Old School RuneScape News

Unranked Group Ironman Mode | Weekly Game Update (May 26th)

We’re launching a bunch of improvements to Group Ironman Mode!

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[h2]Unranked Group Ironman Mode[/h2]

This week we’re following up on the promise we made in here – making Group Ironman more chill for you and your mates!

Unranked Group Ironman (or UGIM) is a sub-category of Group Ironman. It allows you to invite and accept group invitations from other UGIM and grants greater flexibility when swapping between teams.

Should you find yourself wanting to join a new group on an existing GIM account, or hoping to invite a new player to your group, you can now seamlessly convert your GIM status to ‘Unranked’.

In return for this additional flexibility, Unranked Group Ironman groups are removed from the GIM HiScores – although you’ll all appear individually on the regular ones!

Be warned: once this change is made, you will not be able to revert your account back to Ranked Group Ironman. It’s a one-way street!

So, under these new rules…

A group that invites an experienced player will:

Become an Unranked group.
Lose Prestige status (if applicable).
Lose any trade restrictions within the group.
Lose Hardcore status (if applicable).
Be removed from the Group Ironman HiScores, along with every other member of their group. Players will still be able to see their individual HiScores as if they were a main account.

If you're looking to form a new unranked group:

You'll be able to invite any type of GIM, provided they are willing to become an Unranked player.
The group will be set as Unranked from the start...
... and will not show up in the GIM HiScores. At all.
Unranked groups cannot have Prestige or Hardcore status.

If you leave an existing group, you may also choose to adopt Unranked status:

You can become Unranked via a third option found in the group leaving interface (pictured above).
This decision is non-reversible. You cannot become a Ranked Group Ironman again once you’re Unranked.
The option will remove you from the GIM HiScores. However, your progress will still be visible on the regular HiScores.
The process does NOT remove your items.

There are no trade restrictions or killcount requirements for Unranked groups.

We'll give you sufficient warnings if you're about to join an Unranked group, or if your group is about to become one. Keep an eye out for these if you decide to invite new players in!

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[h2]Further Group Ironman Improvements and Addressing Player Feedback[/h2]

We ran a player survey to gather your feedback on the above changes. Let’s address your main concerns:

Tradeable Untradeables

Trading untradeable items between GIM members proved to be a very popular quality of life update.

We’ve discussed how to make this happen and what potential issues could arise if we did enact this rule.

One big consideration was that allowing GIM players to trade powerful items like the Bow of Faerdhinen could make it more convenient to be a GIM than a regular player. Is that healthy for the game?

We also considered whether we could replicate this behaviour on main accounts, and how that might work. Untradeable items are not available on the Grand Exchange and we can’t display charge status in the Trade screen, so this change would make scamming much more prevalent. We’d have to undertake considerable work to fix this.

In addition, making certain items with quest requirements tradeable presents issues with the system we use to run checks on items. We’d have to rework our whole system to accommodate the change.

We also thought about the implications for PvP players. Existing untradeable items could be disproportionately strong in this framework, seriously affecting PK metas. Is that fair?

Lastly, we had to consider the potential future development costs. We’d have to carefully consider every new item in the game to decide whether it should be untradeable but tradeable for GIM, just tradeable, or just untradeable. Over time, that adds to our development hours.

We really want to improve quality of life where we can – but hopefully you can see that the team has some serious reservations about this particular change. We can’t treat it like any other QoL update – we need to put a great deal of thought and planning into making it work. We’ve tried a couple of solutions with ‘lower-value’ items already, and while we can see why this update is so desired, the potential ramifications are too much to handle just yet.

However, we may revisit this concept in the future, when we have a clearer idea of how to resolve the issues inherent in its design.

GIM HiScores

HiScores requests are naturally a lot of work, as they involve multiple teams and are often more technically complex than they seem on the surface.

However, with today’s update, Group Prestige should now be visible on the HiScores, where you’ll also be able to see if a hardcore group has run out of lives.

