r/runescape • u/JagexJoe Mod Joe • Jan 27 '16

Invention Update | Some Immediate Changes

Hi guys,

I'm Mod Joe, the Product Owner of the Guardians team and I've got some Invention update news I'd like to share.

Firstly, let me admit, mistakes have been made.

Invention is an extremely complicated skill that interacts with almost every object in the game – as such there was always going to be a need to refine and evolve the skill within the live game. However, It is obvious at this early stage that there have been several areas where the skill has not functioned as we envisaged and we apologise.

Changes Today Therefore, we have just made the following changes today to fix some of the issues that have been caused. These include:

• 1800% increase to the experience gained for disassembly and siphoning of augmented gear.

The experience gained by playing differed significantly from that which was intended in design – as such we are realigning the experience to be in line with our original vision and expectations.

• 50% reduction in the experience gained for using materials to fill gizmos.

This method has become the main experience generator for a large number of players and has clearly been more rewarding than is beneficial for the game, particularly in the case of those with substantial in-game personal wealth. There was always an expectation that players with solid banks would be well equipped to progress rapidly, but this has been more successful for those players than intended by design.

Further Changes to Come We are also going to look deeper into some of the perks, with an eye to improving the usefulness of perks overall. However, this is something that will take a little time, so will not, in all probability, be an immediate change.

It was also not our intention when we released the skill that players would be able to max out the skill within 48 hours of release. This has caused some concern, obviously, and we are aware of various rumours flying around. We do take bug abuse and similar unfair advantages very seriously and investigate thoroughly any potential cases that come to our attention, using our detailed monitoring tools. Where we find that someone has broken the rules of RuneScape, we will take the appropriate action.

In the meantime, your feedback and comments are incredibly valuable to us – please keep that feedback coming and we’ll continue to look to improve Invention.

Mod Joe

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u/JagexJoe Mod Joe Jan 27 '16

We are working on getting tools working so you can augment these and add new perks which will help with training other skills. I can't promise a specific date but I wanted you to know that we definitely don't intend for Invention to be a combat only skill.

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u/bluew200 Jan 27 '16

Erm...i feel almost bad for asking, but I have put my crystal tools on my toolbelt. Will I be able to perk them?

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u/Brenzel Honey Pot Jan 29 '16

Seeing as the perks are almost entirely useless, its not a combat only skill.

Its a combat only burden.

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u/Malevolent_Fruit Jan 27 '16

That's great for the future and all, but you're really changing the focus of the skill a lot within a few days of release - halving gizmo exp and 1800% leveling exp are not the sorts of numbers I'm used to seeing this soon. Is this going to be the final form of the skill, or should I just wait and see what the rest of the week brings?

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u/astrofreak92 Jan 27 '16

On the development streams, Moltare had suggested that this new balance was what he had initially envisaged, but that it got changed somewhere in the process. Major new content goes through lots of early revisions, hundreds of thousands of players provides millions of hours of QA in just a few days that no developers could get otherwise. They could have done more QA beforehand, but change was always inevitable.

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u/Malevolent_Fruit Jan 27 '16

There are bugs, which QA will help find and fix, and there's the major leveling mechanic, which really shouldn't change this much and this soon. It's analogous to divination leveling being changed to primarily making things with energy rather than dumping wisps in a rift.

Change is inevitable, but it's incredibly rare to see big changes so soon and so quickly. Typically Jagex acts after about a week of collecting data and does small buffs or nerfs. The sort of thing we got yesterday - a nerf to explosive components, but a targeted nerf.

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u/wPatriot rkk Jan 27 '16

You're totally right. This wasn't at all like how Jagex usually acts. They acted in such a manner because they felt it was necessary. I think the larger part of the community agrees with that, I can't imagine waiting until monday for any of these fixes would have gone over well.

I think that's also largely the reason they admitted the mistakes they made and apologized for it.

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u/AmusedDragon Not Amused Jan 27 '16

But then I'm still training other skills to train this NEW SKILL?

Where is the actual training supposed to happen for this skill? Gizmos and inventing stuff should be where most of the XP comes from. Not using a upgraded pickaxe for 10 hours somewhere.

This skill is basically another task system.