23rd December 2002 - San-Francisco servers online

The RuneScape worlds were getting rather full again so we've put some more online. As previously promised the servers are on the west coast of the US this time. We've added 3 free servers, and 1 new members server.

12th December 2002 - Cheating scum banned

If you cheat at RuneScape you will be banned. We have very advanced detection routines, and we can tell if you use programs to control your character for you. We've just banned over 400 players for cheating in this way. Many of whom were high level members.

We'd like to remind our players that using macros to play for you is NOT allowed and we WILL permanantly ban you for it, no exceptions!

-Now for all of you that don't know, there is another website named "Rune Palace" now the people who made that site are going to die as I made this one way before they made theirs. This has realy got me annoyed as I am losing customers. But hey, if we all stick together and destroy the other site then hey, everything will work out. 
-O.K. this isn't important more of a warning. But here goes... As most of you know I am always stake dueling, but I have had a turn for the worst and lost allot of stuff, and that isn't the point either. Well one day, not too long ago, I was stake dueling, and I staked one person for rune plate and legs, I lost but I didn't care. Then I go buy all super pots and stake him again, this time sure I would win having all supers. So I staked my dragon axe, rune large, plate, legs, kite, my dragon amulet and a rune 2hander. I lost and lost all that stuff, and was pretty annoyed. 
But then a level 64 impure named matte k decides he wants my yellow hat. So he stakes for it, staking 400k worth of rune. I fully pot just before the battle, and make sure it is a fist fight with pray, because I had no weapons or armour. But guess what......I lost and lost my most valuable item my yellow party hat. Now Think, all my combat stats are better then his, and his hits are 51, mine are 63, and yet I lost in a fist fight.... I then asked Bennett  about it and he said he couldn't do anything so I log off realy, realy annoyed.
-Big update for those that don't already know, just go to http://www.runescape.com/runescape.html to find out. Even when you log on you will notice the change. I think this is a great new change but still say it takes too long to load :) But don't worry, it is still realy good if you have a fast modem and computer. please check the forums on this web site and post your opinions about the update. Oh and by the way i now know where the Jagex office is located, so when I've completed my schooling and my computer programming course I will try to work for them :)

-mowbuss (always faithful to Jagex (still cant wait till the combat system is rewrote)).

12th Dec 2002 - Agility skill online

We've just added another massive members update. The long awaited agility skill is finally available. You can practice on two different training courses, or try the agility dungeon.

We've also added a new quest which uses the agility skill - called the "Grand tree quest". This is set in an enormous new area called the Gnome stronghold which also includes loads more besides the quest. Even more agility quests will of course be added in future updates.

New website online! - 11th December 2002

After many weeks of hard work our new website is finally online - think of it as an early Christmas Present! We hope that you will find the site easier to use and to find your way around.

Although we have tested the site as best we can, if you do find any problems, please let us know through the 'Feedback' section in our 'Customer Support' area accessible via the main page.

Cheers,

The Jagex Team

Well I have had a spell of not playing Rune Scape much any more and I think it has worked. Because now, I have and even more fun time playing the game then ever before, and I'm also richer thanks to my mate who sells me super pots all for under 4k each, which by every one else's standards means I'm ripping him off, but hey, he makes em by the bucket load. And with me coming back lately I have had a chance to become mates with Bennett one of the crew that brings us the game we love.

 If you ask me I think that Rune Scape has gotten about 25x better and more efficient to make money with this new system. Although I still prefer to make my money the fast way, by duelling and pking. Any way onto business. First up I would have to say a big thank you to every one who says hi to me in game, lol. 
Now also I'll be asking a few friends what is in the magic guild, and also how much exp you get from all the new spells. This will add to my database of magic.

Next I would like to say to Graham Bennett (mod on rs) thanks for all the info you have provided me with so I could complete some of the things on this site, and also just to help me. Also any one who don't agree with me and likes masks will love to know that I have 2 sets to sell, so please buy, lol. Hope fully soon I will be able to tell you wether or not to buy a party hat or sell, I need to decide myself, and am hoping ill have to buy one after x-mass when they go down coz they drop more (only hope, never said they will).

