Old School RuneScape News

This week we have loads of changes and improvements for you – including some of the ones you voted for in Poll 79!
[hr][/hr]
[expand]
Poll 79 Changes

• The maximum Swampbark Armour set bonus can now be achieved with just the Helm, Body and Legs as opposed to the full set.
  • Each outfit piece now increases the duration of Bind spells by an additional tick, so the complete bonus increases the duration to six ticks.
• Increased the Magic attack bonus on the Bloodbark Body and Legs.
• Each Bloodbark outfit piece now increases healing from blood spells by 2%, up to 10% for the whole outfit. That’s a total of 35% more healing!
• Updated the Teleport Crystal with new functionality:
  • The Teleport Crystal can now be worn in the Ring slot and can be toggled to act as a Ring of Life.
  • Players may now choose to have the Teleport Crystal teleport them after a specified period of inactivity.
• Wearing a Gas Mask, Facemask or Slayer Helmet will now prevent you from being infected by Nex’s virus via other players.
• Equipping the full set of Zealots’ Robes will provide a 5% chance (1.25% per piece) to save both Bonemeal and Buckets of Slime while worshipping the Ectofuntus.
• Players may now pay 3,000 Numulites for permanent access to the Volcanic Mine.
• Players are now 15x more likely to receive the Phoenix pet at Wintertodt when above 200million Firemaking XP.
• Ultimate Iron players may now store Abyssal Tentacles, Guardian Boots, and Primordial Boots in S.T.A.S.H. units.
• Ultimate Iron players may now use the Spice Rack in a Player-Owned House.

Other Changes

• Food can once again be dropped as 1-hour supply piles upon PvM death in the Wilderness. These piles will no longer be saved and follow you if you hop worlds. However, they will continue to follow you if you die outside of the Wilderness.
• Rune Pouches now keep their contents when their owner dies outside of PvP combat.
• Fixed an issue where the Twisted Bow bonus accuracy stopped being calculated during Phase Two of The Wardens.
• The Wardens should no longer delete themselves when bound at the start of Phase Two.
• The Dragon and Barrows Gloves are no longer prioritised over Infernal Capes for protection on death.
• Fixed the hair colour on the Makeover Mage’s chathead.
• (C++ Client Only) Using the Master Volume slider will no longer cut the music.

Merch Shop

• Mystery bags containing Angel Scapes designs from past, present and future are now available in the Official Merch Shop!

PvP Rota
The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

• 539 - (US) - PvP 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.

The PvP Arena is using '1 Def Pure' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.
[/expand]
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Poll 79 Changes[/h2]

We're back with a whole bunch of updates from the latest Quality of Life poll!

Swampbark Armour

First up, we've made it so you don't need every piece of Swampbark Armour to obtain the set effect bonus! From now on you’ll only need the Head, Body and Legs to get the full effect, so you can don your Mystic Gloves and Boots before your next magical battle.

We’ve also increased the effectiveness of the set effect bonus by 1 tick per item, meaning you'll get an additional 6 ticks of duration when using Bind, Snare or Entangle.

• Bind: 8 ticks base -> 14 ticks boosted
• Snare: 16 ticks base -> 22 ticks boosted
• Entangle: 24 ticks base -> 30 ticks boosted

Bloodbark Armour

Bloodbark's biggest benefit is the increase in healing from Blood spells. With today's update, each piece will give an increased 2% effectiveness – up from 1.5% - allowing you to heal an additional 10% of damage inflicted.

We’ve also increased the magic attack bonuses on the Body and Legs:

• Body: 21 (previously 18)
• Legs: 16 (previously 13)

Teleport Crystal

Players may now enable their Teleport Crystal to teleport them after a specified period of inactivity – and that’s customisable!

'Inactivity’ is defined as any time you’re not actively typing, clicking, or tapping the screen – although in a few weeks we’ll expand that definition to rotating the camera or actively mousing over the screen.

To clarify, this feature will only function when you’d be able to teleport away normally – so the deep Wilderness is out, and you can’t use your Teleport Crystal to wriggle out of a teleblock.

Additionally, you can now affix the Crystal to your finger like a ring, and you can also toggle it to act like a Ring of Life and teleport you to safety if your health drops below 10%. Be warned, though – it will act exactly like a Ring of Life, which means it won’t save you from raids or similar events, even though the usual Teleport Crystal would.

Lastly, a niche case: if you happen to have a Teleport Crystal with the new inactivity teleport enabled on you when you enter the Gauntlet, you’ll find that it will function as expected even though it was supposed to be removed upon entry. You’ll also be unable to configure or turn off this feature while you’re in the Gauntlet, so make sure your settings are set up the way you like them before you enter.

If you have questions about Teleport Crystal functionality, Rick on the 1st Floor of the Wizards’ Tower has all the details – just don’t bring up the pumpkin incident.

Smaller Changes

• Wearing a Gas Mask, Facemask or Slayer Helmet will now prevent you from being infected by Nex’s virus via other players.
• Equipping the full set of Zealots’ Robes will provide a 5% chance (1.25% per piece) to save both Bonemeal and Buckets of Slime while worshipping the Ectofuntus.
• Players may now pay 3,000 Numulites for permanent access to the Volcanic Mine.
• Players are now 15x more likely to receive the Phoenix pet at Wintertodt when above 200million Firemaking XP.
• Ultimate Iron players may now store Abyssal Tentacles, Guardian Boots, and Primordial Boots in S.T.A.S.H. units.
• Ultimate Iron players may now use the Spice Rack in a Player-Owned House.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]In Case You Missed It: Ruinous Powers[/h2]

This isn't a section talking about any content changes for this week, but a reminder to check out our latest blog on the Ruinous Powers, which goes into detail about the prayers, power creep, and our ultimate decision to shelve the Ruinous Powers for now. You can check out the blog for yourself by clicking here.

Some of the other requirements for the quest have been adjusted to compensate, meaning the skill requirements for Desert Treasure II are as follows:

• 75 Firemaking.
• 75 Magic.
• 70 Thieving.
• 62 Herblore.
• 60 Runecraft.
• 60 Construction.

Additionally, while nothing's changing this week, we wanted to give you a heads-up about changes to the requirements of Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire. With prayers no longer on the table as part of the quest's release, we'll be removing the 60 Prayer requirement and changing the previously mentioned Prayer XP lamp to a 'your choice' Combat XP lamp. You'll still have the option to pick Prayer XP as a reward from this lamp if you like!

Keep an eye out later this week for the Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire Rewards Poll, where you'll have your chance to vote on all of the other rewards on offer from Old School's most ambitious quest to-date!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Food can once again be dropped as 1-hour supply piles upon PvM death in the Wilderness. These piles will no longer be saved and follow you if you hop worlds. However, they will continue to follow you if you die outside of the Wilderness.
• Rune Pouches now keep their contents when their owner dies outside of PvP combat.
• Fixed an issue where the Twisted Bow bonus accuracy stopped being calculated during Phase Two of The Wardens.
• The Wardens should no longer delete themselves when bound at the start of Phase Two.
• The Dragon and Barrows Gloves are no longer prioritised over Infernal Capes for protection on death.
• Fixed the hair colour on the Makeover Mage’s chathead.
• (C++ Client Only) Using the Master Volume slider will no longer cut the music.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Merch Update: Angels Scapes Mystery Bags![/h2]


Angels Scapes has been working with us for years to create unique pin and keyring designs based on our games – you might even have picked up a few of them yourself! But where’s the best place to start your collection? And what about those rare, limited edition items that you just can’t get any more?

Luckily, the Merch Store has the solution in the form of Angels Scapes Mystery Bags! Each pin bag will contain either three individual pins, a complete three or four pin set, or a very special large commemorative pin. What’s more, each bag is guaranteed to contain at least one limited edition pin, including items from the Christmas and Anniversary event collections, the Baroo collabs with star artist Prezleek, the Cities of Gielinor collection, and more! Maybe you’ll even take home your very own Tim and Crunchy?

Keyring bags contain three different keyrings, with a good chance to get a limited edition keyring in each bag. Rare goodies on offer include long sold-out Capes, Godswords, the King Black Dragon, the Wise Old Man, and event keyrings from the Runefest, Christmas, and Black Friday lines.

This might be your last chance to get your hands on these Limited Editions – but you can also pick up end-of-line items, and some of the store’s most popular current lines!

Stock is limited, so grab your Mystery Bag while you can!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Crack the Clue[/h2]

Woox has provided us all with another cryptic clue this week... maybe this will be the last?


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

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

• 539 - (US) - PvP 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.

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.

This week you’ve got the chance to further beta test the Desert Treasure II rewards, plus Bounty Hunter tweaks and some of the fruits of April’s Game Jam…
[hr][/hr]
[expand]

Desert Treasure II - The Fallen Empire, Rewards Beta 2

• Adjusted the Ruinous Powers (see the blog for more info).
• Removed bonus effects from Virtus robes.
• Adjusted elemental bonus effects for Ancient sceptre upgrades.
• Increased Strength bonus for Soulreaper axe.
• Adjusted 3PC guidelines to allow Prayer reordering plugins.

