RuneScape To Start Experiments To Make Microtransactions Better

If you’re one of the myriad RuneScape players who have been turned off by the F2P MMORPG’s microtransactions, you might be happy to know that the devs are looking to change things up. That’s not to say that they’ll be doing away with them completely. After all, a F2P game has to make money somehow. But they have been listening to player opinions and noted their concerns.

In a post published earlier this week, the dev team discussed the results of a survey in which a large number of players expressed dissatisfaction with the current microtransaction system in the game. The stats also included input from those who have quit playing the game. From these numbers, one thing is very clear: something needs to change.

So, the developers have come up with a plan to do some experiments. They’re calling what they have in mind this because there’s no guarantee that what they try will be implemented. The process will allow players to offer feedback on what the devs try. Even those that aren’t actually testing the experimental systems can still offer input by just letting the devs know how they feel about them as an idea.

Each experiment, of which there are currently three planned, will be implemented in the game for no more than 14 days. During that time, they’ll take player feedback, and at the end, the experiment will be removed. The three currently planned experiments are to disable Treasure Hunter (which people really seem to dislike), offering a DXP Event with only an XP bonus available, and a cosmetic mega drop that offers a big selection of past cosmetic overrides for direct purchase.

Based on the feedback the devs shared in the post, these all sound like ideas worth trying. As a consumer, I’m honestly a big fan of just making lots of fun cosmetics – mounts, pets, clothes, and the like – and offering them for sale. But it seems that those alone don’t generate the kind of money most developers want or need.