RuneScape News

Behind the Scenes - March

Rebel007 — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 22:03:59 -0600

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

01-Mar-2012 - Behind the Scenes - March

Clan Fealty

First up, we’re making some changes to resource gathering within clan citadels. After extensive discussion with our most proficient clans, it was clear that you needed more tools and more rewards when investing precious adventuring time in your citadel. So, from this month, you’ll be able to gain access to new clan fealty capes, which will earn you more XP when contributing to your clan’s resources, granting weekly XP lamps to the truly diligent. We’ve also made a series of improvements to the skill plots themselves and added some admin tools that clan leaders can use to keep an eye on how their clan is contributing to the stockpiles.

Bonus XP Weekend

Yes, Bonus XP Weekend returns on the 16th of March 2012, so start filling your vials, carving your planks and prepping the contents of your bank for a weekend-long XP fest. Don’t forget that your XP bonus affects almost all the repeatable, skill-based content in the game, is game-time-limited, and starts at a whopping 2.7x your normal XP rates! So, for example, if you’re used to getting 100 XP for fishing swordies you’ll actually gain 270xp for a single fish. While the rate will slowly go down over about 8 hours, you’ll receive a bonus for any skill-based activity you perform over the weekend. For further information on previous XP weekends, click here.

Player Armour (Free and Members)

It’s our biggest equipment rework ever, featuring over 200 visually improved pieces of combat equipment covering a whole range of levels and combat styles for both male and female combatants! If you wear armour or wield a shield while engaging with your enemies, it’s probably being updated:

• Warriors will see new, unique styles for armour sets all the way from black/white right up to dragon, and including Torva and Bandos armour. There are also new looks for the warrior, berserker and Neitiznot helms, the barbarian assault fighter’s torso and Varrock platebody.
• Rangers get studded leather, regular and blessed dragonhide and Armadyl sets, as well as the Robin Hood hat and Ava’s equipment.
• Mage gear updated includes all mystic robes, enchanted robes, infinity robes of all hues and Zuriel’s set.
• We’ve reworked the Void Knight gear and Slayer helmet.

As part of our ongoing equipment rework, we’ve really tried to show the difference in defensive quality as the skill requirements rise. As seen in the Troll Warzone update, each set has an individual style, but it also adds genuine variety to the various trimmed, blessed and minigame-specific gear you’ll encounter while exploring the many facets of the game. Even the god-aligned equipment features its own unique touches, often influenced by your feedback in the forums, and from RuneFest, where we first showcased the amazing images of the improved dragon gear.

New Loyalty Rewards

Our newest loyalty batch offers a wealth of new rewards, including tier 4 versions of existing auras, a new set of Guthix-themed winged auras and several new emotes, including one upgrade option. Unleash your ’inner power’ or take your ROFL to new heights in the ROFLcopter! We’re also introducing a new aura that speeds up special attack recovery and new ’race’ costumes to let you look more like an elf or a werewolf. ROAR!

Bakriminel Bolts

Mami Rimba (friend of Papa Mambo) has set up shop just outside Edgeville. She’s every bit as mad as Papa but has delved into some seriously dark mojo. She’s tapped into the power of the bloodwood tree, which grows only in places of bloodshed, such as the Wilderness, to craft a bolt that punishes mages. The bolts must be fired from a rune or chaotic crossbow, and they have powerful stats (125 ranged strength – with a Ranged requirement of 80). When used in PVP against those of a magical persuasion, they have additional benefits, including the ability to target specific areas of the body, with mighty special attacks, depending on whether you're aiming at the head, torso or legs!

To make these bolts, you must purchase bolt tips from Mami and head into one of the blood-soaked regions where a bloodwood tree can be found. Fletching of the bolts must be performed at the tree and will require 85 Woodcutting and 93 Fletching.

Gnome Graphical Rework

This month, our short green friends are going to receive a grand makeover, courtesy of Mod GFX and his team. All the gnome characters, chat heads and environments are being reworked, including both the Grand Tree and the Stronghold. Some awesome new lighting effects and stylised wooden architecture bring a fresh look to the arboreal domains of Bolren and Narnode Shareen. Getting everything upgraded has been gnome mean feat!

Transport and Navigation (Free and Members)

No runes? No problem!

A brand new Transport & Navigation system will be added this month, designed to make Gielinor more easily navigable. This ancient and mystical system will allow travel around a wide range of popular RuneScape cities, towns and locations including Edgeville and Lunar Isle.

While there are no real level requirements to use the system, each destination has to be discovered in order to be activated and can be accessed via a new ’home teleport‘ menu from the Home Teleport spell slot.

Morytania Task Set + Early Bird Bonus

Finally this month, we’re introducing our latest Task Set, this time based in the dark, desolate lands of Morytania. You’ll be able to complete sets of Tasks which range from Easy to Elite levels of difficulty, which will encourage you to make snelms, activate medallions, slay barrow wights, and brew your own prayer renewal potions.

Tasks are all well and good, but it’s the rewards - including new leg armour - that really interest a fearless traveller. Fancy halving your prayer drain while in the Barrows? How about increasing your trekking rewards and your mushroom yields from patches? All that plus more, and over 150k in XP lamps! For those who are really keen, we’ll even add an Early Bird Bonus (worth 15k) for anyone who completes the Easy and Medium lists within the first 2 weeks of launch.

We’re also planning a machinima contest to run alongside our latest Morytania addition. More information to come!

Have fun!

Mod Mark
Lead Designer

Comment this update (1 comment)

One Piercing Note

Rebel007 — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:44:41 -0600

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

07-Nov-2011 - One Piercing Note

When the wind is right, the hearts of weary desert travellers may be lifted by the sound of pure voices in beautiful song. The Sisters of Saint Elspeth are a Saradominist order resident at the Citharede Abbey, to the east of Al Kharid, who are devoted to extolling their god’s glory through music.

Recently, there has been a violent murder within the abbey. The ever-practical abbess has managed to keep the details of the death from the sisters to prevent panic, and has no wish to expose the sacred haven of the abbey to the rigours of the Kharidian authorities. She has asked Saradomin for a miracle, and you may just be the agent of providence that she’s praying for.

Question the inhabitants of the abbey and the leader of the wandering minstrels outside, all fully voice-acted and with several specially recorded musical tracks, and solve the mystery to put an end to this threat.

Rewards include a modest amount of Prayer XP, a set of robes that allow you to restore prayer points at musicians along with your run energy, and a new Crafting and Prayer activity for those with god books.

While it’s possible to complete One Piercing Note without sound, the extensive audio work adds a great deal to it. Turn up your speakers, or put on your headphones, and enjoy!

Mod John A

To start One Piercing Note:

Head east from Al Kharid over the stile and speak to Sister Catherina outside of the Citharede Abbey.

Requirements:

• No levels are required to start and complete One Piercing Note.
• This is a members’ quest.
• Once the quest is complete, a new activity involving god books will become available. This activity requires level 60 Prayer and Crafting.

In Other News...

If you haven’t already, take a look at our newest ‘Lores and Histories’ story: The Song From Before the War. This recounts the legend of Saint Elspeth, around whose remains the Citharede Abbey was founded.

Comment this update (1 comment)

Behind the Scenes - November

Rebel007 — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:42:12 -0600

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

01-Nov-2011 - Behind the Scenes - November

While recovering from RuneFest and some epic Halloween parties, it’s nice to know there'll be some chunky updates to help me recover. Updates to take my mind off all the sweets and pumpkin pie I didn’t eat. Honest!

Thanksgiving 2011

We're not done partying quite yet, although the turkeys of RuneScape have a different idea on how to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Captain Turkerton and his turkey brethren are planning a protest against their species being put on the Thanksgiving menu for another year! If their demands aren’t met, a turkey invasion seems imminent, and they're prepared to gobble up the land. Can you find a peaceful solution? Can you stand the thought of Thanksgiving dinner without turkey?

Free players and members completing the turkey event will be able to unlock the new Thanksgiving crest for their herald capes, which will also change the turkey emote if played while worn. Members will also be able to unlock a brand new turkey pet!

Re-working the Interface

We are continually re-working areas of RuneScape that we feel could do with a lick of paint. These improvements aren’t just about NPC models, environments and gameplay, though. They also relate to the main game screen itself, which we call the "top level interface".

