Old School RuneScape News

OSRS devs will make choices players won't like, but for "good reason"

If there's one thing I've learned about Old School Runescape, it's that it's very much a community-driven project. For me, it feels akin to Final Fantasy 14 or World of Warcraft Classic: the players are at the core of the experience. But, when I ask senior narrative designer Ed Pilkington how the team balances enacting feedback with safeguarding the game's health, he says that, sometimes, "tough" choices need to be made.

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QOL Improvements | March 6th

This week brings some much-requested QoL changes!
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Collection Log

This week’s first batch of changes improve the Collection Log.

You can now use the 'Search’ option within your Collection Log to click on results and view more information.

You can also click on category names to navigate, and easily return to the main page, which should vastly improve the Collection Log experience!
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Last Man Standing

Next, we’re heading to Ferox Enclave for some Last Man Standing changes!

Firstly, we’ve increased the damage from standing in the fog for too long. We’re also introducing greater fog, which takes effect from 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the game. Any player who falls more than 16 tiles behind the fog will take even more damage than usual.

After 2 minutes and 30 seconds in the game, the greater fog will activate, and you’ll be warned about how far away you and the fog are from the safe zone. If you’re closer than the fog, or on the same square as the fog, you’ll take no damage. If you’re less than 16 tiles into the fog, you’ll take 1-3 damage every other tick, ramping up over 6 ticks.

However, should you fall more than 16 tiles into the fog, you’ll encounter greater fog – which can stack up to 10 damage every other tick! Note that consecutive hit tracking is not reset upon entering greater fog, so if you were already in the fog for 6 ticks, you’ll instantly start taking 10 damage. Yikes!

After 10 minutes in the minigame, the fog mechanics will match their current behaviour.

Let this be a warning to all you sneaky folks who like to hide in the fog – it’s time to get out there and face your enemies head-on!
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Combat Achievement Broadcasts

Good news for aspiring Rune DJs – you can now customise Clan and Group Iron broadcasts to your heart’s content!

[h2]Clans[/h2]

We’ve added two new settings to the PvM notifications section: Combat Achievements Task Broadcasts, and Combat Achievement Task Threshold. The former will allow you to choose which ranks receive Combat Achievement broadcasts. The latter will let you choose which tiers of Combat Achievements are broadcast – so you can skip the easy stuff, and only highlight your Clan’s greatest victories!

[h2]Group Ironmen[/h2]

The same options have been added to the Group Ironman settings. Again, they’ll let you select which tiers of Combat Achievement are broadcast in the Group.

Note that these settings are disabled by default, so if you want to meddle with them, you’ll need to head to the Settings menu!
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Forestry

First up for Forestry, all unique drops from Forestry events are now automatically placed in the Inventory, as long as you have free space for them.

Secondly, the bonus from Twitcher’s Gloves now applies to Redwood Trees – although do note that these mighty trunks only drop Clue Scroll Nests, so you won’t see Rings or Eggs even if you have those settings enabled on the Gloves.

Finally, the Dryad has overcome her shyness, and her event is no longer blocked by wandering NPCs in small spaces.
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Other Changes

Previous PvP combat information is now wiped upon death. This is to stop players who have just died to a player coming back to fight them again without being skulled.
Removed Leagues IV decorations from Lumbridge.
The lightning circle is now brighter and more visible on both Cal'varion and Vet'ion.
Scrying pools in Player-Owned Houses can once again be used to view a wide range of destinations across the game. To avoid safe scouting in the Wilderness, the pools still won't let you view Wilderness locations directly. Instead they'll just state how many players are in the area, as they've been doing in recent months.
Fixed a bug where teleporting to your POH wasn't possible when 'Building Mode' was set by default.
Fixed a bug where buying a Mage Arena Cape from Perdu would make the other God Capes in the Bank disappear.
Clue Scrolls dropped by a player now last one hour on the ground rather than two minutes. This does not change existing behaviour for Clue Scrolls dropped by NPCs or other entities.
You are now told if you would have gotten a clue but didn't because you already have one.
Added a new line to the Terms and Conditions text outlining our Privacy Policy.

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Varlamore Release Date

Varlamore, The Shining Kingdom will open to visitors on March 20! This update is full of content, including: The Fortis Colosseum, the Perilous Moons minigame, the Hunter Guild, and much, much more!

