Following on from the game world outage in July, we are in the process of moving from the affected ISP as promised to a new facility that is not only robust but has significantly more bandwidth to support our continued growth requirements. We have been using the new ISP at a different location for some time, so we know they are competent.
Unfortunately, this will mean some down-time while the servers are moved to the new facility. Starting today, and continuing over the course of this weekend, the following worlds will be offline while they are moved:
7,8,9,13,14,19,20,22,
27,28,29,30,37,42,47,
48,56,61,62,64,66,70,
100,113,114 and 115.
When the worlds are taken offline, you will receive the "System update in 10 minutes" warning.
We have tried to minimise disruption to various worlds (themed or otherwise) so that all game features are available during this time.
I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience but, rest assured, we are making these changes to improve your gaming infrastructure.
Thanks,
Mod MMG
CEO
Archive for the ‘Runescape News’ Category
Game Worlds Moving…
Friday, September 18th, 2009News from http://www.zybez.net/community/index.php
Runescape Q&a Community Management
Friday, September 18th, 2009News from http://www.zybez.net/community/index.php
Its time for Community Managements turn at a Q&A session. Their live Q&A will take place tonight at 8pm (BST/official forum time). In the meantime, you can read the questions theyve already answered. Those answers are published on this forum thread and in this developers blog.
Members of the Community Management team (including myself, Mod Paul M and Mod Catia) will be fielding the live Q&A on the forums tonight from 8pm (BST/official forum time). Questions asked on this forum thread shall be answered on this forum thread; these threads will become available at 8pm.
Mod Kelvin
Head of Community Management
Members of the Community Management team (including myself, Mod Paul M and Mod Catia) will be fielding the live Q&A on the forums tonight from 8pm (BST/official forum time). Questions asked on this forum thread shall be answered on this forum thread; these threads will become available at 8pm.
Mod Kelvin
Head of Community Management
Living Rock Caverns
Thursday, September 17th, 2009News from http://www.zybez.net/community/index.php
Flowing meltwater from Ice Mountain, coupled with some rather over-enthusiastic dwarven mining, has opened up an entrance to what the dwarves have named the Living Rock Caverns. This previously sealed-off area offers a rich source of ore for the dedicated miner, plus two new species of fish for the keen angler.
The caverns are home to more than fish, however! The living rock guardians of the caverns take umbrage with adventurers plundering their home, so be on your guard, and beware of the rock of the caverns themselves! Particularly lucky (or should that be unlucky?) adventurers may even encounter a living rock patriarch, which are rumoured to wander the caverns in search of careless individuals to smite with its mighty fists.
Mod Rathe
RuneScape Content Developer
Summary:
Where to access the Living Rock Caverns:
Enter the caverns at the northern end of the Dwarven Mine.
Requirements:
85 Fishing (to bait cavefish)
90 Fishing (to bait rocktail)
73 Mining (to mine living rock remains)
77 Mining (to mine concentrated coal deposits)
80 Mining (to mine concentrated gold deposits)
88 Cooking (to cook cavefish)
93 Cooking (to cook rocktail)
The ability to defeat level 120+ foes would be a distinct advantage
In other news...
We've added a caret (aka text cursor) to the chat box to allow you to move within any text you type to correct typos or insert extra words. To move the caret through your text either hold down 'Shift' and use the arrow keys, or simply click where you'd like the caret to be. This should save considerable time when correcting typos!
As promised in the RuneScape Content Live Q&A, we've increased the POH room limit from 30 up to 32. These two extra rooms become available at Construction levels 38 and 44 respectively.
The dragon pickaxe has been added to the list of items you can CoinShare via the LootShare system.
We've removed more delays (e.g. when drinking potions and running).
We've increased the shop stock of bone bolts.
Bounty Hunter worlds have been changed slightly to allow players to access the Grand Exchange area of the map for all your combat needs.
The caverns are home to more than fish, however! The living rock guardians of the caverns take umbrage with adventurers plundering their home, so be on your guard, and beware of the rock of the caverns themselves! Particularly lucky (or should that be unlucky?) adventurers may even encounter a living rock patriarch, which are rumoured to wander the caverns in search of careless individuals to smite with its mighty fists.
