On November 13th, we'll be launching a dedicated in-game area to give you details on everything coming up until the end of the year! Located in Burthorpe, this seasonally themed area will be a one stop spot to highlight the key releases we've been cooking up.
As this new area will give you a first look at what to expect from the rest of the year, we wanted to give you an updated version of our November preview post covering the rest of the year as a bit of a preview!
You'll get even more details on each update closer to their release. Release dates are subject to change based on testing.
November 10: Double XP LIVE
Seasonal skilling!
DXP LIVE is a 10-day event where you have 48 Hours of Double XP to use at your leisure. You can pause the timer if you need to do other activities but don't want to lose out on that precious DXP time. If you won't be using all your hours, you can trade an hour of DXP per day for credits to use with Nic The Trader. More about how it works here!
With this DXP we are introducing an additional element - DXP Tokens. These tokens are earned by earning DXP Spirits intermittently while skilling* or by using Proteans and Dummies. Alternatively, if you have any unwanted Proteans, you can convert 10,000 of them daily to use them on something more valuable to you!
These DXP Tokens can be exchanged during any DXP LIVE for stars, skilling outfit pieces, elite skilling outfit pieces and even a few items from Vic The Trader's store. The DXP Token Store will be available during Double XP: LIVE events, and any tokens earned persist into future events.
*Note: Spirits will automatically claim when they expire, so if you're going into DXP LIVE AFK style, you won't be missing out on earning Tokens!
November 13: Graphical Improvements & Community Hitlist
Prettier Dungeons & Sewers
Dive into the sewers and dungeons of Gielinor, looking prettier than ever thanks to our next round of graphical improvements!
We'll also have more updates from the Community Hitlist launching alongside this update.
November 20: Vorkath, Battle of Forinthry
New Quest & Boss
We're closing in on the release of Vorkath, and to celebrate, we're debuting a brand new cinematic trailer to set the stage for this long-awaited showdown! Check it out above.
Zemouregal has succeeded in resurrecting the ancient dragon Vorkath on Ungael. Together with his undead army, Zemouregal plans to destroy all of Varrock - and only Fort Forinthry stands in his way.
Our new Quest and boss battle takes place during a siege of Fort Forinthry as you make a last stand against Zemouregal. It will be down to you to beat back this undead siege - including facing down Zemouregal and Vorkath in a deadly duel. This new boss can be fought with any Combat Style across three difficulties - Story, Normal and Hard mode - alone or with a group. For those who can conquer this challenge, expect new Ranged and Necromancy drops to pursue.
If you want to be ready for the fight, you'll need to complete the Fort Forinthry storyline up to Ancient Awakening and have a Necromancy level of 60. Here's the full list of requirements:
- Quests
- New Foundations
- Murder On The Border
- Unwelcome Guests
- Dead and Buried
- Ancient Awakening
- Skills
- 60 Necromancy
- 50 Construction (required for Fort Forinthry Quests)
- 10 Slayer (required for Fort Forinthry Quests)
- Other
- T1+ Grove Cabin (Fort Forinthry)
- T1(+) Botanist's Bench (Fort Forinthry)
Look for a full blog and livestream preview next week (w/c November 13).
November 20: Vorkath Hunt: Guard & Lantern Shard Event
Necromancy cosmetics to earn!
We're trying something new alongside the release of Vorkath with the Vorkath Hunt: Guard & Lantern Shard event!
This Shard event follows the design of the Golden Party Hat and Cape Hunt Events, where you'll set out to collect 8 Shards by completing a variety of tasks during the event. Launching alongside Vorkath, this event will be themed around facing down Vorkath - such as killing Vorkath, completing Quests required to fight him - in return for some beautiful new cosmetics for your Necromancy weapons and temporary buffs!
As with our past Shard events, we've made sure the tasks cover a broad spectrum so that, if you're not the PvMing type, you can still pick up these rewards by completing non-bossing based tasks.
Can't make the event? The cosmetics will be added to Vorkath's drop table once the event completes, so you'll always be able to chase them later too. However, they will be rarer drops on Vorkath's table - so this event is the best way to secure yourself these new cosmetics!
We'll drop all the details on this event in our Vorkath blog next week (w/c November 13).
November 27: Christmas Village Event
New Quest, Location & Seasonal Activities!
This year, we've put a concerted effort into bringing a seasonal event to RuneScape that really captures the spirit of Christmas. In this new format, you'll have a brand new Christmas Event to play, alongside the return of some classic Seasonal activities too!
Christmas Village 2023 - New Quest, Location and Activities!
Christmas Village is a brand new area in the Land of Snow filled with fresh Christmas Activities! This is all about delivering that seasonal gameplay experience you've been asking for, with all rewards (bar one special exception) directly earnable through gameplay.