There is no game update next week as we make our final preparations for Old School's greatest area expansion to date!
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PvP Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

539 - (US) - PvP World
318 - (UK) - Bounty Hunter World
548 - (Germany) - High-Risk PvP World
577 - (US) - Free-to-Play PvP World
559 - (UK) - LMS Competitive

World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been activated with this rota.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been de-activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Zerker' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.
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You can also discuss this update on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Abe, Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, BigRig, Blossom, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Enigma, Errol, Gecko, Gengis, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hooti, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Liron, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Saiyan, Shogun, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Smithy, Sova, Squid, Starry, Suharun, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.

Old School RuneScape icon emerges into the light after 8-month, 2,500-hour grind of killing a mole to acquire a mole

You know, there comes a time when you wonder if the Old School RuneScape community isn't just making fun of you. Like maybe they have a wheel of fortune somewhere they spin that spits out a collection of nouns, adjectives, and spurious reasons: "Player pickpockets half a million NPCs to get nothing much of value," or "Player spends 149 hours obtaining a raccoon," or even "Player catches a million terrible fish for reasons of inner peace." Then they all agree to act like these acts of lunacy actually happened to intimidate newcomers who might ruin their favourite game...
Read more.

Defender of Varrock Concepts & QoL Updates | February 28th

We've got a handful of QoL updates for you this week, and a peek behind the concept art curtain!
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Changelog February 28th

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Zombie Lumberjacks now appear consistently.
Changed visuals on the Player Owned House options.
Players can now toggle off the Scurrius food pile timer individually when using the enhanced client.
When facing Scurrius, items dropped in public instances will now disappear after three minutes.
Players can once again hide their Vengeance animation in PvP. The effect will still apply.
Bankers will now give clearer feedback when players are unable to deposit items due to having a full stack of that item in the Bank.
Barbarian Farming’s plant pot smashing technique can now be used on Spirit Tree Saplings.
Bottles in Zemouregal’s hideout will no longer duplicate themselves when picked up.
‘Cooked Karambwan’ is now the default Cooking option and selecting ‘Poison Karambwan’ will prompt a toggleable warning message.
Vardorvis now uses different sounds for his Ranged and Magic 'gaze' attacks, to help distinguish between them.
The Clan Events menu now lists more bosses, including the Desert Treasure II bosses and the Revenant Maledictus.
The Chaos Elemental respawn time has been reduced from 60 seconds to around 15 seconds.
The Boss Kills log now includes the Desert Treasure II bosses.
Bryophyta now drops a guaranteed Ensouled Head.

PvP World Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:

560 - (UK) - PvP World
319 - (US) - Bounty Hunter World
579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
580 - (US) - LMS Competitive

Defender of Varrock Concepts

Last week we released the iconic RuneScape quest, Defender of Varrock! So many of you have already revisited this classic story, continuing the Mahjarrat storyline and reuniting with some familiar faces (and skulls). Congrats to those of you who have already gotten your hands on the Zombie Axe!

To celebrate the launch of this classic quest we thought we’d check in with Mod Jerv to see some of the brilliant concept art that helped bring the quest to life.

[h2]Arrav[/h2]

I wanted to put an Old School twist on Arrav’s original 2008 design. You’ll notice that he has a big axe instead of a sword, because in Old School RuneScape his statue and the museum display both portray him with the axe. The one on his in-game model isn’t exactly the same as the one in the museum – I imagined that he found a new one over the last few centuries. I also tried to pull in some elements from his shield, like the symbol on his belt, and the blues on the axe.

[h2]Sharathteerk[/h2]

This gargoyle lad had quite a simple design. It’s a balance between the existing Old School gargoyles and his iconic facial features. I also added some cloth that ties him to Zemouregal and the zombies.

[h2]Zombie Axe[/h2]

Who doesn't like a good, medieval-looking axe? Sometimes less is more, and that's ok. This is a good example of designing something that is more ‘mid-level’. I didn’t go all out on ‘cool and badass’, but instead tried to find something grounded and iconic.

