RuneScape will be celebrating its 10th year in 2011

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

RuneScape will be celebrating its 10th year in 2011, and we’d like to thank each of you for making RuneScape the global phenomenon it is today.

Throughout 2011, we will be rewarding our fantastic and loyal community with the chance to win one of 10 x $1,000 prizes every month. We’ll be drawing ten lucky winners each month, throughout the year, and entry couldn’t be simpler: for each day in a given month that your account has membership credit, you’ll automatically be given one entry into the draw. For those of you who are not currently members, you can still enter for free by sending us a postcard, and you’ll be given one entry into the draw.

The first competition will run from the 1st to the 31st January, with the draw taking place in February; the second competition, running from the 1st to the 28th of February, will take place in March, and so on.

Jagex Terms and Conditions - $10,000 Prize Draw

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

By taking part in our monthly US$10,000 prize draws (the “Competition”) you agree to these terms and conditions and confirm that you satisfy the eligibility requirements. You must have an active RuneScape® account in order to enter (if you do not have a RuneScape® account please visit www.runescape.com to create one, creating an account is free).

Terms and Conditions

  1. Jagex Limited (”Jagex”), a United Kingdom registered company (St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom) is the “Sponsor” of this free to enter draw.
  2. This Competition is open to individuals aged 18 years and over (or the applicable age of majority in your country, state or province) or you must be over 13 and have the permission of your parent or guardian to enter. This Competition is not open to persons who live in the following places: Quebec, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Norway, Sweden or India or any other place where void, restricted or prohibited by law.
  3. This Competition is not open to employees of Jagex or their immediate family members or persons living with employees of Jagex, or any persons professionally connected to this Competition or to Jagex. The chances of winning this Competition depend on the number of entries received in a given Monthly Round (as defined below). We cannot accurately predict the number of participants who will participate in each Monthly Round, nor how many entries each person will submit, but as of the date these rules were authored, if someone submits one entry for each day of a Monthly Round, their chances of winning are approximately 1 in 100,000.
  4. The Competition shall run from 00.00 January 1st 2011 until 23.59 December 31st 2011 Greenwich Meantime (”GMT”) (the “Competition Term”) subject to and in accordance with any amendment(s) to the Competition set out at www.runescape.com.
  5. The Competition comprises a series of rounds which shall each run for the period of one calendar month during the Competition Term (each a “Monthly Round”). During each Monthly Round, for each day of the calendar month in which a user maintains membership credit in their RuneScape® account(s), that user shall be automatically be provided with one entry into a prize draw (each a “Prize Draw”) for that Monthly Round (each an “Entry”). Jagex may in its absolute discretion decide not to hold a Prize Draw in a particular Monthly Round. A Monthly Round shall only run if Jagex publicises that a Prize Draw is going to run in that calendar month on its website www.runescape.com. Each Monthly Round shall run from 00.00 GMT on the first day of the calendar month until 23.59 GMT on the last day of the calendar month.
  6. Only one Entry is permissible per RuneScape® account per day during each Monthly Round of the Competition. Users with multiple RuneScape® accounts shall receive one Entry per day for each RuneScape® account that has membership credit.
  7. Jagex reserves the right to not include any entry in any Monthly Round for any reason, including but not limited to a breach of these terms and conditions or a breach of the terms and conditions covering the RuneScape® account associated with the Entry.
  8. Each Prize Draw will take place on the first working day following the end of the calendar month (the “Draw Date”) in which a Monthly Round is run. The first ten entries selected at random from all valid entries made during the Monthly Round shall receive the sum of US$1,000 (each a “Prize”). Jagex may disqualify entries if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that they are in breach of these terms and conditions or your participation is fraudulent, unfair or unlawful.
  9. Each winner will be notified if they have won via a message sent to their RuneScape® account. If a notified winner does not respond to Jagex within 7 (seven) calendar days of a message being sent to them, then Jagex reserves the right to repeat each and any Prize Draw until a new winner is found. Jagex will discuss the means of paying the Prize to the winner shortly thereafter and shall make arrangements to pay the Prize to each winner. The winner shall be liable to account to the relevant authorities for any applicable taxes on the Prize, if any, and it shall be the sole responsibility of the winner to do so. The winner shall provide Jagex with reasonable cooperation in connection with that same if required by Jagex.
  10. Jagex’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The Prize is stated in US dollars. Winners will be paid the equivalent of US$1,000 in their local currency using the exchange rate that Jagex determines appropriate in its sole discretion.
  11. Details of the winners of each Prize Draw may be published in Jagex’s newsletters and websites (including www.jagex.com and www.runescape.com) and communicated to third parties by other means, determined appropriate by Jagex (such as by email newsletter).
  12. Jagex reserves the right to use the name and home county/state of each winner in future publicity and promotional material, and it is a condition of entry each winner’s details can be used in this way and that the winners co-operates fully for publicity purposes if so required. Jagex will bear any cost and expense connected with such promotional activities (e.g. press photography).
  13. No purchase is necessary to enter this Competition and making a purchase will not increase your odds of winning. Entry to the Competition is free and can be achieved by addressing an envelope to ‘10 Years of Jagex - $120k prize draw’ to Jagex Limited, St Johns Innovation Centre, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom. The envelope should enclose details of the date of the Prize Draw that you wish to enter, name of a valid active RuneScape® account, an email address, postal address, contact phone number and the name of the entrant. If you are under the age of 18 you must also provide the contact details of your parent or guardian. Entrants can submit a maximum of one envelope per calendar day during the Competition Term. The details of entrants from whom such envelopes are received during each Monthly Round will be entered into the relevant Prize Draw for the respective Monthly Round along with all other subscribers and entrants who have purchased a subscription or written in within the same period. Envelope entries will only be considered if received on or after the Draw Date for the Prize Draw they purport to enter, but before the 1st day of the next calendar month. Proof of posting will not be accepted as proof of entry and no responsibility will be accepted for entries lost, damaged or delayed in the post.
  14. The Competition and entry to it may be withdrawn at any time without prior notice.
  15. This Competition is void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.
  16. Copyright © 2011 Jagex Limited. All rights reserved. Jagex and RuneScape are trade marks or registered trade marks of Jagex in the US, Europe and other jurisdictions.
  17. These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Jagex may amend these terms and conditions without notice, by posting changes to them on this website.
  18. To the extent permitted by law, Jagex exclude all warranties and representations (whether express or implied), and all its liability (including without limitation for negligence) regarding this Competition or the prizes (other than for death or personal injury resulting from its negligence) including without limitation all indirect or consequential loss or damages, loss of profit, or loss or damage to data.


