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Your Feedback & Next Steps - 14th March

Over the last few days, we’ve seen plenty of feedback about our initial pitch for God Alignment Prayers. Before we get into our next steps, we’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone that took part in our survey and the discussions around the Prayers. We've received copious amounts of feedback already, which is exactly why we started these conversations so early in the process!

So, what’s next for the God Alignment Prayers? In short, we’re taking a step-back from our initial pitch and want to refine it with your feedback in mind. We saw many players speaking about overcomplication and going against the idea of what Prayers are within Old School RuneScape - a simple system that enhances combat while being easy to engage with.

What wasn't clear in our initial blog was the overall timelines for these Prayers, so to clarify our intention was and still is to start with releasing just the Guthix Alignment with a second Alignment for Zaros releasing later this year. Speaking about the other Gods was to showcase that an Alignment system has a future rather than because we wanted to deliver them all at once.

We all want what’s best for the game, and it’s become clear that we should revisit our initial pitch to be more aligned with your feedback. We don’t want to add more layers of complexity to Prayers - our aim is to offer alternatives that sit nicely alongside our current options.

We’re continuing to ideate for God Alignments, but this time we’re taking a slightly different approach. First, we’re removing the Seren Alignments from the current offerings as we want to make sure we can have some refined focus on these Prayers. If all goes well, we will revisit them later.

In the meanwhile, we'll revisit the Guthix and Zaros Alignments and tweak the designs to incorporate your feedback - including trimming down the number of Prayers on offer by at least one Prayer each. This doesn't mean we are hard stuck on this number either and we're open to the idea of different Alignments having a different number of Prayers, depending on what's right for that Alignment.

We plan to tackle them one at a time, starting with Guthix, which we still plan to launch with While Guthix Sleeps. Should Community Consultation stretch beyond our release date, we'll launch them as a post-release quest reward.

We'd like to clarify that we are not looking to add skilling Prayers to our updated pitches for the Guthix or Zaros God Alignments. We've learned a lot from our initial pitches, and feel that skilling Prayers are extremely difficult to create, let alone balance well.

For example, Prayer Drain plays a big part in how we balance Prayers - but for skilling, it would need to be much lower than we're used to, as skilling is neither as intense or as high-stakes as combat. But how low should the drain be? We imagine there aren't many players that want to bring Prayer supplies on their skilling trips - ultimately, it's another layer of upkeep that overcomplicates training, much like the Campfires and Teas we initially pitched with Forestry.

This isn’t to say we won’t revisit skilling Prayers in the future, but for now we believe that skilling Prayers aren't right for our current proposals.

Here are our next steps:

• A dedicated Guthix Alignment Newspost (with no more than three Prayers)
• Community Consultation & Surveys
• Livestreams, Discord Stages and Open Betas
• Polls

Once the Guthix Alignment Prayers are finalised, we'll move on to the Zaros Alignment.

It's a challenge to update such a classic skill, and we'd like to thank you for your patience and your feedback as we feel out the best possible design for these new Prayers.

Thanks again to everyone who's taken part in the discussions, and stay tuned for more opportunities to have your say!

Today, we’re discussing God Alignments, the Rites of Balance & more...

The Audio Read (OUT OF DATE - 14/03)

If you can't see the Audio Read, you can CLICK HERE to listen.

Later this year, we’ll bring back one of the most iconic RuneScape quests ever – While Guthix Sleeps! We’ll be adding plenty of Old School flair and flavour, while keeping all the best bits.

Today, we want to start the conversation around one of the biggest new additions: God Alignment Prayers. Inspired by NinjaPig’s popular suggestion, these new Prayer sets will bestow special effects themed around their aligned deity. The first set, The Rites of Balance, will be your reward for completing the Old School version of While Guthix Sleeps – and somewhat unsurprisingly, they’re Guthix themed!

We’ve already done some snooping and determined that this is something you’re excited about – if the 18,000 of you who took part in the survey weren’t enough of a green flag! Thank you to everyone who sent in their feedback.

We’ve also learned a great deal from the Ruinous Powers we pitched with Desert Treasure II, and we’re confident that these learnings will make The Rites of Balance one of the most exciting shakeups we’ve ever seen.

Today’s newsposts will give you some greater context for God Alignment Prayers. For the first time, you’ll see how we plan to create new Prayers for every god in Gielinor (or at least the ones on our list), how players might gain access to them, and how you can shape the direction these Prayers go in.

One thing we won’t discuss are specific numbers. Today is about making sure we’re on the right track, not about getting into the nitty gritty details. But don’t worry – once we’ve found the right direction for these powerful new effects, we’ll spill all the deets.

