Defender of Varrock Concepts & QoL Updates | February 28th

We've got a handful of QoL updates for you this week, and a peek behind the concept art curtain!

Changelog February 28th

Defender of Varrock Concepts

Last week we released the iconic RuneScape quest, Defender of Varrock! So many of you have already revisited this classic story, continuing the Mahjarrat storyline and reuniting with some familiar faces (and skulls). Congrats to those of you who have already gotten your hands on the Zombie Axe!

To celebrate the launch of this classic quest we thought we’d check in with Mod Jerv to see some of the brilliant concept art that helped bring the quest to life.

Arrav

I wanted to put an Old School twist on Arrav’s original 2008 design. You’ll notice that he has a big axe instead of a sword, because in Old School RuneScape his statue and the museum display both portray him with the axe. The one on his in-game model isn’t exactly the same as the one in the museum – I imagined that he found a new one over the last few centuries. I also tried to pull in some elements from his shield, like the symbol on his belt, and the blues on the axe.

Sharathteerk

This gargoyle lad had quite a simple design. It’s a balance between the existing Old School gargoyles and his iconic facial features. I also added some cloth that ties him to Zemouregal and the zombies.

Zombie Axe

Who doesn't like a good, medieval-looking axe? Sometimes less is more, and that's ok. This is a good example of designing something that is more ‘mid-level’. I didn’t go all out on ‘cool and badass’, but instead tried to find something grounded and iconic.

Armoured Zombies

The Armoured Zombie colour palette is taken from Sharathteerk and Zemouregal, to show their allegiance. They’re really just a bunch of bros being bros – one of them has got his helmet on backwards, and another has forgotten his leg and hat! That’s what you get when you hire minions with no braiiiiins.

Birthday Stream FashionScape

Old School RuneScape turned 11 last week, and we held a Birthday stream to celebrate! Thank you to everyone who turned out. We had a great couple of hours with a J-Mod quiz, a fashion show, and a surprise bot bust!

If you missed it, the VOD is now available on Twitch and YouTube.

To watch a segment from the Fashionscape Show, click here!

We love a bit of FashionScape, so here are just some of Gielinor’s hottest new looks, as showcased in our Fashion Show segment.

Thank you to these players for sharing their screenshots on socials and our official Discord server! If you're a fashion-focused adventurer, be sure to hop into the FashionScape channel and show off those ‘fits.

More RuneFest Updates!

Join Mods Sween, Doom and very special guest Mod Mark LIVE on stream, where we'll be sharing more info about this year's RuneFest!

Tune in live at twitch.tv/oldschoolrs on Thursday, February 29th from 17:00 GMT. Don’t miss it!

RuneScape Kingdoms: The Roleplaying Game

Want to know more about RuneScape Kingdoms: The Roleplaying Game? Top writer Richard August from Steamforged Games is here to tell you all about it.

https://youtu.be/56UYpFsOO20

If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it!

But that’s not all! Set your alarms for 18:00 on February 29th, when the High Rollers, Europe’s biggest RPG streamers, will be playing a unique one-shot in the world of RuneScape Kingdoms! With guest appearances from Mods Ayiza and Mohawk, this is one adventure you won’t want to miss. Tune in on the High Rollers Twitch channel, or catch up later on Youtube.

If all this makes you want to try RuneScape Kingdoms: The Roleplaying Game yourself, then you’re in luck – it hits retailers around the globe tomorrow! Check out online stores like Amazon, visit the Steamforged Store, or check out your friendly local board game shop. A Collector’s Edition with a red and gold foil cover is also available exclusively from Steamforged.

Other Changes

• Zombie Lumberjacks now appear consistently, having been suitably told off for their tardiness.
• Changed visuals on the Player Owned House options.
• Players can now toggle off the Scurrius food pile timer individually when using the enhanced client.
• When facing Scurrius, items dropped in public instances will now disappear after three minutes.
• Players can once again hide their Vengeance animation in PvP. The effect will still apply, and the animation will still play in PvM combat.
• Bankers will now give clearer feedback when players are unable to deposit items due to having a full stack of that item in the Bank.
• Barbarian Farming’s plant pot smashing technique can now be used on Spirit Tree Saplings. How barbaric!
• Bottles in Zemouregal’s hideout will no longer duplicate themselves when picked up, as he saw this as a waste of his phenomenal magic powers.
• ‘Cooked Karambwan’ is now the default Cooking option and selecting ‘Poison Karambwan’ will prompt a toggleable warning message.
• Vardorvis now uses different sounds for his Ranged and Magic 'gaze' attacks, to help distinguish between them.
• The Clan Events menu now lists more bosses, including the Desert Treasure II bosses and the Revenant Maledictus.
• The Chaos Elemental respawn time has been reduced from 60 seconds to around 15 seconds.
• The Boss Kills log, accessed via the Ring of Wealth or the Adventure Log in the Player-Owned House, now includes the Desert Treasure II bosses.
• Bryophyta now drops a guaranteed Ensouled Head, just like Obor.

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 'Max/Med' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.

You can also discuss this update 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.

Mods Abe, Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, BigRig, Blossom, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Enigma, Errol, Gecko, Gengis, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hooti, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Liron, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Saiyan, Shogun, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Smithy, Sova, Squid, Starry, Suharun, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Torrance, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.