The top level rework involves an overhaul of the interfaces that are used by players all the time. We are improving the style and functionality, and are introducing a new vibrant colour scheme. These changes include:

• Brand-new info boxes, making examine messages and left click actions appear over the item you're clicking on rather than hidden as a text message. No more checking the top left corner for NPC names - they'll appear next to your mouse cursor if this option is enabled.
• New “stone buttons” (the ones you use to open your inventory, quest journal etc) with new icons (don’t worry; they’re based on the old ones).
• A rework of the borders of the minimap, including a new “metallic” look.
• New “trims” to the side panel interfaces themselves (like the inventory).

New Website

We’re undergoing a complete overhaul of the RuneScape website design, an example of which you can see in the screenshot below. The new design is a big departure from the current look and feel. We aim to capture the grand sense of adventure and exploration that RuneScape offers and bring that right out into the foundations of the site, while keeping all of the great features and information that you use on a day-to-day basis.

New Slayer Dungeon

If, like myself, you’re a fan of the Slayer skill, you’ll be excited when you read the title of this update! As soon as you enter this new dungeon, you will find yourself immersed in some amazing, jaw-dropping scenery, but don’t look down, as this dungeon has a real sense of ‘depth’ to it.

Towards the end of the month, we’ll be launching the Polypore Dungeon. A ramokee has snuck into RuneScape and used her skinweaving powers to create a variety of horrific new monsters, many of which can only be killed by high-level slayers, and are best tackled with magic. Those who can defeat the ganodermic beasts (level 95 Slayer) may emerge with a unique kind of battlestaff and the materials to make incredibly protective mage armour. Elsewhere in the dungeon, there’ll be mage armour for lower-level fighters, and a very suspicious mushroom for PKers to eat.

The ramokee herself was originally destined from birth to serve her tribe as a healer, but she has rejected that destiny and abandoned her tribe. Now she sits enthroned in the depths of the cave, revelling in the freedom to use her skinweaving powers to indulge her own whims and curiosity. Along with the skinweaver, the dungeon is home to a strange little man with a sad story. He sells bizarre garments that form the basis of the mage armour.

One Piercing Note

If you’ve seen the bottom of our newest Lores and Histories story, you’ll already know the title of November’s quest: One Piercing Note. Legend has it that, during the God Wars, there lived a holy woman named Elspeth whose voice was so perfect that no demon could bear to hear it. In the present age, a group of Saradominist holy women found Elspeth’s remains on a remote desert plateau and set up an abbey in her memory. Within the abbey’s sand-blasted walls the Sisters of Saint Elspeth devote their lives to prayer and sacred music.

Now there has been a murder in the abbey, and Abbess Benita is praying for an adventurer to investigate. To complicate matters, a wandering troubadour has set up camp outside the abbey, despite the order’s rules forbidding secular music. It’s up to you to uncover the abbey’s secrets and find the killer.

As befitting a quest involving a troubadour and a holy choir, sound and music play a prominent role in One Piercing Note. The music is woven into the story, and includes recordings of real musicians and singers. In addition, in a first for RuneScape, all NPC dialogue will be voice-acted. So, turn your speakers on and enjoy our latest all-singing, all-dancing quest!

Requirements for One Piercing Note:

• None (besides being members-only)

• Higher-level players who own god books can return after the quest for a new activity requiring level 60 in Prayer and Crafting.

Wilderness Graphical Updates

Last, but not least, we’re planning on reworking large areas of the Wilderness graphics. These include:

• Many landmark locations including: the King Black Dragon’s lair, teleport obelisks, the Mage Arena and the Agility training area.
• New lava environments.
• A higher frame rate; reducing PK issues, not adding to them!

Visit our media page for some sneak preview screenshots!

Have fun!

Mod Mark
RS Lead Designer

Comment this update (2 comments)

Dominion Tower

Rebel007 — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:37:55 -0600

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

01-Nov-2011 - Dominion Tower

The Dominion Tower allows accomplished combatants the chance to revisit some of the best boss fights in RuneScape in an awe-inspiring new environment, with challenging handicaps, all-new scenarios and some great rewards:

- Climber mode allows you to ascend through the levels of the tower, facing a randomly chosen boss scenario on each floor. After each victory, an effect will be applied and will persist through all subsequent fights in that attempt. While a few of these will be beneficial, most of them will be handicaps. You’ll be able to replenish food and change equipment between fights, so how high will hubris take you?

- Endurance mode restricts your access to the bank after each fight, so whatever you take in needs to last. This mode is a true test of tenacity.

- Special mode presents a range of challenging, treacherous and, often, weird encounters with which to test your skill and ingenuity. Fancy fighting Count Draynor, Elvarg, and their miscreant buddies with nothing but your fists and a bunch of explosives? How about 15 Evil Chickens? Think you can beat down Nomad twice in a row? We’d love to see you try!

- Freestyle mode lets you fight on your own terms. There are no rewards for using this mode, but it’s a great way to cut your teeth for the big leagues, or just show off fighting a boss under your own crazily difficult rules.

- Spectator mode allows you to view the fights of another player whom you’ve tagged with your dominion talisman. Cheer on your friends, celebrate their victories and wince sympathetically as they’re pummelled into the ground.

Rewards include: weapons and explosives to be used in the tower; a dominion marker to show off your accomplishments and to give you a boost when fighting other bosses; combat XP; a fierce dreadnip companion, and all-new melee, ranged and magic gloves to be used outside the tower. These degradable gloves are some of the most powerful you can get your hands on (or in) and look brilliant.

Most of all, have fun...and fight to win!

Mod Tim

How to start Dominion Tower:

From Shantay Pass, cross the northernmost bridge to the east bank of the River Elid. The entrance is just to the north. Once you’ve travelled there, speak to the face of the tower for a medallion that’ll teleport you back.

Requirements:

- Level 110 Combat

- At least 20 of the following quests. The more of these you have completed, the more bosses will be available to fight in the tower:

A Void Dance
Love Story
Between a Rock...
Missing My Mummy
Blood Runs Deep
Monkey Madness
The Chosen Commander
Mountain Daughter
Contact!
My Arm's Big Adventure
The Curse of Arrav
Nomad's Requiem
Demon Slayer
Recipe For Disaster
Desert Treasure
Shadow of the Storm
Dealing with Scabaras
Spirits of the Elid
Dragon Slayer
The Great Brain Robbery
Dream Mentor
The Temple at Senntisten
The Family Crest
Toktz-Ket-Dill
Fight Arena
Troll Romance
The Fremennik Trials
Troll Stronghold
Haunted Mine
Vampyre Slayer
The Holy Grail
The Void Stares Back
Horror from the Deep
Wanted!
Legends' Quest
While Guthix Sleeps
Lost City

In Other News...

- There’s still a week left to obtain your Halloween items if you’ve yet to attend Deathcon II!

- Clan Citadel battlefields now have new rune and arrow spawn points.

- A huge thanks for all of your feedback on Dominion Tower at Runefest! There were some great suggestions, and we'll be working to implement the best of these over the coming weeks and months. Be sure to look out for the new, competition-winning boss too!

Comment this update (3 comments)

Bot-Busting and Bonuses For All

Rebel007 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:08:20 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

21-Oct-2011 - Bot-Busting and Bonuses For All

Hi everyone,

Last week, Daniel Clough shared more news with the community about our ongoing war to eliminate botting and gold farming from the game. Today, I am really happy to say we are in the long-awaited position of being able to announce that we’ll be launching our most formidable bot-busting weapon in our history, targeting what we believe to be 98% of the bots seen in game.

I anticipate that this update will be a defining triumph in our battle against the bots which you’ve clearly told us have been harming your game. However, we are not resting on our laurels and will be continuing to develop numerous systems as well as still making a number of improvements over the coming months in an attempt to remain a few steps ahead of both the bot makers and gold farmers alike.

As Daniel made clear last week, we are dedicated to battling bots and gold farming on every front. We have also recently detected and banned over 1.5 million botting and gold farming accounts. While we work behind the scenes on certain projects, we know that sometimes the necessary secrecy can be rather frustrating for players and, as a team, we’ve all desperately wanted to share details about this upcoming project with the community since the very beginning of the year when we had first believed it was going to be imminently ready. However, sadly sometimes when innovating in multiple uncharted areas it takes a lot longer than expected and we were therefore at necessary pains to keep this project tightly under wraps while completing it and, crucially, not giving bot makers any information or warning that could assist them in working around it or preparing for it.

