Old School RuneScape News

[h3]Issues and Hotfixes[/h3]

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• 12:50 GMT, March 9th - The logout timer was increased from 16 cycles (9.6s) to 20 cycles (12s) - Resolved.
  
  • With the introduction of the increased PJ timer, we also increased the time it takes you to log out after being in combat from 10 seconds to 12 seconds.
    
  • We've opted to revert this following initial feedback. This means the time required to log out after combat will return to 10 seconds as it was before today's update.
    
  • We'll monitor how this impacts the Wilderness over the next few weeks and use your feedback to gauge if further changes are required.
    

• 13:00 GMT, March 9th - (LEAGUES ONLY) Last Recall was not teleporting you correctly within the new Kalphite Queen instances - Resolved.
  
  • This has now been fixed and Last Recall should now correctly teleport into the Lair, instead of an instance.
    

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This week we’ve got updates on the PJ Timer, Loot Keys, Clan Broadcasts and more!

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[h2]Player and NPC PJ Timer[/h2]

Rejoice! The player and NPC PJ Timer has been added to the game!

A bit of background: in most parts of the Wilderness, players who've been attacked by an NPC can't be attacked by other players. That's normally fair and good, but issues can arise when players run into a field of NPCs and 'box' them to unfairly gain protection against honest, hardworking PKers.

Some of you have also fallen victim to 'pile jumping' or 'player jumping' (the eponymous 'PJ'), which is when another player muscles in when your opponent is nearly dead, stealing your kill and swiping the loot.

Last summer we spoke about our solution to both issues: replacing all single-way combat areas in the Wilderness with singles-plus and adding a PJ Timer to those same zones. However, following your feedback we've opted to go with a different solution that'll make Wilderness combat feel a bit more inviting.

A quick note before we get started – we refer to in-game timings as 'cycles.' Each cycle equals 0.6 seconds and is sometimes known as a 'tick'.

Our new proposal will add a PJ Timer to Single-way combat areas for both players and NPCs. We've also increased the length of the PJ Timer from 16 cycles (9.6 seconds) to 20 cycles (12 seconds). To keep consistency with this new change, we've also increased the logout timer to 20 cycles (12 seconds).

This means that whenever you attack something aggressive monsters or player opponents will be unable to hit you for the next 20 cycles (12 seconds). So, if Player A had just finished PvP combat with Player B, NPCs won't be able to get into the action until the PJ timer runs down.

And for those of you who like their Wilderness combat just as it was, you'll be happy to hear that the new PJ Timer is inactive on worlds 318 and 319.

Please note that the new PJ Timer rules will also apply to the extended Timer in the Single-plus combat Revenant Caves.

We believe that these changes will have a positive impact on PvP activity in the Wilderness but as always we'll continue to monitor the effects of this update moving forwards. Once you've given the new system a try, send us your feedback and let us know what you think of the newest changes.

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[h2]Loot Key Improvements[/h2]

On the subject of the Wilderness, we're glad to hear that you're all enjoying Loot Keys! We've read through your feedback and there's a couple of changes we're introducing this week.

Firstly, Loot Chests have been added to the Grand Exchange, the Edgeville Bank, and the Mage Arena Bank.

Secondly, we've reduced the price of Loot Keys to 1 million GP. For those of you that have purchased this option before today's update, upon login you will receive the difference (4,000,000 GP) sent straight to your bank.

Okay, now for something a bit more complex.

Prior to this week's update, when two players died, one after the other, and with Loot Keys enabled, the first player to die would have their loot converted to a Key, which would then be handed to the second player to die. The second player would then generate a Key with their own loot, thereby handing back both their own Key and the Key they just earned back to the first player to die. If they died at the exact same time, the 'first' player would be essentially randomly decided by the order in which the server processed the deaths. That's not fair, and it's got to change!

From now on, if you die to a player who is either in the process of dying or has died recently:

• Any Loot Keys you have on your person will be destroyed.
  
• Your loot will drop to the floor regardless of the Loot Key settings of the other player.
  

Happy hunting!

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[h2]Clan Broadcast Improvements and Group Ironman Notifications Menu[/h2]

You've given us some great suggestions for improving the existing Clan Broadcast system – and we're implementing some of them this week!

The following items have been added into the current loot broadcasts (assuming they exceed the value set):

• Pharoah's Sceptre
  
• Barrows loot
  
• Amulet of Eternal Glory from the Fountain of Rune
  

Pet broadcasts will now include the KC or XP the pet was at when obtained. We've also added more options which will allow players to further customise their clan's level up notifications.

We've also added new settings for:

• New Collection Log entries
  
• New personal bests (only appears after beating your current personal best)
  
• Player kills (under a threshold set by the clan)
  
• When a clan member dies in PvP
  
• Completion of an Achievement Diary tier
  
• 10 million XP milestones above level 99
  
• Hardcore deaths (this same setting will announce when a Hardcore Group Iron player loses a life even when their status doesn't change)
  

And that's not all! We're also adding the Group Ironman Notifications Menu, which will allow you to toggle which broadcasts your group receives and set thresholds for the entire group. You can open this menu from the Group Settings.



We want to ensure that Group Iron players have the same customisation options as clans, so all the above changes will be added to the Group Notification Settings Menu. The exception is the Hardcore death broadcast setting, which is on for Group Iron players by default.



You can now set your clan so that only certain ranks can send broadcast messages. Since Group Ironman groups are smaller and less prone to spam, they can simply enable or disable broadcasts.

With these changes, we've also moved away from the Group Iron broadcasts being determined by individual variables on each group member. Now the data is stored on the group itself and affects everyone, which should be much nicer!

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[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Ironmen now have their own separate Kalphite Queen instance. It works exactly the same as the regular lair, just like other Ironman-only instances throughout the game.
  
• We've also added two braziers in the Kalphite Lair. One is located near the shortcut, and the other is at a safe spot away from the high-level Kalphite by the entrance.
  
• The Birthday Event has been removed. See you all next year and remember to ski responsibly!
  
• Player models will no longer be distorted when transforming into a goblin and then teleporting.
  
• Tweaked the look of the Vasa room in Chambers of Xeric to make it look more organic. The layout and functionality remains the same.
  
• The ability to customise your character's foot shape was only offered at Account Creation, so we've offered the ability to change it at Yrsa's Shoe Store.
  
• You'll now appear to be holding a Barbarian Fishing Rod when fishing with a Barbarian Fishing Rod.
  
• If you don't meet the requirements to make anything at the Prifddinas Singing Bowl, you will now be shown the recipe book to help you identify the ingredients you lack.
  
• Justine's Reward Shop has discounted Trouver Parchments to make them more accessible in future. Refunds will not be offered for Parchments that have already been used or purchased – Justine has to make a living, you know!
  
• The Beekeeper now prioritises granting costume pieces to players who don't have a full set, like other costume-giving random events.
  
• Trees near Prifddinas now have stumps that match their size more accurately.
  
