Wilderness Resource area rework
by he box jonge & ScreteMonge
Introduction
Currently, the Wilderness Resource Area looks like it’s from a private server. It is a gated square that has various skilling resources in seemingly convenient spots. No one knows how those precious ores or the exotic trees appeared in this dead wasteland, or who built those tall gates.
We propose that this gated square gets reworked into an underground crater.
You will be descending in this crater with steps or rocks to different layers/levels where different skiling materials can be collected.
The skilling methods will focus mainly on increased resources and profit. They will not offer the fastest experience rates, but the rates will be better than the common low-effort training method will provide. All the resources will be stackable or can be noted, so you’ll have inventory space to bring supplies to combat against player killers.
It also has a unique reward that will aid players in disadvantageous skiller vs PKer situations so that you can actually have fighting chance as a skiller against potential pkers. Or to compete over valuable skilling resources and drive other players away that are mining “your” rocks.
Atmosphere I had in mind for the Grove’s lower level
Lore & explanation
The area that is now known as the Wilderness was formerly known as Forinthry.
It was a lush and green land by the time Gielinor was discovered by Guthix.
Forinthry was very rich in resources, however the massive explosion caused by Zamorak in the last years of the God Wars is what turned Forinthry into the wasteland we know today.
This Grove was heavily damaged from the explosion but some life was preserved, and over the centuries, life started to flourish once more in this secluded part of the wilderness.
At the edge of the Grove are some signs of life, a couple rocks, some grass and a few struggling trees. After carefully descending down, halfway down the crater around the edge are large platforms (first level) that are big enough for players to walk around on and mine in openings in the wall that are full of all kinds of special minerals.
The bottom level is a densely overgrown place with a lava and water lake, tall grass with black and red chinchompas, a superior magic tree and an ancient furnace.
A handy entrance fee
The Witch’s Note is a new item bought from Krystilia for 100k. It would be required to have on you to descend down into the Grove. While within the Grove, you can use resources you’ve collected on it to note those items, much like Trailblazer League’s Banker’s Note. However, the Witch’s Note always drops on death and can be sold back to Krystilia for 90% of its initial price. The item would be inside the loot key if player killer has those enabled.
Much like the Revenant Caves entrance fee, the Witch’s Note guarantees a minimal amount of risk for those taking advantage of the Grove’s resources but also provides the skiller a convenient, seamless experience.
The skilling methods
Mining & Smithing
In the walls of the higher level/outer ring are mining spots with a new way of mining the ores that we all know and love. Mining these special rocks will require 85 mining and yield ‘Fragments’. More specifically runite and adamant fragments. These rocks would be oldschool style rocks with success rates similar to iron rocks. So the mining feels quick and responsive.
All the rocks would provide both runite and adamant fragments. The chance to receive runite fragments would scale with the player’s mining level to have a 40% chance at level 85 and 50% chance for runite at level 99. The runite and adamant fragments would be stackable and give 45 and 30 xp per fragment mined respectively and need 8 runite and 6 adamant fragments to smelt them into their respective bar at the lava-powered furnace at the bottom of the grove.
This lava-powered furnace does not require additional coal ores and is twice as fast to smelt bars compared to regular furnaces. The fragments themselves are tradable so players can also choose to buy the fragments from other players and smelt them at the furnace for solid profit and xp. Players can note the bars (and other resources) with the ‘The Witch’s Note’.
Fishing
Outside of mining, all the other skilling activities will be at the bottom of the grove.
On one side of the bottom there is a lava lake that powers the furnace but also has Giant infernal eels living in it. You can fish them with level 80 fishing just like in Mor Ul Rek but these ones give slightly more xp and 10x the amount of lava scale shards and onyx bolt tips compared to the normal variant in Tzhaar place, the Giant infernal eels provide no tokkul however.
On the other side there is a water lake that would still have dark crabs requiring level 85 fishing. The standard catch rates are further improved to be 70% at level 99, but with reduced xp per crab. The Elite diary would give a 50% chance for double crabs per successful fishing action without providing additional xp.
Dark crabs would be the higher xp/h option, meanwhile Giant infernal eels would focus more on gp/h.
Woodcutting
A huge superior magic tree stands tall in the middle of the area. This tree will function similarly to a redwood tree in that you can only chop a hole in it and not fully down.
It has a greatly increased chop chance compared to regular magic trees (20% at level 99 with a dragon axe) and a 50% chance for double logs after completing the hard diary without additional xp.
Upon depleting a side of the tree, all players interacting with that spot will have a chance of receiving 1-2 magic roots for some extra profit. They would fall to the floor if their inventory is full.
