Old School RuneScape News

Introduced in 2014, Ironman mode let Old School Runescape players test their luck with an entirely self-sufficient challenge. Now, the throwback MMO will let you share that load with a full party, letting you and your friends taking on the world together without any help from outsiders...
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[h2]Hotfixes and Changes - October 6th[/h2]

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It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for – Group Ironman is here! As of this week you’ll be able to take on Old School RuneScape’s toughest challenge in a group of up to five friends. So, without further ado, let’s dive in…

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[h2]Group Ironman[/h2]

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Group Ironman is finally here! Are you ready to band together and become the stuff of legend? This is your chance to build and grow a team of Ironmen that is greater than the sum of its parts and battle for top spot on the leaderboard. It's a whole new way to play Old School RuneScape.

Whether you’re an Iron novice or an experienced Ultimate, we’ve got everything you need to know about the newest addition to the Iron family!


[h3]Overview[/h3]

Group Ironman is a new way for the toughest ‘scapers to explore Gielinor. Do you enjoy Ironman? Hardcore Ironman? Ultimate Ironman? Well, now it’s time to bring together up to five of your most trusted companions to take on the challenge together.

If you’ve never played Ironman before: imagine Old School RuneScape with no trade, where you have to earn every item yourself. It’s about forging your way through the game with nothing but blood, sweat and tears - gathering, crafting, and fighting to get the stuff you need to succeed. Needless to say, it’s a real challenge... and one you would normally have to face alone.

Group Ironman is a little different. Groups of two to five players can join together and take on Gielinor’s nastiest beasts. They can also trade their resources among one another, delve into new Group Storage, and visit each other’s Player Owned Houses. Groups will even be able to compete for leaderboard positions and prove that their gang is the greatest supergroup of Old School RuneScape. It’s Ironman with a little help from your friends – pushing you to your limits while allowing you to share the glory with your mates!

Group Ironman players have a unique icon next to their name to distinguish them from other Iron players and regular ‘scapers. They’ll also receive a unique armour set with Roman numerals on the chestplate to indicate the size of their group, from II to V.


[h3]Recruitment[/h3]

To start, you'll need a new account that will start you off on the classic Tutorial Island. From here, proceed as normal by completing all the tutorials found on the island until you reach the Magic Tutor and complete his request to cast the magic spell on the chicken. Once you have cast the magic spell you will need to stop here and immediately head to the Ironman Tutor. DO NOT CONTINUE WITH THE MAGE OR YOU WILL LEAVE THE ISLAND.

From here, you’ll need to assemble your team at The Node, a recruitment hub off the coast of Tutorial Island. Your group must be between two and five players, and one of you will have to take on the mantle of leader.

You’ll also get the opportunity to pick a group name, but bear in mind that you’ll be unable to pick the same name as an existing Clan, as they share the same name space.

Once your gang is formed, you’re free to recruit new players as you progress, so there’s no need to hang around waiting – just join the game and start climbing those HiScores!


[h3]The Node[/h3]

The Node is a new island off the coast of Tutorial Island. It’s where you’ll form teams and learn the core elements of Group Ironman!

Tutorial Island with The Node

To get to The Node, speak to the Iron Tutor on Tutorial Island to select the Group Ironman game mode, then run south to jump on the boat after completing the tutorial. Once you get to The Node, another tutor will be on hand to explain the game mode in more detail and explain Group Storage.

The new Iron Man Setup menu!

Once you’ve figured that out, you’ll be able to talk to other players! Communication will be key to success in this game mode, so use this time to find teammates you really click with. To join a group you like the look of, just use the ‘apply’ option on other players.

Once your group is formed, you’ll be able to return to The Node to recruit more players – although the same won’t be true for Tutorial Island, so make sure you’ve absorbed the tutors’ advice before you get started.

Make sure to grab some Group Ironman Armour from the crates!

Remember, Group Ironman isn’t like Clans – you won’t be able to recruit new group members anywhere but The Node, and you’ll have to come back here to add more players. To return there from the mainland either speak to the Iron Tutors in Lumbridge or teleport using the Group Iron Helm – of course, the latter method can only be used if you’re a GIM player.

Before you head out to the mainland, you might want to try out fighting as a group. There are a few low-level NPCs on the island and you can have a go at bashing their fragile skulls in together before you leave – it’ll be a bonding experience!

The first time you leave The Node, your player inventory will be wiped and you’ll receive the standard items you’d normally get from Tutorial Island.

If you can’t find the right group, or you change your mind about this whole Ironman thing, you can just leave The Node without a group. You’ll need to choose between the other game modes before being teleported to the mainland.


[h3]Forming a Group[/h3]

If you want to start your own group, this is what the process looks like:

1. Click ‘Create Group’.
   
2. Choose whether your group is Prestige or not.
   
3. Right-click on players then press the ‘Invite’ option.
   
4. Choose a group name (this will only be saved once your team has successfully formed).
   
5. Select ‘Confirm’ once you have enough players in your group and a chosen name. You'll then be presented with the following confirmation boxes:
   
   1. Are there enough people in the group?
      
   2. Are you sure you want to create this group?
6. Congratulations, you've created a Group Ironman team!

Creating a Group.

There's a double confirmation prompt for creating your group so make sure it's correct!

[h3]Recruiting Into Existing Groups[/h3]

If you are the leader of your group, you will see an ‘Invite’ option next to the players you meet around The Node. Clicking this option will check if they are already part of a group. If they are not, they’ll receive your invitation.