One last thing and it's for every member who uses this site......I would like to tell some secrets I use when duelling. First, when ever you stake anything above 15k or 30k worth always pot, using the two that I find best, super attack and super defence. Also, when you are on about 5 hits, just change to aggressive fighting stance and you should start hitting good. (I found this out after a lvl 75 staked with me, lost, and kept try to kill me until after the 3rd time that I killed him in a row he managed to hit me for 18. Also, when in a duel if you are using accurate then you aren't going to hit anything if the other peep is using defence so, after you got him or her down to half hits switch to aggressive or defensive.

Oh well, its looks like that's all I have to say for now, apart from the usual request for you people to send me quest walkthroughs, etc. But hey, some of us are lazy.

-mowbuss (lord of terror and destruction to stoopid peeps that attack me in wildy and think they are good because they manage to hit me for one 20 while I am hitting them for 15's and 18's and consitently)

Important note about RuneScape Windows client - 28th November 2002

We've recently had a few queries from RuneScape users who say the RuneScape Windows client is crashing. (Even though it worked fine previously). We haven't changed our windows client recently, and from what we've been told it seems it's actually a recent windows update which is causing this problem.

We believe this problem has now been fixed in another windows update. Therefore if you are having problems with the RuneScape client failing we recommend you visit windowsupdate.com to get the latest patches. This should fix it.

Fatigue reduced - 25th November 2002

Due to popular demand, it is now possible to mine and fish for longer without getting tired!

There are now two sort of rocks you can mine:

Soft rocks - These rocks spawn quite slowly, but they are easy to mine so you get very little fatigue from them. Mining these rocks is much like mining was originally before we changed it. You can easily get a full load of ore before you become too tired to mine.

Hard rocks - These use our new mining system for less repeat clicking. You can get the ore out of the rocks very quickly, and you can see it spawn so you aren't clicking blindly. However you will need to rest quite often when mining these rocks. For people who don't like clicking the same spot on the screen over and over you may find this way more fun.

We've also adjusted the fishing system. We considered introducing deep and shallow fish, but it doesn't work too well so instead we've just made the fish give a lot less fatigue than before, and spawn close to the original rate. This was what most players indicated they wanted.

One final note: We are aware that the numbers of soft and hard rocks may need balancing slightly. We will be keeping a close eye on this to make sure there are enough rocks of each type available. Depending on which rock type is most popular we may need to adjust the numbers slightly, so there is no need to ask us about this.

Planned update please read this - 16th November 2002

Well most players now seem to like the new mining system. However there is still quite a lot of people who still say they actually preferred the older one. I'm quite surprised by this, but if that's what you want then that's what I'll provide.

Therefore we're going to bring back the old mining and fishing systems BUT we're also going to keep the new system!! In other words to make sure everybody is happy you will be able to choose how you mine and fish!!

This will work by having two sorts of rocks so you can choose, one sort uses the old system, the other sort uses the new system, e.g.

Soft rocks - work very similar to the old pre-fatigue system for the people who preferred it before, (slow spawns, lots of missing, and clicking, but very very very low fatigue so you can easily get a full load of ore)

Hard rocks - work like our new system for all the people who think the new way is better. (You tire out faster, but you can get the ore very quickly and you can see it spawn so you aren't clicking blindly) And we'll do something similar for the fish so the old system is available again for that too, as well as an alternative new system to give you the CHOICE. This should make everyone happy, since you can just choose the way you like best.

This not only makes sure everyone has a mining method they enjoy, but it also adds more variety to the game since if you find mining is getting dull you can try out the other method for a bit, and get a nice change :-) Perhaps we will even add more types of mining in the future and increase the variety even further (for instance using tools other than a pickaxe)

Hope everyone likes this idea
Andrew

Small tweaks to mining - 15th November 2002

Today we've made the following small changes to mining:

You can now mine twice as much silver before getting tired. This is because it was pointed out that it shouldn't really by harder to get silver than gold. This actually now means silver is easier to get than it has ever been in the past

• We've made it 2-3 times easier to get gems under the new mining system, since that wasn't quite balanced correctly
  
• We've added a new mine in the swamp south of Lumbridge with 4 mithril rocks, and 1 adamantite rock, this is to replace the rocks removed from elsewhere. The rocks were moved to make sure everything is the correct distance from a bed for the new system to work properly.
  
