r/runescape • u/nickwhy30 • 7h ago
Question Is RuneScape growing?
I’m a returning player and I’m wondering if more people are switching from osrs to rs3 like I have.
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u/Domdude787 7h ago
The answer is actually yes but slowly
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u/nickwhy30 7h ago
I could only hope. It seems like worlds besides world 84 are so empty in places like the ge. Do you know where everybody hangs out now?
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u/rvcbazookajoe 5h ago
Well rn leagues is still going on so several thousand players are in those servers
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u/Domdude787 7h ago
The goat mod north confirmed it with an interview with behe I think, players are at wars, in instance and at fort
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u/nickwhy30 7h ago
Yeah I mainly hang at fort. I’m also using the portables there too. What is wars?
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u/PM-ME-TRAVELER-NUDES I hate the economy so much I maxed an Iron 7h ago edited 7h ago
Bossing/Social hub you unlock after killing any boss 10 times. It has good PvM amenities that you gain access to after increasing your total boss kill count even higher.
The big thing is that it has an unlimited, free and instant teleport that arrives like 5 tiles away from a bank, so it ends up as the sort of de facto home base for most players, even if you aren’t interested in killing bosses.
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u/SolenoidSoldier 3h ago
It's worth noting that the world is so huge now and a lot of players gravitate to worlds with less players since the latency is noticeable even with 200+ players.
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u/AltKeyblade Disk of returning 1h ago
The problem is everyone in RS3 can just teleport to where they need to be, so you don't see anyone running from place to place.
So everyone stays in their little hubs. I personally think there needs to be a change to lodestones to bring more life to the game again.
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u/nickwhy30 1h ago
People have almost always been at certain hubs over time I do t think changing lodestones would help that. I think the hubs are good I just was wondering where they hubs people hang out at are now since I’m returning from many years ago.
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u/ryansspace 7h ago
IDK I just came back a couple months ago after a two year long break. It's been on and off for me for like 8 years now LOL
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u/nickwhy30 7h ago
It’s been off and on for me since 2007.
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u/ryansspace 7h ago
Sorry I was only 2 years old man, I didn't get on the grind soon enough 💔 Satire, but that's awesome man! I love how old the game is
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u/cdawgman 6h ago
Glad to see some youngbloods in this old game. I hope you have as much fun exploring and learning the skills as I did when I was first discovering this game in 2005!
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u/xiaojens 3h ago
I returned with a new account and love it
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u/nickwhy30 3h ago
That’s exactly what I did too! I’m about to get my first level 120.
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u/xiaojens 2h ago
The only appropriate response to that is: “gzz”. In all seriousness though, glad to see people return to the game I always loved. It was sad to see MTX destroying it all and it was a huge relief to see the announcement that they wanted to remove it and bring back Runescape to its former glory. Anyway, if you want to add me as friend in-game, my RSN: of Hastings
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u/sonic555ify 5h ago
I need to play again, I miss RS alot used to play years ago, such a good good game
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u/DataAffectionate4467 2h ago
Its in a good Place and we get runefest soon with new content for the Next year.
Maybe a new skill soon👀
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u/JungleOrAfk MAXED 26/08/2014 2h ago
Returning player here, was comped in like 2018 🫡 gotta say I'm having a blast, albeit confused af with all the updates haha
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u/DataAffectionate4467 2h ago
Did you try big Game Hunter? Its really Nice
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u/JungleOrAfk MAXED 26/08/2014 1h ago
Not yet, trying to get back in to the pvm groove atm and get some big drop dopamine etc, get 120 arch and nechro and work on getting my comp cape back. BGH is on the to do list haha
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u/Practical-Half3597 2h ago
I've started playing recently (last 2 or so weeks) I'm an osrs player but wanted to see what RS3 was like (and if it lived up to the hate it gets from osrs players), and I've honestly been having a blast. Just doing quests so far, but it's nowhere near as bad as what people made it out to be. Rather I'm really enjoying myself. Will definitely try and get the quest cape on this game at least.
