Fortunately and unfortunately, I was a Runescape guy.

Pros:

• The soundtrack. IDGAF what anyone says, both OSRS and RS3 have good music (although the creator of all the classics is a pedo). Here's Sea Shanty2 and Draynor Market. Put the latter on in one tab and rainy mood on another: you're welcome.

• The lore isn't half bad, especially around the up to 2011 era. I prefer OSRS because they have an opportunity to rewrite the lore, and RS3, for lack of a better term, explained the magic away to the point where it feels more like you're playing a Steampunk Sci-Fi than a fantasy game proper. The Mahjarrat are interesting, and I loved The Chosen Commander quest as a kid

• No really, the quests are really fleshed out and I would watch the shit out of a possible Runescape anime series, because every quest feels like an episode of a tv show.

• Although the map is now small to me, I do like how it can be both a game with a deep lore, and also a cozy game at the same time. I'll never forget just vibing with complete strangers shooting the shit while fishing in Catherby

• OSRS brought back Runescape's bad but iconic graphics.

• Runescape did one thing I appreciate. They portrayed the fascists as primitive goblins, ogres, trolls, that kind of stuff following Bandos. Bandos is a fascist taking advantage of a horde of idiots that feel powerful by working for him. This is genius because while it recognizes the fascists' predisposition for bloodshed, they portray them as the nearly animalistic beasts they are.

• You don't have to buy expansions on top of your subscription

• In comparison to others, Jagex is a relatively small developer and in OSRS many things need to be polled before they're added into the game. Quality > quantity is the way to go

Cons:

• Yes, I'm one of those people still somewhat angry about the EoC. I like the concept, but it just made melee, archery, and magic feel too interchangeable, and I was hoping that EoC would do the opposite: add more variety between being a warrior, and archer, or a mage. Think of how many items aren't unique and have two separate carbon copies for each of the only three ways to fight stuff.

• As I mentioned, RS3 explained a lot of the lore away. One of the saddest examples are the Gods, which feel more like politicians than actual Gods. Even some of the "young" gods comment that they are not truly gods, but should be more seen as super powerful mages. The "true" gods are the Elder Gods and they are mostly the same, with only one of them getting any characterization at all. Again, they feel less like Gods and more like lovecraftian space vampires. And there's already a little-known lovecraftian god that has been slowly getting characterization since 2006 called Xau-Tak (which was only mentioned by name just shy of a decade later). The story is just kind of all over the place in RS3

• the micro-transactions are ugly and they are omnipresent in RS3

• The community is INFAMOUS for it's toxicity, especially in OSRS. Thank God the grand exchange was added in OSRS because the amount of times I was told "I don't trade with noobs" was infuriating.

• Runescape has infected me with some brainworms that you need to be optimal before you are ready to even handle mild challenges. "Muh efficiency" is almost a meme among the community. It fueled some perfectionist issues that I had, although that's also a me problem.