Old School RuneScape News

Bet you weren't expecting to see the Gazette back in November! Well, when we said monthly, we meant it.

This time we've got updates on Nex, Group Ironman and more! Plus, there's a slew of new player-created content and replies to some of your letters in the latest Postbag from the Hedge.

Let's get going!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Project Status Update[/h2]


Leagues III: Shattered Relics

We recently announced that Leagues III: Shattered Relics will launch in January 2022. This third incarnation of Leagues will run from January 19th - March 2nd. As we near completion of the project, Shattered Relics has finished the balancing phase of development and the team have been working on the fantastic new rewards, which we can't wait for you to get your hands on!


Group Ironman

Group Ironman is finally here! It's been a tremendous launch and we're absolutely thrilled with the response from you all! It's been positively heartwarming to watch groups of friends, strangers and colleagues making their way through Gielinor together. At the moment, we're working through player feedback. While our immediate priority is fixing errors, we also want to improve some existing features. Here's what we're looking at right now:

• Group Storage Space - Is it coming? Absolutely! We want to increase the storage capacity for you, but we haven't quite decided how the Storage should work. For example, how should it be unlocked? Mod Elena is currently working on a design for the Group Storage feature, which we are eager to present to you in the coming weeks! In the meantime, please send us your ideas!
  
• Group Chat and Group Broadcasts - Many of you have asked us to make a private chat channel specifically for your group, and we're working on adding this in the coming weeks. It will work similarly to Clan Chat. We'd love to know what shortcuts you think would be useful for this new channel. We're also going to implement the broadcast system that we currently use for Clans; this will mean that you can opt-in to receiving notifications when a member of the group receives significant loot or achieves a major milestone. Finally, you'll have the equivalent of the Clan Interface with lots of important info. This feature will also allow you to report any inappropriate group names that you may come across.
  
• Shared Group Hall - We're aware there’s a huge demand for a shared Player Owned House for groups or, failing that, a customisable instance that can be shared and upgraded. As we've mentioned previously, we wouldn't be able to replicate the entire functionality of a POH, due to the way its code currently works. We have been involved in some discussion and design work to see how it might be possible to create a customisable instance with various popular construction tools. After careful review of your feedback and the work involved, we felt that this project would come at the cost of delivering other improvements to the Group Ironman, as well as the main game moving forwards. Therefore, we've decided to put a hold on this project but that doesn't mean we can't give you something in it's place. What we'd like to do with POH is allow players to enter their group mate's POH as long as they're online in the same world. As always let us know your feedback as we're operating on this basis with your interests in mind.

Steam Client Features

We released our third round of new features for the client recently, adding XP tracking, respawn timers for trees and rocks, the Slayer Helper and much more. We're really happy with the progress made and the feedback we're getting. The focus is currently on addressing the most urgent issues before looking at the fourth set of features.

For those waiting on the updates for Mobile, we haven't got a solid release date just yet, but we can confirm there will be a Beta period between November 24th and December 8th! You’ll be able to test out awesome features like:

• Buff Bars
  
• Fishing Spot Indicators
  
• HUD Improvements (NPC Information & Combat Styles)
  
• Agility & Slayer Helpers
  
• Chambers of Xeric Helper
  
• Woodcutting & Ore Respawn Timers
  
• Increased Draw Distance
  
• Navigation Tile Indicators
  
• Chat Improvements
  
• And more!

This will be a big improvement to the Mobile experience and we want to make sure we're doing it right, so please sign up for the Beta if you are interested! Successful applicants will only be contacted through their account mailbox. Please be wary of potential phishing scams.


Tombs of Amascut

We want to thank everyone that participated in the most recent Rewards Beta, and confirm that we've worked our way through your feedback. There's no direct update on Tombs of Amascut just yet, but the team are currently discussing the rewards, so expect to hear more in the near future. As for other development news, progress is going well and prototypes are being built for some of the challenge rooms!


Beneath Cursed Sands

For anyone not aware, Beneath Cursed Sands is the next quest in the Kharidian Desert storyline and is planned for release in 2022. The quest is currently in pre-production, and we expect to poll it alongside the Tombs of Amascut very soon. Not much has changed since we last spoke about this project, but we do have a small amendment to share on the requirements. Previously we said the quest would require 55 Smithing, but this has been changed to 55 Crafting.

With Beneath Cursed Sands, we're going to be finishing off the coastline in the south east corner of the Kharidian Desert. With this, we want to respect the lore and thematics established for that area in 2008 whilst also making some tweaks to fit our upcoming plans... no spoilers, but here's a peek at some concept art.

Concept Art from Beneath Cursed Sands.

Nex

Nex is fully in development and the team has been working hard to bring this iconic God Wars boss to Old School. The boss fight is up and running so the focus is now on making tweaks and balancing changes so it suits Old School.

Following the recent Rewards Beta, we've published an updated Nex Rewards blog with all the changes to the original items. This includes:

• Torva Armour being introduced instead of Virtus Armour
  
• The Zaryte Crossbow to take the place of the Zaryte Bow
  
• Changes to the Special Attack of the Ancient Godsword

To recap the blog: the Virtus Armour got positive feedback generally, so we aren’t scrapping it altogether. We’d still like to introduce it as a reward a little later down the line, and with a few tweaks based on your feedback. You might remember that our original plans were to release Torva later on as well. With the changes in this blog, we now think Virtus would be a suitable reward for a later update.