• We made bread, pies, and pizza restore TWICE as much fatigue as they did before, which should make these foods much more worthwhile. We predict enterprising pizza sellers will turn up at the mining sites shortly :-)

  A few confused players seem to think the new fatigue system actually makes mining take longer, but this is not the case. After testing every single mining site at every single level, we can conclusivly say that it takes no longer to get ore, or level-up than before. But it's a heck of a lot less tedious and repetitive.

  Remember we've added lots of new beds so you might not have to walk as far as you think, we're hoping to add all bed locations to our worldmap soon to help you find them.

Fatigue - version #2 now online - 14th November 2002

We've worked extremely hard today to update the mining/fishing system with respect to your comments and feedback. The old system was considered rather too much of a change by many, so we've made a new one is more like the original mining. Here is how the new system works.

You can now actually see ore in the rock on the screen, so you can see when it spawns Ore now appears in the rocks TWICE as fast as it did pre-fatigue When ore is available you will always manage to get it now, you very very rarely miss To compensate for the faster spawns you get slightly tired as you mine The higher level you have, the more you can mine before you become tired

We've put a LOT of effort into balancing this system, I even wrote a little test program to compare the overall times of mining and fishing before and after, (this takes into account the extra time taken to go and get some rest), the time it takes to get ore / level should new be pretty much EXACTLY the same it was before, but mining is now much more varied and fun. We've also moved an awful lots of bed, and a few rocks/fish to make certain all the sites always have a bed within a carefully calculated distance,

Please give the system a good chance before sending any feedback. We've really put a lot of effort into making sure the version#2 system doesn't disadvantage anyone (except cheats!)

We might need to make a few more tweaks yet, but hopefully we're getting close to a really good system now.

Thanks Andrew

Latest RuneScape News - 13th November 2002

Mining improved! We have changed mining and fishing so that they no longer consist of hours of tedious repetitive clicking. The rocks are now easier to mine so you don't have to click anything like as much, and prospecting always works.

Instead of the repetitive clicking we have introduced a new 'fatigue' system which means as you do tasks such as mining your character slowly becomes tired. After a certain point (which depends on your level, and on the rock), you will become too tired to mine. When this happens simply rest at a bed or eat some food, and you'll feel much more lively again. The upshot of this is that the honest miners should be able to get their ore slightly quicker, whilst the cheats will just have to go somewhere else.

Also due to popular request we have modified the wilderness monsters so they are always aggressive regardless of your level. It was pointed out by many players that the wilderness is supposed to be dangerous place, so the new monster attacking rule has been removed in this zone.

Latest RuneScape News - 11th November 2002

Server upgrades. This morning we upgraded our Philadelphia servers. We've made the following improvements: 

• All Philadelphia servers moved to a new power circuit 
• Our main database server has twice as much memory (it now has 2gig) 
• We've replaced our web server with a new one which is four times more powerful

We apologise for not fixing the bug mentioned below today. Unforseen problems with today's upgrade slowed us down slightly. We are waiting for one of our servers to be repaired (hopefully tomorrow).

Latest RuneScape News - 6th November 2002

There is a small bug in Varrock, so please be careful. It is possible to get stuck behind a fence in the south-east corner near the 'dancing donkey' inn. Please do NOT go there or you may become trapped.

If you are already trapped then it is possible to escape by clicking 'attack' on an npc on the opposite side of the fence, or by clicking 'follow' on a player on the opposite side of the fence. If you still can't get out then wait until Monday when the builders are coming in to remove that fence.

We apologise for this bug, it will be fixed on Monday. Anyone trying to get other players trapped in that space will be BANNED for bug abuse.

Latest RuneScape News - 23rd October 2002

The mother of all updates has just landed!

New Quests:

Biohazard (Members' Quest) This is the second part of our large ongoing quest. Elena has been rescued, but now she needs your help to find a cure for the plague - so the fate of hundreds could rest in your hands! Find out if you're a thinker or a do-er ... because you'll need to be both.