The project, code-named the ‘ClusterFlutterer’, will be launched as part of the RuneScape game update on Tuesday the 25th October permanently preventing “reflection” bots from working again.

We anticipate that next Tuesday will go down in RuneScape history as 'bot-nuking day'. To celebrate this landmark event, we’ll be running a series of one-off bonus days from Tuesday’s system update through to Friday. Over the course of these events, members will have the chance to gain triple XP in Slayer and additional points and rewards in some of our most popular D&Ds and minigames in a bot-free RuneScape:

Tuesday:

Slayer skill day: All Slayer XP earned from killing assigned targets will be tripled. Some monsters will have a faster respawn time.

Wednesday:

Castle Wars day: Tickets earned from winning a game will be triple the usual amount.

Thursday:

Distraction and Diversion day: Bonus rewards will be given for the following distractions:

• Penguin Hide & Seek: Double points.
• Evil Tree: Triple XP.
• Shooting Star: Triple XP while mining it and increased final rewards.
• Familiarization: Players will receive the lucky charm AND ingredient box instead of having to choose.

Penguin Hide & Seek and Familiarization will be reset on the day, so you can do them again if you have already done them that week. All other D&D limitations remain the same (e.g. only two Evil Trees a day).

Friday:

Soul Wars day: Players will receive triple the usual amount of zeal points.

These days will run from midnight to midnight (BST), with the exception of Tuesday which will run from game update time until midnight (BST). Unlike previous Bonus XP events, these modifiers will not deteriorate and will remain constant for the durations stated above.

As promised we’ll be as transparent as possible in keeping everyone updated on the status of our fight against bots and gold farmers and, equally, as before we also ask of you to continue to do your part in helping and supporting too.

I look forward to seeing you in-game soon.

Have fun!

Cheers,

Mark Gerhard

Comment this update (10 comments)

Chat Changes & Camera Controls

Rebel007 — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:24:50 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

04-Oct-2011 - Chat Changes & Camera Controls

Today sees the release of a myriad of much-requested technical updates that’ll streamline your RuneScape experience.

The RuneScape chat system has served us well, but it’s high time for an overhaul. The old, familiar chat box has been reworked in order to bring you a range of new features:

- All messages, no matter the source, will now automatically wrap if they’re too long.
- This also means that you can type longer messages. The entry line of the chat box will scroll left and right with the cursor.
- Private messages are now entered into the chat box, just like public messages.
- You no longer need to enter multiple forward slashes to denote a message as a friends’ chat message or a clan chat message. It is now possible to move between persistent chat modes by entering one of the following codes and pressing Enter or Space:

• /p – Public chat
• /f – Friends chat
• /c – Clan chat
• /g – Guest clan chat

Visit the manual for full details of the newly revamped chat box.

It is now possible to control the camera by holding down your middle mouse button or mouse wheel; rotating through a full 360 degrees of motion and pitching in and out by simply moving the mouse. Traverse and admire Gielinor with seamless ease!

A new button has been added to the “Options” menu entitled “Adventurer’s log settings”. This allows you to select which categories of in-game activity you wish to display on your adventurer’s log and which you would rather keep to yourself.

The Wise Old Man’s no stickler for the obsolete trappings of yesteryear and readily embraces new innovations as he helps players to maintain an uncluttered storage area. His service of scanning banks for unneeded quest items from all free-to-play quests, as well as selected members’ quests, is now performed through a slick, tidy new interface.

RuneScape looks and feels better than ever before, but your feedback is essential in our continued efforts to improve the game. If there’s a new feature you’d like to see implemented, please post it in our suggestions forum.

The RuneScape Team

In other news...

- Rangers should listen out for a complete rework of ranged combat sounds, including samples of real bows and crossbows being drawn and the hefty thwacks of projectiles hitting their targets. There are also all-new sound effects for enchanted bolts and ranged special attacks.

- A number of improvements have been made to Temple Trekking:

• Players will now receive 25 Ghastly Attack scrolls instead of 15.
• Attacking an enemy that is fighting your companion will now pull threat away from him/her.
• "Hard" companions now receive slightly more experience for completing an event.
• Ranger and mage companions’ accuracy has been increased.
• Trekkers will now eat at below 50% health instead of 25%.

- The tome of frost reward from Dungeoneering now reduces the amount of damage you receive from being dehydrated in the desert.

- Demons in Daemonheim now drop impious, accursed and infernal ashes.

- Anvils across RuneScape have been given a "smith" option, and can now be used by left-clicking on them.

- The completionist cape has been given the following:

• The enchanted bonesack teleport.
• An option to manually set its colours.
• An option to give it the functions of a spirit cape.
• A longer particle trail.

Comment this update (1 comment)

Members’ Loyalty Programme – The New Batch

Rebel007 — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:51:03 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

21-Sep-2011 - Members’ Loyalty Programme – The New Batch

Loyalty comes with a reward this week, as we unveil the latest batch of Members Loyalty Programme items! So, if you are yet to sign up to the programme, please visit the RuneScape homepage (select "Members Loyalty Programme" from the Account drop-down menu).

There is something for everyone with this fresh batch, and the auras are no exception. We can proudly reveal the upgraded auras, which improve the abilities of auras that you may have purchased from the first batch. Got a Sharpshooter aura? Purchase a Greater Sharpshooter aura, and your ranged accuracy bonus increases from 3% to 5%. The majority of existing auras are now available to upgrade (you will need to purchase the original aura before you can buy the upgraded one). We’ve even taken the opportunity to revise the Poison Purge aura, which heals you when you get poisoned, rather than preventing the damage.

It’s also clear, from the auras you’re using, that combat auras are a firm favourite, so we’ve obliged with a few more. Equilibrium reduces your max hit by 25% but increases your min hit by the same amount; Inspiration refills your special attack bar with each successful hit; Vampirism converts a portion of the damage you deal into life points; and Penance refills prayer points whenever you’re damaged.

If combat’s not your (punch)bag, then there are five skill-based auras available. There’s the Resourceful aura which, when you would normally deplete a woodcutting or mining resource, will instead offer a 10% chance that it will not deplete. Thieving gets the Five Finger Discount aura; Mining gets the Quarrymaster aura; and Lumberjack is – unsurprisingly – the Woodcutting aura. Finally, the Wisdom aura is for the big spenders; it may cost an eye-watering 40,000 loyalty points, but it increases all experience gained by 2.5% for 30 minutes every 24 hours.

For information on new and existing auras, click here.

Beyond the auras are four new costume types. Theatrical gear, pharaoh outfits, cheongsams or changshans (depending on gender), and silken outfits are available as sets to purchase. We also offer the ability to purchase recolours of your gnome scarves, lunar equipment and staves of light. Emote fiends can select from six new ones, with a personal favourite being Disappear, which makes you feel like a ninja.

For information on new outfits, recolour options and emotes click here.

There are two discounts available for a limited time, so opportunists should grab the half-price Saxon outfit and Eastern outfit. While you’re there, you’ll likely notice the revised Members’ Loyalty Programme store, which gives you an attractive and intuitive layout from which you can make your purchases.

As has been mentioned previously, the number of loyalty points you receive per month will increase, depending on how many consecutive months of membership you have had without a break. Further details of how this works can be found in the Loyalty Programme FAQ.

Mod Rathe
RuneScape Content Developer

In other news...

It seems Xuan’s store has been successful, as another one has popped up in Varrock! Travel to Varrock Square to browse at your convenience from our second Loyalty Store.

You may notice some changes to your emotes interface, as well as certain Clan Citadel interfaces this week. This is to prepare for clans who are reaching Tier 5 of their Citadels very soon. At Tier 5, clans will be able to get access to the Clan Theatre, which comes with a number of emotes that you can view early from the emote interface.

The Head Guard in a clan citadel can now be used as a banker, and the box of capes next to the Battlemaster now works as a bank chest. Activities such Fletching and alchemy are no longer prevented in citadels.

Comment this update (1 comment)

Ritual of the Mahjarrat

Rebel007 — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:44:32 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

14-Sep-2011 - Ritual of the Mahjarrat

“They signal their arrival with a devastating shriek, and leave nothing but ash, flame and destruction in their wake. All tremble in fear as they approach, and the ground rumbles in sympathy.”

