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DT2 Feedback Tweaks | August 3rd

[h2]Changelog - August 3rd[/h2]

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Desert Treasure II
  • Adjustments have been made to the post-quest Desert Treasure II boss drop tables. More information on this is given later in the post.
  • A chest has been added to Kasonde's hideout in the Stranglewood. Stink bombs can be taken from it. When set off, a stink bomb will attract the nearest Strangled to the coordinate it was set off on.
  • New bits of scenery have been added to Lassar and the Stranglewood that when interacted with, provide a stamina boost.
  • Improved pathing to Salt deposits within Duke Sucellus's room. You should now be able to click from the upper floor to a deposit with ease!
  • Vents within Duke Sucellus's room will now correctly despawn when the encounter ends.
  • Resolved an issue that could prevent the Duke Sucellus encounter from starting.
  • Female Sanguine Torva has the correct assets.
  • Both body type versions of Sanguine Torva now have the correct inventory models & chatheads.
  • Torva has been replaced with reworked version that was shared in the Poll 80 newspost.
  • Players are no longer able to feed Abyssal leeches items with a "destroy'' option.
  • The leeches in the Persten wight fight will now always target the player.
  • Ketla and her clones were not doing the right amount of damage, this has been changed so they are closer to what we had intended.
  • The Amulet of the Eye will no longer be lost on death.
  • The bandit in the Ancient Vault will now sell you multiple rings. In addition, the ring now has a charge option to make charging easier. This option also tells you which runes are needed if you don't have the right ones.
  • Some puzzles within the Ghorrock Prison have been improved to make the solution clearer.
  • The gates in Ghorrock Prison are now clearly named to show what gem their lock is.
  • Damage should no longer carry over to Kasonde once the fight has ended.
  • Various minor balancing changes have been made to the quest versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses (the difficulty of these bosses should remain very close to how they were last week). Their respective combat levels have also been increased to better reflect their difficulty.
  • Some temple walls within the Stranglewood can no longer be walked through.
  • Awakener's orbs have been added to the Collection Log. As the orbs are tradeable, any gained before this update will not appear.
  • Boss slayer tasks for the four new bosses could be given before completing DT2. This is now fixed.
  • Slayer tasks no longer apply to the Awakened versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses.
  • Vardorvis has had some clickbox improvements.
  • It is no longer possible to safespot the Mysterious Stranger.
  • Wearing the Ring of Shadows will correctly show the hidden ghosts inside the Sepulchre.
  • Some scenic Braziers within the throne room of the Lassar Undercity have been removed.
  • Progress while in a Scar maze will now save, so if you need to leave and return, you don't need to redo already completed challenges.
  • Boss information has now been added to the Combat Achievements interface, alongside Monster Examine being enabled.
Hotfixes Now Cold
  • Issues with stairs in the Lassar area have been resolved.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented pillars from being destroyed during The Whisperer encounter.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Soulreaper axe to hit higher than intended.
  • A bug has been resolved that means the Leviathan is less likely to use Melee to prevent players from bypassing all mechanics of the encounter.
  • Leviathan, if enraged during the spin lightning special attack, would carry on doing it. It should stop.

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[h2]Desert Treasure II - Week One Tweaks[/h2]

Since last week's release, tens of thousands of you have taken it upon yourselves to undergo the epic adventure that is Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire.

Before we get into talking about what we're changing, what we're likely to change in future and what we're still waiting for info on, we'd like to take another moment to say thank you to each and every one of you. The response to Desert Treasure II and everything that's come with it has been overwhelming and we're beyond grateful for all of the kind words you've shared with us.

With all that said, we'd like to make a handful of changes this week to improve players' experiences with the quest itself, as well as cementing some of the hotfixes we've implemented since the quest's release. You might not see as many changes as you anticipate this week, since our focus is on quest improvements and bugfixes first and foremost. The remaining feedback changes will be coming in next week's game update, so you won't have too long to wait!

Ring of Shadows

Let's kick things off with something we know you'll appreciate! Have you ever fallen afoul of multiple axes simultaneously while fighting Vardorvis, prepared yourself for the walk of shame to re-gear, and only then realised that your Ring of shadows is stuck in your gravestone and you'll have to run from half the world away? Us neither, but it's happened to a friend of ours...