Prestiged groups are marked with a star on the HiScores. Losing Prestige by any means will make the star disappear.

Group KC is another popular HiScores request. Unfortunately, it’s too complicated for us to tackle right now. We’ve explored our ‘hackier’ options, and there’s just no way to do it without relying on engine work – a much bigger undertaking than it seems! Unless significant progress is made, we’ll be setting this one aside for the foreseeable.

Separate Icon for UGIM

We understand that some players would like their UGIM status to be represented with a different icon. We didn’t offer this in our original plan in case it left UGIM feeling alienated – but we can apply it retroactively, and it’s likely to happen soon. We think it’s important to ensure that GIM can show off their achievements and status appropriately.

Converting Ironmen to UGIM

You also asked us to consider allowing regular Ironmen to become Unranked Group Ironmen. We generally feel this is acceptable, because GIM is an easier approach to the Ironman experience. We’ll be working on this option in the coming weeks. Please note that this decision, when implemented, will be irreversible – we will never allow UGIM to convert to regular Ironman.

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[h2]Group Boss Bash Raffle[/h2]

Now, ready to win some prizes? Welcome to our first-ever Group Boss Bash!

This two-week competition is especially for Group Ironmen and begins today on May 26th. Gather your buddies, take down various bosses, and earn raffle tickets that’ll help you win awesome prizes.

Take a look at the table below to see which activities will net you those tickets, and whether they’ll apply to everyone in the group or just individual players:

Boss

Ticket Score

Single Player

Ticket Award Conditions

Tempoross

A successful Tempoross kill, as long as the player has achieved the Reward Permit threshold.

Wintertodt

A successful Wintertodt subdue, as long as the player has achieved the minimum score to receive a Reward Crate.

Zalcano

A successful Zalcano kill. Tickets go to any player who participated enough to receive loot.

Barbarian Assault

Defeating the Penance Queen on wave 10. Any player who participated in the wave is eligible.

Sarachnis

A single player who receives loot.

King Black Dragon

A single player who receives loot.

Dagannoth Kings

A single player who receives loot. Includes Dagannoth Prime, Supreme and Rex.

Kalphite Queen

A single player who receives loot.

God Wars Dungeon Bosses

A single player who receives loot.

The Nightmare

Any player who receives loot.

Nex

Any player who receives loot.

Corporeal Beast

A single player who receives loot.

Chambers of Xeric

Normal Mode: 10

Challenge Mode: 20

Any player who receives loot.

Theatre of Blood

Normal: 15

Story Mode: 3

Hard Mode: 20

Any player who receives loot.

These tickets have no in-game value, cannot be traded, and are only available for the duration of the raffle.

Two weeks from now we’ll randomly choose 10 lucky groups and award them with Membership! As it’s a raffle, the more points you accumulate, the more likely you are to win – so get bashing those bosses!

Signing Up for the Raffle

In order to participate, you'll need to register your group for the challenge.

Registration is very simple and happens in-game.

GIM will now see a new interface on the GIM settings menu which shows information about raffles. If you don’t feel like joining in, the ‘leave’ button will exempt your group from the draw and prevent them from joining it again.

Please note that we’ll need to temporarily disable certain group features, such as leaving a group and changing the group name, during the raffle. If you want to re-enable these features, you’ll need to leave early!

Additionally, you may only register for this raffle once per group, so make sure that the team you register is the one you intend to stick with!

Prizes

You'll accumulate points on your account that are visible from your UI. After the 2-week raffle, we'll pick 10 winning groups!

Each individual in the group will be granted one year of membership, and one of these lucky groups will be granted lifetime membership for all their members!

We'll contact winners in-game to arrange prize giving and ensure the membership they've won is applied to their desired account. Unless otherwise specified by the winners, we’ll apply the membership to the account used to register in the raffle.

A summary of the Group Boss Bash Terms and Conditions can be found here.

The full Group Boss Bash Terms and Conditions can be found here.