Bounty Hunter Tweaks

• Added a chance for players to obtain Ancient Statuettes when opening Bounty crates
• Increased the quantity of Blighted supplies received when opening a Bounty crate.
• Added an in-game confirmation message to make our stance on boosting clear.
• Overhauled the emblem system to make obtaining Tier 10s feel less punishing.
• Adjusted the stats of various Ancient Warrior equipment.

Game Jam April 2023

• Grand Exchange Buy offers can now pull coins directly from your bank.
• Added a 'Random' button on the in-game Music tab.
• Added an improved World Switcher Configuration menu and filtering system.

Other Changes

• Re-added the Varrock hair salon (oops).
• An in-game message is now displayed to clarify when Abyssal Lanterns grant an extra rune during Runecrafting. It can be blocked by the spammy message filter.
• Fixed an issue where players could gain temporary invisibility while stationary via the Leagues III home teleport animation.
• Some grammar has been corrected in the Combat Achievements menu.
• The Banker outside Nex's chamber now stands still, for your convenience.
• Venenatis and Spindel now have a 1/5 chance of dropping a Strange Fruit to help you top up on Energy, or perhaps to cure your poison in a pinch.
• You can now slash through webs as long as you have a suitably slashy weapon in your inventory- you won’t need to equip one beforehand.
• Wearing Bunny Legs while wielding a Love Crossbow no longer looks quite so, er, dubious.

[/expand]
[hr][/hr]

[h2]Ruinous Powers Beta V2[/h2]



Wanna beta test an updated set of Ruinous Powers? We’d love to hear your thoughts on these destructive Desert Treasure II rewards! Tournament worlds are open once more, so dive in and let us know what you think.

Note: the tournament worlds for this beta won't be accessible straight after today's game update. We'll be waiting until the regular game worlds are running without issue before bringing unlocking the tournament worlds.

The previous Ruinous Powers beta ended early due to the sheer volume of feedback, coupled with a busy schedule for the team, so we thought we’d offer another beta when we were ready to address feedback - that’s today, folks!

Before we get into the adjustments we’ve made to these powerful prayers, a note about how you’ll acquire them: some can be unlocked as boss drops, Annihilate and Vaporise will require the existing Arcane and Dexterous Prayer Scrolls, and others are given at the end of the quest.

In terms of improvements, there were a handful of key issues for us to focus on:

• Deflect Prayers' guaranteed chip damage was clearly a non-starter.

Initially we'd considered an increase to the reflected damage, but this wouldn't have gone any way towards cutting down on chip damage when using the Ruinous Powers. For this reason, we decided to switch to Withstand prayers, which grant 100% damage reduction against the corresponding style, but will increase your damage taken by 10%. This means getting your prayers wrong or getting hit off-prayer will punish you more than on the standard Prayer Book, and you'll take slightly more chip damage in places where it already occurs - but won't introduce chip damage into places that don't already have any. It's worth remembering that Old School always rounds down, so if an NPC would hit you for a 19, you'd take an extra 1 damage.

• The risk component outweighed the reward for many players.

The changes to overheads go some way to addressing this, but there are specific prayers and other aspects we've tweaked for better balance.

Vindication gave you extra damage for triggering its effect at low Hitpoints, which seemed novel on paper - but a lot of players (especially among skilled PvMers) felt that it encouraged unhealthy play patterns by incentivising people to repeatedly force themselves to low HP and proc Vindication to achieve competitive DPS. Plus, while Vindication was effectively an aggressive spin on Redemption, it had such a low heal amount to be unuseable in places where Redemption normally does the job, such as Vespula's room in the Chambers of Xeric. Our solution? Make Vindication function exactly like Redemption.

Rebuke was our attempt to make Vengeance more appealing, since it's fallen out of favour compared to other Thralls in the Arceuus Spellbook. However, asking players to sacrifice a protection prayer and take additional damage on top made this a pretty unappealing option for many. So, we're going to try removing this bonus damage component and replacing the passive recoil effect with a boost to any active recoil effects like Vengeance or Rings of Recoil. This should make it more rewarding to use in cases where you might risk a juiced-up Vengeance to shave a few seconds off your PB!

The lack of Protect item was intended to add some extra monetary risk in PvP scenarios, since usually players looking to increase their power in PvP are opting in to increased risked wealth. Many of you felt that the reduced defensive bonuses offered by the Ruinous Powers were risky enough on their own and that the lack of Protect Item would put them off of using them in PvP, or would just encourage them to bring cheaper gear instead (thus reducing weapon variety in PvP). With all that in mind, coupled with the decreased strength bonuses offered by the pinnacle offensive prayers, we've decided we’d better enable Protect Item on the Ruinous Powers - simple!

• Fumus', Glacies' and Cruor's Vow didn't feel fun to use or give players much room for decision-making.

The Vows were a later addition to the Ruinous Powers than most, and we've given them a little more thought this time around.

Glacies' Vow effectively functioned as a passive
Cruor's Vow gave a 10% chance to heal 10% of the damage you were dealt, which is a fancy way of saying '1% lifesteal while active'. Lifesteal, life leech or sustain effects in general are notoriously difficult to strike the right balance with. Too much and you risk something being completely overpowered (we don't want to name names, but we're talking about Soul Split), too little and you risk something just not being worth using at all. We tried to err on the side of caution and opted for a value that was 'too little' in this case, and as a result it didn't feel particularly engaging to use. To fix the problem, we’ve instead made Cruor's Vow function similarly to the Keris Partisan of the Sun, where you'll trade Prayer points for Hitpoints if you kill NPCs with this prayer active.

To say Fumus' Vow wasn't working quite as we intended is an understatement. While we're sure many of you chasing a Twisted Bow would love to kill every enemy in the tightrope room within 10 ticks, it's probably not for the best! We've touched Fumus' Vow up to be a little simpler, and effectively boost your damage with poison weapons, by dealing a poison hitsplat instantly whenever you would apply poison of a higher severity than what's already affecting an NPC.

• Some players shared concerns about max hit creep, particularly in PvP scenarios.

We're not looking to dive too deep right now into how different types of power increases impact PvP and PvM differently, or how aiming for consistency in all scenarios between both PvM and PvP can make it difficult at times to move both of these areas forward healthily. That being said, there were valid concerns raised by players surrounding extra max hits in PvP and the increase in KO potential.

We elected to knock the Strength and Ranged Strength boosts on Decimate and Annihilate down a peg and adjust Accuracy to compensate. The hope is that the Ruinous Powers still provide the damage potential many of you liked, but arrive at that DPS increase by a more sensible route.

Ok, here's a compact list of everything that's changed since last time, so you have all the info you need in one place!

Ruinous Powers Beta 2.0 Changelist

• Overhead protection prayers have been changed from Deflect prayers to Dampen prayers.
  • Dampen prayers grant 100% damage reduction against the corresponding style, but increase your damage taken by 10%.
• Annihilate and Decimate have had their Ranged strength and Strength bonuses reduced from +30% to +27%.
• Annihilate and Decimate have had their Ranged and Melee accuracy bonuses increased from +20% to +25%..
• Gambit has been reworked into a 4th pinnacle offensive prayer called Intensify.
  • Intensify increases your accuracy with all combat styles by 40% when activated, but cannot be used at the same time as any of the other pinnacle offensive prayers (Annihilate, Decimate and Vaporise).
• Prayer level requirements for each of the pinnacle offensive prayers have been increased to better reflect their power.
• Glacies' Vow has been reworked and will now reduce your target's Magic level by 10% of damage dealt, up to a maximum of 15% Magic level reduction.
• Cruor's Vow has been reworked and will now consume 3 Prayer points to heal 3 Hitpoints when killing an NPC.
• Fumus' Vow has been reworked. While active, applying poison to an NPC will cause the first poison damage tick to apply instantly.
  • This means if the poison you're applying has a higher poison severity than whatever poison is currently affecting an enemy, you'll see extra hitsplats. In simpler terms, turn this on for a little extra oomph when using any poison weapons.
• Vindication has been reworked to trigger at 10% of your Hitpoints and restore them by 25% of your Prayer level, the same as Redemption.
• Rebuke has been reworked and will no longer increase your damage taken or grant passive recoil damage, but amplify the damage that other recoil effects grant by 50%.
• Protect Item has been added to the Ruinous Powers.
• Prayer point drain rates are lower across the board.

Beyond the Ruinous Powers themselves, there's one more piece of feedback we'd like to address.

Prayer Re-Ordering and Third-party Clients

We had feedback from the initial beta that the new prayers were difficult to get to grips with due to muscle memory. We've changed our guidelines on third party clients to address this.