Today, you'll be able to Trade with the Mysterious bandit in the Ancient vault to purchase multiple Rings of shadows, for a mere 75,000 coins. Perhaps now you'll be able to leave the Witch's plant pots alone, she worked hard on those and your grubby hands are starting to disturb the soil.

Stamina-Boosts

All of the areas added alongside Desert Treasure II are pretty hefty, and will absolutely put your cardiovascular systems through their paces. While Stamina potions do exist, some players pointed out that it felt unusual to be provided with stamina-restoring items in Ghorrock prison and the Scar, but not in either of the remaining areas.

Anybody starting (or continuing) the quest this week should keep an eye out for shrines in the Stranglewood and rejuvenation pools around Lassar, which we've added to help you keep topped up while navigating these sections of the quest.





Ghorrock Prison

Many of you seem to have really enjoyed your prison break from this icy hellhole, while others have found yourself broken instead. Two puzzles in particular stand out as perhaps a little unclear for some of you, so we've updated a handful of the notes throughout this section of the quest in the hopes that the correct solutions feel more intuitive to any budding escape artists!

Additionally, we received reports that some of the locked gates throughout the prison were difficult to discern for players with various forms of colourblindness, so we've renamed the gates to reflect their associated gem key.



The Strangled

For those of you struggling to navigate your way through the Stranglewood (you're definitely just spam clicking the minimap, aren't you?), we've got a stinky addition to help you sneak past the hungry Stranglers.

A chest has been added to Kasonde's hideout in the Stranglewood. Within this chest you'll find some Stink bombs that can be taken from it. When set off, a Stink bomb will attract the nearest Strangled to the coordinate it was set off on, keeping them far enough away from you to make your great escape. Nice.

Awakened Boss World Firsts

It's been exhilarating watching you all take on the awakened forms of the Desert Treasure II bosses. For those of you who missed it, here are the first ten completions we saw since they were released on Friday, 28th July.



Good luck to all of you still chasing for the infamous Blood Torva!

Whilst we're on the topic of Blood Torva, we accidentally included the old models with last week's game update. This week, we've added the refined versions following your feedback. Check out the blood dripping look below!



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[h2]Desert Treasure II - Drop Rates[/h2]

Let's take a step back from the enigmatic and thrilling battles of Desert Treasure II, it's time to turn our attention to a burning issue that has been the talk of Gielinor - the hotly-debated drop rates. We've seen the speculation, and your fervour hasn't fallen on deaf ears.

In response, we're pulling back the curtain on the drop tables. It's time to dispel the rumours, clarify the odds, and equip you, our intrepid adventurers, with the knowledge you need to brave the challenges of this exciting new update.

Rates to hit the unique table before today's update:
  • Vardorvis - 1/180
  • Duke - 1/108
  • Leviathan - 1/120
  • Whisperer - 1/77
Note: the Awakened variants of these bosses have 3x the chance to hit the unique table.


Weightings:
  • Virtus 1/8
    • A separate 1/3 roll then determines which piece is awarded
  • Vestige roll 3/8
    • Rolling this will increment a variable by one, the third time this is hit, drop the vestige and reset the variable
  • Chromium Ingot 3/8
  • Axe Piece 1/8
Untradeable Unique rates

These drops get more common with your KC until you get it for the first time, then they are flat rate as per the below:
  • Teleport tablets - 1/25
  • Ancient Elemental Quartz - 1/200
Awakener's Orb rates:
  • Vardorvis - 1/80
  • Duke - 1/48
  • Leviathan - 1/53
  • Whisperer - 1/34
Clue rates
  • Equal chance to roll for any Easy/Medium/Hard/Elite clue
  • Trate is 1/40 for a specific clue mentioned above
Pet rates
  • Vardorvis - 1/3000
  • Duke - 1/2500
  • Leviathan - 1/2500
  • Whisperer - 1/2000
Drop table order
  • Roll for tradeable unique
    • If not, roll for Awakener's orb
      • If not, roll for untradeable uniques
        • If not, roll 1/5 for supply drop
          • If not, roll for resource drop
  • Additionally roll for clues & pets