We've also added some more information about the Blood Essence. Give it a read and let us know what you think of the latest changes!

A WIP image of the furnace inside the prison.

Wilderness Changes

The first batch of Revenant Cave changes recently went live. It’s regrettable that we haven’t yet been able to bring you features like Loot Keys and Wilderness Bosses, but they are going to be very exciting when they do arrive. Unfortunately, these will now not appear in-game until 2022, for which we apologise.

Other features, however, are already being looked into. The next update from this batch will include the Wilderness Slayer Caves improvements and the introduction of a PJ Timer throughout the Wilderness (for both players and NPCs). We don’t yet have a concrete date for these, but we’ll update you as soon as we have any news.


Deadman Re-Run

In a recent blog we stated that it's likely we'll be able to re-run Deadman Reborn. We also confirmed that we've begun work on a solution that will improve our mitigation against direct network attacks, which is due to be ready early next year. With this in mind, we'd like to schedule a Beta for the re-run sometime around January, with the full re-run to follow shortly after.

We'll provide a firm date closer to the completion of the necessary work. It's important we highlight that while we're confident in our solution, there is of course a chance that unexpected problems will crop up - and should this happen, they'll need fixing before we can officially re-run the finals. Your patience is hugely appreciated.


Old School Economy

Last week, we also talked about the Old School Economy and our efforts to help it by hiring some actual real world economists to help us! Our finding included:

• A Grand Exchange Tax of 2% that would be removed from the final sale value. This applies to the seller and not the buyer.
  
• An Item Sink, using the money gained from the Grand Exchange Tax, that 'buys' items from players and then deletes them. The list of items is something we are looking to expand with your help, but at the moment it looks something like this:
  
  • Spectral and Arcane Shields
    
  • Nightmare Staff and Orbs
    
  • Twisted Bow, Elder Maul, Kodai Insignia, Dinh's Bulwark, Prayer Reward Scrolls
    
  • God Swords, Armadyl Armour, Bandos Armour, Saradomin Sword, Zamorakian Spear
    
  • Abyssal Bludgeon
    
  • Kraken Tentacle, Trident
    
  • Dark Bow
    
  • Smoke Battlestaff, Occult Necklace
    
  • Toxic Blowpipe
• A literal Gold Sink that you can place inside your Played-Owned House! It will be the single most expensive item to build inside of it.
  
• And last but certainly not least, Additional Bank spaces at the following prices:

We hope that this is the start of getting our economy in a more stable place! With your help, it's a process that will continue to evolve.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Leagues III: Shattered Relics - Development Process[/h2]

by Mod Flippy & Oasis

Leagues III: Shattered Relics may have been pushed back to January 19th, but that doesn't stop us peering behind the development curtain to see what's going on!
With the first two Leagues both using an area unlock mechanic, we wanted to try something new for Shattered Relics.
Despite a lot of brainstorming, we were struggling to come up with an idea that worked, so instead opted for the Fenkenstrain approach - that is, taking the best aspects of the ideas we'd had and blending them together to form a single concept.
One of the themes that really stood out was trading cards, with each card representing a fraction of a Relic's overall power that, when combined, resulted in larger and more powerful effects. The great thing about this idea is that it essentially takes Relics and widens the playing field. Instead of being stuck with a handful of extremely strong Relics for the duration of the League, players instead have numerous weaker but freely interchangeable Fragments that encourage experimentation.

This slight tweak to the formula is a big switch from previous Leagues, but also familiar enough to players so as to be a recognisably 'Leagues' experience.

As you can imagine, putting a League together is no small task, but luckily the team is absolutely fantastic - everyone's willing to get stuck in and solve problems collaboratively. The OGs have only existed as a team for around half a year, but we’re so solid it feels like we’ve been working together for years.

Development was helped by the early creation of what's known as a 'vertical slice' - this essentially means building a small section of the League that's fully fleshed out and feature-complete. So while narrow, it's very deep! The team did an incredible job - in fact, we were blown away by how fantastically it all came together, and even the early builds were hard to put down!

Getting up and running so quickly meant we were able to start playtesting very early, giving us lots of opportunity for balance changes and design tweaks. This also meant that a few urgent changes lurking in the design phase were identified very early on.

One of the biggest lessons we've learned while creating Shattered Relics is the importance of a design that's achievable within a reasonable timeframe. Given an unlimited amount of time, we could have a League with hundreds of Fragments that spans every piece of content across the entire map, but in reality that’s not possible. The real challenge has been to create a diverse and interesting range of Fragments within the time available and ensuring we can get the League out the door. Considering this from the beginning really sets you up for success down the line.

This also applies to the rewards. Leagues is played by all types of players: maxed accounts, new players and everyone in between. Everyone should have a reward worth working towards that they can make good use of when the Leagues are over. That’s why the rewards for this League range from decent early gear to things you’ll use all the way to the end game. An example is the Cannon, which is what we call a 'hero weapon'. You can get it early on in an account's life and make use of it throughout the entire game... provided you can afford to maintain it!

A lot of big steps were taken to make this League feel special, new and refreshing. We hope this is reflected in your experience and that you can create many stories and memories together!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Old School's Ins and Outs[/h2]

We've had two J-Mods sadly leave us last month, as we say goodbye to both Mod Flippy and Mod Sween. However, we've got a new member of the team to introduce you to in the form of Mod Hornet, so make sure to give them a warm welcome!

