Runescpae divining divination
Here is my take on how the new skills divination and its sister skill
may work.
In order to guess the purpose of new skills, we need to look at rs as
a whole, and see whats missing. (For instance, dungeoneering added
a mechanic for randomly generated exploration)
Currently, there is only one major mechanic missing from rs tha comes to mind: Design.
Players can mix and match armour, but we can’t create new ones. We can
explore new areas and do quests, but only the ones preprogrammed by the mods.
Dungeoneering started a trend of self sustaining gameplay, and I believe divination
may further this, by allowing players an ingame mechanism for adding and modifying content themselves.(Because we all know Jagex fails at Runescape 2007 Gold game design)
If the intention of divination is what I think it is, then each player will somehow be
given a ‘vote’, and will be able to use this vote to put in their 2 cents for what should come next in the game, ie a skilling area, pvm dungeon, boss, new equipment, etc.
Players with higher totals/divination levels would get more ‘votes’, and be allowed to help design more involved game areas.
This is where the second skill comes in. Players test the new area/equipment/boss for balancing purposes, and then vote on whether the divined game content is worthy of being added to the rest of rs. Like divination, higher totals/relevant skill levels equals a higher rated opinion.
Gods will probably involved as well. There is also the interesting possibility of content design being determined by the outcomes of player battles, something that certainly hasn’t been done before. (Winners of pvp battles getting more ‘votes’)
This skill could truly make Runescape ‘alive’, and help make it great again.(or at least shift blame from the developers to the players)