Let's take a moment to dive into the drop rates for the Virtus set that's been catching everyone's eye. Finding that sweet spot between Ahrim's and Ancestral's price has been key, so the rarity of Virtus had to be dialed in just right. We made the decision to include Virtus as drops for all four separate bosses, encouraging you to grind all of them for their unique drops. You still have the option to focus on one boss if that's your thing, but we wanted to make sure that if you were going for each of the respective rings, you'd eventually get Virtus passively along the way

We did toy with the idea of having just one boss drop the whole Virtus set at a more common rate, which could have made target farming the set much easier. Implementing it this way could also prevent a potential crash in the set's value, as it wouldn't be coming into the game as quickly as it will when all four bosses are being farmed simultaneously by those hunting for their Vestige. Ultimately it all boils down to a delicate balance of rarity, demand, and the effort required to obtain them. We feel like the current implementation is the best option for the long-term grind, but understand why some of you may feel frustrated if you're exclusively seeking out Virtus.

As for general drop rates, we feel much more comfortable erring on the side of caution, especially for the initial few day. We'd much rather avoid a situation where too many uniques are entering the game vs not enough. It's much healthier for us to correct too few uniques entering the game vs too many.

With all this in mind, now that we have more information, we're changing the tradeable unique rates to be approximately 20-30% more common, depending on the boss (Vardorvis and Leviathan have received the biggest improvement). This means the following rates will now apply:
  • Vardorvis - 1/136
  • Duke - 1/90
  • Leviathan - 1/96
  • Whisperer - 1/64
Note: the Awakened variants of these bosses have 3x the chance to hit the unique table.

Keep in mind that we might fine-tune the drop rates even further down the line. Our goal is to ensure that the long-term value of items remains balanced, but we're also considering how these items fit into each player's progression journey, taking into account the time and difficulty of each encounter. So, stay tuned for any updates in the future as we continue to optimise your experience.

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[h2]Other Changes[/h2]
  • As Raiding dungeons can now contain banks, players protected by the Deadman Mode PvP protection are no longer permitted to enter them. You can speak to the Doomsayer to cancel your protection early.
  • Various spelling mistakes during Desert Treasure II dialogue have been resolved. Thankfully most of you spacebar spammed and didn't notice, but we fixed them anyway.
  • Improved pathing to Salt deposits within Duke Sucellus's room. You should now be able to click from the upper floor to a deposit with ease!
  • Vents within Duke Sucellus's room will now correctly despawn when the encounter ends.
  • Resolved an issue that could prevent the Duke Sucellus encounter from starting.
  • Female Sanguine Torva has the correct assets.
  • Both male & female sanguine torva has correct inv models & chatheads.
  • Torva has been replaced with reworked version shared in the Poll 80 newspost.
  • Players are no longer able to feed Abyssal leeches items with a "destroy'' option.
  • The leeches in the Persten wight fight will now always target the player.
  • Ketla and her clones were not doing the right amount of damage, this has been changed so they are closer to what we had intended.
  • The Amulet of the Eye will no longer be lost on death.
  • Damage should no longer carry over to Kasonde once the fight has ended.
  • Various minor balancing changes have been made to the quest versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses (the difficulty of these bosses should remain very close to how they were last week). Their respective combat levels have also been increased to better reflect their difficulty.
  • Some temple walls within the Stranglewood can no longer be walked through.
  • Awakener's orbs have been added to the Collection Log. As the orbs are tradeable, any gained before this update will not appear.
  • Boss slayer tasks for the four new bosses could be given before completing DT2. This is now fixed.
  • Slayer tasks no longer apply to the Awakened versions of the Desert Treasure II bosses.
  • Vardorvis has had some clickbox improvements.
  • It is no longer possible to safespot the Mysterious Stranger.
  • Wearing the Ring of Shadows will correctly show the hidden ghosts inside the Sepulchre.
  • Some scenic Braziers within the throne room of the Lassar Undercity have been removed.
  • Progress while in a Scar maze will now save, so if you need to leave and return, you don't need to redo already completed challenges.
  • Boss information has now been added to the Combat Achievements interface, alongside Monster Examine being enabled.

