Old School Runescape wants you to decide the loot of its next big raid, and a second ring slot isn't off the table

Seeing a game studio write a whole blog to basically ask “what do you want?” may sound like a very fresh approach, but it’s something Old School Runescape has done since its triumphant return. And now, with a new high-end raid, The Fractured Archive, set to drop later in the year, Jagex doesn’t want to risk it feeling like a pointless endeavor. The Cambridge, England-based studio wants its players to decide how they should be rewarded for their time, and it might be the last chance you’ll get to convince it that the best reward doesn’t always have to be a massive sword.

The lengthy blog post details the current thinking behind the loot awaiting players at the end of a hard-fought raid in the classic MMO. Rather than focus on specific items, the studio is looking for feedback on whole loot tables. Old School Runescape content is known for having some pretty rough drop rates for its best items. Even now, it’s looking like I’ll need to kill dozens of mobs way out of my comfort zone to score a very basic Black Axe for a treasure map that’s sure to disappoint me. Look, I got some pretty cool rewards (for an Ironman account) in my last two maps, and while I’m not a gambling man, I have to know if I can go three for three. I got Beef in 48 runs. Luck is on my side.

Anyway, the point is: if a drop is any good, there’s very (very) little chance of getting it on your first clear of a brutal boss. “Chambers of Xeric feels like it has too many rewards, Theatre of Blood feels like it has too few, Tombs of Amascut feels like a good number of rewards, but rarities could likely be shifted,” is the current thinking of the Runescape team when it comes to its three available raids, and it suspects “many of you would agree.”

As a lowly combat level 71 Ironman who just got their Dragon Scimitar, I certainly can’t comment, but it’s an interesting read nonetheless. Right now, Jagex thinks the loot table for its next upcoming raid’s “unique” drops should include a mega rare “undisputed best-in-slot” item with the same sort of allure as the Scythe of Vitur, the Twisted Bow, and Tumeken’s Shadow. A weapon, basically.

For armor, the thinking is an “ideally outright best-in-slot” solution akin to the Masori and Ancestral sets-two that aren’t only used in niche circumstances, unlike the Justiciar set. That leaves room for around three “standalone rewards” that are “strong pickups” that “could function very well within a certain niche,” with the Elder Maul, Lightbearer, and a few others being named comparisons.

Jagex still thinks a mega rare drop should be a weapon, but now’s your chance to double down on past suggestions that one could be “a second ring slot” among a few ideas. The team isn’t sure “they hit the right excitement level” compared to “equipping an absolute powerhouse,” and while I see what they mean, an extra ring slot would help absolutely everyone. “We’ll get to work on specific rewards concepts and hope to have them in front of you before Summer,” says Jagex, “so that we have ample time to refine designs and make sure that your time in the Fractured Archive feels more than worthwhile!”