There is news of a devastating attack on Mos Le’Harmless, and Sir Tiffy is quick to call you for help. Rumours seem to hint towards an ancient evil, once thought to be myth, and the implications of its appearance could spell disaster for this plane. It is unclear what they want, and there is nothing to say why they have risen now.

Yet, with one threat comes another: the planets have aligned, signalling the Ritual of the Mahjarrat. These mighty and ambitious beings are looking to draw the life from one of their order, sacrificing them to regain lost energies and add flesh to bones. The ritual will also offer near-limitless power to a single Mahjarrat who has already been gathering superhuman strength and influence. With an arsenal of weapons taken from the gods, could the ritual be your last opportunity to stop him before he achieves complete domination?

With two monumental threats such as these, humanity risks being utterly crushed. Fighting now would require armies of bold and fearless warriors, yet only a precious few are able to stand up and face them. The question is: are you ready to join the defence of RuneScape?

Survive to the end of Ritual of the Mahjarrat and you can be sure of a wealth of rewards. Aside from the customary (but large) stack of XP, you will gain access to a new spell, a new reward dungeon, ranging and mage gear, the opportunity to gain three new boots and other rewards that we would rather keep secret!

If you want to play a leading role in one of the biggest events of RuneScape’s history, we encourage you to log in now...

How to start

Speak to Sir Tiffy Cashien in Falador park.

Requirements

• The Temple at Senntisten
• While Guthix Sleeps
• Hazeel Cult
• Enakhra's Lament
• The Slug Menace
• Fairy Tale III - Battle at Ork's Rift
• Rocking Out
• A Tail of Two Cats
• Fight Arena
• 76 Crafting
• 77 Agility
• 76 Mining
• You must be capable of fighting creatures of combat level 475

Paul, Mod Chris L and Mod Srowley
RuneScape Content Developers

Comment this update (1 comment)

New High-Level Prayer Potion

Rebel007 — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:09:00 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

06-Sep-2011 - New High-Level Prayer Potion

High-level herbalists can now create prayer renewal potions. These concoctions restore a sizeable sum of prayer points over the course of five minutes; great for when your prayer points are looking low, but there’s not an altar in sight.

Of course, you’ll still have your super prayer potions for when you need an instant boost in the heat of battle, but the prayer renewal potion restores roughly 25% more prayer points than the super prayer potion does and is tradable, making it a cost-effective, widely obtainable way to cater for your prayer needs in the field.

Brewing a prayer renewal potion requires the following:

• Level 94 Herblore
• A fellstalk herb, which can be grown by level 94 farmers.
• A morchella mushroom, which can be grown by level 74 farmers.

The seeds and spores for fellstalk herbs and morchella mushrooms can be obtained from evil trees; Miscellania kingdom management; traded with other players; or can be found as drops from werewolves, mutated zygomites, ogre chieftains and high-level Slayer targets, among others.

Mod Mark

In other news...

• We’ve also completed some technical changes to the Prayer skill, with the most prominent being to prayer points, multiplying your displayed total by 10 to match the format used by life points. While the Prayer tweaking will have no direct impact upon gameplay, it allows us to release more interesting and varied Prayer updates in the future, including the prayer potion we have released today! As an example of future updates, the upcoming Penance aura will restore prayer points based on damage taken, which would have been very difficult to implement if prayer and life points had still been displayed in different formats.
• For those who use the RuneScape game bar, we’ve added an array of options through which it can be customised. Click here for further details.

Comment this update (6 comments)

New Rewards for Minigames

Rebel007 — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:20:44 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

23-Aug-2011 - New Rewards for Minigames

We’ve added a veritable bounty of high-level rewards to our minigames, including armour sets to boost Thieving and Runecrafting XP gain, macabre customisation options for dark magic users and an infernally adorable pet Jad. If there’s a minigame that you’ve never tried before, or one that you’ve not played for a long time, now is a terrific time to start!

New equipment

We’ve added 5 entirely new sets of gear which are now available to high-level minigame devotees.

Master runecrafter robes: This set is available to arcane scholars persistently participating in the Great Orb Project. In addition to all the stat bonuses of the lower-level Runecrafting robes, each piece of this set offers a bonus to Runecrafting XP gain, with a total bonus of +2.5% when the whole set is worn.

Black Ibis outfit: Once worn by members of an ancient, secret society, this clothing can be obtained through Pyramid Plunder. In a similar vein to the Master Runecrafter Robes, each article of clothing provides a bonus to Thieving XP gain (with a few exceptions), for a total of +2.5% for the whole set.

Hybrid armour: These three new armour sets provide substantial bonuses to multi-talented combatants while playing Castle Wars, Soul Wars, Fist of Guthix and TzHaar Fight Pits:

• Battle-mage armour: This set is great for warrior-wizards who use both melee and magic to overcome opponents.
• Trickster armour: Ideal for the cunning combatant who needs to switch between ranged and magical attacks at a moment’s notice.
• Vanguard armour: Perfect for the versatile frontline fighter who likes to weaken enemies at range before closing to finish the job in melee.

While these hybrid armour sets provide no benefits to statistics outside of PVP minigames, they do look very cool.

Quake with fear, humans!

The moment it burst forth from its infernal cocoon in the sulphurous depths of the TzHaar City, the infant TzRek-Jad was ready for battle. While domestic life isn’t quite what it envisaged, it can now be acquired by Soul Wars players who are skilled enough to handle it as a pet. When it looks up at you with its big, winsome eyes, you can never be quite sure whether it’s planning to crush your skull or just wants its belly rubbed. However, it doesn’t need feeding and will not run away, and is an excellent deterrent to unwelcome doorstep canvassers.

Customisation Options
Those with no qualms about exploring the most depraved avenues of arcane knowledge can now obtain items from Shades of Mort’ton with which to customise their equipment. First of these is the shade skull, which can be attached to elemental staves or battlestaves by high-level crafters for a newly ghoulish appearance. Those who delve deeper, however, may find a necromancer’s kit which can be used to upgrade the Dagon’hai robes, giving them a Prayer bonus and a new, macabre look.

...and many more!

There are plenty of other great rewards to be won by dedicated minigame players, including:

• Proximity chinchompas for use in Castle Wars.
• Glistening shells that grant bonus XP on the Fishing Trawler, as well as tiger sharks to catch and cook, and shark’s teeth to craft into necklaces.
• New lunar spells including ‘Borrowed Power’, which allows lunar magic users to use selected offensive spells.

To start, play any of the following minigames. See the individual minigame pages for full details of the rewards:

• Castle Wars
• Stealing Creation
• Fist of Guthix
• Pest Control
• Shades of Mort’ton
• Fishing Trawler
• Great Orb Project
• Pyramid Plunder
• TzHaar Fight Pits
• Soul Wars

Mod Raven

In other news...

• In Morytania, as the moon waxes red, the gloom grows close and oppressive and whispers in the dark become harder to ignore. The men and women of Burgh de Rott dare not speak of the impending darkness, but the voices of innocents still ring clearly in that murky fenland town...
• Players who have unlocked wishes in the Livid Farm minigame have been refunded the produce points spent on them. Wishes are no longer accessible until the Borrowed Power spell has been purchased.
• Finally, we've made some changes to the way that the 'skulled' status is applied while in the Wilderness. More information can be found here.

Comment this update (17 comments)

Temple Trekking: Revamped

Rebel007 — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:53:51 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

17-Aug-2011 - Temple Trekking: Revamped

Protect travellers journeying through Mort Myre in our Temple Trekking revamp, with a range of new rewards, finer control over the route through the swamp and a new, diverse set of companions who grow in experience and skill as they travel.

The pilgrims are an eclectic bunch, including mad wizards, militia members and elderly men, and have bucked up their ideas following their previous trips through the swamps. As such, they will now be able to aid in fending off any enemies that decide to cut your trip short, instead of sitting back and making you do all the hard work! In turn, you can trade them food to help them survive the arduous journey through the murky morass.

Each time you help the locals embark on this perilous journey, you’ll be rewarded handsomely in resources and XP tomes. By continuously travelling with them, you will help them to level up, unlocking new skills and items to make subsequent journeys through the swamps that little bit more interesting. The mage Pazuzu, for example, will gain the ability to secure enemies in place with Bind, weaken their defences with Vulnerability and, eventually, to destroy them with Fire Wave and a Staff of Light.