Mod Rathe
RuneScape Content Developer
Summary:
Where to access the Living Rock Caverns:
Enter the caverns at the northern end of the Dwarven Mine.
Requirements:
85 Fishing (to bait cavefish)
90 Fishing (to bait rocktail)
73 Mining (to mine living rock remains)
77 Mining (to mine concentrated coal deposits)
80 Mining (to mine concentrated gold deposits)
88 Cooking (to cook cavefish)
93 Cooking (to cook rocktail)
The ability to defeat level 120+ foes would be a distinct advantage
In other news...
We've added a caret (aka text cursor) to the chat box to allow you to move within any text you type to correct typos or insert extra words. To move the caret through your text either hold down 'Shift' and use the arrow keys, or simply click where you'd like the caret to be. This should save considerable time when correcting typos!
As promised in the RuneScape Content Live Q&A, we've increased the POH room limit from 30 up to 32. These two extra rooms become available at Construction levels 38 and 44 respectively.
The dragon pickaxe has been added to the list of items you can CoinShare via the LootShare system.
We've removed more delays (e.g. when drinking potions and running).
We've increased the shop stock of bone bolts.
Bounty Hunter worlds have been changed slightly to allow players to access the Grand Exchange area of the map for all your combat needs.
Advisors And Objectives
Thursday, September 17th, 2009News from http://www.zybez.net/community/index.php
Todays update sees a rework to the very earliest portions of the game, plus a new feature called the objective system, which can be accessed via the new tab on the side interface (the signpost icon left of the Friends List).
Objective system
The objective system allows you to set yourself an objective to work towards, be that a specific skill level or the completion of a certain quest. This can either be randomly generated or something of your own choosing. The system will then track how you are doing in meeting that objective.
It was initially developed with new players in mind, as it will give those who are boggled by the vast array of things to do in RuneScape something to focus upon, and provide some direction as to the sorts of things they could be aiming for. We have, however, designed it in such a way that we hope more experienced players will find of use, and that they too will enjoy setting themselves goals and tracking their progress towards them.
New tutorial and Advisor system
The previous tutorial and the Lumbridge tutors were not giving the best first impression of RuneScape to new players, nor were they the most effective way of teaching new players how to play the game. Much of the information they gave was not of interest to players until later on in the game, and came across as too wordy and boring. Weve found that most players prefer to get stuck into the game and figure things out by actually playing.
As such, a lot of this information has been moved out of the tutorial, and the tutorial has been replaced with a slightly shorter introduction to the game, which focuses on the basic controls. Much of the information that was taught in the previous tutorial can now be accessed as mini tutorials, as and when players want to learn, through the new advisor system.
The advisor is a helpful old fellow by the name of Roddeck, who can be found by clicking on the new question mark button (next to the logout button). The advisor system works dynamically depending on where you are and what you are doing at the time. You can either do a mini tutorial (a much more interactive way of learning things) or Ask Roddeck for advice (if you just want a quick answer).
The advisor system currently only covers basic activities, but we are planning to flesh it out to cover more skills and activities.
Starting area
Weve defined an area of the game as the starting area, in which you can access the new tutorials, as well as making it a safer area for new players. There are guards and gates placed at the various entrances to the starting area, so new players can tell where the borders are. The area is quite big, covering Lumbridge, Varrock and Draynor.
The gates have been designed so as not to slow down more experienced players (i.e. everyone with a total level of 60 or more). Simply click on the other side of the gate in the game window (or on the minimap) and you will automatically walk through, without any more clicks than normal. Players with a total level below 60 will need to confirm that they really do wish to leave the starting area.
Other changes
Weve made various other changes due to the above:
* As these mini tutorials are more interactive, theyve rendered obsolete some previous features we had in Lumbridge for helping new players. These features had built up over the years and were making Lumbridge feel rather cluttered, so youll find that most of the Lumbridge tutors and the Lumbridge money making features have been removed from the game. The items which you could previously get for free from the tutors are now available as free samples from certain shops.
* The Air Altars location has moved to southwest of Varrock, next to the River Lum. Its the same distance from Varrocks west bank as it used to be from Faladors east bank.
