News Archive - Runescape-Tip.com

18th December 2008 - Security Reminder

Some of you may have read recent news reports regarding a security flaw in the Internet Explorer web browser – the default web browser in Microsoft Windows. This flaw is reportedly being used to steal passwords for various popular online games. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to remind all our players of a few important security practices:

* If you use Windows make sure you have the latest updates installed. You can get the latest updates and security fixes for your computer from windowsupdate.microsoft.com. This will protect your computer against the latest security flaw.
* Never visit a website that you are told about in-game, as there is a chance that you could be directed to a fake website. Fake websites are dangerous, as they can allow hackers to access your personal information, or expose your computer to viruses. Remember, it is against the rules to promote any website, either in the game or on the forums; if you see someone advertising a website in this way, you should report them immediately using the Report Abuse button at the bottom of your screen, and selecting Rule 11: Advertising/Website.
* Make sure you have up to date anti-virus software installed.

We also want to take this opportunity to remind you that you should never give out your password, or any personal information such as your email address or real name, to any other player, for any reason. For more information on security, please read this article.

We want all our players to be safe, so please take the appropriate care. Thank you for your support, and Merry Christmas!

16th December 2008 - Christmas Event and Quest

The festive season is upon us, and to celebrate we’re presenting you with the result of your Guaranteed Content Christmas poll, in the form of this years’ Christmas event. We’ve also got an appropriately wintery quest for you in Myths of the White Lands. We hope you have lots of fun, and enjoy your Christmas adventures!

Merry Christmas!

A number of slippery ice patches have been spotted in Gielinor, and there is growing concern that someone, or something, is trying to ruin everybody’s Christmas. With so much ice around, the safety of the inhabitants of RuneScape is at stake, and as if that wasn’t enough, disappointed children have been reporting a lack of presents in their stockings! According to imp emissaries from the Land of Snow, the problem originated in their homeland…those of you who remember the result of your Guaranteed Content Christmas poll may have an idea of what lies at the centre of the mystery!

Meanwhile, in Lumbridge, Explorer Jack has heard tales from a chatty snow imp of mythical riches in the Land of Snow. Of course, he leaves the adventuring to younger explorers these days, but he could be talked into rewarding someone willing to fetch these riches for him. In Myths of the White Lands, you will discover what lies at the heart of snow imp lore, and the creatures that accompany it. You will need ingenuity, skill and quick reflexes to succeed in this particularly puzzling quest, which more experienced players may find contains a few extra rewards.

Myths of the White Lands will be available to all players for two weeks, after which it will be available only to members. The Christmas event will be available to all players for two weeks only.

This is the first quest (and event) I have written, and it’s exciting to finally have something I made released. I really hope that you like them both, and that you have at least as much fun playing them as I had writing them. Merry Christmas, everybody!

Mod Maylea
RuneScape Content Developer

Summary:
Where to start the Christmas event:

Speak to one of the snow imps north of Lumbridge, Rimmington or Falador
Requirements: None

Where to start Myths of the White Lands:

Talk to Explorer Jack in Lumbridge
Requirements: None

In other news…

We've made several changes and additions to the QuickChat system. There are now extra options and phrases for various activities, from boss fights to minigames, some general chit-chat, and much more!

To help you keep track of your membership and manage your subscription, we've added a feature called Credit Card Expiry Notification. From now on, if your credit card is about to expire while you have active membership, we'll notify you with an advance reminder. Additionally, those of you on a lower subscription price will be given useful information regarding the grace period, so you don’t accidentally let your subscription lapse!

The necklace of minigames and ring of duelling have undergone a bit of fine-tuning, which should make your life a little easier. These items now take less time to use, which will speed up your everyday adventuring.

The Balance Elemental has become wise to your tricks, and will now fight as originally intended, varying his attack styles with your prayers. Make sure you're fully prepared before you attempt to engage this foe.

Because of the large selection of items Diango can look after, there's now a quick right-click option for retrieving your lost holiday items. You can speak to him in the Draynor marketplace.

16th December 2008 - Stealing Creation Reward Changes

A while ago, we announced that we would be making changes to the rewards for the Stealing Creation minigame. These changes have gone live today.

* Players can no longer gain combat experience inside the Stealing Creation minigame. Instead, the sacred clay combat equipment rewards give bonus experience when they are used. This means that combat experience rewards are given in the same way as reward experience for non-combat skills.

* Sacred clay reward items give experience at a much greater rate than previously. While using one of these items, the normal experience you would gain is doubled.

* Rather than having a fixed number of transformations, the reward items will lose charge gradually as they give experience. The more experience you are gaining, the quicker the charge will run out.

* The system for buying reward items has changed. The score you earn in the minigame is now converted into reward points, and you buy reward items using these points. If you had any points stored before this update, 200,000 of those points will be converted to the new system. Any other points will be lost. In addition, if you had more than ten tools or ten pieces of armour/weapons, any excess have been converted to reward points.

Mod John A
RuneScape Developer

9th December 2008 - PvP Worlds Improvements

This week, we have made some improvements to the amount of loot you can gain while fighting other players on PvP worlds.

We have noticed that many players on PvP worlds choose to leave some of their drops on the ground, rather than pick them up or bank them. This is because the drops are often too low in value to justify picking them up. We have, therefore, implemented two changes to the way drops work on PvP worlds:

1) Drops are now slightly more weighted towards a few, higher-value drops, rather than lots of low- or medium-value ones.

2) Overall, we have made the drops a bit more generous.

Note: there is no change in the frequency of 'useful' drops (e.g. food and potions).

We also wanted to take this opportunity to more clearly explain how drops are determined, to help you get better rewards. Broadly speaking, the drop system works as follows:

1) For each player, we store a 'drop potential'. Your drop potential gradually increases, the more time you spend risking items on a PvP world.

2) When you get a successful kill, a portion of the drop potential you have accumulated is used up to generate your drop. How much of your accumulated drop potential is used depends on the kill. Any unused drop potential is saved up and carried over to any future kills.

3) Finally, the portion of drop potential used determines which drop table is used to generate your drop. Generally, the higher your drop potential, the higher the AVERAGE value of the drop table your drop will be chosen from.

HOW TO MAXIMISE THE VALUE OF YOUR DROPS

In order to get a good drop on a PvP world, there are a few simple things that you must do to both build up a high drop potential and to claim that potential.

BUILDING UP YOUR DROP POTENTIAL

If you find that you continually only get drops of a lower value than you would like, it's almost certainly because you aren't building up enough drop potential. In this case, you need to spend more time building up your drop potential BEFORE making a PvP kill. To do this you must:

1) Spend time outside of safe zones.

For every 30 minutes you spend on a PvP world outside of a safe zone, your drop potential will increase. Those 30 minutes do NOT have to be all in one go - you can log out or visit safe zones - but the system only counts full minutes, so it will likely take longer to build up your drop potential if you do not spend 30 consecutive minutes outside of safe zones.

Note that your drop potential will increase by more if you spend time in hot zones (Ardougne, Varrock, Falador and the Wilderness).

2) Risk at least 75k coins' worth of items.

Your drop potential will ONLY increase if you are risking at least 75k coins' worth of items on a members' world, or 25k coins' worth of items on a free world. An item is considered to be at risk if it is something you would have lost if you were to die - i.e. it is not covered by the Protect Item prayer or the 'keep three items on death' rule. If you are not risking enough, then however long you spend outside of safe zones, your drop potential will not increase.

As an example, one way of doing this is to take 75k coins' worth of items, not protected by death or prayers, then go outside of a safe zone and train as normal (by training a skill of fighting NPCs), and avoid PvP combat. All the time you are doing this, not only are you earning XP from whatever activity you are doing, you are also increasing your drop potential. Once you have built up some drop potential in this way, you can get your PKing gear on and try to get a kill to claim your drop.

CLAIMING YOUR DROP POTENTIAL

1) Once you have built up some drop potential, you will need to find and defeat another player to get a drop. Don't forget that the player you defeat must be risking at least 25k coins' worth of items (on either a free or members' world) for you to receive a good drop. If the player you defeated was not risking that much, you will only receive a token drop, but, in this case, NONE of your drop potential will be used up to determine your drop.

There are some other, less important, rules to PvP worlds, but you should read about them on the Knowledge Base to learn more.

We're really interested in hearing your feedback on these changes, so please feel free to visit the Forums after trying them out.

Enjoy!

Mod Benny
RuneScape Developer

9th December 2008 - Falador Achievement Diary

As the dazzling capital of Asgarnia, the city of Falador is ripe with adventure. From the White Knights’ Castle to the harbour of Port Sarim, even as far south as the coastal settlement of Rimmington; the Falador Achievement Diary will soon have you climbing castles, healing elemental wizards and battling skeletal wyverns.

