Fresh Start Worlds is coming to Old School on October 19th! Keep reading to learn more…
Old School's Fresh Start Worlds
Fresh Start Worlds is your chance to restart your Old School journey! It’s the Old School RuneScape you know and love, except with a fresh economy, fresh HiScores, and, of course, fresh adventure!
You remember starting Old School, all those years ago. Wasn’t it exciting to play shoulder-to-shoulder with players at the same stage of the game as you? One of the major problems reported by new players is that they don’t get this experience – everyone they meet is further along in their journey. Fresh Start Worlds offers the unique opportunity to start from scratch with thousands of other players at your side. It’s the perfect opportunity for new (or returning) players to jump in, meet others, and play together!
Fresh Start Worlds are free-to-play. They aren’t a replacement for Leagues or Deadman Mode, but an exciting new way to experience the unique charm of Old School RuneScape.
This is not strictly a competitive game mode, but because we’re starting from a blank slate, there’ll be plenty of new HiScores and World Firsts up for grabs! We’ve also developed a Fresh Start Worlds-exclusive Achievements system to help guide new players – but it won’t offer additional rewards.
After six months, your progress in Fresh Start Worlds will automatically transfer over to the main game. That includes your items, Quest Points, skill levels, and your actual soul. Maybe. We reckon that after six months, new players will have had plenty of time to get to grips with the game and will be ready to progress further and at a faster pace.
Design
The gameplay in Fresh Start Worlds is exactly the same as the main game, but the economy and HiScores will be brand new!
Fresh Start Worlds will receive all the same regular game updates as the main game. We can’t wait to see how far you’ll go!
Unlike the RuneScape version of Fresh Start Worlds, Old School freshers will not have increased XP or drop rates. Notably, Ironman Mode will also not be available on Fresh Start Worlds. This update is designed for new players, so we thought it best to keep things simple.
Opt-In System
Fresh Start Worlds will be completely opt-in. To play, you’ll need to complete the tutorial on any world. At the end of the tutorial, you’ll see a prompt asking whether you'd like a Fresh Start account or a main game account.
Here's what that looks like:
The helpful ‘Find Out More’ button will tell you more information about Fresh Start Worlds, in case you’re not sure what you’re getting into, or you don’t read newsposts. (In which case… how are you seeing this?)
You’ll also see the number of days left until Fresh Start Worlds closes and accounts are merged with the main game – so you can make a fully-informed choice about whether it’s worth starting your adventure on Fresh Start Worlds or not.
A Fresh Start account can be changed into a main one at any time, but please note that this doesn’t work the other way around. To reiterate, you won’t be able to play Fresh Start Worlds if you choose to make a main game account.
Once you’ve made your choice, you’ll be teleported away from Tutorial Island and automatically placed in one of the Fresh Start Worlds. Woohoo!
Now that we've covered the basics of Fresh Start Worlds, let's talk about more of the unique aspects of the design!
How do we keep players engaged with new worlds on a new economy?
Achievement System
The Achievement Points Interface
Fresh Start Worlds will have a unique Achievement System to mark milestones on your journey. From your Side Panel Interface, you'll be able to see how many Achievement Points (AP) you've earned so far. After all, who doesn't like seeing numbers go up?
The updated version of the Side Panel interface for Fresh Start Worlds.
Achievement Points (AP) are awarded for participating in various activities across Gielinor. Accumulating AP is relatively straightforward, and many players won’t even realise they’re doing it! Activities such as Quests, Bossing, Achievement Diaries and completing Clue Scrolls all award AP.
AP doesn't give you access to any new rewards, but it's our way of promoting progression and rewarding newbies when they're on the right track. If you’re getting AP, you know you’re progressing nicely!
The Activity Advisor and existing Adventure Path system will also be present on Fresh Start Worlds. We're hoping these tools, alongside the new Achievement System, will help guide new players through the daunting early-game period.It's intended to help people feel like they're making good progress and reward them for doing so.
We're keen to see if this is a good additional tool for new players and we'll be assessing how it goes as a learning point for the future!
The Achievement System is there to encourage players to make progress in the game and reward newbies for activities that contribute to their overall progression. We'll be keeping an eye on feedback to see how the tool fares, as well as what we can learn from it!
Here are the weightings for AP per activity:
| Activity | Achievement Points (AP) Awarded |
| Total Level Increased by 1 | 4 AP |
| 99 Achieved in any Skill | 300 AP per 99 |
| Quest Point Gained | 10 AP |
| Boss Kill (General) (Repeatable) | AP varies between 7-24 depending on the Boss |
| Boss Kill (First) | Your first boss kill will award more AP than usual |
| Achievement Diary Task |
|
| Achievement Diary Tier Completion | The total points for the tier, divided by 2. For example, the Ardougne Medium diary has 12 tasks, so you'd be awarded ((12 * 12) / 2) = 72 points for completing the tier. You must complete previous tiers to get these bonuses. |
| Combat Achievement Task |
|
| Combat Achievement Completion - Boss | The total points for that boss, divided by 2. For example, the Kalphite Queen has 5 tasks - 3 hard, 1 elite and 1 master, so you'd be awarded ((28 + 28 + 28 + 64 + 100) / 2) = 124 points for completing the Kalphite Queen tasks. |
| Combat Achievement Completion - Tier | The total points for that tier, divided by 2. For example, the Medium tier has 41 tasks, so you'd be awarded ((41 * 12) / 2) = 246 points for completing the Medium tier. |
| Clue Scroll Completion |
|
We think this covers all the bases, but if there’s an achievement you think we’re missing, please do let us know!