All new group members must have a fresh GIM account. The second they leave The Node, or a group has been successfully created, players can no longer join a group. This is to ensure that no groups or accounts get an unfair advantage by bringing in high-levelled players.

If a player chooses to leave their group or is kicked out, this will leave a gap. For example: what used to be a group of four will still be considered a four-player group in the HiScores, but in reality will only have the three remaining members and an open gap. This group can go to The Node to pick up a new group member.

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[h2]Group Mechanics[/h2]


[h3]Prestige Status[/h3]

Groups that remain the same after formation have ‘Prestige’ status. This means they are distinguished from other groups that have changed over time. This will encourage teams to stick together and is our way of recognising a group’s loyalty to one another, and the progress they’ve made. Prestige status is presented as a message box upon group creation, and is lost upon inviting anyone new into your group after it has been formed.

The Prestige prompt when creating a group.

A group with Group Prestige and both players with Individual Prestige.

Group Prestige will be visually represented on the HiScores in the near future, and is represented in-game via a star icon next to the group's name. Individual Prestige Stars can disappear from the side panel at times but they can be seen again when refreshing the side panel.

In order for your group to keep its Prestige, every member will need to be online at The Node at the time of its creation. There is no way around this. If someone’s late to the party, you can still invite them to your group, but you’ll lose Prestige status. This isn't the end of the world - you'll still be displayed on the HiScores, but not as a Prestige Group.

Group Prestige is lost when:

• Inviting a player into your group once the group has already been formed.
  
• A player in the group does Chambers of Xeric/Theatre of Blood/Nightmare of Ashihama with players outside of their group.

Players will always be warned if an action will lead to the loss of Group Prestige.

Now, let’s talk about Individual Prestige!

Individual Prestige determines whether or not wealth and item transfer restrictions are applied to individual members of the group. If you join a group other than the one you started with, you’ll lose your Individual Prestige.

Individual Prestige is enabled by default, and will remain enabled unless you join a group other than the one you started with. Likewise, players added to groups after they’ve been formed will not receive Individual Prestige.

To summarise: any one is able to leave their group and join another, but doing so will result in the loss of both groups’ Group Prestige, and the loss of the leaving player’s Individual Prestige. Neither kind of Prestige has an impact on gameplay, but both will be marked on the HiScores.


[h3]HiScores[/h3]

HiScores are your chance to prove that your group is the best of the best!

Ranks are determined first by the combined total skill level of your team, then by combined total experience. To be clear, only XP gained while in your current group will count towards their total level – so players leaving a group to join another won’t be able to transfer their XP to the new group’s HiScore.

HiScores are listed under the group’s name, not the names of the individual players.

Lastly, each group size category has their own HiScore list, to keep things fair – it would be unfair to compare a two-person group to one with all five slots filled, after all!


[h3]Player Owned Houses[/h3]

House party, anyone?

Currently, regular Iron accounts can have their own Player Owned House, but can’t invite anyone in or travel to other houses. In Group Ironman, players will be able to access other players’ houses!

Currently, your regular Iron accounts can have a Player Owned House of their own, but can’t enter other Player Owned Houses or invite anyone into theirs. GIM is a little different – players can access the houses of other players in their group, as long as the owner is home to welcome them.

Additionally, regular Ironmen will now also be able to let other players into their house – although they still can’t enter other players’ houses. Now you too can enjoy sitting on chairs with friends!

Players partying hard in a Player Owned House

[h3]Group Storage[/h3]

Group Storage is a Bank-like space where all members of a group can store and withdraw important items. It’s accessible via a new button on the regular Bank interface, which is only visible to Group Ironmen and Hardcore Group Ironmen.

Only one player will be able to use Group Storage at a time.

We’ve gone with this design because we recognise that group members will still require their own personal Bank facility to store untradeables and items they don’t intend to share within the group.

Try to be courteous with your Group Storage, everyone – teamwork makes the dream work!

What Group Storage Looks Like

The items in Group Storage are listed in an array, with a side-panel showing the player's inventory contents. It has all the Bank features you’re accustomed to, including depositing, withdrawing, and rearranging items.

The top left of the screen shows the number of occupied slots and the total number of slots, just like the Bank. The top right of the screen may contain the following:

• View Only (if the player is blocked from depositing or withdrawing)
  
• Deposit Only (if the player is blocked from withdrawing)
  
• The Wealth Cap remaining for the player's withdrawal limits (please note that this doesn’t update in real-time)
• A blank space (if the player has no restrictions)

You can search, deposit all your items and even shuffle your items up, which takes all the items in the Group Storage and shuffles them to the top left of the grid.

When you’re done, you’ll need to click the ‘Save’ button to ensure the changes you’ve made are recorded. If you don’t, you’ll lose your changes upon closing the interface.


[h3]Trading and The Gradual Wealth Transfer System[/h3]

It goes without saying that GIM can't trade with people outside their group. They can only trade regularly within the group, and some trade restrictions do still apply to new members joining the group.

When a member joins a new group, there are hard caps on how much wealth that player can receive from the existing members and from Group Storage. This prevents existing groups transferring all their wealth to new members before leaving. Prolonging the transfer should deter boosters without being too inconvenient for legitimate players. The caps start off very restrictive but quickly become more lenient:

• Week 1: Wealth caps at 1million GP
  
• Week 2: Wealth caps at 20million GP
  
• Week 3: Wealth caps at 50million GP
  
• Week 4: Wealth caps at 100million GP
  
• Week 5: Cap is lifted

Note that this only applies to players without Individual Prestige. If the entire group started on The Node as fresh accounts, you will not have the wealth transfer cap or the killcount requirement discussed below.