Tasks range from the delightfully simple to the infuriatingly challenging. Feed the Hairdresser’s pet chinchompa, Ridgeley, pickpocket one of the city’s helpless guards, and craft a hoard of air runes, all on your way to the rewards.

With enough tasks complete, Wyson might share a few green-fingered secrets with you. You may even receive some new kit to protect you in your travels further afield.

Mod Trick
RuneScape Developer

Summary:
Where to start the Falador Achievement Diary

Speak to Redbeard Frank in Port Sarim, the Chemist in Rimmington or the Squire in the White Knights’ Castle

9th December 2008 - Fremennik Province Achievement Diary

Venture into the cold north-west for a new round of challenges as the Fremennik lands and islands show what they have to offer. Whether you want to explore, hone your skills or just kill a few local beasties, there is plenty on offer.

It’s true to say that the Fremennik enjoy a challenge, and those who take on their Achievement Diary will get to see just the sort of trials the Fremennik enjoy. You’ll find yourself in the midst of dagannoths, kyatts, Lunar mages and mithril dragons, not to mention using the raw tools the barbarians have perfected over the centuries.

Prove yourself under the watchful eyes of Chieftain Brundt and his peers and you'll get more out of Rellekka. Impress Advisor Ghrim and your approval in Miscellania can soar, and don't forget the lure of antique lamps to bring you illumination.

Mod Hew
RuneScape Developer

Summary:
Where to start the Fremennik Province Achievement Diary

Speak to the council workman on the bridge south of Rellekka, Yrsa in Rellekka or Advisor Ghrim on Miscellania

9th December 2008 - New Hairstyles

Is your hair falling a bit flat? Tired of the same old wild spikes? Well, why don’t you try our new hairstyles?

That’s right: we have 24 new hairstyles to spice up your character with. Head on over to the Hairdresser in Falador and try out some new styles – a few of them are inspired by Ak-Haranu, the strange warrior on the docks of Port Phasmatys.

Because the Hairdresser wants to make sure you get the best deal, all haircuts are free. Nothing is holding you back from trying something new! You can find the Hairdresser north-west of the White Knights’ Castle.

Mod Nancy
RuneScape Developer

Summary:

* 12 new female hairstyles
* 8 new male hairstyles
* 4 new male facial styles
* Free haircuts from the Hairdresser in Falador

1st December 2008 - Behind the Scenes – December

Achievement diary antics, elegant accents, delving into dungeons, and dashing hairdos are due during December. But what’s all that mean?

In our first update of the month, you’ll be asked to return to Falador, where the fourth Achievement Diary will be waiting for you. With Falador being such a familiar area, you can be sure that some tasks will be straightforward, but there are challenges, too. Are you capable of slaying a skeletal wyvern? Have you encountered the vast mole beneath Wyson’s flowers? Rewards will include brand new white lily seeds and a shiny new emote.

Once you’ve done that little lot, your next step will be a watery one, as you cross the Fremennik Province and the islands beyond for their Achievement Diary. No doubt Baba Yaga and her Lunar friends will have several tasks for the higher levels, but pet rocks, seaweed and Slayer caves await those slightly less familiar with the Fremennik ways. Rewards will include enhanced resource collection for your Etceterian workers, improved lyres, and a potential 20k experience reward lamp.

As we mentioned in the news post towards the end of last month, we will be making further changes to the reward items associated with Stealing Creation. We will make the rewards far more appealing and easier to use; actually doubling the experience you earn from any of the activities you use your reward objects for, including the combat ones! If you need more information about the changes to Stealing Creation, please read this news post.

Since our graphical update earlier in the year, we’ve been playing around with a variety of new haircuts for the game. We’ve now gathered around 20 new styles and will be releasing them during December to the free and members’ games. These new hairdos include some rather interesting styles inspired by Ak–Haranu, a visitor from the unexplored eastern realms. Perhaps next year will unearth more fashions from these interesting folk? Only time will tell...

You might stumble across some new words if you’re planning to try out any of the French Servers, planned for launch in December. Completely translated into French, we hope that many of you will be finding a new home here, or even just popping in to see what everything’s like en français.

Finally this month, we will be opening the gates to festive cheer and wintry celebrations with this year’s Christmas update. Much like this year’s Hallowe’en, we’ve decided to release a quest at the same time as our Christmas event, which means that the free game will have access to that quest over the Christmas period.

During the event, you’ll be asked to track down Jack Frost, the misunderstood son of the Queen of Snow. Apparently, he loves icing things up and has been known to freeze even the warmest of Christmases. Of course, many of you will know all about what we have planned after voting in the Guaranteed Content Christmas poll we ran earlier this year, so expect Santa suits and even a chilly new necklace to show off with.

For the quest, Explorer Jack will have a tale – a tale of fearsome creatures and bountiful riches. Sadly, the best of his adventuring days are behind him, so he’ll need one of those adventuring sorts to stride out bravely into the icy wastelands. I wonder if he’ll be able to find one? In this quest, it won’t be your equipment that helps you trek through the caves, but a keen eye to work out the fiendishly cavernous puzzles. Higher levelled players will find extra rewards hidden within those puzzles, so be prepared.

Updates after December

Mobilising Armies
We’ve reported before that we planned to release Mobilising Armies, our new tactical minigame, in December. We’ve found that although we could release it, we really want to take our time to make this the best update we can, so we made the difficult choice to hold onto it until next year. We’ve never ever tried to release a game like this before, and we want to make sure we get it right. So, you’ll have to wait a little longer for your gnomic glider bombers, pigeon messengers, dragons’ hoards and catapult attacks.

Have fun!

Mod Mark
Lead Designer – RuneScape

26th November 2008 - While Guthix Sleeps

Movario licked his dry, cracked lips, not taking his eyes off the ancient book in front of him. His hand, acting almost like a separate entity, scratched spidery notes onto parchment. He knew who V was, but the references to the stone intrigued him. Fragmentary thoughts were gathering, forming up together into something important – but something was missing, some key detail. With trembling fingers he turned the yellowed page.

“The stone was clearly not of this world...”

A triumphant scratch of Movario's quill tore through the parchment. That was it! After all this time his research was finally bearing fruit!

The antiquated surroundings of the temple afforded little warmth, and the only luxury was the lone, guttering candle by which he read. The chill still reached inside, but it did not register for Movario as his unyielding research ground on through the days.

Mod Tytn
Lead Developer – RuneScape

Summary:
Where to start While Guthix Sleeps
Speak to Radimus Erkle at the Legends’ Guild

Requirements to start While Guthix Sleeps

Level 23 Summoning
Level 55 Hunter
Level 60 Thieving
Level 65 Defence
Level 65 Farming
Level 65 Herblore
Level 75 Magic

Defender of Varrock
Dream Mentor
Hand in the Sand
King’s Ransom
Legends’ Quest
Mourning’s Ends Part II (The Temple of Light)
Path of Glouphrie
Recipe for Disaster
Summer’s End
Swan Song
Tears of Guthix
Zogre Flesh Eaters

Be eligible for entry to the Warriors’ Guild
Have defeated Bork in the Chaos Tunnels
270 Quest Points (yes, that’s all of the points currently available!)*

* The quests listed will always be required to start While Guthix Sleeps, but future content will increase the number of quest points available, so we've listed the required quests for the benefit of those players who can't start it just yet.

In other news...

The Quick Chat menu wasn’t showing some of the minigames available to play when trying to organise a group. This issue has been resolved.

You will now find that entering the chaos portal in the Dagon'Hai caves works with an omni-talisman. The omni-staff and -tiara were fine, but this one was missed and has now been added accordingly.

The abyssal parasite familiar will now prevent your Prayer from being drained when teleporting into the abyss, exactly as it's supposed to.

Free players who had started the recent Hallowe’en quest, Swept Away, but managed to misplace their broom couldn’t chat to Maggie to get another. Rest assured, Wendy is now ready to send you to Maggie who will replace your broom should you lose it again.

26th November 2008 - Thanksgiving 2008 Event

Gobble, gobble, gobble; it’s a turkey invasion! For the first time ever, turkeys are seeking refuge in RuneScape to escape their holiday blues. They may have overestimated their safety here, though. From this Thanksgiving until Monday, we give you the opportunity to get your own turkey dinner: through combat or your keen turkey-spotting skills.

Attackable turkeys are roaming around near the major cities of RuneScape on both members’ and free worlds. Kill one and you’ll get some tasty turkey meat, but you may also be lucky enough to unlock a new Thanksgiving emote.

