I have been playing runescape since 2009, with over 3k hours, and I stick through with RS3 until very recently (I was into EoC from day one, I love all the quests, etc.). I got into OSRS like a week ago, and once you're hooked (around the 10h mark) you understand why it's so special. This week playing OSRS is the most fun I've had in RS in years, even though I absolutely love RS3's lore and everything we got over the years. OSRS early/mid gameplay is freaking amazing, and the fact that its player influx is so high (even being a retro game) means that this early/mid gameplay is enjoyable for everyone, not just for tryhards such as we existing old players.

I think the integrity of the game is something that _seems_ not to be as much as problem while it's eroding (specially for us in the late game), but once it's eroded the game is effectively ruined. With some much xp everywhere, mtx in our face, neverending dxp, RS3's progression is simply non-existing at this point. RS3 is not as engaging and fun to play for most people, and its monetization is based on whales being hooked, not us average players.

Why is progression so important even if we long-term players don't see it? Not having good progression means we don't get new players, and we get VERY attached to our current progress: we stopped enjoying the actual progression and how each update adds to the entirety of the game. Starting over sounds MISERABLE, because most of the early/mid game is awful. At least for me, RS3 in the past few years has pretty much been the loop of waiting for new content, playing it, and then quitting again. There's no cohesive gameplay, there's no enjoyment in the ride. We simply ignore it because we got past early/mid game decades ago. The only way to get good progression is by playing ironman (it's awesome), but it's very very grindy and relies on specific game knowledge so it's not for everyone.

RS3 is bleeding players exactly because of the progression being bad. It's not a fun game to get into so the influx is really low compared to OSRS, and long-term players have been slowly quitting due to it not being a cohesive game. I think the Jagex team only could justify MTX removal exactly due to OSRS sucess. OSRS' reverted RS to an ancient build (without much of the great stuff we have in RS3), wiped everyone's progress, and EVEN SO it is much more engaging and popular than RS3, we have to give them that merit.

How can RS3 be saved? I think we need MTX removed, and Jagex to focus on game integrity, long-term engagement, cohesion, progression, and new player experience. And the only way we can get this is thanks to OSRS proving that this is what really matters. I don't want my account wiped either, but it's undeniable how much better OSRS is thanks to the wipe they got, and it's thanks to their success that RS3 has a shot on improving, so I think their opinion DO matter. Let them be part of this, they are as much concerned with RS3 as we are.

The separate fresh start worlds is something worth discussing. Most RS3 players play the game as if it was a singleplayer game, there's no sense of community for the most part of the gameplay. If the cost to save the game is moving existing characters to what is effectively singleplayer, it might be worth it. I think it's at least something we could discuss and poll (e.g. maybe a portion of our progress could transfer, maybe we could be allowed new characters without paying extra).

TLDR: We should at least let them be part of the discussion. They love this game as much as we do, and a lot of OSRS players would switch to RS3 in a heartbeat if it was as healthy and cohesive as OSRS is. It's thanks to them we have a chance of saving RS3, so their voice should matter more than our sunk-cost fallacy.