Minor Runescape updates

Buy RuneScape Membership as a Gift

As we’re rapidly approaching Thanksgiving and the holiday season, we wanted to remind you how easy it is to buy membership and also to let you know of a few payment methods that you might not be aware of.

If you’re thinking of buying membership either for yourself or as a present, we currently have 2 RuneScape-specific game time cards that you can purchase.

Firstly, we have RuneScape game-time cards that are sold in Target stores across the U.S., and we have two versions available, a one month subscription and a three month subscription.

For those players in Europe, look out for Wallie Cards, which can be bought in a host of stores, such as CostCutter (with a PayPoint logo), Esso, Total, Hema, Aral, bft and Westfalen. Wallie Cards can be used to purchase RuneScape membership and come in a number of different amounts.

We also have an Ultimate Game Card which can be bought in places such as Walmart, 7 Eleven, Rite Aid & Winn Dixie. These cards are available from our payment partner, PayByCash, and will have their stamp on the front.

Depending on where you live, you may also be able to pay by phone or by mobile! Make sure you check out the subscription pages to see if these simple payment options are available in your country. We’re planning to add more countries to the list soon.

If you're looking for some other RuneScape-themed gifts, keep an eye on the Jagex Store, which will have some new items available in time for Christmas.

 

New Hairstyles

Is your hair falling a bit flat? Tired of the same old wild spikes? Well, why don’t you try our new hairstyles?

That’s right: we have 24 new hairstyles to spice up your character with. Head on over to the Hairdresser in Falador and try out some new styles – a few of them are inspired by Ak-Haranu, the strange warrior on the docks of Port Phasmatys.

Because the Hairdresser wants to make sure you get the best deal, all haircuts are free. Nothing is holding you back from trying something new! You can find the Hairdresser north-west of the White Knights’ Castle.

Mod Nancy
RuneScape Developer

Summary:

• 12 new female hairstyles
• 8 new male hairstyles
• 4 new male facial styles
• Free haircuts from the Hairdresser in Falador

 

RuneScape France

Bonjour! We’re pleased to announce that we have just released the RuneScape game and website in its third language: French.

Whether you’re fluent in the language or just learning, you can give it a try by clicking on the French flag at the top-left of the website.

More languages are planned for RuneScape in the future, so keep an eye out for further updates.

 

Eek I've been so busy/sick I didn't have time to post updates o well at least someone did it!

 

Security Reminder

Some of you may have read recent news reports regarding a security flaw in the Internet Explorer web browser – the default web browser in Microsoft Windows. This flaw is reportedly being used to steal passwords for various popular online games. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to remind all our players of a few important security practices:

• If you use Windows make sure you have the latest updates installed. You can get the latest updates and security fixes for your computer from windowsupdate.microsoft.com. This will protect your computer against the latest security flaw.
• Never visit a website that you are told about in-game, as there is a chance that you could be directed to a fake website. Fake websites are dangerous, as they can allow hackers to access your personal information, or expose your computer to viruses. Remember, it is against the rules to promote any website, either in the game or on the forums; if you see someone advertising a website in this way, you should report them immediately using the Report Abuse button at the bottom of your screen, and selecting Rule 11: Advertising/Website.
• Make sure you have up to date anti-virus software installed.

We also want to take this opportunity to remind you that you should never give out your password, or any personal information such as your email address or real name, to any other player, for any reason. For more information on security, please read this article.

We want all our players to be safe, so please take the appropriate care. Thank you for your support, and Merry Christmas!

 

Logout Timer Increase

With this update we officially launch the RuneScape Upgrade Year! Today, we are bringing you three changes to different parts of the game.

Firstly, the logout timer has been increased from ninety seconds to five minutes. This means that you will not be automatically logged out before this amount of time has passed – particularly useful when you want to check the forums or the Game Guide while training combat or chopping down trees. The only exception to this is if you lose connection; if this happens, you will be automatically logged out after 30 seconds as usual (or after 60 seconds if you lose connection during combat). Make sure you stay on the watch for random events, and for other players who want to talk to you.

Secondly, we have had a look at the way the chat filter works. We have removed a number of words from the filter lists, which should make it easier for you to communicate in game. There is still a lot of work to be done, but rest assured that we will continue to work on this project over the course of the year. Please remember to be polite when communicating with other players: we are still on the look-out for people who don’t play by the rules.

Thirdly, we have introduced an alternative location for the Varrock teleport for players who would prefer to land near the Grand Exchange. If you have completed all the easy tasks in the Varrock Achievement Diary, you will now have the option of teleporting to the south entrance of the Grand Exchange. All you have to do to change your teleport location is talk to Rat Burgiss (if you’ve completed the easy tasks), Reldo (if you’ve completed the medium tasks) or Vannaka (if you’ve completed the difficult tasks). This will also affect your teleport tablets, as well as the portals and scrying pools in your house. You can of course change your teleport location back to the original spot in the market square at any time.

We would like to thank everyone who posted their ideas for further upgrades on the forums. As we have said before, we have a lot of ideas, but don't assume that we already have YOUR idea on the to-do list. Make sure you post on the forums – we have been reading eagerly what you have to say.

For a complete list of the various tweaks and fixes that have gone up, please read the ‘Patch Notes’ in the Recent Updates forum.

Mod Fetzki
RuneScape Content Team Leader

In other news...

