Old School RuneScape (OSRS) was just 'RuneScape' the last time new skills were added; in November 2006, developer Jagex added the Hunter ability (opens in new tab), bringing the game's skills up to 23. While the modern RuneScape (also called RuneScape 3) has since added five new skills (open in new tab), OSRS has stubbornly kept the 2006 23 skills since its release 10 years ago. Now, however, Jagex is about to add one more, sparking debate among the player base.

As reported by GamesRadar (opens in new tab), Jagex is trying to sell three new skills (opens in new tab) to OSRS players: Sailing, Taming, and Shamanism. game to explore and level up by completing tasks on the open sea, while Shamanism would let players communicate with the spiritual plane, collect new resources, and enhance themselves with new spooky abilities.

Once players vote on one of these skills, Jagex refines it, determines the details, and presents it to the community again to make sure people are happy with it. Time for discussion.

Players keep their sense of humor and have fun with it, even while debating which skills should be cut: everywhere you look on the OSRS subreddit (open in new tab), players are pitching, pleading, and begging their fellow RuneScapers They are begging to support this skill or that skill, or predicting misery if Jagex does not implement it the right way.

Team Shamanism, considering that players may influence the OSRS meta and may be an excuse to open doors in real life (opens in new tab) and ingest large amounts of hallucinogenic mushrooms (opens in new tab), makes a strong appeal early on ( (opens in new tab). However, there is some negativity to this: some players worry that it will add an unreasonable level of grind (opens in new tab) to the game, making it a skill that players cannot ignore.

Others simply want to sail on a big, colorful ship; Team Sailing (opens in new tab), while not as strong off the dock as Team Shamanism, has caught wind and is particularly put off by the concept of grinding Shamanism's resources It is gaining votes among more casual players. Some players want to cut the Gordian Knot and replace it with a bridge-building skill (opens in new tab), though.

My guess is that Teeming is the dark horse: a third-party candidate with outspoken convictions and a clear ideology not found in the mainstream. While that seems unlikely, its enthusiastic following and the memes that poke fun at those who would rather be in a boat than a shark (open in new tab) could give it the upper hand as the polls drag on.

And then there are the geniuses who throw in "shamaylaming," a combo of three skills that modern society has not yet bravely embraced.

The discussion is interesting to watch, and there is a lot of interesting material flying around: dentistry, gambling, and espagnole (opens in new tab)) The OSRS developers decided to create a new skill after 80% of the poll respondents said they would like to see the new skill enter the game Only, but that does not mean that there is no concern in the community.

OSRS occupies the same strange spiritual place as WoW Classic: it is an era trapped in amber, one to which the seasoned player can return for a flood of nostalgia and memories. That doesn't mean people don't want change in the game, or that everyone who plays is stuck in the mud. That's why more than 4,000 players support the idea of backing up the game's codebase (open in new tab) as it stands: even if change is inevitable and necessary, players fear the end of a golden age.

But while it may be inevitable and necessary, it probably won't be quick: Jagex has a long, multi-phased plan to introduce new skills into the game, whatever they may be, and at almost every step of it, the community They intend to get feedback. With any luck, (almost) everyone will be happy when this skill makes its debut.