Old School RuneScape News

This week we’re kicking off the PvP Arena Rewards Beta and saying goodbye to Leagues III: Shattered Relics!

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[h2]PvP Arena: Rewards Beta[/h2]

The Emir of Al Kharid has discovered illicit activity taking place in the glorious old battlegrounds formerly known as the Duel Arena! As a result, all fights are now overseen by the guards of Al Kharid. With this change comes some shiny new rewards - and if you log into a Beta World today, you’ll be able to give some of them a try!

As always, participating in the Beta won’t affect your normal saved game profile.

The Beta worlds are highlighted in blue on the World Select screen and include the following:

• World 401 (US East)
  
• World 405 (Germany)
  
• World 407 (UK)
  
• World 409 (US West)
  
• World 412 (Australia)
  

Upon logging into a Beta World, your account is automatically set up with high stats and most quests auto-completed. You’ll arrive in Ferox Enclave near the loadout table, which gives you a couple of options:

• Left-click: Offers a wide selection of gear, preset loadouts and stats
  
• Right-click: Lets you customise your stats
  

There's also an Altar nearby at which you can switch your active Spellbook. There are also some handy portals to travel to various places around Gielinor.

Along with a plethora of standard gear to choose from, you’ll also have access to all the rewards from the PvP Arena! You’ll notice that they look a bit funny – at this stage of development we’re using placeholder graphics; recycled models with a quick paint-job to distinguish them from other items. Don’t worry, we don’t intend to ship them like this! Further down, you can see some concept art of how the final items might look.

If you missed our PvP Arena Blog then here's what you can expect:

[h3]Full list of Beta Rewards[/h3]

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New Blighted Sacks

For a small number of Reward Points, you'll be able to purchase two new Blighted Sacks that can be used within the Wilderness:

• One supplies the Runes required for any Wave spell
  
• Another supplies the Runes required for any Surge spell
  

These sacks are untradeable. The following behaviour applies should you die with one of them in your Inventory:

• Non-PvP death above and below 20 Wilderness: Blighted Sacks sent to your Gravestone if they are not protected.
  
• PvP death above and below 20 Wilderness: Any unprotected Blighted Sacks are destroyed and converted into an appropriate number of coins, which then drop to the player killer.
  

Imbue Scrolls

The only way players can imbue items outside of Nightmare Zone is by playing Soul Wars. Given this is predominantly a PvP activity, it felt fitting to expand on this offering by giving players the chance to purchase Imbue Scrolls for a low price from the PvP Arena Reward Shop. These would be untradeable and would allow players to imbue the following items:

• Black Mask
  
• Salve Amulet
  
• Salve Amulet (E)
  
• Seers’ Ring
  
• Archers’ Ring
  
• Warrior Ring
  
• Berserker Ring
  
• Ring of the Gods
  
• Tyrannical Ring
  
• Treasonous Ring
  
• Ring of Suffering
  
• Granite Ring
  
• Slayer Helmet
  
• Wristbands of the Arena
  

A Quick Note...

All of the rewards from this point on in the blog act the same way. If you die with them in PvP, they transform into a broken version and money is dropped to the player killer. You must then take them to Perdu to be repaired. They will be broken when purchased, meaning you'll have to pay Perdu to repair them before they can be used in PvP.

You can use a Trouver Parchment on all of them! Unsure of how Trouver Parchments work? The Old School Wiki has a handy explanation.

Wristbands of the Arena

Concept Art for the Wristbands of the Arena.

Do you hate having to complete quests before your account is ready to step foot into the Wilderness and fight other players? Well, shame on you, because quests are great! But sure, for those of you whose spacebars really cannot take the strain, we've got you covered...

Wristbands of the Arena are an untradeable alternative to Barrows Gloves, offering the same stats for those who want to focus entirely on PvP.

Barrows Gloves typically require 41 Defence to equip. Wristbands of the Arena, however, would require just 20 Defence, which we think would bring a little more variety to the PvP scene.

It will also be possible to imbue the Wristbands of the Arena to improve their accuracy stats slightly. Doing so will increase their Defence requirement to 40.

Note that, unlike Barrows Gloves, the Wristbands would only be usable in PvP combat, so you will still have to get questing if you plan on doing anything that would normally call for the Barrows Gloves.

