Reignited... The Concerns of an RS3 Veteran
I almost never do this. I generally don't bother making accounts to participate in online discussions or post comments. I'm usually just a chronic online lurker lol. But after everything that's happened with Reignited, the End of Week Update and now reading some of the reactions to it, I honestly can't just sit back anymore. I'm genuinely fed up.
I've played RuneScape since around 2006. Almost TWENTY years. I've been through EoC, the ridiculous MTX, the declining playerbase and god knows how many questionable decisions from Jagex over the years. And despite all of that I stuck around. Because I genuinely love RuneScape. The world, the lore, the quests and of course the character I've spent almost two decades developing. It's been a constant in my life since childhood.
When Road to Restoration was announced I actually felt hopeful for once. Finally finally it seemed like Jagex was taking the problems with RS3 seriously and actually trying to repair the damage they've done to the game and its reputation.
And then they announced Reignited...
I've read the original announcement, their apology and now the End of Week Update. And I'm honestly baffled by how determined Jagex seems to be to push this through. They acknowledge the backlash, apologise, tell us they're listening and then come back with a bunch of revisions while keeping what I consider one of the biggest problems with the whole idea. The permanently separate economies.
And before someone jumps in to tell me that we're sharing worlds, yes I KNOW. Reignited is a separate character type within RS3, not another game. I know they're now looking into shared membership and potentially allowing Veteran and Reignited characters to boss together. I've read the update.
But what difference does any of that make to the GE if the economies are still permanently separated? You're dividing the economy of an MMO that's ALREADY struggling with its population. How is this supposed to be a good idea?
The GE runs on supply and demand. You need people actively buying and selling items for it to function. Now imagine Reignited takes off and becomes the more popular character type. New players gravitate towards it, returning players might prefer starting fresh and existing Veterans start spending more and more time on Reignited too. It's new, it's fresh, streamers might flock to it and suddenly everyone's talking about it. What happens to the Veteran GE then?
Less supply, less demand, fewer transactions. Items that previously sold within minutes might start taking hours or days. Other items become increasingly difficult to buy because hardly anyone is supplying them anymore. Prices become unreliable or completely skewed and the market gradually atrophies.
And the worse the Veteran market gets, the less appealing it becomes to play on a Veteran account. Which then encourages even more people to focus on Reignited. Do people *seriously* not see the problem here?
And here's the part that REALLY bothers me. If the GE atrophies enough, ordinary Veteran accounts will essentially be forced to play more and more like Ironmen. Need some obscure material? Equipment? Potions, ingredients, supplies for whatever you're doing? Well good luck buying them if nobody is selling them anymore. Go farm it yourself.
Now don't get me wrong. I am not trying to critizise ironmen at all. However, I didn't choose to play Ironman. Neither did plenty of other people. Not everyone has the time or patience to grind absolutely everything themselves. Some people enjoy bossing, others enjoy skilling. Bossers earn GP and buy supplies from skillers, skillers sell their resources and use their GP for other things. That's the entire point of having different playstyles and a player-driven economy!
I don't want my nearly 20-year-old regular account to slowly become a pseudo-Ironman because Jagex decided splitting the economy was somehow a brilliant idea.
And no, potentially being able to boss together doesn't fix that. If the loot still enters two separate economies then we're still dealing with two separate markets. You could have a Veteran and Reignited character standing right next to each other at the GE and they still wouldn't be able to trade.
Now in the End of Week Update Jagex says they believe many former players will return to their existing Veteran characters rather than choosing Reignited.
Based on WHAT exactly?
Have they surveyed these people? Do they have actual data supporting this? Have they considered how many existing Veterans might shift most of their playtime to Reignited instead? And how many of those returning players will even stick around?
Because simply saying you believe people will return doesn't mean they will. Even if thousands come back, what happens if even more existing players move their activity to Reignited?
They also say they'll monitor the health of both economies and intervene if necessary.
Okay. HOW??
What exactly are they going to do if the Veteran GE starts atrophying? How are they going to restore supply and demand when the underlying problem is that fewer people are participating in that market? You can't just fiddle with some numbers and magically create buyers and sellers.
I'm not saying the Veteran economy is guaranteed to collapse overnight. But this is a VERY real risk and Jagex's answer so far basically amounts to 'we believe it'll be fine and we'll keep an eye on it'.
Sorry but after everything that's happened over the years, that doesn't reassure me in the slightest.
And then there's this whole Veteran recognition nonsense. A special Veteran Max Cape? Exclusive cosmetics? Seriously Jagex? I find that incredibly condescending. What am I, a kid who needs a participation badge for being a good boy and playing RuneScape for nearly TWENTY YEARS??
I don't need Jagex to pat me on the back. I don't need some special cape or cosmetic to remind everyone how long I've been playing. I want the character I've spent thousands upon thousands of hours developing to remain relevant in a healthy game with an active economy.
How on earth is a Veteran Max Cape supposed to compensate for the possibility of the Veteran GE slowly shrivelling up and dying? It's almost insulting that this is being presented as an answer to Veteran concerns.
And another thing that bothers me is this whole clean economy narrative. It's already creating this idea that Veteran accomplishments are somehow tainted by MTX.
I've earned my progression legitimately. I haven't been buying my way through the game with Treasure Hunter and XP promotions. Yet I've already seen people assuming that high-level Veteran accounts must have bought their progress.
Jagex are the ones who introduced and pushed those systems for YEARS. Why should the players who actually earned their achievements now have to deal with their accomplishments being treated as less legitimate because of Jagex's own decisions?
