Recently Runescape has release their POH rework. Personally, i think they really outdid themselves with this one, and is probably to me update of the year.
As for the expected content:
-Knowing they try to learn from OSRS, i knew we were going to have more utility in the POH. Up to this point POH really wasn't that useful, so having them add items that made POH overall more useful was always something that i expected. And they did deliver on that, with items OSRS players are familiar such as the jewalary box, the spirit tree and the fairy ring or new items like the potion cauldron.
-They also added quite a bit of things regarding the overall aesthetics that you can have in your POH. RS seems to really invest into the fashionscape part of the game, and given how good some locations look, i can see it's something worthwile people really appreciate.
As for what i didn't expect:
-Rimmington being changed to make it more useful for constrctuion. This was the right move. You already had a plank maker outside, but the combination with the saw table which is a construction method the fort brought was the right move, and makes construction feel more involved rather than just paying an NPC for an item you need for a skill. It makes it feel more like the relation between farming/herblore with having to get the herbs and then making the potions, isntead of just paying some NPC to turn your herbs into whatevr potions you need.
-Flatpack table. This is dead content that in terms of RS style of updates (RS loves systems where the player has 1 place to do things at for a specific skill, these tables are used a lot.) They combined what already existed, turned it into what Runescape players expect, and it works wonders. The menu feels natural to use, shows all the items that can be build and what requirements they need. While, again, Runescape uses this tables, for construction this is super welcomed because prior to this, you had to know which rooms had what, and what spots built into what and what tiers they had because outside of the menu guide, there was no info on it and it was not very intuitive.
-Item storage. Game changer IMO. OSRS construction has this issue where sometimes you really don't want to remove a piece of furniture because getting the materials for it back and rebuilding it was a pain. Well, Runescape just lets you remove it from your POH, and the item instead of being deleted goes into an item storage so you can just place it later whenver and wherever you want. This makes it easier to both make the items you need/want through the flatpack table, but also to know what you have and place them in your POH.
-Free placing. Contracty to the spots in OSRS, you can freely place the items wherever you want. There is no specific spot for it, you can just have multiple chairs in a row if you wish. You can build your altar in the biggest room or the tiniest room available. THis does mean you no longer have room types with specific things you can build in them, but this freedom makes palying around with your POH, making it look how you want, so much easier and gives way more flexibility to the player. Clearly inspired by building games such as The Sims, they did a great job at mixing both the usefulness of the POH in gameplay terms, and the vanity of fashionscape because "it looks cool".
-Speaking of looking cool, POH zone looks amazing. The plot of land sits near a lil mountain, a beach, andd you even have the choice to which plot of land you can have because you don't just have the one, you have 5 to choose from. And at the centre, a road you can travel to with a nice lil fountain and some nice benches. That idea of "man this places looks so peaceful, i wish i lived there" taht these types of sim games give, was perfectly emulated by the runescape team in this update.
-Speaking of 5 plots of land, Homesteads. You can actually share your POH with up to 4 other members, for 5 total. If you do, you have access to other members POHs whnever you want, and can freely travel between them, no teleport or menu required. This is a very underrated part of the update and something that IMO deserves more attention. It feels so nice being able to follow the paths and go to other players POHs without needing to input something in a menu.
-There's no place like home. I've always been a fan of runescape music (i mean i did rate every single osrs song at some point) and this remake, remix? is perfect. It encapsulates the original while making it sounds very chill, again, clearly inspired by sims type games, all to give you that satisfaction of just building your dream house, however, instead of needing money, here you can just gather the materials yourself and do a bit of DYI.
-The quest. Yeah most Runescape skills now a days come with an introductory quest. This isn't even exclusive to Runescape, Sailing also has one. Here they decided to do with for Constructuion and as always works as a pseudo guide. It works well, it's simple and a minor but welcoming addition to the skill and the overall need the game has to bridge it's knowledge with the newbie player engaging with the content for the first time.
Outside of the FOMO gift they have, which you won't be able to earn after the 15th of august, this update was something that surprised me a lot on the positive. I expected something decent with problems, but what the devs delivered was just pure quality. This make the POH enjoyable for a long time to come, and people who will engage with it in 2, 3 or even 5 years will feel it's quality, even then.
10/10 update.
I wish this is what we'd get in OSRS, but it'd never happen :c