So, you’re considering taking off that ironman helmet and becoming a “main”, huh? Let me give you some food for thought as the timer to removing my own ironman status ticks down.
While I’m not even close to the “endgame” yet, I’m completely satisfied with what I’ve achieved and I think it’s time to move on from the game mode. Here’s a quick preview of what my account is looking like while I’m writing this:
Mind you, this is the only account I play/have outside of an old compromised one, so technically this is my “main”. I go into more detail in an older post about how the game keeps pulling me back in. I also took a pretty lengthy break after the Raging Echoes league.
Now, let’s go over a few reasons why one might want to de-iron. I resonate with all of these to some degree, and if you have any others that I didn’t mention, feel free to comment it below!
Reason #1 – You’re Burnt Out
The most common reason is really just burnout. Ironman grinds are fun in the early stages of the account, because it forces you to do things that you would never have interacted with if you had no trading restrictions.
Some, like myself, consider this to be a fulfilling way to play the game. Getting something as simple as a bunch of black d’hide gear from clue scrolls felt amazing, and all the detours I had to go through while working on my quest cape was fun as hell.
However, you’ll eventually reach a point where every grind and/or “upgrade” takes you tens or even hundreds of hours each. Somehow, I managed to tough it out and got a corrupted Bow of Faerdhinen and a full set of crystal armor. When that happened, I thought “finally, doing x or y is much more chill now”.
So yeah, I started moving on to other content after that long and arduous grind (it took me 500+ completions of CG). I managed to score a blowpipe a few kills after getting the “Zulrah Veteran” achievement, and I got my first zenyte shard a short while after that.
Looking good so far, right? Some would say “wow, you got kinda spooned”, especially considering I even have a faceguard from way before any of this. Well, it got me questioning, am I even actually enjoying any of this?
What this doesn’t show are all the other grinds I’ve had or have to go through along the way. Look, not everybody has the time and fortitude to kill thousands of lizardmen shamans, tormented demons, and demonic gorillas just for a bunch of gear upgrades. Not to mention much more involved content like GWD and raids.
It’s not even a “skill issue”, but rather more of a “I don’t find this enjoyable with my suboptimal gear” kinda deal. Hell, I can comfortably solo normal TOAs just fine with less than ideal items, and the other raids I can learn at any time if I want to.
The only activities that actually intimidate me are the Inferno and Colosseum, and that’s mostly due to the time investment needed for learning them. On that note…
Reason #2 – You’re Strapped For Time
Let’s be real here. The average OSRS player is not the type to maintain more than one account or have the time to sit and grind a single activity for several hours a day. I work from home, and even I can’t do most of the “AFK” activities on the side because, to be frank, most of this crap isn’t “AFK” at all.
I’m a writer by trade. I can’t afford to divert my attention every few seconds to click a bunch of times on a video game, because it messes with my workflow too much. Because of this, I only occasionally chop redwoods or mine shooting stars, as they’re the closest to being actual “AFK” activities.
A certain subset of players will have you believe that, rather than de-ironing, it’s better to make a second “main” account and grind up to late game content because they claim it takes no time at all in comparison.
Sure, it’ll be relatively faster, but that’s still hundreds of hours worth of progress. That doesn’t even take into consideration the membership fees, because not everybody is sitting on millions worth of dupes or raw gold for bonds.
I implore you to think about that for a second. You’re asking somebody who’s clearly burnt out or have limited time to make another account and go through most of the same long grinds they’ve already done. Why? Genuinely, what makes people think this is a reasonable thing to do for the average person?
I eventually started thinking: Is it really worth my time to mine sandstone for tens of hours just so I can make glass for tens of hours? After that, I’ll still need to blow all that glass for… well, you get the point.
Even if I manage to get another zenyte soon, the next upgrade is gonna take me over 10,000 molten glass worth of crafting before I can even boost for it. That’s just two levels, by the way, and I’d need to do even more for the rest of the jewelry in that set.
I’m fully aware that the game is a massive grindfest, but I’m a grown man currently in the process of upskilling, and I’m already planning for the future with my partner.
It’s not even that I’m becoming disinterested in the game or have a severe lack of time. I just don’t want to spend my evenings mining buckets of sand or engaging in high-activity PVM content that I’m not enjoying anymore just so I can hopefully make a bit of meaningful progress in this particular game.
Even if you cut up the grind, you’ll still only have that (usually) single activity if you want to hit a specific goal. It’s not like training hunter, where you at least have the option of doing rumours for a nice change of scenery every now and then.
Just look at how other ironmen complain about the same things. Even in my former clan, which was for irons only, people would constantly talk about how miserable they were with their current grind, whether it be skill-related or going dry after hundreds of raids.
