I think Runescape used to be a great game, that has over the years degraded to a far worse product, and I think it's important to address the issues to any new players and players that played Runescape a long time ago.

-It has an aggressive monetization/lootbox system that gives you items and/or experience boosts for the cost of your real money. In other word, a big gameplay/achievement advantage over players who don't indulge in overspending.
-The combat is very much an ability-based knockoff system of traditionally more popular MMOs, but with a less smooth flow and awkward uses. It has a mode to disable the ability-based to return to the combat that once was, however it is far less powerful and certain content is straight up impossible in that mode.
-The skills added in later years have far less substance or individuality than they once did, with their place in the game being questionable or unnecessary. Forcing you to grind functionally identical skills for arbitrary requirements; for example quests.

As someone who has really tried to enjoy this game after it's total rework, over and over again, I can not in good faith give this a good review. There is a single thing in this game that I think do deserves praising, the storytelling and questing is magnificent, the lore is fantastic. But since I can't say anything positive about the game besides that, I would highly recommend that you look up what you're getting into. It's not the game you've played in the past.

I think Runescape used to be a great game, that has over the years degraded to a far worse product, and I think it's important to address the issues to any new players and players that played Runescape a long time ago. -It has an aggressive monetization/lootbox system that gives you items and/or experience boosts for the cost of your real money. In other word, a big gameplay/achievement advantage over players who don't indulge in overspending. -The combat is very much an ability-based knockoff system of traditionally more popular MMOs, but with a less smooth flow and awkward uses. It has a mode to disable the ability-based to return to the combat that once was, however it is far less powerful and certain content is straight up impossible in that mode. -The skills added in later years have far less substance or individuality than they once did, with their place in the game being questionable or unnecessary. Forcing you to grind functionally identical skills for arbitrary requirements; for example quests. As someone who has really tried to enjoy this game after it's total rework, over and over again, I can not in good faith give this a good review. There is a single thing in this game that I think do deserves praising, the storytelling and questing is magnificent, the lore is fantastic. But since I can't say anything positive about the game besides that, I would highly recommend that you look up what you're getting into. It's not the game you've played in the past.