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[h2]Guardians of the Rift Improvements[/h2]

We’ve heard some of you say that the most frustrating element of Guardians of the Rift is getting into the minigame! Obviously we don’t want that to be the case, so with today’s game update we’re increasing the player cap per game to 200. The Great Guardian’s HP will scale appropriately.

We’ve also allowed players to lock their game and prevent other players from entering mid-way through the fight: perfect for small groups who want to play together! If that sounds like your thing, have a word with Tamara to sort it out. After you’ve enabled this option once, you’ll be able to use a right-click quick option to do it faster.

Here’s how locking works:

Locking prevents players from entering during Phase 1.
Locking cannot be done on GoTR themed worlds.
The game can be unlocked by talking to Tamara again.
Your locked status is not remembered from game-to-game. You need to speak to Tamara to reactivate it again.

The endgame will now be delayed when the Great Guardian reaches 100% power. He is unable to take damage during this time. This change allows players to access altars and hand in their Guardian Stones before the game ends.In other news, multiple Guardians can now be made from one pile at the same time! Their creation time has also been reduced, so it’s much easier to get those Guardians going. We want to incentivise this mechanic and prevent players from feeling like they’re wasting their time waiting for Guardians to be created.

Finally, barriers now display their HP bars at all times, unless they’re at full HP. The HP bars are now half the size, and the ‘Inspect’ option has been removed.

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[h2]Other Changes[/h2]

Minor tweaks to the GIM Tutor’s dialogue:

Removed the ‘Leave’ option from the Tutor. It is now accessed exclusively through the interface.
Removed all other functions that were duplicated on both the Tutor and the interface.

Other Changes

Corrected typo in description of Group Storage chests.
The Player Owned House Costume Room can now accepted the locked (l) version of the Shattered Relics Void Equipment.
Added an option to the Settings menu to enable entering and exiting Full Screen Mode more conveniently.
The Fremennik Elite reward teleport from Lunar Isle back to Relekka is now significantly faster.
The special attack animation of Arclight & Darklight no longer disrupts player movement so badly.
The Player-Owned House Costume Room can now accept the (l) [locked] version of the Shattered Relics ornamented Void equipment.
Players at the start of the Ratcatchers quest can once again obtain kittens from Gertrude.

Steam Changes

Full screen mode is now implemented!

Android Open Beta Changes

One tap login should now work as expected

iOS TestFlight Beta Changes

Using special characters on the keyboard should no longer open side panels
Text will no longer be added to the chat box when using the arrow keys on an external keyboard
Game Center logins should now work as expected
Holding backspace will now work as expected when using an external keyboard
Pulling down the notifications bar will no longer pause all application activity
Soft keyboard will now respect the colour theme selected for the device
Improved floating keyboard support for iPads

Steam and Mobile Beta Changes

Overhead text in quests will now display in the correct location
Clan side panel will now order members alphabetically

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You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

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

The Old School Team.

Proposed Mobile User Interface Changes

If you haven't been living under a rock crab for the past year or so, you'll know all about our plans to upgrade the existing client towards a newer, shinier C++ version! We've already released the new client on Steam and various mobile betas for iOS and Android devices. It's been a whirl of a time so far!

We're really pleased with the progress we've made and the feedback we've received from you all, too. Along with allowing us to deliver more features that we know you want in-game, the C++ Client offers players superior memory capacity, improving FPS rates and stability on mobile. Of course, device capabilities can vary, but the initial feedback on this area from our mobile playtesters sounds promising!

New features that we've already brought to mobile through various betas include:

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

Back in June we spoke about our client milestones. Behind the scenes, our focus so far has been all about working with our wonderful playtesters to perfect the existing features and squash any bugs. We've gathered valuable feedback from the betas about what future features mean the most to players, and this has helped inform our plans. You can expect some updated milestones next month.

However, today we'd like to talk to you about the Mobile User Interface (UI). A game's UI is always important, but it's even more critical on mobile because of the tight space you are working with. The majority of our playtesters told us that they want to see more features in the new client, too, and the UI presents a good opportunity for this.