* Weve added a new fishing shop to Lumbridge.
* A new tanner has set up shop in southwest Varrock.
* A new pottery has been opened in Draynor Village.
* A new bridge has been built over the River Lum (near the Champions Guild).
* Small changes have been made to some easy and beginner Achievement Diary tasks. Also, the Craft 196 air runes simultaneously task in the Falador Achievement Diary has changed to Craft 140 mind runes simultaneously.
* Woodcutting skillcapes can now be bought from Wilfred, who can be found among the trees north of Falador.
* Goblins and giant spiders now have slightly improved drop tables.
Paul
RuneScape Content Developer
Objective system
The objective system allows you to set yourself an objective to work towards, be that a specific skill level or the completion of a certain quest. This can either be randomly generated or something of your own choosing. The system will then track how you are doing in meeting that objective.
It was initially developed with new players in mind, as it will give those who are boggled by the vast array of things to do in RuneScape something to focus upon, and provide some direction as to the sorts of things they could be aiming for. We have, however, designed it in such a way that we hope more experienced players will find of use, and that they too will enjoy setting themselves goals and tracking their progress towards them.
New tutorial and Advisor system
The previous tutorial and the Lumbridge tutors were not giving the best first impression of RuneScape to new players, nor were they the most effective way of teaching new players how to play the game. Much of the information they gave was not of interest to players until later on in the game, and came across as too wordy and boring. Weve found that most players prefer to get stuck into the game and figure things out by actually playing.
As such, a lot of this information has been moved out of the tutorial, and the tutorial has been replaced with a slightly shorter introduction to the game, which focuses on the basic controls. Much of the information that was taught in the previous tutorial can now be accessed as mini tutorials, as and when players want to learn, through the new advisor system.
The advisor is a helpful old fellow by the name of Roddeck, who can be found by clicking on the new question mark button (next to the logout button). The advisor system works dynamically depending on where you are and what you are doing at the time. You can either do a mini tutorial (a much more interactive way of learning things) or Ask Roddeck for advice (if you just want a quick answer).
The advisor system currently only covers basic activities, but we are planning to flesh it out to cover more skills and activities.
Starting area
Weve defined an area of the game as the starting area, in which you can access the new tutorials, as well as making it a safer area for new players. There are guards and gates placed at the various entrances to the starting area, so new players can tell where the borders are. The area is quite big, covering Lumbridge, Varrock and Draynor.
The gates have been designed so as not to slow down more experienced players (i.e. everyone with a total level of 60 or more). Simply click on the other side of the gate in the game window (or on the minimap) and you will automatically walk through, without any more clicks than normal. Players with a total level below 60 will need to confirm that they really do wish to leave the starting area.
Other changes
Weve made various other changes due to the above:
* As these mini tutorials are more interactive, theyve rendered obsolete some previous features we had in Lumbridge for helping new players. These features had built up over the years and were making Lumbridge feel rather cluttered, so youll find that most of the Lumbridge tutors and the Lumbridge money making features have been removed from the game. The items which you could previously get for free from the tutors are now available as free samples from certain shops.
* The Air Altars location has moved to southwest of Varrock, next to the River Lum. Its the same distance from Varrocks west bank as it used to be from Faladors east bank.
* Weve added a new fishing shop to Lumbridge.
* A new tanner has set up shop in southwest Varrock.
* A new pottery has been opened in Draynor Village.
* A new bridge has been built over the River Lum (near the Champions Guild).
* Small changes have been made to some easy and beginner Achievement Diary tasks. Also, the Craft 196 air runes simultaneously task in the Falador Achievement Diary has changed to Craft 140 mind runes simultaneously.
* Woodcutting skillcapes can now be bought from Wilfred, who can be found among the trees north of Falador.
* Goblins and giant spiders now have slightly improved drop tables.
Paul
RuneScape Content Developer
Retro Revival – Developer Blog
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009News from http://www.zybez.net/community/index.php
What is Classic?
RSC's bank interface
For those who do not know, RuneScape Classic is the name we now use to refer to the very first version of RuneScape, the original basis for RuneScape as it is today. As discussed in the RuneTek 5 blog, RuneScape Classic was RuneTek 2. When we upgraded the game engine to RuneTek 3, we renamed the first game to RuneScape Classic, and the RT3 engine took over the RuneScape moniker.