If killing isn’t your style, there are other turkeys lurking around in clever disguises. Find one and you’ll get a clue to the location of another. If you get a bit stuck looking for the turkeys, speak to the Cook’s brother in Lumbridge Castle and he’ll give you a book to help you keep track. Find all ten and you’ll unlock the new Thanksgiving emote.

To sweeten the deal, we’ve added a new object to the game: the cornucopia. Being a ‘horn of plenty’, the cornucopia is useful for storing food and taking up fewer inventory spaces. You can store up to 14 Hitpoints’ worth of food inside, and one click will replenish your health by the amount you’ve stored. While the turkeys are visiting RuneScape, they’ll be readily available, but after the holiday you’ll have to look a bit harder for them when you kill certain birds.

This update will only last 'til Monday (GMT), so enjoy it while you can!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Mod Nancy
RuneScape Developer

Summary:

* Thanksgiving update will only last until Monday (GMT)
* Fight turkeys near Falador, Lumbridge and Varrock
* Find 10 turkeys in disguises around the free-to-play world
* Unlock a new Thanksgiving emote
* The cornucopia stores food and heals up to 14 Hitpoints
* Cornucopia will be available after Thanksgiving as a drop from certain birds

25th November 2008 - Stealing Creation rewards system to change

We're working on a major change to the way in which the Stealing Creation rewards work, so we thought we'd let you know in advance what we're planning to do. The change will take place by the end of the year and will have the following effects:

*

We're aware that there was a bug in the first few days after release that let some players get a lot of points very quickly. This has since been fixed, but some players had already used it to get an unfair number of points. When we make the change, we will also bring everyone's points down to a reasonable level. A player will be able to have up to 10 tools, 10 pieces of combat equipment, and 200,000 stored points. Any more than this will be lost. So if you have more than this, now is the time to use them!
*

After the change, no Combat experience will be given inside the Stealing Creation minigame. Instead, the sacred clay combat equipment rewards will give experience in the same way that the tools do.
*

Both the tools and the combat equipment will give experience at a greater rate than at present. In fact, while you are using a sacred clay tool or piece of combat equipment, the experience you gain will be doubled! (The volatile tool will still give a little more on top of this.) On the other hand, the equipment will run out of charge a bit faster than it does now.
*

The reward items will not have a set number of times they can transform; instead, they will gradually lose charge as they give you experience. Up until they run out of charge, they can be changed freely. (The volatile tool works slightly differently; it will change by itself for every 10% of its total charge that is used, and if you change it deliberately it will lose some charge.)
*

The reward points you buy items with will work differently. At the end of a game, your personal score for that game will be converted into a reward score, and it will be this reward score that you use to buy items.

Mod John A
RuneScape Developer
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24th November 2008 - Buy RuneScape Membership as a Gift

As we’re rapidly approaching Thanksgiving and the holiday season, we wanted to remind you how easy it is to buy membership and also to let you know of a few payment methods that you might not be aware of.

If you’re thinking of buying membership either for yourself or as a present, we currently have 2 RuneScape-specific game time cards that you can purchase.

Firstly, we have RuneScape game-time cards that are sold in Target stores across the U.S., and we have two versions available, a one month subscription and a three month subscription.

For those players in Europe, look out for Wallie Cards, which can be bought in a host of stores, such as CostCutter (with a PayPoint logo), Esso, Total, Hema, Aral, bft and Westfalen. Wallie Cards can be used to purchase RuneScape membership and come in a number of different amounts.

We also have an Ultimate Game Card which can be bought in places such as Walmart, 7 Eleven, Rite Aid & Winn Dixie. These cards are available from our payment partner, PayByCash, and will have their stamp on the front.

Depending on where you live, you may also be able to pay by phone or by mobile! Make sure you check out the subscription pages to see if these simple payment options are available in your country. We’re planning to add more countries to the list soon.

If you're looking for some other RuneScape-themed gifts, keep an eye on the Jagex Store, which will have some new items available in time for Christmas.

21st November 2008 - Q&As, Charity Auctions, RuneScape calendar!

A few things to update you on this week – first of which is our Question and Answer session with Tom Church, author of the first ever RuneScape novel, Betrayal at Falador. Head to this forum thread now, to ask any question you like (while sticking to the forum rules, of course!), and in two week’s time we will post Tom’s responses to his favourites.

In other book-related news, we are currently auctioning ten signed novels (one per week) for charity. Each copy is numbered and signed by author TS Church, RuneScape creator Andrew Gower, cover-artist Giuseppe Grassi, Lead Game Designer Mark Ogilvie, and Jagex CEO Geoff Iddison.

All proceeds from this auction go directly to our chosen charity: The Internet Watch Foundation. The IWF aim to minimise the availability of potentially illegal internet content, so get involved and bid for your copy here. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has already been involved with the auction, and congratulations to the successful bidders so far! Please ensure that all bids are genuine – this is a charity listing, after all, and we want to raise as much money and awareness as possible for such a great cause.

Lastly, but certainly not least, we have just released the first official RuneScape calendar in the Jagex store! This 2009 calendar features some familiar faces from Gielinor, as well as some never-before-seen concept art. Get yours today by clicking here. Also, be sure to keep a keen eye on the Jagex Store over the next week or two, as we have some fantastic offers planned for the Christmas period. There might even be a dragon-themed item of clothing on the way...

19th November 2008 - FunOrb - Zombie Dawn Multiplayer

Halloween may well have been and gone, but our sister site, FunOrb, is keeping the horror theme alive with our latest release, Zombie Dawn Multiplayer: Fight of the Living Dead. Building on the popular single-player version, Zombie Dawn Multiplayer brings you 2- to 4-player shuffling action, as you try to capture and/or zombify more humans than your opponents and get them back to your research lab before the time runs out.

The more zombies you're able to get into your portal, the more Research Points you earn. These points are allocated to the power-ups and zombie traits that you can use on your zombies (of which there are LOTS to discover) allowing you to mould your zombie horde to your own style of play. You'll also find that if you're able to herd a few live humans into the portal, too, you'll get a lot more points.

The gameplay of the single-player version was always something we wanted to build on. With the multiplayer version, we've aimed to retain key elements of the original while building an evolutionary path that opens up more strategies the further you get into it. So, for example, dropping a hammer on an opponent's zombie can thwart their carefully laid plans. We hope you enjoy the many ways that this game allows you to cause mayhem! This brings FunOrb to a total of 34 games, 11 of which are multiplayer.

Mod Korpz
Head of FunOrb

11th November 2008 - Stealing Creation

A magical portal has appeared in the Wilderness, and a group of mystics has set up camp around it. The portal leads to the ‘Primordial Realm’, an unfinished world in which sacred clay, the building material of the gods, lies scattered around. The mystics are recruiting adventurers to go through the portal and retrieve the clay. To serve their purposes, however, they believe the clay must be tempered by bloodshed, so they will only send volunteers through in two teams that must compete against one another. No items can be taken through the portal, so the teams will have to make any equipment they need out of sacred clay when they arrive.

Nearly every RuneScape skill has a use in Stealing Creation, whether for extracting sacred clay from locations, making it into equipment, or thwarting the other team's efforts. Skill-focused players can concentrate on gathering or processing the clay, while those who prefer combat defend them or harass the other team. Whenever a player is killed, all the sacred clay items they are carrying will drop to the ground for the victor to pick up. Players can build barriers to defend key locations, summon new creatures made of sacred clay, and even pick one another's pockets.

The mystics will reward those who serve them well, so players can buy new combat and skill items that inherit the shape-changing properties of sacred clay.

Mod John A
RuneScape Content Developer

Summary
Where to start Stealing Creation:
Speak to one of the mystics in their camp just south of the Bounty Hunter volcano

Requirements:
None

In other news...

The Hallowe’en Trick or Treat event has been removed. The Swept Away quest will remain in-game as a piece of members' content. To start the quest, you’ll need to speak to Maggie, who has moved her caravan to a spot just west of the Legends' Guild.

It seems the bracelet of regeneration was not only boosting the rate at which you regain Hitpoints but also the rate at which Hitpoints returned to normal after using potions with boosting effects. This has been fixed so the temporary boost always wears off at an ordinary rate.

We've fixed a bug that may have caused the in-game world map to not load every time.

The Fishing Trawler is for Fishing, so we have prevented players from leeching experience while undertaking other activities such as Fletching or enchanting items. This isn't fair to the legitimate players, and now the Trawler might not sink quite as often.

Several hats were still causing baldness, these have been rectified so you should retain your hairstyles. There were also numerous other graphical tweaks regarding clipping and render priority issues such as spiky hair appearing through hats.