As work increases on the C++ Client on mobile, we've realised that the mobile UI needs to receive some tweaks to free up space for new features, but without feeling cluttered or clunky.

Our mobile UI proposals aim to:

Improve common gameplay loops.
Improve tidiness and balance,
Create space for new features (such as popout panels).
Keep everything familiar enough for existing players who are comfortable with the current UI.

As always though, we need your feedback, so let's get into it!

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[h2]Survey Results[/h2]

Here are some of our findings from both the iOS and Android Betas:

Players' biggest frustrations concerned issues with mobile UI, the XP Tracker and several small bugs, such as issues remembering passwords or authentication details.
The most requested feature was for Ground Items & Loot Trackers. This is important for mobile users especially because it is harder to see what's dropped on the ground while playing.
When asked what the worst aspect of the client is, most players said they want more features than the client currently offers.

We already have a broad idea of the sorts of features you're after, and have data to back this up!

Android

iOS

Many of our mobile playtesters expressed a preference for 'afk' training activities on mobile due to various reasons:

Alching - on mobile, the spellbook is on the other side of the screen from the Inventory.
Fishing - for spots with multiple options, a long-press is required.
Safespotting - it's easy to mis-tap and stride into danger.
PvM - Positioning yourself under/behind an NPC can require a long-press

We want the mobile experience to be just as good as the desktop one, so here's what we're planning to introduce.

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[h2]Proposed Mobile UI Changes [/h2]

A picture is always worth a thousand words, right?

Currently, the mobile interface looks like this:

And here's what it could look like:

What's changed?

There are a lot of smaller changes unpack here, so let us explain.

Additional Space

Chat buttons have been moved to the left-hand side of the screen in a scrollable list, showing more of your chat vertically at once! Moving these buttons away from the top of your screen cleans up the layout somewhat.
We've moved all the side panels to the right. Panels that are integral to moment-to-moment gameplay are shown first, and panels that are more informational can be shown or hidden with the new 'Expand' button.
The chat options have moved from the top to the left-hand side, and are now in a vertically-scrollable bar.
Minimising the minimap is now easier.
The 'Logout' stone has been moved to the left-hand side of the screen for better world hopping access.

Better Usability

Buttons have been made taller so they're easier to tap.
Every button on the left is the same width as the chat buttons.
The Chat Box has been made slightly taller to utilise the new vertical space.
The new Popout Panel has been changed from a side-bar to a button in the bottom-left.
The 'Minimised Minimap' has been rearranged to resemble the order of elements on the standard minimap (i.e. the order of the globes from top-to-bottom).

Condensed Minimap

Popout Menu

Side Panels

The side panels on the left have been moved, and the right-hand side now has two columns of stones (a 'main' and 'secondary' column). The latter will be hidden by default and can be revealed by pressing the new 'Expand' stone (which moves the 'main' column and side panel slightly to the left).

The main reasons for this are:

It allows us to add new features much more easily.
The Magic and the Inventory tab will now be placed on the same side of the screen, benefitting activities like Alching or Superheating.

Popout Panel

The popout panel is behind a button in the bottom-left. Tapping this expands it, covering up anything behind it.
The current page in the popout panel can be collapsed.
The popout panel button is a three-state toggle: 'minimised', 'full', and 'small'. The latter offers a non-obstructive and easy way to keep track of your XP/hour or loot tracking (in the future).

Function Button

The Function Button has been removed and replaced with a 'controls' element - this is probably the most noticeable change.

This button is essentially a dropdown that offers more control flexibility of controls and quick access. We think this will improve mobile gaming in some combat encounters and allow for higher efficiency training methods.

From top-to-bottom, the toggles are:

Enable 'walk-here' taps
Enable interaction taps
Enable tile-highlight taps
Enable tap-to-drop

More quick-settings could be added to this menu in the future, such as a metronome toggle, or a toggle to show/hide ground items.