• Certain Combat Achievement tasks now perform their checks correctly in the final phase of the Alchemical Hydra fight.
  
• Fixed a spelling error in Troll Romance.
  

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[h2]PvP 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.

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Discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the#gameupdatechannel. For reference on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kamon, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Matheus, Maylea, Markos, Meat, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Nylu, Oasis, Peppers, Regent, Redfield, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Sigma, Skylark, Soffan, Sova, Squid, Steve W, Tide, Torrance, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team

This week’s update brings Group Ironman improvements, homepage changes, and an update on death piles!

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[h2]Homepage Changes[/h2]

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed a direct link to the RuneLite website has appeared on our homepage. We’ve been working with Adam and the team for some time now, and as part of our commitment to that working relationship we’ve decided to provide an official link. We hope that this will also prevent phishing attempts by fake RuneLite sites.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Adam, the wider RuneLite team and its wonderful community for their continued support of Old School RuneScape!

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[h2]Group Ironman Improvements[/h2]

Player Owned Houses

Group Iron players can now teleport directly to their teammate's Player Owned Houses via the ‘Teleport to House’ spell in the standard spellbook. Right-clicking the spell will present two new options: ‘Group: Choose’ and ‘Group: Previous’. The first option will bring up an interface where you can choose whose house to visit, and the second one will teleport you to the previous house visited.

The following requirements must be met:

• The owner of the house is on the same world as the teleporter.
  
• The owner isn't in Build Mode.
  
• The teleporter meets the requirements to access the relevant Player Owned House portal.
  

In addition, all players can now enter Player Owned Houses while the owner isn’t home. The owner must have the house unlocked, without the ‘Private’ setting enabled. They must also be friends with the visitor.

Group Ironman Storage Expansion

Group Iron players can now increase their Group Storage space by completing specific tasks!

A new button has been added to the Group Storage interface and the Group Settings menu. Clicking it will open a new interface with a list of tasks you can undertake to expand the size of the Group Storage. They will be tracked across the group and will only unlock once a player has accessed the Group Storage after completing a task.

Here's the full list of tasks (X is replaced with the specific task variables):

• Equip a Rune Platebody
  
• Equip a pair of Stronghold of Security Boots
  
• Achieve a 99 in a X type skill (Four separate tasks, one per skill type)
  
• Achieve a 99 in the X skill (23 separate tasks, one per skill)
  
• Achieve X Quest Points (Four separate tasks: 50, 100, 150, 200)
  
• Achieve X Combat Level (Three separate tasks: 50, 100, 126)
  
• Achieve X Total Level (Five separate tasks: 500, 750, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000)
  
• Complete All X Achievement Diaries (Four separate tasks: Easy, Medium, Hard, Elite)
  
• Complete the X tier of Combat Achievements (Six separate tasks: Easy, Medium, Hard, Elite, Master, Grandmaster)
  

Escape Crystals

Verzik's Crystal Shards have been renamed ‘Escape Crystal’. Players can buy them from the Mysterious Stranger outside the Theatre of Blood and from Rick in the Wizards’ Tower for 75,000 GP each. After speaking to Rick and opening the Buy menu once, you can right-click him to access the menu again quickly.

The Escape Crystals have two functions:

• You can activate them to instantly teleport away from dangerous situations.
  
• If you have allowed other players to teleport you out of dangerous areas, they can use their crystal to send you away. This consumes both players' crystals. To toggle this, right-click the crystal and press ‘Toggle’. The option is turned off by default.
  

The Escape Crystals only work in the following areas:

• Pest Control
  
• The Inferno
  
• TzHaar-Ket-Rak's Challenges (also known as the Six Jad Challenge)
  
• Chambers of Xeric
  
• Theatre of Blood
  
• Barbarian Assault
  

Ring of Life

The Ring of Life’s effect (shared by the Max Cape, Defence Skill Cape and Trimmed Defence Skill Cape) now works in the following areas for Hardcore Group Ironman players:

• Fight Caves
  
• Fragment of Seren (Memoriam Device replay only)
  
• Galvek (Pool of Dreams replay only)
  
• Glough (Burning Brazier replay only)
  
• Inferno
  
• Knight Waves
  
• Mage Training Arena
  
• Nightmare Zone
  
• Pest Control
  

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[h2]Ultimate Ironman Update: Death Piles[/h2]

Back in December, we proposed some adjustments to death piles – essentially an engine change that would alter the way the game recognises items dropped on death.

In short, we can make the game recognise death pile items on your player save, rather than the world’s save. This would grant greater protection to items dropped by Ultimate Iron players in the event of a world crash or disconnection, but the changes would be noticeable by all account types.

Under the new system, if you had an untradeable item on the ground, visible only to you, it will be saved when you log off and reappear when you log back in. The time the item stays on the ground will remain the same, but critically, the timer will pause while you’re offline.

There are other effects. All account types will notice that if they have the setting enabled which drops food and potions as a supply pile upon death, this pile will also benefit from the paused despawn timer and will appear in any world you log in to. We can also use this system for item drops in mass encounters to avoid the issues we saw when Nex launched, where so many items were dropping that some players’ drops disappeared.



Although feedback for this proposal was largely positive, there were some concerns about memory capacity. Worlds currently delete items if too many of them show up on a single tile, so the worry here is that items could be deleted if multiple players were to world-hop and drop piles of items in the same spot.

We are happy to confirm that the items are saved in their own list, so logging in with saved items will not delete other items on the ground.

The items will only be stored if:

• You are both the owner and dropper of that item.
  
• That item will never become visible to anyone else.
  

Given that this proposal resolves a game-breaking issue experienced by all kinds of players, we consider this change a matter of game integrity, and will therefore proceed without a poll.

We would hope to implement these changes sometime in March, so stay tuned!

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[h2]Other Changes [/h2]

• Players in Single-way and Singles Plus combat zones can no longer be attacked by two players at once.
  
• On Target worlds, players are now able to interrupt existing fights in Singles Plus areas in order to attack their assigned target, as they can in Single-way zones.
  
• Entering and leaving The Gauntlet with an Amulet of Avarice equipped will no longer clear your skull.
  
• An infinite loop in the ‘I Should See A Doctor’ Combat Achievement has been fixed.
  
• Nightmare (Solo) Speed-Trialist is now an Elite rather than Master task.
  

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[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.

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Discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the#gameupdatechannel. For reference on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kamon, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Matheus, Maylea, Markos, Meat, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Nylu, Oasis, Peppers, Regent, Redfield, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Sigma, Skylark, Soffan, Sova, Squid, Steve W, Tide, Torrance, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team.

February is the shortest month of the year, but we packed it with some great updates, including Land of the Goblins, Wilderness changes and our 9th Birthday Event!

We’re super excited about what’s to come over the next few months. Our teams are now all hands on deck, working hard to deliver you all the new content we promised in December. So, without further ado, let’s get stuck in!