Rather than selecting an easy or hard route for the trek as a whole, you will be taken to a hub after each encounter, where you will be able to continue down an easy, moderate or difficult route. Persistently escorting and developing a particular person will build their trust in you, and will allow them to foresee the dangers that lie down the branching paths ahead; great news if you’re low on food and need a safer route home, if you’re looking for a particular piece of gear, or if you just really hate vampyres.

The rewards have also been given an overhaul and a multitude of new items have been added, including a new outfit that everyone levelling Construction will find invaluable. On top of this, it is now much easier to obtain the full set of lumberjack clothes, which are a great help while levelling Woodcutting. These are just some of the great rewards up for grabs by the tenacious temple trekker.

How to start:

• Check the noticeboard in Burgh de Rott (requires In Aid of the Myreque).
• Check the noticeboard outside of Paterdomus (requires Legacy of Seergaze).

Mod Chris L

In other news...

Along with the revamp of the Temple Trekking minigame, Morytania and many of its inhabitants, from the supernatural to the slimy, have received some major graphical updates.

The trees around the major cities of Lumbridge, Falador and Varrock have been made taller and more detailed than ever before in the latest of our visual improvements.

Finally, familiars no longer need to be dismissed when entering the Grand Exchange. Instead, they will be hidden until you leave the area. The familiar’s timer will also pause while you’re in the area.

Comment this update (3 comments)

Behind the Scenes - August

Rebel007 — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 10:09:32 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

01-Aug-2011 - Behind the Scenes - August

August brings a wealth of updates to the sunny shores of RuneScape, although, for many characters involved in updates this month, sun is the last thing they want to see! Into the limelight comes a dramatic gameplay and graphical rework of Temple Trekking, plus Branches of Darkmeyer, the next bloodthirsty addition to the vampyre/ Myreque questline.

You can also expect your senses to be overloaded with graphical updates to the Grand Exchange and Edgeville, and audio improvements across the game. If that’s not enough, we’re adding exciting cosmetic and gameplay rewards to a variety of minigames, including a pet Jad and necromancer gear...

New Grand Exchange

Ever felt that the Grand Exchange was simply too crowded? We’ve been planning a change to the layout of the area for a while now and, this month, we will be releasing the new Grand Exchange building. The area itself will be split into four different booths rather than one central building, spreading the demand out and making the area a pleasure rather than a chore. The central area will become a place to meet, chat and even shout about the wares you’re trying to sell. We’ve also reworked the main entrance points to the area and added new trees (including the spirit tree) to support the environment.

Audio Updates

Everything sounding good so far? It will sound even better after a large update to magic and agility sounds, as well as the atmospherics found within RuneScape. We will be overhauling the majority of spell sound effects, including all elemental spells, spells from the normal spellbook and all Ancient Magick spells. You may also notice that our improved agility sounds will be based on real recordings of people traversing agility courses (we had fun doing that).

Included in this update is an atmospheric sound update, which continues to add immersion to the game world, particularly to areas such as Morytania swamp, dungeons, cellars, tropical zones, islands, jungles and wide swathes of Misthalin and Asgarnia.

Temple Trekking rework

Later this month, we will be completely changing the way that Temple Trekking works, while also adding some new rewards. You’ll quickly notice the biggest change: each of your Temple Trekking partners will level up and gain XP as you successfully navigate them about the swamps! So, while they may start out weak, your partners will become more and more efficient at defending themselves, until that moment when you turn around to find a lean, mean, abyssal-whip wielding machine fighting alongside you! That’s right: as your partner levels up, they will unlock rewards for both themselves and you. You might even find that they become an adventurer as fearsome as yourself...

The AI of your partner has been vastly improved, with your partner eating, trading, hunting foes and even skilling as if you had taken a real-life friend along for the trip. You might even be able to chat to them, to get a hint of what’s coming round the next corner. Each trek has been streamlined, with better interaction and two new trekkers to keep the variety high. After all that, you’ll be able to choose your rewards rather than be at the mercy of a random drop.

Branches of Darkmeyer

It is a dark time for the Myreque. Vanstrom has been tasked with wiping them off the face of RuneScape, and he is taking his job very, very seriously. Supply routes have been cut, innocents killed and some have even seen Vanstrom himself on the outskirts of Burgh de Rott.

There’s no more time to waste. An unexpected informant will lead you into the city of Darkmeyer, home to the vampyres, where you will hunt for the fabled Blisterwood Tree. Feared by the vampyres who have spent centuries trying to kill it, the immortal tree has plagued Drakan to such an extent that he has simply built a vault around it. Now is your time to access that vault, make weapons from the tree and take the fight to the vampyres, and more specifically Vanstrom.

Cast any fears you have to the winds as you explore the huge area of Darkmeyer, gaining enough status to be recognised as a vyrelord, and shedding vampire blood in our latest master quest. Come out alive, and you’ll get access to new vampire-beating equipment and an item that can teleport you across Morytania, including the Barrows.

Requirements for Branches of Darkmeyer:

• 76 Woodcutting
• 70 Fletching
• 70 Magic*
• 67 Slayer
• 64 Crafting
• 63 Farming
• 63 Agility
• Legacy of Seergaze
• Legends’ Quest

* This requirement was added on 5th August, after the release of the Behind the Scenes. This is a necessary addition, and we have made sure to check that over 99% of all players who have completed Legacy of Seergaze already have this requirement.

Edgeville Update:

Edgeville gets a well-deserved makeover from our Graphics team this month, adding new roofs, trees and ruins to this much-visited village. You’ll also notice new lighting schemes, props and a massive improvement to the general ’feel‘ of the place, just as we did earlier this year to Draynor Village.

Additional Rewards for Minigames

Finally this month, we will be releasing a wide range of updates to our minigames, giving new rewards to the most hardened of players. For some rewards, eager gamers will be able to earn points now, in preparation for buying them on release (marked below). For other rewards, you will not be able to put work into unlocking them until the update itself.

Here are a few of the objects you could start earning points for now:

• TzRek Jad, a pet that will require 99 Summoning, 99 Slayer, 100 zeal points AND you will have to hand over a fire cape. Obtained from Soul Wars.
• Master runecrafter robes. These will provide a boost to Runecrafting XP when worn. Obtained from the Great Orb Project. These robes will be for members only*.
• New Livid Farm spells, including new teleports, access to new patches and the ability to add specific non-lunar spells to the Lunar Spellbook.

* Addition to the BTS made on 8th August.

Below are a few rewards that you CANNOT work towards until they are released:

• Level 85 Hybrid Armour from a variety of minigames.
• Necromancer gear. These magical robes offer an increased prayer bonus for budding sinister sorcerers. Obtained via Shades of Mort'ton.
• Skull staves. A cosmetic reward obtained via Shades of Mort'ton
• Shadow wraps. Kharidian-themed thieving gear, providing a constant boost to Thieving XP. Obtained from Pyramid Plunder.

Now, how will I fit in a holiday with all of that going on?

Have Fun!

Mod Mark
Lead Designer – RuneScape

Comment this update (2 comments)

Clan Citadels are Here!

Rebel007 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:34:07 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

26-Jul-2011 - Clan Citadels are Here!

It’s typical: you wait ten years for a clan-owned environment to turn up, and hundreds of them arrive at once! Clan Citadels, floating castles in the sky, have drifted over the horizon for you and your clanmates to customise and own. Hold clan meetings, coordinate skirmishes with other clans, and gather together to collect resources for the upgrading and maintenance of your Clan Citadel!

Starting Out:

Gather your clan and head to Avalani in the portal area of the Clan Camp, south of Falador. She’ll be eager to start the creation ritual, connecting you and your clan to your very own Clan Citadel, decked out with your clan’s insignia and colours. You will need to be in a clan of 5 or more clanmates who are members to setup a Clan Citadel and your clan must contain 5 or more members for you to access your existing Citadel. Free players are not able to enter the Clan Citadels.

With the ritual complete, you can teleport to your citadel from the large portal in the Clan Camp. This will take you to the clan portal on your very own Clan Citadel, where you can begin your explorations and decide on which Citadel layout you want to have. This includes options for the sky, which will be viewable all around and below your Clan Citadel, and can be sunlit or starlit, according to your preferences. New players should talk to Avalani in the Citadel to get books and pointers to help with the setup process.

For more detailed information on the basics of the Clan Citadel, click here.