I want to try combat achievements without worrying about making all the supplies myself. I want to do harder content with optimal gear, not spend weeks or even months of my life trying to get that optimal gear.
I wanna max out some of my skills without having to do menial chores to prep for it. I’d love to use my damn cannon for slayer without the dreadful process of making a metric ton of steel bars and cannonballs myself, because you can burn through thousands of them in no time.
The exploration and problem-solving aspect of the early game was undeniably a blast, but once you start hitting walls at every turn, it gets way too dull even if you split up the grinds. What used to be 10-20 hour grinds eventually get replaced by 100-200 hour slogfests. At that point, it starts to feel like you’re paying a subscription just to work a second job, except you lose money.
Reason #3 – There’s Nothing “Prestigious” About It Lol
I never really thought of ironman mode as a flex. It’s just a self-imposed challenge that objectively makes the game harder just because, and there’s absolutely no shame in quitting it when you get tired of the whole concept.
However, more often than not, you’ll find ironman players claiming that you’d be “wasting your progress” and that you’ll regret it when you transition to becoming a normal account.
I don’t really get that, personally. All that progress is still in the account, cause you’re not deleting anything except the little helmet beside your name. I’d wager most people you encounter in the game don’t even know or care that you’re an ironman, so what’s there to worry about?
Me getting a bowfa isn’t suddenly devalued by unlocking the ability to trade with others. The time I spent getting an almost max POH isn’t suddenly made pointless by being able to buy my way to 99 construction.
Look, if I wanted a sort of “progression trophy”, then I’ll just play the league game mode whenever it comes back. At least I get an actual trophy out of it.
Another argument against de-ironing is that you’re subjecting yourself to “GPscape” and that you’ll be confined to doing the best moneymakers for the rest of your life, with drops becoming less fulfilling as a result. I just find that mentality silly, really.
Sure, it’s fair to say that it feels more fulfilling to get a rare drop yourself, but how does being able to buy/sell it devalue that feeling? Some would say “oh but you already had instant access to it from the start”.
Okay? So if I got an imbued heart on a “main”, it’s somehow less valuable because I could have bought it? Do you genuinely think that the average person has over 120+ million gold to even spend on one?
The average OSRS player, ironman or otherwise, isn’t the one running around farming high level content with a Shadow or Twisted Bow. The real average joes are the ones you see farming Barrows without a Ghommal’s Hilt. It’s the ones who can barely keep up with the prayer switches at Jad or haven’t even done the quests needed to access the money bosses.
And my brother or sister in Saradomin, is somebody holding you at gunpoint and telling you to farm Vorkath or Muspah for hours on end? Are you not allowed to simply do whatever the hell you want and make slightly less gold through other means? What ethereal entity suddenly possesses you and forces you to be ultraefficient while playing a non-iron account?
Snap out of the mentality that you need to do the best moneymakers and just focus on doing what you enjoy. It’s a game, it’s not supposed to feel like a chore or a second job. If nothing else helps, maybe the real issue you have is with the game itself, not the mode you’re playing.
My post-iron plan is to login once every couple hours or so on workdays to do a silly lil herb run and comfortably maintain my membership for free while I’m busy. When I want to actively play the game, I’ll work on training up skills the way I want to and kill bosses or raid with much better gear.
No, I’m not gonna cancel the timer or regret it later down the line once it’s done. I’m already happy with my decision, and I don’t plan on making another account just to do it all over again. As much as I love playing the game, I don’t have the time to even consider that, and honestly, there really isn’t any incentive in doing so.
Ask yourself this: Are you playing the game because you enjoy it, or is your goal just to impress strangers with your restricted account? If you’re considering de-ironing and have an ounce of self-control to not turn the entire game into an “efficient money making simulator”, then just go for it!
I don’t know about you, but I don’t care to make this account a sort of “trophy” for myself or others. That doesn’t bring me any value or enjoyment. Actually playing the game does, though.
If your worry is that you won’t have that same sense of accomplishment for getting a drop, then just… don’t buy it off the grand exchange? The collection log won’t magically disappear. Just work on getting whatever item it is while solely spending your gold on supplies instead. You’re getting the best of both worlds this way.
Anyway, I’ve rambled on for too long. I’m gonna go play some Palia now, and maybe a bit of whatever indie game I plan on reviewing next…
UPDATE After 3+ Months (09/09/25): Yep, still playing! Managed to learn Yama after two tries and I’ve been having an absolute blast farming it in my spare time. I even got spooned an Oathplate chest that I sold for more useful upgrades. Passively making a lot of gold through farming and bursting stuff on the side.
Looking into trying out the delve boss soon, since I have everything I need to send attempts now. Definitely wouldn’t be doing any of this PVM right now if I were still an iron, as I’m already well over the drop rate for even a single synapse and I don’t even want to look at a Tormented Demon anymore.