[h3]Content Restricted Items[/h3]

To ensure that players using certain items have really earned them, we’re restricting their use until the player has completed the relevant content at least once. For example, if a player wishes to use the Ghrazi Rapier, they must first complete Theatre of Blood. They’ll also be able to use any other item from that raid. Any boss uniques require killing that boss at least once. Similarly, players must complete at least one Chambers of Xeric to use any of the items from there. All boss uniques would require at least one boss kill of the relevant boss.

The killcount requirement applies if you’ve left your original group and either made a new one or joined an existing one. If the entire group started on The Node as fresh accounts, they will not have the killcount requirement or the wealth transfer cap.

Please note: the kill requirement applies to you if you've left your group and joined a new one, or if you join an existing group (i.e. you are not Prestiged anymore). If the entire group started on The Node as fresh accounts, you will not have the kill requirement or wealth transfer cap.


[h3]Combat[/h3]

For those outside the group, Group Ironman will function the same way as regular Iron players in combat. If someone outside the group hits an NPC, the drop will either go to the outsider or disappear. If only group members have attacked the NPC, the drop will go to the group member who dealt the most damage.

We’ve added an indicator for all types of Iron players which warns them if they’re attacking a creature that won’t give them loot due to these restrictions. This is only visible to the Iron player receiving the warning and will appear along with the following Chatbox message: “As an Iron [noun], you might not receive kill-credit for this monster.”

You can toggle this warning in the ‘Activities’ section of the Settings menu.

A look at the new indicator for Iron players.

[h3]Group Content[/h3]

GIM players can tackle all the group content that regular Iron players can. For example, they can kill the Nightmare with other players and team up with other account types outside their group when playing Theatre of Blood and The Chambers of Xeric. However – doing this will cause you to lose your Group Prestige, so make sure everyone is comfortable with that before you group up with players from outside your group.

In Chambers of Xeric specifically, GIM will be just like playing a regular Iron account. Items will drop to the floor like a main account, but you can drop potions for your group members to take. If they leave the drop, it’ll eventually show up for other kinds of players too.

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[h2]Changing The Party[/h2]


[h3]Leaving a Group[/h3]

You may think you’re in your group for the long run, but you never know what might happen! Sometimes life just gets in the way, or priorities change. But it’s not a problem – you can always leave a group by speaking to the Iron Tutor on The Node.

Leaders can also remove members of the group – but before we talk about that, let’s go over the grace period.


[h3]The Grace Period[/h3]

If you choose to leave your group, you have seven days to reconsider and cancel the request. This serves two purposes: firstly, it simply gives you time to change your mind, but also keeps your Prestige status safe from misclicks or account hijackers.

A player who is kicked from a group also gets a grace period of seven days. This is so that they have the opportunity to settle things with the other members. A player getting kicked cannot withdraw items from the Group Storage, although they can still deposit.


[h3]Account Status[/h3]

If you decide to leave a group, you must pick one of two options.

If you keep your GIM status, you’ll be placed in a new group where you are the leader. The group size remains the same. You’ll keep your levels, stats, quests, variables and untradable items – but tradable items will be deleted.

If you become a regular account, you’ll lose your GIM status and be removed from both the GIM group and the HiScores. You will keep all your levels, stats, quests, variables, untradable items and tradable items.


[h3]Abdication of the Leader[/h3]

Every group must have a leader. By default, this is the player who created the group. However, this person might want to quit, play another account, or focus on other activities for a bit. An absent leader can be really bad for morale! So, we’ve made it possible for the leader to abdicate.

Stepping down works just like it does in Clans.

The leader can choose to step down at any time, but there is a seven-day grace period before their decision takes effect. This is to prevent hijackers from taking over accounts and maliciously forcing leaders to abdicate.

When a leader steps down, another player must take their place. The outgoing leader chooses the new one, and they will not be able to abdicate until this choice is made.

If the leader has been inactive for 30 days, leadership will be automatically assigned to the group member who has been in the group the longest. If more than one member joined on the same day, leadership will go to whichever member joined the group first. In these instances, the leader is not removed from the group – they’re just demoted.

If there’s nobody else in the group, the leader can’t step down. Instead, the group will be disbanded when they leave, after the grace period of 7 days.

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[h2]Hardcore Group Ironman[/h2]

Looking for an even greater challenge? Hardcore Group Ironman might be up your street.

A Hardcore Group Ironman group begins with a number of lives equal to the number of players in the group at the time of formation. Any dangerous* death, for any member, will result in one life being subtracted from the total. This will be broadcast to any group members online at the time. Offline players will be notified upon next log-in.

If a group’s total lives hit zero, the whole gang has their Hardcore status revoked. The group will remain together and keep all their items and stats, but will be considered regular Group Irons.

If anyone leaves or is kicked, the group will keep its Hardcore status but will lose one of their lives – so if the group is on their last life, a player leaving could get the whole group demoted. Take care!

Hardcore groups cannot accept anyone else into their group. By default, a Hardcore Group is Prestige. If they wish to invite anyone else, they must first lose their Hardcore status.

