I am in agreement with the OSRS GP majority of what you guys said, but I think the absence of new quests will end up being a major issue quickly, if ever it was a problem. The return of the Gods opened a whole new world of possibilities. There are also the World Events. The Battle of Lumbridge was an incredible occasion.

Thou shalt know that 'tis commonplace, that all life must be killed. William Shakespeare. When Shakespeare wrote those words, he probably wasn't thinking about applying the phrase to computer games, but the fact remains that nothing escapes death. Elephants, people, and even car engines will all face the same fate. Runescape will not escape this fate. This is something that is known by many who aren't.

The reason I am bringing this topic up is because there are many people that think Runescape is dying. It's possible to believe that. As I type this (on a Friday night) there are just 40,000 players online. If you've played for a long time, you'll have more experience with at least 100,000 online players. These numbers serve as an eloquent reminder of reality. With this being said, it is interesting to observe Jagex's remarks or absence of any comments about the player decrease.

Jagex hasn't issued a public statement addressing only the decline and steps being implemented to address the issue. Jagex has been inconsistent in its comments about the activity. Jagex CEO Mark Gehard said in July 2012 that Runescape is "stronger than ever before." If he's saying that more players have 99 strength than ever before he might be right, but when he's talking about the game's activity he probably hasn't been getting enough sleep.

However, it's evident that OSRS gold activity has dropped. We must remember that Runescape was extremely popular a few years back. If you were in middle school or high school during the mid-2000s, most likely all of your friends were at some point through Tutorial Island, although many would probably not admit it. It could be the case that Runescape is experiencing a decrease in popularity and isn't actually going to disappear in the near future? It could be.