Christmas has arrived in Gielinor with festive decorations, an atmosphere of general good cheer, and of course, loads of prezzies! Perhaps the biggest gift this season is for PvMers, as today sees the launch of Frank’s Free Deaths. For the next four weeks you can boss without fear, because we’re taking away death costs for selected adversaries! Read on to find out how, and get all the updates on Christmas events, Merch Store gift ideas and more.
Frank's Free Deaths
Boss without fear and help us define the future of the Death System!
Are you a nervous PvMer? Would some describe you as risk averse? Perhaps even actively death avoidant? Well today’s your lucky day. It’s the launch of Frank’s Free Deaths!
Yes, starting at today's update, we’re giving you four weeks of free deaths across various bosses, so you can pulverise the bad guys with zero costs should you meet a sticky end. It’s a great opportunity to learn the habits of bosses you've never tackled before, removing the stress for combat beginners while also giving you more experienced PvMers the chance to sharpen your skills. We’ll also get loads of useful data from this event to inform future decisions: we want to reassess death costs in general, so we’ll be listening closely to your feedback and looking at who is playing and how.
So how does it work? Well, Frank is using his connection with his old pal Death to focus on a different set of bosses each week. Oh, and he's definitely not profiting from this at all. Really. Don't worry about it.
This week's featured bosses (starting from today's update and running until midnight 12th/13th December):
- Barrows (Solo)
- Barrows: Rise of the Six (1-4 players)
- Nex: Angel of Death (7 players recommended)
Visit Frank at War's Retreat or Death's Office and get to thrashing those baddies! Don’t forget to send us your feedback too!
Find out more here: November 30th | Developer Diary №1
Christmas Comes To Gielinor!
Festive vibes and Golden Party Hats
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in RuneScape – right down to the bosses getting a festive new look! You’ll also notice the decorations around Gielinor, giving our magical world that extra special Noël glow. Ahh.
Perhaps you’ll have already started enjoying our seasonal in-game events too. First up, there’s the annual Advent Calendar – make sure to claim your prezzies every day, because it’s all progress towards earning the very special Horizon Sword!
Then there’s the Golden Party Hat Hunt, which runs until January 3rd – this is your chance to make the headgear of RuneScape legend by completing various tasks in exchange for Golden Party Hat shards.
Finally, don’t miss the Wintumber Aurora Yak Track, stacked with spectacular Northern Lights-themed cosmetics and more! That's running until January 9th.
That's not all for this year either - another festive event will make its appearance next week. Yup, we’re going all out for Christmas 2021! Stay tuned…
Merch Updates
Gifting season is upon us!
RuneScape: The First 20 Years Digital Release
Rejoice, e-bookworms: RuneScape: the First 20 Years is available for your e-reader from tomorrow! Grab a copy from Amazon, Apple Books and other digital book platforms.
Keeping it old school? You can still get a physical version of the book on the
Christmas Gifting
The last of our Elvarg Xmas Jumpers are selling fast. If you are in the UK, order now to get yours in time for Christmas Jumper Day on December 10th!
Other gift ideas include the Fancy Socks or Map of Gielinor Jigsaw – make sure Santa knows that the last shipping dates to receive international orders from our UK-based store start from today in some territories. Check out the Royal Mail website for
New Merch Drop!
This year we’ve been celebrating iconic RuneScape moments of the past two decades with some very special merch drops. The anniversary bonanza continues this week with a very cool Stone of Jas Limited Edition Pin, and the very snazzy Master Quest Cape and Trimmed Divination Skillcape Keyrings!
Click here for the full range on the official store.
Upcoming Livestreams
News and fun, live from the J-Mod team
Wednesday December 8th | 17:00 Game Time | General Q&A Part 2
You asked so many questions we needed a two part series! Join us for another round of General Q&A.
Postponed | Frank's Free Deaths JvM Special
We're really sorry to cancel our JvM planned for this week! We'll be back with another JvM soon.
See you on Twitch!
Patch Notes
Fixes and improvements in this week's game update
- The Golden Party Hat's texture is now forced on even when set to minimal graphics.
- The post-quest content for Once Upon A Time In Gielinor is now required for the Master Quest Cape.
- Fixed an issue with the ranged projectile animations for Solak, Anachronian creatures and the Menaphos Quest boss.
- Added missing Bank preset names for Legiones and Rex Matriarchs.
- Papaya Tree Seeds can now be added to the Seed Bag.
- Fixed an issue where Maul of Omens pieces were becoming invisible as the player progressed through the various Vorago phases.
- Fixed an issue that was reducing forced critical strike damage by 1.
- The response to a quickchat about the Scripture of Bik no longer mentions the Croesus Spore Sack.
- Fixed an issue with sorting in the Boss Collection Log.
- Updated the Rex Matriarchs image in the Beasts tab.
- The Peer off the Pier Achievement only requires Fishing level 1, rather than 16 as before.
- Plank You Very Much and Relocation, Relocation, Relocation are now correctly unlockable by free-to-play adventurers.
- Players are no longer required to take out money from their Coin Pouch in The Feud, as this was problematic on mobile.
- Fixed a broken state during The Fremennik Trials which prevented the player from getting Olaf's vote after playing the Enchanted Lyre.
- Stopped the Tutorial progress tracker overlapping the navigation instructions on desktop.
- Centred the text in the buttons on the Donation screen for Secret Santa.
- Players are no longer able to walk into the barrels at the Warforge! Dig Site.
- The line ‘What about the battle?’ in dialogue with the Lumbridge Sage is now correctly spoken by the player rather than the NPC.
- Mobile: updated the tutorial settings to be visually consistent with the Home Screen.
- Hotfix: Players will more reliably receive the Golden Party Hat Shard when completing Task 15 of the Yak Track, rather than needing to reclaim the Shard from the Wise Old Man.
Community
The latest goings-on from our community
Secret Santa: Magic Moments
The Wintumber Aurora Yak Track has introduced a new Secret Santa system to the world of Gielinor! Speak to Sir Desmond Wellingtons KBE at the Snow Queen's setup in Burthorpe and you can donate or claim a new secret gift every two hours. Here's a few of our favorite shared finds so far. Aren't you a lovely lot?
SquiglyBacon struck some serious gold! (Fun fact, only one person has donated a Max Cash stack in Secret Santa so far).
GraveUndeath found a suspiciously just-enough-for-a-title gift! Totally unrelated, we're sure.
This one hurts us too, FooxRS.
Gordon_Betto, on the other hand, landed a whole new set of Armor! Nice one.
Don't forget – donate over 200million in one go and you'll earn the title of The Top Secret Santa... and show off your not-so-secret generosity!
Pink Skirts
Each week the Pink Skirts put on a selection of fun activities that everyone can join. Here’s our pick for this week:
Nex: Angel of Death
Looking to try out some Nex: AOD? The Pink Skirts have you covered!
- Hosted by: Pippyspot and Boss Guild / Spotleewolf and NexAODMass
- Date/Time: Friday December 10th at 20:00 Game Time and 23:00 Game Time
- World: 88 / 92
- Location: God Wars Dungeon - Ancient Prison
- FC: BossGuild (20:00 session) and Nexaodmass (23:00 session)
If that doesn't take your fancy, take a look at the full events schedule here. There’s sure to be something you’ll enjoy!