Normally, Hardcore Iron Players are able to die in certain areas of the game without losing their Hardcore status. We call these ‘safe deaths’. In PvM, there are safe deaths in places like the Chambers of Xeric, the Fight Caves, the Inferno and Pest Control. In PvP, safe deaths can take place in Last Man Standing, Soul Wars, and Castle Wars.

But we reckon that’s too easy for Hardcore Group Ironman! For Hardcore Groups, there are no safe PvM deaths. Any PvM deaths, whether they be to TzKal-Zuk or the wizards outside Varrock, will lose you a group life. This includes Pest Control and other PvM minigames.

Fremennik Trials is an exception as you are supposed to die to it as part of the Quest (after defeating Koschei's third form). It's not avoidable so it doesn't actually count for your character dying. A good rule of thumb is that if you die as a result of not taking the necessary precautions or healing up, you will lose a life in PvM.

The good news is that deaths in PvP minigames will remain safe for Group Iron players – so you can all go and enjoy a game of Castle Wars together.

These changes do not affect solo Hardcore Iron Players. Our aim is to distinguish between solo and group Hardcore Iron players – and provide some of the most challenging content in the whole game.

Right – now you know the details, you can grab your most trusted companions and head out on your very own Group Ironman adventure! Best of luck out there!

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[h2]Ironman Bonds[/h2]

Speaking of Iron players, they’re now permitted to buy Bonds via the Grand Exchange. They’re still unable to sell Bonds or buy any other items.

We hope this will make life a little bit more convenient for those who’ve got the coins to buy Bonds directly and save Iron players the extra expense of trading Bonds via alt accounts.


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[h2]Other Changes [/h2]

• Corrected some grammar in the Woodcutting Guild.
  
• Corrected the description of a particular S.T.A.S.H. Unit’s position.
  
• The ‘Items Lost on Death’ screen on w45 now correctly shows full Bank stacks as lost, rather than just 80% of them.
  
• The RuneFest 2014 Home Teleport animation, which features a dancing cow, is no longer offered in PvP areas due to widespread disruption. The default Home Teleport animation will be played in these zones.
  
• As previously stated, Ironmen will now be able to let other players into their own houses, although they will still be unable to visit the houses of others. Sounds like an excuse for a party!
  
• Also as above, all kinds of Iron players will now be warned if they won't receive kill credit or loot drops from the creature they're currently attacking.
  
• The Soul Wars Imbued Black Mask has been changed to match its requirements.
  
• The Store button will now appear for all new accounts and will also appear on desktop for free-to-play accounts who have it enabled on mobile. The Store button can be toggled on or off in the Settings menu under ‘Interfaces’.
  
• In her time here, Mod Grimoire worked on a Login Screen Volume Slider for the Steam Client – and that’s out now for you to try. Great work, Mod Grimoire!

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[h2]Official Merch Store Update[/h2]

Ironman btw? Celebrate the release of Group Ironman with these new lines from Angels Scapes:

• Group Ironman BTW Keyring
  
• Group Ironman and Hardcore Group Ironman Pins
  
• Ironman, Hardcore Ironman, and Ultimate Ironman Limited Edition Pins
  

All this and more is available on the Official Merch Store!

We've also got a quick update regarding RuneScape: The First 20 Years.



The global publication date of the main (red cover) retail edition is being moved from mid-October to November 2nd in the US and November 4th in the UK. Our publisher, Dark Horse, has hit major shipping delays - a knock on effect of the general global shipping issues we've all experienced over the last year.

A shipment destined for comic stores in the US, however, has already arrived - so US-based 'scapers can grab a copy from their local indie comic book hero [LINK] on the slightly earlier date of October 20th.

Deluxe and main edition copies purchased from the Official Merch Store have been unloaded from the boat in the UK and are waiting to land in the US. If all goes well with docking, getting through customs and finding HGV drivers, we expect pre-orders to start leaving UK and US warehouses on October 19th.

If you can't wait that long to see it, keep your eye on Dark Horse's socials, where they'll be sharing new pages this week!

If you live outside the US and have not yet ordered your copy, all good book stores should now be taking pre-orders of the main edition for the new November publication date.

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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
  
• 390 - (AUS) - LMS Competitive - world becomes active with this rota.
  

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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, Flippy, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, 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, Sween, Tide, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team

Adventurers, Group Ironman is just one day away! The time has finally come to forge a team and become legends in this whole new way to play Old School RuneScape!

Haven’t found a group yet? Fear not! We’ve set up a handy LFG bot in the Official OSRS Discord to help.

The bot can set you up with similar players based on certain criteria: Timezone (NA, EU or Australia); Group Prestige (depending on if you want to raid exclusively with one group) and Group Type (Hardcore or Regular).

Here’s how to use it:

• If you haven’t already, join the Official OSRS Discord.
• Look for a category named ‘GIM Bot' on the left side panel of the Discord - a channel called #group-finder-info can be found under this.
  
• There will be a message in this channel from the Group Finder Bot - interact with it and you'll get a direct message. If this doesn't work, check your privacy settings to make sure they allows direct messages from server members (alternatively, it may be that the bot is handling too many requests, in which case you should try again after a couple of minutes).
  
• Answer the three simple questions relating to your timezone, prestige preference and group type interests.
  
• Based on your answers, you’ll be assigned a role by the Group Finder Bot, granting access to the corresponding channel.
  
• Every member of the channel will be looking for the same type of group, so feel free to advertise yourself or your group there. Roles will correspond with different timezones to make it easier for you to group up. Do make sure to let everyone know what times you're willing to play!
  