And last but not least, some of you may have found that a lazy purple cat from the Hallowe'en event wouldn't change into a wily cat after exercise. This has been adjusted so your cat can become healthier again.

3rd November 2008 - Behind the Scenes - November

We've written a lot about combat-orientated multiplayer content in RuneScape recently. This mostly focused on the way that it had been relegated to the sidelines, until the introduction of PvP worlds invited it back into the heart of the game. There's one aspect, however, that we haven't mentioned: its relationship with skill-orientated multiplayer content.

We felt that producing a piece of content, which would appeal both to those players who prefer combat and those who prefer non-combat skills, was a major challenge for us. So, we put our thinking caps on and the result is this month’s headline update: 'Stealing Creation'. Stealing Creation will be a new 'safe' minigame, where teams of players work together to control resources across the game area. This area will change each time the game is played, so you will need to keep your tactics varied.

The game will focus on collecting 'sacred clay', thought to be the building blocks used by gods to create worlds. You'll enter the minigame with nothing, which means you'll need to use your skills to gather resources and make the equipment you need to dominate the game. For those of you who are just as happy making swords as you are using them, it will offer lots of choice as to the kind of experience you want to have playing the game. But what of the pure skillers? Can you create equipment for your battling buddies while they defend your back? Can those doing the fighting rely on someone else to make them powerful? With the added ability to fight as a clan, battles can be organised for very specific groups of players. So, if you want to gather with your clan buddies to take on your enemies, you will be able to.

Speaking of enemies, Zamorak was once mortal like the rest of us, but through clever manipulation and some devious planning he became revered as a god in Gielinor. The god wars that followed brought about great destruction and change – it would be impossible to do that now, wouldn’t it? What does it take for something like that to happen? Gathering some of the most important artefacts and keenest minds to research them would be a good start...but that is bound to attract attention, isn’t it?

That’s where our November quest will join things. Specialists and concerned dignitaries will be gathered to discuss the whereabouts of the Staff of Armadyl, an ancient and powerful artefact from RuneScape’s distant past. All they will need is a willing adventurer to conduct the more interesting parts of the...investigation. Will this link to the mysterious dragonkin symbols found recently, or the rumours of the dragon forge? While Guthix sleeps through the centuries, treachery is afoot, and terrible dangers appear on the horizon. In our first Grandmaster quest ever, with the longest, deepest storyline we have ever attempted, it will take an expert adventurer to find out.

Finally, after that huge update will come something much, much smaller! For a few days over the last weekend of November, you’ll notice Thanksgiving turkeys wandering around the map, gobbling and generally minding their own business. Hunt them down for some tasty drumsticks or find the turkeys in disguise for a special reward. Look out for more short celebration updates like this in the future.

Updates after November

The Phoenix
Some months ago, we asked you to vote on the next Summoning familiar, and you chose the phoenix. There were some great discussions on the forums taking the idea far beyond what we had originally imagined, so we decided to expand the idea out to another 'Distraction and Diversion' similar to the Shooting Star update or Bork from the Chaos Tunnels. You’ll find this update (planned for early next year) features not only a new Summoning creature and a repeatable activity, but also a quest!

Mobilising Armies
With any tactical game you need to spend a long time fine-tuning its different aspects to try to make it as fair, balanced and fun as possible. Mobilising Armies, our headline update for December, is no different and we have been working hard to tweak the key scenarios for this: Conflict, Siege, Hoard and Rescue. We'll have more on this update in next month's Behind the Scenes but in the meantime we have another screenshot for you.

Mod Mark
Lead Designer – RuneScape

30th October 2008 - Postbag from the Hedge

Dressing up as beasts and monsters is so last year; this Hallowe’en, the beasts are dressing up and acting like humans! If you don’t believe us, read this month’s Postbag from the Hedge, where cockroaches are invading, frogs are talking, penguins are thieving, and fish are lecturing us about the meaning of life.

While the world seems to be turning on its head, it is somehow comforting to know that the Grim Reaper is up to his usual tricks. Read the postbag to find out what those tricks are, and why the Temple Knights are getting more than a little interested in his activities.

30th October 2008 - Players' Gallery

Hallowe’en is here, and it has crept into this month’s Players’ Gallery. Expect grim pictures of everyone’s favourite reaper, a lovingly carved pumpkin, a rather imposing demon and various other tricks and treats.

Keep sending in your artistic masterpieces; Postie is on the look-out for fantastic festive fancies for Christmas.

28th October 2008 - Halloween Event and Quest

Maggie, a travelling witch, has come to southern Asgarnia for the holiday festivities, but she's in a bit of a spot. She needs an enchanted broom to finish her potion but her ox has a cold and can't be left alone. In Swept Away, you'll need to visit several nearby witches on Maggie's behalf – and solve a few puzzles along the way.

While you're in the neighbourhood, why not try out the Holiday Event: a bit of trick-or-treating in Draynor, Rimmington and Port Sarim. The towns are decked out in holiday décor and the villagers have treats to distribute to those wearing a suitable costume. If you're interested in some holiday garb, have a chat with Maggie: she's on the look-out for someone who can do a bit of trick-or-treating on her behalf.

Swept Away can be started by talking to Maggie, who is located west of the Legends' Guild. The quest will be available to all players for two weeks; after this time, free players can complete the quest by speaking to Wendy, north of Rimmington. The Hallowe'en decorations and trick-or-treating will only be available during the same holiday period. Any treats remaining in your bank or inventory after this time will disappear after Hallowe'en.

Mod Ingrid
RuneScape Content Developer

Summary
Where to start the Hallowe'en Event or Swept Away:
Speak to Maggie, west of the Legends' Guild

Requirements:
None

In other news...

A large number of sound effects and changes to sound effects have been added, especially to capes and the skillcape emotes.

Human animations have been extensively modified to stop players appearing to glide around. You should also notice less 'clipping' with items like capes and armour when performing various actions or using emotes.

When you're dismissing a familiar, you can now right-click on the 'Dismiss' button. This will let you skip the confirmation screen, making it easier to dismiss the familiar during combat.

Fairy rings now have a larger clickable area. Previously, it was quite small and potentially difficult to click on, so we've enlarged it to make your journeys quicker.

Adding items to fill up compost bins should now be considerably easier. When you've used one item on the bin, your character will automatically attempt to put any further items of that type into the bin, saving you a bit of clicking.

Metarialus and Blandebir (the brewing chaps in Port Phasmatys and Keldagrim) will now offer to fill all your pots with yeast at once rather than making you go through their conversation for each pot. Using one beer glass on a barrel of freshly brewed beer will also make your character attempt to fill all their beer glasses without any additional clicking, and there's a newly installed water source in the brewery at Port Phasmatys.

Bounty Hunter Combat levels have been updated to reflect recent Combat level changes. The crater entrance requirements are now: 3-55, 50-100 and 95+ (all without Summoning).

Dragon dagger p++ should now be easier to find on the Grand Exchange. We've also taken the opportunity to change some adamant items to use "addy" at the start. This is only for the super poisoned items, namely arrows, daggers and spears.

QuickChat has now been given a predictive search feature to allow you to find the phrases you want more effectively.

A distant rumble has recently been heard just north of Baxtorian Waterfall...

15th October 2008 - Improvements to the game log-in process

Today we’ve streamlined the way you get into the game. The aim is to help you get playing more quickly with fewer pages to go through every time. To start the game, simply click one of the two new buttons on the front page (depending on whether you’re a free player or a member). You will then be taken straight into the game. Once the game has loaded, you will be able to (optionally) choose both your world and detail level directly from the title screen.

More details on the changes made:

* World selection has now been moved entirely in game, so there is one less page to go through to start the game and you can get playing faster.

* We’ve had a world switcher in-game for a while, but since it is now the main way of choosing your world, it was time for an upgrade. The in-game world switcher now shows lots of extra information, including suggested activities for various worlds.

This is the new-look log-in screen with World Select and Detail Select highlighted.

* Automatic world selection. Just press 'Log in' on the title screen, and the game will automatically choose a suitable world for you. If you want to play on a specific world, just choose it from the world switcher first, and then press 'Log in'.

* Favourite worlds. The in-game world switcher now lets you select up to 2 worlds as your favourites. For example, you could set one favourite as your non-PvP homeworld and one as your PvP battle world. Once you have set up your favourite worlds from the world switcher, you will see extra buttons for them directly on the title screen, you can then click on those buttons to go straight to your favourite world.

* Members see less adverts. Because of the above changes, we’ve been able to remove adverts for members playing on free worlds as long as you use the 'Members' button on the front page to log-in – we hope you enjoy the change!

* The detail selection option has also been moved into the game. Again, this means there is one less page to go through to start the game, and gets you playing faster. This also means that you can now switch modes more easily without having to reload the game. The game will remember your last selection, so you no longer have to keep making the same choice over and over again.