Jungle Potion (Members' Quest) Trufitus Shakaya of the Taie Bwo Wannai Village requires that you collect five special jungle herbs for a potion so he can commune with his Gods. The jungle area has been greatly expanded for this quest.

New members town - The town of Yanille:

Explore this border town in the far south of Kandarin. Experienced Wizards will want to make use of the Wizards' Guild (magic level 66 to enter). Yanille also contains, a bank, a cookery shop, an inn and various other features.

New members spells - Enfeeble, stun, vulnerability:

You can now use more powerful high level versions of the the weaken, confuse and curse spells. They are cast using the new "soul rune", bought from the wizards' guild.

New features:

Dragon bones - Do you feel like you're praying in vain? Dragon bones can now be buried for a bigger prayer xp bonus than big bones.

Improved monster A.I. Monsters who are far weaker than you no longer auto attack. We thought it a bit strange that weak monsters were so stupid as to regularly commit suicide on a far stronger opponent, so they won't anymore. This also helps stop cheats who use programs to unfairly keep their character logged in at a respawn point, and gain combat xp unfairly.

Well I have only received the second addition of the runescape newsletter and am happy to show it to you all. I may make a section just for it but I will probably only post it in the news, I'm not sure yet. If you have any ideas once again I plead you to send them to me via e-mail. You will get all the credit for the idea and I will also post news of your idea here. From my recent chats with Graham Bennett from the Jagex customer support team I have learnt that Andrew might not drop Christmas Crackers this year and it all depends on wether or not he thinks we deserve them.

Thank you to everyone who uses this web page for help, etc. I realy appreciate it, and one of you, you know who you are, has said hello to me many times. Lately I have been up to the king black dragon allot, and have some pics to add to the the picture section of the site. Sooner or later I will fix up the sections which have mistakes or are incomplete. I have just completed the magic tables, and wood cutting tables. And am working on herblaw.

Latest RuneScape News - 30th September 2002

Attention all adventurers! In response to the constant thirst for knowledge of our players Jagex is proud to announce the birth of the Runescape newsletter - delivered straight to your email account! Forged in the mines at an undisclosed location, this priceless document will give you all the latest development news and info straight from the Jagex team.

Click here to get our newsletter

Latest RuneScape News - 25th September 2002

We've updated the RuneScape world-map to show all the latest areas and additions to the map. Newly mapped areas include West Ardougne, and the Gnome Tree Village. The map is pretty huge now so use the scrollbars to scroll around and view the entire area.

Latest RuneScape News - 24th September 2002

RuneScape was updated today with changes big and small. As well as fixing lots of small issues, we've also added the following features:

Tutorial Island - All newcomers can now take heart! First-time players will now start their adventures on tutorial island, where the good people of Runescape are busy preparing people for the challenges that await them. Learn the way of the rune, and pick up some handy culinary tips.

Waterfall Quest (Members quest) - Walk along the river that flows through Kandarin, where the locals speak of hidden treasure, and the legend of the Elven King. Search for a place untouched by human hand, and for treasures whose value cannot be counted.

King Black Dragon (Members monster) - The most fearsome monster ever to venture into Runescape has now... err... ventured into Runescape. So for all you plucky young upstarts, take a break from emailing customer support and pit your wits against the deadliest beast to date! More prudent types might just want to gaze at him from afar. Of course you'll have to find him first.

We're still working on the big graphical update. It sure is a lot of work! It's still a way off, so meanwhile we're going to show occasional previews of how things are progressing.

As well as improving all the graphics, we're also reworking all the animation to use a lot more frames so everything move more smoothly. Here is a preview of how some of the monsters/people look using our new animation system. Click here to see the pics.

Latest RuneScape News - 11th September 2002

New abuse reporting system online!

We've added a new 'abuse report' button to the RuneScape game which sends an untamperable snapshot of recent chat/trade events directly to customer support.

This means there is now a VERY easy way for us to catch all the people misusing our game and ban them once and for all! If you continue to be abusive or break the rules now the new 'report abuse' system is online then you WILL be caught almost immediately!