The open-keyboard and single-tap-mode functionality of the function button have been removed because data shows they are rarely used. plus, the new long-press time setting reduces the desire for a single-tap mode.

And that's your lot! So, what do you think?

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[h2]Feedback Survey & Next Steps[/h2]

If you have further questions or are unclear about any of the changes listed above, don't worry! We'll be answering your questions and responding to your feedback on our next Twitch livestream on the 26th May!

We've created a survey for you to fill out on some of the possible changes listed here. Please let us know what you think and ensure you fill out this survey to let us know if we're on the right track!

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You can also get involved in the discussion on the Old School RuneScape Discord, the r/2007scape subreddit, or the official RuneScape forums.

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

The Old School Team

Poll 76 Improvements | Weekly Game Update (May 18th)

[h3]Today's game update will take the game offline for approximately 30 minutes as maintenance is performed. We're aiming to have the game resume as normal from 12:00 pm BST.

Thank you for your patience.[/h3]

This week, we’ve got more changes from Poll 76 and a BIG Kickstarter update!

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[h2]Poll 76 Improvements[/h2]

The next batch of Poll 76 improvements arrive in-game this week!

We’re kicking things off with hellhounds, who now drop Ensouled Hellhound Heads. They’re worth 1,200 Prayer XP each and slot neatly into the Expert tier of Reanimation. Any reanimated Hellhounds you kill will work for both Slayer Tasks and the Soul Bearer. Fun fact! Since Cerberus is technically a hellhound, she can drop these too.

Smithing and jewellery Crafting interfaces now remember the last item you crafted and outline it with a shiny highlight! As long as you have the right materials in your Backpack, you can press the Space Bar to craft it again! If you don’t have the necessary items, you’ll be unable to craft using the Space Key and the highlight will be removed.

Next up, a Fairy Ring has sprouted in the north of the Isle of Souls. We’ll let you figure out the code.

Speaking of Soul Wars, it’s now playable on every world, and we’ve made some changes to bring XP rates in line with what we promised in the original poll:

Attack, Defence, Strength and HP are now 30 XP per token (up from 24 XP)
Ranged and Magic are now 27 XP per token (up from 22 XP)
Prayer is now 14 XP per token (up from 12 XP)

We’ve also added a ‘Buy X’ option to the Other tab in the Soul Wars Reward Shop.

Lastly, NPCs in the Fight Caves are now visible at further distances. Good news for Fire Cape hunters!

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[h2]Steam and Mobile Client Fixes [/h2]

Next up on the improvement train are a bundle of client fixes for mobile and Steam, which we’ve summarised below:

Key: O : Fixed | X : Not Fixed | - : Issue Not Present

Issue

Steam

Android

iOS

The Orb of Oculus now displays correctly. The darkness has been lifted!

The Multiway Combat icon no longer overlaps with the collapsed Minimap.

Entity Highlights now work correctly in the Tears of Guthix minigame.

The player can no longer interact with the Minimap through the XP tracker.

Cleared private chat history will now remain cleared when logging back in.

Fairy Rings are now highlighted by Entity Highlights.

Agility Highlights now appear correctly when returning from a Random Event.

Fixed Entity Highlights for player-grown Mahogany Trees.

The HP Regen indicator now correctly updates when running out of Prayer Points with Rapid Heal on.

Long Tap Delay settings now update visually after setting the new value.

Unused interfaces are no longer visible while on Target Worlds.

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[h2]Other Changes [/h2]

Trouver Parchment Changes

First up we have changes to the Trouver Parchment. This can now be used on the Leagues III version of the Void Knight Equipment, Dragon Defenders (t) and Rune Defenders (t).

In terms of its behaviour:

If the item is locked (l), upon PvP death the PKer will receive the value of the Trouver Parchment and the Ornament Kit and the regular version of the item will be returned to the owner. This occurs at all levels of the Wilderness.
If the item is not locked, upon PvP death the PKer will receive gold equivalent to the value of the item (minus the value of the Ornament Kit) and the Ornament Kit. At Wilderness levels below 20, the owner will receive a broken version of their original item. At Wilderness levels above 20, the owner will receive nothing.