Centurion Cuirass

Concept Art for the Centurion Cuirass.

We’ve come for quests, now it’s time for non-PvP minigames. Skip the Barbarian Assault with our next item, an alternative to the Fighter Torso!

The Centurion Cuirass is a lost artefact unearthed during the restoration of the Arena. Once donned by only the mightiest warriors, this sandy and well-worn armour is now a relic of what once was. A symbol of the arena's past fortune, and a hope that it may thrive once again.

The Cuirass is untradeable, and has similar stats to the Fighter Torso, but with slightly higher defensive stats. It requires 40 Defence to equip.

Calamity Chest & Breeches

Concept Art for the Calamity Chest & Breeches.

The Calamity Armour was once shared between three infamous followers of an Ancient god – Maoma, Saika and Koriff. The Calamity Coven sought to emulate their deity and take control of their own fate, and they reasoned that wealth was their only means to do so. They believed that each and every person had the right to do whatever they needed to take control of their life – and if they were too weak, then others would take control for them.

With these shared beliefs spurring them, they brought about what is known as the Calamity – the complete downfall of the once glorious Duel Arena. Once a bustling hive of healthy competition, under their reign of tyranny it quickly became a dark and corrupt place. Even years after the Calamity Coven retreated into the shadows, the Arena is still fighting to shed its iniquitous reputation.

The Calamity Armour set is an untradeable PvP take on the Void Armour set. Like Void, you’ll need the full set for it to be really effective – and like Void, it pairs with three interchangeable helms that are required to activate the set effects. We’ll talk more about those in a moment.

The armour has low defence, so it’s risky in PvP and requires the wearer to be good at predicting their opponent’s next move and quickly switching gear to reduce incoming damage.

It comes in three tiers, allowing for flexibility with different PvP builds.

The Calamity Chest and Breeches have no requirements.

The Superior Calamity Chest and Breeches require 50 Defence to equip.

The Elite Calamity Chest and Breeches require 75 Defence to equip.

Maoma's Headgear Set

Concept Art for the Maoma's Headgear Set.

Maoma was the corrupt captain of the Emir’s guard. Her job was to oversee fights at the arena and ensure that order was upheld – but in reality, she was taking bribes to look the other way. Some say she even instigated some of the fights to make the Arena more popular and recruited prisoners to bolster the fighters’ ranks!

Moama's Headgear is an untradeable helm that can be used alongside the Calamity Armour to activate the full set effect when using the Melee Combat style.

Maoma's Med Helm has no requirements.

Maoma's Full Helm requires 50 Defence to equip.

Maoma's Great Helm requires 75 Defence to equip.

Koriff's Headgear Set

Concept Art for the Koriff's Headgear Set.

Koriff was the crowd-pleaser. Perhaps the most notorious of all, she was always the centre of attention at the Arena. With a charming personality, she'd make sure the richer visitors had a particularly good time, pampering them with the best seats and service possible. Little did they know of her collaboration with Saika, Maoma, and the thieves they paid to pick the rich guests' pockets.

They say that fighters couldn’t help but come back for more bloodshed, even at the cost of their own life expectancy. They also say that Koriff had a direct hand in encouraging them back to the Arena, only for them to die shortly after. When crowds became tired of certain competitors, you could bet that their bodies could soon be found being dragged from the arena – and that Koriff had earned a windfall betting against them.

Koriff's Headgear is an untradeable helm that can be used alongside the Calamity Armour to activate benefits when using the Ranged Combat style.

Koriff's Headband has no requirements.

Koriff's Cowl requires 50 Defence to equip.

Koriff's Coif requires 75 Defence to equip.

Saika's Headgear Set

Concept Art for the Saika's Headgear Set.

Saika was the puppet master. She was in charge of the Arena’s economy, ensuring profit from the crowds that came to watch the fights. Her greed knew no bounds as she fudged the numbers for years - claiming the cost of running the place was so high that it barely broke even. These sketchy numbers made their way to the Emir, and he kept shelling out to keep it going. Unfortunately for him, the funding would go straight to Saika's pocket. She would pay destitute citizens a pittance to pretend they were working, just to maintain her ruse.

