all they'd be traded by the richest players to try to turn a profit. This very chaotic mechanic of trading is, I think, very suited to how the old school economy should be: fast paced, unregulated, and mean. 

The only downside is that players could use this method, along with a pre stocked bank of rares to gather too much money, greatly damaging the games economy. 

On a personal note, I think Jagex should hold new holiday events (option 9) to release the old holiday items. Old School Runescape is a new game and as I've said a better game. The developers have already given us old players something to feel nostalgic about so I vote we make some new memories for every player.