Gielinor Gazette – June 2022

Keep track of the Herbiboar!

Deadman Re-Run

Last week saw the re-run for the Deadman Reborn finals come to a close. As you might know, the event didn’t run as smoothly as we had hoped.

Despite our best efforts to mitigate network issues prior to the event, and with bespoke anti-DDoS protection being developed just for this occasion, during the first few rounds of the 1v1 stage we started experiencing a large number of network attacks on our game worlds.

As soon as we were alerted that there was an issue, we paused the Tournament until we were confident that we’d been able to negate the specific attacks our servers were under. After around 60-minutes, working closely with our DDoS protection provider who were with us during the entire event, we were able to resume and the remaining 1v1 fights continued without any interruption.

It’s clear that there is always an inherent risk with running online tournaments, no matter how much time, resource or money we put towards preventing issues from occurring. It’s a constant arms race – for every change we make to help mitigate these, attackers are working out ways to bypass and continue their nefarious activity.

Whilst we want to continue providing Deadman events for those who enjoy it, it’s clear that some changes are going to be needed, especially around how we handle the finals. We’re not entirely sure on what the future of Deadman looks like, but we’ll be discussing what options are available to us with the team. In the meantime, we’d like to present some top-level thoughts to gather your feedback, helping us better understand what you want from the future of Deadman:

• Deadman remains as a seasonal game mode
• The current 1v1 finals are decommissioned and replaced with an alternate event to mark the end of the season
• The Deadman prize pool is used to support other future events that are more suited to LAN environments, negating any potential for network attacks.
• Future events are designed with the ability for individual fights to be restarted with ease

And lastly, let’s celebrate the winners of the Deadman Reborn Re-Run! After various checks with our anti-cheating team, we’re happy to announce the following winners and their prizes:

• 1st Place: Pid Grabber – $20,000
• 2nd Place: AL QUDDOOS – $10,000
• 3rd Place: DR3CARY – $1,000
• 4th Place: Koru – $1,000
• 5th-16th Place: Ionia, Umub, BallerNo2K, audwth, RRobert, tmnt4lyfe, FroggyFaker5, ICE GIANT88, pinkbowpetal, Riconeous, wakizashi59, Pee Shiesty – 12 Months Membership

Pride Event and Parade

We’re so happy to have finally delivered the Pride Event our community deserves. Thank you to everyone who welcomed Gilbert back to Gielinor! We’re committed to making this a yearly tradition, and we’re happy to announce that the flower meadow you’ve all helped grow will stick around even after the event is over as a reminder that all are welcome here in Old School RuneScape.

We’d also like to thank everyone who took part in our first-ever Pride Parade on June 23rd – another tradition we hope to continue! It was wonderful to see J-Mods and players marching side by side in support of the LGBTQIA+ community. In fact, so many of you participated that we had to open up a third world to make room!

We’ve seen you all sharing pictures of the event, so we’d like to share some of our favourites, too!

And check this out – we’ve created this heatmap of the day, so you can see where players marched around Gielinor!

We’d like to use this space to talk a little about what Pride means to us. Generally, a Pride Event was something that the team felt was long overdue. We were hesitant to discuss the event in advance – mostly out of fear that certain individuals would attempt to ruin the parade. Thankfully, the whole event went much smoother than expected, and that’s all thanks to you, our wonderful community.

Many of the J-Mods participating in the event were on a call together, and we were so thankful to see so many of you showing up and marching with us. We cannot express how great it was to connect with you all over this shared cause, and we are incredibly proud of all of you.

However, it was disappointing to see some individuals trolling the event and the participants. Please note that the Old School team will be taking appropriate action against any accounts that are used to spread toxicity both during these events, and anywhere else. If Pride is not something you can handle in Old School RuneScape, don’t join. If you have trouble not joining, we recommend that you simply do not log on to the game for the hour-long duration of the parade.

We welcome your constructive feedback on what we could do better next time, but we will not be taking into account any comments intended to spread hate or harm to others.

In the future, we’d like to support the LGBTQIA+ community outside the game, alongside other marginalised communities. Watch this space, and keep reading to learn about more the diversity and inclusion changes we’re bringing to Old School RuneScape.

Third-Party Clients & Rule Changes

Earlier this month we announced our updated rules for Third-Party Clients and released a list of guidelines that gave general principles and examples of what isn’t allowed in approved clients.

It is important for us to outline and enforce these rules to protect the integrity of the game, as well as its economy and long-term health.