Sadly we've said goodbye to Mod Sween (and his incredible lockdown hair) after more than six awesome years. Here's a snippet of what he had to say:

I don't have any profound parting words but I'd just like to say this. Thank you so much, everybody. It's been wonderful, even when it hasn't been. Passions can run high when you're so emotionally invested in something, and that's so true for our community and Old School. I challenge you to channel that passion in a positive way!

Celebrate your fellow community members - you might disagree but it's a shared love for the game that unites you. Support your J-Mods. I've said it before, but beneath the gold crown is a dedicated player, just like you.

You can read his full leaving message and follow his new adventures at @Alec_Sween.


Meanwhile, Mod Flippy leaves this parting message:

It’s been an absolute honour working for such a special game, together with this talented and passionate dev team and incredibly dedicated community. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience something many only dream of, and I’ll hold my time here dear to my heart forever.

Thank you for all your suggestions, warm comments, ideas and spicy conversations throughout my time here. I’d say I’m going to miss you, but I’ll still be around posting memes as usual.

Working on all three Leagues has been such a journey and I can’t wait to experience many future Leagues as a player. I was considering making a joke about Last Recalling back to Sweden, but I’ll save you the cringe.

I have nothing but love for the game and team. Thank you for making my time here incredibly special.

Mod Flippy - @flip_2_dip


Incoming Mod alert! Mod Hornet has joined as a Junior QA Analyst.

Hello Everyone!

My name is Mod Hornet and I have recently joined the Jagex Junior QA Analyst team through the government kickstart scheme. I’m a recent Computer Game Design graduate, though I started my game career journey back in 2016, working myself through an NQ after deciding to shift my career path from legal services to a more creative and dynamic outlet: game development!

My interests and hobbies are quite varied and include BJD customisation, where I repaint dolls I find at charity shops before rehoming them. I also got my awesome future granny skills in crocheting cute amigurumis, and obviously playing video games.

I want to thank everyone for being so welcoming so far. I’m excited to be part of the team at Jagex and can’t wait to start contributing!

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

Hello adventurers! It’s me, Postie Pete, back again with another selection of questions and answers from all over Gielinor. Once again I’ve been all over the place, from Mount Karuulm to West Ardougne. Let’s see what I’ve got in my bag!

To the Tasakaal

Dearest Kaal-Mej-San, Kaal-Ket-Jor and Kaal-Xil-Dar,

I understand that what I've done for you so far is truly nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I hope it is enough for you to trust me with the answer to the following question:

How were you three capable of traversing from Mor Ul Rek to Mount Karuulm? From what I know from the TzHaar of Mor Ul Rek, exiting the volcano brings your kind to a deadly low temperature. That's not even counting the fact that there's an entire ocean between here and there!

Your friend, Zacflame

(Note to Pete: It is extremely hot down there, be careful!)

Human,

Your understanding is correct. We will answer still.

We chose our new purpose long ago.

Eons ago.

When the ocean was only a stream.

When this world did not sprawl.

And was quiet.

Many things have changed.

But the balance remains the same.

(You weren’t kidding, Zacflame! Luckily these old bones are tough. Onto the next letter!)

[hr][/hr]
To Altarkiz

To Altarkiz,

Is it true that you're a Bedabin Nomad? Why have you come so far from the desert? What are you concentrating on? Are you enjoying your trip?

From Deztv

Huh?

Oh, yes, I'm from the desert. Haris and I signed up with Captain Tock's crew because we were looking for some real adventure. As soon as I'm done meditating by counting these blades of grass, we can get back to it! I'm on number 25,921. Or was it 25,922? Uh oh...

Altarkiz

[hr][/hr]

To Death

To the esteemed Harold Death Esq.,

How is Nieve getting along? I hope she is coming to terms with her new environment and she treats Muncher well. Let her know I sent Glough her way.

Kind Regards, Ingus Wraith

Dear Ingus Wraith,

Nieve? I’m afraid she moved out of my jurisdiction long ago. One moment – I’ll contact my colleague and see if he can provide some insight.

Hmm. I see.

It seems your friend has been doing valuable work in the land of souls. The servants of The Devourer cower in her presence! I imagine that’s a great weight off my colleague’s shoulders.

And although I’d rather not speculate on the affairs of the dead, I should think this Glough person is in for a world of trouble.

Yours,

Harold Death Esq.

(And Muncher)

[hr][/hr]
To Dusuri

Dear Dusuri,

Lately I've really been getting into hunting down those mysterious hunks of space rock that fall from the sky every so often. It's quite fun tracking them down and chatting with the other adventurers that come across them. The rewards you provide in exchange for the dust from these rocks is certainly a nice incentive; These golden duds are quite stylish, and I've had no trouble keeping stocked up on gems for my adventuring needs thanks to you.

I have to ask though, what do you do with all that stardust? Us human adventurers can't do anything with it on its own, but you claim to specialise in the stuff. I'm just curious what's so useful about this dust that you're willing to part with so many precious gemstones to acquire more of it?

Take care! I'll see you next time I've got more stardust for you.

From Cambria Bold

Dear Cambria Bold,

Glad to hear you’ve been enjoying tracking down those meteors! You’ve saved me and the others a lot of hard work. The kit is nice and shiny, isn’t it? I’ll let Belona know you’re a fan. She smithed it all herself, you know.

