Behind the Scenes - October 2013

[Nobody]

Behind the Scenes - October 2013

We're trying something different than a predictably spooky Halloween offering this year by putting an exciting new twist on the October holiday event. Add new trees, an awe-inspiring Sixth Age quest and level 90 ranger gear into the mix and youve got an update month that'd cheer up even Death himself!

Lumbridge Rebuildathon

The October holiday event - free players and members

Its the first ever rebuildathon! Since the explosive encounter between Saradomin and Zamorak, Lumbridge has suffered horrific damage to its once-majestic castle and surrounding walls. A group of local builders, led by Foreman George, have decided to do the right thing and rebuild it.

Naturally, they'll need a community of hardy adventurers to help them dismantle the abandoned war camps and reclaim the materials needed to fuel the reconstruction effort. Absolutely everyone will be able to join in, earning XP, an emote and even a unique costume from around Lumbridge: Explorer Jack's hat. There's a title for members to earn, too.

Youll be able to see the collaborative effort of the players in full effect as the camps are broken down and buildings slowly raise from the ground, so make sure you get involved and help rebuild the home of RuneScape.

As a special, one-day event during RuneFest, players and RuneFest visitors will be able to build something special to pay tribute to the brave warriors who lost their lives during the Battle of Lumbridge. But that wont be till November - look out for information next month!

Elder and Crystal Trees - High-Level Skilling Update

High-level skilling update - members only

Tired of chopping down magic trees? Irritated by ivy? Feel like smashing the sawmill to splinters? If that sounds like you, then worry not, for there are two brand-new trees for the most worthy of woodcutters to branch out to this month.

Elder trees (accessible at level 90 Woodcutting) can be felled for rare elder logs, which are used in a variety of skilling activities. Make new elder shortbows and shieldbows (level 60 - or 65 with a sight - to wield) with your Fletching skill (level 90 and 95 respectively) or even burn them (level 90) for great Firemaking XP. Youll be able to sell them too, of course, which will be a great new way for woodcutters to earn precious GP.



Crystal trees can be chopped by level 94 woodcutters. These trees can never be fully cut down, but the crystal formations that sprout up around them give the best Woodcutting XP rates in the game when shattered! Youll need to hunt them down, though. There are a few nice surprises for elven-eyed players to spot along the way, and the chance to break off a crystal geode, which can contain valuable gems, crystal seeds or crystal triskelions.



Both of these trees act slightly differently in-game, so new tactics and collaborations will need to be created to get the most out of them. We've also increased the level of the dark bow to 70 (and its stats accordingly) so it's still the best shieldbow in RuneScape.

Sirenic Armour

Level 90 ranger gear - members only

We mentioned a few months ago that we would be introducing new higher level ranger armour to the game by adding craftable materials to some existing drop tables. This month, were proud to introduce sirenic armour.

Added to Slayer monster drops between level 78 and 95, sirenic scales will be dropped with varying levels of chance, the lowest from aquanites and the highest from the fearsome Ascension legios. Craftable by level 90-93 crafters and stitched together using unique thread from Ocellus himself, this is the first level 90 gear to be dropped by non-bosses and will include head, chest and leg power armour. It looks great too, so bow down to its awesomeness!



Missing, Presumed Death

Novice quest - members only

This quest is something Ive particularly been looking forward to releasing into the game because it starts one of our most important storylines for the Sixth Age. It starts mysteriously, with a foul murder, cryptic messages and the appearance of strange - yet familiar - faces, but truly, this is just the beginning of something truly epic.

Death - the Grim Reaper - has gone missing, and Icthlarin - God of the Underworld - is attempting to fill the void he's left behind. At any other time, Icthlarin might have managed, but there has been a massacre in the hills near Paterdomus Temple, east of Varrock. Icthlarin cannot hope to keep up, and the spirits of the dead remain tethered to their corpses.

This is where the player comes in. Their first task is to find out who perpetrated this massacre. Then it's time to find out what Death has been up to. Has he been Deathnapped? Or is he taking a welcome break after the death of his god, Guthix?