Let’s get started!

Lore and Thematics

One of the most important things for us is to establish how the God Alignment Prayers will feel during gameplay. The gods of Old School RuneScape are unique, and we want each set of Prayers to feel thematically aligned to their different values.

Now, the gods are an elusive bunch in Old School RuneScape, so in case you’re unfamiliar, we’re going to go through a few of them now – beginning with the three gods at the top of our list.

We believe that these first three gods are perfect candidates for our first three sets of God Alignment Prayers, as suitably impressive requirements to unlock them are already in-game. You’ll see what their Alignments look like later in the blog, but for now, here’s a light introduction:

Guthix

The Rites of Balance will be the first God Alignment Prayers you get your hands on – so it’s only fair that we talk about Guthix first!

Guthix is a peaceful god of balance and nature. He’s responsible for bringing all your favourite creatures to Gielinor – which must have been an exhausting task, because he took a long nap afterwards. When he awoke, it was to the horrors of the God Wars. To maintain the balance, Guthix banished all the gods from Gielinor, including himself.

A humble god, Guthix doesn’t desire worship – but he will lend a hand to those who seek to preserve the delicate balance of nature.

Zaros

This ancient god is associated with fate and control – and control Gielinor he did, until his vast empire suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the other gods. Although Zaros is long forgotten, his shadowy machinations are still ticking away behind the scenes. Similarly, his Prayers will allow you to strike when your enemies least expect it…

We’d like to add Zaros’ God Alignment Prayers, the Ruinous Powers, as a retroactive reward from Desert Treasure II.

Seren

The crystalline goddess of the elves, Seren stands for peace, growth, and light. Seren sought to nurture her people while promoting harmony and cooperation among her worshippers. At the end of the God Wars, Seren shattered herself into many different fragments, so that she might remain close to her followers. To this day, the elves’ crystal-singing rituals allow them to draw on Seren’s power and enhance their own abilities.

Seren’s God Alignment Prayers, the Covenants of Light, will be added as a retroactive reward from Song of the Elves.

The next four gods on our list will still get their own God Alignment Prayers – but they’ll be added later. Becoming aligned with a god and gaining access to their divine favour is a big deal, so we feel that all the God Alignments should have suitably impressive requirements – much like the three Grandmaster quests listed above.

Saradomin

Gielinor’s most widely worshipped god is Saradomin, who stands for order, wisdom, and the forces of good. Although Saradomin was one of the major combatants in the God Wars, his teachings promote defence and protection – a strong incentive for those looking to align with his ideals.

Zamorak

The mortal enemy of Saradomin, Zamorak ascended to godhood by overthrowing Zaros, an event which led to the devastation of the God Wars. Consequently, he’s viewed as an ‘evil’ god by the citizens of Gielinor – but in truth, his teachings are about embracing chaos.

Armadyl

Armadyl was the patron god of the Aviantese. He teaches the values of law and justice, and his followers are deadly warriors who utilise precision and movement to strike against their enemies.

Bandos

BIG HIGH WAR GOD! BIG HIGH WAR GOD!

Bandos’ followers are goblins, ogres, trolls, and everyone who values strength in battle. As the god of war, he was one of the major players in the God Wars, and his followers were known throughout Gielinor for their reckless yet mighty fighting style.

Aligning the Design

As you can see, we’ve closely studied the key traits of each of the gods to understand what their Alignments might look like.

Now, let’s see the results of that process with our first three God Alignments – Guthix, Zaros, and Seren. It felt only fitting to team up with the one and only NinjaPig to give you a breakdown of these Prayers.

Before we begin, another reminder: we’re not giving you specific numbers today. Our focus for now is on the feel of the Prayers, not the details.

If you can't see the image, you can CLICK HERE to view in full.

If you can't see the image, you can CLICK HERE to view in full.

If you can't see the image, you can CLICK HERE to view in full.

The Rites of Balance (Guthix Alignment)

This Alignment will be unlocked by completing While Guthix Sleeps. We’re unsure whether we want to give you access to all the Prayers immediately, but you can expect at least a couple to arrive as soon as the Alignment is unlocked.

So, what does the god of balance have in store for us?

Guthix brought great changes to Gielinor, and Strike Balance will bring similarly seismic changes to combat! We wanted a Prayer that maintains an interesting gameplay loop with itself, and the Adaptation effect provides that in spades. This Prayer will reward you for switching gear and combat styles in encounters like The Gauntlet or the Tombs of Amascut.