Saika's Headgear is an untradeable helm that can be used alongside the Calamity Armour to activate benefits when using the Magic Combat style.

Saika's Hood has no requirements.

Saika's Veil requires 50 Defence to equip.

Saika's Shroud requires 75 Defence to equip.

Humble Piety & Humble Chivalry

Also with this Beta we'll be automatically unlocking the ability to use the Humble Piety & Humble Chivalry, if you don't have levels set for the normal Piety & Chivalry Prayers.

The Humble Chivalry unlock scroll grants you access to Chivalry if you haven't already unlocked it. The existing 60 Prayer requirement remains regardless of which Prayer version is unlocked.

The Chivalry Prayer changes as follows:

• If you have completed the King's Ransom Knight Waves and have level 65 Defence, Chivalry acts as it currently does, granting +20% Defence, +18% Strength and +15% Attack.
  
• If you have not completed the Knight Waves or lack level 65 Defence, Chivalry grants +18% Strength and +15% Attack, and you are blocked from performing PvM attacks while the Prayer is active.
  

Humble Piety unlock scroll grants you access to Piety if you haven't already unlocked it. The existing 70 Prayer requirement remains regardless of which Prayer version is unlocked.

The Piety Prayer changes as follows:

• If you have completed the King's Ransom Knight Waves and have level 70 Defence, Piety acts as it currently does, granting +25% Defence, +23% Strength and +20% Attack.
  
• If you have not completed the Knight Waves, but have at least 40 Defence, Piety grants just +23% Strength and +20% Attack, and you are blocked from performing PvM attacks while the prayer is active.
  

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So, fancy wielding some of these weapons? Jump into a Beta World, give them a spin and let us know what you think over on the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel, our PvP Arena: Reward Beta thread on the 2007Scape subreddit or via our socials.
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[h2]Poll 76 Changes [/h2]

The first batch of changes from Poll 76 have arrived!

• The Pharaoh’s Sceptre is now one-handed.
  
• Wounded Shayzien soldiers are now more grateful! Healing them will now get you 0.2% Favour instead of 0.1%.
  
• The fires at Barbarian Village and Rogue’s Den can now be used by left-clicking.
  
• Removed a line of dialogue when collecting Slime and Bonemeal from Robin.
  
• The Fishing Guild Shop now carries Small Nets, Fishing Rods, and more!
  
• A Fishing Net can now be found on a table inside the Fishing Guild.
  

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[h2]Leagues III: Shattered Relics Closure [/h2]

Unfortunately, it’s time to say goodbye to Leagues III: Shattered Relics. All League worlds will close at the usual update time of 11:30 GMT. That means you still have a little time to complete those last few League tasks and scoop up some extra points!

Once the game has been updated, all League worlds will become inaccessible. What will remain, however, is the all-important Rewards Shop!

Your League points will transfer over to the main game, ready to be spent on goodies including the Shattered Relics Relic Hunter Outfit, Home Teleport Animation, Ornament Kits and more.

But that’s not all – we’ve also got a fair few Trophies to hand out! These won’t be available right away, as we’ll want to make sure we’ve correctly identified the thresholds for the different ranks. We’re aiming to make them available around 12:00 GMT (approximately 30 minutes after the update) via a hotfix.

Before that happens, join us in World 500 as we create a celebratory conga line from this League’s start point in Catherby all the way down through Ardougne and beyond! Come along in your swankiest gear and show off all your awesome new items in our grand finale!



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[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

• Blighted Sacks are no longer deleted if you try to pick them up while you have a Rune Pouch in your Inventory with a vacant slot.
  
• The Splitbark Wizard's menu now defaults to 1 as the chosen quantity.
  
• Konar Slayer tasks can now be completed inside the Ironman instance of the Kalphite Queen’s Lair.
  
• Fixed a bug where random event and quest messaging was appearing in Temple Trekking.
  
• STEAM CLIENT ONLY: When Venom or Poison is active on the Player, the Buff Bar should now display both the amount of damage to be taken on the next cycle, and the time until that cycle.
  
• STEAM CLIENT ONLY: The Buff Bar will now display up to 12 Buffs, or 8 in fixed UI mode.
  
• STEAM CLIENT ONLY: The Buff Bar will now correctly populate on log in when transitioning from desktop to mobile.
  

