Guardians of the Rift Launch | Weekly Game Update (March 23rd)

Issues & Hotfixes

This week, get ready for Guardians of the Rift and the accompanying quest, Temple of the Eye!

Temple of the Eye Quest

In this all-new quest, you’ll assist the (allegedly) famous Wizard Persten with her research, visit the ancient Temple of the Eye, and uncover a mystery that goes back to the very dawn of magic. If all that sounds like fun, you can get started by speaking to Wizard Persten north of the Al Kharid gate.

Temple of the Eye requirements

Temple of the Eye Rewards

Guardians of the Rift Minigame

Completing Temple of the Eye will allow you to take part in the new Runecraft minigame, Guardians of the Rift! You’ll no doubt remember it from our dedicated blog on the subject, but during development we’ve improved it even more by streamlining some of the mechanics.

So, here’s a quick guide to Guardians of the Rift, and a list of what’s changed!

First things first, Guardians of the Rift is located in a non-instanced area called the Temple of the Eye. It’s a safe minigame, and it’s accessible for skilling-only accounts.

We recommend bringing the following items:

• Chisel
• Pickaxe
• Essence pouches

Powering up the Great Guardian

Your goal in Guardians of the Rift is to help the Great Guardian close the Abyssal Rift. To do so, you’ll need to power up the Great Guardian by following a few simple steps:

1. Mine Guardian Fragments
2. Combine the Fragments into Guardian Essence at a workbench
3. Take the essence to any Runecraft Altar
4. Imbue the essence at the altar to obtain Guardian Stones
5. Return and feed the Guardian Stones to the Great Guardian

Some Runecraft altars provide more charge than others, as shown in the table below:

Defending the Great Guardian

Did you get all that? Let’s throw a spanner in the works. While you’re powering up the Great Guardian, the gribblies from the Abyss will be trying to munch on it. Luckily, you’re able to build barriers to protect it. Here’s how:

1. Obtain a cell – how about one of the Weak Cells at the entrance?
2. Place the cell in a cell tile near the Great Guardian to spawn a barrier

A Weak Cell will naturally create a weak barrier. To make stronger ones, you’ll need to charge your cells at Runecraft altars. The higher the level required by the altar, the stronger your charged cells will be!

Here’s how to upgrade a barrier:

1. Pick up an uncharged cell near the entrance
2. Go to any Runecraft altar
3. Interact with the altar to charge your cell
4. Return and interact with the cell tile you want to upgrade

All twelve altars can charge your cells, but access is based on your Runecraft level. For example, you can’t enter the Blood Altar without 77 Runecraft.

This means that the higher your Runecraft level, the stronger the barriers you can build!

Alternatively, you can defend the Great Guardian by creating smaller guardians who actively fight the Abyssal creatures.

Here’s how to create a guardian:

1. Obtain a cell – the Weak Cells by the entrance will work fine!
2. Interact with the Guardian piles nearby and watch as the rubble comes to life!

And that’s all there is to it! Power up the Great Guardian while shoring up its defences, and help it close the rift.

Should you be successful, you’ll be rewarded with Elemental and Catalytic Energy. The amount you get depends on the specific actions you took in the minigame – you can keep track of your stats in the top left of your screen.

The energy is capped at 1,000 units, split between each energy type. For example, you might gain 400 Elemental Energy and 600 Catalytic Energy.

The energy is capped at 1,000 (split between them). For example, you might gain 400 of one and 600 of another.

The UI which keeps track of your progress

The picture above is the UI which will appear in the top left of your screen and help you keep track of your progress. It’ll also let you know which two altars are currently open and show any new portals that pop up. In the near future we’re hoping to add a time which will signal when the altars will close.

Changes

We’ve streamlined some of the mechanics detailed in the original blog. Here’s what’s changed:

• Pure Essence is no longer required in the minigame. We liked this idea in theory, but in practice it was a bit too clunky.
• The Bank has been removed and replaced with a Deposit Box, which also has a dedicated right-click ‘Deposit Runes’ option. There’s still a Bank in the lobby.
• ‘Batteries’ are now referred to as ‘Cells’.
• Cells are now charged in increments corresponding to the altar they are used at. The higher the level of the altar, the more charge you’ll get!
• Removed the charge system for the Abyssal Lantern. It will now remain lit until you extinguish it. In exchange, it now requires 6 Logs rather than 2.
• Originally, the random portals would let players bypass the Agility requirement to access Fallen Guardians in the outer areas of the Temple. Now, they will take players to a normally closed area of the arena. This area provides players with Guardian Essence (not just Fragments) at a much faster yield, so it’s always worth taking the portals when you see them.
• The Blood Altar is now accessible via the Abyss. Keep reading to learn more!