That RT3 engine has long since evolved, through RT4 (High Details) and the now all-encompassing RT5 (the version of RuneScape we all play today). But we do still run a version of RuneScape Classic on our servers for those people who have continued to play it over the years. Were currently working on a project to revamp RuneScape Classic and open it up again to everyone who wants to play.
Introduction from Mod Mark
Baxtorian Falls, Classic-style
Mod Mark: When Mod MMG joined the company, the first thing he and I spoke about was RuneScape Classic (often just called Classic). He wanted to know more about this "retro" version of RuneScape, and was surprised when I told him we had closed account creation, but that the game was still running. Despite the fact we had not supported the product for years (with updates), we still had an active player base. He was keen for me to liaise with the other Classic fans in the company to work out what needed to be fixed in order for us to relaunch it.
This was the best news I had heard in ages, because Classic has always been very important to us as a company, and as individual players of the game. Without Classic, the current versions of RuneScape simply would not exist. It made us who we are today. Not supporting it was really quite painful for us, but it had just become impossible to support due to the movement in technologies in the new version of the game. Ill hand you over to Mod Jack H, the developer for this project, to give some more details.
Over to the developer
Classic 'Claws of Guthix'
I have to admit it was a bit of a surprise when I was told that I would now be working on RuneScape Classic! The game had not been updated for years, only a few people who had worked on it were still with the company, and nobody could really remember the details of how it worked. But Classic was about to become the basis for a totally new idea for Jagex: player-owned virtual servers. But Im getting ahead of myself...
My first job was to get Classic into a state in which we could release it again. The Jagex systems which handle updating and releasing new content and game engine updates have moved on a long way since Classic was last released. In order to be able to make changes to the game again, I had to fit it out with the same systems that RuneScape uses to handle things like loading the game code, downloading the content (such as maps, 3D models and sprites), managing your Friends and Ignore lists, and sending abuse reports. I also had to add support for the new display names system that Mod Duncan is working on, and we got some bonuses, like the ability to private chat between Classic and RS2.
So far, we would have had to do all this anyway, because the display names project affects all our games (including Classic), so it had to be updated to support it and we had to be able to release it again. But Andrew and Mod MMG had much bigger ideas for Classic. They wanted to make it available to new players again, and solve the problems that caused it to be restricted in the first place.
The problem that needed solving was how to stop the macroing which was crippling Classic without changing the game. We didnt want to add to Classic all the measures to stop macroing and cheating that weve developed for RuneScape, because that would stop Classic being Classic. We could have just enabled all the cheat codes in the game so macroing would become pointless, but that would make the game quite pointless too. So heres what we came up with...
And then over to you...?
Demon Slayer's first incarnation
How about if players could rent and administer their own Classic servers? As a server owner, you could enable or disable any cheat codes you liked, add people to the invite list or banned list, or give individual friends any privileges you liked within your world. In this way, the activities of macroers would become pointless, as you could go on to a cheating-enabled world and get all the stuff you wanted for free if you wanted, but there would still be worlds where youd have the satisfaction of knowing you worked for your stuff. I should explain that your character would be saved separately for each world, so you couldnt cheat on one world then use the stuff you gained on a non-cheating world. The different rules set by the owner of each world would really make each world a different game, with different people in positions of power, wielding cheat codes and unleashing Classics most awesome spells and items, or making everyone work to get ahead...
Finally, to reassure our loyal Classic members whove stuck with the game all the way through, these new player-run Classic worlds will be in ADDITION to the two restricted Classic worlds we already operate. We plan to leave those unchanged and not invaded by lots of newcomers or cheat codes.
We reckon this will be a lot of fun, but what do you think of the idea? Its going to be a lot of work for us to make it a reality as weve never done anything like this before. Would you rent a server? How much would you be willing to pay? What sort of features would you want to see? Do you have any other comments or suggestions? Let us know.