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[h2]Project Status Update[/h2]


[h3]Released Content[/h3]


Leagues III: Shattered Relics

It’s almost time to close the curtain on Leagues III: Shattered Relics, but thanks to your feedback we already have some great ideas for next time, alongside some quality-of-life changes that’ll make every League going forward an even better experience.

This month we also revealed the awesome Shattered Relics Medals, which we’ll be handing out to certain players for their accomplishments in the League. For more info, check the blog!


New Client Features and Android Open Beta

The Android Open Beta has launched, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on how you’re getting along with the latest features on mobile.

We’re still aiming for an iOS Beta in the near future. Stay tuned for more news on that front!

We’ve already started working on the next batch of new client features, where we’ll be getting clued up on… Clues! See what we did there?


Land of the Goblins

Lastly, February saw the release of the penultimate quest in the Dorgeshuun storyline, which let us all finally equip the ultimate fashionscape accessory, Goblin Mail.

As our first-ever quest port, Land of the Goblins has spurred a lot of interesting conversations about porting other quests. Keep scrolling to see our thoughts on that!


[h3]Upcoming Content[/h3]



Guardians of the Rift

We’ve been toiling away to bring you Guardians of the Rift and the accompanying quest, Temple of the Eye, and we’re happy to report that it’s all coming together!

The minigame has some complex NPC behaviour that’s taken some time to get working. Abyssal Creatures are invading, and the Guardians are fighting back – we want this battle to feel genuinely epic, with real stakes.

Once that’s done, the only thing left to do will be to balance the XP and reward rates, finish a couple of rewards, and spice up the environment with some finishing touches.

Speaking of which – you’ll get to see the hard work our artists have done very soon! If all goes according to plan, we’ll launch Guardians of the Rift and Temple of the Eye on March 23rd.


Agility Shortcut

When we polled Guardians of the Rift we also talked about adding an Agility shortcut near the exit to Ivandis' Tomb for easier access to the True Blood Altar, and that the altar would be inaccessible via The Abyss.

However, we've since decided that it wouldn't make sense to put the shortcut near the Tomb given the surrounding environment. We also considered adding shortcuts in the Meiyerditch Laboratories, but this meant that Blood Runecraft wouldn't hit the XP rate we wanted. With this in mind, we have another solution.

We'd like to propose two shortcuts, one requiring 74 Agility (similar to our initial proposal) which will make Blood Runecraft XP rates viable but not amazing. We'd then like to propose a second shortcut, which can be found in a tunnel below the Hair of the Dog pub in Canifis. This second shortcut would require 93 Agility and 78 Mining as a one-time requirement to open the shortcut. It would take players significantly closer to the Blood Altar, as you can see in the image below. We'd also propose allowing access to the True Blood Altar through The Abyss so that there are multiple viable methods to craft Blood Runes to suit a range of skills, account builds and playstyles. Here's what it'll look like:

A look at the proposed Agility Shorcut.

Based on our testing, the 93 Agility shortcut would be the most viable method, followed by The Abyss, followed by the 74 Agility shortcut. The difference between The Abyss and the 93 Agility shortcut is a slight increase while using the Achievement Diary Cape to speed up Abyss Runecraft and a moderate increase without the Cape.

Let us know what you think!


Beneath Cursed Sands

Beneath Cursed Sands, the next quest in the Desert storyline, is due in April and will bring with it a new area of the desert for you to explore.

Today we’ve got a sneak peek at the work we’ve been doing on this quest and a first look at how the World Map will change once it’s been released. Bear in mind that this stuff is work in progress and may not be final.

For more previews, check out last month’s Gazette!

A new piece of the map! - A Concept for the Khardian Desert.

Art and Enviromental Concepts for Beneath Cursed Sands.

Tombs of Amascut

Work on the Tombs of Amascut, our third raid, is in full swing! We’ve got working prototypes for the myriad challenges you’ll face in the raid and soon they’ll be shaped into proper encounters.

In other Tombs of Amascut news, we recently released our revised Rewards Blog. Be sure to have a look and let us know what you think!

Lastly, here’s a quick look at the WIP art for one of the NPCs you’ll meet during your time in the Tombs. Who could it be?

A Character Concept for Tombs of Amascut.

The PvP Arena

We recently released our updated version of our Concept & Reward newspost which you should definitely check out if you haven't already! As for when you can get your hands on the PvP Arena, you can expect a public Beta of the rewards in late March.


New Player Experience

In a game as open-ended as Old School RuneScape, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when deciding what to do next, especially when you’ve missed a few updates.

It’s early days yet, but we’ve been looking at improvements for returning players, including the following:


Returning Player Recap

When players return to the game, the first thing they do is figure out what they were up to the last time they played. In a game as large and open as ours, this can take a while, and sometimes players might just walk away instead of trying to work it out.

Our solution is the Player Recap, which provides returners with context about what they were doing before they stopped playing. This would include things like skills trained, quests started, progressed or completed, bosses fought, and equipment earned – all useful bits of information for players looking to pick up where they left off!


Goal Setting and Discovery

A big part of the game is setting personal goals, but it’s hard to do that when you don’t know what’s available or relevant to you. Fairy Rings, for example, make it much easier to travel but their importance is hidden away – even examining one gives you no clues as to what it actually does.

You could always look things up on the fantastic Old School RuneScape Wiki - but you have to know what you’re looking for. That’s our goal here: to help players understand what they want to do next.

This could mean more information in the Quest Journal, or ways to filter and sort quests, like the soon-to-be-added feature Mod Ed’s been showing off on Twitter.

Or perhaps the Skill Guides should provide more details about upcoming milestones to help players understand what they’re unlocking and why it’s useful to them? How about a system that pulls together useful upcoming milestones from different Skills and Quests? You could see at a glance exactly what you have to do to wield the Rune Pickaxe or use the Gnome Gliders.

The key takeaway here is that we want to provide more relevant content to players without telling them what to do or taking away their ability to choose their next goal.

Although we’re currently focussing on new and returning players, there’s the possibility of expanding these features to everyone.

As always, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, we’d love to hear them!


Skilling Update and Community Support

The Irregulars have been kept fairly busy with feedback since the launch of Leagues III, but they’ve also jumped onto their next project.

If you recall, the 2022 Roadmap promised two projects at the start of the year: community event support and a skilling update. The latter is what we’re tackling first.

It always feels great to design a piece of content that makes you wonder why it wasn’t in the game already – and we think we’ve done just that!

We looked at which skills have the toughest player journeys. As you know, Guardians of the Rift will soon be arriving to help with Runecraft, so we’ve investigated another skill with similar issues.

Mod Dylan is a wizard when it comes to interesting gameplay mechanics, and he’s concocted something awesome for the update. As part of this, he's also been working on responsive interfaces that scale nicely to different screen sizes. In future, we’d like to roll it out to other interfaces – especially the League ones. Here’s looking at you, Task menu…

Oh, go on then, we’ll leave you with one last clue: the skilling update we’re working on is called the Giant’s Foundry. That’s all the info you’re getting out of us for now!


