Equipment Rebalancing - Next Steps
Yesterday we released our first iteration of the Equipment Rebalance blog, highlighting some of the proposed changes that we believe will benefit the game's long-term health. We all want to see Old School continue to flourish for many years to come, and we're doing what we think is necessary to ensure that.
We expected a lot of feedback and, boy, did you deliver by the truck-load! Understandably, many of you have concerns, especially regarding the suggested nerfs to existing items.
We’re still processing all of your comments, but we wanted to take this opportunity to thank those of you that are engaging in healthy and constructive discussions - it really helps us decide which changes will be most effective, and we very much value your feedback. To those of you opting to vent your frustration by targeting individual members of the Old School team, please try to remember that behind the crowns there are real people trying to do their best for the game and its community.
While we’re not ready to provide a full response just yet, we do want to address some of the key points raised, and highlight what we’ll be doing over the coming days in response. Note that this is not an exhaustive list, nor a reflection of the overall feedback we’ve gathered so far.
- The majority of players feel the changes to the Toxic Blowpipe are too harsh and will make current content too difficult. Furthermore, they feel that recently introduced content has been balanced around the expectation of players using the existing blowpipe.
- There are concerns over why we’re only now deciding to change equipment that’s been in the game for many years, with particular attention to the Dragonhide defensive stats reduction, and how these changes may impact similar items such as Blessed Dragonhide armour.
- You feel the proposed changes to Dinh’s Bulwark will make it even less powerful, and that as such a big shield, it should retain high defensive capabilities.
- There is confusion over why the Toxic Blowpipe is such a focus for the nerfs, yet items such as the Twisted Bow and Scythe of Vitur have hardly been changed.
- Players feel that our proposed change to the Neitiznot Faceguard will render it obsolete, and that a reduction in Strength is not necessary.
So what are we doing about all this?
We’re going to spend the next few days continuing to collate your feedback in preparation for a revised blog early next week. We’re hopeful that this will be ready for you on Tuesday 26th January.
We will be opening a beta world for testing alongside the weekly game update on Wednesday 27th January. Its primary focus will be to test the Toxic Blowpipe and gather more focused feedback around the proposed changes. Tuesday’s blog will go into more detail about some of the changes that will be live in the beta.
If the beta shows that further changes are required, we’ll continue to work closely with the community to gather feedback, and then come back to you with our findings.
That's it from us on the subject of the rebalance for this week. We'd like to once again thank all of you who have taken the time to give us feedback, and we hope you'll continue working with us to find the best outcome for the game. We're not taking any of your responses lightly! Keep the conversation flowing this weekend, and we'll catch up with you next week.
The Old School Team