Dive into a new seasonal Quest "It's Snow Bother" as you help Santa and the snow imps raise Christmas spirit across the world by helping decorate some key locations in Gielinor.
Take part in repeatable Christmas Spirit activities within the new Christmas Village. Earn Christmas Spirit, which can be spent on past Christmas cosmetics in the Christmas shop!
As part of the Christmas Village experience, you'll also be able to collect up to 3 Letters from Santa each day - by speaking with the Christmas Village Host, completing all your Daily Challenges or by doing a seasonal activity within the village. Every 3 letters you hand in will earn you a Nice Point, which you'll use at Santa's Lodge.
Each Sunday from 8pm - 10pm Game Time, you can turn in your Nice Points to Santa at his Lodge in Christmas Village together as a community. Each week, turning in at least one Nice Point guarantees that week's Christmas cosmetic reward from Santa, but having more points will give you more chance to earn something rather special (more on that below). If you miss a week, you'll also be able to get the cosmetics you missed from prior weeks if you have enough Nice Points (1 per reward).
Nice Points can be handed in once per week, resetting with the opening of the Lodge each Sunday. You'll also be able to hand in your Nice Points at Santa's Sleigh any time during the week if you can't be there for the communal Lodge opening on reset.
Everything within the Christmas Village event is exclusively earned via gameplay.
Black Party Hat
You asked, so we're doing it. The Black Party Hat is exiting meme-town and becoming a new tradeable rare for RuneScape!
The Black Party Hat will be a new seasonal tradeable rare found over our Christmas events, offering anyone taking part in our Christmas activities the chance to become owner of a brand new colour of Party Hat. You'll have a chance to find it when handing in your Nice Points - the more Nice Points you have, the more chance you have. We're excited to see those communal moments at the Lodge opening when someone gets this extremely lucky find at the weekly reset.
We want to really stress that this will be an incredibly rare drop that only a small number of players will end up earning during the course of the event - even the most dedicated helper to Santa isn't likely to find it (though you will be guaranteed other Christmassy cosmetics!). This is about adding a distinctly 'Scapey special moment that could happen to our Christmas events, not as something you should come in expecting to find.
The Black Party Hat is exclusively dropped through gameplay via Santa's Lodge. There are no paid routes to finding the Black Party Hat or to increase the number of Letters / Nice Points that you can hand in each week.
Old Favourites Return
In addition to the our brand new Christmas event, there's also a number of classic seasonal activities that will add to your experience across Gielinor this December!
Our Wrapping Paper event will run alongside the Christmas Village event, which has you collecting lost wrapping paper by doing almost anything in RuneScape! Turn in wrapping paper for festive presents that could contain classic or brand new seasonal rewards not found in the Christmas Village event.
The Advent Calendar makes a return this year, now also including a variety of Christmas themed emotes to add to your collection!
And finally, we're also adding seasonal buffs available to everyone over the course of December. Each week will include a new Buff, with each buff stacking together for a total of four buffs to enjoy by the end of December.
We'll give you a full look at the events, activities and rewards on offer this Christmas closer to release.
December 4: Community Hitlist
More requested updates
Our December 4th update puts the focus back on your Community Hitlist requests as we bring more of them to life in the game!
Live Now: Combat Beta
Modernising the original styles
Our Combat Beta will continue running through the rest of the year, offering you the opportunity to help us shape the future of RuneScape's original three combat styles. We've already made plenty of tweaks and changes in the Beta, with plenty more to come.
You can find all the information on our Combat Beta updates here. Ready to give the Beta a try? Here’s how:
- Jagex Launcher
- Head to the taskbar and close any running instances of the Jagex launcher.
- Click this link.
- The link will load the Jagex launcher then start loading the Beta, logging you in automatically.
- Non Jagex Launcher
- Click this link, then log in as normal.
On first login, your live save is imported into the Beta. You can re-import your save into the Beta once per hour.
Once you’ve given the changes a try, share your feedback with our team through the following channels:
- The #Combat-Beta channel in the Official Discord.
- This initial Beta Thread (more subsequent threads may be created as the Beta progresses).
- Plus: as the Beta progresses we will look to include in-game polls on Beta worlds.
Please note that not everything that is showcased in the Beta will automatically make its way into the live game. We will endeavour to work with players to refine the changes shown and bring them into the live game when they’re ready!
Graphical Updates
New release timing
We've been working on beautifying Kandarin and Rellekka (as voted by you!) to more modern standards, with a target of releasing both by the end of the year.
With the scale of these projects, the breadth of work and testing required has presented a challenge with a fairly packed rest of year calendar. In the interest of quality, we've made the decision to shift our release timing for both of these updates to early next year.
We're now targeting the Kandarin graphical update for January 15th, with the Rellekka graphical updates to come in the months following. Thanks for your understanding and we're looking forward to bringing these freshened up looks to the game in 2024!