Achievement Points will not be featured on the HiScores for Fresh Start Worlds, but if you're playing with friends, you should absolutely use it as a chance to compare your progress!
Worlds First System
Fresh Start Worlds is designed for new players, but if you have a bit more experience, you might want to take on the challenge of achieving a World First.
Like it says on the tin, World Firsts are our way of recognising players who are the first to do something awesome – like killing a boss, or reaching 99 in a skill.
Whenever someone achieves a World First, we’ll broadcast it, so everyone can recognise your achievement with a ‘w00t’, a ‘gz’, or even a ‘nice’.
Fresh Start Worlds is about sharing the adventure, and we want to show new players just how supportive our community is!
Here's the list of World Firsts we're planning to broadcast:
| Boss Kill | Diary Completion | Levels | Completionist | Pets | Items | Quests |
| Being the first to kill a boss. | Being the first to complete an Achievement or Combat Diary. | Being the first to hit 99 in any skill OR being the first to hit max level. | Being the first to earn a Quest Cape or Music Cape, or being the first to complete specific Collection Logs. | Being the first to gain a pet. | Being the first person to get an iconic item as a drop, including:
| Being the first to complete a Quest. |
Are there any more broadcasts you'd like to see? Let us know and we'll add them to our radar before launch!
Bonds to Membership in Fresh Start Worlds
Fresh Start Worlds require a new account. We plan to eventually merge all Fresh Start accounts into the main game after six months, so if we allowed existing accounts to play, we wouldn’t be able to merge them back into the main game.
We’ve created a Bond-to-Voucher system which will let you gift membership from the main game over to your friend with a voucher code. To generate a code, open up the Bond Redemption menu in the main game, where you’ll see a new option: ‘Redeem a Voucher Code’.
Once generated, the voucher will be sent to the Player Inbox it was purchased on. You can then claim it for yourself or pass it along to someone else. Got a noob friend interested in Fresh Start Worlds? Why not gift them membership, so they can explore everything Gielinor has to offer?
The Player Inbox message you receive will look something like this:
Hi there, (NAME)! Thank you for your purchase of a Membership Passcode. Your passcode is below. You may redeem the code on one of your own RuneScape accounts, or give it to a friend for them to redeem. To redeem the code yourself, you MUST first log into the account you’d like to receive the Membership credit. Once redeemed, the Membership will be applied to the account which is currently logged in. You can see which account is active in the top right of the code redemption screen. (CODE) The code can be redeemed after (TIME).
Please note that you cannot redeem Membership from the voucher in-game. You must log on to the Old School RuneScape website with the account you want Membership applied to, where you'll see the 'Redeem Code' option.
This new system has a lot of utility outside of just Fresh Start Worlds and we hope this makes gifting membership to your friends much easier!
Please note that all existing conversion fees to trade Bonds on the Grand Exchange or via other trade methods remain the same.
Opting-Out
Should you decide that Fresh Start Worlds isn’t for you, we’ve got a deal. Keep Nan out of the cage for another six months, and we’ll make sure you’re not stuck in Fresh Start Worlds!
No?
Sorry Nan, we tried.
How about this then? You can easily opt out of Fresh Start Worlds at any time using the Side Panel Interface. This action will transfer your account and all the items you’ve accrued to the main game, but watch out – this decision is IRREVERSIBLE.
Well, sort of. There is actually a three-day grace period to ensure you’ve really thought about this momentous decision. After all, you’re leaving behind thousands of other players on a mission to build a fresh world – it’s kind of a big deal!
If you still decide to leave Fresh Start Worlds after the three-day grace period, the following things will happen:
- The account will be frozen out of the Fresh Start World HiScores.
- The account will be transferred to the main game.
- You will no longer be able to log into Fresh Start Worlds.
You must cancel any pending Grand Exchange transactions before opting out of Fresh Start Worlds, as you will be blocked from using it during the grace period.
If you happen to be logged in when the three-day countdown ends, you will be asked to re-log so you can complete the opt-out process.
Six Months Later...
When the event ends in six months, those Fresh Start Worlds will be no more. Erased from history, they will exist only in the memories of those who experienced this momentous event. Everyone who has been playing on Fresh Start Worlds will be seamlessly transported to the main game, as though it were all but a pleasant dream… or a nightmare, depending on how well the fresh economy has been going.
The following things will happen automatically when the event ends:
- All accounts will be frozen on the Fresh Start Worlds HiScores.
- All accounts will be transferred to the main game.
- Nobody will be able to log in to Fresh Start Worlds.
- Any pending Grand Exchange transactions on Fresh Start Worlds will be cancelled.
Players with pending G.E transactions will be required to log into a Fresh Start World once after the event has ended. This is because we can't process transactions unless you're logged into a Fresh Start World. When logging in for the last time, your transactions will be processed, you'll be logged out and you can then log in to normal worlds. This is why you may see some Fresh Start Worlds online after the end of the event - rest assured that we're not using them for anything except item processing.
By the way, when we say the transfer is ‘seamless’, we mean it! You’ll wake up in the exact same location you left your character in on Fresh Start Worlds, with all the same stuff. The only change you should notice is that there’ll be a lot more high-level players running around.
And that about wraps it up! Fresh Start Worlds launches on October 19th, and we can’t wait to see how it goes. We currently expect the end date to be Wednesday, April 19th 2023, although this may be subject to change.
Got any questions? Let us know on Discord, Reddit, Twitter, or the official forums.
Until then… stay fresh!
You can also this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.
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