Back in March, we added Prayer Filtering to Old School, following an 85% 'Yes' vote in Poll 78. Many of you feel our implementation didn't quite meet expectations, and have suggested improvements. We plan to revisit Prayer Filtering in future, but in the meantime we’re granting third-party clients such as RuneLite our blessing to re-enable this functionality.

The best way to play RuneLite and keep your account secure is by using the Jagex Launcher, which can be found here.

We hope this helps in the upcoming beta, freeing up more of your brain to get a feel for the balance of the prayers themselves rather than wondering whether or not you're using the correct offensive prayers at all...

Additional Reward Tweaks

Beyond the Ruinous Powers, we've made a couple of rewards changes that you'll be able to experiment with in the beta.

• Virtus Robes no longer provide additional effects to Ancient elements. Many players felt that the Ancient Sceptre upgrades and Virtus Robes shared a little too much, and in some cases would combine in unhealthy ways (such as repeatedly draining Magic levels in PvP interactions when using Shadow spells).
• In a similar vein, we've adjusted the 'bonus effects' of the various Ancient Sceptre upgrades
  • Blood - Blood magic can now overheal you by 10% of your Hitpoints
  • Ice - Ice spells gain 10% accuracy on unfrozen, freezable targets.
  • Shadow - Shadow spells also drain Strength and Defence in addition to the target's Attack level.
  • Smoke - Smoke spells reduce healing received by 20% for 10 ticks (6 seconds) on-hit if the target is poisoned.
• The Soulreaper Axe’s Strength bonus has been increased from +115 to +121.
• The Soulreaper Axe's stacking buffs now take 10 ticks (6 seconds) of not attacking before they start to decrease.

Have fun in the beta and make sure to let us know what you think of the changes!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Bounty Hunter[/h2]



Isn’t it great to have Bounty Hunter back? It's still an absolute joy to see so many of you whacking each other around in Daimon's Crater. And we've got some more tweaks on the horizon to keep things spicy…

Earning Potential Additions

Last week, we added an Earning Potential system to the Crater, to add a little extra profit incentive, and help newer PKers recoup some losses. While our heart was in the right place, this fell a little flat for many of you.

To address this, we’ve added the Ancient Statuettes that can be found on the Revenant drop table as RNG-drops from Bounty Crates. While the aim here is to boost the profit incentive a little, we're also hoping it captures some of the excitement that rare drops bring to other areas of Old School. Will you get a token 500k? Will you be struggling under the weight of 16,000,000 GP? Or will you even see an Emblem at all?

Additionally, we've increased the quantity of Blighted supplies you'll receive when opening a Bounty Crate, which should help you stay topped up for future fights and hopefully increase the supply of Blighted items overall, in the hopes of making PvP a little more affordable when you're starting out.

Finally, if you'd like to figure out what your EP value is between fights, just ask one of the Corrupted Warriors in the lobby area! They might look like fearsome fighters, but they're also monstrous mathematicians with mind-boggling memories.

We're still keeping a close eye on all things EP and are keen to make sure we're striking the right balance between incentivising genuine players while ensuring Bounty Hunter remains healthy for the game as a whole.

First-time Entry Dialogue

In a slightly related vein, we've added a new dialogue pop-up for the first time you try entering the Crater after today's update. A corrupted warrior will stop you briefly and remind you that there are some rules inside the Crater.

Those who oversee Daimon's Crater won't be happy with you if you're found to be selling your soul to other players! You’ll be asked to acknowledge that you've read and understood the Crater's terms of engagement before getting stuck in. After that, you’re good to go.

Esoteric Emblem Tweaks

A couple of weeks ago, we included a section in a newspost for the 'Future of Bounty Hunter' where we discussed a handful of proposed changes - one of those being the aforementioned EP system, which shipped last week. Within the section, we discussed a slight rework of the way you level Emblems and earn Bounty Hunter points, which went down a treat with many of you. Those changes ship today! Until now, you needed to score nine target kills in a row to secure a Tier 10 Emblem. Although you could hand them in sooner, it’s not always easy to step back from a winning streak – and losing it all at the last hurdle didn’t feel great. With today's game update, we'll be making the following changes to Esoteric Emblems inside Bounty Hunter:

• Killing your target will reward 2 BH points and level your Emblem up by a tier. This behaviour is unchanged.
• Kill milestones at 10, 50, 100 and 500 kill increments will also remain as they are.
• Killing a target with an Emblem of their own no longer rewards additional bonus points. Meaning if you kill a target who had a Tier 9 Emblem, you won't receive any extra points.
• Dying with an Emblem will reduce its tier by 1, rather than deleting it outright. This means that dying with a Tier 9 Emblem will downgrade it to a Tier 8 Emblem. If you have a Tier 1 Emblem, however, you will lose it – there’s nothing to downgrade it to!

We hope these changes can help some of you let loose, rather than feeling like you have to fight tooth and nail to keep your Hitpoints maxed-out at all times in order to protect your streak.

Ancient Warrior Gear Tweaks

We’re also delivering a set of tweaks to Vesta's, Statius's and Zuriel's armour sets this week. We spoke about these in a recent newspost, in a section titled 'The Future of Bounty Hunter', but to save you a click we've listed the changes again here!

Note: any changes to bonuses apply to both the 'standard' and 'corrupt' versions of these armours unless otherwise specified.

Vesta's Chainbody

• Stab and Slash bonuses increased from +9 to +14.
• Crush bonus reduced from +9 to +4.

Vesta's Plateskirt

• Stab and Slash bonuses increased from +7 to +10.
• Crush bonus reduced from +7 to +3.

Statius's Full Helm

• Stab and Slash bonuses reduced from +3 to +1.
• Crush bonus increased from +5 to +6.

Statius's Platebody

• Stab and Slash bonuses reduced from +5 to +2.
• Crush bonus increased from +7 to +14.
• Prayer bonus increased from +1 to +3. This change does not apply to Corrupt Statius's Platebody.

Statius's Platelegs

• Stab and Slash bonuses reduced from +3 to +1.
• Crush bonus increased from +5 to +10.
• Prayer bonus increased from +1 to +3. This change does not apply to Corrupt Statius's Platelegs.

Zuriel's Hood

• Magic Damage increased from 0% to 1%.

Zuriel's Robe Top

• Magic Damage increased from 0% to 3%.

Zuriel's Robe Bottom

• Magic Damage increased from 0% to 2%.

Vesta's Spear

• Special Attack has been tweaked to do the following:
  • Performs an initial hit that deals up to 100% of your max hit. After 2 ticks (1.2 seconds), performs a second hit dealing between 25-75% of the initial hit's damage.
  • Initial hit grants 8 ticks (4.8 seconds) of immunity against Melee damage.

That's a wrap on this week's Bounty Hunter changes, keep an eye out next week for some tweaks to the Emblem system that we first proposed a couple of weeks ago. In the meantime: happy hunting!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Pride 2023[/h2]

In case you missed it, last week saw Pride return to Old School! If you're looking to help some hopeless romantics in the search for love this summer (or just to unlock some fierce fashionscape), then head to the Blue Moon Inn in Varrock and be prepared to pen some pleasing poetry.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to everybody who attended last week's in-game Pride March on Thursday too. Seeing thousands of ‘Scapers across four worlds join in a celebration of love, support and acceptance was heartwarming beyond words for all of us. You can check out the VOD for the march by clicking here or enjoy a taste of it with this rainbow-tastic screenshot from the OSRS Wiki team:



We're also happy to report that Suzie and Emma are back from their holiday and it's business as usual for their hairdressing salon in Varrock, so if you've been putting off a fresh trim - there's no time like the present!

Whoever you are, there's a place for you in Gielinor. Happy Pride!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Game Jam - April 2023[/h2]

A couple of months ago, we held our third Old School Game Jam. We're still looking for the right window to livestream what the team worked on, but you can find a top-level overview of a lot of the projects in this newspost.

While some projects focus more on big design ideas, these Game Jams are also a great way to work on smaller changes that keep . With that in mind, we've got a couple of projects from April's Game Jam that we're launching this week!

Random Music Mode

Is there anything better than getting into the groove of a really relaxing activity, accompanied by the perfect playlist?

We've added a brand new 'Random' button to the Music tab in-game so you can shuffle to your heart's content. There's no skip button though, in classic Old School fashion: your listening pleasure is in the hands of RNG.

To make space, we've moved the 'Loop' button from the Music tab to the Settings menu.

World Switcher Filters and Search

Today's update sees a lot of extra functionality added to the in-game World Switcher menu (the one that you access via the Logout panel).



You'll notice a neat cog at the top left of the World Switcher interface, which will open up a Configuration menu when clicked.



You might also notice some arrows on the US flags. While we're not looking to redesign the stars and stripes, we thought it'd be beneficial for players to easily tell which of these worlds are US West and which are US East. If you're still brushing up on your cardinal directions, US West worlds are indicated by an arrow pointing left, and US East worlds are indicated by an arrow pointing right.