Please do NOT misuse the 'report abuse' feature. This is feature will allow us to catch and remove the trouble makers from our game. Help us clean up RuneScape by only using this report for serious cases.

Thanks Andrew

Latest RuneScape News - 9th September 2002

New members quest online - The sea slug quest

Something mysterious is happening on the new offshore fishing platform. People who've gone on their regular fishing trip just haven't returned! Can you rescue the missing father and son from the unknown horrors out at sea?

We've also added the ability to catch oysters whilst fishing with a big net. The pearls from these can be used to make powerful crossbow bolt tips. Plus we've added two new certificate traders in Zanaris

Latest RuneScape News - 27th August 2002

Episode 1 of our new multipart quest is now online. Edmond's daugher Elena has gone missing in West Ardougne whilst trying to help the plague victims there. See if you can find out whats going on. The story started in this quest will be continued in future updates.

We have also added a new Ardougne teleport spell for high level magicians, and a new bank in East Ardougne.

O.K. This next update comes as I notice that practically all of you that visit this site are looking for a rune bot. Now we all know that rune bots are a cheating system so I will have nothing to do with them on my website. Please use the forums as it will help you and I sell and buy stuff for rs, know the game better, and hopefully have a huge party every 6 months. These parties will consist of about 1 mill worth of items dropped. But I will need every ones support in it as I am not overly rich like some people I know. Also I have added the old news page. I want some data on the thieving levels for doors, etc. and chests and would also like the levels to cook curry and pineapple pizzas.

-mowbuss

Episode 1 of our new multipart quest is now online. Edmond's daughter Elena has gone missing in West Ardougne whilst trying to help the plague victims there. See if you can find out what's going on. The story started in this quest will be continued in future updates.

We have also added a new Ardougne teleport spell for high level magicians, and a new bank in East Ardougne.

RuneScape progress update.

It's been a while since I last revealed what we're currently working on, so here goes!

Lots of people said it would be really great if RuneScape had more of an overall story-line and if there was some sort of ongoing plot. Therefore we're pleased to say that we've designed a massive twisting plot which we're going to release over multiple episodes. The next update (hopefully tuesday or wednesday), will contain a new quest which is epsiode #1 of this story. We've also been working on a 'RuneScape history' page, which gives some background story for the RuneScape world, which we hope to put online soon.

Whilst the rest of the dev-team have been focussing on that, myself and Tony have been working very hard on the promised new 3d-graphics system. This is a mammoth task since we are replacing a vast chunk of the graphics and code. The new engine is coming together extremely well, although there's still a lot of work to do. I hope to get another preview online with the next couple of weeks so you can see how we are doing. We're now nearly ready to show a preview demo of our new landscape engine, our new character animation system, and our new improved user interface.

As I mentioned before this new graphics engine will also allow us much more flexible maps, and so we will finally be able to put the player owned houses and carpentry in. However since that update is still quite a long way off, the rest of the dev-team is going to work on a new 'agility' skill next. This will give the members something else new to enjoy meanwhile whilst we finish off our big graphics update.

Note: A few people have been tricked by fake previews of our upcoming updates. Any previews we put online will always be on this website only, and will not require your RuneScape password to view. NEVER enter your password anywhere but runescape.com or it will be stolen! Click here for security tips.

Andrew

I have changed the background song for the homepage to a funny song that my friend sent me, if you don't like it or have other suggestions please send them via e-mail to me. At the moment though most of my time is going into the movie that I am making. I'm not expecting to be finished the movie, titled "A Runescape Quest". At the moment I am still trying to think of an idea for the quest or what will happen in the movie, but I have completely finished the starting scene that has who stars in it, etc.

-mowbuss

We've just got another 2 members quests online. Sorry it took a bit longer than expected. We've been trying a new testing method to make sure there are less bugs than the last update.

The 1st quest is the Hazeel cult quest. Thieves have stolen the Carnillean family armour, and you are asked to recover it. This quest is a bit different because there are two very different ways of completing it! Will you side with the Hazeel Cult or with Ceril Carnillean?

