Rares and their role in OSRS

With the introduction of rares into old school, it brings an entirely new portion of the main game back into the original version; which might I add was never intended to be there in the first place. Yes, for those who do not know; the rares that exist in EoC are nothing more than a mistake by jagex doing holiday events for the first time. They had never intended for these "rare" tradable items to become the most valuable items in the game; surpassing even the best armor and weapons in price.

However, by the time they had realized that this would happen; it would already be too late. The rares have already sank their way into the Runescape economy permanently. However, in the eyes of many players; this made the game much more exciting. There was something to shoot for that very few players had, and would make you stand out among the crowd. Many to this day who have been trying for many years to obtain a party hat on the live version of the game still have yet to obtain it. This would only get worse as time goes on; as there would continue to be fewer and fewer party hats into the game. This would happen through people quitting, getting banned, losing their rares with no one around to pick it up, alching them both accidentally and intentionally, eating them, and others.

However, this is no longer to be the case on the current version of the 2007 edition of Runescape. Jagex has made it very clear that each and every subsequent year will have their respective "rares" as possible drops during that event of the year. This means that every christmas you will have a chance to receive a santa or a party hat, every halloween a mask or a pumpkin, and so on. How small that chance will be is up to Jagex, although I think I speak for the majority of players when I say that I hope that chance to receive a rare is very small; so that they remain exactly that. Rares.

Currently the prices of the "rares" are crashing due to them being dumped into the game for the next few weeks. However, what will happen after that is purely speculation. Will they go down in price even more because people know they will be able to obtain them later on? Will they go up a lot because the drop rate of rares on their events will be as small as a draconic visage? I don't know, but one thing I do know for sure is that it will have a significant impact on the game.

You have to ask yourself, if the "rares" and so-called most valuable items on Runescape were to become nothing more than a noob's plaything (which is becoming eerily close to happening); what would there really be to aim for in the game? What further goal could you set for yourself after you get to a high combat level and kill the toughest bosses and beat the toughest quests? In the original 2007, this was not an issue; as obviously rares were constantly on the rise, and because of this everyone strived to obtain them. But, I can only hope that they stay as close to their original counterparts as possible; so that they 2007 game may continue to expand and further progress instead of shrink and regress. Good luck getting yourself a rare in 2007scape!