Stardust? I study it! It’s packed full of minerals from, well, you know – other worlds. I’ve got this special tool that looks a bit like a reverse telescope, and it lets me get a closer look at the particles that make up the Stardust. The bits and pieces it contains were born in the hearts of dying stars and paint a picture of the universe from its earliest moments. Then it’s just a matter of comparing them to the regular dust we get here in the mines! It's amazing to think that everything - from distant worlds to the dinner on your plate or the cat on the mat - is built from the very same stuff. It humbles me and reminds me that our problems really aren't so big... in the grand scheme of things, at least.

You take care too. I’ll be waiting!

Your friend,

Dusuri

[hr][/hr]

To the Bards of Varlamore

Dear Reshi, Thomdril and Kendall,

When I was last visiting Kourend, journeying out of Kingstown, I couldn't help but overhear the lovely music echoing throughout your camp. I stopped by and we spoke briefly. You informed me of your travels from the kingdom to the south, and how you were students of the College of Bards.

I wonder if you could tell me a bit more about that? What's the college like? Do many bards come from or pass through there? What's your favourite thing about the place? And what's life like as a bard? I've yet to visit the city of Tempestus where the College resides, but I’ve heard good things.

I must say, I'm quite jealous of your musical talent. I did once try to put on a show for the Fremennik people using their preferred instrument, but I must confess that I resorted to performance-enhancing magic to make up for my lack of skill. Shameful, I know.

Perhaps one day I'll visit the College and get the right tutoring to properly learn the ways of the bard.

Yours sincerely,

GentleTractor

Dear GentleTractor,

Hey, we remember you! Always nice to hear from a fan.

The College is just lovely. I’ve many happy memories from my time there, learning new instruments, memorising the great ballads… nights out in Tempestus… if you’re ever in Varlamore, it’s well worth a visit.

Bards come from all over the world to study there and visit the library. Often they bring their own contributions. That’s what being a bard is all about – travelling the world with your companions and finding new stories to write. Or making up your own.

There’s no shame in a bit of stage fright. Being a bard isn’t easy, and if those Fremenniks were anything like the ones I’ve met, you had some tough competition.

The college is open to everyone with a story to tell… and it sounds like you’ve got quite a few, so I’m sure you’ll fit right in. Maybe we’ll see you there when we’re done with our tour?

See you around,

Reshi

[hr][/hr]

To theDrill Demon

Dear Drill Sergeant,

You look ripped. What's your workout regimen? Do you think Alathazdrar the demon butler could outrun you?

Sincerely, Fruitbooting.

Atteeeeeeeeen-shun!

Private Fruitbooting! You’d have a better grip on the fundamentals of fitness if you actually attended our training sessions! Star jumps! Sit-ups! Push-ups! Jogging! That’s all you need to achieve peak physical health!

As for Alathazdrar – that noodle-limbed ninny couldn’t outrun a snail, and if he has a problem with that he can take it up with me!

Now – drop and give me five! Lest you end up like your muscle-less pal here!

[hr][/hr]

To Postie Pete (oh... that's me!)

To Postie Pete,

I've seen you on many of your routes delivering your letters. One thing I was curious about was your top secret visit to the Wilderness's Bandit Camp. What were you doing there?! You acted quite suspiciously, especially when you said the Chaos Elemental was behind me and vanished. What are you hiding?

Sincerely, Venomous.

Sorry, Venomous – if I had ears, they’d still be ringing from all that shouting! What’s this about camping?

The Bandit Camp? In the Wilderness?

Oh, er – golly, look at this! There’s one more letter left in the bag. Let’s forget all this secret mission nonsense and have a look.

[hr][/hr]

To Whom It May Concern

You can give cats to citizens in West Ardougne in exchange for Death Runes. The citizens claim that they use the cats to hunt rats in the area. The players believe that the cats are eaten by the citizens. Which is it?

Yours, Mod Zuko

Dear Mod Zuko,

First of all, how dare the gossipy goblins of Gielinor spread such horrible rumours about our poor, impoverished town? We might live in a plague-infested slum, but we still have our principles! We love cats here in West Ardougne. They might keep themselves to themselves, but we assure you, our cats are hale, healthy, and busy whittling down the mouse population. We’ve hardly had anyone die of the plague lately, and it’s all thanks to our beloved moggies.

Frankly, we are appalled at this accusation, and invite any adventurer who wishes to see how kindly we treat our cats to explore our community-led cat café once it opens to the public.

Yours,

Siv Illian, on behalf of the West Ardougne Cat Appreciation Society


That's all from Postie Pete for now! There will be a new Reddit thread soon where you can submit letters for the next Gazette, so keep your eyes out for that!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Player Creation Showcase[/h2]

We're back with another batch of your biggest and best pieces of creative work! Every individual featured in the Gazette will receive six months of free membership as thanks for their superb efforts, so keep an eye on the linked social accounts inbox for more details on how to grab your reward!

If you are looking to be featured in the next Gazette then make sure to submit your creations through our Player Showcase Gallery Form and state what Gazette you would like it to feature in. We look forward to seeing more of your incredible talents!

Anavana

BradySkirts

Snoopii_

CharmChi

GlassMachine

Print3DGB

Zulrah Animation by 7TVFX

We've also got this fantastic Shreadsheet made by JonesyMate perfect for tracking your Group Ironman team's progress:

Check It Out Here!