• If you would like to change the answers to your questions, simply head back to the #group-finder-info channel to start over. You should leave the LFG channel you're currently in before restarting the questions - this can be easily done via the Group Finder Bot.

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By Killerfishy

Hey, look over here!

It looks like a group of Adventurers. Are they about to embark on their Group Ironman journey too? Lets find out a little bit more about them!

The Muscle: Someone who just loves the thrill of battle! She has precisely zero interest in skilling, but give her a boss fight and she's happy for hours! She knows she’s good (far better than her team-mates) but she isn’t arrogant or rude about it. She’ll also wear Bronze Armour sometimes, just for the extra challenge.

The Strategist: Someone who aims to max every skill and is chasing a permanent spot on the HiScores. She’s also the group's main skiller, and is very efficiency focused. She can quickly identify the weak spots in any enemy... and perhaps of her own group!

The Lone Wolf: Who doesn’t love an edgy wizard? With a propensity to wander off by himself to do his own thing, he's renowned for having insane RNG and finding rare drops. How on earth does he manage it?

The Heart: A goofy, lovable giant. A lover of quests who wants to help every NPC they stumble across. The Heart has a monsterous gaming PC, but only uses it for playing Old School with his friends. He would absolutely click on a player dressed as a Wilderness lever if his friends didn’t warn him.

The Leader: At the front and centre of the group. Admittedly, he spacebars through quests and can’t stand achievement diaries (although he completes them for the rewards). He's great at recognising people’s strengths and getting the best out of everyone.

One of our very own community artists, Killerfishy, has brought these characters to life!

Check out this awesome piece, which is the first of a four-part comic series!



Even more excitingly, the group need YOUR HELP! You must help them decide what they’ll get up to next, so head over to our Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit and have your say! Got any awesome ideas? Let us know in the comments!

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Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Bonsai, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Flippy, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Husky, Jerv, Jndr, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kieren, Kirby, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Maylea, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Oasis, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Skylark, Squid, Steve W, Sween, Tide, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team

Can you believe we haven't had a Gielinor Gazette since last year... crazy right? For those that don't know, the Gazette is a monthly newspost featuring in-depth content design articles from our wonderful devs, production updates from the leads and a chance to welcome new members of the team.

For its return this year we wanted to give it a bit of a revamp, bringing back some classic Gazette sections - Postbag from the Hedge and the Player Showcase Gallery! These we classic staples of past Gazettes, which many of the team look back at fondly.

Within the first Gazette of 2021 we say hello to the whopping over 20 J-Mods that have joined us this year! Plus, Mod Elena offers a look into the design of Group Ironman and we update you on some of the future content coming to Old School, including a look at what the New Client features are like on Mobile!

It's great to be back. So make your favourite sarnie, a nice cuppa' tea, and sit back for a good read!

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[h2]Project Status Update[/h2]


Recent Leadership Livestream

Last week's live stream was a big one, and a leadership presence on the streams was well overdue. Mods Ayiza, Kieren, and Sween were joined by Mod Markos - Old School's new Executive Producer. We sought to give you some insight into concerns such as account security, the Duel Arena and more. Let's break down some of the key announcements:

• Duel Arena: In the long-term, we plan to replace the Duel Arena with more engaging content. In the meantime we'd like to explore some other changes, like the introduction of a staking cap. More information will follow later this month.
  
• Account Security: In the livestream Mod Markos, the new Executive Producer, stated that Account Security will be a priority of his, acknowledging that it has been far too long since we promised changes.
  
• Games Rules and RWT: Beginning later this month we'll be adapting our approach to RWT. Currently, we focus on tackling those who sell wealth or services, but we're going to renew our attention on finding the players who are buying wealth or services. We're also exploring new reporting options for different types of rule-breaking.
  
• The Game Economy: You've asked us to pay close attention to the game's economic health, and we plan to do just that. We've even hired some economists to help advise us! We'll talk about our plans in more detail later this month.
  
• Nex In Old School: Following the Summer Summit we saw that, despite a lot of excitement for the content we announced, you wanted something more permanent and playable. We've been investigating backporting Nex with an Old School flavour, but before we poll it there'll be a blog (in a few weeks time) and an in-game beta to test proposed rewards.
  

WIP images of the Boss Room & Nex.

Group Ironman

Can you believe we're just two days away from Group Ironman's release? What a journey it has been since its initial announcement back at RuneFest 2019. It is the result of a huge collective team effort. So, get ready to travel to The Node with your friends from 11am BST on October 6th!

As usual, there'll be a newspost alongside the release to give you all of the information you need. This has been a highly requested gamemode, even prior to the actual announcement. Just as Ironman was led by Boaty and Faux, we've really enjoyed watching the likes of EVScape, Purpp, RonPlaysGames, and Skiddler pursue their unofficial Group.

We really appreciate your patience over the last two years, and we can't wait to see what you get up to!


Leagues III

Our third League is making amazing progress. It's called Shattered Relics and launches on November 3rd! Following the announcement at our Summer Summit, much of the design has been finalised and we have released the Rewards Poll Blog, so check it out and make sure to have your say!


Tombs of Amascut

We've shared a lot more information on the third Raid since August. We released a newspost and ran a Beta for the potential rewards and there was an amazing reception at our Summer Summit. We're delighted to share with you all that a new Rewards Blog and Beta will be arriving this month, so look out for them when they drop soon! Art pre-production has also made great progress.

