Index:
- Important Graphical Rendering and Player Avatar News
- Dungeoneering Speedrunning Hiscores!
- "Crystalline Court" Marketplace Drop
- This Weeks Patch Notes
- Whats Happening in the Community
Important Graphical Rendering and Player Avatar News
Our Graphical Rendering Update was scheduled to release today, but at the tail-end of last week we made the decision that this update and the even more important Player Avatar update need just a little bit more time.
The Graphical Rending Update will now launch May 26th (next Tuesday, Monday is a bank holiday), while the Player Avatar will launch June 8th.
It's important when we make these changes that - where possible - we think about what other work we may be able to implement in place of a delayed release. With that in mind, our available JMods have gone on a bug-bashing spree, and you can look forward to a bumper week of bug fixes releasing May 26th.
Changes and notes about the Player Avatar
We consider the Player Avatar Beta that we ran earlier in May as quite successful, and we were very pleased to see how many survey respondents reacted positively to the new Avatar. Thank you so much to everyone for taking the time to login, check things out and then fill out the survey and share your thoughts with us.
This helped us understand what you prioritize and value the most. Many of the bugs that were flagged were already being tracked and were swiftly squashed as we continued to work towards delivering the Player Avatar.
Coming out of the Beta, having reviewed your feedback, we made the following changes:
- The appearance of heads in interfaces has been improved (these are different models to the head you can see in normal camera mode).
- Hairstyles have been improved.
- The body proportions along with the face of the female avatar have been slightly tweaked.
- Colour vibrancy of certain clothing textures has been improved to make them appear less washed out.
Important Note: We would also like to note that the photobooth, which is used to reflect your in-game avatar's face onto our website, will be temporarily disabled alongside the launch of the Player Avatar, while we proceed with work to integrate the new avatar code into the website. The photobooth will return in future, but we recommend that you use this short time before the Player Avatar launch to use the photobooth if it's important to you.
Technical Insight
For a bit more insight into why we made the decision to push the release, please expand the below box - otherwise, please jump back to the Index above to quickly access today's news.
Click Here for more Player Avatar insight
Click Here for more Player Avatar insight
However, there are a few key issues that we feel necessitate the release shifts mentioned above.
- Our original Avatar scheduling was planned against a projection of fully removing all customisation options that were not being overhauled to match the style of the new Player Avatar. However, we have learned a lot during the Road to Restoration, including the importance of not removing content before a suitable replacement has been arranged. This means that even the customisation options that are not being updated for the Player Avatar launch will now remain in the game, but will be tagged in a dedicated "Legacy" wardrobe category. While we're not remastering these options yet, the work to make them function with the new player avatar has been significant enough to add weight to the decision to push the Player Avatar launch back.
- We're in the process of addressing the following issues, but these aren't just content bugs; they are engine bugs. A number of these relate to Graphical Rendering and needs to be addressed as part of that engine update, which in turn lays the foundation for the Avatar update to build upon. Changes and fixes to the engine take a little longer to resolve than content bugs because they are more deep-rooted and could affect the game on a global scale - any content and any location. This is why we feel it is safer to take just a little more time to ensure we've addressed these issues. We also want to ensure that the Graphical Rendering update is visually stable and does not suffer from performance issues. While we could have launched it this week and been able to address any outstanding issues by next week, we feel that it is wiser to introduce a short delay and launch the update in its most stable state.
- There was one bug in particular that appeared in the Player Avatar Beta that we had not previously observed, and it thwarted attempts at a "quick fix". A couple visual examples of it can be found below, but a slightly more tech-heavy insight is this:
- The new avatar is a "from-the-ground-up" overhaul of the player model (alongside benefiting from general rendering improvements). Proportions of it have slightly changed, pushing certain aspects closer to the originally coded limits and, in some cases, even beyond those original limits. This leads to what is known as a "short overflow". This is a visual issue that occurs when an object is sized beyond its visual limit and appears to just... sort of... waterfall-melt into the floor. We're observing this issue on outfits and weapons that are excessively tall and are worn in combination with the new Player Avatar. Just shrinking the Player Avatar would mean reworking its proportions AND needing to shrink all the other functioning models. The alternative choice, and the one we have opted for, is to address these limitations on a code level. Unfortunately this isn't an easy task, but thankfully a proper fix is going through final checks this week and should be ready for release next Tuesday.