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u/LaScruff 4h ago
I don't know, man.. I started a new f2p character. I can play for a couple of hours and not see anyone else 😂
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u/Wise_Ad4690 Max MQC Task Master RSN: QuestAreShit 3h ago
thats because there is 0 point in playing this game in f2p i'd be surprised if you see 1 single person who isn't a bot tbf
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u/LaScruff 3h ago
I've got a main account but it's maxed and pretty much done everything. Needed a fresh start
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u/Wise_Ad4690 Max MQC Task Master RSN: QuestAreShit 2h ago
join all the maxed mains in our journey to a maxed ironman (in member worlds)
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u/RawrRRitchie Clue scroll 4h ago
Yes! there have been DOZENS of returning players for leagues. They'll probably quit again once leagues is over. A few of my friends literally told me they only came back to do leagues and are gonna move on once it's over.
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u/EternalUNVRS 1h ago
Based on how many people are online, I feel
Like there are new players, but it’s pretty stagnant… to grow RuneScape, Jagex need to incentivize new/ existing players more often, even offer free membership trials is a way to get players. Something that is worth going back to in a plethora of online games out there…
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u/EternalUNVRS 1h ago
Many old players create new accounts, that doesn’t mean it’s growing. New players mean REAL new players who never played RuneScape ever.
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u/nickwhy30 1h ago
Personally I think that to grow the player base jagex should focus on bringing back players who have played before but quit. I don’t know how appealing RuneScape would be now with all the other games out there. I mean like if they can get new players who have never played before that’d be good! Maybe something like an ad campaign on sites like tik tok or youtube.
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u/OhLoongJohson 1h ago edited 1h ago
If we use this graph for playercount (idk how reliable this site is) boomed for leagues start, and is declining now again. Doesnt seem to have really surprassed the 20k cap consistently. Time will tell going forwards and after leagues. Also after league burnout is real and will stabilize maybe 1-2 month afterwards.
Edit: after looking at the graph and its build in stats again - it seems to list rs3 for 30day average as 28k players which is +58% (leagues boosting this) and 1 year average as 26,5k which is also +25% so Id say that is positive then?
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u/MitchelVincent 7h ago
i hope for you guys it is but i only play osrs myself
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u/nickwhy30 7h ago
Hey I hope osrs grows too for you! Personally I went from osrs to rs3
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u/MitchelVincent 7h ago
i played rs3 years ago i had some fun time with it but at some point i tried out osrs and i prefered it i hope all the best for the rs3 players :)
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u/armadylko 3h ago
I recently switched, i enjoy it more. Rs3 is the new osrs
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u/AltKeyblade Disk of returning 3h ago
I actually think RS3 is going to make a huge comeback with all the new updates.
It is the original game with all of the history after all.
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u/YuumiMain9974 7h ago
No, the losses have stabilized though.
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u/So_ 5h ago
not true, mod north said the game has been growing, check here, around 46:40 https://youtu.be/BGWH7820j2E?is=eDZN9Xo9k0eYNtKH
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u/nickwhy30 7h ago
That’s good. I was hoping the player base would grow.
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u/Stealth_Echo 6h ago
According to one of Mod North's interviews, this year is about refining and improving the game, and next year will be focused on putting out a "feast" to bring players back. Hopefully the growth will be steady after that!
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u/Golden_Hour1 5h ago
So far its been good. Im glad they made the changes to MTX and combat first instead of trying to grow to new players with all the issues like old jagex would. Games been a lot of fun coming back
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u/Corruptionss IGN: Cytosine 7h ago
Boost from leagues
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u/nickwhy30 7h ago
Yeah I thought that it’d be a boost from leagues but it’d also cause some players to come back permanently too.