Concept art from Tombs of Amascut.

Wilderness Changes

The Wilderness changes blogged back in July are now in development. The first batch has been released, consisting of the final Equipment Rebalance changes and an altered Revenant Cave entrance.

Regrettably, it's taken us much, much longer to get round to these changes than we'd hoped. A huge but critical technical rework was recently urgently required, taking out a developer of the project for multiple months. In addition to this, we've also had to reallocate resource in support of upcoming content. This left us in a position where our only option was to wait for this work to be signed off before resuming anything Wilderness-related. Delaying content is something we'd rather avoid, and while we are committed to delivering the changes as promised, the long-term health of the game always remains our top priority.

Now for the good news! The technical rework is now in QA, and the remaining jobs from Poll 75 are done. We are finally seeing progress, but in the interest of transparency, we'd say that we are not out of the woods just yet. With the delays pushing us into what is now a jam-packed schedule of upcoming content, our dev capacity is not where we need it to be in order to bring these updates together. We are committed to those changes and will do them with no compromise on quality, no matter how long it takes us.

Thank you for your patience so far, and rest assured that we wish to see these changes in the game as much as you do.


Wilderness Boss Rework

Work on this will kick off once the above has been completed. In the interim, the art team has progressed with sketches and concept art for environments and rewards.

Vet'tions Chamber Concept

Venenatis's Lair Concept #1

Venenatis's Lair Concept #2

Steam Client Features

Last month, our Steam Client was updated with a second batch of features including Agility helpers, increased draw distances, a zoomable minimap and more! The team continues on its quest to deliver a client that really enhances your Old School experience. Additions thus far include:

• Opponent Information HUD
  
• Buff Bar and Ammo Display
  
• Stat Boost Timers
  
• Fishing Spot Indicators
  
• Tile Markers
  
• Chambers of Xeric Helper
  
• Mouse-Over Tooltips
  
• Chat History Improvements
  
• Orb Visual Timers
  
• FPS Settings
  
• Anti-Drag Settings
  
• Settings Menu Re-organisation
  
• Draw Distance Settings
  
• Tile Indicators
  
• Improved UI Scaling
  
• Agility Helpers
  
• Minimap Improvements
  

And this is just the beginning! We've got tons of exciting features on the way in the near future that will improve your experiences with Clue Scrolls, loot and more.

In the meantime, our third drop of new features is just around the corner, arriving on October 20th! This release will focus on Skilling Helpers such as respawn timers, XP trackers and the introduction of our Client-Side Panel.

Here's a full list of what's coming with Drop 3:

• New Side Panel
  
• XP Tracker Sub-Panel
  
• Slayer Helper and Task Streak Tracking
  
• Respawn Timers (Ore and Woodcutting)
  
• Improved Poison/Venom Info
  
• Logout Notifier
  

Now, we know that a lot of you have been asking about the progress of new mobile features. We are delighted to say that it's going very well, and you can get a cheeky sneak peek in a few screenshots below. Please note: these screenshots are still a work in progress.

Opponent Information HUD & Attack Style Visual.

Slayer Helper & Tracker.

Here's the NEW Side Panel!

If you don't want it, that's fine too!

Combat with the Side Panel.

Cutting Logs with the XP Tracker Side Panel.

Agility Helpers.

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[h2]Group Ironman - Development Process[/h2]

by Mod Elena


Hi all! I’m Mod Elena, lead developer on the Group Ironman project. I’d like to share some of the project's history, as well as some insights into the design decisions that were made and the development process that we've been using.

Group Ironman is rapidly approaching its launch, after having been on the horizon for so long. The first design document for it was created in January 2018 – so there was talk of it more than three years ago! Back then we knew we definitely wanted to do it at some point, but we didn’t yet have the technology to do so. Clans had to come first, but now that's out the system for Group Ironman is nearly all in place.

I was left alone to start working on the design for the game mode immediately after Clans launched back in May. The very first thing I did was look at what others had done before me. There was various documentation about meetings and talks, and just general ideas of what the game mode should be. I kept most of it – scrapped some – and then went back to the drawing board. In my head I was trying to picture what the game mode means to me, and what I wanted it to be. I tried to imagine the core game loop of making a character, becoming part of a group and then competing within that group. Thinking about these things as a general high-level concept made the next steps very easy because I was left with a million questions, such as “how do I find players to group with?” and “how would groups make decisions fairly?”. I jotted down all the questions, and then proceeded to try to answer them all in a rough first draft of the design.

I quickly realised that I didn’t have all the answers myself. At a high-level concept, sure, I knew that Group Ironmen should have typical Iron-restrictions when interacting with players outside of their group, while at the same time acting as main-accounts when interacting with players within the group. But what I didn’t know were things such as “What happens when a player leaves a group?” or “How do we make sure no groups get an unfair advantage?”. I started conversations with groups of players and colleagues to really get to the bottom of it all. The discussions were incredibly valuable and shed light on aspects I hadn’t even considered – all helping me make more informed decisions.

Once I was satisfied with the design, I sent it around to the Juggernauts (my development team) for them to review. Their feedback was extremely valuable and I adapted the design further, before sending it around to the wider Old School team. The initial reaction was “Group Ironman is finally happening!”, followed by more constructive criticism for me to address. These feedback loops are common with projects like this. Usually we start development shortly after the design is finalised and all the internal feedback has happened. However, we were scheduled to do Deadman Mode before Group Ironman, so the Juggernauts put Group Ironman on hold and rallied around Combat Achievements and Deadman Mode first.

