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Community Topics

  • We'll be kicking off a discussion about shaping aspects of the mid-game balance in the middle of this week. Rather than sharing any design direction, however, we want to use this first step to understand what issues you've encountered around mid-game balance. Keep an eye out for our kick-off topics on Reddit and Discord!
  • Mod Anvil and Mod Ryan will be sharing a lookback at April and what May has in store for you this Thursday, April 30th.

In Case You Missed It + Our Reactions to Last Week:

  • Last week we released a few Game Jam quality of life projects, including (but not limited to!) Boss Enrage Mechanics Update and Quiet World smarthopping.
  • We also ran a rollback on April 20th, which affected a couple hours of player playtime. Find out more about that here.
  • We shared some insights from the recent quarterly check-in Survey as well as some Double XP Event details. Read the blog post here!
  • Finally, we shared progress on how our Player Avatar is coming along as well as some details about the upcoming Player Avatar Beta. Find out more here!

JMod Replies on discussions worth highlighting or not covered above:

Visual Update - World Declutter

Improving Combat Clarity

The Road to Restoration is all about improving the world of Gielinor in a variety of ways. From reducing dailyscape headaches to taking a fine tooth comb to the game balancing across all stages of the journey. Along with these more gameplay and technical updates we are working on visual updates to breathe new life in the world and improve the clarity. This week we take a swing at a variety of combat related visuals to better help players sink their teeth into PvM while making it easier to see what's going on!

This is an ongoing project that we will be continuing to chip away on throughout the year. Check out the patch notes for this update below!

Squaring the Circle

Over the course of the last few years, we've lent more heavily into squares, as it conforms nicely to how our tile based system works - providing clarity in where you're clicking. We've propogated that to walk markers and target reticules.

For bosses, this takes into account their size, ranging from a 1x1 all the way up to 10x10! So you'll have a good idea of the size of your target when fighting them (e.g., to know when your Seren Godbow is worth using!).

Note: you can toggle on and off these features using the below.

Walk markers: Settings → Interfaces → Game Interaction → Walk Markers

Target reticules: Settings → Combat & Action Bar → Targeting → Target reticules

Similarly, we've converted Yakamaru's poison over to use a similar marker to Vermyx, the Broodmother's floor marker - with its colour modified, to better show up against the sand.

Obtrusive Visual Effects

We've modified a number of visual effects to reduce how obtrusive they are.

Name Before After
Sapphire & Opal Aurora
Aftershock
Incite Fear
Scripture of Wen

Click the gifs for a larger image

Obtrusive Auras

During a previous livestream (which you can watch here!), Mod Pigeon and Mod Breezy showed off some changes to the Tumeken and Devourer auras. Your feedback was appreciated! After the livestream, we made further changes based on this feedback, but through internal rounds of feedback, we don't feel the changes we made have landed quite right, and took too much away from the auras. As a result, we've reverted the changes to the auras, so that we can come back to them with a solution we're all happy with in a future round of Visual Declutter.

Patch Notes

  • Improved Necromancy Conjure's so that players are unable to target them anymore making it easier to traverse and use movement skills.
    • Additionally they are now lower in the visibility order so NPCs will appear on top of them if they are on the same square.
  • Reduced the length of the Conjured Zombies particle trail and updated SFX when the zombie is summoned and walking around.
  • Residual Soul stacks are now only visible to yourself, no longer do you need to see how many souls your fellow Necromancers are working with.
    • Similarly, they also now hide when unequipping a lantern and reappear when equipping one. This should help cut down on UI elements in combat with friends!
  • The HP and Prayer boosted buffs have been removed from the buff bar, these very common buffs were taking up valuable real estate while being something players could easily see elsewhere in their UI.
    • We have kept the negative version of these effects though as it's useful for specific bits of content (Magister / Zuk).
  • Transformed the Tile Indicator visual to be a square instead of a circle, this should help clearly show which tile you're moving towards along with showing an enemies size.
  • The blinding pillar of light from the Scripture of Wen has been revamped into a more subtle visual and sound effect.
  • Updated the size of the Aftershock VFX to be less obtrusive and visually cluttering. The SFX have also been updated to match.
  • The size of the Incite Fear VFX has been reduced to be less obtrusive and the SFX has been updated to match.
  • The Sapphire and Opal Aurora spells have been tweaked to reduce the amount of VFX, additionally the visual effects when used with the Prism Spells have been revamped to be less intrusive.
  • Improved readability of where Yakamaru's Poison attack will land.
  • AOD Minions are shown in the order they are killed below the boss health bar, they are ordered from left to right.
  • Reduced the size of the VFX related to the Boon of Apmeken.
  • The size of the trail left behind by Dive/Escape and Surge cosmetic effects has been reduced to improve visibility.
  • Improved the clarity and visibility of the Lumberjack's Intuition when chopping Eternal Magic Trees.

Double XP

Double the XP, Double the fun.

DXP is back after its long hiatus! This event will be running from Friday May 1st for ten days, so now is a great time to organize your plans. In classic fashion, Double XP is a 10-day event where you have 48 hours of Double XP to use at your leisure. You can also pause the timer if you'd like to do other activities that aren't focused on the XP gains.