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[h2]Guardians of the Rift[/h2]

We’re only ONE WEEK away from Guardians of the Rift and its associated quest, Temple of the Eye!

You can look forward to a completely new way to train Runecraft in this non-combat, team-based minigame that sees you protecting the Rift Guardian from the approaching forces of the Abyss! Learn the mysteries of the Rift, experience a brand-new minigame, and unlock awesome rewards, including access to the True Blood Altar!

Want to learn more? Then keep your eye on our socials to see all the great stuff you can look forward to with next week’s update.

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[h2]Merch Store Update [/h2]

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that there were some changes to the merch store last week. Our store partner, BSI, have migrated the store to Shopify. This brings a host of improvements, including:

• Better user experience!
  
• Product filters so you can sort by your size and only see what's currently in stock
  
• Local pricing – you can now see exactly what everything costs in your local currency
  
• Expanded shipping destinations – the store now ships to Brazil and many more countries
  
• Reduced tracked shipping costs, especially on larger orders of pins and keyrings to the US
  
• Estimated shipping cost from within each product listing, before you add the item to your basket
  

Further improvements are expected over the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled!

In the meantime, the first of many new lines coming to the store this year include two new tees and Angels Scapes lines celebrating Leagues III and Old School’s 9th Birthday!



As Leagues III: Shattered Relics comes to a close today, why not look back on your achievements with these fabulous limited-edition pins from Angels Scapes? Immortalise your Leagues fashionscape with the Elite Void and Mystic Robe Pins, cheer for Shattered Relics with the Leagues III Banner Pin or take home your very own mysterious figure with the Sage Pin, created with Antique Nickel!

Or if none of those strike your fancy, how about the awesome Leagues III Shattered Relics medal? The perfect reward for a dedicated Leagues player!

In February this year, Old School RuneScape turned 9! We’re celebrating with the Wise Old Man Birthday Pin and a special glitter variant of the DFS Pin.



Other new lines include these uber-cool Zuk and Combat Triangle tees and Crafting and Fletching Skillcape Keyrings!

Check out the Old School RuneScape Collection in our new-look store today!

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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 #gameupdate channel. For more information about the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, 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

Gather 'round, fragment-hunters – after a thrilling couple of months, Leagues III: Shattered Relics is coming to an end.

It’s been tremendous fun watching you experiment with this all-new approach to the Leagues experience. Where the previous two incarnations were all about making fixed choices in restricted locations, our third outing gave you new ways to adapt and enhance your powers – and with access to the whole World Map! This resulted in all sorts of possibilities for play, just like we hoped it would. Watching you all fusing fragments and switching up your powers has certainly been inspirational for the team as our thoughts turn to Leagues IV…

In the meantime though, let’s focus on the most pertinent question: how will Leagues III end?

First off, you'll be happy to hear that all League worlds will be open until the usual game update time of 11:30 GMT on Wednesday, March 16th. This means you'll have a chance to complete your last few tasks and scoop up some extra points before the regular game update. Downtime will be minimal and comparable to that of a regular game update.

Once the game has been updated, all League worlds will become inaccessible. What will remain, however, is the all-important Rewards Shop!

Your League points will transfer over to the main game, ready to be spent on goodies including the Shattered Relics Hunter Outfit, Home Teleport Animation, Ornament Kits and more.

After all that hard work, you’re probably very keen to get hold of your Trophies! These won't be available straight away, as we’ll want to make sure we've correctly identified the thresholds for the different ranks. We are aiming to make them available around 12:00 GMT (approximately 30 minutes after the game update) via a quick hotfix once the numbers have been confirmed.

Finally, just like last year we want to run a little end-of-Leagues event to say goodbye. Join us in World 500 at 11:00 GMT as we create a celebration line from this League's starting point of Catherby, all the way down through Ardougne and onwards. Come along in your swankiest gear and show off all your awesome items in our grand finale! Here's a rough plan of the route:



We want to thank every one of you for the time you've spent playing this League. The radical re-imagining has really paid off thanks to your creativity and general brilliance as players. Here’s to the next one, because who knows… some of these characters may already be itching to make their return…

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

[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.

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[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

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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

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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

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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

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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]

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