RuneScape Discussion

RuneFest 2017

• In-game Skillchip Hunt
• Use code “back2ourroots” at Diango to receive a Live Stream edition of the RuneFest shield.

Mobile

• Mobile was available to play on Jagex devices at RuneFest
• Still early days, therefore too early to say what the minimum spec required will be.
• Next steps: Top level interfaces. After this the limited beta process will start.
• Dev Blog: OSRS Mobile TLI

Skilling - Mods Ryan and Timbo - The Next 5 Years of Skilling (The 5 Year Plan)

• What does RuneScape skilling look like in 2023?

• Bring skilling up a level that is similar to combat.
• How it will be achieved: diversification of skilling, skilling endgame content, skill reworks and a new skill, adding key milestones to skills, bringing back achievements to skills, and adding more 120 to skills.
• Every skill by 2023 should have something like Overloads.
• 120 Slayer didn’t really come out well, how can we make it better?

• Diversification of Skilling

• A sliding skill between XP, GP, and intensity. The goal is to have options for all of these to be maximized.
• 30%+ from the survey want skills to be fun to train, followed by rewards, and XP/hr.
• Lean forward (barbarian fishing) vs. lean backward (waterfall fishing)
• Tackling the idea of waterfall fishing being too afk and too rewarding, this is not what’s wanted from a skill.
• RuneCrafting: Old rune running was high intensity, decent gp, but lower xp. RuneSpan was high xp, low gp, and medium intensity. The Demonic Skull fixed the issue that RuneSpan brought into the game. Demonic skull is high intensity, high xp, and high gp.
• This sums up diversification of skilling in a nutshell.

• Skilling Endgames

• Jagex doesn’t know at this point what it could be. Combat has clear endgame.
• Right now: Jack of all Trades, Master Capes, Max Cape
• Jagex wants to hear from players what skilling should be about in 2023 over the next few months. Outlined with help from the players.

• Skill Reworks

• 60% of people prefer skill reworks to new skills at ~33%
• In general players want 1-3 skill reworks before a new skill. Skill reworks are a high priority compared to new skills.
• Construction rework: Costs Jagex a lot. Want to do it in the next 5 years. Mod Doctor’s prototype still paves the path for a skill rework.
• Other skills that could be reworked: Agility, crafting, fire making.

• New Skill

• Ideas of adding new skills is always added to the game. Sailing has been talked about. How would it interact with The Arc and Ports?
• Necromancy (raise armies, raise Guthix from the dead), Archeology (Uncover an agility course or ancient altar).
• New skills will follow the rules of skill diversity.
• What type of skill would be wanted? Something completely new and support or cross skilling were at about 30%.
• Slayer was the favourite skill by a long shot in the survey and Dungeoneering was the close second.
• Dungeoneering is “interesting” because in 2010 it shook the game. Was unlike anything else in the game.
• “Crinklyness” in a skill, i.e. Woodcutting. Go elsewhere throughout the world to do something. This should be included more in skills.

• Key Milestones

• Nature runes, 92/95 Prayer, Terrorbirds, Pack Yaks. Bring this to many more skills in game.
• Comparison of skills that have and do not have (image)
• Very important and every skill by 2023 will have a key milestone.
• These give reason to train skills.

• Bringing back achievements to skills

• remembering where you were when you completed something in a skill
• People would have parties, people would ask to see emotes.
• Create more of this sense of community involvement in game.
• Combat has a whole spectrum of possible rewards from common drops to boss drops to the grand prize of hazelmere’s ring and boss pets.
• Skilling has: basic resources, clues and triskelions, and a skill pet at the end. (image)
• Make skilling worthwhile again for making money. Make skilling great again?
• There are ways of making money with skilling (i.e. Divination) but there should be exact ways of making money with skilling.

• 120 Skills

• 120 Slayer “didn’t go down very well”
• The vast majority of 99-120 wasn’t rewarding, that different, and was too burdensome.
• 45% of people say that a skill going to 120 depends on the skill but overall 35% definitely want 120 skills. 80% in total are in favour of or willing to entertain the idea.
• Jagex is taking ideas for what skills should be taken to 120.
• The skill should feel like it changes past 99.

• Lean forward fishing concept. Essentially whack-a-mole, a stacking bonus for however long the player can stay engaged. This would make skilling more diverse and is an early prototype of something that could come to game.
• Q&A:

• Would 120 Skills and Skill reworks be combined? It depends on player feedback. Could be separate or combined depending on the skill and player feedback.
• Social skilling activities? What can friends do for skilling together? Feels like friends getting together is either XPWaste or there should be combat being done. In the next 5 years the segregation of players should stop, there’s no reason to separate high and mid level skillers. Jagex also doesn’t want to continue putting players into instances i.e. uncharted isles.
• Construction: Currently there’s really no reason to go to a POH after it’s built. Would a construction rework look at why players should goto a house? The rework would include a reason to go there, add more reasons to go to your house, make teleports relevant, add more skills, etc.
• Will we be moving away from stealing other’s skilling spots? Jagex wants the players to be able to enjoy playing the game without hurting someone else's game.
• Nex AoD for magic logs vs. cutting magic logs: Plan has always been to remove skilling drops from PvM. How and when this happens is a problem to solve. New drop tables will have very few resources on them.
• Doing anything more with elite skills? The next skill will likely not be an elite skill. There are positives and negatives to making an elite skill.

