In RuneScape, there are two types of accounts. One is an account with membership, and one is a “free-to-play” account. Nowadays, however, anyone can purchase a membership - even if you simply use in-game currency, albeit it will take a long time to earn it (many hours).
The game is segregated into these two types of accounts. Many quests and locations cannot be accessed unless you’re a member. You cannot even train certain skills without membership, as they’re restricted to members. You cannot train Slayer or Thieving with a regular account, you are required to be a member. The same applies to skills like Construction, which means you’re locked out of owning a house within the game. These differences are pretty much the same within both OSRS and RS3.
Membership carries over and is active for both RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape. That means if you have a large bank (lots of RuneScape gold) in the modern version of RuneScape, you can perpetually keep buying bonds and activating them within the RS3 economy and then play as a member in Old School RuneScape.
There are implications of not having a membership. You will not be able to access even your old items in your bank that are restricted to members. Since you have fewer skills and a lower number of locations to access, you also have money-making methods that are much more saturated within the economy and thus generate less gold per hour. This means it can easily take tens of hours of mundane grind to get your first bond (without buying gold externally) because the game only gives you access to sub-optimal methods. Even if there’s a somewhat optimal money-making method such as mining Runite ore at level 99 Mining, this level is much harder to reach as a non-member because the skilling experience methods are also much slower and you have access to worse gear/equipment along the way.
If you’re wondering whether it’s worth becoming a member: it most definitely is, right from the point you start the game. RuneScape Membership is an enchanted and the intended version of the game. You’ll even have access to more quests that will kickstart your account and gain you levels quickly right from the beginning, whereas non-members will have to resort to more grindy methods.
Jan-04-2022