For the sake of argument, let's say all 4 Zenyte jewelery are equally desirable. If one of the four suddenly becomes not desirable at all, then there's 25% less demand on Zenytes. It's definitely significant.
Currently every account needs to own a Torture, even if it's not the first Zenyte people buy. It's the 2nd or 3rd one you get: Magic combat is a little more expensive for mid game players and is rarely useful for Slayer, and the Ring of Suffering now has almost no uses at all, not just in BIS setups (note that down for future mechanics, recoil can be creatively used for more than Zulrah summons! In theory, maybe it can ping far off enemies or through shields...). The Amulet of Torture is cheaper than most options that provide +2 or more str over their predecessor and also comes with the extra 5 accuracy in all melee styles, making it a relatively early and common upgrade.
In my mind it's not even a question if the Torture needs to be upgraded into the Rancor. If the Rancor is to be a direct upgrade over the Torture, it's a clear necessity that it is created using one. A lot of players are going to see all 4 of their Zenyte jewelery drop in value because the Rancor lowers the demand on Zenytes in general. --I just paused typing and checked GE-tracker. The Amulet of Torture is already being dumped on the GE and it's down over a mil since the blog came out. The Necklace of Anguish, Tormented Bracelet, and Ring of Suffering are all plummeting too, in unison with the Torture. Case in point lol!
If it's to be a direct upgrade from the Torture, the fix is to make the Rancor require no crafting level, an equal crafting level, or 99 crafting. It's the only logical way to go that route of item design.
THAT ALL SAID, I think vertical progression is incredibly uninteresting, and it does nothing to enhance the experience of playing the game. The Amulet of Rancor functions identically to the previous item except that it provides marginally more DPS. Big whoop, and I'm not asking for "more power." Please, anything but that. It's practically the same item. Universally applicable power creep would be destructive on top of being boring, and the game's already way too easy with the gear we have currently. It's losing its excitement because of all the vertical progression we've been getting, and people still want to enjoy every boss in the game. The journey matters, not just the end goal (as many impatient players might imply on this platform).
If the Amulet of Rancor was a horizontal upgrade item like the Blood Fury is, perhaps being an upgrade to the Fury instead, with a creatively designed, useful, conditional mechanic that gets peoples' imaginiations going, that would be way more fun and interesting. It would be more fun to theory craft with and more fun in practice. (And it needs to look good with my Blood Torva please, so no green!)
What if this amulet had its own passive or triggered effect that was flavorful relevant to the boss? What if it was customizable in its own way (which gives this boss more potential rewards)? What if it could specialize defensively, offering a different type of damage mitigation than the Blood Fury? Or what if its ability(/ies) worked in parallel with another item that's fallen by the wayside, like the Serpentine Helm (which has 2 transmogs with excellent graphics), Ring of Suffering, Treasonous Ring, Dragon Arrows (p++), Trident of the Swamp, etc? What if it was alive... and that affected the mechanics unpredictably somehow? Optimally this item should create opportunities for decision making while bossing, not just at the GE. There is a lot of design space that isn't just stapling universally bigger numbers to things! But whatever it is, we all agree that it has to be the best item to bring to some number of places for people to want to invest their time into getting it.
TY for reading, anyone who did! Hopefully my thoughts are given serious consideration because I love OSRS and I want it to have a long life.
