Behind the Scenes - February

They’re back! The Wilderness and free trade both make a triumphant return this month after the biggest vote in our 10-year history...but they are not alone. If you’re not gambling fortunes on the GE or risking life and limb in our new revenant dungeon, why not try this month’s quest: The Prisoner of Glouphrie? Don’t forget to take along a brand new pottery urn, collect some demon ashes and make use of the improved shortcuts along the way!

The Wilderness and Free Trade

Our first update this month will see the return of the Wilderness and free trade! If you’re not sure what we’re talking about...where have you been, hiding under your pet rock? There has been a huge referendum where over 1.2 million players voted, 91% of whom were in favour of the return of the Wilderness and free trade. What does this mean? Well, in a nutshell, it means that you will soon be able to give gifts to your friends, charge what you like for your Grand Exchange sales, and take part in the most dangerous sport in the whole of RuneScape: Wildy PKing!

If you need to know more about how PKing and free trade works, read the new Wilderness and free trade starter guides in the Game Guide. PKing can be great fun and can bring you huge rewards, but only ever PK with gear you can afford to lose – there won’t be a gravestone there to protect your stuff. You have been warned!

Other changes brought in with the return of the Wilderness and free trade includes:

* The new, revenant-filled Forinthry Dungeon, where the revenants drop all the unique PvP gear previously found on the PvP and Bounty Hunter Worlds.
* Limitless staking for members.
* Improved Chaos Elemental drops (and a chaotic new look).
* Faster respawn times on the Wilderness runite rocks.
* Unlimited party room drops.
* Outside of the Wilderness, gravestones will have their timers increased and repair/bless costs reduced to 0.

For more information about the Wilderness and free trade, check out the Wilderness & Free Trade Q&A thread on the forums.

The Prisoner of Glouphrie and Gnome Graphical Rework

Our next planned release for February will see a graphical update to the gnomes. With new chat heads, models and even new statues, the gnomes can once again stand proud as one of the best-looking races in the game. And what better way to showcase these new graphics than with a sequel to our gnome storyline...The Prisoner of Glouphrie.

"We’re going to need an adventurer: someone who will recklessly bound into Arposandra, throw a gnome over their shoulder and be back home in time for cocktails."

Golrie has noticed that a slip of paper he’s been using as bookmark is actually a letter from his grandfather, discussing his search for the mythical city of Arposandra. Put your Agility, Thieving, Construction and Runecrafting (60+) levels to the test in this most gnomic of adventures. Complex puzzles with generous XP rewards and additions to the glider network await as you explore the fabled city for the one gnome who can reveal it to the world! High-level farmers will also be pleased to hear that completing the quest will give access to a new spirit tree patch and faster access to Lletya.

Look out for some gnomic community events to support the update!

Pottery Update and New Crafting Methods

Later this month, we plan to reshape the way that pottery works within RuneScape. We’ll be streamlining the process of using the pottery wheels and making the entire process far more accessible and rewarding, giving players other options to raise their Crafting level.

Players will soon have the option to throw and fire urns from levels 1 to 81 Crafting. Once made and fired, you will need to attach the appropriate rune to them so they can be teleported away when full. The urns come in many varieties, from cracked cooking urns to decorated woodcutting urns, which collect the scraps often left behind by standard training. The best part is you don’t have to fill them yourself! All you need to do is have it in your inventory while training the skill.

Once an urn is full to the brim, simply use its teleport option for a hefty chunk of XP in the related skill. As an example, teleporting the lowest level Woodcutting urn would give 160 XP on teleport, and the highest level (members-only) Fishing urn will see you net 1,900 Fishing XP.

Demon Ashes

We’re also planning to change the 100% ashes drop from demons to work more like standard bones. All monsters that used to drop ‘ashes’ will drop a new type of ash; depending on the order of demon, these will be impious (imps and fiends), accursed (lesser and greater) or infernal ashes (black, abyssal and tormented demons, nechryaels, and most boss demons). These new ashes can either be scattered for XP (just like burying bones), or you can take them to the Ectofuntus for bonus XP (where they will not require grinding or to be put in a pot; just add ectoplasm).

Shortcut Improvements

Finally, this month, we aim to update many shortcuts so that they no longer require you to carry an item to use them, and are unlocking a few to add to the free game. Free-to-play will now be given access to the River Lum canoes, which no longer require a hatchet to make. However, using high-quality axes will speed up the process. Members with Construction levels up to 51 will also be able to build hidey-holes (at crossbow shortcuts) and rope racks (at eyries) in the following locations:

Hidey-holes:

* Falador’s north wall
* Yanille’s south wall
* Catherby’s cliffs
* River Lum (south of Lumbridge)
* Water obelisk island
* Musa Point

Rope racks:

* Eagles’ Peak eyrie
* Karamja eyrie
* Feldip eyrie
* Baxtorian Falls

Players building shortcuts at these locations will also be given some one-off Construction XP for doing so.

Mod Mark
RuneScape Lead Designer