[hr][/hr]
That's everything for the return of the Gielinor Gazette. 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, Con, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Ellie, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jndr, John C, Kandosii, Katies, 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, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team

This week we've been tinkering with the loot tables for the recent Wilderness & Revenant changes. Getting the loot right is a delicate matter, after all!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Small Wilderness & Revenant Changes [/h2]



As promised, we’ve got a few more Wilderness & Revenant changes this week. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates from the Wilderness Changes blog later, but for now, let’s take a look at what’s new!

• Following your feedback, we’ve tweaked the loot tables of creatures in the Revenant Caves so you can stay (and slay) a bit longer! The tertiary loot table now has a much higher chance of being rolled - depending, of course, on which creatures you’re killing. You’ll also find that the drop chance of Bind and Snare Packs has been reduced, while the drop chance of Blighted Manta and Anglerfish has doubled.
  
• We’ve also swapped out some stalagmites in the middle of the Ankou and Black Demon rooms and replaced them with walkable floor tiles.
  
• Lastly, from now on players will need to wait three seconds to log out after using a spell at the Fountain of Rune. If an attempt is made during those three seconds, they’ll be presented with this message: “The magic of the Fountain of Rune prevents you from leaving.”

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Official Merch Store Update[/h2]



Drumroll please… RuneScape: The First 20 Years goes on sale at all good bookstores this week!

If you missed out on pre-ordering the sold-out Deluxe Edition, don’t panic – you can now get your hands on this swanky red standard edition with the same 224 full-colour pages filled with illustrations and interviews.

It was released in the US yesterday and should be hitting shelves across the world from tomorrow. Treat yourself – or add it to your Christmas list!

You can snag your copy from your friendly local bookstore or check out this newspost for page reveals and other juicy details!

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

• The Blast Furnace overheats have been reworked to reduce griefing.
  
• There’s now a sound effect and hover-over effect on reordering buttons in the Theatre of Blood interface.
  
• Players may now right-click the compass and set their camera to face East, West, and South, alongside the usual North option. These options can be found on desktop, iOS and Android.
  
• Players with PvP protection will no longer be eligible to receive the PvP weapons as loot while on Deadman worlds. You can remove your PvP protection by speaking with the Doomsayer.
  
• Combat Achievements for killing multiple KBDs or Krakens in an instance were not available on Deadman worlds. These tasks will now be completed automatically for Deadman players the next time they kill the respective bosses outside of an instance.
  
• The click-zones on the Agility Pyramid planks have been increased.
  
• Shooting Stars now have a chance to land in Darkmeyer, as previously intended.
  
• Fixed a bug where mega rare clue rewards were not being broadcasted through the Clan system.
  
• Some non-essential messages from Drift Net Fishing and stairs and other passages in the Temple of Marimbo have been removed.
  
• Some words in quest dialogue have had their spelling changed to reflect British English conventions.

[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 everything for this week's game update. We'd love to hear your feedback so please let us know what you think 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, Con, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Ellie, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jndr, John C, Kandosii, Katies, 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, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team

In the recent Rewards Blogs for Nex and Tombs of Amascut, and we revealed the rewards on offer and gave you the chance to try them for yourselves in a special feedback Beta.

The feedback we received was largely positive, although a few changes appear to be required. We’ll be discussing the changes we’re making to the Tombs of Amascut rewards in a separate blog – today, we’re going to focus on Nex!

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]Powercreep[/h2]

It’s become clear from your feedback that many of you feel it’s time for new items to claim the spotlight. Too many items have remained best-in-slot for ages, and players now expect rewards that will shake up this status quo.

To 'fess' up: we’ve been hesitant to introduce more best-in-slot items, as doing so inevitably creates powercreep. This can result in a number of issues, particularly the devaluation of older content. We want to avoid this at all costs: OSRS thrives because old content is kept as relevant as possible!

Therefore, we’d like to slow the process of powercreep where possible, but we’re aware that we also need to provide powerful incentives to play difficult content. We’ve set a precedent for ‘big ticket’ items, and we want you to feel truly rewarded for taking down the toughest foes!

For this reason, we’re making a number of changes to strike a better balance and better reward you for the risks you’ll take in fighting Nex. Let’s have a look at what’s changing!

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

[h3]Introducing... Torva Armour! [/h3]



We received some great feedback about the Virtus Armour, but it’s clear that it didn't excite you as much as the prospect of a new best-in-slot melee set.

In light of this, we’ll be swapping the Virtus Armour set from Nex for the highly requested Torva Armour! Torva was a powerful warrior who once directly served Nex. She still holds on to his powerful armour, and may drop it to those lucky enough.

This doesn't mean we have no plans for Virtus in the future, and there are more details on these plans below.







This is a melee armour set, consisting of a Full Helm, Platebody and Platelegs. It offers better offensive and defensive capabilities than Bandos, with slightly worse defensive capabilities and Prayer bonus than Justiciar. Therefore, we think this makes Torva a very appealing offensive armour set upgrade over Bandos, whilst still leaving Justiciar in a solid place for its purpose.

As we mentioned above about power creep, we don't want Bandos armour to devalue as that could make General Graardor less worth doing, and we want it to still have a purpose in the game. We think that a good way to keep it within the ecosystem of the game is to use it as a component to upgrade Torva Armour.

Pieces of the Torva set are going to drop as broken and unequippable, and must be revitalised using components salvaged from the Bandos set. You’ll be able to break down your Bandos pieces in a furnace found within the Ancient Prison and receive tradeable Bandosian Components in return. Combine these with the broken Torva pieces, and you’ll assemble the set!

