Old School RuneScape’s “most unbalanced” skill desperately needs a rework
Old School RuneScape players are calling for Jagex to rework Smithing believing that the skill’s content has aged poorly with mid-tier gear requiring too high a level to create.
Highlighting the Artisan skill’s biggest flaw, Old School RuneScape players want developer Jagex to rework Smithing and address its troublesome status as the “most unbalanced skill,” in the game.
One such user questioned why the level assigned to different gear is so arbitrary in a Reddit post that went on to receive over 3,800 upvotes. In this post, they provided several examples where the required Smithing levels do not align with the item’s power level.
This included the Adamant 2h Sword requiring 84 Smithing compared to a far superior God Sword only needing 80 while a Rune Full Helm requires 92 Smithing despite the best in slot Torva Full Helm being creatable at just 90 Smithing.
These inconsistent requirements are a result of OSRS’s age with the classic MMO’s earliest content being implemented over twenty years ago and needing to be fixed as a result. This is true of Smithing with the skill being added in 2001 alongside the game’s first-ever beta when Rune armor was the strongest available.
This problem was already addressed in Old School RuneScape’s sister game – RuneScape – in 2019. Rather than 99 Smithing letting you create Rune Armor, RuneScape players can instead make Trimmed Masterwork, one of the strongest Melee armor sets obtainable. Meanwhile, lower-tier armor like Rune and Adamant can be created with 50 and 40 Smithing respectively.
A rework of this nature has proven popular amongst OSRS players, with one upvoted reply stating, “I like what they did in RS3. A rune platebody requires 50 smithing which is also what the defence requirement is nowadays. It took some nostalgia value out of rune gear but I think it was a very much needed update.”
Though the majority supported a potential rework, not everyone was convinced with some players questioning how it would impact the Alchemy value of Rune items, enemy drop tables, and if it would even change how they interacted with or trained Smithing.
Regardless, for an update of this scale to be implemented it would have to pass Old School RuneScape’s polling system. While some big updates have been rejected by the community, others such as the upcoming Sailing skill have passed proving that OSRS players are more open to change than they were several years ago.