- We also need this extra time to address a few global issues that affect colours and interfaces. An example of the colour issue is below. The outfit the Player Avatar is wearing is the same, but the colours have become washed out between engine versions.
The Future of the Player Avatar
One final but very important note on the avatar. This launch is just the first step in this project. We do not plan to immediately let it lie once it has been launched. Amongst other feedback, we are aware of requests for aging (younger and older), tattoos and bodyart, scarring, universal hairstyles, bringing NPCs inline with the Player Avatar and adding customisation options that reflect the wider demographics of our player base.
While we cannot yet say which month in this year the Player Avatar would receive its next update(s), we will be taking the above feedback into consideration for what to include as part of that update.
That's it for the Player Avatar for now!
Community Topics:
- Mod Anvil and Mod Ryan will be heading into the studio this week to record our next Month Ahead video. We'd very much like to talk through some top community questions this time if we have the time to. Please do join today's discussion to let us know if there is anything in particular about RuneScape that you would love to have insight on from Mod Ryan or Mod Anvil.
In Case You Missed It:
- Last week we released the eagerly anticipated Dungeoneering Remaster. You can read our launch patch notes here.
- We followed this up with a thread about ongoing feedback and updates.
- Today's game update includes Speedrunning support and a number of Dungeoneering specific patch notes, but our team is continuing to monitor the rollout of this update. You can review todays Dungeoneering speedrunning and general patch notes here.
- We will not be making any changes to XP solo modifiers at this moment as we don't want to rush this decision and first want to review how the todays changes impact the experience, as we want top avoid a compounding effect.
- With regards to XP rates, we're seeing that it's currently better to rush to the boss and end the dungeon regardless of how many rooms are left unexplored. Early analytics also indicate that many players engaging with Dungeoneering at the moment are floor completionists (full exploration), which is something we're happy to see and encourage. One of todays changes, for example, includes changes to the warped stone drop system that allows any player in the dungeon to roll for one, even if they have not damaged the boss - this means players in groups can continue to explore without feeling undue pressure to engage in the boss battle with the rest of the group.
- However, XP gain efficiency currently significantly favours boss rushing over exploration - an effect that is compounded even further by the high skill ceiling Dungeoneering traditionally has. We're therefore looking to move the slider of XP distribution a bit more towards a middle ground to make bonus rooms feel relevant. If you now complete the full floor (full exploration) you'll likely see slightly more XP than previously, whereas if you usually leave a 1/3 or 1/4 of the dungeon unexplored you will see slight a reduction in XP per floor.
- Overall, we're continuing to monitor Dungeoneering gameplay and have ideas in mind for further changes if we feel they are necessary.
- We also started a new monthly blog series dedicated to providing you with a one-stop shop for Marketplace news.
- We used this blog to also open the topic up for discussion - thank you very much to everyone who contributed and shared their thoughts! We are taking your feedback on board, especially with regards to improving the marketplace itself when it comes to previewing overrides.
- Regarding the specific feedback on the Occult Trail Override, we have made a change to the trail to improve its visuals. This has gone live today and can be previewed below.
JMod Replies on discussions worth highlighting or not covered above:
- Mod Yuey with extra notes about Dungeoneering feedback
- Mod Luma on hotfixing a bug about Active Scriptures while Dungeoneering
- Mod Azanna and Anvil on the "door sinking into the floor" bug
- Mod Pigeon on the minimalist vfx trails for surge, dive and escape abilities
Dungeoneering Speedrunning
Gotta go fast, Kick down doors, find keys, clear the entire floor at mach 3, you know the drill.
Optimizing Dungeoneering floors has long been a passion for players, whether they are just trying to get the most XP and tokens or are trying to set a new personal record, going fast and coordinating groups has been something that just naturally became part of Dungeoneering overtime. With last week's update improving the core skill into a better state now is a good time to add more challenges!Today we launch a brand new Dungeoneering Speedrunning system that challenges players to complete the Large Dungeon floors on High complexity while opening all the bonus rooms as quickly as they can! This scales for appropriate difficulty parties so you will need to be running 1:1 solos or 5:5 groups for the achievements and titles but there is hiscores for 2:2, 3:3 and 4:4.