The Configuration menu shows the world list as it appears in the World Switcher panel, but provides 5 buttons at the top to help you customise your World list.



From left-to-right, these buttons are:

• Filter by Membership status - this allows worlds to be hidden depending on whether or not they're F2P or P2P worlds.
• Filter by country - worlds can be hidden depending on where they're being hosted, so you could filter out any worlds where you'd experience less-than-desirable ping!
• Filter by mode - filter out Beta Worlds, Speedrunning Worlds, PvP Worlds or Deadman Worlds if you're not interested in any of those modes at the moment.
• Search - this lets you filter your displayed worlds' themes based on the text you input. For example, searching for 'wint' would allow you to see dedicated Wintertodt worlds.
• Reset - this removes any and all filters currently on effect.

If any of these filters are selected, the button will change from grey to red:

Any of the changes you make in this Configuration menu will be applied to the World Switcher panel in real-time, and will persist after the Configuration menu is closed, or even through logouts. Please note that the filter text is stored on your device rather than being part of your saved game profile, so it can't follow you from one device to another.

If you're trying to hop worlds via the Configuration menu itself, any of the usual 'confirmation' messages for switching worlds (for example, when hopping to a PvP world) will be displayed within the Configuration menu itself, rather than as a chat pop-up (with High Risk PvP worlds being an exception, because they give you a two part warning).

Grand Exchange Tweaks

Are you sick of having to withdraw coins from the Bank just to make offers on the Grand Exchange? After all, the Banker is right there - why won't they just take my money?!

Well, this week's game update sees a revolution in Banker/Clerk relationships. From today, any Buy offers on the Grand Exchange will be able to pull coins directly from your Bank! If you have coins in your Inventory, they'll be used first to make up the GP you're using to buy an item, but coins in your Bank will be automatically used to make up the difference if you come up short.

That being said, make sure to be careful with the quantities that you're buying; you'd probably rather not dump your entire cashstack into a bulk quantity of a single item because you weren't paying attention...
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

As per usual, we're wrapping up with a list of all of this week's smaller changes. Feast your eyes on some miscellaneous bullet points!

• An in-game message is now displayed to clarify when Abyssal Lanterns grant an extra rune during Runecrafting. It can be blocked by the spammy message filter.
• Fixed an issue where players could gain temporary invisibility while stationary via the Leagues III home teleport animation.
• Some grammar has been corrected in the Combat Achievements menu.
• The Banker outside Nex's chamber now stands still, for your convenience.
• Venenatis and Spindel now have a 1/5 chance of dropping a Strange Fruit to help you top up on Energy, or perhaps to cure your poison in a pinch.
• You can now slash through webs as long as you have a suitably slashy weapon in your inventory- you won’t need to equip one beforehand.
• Wearing Bunny Legs while wielding a Love Crossbow no longer looks quite so, er, dubious.
• Received reports that the Strange Old Man at the Barrows in Morytania has been acting even stranger than usual...

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Crack the Clue 3[/h2]

Woox is back with what might prove to be the final hint for Crack the Clue 3! Good luck!


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


The Old School Team.

We’re feeling fabulous this week – it’s the 2023 Pride Event!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Pride Event 2023[/h2]

It’s time to let your colours shine as Pride returns to Old School RuneScape!

Pride events like this are our way of supporting our LGBTQIA+ players and the wider community. A huge part of Old School RuneScape is having the freedom to play the game in your own unique way. We want our players to also have the freedom to express their identity – so wear your colours with pride as you take part in this exciting event!

Our story begins in the Blue Moon Inn in Varrock, where a group of four hopeless romantics have been cooking up some romantic letters to their respective love interests, in hopes of scoring a date to the Pride march. There’s just one problem – their poems lack passion… and rhymes. Only you can save the day! Go on, show them what level 99 Rizz looks like!

Start the event by speaking to Bethan, Gregory, Tabbitha or Quinton at the Blue Moon Inn. Happy Pride, everyone!


[hr][/hr]
[h2]Rewards[/h2]

This year’s Pride event will last two full weeks, and you’ll be able to get your hands on three brand-new cosmetics as well as more customisation options for the iconic Rainbow Scarf!

Love Crossbow

Get some attention from your one true love with this stylish new crossbow!



Poet's Jacket



Pride Jumpers



If you missed out on any of the rewards from previous years, don’t panic! As with any Old School RuneScape event, you can claim your rainbow goodies from Diango in Draynor
[hr][/hr]
[h2]In-Game March with J-Mods[/h2]    

We know that not everyone is able to attend Pride marches in person – but you can still celebrate here in Gielinor, by taking part in our second official Old School Pride march!

Here's the deets:

Date: June 8th 2023

Time: 17:00 BST - 18:00 BST (Be sure to check out our event livestream, too! Details below.)

Worlds:

• 500 - UK - Livestream
• 427 - AU
• 476 - USE
• 435 - USW

The march will set off from Gilbert’s flower patch near the bridge west of Varrock. To take part, rock up to the start point in your finest rainbow FashionScape and follow your J-Mod of choice! Make sure you have ‘walk’ enabled to allow everyone to keep pace.

Don’t forget, there’s a brand-new chat command that lets your overhead speech appear in rainbow colours! To try it out, just type ‘rainbow:’ before your message in the Chat Box

For more information on the march, please refer to the route map below:



[hr][/hr]
[h2]Pride Livestream (T-Shirt Giveaway!)[/h2]



Join us in the Studio for a playthrough of the event on June 8th, followed by an in-game Pride march! You can watch all the fun on our Twitch channel!

We want everyone to feel safe and included during the event, so please note that our Player Support Teams will be on-hand to remove anyone looking to spoil the fun. This is an event to celebrate our LGBTQIA+ players, and we will not tolerate intimidation or harassment.

The livestream will begin at approximately 16:30 BST, beginning with a playthrough of the Event and ending with our In-game Pride march. Towards the end of the stream, we'll be rolling some giveaways for goodies, including a snazzy Pride t-shirt!

Whether you’re LGBTQIA+ or an ally looking to show your support – let’s celebrate!

Check out the terms and conditions here!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Bounty Hunter[/h2]

We’ve made the following changes to Bounty Hunter this week:

• Players will be now be able to Teleport to Target while inside the Crater if they have not been in combat within the last 12 seconds.
• Players should now receive the correct warning when skipping their final target before incurring a penalty.
• Players will no longer be able to leave the crater immediately after using a special attack, similar to the special attack delay present on PvP Worlds.
• When a target goes into combat with their target, rogues will no longer have the priority for receiving the loot. So, if a player is in combat with their target when they die, they will be guaranteed credit for the kill, regardless of the amount of damage they deal. If the dying player was attacked by someone other than their target before they died, normal loot rules apply – the player who did the most damage takes priority.
• Players are no longer able to leave the Crater while dying. This is to resolve an issue where leaving the Crater would take priority over the death.
• Added a chat message upon entering/exiting the crater to let you know that you have a penalty timer if you've skipped too many targets. Similarly, you'll receive a reminder message approximately every 5 minutes.
• The 'Target' dialogue with corrupted warriors will now fittingly inform player that a penalty of 30 minutes will be given after skipping 3 Skulled targets.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]EP System[/h2]

We initially spoke about Earning Potential way back in February. For those of you not in the know, EP is a way for players to earn extra loot while participating in an activity

In Bounty Hunter, an EP system would mitigate the losses faced by newer PvPers and encourage them to pick themselves up and keep battling until they secure a target kill

Unfortunately, GP generation from content like Bounty Hunter has proved… problematic in the past, and so we’re being very cautious about how we handle EP. There’s a delicate line between giving struggling players a helping hand and making boosting for monetary gain an appealing option.

Here’s our proposal:

• To be eligible to earn EP, your ‘risked wealth’ must be above a minimum value. Currently, that value is 50,000 GP, although this is subject to change based on player feedback
• If you’re eligible, your EP value will increase by 1% for every 30 seconds you spend in the Crater with a target assigned.
• Dying to your target will increase your EP by 10%. This can only happen every 15 minutes, and you may only accumulate a maximum of 40% EP in this manner.
• Successfully killing a target will cash in your EP and reward you with a Bounty Crate. Higher EP equals higher value Crates.
• Obtaining a Bounty Crate will reset your EP value to 0%.

In addition:

• Your EP value will not be reset on death or on leaving the Crater.
• You cannot gain EP value if you don't meet the minimum risk.
• You cannot gain EP value if you're currently on a matchmaking penalty.
• You cannot gain EP value if you're not in the Crater itself.
• You'll receive a notification in the Chat Box letting you know that you're eligible to earn EP when a target is assigned, or letting you know that you're not eligible for EP for any of the above reasons.