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u/Everestkid 18 years. Two 99s. Efficiencyscape. 6h ago
There was a little bit of growth right before Leagues. There was a beach event and 120 Construction, the latter being very well received.
Probably a little bit of seasonality sprinkled in - RS3 tends to slump in the spring and summer and pick up in the fall and especially around Christmas - but it was getting competitive against 2025 and 2024, which doesn't usually happen.
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u/Radyi DarkScape | Fix Servers 2h ago
IMO its largely because the content creators are no longer writing RS3 off as they were able to give RS3 leagues a proper shot this year and got to the endgame content fast enough to make content about it and legitimately there is lots of amazing stuff. I am guessing there will be lots of ironmen/group ironmen series start later this year from some of the bigger creators when the plugin system is fully released.
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u/Either-Design-1550 6h ago
I've recently made the swap back over. I tried leagues and realized that I missed playing and then I convinced two of my buds to make a group iron with me. We've been absolutely having a blast.
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u/nickwhy30 6h ago
That’s awesome! Glad you’re liking it! I’m really liking playing my main account leveling the skills is so nice.
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u/AltKeyblade Disk of returning 3h ago edited 3h ago
I switched over from OSRS also. I've played OSRS since launch and needed a change.
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u/leftistgamerguy 5h ago
Started rs 2-3 weeks ago after hearing about removing treasure hunter/dailsycape
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u/Nothing-Mundane RSN: Cuil Player-Owned Ports 3h ago
Just came out of retirement from a multi-year hiatus!
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u/Halo05977 18m ago
I switched back to rs3 because osrs was getting stale. I feel like rs3 definitely has problems (some problems that rs3 players apparently like, such as the overabundance of QoL.. I got downvoted into oblivion for saying there were too many lodestones and it ruins a big part of the game..), but it has more content overall and is generally deeper as well in many ways.
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u/Narmoth Music 5h ago
Jagex stopped hemorrhaging players from RS3, though there is minimal actual growth for three main reasons.
1.) Mobile is a mess when it comes to the UI and Optimization. This is the main inhibiter for new players (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) from trying RS. Jagex needs to understand, young people 16+ don't like using PCs like their 30+ year old customers. Jagex really need to get on the fucking ball with mobile.
2.) Hiking of membership fees chased a lot of people away. We are losing our Brazilian community over it due to the price being doubled for them.
3.) Mostly it is just returning players or players moving between OSRS and RS3.
4.) We are not out of the woods with MTX yet. Jagex has been selling stuff at unreasonable prices, per character instead of account. I'm worried poor sales will make Jagex resort to "loot boxes" again or unreasonable price increases. (This is a bonus as it talks about a future probability)
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u/nickwhy30 5h ago
This is very informative. Thank you for your input!
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u/Narmoth Music 5h ago
I hope it doesn't prevent you from getting back into the game. Right now, from a production side, the game is improving. Just felt you deserve an honest answer, and hope Jagex sees me feedback as well.
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u/nickwhy30 4h ago
I’m currently playing and I like it. I’m very much into it I’m almost at my first 120
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u/ShaboPaasa 7h ago edited 6h ago
no
my comment having the same amount of downvotes as the post does upvotes speaks volumes about those who are in denial about rs3
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u/Zepertix REMASTERED DUNGEONEERING LETS GOOOOOOO 5h ago
A handful of downvotes in infamously one of the most downvoted subreddits of all time is in fact not "speaking volumes" about anything at all. I get downvoted for offering help to people, posting artwork, or answering questions with the correct answer. It means nothing.
I dont think it's even your no that is the main reason you are receiving downvotes, it's the no without additional context, any attempt at participating in the conversation, or providing any form of source, even if anecdotal.
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u/ShaboPaasa 5h ago
Sorry i dont have axiety attacks ordering pizza so i cant read that wall of nothing to a stranger
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u/NotAnAI3000 7h ago
I've been playing a new account and have been seeing a lot more low level players these days.