Hiscores
Yes Hiscores! Head on over to the Runescape website to find a new Dungeoneering tab with both Solo and Group times! Now is your chance to ready your skills and climb up the table!
Additionally there will also be an in game statistics board found in the Daemonheim camp alongside quickchats to show off your skills in game!
Titles
Alongside hiscores there are also titles and achievements to show off your prowess! Achievements are split into solo (1:1), and group (5:5), with one for each floor theme, as well as an 'unlocked everything' achievement.
Below are the thresholds for achievement and title unlocks (in minutes and seconds)
| Tier | Solo(1:1) | Group (5:5) |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 12:00 | 6:00 |
| Silver | 8:00 | 4:00 |
| Gold | 6:15 | 2:30 |
Each title comes in a Bronze, Silver, and Gold variant along with floor themed titles that come with appropriately themed colour variants, that are also unlocked alongside Gold.
| Theme | Solo (1:1) | Group (5:5) |
|---|---|---|
| Frozen | the Frozen | Plane-freezer |
| Abandoned 1 | the Abandoned | Ramokee |
| Furnished | the Furnished | Night-gazer |
| Abandoned 2 | the Desolate | Shadow-forger |
| Occult | the Occultist | Flesh-spoiler |
| Warped | the Warped | World-gorger |
| All | Dungeon Master | Floorgazer |
But most importantly your Ferret pet can now be examined to see its owner statistics!
Dive in and go fast!
"Crystalline Court" Marketplace Drop
A wealth of Elf and Prifddinas themed cosmetics are making their way to the Marketplace! From fanciful armour to elegant weapons, you can don these whimsical wares today!
Click here for a full table and prices!
Click here for a full table and prices!
| Item | Member Price | F2P Price |
|---|---|---|
| Seren Crystal Armour | 360 | 400 |
| Iorwerth Warrior cosmetic overrides | 360 | 400 |
| Dark Crystal cosmetic override | 360 | 400 |
| Iorwerth Elite Warrior cosmetic overrides | 630 | 700 |
| Cadarn Ranger cosmetic overrides | 360 | 400 |
| Hefin Ranger cosmetic override | 360 | 400 |
| Mourner's mask | 135 | 150 |
| Seren Crystal bow | 135 | 150 |
| Seren Crystal sword | 135 | 150 |
| Seren Crystal 2h sword | 135 | 150 |
| Seren Crystal dagger | 135 | 150 |
| Iorwerth warhammer | 135 | 150 |
| Iorwerth battleaxe | 135 | 150 |
| Iorwerth curved blade | 135 | 150 |
| Iorwerth 2h curved sword | 135 | 150 |
| Iorwerth halberd | 135 | 150 |
| Cadarn longbow | 135 | 150 |
| Cadarn 2h crossbow | 135 | 150 |
| Cadarn crossbow | 135 | 150 |
| Cadarn wand | 135 | 150 |
| Cadarn orb | 135 | 150 |
| Seren Crystal Weapon Bundle | 495 | 550 |
| Iorwerth Weapon Bundle | 630 | 700 |
| Cadarn Weapon Bundle | 630 | 700 |
| Hector Hare pet | 360 | 400 |
| Heffy Hare pet | 450 | 500 |
| Buck Stag pet | 360 | 400 |
| Caduceus Stag pet | 450 | 500 |
| Hare Pet Bundle | 765 | 850 |
| Stag Pet Bundle | 765 | 850 |
| Seren Crystal Prayer | 225 | 250 |
| Seren Crystal Teleport | 225 | 250 |
| Glarial's Trident | 225 | 250 |
| Blade of Saeldor | 135 | 150 |
| Dark Crystal 2h sword | 135 | 150 |
| Ithell knife | 162 | 180 |
| Trahaearn pickaxe | 162 | 180 |
Occult Trail VFX update
With the launch of the Occult cosmetic overrides last week, we are generally happy where most of them have landed but have made some tweaks to the Occult Trail VFX to address player feedback that it is not quite visible enough.