Building Your Citadel:

As you explore your chosen Clan Citadel layout, you will note a number of empty hotspots that can be filled with your choice of decoration or useful locations. To build on these hotspots, however, you and your clanmates will need to gather resources.

Gathering resources can be done at skill hotspots within the Citadel. Work as a clan at these hotspots and you will begin to generate the resources needed to construct more impressive things for your clan. You will also generate a small amount of skill XP as you do so, with hard workers unlocking the clan ring (see Rewards). There are no skill requirements, no gp costs and no item requirements to contribute to the resource pool for your clan.

Your Clan Citadel can be upgraded if your clan is particularly diligent at gaining resources, and is of a sufficient size. There are seven tiers of Clan Citadel to unlock and move up through, with each tier offering more space, more hotspots and more impressive elements to add about your Clan Citadel. Ignore the skill hotspots and neglect to gather resources, however, and your Clan Citadel will degrade and potentially even drop to a lower tier. This is because your Citadel requires a weekly resource upkeep; a small amount of effort for the use of the area.

For more information on collecting resources for your Clan Citadel, click here.

For more information on the upkeep costs of a Clan Citadel, click here.

Areas of the Citadel:

The first stop for many will be the Clan Battlefield. Each Clan Citadel gets one for free, and it can be accessed by speaking to the clan battlemaster – a character wandering about your citadel. The Battlefield is home to a RuneScape first: an editor that allows you to generate your own combat scenarios and minigames. Create and fine-tune a battlefield, and then invite other clans (or your clan members) to participate in scenarios limited only by what you can think of. Capture the Flag games, deathmatches, ball games, mazes and even combinations of these ideas are possible using the tool. We’re intrigued by what outlandish games you might create!

For more information on the Clan Battlefield, click here.

Elsewhere, the Keep is the centrepiece of your Clan Citadel. This large battlement houses your senate, meeting rooms and party room. The senate is destined to be where larger meetings are held, with a podium for a speaker and seats for an audience; the meeting rooms can host smaller meetings that are set to public or, from tier 2 onwards, private; and the party room, accessible from tier 3 onwards, can play host to balloon drops or all-night parties.

You might want to make a stop at the clan noticeboard, found at the entrance of the Clan Citadel, which allows you to communicate your goals and ethos to your clanmates. It is also worth noting that making your way around the Clan Citadel is made easier by a nifty addition: opening your citadel’s map and clicking on an area marked with a ‘T’ will teleport you to that location.

For more information on the Keep, click here.

For more information on the noticeboard, click here.

Accessing the Citadel:

A clan ranking and permissions system is used to determine who can make changes to Clan Citadels. Permissions can be given for the construction and customisation of hotspots, and also downgrading areas. Clanmates may change permissions for anyone who is ranked below them in the clan.

New members of the clan must pass a probationary period of one week before they can contribute to resource gathering or the clan’s size. The founders of a Clan Citadel (those who took part in the creation ritual) and those who join in the week following Clan Citadel’s release are exempt from this probationary period. A Clan Citadel must be owned by 5 clanmates or more, otherwise the Citadel becomes inaccessible after the next build tick until such a time that the clan regains those 5 clanmates.

RuneScape subscribers who are not in your clan can still visit your Clan Citadel, although they may be restricted to certain areas. Similarly, you can visit other Clan Citadels for diplomatic purposes – if they permit non-clanmates to visit – or even just to get a glimpse of what other Clan Citadels look like. To set visiting preferences for your Clan Citadel, access your Clan Settings interface.

For more information on the Clan Settings interface, click here.

For more information on signposts, click here.

Rewards:

There are few bigger rewards than having a huge citadel for you and your clans to call your own. There are, however, some perks that are worth mentioning. The clan ring is an accessory that’s unlocked by contributing enough resources to the clan resource pool in a given week. Charge the clan ring on a skill hotspot to align it with that skill. When you perform that skill on the surface of RuneScape, you will receive a 1.5x multiplier to any XP gained. The amount of total bonus XP is dependent on your level and the tier of the skill hotspot.

For more information on the clan ring, click here.

For those clans who are diligent and proud enough to level their Citadel all the way up to tier 7, we are delighted to offer the clan dragon! Visitors will be more than a little impressed by your choice of mascot. Watch their faces as the dragon flies from its perch and takes a quick tour of your Citadel...

For more information on clan dragons, click here.

Clan Development Team

Summary:

How to get a Clan Citadel:

5 or more clanmates with membership must meet at the Clan Camp south of Falador, and talk to Avalani to start the creation ritual.

Requirements to get Clan Citadel:

You must be a member to create a Clan Citadel.
You must be in a clan with 5+ clanmates with membership.

In other news...

Your clan homepage has also been updated to reflect the level of your Clan Citadel.

Comment this update (8 comments)

Herald Capes and Clan Capes

Rebel007 — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:20:41 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

26-Jul-2011 - Herald Capes and Clan Capes

Herald Capes:

Free players and members can now obtain a herald cape from the heralds of Falador, Lumbridge and Varrock. These snazzy garments are not only completely free, but have a huge range of customisation options that will make your cape unique to you.

The number of customisation options is determined by how many tasks and quests you’ve done in the area. If you want to unlock five customisation tiers for the Lumbridge herald cape, you’ll need to complete most of the tasks for Lumbridge and a few low-level quests that are in the area. Even if you do not have all tiers unlocked, you’ll still have options to change the many colours of your cape and the tier pattern of its background; however, only the best players have access to the stylish range of cape crests.

Choose a city to show your allegiance; wear a cape in its related city and you may find that you’re greeted with more enthusiasm than before!

The herald of Falador can be found outside the Artisan’s Workshop, the herald of Lumbridge outside the general store, and the herald of Varrock near the east bank.

Clan Capes:

Clans with four clanmates or fewer will find that they cannot wear a clan cape from today onwards.

When designing the clan capes, we intended them to be a nifty and customizable way to show off your clan colours and insignia. That design also contained a problem: five players are required to create a clan, but we didn’t prevent anyone from leaving one, so a clan could quickly shrink to a single player.

By doing what we think is right for clans – restricting the use of the clan cape to groups of 5 or above - we would be taking away something very cool that any player, solo or clan-oriented, would want. It was our mistake to give solo players access to the clan cape in the first place, so it seems harsh to taunt solo players with a customisable cape, only to take it away with no replacement.

So, we've decided to offer all our players, free or members, unrestricted access to a customisable herald cape, while also reverting the clan cape to its original intention, restricting its use to clans of 5 or more clanmates. You will now find that if your clan is too small, your cape and vexillum will display the default motif and colours. We also prevent you from putting a clan cape on. You will still be able to use the vexillum to recruit, and if you recruit back up to the minimum clan size of five, everything will come back: your designs and colours will be displayed for all to see.

If you are a player who enjoyed the clan cape, but are not a member of a clan, we hope you enjoy the herald cape just as much, or maybe feel motivated to recruit a few extra friends on the way to creating a fully fledged clan.

Mod Chihiro & Mod Giragast

In other news...

While many wily sleuths will already have cracked this year’s Cryptic Clue Fest, remember that the content is still available for a limited time. There’s still time to earn your rewards!

Comment this update (0 comments)

Members Loyalty Program

Hitman — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:48:27 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

28-Jun-2011-Members Loyalty Program- Now Available!

Once you sign up to the program, you will be awarded Loyalty Points for every month that you subscribe. There are some great discounts available for a limited time after the program’s release, so sign up now to get your hands on some new items immediately!

Please click here to sign up or visit the RuneScape homepage, hover your mouse pointer over "Account" and select "Members Loyalty Program" from the drop-down menu.

The number of points received per month will increase, depending on how many consecutive months of membership you have had without a break. Further details of how this will work can be found in the Loyalty Program FAQ.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the high number of people trying to join the program at the moment you may experience problems when trying to sign-up. If this happens to you please be patient and try again later, it is caused by the sheer volume of registrations taking place at the same time. We would also like to reassure you that the discounted items are going to continue to be available for the time being.

The points can be exchanged with the intrepid merchant Xuan, who has set up shop at Burthorpe to sell his fine wares.

The first of the new rewards are the auras, which can be equipped in an all-new equipment slot to provide a variety of effects: some are powerful; some are practical; some are simply preposterous. Ever had a fierce beast backed into a corner and wanted to guarantee that elusive killing blow? How about ensuring sure footing on agility obstacles? Perhaps you’ve always wanted to be able to turn your cannonballs into squid and unleash a cephalopod onslaught from your dwarf cannon. All of these, and more, can be achieved by equipping the necessary aura. The cooldown periods of these auras continue to elapse while you’re logged out, so you can rely on your favorite aura being available at the most opportune time. They look pretty cool, too!

