[2022] Jagex keeps updates like the ring of vigour rework in their back pockets to quell player backlash

This isn't true.

There is a broader and kinda interesting topic here about what should be a QOL fix, what should be a reward, what should be given away, what should have to be earned, etc.

Like players naturally want to see good rewards for content, but at the same time some of the best and most well designed rewards are the ones that fix real problems players are experiencing in the game. Sometimes those "rewards" get swept up and "given away" as ninja QOL fixes first, so there's less rewards available.

At the same time though, we obviously shouldn't avoid fixing problems just so we can give them away as rewards later. I find this a hard balance to maintain.

It really depends on the context. My understanding of the ninja team is that the way it works is that the team choose a topic, and then they look for opportunities within that topic to fix. This lets them achieve more with the same time, because they're already learning about the design and code relevant to multiple fixes at once.

If a fix has been made, usually it will just be shipped straight away with a patch. When that doesn't happen, it's usually due to QA availability - despite the memes, we don't ship things which haven't been QAed, and some fixes can be trivial for a developer but require a massive amount of testing before they can go live.

Yeah that's a really good suggestion.