This mystery takes many grave twists and turns, and goes far beyond your traditional whodunnit. It's resolutely 6th Age, so expect several gods to feature as the mystery of Death's disappearance is unravelled. You'll get to meet and work with Icthlarin; engage with fully voiced, famous characters; explore large, graphically lush environments; and earn unique, high-level rewards and death animations!

And Theres More!

Woo woo, woo woo woo woo. If youre not wearing your ghostspeak amulet but youre rattling chains and screaming out for your Halloween fix this month, then head to Solomons General Store! Two new music boxes (featuring new iconically 80s zombie dancing ) head the bill, alongside two new costumes, one with a distinctly skeletal vibe and the other with a goth look. We're bringing the newly non-combustible golden chinchompa back from the great beyond and offering it at no charge for members, or for a small Loyalty Point or RuneCoin price to free players. There are also some new loyalty items available in the form of Battle of Lumbridge outfits and a general evaluation of Loyalty Point prices on the store, following your feedback. Wooooooooooo!

Have fun!

Mod Mark
Design Director - RuneScape

[Jolletzu]

Novice quest - members only

 

 

Meh

[God Of Lego]

No halloween event? Didn't Mod Mark hype up the fact theres going to be one since there were no easter.

[Nobody]

Lumbridge Rebuildathon is the holiday event

[Howlin0001]

No halloween event? Didn't Mod Mark hype up the fact theres going to be one since there were no easter.

 

 

We're trying something different than a predictably spooky Halloween offering this year by putting an exciting new twist on the October holiday event

So maybe they are keeping it a secret until closer to the release?

 

[Nobody]

T90 Power Range Armor from non-bosses. For this and this alone <3

[God Of Lego]

 

No halloween event? Didn't Mod Mark hype up the fact theres going to be one since there were no easter.

 

 

We're trying something different than a predictably spooky Halloween offering this year by putting an exciting new twist on the October holiday event

So maybe they are keeping it a secret until closer to the release?

 

 

Could be the lumbridge thing, which I cannot see being that amazing. Unless its a real time thing. (imagine shades temple but on a larger scale, i would love that)

[BloodAngel]

Foreman George, oh jagex you're so punny.

 

Would be nice if the Sirenic armour things were only dropped on task. A fool can hope.

[Yoko Kurama]

As long as it doesn't degrade to nothing after degrading to 0% like Tectonic, I will be happy. It looks great, and a thousand times better than that hideous Death Lotus (which still looks like crap despite a redo).

[Nobody]

As long as it doesn't degrade to nothing after degrading to 0% like Tectonic, I will be happy. It looks great, and a thousand times better than that hideous Death Lotus (which still looks like crap despite a redo).

 

Agreed, I'm hoping since it seems similar to ganodermic it will work in a similar way.

 

The subtitle for Lumbridge Rebuilathon implies that it is replacing the typical holiday event. Especially considering there will be a lore quest with "high level rewards" involving Death.

[Yoko Kurama]

According to the Podcast, if I remember correct, it's Novice, not too long (so, short), and the rewards are some animations, that's it.

 

They must have changed their mind.

[kamil1210]

lvl 90 tree for 60 lvl items...

scales from 78-95 monsters for 90 lvl armour...

 

WHY NOT LVL 90 LOGS FOR LVL 90 ARMOUR? WHY!? JAGEX WHY!?

[helring]

According to the Podcast, if I remember correct, it's Novice, not too long (so, short), and the rewards are some animations, that's it.

 

They must have changed their mind.

 

Hmm, I don't remember them saying the animations would be the only rewards. It'll probably be something like the ozan quests, where its a novice quest but then there's some extra stuff that require high levels. Like the apmeken and scabaras masks.

[Alg]

Can someone explain to me why you need 90 WC and 90-95 Fletching to make a level 60 weapon?

 

Please, I really need help with this.

[LogOnBeach]

Can someone explain to me why you need 90 WC and 90-95 Fletching to make a level 60 weapon?

 

Please, I really need help with this.