Patch Notes
Changes to the Giant Mole
After reviewing all your discussions last week, we understand just how important the Giant Mole's encounter is to you. Therefore, we moved all available JMods (that are not focused on the Avatar) to focus on reworking this encounter. While much feedback was centred around enlarging the boss arena, we feel that such a change is unnecessary. However, we are able to rework the encounter to have a similar effect... Introducing the Micro Mole!*
- After much deliberation, we thought the best solution was to shrink her and make her around 10 times smaller. As a result, she now burrows three times faster but also takes significantly longer to dig to the other side of the tunnel.
- The mini-mole friends that the Micro Mole summons have also been shrunken 10x, along with their click-boxes. They are no longer affected by AOE attacks as we believe this would trivialise the encounter. We have also increased their health 4x.
- Barrels will randomly spawn and despawn in the tunnels to block off access to different chambers as you approach them. We feel this change is necessary to ensure that players use as much run energy as possible before being able to engage with the Micro Mole again.
- To ensure that no barrel-related-exploits are possible, the encounter will include a global debuff that continually drains your run energy, even when standing still.
- Surge, Escape and Dive have been disabled for the duration of the fight.
- The Micro Mole's Rockfall attack will be triggered in every chamber and the stun cannot be avoided or cancelled.
- Accessing the Micro Mole fight requires completion of the quest "One Small Favour".
*none of these changes are actually planned or will go live.
Hotfixed
- Runes can once again be bound in Dungeoneering.
- Fixed an issue in the Dungeoneering flower roots puzzle, where choppable small plants might continue cycling colours after uprooting the large plant.
- Fixed an issue where "You hear a click from the nearby doors. They are now unlocked." message did not occur when completing the coloured bookshelves puzzle. Moved the book indicators over coloured bookshelves one tile closer to the rotating bookcases, due to varying heightmap on bevelled walls.
- Fixed an issue where the 'Kinprovements' achievement could not be completed.
- Fixed an issue where coloured ferret puzzles couldn't be completed in "abandoned 2" theme rooms (floors 30-35).
- Excluded resource node placeholders from the potential spawn coordinates of coloured ferrets.
- Resetting the Ring of Kinship Necromancy passive effects now correctly refunds Dungeoneering tokens.
- If a terrified coloured ferret is unable to reach its pressure plate, it'll now burrow near the pressure plate to bypass obstacles.
Dungeoneering Remastered
- Fixed an issue causing enemies to spawn at lower levels than intended on high complexity floors.
- Experience on completing floors has been rebalanced so that exploration of the dungeon feels more meaningful.
- Small floor
- Size modifier: 50% -> 0%
- Bonus rooms: 20% -> 60%
- Mobs killed: 10% -> unchanged
- Medium floor
- Size modifier: 350% -> 250%
- Bonus rooms: 20% -> 110%
- Mobs killed: 10% -> 20%
- Large floor
- Size modifier: 850% -> 500%
- Bonus rooms: 20% -> 360%
- Mobs killed: 10% -> 30%
- An issue with the Scroll of restoration has been fixed where it saved more than just materials when restoring artefacts.
- Soul runes in Dungeoneering no longer use the wrong inventory icon.
- Updated environment assets and lighting in Fremmenik Saga instances to match new dungeon visuals.
- Updated the version of the area around Zemouregal's fortress in cutscenes to match the overworld area.
- Fixed an issue where some tiles in one of the ice rooms would still make you slide.
- Fixed an issue with Astea Frostweb and puzzle room ghosts having broken animations.
- Fixed an issue where certain fish crates couldn't be reached in the Fremennik puzzle room.
- The Eddy pet override now shows their owner's edimmu killcount.
- The warped stone drop now rolls for all players in the party, regardless of whether they damaged the boss or not.
- Updated environment assets and lighting in additional Daemonheim instances to match new dungeon visuals:
- A Clockwork Syringe quest
- Salt in the Wound quest
- Gorajo Hoardstalker dungeon
- Plague's End quest
- One of a Kind quest
- Curse of the Black Stone quest
- A Place For Everything voyage
- Zamorak's Hideout
- Stalker dungeon
- Remains of the Necrolord quest
- Flesh-hatcher Mhekarnahz resource dungeon
- Added accuracy bonuses to the Daemonheim blood shard necklaces.