Deadman Re-Run

In our last Gazette we mentioned how the team working on our anti-DDoS protection had been impacted due to the recent vulnerabilities with Java and exploits with Log4j.

We've now completed the work on these vulnerabilities, and the team are once again focusing on the anti-DDoS protection needed for the re-run.

Good progress has been made and we expect this to be completed in March. The next step after this will be to organise a beta to ensure everything works as intended, then its on to the official re-run!

Once again we'd like to reiterate that we're committed to re-running the event, but we want to make sure we can confidently deliver a smooth event, so you can experience the final you deserve.

Thank you for your continued patience. Once this work has been completed we'll have much more news to share regarding a re-run and date for the beta.


Poll 76

Poll 76 has wrapped, and everything passed! You can expect changes to Elite Clue Scrolls, pet insurance, Combat Achievements and much more to arrive soon. Learn more on the blog!

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[h2]Team Ins and Outs[/h2]

We’d like to introduce you to Mod Soffan, a character artist from RuneScape who’s just joined the Old School Team! Let’s give her a warm welcome!

Hey, Yamers!

I'm Soffan (some people call me Yoffan), and I’ve worked at Jagex for a year as an artist for RS3. Some of my projects there included the models for TzKal-Zuk and the Armadyl Staff!

Recently I’ve decided to rewind time from 2022 to 2007 and join Old School as a character artist. The team has been incredibly welcoming and I can't wait to try something new and take game graphics back to basics.

I started my art career in 2015 and have previously made art for Battlerite and the Tales of Runeterra cinematics. Now it's time to work for the game I love!

I played OSRS a lot growing up and the game helped me during rough times in school and all that other stuff you experience as a kid. Now I want to give back to the game that gave me so much growing up.

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[h2]Quest Porting[/h2]

by Mod Ed


Introduction

We’d like to get you all involved with an interesting discussion we’ve been having about quests. They’re a core part of Old School RuneScape, but with the exception of the Elf storyline, all our quest series have been going since 2007, and most will need multiple new entries to set up a satisfying conclusion. In fact, we estimate that resolving all our current storylines will require more than 50 quests!

While 50 quests does sound exciting, it’s also pretty problematic. Even if we doubled our quest production rate, it would still take between five and 10 years to conclude every storyline. As such, we’ve been thinking about ways to increase our quest output without compromising on quality. One option is quest porting.

Between the 2007 backup we used to create Old School RuneScape and the end of 2011, 56 quests were released, mostly continuations of older storylines. With the partial 2012 backup used to create Soul Wars and Nex and improvements in our GFX development tools, we can port these older quests to Old School RuneScape.

The clear benefit is that backporting requires far less work than building a quest from scratch, which would allow us to release more quests a year.

There are, of course, downsides. Backported quests may generate less interest, since players have already experienced the story – and while some of them are iconic, others are completely unsuitable for Old School, either because they were poorly received or because we’ve already taken the story in another direction.

So where does this leave us? We’ve reviewed all 56 quests and found a few that, with a bit of polish, could work in Old School. In fact, you’ve already experienced the first one! Land of the Goblins should give you a good idea of what we’re aiming for with these proposed backports – a quest that stays true to the original with minor tweaks and enhancements where needed.

You’re about to get a closer look at some of the quests we think have backport potential, but before we jump in, please remember that this proposal is in the very early stages. There are no active plans to backport any of these quests. Our goal here is to gather your feedback, so we can decide whether or not to move forward. We also want to make it clear that we’re still committed to creating new and unique quests in Old School RuneScape – this proposal is something to fit alongside new quests, not replace them.


The Path of Glouphrie

The Path of Glouphire | Source: Rune HQ

Released in September 2007, The Path of Glouphrie was an Experienced tier continuation of the Gnome storyline.

We think this quest would make for a great addition to Old School. It's a fun quest that continues a mostly untouched questline. However, we'd want to make some changes to the Slayer creatures found after the quest, as they weren’t very popular in the original release. For a port of this quest we'd actually be able to use our original 2007 backup since it released about the same time.


The Chosen Commander

The Chosen Commander | Source: Rune HQ

Released in March 2009, The Chosen Commander was the Experienced tier finale to the Dorgeshuun Storyline.

Even today it remains a hugely loved quest and backporting it would let us conclude another storyline. We’d likely make a few small changes, such as increasing the difficulty to make it a Master tier quest, but on the whole we think it works perfectly as-is.


Defender of Varrock and The Curse of Arrav

Defender of Varrock | Source: Rune HQ

These continuations of the Mahjarrat storyline were released in September 2008 and July 2009 respectively. Defender of Varrock was Experienced tier and The Curse of Arrav was Master tier.

We’ve been thinking about possible directions for the Mahjarrat in Old School, and we don’t think backporting this quest would contradict our own ideas – in fact, it may enhance them! Both quests were lacking in the rewards department, so we’d consider adding a little something extra even if it’s just more XP. We’d also need to make some changes to account for the events of Below Ice Mountain.


Rocking Out and A Clockwork Syringe

Rocking Out | Source: Rune HQ

This pair of Master tier quests continued the Pirate storyline, released in June 2008 and March 2011 respectively.

So far we haven’t done much with the Pirate storyline, so backporting these quests could be a great opportunity to change that. Rocking Out would likely work well with only minor changes, but we’d need to remove the Dungeoneering element from A Clockwork Syringe for it to work in Old School. As with Defender of Varrock and The Curse of Arrav, we may also consider additional rewards.


Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf and King of the Dwarves

Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf | Source: Rune HQ

These two Master tier quests continued the Red Axe storyline. Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf was released in September 2009 and King of the Dwarves was released in January 2011.

The Red Axe storyline is another that hasn't been touched in Old School, so these quests could make for great additions. We'd probably want to reconsider the difficulty, however, as neither really felt like proper Master tier quests. We’d also need to rethink the rewards, since some of them have already been used in other Old School content.


Nomad's Requiem

Nomad's Requiem | Source: Rune HQ

Even all these years later, the name Nomad still fills a Quest Cape holder with fear. This Grandmaster quest was released in January 2010 and was forever remembered for its notoriously tough boss fight.

Having already ported Soul Wars into Old School, we think that Nomad's Requiem would sit nicely alongside it. There's also a few fun things we'd like to do with Nomad as part of our existing storylines, and backporting this quest would enable that.

We'd want to retain the iconic difficulty of the boss fight while also ensuring it reflects a game without Summoning, which was one of the common strategies to beat it. Reward wise, we’d like to take the opportunity to offer an upgrade for the Soul Cape.


While Guthix Sleeps

While Guthix Sleeps | Source: Rune HQ

Let's not beat around the bush. While Guthix Sleeps is widely considered to be the greatest quest ever released into RuneScape. When it came out back in November 2008, this Grandmaster quest in the Mahjarrat storyline changed everything you thought you knew about questing.

