I suppose to properly discuss Clans I'd have to define my personal view of what a clan is. A clan to me is a cluster of people who all feel part of what it is that they do together. This can range from a single event (f.e. Pest Control clans), a single or set of skills (Skilling-only), Bounty Hunter only (PK-clans) or just a group of friends (Community). There are a lot more versions of clans, and within these there are without a doubt different varieties as well, an example of this could be p2p or f2p only, or otherwise specified. For full details, dig into the old dusty posts of the Clan Discussions section on the forums.
Few clans still "live" on this website, but nonetheless new ones are formed every day, and every once in a blue moon, an old established generation of clans close down or otherwise cease to exist. This usually happens when leaders or large portions of clans move on with their lives (starting or finishing school happens to be quite a factor), or when major updates happen. I will not go into a lengthy debate of how these recent updates have affected clans, but suffice to say, more then a few did not survive.
This comes down to the point to what makes a clan exist. This is of course the loyal member-base of a clan. You can have 200 people listed, but if they leave for greener pastures the first chance they get, are they really the people a leader would want for his clan? My personal experience tells me no. I have had (and still have) members that come and go, but as long as both the coming and going is not done in a rush, nor by a lot of people all at once, then the stability your clan radiates is an excellent one.
The benefits of a clan are quite obvious. The favour for a favour trade is somewhat killed by the recent update, but still you have a group of people that knows they can depend on one another. But in other instances is it really necessary? I'd like to look back on the very last great war that The Old Wild was host to: The Multi-Site Steel War III. The current host of nearly all RuneScape clans was the poised winner of it all, even so much that the organizer of this event initiated an alliance of all fan sites against this one. Luckily we did not participate in such an alliance because our sheer numbers did the trick. But even then, I estimate we lost about as many people as everyone else together did, probably even more. Certain people were from clans, but the vast majority had merely read some posts with instructions and that was about all the training they had for this war. Other fan sites had a much higher level of organization, and managed to do a lot of damage still by cooperating their efforts, rather then just hacking away at every non-team cape they lay their eyes on. So yes, clans made a difference, but because the amount of green capes numbered over a thousand (more then half of the server's capacity) they still lost. Many belated congratulations still.
So, are clans worth joining? Are they worth working hard for to get in? Yes, most definitely. To both questions. Clans lift certain experiences to another level, largely because you can share them with other people. And because that group of people, if you’re in the right clan, slowly grows and changes and moulds itself time and again so things will never get dull. And what if you seem to be unable to find a clan to your liking? Start your own, because surely other people out of the millions playing RuneScape will feel the same as you do.
TS Stormrage
Dear Jagex,
You don't know me personally, but I am one of your most loyal players. I have been playing your game since July, 2001, when my then 13 year old son dragged me over to the computer excitedly to show off a "really cool game" that his brother had found. He insisted that I would enjoy it as well and told me that we could play together! I was in... Anything to have some bonding time with my kiddo. My first day was a whirlwind of confusion... What to do with bones.. How the heck was I supposed to talk to the npc in front of me...Fun stuff. I filled up my inventory with iron maces that I discovered in Al Kharid, which I blundered into quite by accident...then lost most of them to a scorpion that chased me across the desert...I didn't know how to equip a mace at that point. It was great fun! I wandered back across the bridge through Lumbridge and discovered Port Sarim. I was parked there for weeks killing a man over and over, building my little character up.
As my levels grew, random strangers gave me advice, filled up my bag with fish, cabbages, the occasional sapphire. One stranger led me from the Jolly Boar Inn, after I almost danced into the wilderness, all the way back to Varrock and told me to stand there and stay out of trouble while he smithed me full steel armor, then congratulated me on my ability to wear it and disappeared back into his goals.
I struggled through quests that by today's game standards are a piece of cake, but at the time were very difficult for our little kneeless pixel selves. As I groaned and complained and backtracked and walked around, other players traded me necessary quest items, soothed my nerves, sometimes took time from their own game to help me. I recall one who walked me all the way from Varrock to Draynor right to Ned's door for rope when I was lost. He recommended that I work on my magic levels so that I would be able to get around better, then teleported away. Looking back on that... that was incredible.. Someone with teleport capabilities walked my nooblet self across the map for no personal gain...