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[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:
  • 539 - (US) - PvP World
  • 318 - (UK) - Bounty Hunter world
  • 548 - (Germany) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 577 - (US) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 559 - (UK) - LMS Competitive

World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been activated with this rota.

World 569(AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been activated with this rota.

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You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.

MMO releases the sequel to an 18-year-old quest that features such rare drops the developer has to step in and reassure players: 'No need to put nan in the cage as the clock chimes midnight, just kill bosses'




Old School RuneScape has released a sequel to an 18 year-old quest, spotted by GamesRadar+, one which has immediately caused confusion as players rushed to bag the new loot it comes with… and in most cases, didn't get it. Desert Treasure 2: The Fallen Empire is the MMO's first Grandmaster quest since 2019 and is a sequel to, you guessed it, Desert Treasure (released in 2005). It sees players returning to the Kharidian Desert to explore a big old vault and take on the lich-like Mahjarrat...
Read more.

Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire | July 26th

After months of anticipation, Old School's most ambitious quest to date is finally here. Get ready for Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire!

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[h2]Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire[/h2]


We’ve already covered a lot of this information in our recent ‘Get Ready for Desert Treasure II’ newspost, but we’ll repeat it here so that everyone has a chance to see it before they play the quest.


This week sees the launch of Old School RuneScape’s biggest (and hopefully best) quest to date. Before you head to the desert to get started, there are a few things we’d like you to know.

Firstly, we have an ominous warning. If you are a Hardcore or Group Hardcore Ironman, we strongly advise that you play through the quest on a non-Hardcore account first. We’re not just building hype here: Desert Treasure II is a dangerous quest. Everything from the bosses we’ve spoken so much about to the environment itself can and will kill you.

Consider this your last warning. We expect Death’s Office to be full to bursting by the end of the day…


Secondly, we aren’t kidding when we say this quest is our biggest yet. Desert Treasure II will take you on an epic journey across Gielinor, from familiar locales to places you’ve never seen before. You’ll fight four tough bosses – Duke Sucellus, Vardorvis, the Leviathan and the Whisperer – and encounter plenty of other challenges along the way. You’ll run into familiar faces, and be introduced to new characters with their own stories, secrets and motivations.

In short, if you were planning to spacebar through the whole thing in two hours, we’re afraid you might have to adjust your schedule. You can of course play through the quest exactly as you want (yes, even you cheeky spacebarrers), but for those happy to go at a slower pace, we'd highly recommend you take your time and really savour our most ambitious quest to date. It’s absolutely dripping with lore, answers to unanswered questions, and ties to loose ends.

There’s so much to explore, and plenty of secrets tucked away for our most eagle-eyed players to find. The music and audio is some of the best we’ve ever heard from the Audio Team, so you’ll want to turn your volume up too. Basically, this is Old School storytelling at its very best, and we’re thrilled beyond words for you to finally experience it.

Don’t believe us? Hear it from Mod Ed himself:

"When you think about RuneScape's most iconic quests, there's a pretty good chance the Mahjarrat story will be one of the first to come to mind. While Guthix Sleeps, Ritual of the Mahjarrat, and indeed, Desert Treasure, are regularly considered some of the finest quests ever made. Now, all these years later, we're finally revisiting those epic stories with our own take on the legendary Mahjarrat.

Earlier this year, we made our first foray into the Mahjarrat storyline with Secrets of the North, but that was nothing compared to the might of this next instalment. This is a story we've been wanting to tell for years, and it's only through your tremendous support for our past storytelling efforts that we're now finally able to do so. We've made sure to honour the deep legacy of the Mahjarrat storyline, whilst also pushing the boundaries for storytelling in Old School like never before. Whatever you might be expecting, you're probably not ready for this. This is the one where everything changes. So, from myself and the rest of the team, it's an honour to be able to finally share Desert Treasure II – The Fallen Empire with you."

Mod Ed



If you'd like to hear more from the team, and even a couple of playtesters, check out our recent Dev Diary!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it!

