Changelog - October 14th

The Fractured Archive - Releasing October 20th

Old School's fourth raid, The Fractured Archive, is coming NEXT WEEK! We're currently aiming to open the raid at 11:00 UTC, but will let you know ahead of time if anything's changing on this front.

This is your reminder that you have less than 7 days to gear up, get your squad together, figure out which ailment is just believable enough for some last minute sick days at work, and get ready to step in to our toughest raid yet.

In case you missed it, we published an Everything You Need To Know blog last week which - as you might have guessed - details just about everything you need to know about how the raid works, so make sure to study up to free up your brain to focus on the bosses themselves after release.

We'll also be live on our Twitch channel to try and keep up with people's progress, where Mod Ayiza and Mod Kieren will be bouncing between various streams, talking through the raid itself, trying to bring you as much of the race to world first as possible. The stream's set to be a casual kickback but hopefully serve as a nice central hub for you all to figure out which stream to pile into and chat spam, but we'll be chatting with our data team throughout the day to bring you cool stats as we go.

The Fractured Archive being less than a week away feels a little surreal, we're so excited for you all to get stuck in, keep your eyes peeled for teasers and countdowns across all of our socials, and we'll see you on the 20th!

Pete Kayer's Challenges

Pete Kayer made his way to Ferox Enclave last week and has since become the centre of attention! We'd initially not planned on having a game update this week in advance of The Fractured Archive's release next week on October 20th, so don't have a huge number of changes for you.

Before we get to chatting, let's get you up to speed with changes that have been made either with today's update or via hotfixes from last week:

• Pete's attack range has been slightly reduced during Pete's Final Challenge to match that of the players.

• The chance for Pete to plant Mithril seeds during his Final Challenge has been reduced.

• Pete's HP during his Final Challenge has been reduced slightly.

• Special attack energy will now continue regenerating after leaving the Special Attack PvP Challenge.

• Planted mithril seeds are now fully cleared in between fights during Pete's Penultimate and Final challenge, meaning you will no longer get the message "you can't plant seeds here" when visually there were no seeds planted.

• The back button within the PvP Challenges interface on Mobile has been slightly resized to fit within the interface.

• Completion of the Easy Wilderness Diary is no longer required to claim rewards from Pete's PvP Challenges.

• Pete's Combat level during his final challenges has been lowered to 126 to match that of the player's max combat level.

• Pete's attack delay after healing in Pete's Final Challenge has been increased to match that of the players.

Those first three changes in particular reduce RNG reliance for Pete's Final Challenge, so if you've found yourself getting close but unable to finish the fight then it might be worth jumping back in!

The rest of this section's more focused on how the update's gone, future plans and general thoughts from the team, so if you're only here to look at changes then you can scroll on by.

Just over half of the people who've engaged with Pete Kayer's challenges have never engaged with PvP prior to the update. We've seen a considerably higher number than we'd anticipated of this group of players go on to engage in Wilderness PvP or LMS after engaging with Pete's challenges, which is pretty good going. 

Having said that, we hadn't set out to make Pete's challenges something that would specifically make you want to PvP or go out into the Wilderness, we understand that issues and feelings towards the Wilderness are systemic and far-reaching and don't expect some challenges focused on mechanically piloting your character in PvP scenarios to change this significantly. What we do think people have gotten better at is shoring up their fundamentals and having a stronger framework for defending themselves in situations where they do find themselves in the Wilderness - we've seen comments for years now about the number of PKers with years and years of experience feeling like an immediate death sentence, so hope that people can find some value in practicing versus the suped-up training dummy that is Pete's Final Challenge.

We also agree that Pete's Final Challenge was overtuned on release and hope that the changes we've made make it more achievable for those of you willing to get your reps in on the tutorial elements and shore up your skills. Pete hadn't been finalised at the time of us polling the Imbued ancient cape cosmetic, and turned out to be a little tougher than is reasonable for something that so many of you have been wanting for ages, which has lead to many players treating it as aspirational content and resulted in large numbers looking for 'cheese' strategies just to secure the cape rather than using it for practice.

While we've not finalised anything yet, we're having internal discussions and leaning towards offering the Ancient fabric from Pete's Penultimate Challenge instead, then offering another small cosmetic or perhaps a trim from Pete's Final Challenge so that players still know you're tough as nails.