Bounty Crates contain a handful of Blighted supplies as well as some cold, hard cash. Again, the higher your EP value, the higher the reward will be. The table below shows the average values of different Bounty Crates:



We’ve also made the following feedback changes to our proposal since we first spoke about it last week’s newspost:

• Players need at least 20% EP value to earn a Bounty Crate.
• There are now nine tiers of Crate in total.
  • Previous tier 2 is the new tier 1, tier 3 is the new tier 2, etc.
• EP value increases by 1% every 30 seconds that you're in the Crater, where previously it was 2% for every minute.

[hr][/hr]


Unfortunately, the Open Beta for Forestry will be postponed indefinitely due to unforeseen technical issues.

The team are currently discussing potential ideas to give you as much insight into Forestry before its launch.

Stay tuned for an update.
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• The Fossil Island Bank Chest tent is now a safe area.
• Soul Wars worlds are back!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Crack the Clue[/h2]

Woox has provided us all with another cryptic clue this week. "They will know which step it is related to...".


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

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

• 539 - (US) - PvP 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.

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

The Old School Team.

This week’s update sees changes to Bounty Hunter and the Forestry Open Beta!
[hr][/hr]

[expand]

Bounty Hunter Changes

• Increased the time added back to players’ 2:00 timer when re-entering the Crater from 6 seconds to 15 seconds.
• Skipping an unskulled target no longer contributes to matchmaking penalties.
• The UI will now indicate that you have a matchmaking penalty. Speak to the Corrupted Warrior to see your current penalty timer.
• Perdu can now be found in the lobby area.
• Players now have 6 seconds of immunity from rogue players after entering the Crater. Your target can still attack you, and you will lose immunity upon attacking another player.
• The Esoteric Emblem is now correctly filtered in the Bounty Hunter Store.
• Adjusted the wander range and placement of Corrupted Warriors to stop them engaging players in conversation while they’re trying to bank.
• Blighted supplies are now usable in the lobby area.
• Bounty Hunter World 541 (US West) has been replaced with World 573 (US East).

Last week’s changes:

• Weapon imbues and cosmetic kits are now kept on death, although the base item will still be lost if unprotected.
  • Players that obtained and then lost these items before the coldfix on Friday will be able to refund enough points for one
• Removed the level 75 Attack requirement from Statius’s Warhammer.

Forestry Open Beta

• Forestry is in Open Beta from Monday, 5th June! You'll be able to test the following content:
  • Tree Despawn Mechanics and Bonuses
  • Forestry Kit and Forester's Shop
  • Events (Flowering Tree, Struggling Sapling, Rising Roots and Leprechaun)
  • Tea Brewing
  • Campfires
  • Rewards (excluding 2-handed Axe)

Mobile Issues Update

• Upcoming Client and Engine updates will help to resolve issues with crashing and rendering.
• June will feature more information about the Mobile TLI.

The Future of Bounty Hunter

• We've detailed some potential future plans to ensure Bounty Hunter remains in a good place going into the future!

Other Changes

• The 'Release all placeholders' button in the Bank now has a confirmation warning.
• On a F2P world, players can now see the names of members' items, written like "Dragon dagger (Members)", rather than the item being named "Members item". The items are usable and tradeable only on members-only worlds, as before.
• The Amulet of Nature can now notify you about fully grown or diseased patches from your Inventory, rather than having to be worn.
• (C++ Client Only) Radimus Erkle is now correctly highlighted when using the Clue Scroll Helper.
• (C++ Client Only) The Clue Helper no longer thinks a Round Blue Snelm can be used for the clue that requires a Pointy Blue Snelm.
• (C++ Client Only) Morrigan's Throwing Axe (bh) and Morrigan's Javelin (bh) are no longer considered ammo.

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]
[h2]Bounty Hunter Changes[/h2]



You may have already seen our mini-newspost last week about the upcoming changes to Bounty Hunter. This week, we’re enacting a bunch of improvements based on your feedback!

First up, those of you who just have to dash to the Bank mid-fight will be pleased to learn that we’ve increased the time added back to your 2:00 timer when re-entering the Crater from 6 seconds to 15 seconds. Grab your lobbies from the lobby and get back in plenty of time!

You’ll also get a whole 6 seconds of immunity from Rogues after spawning into the crater – although your target will still be able to attack you. Attacking another player will forfeit your immunity.

And for those of you who’d rather huddle in the lobby than fight your next target, rest assured that skipping an unskulled target no longer contributes to your ‘skip limit’ for the purpose of matchmaking penalties. We’ll be keeping a close eye on how this change plays out in-game over the next few weeks, so no messing about!

On the topic of penalties, you’ll now be informed that you have one on the UI – although you’ll need to speak to a Corrupted Warrior to learn how long your penalty timer will last.

There’s also a familiar new face in the lobby area – Perdu! This notable fellow will help you reclaim and repair your fanciest gear.

We’ve also changed the wander range and placement of the Corrupted Warriors so that they no longer interrupt players trying to use the Bank.

Lastly for the lobby changes, players are now able to use Blighted items there. Yum! And, Bounty Hunter World 541 (US West) has been replaced with World 573 (US East).

And to wrap things up, Esoteric Emblems now appear correctly when filtering the Bounty Hunter Store, and we’ve made a few price changes:



We also made a few changes last week. Firstly, weapon imbues and cosmetic kits are now kept on death, so you can consider them a permanent unlock. Be aware, though, that the base item will still be lost if unprotected.

If you managed to purchase one of these items and then lose them before we made this change on Friday last week, you can refund enough points for one copy of any of the items you’ve already obtained as compensation.

One last change – we’ve removed the 75 Attack requirement from Statius’s Warhammer, which now requires only 75 Strength to equip.

That’s our last change for now, but keep reading to learn our plans for the future of Bounty Hunter! In the meanwhile, though, we’ve got some exciting news about everyone’s favourite Woodcutting expansion…
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Forestry Open Beta[/h2]



The engine team have been tinkering away behind the scenes to improve our Beta worlds! Now, you may be wondering what that has to do with Forestry (unless you’ve already read the title of this section), and the answer is – it’s going into Open Beta!

On Monday 5th June you’ll be able to try Forestry for yourself. As usual, the Beta worlds will be highlighted in blue on the World Selection Interface, so they’re easy to spot!

For the best Forestry experience, we recommend making your way to a classic Woodcutting spot in Draynor Village, where you’ll find the Freaky Forester himself. Speak to him and he’ll tell you all you need to know about Forestry and the new events you can take part in. He’ll even give you a free sample of Anima-Infused Bark for you to spend on some rewards!

There’s quite a bit to try out in this Beta, so before you grab your axes and get stuck in, we recommend having a look at our previous Forestry newspost.

Meanwhile, here’s your ‘chopping list’ of activities to try!

New Tree Mechanics

To help support group play and reduce competition, trees will now despawn on a timer that activates after the first cut and regenerates if players stop cutting the tree before it’s fully chopped. A timer's length is based on the average time each different type of tree currently lasts.

In addition, players chopping the same tree get an invisible Woodcutting bonus that scales with the number of players, up to a maximum of 10.

Forestry Kit and New Currency



This new wearable item lets you store all kinds of useful gadgets from day one – but any good workman knows they must upgrade their tools! You can craft new additions to your Forestry Kit using existing materials, combined with items from the Freaky Forester’s Store. To get your hands on his wares, you’ll need to use an untradeable currency only found in Forestry: Anima Infused Bark.

During the Beta the Freaky Forester will provide you with some Anima Infused Bark to trade. You can earn more by participating in events!

Events

There are four events to test in this Beta, and they’ll appear whether you have the correct Forestry Kit items to summon them or not.

• Rising Roots: Roots will suddenly appear, trying to protect their woody brethren. Cut them down for some experience and Anima Infused Bark.
• Flowering Tree: Bees will appear alongside new flowers that want to bloom. Find the right two flowers to move pollen between for experience, Anima Infused Bark and some seeds or treats!
• Struggling Sapling: Help the poor sapling grow big and strong! Create the right combination of Mulch to feed to the baby tree before it withers away. Get some experience and Anima Infused Bark in return!
• Leprechaun: A friendly Leprechaun has appeared! He’ll be able to take your Woodcutting resources straight to the Bank.

Leaves, Campfires and Tea Brewing



All trees now drop Leaves as well as Logs. Each type has its own associated buffs:

• Production: Boosts production skill level.
• Gathering: Boosts gathering skill level.
• Power: Boosts the power of other leaf effects. Adds no power to empty categories.
• Duration: Increases duration of the boost effect.

You can utilise Leaves in two ways: campfires and Tea brewing.

Create a campfire by lighting some Logs, and you’ll be able to burn Leaves to activate their respective buffs. Then, you and your lumberjack buddies can all gather around the fire and benefit from the leafy goodness!

Alternatively, you can brew Teas with your Leaves for a personal, portable buff. The great thing about Teas is that you can also use Tree Roots on your cuppa to give you one of these special tertiary bonuses:

• Increased Clue drop chance from monsters and skilling.
• Chance to save Ranged ammo and Magic Runes.
• Boosted minigame reward points.
• Boosted Slayer Points and superior monster spawn chance.