As a heads-up from us, we want as many people as possible to be able to experience Desert Treasure II spoiler-free. Of course, you're welcome to seek out discussion from other players if you'd like, but we won't be posting or sharing anything that divulges information about the quest until next week.

We'll still be keeping an eye on all of your feedback and fixing any bugs or making small tweaks for QoL purposes during the first week as per usual. However, unless something is clearly miles away from our expectations (and our own experiences testing the bosses), we don't plan on making any balancing changes until at least the second week following the release.

The bosses are supposed to be challenging. We want to give you time to learn their mechanics, put together gear setups and get familiar with the bosses so that overcoming them feels like an accomplishment, rather than knee-jerk any changes and deprive players the feeling of a hard-fought victory.

Now for every spacebar warrior's worst enemy...

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[h2]Backstory[/h2]


During Gielinor's Second Age, the world was dominated by an empire the likes of which had never been seen. The areas now known as Asgarnia, Misthalin and even the Wilderness all once flourished under the banner of the Empty Lord. With the grand city of Senntisten at its heart, this civilisation washed over Gielinor like an unstoppable tide, pushing the boundaries of magic and science, while crushing any who stood in their way.

Fast forward to today, the Fifth Age, and you won't find much trace of this ancient empire. Indeed, Saradominists and Zamorakians alike have spent many lifetimes purging all remnants of it. However, small fragments of this fallen empire remain, for those who know where to look.

Perhaps you’ve already encountered some of these remains. Maybe you’ve met the monstrous Nex, sealed behind the Frozen Door for millennia. Or perhaps you’ve visited the bandits of the Kharidian Desert, the final human followers of the Empty Lord. You might even have encountered some mysterious Mahjarrat hidden away beneath those same sands. However, there are other parts of this forgotten empire that even you won’t have encountered yet. For example, this story begins deep in the desert, within a mysterious vault…


(If you're looking for even more backstory, check out this video made by PoisonedPotion to get you up to speed!)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
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[h2]Requirements[/h2]


You’ll need to brush up on your Mahjarrat knowledge before you start Desert Treasure II, so you’ll need to complete the following quests:
  • Desert Treasure I
  • Secrets of the North
  • Enakhra's Lament
  • Temple of the Eye
  • The Garden of Death
  • Below Ice Mountain
  • His Faithful Servants

You'll also need to be sufficiently experienced in a number of skills to stand any chance at gaining access to the contents of the ancient vault:
  • 75 Firemaking
  • 75 Magic
  • 70 Thieving
  • 62 Herblore
  • 60 Runecraft
  • 60 Construction

As a reminder, none of these requirements are boostable. We hope you enjoy having the cold of the Wintertodt seep into your bones!

To start the quest, get yourself over to the Ancient Vault, which can be found north-east of Nardah, south of the Ruins of Uzer.

If you need a visual, here's where you can start the quest!

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[h2]Rewards[/h2]


At this point you should be familiar with these, but just in case, let’s have one more look at the quest rewards!


Ring of Shadows



The Ring of Shadows serves as a one-stop-shop for various unlockable boss teleports and some offensive stats for players who are being particularly cautious with their GP.

Since the ring is untradeable, you'll be able to reobtain it for a fee if you ever misplace it, whether that's through sheer forgetfulness or an untimely PvP death.

The rest of the rewards in this section will come from the bosses unlocked upon quest completion. Starting with...


Four New Rings



The Fremennik Rings have remained the best style-specific rings since the ancient era of 2005. Duke Sucellus, Vardorvis, the Leviathan and the Whisperer will each drop upgrade components used to create the powerful new Bellator, Magus, Ultor and Venator rings, which should shake up this age-old meta.




The completed Rings are all tradeable, but require completion of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire to equip.

The bosses will also drop untradeable Vestiges, specific to each boss. To make these tradeable, you'll have to do a spot of handicrafts – to do so, you’ll need 90 Magic and 80 Crafting (both boostable). We'll give you a quick breakdown of how this works, should you be lucky enough to snag a Vestige on release day!
  • Each boss drops a specific, untradeable vestige. Depending on the boss you're killing, this will be a Bellator, Magus, Ultor or Venator Vestige.
  • Each boss drops tradeable bars. These are non-specific - all of the bosses can drop the exact same bars, or you can buy them from other players.
  • Fremennik Rings can be broken down to provide their respective Icon. You'll want the Icon that corresponds to the Ring you're trying to make:
    • Warrior Icon for Bellator Ring
    • Seers’ Icon for Magus Ring
    • Berserker Icon for Ultor Ring
    • Archers’ Icon for Venator Ring
  • Combine your Vestige, three bars, and your Fremennik Icon to create your brand-new Ring!