The 2nd quest is the sheep herder quest in which you must safely herd four plagued sheep away from the city of Ardougne before the citizens become infected! Speak to Councillor Halgrive to start this quest.

Just a small update to say that I have got some more pics, and added some more pages so that there will only be 2 pictures per page, this will decrease loading time. I also added a newby guide, but rushed it because I had little time to make it. I might not update the site sometimes so please don't e-mail me telling me to up-date it because I will either be on holiday, internet disconnected or I am just lazy. In trying to keep you all happy I wont be lazy and will do my best to update it. Please use the forums that I created as it is a good way of meeting new players, doing good trades, and talking about anything to do with rs or other stuff. If you have some info for wood-cutting then send it in, I would like exp and lvls for certain woods.

-mowbuss

Today I have been updating some data and fixing some things on the site. I will be writing up quest guides and pasting other people guides that they send to me in the appropriate section. I also got rid of some junk that I didn't need any more. I finished the quest for the Holy Grail a while ago and found that it was quite easy to beet the titan, but when I first attempted I got eaten up because I didn't take any food, or my excaliber. As I said in the last update I would like some pictures of famous people, or bank pics, or anything that fits into one of the sections. One thing I have come across is people saying to me "Hey, your the guy from Rune Palace!" and I think it is great that people are using my web site and community. I would also like allot more people to become members of the community and join it. So please tell all your friends about it.

-mowbuss

An unrelated warning to free edition users - we've discovered that the members 'gnome amulet' is accidently usable on the free server. However we will obviously be fixing this oversight in the next update, so we'd like to warn you NOT to waste your money buying an object which will become useless to you in the next update!

I have been training my character on RS while also taking pics of funny things on the game to put into the picture gallery, If you would like a picture that you have found put into the gallery please send me a link to the site that it is stored on. I WILL NOT download anything from an e-mail unless its a picture file because it could contain a virus, and I hope that you understand this. I am also completing the new quests that Jagex has recently added (at the moment I am doing the Quest for the Holy Grail, and am getting whomped by the titan (lvl 144)). If you got a good guide you made yourself for a quest you can submit it to me by the forums, or e-mailing me, I will put the guide up as soon as I can and give you full credit  (will need your rs username). And if you want to join the forums just follow the link above. I also want calculators and maps of RuneScape, so if you have a realy good map of the whole of RS and would like to send it to me feel free to, also maps of mining areas and what you can mine at certain rocks. If you can manage to map the wilderness without having to draw some of it I will give you 100k gp in RS.

-mowbuss

We've updated RuneScape with 3 new members quests!

King Arthur is sending out his knights on a quest for the famous holy grail. If you are a knight of the round table go to king Arthur for further orders

Find the secret gnome village, and help them retrieve the orbs of protection which constantly protect their village from the dangers outside.

Help Lady Servil save her family from general Kazar who has enslaved them in his fight-arena. Quest starts south-east of Ardougne beyond the monastry.

We've also added a variety of other features including lots of new areas for the above quests, and a coal-truck track to rapidly transport coal.

Our new improved customer support system is finally online. I've completely rewritten the system to be easier and quicker to use. (and a lot more reliable!) If you've been having trouble submitting support queries recently the new system should work properly for you.

The RuneScape database is now running from a faster server so everything should be a lot more reliable now. I have also adjusted the network settings of the New-York servers so hopefully they are a lot less laggy now. If you live in the US then you should try them out again.

I went away for a short holiday on Saturday, and it seems Runescape promptly broke in my absence. It seems I can't even take 1 week a year away from running this game! I'd like to apologise for the people who have experienced connections problems over the last few days. I've decided to abort the remainder of my holiday and have come back to the office to fix RuneScape instead.

I'm currently transferring the database to a new server which is 6 times faster than the old one which should hopefully get things running smoothly again. Once again sorry things weren't working 100%. Now I'm back at work I should be able to get it working smoothly fairly quickly.

Andrew

More ways of becoming a RuneScape member are now available!
In addition to the usual credit/debit-card we've teamed up with paybycash.com to offer the following additional payment options:

• Virtual Check
• Check-by-FAX
• direct debit (ACH)
• Western Union®
• PayPal
• Citibank's "C2it" service
• Cash
• Wire transfer
• Money order!