[h2]Armoured Zombies[/h2]

The Armoured Zombie colour palette is taken from Sharathteerk and Zemouregal, to show their allegiance. They’re really just a bunch of bros being bros – one of them has got his helmet on backwards, and another has forgotten his leg and hat! That’s what you get when you hire minions with no braiiiiins.
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Birthday Stream FashionScape

Old School RuneScape turned 11 last week, and we held a Birthday stream to celebrate! Thank you to everyone who turned out. We had a great couple of hours with a J-Mod quiz, a fashion show, and a surprise bot bust!

If you missed it, the VOD is now available on Twitch and YouTube.

To watch a segment from the Fashionscape Show, click here!

We love a bit of FashionScape, so here are just some of Gielinor’s hottest new looks, as showcased in our Fashion Show segment.

Thank you to these players for sharing their screenshots on socials and our official Discord server! If you're a fashion-focused adventurer, be sure to hop into the FashionScape channel and show off those ‘fits.
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More RuneFest Updates!

Join Mods Sween, Doom and very special guest Mod Mark LIVE on stream, where we'll be sharing more info about this year's RuneFest!

Tune in live at twitch.tv/oldschoolrs on Thursday, February 29th from 17:00 GMT. Don’t miss it!
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RuneScape Kingdoms: The Roleplaying Game

Want to know more about RuneScape Kingdoms: The Roleplaying Game? Top writer Richard August from Steamforged Games is here to tell you all about it.

https://youtu.be/56UYpFsOO20

If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it!

But that’s not all! Set your alarms for 18:00 on February 29th, when the High Rollers, Europe’s biggest RPG streamers, will be playing a unique one-shot in the world of RuneScape Kingdoms! With guest appearances from Mods Ayiza and Mohawk, this is one adventure you won’t want to miss. Tune in on the High Rollers Twitch channel, or catch up later on Youtube.

If all this makes you want to try RuneScape Kingdoms: The Roleplaying Game yourself, then you’re in luck – it hits retailers around the globe tomorrow! Check out online stores like Amazon, visit the Steamforged Store, or check out your friendly local board game shop. A Collector’s Edition with a red and gold foil cover is also available exclusively from Steamforged.
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Other Changes

Zombie Lumberjacks now appear consistently, having been suitably told off for their tardiness.
Changed visuals on the Player Owned House options.
Players can now toggle off the Scurrius food pile timer individually when using the enhanced client.
When facing Scurrius, items dropped in public instances will now disappear after three minutes.
Players can once again hide their Vengeance animation in PvP. The effect will still apply, and the animation will still play in PvM combat.
Bankers will now give clearer feedback when players are unable to deposit items due to having a full stack of that item in the Bank.
Barbarian Farming’s plant pot smashing technique can now be used on Spirit Tree Saplings. How barbaric!
Bottles in Zemouregal’s hideout will no longer duplicate themselves when picked up, as he saw this as a waste of his phenomenal magic powers.
‘Cooked Karambwan’ is now the default Cooking option and selecting ‘Poison Karambwan’ will prompt a toggleable warning message.
Vardorvis now uses different sounds for his Ranged and Magic 'gaze' attacks, to help distinguish between them.
The Clan Events menu now lists more bosses, including the Desert Treasure II bosses and the Revenant Maledictus.
The Chaos Elemental respawn time has been reduced from 60 seconds to around 15 seconds.
The Boss Kills log, accessed via the Ring of Wealth or the Adventure Log in the Player-Owned House, now includes the Desert Treasure II bosses.
Bryophyta now drops a guaranteed Ensouled Head, just like Obor.

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PvP World Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:

560 - (UK) - PvP World
319 - (US) - Bounty Hunter 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.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been de-activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Max/Med' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.
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You can also discuss this update on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Abe, Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, BigRig, Blossom, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Enigma, Errol, Gecko, Gengis, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hooti, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Liron, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Saiyan, Shogun, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Smithy, Sova, Squid, Starry, Suharun, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.

Some classic Runescape quests won't make it into OSRS, and here's why

Some classic videogame quests are just iconic, and Runescape's Defender of Varrock is one of them, heralding the invasion of Zemouregal's undead army and kicking off a whole new chapter. Having arrived in Old School Runescape on Wednesday, February 21, we caught up with senior narrative designer Ed Pilkington to chat about remastering a legendary moment in Runescape's history, how the team goes about choosing which quests to add to OSRS, and how much they're altered.

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