This week thousands of 2 week temp bans were issued for the usage of unapproved third-party clients, and if those players warned continue to use them, we will then proceed with permanent bans. This is something our team will continue to monitor and action punishments accordingly.

Upcoming Content

Tombs of Amascut

August is fast approaching, and Tombs of Amascut, our third raid, is almost here! We’ve entered the final stages of development, primarily focusing on balancing, bugfixing, and general polish. Just like previous editions of the Gazette, we have some teaser images to share! PLEASE NOTE: These are WIP.

Whilst we don’t have an exact release date to share just yet, we are aiming for the raid to fully release in mid-August!

In the Kharidian Desert, you’ll find no shortage of tales. Here are three of those many tales. Whether they’re true or not, who can say. You’ll have to find out for yourself…

Zebak

Legend has it, the lair of the great crocodile Zebak, lays in ruin after many years of housing the ferocious reptilian nightmare. The room was initially much smaller, but as Zebaks hunger grew, so did he. Eventually the room could no longer hold him and the walls and floor gave way to make a vast open cavern. Zebak is waiting patiently for a worthy group of adventurers to devour.

Kephri

The scholars say that the great Scarab, Kephri, can be found in her lecture theatre sat atop her lovely ball of dung. Once a place of great knowledge has since been sullied by a corruption that knows no bounds. Many of Kephri’s hatchlings rush to satiate her thirst for knowledge but her mind has been twisted and she understands them no longer.

Shadow of Tumeken

When forces of the Ruinous Powers arrived in their lands, Tumeken and his people found themselves facing an enemy unlike any other. While his children, Amascut and Icthlarin, sought powerful allies to aid them, Tumeken himself hunted down a weapon of great power to use against this new threat. However, rather than claiming this weapon for himself, he instead used it to create the Shadow of Tumeken. This staff is powered by the sun itself, and with that brightest light comes the darkest shadows.

PvP Arena

The Emir of Al Kharid has been hard at work this month signing the final permits for the opening of the PvP Arena. Things kick off with a soft launch next week (commencing June 6th) where we’ll ensure the new and improved Arena is up to our exacting standards before a full release the week after.

As we mentioned in our Giants’ Foundry Changes newspost, we intend to honour the results of the latest rewards poll by offering the following:

• Imbue Scrolls
• Blighted Wave Sacks
• Blighted Surge Sacks

For those of you who really wanted to experience the other rewards, we have a special treat – you’ll be able to find the following items in Arena equipment chests, along with 400 other pieces of equipment for your Inventory and Worn slots. Bear in mind, however, that this equipment is exclusively for use within the PvP Arena – by order of the Emir himself!

• Maoma’s Headgear
• Koriff’s Headgear
• Saika’s Headgear
• Superior Calamity Armour
• Elite Calamity Armour
• Fighter’s Wristwraps

We’ll be keeping a close eye on your feedback during next week’s game update and look forward to the many battles the Arena will host!

Quest Speedrunning

Two months ago, we announced that Quest Speedrunning would be coming to Old School RuneScape. This is a new game mode which allows you to replay select quests as many times as you like on separate worlds especially designed for that purpose. Of course, the main objective is to set best times – how quickly do you reckon you can rustle up those iconic cake ingredients?

Last month we announced the initial set of quests you’ll be able to speedrun. This time, we thought we’d introduce the rules and restrictions present on Speedrunning Worlds:

• No tutorial: On first login, you’ll skip Tutorial Island and go straight to Lumbridge. Speedy!
• Iron restrictions: Players on these worlds are Ironmen and cannot trade or help other players.
• No Wilderness PvP: PvP is disabled at all levels of the Wilderness.
• Minigame restrictions: Minigames such as Castle Wars, Duel Arena, Fight Pits, Last Man Standing, Rat Pits, Soul Wars and Trouble Brewing minigames are inaccessible while Quest Speedrunning.
• Teleport cooldown pauses: On logout, teleport cooldowns (such as for the Home Teleport) are paused.
• Static shop stock: Shops have a static stock, so items are never sold out. Items can still be sold to shops, but these items will be immediately deleted.
• Infinite ground items: Items on the ground are only removed for the player taking them, so other players don’t have to stand around waiting for it to respawn.
• Dropped items deleted: Dropped items will be deleted when a speedrun begins.
• Open doors: Once opened, doors will never close again.