In the next few months while we developed other content, there was a lot of talk about the scheduling for Group Ironman. To help with scheduling, we always break down the project into different jobs that we then assign point values to in order to determine how big of a job it is. For Group Ironman, we had jobs such as 'Forming a Group' and 'Selecting the GIM mode'. We then estimated how much time each would take, and checked if we could fit it all in the time that we had left. Sadly, we could not. This meant we had to thoroughly assess each job and evaluate its importance. Do we really need it for launch? What value does the feature have? Where is our time best spent? These are all questions we had to ask ourselves as we tried to make the project as good as it could be in the available time.

In August 2021, the development finally started. The art team got a head start by beginning one sprint before the rest of us while we finished off the final touches on Deadman. That meant that when we began on development, there was already a bunch of assets such as new armour and a brand-new island waiting for us - The Node.

I’ve been in lots of talks with the engine team about how the HiScores should work, as well as exploring what we can do with Shared Storage. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to see in Old School ever since I started working on Clans in January, and I believe it will make a huge difference to Group Ironman gameplay. This is new territory and requires a lot of work, which is why it took us a while to figure it out. Luckily, the engine team figured out how to provide it, and I'm so excited to see us have Shared Storage for the launch of Group Ironman.

We currently have six content developers on the project (Mods Arcane, Ash, Husky, Mac, Tide, and myself). Having this many developers on the same project can be tricky, especially when we work on the same files. It’s kind of like trying to cram six people into a kitchen and telling them to prepare a meal together. It takes a lot of communication to make sure we don’t trip over each other.

A typical workday for me on Group Ironman starts with a morning meeting, where everyone on the project gets together to catch up. It’s very brief, and everyone says what they’ve been up to since they last spoke, and what they plan on doing next. It’s a good way of flagging any unexpected things that may come up so that we can identify and deal with issues early. I typically spend most of the rest of the day talking to different people to make sure things are running smoothly. Whenever there’s a question about the Group Ironman design, I am the go-to person. This could be from the marketing team making sure that their videos are suitable, artists wondering exactly how an asset will be used, developers checking if they’ve interpreted the design document correctly, and so on. When I’m not overseeing development or taking deep dives into engine code with Mod Boko to explore how we can make things work from a technical standpoint, I may finally get some time to code.

I hope you enjoyed the little peek behind the curtains on how development has gone down for Group Ironman! I've been writing most of this from my point of view, but know that with me is a large team of very talented and passionate people who are working very hard to make this project the best it can be. I can certainly say that everyone working on this project is extremely excited to see it launch, and we hope you are too. Group Ironman will arrive soon – and I will be playing it myself in my spare time. I hope to see you on The Node!

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

We've welcomed over 20 J-Mods since our last Gazette. How incredible is that? Several different areas of the team have grown and expanded - we are excited for the future of Old School and how the team is shaping up! A few of the new starters tell us a little bit about themselves below, but please make sure to give a warm welcome to the other members of the team: Mods Dibber, Dnz, Dylan, Grub, Ivee, Kirby, KT, Kurotou, Light, Matheus, Nylu, Sigma & Sova.


Mod Markos has joined as Executive Producer

Hi there, I'm Mod Markos! I've been at Jagex for some time including many years on RuneScape and a spell on Old School back in 2019.

I've played a fair amount of RuneScape over the years (although I'm still some way off being high level) and tend to gravitate towards questing for the storytelling and skilling because I love watching the numbers go up! Outside of RuneScape I tend to play a lot of open world RPGs and have been an avid gamer for as long as I can remember.

In my role I'm responsible for the general running of the game and am looking forward to working with the team and community on delivering lots of great, new updates over the coming years!


Mod Meat is our new Game Engine Developer

Hi players! My name is Mod Meat and I have just joined Jagex as a game engine developer on Old School RuneScape. I’ve been programming since I was a teenager and playing RuneScape for even longer, so the idea of working for Jagex is a dream job for me. I always played RuneScape free-to-play as a kid and only recently got back into the game during lockdown, so I’ve been loving exploring all the old and new content that I missed out on. My favourite thing about the game has to be the hilarious and quirky humour. I recently did the Cold War quest and I think it’s the most I have ever laughed while playing a video game (who knew 'The Thing' from Sheep Shearer was just two penguins in a sheep suit?). I’m looking forward to developing our engine to support all the great new content coming up, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.


Mod Regent is our new Producer

My name is Mod Regent, I am the new producer working on the Old School team. I have in games for nine years now, having previously worked in indie (Freejam) then in triple-A (2K) and now I have the opportunity to work with the incredible team here at Jagex. Having played RuneScape since 2004, it was always a childhood dream to work here, and not one I thought would ever happen.. but 17 years later here I am! I have never really been able to quit RuneScape and when they announced Old School in 2013, I couldn’t wait to jump back into the game and have been playing ever since.

It is an incredible privilege to work with the team here and I look forwards to helping them develop all of the incredible content we have planned - made doubly exciting as I get to play it all after!


Mod Con is our new Junior QA Analyst

Hiya, I am Mod Con. I am happy to say I am joining Jagex as a Junior QA Analyst on the Old School team! This is my first proper experience with the games industry, having been a student from 2020. The games experience I do have comes from my studies and making my own projects in my free time. Oh and playing them, of course (stuff like MMOs, platformers, adventure games, RPGs etc). I haven’t had much time with Old School but I'm having a lot of fun with it (loving the humour of the quests and the chill nature of just playing the game). But I've heard lots about the game throughout the years, which makes me glad that I get to help test such an iconic MMO.