Other rewards include new costumes; a range of exotic outfits brought to you from faraway lands. There are new emotes to be learned: everything from a robust, hearty handshake to scorching, flaming breath. Members will also be able to purchase the option to re-color their Robin Hood hat and pet rock in a variety of hues. Finally, an entirely new option to purchase in-game titles will be available. These appear in chat and when your character is clicked on in-game. Whether you’re a Crusader, an Overlord or even a Duderino, there’s a title for every situation.

These new items are untradeable, but should you lose any item previously acquired from Xuan’s store, you can obtain a replacement by simply speaking to its resourceful proprietor.

For full details on how to start enjoying the Loyalty Program, visit the Loyalty Program Page right away!

Remember: for a limited time following the release, the following discounts will be available. Sign up right away to take full advantage of these!

Auras:

All auras, with the exception of Jack of Trades, are 400 LP.

Emotes:

Catfight – 100 LP
Talk to the hand – 400 LP
Shake hands – 400 LP
High five - 400 LP

Costumes:

Dervish – 100 LP
Eastern – 400 LP
Saxon – 400 LP
Samba - 400 LP

Re-coloring:

Pet rock – 100 LP
Robin Hood hat – 400 LP

Titles:

Sir/Dame – 100 LP
Lord/Lady – 400 LP
Duderino/Dudette – 400 LP
Lionheart - 400 LP

Mod Nancy & Mod Chris L

Comment this update (10 comments)

Deadliest Catch

Rebel007 — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:49:21 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

06-Jun-2011 - Deadliest Catch

Having spent his whole life fishing, Jones the fisherman has decided to retire in style. He believes that there’s a fortune to be had by hunting the dreaded Thalassus: a sea monster that’s rumoured to be thousands of years old and as big as a village. That’s what the stories say anyway, as no survivors have returned to tell tales of it, but you can be sure of one thing: you want to be far, far away from it when it surfaces.

If Jones is to stand a chance of landing this deadly beast, he needs your help. A rower, harpoon and map are needed before you can head out to hunt (those who suffer from sea-sickness, beware). Then there’s the small problem of finding the beast; while Thalassus is big, the oceans are bigger, and hunting it is like finding a giant, hungry needle in a humungous haystack.

You might come across treasure in the shipwrecks out to sea, and there’s a healthy haul of XP to salvage from this master quest. That’s not all, as additional hunting opportunities are on offer to eager sailors.

At the end of the day, a hunter or their quarry will be on the menu. So, who will be the Deadliest Catch: Jones or the Thalassus?

Mod Tim
RuneScape Content Developer

Summary:

Where to start Deadliest Catch:

Talk to Jones next to the Fishing Guild bank. He’s the one with the large fishing rod.

Requirements to start Deadliest Catch:

70 Fishing
67 Hunter
60 Thieving
Tower of Life
Druidic Ritual

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news...

As those who voted in the ‘What’s My Name?’ Guaranteed Content Poll will have already noted, the winning sea monster name of ‘Thalassus’ has made it in game and the creature is munching on players as we speak! Thank you to all of those who voted and got the name into RuneScape.

We are ending support for older versions of Java (versions older than Sun Java 1.6.0_10) in a couple of weeks time. So that we do not catch players unaware, we have created a warning screen for those players who will be affected, which will pop up when you initially load the RuneScape applet, offering links to help you upgrade. With newer versions of Java, we are able to use more advanced features that should give you a better experience. For example, we are able to set the applet to use slightly more memory, so that the game runs more quickly. If we make sure that everyone is using a newer version, we can work to make the game better for everyone without the need to support less advanced Java versions.

Comment this update (4 comments)

Fremennik Sagas

Rebel007 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:22:23 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

01-Jun-2011 - Fremennik Sagas

The immortal storyteller, Skaldrun, has been trapped in the frozen floors of Daemonheim for centuries. Players who free him from this chilly prison will gain the opportunity to literally step into the shoes of the protagonists of his Fremennik Sagas, and take on their unique abilities while living out their tales. Skaldrun has three such sagas he’s currently willing to share with you...

The first of these sagas is Three’s Company, which marks the first in-game appearance of stoic Temple Knight Sir Owen, seer-sorceress Ariane, and the ever-charming, remarkably skilled and implausibly handsome Ozan (at least that’s how he’d put it). Take control of all three characters as they make their way through the frozen floors to track down a dangerous criminal intent on harnessing the secrets of summoning for his own nefarious ends. This saga is completely available to free-players and members alike.

In Vengeance, follow the dark tale of a sole-surviving forgotten warrior as she descends further into madness, despair and fury, all the while seeking retribution for the death of her brothers-in-arms at the hands of a party of adventurers. Players will need to work quickly, as she is constantly fighting the poison in her system, as well as resisting (or succumbing to) her madness.

Finally, Thok it to ‘Em gives players some incredibly large boots to fill, as they take on the role of Dungeoneering’s very own skill master: the mighty Thok! Smash, force and headbutt your way through Daemonheim in search of your injured brother, Marmaros, using Thok’s unmatched strength. As well as solving puzzles ‘the Thok way’, you’ll also have to do battle with several of Dungeoneering’s bosses.

All of these sagas come in both abridged and unabridged versions. The abridged sagas offer reduced story and rewards, but can be played by anyone who’s found that saga’s ‘memory fragment’ within Daemonheim. The unabridged sagas offer greater rewards and the complete story, but require certain other skill levels to become accessible. In terms of rewards, abridged sagas offer Dungeoneering XP and tokens, while unabridged versions give rewards of XP in the skills required to access the saga (so long as the sagas are completed to 100%, with all secondary objectives found!). All sagas are repeatable, though their rewards can only be claimed once.

Mod Raven
RuneScape Content Developer

Summary:

Where to start Fremennik Sagas:

Free Skaldrun from one of Daemonheim’s frozen floors (you must have a Dungeoneering level of 6 and be playing on complexity 2+), then speak to him on the surface (near Marmaros and Thok).

Requirements to start each Fremennik Saga:

Three’s Company (free-to-play):
Find the bearskin on floors 1-11
11 Dungeoneering (abridged)
As above + 30 Attack, Magic and Ranged (unabridged)

Vengeance! (members):
Find the collection of swords on floors 12-21
23 Dungeoneering (abridged)
As above + 55 Agility and Thieving (unabridged)

Thok it to ‘Em (members):
Find the scribbled notes on floors 30-40
59 Dungeoneering (abridged)
As above + 70 Strength (unabridged)

In other news...

The sky lighting effect that appeared in Port Sarim last week has spread over the rest of the free lands. Take a stroll from Lumbridge to Draynor, then pop over to the Wizards' Tower or Grand Exchange to see the new effects.

Comment this update (2 comments)

Behind the Scenes - June

Rebel007 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:16:23 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

01-Jun-2011 - Behind the Scenes - June

Eager to try out a new item slot? Forget rings, quivers or shoe slots: if you’re fashionable you’ll want an aura slot! Before the release of these buffing items, there’ll be two other updates in which you’ll have to overcome some imposing obstacles: a sea monster in our newest master quest, and a troll invasion in a new distraction and diversion.

Deadliest Catch (members)

This month’s master quest will ring bells for anyone interested in the guaranteed content polls. As named by you, the sea monster Thalassus has been terrorising the cold and inhospitable oceans to the north. No one has survived to sketch a picture of this hulking beast, but the inns are full of rumours: Thalassus is the size of the Wizards’ Tower, they say; sailors are eaten and digested while still alive in its belly.

Fisherman Jones wants to end the scare stories by landing the beast (gaining a little glory in the process). To join him, you’ll need a Fishing level of 70, a Hunter level of 67 and a Thieving level of 60, and there’s wieldable fishing nets on offer, and a range of bank deposit boxes to unlock if you do. The quest also offers you the opportunity to embark ten more times for additional Hunter XP, should you prove to be an enviable harpooner.

