Behind the Scenes - November

November is packed full of juicy updates for those who managed to avoid the ravenous zombie hordes of Halloween. A brand new desert quest (with monkeys in, of all things!), 13 new ‘warped floors’ (with matching bosses, rewards and challenges) AND a new area that combines Hunter, Farming and Herblore awaits!

Dungeoneering – The Warped floors

Requiring level 95 Dungeoneering to access, this is undoubtedly the biggest ‘high-level skill update’ we have ever released, with some of the toughest and most demanding bosses ever conceived. Even the standard wandering monsters have improved tactics to foil the most experienced dungeoneer. Six new, fully voice-supported bosses lie in wait for you, including the masters of all the unique races found in Daemonheim, like Kal’Ger the Warmonger, the new title-holder for Toughest Dungeoneering Boss Ever™. We also have eight new challenge rooms planned, six of which are available on all floors of Daemonheim.

With increased difficulty comes increased rewards, as the highest possible XP rates are available to those who have a prestige level of the maximum number of floors. Eight new rewards will be available from the rewards trader, including necklaces that regain prayer points as you bury bones, a new pet based around one of our most popular bosses, and the scroll of cleansing, which gives you a permanent chance of making potions faster and saving a secondary ingredient while you do so.

Graphically, the warped floors contain some of the most beautiful environments we have produced. Bilrach’s experiments with portals have been left unchecked, causing a magically twisted landscape that appears to distort into the void itself…but a void to where?

The final batch of tier-11 equipment will be released with this update, introducing additional primal, celestial and sagittarian gear. This is by far the most powerful gear available in the game to date, so max hit hunters should look to Daemonheim for ultimate epicness.

Herblore Habitat

We plan to go back to our roots this month, travelling just south of the Jade Vine for a spot of skill-based voodoo! Papa Mambo, the ex-witch doctor of Shilo Village, has installed himself as the (shrunken) head of a bustling ecosystem. Here, he will invite you to the centre of a circle of life: grow plants to attract creatures, hunt creatures to gain potion ingredients, and make potions to improve your plant-growing ability! Farming, Hunter and Herblore will all be trained in an area that requires a Farming level of at least 54, a Hunter level of 70 and a Herblore level of 54.

There will also be the opportunity to concoct ten juju potions, each with really wild effects: a fishing potion that attracts the elusive baron shark, mining potions that invoke the stone spirits, and a herblore potion that offers you the chance of double herbs when harvesting. Those who experiment with their environment, attracting eight different creatures in a given week, will win XP and clothing rewards. Those who go a step further, and entice the elusive Guthix, Saradomin and Zamorak jadinkos, will receive an even scarcer prize. With seven new plants to grow and eight Construction features to build, Papa Mambo has grown an area that puts others to shaman.

Do No Evil

This month, it will be time to head down to the desert for a new quest that builds on a lot of the lore of that area of RuneScape, and which will tie together the disparate quest threads from the region. The Pharaoh Queen, Senliten, has much to catch up on after being cut off from the land of the living, and may have some insights into what is going on with the plagues, sandstorms and various schemes of the Devourer.

It’s not all serious business, though: there’s monkey business to be had, as you coax the simians of Ape Atoll to set up a colony on the sandy dunes of the Kharidian Desert. Why are monkeys and the desert so strongly linked? How did the Three Wise Monkeys really lose their senses? When will King Awowogei get his next food fix? And what do monkey knife-fighters carry in their pockets? Find the answers to these questions and more in Do No Evil, our latest master quest.

In other news...

This month, we are planning a project that stands apart from our other fixes and tweaks. We’re calling it the Bank Op And Equip Screen Update (BOAESU - very catchy, we know), and it will make the movement of items between your bank and equip screen much easier. With the release of this project, you’ll be able to right-click certain items in your inventory and operate them while your bank is open, like wearing items, filling essence pouches, eating food and drinking potion cures. You’ll be able to switch quickly and easily between your bank and equip screen, changing your avatar’s look and protection without having to constantly open and close your bank. And you’ll also be able to right-click an item on your equip screen to ‘view’ or ‘compare’ its stats with those of other items (even ones you are wearing). Snazzy, no?

In other, other news, the Varrock apothecary will offer a right-click option to mix more than one strength potion at a time, and revenants will no longer interrupt a fight with a combat NPC from Treasure Trails.

Have fun!