I am excited to start testing the game with all the upcoming content, helping the devs out and helping ensure bugs are tackled so you the players can continue to enjoy the game and have fun. :)

Yesterday's live stream was a big one. A leadership presence on the streams was well overdue. Mods Ayiza, Kieren, and Sween were joined by Mod Markos - Old School's new Executive Producer. In this stream we sought to give you some insight into concerns you've had for a while now, like resolving the Deadman issue and our next steps, what we're doing with the Duel Arena, the release schedule of game content and permanent content versus game modes and seasonals, Account Security upgrades, botting, and other rule-breaking. There were also some new announcements! In addition to the content announced at the Summer Summit, we're also working on a port of Nex from RuneScape to Old School, and we're going to be paying close attention to the health of the game economy. Check out the video to watch it or skip below to read the summary!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

00:01 - 1:58 Livestream introduction

Introduction and chit-chat. Kieren found a kitten!

1:59 - 6:43 Mod Markos introduction

Mod Markos is Old School's new Executive Producer. His main responsibility will be to ensure that the Old School team have everything they need to deliver great game content. He has been at Jagex for many years, and served on Old School RuneScape as interim Executive Producer in 2019 (as well as supporting Old School's original release way back in 2013!).

6:44 - 8:51 Announcements

The Group Ironman poll passed and there's a summary blog for you to go and read! This week's update brought the first Wilderness changes. And Leagues is returning! Shattered Relics, the third League, is arriving in early November. Check out the Rewards blog, which brings us to...

8:58 - 16:16 Leagues III Rewards

An overview of the proposed Shattered Relics rewards and accompanying discussion around the thematic and the League.

16:17 - 18:26 Mod Markos' First Priorities

He wants to really dig into solving outstanding promises and long-time concerns for players as his first priority. This is explored further later in the stream!

18:27 - 25:56 The Group Ironman Poll and Polling generally

The team discuss the outcome of the poll, motives for voting, why the development was so far underway before polling began, and then polling generally. Sween rambles a lot, but viewers seemed to enjoy what was said.

25:57 - 31:15 The Deadman Finals and Next Steps, and the future of Deadman

The team explain that they're working toward the prospect of a re-run of the Finals event, but there's a need to investigate content, engine, and network changes before we can announce anything. The future of Deadman is tied into the re-run.

31:16 - 37:00 Wilderness changes and its delay

Ayiza and Kieren discuss why the Wilderness changes, proposed many months ago, were delayed.

37:01 - 39:20 The HD Decision and Reversal

The team discuss the decision (and how bad it was), and what they're going to do to rectify this in future. Working closely with third-party developers and players is key to ensuring this doesn't occur again.

39:21 - 42:07 The Duel Arena

Sween announces that, in the long-term, the Duel Arena will be replaced by more engaging content, pending design and development, but in the interim there'll be changes coming to mitigate its issues, like the introduction of a cap on stake amounts. There is more information on the way in October.

42:08 - 43:20 Botting and Cheating

The team discusses the improvements being made to the Anti-Cheating Team, as well as offering players more report options for different types of rule-breaking. There's more focus on preserving the integrity of things like boss HiScores.

43:21 - 45:29 Real World Trading

Sween announces that in addition to maintaining the current approach of prioritising action against gold/service sellers, there will also be action taken against gold/service buyers. More news will come in October.

45:30 - 46:46 Account Security

Markos will be chasing the status of the Account Security changes as a matter of priority. He acknowledges that it has been too long since the blog which promised changes.

46:47 - 47:50 Permanent Content versus Game Modes or Seasonals

The team discuss the importance of different modes and seasonals, but acknowledge that the release order isn't ideal. Group Ironman was originally meant to come before Deadman. In an perfect world there would be a big gap between Deadman and Leagues.

47:51 - 52:33 The Return of Nex!

The team announce that they have been exploring the prospect of bringing back Nex to Old School, with changes made to make it fit the game. More information will come in October, ahead of a Rewards Beta test.

52:34 - 56:38 The Game Economy

The team will be paying very close attention to the game economy in the coming months. Ahead of a blog in October, the team discuss that they have hired game economists to advise them, and that one avenue they'd like to explore is the prospect of a Grand Exchange tax which will see taxed gold used to then remove some items from the Grand Exchange to ensure that prices remain the same. There are other gold sinks coming too.

56:39 - 59:37 The Current Release Schedule (Deadman into Group Ironman into Leagues)

This was touched upon a bit earlier. Again the team acknowledges that it isn't ideal, and explain why it is how it is.

59:38 - End The Growth Of The Old School Team And Amount Of Content

The team discusses the belief that despite its growth, there is less content making its way into game. The team acknowledges that this perception is valid, but that there's a lot of under the hood rewrites and updates being undertaken this year. The new J-Mods need to be trained, which is a resource drain in the short-term but is one that will benefit the game in the long-term. The team want to ensure that the release schedule going forward in 2022 and beyond offers players value for their membership.

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That's it! Going forward we'd like to offer these types of summaries for all Leadership Livestreams. You'll be able to join the team again in October for another of these, and in the meantime don't miss out on the normal weekly J-Mod Q&As!

The Old School Team