Smaller Changes

Roofs on the tents of Shayzien Infirmary are now automatically hidden. We’ve also removed some environmental objects from around the tents to make moving between them easier.
Fixed an issue that occurred when teleporting with items in the Drag State.
Items no longer drag or drift in the Inventory when preselecting an item and moving it.
Prayer Books with a Leagues III Ornament Kit will now appear with that model when preaching with them.
The Bigger and Badder Slayer reward unlock no longer appears as a Pie on the Reward interface.
Charged Pharaoh’s Sceptres are now a bit brighter.
Diango no longer has a buy limit on Chronicle Cards. Go wild!
Tempoross Fishing Spots no longer have holes in their clickbox. How else can we keep the fish in?
Participants in Guardians of the Rift are asked not to cast Alchemy spells. You've got a universe to save, mate!

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[h2]RuneScape Kingdoms: Shadow of Elvarg [/h2]

We’re back with our weekly update on Steamforged Games’ quest to bring Gielinor to your tabletop with RuneScape Kingdoms: Shadow of Elvarg.

Today, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for – we can finally reveal exactly what’s included in Steamforged’s Kickstarter!

Launching May 31st, this Kickstarter is your chance to support Steamforged Games and get your hands on loads of exclusive extras. But remember – it’ll only stay live for 10 days, so give it a follow and don’t miss your chance!

As usual, there are multiple pledge levels to choose from. For full details and pricing, keep your eyes on Steamforged’s blog going live later today. For now though, let’s go over the basics!

Core Pledge

The Core Pledge includes RuneScape Kingdoms: Shadow of Elvarg and the Kickstarter-exclusive Culinaromancer Expansion!

This 15-hour replayable campaign comes with 16 detailed minis, including the Noob NPC and the Culinaromancer himself, plus over 400 new cards.

On top of that, you’ll also get all the Kickstarter-exclusive cards unlocked through backer votes during the Kickstarter.

Gameplay All-In Pledge

If you want all the gameplay content from the Kickstarter campaign, then this is the pledge for you! It includes the core RuneScape Kingdoms box and all four expansions, each themed around a unique boss. It’s a replayable 24-hour fantasy adventure packed into one great-value pledge – and you’ll get all the Kickstarter-exclusive content, too!

Yes, that includes the sneak-peek King Black Dragon and TzKal-Zuk minis in the image above, plus additional minis including the Wise Old Man and other iconic NPCs.

Deluxe All-in Pledge (Kickstarter Exclusive)

Don’t wanna miss a thing? Then the Deluxe All-in Pledge will be right up your alley. It’s packed with all the gameplay content so far and all the Deluxe upgrades – so as well as your regular components, you’ll receive a neoprene game mat, four neoprene boss mats, wooden tokens, metal coins, and a set of special-edition dice, all of which are Kickstarter Exclusive. Don’t miss out!

Now, while you’re thinking about which pledge to pick, let’s take a look at this week’s mini reveals!

Mini Reveals: Delrith, Dragon Knight and Capes

The second campaign, ‘Demon Slayer’ will bring you face-to-face with Delrith!

This dastardly demon nearly brought Varrock to ruin before he was slain by a brave hero. Now history is repeating itself, as the Dark Wizards outside of Varrock attempt to raise Delrith to wreak havoc anew!

Your band of brave adventurers will need to seek out Silverlight, the legendary sword said to have brought Delrith’s reign of terror to an end the first time. Can you stop the dark ritual before Delrith is unleashed?

If so, you may well find yourself accomplished enough to don some swanky new duds. Yes, that’s right – every player avatar has an upgraded version to represent your progress in the game. For example, when the knight reaches a high enough level they’ll gain a full set of Dragon Armour, new weaponry, and a hard-earned Fire Cape.