I began to fill my friends list...and soon found myself being the one to walk people around Runescape, smith them iron, steel, mithril armor. I delighted in clinking gold coins into their backpacks, 1k, 5k, 10k, sometimes more. It was a thrill to watch a struggling new player achieve a necessary defense level and put on the plate I had just made for him.
I experienced the growing pains of the game as we journeyed into the new "members" experience. My decision to begin paying the 5 dollars per month for the privilege of using new skills, conquering new quests, took all of two days to make. I was in... I was hooked. Runescape was my game...
Holidays were joyful times of hilarity...Halloween saw many of us scattering bizarre piles of bones, logs, gems, anything we could think of, all across Falador, entertaining ourselves and anyone within range... Christmas was always a source of absolute fun for me...I bestowed gifts on anyone that I ran into. Iron ore, Gold ore, Coins, Gems, Armor..It didn't matter what the gift was...I gave it. I would log into F2p worlds loaded up with goodies and teleport runes, do random "trade-bys" and whoooooooosh I was gone again. It wasn't limited to the holiday season, however... Whenever I felt low, not at the top of my "game" in life, I decided to go on a gift spree...It was a wonderful way to clear my bank...and now and then someone became the recipient of a gift a bit more valuable than a pile of iron ore or an addy plate.
I received a gift of my own while chopping at trees in Seer's Village. I was being goofy, talking to myself, not a soul around (Seers wasn't the crowd collector it is now) and singing happy birthday songs because it was my special day. A stranger appeared in front of me and insisted that I trade her...She popped a blue party hat into the trade screen and wished me a happy birthday... She was gone before I was able to say more than a thank you. I don't even have her name now...
After that, I added a few words to my gift exchanges... "Pay it Forward," I began to tell people when they managed to get me talking before I could teleport away and wanted to know what they could do for ME. I bestowed a yellow party hat on a player who had finally saved up enough to buy himself Gilded armor and was proudly wearing it in Seer's Village. The rush of good feeling I got from his joy made my week...
I handed out all of the Halloween masks I had accumulated during the drop of that particular year...I thought they were ugly, but they really seemed to light up other people's days, so into the trade window they went. At Christmastime the year of the Santa hats, I managed to collect 9 or 10... and handed some out to folks who didn't get so lucky...A crowd of us handed out surplus Santa hats the next Christmas as well...Sharing the joy...
Runescape went through many changes, some of them were staggering to many of us. The transition from Runescape Classic to the current game version was a rough one especially, but through all of the bumps and grumblings, I continued to make friends, to enjoy the experience of giving to those players less fortunate than me, to enjoy bestowing that coveted Guthan's spear to a friend to complete his set, to happily dump 10k gold ore on another friend to push him to his next level of smithing...That was still around.. the joy of giving, of sharing, of community generosity and caring...
Fast forward to last month, December 10, 2007...I logged into the site and saw a page full of updates. The titles alone made my stomach sink...As I read, and struggled to comprehend, I became more and more horrified. My beloved favorite past time has been demolished, crushed to a truly useless shadow of its former self...A new trade system, justified by your company as the best way to destroy cheats, scams and bots. It's for our own good supposedly...
No more will I be able to bestow spur of the moment gifts...Never again will I be able to tell a new player "pay it forward" after cheering on his achievements with a brand new set of rune armor...Never again can I give a friend a Robin Hood hat when she has reached that dazzling goal of 99 ranged. My community-minded heart is bruised...nearly broken from this latest update. My loyalty has been sorely shaken... "SoloScape" was not ever something I had expected as one of the growing pains of my game...
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
One of your most loyal players,
Turtlefemm
Did You Know...
... that if you give Dr. Jekyll a Cadantine, he will give you a nice 4 dose Super Restore in return? Good if you're close to a bank when getting him, or already have one in your pack. If you have several Herbs in your pack: temporarily drop Dwarf Weeds or Lantadymes to make him ask for the Cadantine, as he asks for the highest level Herb in your inventory.
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