There are no skilling requirements to break down the Bandos pieces, but you’ll need level 90 Smithing to attach the Bandosian Components to broken Torva pieces.

Here’s how many components you’ll get per armour piece:

• Chestplate: 3 Components
  
• Tassets: 2 Components

And here’s how many Components you’ll need to repair the Torva pieces:

• Helm: 1 Component
  
• Chest: 2 Components
  
• Platelegs: 2 Components

The broken Torva, Bandosian Components and repaired Torva are all tradeable. We did consider Bandos Boots providing components, however this takes away from the potential Bandos Chestplate/Tassets item sink, and those are the items we really want to keep a decent value.

As detailed above, since the Virtus Armour got generally good feedback, we aren’t scrapping it completely. We’d still like to introduce it as a reward a little later down the line, and with a few tweaks based on your feedback. You might remember that our original plans were to release Torva later down the line alongside a different update themed around a certain ancient god. With the changes in this blog, we now think Virtus would be a suitable reward for that update instead.

The inevitable question is: why not both sets, right now? Well, other content of the same difficulty level has the same number of rewards, and we don't feel like she needs any more right now. What you get is pretty awesome.

As always, please do share your feedback on this decision – but first, let’s take a look at the other changes we’ve made.


[h3]Zaryte Vambraces[/h3]

Nex is the only survivor of a mysterious race known as nihil. The nihil were deemed a failure by Nex's master, but some of their remains were repurposed to be used as armour by Nex's army.

We’re very happy to see that so many of you are excited about the Zaryte Vambraces!



However, we’ve noticed that the 50 Defence requirements locks certain restricted accounts out of using this awesome equipment, so we thought we’d change that so it's more accessible for ‘zerk builds looking to try the Vambraces out. The Defence stats are close to this threshold already, so it makes sense.

We’ll be lowering the Defence requirement for the Zaryte Vambraces to level 45.


[h3]Zaryte (Cross)Bow[/h3]

Concept Art of the Zaryte Crossbow.

The Zaryte Bow got a lot of great feedback, but we noticed that many of you were hoping for a new crossbow instead - especially following the introduction of the Bow of Faerdhinen. So, we’d like to introduce the Zaryte Crossbow! Like with Zaryte vambraces, Zaryte crossbows were crafted from the remains of long dead nihil, taking full advantage of the magical abilities of this ancient race.

This item is best-in-slot Tier 80 Crossbow, and that’s especially exciting because Nex just happens to be vulnerable to Crossbows!



The Zaryte Crossbow requires 80 Ranged. It comes with a neat passive effect that makes bolt effects 10% stronger – for example, Ruby Bolts would hit 22% of the target’s current HP, instead of 20%, with the cap also being raised by 10%, from 100 to 110. It also has a special attack which guarantees that your bolt effect if you succeed at hitting the target/passing accuracy at the cost of 75% of your energy.

Now, you might be wondering – if there’s a new Crossbow in town, what happens to everyone’s favourite noisemaker, the Armadyl Crossbow? We’ve decided to take a similar approach to the Torva Armour; the Zaryte Crossbow will drop as a broken item that comes from Nex herself, which must then be combined with an Armadyl Crossbow and 250 Nihil Shards to make it usable.

We heard your suggestions that crossbows haven't had enough love lately, introducing this new T80 crossbow should make them a stronger and more appealing option. We look forward to seeing how this will shake things up!


[h3]Ancient Godsword[/h3]



When Nex escaped her icy prison, she found herself in the middle of the battle over the Godsword. Realising the potential of this weapon, Nex arranged for a fifth hilt to be made. However, the four armies joined forces to imprison Nex one more, meaning her hilt never saw use.

It seems that players weren’t quite sure how the Ancient Godsword’s special attack would stack up against the others, especially in PvM situations.

We want the Ancient Godsword to excel in its own way. It’s not our intention to replace the existing Godswords or make this newest one better than the others. For this reason, we focussed on its PvP abilities – but that doesn’t mean we won’t create interesting PvM encounters that might benefit from this type of weapon in the future.

Basically, we’re deciding to keep changes to this item modest. Now that you’ve seen the changes to Nex’s loot table as a whole, we hope you’ll all be more comfortable with the Godsword remaining in its own cosy niche.

However, to give it a little more oomph, we’re increasing the damage and healing on the Ancient Godswords special attack from 20 to 25.



If the special attack hits, it deals a normal hit with 10% extra damage. In addition, an eight-cycle (4.8 seconds) timer starts. If the target doesn’t move more than five tiles away before the timer ends, they’ll be hit for 25 damage, and the attacker will be healed for the same amount.

During the recent Beta, we also noticed that in PvP situations, Praying Mage would completely negate the Ancient Godsword's special attack. This was unintentional, and we would like to clarify that this effect would not be present in the live game if the Ancient Godsword were to pass poll.


[h3]Further Clarifications: Blood Essence[/h3]

Before we go, we’d also like to explain a bit more about Blood Essence, since we previously kept those details pretty sparse. Blood Essence is a semi-rare item dropped by Nex and various other monsters in the Ancient Prison. It is both tradeable and stackable.

A player can activate a Blood Essence to toggle it to its ‘active’ state. If they then craft Blood Runes with the active Blood Essence, they’ll have a 50% chance to create extra runes. Each blood essence has 1000 charges (or can craft 1000 runes per essence).

A player can only have one active Blood Essence at a time. An activated Blood Essence will become untradable.