Of course, crafting like this hasn't occurred on Gielinor for a very long time. Perhaps it might be worth seeking out a particularly knowledgable Fremennik to learn a little more about these rings before getting started?


Now, what are the Mahjarrat without a spot of Ancient Magicks? You guys have Ancients, right?


Virtus Robes



Virtus Robes are making a return, offering massive increases to Ancient Magicks damage while serving as a middle-ground between Ahrim's Robes and Ancestral when using Standard spells or powered staves.




Each piece of the Virtus Robes set is tradeable and does not require completion of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire to equip.

Each of the bosses has a chance to drop a piece, so if you wind up enjoying one of them more than the other three, you'll be able to farm it to your heart's content while hunting the full set!

Maybe Magic isn't your thing? Perhaps you prefer the simplicity of hitting things with a really big axe? Boy, do we have news for you…


Soulreaper Axe



The Soulreaper Axe is a hefty 2-handed weapon that’ll really give you the edge in combat… for a price.

Before we get much deeper into the details though, we'd love to shoutout Deztroyer, who has already made a massive version of the Soulreaper axe in the real world! Check it out here.

Attacks with the Soulreaper Axe will damage you for 8 Hitpoints and grant you a 'Mighty Stack'. Each Mighty Stack gives you a +6% Strength level boost (additive with bonuses from Prayers) and stacks up to five times, for a total of 40 Hitpoints lost and a +30% Strength boost. Once you're fully stacked, you'll stop taking extra damage and be free to slap your foes silly with one of the scariest Slash weapons in Gielinor.

Alternatively, if you're looking for a quick extra heal, you can use the Soulreaper Axe's special attack Behead. Behead consumes any Mighty Stacks you have, and for each stack consumed you’ll increase your accuracy by 6% and heal for 8 Hitpoints – coincidentally the same number of Hitpoints you exchange for a Mighty Stack! The best part is, you’ll get your healing even if the attack itself misses. Any Mighty Stacks that you have will be lost if you switch weapons, or if you go 10 ticks (6 seconds) without attacking.



The Axe is made up of four untradeable components (one from each boss) but can be traded to other players in its completed form. You'll need to have completed Desert Treasure II to equip it.

While 'hit things with big axe' has been a fun diversion, we're heading back to the arcane arts to wrap up our rewards section!


Ancient Sceptre Upgrades


Remember that Ancient Icon you went dry on for ages before upgrading it into an Ancient Sceptre? It's time to imbue that Sceptre with the power of the Ancient elements themselves…

Each of the post-quest bosses will drop an untradeable Sigil that coincides with their Ancient element: blood, ice, shadow and smoke. These Sigils can be combined with an Ancient Sceptre to create the Blood/Ice/Shadow/Smoke Ancient Sceptre.

These upgrades retain the +5% magic damage and +10% to Ancient Magicks effects, but will imbue the Sceptre with new effects depending on the element:
  • Blood Ancient Sceptre: Blood magic can now overheal you by 10% of your Hitpoints.
  • Ice Ancient Sceptre: Ice magic gains 10% accuracy on unfrozen, freezable targets.
  • Shadow Ancient Sceptre: Shadow spells also drain Strength and Defence in addition to the target's Attack level.
  • Smoke Ancient Sceptre: Smoke spells reduced healing received by 20% for 10 cycles on hit if the target is poisoned.

Upgraded Ancient Sceptres have an increased Magic requirement compared to their predecessor, requiring 75 Magic as well as the usual 60 Strength and 50 Attack to equip.

Alongside these, we'll be tweaking the Ancient sceptre and its upgraded variants to behave similarly to other untradeables on death in PvP, and attaching a repair cost to boot.