* The 'safe mode' feature is now automatic. If your game fails to load for any reason, it will detect the failure the next time you load it, and automatically activate safe mode. If you want to force safe mode, then you can still do so by pressing the 's' key on your keyboard while the game is loading. Safe mode has also now been adjusted to only make the minimum changes needed to get the title screen to load: if you want to change any other options you should do so yourself from the 'Graphics Options' menu on the title screen before logging in. Your choices will then be remembered for next time.

* Unsigned mode is automatic. We’ve removed the ‘unsigned’ option from the Java options menu. Don’t worry, you can still access the unsigned applet if you need to. We’ve made the selection process for it automatic. If the game cannot load in signed mode (either because you didn’t grant it permission, or your security settings do not allow you to grant it permission) it will fall back to the unsigned version, you don’t need to do anything for this to happen.

Mod Chris E
Game Engine Developer

15th October 2008 - PvP Worlds

PvP worlds have arrived! Are you ready to pit your combat skills against other players in the halls of the White Knights’ Castle? Are you prepared to fight to the death in the fields of Lumbridge? Well, now is your chance.

To get started, load up the game like normal (click here to read about the changes to the log-in system we've also released today), and then choose 'World Select' on the title screen. Then pick a world which has a tick in the 'skull' column to choose a PvP world. To avoid nasty accidents, if you let the game choose a world for you automatically it will never select a PvP world. Also note that you require a Combat level of at least 20 (not including Summoning) to get into a PvP world.

Before you are logged in, you will be warned that you are entering a PvP world which is a dangerous place: you will lose your items on death and you will not get a gravestone. Upon entering the world for the first time, you’ll be teleported to Lumbridge and given a manual to explain the finer points of PvP worlds.

Here’s a quick run-down of the features:

* Fight players (within your level range) anywhere on the map, except in a few safe areas.
* Safe areas include banks, respawn points and some guilds.
* Level ranges are 10% of your Combat level, plus 5 levels. If you are fighting inside the Wilderness, the Wilderness level is added to this total. Your current attack range is shown on your screen at all times. (The 10% is measured from the higher of the two combatants’ levels.)
* Skulling is back – same rules apply. If you initiate combat, you are skulled and on death you will lose all items, with the Protect Item prayer saving one item as normal.
* Teleport Block is back in the normal spellbook.
* Some minigames are available to play, others are not – please see the Game Guide for more details.
* Death drops are back – new rules apply. Drops will be a mixture of items from the defeated opponent’s inventory and items from drop tables specific to PvP worlds. See below for details.

The quality of the drops you get when you PK someone depends on several different factors:

* To get a reward from a kill, you also have to risk some items yourself!
* To accumulate a possible reward, you have to risk a minimum of 75k of items on a members’ world, or a minimum of 25k of items on a free world.
* Note that your three most valuable items won’t count as being risked unless you’ve been skulled, as you wouldn’t lose them.
* The longer you spend on a PvP world (outside a safe area) with the required amount of items at risk, the better your possible rewards might become, to reward you for your risk.
* The possible reward increases even faster and goes to a higher maximum if you go into a ‘hot zone’.
* Note, however, that risking more than the minimum won’t improve your rewards faster, so it’s a good idea to take relatively cheap and useful items that won’t cost you too much to replace if you die.

When you get a successful kill, the exact reward you can claim depends on a number of other factors, including the level difference between you and the value of the items lost by the dying player. Any unclaimed loot is saved for the next kills, so you don't have to worry about it being lost if you kill a low level player.

Don't despair if you are dying a lot and losing a lot of items. The game will detect this and improve your chance of getting decent rewards when you do eventually get a good kill.

The above is a simplified description of how it all works. To prevent cheating there are various other factors taken into account. We've calculated the rewards and rates very carefully, so that a successful PKer should be able to get a good income, and PKers who get lucky might find themselves with a good drop. Higher level players may also get higher rewards to reflect their increased earning ability when not PKing, such that PKing is still worthwhile for them. The aim is to make PKing a fun alternative (albeit very high risk) way of earning money in the game.

Included in the PvP-specific drop tables is a wide range of new combat equipment and XP-boosting gloves. Members will get access to level 78 items for all three corners of the combat triangle, including armour as well as weapons, and a new set of Ancient Magick spells. Non-members will get access to corrupt dragon equipment. To find out more about these items, please visit the Game Guide.

Have fun PKing!

Mod Benny
RuneScape Content Developer

In other news...

We've changed the way your Combat level is calculated, so that PKers aren't discouraged from levelling Summoning. It seemed a bit unfair that Summoning increased your Combat level everywhere but couldn't actually be used everywhere. Therefore, your Summoning is now only counted into your Combat level if you have recently summoned a creature or held a Summoning pouch. When you log in, you will see that your Combat level has been split into two numbers (e.g. '75+6'). The first number is your base Combat level, and the second is the potential extra available from Summoning. If you're holding a Summoning pouch or have a familiar, this potential will be added on taking you to your full level.

For example, if you are level 55, this might be shown as follows:

* Without a familiar, a Summoning pouch, or having dropped a pouch recently: level 50+5
* With a familiar, a Summoning pouch, or having dropped a pouch recently: level 55

Players in the same clan chat channel will now appear as purple dots on the minimap. This is the second highest priority after friends (green) and before other players wearing the same team capes (blue). Note: Being in the same clan won't remove the default attack option in the same fashion as a team cape!

Bogrog has expanded his enterprises even further and will now convert your spare Summoning spell scrolls to shards in a similar way to his already popular pouches to shards service.

The beacons scattered throughout the wilderness will now remember how many logs you've stored at each even after an emergency has arisen (quite literally).

The reward gloves from Fist of Guthix can now be used to pick nettles without injury. Also the Fishing gloves will now give the bonus experience for swordfish in Piscatoris.

Don't get your feathered headdresses all ruffled. You can now craft these useful bits of headwear using the Assist System in addition to the traditional way.

The Corporeal beast has become wise to your tricks and has gained a stomp attack that hurts players standing underneath him. Watch out!,

13th October 2008 - RuneScape Pre-pay Card Launched

We have just launched a new RuneScape subscription pre-pay card in Target stores throughout the US. The card features exclusive art on the front and comes in two versions: 30 days' subscription and 90 days' subscription.

Once purchased, you can then use the PIN number on the back of these cards to subscribe to RuneScape. You can do this by clicking on ‘Account’ in the website’s navigation, choosing ‘Start/Extend Subscription’, logging in, selecting ‘Subscribe by RuneScape Card’ as your payment method and then accepting the terms and conditions.

1 October 2008 - Behind the Scenes - October

October is traditionally a month of scary surprises and toothache. This month will be no different when it comes to our Hallowe’en content, with a quest AND holiday event both to be available on the free servers. For scary surprises: how about entire worlds where you can PK and hunt other players to your heart’s content? That’s right, PvP worlds are coming! But first, a few words about how we’re going to update RuneScape in the future.

During the last six months we’ve been reading through the forums, talking to you in-game and running polls on the sorts of updates you really want. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that it’s the bigger, chunkier updates that really get you excited, those like the God Wars Dungeon or a new skill. These are the sorts of updates we found that you wanted to play. Updates that you want to go back to time and time again.

So, starting from this month, we’re changing the way we release content. From now on you’ll see one massive “headline update” (such as a Recipe for Disaster or a Castle Wars) every month. On top of that, there will still be a secondary release, much more like the size of update you’re used to right now. We’re also still committed to making sure that no two weeks pass without something new.

Basically, from now on our releases will be like this:

* Four week months will have two updates: one big headline release and a secondary one.
* Five week months will have three updates: one big headline release and two secondary ones.

So, on to this month’s updates...

PvP Worlds

Ever found yourself wanting to say, “Look, it’s my tree. If you don’t stop chopping it...I’ll chop you!” Sounds cool, right? Yeah, but where could you do it? And when? The answers are PvP worlds and October!

From log-in, those that are interested in PvP content will be able to join in on special PvP worlds. The danger on these worlds will be very clear from the first messages you see, ensuring that players never log onto these worlds by mistake. After all, we don’t want players accidentally getting involved with PKing (player killing) if they don’t want to. Normal, non-PvP worlds will still act just as they do now, so don’t worry if bashing others isn’t really your thing.