Neutrality embodies the balance Guthix is known for. There are two approaches we could take here - improving consistency across the board by clamping damage uniformly on either side, or improving consistency while also increasing damage by clamping one value higher than the other. We want to hear your thoughts on the topic before we make a decision - so don't forget to fill in the survey at the end of this blog!

Redemption is an iconic Prayer, and one we plan to explore in full when it comes to the Alignments. This variant takes it out of its usual niche and into a wider variety of use cases – which we reckon Guthix would approve of.

This last one is straight from NinjaPig’s book of Alignments, with a few tweaks. When a tree falls in the forest, it provides nourishment for everything around it. That’s the philosophy behind this Prayer, which lets players convert damage taken into healing for their friends. We’re especially excited to see how this Prayer might combine with effects like Vengeance! However, we also want to stress that we’re cautious about adding too much healing to the game, so we’ll be exploring cooldowns and other abuse prevention mechanics for Natural Succession in particular.

The Ruinous Powers (Zaros Alignment)

They’re back, and they’re better than ever! The Zaros Alignment Prayers were originally pitched as a reward from Desert Treasure II, although they’ve seen a great deal of reworking since then.

These Prayers work slightly differently – you can only have one Prayer from the roster activated at a time. You can, however, combine them with your regular Prayers.

Umbra believes the best defence is a good offence. Here, we want to explore a more consistent way to provide Defence reduction – we all know the crushing feeling of whiffing a good Dragon Warhammer spec. Of course, balance is our main concern when adding reductions of any kind to the game, but by targeting minimum defence instead of total defence, we can raise the power of this Prayer without making it imbalanced. Minimum defence, of course, refers to the absolute lowest an enemy NPC’s defence can fall – so you’ll still get plenty of value from this Prayer in the long run.

Fumus rewards those willing to endure the creeping pain of Poison effects. This niche offensive Prayer will introduce new ways to tackle poisonous enemies. Instead of donning that Serpentine Helm, you can choose to tank the Poison and deal more damage! We’re sure there are a few crafty ways to use this Prayer with self-poisoning techniques, which is why we’ve chosen Poison Severity as the affected stat. Gotta take the risk if you want the reward!

Maintaining an icy stoicism in the heat of battle will earn you Glacies’ favour. This straightforward Prayer makes being a stable tank more viable – as long as you stay still. To up the ante further, we’re considering increasing the bonus the longer you stay still, but of course, we’d have to cap the effect somewhere.

Cruor’s Vow is simple – fell your foes in bloody combat! We reckon this Prayer will provide interesting ways to approach encounters with lots of small enemies, like the Path of Apmeken or the Abyssal Sire.

Covenants of Light (Seren Alignment)

Our last featured God Alignment will be unlocked by completing Song of the Elves, although again, we’re unsure whether we want to give you access to all four Prayers right off the bat.

The Fragment of Seren was in stasis for some time – and this Prayer lets you join her! Slumber gives you breathing room to forget about an effect for a few moments, letting you focus on the battle at hand. Note that stacking effects, like Poison, will continue to build potency - so when the Prayer wears off, you’d best have an Antidote ready!

Another Redemption variant! This one adds even more variety by healing the user at a slightly higher threshold than Nature’s Redemption – letting you use it in a wider variety of risky situations.

This Prayer rewards you for coordinating with your teammates, allowing you to deal extra damage when you all strike on the same tick. While this seems like a tricky feat, we’ve been amazed time and time again by how well players can work together. Note that this Prayer cannot be activated with Guiding Strikes.

Let Seren’s guidance turn the tide of battle – while encouraging equipment variety within teams. Bringing an Elder Maul or the elves’ very own Bowfa could help your allies penetrate even the toughest defences, encouraging good positioning and coordination. Note that this Prayer cannot be activated alongside Harmonise.

Survey and Next Steps

You’ve seen our first three proposed God Alignments, and now we want to know what you think! Let us know your thoughts on the unlock process, the Prayers themselves, and how well they fit each god’s themes. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to tell all, including a Discord Stages call today at 16:00 GMT and a dedicated livestream on Thursday, March 14th at 17:00 GMT. We can’t wait to hear from you.

… No, we really can’t wait. Here’s a survey where you can jot down all your immediate thoughts about the God Alignment Prayers. You know what to do by now – just click the button and get responding! Hurry! Do it now!

The survey has now been closed, thank you for your participation.

Finally, you can join the discussion on Discord, where we’ve created a few new channels especially for the new Prayers. We look forward to seeing your feedback!

You can also discuss this update on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

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