"Are you fed up of trying to be heard above a crowded Varrock Marketplace? Are you tired of organising to meet players who want to trade with you? Do you just want to get on with the things you enjoy, rather than standing around, hoping that someone wants your full splitbark armour? If the answer is "yes" to any of those questions, then Brugsen would like to direct you to his marvellous new Grand Exchange!" Jagex seems quite confident, don?t they? Should they really have that much faith in their most recent update to the game?

I, for one, think they should. The Grand Exchange is finally here, accompanied by a marvellous new little area north-west of Varrock. There, you can buy and sell everything your little heart desires, at lowered rates and at a faster pace. After completing trades, you can collect them from any bank in the Runescapian world; isn?t that exciting as well? I think it is. Jagex puffed a whole lot of steam in the weeks leading up to this moment, creating all kinds of rumours, speculations and controversy. But in the end, I think, they pulled it off with little injury to their image. Why is that? Read on!

Firstly, they managed to reach out to a great deal of players, as all GE areas are filled to the figurative roof, during those busy moments of the day. This says a lot about the usage of the actual feature, as you wouldn?t be there if you did not have any business to seek out. People are selling and buying every hour of the day now, faster and more efficient than never before. This is just one of the effects of the Grand Exchange, something I will continue on further down in the article.

In addition to the massive amount of visitors to the GE, it has not failed to create discussion, debate and even more controversy. Most updates can talk the talk but fail to walk the walk after the talking is over, if that makes any sense. The Grand Exchange differs in that area, or so I believe. It?s been almost 10 days and the GE-craze is still no where near an end, or so it seems. The fan sites are still providing (intellectual) discussion, the people are still reflecting on whether or not the GE is the embodiment of the Devil himself. In short: things are still moving! The wheels of discussion have not yet stalled, the great minds within our communities are still conjuring up conspiracies involving Jagex. All in all, this update really hit the shelves the way it was supposed to.

As I previously mentioned, things have been shifted into the highest gear as of late. Trading has never been so fast and efficient for me and the thousands of others who use the GE daily. Need an Ahrim set without staff? Don?t fret! Hit the GE, find the items, submit a price and wait a few minutes. If the price was high enough you?ll be wearing your new suit within the blink of an eye. In terms of speed, this baby really produces some horsepower. And how do I like it, personally? I don?t like it. I love it! It took me 4 minutes to buy my beloved Ahrims, Fury Amulet and my pretty infinity boots. 4 minutes, not a nanosecond more. For a speed-junk like me, this is bliss, you could not create a better Runescape for me at this time, I can guarantee you that. Of course, to be fair, not everyone is willing to pay for speed, as some refuse to pay a higher price and stick to the lowest or average price for everything. I respect that, you?d rather wait a few hours and pay less for the same item, I have no quarrel with that. This update would not be there without the balance and mixture of people like me and them, I can admit to that without hesitation. Though, I?ll keep spending that extra 10-150K on my items just so I don?t have to wait. That has little to do with the GE; rather, my personality and lack of patience are to blame here. Anyway, we?re straying off topic. Moving on!

The GE has another side-effect: merchanters. Few players fully understand the merchanting possibilities that lie within this brand new update. The GE is based on the concept of naming your own prices and letting the system find you an appropriate trade. This is merchanting heaven, as the notion of actually doing work is completely removed. How do I mean? It is simple, really. When buying, you enter the lowest price possible and when selling you aim for default. Sure, when doing this you won?t have an immediate trade. But who cares? The GE is built so that you do not have to stand around there, waiting. You can submit your offers and then just scurry off into the Wilderness or some other ghastly adventure. And whilst you?re playing, the system is finding you a good deal, without you having to do anything in return! If you?re patient enough, and buy in bulk, you could easily make profit whilst sleeping! If you like merchanting, you should try your luck at the Grand Exchange, I think you?ll be positively surprised.

However, fair is fair, there are some disadvantages lurking around the corner. For one, the trades can be so quick you could start wanting to pay way too much money for your precious good and items, just because of the thrill you get from seeing that bar turn green seconds after you hit that submit button. I know, as I?m starting to fall prey to this danger more and more every day. The extra cost doesn?t bother me, it?s the recurrence of that extra cost, with every trade I make, just so I could get my Pure Essence and Glory Amulets faster than before and be proud of that. It?s like a beautiful rose, flourishing for you, whilst slowly driving its thorns deeper into the palm of your already bleeding hand. In addition to this possible drawback to the GE, there?s the lack of player interaction. This can be both an advantage, as you can?t get scammed, as well as a disadvantage. Why? Runescape is supposed to be a cooperative MMORPG, with a very player-inspired communications and trading system. The latter seems to have been reduced due to the Grand Exchange. It?s faster, better and less annoying to use the counter rather than the old trading worlds; however, at the same time, you?re losing contact with the other players, you?re missing out on trades done through talking and arguing over prices, you?re losing a bit of the human side of Runescape. And for what? A fast trade.

However, all advantages and disadvantages aside, Jagex seems to have delivered a properly tuned and well oiled machine, for us to use whenever and wherever we want to, for every single item we could possibly desire. Kudos to Jagex, as they pulled it off.