That’s all we have for now on Quest Speedrunning, but we’ll have more to share with you soon. Don’t forget to save the animals! (Except the dragons, natch).

Content Recommender

The Content Recommender is a system that will point players towards content suitable for their current account progress. It’s perfect for returning and new players who might not know what to try next!

Just a small update this month to say that the team have been hard at work on this project, and we can’t wait to share more in the coming months. Stay tuned!

Diversity and Inclusion

by The Old School Team

Old School RuneScape is many things: a nostalgic trip to a world of adventure, a hardcore grind for the most dedicated of players – and for many, it’s an escape to a place of safety, enjoyment, and comfort. We want everyone to feel safe and represented here in Gielinor, and as a team, we’re united in our commitment to making Old School RuneScape more diverse and inclusive for our community.

Throughout Q3 (July to September), we’ll be making some changes that better reflect this stance. These changes will be unpolled, as they are a vital step towards making Old School RuneScape a better game for everyone.

Here’s the list:

• The gender requirement during Recruitment Drive has been removed and replaced with a new puzzle which will test your powers of observation. In addition, players will receive 3,000 GP for completing the quest.
• Following completion of The Feud, all NPCs in the town of Pollnivneach will revert to their usual names, instead of going by Ali. You can learn more by speaking to the citizens during and after the quest!
• Players may now enter into a relationship with either of the heirs in the Thone of Miscellania. In fact, the romance component has been made entirely optional – the quest now requires players to earn the trust of either of the King’s children. Once you’ve earned their admiration, you’ll have the option to enter into a relationship if desired. If not, you can complete the quest as normal with a new best friend at your side.
• During The Giant Dwarf players may now join any Consortium company – excepting The Red Axe – regardless of which gender they present as. Any references to the companies’ previous gender discrimination have been removed from the quest.
• Inappropriate dialogue has been removed from parts of the Ratcatchers and Tower of Life quests.
• Both male and female H.A.M. members can now be pickpocketed at level 15 Thieving, granting 22.2 XP per successful pickpocket. The Skill Guide and level up messages have been updated accordingly.
• Both male and female barbarians in the Barbarian Village can now drop Clue Keys.
• Cosmetic changes are now available free of charge from all Hairdressers, the Makeover Mage, Thessalia, and Yrsa.
• Aris is no longer known by a pejorative title and will simply be going by ‘Aris’ from now on. This change was made to cater to our international audience, for whom her original title was far more offensive than intended.
• Enoch has been renamed to Okina, and his quote referencing ‘rivers of blood’ has been removed.
• Alice’s Husband, who tends to the undead chickens and cows near Port Phasmatys, will now have a name of his own!
• Players of any gender are now able to confess their love to Evil Bob’s servants on Evil Bob’s Island.

All this is just the beginning! We have a big list of other changes we’d like to make – and we’re sure you can think of a few more! If you have any further ideas about how we can make Gielinor more welcoming for you, please feel free to let us know!

Team Ins and Outs

After nearly three years, we’re unfortunately saying goodbye to Mod Oasis, a fantastic member of the team who’s been involved in some of our biggest recent updates, including Leagues III, Sleeping Giants, and of course, Giants’ Foundry. You’ll be missed, pal!

Here’s what Mod Oasis has to say:

Hey all, after the roller-coaster that’s been the past (almost) three years on the Old School Team, I have decided to move on. Working on Old School had always been a pipe dream of mine until I walked through the Jagex doors on the first day. Since then, there have been so many memorable moments, from naming a location in game after myself to launching an entire League. I’ve learned so many lessons while working at Jagex that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.

It’s been a pleasure seeing your reactions to updates and new content over the past few years and I cannot think of a happier note to end on than with the launch of the Giants’ Foundry. Seeing everyone exploring the foundry has been incredible. I am so proud of the work we’ve done, especially the creation of Kovac. Reintroducing an entire race into the game has been an interesting challenge but Kovac has essentially become my child, and I swear if anyone writes a quest to kill him in the future, I’m quitting gaming forever.

As anyone who plays Old School knows, you never really quit the game, so I’ll definitely still be ‘Scaping for the foreseeable future, this time as a player!

Anyway, thanks again for all the support and positivity over the past couple years. I’ll see you around <|:o)

Mods Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Boko, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Gecko, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Havik, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Matheus, Maylea, Markos, Meat, Morty, Nin, Nylu, Regent, Redfield, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Sigma, Skylark, Soffan, Sova, Squid, Steve W, Tide, Torrance, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team