King of the Dwarves

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

“No band of petty councillors can preserve this city through its darkest days — only a king.”

Those are the words of the Azdaran Fragment, the oldest surviving document in the history of Keldagrim. Keldagrim’s Age of Kings came to an end centuries ago, and even the last king’s statue now bears the face of one of Keldagrim’s current rulers, the Consortium of Mining Companies. But there are still those who would see a return to the Age of Kings — and even more who simply want the Consortium removed from power, without regard for what would come afterwards.

Is the Azdaran Fragment simply a statement of its writers’ beliefs, or will it prove to be a grim prophecy? Facing unrest within the city and enemies outside it, can the Consortium cling to power — and if not, what will replace it? Join Veldaban and new allies as you attempt to answer a long-ignored question: who is the King of the Dwarves?

Mod John A
Senior RuneScape Content Developer

Summary:

Where to start King of the Dwarves:

Speak to lava-flow miner Sven outside the lava flow mine in Keldagrim East.

Requirements to start King of the Dwarves:

68 Mining
70 Smithing
77 Strength
Forgiveness of a Chaos Dwarf
My Arm’s Big Adventure
Must be able to defeat a level 160 enemy


In other news…

Party Pete is taking his infamous drop parties on tour, in celebration of RuneScape’s 10th Anniversary. You’ll be able to get two new items from these drop parties - a 10th Anniversary cake and candles - though you can also get these from monster drops around Misthalin and Asgarnia.

If you are poisoned, clicking on the life points status globe next to the minimap will cause you to cast the Cure Me spell (provided you are using the Lunar spellbook, have the necessary runes and don’t have an anti-poison potion).

The pre-purchase info displayed for items in shops and at the Grand Exchange will now list damage absorption statistics.

The Christmas 2010 event has now been removed from the game.

PayBySMS now available in Canada Not USA

Posted by: runescape  //  Category: runescape news

We’re pleased to announce that our Canadian players can now pay for membership of RuneScape or FunOrb by SMS. This means that you can purchase or renew membership using your mobile telephone. We know this is something that many Canadian players have been waiting for, so we’re happy to be able to offer this service to all of them. If you’re a Canadian free player and want to know more about the benefits of membership, click here.

The following networks in Canada support PayBySMS:

Bell
(Fido) Microcell
MTS
Rogers
Sasktel
Telus
Virgin

We’re continuing to look into ways of making alternative payment methods available in other countries, and as soon as we’re able to offer these services, we’ll let you know.

Guaranteed Content Poll: Dragon Scimitar Redesign

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

If you were lucky enough to be at RuneFest 2010, or you’ve been able to read up on some of the events that transpired there, then chances are you’ll be familiar with some of the revelations featured in our exclusive Insider Sessions.

One such tasty nugget from the Big Questions session was that our Graphics team are planning a much-requested rework of the beloved dragon scimitar. In order to make it as impressive as all the other dragon weaponry, Mod Joe and his team have come up with a selection of alternative designs for you to marvel at.