You will now be able to get the phoenix eggling event after completing In Pyre Need even if you do not have the level 72 in Summoning required to tame the pet. If you do not meet the level requirement you will try to hatch the egg in the normal way, but will find yourself unable to and will take it away with you. Once you have achieved level 72 Summoning, you can hatch the egg and obtain the pet you 'choose' during the event.

A change has been made to allow dragon daggers, and their poisoned versions, to be converted to coins via CoinShare.

The Stealing Creation reward axes and pickaxes now have the correct wield requirements (40 instead of 41); they have also had their combat stats lowered slightly to bring them in line with other, similar items.

In response to recent player feedback, from our next game update we will be increasing the system update timer to ten minutes for most updates. Between ten and three minutes before the update process begins you will still be able to login, but when the update is less than three minutes away you will not be able to login until the update is complete.

 

They added it a couple days ago

 

Armies of Gielinor

The FunOrb development team has been hard at work and has recently released a new game. This game takes you to a world that is familiar to all of us: RuneScape! Fight for the god of your choice in our new, multiplayer, turn-based strategy game, and wage war with the Armies of Gielinor. Experience what it would have been like to command an army during the God Wars!

Pledge your allegiance to Saradomin, Guthix or Zamorak, and send their forces into battles consisting of up to eight players. You will have many units at your disposal (from paladins to moss giants to necromancers) and four different-size maps, ranging from small to epic. There’s even a King Black Dragon that’ll happily crush your enemies for you!

Click here to start playing Armies of Gielinor for free.

On a related note, the RuneScape development team are still busily working on the Mobilising Armies minigame; they’ll have a status update for you in February’s Behind the Scenes.

Mod Korpz
Head of FunOrb

 

Locking this thread to prevent non-update post.

 

Postbag from the Hedge

Have you ever wondered how many chickens it would take to kill TzTok-Jad? If not, why not? Have a guess and find out in this month's Postbag from the Hedge.

If you prefer more refined pleasures, we can offer the musings of Azzanadra and a ditty penned by a gardening leprechaun.

 

Evil Tree Wallpaper

Adventurers rush to chop down an evil tree in our latest wallpaper. If you have been enjoying the newest distraction and diversion, why not set it as your background?

The evil tree wallpaper is available from the Downloads & Wallpapers section of the website.

 

Lores and Histories: The Chasm of Lights

A while ago, Reldo met Zanik, the cave goblin adventurer, who was visiting the palace library during one of her trips to the surface. She shared with him a story of her life from the days when Dorgesh-Kaan had yet to make contact with the surface world.

Zanik has not been seen for some time, but Reldo has recently finished writing up the story, and has published it in his Lores and Histories collection as The Chasm of Lights. To read it, just go to the Lores page, which can be found under the Game Guide tab.

Mod John A
RuneScape Content Developer

 

Pay by SMS now available in Australia

Our Australian players can now pay for membership of RuneScape or FunOrb using SMS. We know this is something that many of you have asked for, so we're happy to finally be able to offer you this service. To see a list of members’ benefits, please click here.

The following networks in Australia support paying by SMS:

• Telstra (Post-Paid and Pre-Paid)
• Optus
• Vodafone
• Virgin
• 3

We’re still looking into ways of making alternative payment methods available to those of you in other countries. As soon as we’re in a position to offer you these services, we’ll let you know.

 

Rants forum returns

Today we have reinstated the rants section of the forums. This is the perfect place to get something off your chest, tell us if there’s something you don’t like, or perhaps just have a general rant. It was a stupid idea to take it away in the first place; I’m really sorry that we removed an opportunity for players to tell us about the things that they don’t like about the game, and as promised we are working on various ways to improve your ability to talk to us.

Don't worry about venting any issues that you have in the rants forum - that’s exactly what it’s for. It is always more helpful to hear proposed solutions to problems rather than just the problem itself, but don’t suppress your rant just because you can’t think of a solution. We genuinely want to hear your feedback, so feel free to tell us if there’s something you’re not fond of.

Our players are important to us, and we want to give you a forum where you can let us know when things are not right. We will be spending time on the rants forum, reading through your posts and working to put right any problems that you highlight. So let us know if there’s a part of the game or player experience that you do not like, and we’ll do our best to fix it.

Lastly, if you feel there are things we are doing really well, or if you have some RuneScape love you want to share, just drop us a post on the game feedback forum.

Have fun!

Mod MMG

 

Postbag from the Hedge

Getting Jad and the Corporeal Beast into the same room is a pain, which makes it difficult to organise a 'Top 10 Most Powerful Creatures' list. Luckily, Reldo is on hand to offer his expertise.

We also have the Chaos Elemental, who is offering a special kind of wisdom (whether you want it or not) and ten RuneScape Duel Cards to cut out and keep. These ten cards feature Reldo’s most powerful creatures on RuneScape, with illustrations of the Corporeal Beast, TzTok-Jad and more.

Click here to view this edition of the Postbag from the Hedge.

 

PayBySMS now available in Canada.

We’re pleased to announce that our Canadian players can now pay for membership of RuneScape or FunOrb by SMS. This means that you can purchase or renew membership using your mobile telephone. We know this is something that many Canadian players have been waiting for, so we're happy to be able to offer this service to all of them. If you’re a Canadian free player and want to know more about the benefits of membership, click here.

The following networks in Canada support PayBySMS:

• Bell
• (Fido) Microcell
• MTS
• Rogers
• Sasktel
• Telus
• Virgin

We’re continuing to look into ways of making alternative payment methods available in other countries, and as soon as we’re able to offer these services, we’ll let you know.