Nothing lasts forever, and you can only hold onto the past for so long until the future finally catches up to you. By then, you are left with no other choice but to let go. For a lot of RuneScape Classic players, that time has finally come.

After 17 long and fruitful years, RuneScape Classic will finally be closing its doors.

 

Back in its Time

Before we look at the sad yet inevitable end of RuneScape Classic’s run, let us first look back to the time when the term MMORPG was still fresh and new. There was Everquest, Asheron’s Call, and of course RuneScape. One of the subgenre’s pioneers, RuneScape brought a wide range of adventurers to Gielinor, a medieval realm full of action, magic, and Middle Age fantasy Europe stuff. On the surface, it sounds stereotypical. That is until you dive right in and realize that, despite being slightly inferior in the graphics and art style department compared to its contemporaries–and more so with its more recent rivals–it more than makes up for it in terms of gameplay and amount of quality content. Because there are no classes to choose from, anyone can have theprecise skills they want, and therefore do anything they please–if they’re hardworking enough, granted they have enough OSRS Gold. And because there are lots of things to do, there’s hardly a dull moment.

 

 

Future Over Past

Over time, like all games, RuneScape began changing for the better. But people, especially gamers, for some strange reason, are easily affected by nostalgia goggles. Thus, despite the slow but steady marching of time, which in turn meant the continued updates and upgrades of RuneScape, a good chunk of players wanted to have a legacy server. Thus, RuneScape Classic was born, an alternate Gielinor unaffected by changes, for better or worse.

Unfortunately, not even creating a separate server could what’s destined to happen. While what Jagex did ultimately helped to preserve a version of the original RuneScape’s format and keep it in a livable, breathable state for seventeen years– much longer than it should’ve lasted–the company adopted tools for RuneScape 3 and Old-School RuneScape. Unfortunately, those tools are not compatible for RuneScape Classic, which in turn meant loss of support for the game. A shame really, as RuneScape Classic can still have up to a thousand players from time to time.

 

 

For Old Times’ Sake

A game no longer supported is a game no longer maintained, and a game no longer maintained means an overabundance of bugs and issues. For RuneScape 3, that was very much a reality. Botting has become a common problem, and various game-breaking bugs plagued this old, old iteration of Gielinor. Because of this, Jagex has decided to finally pull the plug on it. “It has been amazing to see such dedication amongst those of you who have kept playing RuneScape Classic over the last few years,” said Jagex in their goodbye post.

There is no reversingJagex’s decision. Thankfully, the company is giving its devout RuneScape Classic players a considerable amount of time before they completely pull the plug, which will be on August this year. Until then, the old-timers can have their last few romps around good old Gielinor. Hopefully, they’ll be able to move to the next worlds. If they stick with RuneScape, that would be either to RuneScape 3 or Old-School RuneScape. The former is the game’s most updated and therefore most user-friendly and graphically most impressive version, while the latter is the version that is, for a lack of a better term, “stuck” in 2007 due to popular demand.

All things come to an end. And for Classic RuneScape, it’s about time it did. It already had its run, and it’s a good one at that. So kudos to the adventurers who stuck around! May they find as much joy and success in their next gaming world, be it another Gielinor or another different world altogether.