Loads of you have had great suggestions for additions to Pete's curriculum, including things like 'tank tests', introductions to Vengeance or damage-stacking, or extra parts of existing challenges like reacting to a big outgoing hit before rushing in with a special attack. We love hearing your ideas for things you'd like to see and have made loads of notes, but don't currently have plans to make any additions in the immediate future. Pete's tutorial system is set up so that it's possible for us to add more whenever we like, so we'll be keeping these in mind for future - let us know if you have other cool suggestions for us to consider!

More Gathering Efficiencies

Our next batch of Gathering Efficiency updates is here! 

Runite Golems

When you're venturing into the Wilderness Resource Area to take on the Runite Golems, you want to be sure you'll come away with pockets full of ore. We've increased the chance to receive a Runite ore from a defeated golem, so you can more reliably get your hands on at least one ore before the golem respawns. OK so you've got one, how about more? Well we're introducing a chance-based system to give you additional ores based on your Wilderness Diary completion. Completing the Medium Diary gives the chance to receive 2 total ores per successful mining action, Hard diary has the chance for 3 and Elite has 4.

Also, got your mits on a pair of Expert Mining Gloves? Their chance to prevent ore depletion now works on Runite Golems as it does for standard Runite rocks, handy! However, stay sharp, when you kill a Runite golem, it will turn into a rock you can mine for one minute (which has always been the case). Whilst the Expert mining gloves may stop the rock from depleting once, it will not stop the golem from respawning!

Tool Touch-ups

You can now recharge Infernal tools without previous charges being depleted, across your Infernal pickaxe, harpoon and axe. No more XP-waste exhausting the charges!

To burn or not to burn? That's a question you can now answer with our new toggle for your Infernal pickaxe, harpoon and axe! No more smoked swordfish when you're wanting to stockpile your resources without having to lug around two pieces of equipment. Toggling auto-burn off won't affect your current charge count, and the setting will stay the same between sessions. Find the toggle through the right click minimenu. 

Speaking of carting fishing equipment around, you're now able to store a knife and hammer in your Tackle box, giving you more space for your catch of the day.

Official Client & Mobile Changes

We've removed the pesky E icon when a farm patch is empty, and we've adjusted the position of the compost icon, too, making it easier for tapping those green thumbs.

Misc

• We've adjusted the 'bonus resource' rounding on the Kingdom Management activity in Miscellania, effectively providing the player with more bonus resources.

• On Fossil island, you can now deposit fossils in fossil storage by simply using the fossil on the crate, no more bank pin requirement! This will respect the Bank Deposit Box item quantity check setting, to know whether to ask you for quantities to deposit or not.

• The Skill Guide and Runecraft level-up messages at levels 50, 75, and 85 correctly indicate that the Colossal pouch can now hold more essence.

• The primary/left-click option on Roe (from Barbarian Fishing) is now 'use' rather than eat.

That's everything in this batch of Gathering Efficiency updates. We'll be taking a break from these to focus on The Fractured Archive next week, but we'll be back with more before long!

Mining & Smithing Survey

If you missed it, on Monday we released our Mining & Smithing survey to help us understand exactly what you'd like to see with the upcoming Mining & Smithing: Reforged! Whether you agree, how far you would want us to go, and where you would prefer we did not change anything.

None of the ideas suggested in this survey are decided but your answers will directly shape whether we pursue them, drop them, or rethink them. We want to understand your current experience regarding Mining and Smithing and whether that experience satisfactorily grows with you.

There's a lot to think about when it comes to these skills as separate entities, skills that intertwine closely and how they affect the rest of the game. So jump in-game, head to a Poll Booth or use the option in your Account Settings tab and let us know your thoughts!

Other Changes

• Entering barbarian assault will now correctly check for dragon arrows and arrows in dizanas quiver before letting players into the minigame where it was not before. Dropping normal arrows (non barb assault arrows) will no longer be destroyed on drop without warning inside barb assault.

• Pets now correctly follow you through teleports (i.e. Fairy Rings, PoH Exits, etc)

• Removed a couple of rogue fences floating near the Colossal Wyrm.

