PJ Timer & New Broadcast Settings | Weekly Game Update (March 9th)

Issues and Hotfixes

This week we’ve got updates on the PJ Timer, Loot Keys, Clan Broadcasts and more!

Player and NPC PJ Timer

Rejoice! The player and NPC PJ Timer has been added to the game!

A bit of background: in most parts of the Wilderness, players who've been attacked by an NPC can't be attacked by other players. That's normally fair and good, but issues can arise when players run into a field of NPCs and 'box' them to unfairly gain protection against honest, hardworking PKers.

Some of you have also fallen victim to 'pile jumping' or 'player jumping' (the eponymous 'PJ'), which is when another player muscles in when your opponent is nearly dead, stealing your kill and swiping the loot.

Last summer we spoke about our solution to both issues: replacing all single-way combat areas in the Wilderness with singles-plus and adding a PJ Timer to those same zones. However, following your feedback we've opted to go with a different solution that'll make Wilderness combat feel a bit more inviting.

A quick note before we get started – we refer to in-game timings as 'cycles.' Each cycle equals 0.6 seconds and is sometimes known as a 'tick'.

Our new proposal will add a PJ Timer to Single-way combat areas for both players and NPCs. We've also increased the length of the PJ Timer from 16 cycles (9.6 seconds) to 20 cycles (12 seconds). To keep consistency with this new change, we've also increased the logout timer to 20 cycles (12 seconds).

This means that whenever you attack something aggressive monsters or player opponents will be unable to hit you for the next 20 cycles (12 seconds). So, if Player A had just finished PvP combat with Player B, NPCs won't be able to get into the action until the PJ timer runs down.

And for those of you who like their Wilderness combat just as it was, you'll be happy to hear that the new PJ Timer is inactive on worlds 318 and 319.

Please note that the new PJ Timer rules will also apply to the extended Timer in the Single-plus combat Revenant Caves.

We believe that these changes will have a positive impact on PvP activity in the Wilderness but as always we'll continue to monitor the effects of this update moving forwards. Once you've given the new system a try, send us your feedback and let us know what you think of the newest changes.

Loot Key Improvements

On the subject of the Wilderness, we're glad to hear that you're all enjoying Loot Keys! We've read through your feedback and there's a couple of changes we're introducing this week.

Firstly, Loot Chests have been added to the Grand Exchange, the Edgeville Bank, and the Mage Arena Bank.

Secondly, we've reduced the price of Loot Keys to 1 million GP. For those of you that have purchased this option before today's update, upon login you will receive the difference (4,000,000 GP) sent straight to your bank.

Okay, now for something a bit more complex.

Prior to this week's update, when two players died, one after the other, and with Loot Keys enabled, the first player to die would have their loot converted to a Key, which would then be handed to the second player to die. The second player would then generate a Key with their own loot, thereby handing back both their own Key and the Key they just earned back to the first player to die. If they died at the exact same time, the 'first' player would be essentially randomly decided by the order in which the server processed the deaths. That's not fair, and it's got to change!

From now on, if you die to a player who is either in the process of dying or has died recently:

• Any Loot Keys you have on your person will be destroyed.
• Your loot will drop to the floor regardless of the Loot Key settings of the other player.

Happy hunting!

Clan Broadcast Improvements and Group Ironman Notifications Menu

You've given us some great suggestions for improving the existing Clan Broadcast system – and we're implementing some of them this week!

The following items have been added into the current loot broadcasts (assuming they exceed the value set):

• Pharoah's Sceptre
• Barrows loot
• Amulet of Eternal Glory from the Fountain of Rune

Pet broadcasts will now include the KC or XP the pet was at when obtained. We've also added more options which will allow players to further customise their clan's level up notifications.

We've also added new settings for:

• New Collection Log entries
• New personal bests (only appears after beating your current personal best)
• Player kills (under a threshold set by the clan)
• When a clan member dies in PvP
• Completion of an Achievement Diary tier
• 10 million XP milestones above level 99
• Hardcore deaths (this same setting will announce when a Hardcore Group Iron player loses a life even when their status doesn't change)

And that's not all! We're also adding the Group Ironman Notifications Menu, which will allow you to toggle which broadcasts your group receives and set thresholds for the entire group. You can open this menu from the Group Settings.

We want to ensure that Group Iron players have the same customisation options as clans, so all the above changes will be added to the Group Notification Settings Menu. The exception is the Hardcore death broadcast setting, which is on for Group Iron players by default.

You can now set your clan so that only certain ranks can send broadcast messages. Since Group Ironman groups are smaller and less prone to spam, they can simply enable or disable broadcasts.

With these changes, we've also moved away from the Group Iron broadcasts being determined by individual variables on each group member. Now the data is stored on the group itself and affects everyone, which should be much nicer!

Other Changes

• Ironmen now have their own separate Kalphite Queen instance. It works exactly the same as the regular lair, just like other Ironman-only instances throughout the game.
• We've also added two braziers in the Kalphite Lair. One is located near the shortcut, and the other is at a safe spot away from the high-level Kalphite by the entrance.
• The Birthday Event has been removed. See you all next year and remember to ski responsibly!
• Player models will no longer be distorted when transforming into a goblin and then teleporting.
• Tweaked the look of the Vasa room in Chambers of Xeric to make it look more organic. The layout and functionality remains the same.
• The ability to customise your character's foot shape was only offered at Account Creation, so we've offered the ability to change it at Yrsa's Shoe Store.
• You'll now appear to be holding a Barbarian Fishing Rod when fishing with a Barbarian Fishing Rod.
• If you don't meet the requirements to make anything at the Prifddinas Singing Bowl, you will now be shown the recipe book to help you identify the ingredients you lack.
• Justine's Reward Shop has discounted Trouver Parchments to make them more accessible in future. Refunds will not be offered for Parchments that have already been used or purchased – Justine has to make a living, you know!
• The Beekeeper now prioritises granting costume pieces to players who don't have a full set, like other costume-giving random events.
• Trees near Prifddinas now have stumps that match their size more accurately.
• Certain Combat Achievement tasks now perform their checks correctly in the final phase of the Alchemical Hydra fight.
• Fixed a spelling error in Troll Romance.

PvP Rota

The PvP rota has moved to Period B:

• 560 - (UK) - PvP 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.

Discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the#gameupdatechannel. For reference on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

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