This is intended to promote skilling moreso and alleviate the complaints about blood rune generations via skilling somewhat, we're aware that shops are still the most efficient way to get blood runes, and hope to introduce stronger ways to craft runes in the future.


[h3]Nihil Shards[/h3]

These have remained unchanged. Nihil Shards are consumables dropped by all foes in the Ancient Prison – including Nex. They can be used to charge the Zaryte Bow, or they can be crushed to make Nihil dust, which is a secondary ingredient in new Ancient Brew potions.

An Ancient Brew is a combination of Nihil dust and a Dwarf Weed potion, and requires 85 Herblore to make, giving 190 Herblore XP. When drunk, this primordial concoction boosts Magic by 5% +2 and restores Prayer by 10% +2 with the ability to boost up to 5% over the player’s base Prayer level. However, it also drains Attack, Strength and Defence by 10% +2, so think before you drink.


[h3]Ecumenical Key Shards[/h3]

For those that missed it you can gather 50 of these for one Ecumenical Key. Please note that you can't convert the Shards to a Key if you already have the cap on Keys.

Remember to keep your eyes peeled for a second rewards feedback blog, focusing on the loot from Tombs of Amascut.

That's everything for this blog. Remember and we'd love to hear your feedback so please do...

• Let us know what you think via our Official Forums.
  
• Join the Official Old School RuneScape Discord server and head to the #nex channel in the Blog Discussions area.
  
• Use the #Nex hashtag on Twitter.
  
• Reply to this Reddit thread or make your own threads with '(Nex)' in the title.
  

[hr][/hr]
Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Con, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Ellie, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jndr, John C, Kandosii, Katies, 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, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team

It's been a while since we last spoke about Deadman, and for that, we apologise. We've been hard at work putting together a solution that might allow us to re-run the Deadman Reborn finals, which were severely impacted by lag on Friday, September 17th as a result of direct network attacks.

Deadman demands so much from its competitors, and to see all that terrific effort wasted was truly heartbreaking. We are determined to do right by affected players, and today, we're very happy to announce that it's likely we'll be able to re-run the event!

We've begun work on a solution that will improve our mitigation against direct network attacks, which is due to be ready early next year. With this in mind, we'd like to schedule a beta for the Deadman Reborn re-run sometime around January, with the full re-run to follow shortly after.

We'll provide a firm date closer to the completion of the mitigation work - we just wanted to ensure that you're all kept in the loop. It's important we highlight that whilst we're confident in our solution, there is still a chance that unexpected problems will crop up - and of course, they'll need fixing before we can officially re-run the finals.

We appreciate that you've all been waiting patiently for some time already, but we feel it's vital for you to have confidence in our ability to deliver a smooth event, free from issues, before we fully commit to a re-run.


What's the plan?

• We intend to host a beta of the Deadman Reborn finals re-run in January (exact date TBC).
  
• We will only be inviting those who participated in the Deadman Reborn Finals on Friday, September 17th.
  
• The goal of the beta is to verify we have the correct savegames for when the Finals took place, so all participants have the exact same gear and levels they worked so hard for ready and waiting for them in the official re-run.
  
• We also intend to test some additional bug fixes for some of the more minor issues encountered during the previous Finals.
  
• An official re-run will follow the beta. Please note that there may be issues that need fixing between the beta phase and the live event.
  
• Each participant will be given membership on their invited account to ensure they're able to participate in both the beta and the official re-run.
  

We’d like to apologise to all Deadman participants once more, thank all our players for your patience and continued support whilst we've been working to make this re-run a possibility.


The Old School Team

Whether you're selling your PvM drops, stocking up for your next PKing trip, or simply in the market for skill-boosters, the economy underpins everything in Old School for non-Iron players. It might sound a little dry, but it’s actually pretty interesting to think about how it all works and, we reckon we have some pretty good solutions for keeping it healthy and improving your game experience – including more Bank space! Read on and we’ll explain.

First things first: how does the economy work in Old School?

Well, item prices are dictated by players, and they fluctuate based on the number of coins available in the game. Essentially:

• If there is more gold coming into the game than there is leaving, then we experience inflation. The value of gold falls, so items cost more to compensate.
  
• If the demand for an item goes up, it will rise in price. If the supply of an item is higher than the demand, prices go down.

Being a very financially literate lot, you’ve been asking us to pay close attention to the game's economic health – so we went and hired some actual real world economists to help us! We had a really good series of discussions with them, and today we're going to talk about our findings.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Grand Exchange Tax[/h2]

The Grand Exchange is OSRS's auction house and the vast majority of player-to-player trades take place here. It is currently untaxed, but to help remove wealth from the game and slow the rate of inflation, we'd like to explore taxing items that are sold on the Grand Exchange. You know what they say - in Old School nothing is certain... except PKing and taxes.

We’re thinking of adding a tax amount of 2% that would be removed from the final sale value. This means there would be no change to what the buyer pays, as the tax cost is always passed on to the seller.

In the case of selling multiple stacks, the tax would be applied per item sold, rather than the total received.

The Grand Exchange interface would be updated to clearly show how much tax the seller would have to pay if their sale is successful – so don’t worry about hidden costs!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Item Sink[/h2]

While the introduction of a Grand Exchange sales tax helps reduce the amount of gold in-game, it doesn't reduce the number of items available.