RuneScape Reveals - Back to our Roots

• Every single update mentioned in this talk is actively being worked on. Arriving in the next 6 months.
• Clue Scroll Rework:

• New master tier of clue scroll
• Mega rare second age outfits, when the gods first appeared and Zaros’ empire was at its strongest. Saradomin was of course a major player in the second age.
• Cosmetic override to set a sword on fire, applied to all swords.
• Ice dye
• Clue scroll outfit that helps solve the puzzles we encounter.
• Clue scroll collection log
• Improvements including reward balance, more valuable, worth more time, STASH locations.
• Improve storing multiple scrolls

• Skilling offhands

• Duel wielding pickaxes, a bit silly… More skilling offhand items in the form of magical relic. Each relic has a theme attached: sacrifice, restoration, time, elemental, destruction. Each of these will be able to be augmented with Invention.

• Novtumberfest

• The first annual gielinor beer festival
• Celebrating 15 years since the first barbarian bar crawl.
• New bar crawl across the world
• New seasonal game called “Kegger” practicing bar tending skills.

• Combat Pets

• On track as voted in by the players.

• Quests

• Almost 60% wanted 5th age story lines finished.
• Pirates and gnomes top two.
• Pirate quest finale: Pieces of Hate. “Crazy puzzle solving”
• Coming later this year!
• Evil Dave quest is also arriving later this year.

• Skilling Activities are supposed to be fun

• How fun a skill is to train came in on top with > 30%. Rewards and XP/hr second and third.
• First update with this in mind: deep sea fishing. Spiritual successor to the fishing trawler (bucket scape lol!) Catching boats with other players to fishing hot spots, each has different effects, xp, rewards. Similar to the Trawler but also including some fishing spots for those who want to sit back and watch. Bringing multiple levels of players together, ensuring more players are together.
• Safe cracking: expansion to the Thieves guild. Travel across the world to various safes, find legendary treasures, each acts as a perk to Thieving. Brand new tier of hanky points and reward shop items. Additional benefits to other Thieving methods. Targets Thieves from levels 65-95. Those with 99 Thieving will get a boost off the bat.

• The Lost Grove

• 10 map squares, larger than Prifddinas, island off the coast of the west of the game world.
• A dark thick canopy over a lush forest. Roots so deep that the intertwine the heart of the planet and touch the anima.
• Coming next week, the level 104, 106, level 108 Slayer creatures.
• In part inspired by the moss giants, each with its own unique challenge.
• Drop: Tier 85 gloves.
• A new weekly D&D focused on Farming and Hunter!
• A new group boss: Solak
• Strongly associated with the Anima like Telos and Vorago. The toughest boss monster on launch, targeting groups of up to 7 people.
• Requiring the best teamwork and coordination since raids. A guardian of guthix who defends the island.
• Seren sent an army of elves to the island in the second age, one of these elves disappeared and morphed into a twisted elf spirit. Goal of the fight: split this personality.
• Both players and Solak will use the environment to their advantage.
• Each phase has a more narrative slant to it than normal fights.
• Target different sections of Solak managing different health bars.
• Will include a unique duo mode.
• Unique drops: tier 92 dual wield crossbows.
• Changes coming to revolution mode later in the combat talk.

• Dimension of the Damned

• Coming October: The Dead Will Rise
• New cooperative game mode, controlling a maxed out version of your character where everyone else in the game world is dead.
• Starting in Falador, everything beyond will spawn zombies.
• Bosses drop power ups and unique equipment from Falador.
• Players with the highest points will take place in a final survival mode in the last week of October.

• Group Ironman

• Gather with your friends, make a new set of accounts.

Finishing Unfinished Business

• Bank Rework

• Still a top priority internally, “woefully underestimated”
• Spans 7 products, needs to be done properly.

• Mining and Smithing

• Development work has begun last week

• Ambitious ideas:

• Day/night cycles
• Be a slayer master
• Destroy a demon from the inside
• Ominous quests: Elder Gods

• Clans:

• Not working on today. The whole studio wants it to be in development in 2018.
• The clan content is the bulk of the action in 5 years.
• Across the existing game, players should benefit from their friends and especially clans.
• Challenged every single staff member to think in a more social way.

Other Things

• What have we been doing?

Show Data

• Episode Title: RuneFest 2017
• Teaser: RuneFest is here and we’ve got interviews with Mod Mark and Mod Raven. Analysis of RuneScape Skilling and RuneScape Reveals, a chat with Cireon, and some thoughts from attending Clan Questers!
• Recorded Date: September 23, 2017
• Release Date: September 23, 2017
• Hosts: Shane, Dave, Cireon, and Special Guests
• Duration: 2:01:07
• Editing Notes: Add RuneFest segments. Add Cireon segment.