- Added Enter op to the exit door from the coloured ferret puzzle in F2P worlds. Also fixes similar issues with the hunter ferret exit door and the mixable liquid shelf in the coloured recess room on F2P worlds.
- Fixed an issue where bound magical blastboxes lost their accuracy bonus.
- Updated models for chaotic rapiers, chaotic maul, and chaotic crossbows.
- Fixed an issue where the Herblore skillguide entries for Daemonheim Necromancy potions said they required misshapen claws, rather than twisted roots.
- Active scripture charges are no longer lost when leaving a dungeon after disconnecting from the game.
General
- Fixed a client crash caused by holding one of two phoenix keys.
- Fixed a crash that would happen when players would try to find out more about clans through the Clan Noticeboard.
- Added a check to prevent players from banking the Demonic skull while inside the Wilderness.
- Cops and Robbers achievement can now be completed by ironmen, by completing either of Heist's tutorials.
- Exiting the Varrock south-east mine now plays a random track in the Varrock style category, instead of silence.
- Resolved a couple of bugs reported with how the Mobilise This achievement displays its data.
- The "drawing a sketch" cutscene during the Darkness of Hallowvale quest will no longer get interrupted by damage over time abilities.
- Fences along the cow and chicken pens in Lumbridge have been fixed to allow for players to attack over them.
- Re-added a pair of 'convenient rock' hidey holes north of Lumbridge docks that inconveniently went missing again on 16th February.
What's Happening in the Community
Community Creations
RuneTube
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Scapers' Screenshots
Pink Skirts Player Events
Each week the Pink Skirts put on a selection of fun activities that everyone can join. Here are the main events this week:
Soul Wars
- When: Sunday 24th May, 18:15 Gametime
- Who: iSam, Omens Clan & Discord Luminaries
- Where: Soul Wars
- World: 138
Nex
- When: Saturday 23rd May, 12:00 Gametime
- Who: M e r c y & Dung Titan
- Where: God Wars Dungeon - Ancient Prison
- World: 35
- FC: Dung Titan
Gregorovic
- When: Wednesday 20th May, 12:00 Gametime
- Who: M e r c y & Helpscape
- Where: The Heart of Gielinor - Sliske Lobby
- World: 35
- FC: Helpscape
If these don't take your fancy, take a look at the full events schedule here. There’s sure to be something you’ll enjoy!
Community Spotlight
Amascut, Goddess of Destruction
The Amascut server focuses on providing the community with high quality match making, structured learner support, helping with Amascut related achievements and building a strong, drama-free PvM community. Their Helper team will be hosting the following Learner events this week in a joint effort with the RuneScape Legionary Team for Boss of the Week:
- Normal Mode (Hosted by a I I y): Saturday May 23, 20:00 UTC / 15:00 CDT
- Normal Mode (Hosted by a I I y & Epic Smoke): Sunday May 24, 02:00 UTC / Saturday May 23, 21:00 CDT
- 100% Enrage (5 KC Normal Mode Minimum) - Hosted by a I I y & Epic Smoke: Sunday May 24, 22:00 UTC / 17:00 CDT
- World: 76
- FC: Amascut FC
- Location: Golden Palace, Menaphos
- The RuneScape Team
Mods Alex, Anvil, Astra, Azanna, Bak, Blkwitch, Boko, Brat, Breezy, Brig, Camel, Chaose, Dark, Daze, Desert, Dorn, Dragon, Drew, Drewid, Easty, Echo, Evad, Fallen, Forza, Fox, Frosch, Grace, Gunner, Helen, Ink, Kaiju, Keyser, Kristy, Lilith, Lucifer, Luma, Lykos, Lynx, Makkari, MIC, Morty, Nemo, Neong, Nixon, Noms, Pearce, Peppy, Perpetua, Pickle, Pigeon, Rain, Ramen, Rat, Reaper, Rowley, Ryan, Samy, Shiba, Shrew, Shrike, Socks, Soul, Sponge, Stu, Sukotto, Titus, Tri, Vegard, Volta, Who, Wov, Yuey & Zura