From an economy standpoint, I kind of see what they're saying in a way as well. They've made a game that requires massive amounts of resources and items to supply a still substantial player base (even if it is dwindling over the years.) The average player age is trending upwards as Jagex fails to draw new players into the game, which means player time is more limited and valuable - thus, people would rather spend GP to get items/resources than go mine/fish/woodcut for hours on end again.
This leads to a point where Jagex decides to allow a certain baseline of bots coming in to keep supplies entering the economy, keeping prices lower and players happier. The only reason they really make this decision imo, is that it's cheaper to take the PR hit and lose some credibility than it is to rework the problems, fix the system, or try to overhaul the new user experience to bring in more players.
I still disagree and think it's a garbage solution, but not a surprising one.
From an economy standpoint, I kind of see what they're saying in a way as well. They've made a game that requires massive amounts of resources and items to supply a still substantial player base (even if it is dwindling over the years.) The average player age is trending upwards as Jagex fails to draw new players into the game, which means player time is more limited and valuable - thus, people would rather spend GP to get items/resources than go mine/fish/woodcut for hours on end again.
This leads to a point where Jagex decides to allow a certain baseline of bots coming in to keep supplies entering the economy, keeping prices lower and players happier. The only reason they really make this decision imo, is that it's cheaper to take the PR hit and lose some credibility than it is to rework the problems, fix the system, or try to overhaul the new user experience to bring in more players.
I still disagree and think it's a garbage solution, but not a surprising one.