Why do you need 85 Mining and 85-99 Smithing to make level 50 items? Pre-eoc they were level 40 items, which is even worse.

Which is obviously harder to reach both those platforms compared to 90 Woodcutting and 90-95 Fletching by using regular skilling methods and not Warbands.

[Alg]

 

Can someone explain to me why you need 90 WC and 90-95 Fletching to make a level 60 weapon?

 

Please, I really need help with this.

Why do you need 85 Mining and 85-99 Smithing to make level 50 items? Pre-eoc they were level 40 items, which is even worse.

Which is obviously harder to reach both those platforms compared to 90 Woodcutting and 90-95 Fletching by using regular skilling methods and not Warbands.

That just makes it worse.

[Th e Doctor]

Still no Ports 2.0 :thumbdown:

 

Novice lore quest I'll do because I <3 lore.

 

Range armor makes Death Lotus obsolete and is going to be dropped from non boss monsters... I'll pretty much be opposed to every way they try to introduce high level gear unless they ever implement a 100% drop from a boss that everyone gets that you use as a currency to buy them from vendors + a small chance that that same high level gear could drop for 1-2 people in the party that killed the boss.

 

Lumbridge could be good. I care very little about cosmetics for the most part so unless the exp is particularly good I won't be doing this.

 

New Trees sound interesting. New best wc exp rates make me happy because it means I won't have to grind 99 out at arctic pines. However why in the world do they still insist on skewing the levels needed to craft horrible gear? A level 90 wc tree should yield logs that req 90 fm to burn and 90 fletching to turn into level 90 bow and arrows. If they just adopted that model and scaled everything accordingly there wouldn't be all these issues. Then you could begin to add unique effects to armor/weapons dropped from bosses to still make them the best but improve the ease of access that the general population has to those same bosses.

 

That's all really.

[Blofeld]

Im going to assume that in order to make it comparable to the T90 mage armour, and not completely ruin death lotus and pernix that A) quite a lot of scales will be needed to make the armour and B) the scales will have a rediculously low drop rate, like the triskillion key pieces. Should still be a nice drop to have every now and then when slaying though.

[Nobody]

According to the Podcast, if I remember correct, it's Novice, not too long (so, short), and the rewards are some animations, that's it.

 

They must have changed their mind.

 

 

 

earn unique, high-level rewards and death animations!

 

 

Of course that assumes their definitions of high level actually mean the same thing as we think they do.

[Saradomin_Mage]

Considering the time frame required to make level 85 armour, as well as the amount of monster hunting you have to do to create Tectonic gear/Ascensions/Seismics, is anyone else wondering how many months/kills it's going to take to obtain the Sirenic gear?

[Octarine]

My assumption is Sirenic will mostly come from the legios when making asc bows from scratch, helping get rid of a bit of the cash-sink there thats required.

[Quasar]

I imagine sirenic will probably degrade to dust so as not to devalue pernix.

[Ambler]

I think it'll be pretty difficult to keep pernix worth much... It's currently at 80m for a set, though if this update comes with ranged ability buffs... I can see it rising. :thumbup:

[Urza285]

Sirenic will be degradable. I mean it just wouldn't make sense with seismic being degradable and then having the same tier craftable gear not being degradable. The idea of seismic was to give serious PVMers a set to play with when PVMing. I believe the same would be applied with another same tier set for another triangle point. The only concern is that the legios and vorago might be considered on par skillwise with jagex, but not the player base. Legios are fairly click and maneuverable intensive with not so high gear requirements. While vorago requires a decent sized team, highest gear requirements, and a moderate intensity but then again vorago wasn't designed for 5-10 man teams and was touted about as a good lootshare/mass boss (despite it not actually being one).

[Quyneax]

I won't believe that the new trees are worthwhile at all until I see them tested, but okay, it's good that that was the idea (the crystal trees at least, as they provide xp).

 

Rebuilding Lumbridge sounds good, the quest should be good, the armour is alright. I'm hoping that t90 melee power will arrive shortly, and that seismic/drygore/ascension prices level out fairly quickly (at this side of 200m please).