Now, some of you may be wondering why this lot are wandering around in endgame gear when they haven’t even made it out of Misthalin – and that’s a fair question! Because RuneScape Kingdoms: Shadow of Elvarg focuses on iconic, early-game quests, it’d take quite a while to reach the level required to wear these awesome items in-game! It didn’t seem fair to make you wait all that time to use your badass high-level adventurer minis, so we’re giving them to you much earlier. So go on, get out there and live your best Dragon life!

For more details on the game, check out Steamforged’s weekly blogs. This week they’re taking a look at quests: how you get them, how you play them, and most importantly, how you complete them!

You might also have spotted Mods Sarnie and Light playing through a digital demo of the game with our friends from Steamforged on Tuesday’s stream! If you missed it, you can catch up on Twitch right now and will be available on YouTube later today.

Lastly, make sure to join the RuneScape Kingdoms Facebook Group. You’ll be among the first to see new cards and minis – plus, you’ll get all the latest news from the blog and have a direct line to chat with the developers about the game. Well worth the risk of stumbling upon Grandma’s minion memes.

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

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

The Old School Team

Group Ironman Changes & Group Boss Bash

Since the release of Group Ironman last year, we've seen hundreds of thousands of players take on the challenge of playing alone, together! You've teamed up, taken on some menacing foes and shared your resources to progress your accounts to new heights in Old School's latest game mode!

What a blast it's been so far. You should all pat yourselves on the back for the hard work you've put in!

Earlier this year, we introduced some further Group Ironman improvements. Post-launch changes included our group storage expansion overhaul, teleport shards, tweaks to the existing Player Owned Housing system and more!

Some of you might also remember that we floated the idea of untradeable item trading between group members. Our aim was to increase the mode's accessibility for teams with less available playtime. However, we've been unable to get a clear consensus on the idea, and based on feedback we've decided not to take it forward.

In the meantime, following a quick health check on the Group Iron experience, we've been cooking up ways we can offer groups more autonomy in how they want to play the game - whether this is at a hardcore level, or just casually with friends.

A common frustration we've seen from players since launch concerns the lack of flexibility when forming and swapping groups. Dedicated groups might experience burnout, resulting in one or two members becoming inactive over time, which can eventually cause them to disband.

Whatever the reason for this - we understand. You might decide that playing as a group isn't for you, real-life may choose to interfere or, frankly, you might just be sick of your team (we've been there!).

Either way, if one or two members of a group become inactive, the current system presents existing members with a rather difficult choice:

Continue the journey as a group, competing on the HiScores without the much needed assistance of inactive team members.

Kick the inactive members. If your group is struggling, you will be able to invite a new member, but they must start a brand new GIM account, and you face the loss of prestige status.

There is currently no available option to join a different GIM team. or invite an existing GIM into your team. If you would like to continue playing on a GIM account with no group, you'll need to make a new one which only new accounts can join, or become a regular account.

At launch you expressed (valid) concerns about the system because of these restrictions. It's important to remember that the system was intentionally designed this way because it protects against the potential for boosting services. We were especially cautious about this during the design phase as this all affects HiScores and, in turn, game mode integrity.

However, change is needed because we recognise that the current system is not sustainable for many groups - especially those who just want to play Group Ironman with their friends. There is a valid need for existing GIM players to change groups, or existing GIM groups to fill their spot with someone more suitable.

So, what's changing?

We'd like to propose an alteration to the existing rule structure. We'll allow existing GIM accounts to group up. In exchange, the group would be classed as 'Unranked', meaning it would be no longer tracked on the Group Ironman HiScores.

Introducing... Unranked Group Ironman!

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[h2]Unranked Group Ironman[/h2]

Unranked Group Ironman is a sub-category of Group Ironman, and would allow players to invite and accept group invitations from other unranked GIM.

Should you find yourself wanting to join a new group on an existing GIM account, or to invite a new member to your group, you'll be able to seamlessly convert your GIM status to 'Unranked', allowing you to invite and accept invitations from other unranked GIM, solving the issue described above. Voila!