Those that want to get involved will find a number of differences to the usual set-up on PvP worlds. Firstly, you’ll be able to fight people pretty much anywhere, so long as their Combat level is similar to yours (within a certain range of levels). This means that almost everywhere is dangerous. Some places, like banks and respawn points, will be deemed “safe” and no combat will be able to occur there, and some of the minigames will be disabled (you won’t be able to PK team mates while playing Castle Wars, for example) but many will still be active. Other places, like Falador, Varrock and the entirety of the Wilderness, will be considered “hot spots” where the danger will be even greater and a higher concentration of opponents.

Now, onto the money side of things. Many of you will be aware of the RWT (real-world trading of RuneScape gold for money) reasons we changed the old Wilderness. We certainly can’t just bring that threat back to RuneScape, so we have devised a system that rewards players based on a variety of factors. This means that things such as risk, level of foe and location will help to calculate rewards. Drops will be determined by a combination of drop tables and some of the gear that your opponent drops. We will go into more depth about this on the day of release.

Hallowe'en

As well as changing things around with the headline updates, we also decided to change the way we do things with our holiday events. We wanted to make the most of the little bits of fun we have every year, and give the free-to-play game a taste of the content we release in the members’ world. This year, we will be releasing a Hallowe’en-themed quest as well as the traditional holiday event. This quest will be available to our free players for the two weeks around Hallowe’en, along with the holiday event itself, and members will be able to play the quest at any time (the normal holiday event will disappear after two weeks as usual). What’s it about? Well, you’ll have to wait and see, but expect some funky decorations to start appearing.

Spooky player letters and artwork will also await those strong of stomach...so be prepared.

Updates being released after October

In case that little lot isn’t enough for you, let’s take a few moments to talk about the headline content we’re releasing in the months after October:

Stealing Creation

Not long to wait now for this crazy combination for skillers and PKers. Can you and your team work together capturing resources and equipping your warriors? Will you avoid the multitude of threats bearing down on your safe haven? Will you try to make your own way to the higher level gear, or will you just PK and destroy your opponents’ hard work? Will you be able to keep the enemy at bay while stealing creation?

Mobilising Armies

Ever fancied assaulting a castle with your very own army? You will be able to hire a mercenary force to battle against three other players, complete set objectives and earn rewards. Mobilising Armies will be a fast paced tactical minigame allowing you to control your very own RuneScape army with troops made up of humans and other races. There will also be some special effects including dive bombing gnomes and giant catapults. Will you be up to the challenge?

Have fun!

30 September 2008 - Trade margin increase

From today we have doubled (in some cases tripled) the flexibility of the player trade system. All players will notice an increase in the amount they can trade with other players.

This means accounts with fewer than 10 quest points will be able to earn or lose up to 5,000 coins in wealth every 15 minutes from trading, free players will be able to earn a maximum of 10,000 coins every 15 minutes by completing the free quests and members will have access to a maximum of 60,000 coins per 15 minutes if they have 270 quest points. Your trade margin will increase with each quest point after 10 - for example, at 100 quest points you'll have a margin of 24,038 coins, and at 200 quest points you'll have a margin of 45,192 coins.

This was added to the game because we wanted to offer our players more flexibility when trading or helping friends out, without increasing the threat of real-world trading.

Mod Mark
Lead Designer - RuneScape

Note: Currently there are only 269 quest points available in the game, so no player will be able to reach the 60,000 coin margin until our next quest update, scheduled for a few weeks' time. The trade margin does scale up to that, though, so players a few quest points short of 270 will have a trade margin only slightly below it.

In other news...

We'd like to remind players that dangerous Clan Wars matches (including the dangerous free-for-all arena) now allow you to pick up some of your opponents' items to replenish your supplies - food, potions, runes and other ammunition - and that there are now NO gravestones in these arenas. This means that you will be unable to recover any items you drop, so only take items you don't mind risking.

30 September 2008 - Evil Dave's Evil Postbag

Once more Evil Dave has left his mark on the Postbag, and has even sent us his favourite PORTRAIT OF TERRIFYING ARTISTRY.

If you've ever wondered about where he plots and schemes, wait no longer! In addition, he brings you a poem from a banker, a message from the KGP and several illuminating explanations from Juna.

Click here to witness Evil Dave's LETTERS OF EXTRAORDINARY WICKEDNESS.

29 September 2008 - Defender of Varrock

Captain Rovin is eager to recruit a bold adventurer for a scouting mission to the Wilderness. There's talk among the Varrock Guard of suspicious zombie behaviour and sightings of well-armoured zombies standing in organised formations. This isn't normal behaviour for zombies - they're much more likely to wander around aimlessly when left to their own devices. Could someone be controlling them?

There are tales of evil beings leading zombie armies in the past, and when they have, the city of Varrock has come under great peril, only standing firm through the brave resolve of the people and heroes of the city. This could become much more than a simple scouting mission.

"It’s a long time since I’ve written a quest and I’ve been working on this for a while now, so I’m excited about this update.

"I’ve created lots of back-story about RuneScape over the years so it’s good to have the opportunity to reveal more of it through my own quests. You may have noticed that the Legend of Arrav has some loose ends and I felt it was time to address those. I’ve tried hard to create a quest with some interesting puzzles and an exciting storyline. I hope you enjoy it."

Paul, RuneScape Content Developer

Summary
Where to start the Defender of Varrock quest:

Talk to Captain Rovin in the north-west tower of Varrock Palace.
Requirements to complete the Defender of Varrock quest:

Level 51 Agility
Level 51 Hunter
Level 54 Smithing
Level 59 Mining
Shield of Arrav
The Knight's Sword
Romeo and Juliet
Demon Slayer
Temple of Ikov
The Family Crest
What Lies Below
Garden of Tranquillity
Able to fight multiple level 85 enemies
Claim Varrock Museum kudos for completing Shield of Arrav
Willing to brave the dangers of revenants in the Wilderness

Reading the Legend of Arrav in the Lores and Histories will give you a better appreciation of the storyline of the quest.

In Other News:

We’ve made some changes to dangerous Clan Wars fights. In such matches, you may be able to collect some of your defeated foes' items to replenish your supplies - food, potions, runes and other ammunition - assuming you can use them in the current battle (so you can't pick up food if the use of food has been disabled, for instance). Any such drops will affect both your and your victim's trade limit. Please note that due to this change, you will no longer leave a gravestone in Clan Wars so any other items will be lost.

We’ve expanded the range of items that you can lend to other players. These include a small amount of newer Treasure Trail items as well as some old ones, dragon spears and most rune and granite armor and weapons. To see if the item you want is lendable, check the Game Guide for more information.

The bone grinder on the top floor of the Ectofuntus temple now works in a similar fashion to the ‘Grind-x’ mechanic. Making bonemeal should now be a little easier and stop you grinding your fingers to the bone!

The bracelet of regeneration has been given some combat stats to make it more attractive to use as an item. While this makes it more expensive, the bonuses should now make this a rather good choice for some types of combat.

18 September 2008 - Wallpaper - Combat Triangle

The dwarves of Keldagrim don't only study bricks and mortar; they have been known to study combat too. This week's wallpaper shows an early attempt to understand the combat triangle.

Click here to access this great wallpaper and save it to your desktop.

18 September 2008 - Players' Gallery

The Players' Gallery returns and Postie Pete's in an eclectic mood. This time he's gone for a mix of different styles: from hand-drawn portraits to cubist landscapes.

Don't forget: with Hallowe'en coming up, we're looking for spooky pictures, so get them in soon if you want them included in the next Players' Gallery.

15 September 2008 - Summer's End

Those who have completed Spirit of Summer will know that their work is half done. The Spirit Beast has begun to tear through the fabric of reality and threatens to lay waste to RuneScape. Summer and her family can't stop it alone, so you're needed to confront this powerful enemy.

Brave warriors who are courageous (or foolhardy) enough to take on such a challenge will be required to venture once more into the Wilderness, crossing into the Spirit Beast's realm. Here, you'll be the main thrust of a devastating attack on the beast. If you hope to survive, you'll need the Amulet of Ghostspeak, help from the spirit family, and plenty of food and run energy...

Summary
Where to start the Summer's End quest:

Talk to Summer in the farm ruins, north-west of the Clan Wars challenge hall.
Requirements to complete the Summer's End quest:

Level 23 Summoning
Level 23 Woodcutting
Level 35 Hunter
Level 45 Mining
Level 47 Firemaking
Level 55 Prayer
Spirit of Summer
The ability to evade the blows of a level 700+ beast
A fairly high Hitpoints level and a higher Woodcutting level are an advantage
Access to:

Some interesting new equipment

In Other News:

The skillcape issue (where they appeared slightly off-white) took a little longer than usual to fix, as we found clipping and stretching issues in the QA testing process. Your skillcapes should now be cleaned and back to their original colours.

