#there really are some gaps in content there for the midgame

[vaguely-concerned]

having seen at least the rough outlines of all the romances now I have to say that I think emmrich's is probably objectively the best in terms of coherence and completeness of story arc (with the understanding that ultimately the 'best' romance is whichever one makes YOUR heart sing anyway so objectivity is a silly thing to claim that way, it just felt like it's the arc with the most well-paced focused content and the least dangling threads)... but lucanis' is my favourite haha. just. the whole kneeling before your beloved full of reverence but without any of the distance that usually implies??? his complete undramatic certainty and calm in every scene with rook after this, having spent the whole game caught between fear and longing???? mr. lives in a pantry but it says nothing about my psyche don't worry about it it's purely for tactical reasons that I keep myself contained in a small dark room not entirely unlike a cell, love among the parsnips -- finally coming to rook in their room and it's so comfortable and comforting???? after all the times rook supports and comforts him through the game he's finally able to return the same to them when they need it while being so calm and steady and it's so fucking sweet and feels so effortless and with no price attached?????? he basically assigns himself the role of your bodyguard and he WILL stab a god over it??????????????? the turn to protector (which was in his heart all along longing to get out and find a place) of it all????? he sounds like he's found himself unexpectedly stumbling into such a soul-lightening state of revelatory existential relief, full on 'you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves' mary oliver style, and he goes and he shares that with rook and protectively envelops them in it when they're hurting??????????????????????????? hello for the maker's sake hello can anyone hear me?????

[imunbreakabledude]

new thought about all my melancholy ranting about direction of osrs in the last few years -

i think stuff like the "median powercreep" has been good for the game in many ways, by smoothing out parts of midgame iron (somewhat affects midgame mains too, but moreso irons) progression that were previously really awkward long gaps from super early game gear to late-ish game gear (like dscim to whip gap being filled by zombie axe, rune/barrows to GWD armor gap being filled by moons, prayer gap from 44 prayer to COX scrolls and magic weapon gap from ibans/warped to trident being filled by royal titans)...

but the sort of drawback that we're seeing now is that. reducing/smoothing the grinds in the early and midgame will definitely increase accessibility/player retention... but I feel like people are now getting to that point of an account but then getting upset when the grinds that come AFTER those are longer. filling gaps is good but the game does have a more or less exponential curve both in XP to level skills and in time investment to get gear proportional to its power. (of course not a perfect relationship because you've got some outliers like nightmare that have technically good drops but that are nowhere near worth the time it takes to obtain them... but GENERALLY, as gear gets stronger, its time investment compared to other gear increases on an exponential curve).

so people who can stomach like, 15-20 hours at a relatively simple boss that it was relatively quick to get the requirements for enjoy that but then they get pissed that the next thing for them to do is harder and longer.

which is always a risk in a grind game. everyone has different grind tolerance and the game can never satisfy everyone. we all will feel frustrated at SOME length of grind.

but I think this smoothing of the early/mid game has essentially taken new players who probably would've quit by like, 1200 total and rune armor/d scimmy/ibans (put off by things like whip and trident being next most accessible upgrades), and now keeping them in the game for longer - but then they still will hit the point of wanting to quit at like, 1700 total with zaxe and moons gear and twinflame. but they will possibly be more upset because they're further into the game before realizing it's not for them - slash, they'll think because they've played a decent amount and liked it so far the endgame needs to change to cater to their idea of what is "reasonable" vs what it has always been.

and i can't really fault a new player for investing what is probably at least a few hundred hours (assuming not peak efficiency) to get to the moons/titans stage and then feeling frustrated if the rest of the game suddenly seems harder and longer than what they've played so far. BUT... also... like there has to be some perspective. that this is a long game BY DESIGN. and you are not meant to "complete" it, and certainly not in a small amount of time.

i disagree when people say "catering to irons" is the reason things get easier - i dont think it's iron mode as a whole that is to fault, but I will say I think iron mode gets recommended WAY more often than it should to new/casual players. and it's tough because early iron IS fun even for a new player but they don't realize late/end game iron is a whole different beast. they won't know it until they get deep enough to feel like they've sunk time and DESERVE something for it.

and also a new player signing up and seeing things like the collection log, which has an interface encouraging you to hit new thresholds, cosmetic rewards, and even has its own hiscores - i can't blame that new player for seeing that and assuming completing it is a feasible and highly encouraged goal. nothing in the clog interface indicates how insane it is to go for full clogging. like yes there are so many items and pages so you could look at it and be like "wow that's a lot of content!". no new player would assume they'll complete it SOON. however, seeing it as sort of a checklist, list of achievements, with a progress bar to "encourage" you to check things off, could very easily put it in their head that it is possible to check everything off one day. and if that idea is in their head (consciously or not), that they are intended to fully engage with and "complete" all the activities in the game, then I can get why they would think the length of some grinds is asking a lot.

but you're NOT meant to complete it! and even to "complete" or just experience a good portion of the content in the game is MEANT to take YEARS of play. that's the POINT! this is why i voted against the clog cosmetics and hiscores, even as someone who enjoys it as a goal as part of my overall play. I like it on the individual level but I think it's bad for the game as a whole, especially for new players. there's nothing in the interface that indicates "completing all of these slots would take literally dozens of years of constant play, you will probably never even see a single drop from some of the pages of this log even if you play the game for the next 5+ years."

tl;dr I think making the early game more accessible and smooth is nice for player retention but maybe we kind of lost some natural filters for the kind of players that will actually like OSRS long term.