This event will be very similar to previous DXP events with some alterations:

  • We have removed the Daily login incentives to reduce FOMO and bring the event in line with our move away from DailyScape.
  • Double XP Tokens can be earned during this event, but this will be the final event during which such tokens can be obtained.
    • Future events will not offer Double XP Tokens. This move is linked to our general shift away from the Double XP store (explained in the following points) and towards a more integrity based identity.
  • The Double XP Token Store will be reactivated but with a smaller number of available items. The key shift here is to remove integrity breaking items that the store previously offered.
  • Additionally the Double XP Token store will be retired and closed forevermore at the end of this event, so please make sure to use up your tokens before it does!
    • The store and associated tokens created play patterns that we feel are not positive for the long term health of the game - for example, we don't want players to feel like they need to wait for Double XP events in order to obtain certain items through the store.
    • Items such as the Skilling Outfits (that can be bought via the store) will be available in the store until it closes at the end of the event.
      • These outfits are also available in the game, but we are aware that acquiring some of them through those normal means has been considered more of a chore than it needs to be by players.
  • Finally at the end of the event, Double XP Tokens will be converted into GP.
    • If you currently have Double XP Tokens that you would like to make use of, we recommend making sure you use this event as a final opportunity to collect enough of them to acquire what you're after!

With that in mind, dive in on Friday and work towards your skilling goals!

RuneFest Tickets on Sale April 30th

This Thursday!

RuneFest is back and bigger this year and tickets go live on Thursday April 30th at 16:00 BST / 17:00 CEST / 11:00 EDT / 08:00 PDT!

Get your hands on tickets and be ready to join us for an amazing weekend of reveals, revelry & memorable moments!

Want to know more? Dive into the Runefest Website & FAQ for all the info.

Marketplace Update

More Fresh Stock

It's time for a showdown with these opposing outfits!

Item Member Price F2p Price
Lunite Armour 495 550
Solite Armour 495 550
Solstice Blade 135 150
Solstice Shield 135 150
Tumeken Armour 495 550
Tumeken Blade 135 150
Tumeken Translocate 162 180
Herald of Amascut Armour 495 550
Herald of Amascut Blade 135 150
Amascut Translocate 162 180
Ghul Invoker Regalia 495 550
Ghul Invoker Guard 135 150
Ghul Invoker Lantern 135 150
Soul Reaver Guard 135 150
Soul Reaver Lantern 135 150

Solomon's Loyalty Point Bundle

Solomon has closed up shop but he had left a gargantuan bundle in the Marketplace for any member who wants to pick it up free of charge and get their hands on Outfits, Accessories, Animations, Pets, Hairstyles and more!

Head over to the Marketplace and pick it up for yourself!

Patch Notes

Fixes and Improvements In this week's game update

Hotfix

  • Fixed an issue that was causing the 'Darkness' spell and the 'Temporal Anomaly' spell to end too soon when extended via single casts.
  • Resolved an issue where mining crystal-flecked sandstone did not count toward the "Expensive Range" achievement progression
  • Fixed an issue that allowed players to earn Spring Tokens after the Easter Hub had been closed.

General

  • Death reclaim costs for all Rune Pouches, Quivers, and Nexuses no longer scale with the amount of ammo stored. These items now have a fixed reclaim fee.
  • Improved the Quiet World smarthop prompt to give details about the world it has recommended.
    • Quiet World smarthopping will now say a recommended world could not be found if it isn't a world a player can hop to, such as a world running a different language. This will be further improved in the future to stop recommending invalid worlds.
  • Updated the Assault animation when using Dual wield weapons to be consistent with Two handed weapons.
  • Removed a reference to auras that was still present in wardrobe filters.
  • Totems should now display their status accurately in the Totem bag interface when some of the pieces are missing.
  • Slayer Codex locked entries should now display as intended when selected.
  • Removed a message that referenced the Desert Pantheon Aura on completion of the Het's Oasis agility course.

Community

The latest updates from our community

Community Creations

Artwle and the squad have bested Amascut and to commemorate the climb they have created this beautiful team picture!
NinthCloud has arrived on the shores of Wendlewick, eager to check out the local sealife.

Scapers' Screenshots

CG333 has found themselves a very ominous birdhouse
Mooti has been scaling some new heights to get a good vie.

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:

Liberation of Mazcab (First Kills & Improve Skills)

  • When: Sunday 03rd May, 14:00 Gametime
  • Who: Emily Lisle, Evenstar8888 & Raids School Server
  • Where: Mazcab Entrance
  • World: 76
  • FC: RS3 BOTW

Corporeal Beast (Learner Event)

  • When: Friday 01st May, 20:30 Gametime
  • Who: Mega Duck, Mr Quick & im Crystal
  • Where: Corporeal Beast's Lair
  • World: 76
  • FC: AHelp

Zemouregal & Vorkath

  • When: Tuesday 28th April, 17:55 Gametime
  • Who: Doctor Brian, Skylin, Bakkertie2 and the Community Sunday team
  • Where: Commemorative statue (Fort Forinthry)
  • World: 56
  • FC: Doctor Brian

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!

- 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, 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

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