There is now a button below the World Map key that helps you to organise the key and how it is ordered. You can now toggle between the following options:

* Traditional: this is the current, unsorted list of key icons.
* Alphabetical: A-Z for finding what you're after easily.
* Categorised: splits the key up into the following subcategories
o 'Game Features' such as quest icons or minigames.
o 'Shops/Trading' where you can buy or sell goods.
o 'Facilities' useful to help you with your adventures or training.
o 'Resources' such as tree locations or mining sites.

12 September 2008 - FunOrb News

It's not often that we bring you news about FunOrb, but we think a number of games really warrant your attention. Each of these are free to play and only a few clicks away.

The first game we'd like to tell you about was only released a few days ago: Pool. Like many of the recent FunOrb releases, Pool's focus is on the multiplayer and, even though it's only three days old, it's already attracted a large community of pool players. A number of game types are available, including nine-ball and eight-ball variants, all played out on a wide selection of outlandish pool tables. There's also a single-player Time Attack mode for those that want to practise their skills.

Our second game is proving to be the most popular FunOrb title since Arcanists, so we reckon fantasy-loving RuneScapers will really enjoy it. Dungeon Assault casts you in the role of a dragon with two simple aims: to protect your hoard by constructing an elaborate dungeon, and to send raiders out to steal from other dragons. You can fill your dungeon with legions of beasts, hidden traps and guardians, making it incredibly difficult for your opponents to get to your gold. Once your stash is safe, recruit some raiders and take on players' dungeons to steal their gold.

Fans of tower defence-style games may also be impressed by Orb Defence. This takes the basics of the genre and turns the dial up to 11, bringing wave after wave of relentless enemies, a kaleidoscopic neon look, and hours of addictive gameplay.

Similarly pretty is Pixelate. It has a brand of gameplay that we have never encountered before, so we can only encourage you to get to grips with its reaction-testing puzzles and psychedelic style.

We couldn't part without mentioning the addition of global highscores to FunOrb, so your gaming feats can be recognised by the entire community. If you can get to the top on any FunOrb game, then you're a better gamer than any of us!

We plan to update you about FunOrb games in the future, but only if we think you'll really appreciate them. Indeed, a FunOrb game is planned that is based on the RuneScape universe, which might be right up your alley. Keep your eyes and ears peeled...

9 September 2008 - Clan Wars Update

The popular Wilderness minigame, Clan Wars, has received a colossal update this week.

When you next challenge a player to a clan war, you'll notice a range of new options that better suits your battling tastes; for example, you can choose whether players are able to return to the fray after dying, how long the battle may last, how many kills are required for a victory, and even what combat styles are permitted during the fight.

You might wish to force an end to a battle if either team is reduced to five survivors. This avoids chasing down over-energetic die-hards who just won't stand still. Oh, and if you prefer real penalties for failure, you can choose to make players lose all of their items on death.

Beyond that, there's a selection of arenas featuring a variety of different landscapes, so you'll have more choice about where you'd like to fight. Do you prefer obstacles that block Magic/Ranged attacks or obstacles that don't? Do you like empty spaces without any obstacles at all? The original Clan Wars arena will naturally remain available, although some areas of it have become single-way combat zones.

For the more adventurous fighter, Clan Wars offers a pair of vast, free-for-all arenas. Just wander in, alone or with friends, and prepare to fight against anyone you meet. There are no combat restrictions in those arenas, so you'll have free rein to make your own entertainment!

Calladin, the Clan Wars custodian, has something new to offer as well. He'll let you set a friend (or enemy!) as your caller. When you're in a Clan Wars arena, any chat you receive from that player will be copied to your head-up display, so it'll be easier to spot their messages in the chaos of a battle.

So, set your favourite options and prepare to fight, warrior!

In Other News:

Herblorists may be pleased to hear that Bob Barter, the expert on herb prices who stands by the Grand Exchange, is now offering a new service. If you ask him nicely, he'll look through your inventory and try to combine your 3-dose, 2-dose and 1-dose potions into vials containing 4 doses. He even knows how to handle barbarian potions and calquat kegs.

If you use a chisel on a large block of granite, you'll now be able to cut it into smaller blocks for use as Summoning ingredients.

A convenient right-click option has been added to the ghost disciples around the Ectofuntus, to help players collect their tokens even when they don't have the Amulet of Ghostspeak.

One of the skeletal wyverns was appearing as level 158 rather than level 140, even though it was really no tougher than the other level 140 wyverns. It's had its level adjusted to match the rest; this will not affect its difficulty in combat.

Eniola, the banker at the Ourania Altar, will henceforth expect payment from players wishing to use his services to collect purchased items from the Grand Exchange.

Our Graphics team has been busily fixing yet more bugs, including the following:

* The battle hood, obtained as a reward from Fist of Guthix, was appearing as green rather than purple in players' inventories. Its proper colour has now been restored.
* Following this year's graphical update, players were finding that their computers had trouble rendering certain map areas, resulting in low frame-rates. We've made some cosmetic changes to various bits of scenery to reduce this problem.
* When a female character wore Verac's helm, their head was appearing out of proportion to the rest of their body.
* The bug lantern, used for killing harpie bug swarms, tended to render badly alongside certain leggings.
* When combined with a highwayman mask, the cavalier hat was often appearing too high above the head of its wearer.
* Players wearing the new ringmaster hat were finding their chat bouncing strangely above their heads.
* The helmet obtained from the Drill Demon random event was causing players to lose their hair when they took it off.
* Crab shell gauntlets were causing players' wrists to change colour!
* If a player chose to wield an undead chicken during the Animal Magnetism quest - and who wouldn't wield such an item? - they'd sometimes find that the chicken appeared some distance from their actual hand.
* The Zamorak banner, made in the workshops of players' houses, was stretching into people's heads.
* The Bandos tassets were hanging down too much at the front, leading to graphical glitches.
* The Amulet of Catspeak was incorrectly positioned on female characters.
* Snakeskin vambraces were causing players' arms to move in unexpected ways.
* The Saradomin, Zamorak and Guthix coifs, obtained as Treasure Trail rewards, were suffering from a problem that frequently caused players' heads to become transparent.

5 September 2008 - Jagex Store: The New Batch

Two weeks ago, we introduced USB wireless mice, hoodies, t-shirts and other goodies to the Jagex Store. This week, we can add to their number with four items for use at school, work or home:

* USB flash drive
* Backpack
* Drawstring bag
* Pencil case

Visit the Jagex Store to start filling up your shopping basket! Also, keep your feedback and suggestions coming on the Jagex Store Feedback forum, as we plan to keep creating merchandise according to your ideas.

2 September 2008 - Distractions and Diversions

When levelling skills or trekking around RuneScape, you might want to keep an eye out for some unusual goings on. This is because the Distractions and Diversions (a new type of game feature in RuneScape) are cropping up randomly, offering you some interesting experiences. We think you'll enjoy being distracted by these new ways to train, as they can be fun and useful...

Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza:

The circus offers more than entertainment: it gives you the chance to be a star. Perform on the tightrope and show off your Agility, test your aim at the Ranged event, or blow things up in the Magic performance! Every week you'll get the chance to show your stuff and earn great rewards in the process.
How to enter the circus:

Speak to the Ticket Vendor, who moves randomly between twelve towns in RuneScape. Keep a note of where it is!

Requirements to play in the circus:

Members only
Access to:

Experience and costumes for your performances.

Penguin Hide and Seek:

What's black, white and covered in leaves? A penguin pretending to be a bush! It may sound crazy, but it's true. Ten penguins have gone incognito and infiltrated the lands of RuneScape. Your mission, should you choose to accept it (and who wouldn't?), is to track down these mischievous birds and report them to Larry in the Ardougne Zoo. He'll reward you handsomely with XP or gold coins; so, the more penguins you find, the greater your reward.

You'll need to keep your eyes peeled - the ten penguins will change location every seven days and have a tendency to wander about the place. Keep finding them to collect your reward.
Where to start Penguin Hide and Seek:

Speak to Larry in Ardougne Zoo
Then start searching RuneScape for the dastardly birds

Requirements to play Penguin Hide and Seek:

Members only
Access to:

Rewards every seven days: gold coins or XP!

Shooting Star:

Stars are falling from the sky, ripe with rewards! Mine the meteorite and you'll get up to 200 pieces of stardust. Manage to get to the middle of the star and you'll meet the star sprite, who will reward you according to the amount of stardust you have mined.

Watch out, though: there's a two hour gap between shooting stars, so you should take advantage of the stars when you see them. Get a better idea of when (and where) they'll fall by using your player-owned house telescope, but they'll still be hard to find. The stars are big and slow to mine through, so they're best mined by several people at once. Call on your friends to make your way to the middle with slightly more ease...
Where to find Shooting Star:

Stars can land all over the place! Use your player-owned house telescopes to narrow down the landing location of the next star.