You can do more than just marvel, though, as in the best tradition of our official player polls, we’re putting the top redesign contenders to a public vote. The design that proves most popular with our players will find its way into the game very soon. Good times!

Once you’ve taken a good look at the designs below, log into the Dragon Scimitar Redesign poll and select the option that corresponds to the design you like the most, and then submit your vote. Simple!

We’ll be showing you the results in one week, so don’t delay. Get your vote in as soon as possible, and then head over to the Official Polls Feedback & Ideas thread to discuss your choice with others. And, as always, just by voting in one of our polls, you’ll be entered into our prize draw to win a month of RuneScape membership.

May the best design win!

Mod Emilee & Mod Howes
Community Management

Players’ Gallery

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

Another month goes by and another mountain of artwork arrives on our desks. Yep, it’s a hard job, but we love going through your artwork – the more quality submissions we get to see, the happier we are! This month’s glorious collection brings us brooding dragons, hungry bunyips, pesky penguins and cooking catastrophes. We hope you like them too.

One particular entry stood out to become this month’s featured artist. Our congratulations go to Tyrutu, a regular contributor to the RuneScape art community. Their ‘Tormented Demon’ picture maintains every bit of this freakish beast’s troubling visage, while using a cool and clear cartoon styling. It’s a great piece of work, and so they’ve bagged themselves a month of free RuneScape membership and a certificate signed by a selection of J-Mods.

Oh, and one other thing… Starting this month, each gallery’s featured artist not only bags some membership and a signed certificate, they also get an exclusive piece of signed concept art direct from the easels of RuneScape’s Graphics team.

So, if you want to win a one-of-a-kind piece of bespoke RuneScape artwork, simply pick up your favoured art tools, create something original and polished then send it to us using the instructions on The Gallery - Feedback & Ideas forum thread. There you can also talk to other artists and share any artsy thoughts and tips you have.

Well, that’s nearly all from us this month, except to invite you to head over to Players’ Gallery 13 to see the full selection of pictures. Make sure you get working on some spooky stuff for the upcoming Halloween gallery – we can’t wait to see what you come up with…

Mod Howes & Mod Emilee
Community Management

Behind the Scenes – October

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

October is the month for parties as we celebrate Oktoberfest and Halloween! The conclusion to the Void Knight storyline arrives in the form of The Void Stares Back, our latest Grandmaster quest. Experienced hunters will be able to learn a new trapping method to gain Summoning charms.

The Void Stares Back

This month brings a conclusion to this year’s storyline, the Void Knight quest series. After leading a band of unlikely companions through a merry dance of pest-tracking, mysterious figures and energy draining goo, we’re now faced with the very real threat of a full-on pest invasion, seemingly brought on by those most untrustworthy of knights, the Kinshra.

Requiring 80 Magic and a series of other 70+ skills, it’s the highest quest requirements we have ever added to the game. You’ll need those levels (and more besides) if you’re to overcome the intriguing puzzles and powerful foes that stand between you and ultimate victory.

Charm Sprite Hunting

Also this month, we will introduce a brand new mechanic for obtaining Summoning charms outside of combat. Following the recent exploration into the Spirit Plane (see Pikkupstix and the Familiarisation update), the dire consequences of planar shifting have emerged in the shape of…well, nobody is quite sure yet, since they are invisible, but Yaktwee Swinmari Cianta is the gnome to find out.

Skilled hunters (72+) will be pleased to hear that they can head to the Gnome Stronghold and join in with the capturing of rogue ‘charm sprites’, which can be converted into charms as well as Hunter XP. Skill pures should note that this skill update will involve NO combat.

Oktoberfest and Halloween

Perhaps you’re interested in some community-run events inspired by the German Oktoberfest? Pretzels await for those that are, and you might want to check out the Oktoberfest Fun in Gielinor forum thread for more information.

You can also expect a monster mash this Halloween, as Pumpkin Pete brings a bit of rock ‘n’ roll to Grim Reaper’s mansion! Our third planned update for this month will require you to be the roadie for Grim’s favourite band and get the entertainment back on track. Expect to be dancing with spiders, drinking with backing singers and gathering autographs. Party-goers with killer dance moves will unlock the player-morphing ‘bone brooch’, as voted for by you earlier in the year.

‘Make-X’ Improvements

Experienced players should note that, hopefully this month, we’re redesigning the most commonly-used ‘Make-X’ menus. At the moment, if you want to make more than one of an item, you have to right-click to choose 5, 10, X or All. The new design won’t require you to right-click.

Furthermore, when you’re doing actions such as smelting ores or fletching logs into bows, the existing menu offers Make-X but not Make-All, so you have to type the same number every time you open the menu. The new design will now offer Make-All wherever it offers Make-X.

Postbag and Gallery

Look out for a new Postbag from the Hedge early this month as Postie Pete drags his mailbag all the way to Daemonheim for a Dungeoneering special. Towards the end of October, we’re also releasing another gallery page of your fantastic submitted artwork – this one with a Halloween theme, so get your submissions in now!