Chopping magic logs from the great magic tree would provide xp rates slightly higher than suliuscep mushrooms, up to 110k/h with a 2h dragon axe at level 99.
Hunter
Around the magic tree in the tall grass lives a thriving population of black and red chins together. These chins would have a 75% chance to give double loot (no double xp)
There would be more spawns compared to other chins spots but it would not be better xp/h than the other black chin spot considering you will be catching red chins too.
Ideally it would be that you catch black/red chins in a 1/1 ratio.
With 700 catches per hour and 75% double chins this would be around 25% more profitable than regular black chinchompas but ~10% less xp/h
Maybe you build a crate somewhere under a tree where you can collect infinite box traps from, so you can bring more supplies with you.
Rewards
Outside of the xp and skilling resources there will also be a new item that you can obtain from the different skilling methods in the Wilderness Grove.
Upon successfully obtaining a resource from any of the activities listed above, you have a small chance to find an ‘ancient metal shard’ and “metal ring halves. It will drop to the floor if the player has a full inventory. These shards would be stackable.
The Holy Pendant
Upon collecting 4 of these ancient metal shards you can forge them together at the lava-powered furnace at the bottom of the grove to create a ‘Holy pendant’. This furnace is actually an old machine built by Saradomin forces back when they had conquered Annakarl and its surroundings during the God Wars and used this furnace to create this Holy pendant to combat the ancient magicks of the Mahjarrat.
Both the metal shards as well as the pendant would be tradable.
The Holy Pendant is worn in the amulet slot and has similar defensive stats and prayer bonus to an amulet of fury but no offensive bonuses.
However, having the Holy pendant equipped when you are being frozen or entangled, it will activate and provide you with great power. For the duration of the freeze/entangle your attacks with all 3 attack styles will be 15% more accurate and have 10% increased damage against other players. This would create an interesting dynamic in PvP fights and will give Skillers and PvMers a better opportunity to fight back against potential PKers.
The pendant would convert to x amount of coins on death.
Zaros’ key ring
Similar to the metal pieces of the pendant you will also be able to find metal ring halves during every skilling activity.
With 2 halves and a silver bar you can smith a new key ring that holds up to 5 (or more?) loot keys in 1 inventory slot.
The ring halves would be stackable.
Both the ring halves as well as the ring would be tradable.
The key ring would convert to x amount coins on death. Any keys on it would be transferred to the killer’s key ring. Any remaining keys that go over the cap of x will be treated the same way as it currently works.
Need feedback from Pkers on this item if it’s even useful.
Technical stuff
Optional: All Singles-plus areas and new PJ timers would be reverted to the old mechanics past the deep wilderness fence.
The Wilderness Grove would be single combat and located in deep wilderness, level 47 – 52. However, some of the exits and entrances are in multi combat or right on the edge.
Ways of entering & exiting
There would be multiple ways to enter and exit the grove.
- Stairs or rock climbs down to the mining place on the first level that would then lead down to the bottom with another set of stairs.
- Long rope to get from the surface down to the bottom in one go and back up again. This would require access to darkmeyer to buy the long rope and then attach it. Using this would require a fairly high agility level.
- Cave exit only from the bottom floor to the outside in one go. this will put you on the other side of the fence of the deep wilderness south of the grove, right from the spider hill.
When a player logs out in the area they will be upstairs at the stairs or rope again.
Detailed overview of the Grove’s levels by ScreteMonge
Clue & Achievement diary steps
Currently there are four clue steps that involve the wilderness resource area
- A coordinate clue to dig inside the gates. This can easily be relocated and put just outside the grove’s entrance.
- Mandrith, the current NPC guarding the gate, has 2 anagram steps. with the addition of the wilderness grove this NPC will likely cease to exist. We could simply remove the clue steps or add a new npc that fits in lore wise. For example: a druid like NPC, looking after this secrate piece of wilderness.
- Piles, the noting NPC has a master cryptic clue step. This would go to the new npc just like Mandrith or be removed.
Achievement diary steps will remain as normal, except for the rune scimitar step. This would now be to mine 16 runite fragments and smelt the bars from that instead of killing two runite golems for the ores.
New diary Rewards
Hard diary: 50% chance to receive double magic logs from the great magic tree, no additional xp.
Elite diary: 50% chance to fish double dark crabs, no additional xp.
The old increased catch rate on dark crabs would be replaced by this since the crabs now have an improved rate as base rate.
The 75% more chinchompas could also be locked behind the hard diary but we are not sure about that yet.