Troll Invasion (members)

Forget forum trolls: if you want a real nuisance, you can’t beat the real thing! Trolls are swarming down the hills of Burthorpe and are threatening to lay waste to any imperial guard that gets in their way. Who can stop them? Well, you, of course, but in two very different ways. This month’s single-player distraction and diversion allows you to choose between taking the trolls on in straight combat, or tending the defences that hold them back. Better still, there are no requirements to do so.

Take to the battlefield and you will face 20 waves of increasingly belligerent trolls, from the common mountain troll to the summoning troll, dynamite troll and Cliff, who – you’ve probably guessed – ate an entire cliff face for his first meal. If that proves too easy, there’s a more intense 7 wave version to conquer, which has an increased difficulty level.

For the skill-focussed among you, there is the option of keeping the gatehouse maintained instead. Tend to the ballista, top up the oil vats and repair broken barricades to keep the trolls from being successful. Your actions will increase the morale of the troops, who will fight back with increased vigour. Hold out for 10 minutes (the time it takes for a troll to get hungry for Burntmeat’s cooking) and the victory is yours. You will gain an XP tome for your first defence each month, and smaller XP rewards for any defence you complete after that.

Loyalty Rewards (members)

Last but not least, this month sees a huge selection of exciting rewards that you’ll be able to access through the Members Loyalty Program. Earn Loyalty Points to unlock a fantastic range of items, from custom titles to unique emotes, exclusive new costumes and amazing auras in a new player worn slot.

Don’t forget to register within the first two weeks of launch to take advantage of our introductory offers on the fantastic selection of rewards!

Have Fun!
Mod Mark
RuneScape Lead Designer

Comment this update (4 comments)

RuneScape's Most Exclusive Giveaway Ever!

Dave — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:17:03 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

30-May-2011 - RuneScape's Most Exclusive Giveaway Ever!

RuneScape has exploded onto the social networking scene over the last few years, now with prominent pages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and half a million people following us across all platforms. To acknowledge this and to celebrate our new Facebook login capability, we are running a week dedicated to celebrating our social networking communities. The week will play host to one of our most exclusive competition EVER, with the prizes on offer making up the largest collection of goodies we have ever given away!

To enter this amazing competition all you need to is ‘like’ us on Facebook, then follow the quick and easy on screen instructions to enter our prize draw for a chance to win these amazing prizes:

The 3 top prize winners will all receive 1 set of the following:

Exclusive signed and framed canvas print of concept art from the game
A signed copy of both of the T.S. Church RuneScape books
A signed mouse mat from the J Mods themselves
The biggest bundle of RuneScape goodies we have ever given away including t-shirts, hoodies, laptop and phone skins, hats and much more

If this wasn’t enough there are also 10 runners up who will also receive a signed mouse mat and a free T-Shirt! For more details on the competition visit the dedicated forum thread here.

We have lots more planned for the rest of the week including; A Jmod takeover voted for by you, rapid response sessions on Facebook with the Community Management Team as well as a very challenging mystery to solve with daily clues. So if you haven’t checked out RuneScape on our social networks before – now is the time to do so!

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

RuneScape Social Networking Team

Comment this update (4 comments)

Death Hats, Draynor and Upgrades

Rebel007 — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:34:29 -0500

This news was taken directly from runescape.com.

25-May-2011 - Death Hats, Draynor and Upgrades

This week's various updates include the wildstalker helmet and duellist's cap 'death hats', which track your Wilderness kills and Duel Arena victories, a graphical improvement for Draynor Village and Manor, plus a variety of small tweaks taken from player suggestions on the forums.

Death Hats

Laying down the smack in the Wilderness and defeating opponents in duels is all about the prestige (and money), right? So it's only natural to want to show off and demonstrate your ability to others. Well, free-players and members who wish to do so can visit Estocada at the Duel Arena to pick up a duellist's cap, and Mr Ex in Edgeville to receive a wildstalker helmet.

While snazzy looking in their own right, these hats will keep track of your skilful victories and unlucky defeats, but only while you are on a members' world. As your body count rises, your hats will morph into ever more impressive states, as will your ability to brag about your accomplishments with the emote each hat bears (after their first morphing).

While this does mean that you can only increase your stats and morph your hat while a member, lapsed members will still be able to wear their hats on free worlds, in whatever state and with whatever stats they had accrued as a member. Once you've got some victories under them, both hats also allow you to transform into a commemorative statue of yourself, which others may read for a summary of your endeavours, including (should you wish) your kill/death ratio and your all time most valuable kill in the Wilderness.

Good hunting.

Mod Moltare
RuneScape Content Developer

Draynor Graphical Improvement

The already quite spooky Draynor Village and Manor have become even spookier with today's graphical improvement. The market has been given a more bazaar makeover, the buildings are more fittingly sombre, a murder of crows has flocked to the tiny village and the whole area is now shrouded in darkness and fog. Why not drink in the sights next time you pay a visit to Diango or the Wise Old Man? Just not literally – that fog is a real pea-souper, and who knows what it consists of...

RuneScape Graphics

Upgrades

We’ve compiled a list of tweaks to existing content, taken entirely from player suggestions on the forums. The changes are as follows:

•We've added a toggle option to the Summoning pouch/scroll creation interface, so you can view either all possible pouches/scrolls that can be made or only those you're currently carrying the tertiary component for. This should make things easier for those who already know what pouches/scrolls they are planning to make. The option you choose will persist between logins.
•The following in-game messages are now filtered out by the 'Game chat' filter:
"Note: anything your familiar is carrying...will be placed on the floor."
"You have reached the maximum number of hanky points..." – Thieves’ Guild
"You can't deposit more than 12,000 coins..." – Mage Training Arena (Alchemists’ Playground)
•We’ve added a 'Make-All' option to opening coconuts with a hammer and filling vials with coconut milk, as well as for adding feathers to bolts. There’s also a 'Plant-X' option for putting seeds of the same type into plant pots, and you can automatically water as many plant pots as your can is able to.
•The following bosses and monsters can now be attacked with a left-click: all God Wars bosses, Dagannoth Kings, King Black Dragon, Kalphite Queen, Bork, Skeletal Horror, tormented demons, dark beasts, iron/steel/mithril dragons, strykewyrms and mutated bloodvelds.
•The archaeological expert at the Digsite now has a right-click option, which turns all held 'unidentified liquid' into vials of nitroglycerin, so you no longer have to convert them one at a time through chat.
•A fast reset wave option has been added to the Barbarian Assault commander, and you’ll get the option to reset when trying to enter wave 1 if your current wave is higher.
•Lokar Searunner no longer mentions needing a seal of passage if you've completed the Elite Fremennik Tasks and spoken to Chieftain Brundt about not needing one.
•Bob Barter at the Grand Exchange is now able to decant 4-dose potions into 2- or 3-dose potions, which is useful for those mixing barbarian and/or extreme potions.
•Crystal bows and shields can now be recharged to full regardless of their current charge, so you don't have to use them until they revert to seed form.
•The gnome glider/boat route from the Tree Gnome Stronghold to Ape Atoll (Daero > Waydar > Lumdo) now has right-click options for speedier travel.
•Notifications in the chat window related to the Grand Exchange and bird’s nest drops have been made more noticeable.
•Nulodion has an extra op to help you retrieve your multicannon faster after it decays.
•A fast payment option has been added to the furnace door in Shilo Village.

The RuneScape Team

In other news...

We've changed the golden mining outfit from last week's Lava Flow Mine release, for players who own both the complete outfit AND any version of the Varrock armour reward from Varrock Tasks. The change means that these players can wear either platebody while mining, and receive both the 2.5% boost to earned Mining XP (so long as they're wearing the other four parts of the golden mining outfit) as well as having the chance of receiving extra ores (up to whatever ore your Varrock armour would normally allow).

Below the 'Play Now' button on the homepage is a new 'Log in with Facebook' button, which you can use to log into the RuneScape game. (You can also access our site features, such as the forums, through a similar button on the website login page.) Normally, this will log you straight in, but the first time you use this button you’ll need to log into your Facebook account (which installs a RuneScape app on your Facebook account; you will need to grant permission for this), and associate it with a Jagex account of your choice (optional). You can toggle this account association on or off in RuneScape Account Management. The RuneScape app can also be removed to revoke the permissions you granted, through the Facebook site under 'Privacy Settings', should you ever wish to do so. If you are using a shared computer, we also highly recommend you check that you are logged out of Facebook too after leaving the game. For more information, check out the Facebook Connect - FAQ forum thread.

Comment this update (6 comments)