Forester's Shop and Rewards

The Freaky Forester has all kinds of goods that will help you on your Forestry journey:

• Log Basket
• Log Brace
• Forestry Outfit
• Lumberjack Outfit
• Funky-Shaped Log

Normally, you’d also be able to buy the 2-Handed Axe from here, but sadly it won’t be making an appearance in this Beta. We have to save some goodies for launch!

We can’t wait for you to get stuck into Forestry for the first time, and we look forward to hearing your feedback through all the usual channels.

TIMBERRRRRR!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Mobile Issue Update[/h2]

We’ve seen multiple reports of players experiencing lag spikes, freezes and crashes on both iOS and Android since our latest mobile update. Players have also reported rendering and resolution issues with the latest C++ Milestone update.

Although our QA team is thorough, no amount of testing can ever compare to a live game with thousands of players all playing the game in different ways. The range of usable devices for the mobile client presents another challenge.

We’ve been investigating and have found the issue to be client-side. Unfortunately, this means the problem is bigger than what a simple hotfix can solve. That said, we’re currently working on two separate solutions which should resolve these issues.

The first is content-side optimisations, which will be released in an upcoming weekly update. Although we can’t give you an exact date just yet, rest assured that the team is working very hard to get this fix live as soon as possible.

In addition, after an Engine update on Wednesday June 7th the team will release an additional Client update which we believe will improve the rendering issues. This is currently scheduled for the following week, and we’ll confirm closer to the time that this schedule is still accurate.

We hope this gives you more clarity on the situation, and we’ll look to update you all further when the fixes are released.

Lastly, there has been a slight delay to our plans regarding the Mobile TLI from the end of last year. Although we haven’t been able to show you our work this month, you’ll be seeing a lot more from us in June, including demos, a more in-depth look, and even a way for you to get your hands on the new design!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]The Future of Bounty Hunter[/h2]

Oh, did you think we were done with Bounty Hunter? Oh no. Despite a fantastic launch week there are still a few exciting additions we’d like to make to this iconic PvP minigame – but we want to know your thoughts before we proceed. Let’s see the plans!

The Earning Potential System

Earning Potential (or EP, for short) is something we spoke about way back in February when we first outlined our plans for Bounty Hunter's return. For those not in the know, EP at a base level is a means for players to earn themselves extra loot while participating in an activity.

In this particular instance, EP is primarily a way for newer players to mitigate some of their losses inside of the Crater and encourage them to pick themselves up, get back in the fight, and keep at it until they secure a target kill and cash in for an extra chunk of loot. Effectively, it's an added layer of reward to soften the blow of lost supplies and gear.

Now, we’re well aware that GP generation from content like Bounty Hunter has proved… problematic in the past, and as such we’re being very cautious about how we handle EP. There’s a delicate line between giving struggling players a helping hand and making boosting for monetary gain an appealing option.

In short, any EP system needs to be free from the kind of loopholes we’ve seen exploited in the past - if ‘76k’ means anything to you, you’ll know exactly what we mean – but at the same time, we’re wary of being too cautious.

Here’s our proposal:

• To be eligible to earn EP, your ‘risked wealth’ must be above a minimum value. Currently, that value is 50,000 GP, although this is subject to change based on player feedback.
• If you’re eligible, your EP value will increase by 2% for every minute you spend in the Crater with a target assigned.
• Dying to your target will increase your EP by 10%. This can only happen every 15 minutes, and you may only accumulate a maximum of 40% EP in this manner.
• Successfully killing a target will cash in your EP and reward you with a Bounty Crate. Higher EP equals higher value Crates.
• Obtaining a Bounty Crate will reset your EP value to 0%.

In addition:

• Your EP value will not be reset on death or on leaving the Crater.
• You cannot gain EP value if you don't meet the minimum risk.
• You cannot gain EP value if you're currently on a matchmaking penalty.
• You cannot gain EP value if you're not in the Crater itself.
• You'll receive a notification in the Chat Box letting you know that you're eligible to earn EP when a target is assigned, or letting you know that you're not eligible for EP for any of the above reasons.

Bounty Crates contain a handful of Blighted supplies as well as some cold, hard cash. Again, the higher your EP value, the higher the reward will be. The table below shows the average values of different Bounty Crates:



We’ll most likely implement the EP system in next week’s update, so let us know any thoughts you have on it ASAP!

Boosting in Bounty Hunter

With the previous section in mind, this feels like an opportune moment to talk about boosting.

Although this iteration of the Bounty Hunter rewards are almost all untradeable, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and certain unscrupulous players have been bolstering their points by nefarious means over the last week.

Needless to say, we’re disappointed in these players. Exploiting the lower population of certain worlds to sell kills is diluting the matchmaking pool for players who want to enjoy Bounty Hunter legitimately, and ultimately griefing those who’ve been waiting for this minigame to return for a long time.

To make things clear, we know there’s a big difference between exploiting the game and helping your friend through a tough bit of content. The latter is a key part of the MMO experience, after all! The difference is that nobody’s ability to engage with and complete, say, Tombs of Amascut is impacted by a few friends agreeing to carry their mate through it so they can get the Grandmaster Speedrun Combat Achievement. However, someone’s ability to engage with Honour PvP in Bounty Hunter is massively impacted if most of their opponents are only there to sell kills and have no interest in properly engaging with the minigame.

Obviously, we could solve this issue by reducing the number of eligible worlds back down to two, but we don’t want to further diminish the experience of players outside the UK and US West regions.

Instead, we’re going to begin issuing punishments to players involved in boosting in Bounty Hunter. If we detect that you are buying kills, selling kills, or even participating in a boosting chat or clan, you will be banned.

This isn’t a decision we take lightly, but Old School RuneScape is a community-driven game, and Bounty Hunter has been seriously impacted by the actions of a few bad apples in the past. If you are actively undermining this experience for other players, you will be removed from the game.

Now, with that bit of unpleasantness out of the way, let’s take a look at the other changes we’d like to make!

Esoteric Emblem Adjustments

Our next suggestion is a tweak to the way Emblems and points work.

While we’ve seen absolutely loads of you getting stuck into PvP for the first time, we’ve also seen feedback from veteran players that the current implementation of Emblems might encourage kill streaks a little too much, which is offputting for players who can’t consistently rack up their numbers.

Currently, you need to score nine target kills in a row to secure a Tier 10 Emblem. Although you can hand them in sooner, it’s not always easy to step back from a winning streak – and losing it all at the last hurdle doesn’t feel great.

Our proposed changes will make the Emblem system less punishing while ensuring it still feels worthwhile. They are as follows:

• Killing your target will reward 2 BH points and level your Emblem up by a tier. This behaviour is unchanged.
• Kill milestones at 10, 50, 100 and 500 kill increments will also remain as they are.
• Killing a target with an Emblem of their own no longer rewards additional bonus points. Meaning if you kill a target who had a Tier 9 Emblem, you won't receive any extra points.
• Dying with an Emblem will reduce its tier by 1, rather than deleting it outright. This means that dying with a Tier 9 Emblem will downgrade it to a Tier 8 Emblem. If you have a Tier 1 Emblem, however, you will lose it – there’s nothing to downgrade it to!

Let us know what you think of this one – if it’s something that seems well-received then we’ll implement it in a future update!

Ancient Warrior Armour Adjustments

Since release, more and more of you have started getting your hands on the iconic Ancient Warrior armour. It's been great to see more players zooming about in these offensive power armours, but we can also see that some choices remain significantly more popular than others.

In particular, Statius's and Zuriel's armour sets could use a little more love!

Status’s gear, in particular, falls south of Vesta’s equivalents in all offensive stats, and their tanky benefits don’t do much in a fast-paced environment like Daimon’s Crater. We’d like to tweak these sets so that they’re both appealing in different loadouts, rather than Vesta’s feeling like the obvious choice regardless of the circumstances.

Additionally, while it’s true that Magic doesn’t thrive inside the Crater, we feel like giving Zuriel’s set a little extra oomph might make this playstyle a little more appealing.

These are the changes we’re considering:

Note: any changes to bonuses apply to both the 'standard' and 'corrupt' versions of these armours unless otherwise specified.

Vesta's Chainbody

• Stab and Slash bonuses increased from +9 to +14.
• Crush bonus reduced from +9 to +4.

Vesta's Plateskirt

• Stab and Slash bonuses increased from +7 to +10.
• Crush bonus reduced from +7 to +3.

Statius's Full Helm

• Stab and Slash bonuses reduced from +3 to +1.
• Crush bonus increased from +5 to +6.

Statius's Platebody

• Stab and Slash bonuses reduced from +5 to +2.
• Crush bonus increased from +7 to +14.
• Prayer bonus increased from +1 to +3. This change does not apply to Corrupt Statius's Platebody.

