Group Ironman Blog
Play and compete on teams of 2 to 5 players and forge your team of Ironmen to become legends in Old School's new & innovative game mode.
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[h2]Group Ironman: Design Overview[/h2]
Are you ready to band together and become the stuff of legend? This is your chance to build and grow a team of Ironmen that is greater than the sum of its parts and battle for top spot on the leaderboard. It's a whole new way to play Old School RuneScape!
As launch day approaches, it’s time to dive into the who, what and why of this innovative new mode. Whether you’re an Iron novice or an experienced Ultimate, this is everything you need to know about the newest addition to the Iron family! Let’s take a look…
What?
Group Ironman is a new way for the toughest ‘Scapers to explore Gielinor. Enjoyed Ironman? Hardcore Ironman? Ultimate Ironman? Well now it’s time to bring together your most trusted companions to take on the challenge together.
If you’ve never played Ironman before, here’s a quick summary: imagine Old School RuneScape with no trade, where you have to earn every item yourself. It’s about earning everything with blood, sweat and tears, through gathering, crafting and fighting. Needless to say, it’s a real challenge – and one you would normally have to face alone.
Group Ironman is a little different. Groups of two to five players can join together and take on Gielinor’s nastiest beasts. They can also trade their resources among one another, delve into new Shared Storage, and visit each other’s Player Owned Houses. Groups will even be able to compete for leaderboard positions and prove that their gang is the greatest supergroup of Old School RuneScape. It’s Ironman with a little help from your friends – pushing you to your limits while allowing you to share in the glory with your mates!
Why?
Ironman Mode has been a big success for Old School RuneScape, and we’re always looking for ways to build on popular content. We’re also keen to bring in new adventurers and encourage our current player base to explore the game in new ways.
Group Ironman has been requested by players for a long time. It was promised at RuneFest 2019, and interest hasn’t abated since. Plus, with the events of the past year and a half, there’s more appetite than ever for shared experiences in Old School RuneScape. Group Ironman is another way for us to bring people together and encourage cooperation and community-building in Gielinor.
We know it’s going to be a lot of fun and we can’t wait to see you forming your groups and battling together to break new records!
How?
Keen to hear more about how we're making Group Ironman? Well, that’s lucky because we’ve got plenty:
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[h2]General Rules[/h2]
Group Identity
A Group Ironman (GIM) group is made up of two to five players. All normal Iron restrictions apply to them when interacting with the world outside their group: in contrast, interactions within the group are more like regular Old School RuneScape.
Group Ironman players have a unique icon next to their name to distinguish them from other Iron players and regular ‘Scapers. Their outfit also shows off their GIM status.
GIM will get to show other players which group size they're playing with a unique armour set. Roman numerals on their chestplates indicate the size of their group (i.e, II-V).
Players jumping for joy at their awesome new armour!
Combat
In Combat, GIM are pretty much like regular Ironmen to outsiders. This means that if someone outside the group hits an NPC, the drop would either go to the person outside the group or disappear, just like it would with a regular Iron. However, if only group members have been hitting the NPC, the drop would go to the group member who dealt the most damage.
Group content
GIM players can tackle all the group content that regular Irons can. For example, they can kill the Nightmare with other players, and they can team up with other account types outside their group when playing Theatre of Blood, The Chambers of Xeric and Nightmare.
In Chambers of Xeric, GIM will be just like playing Iron, where items would drop to the floor for anyone to take (provided they got the kill credit).
A group of players fighting the Muttadile in CoX
Trading
It goes without saying that GIM can't trade with people outside their group. They can only trade regularly within the group, and some trade restrictions do still apply to new members joining the group (see the gradual wealth transfer system).
GIM can only do this with fellow group members.
De-Ironing
A player must leave their group before they can de-Iron. (See leaving a group.)
Highscores
One of the major draws for GIM is group HiScores: this is your chance to prove your group is the best of the best! There are HiScores for each group size too. This is because a five-player group would have a much easier time than a two-player group, so listing them separately is fairer. HiScores are listed under the group’s name.
Ranks are determined by combined total skill level for your team first, then by combined total experience. Additionally, only XP gained while in the group count towards the group's total level. This means that players leaving a group and joining a new one won't be able to transfer their experience over to the new group.
Player Owned Houses
Currently, your regular Iron accounts can have a Player Owned House of their own, but can’t enter other Player Owned Houses or invite anyone into theirs. GIM is a little different – players can access each other’s houses. Additionally, Ironmen will now be able to let other players into their own house too, although they still can’t enter other players’ houses.
Players partying hard in a Player Owned House
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[h2]Recruitment[/h2]
You can form a group of between two and five players. One player will be the leader of the group. You’ll establish your group before you arrive at the mainland – you will need to find players to join your gang on the Node, a recruitment hub off the coast of Tutorial Island, before leaving (see below for more details). You will be able to pick a group name, but please note these share a name space with Clans – so you can’t use a name for your group that already belongs to an existing Clan.
Once your group is formed, you are free to recruit new players as you progress, should you wish.
The Node
This is a new island off the coast of Tutorial Island. It’s a place to learn the core elements of Group Ironman and form groups!
Tutorial Island with The Node