RSC's bank interface
For those who do not know, RuneScape Classic is the name we now use to refer to the very first version of RuneScape, the original basis for RuneScape as it is today. As discussed in the RuneTek 5 blog, RuneScape Classic was RuneTek 2. When we upgraded the game engine to RuneTek 3, we renamed the first game to RuneScape Classic, and the RT3 engine took over the RuneScape moniker.
That RT3 engine has long since evolved, through RT4 (High Details) and the now all-encompassing RT5 (the version of RuneScape we all play today). But we do still run a version of RuneScape Classic on our servers for those people who have continued to play it over the years. Were currently working on a project to revamp RuneScape Classic and open it up again to everyone who wants to play.
Introduction from Mod Mark
Baxtorian Falls, Classic-style
Mod Mark: When Mod MMG joined the company, the first thing he and I spoke about was RuneScape Classic (often just called Classic). He wanted to know more about this "retro" version of RuneScape, and was surprised when I told him we had closed account creation, but that the game was still running. Despite the fact we had not supported the product for years (with updates), we still had an active player base. He was keen for me to liaise with the other Classic fans in the company to work out what needed to be fixed in order for us to relaunch it.
This was the best news I had heard in ages, because Classic has always been very important to us as a company, and as individual players of the game. Without Classic, the current versions of RuneScape simply would not exist. It made us who we are today. Not supporting it was really quite painful for us, but it had just become impossible to support due to the movement in technologies in the new version of the game. Ill hand you over to Mod Jack H, the developer for this project, to give some more details.
Over to the developer
Classic 'Claws of Guthix'
I have to admit it was a bit of a surprise when I was told that I would now be working on RuneScape Classic! The game had not been updated for years, only a few people who had worked on it were still with the company, and nobody could really remember the details of how it worked. But Classic was about to become the basis for a totally new idea for Jagex: player-owned virtual servers. But Im getting ahead of myself...
My first job was to get Classic into a state in which we could release it again. The Jagex systems which handle updating and releasing new content and game engine updates have moved on a long way since Classic was last released. In order to be able to make changes to the game again, I had to fit it out with the same systems that RuneScape uses to handle things like loading the game code, downloading the content (such as maps, 3D models and sprites), managing your Friends and Ignore lists, and sending abuse reports. I also had to add support for the new display names system that Mod Duncan is working on, and we got some bonuses, like the ability to private chat between Classic and RS2.
So far, we would have had to do all this anyway, because the display names project affects all our games (including Classic), so it had to be updated to support it and we had to be able to release it again. But Andrew and Mod MMG had much bigger ideas for Classic. They wanted to make it available to new players again, and solve the problems that caused it to be restricted in the first place.
The problem that needed solving was how to stop the macroing which was crippling Classic without changing the game. We didnt want to add to Classic all the measures to stop macroing and cheating that weve developed for RuneScape, because that would stop Classic being Classic. We could have just enabled all the cheat codes in the game so macroing would become pointless, but that would make the game quite pointless too. So heres what we came up with...
And then over to you...?
Demon Slayer's first incarnation
How about if players could rent and administer their own Classic servers? As a server owner, you could enable or disable any cheat codes you liked, add people to the invite list or banned list, or give individual friends any privileges you liked within your world. In this way, the activities of macroers would become pointless, as you could go on to a cheating-enabled world and get all the stuff you wanted for free if you wanted, but there would still be worlds where youd have the satisfaction of knowing you worked for your stuff. I should explain that your character would be saved separately for each world, so you couldnt cheat on one world then use the stuff you gained on a non-cheating world. The different rules set by the owner of each world would really make each world a different game, with different people in positions of power, wielding cheat codes and unleashing Classics most awesome spells and items, or making everyone work to get ahead...
Finally, to reassure our loyal Classic members whove stuck with the game all the way through, these new player-run Classic worlds will be in ADDITION to the two restricted Classic worlds we already operate. We plan to leave those unchanged and not invaded by lots of newcomers or cheat codes.
We reckon this will be a lot of fun, but what do you think of the idea? Its going to be a lot of work for us to make it a reality as weve never done anything like this before. Would you rent a server? How much would you be willing to pay? What sort of features would you want to see? Do you have any other comments or suggestions? Let us know.
Email:
Phone:
