Old School RuneScape News

[h2]Name Reservations For Clans Are Closed! [/h2]

That's it folks: pre-registration for Clan names are now closed. Thanks to everyone who took the time to request their marvellous moniker!

Let's talk about what happens next, including what you'll need to do if your application was successful.

First of all, there will be no game update this week. We'll be using this time to test and tweak the system to perfection, ready for the big launch. It's all hands on deck!

We expect next week's game update (May 19th) to be a soft launch, with successful applicants being assigned their Clan name through a manual process explained below. Throughout the week, all players will have access to the shiny new Clan side-panel, though all actual features of the system will be disabled. Tantalising!

Provided the names process runs smoothly, the Clans system will fully launch on May 26th. All of the features, interfaces and menu options of the Clans system will be accessible to everyone, and you can start having fun! If you didn't get the chance to pre-register your Clan name, or your reservation request was unsuccessful, this will be your moment. You'll be able to grab a name on a first-come, first-served basis.

Clans...coming soon.

[h3]Next Steps[/h3]

If you've applied for a Clan name, you'll receive an Inbox message from us in the next week or so, letting you know if you've been successful. You will receive your answer by May 19th at the latest, so please be patient with us.

If your application has been accepted, congratulations! The Inbox message will include an invite link to a Discord server that we'll be using to arrange the registration of Clan names. The message will also give the Discord tag of the staff member leading the project. Discord tags are unique, so don't accept any messages or links from Discord tags other than the one named in the message.

You must join the Discord server and arrange a suitable time for us to meet you in-game. Since there are thousands of Clans to manually assign in a relatively short timeframe, we're going to be holding several drop-in sessions from May 19th onwards. Think of it as booking your appointment at the Clan clinic!

Once a Clan name has been assigned to you, the side-panel will tell you which Clan you're in, but all of the features from the menu will remain blocked until Clans is fully launched on May 26th. You can peek at your presents but you can't open them yet...

To recap:

• Pre-registration for Clan Names is now closed.
  
• There is no game update this week, but players who have pre-registered a name can expect an Inbox Message with news by May 19th.
  
• If your application has been successful, the Inbox Message will contain a link to the Discord Server we're using for this process, and the Discord ID tag to verify that it's us.
  
• You should join the Discord Server as soon as possible and sign up to an in-game drop-in session from May 19th onwards.
  
• At the drop-in, we will create your Clan name and then transfer ownership over to you.
  
• Those who have successfully been assigned their Clan name will see it on the Clan side-panel, but no one will be able to access the features of the Clans system until the full launch, expected on May 26th.
  

We're almost there, everyone! Thanks so much for your continued patience. We know that you've been eagerly awaiting the release of the Clans system and can't wait to see how creative you'll get with the new features. Clan-tastic!

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[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]

With no game update this week, the PvP world rota will remain on the same rotation and will not move to Period B until next week's game update on May 19th.

After recently introducing the weekly change to the rota based on feedback from a player survey, we are currently investigating changing the system that handles this.

Rather than worlds constantly changing between regular and PvP, we'll look to add worlds dedicated to the PvP rota instead. These worlds would always be configured as PvP worlds, but they'd only be live when they're included within the active PvP world rota period at the time.


As always, please share your feedback with us via the official forums, on the 2007Scape Reddit, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.

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

The Old School Team

[h2]Hotfixes and Issues (29th April)[/h2]

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Games Room tables are popping up all over Gielinor this week – see you in the pub! We’ve also been tweaking the mechanics for Tempoross, the Spirit of the Sea, so you can have an even more splashing time sending it to a watery grave. Plus, spell tweaks, interface adjustments and more...

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[h2]Minigame Madness[/h2]

Fancy a pint and a game of Runelink? We've added Games Room tables to some of the most popular pubs in Gielinor, as well as the Grand Exchange! This means that both Members and Free-to-play adventurers alike can battle it out on the board.

One of The Golden Field's new tables.

Show off your tabletop tactics in the following locations:

• The Blue Moon Inn (Varrock)
  
• The Rising Sun (Falador)
  
• Forester's Arms (Seers' Village)
  
• The Golden Field (Hosidius)
  
• South-West of the Grand Exchange (Varrock)
  

Each pub will have two tables for all the current games, while the Grand Exchange will have eight. All tables can be operating a game simultaneously, but if all the tables are taken, you can still spectate! Members have access to the Burthorpe Games Rooms if they can't find an available table.

Game in style at the Grand Exchange!

Two new NPCs have popped up in the Grand Exchange's Game Zone, representing Saradomin and Zamorak. Talking to them will allow you to change your current world to the Castle Wars designated world (344) and put you in the lobby of your chosen side! For beginners, friendly NPC Meredith is also hanging around the Grand Exchange, ready to teach you how to play any of the games on offer.

Which side are you on?

Board games are unavailable in Deadman Mode and on PvP worlds.

Oh, and talking of games, the grandmasters among you may have spotted an error in the layout of the display chessboard in the Varrock Palace. The board has been updated and now respects the actual rules of chess!

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[h2]Fishing Skill Boss[/h2]

After reviewing your feedback, we've made another wave of tweaks to the Tempoross mechanics:

• The fire clickboxes are now slightly bigger, covering more of the 2x2 space they occupy. The height of the fire will no longer change as it animates.
  
• The fire itself is now slightly less punishing and will remove resources every two game cycles (1.2 seconds) rather than every game cycle.
  
• The wave attack won't disrupt as many actions when it's incoming, so you can try and cook an extra fish or two!
  
• Reducing Tempoross' energy to 10% or lower will prevent it from attacking for a full 25 game cycles. If you don't continue to shoot fish within that time, it will begin to attack again.
  
• Beyond the encounter itself, you'll be pleased to know that previously blocked Fishing spots south of the Ruins of Unkah are now accessible.
  

Also, both basic and recoloured versions of the Heron will now use the same placeholder slot in the Bank!

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[h2]Heal Group Spell[/h2]

Recently, the Heal Group & Heal Other spells have been seen to generate a method of "infinite" healing. For the cost of a few runes, you could scale one cast to hundreds, if not thousands of HP a cast.

If you combine this with multiple accounts spamming Heal Group, with no cooldown, it could trivialise a lot of content and reduce the need to bring or use healing supplies anywhere you could safely use this spell.

This spell is for healing, but was never envisioned to be this effective. As such, we think it's important to make it worthwhile whilst the reducing the possibility of abuse.

The Heal Group spell has been altered with the following changes:

• The spell now functions by dividing up to 75% of the healer's health equally between up to five injured players in the immediate area, and throwing in an additional five points for healing.
  
• Once the spell has been cast, it will update your attack delay by three game cycles, similar to eating food.
  
• The Heal Group will now have a 90-second cooldown once cast.
  

We will be montioring feedback on these changes but hope they make the spell remain viable for legitimate use whilst not being easily abused.

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[h2]PvP World Rota[/h2]

The PvP rota has moved to Period A:

• The host for the High-Risk PvP world will be W343 (Germany)
  
• The Standard PvP world will be W324 (US West)
  
• The free-to-play PvP world will be W417 (US East)
  
• The members-only LMS world will be W333 (UK)
  
• The free-to-play LMS world will be W469 (US East)
  

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[h2]Other News[/h2]

• The Smithing XP gained from Barronite has been increased from 10 to 30.
  
• Ahrim's staff can now auto-cast ancient spells again whilst wearing full Ahrim's and the Amulet of the Damned.
  
• In Last Man Standing, ancient spells are no longer greyed out for players who have not completed Desert Treasure.
  
• Last Man Standing spawn locations have been spread out.
  
• Combat XP in the PoH has now returned back to normal.
  
• We've tweaked the interface for choosing a display name so it's a little less confusing for newcomers.
  
• The audio can get a little busy when chopping tentacles from the fearsome Kraken. The chopping sound effects are now slightly more spaced out.
  
• The information interface provided at the start of Fishing Trawler can now be toggled off or on by talking to Murphy on the boat in Port Khazard. You can also switch it straight off just by clicking "Do not show this again" on the interface itself.
  
• The Collection Log total value was showing a little higher than it should be! This has now been adjusted.
  
• A stray bit of wall has been deleted from the area west of Ice Mountain.
  
• The maximum quantities of fish you can select for processing in Camdozaal have been corrected.
  

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, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.

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

The Old School Team

[h2]Hotfixes and Issues (May 6th)[/h2]

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Who remembers Phosani's Nightmare? Temporarily released in early 2020 to support the Nightmare of Ashihama launch, this was a more difficult version of the encounter for those of you who actually like waking up in a cold sweat! It was a pretty neat idea in theory, but as it could only be tackled as a solo encounter for one week, and with minimal differences from normal mode, it wasn't providing long-lasting, repeatable content.

Now, we know that many of you have been dreaming of new end-game content. We have some exciting plans in the works to address this, but in the meantime we thought the return of Phosani’s Nightmare could provide a worthy challenge for those of you who have grown accustomed to current PvM content!

As with the recent A Night At The Theatre additions, this is us adapting our schedule to add new challenges that will tide you over while we work on bigger changes. This isn’t our magic solution to the lack of end-game content, but it's something we can whip up within a short timeframe while working on the major updates we'll be announcing this summer.

With a more punishing encounter that includes harder to execute mechanics, brand new phases, more attack combos, new metas and a new loot table, Phosani's Nightmare is back for real, and she’s stronger than ever!

Now, close your eyes... Don't be scared...

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[h2]The Changes[/h2]

Phosani’s Nightmare is a solo-only encounter and will require at least one completion of The Nightmare of Ashihama.

We want this encounter to be faster paced, with more variation per fight, and more things happening simultaneously to keep the player engaged. We also want a significantly speedier kill than a regular Nightmare solo kill. Currently, it can feel like quite a drawn-out fight – more a test of stamina than skill!

This new encounter will be different from The Nightmare of Ashihama in all sorts of ways. We don’t want to reveal the full extent of the changes, as we’d like for some of them to come as a surprise. But here's a taste of what to expect this time around:

• Increased damage dealt to players using incorrect Protection Prayers...
  
  • ...But reduced damaged for those that use their Prayers correctly (Amen!)
    
• Additional Shield and Totem phases...
  
  • ...But with reduced Hitpoints of each phase.
    
• Additional special attack combinations.
  
• An increased rate of special attacks.
  
• Changes to existing special attack mechanics.
  
• Randomised phase rotations, making each fight feel a little different (and less predictable)!
  
• A brand new phase that will overwhelm any unprepared adventurer. You have been warned...
  

Poll Question #1

Should Phosani’s Nightmare, a vastly different solo-only version of The Nightmare of Ashihama encounter, be added to the game? The boss fight mechanics would be updated to make the encounter more challenging and engaging. The rewards would be improved to match these changes.

Poll Question #2

Should the proposed randomised phase rotations and Protection Prayer changes for Phosani's Nightmare also be made for The Nightmare of Ashihama?

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[h2]The Rewards[/h2]

What would an additional challenge be without additional reward? Yeah, a bit of a swizz. Fortunately, we have plenty of extra goodies in store.

Very rare drops are okay. Low-value regular loot is okay. Long walks back after resupplying are... hmm, okay. But with The Nightmare of Ashihama you've got all three, and we understand the frustrations some players have. With Phosani's Nightmare, we're not looking to drastically change the available loot, but we think we can improve it.


Parasite Pet Metamorphosis

First up is a metamorphosis. Similar to Chambers of Xeric Challenge Mode, completing Phosani’s Nightmare would give a chance at an item that can be used on the Little Nightmare to unlock a Parasite variation of the pet. Creepy!

We’re not sure why you’d want to have this thing following you around, but here it is anyway.

Poll Question #3

If Phosani’s Nightmare is added to the game, should there be a chance to receive an item that transforms the Little Nightmare pet into a Parasite version?

Slepe Teleport

Sometimes in life, it's about the journey, not the destination. Yeah, we can get philosophical too, y'know.

But when it comes to The Nightmare, the trip back after resupplying is kind of long and arduous. It can even cause you to lose your world, or force you to use alternate accounts to resupply between kills. This extended schlep was an intentional design choice, and one we made quite clear leading up to the release, but the comments we've received have shown that this wasn't necessarily the best approach. We'd like to take this opportunity to improve the situation.

What if we allow players to teleport to Slepe via an upgrade to Drakan’s Medallion, the necklace rewarded after completion of A Taste of Hope? This upgrade would be made via an untradeable tablet that would be obtainable from both The Nightmare of Ashihama and Phosani’s Nightmare, with a higher chance of receiving it from the latter encounter.

The upgraded Drakan's Medallion would teleport players to the Sisterhood Sanctuary as shown below:

The proposed teleport location for the upgraded Drakan's Medallion.

Alternatively an untradeable teleport scroll could be added to the potential loot from Phosani's Nightmare, similar to the Key Master teleport from Cerberus. These stackable scrolls would teleport players to the same location as the Drakan's Medallion and could be added to the Master Scroll Book.

Poll Question #4

Should The Nightmare of Ashihama have a chance at dropping a tablet which allows players to upgrade their Drakan’s Medallion? this upgrade would allow players to teleport to the graveyard just next to the Slepe Church. If this question passes and Phosani’s Nightmare is added to the game, the tablet will also drop from Phosani’s Nightmare with a slighter better chance.

Poll Question #5

If Poll Question #4 passes and the teleport item is added to the game, how should this item be introduced? The highest voted option will win and be implemented into the game.

Option 1: The teleport should implemented via an upgrade to Drakan’s Medallion.

Option 2: The teleport should be implemented via untradeable teleport scrolls that drop from the encounter, similar to Key Master teleport from Cerberus.

Poll Question #6

If untradeable teleport scrolls are the preferred option in Poll Question #5, where should they take you? The highest voted option will win and be implemented into the game.

Option 1: The teleport location should be the Sisterhood Sanctuary as shown in the blog.

Option 2: The teleport location should be near the Slepe Graveyard.

Better Regular Loot

Given the increased difficulty of Phosani's Nightmare, we reckon it’s fitting to improve the regular loot you can swipe after each successful kill.

We propose to increase the quantity of normal loot drops from this particular encounter by 50% (when compared to the standard Nightmare of Ashihama).

Alongside this base increase in quantity, we’d also replace some of the less desirable drops from the loot table, such as Adamant arrows. With these changes, plus an increase in the kills per hour, this should not only increase the value from each kill, but also help offset the hefty resource cost of facing against this harder encounter in the long run.

This change will be made if Poll Question #1 passes, which can be seen earlier in this blog. We think these changes could be well suited to the regular Nightmare of Ashihama too, so we're polling that separately with the below question.

Poll Question #7

If Phosani’s Nightmare is added to the game, should we also replace some of the less useful drops from The Nightmare of Ashihama loot table, such as Adamant arrows, with more desirable items?

Different Unique Chances

Finally, we’d like to make sure that the chance of obtaining a unique item correctly reflects the increased difficulty of the encounter.

Obtaining uniques from Phosani's Nightmare will be around 20% faster than regular efficient Nightmare of Ashihama. This will take into account the faster kills per hour you'd expect to achieve, as well as the lessened downtime you'd incur after each fight, because of that lovely teleport we mentioned earlier.

This should make fighting Phosani’s Nightmare a viable and faster-paced alternative to The Nightmare of Ashihama, albeit one that will require more focus, and less reliance on potential teammates!

Poll Question #8

Should the chance of obtaining a unique item be adjusted for Phosani's Nightmare to reflect the increased difficulty of the encounter?

We’re really excited to hear what you think about this new and improved encounter with The Nightmare! With a teleport to reduce your resupply commute, an overall buff to the rate at which you can obtain unique items, and slight buffs to the regular loot, chasing these uniques should be much more enjoyable.

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[h2]Additional Changes[/h2]

While not related to Phosani's Nightmare, in the A Night At The Theatre blog we offered a cosmetic upgrade to The Scythe of Vitur as a potential reward from Theatre of Blood Hard Mode. The poll question to add this into the game has passed, but we know not everyone was happy with the proposed design.

As a team we always enjoy your concepts for weapons. It's enlightening to see what items resonate for players, especially when they've been brought to life by others in the community!

We'd like to offer some alternate designs alongside the poll for Phosani's Nightmare, giving you an opportunity to select your favourite from a variety of options.

Plus, it's important that we clarify briefly why the Scythe design remains Saradominist. In the Second Age, when Morytania was still known as Hallowvale and unblemished by the Vampyres, the castle atop The Theatre of Blood was home to a Saradominist queen. Following the God Wars, the Vampyres claimed many valuable Saradominist relics as their own. Some of the originals can still be found deep within Lady Verzik Virtur's vault!

Concept art of the various Scythe of Vitur cosmetic upgrade options, one of which will be added as a reward from Theatre of Blood Hard Mode.

Poll Question #9

Which cosmetic variation of the Scythe of Vitur should be added to the game alongside Theatre of Blood Hard Mode? The highest voted option will win and be implemented into the game.

Option A
Option B
Option C
Option D

A Kingdom Divided & Arceuus Spellbook Rework

Following the recent Arceuus Spellbook rework beta, there are some additional changes that we'd like to make based on your feedback. We're included these questions in this poll to ensure we avoid any delay in development!

Poll Question #10

Should it be possible for the Master Wand to autocast the new spells coming alongside the Arceuus spellbook rework?

Poll Question #11

Should the Resurrection spells coming alongside the Arceuus spellbook rework be changed so that each tier of the spell has three individual spells instead? This would give players the ability to choose between summoning either a Magic, Melee or Ranged Thrall at each tier.

As always, please share your feedback with us via our official forums, on the 2007Scape Reddit, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.

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

[h2]Hotfixes and Issues (29th April)[/h2]

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Though we do say it ourselves, we reckon this update is truly spellbinding! We've opened a special Beta world for members to try out the new Arceuus Spellbook before the release of A Kingdom Divided and made some main game changes that set the stage for this exciting new chapter. We've also tweaked Below Ice Mountain, rebalanced some equipment and launched more 20th anniversary merch! Abracadabra, let's be 'aving ya...

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[h2]A Kingdom Divided: Beta[/h2]



The next chapter of the Great Kourend storyline is on the horizon – A Kingdom Divided. Ahead of its release, we've been working hard on one of the additional rewards for completing this continuation. Introducing: the Arceuus Spellbook!

We're giving you the chance to experience the reworked book and try out all of the new spells across Gielinor. As of today, members will be able to log-in to the special Beta-worlds and test all the new additions and changes!

How do I access the Beta worlds?

Only members can access the Beta. When the game has loaded, you can find the beta worlds W401 (US), W407 (UK) and W412 (AUS), which will be highlighted in blue within the World Selection screen.

What happens when I log in?

Choosing any of these worlds will load a separate profile to your main account. Once you've logged-in, you'll find yourself within Ferox Enclave, with max skills and suitable gear, along with an Inventory full of Runes! If you're wanting to try out some other gear or experiment with different stats, head to the rooms next to the Castle Wars and Free-For-All portals, and rummage in the Supply Chests on the tables. Here you can select your gear and set your stats accordingly.

What can I do in the Beta?

You’ll be able to take part in any content you could find on the main game worlds, apart from the Inferno.

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[h2]Existing Spells[/h2]

So, what's cookin' in the new spellbook? First, let's cast a glance over the already existing spells and any changes that may come with them:


Reanimation Spells

In the current Arceuus Spellbook, there is a reanimation spell for each relevant creature, making a grand total of 22 spells. With the rework, these will be replaced by four new reanimation spells. No changes will be made to the amount of experience granted from reanimating creatures.

Spooky scary skeletons!

With this update, these changes to reanimation spells will also be available in the main game.



Teleport Spells

Most of the teleport spells will be unchanged with this rework. However, the teleport to the Lumbridge Graveyard has been replaced with an Arceuus Library teleport. Handy!

Moving and grooving!

For any players currently with any Lumbridge Graveyard teleport tablets, these will be changed into Arceuus Library Teleport tablets.

With this update, the change to teleport spells will also be available in the main game.



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[h2]New Spells[/h2]

And for our next trick... brand shiny new spells! To use these you will have to complete all of A Kingdom Divided, apart from Ghostly Grasp and Inferior Demonbane. Demonic Offering is the only spell we've left out from the Beta, as we've not added the Demonic Ash item yet. Other than that, you'll be free to wreak havoc with these excellent enchantments:

It's Degrime time!

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[h2]New Mechanics[/h2]

Combat Spells

Some items can be used to auto-cast spells:

• Slayer's Staff
  
• Skull Sceptre (which has had its Attack bonus increased from +4 to +10)
  
  • With this update, the above change will also be available in the main game.
• Ahrim's Staff
  
• Staff of the Dead
  
• Kodai Wand

The following spells from the Arceuus Spellbook can be auto-casted:

• Inferior Demonbane
  
• Superior Demonbane
  
• Dark Demonbane
  
• Ghostly Grasp
  
• Skeletal Grasp
  
• Undead Grasp

Arceuus Spellbook auto-cast spells.

Corruption

When a player is corrupted, they will start to lose Prayer points over a short amount of time. After six seconds, 1 Prayer point is drained. After another six seconds, 2 Prayer points are drained. After a final six seconds, 3 Prayer points are drained. If a Mark of Darkness has also been cast, corruption will occur every three seconds instead. This new type of damage will be reflected with a new type of hitsplat icon.

The animation for casting Greater Corruption.

Naturally, Corruption spells can only be cast on a player who is not already corrupted. However, there is no cooldown between Corruption expiring and a new Corruption spell being cast. It is not possible to stack multiple Corruption spells on a single player, even within multi-combat zones.

Resurrection

To perform a Resurrection spell, players will need to equip the Book of the Dead. This new magic book will be obtained as a reward from A Kingdom Divided, acting as an upgrade to the completed Kharedst's Memoirs!

Much nicer than the Necronomicon!

The Book of the Dead would provide +6 Magic attack and +3 Prayer bonus. Completion of A Kingdom Divided is required to equip the book.

Drawing upon the power of defeated creatures, Resurrection spells bring to life an undead thrall that will aid you in battle. Yikes! This will require runes and Prayer points, and only 1 thrall can exist at a time. Thralls will remain active for one game cycle (0.6 seconds) for every Magic level the caster has. For example, if a thrall is resurrected when your Magic level is 60, it will last for 36 seconds before dying. Hey, maths can be fun - and violent!

A resurrected thrall will not act like a typical follower. They will wander the area where they were created and attack anything the player attacks, provided the target is within range.

It's possible to resurrect a thrall throughout most of Gielinor, even if the undead creature being dragged from its grave is not present in that area at the time. Certain exceptions to this will apply where the aid of a thrall will not be possible – much like how setting up the Dwarf Multicannon is not possible in specific areas.

All resurrected thralls will attack at a rate of four game cycles (one attack every 2.4 seconds). Thralls cannot be damaged and their attacks ignore accuracy checks, but it will still be possible for them to hit 0 at times. While their damage ignores accuracy checks, Protection Prayers will reduce their damage accordingly.

Thralls will not aid you in PvP situations.

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[h2]Main Game Changes[/h2]

Along with this lovely new Beta, we've also made some changes to the main game. Some of these are made to allow for the Beta. Others are A Kingdom Divided-relevant changes we're intentionally launching early to help ensure the main release goes smoothly! The following changes will go live with this update:

Hitsplats

We've updated the appearance of some of the more unique hitsplats in the game, as the ones we had were not suitable for colour blind players. This doesn't impact the iconic hitsplats for things such as damage and poison, but lesser used ones for shields, armour, healing, charging and discharging.

Spell Filtering

With the slate of new spells being added to your Spellbook today, we've included an option to filter out the ones that you don't meet the requirements for yet. We're also planning to poll a visual indicator for these spells as part of Poll 75.

X Marks the Spot

From a timeline standpoint, X Marks The Spot is the first quest in the Great Kourend storyline. However, it actually came out long after the next quest in the series, Client of Kourend, and was not required for it. We want to make sure anyone new to the series has a clear understanding of the order of events, so we've made X Marks the Spot a requirement for Client of Kourend. For anyone who's already started Client of Kourend, X Marks the Spot will instead become a requirement for the Five House quests. If you've already started all five of those, X Marks the Spot will be a requirement for A Kingdom Divided when it launches.

What can we say? We're just maintaining lore and order...

Music

Listen up beat fiends, because we've made some behind the scenes improvements to our music system.

First, music tracks should now loop more reliably, rather than stopping half way through. Looping should occur even when music stops for a jingle or because it's been muted/unmuted.

Second, because we now have a better idea of when a music track ends, we're able to randomise the playing order! It will take a while for us to roll this out across the entire game, so we've started with the free-to-play area. Rather than the same track looping and then abruptly changing, music will now shuffle between suitable tracks when moving from one area to another.

The music in Old School is of course iconic, especially in the free-to-play area, so the track shuffling isn't totally random. Instead, different parts of the map have different sets of tracks assigned to them. This ensures each area of the world retains its musical identity. For example, there are six tracks that play in the Lumbridge area. Previously, each of these tracks would only play in a small part of Lumbridge. Now, they can play anywhere in and around the town. Once one finishes, a different Lumbridge track will kick in. Most importantly, the first track for any new arrival in Lumbridge will always be Harmony. Ahh, memories.

And that's it! We'll be keeping a close eye on your feedback over the Beta period and we look forward to hearing what you all think.

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[h2]Equipment Rebalance: Part One – Feedback[/h2]

Some items were missed in last week's first batch. They've now been added:

The Gilded Spear and Gilded Hasta have increased attack rate from 5 to 4, to match their Rune equivalents.

Guthan's, Verac's, Dharok's and Torag's legwear now have -11 ranged attack instead of -7 ranged attack, to match the change we made to other plate legwear.

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[h2]Below Ice Mountain[/h2]

Players can now exchange excess items for Barronite Shards:

• Barronite Head - 100
  
• Barronite Handle - 100
  
• Barronite Guard - 100
  
• Barronite Mace - 500
  
• Imcando Hammer (Broken) - 350
  
• Imcando Hammer - 500

Simply show the item to Ramarno and he'll offer to convert them into shards. Remember, any relics you find in the ruins can be traded at the Varrock Museum for extra change!

We've made some changes to the Vault beneath Ice Mountain:

• The entry fee has been decreased to 750 Barronite Shards.
  
• The drop table has been rebalanced, to reflect the difficulty/time spent.

Players can now interact directly with the forge to add/remove/check the amount of Barronite they have collected.

The Imcando Hammer has been updated to include some of the original Hammer's functions that were missing.

You can now store the Imcando Hammer in your Player Owned House.

Players looking for some extra Kudos will now see the Camdozaal Relics appear on the Kudos list in the Varrock Museum.

When preparing and offering fish in Camdozaal, the menu is now context-sensitive to which fish you have in your inventory.

One for the gym bunnies here: players can now replay Altas's workout cutscene (for a fee) and even keep track of how many times they do it.

The Barronite Mace now has a Strength bonus of +40 and an anti-Golem bonus of 15%, as mentioned in the original newspost.

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[h2]Fishing Skill Boss[/h2]

We're thrilled to see so many of you battling against the newly awakened Spirit of the Sea, Tempoross! We've made some small QoL changes to make an even bigger splash:

A new overlay has been added to the lobby and the surrounding area. This will show how many players are waiting in the lobby, and indicate how long until the next encounter.

Your Personal Bests and Time Taken stats are now displayed after successfully defeating the boss. They've also been added to the stats board in the Ruins of Unkah.

A quick-climb option has been added to the Tempoross lobby ladder, as well as a water pump aboard the ship.

UI on both mobile and PC has been moved to create more space on the screen.

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[h2]Merch[/h2]

We've added even more new lines to celebrate the 20th Anniversary year of RuneScape! You may have already spotted these in the Anniversary packs we sent out to content creators - well, now they're coming to the merch store for everyone to get their hands on!

• Special Black and Gold Map of Gielinor Print
  
• Commemorative Black and Gold Map of Gielinor Tee (with 20th Anniversary logo in neck)

The RuneScape anniversary is not the only milestone we're celebrating. Angels Scapes has now designed a whopping 200 official pins and keyrings for the merch store! You can grab the special commemorative Fire Cape, alongside other designs celebrating content over the past 20 years:

• Angels Fire Cape - 200th Design Limited Edition
  
• Void Sea Pin
  
• Dugeoneering Mastercape Keyring
  
• Thieving Skillcape Keyring

Restocks of Ice and Blood Barrage Pins and the popular Agility, Ranged, Firemaking Skillcape keyrings are also available.



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[h2]Other News[/h2]
It's Raining Cats and Dogs!

This one should make your tail wag: you can now interact with several cats and dogs across Gielinor! Address your pats and strokes to:

• The Myths' Guild dog
  
• The dog in the Falador chicken coop
  
• The dog in the Museum Camp
  
• Mark (Grace's dog, Rogues' Den)
  
• The cat in the Farming Guild

PvP World Rota

The PvP world rota has moved to Period B.

• The host for the High-Risk PvP world will be W337 (US East)
  
• The host for the Standard PvP world will be W325 (UK)
  
• The host for the free-to-play PvP world will be W371 (UK)
  
• The members-only LMS world will be W492 (US East)
  
• The free-to-play LMS world will be W326 (UK)

Extras

• World 315 (US) has now become a designated Fishing Trawler activity world!
  
• The trawler is now leakier when more players are on it. Stands to reason, right? However, more than one player can now fix a trawler railing at a time. Problem solved!
  
• The stock of swamp paste in the Port Khazard general store has been increased. It also restocks faster.
  
• Players will be prevented from accidentally clicking on Inventory items while using the Deposit Box or entering a Bank PIN.
  
• Gravestone payment messages have been added to the game.
  
• The Theatre of Blood is now a safe zone on PvP worlds.
  
• The Serpentine Helm will no longer ask the player how many Scales you want to add to it, as long as no other Scale-using items are in the Inventory. This is in-line with similar items.
  
• The Soul Wars shop has been updated to include a 'buy X' option for the XP rewards. We will look to do the same to other tabs of the shop at a later date.
  
• Dragon Slayer II notes can now be combined into a book!
  
• The Fight Cave leave timer has been reduced to three minutes.
  
• Some new counters have been added to the Collection Log, including the number of Tempoross Reward Permits claimed, and Spoils Of War opened in Soul Wars!
  
• Radimus Erkle's clone has been removed, meaning he will no longer appear in two places at once!
  
• A toggle for the border setting has been added to the Settings menu.
  
• The 20th Anniversary Cape no longer clips when you're carrying an Ale Of The Gods. Cheers to that!
  
• Clearer messaging is now provided for players who are attempting to fight the Thermonuclear Smoke Devil off-task for the Achievement Diary but aren't yet at the required Slayer level.
  
• Death in the Clan Wars free-for-all arena no longer removes PK skulls, for consistency with Clan Wars challenge battles.
  
• The bankers in Mos Le'Harmless now face west by default.
  
• Items no longer vanish when dropped at the top of some stairs in Dorgesh-Kaan.

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, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.

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

The Old School Team

[h3]Player Feedback Changes: April 28th[/h3]

[expand]
Thanks for all of your feedback on the blog! There was a lot of discussion around the item that changes the Justiciar Armour into a Vampyre-themed set.

Many of you felt that you don't use the Justiciar Armour as often as other Theatre of Blood rewards, and that you’d rather see more regularly used items receive a cosmetic change.

Here are the items that could change instead of the Justiciar Armour:

• Ghrazi Rapier
  
• Sanguinesti Staff
  
• Scythe of Vitur
  

A collection of concepts for the Saradomin-themed weapons.

When used on any of the weapons, this reward would cosmetically transform it into a Saradomin-inspired version. It wouldn't change the stats or base functionality of the item. We opted not to include a reward for the Avernic Defender – it's too small to portray the right level of detail. Turns out size does matter when it comes to art!

As for the Vampyre-themed Justiciar Armour, we’ll be holding that back for a future poll. Until then, you can find the concept here.

We’ve updated the blog to highlight these changes, and the poll question regarding Hard Mode rewards now refers to the new cosmetic additions.
[/expand]

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Old School's approach to storytelling is one of its greatest strengths. We always aim to combine compelling gameplay with narrative depth, and to lead our players naturally towards more difficult content. With our new quest, A Night At The Theatre, we hope to introduce more players of different experience levels to the wicked delights of the infamous Theatre of Blood!

Along with this new quest, we're introducing two new difficulty settings for Theatre of Blood - Story Mode and Hard Mode. Read on to find out how we're helping guide mid-level players through end-game content, all while offering end-game players even tougher challenges to sink their teeth into!

Those of you who have been with us for a while may remember back in 2018, shortly after the release of Theatre of Blood, when we pitched the idea of an Entry Mode encounter. If we're brutally honest, it wasn't a strong pitch. It was a hasty response to feedback from a small number of players taking part in the Raid on launch. Our proposal for Story Mode is what that pitch should have been. And, in A Night At The Theatre, players will fight their way through a scaled-down version of the infamous Theatre, with greatly reduced rewards, but more accessible gameplay!

Hard Mode, meanwhile, is aimed at players who have comfortably mastered the mechanics of the regular Theatre of Blood and are looking to step up their game. And we're not just talking inflated stats here - we'll be changing the very mechanics of each fight to add additional complexity and really put you through your paces.

If both Story Mode and Hard Mode are added to the game, you'll make your selection from the notice board outside the Theatre (and you'll play on Normal Mode by default). Story Mode and Normal Mode will be available to anybody who has access to the Theatre, but Hard Mode will require at least one Normal Mode completion. Only the party leader can set the mode, but the board will show what mode has been selected for all recruiting parties. We'll add additional tracking variables so that completions, deaths and best times will be mode-specific, and the scoreboard outside will show statistics for all three modes.

Rest assured, we've heard your requests for new end-game content, and we have much greater plans in the works - we're simply adapting our schedule to add new challenges in the meantime. If you like this proposal, and it proves to be successful when added to the game, we will adopt a similar approach with future Raids.

And so, without further ado, let's pull back the curtain on A Night At The Theatre...

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A Night At The Theatre

A Night at the Theatre will be many players' first experience of Theatre of Blood, so we want it to be a highly playable introduction to this fearsome locale. The quest can be tackled on any mode (Story, Normal, or Hard), but is primarily designed for Story Mode. First-time adventurers can also team up with players who have already completed the quest. You'll need to complete it for the finale of the Myreque series.

[h3]Requirements and Rewards[/h3]
[expand]A Night At The Theatre is a Master-level quest. As it takes you through a challenging (albeit scaled) Raid encounter, we'd recommend that you have 90 Combat before embarking. As it takes place in Morytania, Priest In Peril is required.

Upon completion you'll be rewarded:

• 2 Quest Points
  
• 40,000 XP in a Combat skill

You'll also be able to flex those muscles with a whole new emote courtesy of Checkal! Hwuargh!
[/expand]

Story Mode

Story Mode is of similar difficulty to the current Theatre of Blood, but with the following changes:

• All boss stats, including health and defences, are reduced – and all attacks deal less damage to the player.
  
• Boss health will scale differently from Normal mode, where health scales down to 75% at three or fewer players. In Story Mode, it will continue scaling down to just 20% for a solo player. At this level of scaling we'd expect it to be similar (perhaps slightly harder) difficulty than our existing quest bosses, so it could be completed as a solo experience.
  
• No unique rewards will be given (this includes Lil' Zik).
  
• All other rewards will be reduced to 20% of their usual quantity.
  
• As detailed above, separate tracking will be used from other modes.
  
• Supplies can't be bought with points. Instead, players will be given untradeable Supply Packs which can only be used in the Story Mode Raid.
  
• Death mechanics are different. If all party members die (and wipe), they'll respawn outside the challenge area, with the challenge reset. This respawn can happen up to three times. If the party all wipe for a fourth time, they will die as normal.

Poll Question #1
Would you like A Night At The Theatre, a new Master level quest, to be added to the game? Story Mode, a new difficulty level for Theatre of Blood, will also be added with the quest.

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Hard Mode

Now it's time for the toughest cookies to step up to the plate! Hard Mode is aimed at players who have mastered the Theatre of Blood and are eager for a new challenge. This isn't like the Chambers of Xeric: Challenge Mode, where we inflated stats on an established and consistent path. Hard Mode will change the very mechanics of each boss fight, giving you a more gnarly and complex encounter. Crumbs!

In terms of scaling, Hard Mode will continue to scale for players in groups of 1-5 using the existing scaling system of 75% health at three (or fewer) players.

Similarly to the Chambers of Xeric: Challenge Mode, the content will carry target times, based on group size, which will affect your chances of acquiring new and unique rewards!

Rewards

Our plan is to improve existing rewards and offer some fresh cosmetic rewards:

• The existing unique drop chances will be increased, and we will slightly lower the chance of any unique drop being an Avernic Defender. This means Hard Mode will be the best way for habitual players to obtain special Theatre of Blood loot.
  
• Quantities of loot on the regular drop table will be increased by 25%.

Speeding through it? For players who finish within the target time, the following rewards await you:

• A further increase to regular drop table loot.
  
• The chance to score a unique untradeable item which can be used to metamorphise Lil' Zik into any of the Theatre of Blood bosses.
  
• A chance at unique untradeable item which can change the following into Saradomin-themed weapons (see image below):
  - Ghrazi Rapier
  - Sanguinesti Staff
  - Scythe of Vitur
  
• This item will function similarly to the Twisted Ancestral colour kit (one kit is required per weapon, the weapon will become untradeable, and it can be detached from the weapon).

A collection of concepts for the Saradomin-themed weapons.

Poll Question #2
Would you like a Hard Mode added to the Theatre of Blood? The boss fight mechanics will be updated to make each encounter more challenging, and rewards will be improved.

Poll Question #3
If Question #2 passes, would you like us to add an item which unlocks the ability to metamorphise Lil' Zik into any of the Theatre of Blood bosses?

Poll Question #4
If Question #2 passes, would you like us to add an item which can change the appearance of the Scythe of Vitur, Ghrazi Rapier, and Sanguinesti Staff into Saradominist-themed weapons?

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This proposal represents a significant change of approach to end-game Raiding content, so we'd really love to hear your thoughts. Do you support our goal of helping new players get to grips with the Raid? Do you think it will work? What would you change? Share your feedback with us via our official forums, on the 2007Scape Reddit, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.

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

The Old School Team