04-Jun-2010 - Behind the Scenes � June

[Beloved]

Hi, and welcome back to the Behind the Scenes! We used to publish articles like this to let you know about upcoming updates, so you could plan ahead. For a number of reasons, we tried other ways of talking about content, but nothing was as popular as the Behind the Scenes. But now...its back!

 

Behind the Scenes June

 

Characters from RuneScape are due to be arrested for crimes ranging from Littering to Assault & Battery, and will need a hero to represent them. To prosecute or defend their cases, youll need to obtain a court summons from Treasure Trails, by pickpocketing NPCs or from a few other methods. After gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, comparing fingerprints and identifying weak members of the Jury, youll have the chance to prove their innocence or send them away for a very long time. The choice is entirely yours, and healthy doses of Attack or Defence XP await those clever enough to solve the case.

 

The cases are written to make you think and raise a chuckle, so were hoping youll enjoy solving them as much as we enjoyed writing them. Fancy prosecuting the Drunken Dwarf for disruptive behaviour? Perhaps you feel his freedom to call everyone "matey" and ram kebabs in their hands is a basic Dwarven Right (dont worry, it wont result in the return of him as a random event). Thanks to everyone who gave us feedback after reading the blog: it really helped to shape the content, especially in terms of where the court summons drops come from.

 

The first courtroom launch will feature 5 different cases and a new piece of costume. You can expect more cases over the next twelve months: we have 16 cases planned in total!

 

Also this month, we will be introducing ancient effigies to the game, available through high-level combat. These objects ask very experienced (level 91-97) players to use a variety of skills to engage in a little restoration. Players with insufficient skill levels will still be able to use the Assist System to work at the effigy and claim the benefits. Naturally, asking for skills of these kinds of levels makes for some very generous XP rewards.

 

After 2008's Spirit of Summer and Summers End quests, and the Mysteries of the Mahjarrat quests in 2009, we decided to release another complete quest series this year. As usual, we want to outdo ourselves and, rather than settle for a storyline made up of just quests, we have decided to make three quests and a related activity! Throughout the series, youll learn more about the different orders of knights in the game and the relationship between them all, especially regarding the mysterious Void Knights and their pests.

 

June will see the launch of the first of these quests - Quiet Before the Swarm: an 'intermediate level' quest (the highest requirement is 42 Strength) that is heavily puzzle and story-oriented, linking to favourite characters of ours like Sir Tiffy. Theres no equipment preparation needed for the quest, aside from completing (but not necessarily winning) a single game of Pest Control. If you fancy a game, try World 144, and if youd like to read more about the Void Knight series, read the blog.

 

In other news...

 

Some of the In other news... you can expect to see this month will be: adding a waypoint marker to your world map; making it easier to get hunter supplies from the penguin areas; and adding new functionality to the Orb of Oculus (machinima camera). Weve also opened RS Classic sign-up until Tuesday 15th June for any members who fancy a nostalgic trip to yesteryear.

 

If community events are more your type of thing, why not get involved in our Triumvirate community game? There are a series of events happening, focusing on three factions the Reavers, Lords and Judges. These events are run and organised by our Player Support teams and you, the players. If youd like to know more, check out the main Triumvirate thread. This weekend sees a huge series of 27 Castle Wars battles, making use of last weeks Castle Wars update (originally intended for a June launch, but launched a week early for you to war over the Bank Holiday weekend). I hope to see you there!

 

Enjoy!

 

Mod Mark

RuneScape Lead Designer

[Wingless]

Court Cases AND Void Knight Quest? I am full of happiness candy.

I'm glad my nubby self got the entire Void set like 2 years ago. It will come in handy for the quest <3:

 

I'm really happy that they brought BTS back. They should have NEVER took it away. I never liked Twitter hints, anyway.

[Mil]

Nice of them to bring BTS back, it was very popular :)

Looks like some interesting high level stuff this month.

[Cheefoo]

BEHIND THE SCENES IS BACK!!! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

[anonymouse_]

Never thought they'd bring it back. They finally did something right :thumbup:

[Shelby_Polo]

It's back!

 

[A_Mace]

Very nice! I have always liked BTW!

I'm very happy with this. :smile:

[DarkDude]

The court cases sound... I don't know. The experience rewards aren't exciting at all but I imagine the main "reward" is in doing them and experiencing them.