Statius's Platelegs

• Stab and Slash bonuses reduced from +3 to +1.
• Crush bonus increased from +5 to +10.
• Prayer bonus increased from +1 to +3. This change does not apply to Corrupt Statius's Platelegs.

Zuriel's Hood

• Magic Damage increased from 0% to 1%.

Zuriel's Robe Top

• Magic Damage increased from 0% to 3%.

Zuriel's Robe Bottom

• Magic Damage increased from 0% to 2%.

We’d also like to propose some tweaks to Vesta’s Spear. Currently, this weapon’s special attack consumes 50% of your special attack energy, damages up to 16 targets within the 8 tiles around you and makes you immune to melee attacks for 4.8 seconds. That seems pretty cool on paper, but in a 1v1 environment like Bounty Hunter, it’s next to useless.

We suggest a reworked special attack that impales one enemy for up to 100% of your max hit, then performs a second hit for between 25-75% of the initial damage as you yank the spear back out. Ouch! While your opponent is reeling, you’ll enter a defensive stance and gain immunity to melee attacks for 4.8 seconds.

We know this is a little spicy for a special attack, but we thought it was a more interesting option than essentially not having one at all – so let us know what you think!

That’s a wrap on everything we’re thinking about for the future of Bounty Hunter. We’re still keeping a close eye on all your feedback following launch, including teleports within the crater, the Dark Bow imbue, the Voidwaker, minimum Coffer deposits and more. Stay tuned!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• The 'Release all placeholders' button in the Bank now has a confirmation warning.
• On a F2P world, players can now see the names of members' items, written like "Dragon dagger (Members)", rather than the item being named "Members item". The items are usable and tradeable only on members-only worlds, as before.
• The Amulet of Nature can now notify you about fully grown or diseased patches from your Inventory, rather than having to be worn.
• (C++ Client Only) Radimus Erkle is now correctly highlighted when using the Clue Scroll Helper.
• (C++ Client Only) The Clue Helper no longer thinks a Round Blue Snelm can be used for the clue that requires a Pointy Blue Snelm.
• (C++ Client Only) Morrigan's Throwing Axe (bh) and Morrigan's Javelin (bh) are no longer considered ammo.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Crack the Clue[/h2]

Woox has provided us all with another cryptic clue this week. "No additional info will be required"... ominous!


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

The Old School Team.

It's time to gear up and go berserk this week, as Old School's most iconic PvP minigame makes its bloody return…
[hr][/hr]
A note from the team: Vesta's blighted longsword is useable within Bounty Hunter, however its death behaviour is currently unchanged. This means that if your blighted longsword is not protected, it will be lost on death. Earning enough points to buy Vesta's longsword from the rewards shop will give you a variant which always reverts to an inactive state on death, and requires further charging with GP. All that to say: don't risk your Vesta's blighted longsword on release if you're not prepared to lose it.
[hr][/hr]

[expand]

Bounty Hunter

• Added Bounty Hunter to the game, accessed via a portal in the south-east corner of Ferox Enclave.
• There's more than we can feasibly cover in this changelog, scroll down for further details on various aspects of the minigame!

XP Rates & Scaling

• XP Modifiers for NPCs stops scaling with HP after 2,000 HP, this should reduce the potency of some training methods at Zebak in particular.
• The 'Cure Me' spell can now only be cast once per game tick (once every 0.6 seconds).

Other Changes

• Tortured Gorillas now have a melee animation that actually looks like a melee animation, as opposed to a ranging animation.
• Loot from the Wilderness bosses is now always dropped in their lairs, rather than wherever the player is at the time of their death.
• Crystal armour and Enhanced crystal keys are now immune to alchemy spells, similar to the behaviour of other crystal items.
• Fixed a bug that was preventing players from finding matches in 1v1 Duels at the PvP Arena. We fixed this one towards the end of last week but wanted to include it here to make sure eveybody's in the loop!
• Following a hotfix last week, logging out in Tithe Farm no longer resets the amount of seeds you have to 100, the number of seeds in your inventory are now preserved (up to a maximum of 10,000) after logging out.
• While not strictly a gameplay change, it's now possible to add up to 20 characters to your Jagex Account, up from the original 10! Keep an eye out for future improvements down the line as we try to action more of your feedback, including the ability to re-order your Character list on the Jagex Launcher!

PvP Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

• 539 - (US) - PvP 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.

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

[/expand]

[hr][/hr]

[h2]Bounty Hunter[/h2]

Bounty Hunter is BACK, baby!

While we’ve been ramping up support for PvP content in recent years, we still regularly see feedback that it’s really hard for fresh faces to dip their toes into Old School’s risk-it-all PvP gameplay. That’s why we’ve designed the new-and-improved Bounty Hunter minigame as the perfect jumping off point, with nothin’ but fun, fast-paced Honour PvP.

By introducing fresh blood into the PvP ecosystem we hope to bolster activity across the board – be it in minigames, DMM, or the Wilderness!

So come on – keep reading to find out how you can get started with Bounty Hunter, and get ready for a summer of PvP fun!

Getting Started

Click to enlarge and get a full lay of the land for Daimon's Crater

To access Bounty Hunter, you’ll also need to be on a Bounty Hunter world. At launch, these worlds are 318 and 319. Yes, these are the former Target Worlds, which we’re sunsetting for now – but don’t worry, the Emblem Trader in the Revenant Caves is still hanging around to accept your ancient artefacts.

Upon opening your World Map, you’ll notice a mysterious new area north of the Wilderness volcano called Daimon’s Crater. Now, it’d be lovely if you could sail there, but we’re still working on that – so instead, you’ll want to make your way to the Ferox Enclave and hop through the ominous-looking red portal in the southeast corner. Don’t panic – the Castle Wars portal that used to be in this spot has been carefully relocated outside the Old Nite pub.



Once you’re through the portal, you’ll find yourself in the lobby area, a weirdly charming fort in the centre of Daimon’s Crater. You’ll be spending a lot of time here, so don’t forget to familiarise yourself with the amenities provided!

In the middle, the same portal that brought you to Bounty Hunter will teleport you back to Ferox Enclave. Paths to the north, east, south and west of this portal lead to the exit barriers, which will take you to the minigame itself – make sure you’re ready for a fight before interacting with these!

Around the outside of the lobby, you’ll find two Bank Chests, two Pools of Refreshment, a Coffer, a Loot Chest, and a Poll Booth. That should cover everything you might need between bouts of carnage!



Of course, the Emblem Trader is also lurking about, ready to give you the skinny on the Daimon’s Crater lore, help you Skull up, and trade for a selection of goodies in the rewards store.

You’ll also find a pair of Corrupted Warriors. Despite their gnarly Dragon armour, they’re actually super chill, and will teach you everything you need to know about Bounty Hunter, including the rules of combat, a list of the Corrupt and Ancient Warrior gear you’ve purchased, and how you can get your hands on those iconic Bounty Hunter hats. Yes, the hats are back! Just so you know, the kill count required to unlock them will be made up of any pre-existing Bounty Hunter kills you'd racked up, added to any kills you secure in this iteration. For example, if you had 1,000 target kills already, you'd need another 1,500 target kills to unlock the Bounty Hunter Hat (tier 6).

Now that you’re familiar with the Crater, there are a few more admin bits to get through before you’re ready to play Bounty Hunter.

First, you’ll need a combat level of at least 32, and at least 48 hours of play time.

Depending on your Combat level, you'll have to put up a minimum 'deposit' which will be lost on death if you're unskulled. Skulled players will lose a token 10,000 GP from their coffer on death, so make sure you throw a few pennies in before getting started! We've received some feedback that these numbers are likely too low, so let us know your thoughts and we'll remain open to adjusting them as necessary.



When you’re ready, click on any of the exit barriers and enter Daimon’s Crater. Prepare for bloodshed!

Daimon's Crater



Combat inside Bounty Hunter works a little differently. On release, the following rules will be applied to all combat within the Crater:

• No teleporting – although you can use the Teleport to Target spell from inside the lobby (not the Crater itself!) if you already have a target assigned.
• No overhead protection Prayers.
• No binding spell effects, including the freeze from Ice spells - although damage is still applied as normal.
• No teleblocking.

These restrictions ensure that Honour PvP remains at the heart of Bounty Hunter.

That said, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how these rules play out in practice, especially the one about ‘no teleporting’. We’re already aware of requests for a ‘No Honour’ crater, but it’s not something we plan to introduce at launch.

There are also some other rules designed to make Bounty Hunter more welcoming to new PvP enthusiasts:

• Combat XP is blocked, but you'll still receive 'fake' XP drops so that you're able to figure out when's a good time to prepare a ferocious Granite maul combo.
• To limit rushing, any player who initiates combat will be blocked from exiting the Crater for 30 seconds, although their target will be allowed to leave.
• Any untradeables, such as staples like Void knight armour, the Avernic defender or the Inferno cape will revert to a 'broken' state on death if not protected, requiring you to repair them at Perdu and dropping the same repair fee to whoever brought you down.
• PJ Timer restrictions mirror those of PvP worlds. The only exception is that your Target will always take priority – so, if you’re engaging in rogue activity and attack someone who isn’t your target, your actual target will be able to interrupt at any point.
• The default matchmaking range is set to within five combat levels of the player, although you can increase this to 10 or 15 levels by speaking to the Emblem Trader in the lobby.
• Rogue players (more on this in a moment) will only be able to attack players within five combat levels of their own.