• Dogs will no longer appear with enlarged heads due to being dropped in F2P worlds (Big Head Mode: OFF).

• Tweaked the message trees used in net trapping on to indicate how to make a net trap. (By using a rope on a net)

• The buy limit on empty butterfly jars is now the same as empty vials and impling jars.

• Active Daeyalt Essence now stand out more.

• The Grid Master PoH wallkit's mismatched ambient and contrast values have been fixed.

• Fixed the small gap between dungeon wall tops causing them to misalign.

Community

The RuneScape Art Community annual Scapetober challenge started on October 1st!

Scapetober is an OSRS/RuneScape-centric variation of Inktober. It challenges artists to draw a picture based on the daily themed prompt list, for the whole month of October. Unlike Inktober though, artists do not have to use ink, they are free to use any media they choose.

Here's the full list of themes:

Wanting to partake without the intensity of daily art for a month? Feel free to only do the orange prompts for a more chill prompt list!

Ultimately, it’s up to you to do as many or as few prompts as you’d like, at the level of finish of your choosing, and at your own pace, this is meant to be fun, not stressful!

Post your art on social media with the hashtag #Scapetober and in the ⁠⁠monthly-prompt channel in the RuneScape Art Community Discord to share your creations!

Merch

Scape Ink Apparel

In case you missed it, we’ve teamed up with celebrated OSRS community artist Scape Ink to bring six all-new, exclusive designs to life in a brand-new apparel capsule. Featuring iconic designs from the world of Gielinor on streetwear-inspired faded and dyed black garments with a relaxed and oversized fit, this gear is all you need to hit 99 FashionScape and look the part wherever your next grind takes you. Each garment features a bespoke neck-print commemorating the collaboration.

The full collection is available to pre-order now from runescapemerch.com.

Slayer Hoodie

A premium oversized hoodie that pays tribute to one of OSRS's most popular skills, packed with Slayer-inspired details such as the Slayer Tower, the skill icon, a slayer ring and a slayer gem.

Wise Old Man Tee

A Scape Ink take on one of Gielinor’s most iconic characters, the legendary Wise Old Man.

Bandos Godsword Tee

Forged for strength, a Scape Ink take on the powerful Bandos Godsword, reimagined in chrome.

Ironman Tee 

Just you, Gielinor and one hell of a grind.

Ancient Magicks Tee 

Harness the power of Ancient Magicks, featuring the ancient spellbook and the unmistakable Ice Barrage.

DDS Sweatshirt

Celebrating a Gielinor classic, the iconic DDS in all its glory on a relaxed fit sweatshirt in faded black.

Whether you're planning to add this to your own inventory or grabbing a gift for a fellow 'Scaper, get your pre-orders in now from runescapemerch.com.

PvP World Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:

• 560 - (UK) - PvP World

• 319 - (US) - Bounty Hunter World

• 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World

• 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World

• 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive

World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota.

World 569 (AUS) for Bounty Hunter has been de-activated with this rota.

The PvP Arena is using 'Zerker' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.

You can also discuss this update on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the official OSRS Discord. For more information, check the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Abe, Abyss, Acorn, Ape, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Asherz, Ayiza, BigRig, Blighted, Blossom, Boko, Brooksie, Bruno, Bulb, Chilly, Criminal, Curse, Daizong, Default, Doctor, Ed, Elena, Enigma, Entropi, Frogs, Fuzz, Gecko, Ghost, Gizmo, Goblin, Grace, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hornet, Husky, Ivory, Jalo, Jamesy, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Leebleh, Lenny, Liron, Lotus, Lykos, Mack, Maeve, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Mobius, Moogle, Morty, Moz, Necro, Nin, Nixon, Nox, Nylu, Oasis, Ori, Other, Otter, Pheasant, Philomel, Pork, Pumpkin, Puppi, Pyro, Rach, Redfield, Rice, Romy, Roy, Ry, Saiyan, Sarnie, Schmidt, Shogun, Shroom, Sigma, Skylark, Smithy, Sova, Spacebar, Spyro, Squid, Starry, Suharun, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titania, Titus, TJ, Tomb, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West, Wolfy, Yozora, Yume & Zaf

The Old School Team