If we were to move forward with backports of The Path of Glouphrie and Defender of Varrock, we'd also unlock the ability to backport While Guthix Sleeps. As with Defender of Varrock and The Curse of Arrav, we think we'd be able to release this quest without contradicting our own plans for the Mahjarrat.

However, we would need to rethink the elements involving Summoning and the rewards as once again they’ve found their way into other pieces of Old School content.


Conclusion

We’re keen to hear your thoughts. Is quest backporting a direction you’d like to go in? What do you think of the quests we’ve selected? Although there are other pieces of content from that period like Dungoneering which we've seen plenty of discussions around, we have no current plans to add anything outside of quests.

As always, you can share your thoughts with us on social media, but we've also put together a quick survey to gather your opinions. You can find that survey here.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Postbag from the Hedge[/h2]

Hello everyone! I’ve been run off my feet this month – was it really necessary to send Nieve and Konar all those Valentines? Not to speak of the ones you sent to that poor Bloodveld! Luckily there were a few normal letters mixed in there, and what do you know? We’ve got some replies!


To Dad

Dear Dad,

We all know how trolls get their names, and I admire your sense of hunger. But was your father named 'Dad'? Was he named for his father? This begs the question, how far back does the line of Dads go? Where does the family 'tradition' start?

Yours,

Breastmilk

Hello!

Dad line go back very far – we famed for toothy troll babies! But tradition end with me. After Dad fight tiny human, me realise that fighting really caused by toxic masculinity. Is rampant in troll culture! Baby troll need father figure. So son named ‘Mam’ instead.

Bye!

Dad

[hr][/hr]
To Sedridor

For the eyes of the Wizards' Tower's Chief of Research only.

Hello Sedridor, it has been a while since we've spoken and in the long time since, I've become Aubury's equal in the art of Runecraft. How time flies!

Whilst news of a new type of rune has hopefully reached your ears, I write this letter to you in hopes of finding some information about some runes that appear to have been lost to this world.

Ancient caches of times past appear to refer to the existence of a man known as 'Mage Gower', who discovered what he called 'master runes' that not even I have heard of. Namely, the life, illusion, reality, and time runes. I believe if information about these runes were to be re-discovered, it could push forward our knowledge of magic and perhaps change our perspective on the history of magic as well.

However, if the properties of these master runes are indeed what they claim to be, it may be wise for them to remain hidden away; you could even say that their power is the reason that knowledge of it was sealed away by this Mage Gower.

Best regards,

Spineweilder

Hello there Spineweilder,

I’m glad to hear your pursuit of Runecraft is coming along nicely! It seems like only yesterday you were handing me your first Talisman, and now look at you! Very impressive.

I had heard of these so-called ‘Wrath Runes’, although I didn’t know what to make of the rumours. They’re not referenced in any of the ancient texts I’ve studied, so I’ll confess until you mentioned them just now, I assumed they were a myth.

Once upon a time I’d have said the same of those other runes, but now I’m not so sure. It does beg the question: how many more runes are out there, waiting to be discovered? What hitherto unknown magics await us? An exciting concept, to be sure! Although you won’t catch me slaying any dragons. I’ll leave the firsthand research to you adventurers.

Yours,

Sedridor

[hr][/hr]
To Cow31337Killer and Unicorn1337Kilr

Dear Cow31337Killer and Unicorn1337Kilr,

Have either of you ever encountered the mythical Unicow? More importantly, which one of you would be responsible for killing it?

Yours, etc.

Hlwys

Hello Hlwys!

Wow! Until now, neither of us knew there was an adventurer out there with similar hobbies. It’s important to make human connections in this wild, cow-infested world.

We’ve had a frank discussion on this and decided that should either of us ever encounter such a beast, we’ll call the other up and tackle it together. As the more 31337 killer, I’ve actually slain a unicorn before – but the moral toll was a bit much to handle. With Unicorn1337Kilr at my side, though, I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do!

Thanks again for bringing us together, Hlwys. Hope you’ve overcome your chicken trouble!

Peace,

Cow31337Killer

[hr][/hr]
To Jonathan

Dear Jonathan,

I was referred to you by one of the more helpful staff in the Arceuus Library, as you are the historian specialising in the history of Hosidius.

During one of my adventures in distant lands across the Western Sea, I visited a massive library, one far larger than even the one in Arceuus, and came across a certain diary written by an adventurer originating from Hosidius.

Most of the pages are stained with blood and have become illegible, but readable entries of the diary appear to have been written during the 33rd decade, which according to Imerominia, should be dated around 200 years ago after the War of the Five Houses.

The adventurer appears to have perished by the hands of Skotizo, the dark demon beneath the Catacombs, who I've had a close encounter with. As the expert in the history of Hosidius, do you know the name of this adventurer and the details behind the events they were involved in?

I should probably send this diary to you in hopes that you may find someone who can recover the entries stained by blood.

Dear Sgt_Henno_Garvie,

A fascinating find! I wonder how it ended up all the way on the mainland?

Yes, all that blood does make it a bit difficult to read. I think this text is from the 124th decade, rather than the 33rd. You can tell by the archaic date format. In the old days, we used to count the days first, then the decade. Highly confusing, but that's how we know this text is authentic! Fantastic work tracking it down.

Unfortunately, records from this time are somewhat sparse. It seems the unlucky adventurer’s parents were humble farmers, which means they would have been spared the worst of the war – and been absent from any military rolls. Sadly, the census conducted by Kharedst the Builder contains countless records of mothers without sons or husbands, so I’m afraid it would be nigh-impossible to track down the exact family from this document alone.

That’s not to say it’s useless for our purposes, though! It provides fascinating insight into life before and after the War of the Five Houses. It’s no wonder this adventurer’s parents weren’t so keen on his travels – King Agata IV’s mismanagement left the kingdom ravaged by famine, and they could’ve used all the help they could get to keep the farm running. That said, I’m glad he didn’t stick around. Most young men and women were drafted into the houses’ personal armies during the war, and Hosidius did not fare well.

You’ll find this interesting – I had a look through the archives and it seems that, post-war, reports of abductions were flowing in from all five houses. You do expect a level of chaos following any conflict, but the records show constant disappearances, once or twice a night for almost a year before they suddenly stop completely. Very odd indeed. One might surmise that the demons were somehow cowed by an even greater power – not anyone I’d like to meet!

I’ve passed the diary on to my contacts in Arceuus House. Hopefully they have a way to clean it up. Perhaps we’ll learn more about this adventurer yet!

Thank you,

Jonathan

[hr][/hr]
To Freja

Dear Freja,

I recall when we first met, you mentioned that you were planning an expedition to the Isle of Garmr and Acheron. I believe you said that you didn’t want me to help you kill that boar of yours because you wanted adventuring partners with more experience under their belts. But as it’s been a few years since then, would you consider taking me along on your expedition sometime soon?

Regards,

FursonaHaver

Well met, FursonaHaver!