Upon passing through the exit barriers, you’ll spawn in at one of the designated spooky markers around the arena. You’ll then be assigned an appropriate target, whose name, combat level, and rough distance from you will appear on the UI. If you get a look at your target and decide they’re a bit too scary for you, you can skip your target using the green ‘fast forward’ button next to their name. Leaving the Crater for two minutes or logging out will also skip your target. If you need to leave the Crater to restock your supplies and re-enter before the two-minute timer is up, you’ll get a little extra time to compensate.

Skipping three targets within 30 minutes will get you a penalty. This 30-minute window starts when you first skip a target, and the penalty is as follows:

• No Emblem drop or upgrade on your next target kill, coupled with half as many BH Points.
• Unable to receive a new target for 30 minutes.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking that matchmaking isn’t for you. Perhaps you’d rather be a menace. You’re in luck! As with previous iterations of Bounty Hunter, you’ll be able to go Rogue, throw the rules out the window, and attack anyone within five combat levels of your own, whether they’re your target or not. Rogue kills will reward you with anything your target wasn’t protecting (the PvP standard) as well as any GP in their Coffer that you're eligible for, but you won’t receive Emblem upgrades of BH Points.

Exit the Crater by clicking one of the four lobby entrances in the centre. You can do this even while you’re in combat. This lets you quickly top up your supplies and have a little splash in the Pool before getting back into the action.

Points, Emblems and Rewards

The reward system in Bounty Hunter is simple. Kill your target, earn two Bounty Hunter (BH) Points.

On top of this, there are extra Points up for grabs at various kill milestones, similar to Slayer tasks:



You’ll also get an Esoteric Emblem drop on your first target kill. These are a way for players to earn extra points if they can rack up a substantial kill streak without dying. Players can hold one Emblem at a time, either in their Inventory or the Bank. As with previous iterations of the minigame, your Emblem will level up with each successful target kill, up to the maximum of Tier 10. Be careful though – if you die while holding your Emblem, you’ll have to obtain another one and start over!

Trading in Emblems or killing targets who are risking Emblems of their own, will earn you additional BH Points! The table below shows the ‘trade-in’ value of the Emblems:



This system ultimately aims to reward players for securing killstreaks, while also preventing more unscrupulous players from transferring their pre-levelled Emblems to their mates.

Should you lose your Emblem – for whatever reason – you can buy a fresh one from the Emblem Trader for two points, just in case you’d like to start levelling it without ‘wasting’ a new kill.

Any particularly brave Iron players among you will have to purchase tier 1 emblems from the shop, since you won't be able to obtain a fresh emblem from kills (though you'll be able to level them up just like everybody else).

Now you’ve got some points, you can spend them on PRIZES!



The Emblem Trader has a variety of goodies for sale, including Ancient Warrior gear, weapon imbues, and cosmetics. To learn more about them, have a gander at the Poll Blog, or check out the Ancient Warrior stats using the slides below!

Remember, all of the Ancient Warriors' Equipment (including the Corrupt versions) require charging with GP to be used within the crater, with this fee being lost on death to whoever killed you and you respawning with an inactive version (in other words, unlocking Ancient Warrior kit is effectively permanent, requiring nothing but GP to continue using).

• Ancient Warrior Weapons - 50,000,000 GP
• Ancient Warrior Armour - 5,000,000 GP per piece
• Corrupt Ancient Warrior Armour - 1,500,000 GP per piece

In addition to all this lovely stuff, we’ve also included a few extras.

First up are a number of Blighted supplies, which will let you keep topped up on food and potions without breaking the bank. Initially this might serve as a way to make a little extra cash on the side, but we hope that long-term the price of these items will drop significantly. After all, supplies can make up the lion’s share of the wealth risked in PvP, and Blighted items will help alleviate that cost for players who just want to give it a go.

The eagle-eyed among you might also have noticed a Target Teleport Scroll in the screenshot above. As we mentioned earlier, if you’re in the lobby with a target assigned, you’ll be able to teleport to them using the Teleport to Target spell. With that in mind, it made sense to make the Scroll obtainable from the only piece of content it benefits!

Without further ado, that should be all the information you need to get started in Bounty Hunter today. We hope to see Daimon’s Crater absolutely jam-packed with PvP veterans and newbies alike!

We’ll be keeping a close eye on all the usual feedback channels, so feel free to tell us your thoughts!

For those of you wondering what’s next on the PvP content front, we’re hoping to spend some time in the near future making tweaks to existing Wilderness content, and we’d advise you to keep your eyes peeled for a little something-something we’re not quite ready to talk about yet…

In the meantime, though, check out the other changes and fixes from this week’s update!

• Tortured Gorillas now have a melee animation that actually looks like a melee animation, as opposed to a ranging animation.
• Loot from the Wilderness bosses is now always dropped in their lairs, rather than wherever the player is at the time of their death.
• Crystal Armour and Enhanced Crystal Keys are now immune to Alchemy spells, just like other Crystal items.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from finding matches in 1v1 Duels at the PvP Arena. We fixed this one towards the end of last week but wanted to include it here to make sure everybody’s in the loop!
• Logging out in Tithe Farm no longer resets the number of seeds you have to 100. The number of seeds in your Inventory are now preserved (up to a maximum of 10,000) after logging out.
• While not strictly a gameplay change, it's now possible to add up to 20 characters to your Jagex Account, up from the original 10! Keep an eye out for future improvements down the line as we try to action more of your feedback, including the ability to re-order your Character list on the Jagex Launcher!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Experience Scaling & Rates[/h2]

Some of you may be aware of a handful of particularly high XP per hour methods at Zebak within the Tombs of Amascut. In particular, large groups and high Raid levels boost Zebak's stats (especially Hitpoints) significantly, resulting in a large XP modifier.

If you've never noticed it before, bosses with higher stats often give more XP per damage dealt than other NPCs. Without going into too much detail, as these stats increase, the XP you earn also increases. Hitpoints impacts this XP modifier disproportionately when compared to other stats, so you'll notice NPCs with high health pools such as Nex, Verzik P3, Bloat and especially Zebak award significantly more XP than is standard.

By scaling up your raid and bringing a large group, players have been able to achieve XP rates north of 1,000,000 XP per hour in several Combat stats, and organised groups are beginning to optimise these methods to the point where they're becoming accessible in a way that we believe damages the game's health long-term.

This week, we're introducing a hard 'cap' on how much XP can scale with Hitpoints. While the immediate intent of this change is to cut down on players in groups at Zebak gaining astronomical XP rates, our reason for introducing a game-wide cap is to prevent similar issues from cropping up in the future, rather than needing to tweak or adjust on a case-by-case basis. While this will have some knock-on effects in slightly reducing the XP you gain passively in other places like the Theatre of Blood or at Nex, we believe this change is worth making sooner rather than later.

In a similar vein (though not directly related to the above), some crafty players have discovered a method to gain some considerably high Magic XP rates via the 'Cure Me' spell in an area of the game where they're able to have venom constantly re-applied to them. With this week's update, we've made a small tweak to 'Cure Me' that should reduce the potency of this training method without disrupting its intended use case too much.

You'll now only be able to cast 'Cure Me' once per game tick (or, once every 0.6 seconds). This means that for any Irons out there chasing Zulrah kills without anti-venoms, you may have to spread out your clicks a little if you're removing venom with this handy Lunar offering - so make sure to keep an eye on your Hitpoints orb to double-check you've reset your venom damage as expected!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Merch Update[/h2]

Alongside some new PvP-centric cosmetics in-game, why not bring some fearsome fashionscape with you into the real world?

To celebrate the return of Bounty Hunter, we're releasing a refreshed PK Skull range on the merch store!



Treat yourself to an embroidered tee or cap as another UK summer approaches, perhaps a distressed skull tee if embroidery's not your thing. If you're somewhere a little cooler this time of year, grab yourself a PK Skull Varsity jacket! If you're not particularly clothes-y (we're pretty sure that's not a word but bear with us), then grab yourself a spooky PK Skull keyring from Angels Scapes. Please try to steer clear of real-world PvP, or you might lose your keys!
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Crack the Clue[/h2]

Woox is back with another hint that requires no additional info, so feast your eyes on this handy scroll!


[hr][/hr]

[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

• 539 - (US) - PvP 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.

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

That's a wrap on this week! We hope you have a blast in Bounty Hunter and remember: don't risk anything you're not willing to lose!
[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 Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Nin, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Shroom, Sigma, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Starry, Stevew, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.