In other news…

A friends’ list feature is being added to the RuneScape Game Bar. Click here to find out more about the Game Bar and to download it.

Prepare for brand new Lumbridge guard NPCs, right-click options on Daemonheim altars, a godsword rework to work with deflect curses, and updates to the Wilderness wall for runecrafters.

Have fun!

Mod Mark
RuneScape Lead Designer

Mark Gerhard’s Answers by Mod Mmg 06-Aug-2009

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

1) Melt The Ice asks;
MMG has mentioned F2P will be updated a lot more frequently, stating that F2P is NOT A DEMO.

We are working hard on a new skill, which will be available to free-to-play and members and which shows our continued commitment to the free game. We are also looking to improve some of the free quests as well as early graphics. The free-to-play game is epic - there are tens of thousands of hours of gameplay and we are working on a number of updates at the moment.

 

2) Soldier 1033 asks;
Do you have any exciting plans for the forums that you can discuss at all? How did you feel when you became the CEO of Jagex?

Becoming CEO of Jagex was hugely exciting for me and is still a real honour. As for the forums, we are planning to make a number of improvements to the usability of the forums and make them more interactive with avatars and the ability to quote, as well as allowing more of our free players to post.

 

3) Dark Musica asks;
Does JaGeX (as both a company and individual staff, including Andrew and Paul) care more about their game(s) (Fun Orb, RuneScape, and the upcoming MechScape) or more about their players (example: do you think of us as numbers on your paycheck, or loyal players of the game you develop?) (as individual gamers and the entirety of their community)? -AND- would JaGeX (as both a company and individual staff, including Andrew and Paul, as above) be willing to sacrifice some parts of their game(s) (same as above, Fun Orb, RuneScape, MechScape) to please their players?

We care equally about our games and our players and do not think that we have to choose one over the other. We take great care designing our games and making them appeal to our players and, naturally, will continue to do so in the future.

 

4) The Griffonn asks;
Why do you change things in RS that no one complained about; First of all the layout of the function keys and last the animation of some weapons?

Why don’t you first make an poll of your ideas and watch what the RS players think about it before you gonna work on it, because now you make a new change than implement it in RS and allot of RS players complaining about it. So why not using a poll before or after a drastic update?

We understand that we cannot please all our players with every update. I can assure you we don’t change things because we are bored and we see usability improvements as essential to the continued success of all our games. The truth of the matter is we sometimes realise after we have built something, despite careful planning, that we got it wrong and, naturally, have to fix it or improve it to make it more efficient. As for using player polls, we do plan to continue to get player ideas and suggestions from them.

 

5) Taco 50 asks;
In one of the previous Q&A threads, “noob-free” worlds were mentioned, for players with a certain amount of total experience. These seem to be taking a while, have they been cancelled?

Yes, this is still a project we are working on and the project has not been cancelled, we just have a load of other big projects going on at once.

 

6) Pur35 Ownage asks;
Would there ever be a console version on RuneScape like for xbox360 + PS3, i think that they would be a great success if you could get the controls right, but they would have to speak not type which is much better.

Yes, indeed, we are looking at all the consoles at the moment and deciding which one or two are best for our community.

 

7) Vannakius asks;
(This is paraphrased)
I know since you’ve started as CEO a lot of people haven’t agreed with what updates have happened. I am one of those. However, have you got any great idea’s for updates which could turn people on your side rather than against you? When/if you see posts about yourself (RANTS) do you feel upset by this, or do you ignore it? Are your main concerns to impress the new players, or do you also care about the older players?

When I became CEO, one of the first things I did was to reinstate the Rants forum as it is important for us to hear your constructive negative feedback. We have a specific forum team who look after the forums and pass on all your feedback. I’m primarily focused on our great playing community, but we also need to ensure that RuneScape will continue to grow for at least another decade. In order to do that, we need to make sure there is also a healthy influx of new players to balance the economy and ensure there are not just 10 million level 99s walking round. I realised a long time ago that you can’t please everyone, no matter how much you want to, and it’s never pleasant to get flamed for an update; however, I don’t mind that much, as it’s more important to do the right thing for the community and the game than it is to win a popularity contest.

 

8) Snrubnayrpk asks;
I’m a RuneScape video maker (Average, I’m learning still) And I was wondering in the future will there ever be features to help in videos? Special Views, Green rooms, Ect.

Absolutely! Andrew and I were actually talking about this the other day. What would be really helpful is to have a list of features you think would help you to make videos, so we can assess which ones are possible.

 

9) Karzani1 asks;
If you brought RuneScape out on CD, would you drastically change the graphics of the game? So they look like WoW? ( i hope not, The current graphics is what makes RuneScape, well RuneScape )

The biggest advantage of RuneScape is that it can be played in the browser without a big download and by everyone, and while quality graphics are important to the playing experience, we are also committed to keeping RuneScape at the optimal specification to ensure that hundreds of millions of players worldwide can access the game.

 

10) Mikeboi101 asks;
Do you have any plans to instigate a section of RuneScape where players can submit videos or pictures so that other players can see these?

I like this idea, though I’m not sure we have the infrastructure necessary to provide this to the same quality as websites like YouTube. Our environment has really been built around providing the game in the best possible way.

 

11) Dark Moon X5 asks;
As the gaming community grows there at Jagex, do you think you will ever make another Jagex Studio in the future, possibly not as close as the main one? Like possibly another country/Continent?

We do not have any plans to open offices in other countries at this time; however, you never know what the future will hold. The Jagex team is always growing and the studio is getting very full, so it is a possibility.

 

12) Evileaglesss asks;
When you look at the forums and see some of the rants about a newly realised content, how do you feel?

The people whose feelings should be considered when ranting are the RuneScape content developers who work tirelessly and passionately for months on a project, with the sole aim of pleasing the players. Happily, only a small minority of players tend to actually rant about content. We always look at the forums for feedback and, when it is constructive or helpful, we look to implement that feedback into the game.

 

13) J 36 asks;
I have seen many people ask about a film or cartoon version of RuneScape but not seen any answers, is this something that you have thought of.

Yes, indeed, we are talking to a number of people about doing a film of some of our games. I expect this would be a full feature film rather than some sort of cartoon.

 

14) Alien Jy asks;
When you first became the CEO of Jagex, were you worried about making choices? Or did you come into Jagex with high confidence.

I have always had a high degree of confidence :), but it is a big responsibility being CEO of such an incredible studio and, thankfully, we employ some of the best people in the world, which makes my life a lot easier.

 

15) Ispl Unlegit asks;
Does Jagex have sit-down meetings to discuss the future updates for RuneScape? If so, do you ALWAYS keep the current players in mind or do you just think about the bettering of the game for future players?

It just seems like most of the updates are to look more appealing to newer players and you generally don’t worry about the current players who work really hard towards their goals every day.

We probably spend 80% of our time talking about improving the game for our current players and I do not suspect this will ever change. In fact, most of our updates are aimed at current players rather than for bringing new players to the game. We all spend a lot of time in game talking to players, so we always try to design content that we feel our players will enjoy.

 

16) 767 Fs Pilot asks;
What exactly do you do around Jagex HQ? Do you walk around making sure all the J-Mods are doing their job, or do you usually stay in your office for the most part and sign papers and approve of changes?

Haha, I ask myself that question every day. Well, firstly I do not have an office! I sit on the same floor as most of our game developers in an open plan office. I tend to spend as much time as I can speaking with the staff and helping out where I can. I do, however, spend a lot of time signing stuff.

 

17) Sadiyq1 asks;
Hello Mod MMG I would like to know what action is going to be done about Merchanting Clans. I am mainly posting because all thanks so merch clans they have sent the prices for items flying high and its unfair for people who make money by earning it on RuneScape, they just have to work a lot harder while other people who merch and make money for not really earning are able to afford this. Do you see how this is affecting people’s gameplay especially new members?

It would mean a lot to me if you read this post and replied.

I see merchanting clans as pyramid selling schemes, where, typically, only a handful of players actually make any money and everyone else loses money - just like real-life pyramid schemes. Because of this, we are not in favour of them in RuneScape, and try to warn players not to participate in them.

 

18) Find Emotion asks;
You’ve stated before that you wish to raise the demographic for RuneScape, ultimately making it a game that appeals to a much older audience than it currently does. Is this still your intention, and if it is, how do you intend to achieve this effect?

The fact of the matter is that our current player demographics are a lot older than a lot of people think, so we don’t have to change the player base itself, just peoples’ perception of it. We have dealt with this by nuking the “kiddy” content, for examples, the Stronghold of Player Safety. I do love the fact that we have a game that is suitable for an incredibly broad, worldwide audience.

 

19) Starfire1979 asks;
I was wondering who gets to decide what new content comes out and if it is decided democratically or if the head honcho just says “Ok we are bringing out a new skill, get on with it you lot, chop chop”.

Also does anything we say in the forums have any impact on the decisions made behind the scenes BEFORE content is released, as we already know you rely on us to point out bugs and flaws after release?

Firstly, we don’t rely on players to spot bugs - that’s what our QA team is for - but we’re grateful that players are so diligent at spotting those that slip through. We do constantly look to the forums for ideas and feedback, There is no “chop, chop” at Jagex. Our ideas for content come either from the Players or from staff across the company. We always encourage our teams to be creative, to make sure we make the best possible content for our players.

 

20) Roasted Duck7 asks;
Mod MMG, in the RuneScape Classic Q&A session you mentioned making RuneScape Classic servers in which all players would receive the cheat codes, as to stop any cheating in the game. This sounds like an absolutely terrific idea, but so far, all I have seen for it was the Q&A. If you are still considering creating these servers, or if they are already in the works, could you give us a time you expect them to be released?

This is currently in development. It has taken a long time, since we had to get all our old code compatible with our latest code libraries and back-office systems. There is still a lot of work to do - probably a few more months - but, rest assured, we are working hard on this. I think it will be very popular when it does finally come out, as we are packing in a bit of a surprise at the same time.

 

21) Evil King J asks;
MMG promised that Jagex would be a less secretive company, but now with the BTS gone and very little development diaries, and a general consensus over the lack of updates, it seems as if Jagex is more secretive than ever, why?

These Q&As are a part of our ongoing commitment to not be perceived as being so secretive. Hopefully, that shows our commitment to our players. Both Andrew and I regularly talk to our players in our Clan Chats, and we now have more J-Mods in game than ever before. The sad reality is that it takes months for a developer to create even just a single new quest, and while we have a very big team working on updates, we cannot guarantee a new update every week, but we do try our hardest to make them as frequent as possible without sacrificing quality or creativity. We have also done a lot of work in recent months, both in RuneScape and on the forums, and working with recognised fansites, to be more open with our players.

 

22) Lol A Pic asks;
Are you a fan of Tehnoobshow?

Yes, indeed! I have even been in one of the videos, for “giggles”! :)

 

23) Pen Par asks;
I just have one question, and I believe it’s quite good for both Jagex, and the players. I have read ‘Betrayal at Falador’, and I wanted to know if Jagex does allow fans to write down a book for Jagex? Will Jagex support those players, and fans. I myself tried writing a book for Jagex, but was always afraid not being able to publish it because Jagex wouldn’t like it. I’m sorry for taking your time for this question. Many thanks for making this thread!

We are always interested in player suggestions and we like to support players who are inspired by our games, but when it comes to publishing it gets very complicated, as publishing not only has a lot of legal technicalities, but also takes a lot of time and a bucket of money. If you think you have something great, though, feel free to send it to us.

 

24) Fuzziekiwi asks;
I was just wondering if one day you guys will be working on RuneScape High Detail so it takes less CPU. TBH I think RuneScape is a CPU hogger.

Yes, we have a project underway to better utilise the CPU, so as to enhance the software mode of the game.

 

25) Colintje3 asks;
I heard there will be a day for 13-18 year olds to come to the Jagex castle to test something, can we get a little hint (For us people that are not so close to the UK) to what is going to be shown over there?

The focus test is specifically to see what new players think of the game, so no big secret there. :)

 

26) Hellroses333 asks;
Now that you have upgraded your bot detection systems, is there any possibility of free trade returning to RuneScape?

I’m tired of using junk to trade occasionally when buying or selling something - it seems completely idiotic to me: you’re basically giving someone a rising item and some junk that won’t sell in the GE, but essentially you’re getting the item for midprice anyways, so the buyer always ends up with profit.

If you will not be planning to return free trade, then is there a possibility that you may try returning free trade for a minimum of one week, just to see how it goes? Obviously it would take months of testing to witness the true number of gold-farmers you would be dealing with again, but hopefully your macro-detection systems would catch them before they did any real damage to the RS economy or your company again.

Our ability to detect all botting is not really related to free trade. We are looking at improving the trade system, and we may consider relaxing our trade limits a little more in the future, but this is still under discussion at the moment.

 

27) Nightgon172 asks;
Recently you have updated the Clan side of RuneScape, by adding Tools for Games. This has proved popular amongst the clan community, including myself .

My Question is: Do you intend to add more to the clan perspective of RuneScape? Say, by making clans more interactive?

For example having a clan bank, but having a trade limit to avoid Real World Trading issues, or being able to set up clan shops.

These are interesting ideas and we are looking at ways of providing more support to clans.

 

28) Infota asks;
Don’t you think that you should find out what players think about updates using polls before releasing them? I think this would therefore cut down on the aftershock of the RuneScape community. Thanks.

The only way to find out what players think about new content is to actually show it to them. We could do all new content as a beta first, but then you have the problem of some people loving it and others not. Then what do you do? Do you say if more than 51% like it, keep it? We find that it is typically only the players that don’t like something that respond - the rest of the community just enjoy the content and say nothing. If you look at the Rants feedback, it is typically less than 0.5% of the total players that respond to an apparently unpopular update. Does that mean the other 99.5% like it and it should stay? We would never knowingly create new content that we knew would be unpopular. Our developers want all their work to be appreciated by the community and to enhance the game for all.

 

29) Timmy7072 asks;
I hear rumours of a “Name Changing System” can this be confirmed? If so, how would such a system work?

Yes, we are planning to release a new display name system shortly. This will essentially allow you to change your in-game display name to be different from your login name.

 

30) Themyth 2004 asks;
My question is… RuneScape hasn’t had a huge amount of advertising, as far as I am aware the growth of RuneScape has been fairly unique in that it has consisted mostly of word of mouth and then later on mini-clip, yet there is over 1 million members nowadays and a huge number of F2P players.

Advertising has picked up for MMORPGs for the last year or two… I was wondering if there is any plans to expand advertising for RuneScape, and if you could tell me what other kinds of advertising RuneScape participates in at this moment in time?

You are right, we haven’t done any marketing in the past and we still have one of the biggest communities in the gaming world as a result. We love this game and I’m confident it has a very bright future, indeed. We do plan to build an in-house marketing and PR team to spread the word like other companies do, but, ultimately, we know that nothing beats our own players telling their friends about RuneScape.

 

31) Bluesonic43 asks;
According to “Forum Focus (21-Jan-2009)” the top choices (although less than 50,000 voted) were to include a image of your avatar, adjust formatting of posts, etc. I would like to know when I could make words italic or bold. Thank you

We have taken player feedback onboard and, as mentioned previously, we are now planning on improving the forums with avatars as well as other new features.

 

32) Sir Sral asks;
Being a fan of the RS music, I’d love to see many of the awesome and creative tracks made into very high quality versions available for download. Do you see something similar to this as a worthwhile addition at some point in the not too distant future?

This is a great idea, I will go and speak with the audio team now!

 

33) M4g3r Ownage asks;
Are you planning on releasing worlds that have an experience requirement to enter? By requirements I mean: in game experience, time played in game, total level, combat level, etc.

Yes, this is still something that we plan to do based on players’ total XP level.

 

34) Haon Nave asks;
Well I was wondering if there will ever be a RuneScape app for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Who knows what the future may bring? :) What features would you like to see on the iPhone?

 

35) Svew asks;
Does Jagex as a whole believe the Quality Assurance team is doing their job well? If so, please explain why there has been a significant increase of major bugs that have tainted the game within the last few months.

We have been really ambitious with our updates over the last six months, which has been a challenge for everyone at Jagex. The QA team do a fantastic job and would never knowingly release updates with bugs, but, as I’m sure you will understand, that the game is so epic it is almost impossible to catch everything.

 

36) Bionic Cool2 asks;
With so many other MMORPG’s out there constantly making their graphics, game play and features better, do you feel RuneScape has had to compete with them by making updates bigger and better then they had been before?

We don’t look to our competitors for our strategies. If anything, we tend to get shamelessly copied by the industry. We have always tried to make our games and updates the best that they could possibly be, regardless of the competition. We still have one of the world’s largest, and still growing, communities, not to mention the Guinness World Record for the most popular free game, which tells me that we are doing the right things overall.

 

37) Robeddarknes asks;
Hi I was wondering when you were planning on releasing the ability for us to look at our character’s statistics such as number of x-monster killed and x-number of hours played and what date our accounts were created, as this has always interested me and I believe I read you were planning to release it.

Yes, we currently have a project underway to provide players with a lot more information about their avatar progress and status in game.

 

38) Gilly 2811 asks;
I’ve heard a player-made rumour, that Jagex is considering making Wallie Cards/other available in every country, and then removing all credit card payment options in the future.

If so, this would make it possible for Jagex to re-implement the wild, take away trade limits, thus allowing old pking, and uneven trades (which isn’t so bad, you can donate to friends again, and scam/be scammed, which teaches lessons.), which would settle pkers arguments. Is this somewhat true, and if so; would prices rise?

I don’t expect we will ever remove credit card payments as this is still, by far, the most popular method of payment for our players. Also, the majority of our members like the convenience of being able to automatically renew their monthly membership via credit card. We are keen to offer subscribers a wide variety of payment methods and will ensure that we continue to rollout RuneScape payment cards worldwide.

 

39) Bigb4199 asks;
Due to the growing size of your company, more resources have become available to you. To compete with other MMO’s, do you intend to use voice actors to bring NPCs to new life?

This is an interesting idea and one we are currently discussing.

 

40) Volcor117 asks;
Would it be possible to free up some usernames, by this I mean, would it be possible to give players that are currently active a chance to use names that were already used up by people that have stopped playing, like people that haven’t been active for the past 2 years. Thanks for your time.

I love the idea of preserving all player accounts, so that they can play again whenever they want too. Interestingly enough, we have recently seen a significant number of former players return to the game. We may reset the accounts for players that have been permanently banned and make those account names available again; however, we are also working on a new display names systems to allow players to change their in-game name, and there will be a subsequent update to the system that will allow players to choose longer player names, which will provide a lot more choice.

