Should Barrows be Made Unspawnable?
I've noticed that the suggestion of moving Barrows items to the pkp shop has become extremely popular, mainly with bridders. I don't really agree with this idea and wanted to give a few pros and cons to making them unspawnable. More likely than not, if they move Barrows to the pkp shop, they'll also be moving Bandos and Armadyl to the pkp shop, so I'm also considering that. Most of the post will be about Ahrim's and Dharok's because those are the most commonly used Barrows sets.
PROS
Reduces the amount of prodders in pure pk (Although, adding a ::pure zone would fix the problem as well)
Adds new items to the economy
Encourages risk fighting
Lessens DH prodding
(forum.roatpkz.com/index.php?/topic/3599-move-dh-to-pkp-shop/) 0wnedbychris' post about how Dharok's is prodded in bridding. While moving it to the pkp shop may lessen how much its used in bridding, it won't lessen its effects. Most bridders have money to burn and wouldn't mind spending 250 pkp on a DH set. A better solution would be to make the DH axe less accurate so it isn't as OP in bridding.
CONS
Hurts new players at Edge main pk. Assuming Bandos is moved to pkp shop along with Barrows, which it most likely will be, new players will be at the mercy of more experienced players who have the pkp for Barrows. This creates a huge gap in defensive stats, and potentially offensive stats if whip is made unspawnable. Players who have DH will probably go for long kill streaks because they'll be much more OP than new players.
Edge main pking will be boring for new players. I know the bridders on the forums don't care about edge pkers but this is where a lot of new players start. New players wouldn't want to come to a spawn server to pk in rune. Main pking in rune is for eco servers. Edge main pking will be reduced to veng comboing (As if it isn't already). I've been to some spawn servers who have Barrows as an unspawnable. The main melee pking there is just... boring if you're starting out. There's also a lot of veteran players who target new players for easy kills.
It hurts new funpkers as well. I know funpk pking is a pretty small niche in relation to the rest of Roat Pkz but you can't ignore them. New players at funpk will find it hard to fight against those who use the PVP armours (Statius', Morrigan's, Zuriel's, Vesta's). Even if the PVP armours are removed, Vesta probably won't be removed because it's worth a good amount, new players still won't find it easy fighting against DH.
As if it isn't already dead enough, Guthan's, Verac's, Torag's, and most of Karil's will never be touched. Having them in the pkp shop will be a waste of space. A solution to this could be to leave Guthan's, Verac's, and Torag's as spawnable, and put Ahrim's, Dharok's, and Karil's into the pkp shop. Karil's will be weird to work with, however. If it is added to the pkp shop where you have to buy the whole set, people will complain. Those who will buy Karil's are bridders who only want the top. If it is made so you could buy the individual pieces, the rest of Karil's will just be dead content in the pkp shop.
Doing so will also lessen variety in pking. Having so much stuff as spawnable encourages being unique and experimenting which is something I've always loved about Roat Pkz. If Barrows was moved into the pkp shop, the only uses of it that will be seen is for bridding, risk fighting, and prodding at Edge main. My post about the amulet of the damned, (forum.roatpkz.com/index.php?/topic/4103-add-amulet-of-the-damned/), was made to encourage variety in the use of Barrows. An update like this will contradict the point of implementing the amulet of the damned.
SOLUTIONS?
I've seen some solutions on the forum that might work better than moving all of Barrows to the pkp shop
Like I've said before, lowering the accuracy of the DH axe could help bridders who are frustrated with DH prodding.
Making a barrows set something you could vote for. Encourages voting and helps new players integrate into the game.
From Ahmash on 0wnedbychris' post mentioned earlier, "i been saying it for like 2 years put the dh axe in pkp shop for like 200-300". This could be a more mild approach to solving the problem with DH prodding.
IN A NUTSHELL
Barrows items shouldn't be moved to the pkp shop because doing so discourages new players getting into the game and lessens variety in pking.
CONCLUSION
A decision like this is a big one to make. It's up to the community to figure out whats best for the future of the server. If you have any suggestions of your own, or rebuttals, be sure to comment below.