Assist System



The Assist System allows players to temporarily use each others' skill levels. The Assist System is designed to be a replacement for temporarily giving an item to another player so that they can process it in some way, and then trusting them to give it back.

For example, a player might want to turn an uncut ruby into a cut ruby, but not have the level 34 Crafting required. Using the Assist System, the player simply "borrows" someone else's skill levels and then cuts it themselves, which means that the ruby never leaves their own inventory. The assister receives all skill experience, which is their payment for assisting.

Previously, if a player did not have the required skill level for a task, they would have to trade the uncut ruby to another player, and trust that they would cut it and give it back. This system was quite often abused to scam players.

Usage
With the Assist System there is a right-click option for players, labeled "Req Assist". Assistance requests are similar to trade requests, in which the target player receives a message in the chat box which opens up a window when clicked.

The Assist icon will appear in the top right corner of the game window of the player being assisted. The assisting player is unable to move or do anything other than chat to friends or surrounding players whilst the window is open.

Most of the non-combat skills are displayed in the window, along with the amount of experience the target player has gained through the Assist System in the past 24 hours. All of the skills are shared by default, though the assisting player can click on any skill to switch it off. The effects of a temporary boost will also pass to the assisted player.



Players can choose to restrict or block notification of assistance requests. To do this, they can right-click the "Assist" button below the message box to set it to "On" (receive requests from any player), "Friends" (receive requests only from players on their Friends List), or "Off" (block all requests).

If the player requesting assistance already has the requisite skill level to do something, they will gain experience rather than the target player, even if the target player has lent their level.

Temporary status boosts, such as dwarven stouts, carry over to the person being assisted.

Restrictions
The following restrictions apply to usage of the Assist System:


 * It cannot be used for any combat skills except the noncombat aspects of Magic.
 * It cannot be used for Woodcutting, Fishing, Mining, Hunter, Thieving, Firemaking, Agility, Summoning or Dungeoneering.
 * Does not work for quests, Achievement Diary segments, and Activities.
 * Only 30,000 experience can be gained each day through assisting others. Once this limit is reached, it is impossible to assist any further.
 * Assist requests can only be sent if the target player has set the "assist" option at the bottom of the interface to a group that includes you ("friends" if on their friend list, otherwise "on").
 * The player that is being lent a skill must remain within 20 squares of the player they are being assisted by. However, if the assisted player teleports away, then they shall still be assisted.
 * The player lending their skills cannot do anything except use the player chat interfaces; they can't move, use items, etc.

History
This feature was originally added in the Assist System update on the 5 November 2007. On the 12 November 2007, an Assist System and Skills Interface update was released. This removed Fishing, Hunter, Mining, and Woodcutting from the Assist System, because those skills are used to obtain raw materials. Players suggested on the forums that these skills could in fact be developed faster without the assistance system, and that players seeking resources could obtain these items from direct player to player trades just as easily. Those players of lower skill levels typically didn't know how to efficiently gather resources and typically wasted the time of the higher level players that could have been spent simply gathering these resources in the first place.

Many players had complained on the official forums and elsewhere (including a few minor riots) that the assist system ruined work ethics, but the complaints quickly died down after the change.

When the Knowledge Base Article on the main RuneScape page first came out, the picture showing "Req Assist" from the player had a right-click "Report Abuse" option (which is used by player moderators and Jagex staff). This picture has since been removed and replaced with a new one.

On 10 June 2009, there was a glitch where players could not request assistance.

Jagex made an update, so you could see the current skill levels of the player providing assistance. This change was made to prevent scamming, especially at Runecrafting altars.

Trivia

 * When the assist system first came out, players were able to use assist to get into guilds, getting assist from players just outside the guild, entering, and then cancelling the assistance. This led to many guilds such as the fishing guild being crowded by low level players. However, following a campaign on the forums, the ability to use assist to get into guilds was removed, and any players who did not have the levels to get into the area they were in were kicked out (even if they got in with other methods such as stat boosting items).