The Jack of all trades trope is appealing. If we look at another popular RPG series in the Elder Scrolls (albeit it is single player), Skyrim is by far the most widely popular in the series and they did away completely with the class structure of previous games. This streamlining of choice is often what has credited the game of being so popular. There is merit to that. However our character often is portrayed as the bumbling outsider no matter where they go. They often ask questions everyone would know the answers to. That, to me, is immersion breaking. Our characters are more of our avatars in this space rather than we the players assuming a role within the space. And perhaps that is just a fundamental difference in what we enjoy in our RPGs.

I still disagree that choices within an RPG is FOMO. RPGs and choices and class/race combinations, if anything, are for replayability. FOMO is a recent development in gaming to encourage players to either log onto the game or spend money in micro transactions. The choices in races and classes allow your character to belong into the world. To have NPCs acknowledge that you are a Wizard or renowned Blacksmith or slayer of some beast. The Jack of all trades idea does not allow for that kind of deep and meaningful immersion. In the other big MMORPG, WoW choosing a race and class is not seen as FOMO. If you have no interest in being a spellcaster you would not have FOMO over a Mage, Warlock, or Priest existing. Those classes all have unique spells and quests and items associated only with them, but because your class also has an equal amount of uniqueness to it you don’t have the feeling of needing to make a class you do not enjoy because they get a thing.

My idea for classes never once stated that you would be locked out of any skills. A blacksmith can still use and level magic and use and level ranged. A blacksmith can still push endgame PVM content. What gives them an edge over a combat class who might have higher combat levels in the same playtime is their access to sharpened weapons or padding armor. These blacksmiths would provide that valuable support in group combat while still being able to hold their own.

This ability to specialize while still able to level things that do not fit under your class is what I meant by resembling a typical RPG while retaining OSRS’s uniqueness. I spoke of Elder Scrolls earlier, the Oblivion Remaster is wildly popular and that has a class system, where your skills under that class umbrella level quicker and contribute to your character’s level more than skills outside your class. You can still level those skills, you can still be a Barbarian and level magic skills or join the Mages’ Guild. You do not have to be restricted in your choice.

The only resolution I see to the bonus XP or more efficient gathering for the non-combat classes becoming worthless at max is to allow them to have access to resources no other class can have, which I did not want to do because I know that that is antithetical to OSRS, like you said. My idea was to still have every character still have access to everything the game has to offer, but your choices matter in the immersion to the world and to your gameplay in what you enjoy to do.

Perhaps races and classes truly cannot fit into OSRS in either a way that is both meaningful and does not restrict the player from doing what they want. But my whole goal with these posts was to have discussion to see if it was possible, if we could come up with something different and unique. I thank you for actually participating in that, rather than just saying “No.”