You are indeed an accomplished warrior. But make no mistake, so too were the companions I lost in Acheron. That dread place holds more dangers than oversized boars – take it from one who’s been there and lived to tell the tale. I’m looking for adventurers with more than muscle and grit. I need people who’ve stared terror in the face and come out swinging. Countless warriors have applied and run off with their tails between their legs when they discover the horrors we’ll face on the Isle. Perhaps you’re different? Should I ever assemble a decent-sized crew, I’ll be sure to call you up.

Farewell,

Freja

[hr][/hr]
To Barlak

Dear Barlak,

I hear that people bring you bones and giant shells, and that the Dorgeshuun use the bones to prop up the mine shafts and to make other temporary structures.

What do the Dorgeshuun use snail and tortoise shells for?

Regards,

Sedridor

Hello again!

I’ve been using those shells you bring me for all sorts of things! I especially like the swirly ones, they make lovely hats… although I’m sorry to say the fashion hasn’t quite caught on.

The bigger ones – from ‘Tortoises’, did you say? – are lovely and shiny once you polish them. I’ve turned them into little beads, pins, and even new frames for Ur-tag’s glasses. I think he liked them!

Hope to see you again soon,

Barlak

[hr][/hr]

Check out the full Gazette on the official Old School RuneScape website to see all the Player Created Content.

That's your lot! We'd love to hear your feedback on the newest edition and, as with everything else, if you’ve got any ideas about the sorts of things you’d like to see in upcoming editions of the Gielinor Gazette, then please do let us know via our official forums, on the 2007Scape Reddit, the Steam forums or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.


Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kamon, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Matheus, Maylea, Markos, Meat, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Nylu, Oasis, Peppers, Regent, Redfield, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Sigma, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Steve W, Tide, Torrance, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team

[h3]Issues and Hotfixes[/h3]

[expand]

• February 23rd, 12:00 GMT - Due to Nex's expensive drop calculations, Combat Achievements inadvertently called too much code causing the system for item drops to crash during a kill.
  
  • HOTFIXED - We have now fixed the underlying issue causing this.
• February 23rd, 12:45 GMT - The 100k payment to enter the Revenant Caves is not transferring to a Loot Key upon death. Instead, the gold drops to the floor.
  
  • HOTFIXED - The Rev Caves fee should now drop within the Loot Key.
• February 23rd, 15:30 GMT - If a player had a full inventory in PvP worlds when getting a kill with Loot Keys enabled, the key would be deleted when attempting to pick it up from the ground.
  
  • HOTFIXED - This has now been resolved. If your inventory is full, the Loot Key will drop to the floor and you'll be able to pick it up as expected.

[/expand]

This week, we’ve got some news about the Android Open Beta, Nex Combat Achievements, and Loot Keys!

[hr][/hr]


[h2]Old School RuneScape New Android Client Open Beta[/h2]

The New Android Client Open Beta will officially begin on February 28th!

Before we get to the good part, we’d first like to apologise for the delay. We'd hoped to get this to you in January, but a few unexpected issues slowed things down.

But now it’s almost time, and we can’t wait to hear all your feedback about the new client features making their way to mobile!

A lot of nitty-gritty technical bits arrive in the game as part of this week’s update, allowing us to do some final tests and ensure the client is stable before it rolls out officially.

The Android Open Beta will bring some of the new client features to mobile for the first time, including (but not limited to):

• Buff Bars
  
• Fishing Spot Indicators
  
• HUD Improvements (NPC Information and Combat Styles)
  
• Agility and Slayer Helpers
  
• Chambers of Xeric Helper
  
• Woodcutting and Ore Respawn Timers
  
• Increased Draw Distance
  
• Navigation Tile Indicators
  
• Chat Improvements
  
• Entity Highlights for NPCs (new to mobile)

We’ve fixed a number of the issues our fantastic playtesters raised in the Android Closed Beta last November, including bugs related to the XP Tracker and Buff Bar timers. We’ve also increased the amount of time you can spend outside of the app before it disconnects.

Unfortunately, there are still some known issues that we haven’t been able to fix in time for the Open Beta. We’ll be listing these in a separate 'Known Issues' newspost on Monday February 28th. This will be updated as often as needed with any new bugs and other problems we find – it’s your one-stop shop for communication between our bug-busters and yourselves!



Gathering Your Feedback

During the Android Closed Beta, we used Discord as our main channel to communicate between playtesters, QA and our developers. The Android Open Beta will be completely open (hence the name!), and therefore we're unable to provide the same level of support and direct responses as we did for the Closed Beta.

We reckon a survey will be the most efficient method of gathering your feedback – and one will be included in the 'Known Issues' newspost.

We’ll use the information we collect to understand where we need to focus our efforts the most to make the mobile client as good as it possibly can be.

How Can I Get Involved?

If you’ve previously opted into the Android Open Beta, you’ll automatically be eligible for the new client provided your device meets the minimum specs listed below. If you do not want to test the new features, you'll need to opt out - see image below for instructions.

You may find that your app automatically updates the client without being prompted. If this happens to you, you’ll be given notice in-game to let you know you’re using the new client – and if you’re ever unsure whether you’ve got the Beta client or not, the message will repeat for your first five log-ins (including world hops).



Mobile Support

If you have general issues with the mobile client, your first port of call should always be the Mobile Support Hub, which you can find here.

However, if your issue is specific to the Android Open Beta, your best bet is to check the Known Issues newspost once it goes live for all the latest information.

The minimum specifications for the Android Open Beta are:

• Android 8.0 (Oreo) or later
  
• At least 2GB RAM
  

Please note that if your device does not meet these requirements, you will not be able to participate in the Android Open Beta. If you wish to continue playing without these specs, you’ll need to opt-out of the Beta using the instructions in the image above.

Android Beta Feature Showcase

If you're not on mobile but still want to see the new features in action, we're hosting a Feature Showcase livestream on Thursday March 3rd!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Nex Combat Achievements [/h2]



Since the release of Nex, we've been itching to add some additional challenges for you to show your prowess!

So, this week we've added an array of new tasks for you to sink your teeth into. Here’s a list of the brand new Nex achievements!



Existing rewards for Combat Achievement tiers will remain locked until these new tasks are completed, as normal.

We can't wait to see you all get stuck in!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]PvP Changes: Deadman Mode-style Loot Keys [/h2]

Next up, a highly anticipated PvP change: Loot Keys for PKing! With this new setting enabled, you can opt to have your PvP opponents drop their loot in the form of a Key. That Key will contain up to 28 of your target’s most valuable items, which would otherwise have been dropped on death.





To benefit from this new change, you’ll need to purchase the ability to gain keys from Skully for a cool 5 million GP. You can also speak to him to toggle your newfound ability off and on at any time.

• You’ll be able to receive loot keys on both normal and PvP worlds.
  
• Using the Loot Key on the chest next to Skully will allow you to see all the glorious loot stored inside the Keys.
  
• You can hold up to five Loot Keys at any one time. Should you receive a Key after hitting this limit, it’ll drop to the ground along with any loot, as per existing behaviour. Loot Keys cannot be banked.
  