But wait, there's more…

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[h2]Awakened Bosses[/h2]


Over the last week, you've been voting on whether or not you'd like to see harder, aspirational, Awakened variants of the post-quest bosses enter the game. That poll closed earlier this week, and we’re beyond excited to say that we will be developing these Awakened variants.

This means that in a few weeks (exact date TBD), you'll be able to challenge an Awakened version of each of the four post-quest bosses. To access them, you'll need to consume an Awakener's Orb. These are tradeable 'keys' of sorts and can be obtained as a drop from the regular bosses.

Although the Awakened bosses themselves won’t be available at launch, you'll be able to start receiving Orbs from today, giving you the chance to stock up while you prepare yourself for the challenge ahead.

Following their release, defeating the Awakened variant of all four bosses will reward you with the much-requested Blood Torva kit, in the form of an item you can use on all of your Torva pieces.

Here's a lovely turnaround showing off the new Blood Torva from all angles!

We have a bunch of ideas for these encounters, but we'll be keeping quiet until we get them out in front of you. In the meantime, good luck, have fun, and enjoy pondering your Orbs!

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[h2]Wrapping Up[/h2]


We've had a fantastic time working on and realising our newest Grandmaster quest, and we hope you're excited to experience all of the passion and work that's been poured in to Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire.

All that remains is to wish you all good luck. After all, you’ll need it…

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[h2]Other Changes[/h2]


Given the sheer size of Desert Treasure II, we only have a small handful of other changes for you this week:
  • In case you missed it, you're now able to re-order your characters on the Jagex Launcher if you're using a Jagex Account. Nice!
  • Players no longer need to enter their bank PIN after hopping worlds, assuming they have the relevant setting toggled. For players on the C++ client, you will be required to re-enter your PIN if you close and re-open the client, and we're working on a fix for this.
  • Your hairstyle will no longer lose volume if you died wearing certain headgear.
  • Leaves pruned off Farming patches are now tracked in the Loot tracker on the C++ client.
  • We've recently added our New Official Client to the Jagex Launcher! Check out this post for more information!
  • Players are no longer able to use kept-on-death Keys to drop items that are not usually dropped on death (such as Ironman Armour) into Gravestones.

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[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]


This week marks the first week that we're including Bounty Hunter as part of the PvP World rota. If you have any feedback about the rota going forward, let us know and you'll look to make changes or tweaks where necessary!

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:
  • 560 - (UK) - PvP World
  • 319 - (US) - Bounty Hunter world
  • 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive

World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Zerker' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.

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You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.

Old School Runescape players were using a new bug to mass-murder each other and it got so bad the game had to be taken offline




Old School Runescape is a 10-year-old MMO that's based on a 16-year-old MMO, and in light of that you might expect that it's a quiet, staid online realm where people enjoy their gaming buds and gameplay routines and nothing new ever happens. It's actually developed a reputation for just the opposite: Players keep finding new or unique things to do that wouldn't be possible (or reasonable) in a regular MMO...
Read more.

Forestry: Part One - Further Changes | July 12th



We’ve made further changes to Forestry Part One before suspending operations for a week to launch Desert Treasure II!
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[h2]Changelog July 12th[/h2]

[expand]

No Update Next Week
  • There will be no Game Update next week as we’re all busy preparing for the launch of Desert Treasure II.


Forestry: Part One Changes
  • Box Traps, Fires and Flowers will now be removed from any tile part of a Forestry event spawns at.
  • In a similar vein, Dwarven Multicannons on Forestry Event tiles will autodecay. You can reclaim your cannon from Nulodion.
  • For players with a Bee on a Stick, we've significantly increased the amount of Bark received at the end of the Flowering Tree event and have increased the amount you receive for each action.
  • The bushes in the Flowering Tree event now come in different colours. Names have been changed to include the colours to help colourblind players enjoy the event.
  • The Flowering Tree event will now scale on the number of people with a Bee on a Stick cutting a tree rather than just the number of people cutting a tree.
  • The Magic Root now changes position more frequently during the Rising Roots event.
  • Ultimate Iron Players may now deposit logs with the Friendly Forester. This is a one-way transaction, and you will not be able to get these logs back.
  • Ultimate Iron Players may no longer sell items back to the Forestry Shop.
  • Random events no longer spawn in range of Forestry events.
  • The Collection Log for Forestry now includes the Lumberjack Outfit.
  • The Collection Log is now in alphabetical order once more.
  • The description of the Funky-Shaped Log is now more readable.