 

Ancient Effigies, not sure how these will work. I imagine they'll be uncommon drops from high-level monsters? I imagine they'll all be non-combat skills that they're related to so it seems light it's just a "higher level" version of shattered hearts.

 

The quest sounds good, I enjoy puzzle quests and looking forward to this quests series over the summer.

 

In Other News, the waypoint sounds awesome, especially for newer players but other than that nothing exciting there for me.

 

Glad this is back, although I guess this means the end of the twitter hints?

 

Edit: Not sure how many quests will be in the series, the front page says 4 part storyline which would imply 4 quests but the actual BTS says 3 quests and an activity. So I guess the latter is true and the activity will come at the end of the 3 quests and add a little to the story? Not sure.

[PhaperPlane]

YESSSSS! :D Finally, BTS has returned! Good move by Jagex. I can't wait for Court Cases and the Void Knight quest. Looking like an excellent month to me! :)

[dirk4slayer]

YES

[totalpwnage]

In b4 level 91-97 high level req rage (because it seems to be referring to combat level lmao.)

 

Court cases are interesting and I hope this extends rewards of void stuff. Or makes getting points faster ;-; don't wanna get my void back... still...

[bored321]

OMFG! :thumbsup:

[Huge Noob]

Sounds promising. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[anonymouse_]

Court cases sound lame, quests idc about, hopefully effigies won't be a complete fail.

[Da_Latios]

BTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111

[DarkDude]

In b4 level 91-97 high level req rage (because it seems to be referring to combat level lmao.)

 

Court cases are interesting and I hope this extends rewards of void stuff. Or makes getting points faster ;-; don't wanna get my void back... still...

 

91-97 requirement appears to be the SKILL requirements, ie you'll get a "drop" that requires 94 smithing to restore or whatever. I imagine by high combat they mean higher level monsters, unless it's dropped based on combat level but that makes little/no sense.

[Jabuli]

No elite diaries :(?

 

Sounds like a crap month.

[Beloved]

Too bad elite diaries wont come out this month, also R.I.P. twitter hints :(

[Logdotzip]

I'm actually not sure if I'll like this just yet.

 

I kind of liked being surprised

[UserOnRS]

Court cases I'm unsure about, they could be interesting but the Murder Mystery quest wasn't too enjoyable and it seems they may be similar. I don't know why they have to give attack and defence xp though, it seems random and seems to be there just to stop pures from doing them.

 

Effigies are a bit vague as to what the rewards are but it seems to be a duplicate of the Shattered Heart.

 

About the Quest line, I'm not a quester really so won't be too interested unless they have good rewards. :P I like void knights though so could be interesting to find out more about them.

 

I'm not sure what it means by a waypoint marker - can anyone care to explain?

 

Overall I'm glad the BTS is back. :D

[Beloved]

I'm actually not sure if I'll like this just yet.

 

I kind of liked being surprised

It had its moments, but this is better for my peace of mind :P

[totalpwnage]

In b4 level 91-97 high level req rage (because it seems to be referring to combat level lmao.)

 

Court cases are interesting and I hope this extends rewards of void stuff. Or makes getting points faster ;-; don't wanna get my void back... still...

 

91-97 requirement appears to be the SKILL requirements, ie you'll get a "drop" that requires 94 smithing to restore or whatever. I imagine by high combat they mean higher level monsters, unless it's dropped based on combat level but that makes little/no sense.

I really hope it's skill requirements, althoguh I'm not a skiller 91-97 combat is a joke.

 

Sad that batch 2 of dungeoneering doesn't come this month :(

[why2060]

Great news. Really, great news. The Void Knight quest series has me interested. :)

[bored321]

I would not expect batch 2 for a while yet, they said they would be putting those changes out before batch 2.

[Den]

ITS BACCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

I've missed it soo much. <3:

 

 

Count Cases

Sound interesting. They plan on releasing 5+11 more in the next 12 months. Looking forward to seeing what the costume is.

Nice timing since I should get alot of clue's from slayer in the end of this month and over in july.

 

Ancient Efifigies

Had no idea what an effigy was, but its some statue. Restoring ancient statues using 90+ skills and good exp rewards? Sure, why not. :thumbup:

 

Quiet before the Swarm - Void Knight Quest

First part out of the 3 which is heavy in storyline and puzzles. I support.

 

In other News

New features to the Orb of Oculus? Hell yes!

 

Sounds like a nice month. Now we just need the twitter hint to try to figure out what next week's update is. (Hope they dont remove those hints with the re-release of this).