Old School RuneScape generates many of its most prestigious items via loot from bosses or raiding dungeons. The rate of these items entering the game depends on the number of people playing that content. Many encounters within Old School are instanced, meaning that the number of players is unlimited (it's not even capped by the number of game worlds available). This can lead to more items coming into the game via drops than there are actual players to use them!

Old School has almost no mechanisms whereby such items may be removed from the game. Some items have very specific situations that delete them, such as the Abyssal Tentacle, which consumes whips. But this only sinks very specific items, so it’s not a scalable solution.

We can use items as payment for in-game fees. For example, Death's Coffer allows players to sacrifice any tradeable item worth more than 10,000 coins, adding their value plus 5% into a coffer that can pay down certain in-game fees. This can work for any item in theory, but in practice, the fees in the game are so low that players need never sacrifice any high-end items like this.

With the introduction of a Grand Exchange tax, there is a huge opportunity to introduce effective and scalable item sinks. How will we achieve that? Well, we could use the tax collected from Grand Exchange sales to purchase items from other players with the simple intention of deleting said items once the purchase is complete.

Essentially, rather than just deleting the coins that are taxed, we can 'spend' them on buying items off players – and then delete those items. This doesn't need to be the case for every item in the game, of course – we’d have the flexibility to pick and choose.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]How does it work?[/h2]

When a taxed trade takes place through the Grand Exchange, we'd allocate an amount of wealth from those taxes to a virtual coffer. This coffer would be used to fund the purchase of specific items that's chosen by us and based on the estimated quantity of the item entering the game per day and the amount we'd like it reduced.

This is what would happen when a player creates a Sell offer for an applicable item:

• If the virtual coffer's funds are below a specified item's value, we do not interfere because we can't afford to buy the item. The player's Sell offer is created normally on the Grand Exchange.
  
• If we've already removed the required amount of items for the day, we do not interfere because we don't want to create supply issues. Again, the player's Sell offer is created normally on the Grand Exchange.
  
• If the virtual coffer has enough funds, and the number of items removed for the day hasn't yet hit the limit, then instead of creating a Sell offer, we delete the item, and immediately pay the player a number of coins (minus the Grand Exchange's tax).

Here's what we’re thinking of adding to the Grand Exchange tax item sink:

• Spectral and Arcane Shields
  
• Nightmare Staff and Orbs
  
• Twisted Bow, Elder Maul, Kodai Insignia, Dinh's Bulwark, Prayer Reward Scrolls
  
• God Swords, Armadyl Armour, Bandos Armour, Saradomin Sword, Zamorakian Spear
  
• Abyssal Bludgeon
  
• Kraken Tentacle, Trident
  
• Dark Bow
  
• Smoke Battlestaff, Occult Necklace
  
• Toxic Blowpipe

Note: this list is not final and is subject to change. Are there any other items you think we should add? Let us know via one of the feedback links at the bottom of this post!

Now you've seen the detail, it's important we highlight our intentions with these changes before moving on. The economy plays a crucial role in Old School and ensuring it remains healthy is integral to the future health of the game. As such, we do not intend to poll the introduction of Grand Exchange Tax or the Item Sink inclusion, as we consider these changes a matter of integrity. However, as always, we'd love to hear your feedback on how the two systems might be improved!

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Additional Bank Space[/h2]

We're always asked about increasing the size of the Bank. In the past, we've been held back by technical constraints, but we have good news - following some game engine changes, we've been carrying out tests and we can now increase it. By a lot... Huzzah!

The current bank size is 800 for P2P and 400 for F2P. However, eight extra spaces are given for having a bank PIN and a further eight for enabling an Authenticator. So technically the maximum Bank size is actually 816. However, with this potential update, the maximum size could be increased to 1,200. That’s a big leap!

You would be able to go to any Banker and pay them for additional Bank space. Bankers will sell Bank space in blocks of 40, with each block costing more than the last. You'll of course be able to buy multiple blocks of space in one go if you’re feeling flush.

Buying Bank space would be a non-refundable and permanent unlock.

Let’s look at the cost of each Bank space block:



With all of the above, there are still 40 Bank spaces left over. As before, these extra spaces will be given for having a Bank PIN and an Authenticator. However, it’s not just eight spaces for each – now it will be 20. Much space! Very roomy!

Poll Question #1:

Should it be possible to purchase additional bank space at the cost of Coins as described in the Economy blog? It would be possible to purchase up to a total of 400 additional bank spaces. If this question passes, we'll also increase the amount of bank space given for having a Bank PIN and an Authenticator from 8 to 20 each respectively. With all bank slots purchased, the maximum storage space available would increase from 816 to 1,200.

[hr][/hr]
[h2]Literal Gold Sink[/h2]

Yeah, so the gold sink is quite literally… a Golden Sink.

We know how much you love to show off your wealth. What better way to showcase how deep your pockets run than by adding a sink made of gold into your Player Owned House?!

Poll Question #2:

Should it be possible to create a Golden Sink that is mountable in your Player Owned House? The Golden Sink would require 47 Construction to create and costs 10 Condensed gold, 5 Gold leaf and 5 Mahogany planks to mount. If this question passes, Condensed gold would be added to the Keldagrim stonemason shop, costing 10,000,000 coins each.

[hr][/hr]

Thanks for reading – we hope you find it interesting, and we think this is going to make a big difference to the economy of Old School RuneScape. Let us know what you think!

Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Con, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Ellie, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jndr, John C, Kandosii, Katies, 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, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team