Requirements to play Shooting Star:

Members only
Different layers require different Mining level requirements.
Outer layers are tougher to mine. Stars will start off at a random size.
Access to:

Rewards from the star sprite include runes, coins, gold ore and a temporary bonus to your Mining, which will give you more ore from the rocks that you mine.
Bonus Mining XP for the first person to discover a star.
You can be rewarded by a sprite up to once each day.

In other news...

Many items that are frequently purchased on the Grand Exchange have had their purchase limits increased so you can buy more of them at once. These include bows, poisoned darts, several dragonhide items, poh teleport tablets, pyre logs, bones, fruit and more!

Certain searches in the in-game world map, like "fishing guild", wouldn't yield any results. I'm sure you're all angling to hear that the Fishing Guild is still in the same plaice, so you should sea that this problem has been e-ray-sed!

Two worlds (60 and 61) have been designated as suggested 'Great Orb Project' worlds. While we've noticed a fair amount of activity on worlds such as 1, 2, 6 and 9, these are the main trading worlds and are often near capacity or full. Therefore, we have selected 60 and 61 so that you'll be able to log in straight away and join others who are playing this minigame.

1 September 2008 - Behind the Scenes - September

When you decide to train a skill, you may have one area in mind: a favourite patch of trees, perhaps, or a specific altar to craft your runes. Well, this month's first update, Distractions and Diversions, will threaten to turn that way of thinking on its head. You see, Distractions and Diversions will offer new ways of training your skills, but you'll rarely know when (or where) they'll turn up next...

Take Penguin Hide and Seek, for example. You may be walking around RuneScape, summoning yaks and thieving paladins, when something catches your eye. Is that a flash of beak in that nearby bush? Does that toadstool have flippers? You won't be going loopy - the penguins of the north are spying on us humans, and Larry will want you to spot them first. He'll be willing to pay well for a penguin sighting and will even cash in your Penguin Points for experience in any skill.

It would be hard to get more bizarre than penguins in mushroom costumes, but Distractions and Diversions has an ace up its sleeve. That ace will be Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza, a travelling circus that encourages the audience to get up and join the action. Wow the crowds with a magic trick, acrobatic feat and a well-placed throwing knife and you'll gain experience or even an outfit to clown about in.

The last Distraction and Diversion will come in the form of a Shooting Star. Instead of making a wish, you'll need to rush to the crash site and mine its thick outer layers. Break through them on your own or with others and you'll uncover a curious-looking star sprite, the magical inhabitant of shooting stars. As a reward, it might even help you out with some gold, objects and the ability to temporarily mine quicker.

Not all of our updates arrive and depart as unpredictably as Distractions and Diversions; the following release, the Clan Wars Update, is a far more predictable (but welcome) addition to this Behind the Scenes. It'll bring a swathe of new options for creating a clan war that suits you. What options will be available? Time for a list!

* Free-for-all battles
* The optional ability to run back into battle after death
* Combat style
* New obstacle choices
* Single-way areas
* Time limits
* Kills required for a victory
* Keep/Lose items on death (without the ability for other players to pick them up)
* New arenas

The option we're most stoked about is free-for-all battles, where anyone will be able to run in and start battling immediately. It won't matter if you're in a clan or not; you'll be teleported to a vast PvP area where you can have a large scrap with anyone else you meet in there.

'A large scrap' is exactly what will be offered in Summer's End. In this dramatic conclusion to Spirit of Summer, you'll be confronted by the beast who has been sapping the family's souls. Unfortunately, yours is particularly tasty, so you'll need swift feet, hard skin and help from some spirited friends if you're going to survive. The quest will be particularly taxing for those who are not prepared, but you'd expect that from a skill-based battle with one of RuneScape's hardest-hitting monsters, right? Don't worry: the rewards and the family's heartwarming smiles will definitely be worth it.

There will be few smiles in our last thriller update, Defender of Varrock. Deep in the Wilderness, braindead hordes will form into ranks, in a manner that the evil dead rarely do. Such an occurrence will need to be investigated, of course, and the identities of those behind it will have to be revealed. The question is, can you turn the zombie tide before Varrock becomes a shambling land of the dead? Reading the Legend of Arrav lores and histories may well help you out in this particular quest...

It's not all war, zombies and soul-eating this month: there are laughs to be had in the Postbag from the Hedge, with some pictures that are far more handsome than a zombie's ugly mug in our Players' Gallery and wallpaper release.

28 August 2008 - Postbag from the Hedge

In this month's postbag we've got some wise words from the Poll Orks, Mr Mordaut explaining planar theory and the latest edition of Evil Dave's Conspiracy Theories. So, if you want to know some harsh truths about RuneScape, head over to the latest installment of the POSTBAG FROM THE HEDGE OF EVIL.

26 August 2008 - All Fired Up

Increasingly concerned by Morytania mischief makers and invaders from the Wilderness, King Roald has a burning desire to increase homeland security. This has taken the form of a beacon network that will warn Varrock of invasion. The beacons have been built and firetenders have been assigned to look after them; the only problem is that they are yet to be tested – and that's where King Roald could use your pyromania...

After you learn the basics of lighting and maintaining the beacons in a sizzlingly short quest, you are free to use the beacons as you please. Why not challenge yourself and see how many beacons you can keep simultaneously alight? Rewards are in store for those who succeed, not to mention some Firemaking experience for flashy firetenders.

Summary
Where to start the All Fired Up quest:

Talk to King Roald in the Varrock Palace throne room.
Requirements to complete the All Fired Up quest:

Level 43 Firemaking
Priest in Peril
Access to:

A new way to train Firemaking
Some flaming-brilliant Firemaking rewards

In other news...

The level 86 Plank Make spell now has the option to skip the warning message when converting logs to planks. At this level, we feel that most players are aware that it costs money; so, after one cast, you can opt to turn the message off.

Various dyes have had their Grand Exchange price ranges adjusted to allow for a built-in 'delivery' cost. This compensates those players who have taken the time to gather dyes in larger quantities.

A new option has been added to allow the collection of Grand Exchange purchases in note form. Don't worry: you can still choose to take the objects directly, but for larger quantities this option should be cert-ifiably handy!

22 August 2008 - RuneScape in Guinness World Records!

RuneScape has entered the record books this week. The game has been recognised as the most popular free MMORPG in the world for the second year in a row, with a certificate awarded by Guinness World Records. That's one record that Usain Bolt didn't manage to get!

The presentation took place at the Leipzig Games Convention in Germany, where RuneScape has been showcasing RuneScape HD.

22 August 2008 - Jagex Store - Official Launch!

The Jagex Store has expanded to include a range of official RuneScape merchandise. If you visit it today, you'll find that it includes the following items:

* T-shirts
* Hoodies
* Mousemats
* A wireless optical mouse
* Mugs

None of these items are available anywhere else - they are exclusives to the Jagex Store. The official RuneScape novel, Betrayal at Falador, is also available from the store.

We have more merchandise planned for the near future, so keep an eye on the RuneScape front page for more announcements. We've even got some items in the pipeline that are based on your feedback!

Anyway, enough from us - get to the Jagex Store and check out the official accessories and apparel for yourself!

18 August 2008 - Wallie Card Update

We recently introduced a method of making direct payments using Wallie Cards for RuneScape. With the recent price increase, existing Wallie Card subscribers will be pleased to find out that they are able to keep paying a lower price. Wallie cards are available in lots of stores in the EU and Switzerland, and can be used for longer, multiple-month subscriptions.

18 August 2008 - Price Change - Starting Today

For players who create a new subscription, the monthly cost of RuneScape membership has increased 30p in the UK, $0.95 in the US and by similar amounts in other currencies. These are examples of credit card prices - all other payment types have been increased by a similar margin.

For a list of the new prices, please view the Billing Options page.

If you have an existing subscription, set up before the 18th August, then this price change will not affect you. You will continue to pay the lower price for as long as you keep your membership valid. As long as you do not allow your membership to lapse for more than two weeks (after the 18th of August), you will continue to pay at this lower RuneScape price.

We are also offering a 'loyalty' rate, for those of you who have paid at the slightly increased price for a long period. If you pay at the higher rate for 12 months (without a gap of more than 14 days) you will be offered the lower, $5 (£3.20) rate at the end of the year.

For those of you who pay by Surfpin or PaybyCash, there are some points to note due to the way your payments are made:

* If you make a payment at the lower price, but have an account that is charged at the higher price, then you will receive fewer days of credit.
* If you make a payment at the higher price, but have an account that is charged at the lower price, then you will receive more days of credit.

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