• You'll be able to customize your drops from the following options:
  
• Decide whether your opponent's food and potions go to the Loot Key, or are dropped normally, allowing you more survivability.
  
• Change the value threshold of Loot Keys, so that items above a certain threshold will appear normally on the ground.
  

Skulled players will have a Skull icon over their head that shows how many Keys they hold. Initially we said that this would only appear for those with two or more Loot Keys, but we’ve since decided it should apply to any skulled player holding between one to five Keys.

Left: a player with one Loot Key. Right: a player with five Loot Keys and the Revenant buff.

The total amount of claimed Keys and total value of loot both claimed and destroyed is tracked, and can be checked with Skully.



Loot Keys and Death

The effects of being un-skulled and the Item Protect Prayer apply to any items not held in Loot Keys, but not Loot Keys themselves. As a consequence, Loot Keys will always be dropped on death – whether PvP, PvM, skulled, or un-skulled.

Should you be unfortunate enough to die with Keys in your Inventory, they will either be transferred to the player that killed you (if they are eligible to receive them) or deleted.

Iron players will be able to unlock Loot Keys, but please note that they will only have the option to destroy the contents of the Key entirely.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Using an Ornament Kit on God Books no longer causes issues.
  
• Fixed a graphical issue with the Shattered Relics Abyssal Whip.
  
• Further to last week’s update, we’ve removed a red cross symbol present in the Dunce Random Event.
  

Shattered Relics Rankings



[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.

[hr][/hr]
That's it for this week's game update newspost!

Discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the#gameupdatechannel. For reference on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Con, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kamon, Kieren, Kirby, KT, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Matheus, Maylea, Markos, Meat, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Nylu, Oasis, Peppers, Regent, Redfield, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Sigma, Skylark, Sova, Squid, Steve W, Tide, Torrance, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team.

We haven’t forgotten about those Tombs of Amascut rewards! In fact, we’ve been discussing your feedback at length. However, in January, a new piece of content dropped that made us re-think a few of our decisions: Nex.

The rewards for defeating the fearsome Angel of Death were really impressive, and this inspired us to reassess Tombs of Amascut’s loot. Your input was also crucial in helping us see how we could push even further with these desert delights!

So, what’s changing? While we are still happy with some of the items we’ve designed, others have undergone significant reworks. As an added bonus, we’ve also included two new features that will neatly coincide with this particular Raid. Let’s get into it!

Concept Art for Tombs of Amascut rewards.

As always, we refer to the in-game timings as cycles. Each cycle is equal to 0.6 seconds and is also commonly referred to as a 'tick' by the wider community.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Masori Armour[/h2]

The Masori were powerful ranged weapon-wielders active during an ancient Kharidian war. They focused primarily on defending ordinary people from the violent thieves and murderers who sought to take advantage of the wartime chaos. This mighty clan has been long since disbanded, but their weapons can still be found in the palaces of wealthy Menaphites, and among the treasures of long-dead Pharaohs.

Requirements

• 80 Ranged
  
• 30 Defence (80 when upgraded)
  

Probably the biggest change in this rework is the removal of the Low Life effect – and the additional Dodge mechanics – from Masori Armour. Although some of you liked the unique effect for this set, its uses were a bit niche and many of you felt the tradeoff was simply not worth it.

As such, the armour set will now consist of the Helmet, Chestplate and Chainskirt – and no Amulet. This doesn’t mean that Low Life won’t be visited in some form in the future, but for now, it won’t be a feature here.

Instead, the stats that came from the effects of Low Life on the original Masori Armour will make up the base versions of the new set – plus the original Prayer Bonus:



Wait… base version? Yep, we’ve decided to take a similar approach to Nex rewards and offer some shiny upgrades to the Masori Armour, with the base version still being equippable, with different requirements.

Using plates broken down from Armadyl’s Armour and crafting them (with 90 Crafting) onto your Masori Armour pieces with a chisel, you can create the upgraded versions.

Breaking Down Values

• Armadyl Helmet - 1 Armadyl Plate
  
• Armadyl Chestplate - 4 Armadyl Plates
  
• Armadyl Chainskirt - 3 Armadyl Plates
  

Crafting Values (with 90 Crafting)

• Armadyl Helmet - 1 Armadyl Plate
  
• Armadyl Chestplate - 4 Armadyl Plates
  
• Armadyl Chainskirt - 3 Armadyl Plates
  

The base equipment will focus on low Defence and high Offence, making it one of the best choices for an Offence Ranged build, while the upgraded version will be the new best-in-slot Ranged gear in all categories:



The fully upgraded armour will surpass the Offence capabilities of Armadyl’s pieces. For comparison, the fully upgraded armour will have the following stats over a full Armadyl’s set:

• Stab Accuracy: +18
• Slash Accuracy: +18
• Crush Accuracy: +18
• Mage Accuracy: +23
• Ranged Accuracy: +19
• Stab Defence: +8
• Slash Defence: +10
• Crush Defence: +10
• Mage Defence: +12
• Ranged Defence: +8
• Range Strength: +8
• Prayer Bonus: 0

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Heka of Tumeken and The Ward of Elidinis[/h2]


[h3]Heka of Tumeken[/h3]

Tumeken was the God of Sun and Elidinis was the Goddess of Fertility. As husband and wife, they were the joint leaders of the Menaphite Pantheon. But while Tumeken and Elidinis steered the people of the Kharidian Desert spiritually, it was the responsibility of the human Pharoah to rule in practical matters. Osmumten was the last Pharoah before the end of the ancient war, and he fought alongside Tumeken against enemy forces, until the noble God sacrificed himself to end the conflict. After her husband’s death, Elidinis fled to mourn the loss of her family. Before before she left, the Goddess gifted Osmumten with Tumeken's Heka and her own broken Ward.

Requirements

• 85 Magic
  

The Heka of Tumeken is a wand-like magical weapon, requiring 85 Magic. It has a built-in spell with charges which will need to be replenished, using one Soul Rune and three Chaos Runes per charge.

The wand stats haven’t changed too much and still have a base attack rate of two cycles with every fourth hit, firing a bigger attack that deals significantly more damage, and with a longer delay afterwards. For a more visual example:

20 damage → 20 damage → 20 damage → 60 damage

2 cycles → 2 cycles → 2 cycles → 4 cycles

And here’s the newest example of how damage will be calculated:

• Standard fast attacks scale based on '(Magic Level / 6) + 1' for the base max hit.
  
• The slower fourth attack scales based on '(Magic Level - 25) / 2' for the base max hit.
  
• Mage Strength no longer applies uniquely to the Heka.
  

While the original design of the Heka of Tumeken was great on paper, it was lacking a certain 'something'.

If you look at previous raid rewards like the Twisted Bow and the Scythe of Vitur - they were unique, powerful, and most importantly had that wow factor that made them worth the grind.

Instead of scaling differently according to your Magic Strength, the Heka will now unleash a special effect dependent on the spellbook you are attuned to, alongside a fourth, more powerful attack, allowing you more options for your builds. Here’s what we’re thinking:

• Standard Spellbook: 10% boosted damage.
  