In return for the additional flexibility that UGIM offers, the group is removed from the GIM HiScores, freeing you from the shackles of competing with other groups! But please note: once this change is made, you will not be able to revert your status back to 'Ranked'. It's a one way street!

Under the new unranked GIM rules:

A group that invites an experienced player will:

Become an unranked group.
Lose prestige status (if applicable).
This will remove any trade restrictions within their group.
Lose hardcore status (if applicable).
Be removed from the Group Ironman Hiscores (and every member is removed too). Players will still be able to see their individual HiScores as if they were a main account - they just won't display any changes within their group.

If you're looking to form a new unranked group:

You'll be able to invite any type of GIM, provided they are willing to become an unranked player.
The group will be set as unranked from the start...
... and it will not show up at the GIM HiScores. At all.
Unranked groups cannot be prestige or hardcore.

If you leave an existing group, you may also choose to convert your status to an 'Unranked GIM':

You can do this via a third option available upon leaving the group, in the interface (pictured above) where currently we offer the choice between remaining a GIM and downgrading to a main account.
The option converts your status to an unranked GIM. This is non-reversible. You cannot revert your status back to ranked once you've become unranked.
The option will remove you on the GIM HiScores. However, your progress will still be visible on the regular HiScores.
The process does NOT remove your items.

There will be no trade restrictions or KC requirements for unranked groups.

Rest assured, we'll give you sufficient warnings if you're about to join an unranked group, or if your group is about to become one. Keep an eye out for these if you decide to invite players!

We're looking forward to hearing what you think about this change - we'd like to introduce it on May 25th, so please provide feedback swiftly if any further changes are needed!

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[h2]Group Ironman Boss Bash[/h2]

In order for the Group Ironman mode to shine, we want to promote group activities as they help to facilitate teamwork and group play - that's the essence of what being a Group Ironman is!

The upcoming changes should help to create a nicer environment for some groups because it allows existing GIM to continue their journey no matter what their team members decide to do. We also think we should provide additional incentives for people to play as a group. We'd like to explore ways of making group content a bit more worthwhile, especially if you're looking for a good excuse to play with your friends!

Although you're able to enjoy the game as its own standalone single player experience, you've also made the potential for new group activities very clear to us, and recent group content has been well received. However, we also want to give you good reason to revisit older game content.

We think it's time to get creative!

We've created a small-scale raffle for various Group Ironmen to band together and take on some formidable foes!

The raffle will see players earn points over two weeks for taking on various bosses in the game! This raffle is exclusive to Group Ironmen, but is available to all and any types of groups - unranked, ranked and hardcore.

Since this is a brand new idea, we'd like to keep this raffle exclusive to GIM-only for the time being. However we are very open to the idea of holding these small-scale raffles for other types of accounts if this is something you would like to see!

How does it work?

Points are awarded during a 2-week period for killing various bosses in-game (see table below). These points would hold no in-game value, cannot be traded, and would only be available for the duration of the raffle. We think this could provide a fun reason to log in with your friends, encouraging your buddies to take down some bosses with you!

At the end of the 2-week period, we'll randomly pick 10 lucky groups and award them with membership! We'll choose these randomly because we don't want players feeling pressured to be online 24/7. However, groups will see an increased chance of winning the more points they have accumulated!

The below table shows how many points can be won by participating in various group activities, as well as whether they will be awarded to a single player or the whole group:

Boss

Ticket Score

Single Player

Ticket Award Conditions

Tempoross

A successful Tempoross kill, as long as the player has achieved the minimum score to receive a reward permit.

Wintertodt

A successful Wintertodt subdue, as long as the player has achieved the minimum score to receive a reward crate.

Zalcano

A successful Zalcano kill to any player who participated enough to receive loot from her.

Barbarian Assault

Defeating the penance queen on wave 10. Any player who participated in the wave in eligible.

Sarachnis