Lately many RuneScape players have been quilting runescape. I'm sure this idea has ran through your mind at least once, but why? When RSC was the only runescape source the players seemed to have a stronger focus towards this game. However since the release of RS2 there was been a steady decrease in the amount of players. Once the long awaited RS2 went public many changes occurred throughout Runescape and its communities. For instance, gaining a combat level is now rather simple compared to the intensity which arrised in RSC. One of my opinions as to why RS has been loosing its players is due to the ease of playing and the lack of pressure to gain a skill.
When the new Runescape version was established i was level 86. To this very day i am lvl 96, in the existence of "RS2" i have only gained 10 levels. The reason for my lack of experience is simply because i no longer enjoy RS the way i once did.
A reason why i feel that the transformation caused this downfall is because those people that have trained hard to acquire a certain level, it can now be done in less then half the time. If i was to gain a level in combat from 70 to 71 it would take me approximately 3 days of steady game play. On the other hand, if i was to gain the same xp in "RS2" it would take me 3-4 hours. The difference is immense. So if i was to re-create my character and achieve the exact same levels it would take me a month or two at most. Thus, I feel that this switch was entirely improper. If RS had at least compensated all the players that were unfairly treated by this change my opinion would most likely be different.
Although, there are other issues that i believe have led to this downfall. Issues such as the introduction of new armor and quests. The new quests are aimed only at the "Member" players. The new quests keep piling on and on not allowing the members to even finish them all until another quest is introduced. Besides, they are loosing their free players by neglecting to update their servers. Its obvious that they would grant the members with advanced privileges but not as much as it is at the moment. Runescape could be doing this in fact to grab the attention of the non-members and influence them to join.
Anyway... Runescape is slowly declining and growing into a world of the wilderness.