‘RuneScape’ community slams Fresh Start Worlds as a “cash grab”

Jagex has announced Fresh Start Worlds for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, but the new servers have been met with backlash due to paid membership not carrying over.

Fresh Start Worlds for Old School RuneScape were announced yesterday (August 15), with Jagex explaining the premise in this forum post.

Essentially, Fresh Start Worlds will be separate servers for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape where every player will need to make a fresh account to play. These worlds will have “a fresh economy” and will last for six months – after that time, any Fresh Start World accounts will be migrated to standard RuneScape servers.

Jagex added that Fresh Start Worlds have been built “with new and returning players in mind,” however the premise has been criticised because existing membership owners will need to make a new account – and subsequently buy a separate membership – to play members content in Fresh Start Worlds.

In the Old School RuneScape Reddit, some players questioned why this game mode was chosen over several others that were polled earlier in the year, while others alleged that requiring new accounts was just a way for Jagex to sell more memberships.

One player accused Fresh Start Worlds of being a “complete blatant cash grab” designed to make money, while another called it “a waste of time and a bad idea.”

“See you guys in Falador,” reads a third comment, referencing the city being a popular place to hold in-game protests.

While Jagex has not yet released a company statement on the backlash surrounding Fresh Start Worlds, RuneScape lead game designer Mod Jack stressed that this mode was primarily intended to attract new players rather than existing ones.

They added that Jagex will be “discussing” the feedback that has been received so far, but highlighted that “it’s good and healthy for us (Jagex and the community) to specifically create projects aimed at increasing the playerbase.”

Last month, NME spoke to Jagex about how easy and hard mode servers could be added to the game.

In other gaming news, modders are already preparing a community patch for Starfield, which is planned to launch next year.