I'm not interested in starting over just to prove anything. I've already played the game and earned my progression.
And now I'm seeing people praising the End of Week Update as though Jagex has suddenly fixed everything. I also read that post about how disappointing this subreddit apparently is for continuing to be negative.
Are we seriously at the point where we're supposed to be grateful because Jagex has "graciously decided" the possibility of not having us pay TWO subscriptions? Or because we might be allowed to boss together after all?
These are concessions to restrictions Jagex THEMSELVES came up with in the first place. And the permanent separation of the economies is STILL there.
What exactly am I supposed to be celebrating here?
Look, harassing developers or attacking people just because they're excited for Reignited is stupid. Nobody deserves that. But don't lump legitimate criticism together with harassment and then act like everyone who still opposes this idea is being unreasonable.
If the proposed revisions resolve your concerns then fine. But they don't resolve mine, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.
Jagex hasn't abandoned the idea. They've just made it more palatable. And somehow the discussion is shifting towards how much we should appreciate them for listening instead of whether this was even a good idea to begin with.
I don't see why that deserves applause. And what makes all of this even more frustrating is the timing.
For years Jagex has been responsible for damaging RS3's reputation. EoC drove away a huge portion of the playerbase when it was introduced, and then came years of increasingly aggressive MTX. Yak Track on repeat, Hero Pass, broken promises, Treasure Hunter and god knows what else.
Then Road to Restoration came along and it finally seemed like they were serious about fixing things.
So WHY are we suddenly pursuing a permanent fresh-economy character type before that work is even finished?
What happened to Player Avatar Update Part 2 that was listed for Autumn 2026 on the roadmap? There's still outdated visuals, clipping issues, interface problems and plenty of other things that need fixing.
And here's something else I find completely backwards. Jagex already has early-game and new-player improvements planned for 2027 as part of Road to Restoration. So why on earth are we launching Reignited BEFORE those improvements have even been implemented?
You're trying to attract all these new and returning players with a fresh economy while the actual early-game experience they're going to encounter hasn't even received the improvements you've already acknowledged it needs. How does that even make sense?
I've personally helped several newcomers get into RuneScape. Spent hours showing them around, explaining mechanics, helping them figure out what they should be doing and generally getting them started. The majority stuck around and a few even reached endgame. Ofc that's just my own experience, but it really made me realise how overwhelming RS3 can be for someone who's new. There's so many systems, the interface can be a nightmare and the game doesn't exactly do a great job of explaining everything. Which is precisely why I'm glad Jagex is planning to address these things. But shouldn't that happen BEFORE trying to bring in a whole wave of new players?
Why not also introduce something like a proper mentoring system where Veterans can help newcomers? Make it easier to find clans and experienced players willing to show people around. There's an enormous amount of knowledge within the existing community that could be put to good use.
And once Restoration has actually delivered on its promises, why not give RS3 a proper marketing push? Ask former players why they quit and what would bring them back. Ask OSRS players why they don't want to try RS3. Ask completely new players what puts them off. Actually find out what these people want instead of deciding that a permanent fresh economy is the answer.
I even have an OSRS-only friend who became interested in trying RS3 after I told him about some of the improvements being made. It makes me wonder how many others might give the game another chance if Jagex actually finished restoring it and showed people what had changed.
Isn't that supposed to be the entire point of Road to Restoration?
And look, I'm not even fundamentally against the idea of a fresh-start experience. I've thought about this quite a bit and I genuinely think there's a way Reignited could work without permanently dividing the economy.
Why not make it an introductory experience? Let new and returning players start fresh together, learn the game and enjoy that early progression alongside others doing the same. Then after reaching a certain milestone, have those characters graduate into the existing Veteran economy with their progression intact.
Obviously there would need to be safeguards and balancing to prevent abuse or economic disruption. I'm not pretending this would be trivial to implement.
But at least that way Reignited would actually feed players into the existing game rather than permanently dividing players into two separate classes. The more successful Reignited becomes, the more players eventually join the existing economy. More supply, more demand, more activity.
Instead we have a proposal where Reignited becoming MORE successful could potentially come at the expense of the Veteran economy.
Does nobody at Jagex see the contradiction here? You're trying to grow RuneScape by introducing something that could end up weakening the very playerbase that's kept RS3 alive all these years.
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. I know not everyone will agree with me and that's fine. But I'm genuinely worried about where this is heading and I couldn't just sit back and say nothing anymore.
I've stuck with RuneScape for nigh two decades. Through EoC, through MTX and through years of watching the game struggle. And for a while, with Road to Restoration, I actually thought things were finally looking up.
Now I'm back to wondering whether Jagex has learned anything from the past.
I'm not interested in playing a Reignited character. I don't want to start over. Not everybody wants to repeat the enormous effort and grind that is RuneScape, especially after spending years upon years developing their existing characters.
And I certainly don't want to watch the economy my character belongs to slowly shrivel up and die while Jagex hands me some participation badge and tells me how much my journey matters.
If Jagex goes ahead with permanently separate economies despite all these concerns, then I'm DONE. Finito. Not just with RS3 but with Jagex altogether. I have no interest in supporting any of their other products either. It is then clear that they do not care about their loyal players and customers that have supported them for years on end.
I've put up with a ridiculous amount of nonsense over the years because I love this game. But even I have my limits.
Just finish fixing the game we already have and give it a proper chance to recover before gambling with its future.
Is that *really* too much to ask?