 

41) 2h And Spork asks;
What does Jagex think of private servers that are smaller copies of RuneScape, do you believe that you should fight against such servers or just let them be? I point this out because private servers have been growing in size over the years.

We strongly oppose private servers, irrespective of their size, and always look to shut them down. We have also been very successful in taking their ringleaders to court.

 

42) 583saradomin asks;
Why doesn’t Mod MMG post everything he said in his clan (if everyone is telling the truth that he did say future updates in his clan) on the forums? It is so hard to trust word of mouth in this game.

I don’t talk about future updates or content in my Clan Chat as I wouldn’t want to spoil future updates and content isn’t really my area of expertise anyway - that’s what the RuneScape team do really well. :) I just enjoy the content as a typical player on my choob account and I just use the Clan Chat as an opportunity to talk to players about every day stuff, usually have a bit of a laugh and sometimes they give me feedback on new content or things that annoy them in game which is also helpful. So since we just chat about random and everyday stuff I don’t think it is important to get transcripts on the forums.

The reason why we have regular Q&As with the players is to officially answer questions relating to the game.

 

43) Feppie64 asks;
Do you have any plans to look for ways to reduce the shipping costs at the Jagex store for non UK countries? For example, in my country the shipping costs of the mouse pad are twice the price of the mouse pad itself.

Absolutely! We are currently pushing our current supplier to bring their shipping costs down. If they don’t soon we will move to another supplier that can provide low worldwide shipping costs.

 

44) Rizwan151 asks;
Is your job as CEO of Jagex purely that of leading the company financially and as a business? Or do you also take part in the development of the game? I am just concerned as to whether a person whose account is only in the level 60-80 range would be making the best decisions for what is to be done for the game in the future.

I get involved with all aspects of the studio’s operation; however, I have very little input into the development of the game - the main game decisions are actually made by the RuneScape Content team, My choob account recently went over level 90 combat. :)

 

45) Father Lawec asks;
(This one is for Mod MMG ;P) What is the one thing that really annoys you in the game of RuneScape? And if you could, how would you change it?

I can’t think of anything that really annoys me, but I do wish I wasn’t so poor and had more cash. Then, I guess I’ve just got to earn it like everyone else. :)

The Curse of Arrav (Members)

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

The icy waste to the north of the troll country is as mysterious as any land in RuneScape, no less because of the interest the Mahjarrat take in it. Ali the Wise thinks that he might have found a way for you to discover more about this strange area to the north. Uncover more of the mysteries of the Mahjarrat and learn about the dark magic that was used to enslave Arrav for these last few millennia.
Quest Information
Members only: Yes
Start point: Nardah
To Start: Talk to Ali the Wise
Quest Length: Medium
Minimum Requirements:
Level 37 Slayer
Level 41 Summoning
Level 61 Agility
Level 64 Ranged
Level 64 Mining
Level 64 Strength
Level 66 Thieving
Defender of Varrock
Shades of Mort’ton
Troll Romance
The Tale of the Muspah
Missing My Mummy
Must have restored Senliten to 100%

A hero from ancient times

To see the rewards for this quest, please click below:

Warning: Spoilers Below To view the spoiler, please click below:Show spoiler…
Experience Quest Points
6000 Agility
30000 Mining
9000 Ranged
2500 Slayer
4000 Summoning
14000 Thieving
1 QP

Development Team

Developer: Paul G
Graphics: James W, Alex R, Mark B
Quality Assurance: Dan G, Dan O’R, Nicola T, James H
QuestHelp: Katie B
Audio: Iain H, Adam B

The Curse of Arrav

Posted by: cow  //  Category: runescape news

In your adventures you may have heard of an unusual gathering in the north - a gathering of powerful and dangerous creatures called the Mahjarrat. Ali the Wise has received news from one of his contacts of a tunnel underneath the area where the Mahjarrat are supposedly gathering. It’s not a natural cave, either: someone deliberately made it. But who? What connection did they have to the Mahjarrat now gathering above? Have they left any clues behind? Some exploring may be in order!

This quest is a continuation of the Mysteries of the Mahjarrat quest series. It’s also a sequel to a previous quest I wrote - Defender of Varrock. I’m glad that I got to expand on some of the themes I started in the previous Arrav-based quest. There is more to come, though…

Paul
RuneScape Content Developer

Summary:

Where to start The Curse of Arrav:
Speak to Ali the Wise in Nardah.

Requirements to start The Curse of Arrav:

37 Slayer
41 Summoning
61 Agility
64 Ranged
64 Mining
64 Strength
66 Thieving
Must have completed Defender of Varrock
Must have completed Shades of Mort’ton
Must have completed Troll Romance
Must have completed The Tale of the Muspah
Must have completed Missing my Mummy
Must have completely restored Senliten

——————————————————————————–

In other news…

We’ve improved the behaviour in the Mobilising Armies waiting rooms to start more games with the required 20 players, rather than just one at a time.