There is so much to read here, and i will be honest. I barely read anything but Tulraks suggestion. The idea seems fun, would have been a fun minigame.
But imo, the problem is not the lack of minigames. The problem is that the game have to adapt to the player count. Currently, at the state we are in now with 60-90 online players. What we need is a smaller hometown for first being.
Yanille would be a great place.Grand exchange? I know this was a lot of work making, testing and all of that stuff that comes with something new. But seriously. This is a quote i will give out there from a irl friend of mine who previously used to be a master mercher in this game back in the days. He started playing around the same time as me, and i remember what kept him in the game for so long. Merching. He loved to stand in falador for hours and just merch, dont ask me why but he did. He had a way more stable bank than me and had way more contact with players to get items that was needed for skilling or pvm, but he also got the bigger game knowledge cause he went pvming with players he bought stuff from.
He said something like this when he quit fully some weeks after GE being out.
"As far as GE goes, it just takes out all the charm of what i loved in this game. Interacting with players, connecting a network while making friends and future contacts item and skillwise, that's what i loved about this game. Now that GE is up, less players actually wont bother standing around the GE and selling their stuff, it's harder to get that contact with other players. It was a great way making friends but also doing something productive. Now players play more for themselves and dont really need that same interaction"
What i think you should have done, instead of asking for a new player experience. Ask what people that already plays the game what they used to like/love about the game. Emps-world needs to get back to their roots again.
A topic like this, is something you should make. #LetsGetBackToOurROOTS
http://forums.zybez.net/topic/1566492-what-do-you-enjoy-about-runescape/It would have been easier for majority of players atleast the ones from scape, if you asked them what they used to love about the game.
What do they miss?
Il Skill l suggestion with the old Jad game applies for me. I used to love when we grouped up killing the jad. Same goes for good old Emps-Wars. Was a real fun time, and it forced you to interact with players. Interaction is a big part in this game. Make updates that forces people to interact instead of having a game where everyone just focus on themselves getting the biggest bank or the biggest stats.
Currently, people never play any minigames as far as i have reckoned. So simply, make it less available as they will enjoy it once it gets there. Have a gamemode open at different times of the month. Mon-Friday Emps-Wars is open. The other minigames wont be available. Force us to interact playing minigames together. Rotate the minigames as it wont be the same every week/month. I am not suggesting the what time it should and should not be up. But it would definitely get a group going on this exact time.
Look at league of legends. There is a reason they dont have URF and the other game modes available at all times. They know for sure people will get bored of it. What they also know is when the weekend hits up, and something that haven't been up for a while gets up, it will get players playing. My friends that don't play league on a regular basis always hit up a group when URF (as example) gets up. That weekend, they will be playing a lot of URF. But they will get bored of it towards the end. But hey, Riot succeeded for that exact reason. They manage to keep players that doesn't play on a regular basis in the game.
I can give you more examples, but i feel my brain have worked too fast on this sunday morning now. So i will give it a rest until i mange to process what the fuck i just suggested!
Something new that just striked my brain; We need something that benefits being in a clan more. Give a monthly rank for the most active clan, give them a monthly item, give them something that makes being in a huge clan attractive. Clan events used to be the best events.
I remember when TNG used to host emps-war events. We filled up that thing. Just goodgood times.