Jagex Accounts
  • Jagex Accounts characters will receive an additional 20 Bank Slots!


Other Changes
  • Giant Seaweed now has a different Inventory icon and model.
  • (STEAM/MOBILE ONLY) Players may now set the maximum number of items shown on their Ground Items list from the Settings menu.
  • (STEAM/MOBILE ONLY) Players may now right-click a source in the Loot Tracker to ignore it.


PvP Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:
  • 560 - (UK) - PvP World
  • 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive


World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota.


The PvP Arena is using '1 Def Pure' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.

[/expand]
[hr][/hr]
As we’re busy preparing for the launch of Desert Treasure II on July 26th, there will be no Game Update next week. Check the new Desert Treasure II - Living Newspost to get ready for the epic continuation of the Mahjarrat Storyline!
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[h2]Forestry: Part One[/h2]



We’re back with more changes to Forestry!

First up, we’re making Forestry Events less cluttered. Box Traps, Fires and Flowers will now automatically be removed if they’re on a tile where Forestry Events could spawn. In addition, Dwarven Multicannons will auto-decay when placed on tiles occupied by Forestry Events. You can claim a new cannon from Nulodion.

Random events will also no longer spawn in range of Forestry events – sorry, sandwich lovers!

We’ve also made a few changes to Forestry events themselves, starting with Flowering Tree. As of today’s update, bushes that spawn during this event will come in a variety of different colours to make matching them easier. Don’t worry – their flashy new colours have been incorporated into the names of the bushes, so colourblind players need only right-click to see which bush is which.

Alongside making the visual changes, players that have a Bee on a Stick consumed when a Flowering Tree event spawns will receive significantly more bark for their final reward and more bark per action. We've also made scaling work so that the difficulty scales based on the number of people with a Bee on a Stick cutting the tree rather than how many people are cutting the tree. As always, we will continue to monitor this event and discuss any major feedback concerns.

We’ve also made the Magic Root from Rising Roots change position more frequently, making the event a bit more interactive to justify its high XP rates.

Now, over to the Forestry Shop, where Ultimate Iron players may now deposit logs via the Friendly Forester. Be warned though that this is a one-way transaction – you can’t get those logs back! We’ve also disabled sell-back options for Ultimate Iron players in this specific shop.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, we’re unable to rollout this change to all players.

Also in the Forestry Shop, we’ve changed the description for the Funky-Shaped Log to make it more readable.

Lastly, we’ve made some improvements to the Collection Log, which now lists Forestry in the usual alphabetical order, and includes the Lumberjack Outfit in the Forestry section.

These are all the changes we have for Forestry at present, although we’ll be keeping an eye out to make sure everything is going smoothly. Roll on Part Two!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Jagex Accounts[/h2]

This week brings another great reason to upgrade to a Jagex Account, in the form of 20 new Bank slots for Jagex Account characters!

Those of you who haven’t added an authenticator yet will actually get a whopping 40 Bank slots when you upgrade – after all, the Jagex Account already has a built-in authenticator, so you’re killing two birds with one stone!

Don’t forget, we’re also discussing an extra-special Stronghold of Security bonus for Jagex Account holders. We’ve seen some of the concepts and it’s looking mighty fancy – so don’t delay, upgrade today!

Upgrading is simple and gets you safe, secure access to all your Old School RuneScape characters from one simple login. What are you waiting for? Go check it out!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

  • Giant Seaweed now has a different Inventory icon and model.
  • (STEAM/MOBILE ONLY) Players may now set the maximum number of items shown on their Ground Items list from the Settings menu.
  • (STEAM/MOBILE ONLY) Players may now right-click a source in the Loot Tracker to ignore it.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:
  • 560 - (UK) - PvP World
  • 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
  • 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
  • 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive


World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using '1 Def Pure' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.
[hr][/hr]
You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.