• Ancient Spellbook: The spell will hit into a 3x3 Area of Effect (AoE) attack.
  
• Lunar Spellbook:
  • Heal allies by 5% of your current Magic level (rounded down) along the path of the projectile (capped at 5 players).
    
  • Increase the Ward’s attack range by 1.
• Arceuus Spellbook: Lose 3 Prayer points and in return:
  
  • The boost is not permanent and will be lost after a period of time.
    
  • Drain 5% of the NPCs Magic Level (up to 20%).
    
  • Boost your Magic level by 50% of drained Magic level (capped at 15% additional Magic level).
    

This means you’ve got a fast-attacking weapon that can be mastered to work effectively in tricky encounters, along with free additional mastery to explore with the unique spellbook effects and varying attack speeds. Because, let’s be real… Magic needs some love!


[h3]Ward of Elidinis[/h3]

We haven’t done too much tweaking to the Ward of Elidinis, since it effectively meets our original design goals. Here’s a recap:

Requirements

• 80 Magic
  
• 80 Defence
  
• 80 Prayer
  

The Ward of Elidinis will be the new best-in-slot magical shield. Players will get the broken Ward as rare loot from the Tombs of Amascut. With 90 Prayer and 90 Smithing, you'll be able to combine the broken Ward with an Arcane Sigil and 10,000 Soul Runes to repair it.

Players without those stats will be able to pay Abbot Langley 20,000,000 GP to create it for them. Additionally, existing Arcane Spirit Shields can be handed to Langley for disassembly, returning just the Arcane Sigil back, so players can make the switch. This won’t require a GP fee, but will destroy a Blessed Shield in the process.



Both the broken and fully repaired Wards can be equipped, but the broken Ward will be tradeable, and untradeable when fixed. Players can dismantle it to recover both the Sigil and the Ward, but the Runes will be lost. Dying in PvP will result in the Sigil and the broken Ward being dropped.

Here are the stats for the charged Ward of Elidinis, and the Arcane Spirit Shield's stats, for comparison:



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[h2]Lightbearer[/h2]

Ahmek was a formidable warrior who sought to capitalise on the political instability at the end of the war. He crafted a powerful ring which he imbued with the unstable energy left behind from Tumekin's sacrifice. Ahmek sought to use this ring to emerge as a new power in the region; by forcibly uniting thieves and mercenaries under his command, he would overthrow Osmumten. His scheming proved fruitless, however, when the ring was stolen, and he was murdered in his sleep. The Menaphite Guards claimed the ring from the body of the murderous thief and dutifully presented it to the Pharoah.

We’ve not made any changes to the Lightbearer’s stats or effects, so here’s a reminder:

The Lightbearer is a ring with no Attack, Defence, or other bonuses. It does, however, have a unique effect. When equipped, your special attack energy will regenerate 100% faster (approximately 15 seconds per 10% / 150 seconds per 100%). Unequipping the ring will cause the timer to reset.

We assume that for the most part you'll want to continue using rings like the Berserker ring. But there will be some situations where the additional special attack rate will warrant its use. We think this ring will shine in places where kill times are longer, or where you'll want to use a special attack per kill (like Graardor, K'ril, Abyssal Sire etc). You could even use it whilst Woodcutting or Fishing!

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[h2]Osmumten’s Fang[/h2]

Known to his people as Osmumten the Hunter, he was renowned for bringing down many of the land's deadliest beasts. During his hunts, he wore armour and weapons crafted by the region's finest artisans. One such weapon was his Fang, with which he was eventually buried.

Requirements

• 82 Attack
  

Osmumten’s Fang is a five-cycle weapon that packs serious punch while on Stab. It’s decently effective against low defence NPCs, but it excels against monsters with a high defence. We expect its damage-per-second output to be comparable to Rapier-tier weapons on opponents with low Defence, with much greater damage-per-second output on opponents with higher Defence.

We’re doing something a bit different with the Fang, so let’s look at how the damage will be calculated. Instead of rolling ‘0-max’ hit like most weapons, it will instead:

• Roll ‘(max hit
• 0.15) - (max hit - (max hit
• 0.15))’
  
• For example: If the max hit is 60, then it would roll between 9-51.
  

Alongside this, Osmumten’s Fang will include a special attack. Costing 50%, this special attack would increase the max hit of the weapon to its true max hit for one attack, and boost accuracy by an additional 50%.

For example: If its max hit was 60, it would then roll 9-60, provided it passes accuracy.

One new aspect of the Fang is more similar to the Crystal Halberd and various Spears: this weapon will deal full damage to the Corporeal Beast when on Stab. In addition, we will be removing the 50 damage cap that Corp currently has. Now you’ve got a weapon that’s great for taking on ol' Corp, so you can have more fun hunting the Sigil to make that completed Ward of Elidinis!

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[h2]And there's more![/h2]


[h3]Stat Renewal Potion[/h3]

How about something completely new! We know that one of the most useful potions you can create during Chambers of Xeric is Overload, which boosts all the player's combat stats by 6 + 16% while damaging them for 50 HP. Uniquely, the boost is repeated every 15 seconds until the effects wear off, after which the player heals 50 HP. This makes it better than your standard potions as it ticks up over time.

Tombs of Amascut will introduce a new secondary component called Lily of the Sands. When combined with a Dwarf Weed, this will create the new Stat Renewal Potion. You will need 71 Herblore to create it, and each one you make will net you 150 XP.

Essentially, the Stat Renewal Potion has the same stat-renewal aspect of an Overload, so if your combat stats are below base, it will restore them back up. This means:

• The effect would last for five minutes.
  
• The amount it would restore is 16% of your skill level + 6
  

This potion will not boost your stats above your base level.


[h3]Pharaoh's Sceptre Teleport[/h3]

Ok, one more treat while you’re here! As we’re raiding in the desert, we want to give players an easy way to get to an instance once it comes available.

As it happens, there's already a specific item that can get you to a couple of important places within the Desert: The Pharaoh’s Sceptre. So, let’s make use of it!

Use the Sceptre on an obelisk outside the raid entrance and you'll be granted an additional teleport close to the raid entrance. This will only be possible after completing Beneath Cursed Sands.

If this passes, we’ll also tidy up the right-click menu, so you just have ‘Teleport’ and ‘Teleport to Previous’ options on your Sceptre. Clicking on ‘Teleport’ will then bring you an interface with more options of where to go.

The Sceptre would also be recoloured and made untradeable after completing it’s attunement.

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That’s what we’d call a wrap! Got feedback? Here’s how to join the discussion:

• Join the Official Old School RuneScape Discord server and head to the #tombs-of-amascut channel in the Summer Summit area.
  
• Use the #OSRSRaids hashtag on Twitter.
  
• Reply to the Tombs of Amascut Reddit thread or make your own threads with '(Tombs of Amascut / ToA)' in the title.
  

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The Old School Team