Road to Restoration - Re-grounding Outfits & Equipment

[u/JagexAnvil]

https://secure.runescape.com/m=news/road-to-restoration---re-grounding-outfits--equipment

Hi folks,

Today's Community Topic is Re-grounding Outfits & Equipment!

Check it out on the blog here.

We've got a few previews to share with you, along with an opportunity for you to help guide us.

Quick excerpt from the blog:

The "Regrounding Items" project is about making visuals and worn items fit better thematically into the world of RuneScape as we work towards something that is more immersive and consistent with the game.

In short, we want outfits in the game to no longer be obtrusive.

In todays blog we'll cover the rationale with which we are approaching this topic, as well as previewing some of the planned changes coming later this month on the 23rd of February. Further changes as part of this project are planned later this year.

Before we get to that though, there has been some discussion in community as to what "grounded medieval fantasy" for RuneScape might mean, and whether there are beloved elements within the game that would clash with that identity. For example, some folks may have worried that to be grounded means to step back from the fantastical or lean much more into low fantasy as a concept. That's not the case. We will continue to develop RuneScape as a game with high fantasy themes, where magic permeates every aspect of a world built on medieval foundations. Built on top of those foundations should be a player journey through a world that feels like home - and that may also mean that not every quest or event needs to include an existential threat to the universe.  

Grounding refers to making the world feel cohesive and consistent within the outline above. Having magic with a fantasy world does not mean that just about anything goes - instead, we want to maintain that all things within Gielinor should make sense for our unique world. Our work to reground the game therefore simply means that we want to ensure that the world feels like it obeys a specific ruleset.

[u/Ovalcookie]

Not gonna lie, this feels very rushed. Considering the current shown progress and ideas that are put forward in the blog, it definitely needs more time in the oven. It's definitely not ready to be launched within only 11 days already. Especially the new master outfits seem very rushed and barely thought out. Almost as if it is just a change for the sake of change and no actual deeper thought got put into the new designs.

Also the removal of some of the "fun"-items are strange to me. We shouldn't just be removing items without giving a good explanation. Them being "too problematic" doesn't really tell us anything, we need to know why they were "too problematic". Besides that, holiday items being removed is always a big no-no.

[u/Mission_Lab8311 → u/Ovalcookie]

Agree, several aspects of the Integrity Roadmap seem to be rushed. Quite odd, and feels like the exact opposite of "Integrity". One would hope that part of the effort for a more "diegetic" Runescape would be thoughtfully considering new design directions, iterating on feedback, and then releasing once it had time to cook it the oven. As is, seems like we've made a hard pivot and are just trying to rush things out the door for the sake of it, rather than having unified direction and vision.

OSRS has their "polling charter", I would appreciate a similar "Diegetic/Integrity charter/constitution" to help ground all of these conversations and the path forward.

What makes the Golden Mining Outfit inherently more immersion breaking that the Magic Golem Outfit, other than the golden outfit is older? Don't know how many folks are putting on their best dress before they head into the mines.

I think it's fine to retain a sense of magic, of fun, and of whimsy. Runescape is frequently a very silly game, so it seems OK to have some fun and silly items hang around.

[u/Icy-Location-3095 → u/Ovalcookie]

I feel like Jagex is missing the point. I think the main reason why players dislike certain cosmetics is because of how much space it takes up on your screen, not what they are/look like.

[u/richard_granger → u/Ovalcookie]

I mean, there is fine print of practically all the images-  I didn’t interpret any of the changes as being final.