Rewards

Rewards Rift

The mysterious Rewards Rift can generate the following rewards from its general loot table:

• Abyssal Pearls
• A variety of Runes
• Standard Talismans

Additionally, you’ll have a chance to receive the following rare rewards:

• Red, Blue and Green Abyssal Dye to recolour the Raiments of the Eye.
• Abyssal Needle used to create the Colossal Pouch. The Colossal Pouch has a capacity of 40, requiring 85 Runecraft and 56 Crafting to use.
• Abyssal Protector - the brand-new Guardians of the Rift pet!
• Catalytic Talisman.
• Elemental Talisman.

You can spend Abyssal Pearls in the Guardians of the Rift Rewards Shop!

Rewards Shop

Talismans

The Reward Shop contains all standard Talismans, including the new and shiny Blood Talisman, which gets you access to the True Blood Altar in Morytania. You’ll also need to have completed the Sins of the Father quest.

Raiments of the Eye (New Runecraft Skilling Outfit)

The Raiments of the Eye, with available recolours

This Skilling Outfit consists of the Hat, Robe Top, Bottoms and Boots of the Eye. Each piece grants the wearer 10% more runes while Runecrafting, up to a maximum of 60% when the full set is equipped.

The Hat of the Eye can also be augmented with any Tiara, allowing one-click access to the respective Runecraft Altar!

Guardian's Eye

This is a transmog option for the Rift Guardian pet. When used, it will allow your little friend to morph into a new variant that looks like the Great Guardian.

Look at the little guy go!

Ring of the Elements

Charged and Uncharged variants of the Ring of the Elements

This is a brand-new ring used to teleport near the elemental Runecraft altars!

This ring will require a Law Rune and one of each elemental Rune (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) per charge. The maximum number of charges stored is 10,000.

It will allow you to teleport:

• North of the Fire Altar
• West of the Water Altar
• South of the Air Altar
• West of the Earth Altar

Abyssal Lantern

This off-hand item is fuelled by various Logs, each of which provide unique bonuses within the Guardians of the Rift minigame. Outside of the minigame, it’ll still count as a light source, an essential item for any adventurer.

In our initial design, players needed to keep charging the Lantern with Logs – but during playtests we found this tedious, especially after we removed the Bank in the minigame arena. The Abyssal Lantern now requires no charges and will remain lit until extinguished.

The True Blood Altar

During the Sins of the Father quest, a few keen-eyed revolutionaries spotted some mysterious ruins in the Meiyerditch Laboratories. Could they be a Runecraft Altar, buried for centuries beneath the vampyre city? Yes, that’s exactly what they are! And with the new Blood Talisman, you can access the True Blood Altar yourself!

To confirm, the True Blood Altar works exactly like all the other Runecraft Altars, and yes, you can use Daeyalt Essence there.

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that we wanted to create multiple viable methods to craft Blood Runes that would suit a range of playstyles. With that in mind:

• The True Blood Altar is now accessible via the Abyss.
• Access to the True Blood Altar is still locked behind the Sins of the Father quest.
• A shortcut requiring 74 Agility will make Blood Runecraft XP rates viable.
• We’ve also added a second shortcut beneath the Hair of the Dog pub in Canifis. It has a one-time requirement of 78 Mining to open and a long-term requirement of 93 Agility to traverse. As you can see in the image below, this shortcut brings players significantly closer to the True Blood Altar.

Any questions? We’ll be live on Twitch this Thursday, March 24th at our usual time of 17:00 GMT with a Guardians of the Rift Q&A featuring Mods Elena, Husky, and West! You’ll get to see the minigame in action as our intrepid J-Mods become Guardians of the Rift – all while answering your questions!

As always, we can’t wait to hear what you think – and be aware that we’ll likely make changes based on your feedback in the coming weeks.

Poll 76 Quest List Changes

We’ve updated the Quest List interface as part of our Poll 76 changes!

The Quest List can now be sorted by the following:

• Classic (how it current is in live)
• Status
• Difficulty
• Length
• Storyline
• Start location
• Recommended combat level
• Release year
• Alphabetically
• Free/Members
• Type

You can also return to ‘Classic’ mode, which is the default sorting order.

Entries are sorted alphabetically unless sorting by storyline or release year. If sorting by storyline, they’re sorted in progression order, and if sorted by release date, they’re sorted… in order of release.

