Yesterday, Jagex released a list of the top five ideas from January 2015’s RuneLabs session.

RuneScape’s forums are a little strange and threads tend to be deleted very often, so rather than linking to the announcement thread, I’ll just quote/paraphrase it here:

“Here are the top most supported ideas for January 2015’s RuneLabs criteria. Pick your favourite. As these are all smaller ideas we will definitely make the top two.

• Farming timer
• Slayer belt
• Adamant and Runite Dragons
• Trimmed Quest Cape
• Editing GE offers

More information on each of these options from Mod Osborne coming soon…”

The first thing I want to note is that, before the RuneLabs session began, RuneScape requested medium-sized updates.

From this list, the only thing that seems like a medium-sized update is the Adamant and Runite Dragons (and that’s only if Jagex decides to create brand new models for the dragons, rather than just recoloring Mithril Dragons). All the other updates seem to either be small, or tiny enough that it could be a tweak done by the Ninja Team. (However, it does seem like Jagex noticed that as well, and are stating that they will do two updates instead of one.)

From this list, I personally would like to see the Dragons and the Slayer belt going through.

I’ll start by elaborating on the ones that I don’t want.

The farming timer seems a bit unnecessary. I personally don’t do farming, so I don’t know how the skill even works, apart from planting things and picking them. However, I do know that there are some in-game items and spells that allow people to check on their crops. If anything, I feel as if this update can be worked into what we already have, and the ninja team can improve the effectiveness of the items and spells that already exist. It could possibly work as an upgrade (for example, a new reward could be added to Livid Farm that allows you to upgrade the farming spell).

The Trimmed Quest Cape is also pretty unnecessary. Sure, it will be a cool feature for those who manage to earn it. But, relative to the other possible updates, the trimming on the cape will affect a tiny number of people, while the other updates have a much broader target audience. On top of that, those who are doing achievements and tasks already have incentives to complete those (they get region-specific items, like the Varrock armor and Falador shield). If trimming on the Quest Cape ever becomes a thing, it seems like something that would better be pushed out with a larger update (i.e., an achievement cape overhaul with new graphics).

Finally, editing Grand Exchange offers seems like an easy project for the Ninja Team, or something that could be packaged with the upcoming bank update. I’ve seen screenshots in various locations of the bank update, where tabs will now be draggable. Throwing “G.E. offers are now editable” into the bank update seems like a better way to push out this update, rather than creating a dedicated project just to do it.

Now we move on to the two updates that I do want. The Slayer Belt is something that sounds very con­ven­ient and has good utility for everyone. One thing I really enjoyed was the Slayer Helmet update from a while back. It gave me a new motivation to do Slayer tasks, earn points, and buy the upgrades. I would like to see the Slayer Belt introduced in a similar fashion. I love having to work for and earn rewards, especially ones that make tasks more efficient and easier. I’m a fan of cutting down on the time spent on preliminary tasks (like withdrawing monster-specific items from your bank), so I support the Slayer Belt.

I also like new content, and Adamant and Runite Dragons sound like a decently-sized update. Although balancing might be a little bit tough (assuming the dragons resemble the other metal dragons and drop five of each corresponding bar), once the technicalities of the update are resolved, it could end up being a very fun update. If they release it as just more monsters to kill, nothing special, maybe included in a list of slayer tasks, then it’s a lost opportunity. But, if they integrate some sort of unique mechanic or useful reward for defeating the new dragons, these new dragons could get pretty exciting.