You can also use filters to hide:

• Miniquests
• Regular quests
• Quests not started
• Quests in progress
• Completed quests
• Quests you lack the requirements for**
• Quests you lack the recommended levels for**

** You can also choose to keep these options, but show them in a different colour.

By default, the Quest List will use classic sorting with no filters enabled.

We've also added some accessibility features:

• Text size
• Text shadow
• Text colour

PvP Beta Changes

We’ve made some changes to the headgear sets from the upcoming PvP Arena. We received a lot of feedback from well-versed PvP folk that the increased damage these sets offered was too high, and it’d be better to focus on consistent damage via accuracy. It was also noted that the emphasis should be on high offence, rather than high defence.

So, our first change is to remove the damage reduction effect from all three headgear sets, which should reduce their overall defensive capabilities.

Next, we focussed on Maoma’s set. The increased Melee max hits from this set were too high and could lead to a situation where it was possible to kill another player in one hit with the right RNG. We’ve reduced the increased damage and opted instead to focus on accuracy. This will make for more consistent KO potential, while leaving Torva’s Set open for those who really want to risk it all for their max hits!

• Maoma's Med Helm set bonus now provides 20% Melee accuracy and 3% Melee damage
• Maoma's Full Helm set bonus now provides 25% Melee accuracy and 4% Melee damage
• Maoma's Great Helm set bonus now provides 30% Melee accuracy and 5% Melee damage

Saika’s headgear set also didn’t perform as well as intended. It offered less accuracy than Ahrim the Blighted’s equipment, so we’ve raised its power level.

Due to the low Magic attack bonuses available from each piece we’ve had to bump the Magic accuracy bonus up quite a bit, but the following changes should place Saika’s headgear set somewhere between Ahrim’s and Ancestral for PvP:

• Saika's Hood Magic attack bonus increased from 3 to 6 and the set bonus now provides 50% Magic accuracy and 3% Magic damage
• Saika's Veil Magic attack bonus increased from 5 to 8 and the set bonus now provides 55% Magic accuracy and 4% Magic damage
• Saika's Shroud Magic attack bonus increased from 8 to 118 and the set bonus now provides 60% Magic accuracy and 5% Magic damage

Lastly, we have Koriff’s headgear set. The increased damage offered by this set bonus was about right, but the accuracy just didn’t hit the mark. Much like Saika’s set, you’d be better off using Karil the Tainted’s equipment.

With the above and Void Knight and Elite Void Knight equipment in mind, our changes should place Koriff’s headgear set slightly higher in offensive capabilities than Karil’s, but lower defence than Armadyl.

• Koriff's Headband Ranged defence bonus decreased from 2 to 1 and the set bonus now provides 15% Ranged accuracy and 7.5% Ranged damage
• Koriff's Cowl Ranged defence bonus decreased from 6 to 3 and the set bonus now provides 20% Ranged accuracy and 10% Ranged damage
• Koriff's Coif Ranged defence bonus decreased from 24 to 12 and the set bonus now provides 25% Ranged accuracy and 12.5% Ranged damage

We’re at the point now where we’re looking to finalise everything ahead of the in-game poll, so jump into the Beta today and let us know what you think of the updated rewards!

Death Pile Changes

We’ve also made some engine changes affecting Death Piles for Ultimate Ironmen!

As discussed recently, the game now recognises Death Pile items on your player save, rather than the world save. This means that if you have an item on the ground visible only to you (such as untradeables or items dropped on death outside of PvP), it will be saved when you log off and reappear when you log back in. The time the item stays on the ground remains the same, but critically, the timer pauses whenever you’re offline.

Please note that this does not apply to items dropped in instanced areas.

All account types will notice that if they have the setting enabled which drops food and potions as a supply pile upon death, this pile will also benefit from the paused despawn timer, and will appear in any world you log in to.

In the future, we may use this system for item drops in mass encounters to avoid the issues we saw when Nex launched, where so many items were dropping that some players’ drops disappeared. Stay tuned!

Other Changes

• The notifications for personal best raid times will now display the raid's full time.
• Removed an incorrectly placed Group Storage Chest in Falador.
• Clan members now have the option to leave their clan's chat channel entirely, replacing the option to mute it.
• Players will no longer get disconnected if they type 80 characters into the Group Ironman chat channel.
• Corrected some lore inconsistencies in the Rune Mysteries quest.

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 #gameupdate channel. For reference on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kamon, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Matheus, Maylea, Markos, Meat, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Nylu, Oasis, Peppers, Regent, Redfield, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Sigma, Skylark, Soffan, Sova, Squid, Steve W, Tide, Torrance, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.