Click here to sign up for RuneScape members now!

Today Runescape update fixes a large number of outstanding bugs in the game.

The following issues have been fixed: 

• Bug where you could teleport from the high level wilderness dungeon is fixed
• Bug where iron arrows were usable on the free servers is fixed
• Bug where you could get a skull for retaliating to a ranged attack is fixed
• Bug where shadow spiders prevented potions from running out is fixed
• Bug where arrows did not stack correctly, if multiple players shot the same target is fixed
• Bug where recovery questions were occasionally reported as 'not set' is fixed
• Bug where attacking another player immediately after a retreat caused a glitch is fixed
• Bug where player occasionally ran in random direction after ranged kill is fixed

The next game content update should be in about 12 days when we hope to get 3 fairly large quests online. The update will also include a whole load of new areas including a jungle, a tree-top village, a massive battle field, and a huge hedge maze.

Our billing system is now back-online, so memberships signups are available again. More options to pay for people without a credit-card will be available very soon.

The customer support system should also be back online shortly.

RuneScape is offline for essential maintenace, whilst we install a new back-end database system. Unfortunately this might take the rest of today, but it will enable us to offer a much improved customer support service, and to continue making further runescape improvements in the future.

Thank-you for your patience whilst we perform this essential upgrade.

I made a forum for the site so to post on it you have to register, I will not tolerate abusive language or profanity so if you say anything that another user finds abusive I will ban you for about 2 weeks. So follow this link to check out the forums

-mowbuss

In the latest haul of e-mails I have been getting about people wanting to see the smithing tables I have asked around and retrieved info. If you have any missing info, or want to tell me something new about runescape please e-mail me. If you want to see something on this site please e-mail what you want, but if you want a forum you will have to make one and tell me the site because I do not know how to make one. lol.

-mowbuss

We've updated RuneScape and added another two members quests.

In the first quest a mysterious stranger called Lucien asks you to retrieve an artifact known as the Staff of Armadyl. Speak to him in the 'flying horse' in Ardougne.

In the second quest you must restore the clock tower south of Ardougne to working order by finding and assembling the missing parts. Talk to Brother Kojo in the clock tower.

We've also added a fishing guild west of Hemenster which requires fishing level 68 or higher to enter.

World map updated - The map has been extended to the left to show the city of Ardougne and other new members areas we have added recently.

As promised here is a preview of some of the new 3d models which will be used when we update the RuneScape graphics. This is just a small sample of the total set of models we have, and as you can see as well as converting all the old graphics we are also introducing lots of new monsters at the same time.

We've developed some very good 3d model compression technology, which means that even with all the extra monsters RuneScape should load *faster* than it does at the moment once we do the update.

There's still a lot of work to be done to get an update of this size online, so it's probably at least two months away, but we'll keep you informed on how it is progressing. here is a link to the pictures.

Update on RuneScape development progress

A lot of the originally planned aspects of RuneScape are now complete, so you might well be wondering what we are now working on, and how we intend to keep improving the game, other than just adding more quests.

The really good news is that we have lots more planned, and due to the success of RuneScape members we have been able to put together a larger development/support team, (we now have 11 full-time staff), which means we are finally able to do some of the really big RuneScape updates that we've also wanted to do, but previously weren't possible when just Paul and myself were working on the game.

Over the past 3 months I've been doing a lot of absolutely essential work behind the scenes, and laying the groundwork we will need over the coming year, so it's not necessarily been apparent where all the effort is going. I've been working on things such as:

- Reprogramming the system to allow us to setup interlinked RuneScape worlds at different locations. This allowed us to setup the uk and new-york servers, and is essential to allow RuneScape to keep expanding.

- Interviewing and employing new staff. In the short term this takes up a suprisingly large amount of my time, and actually slowed development whilst things were sorted out. However obviously in the long term this will allow us to do so much more.

- Designing the billing and support software that we need to efficiently keep track of who our members are, what payments are due, customer queries, ideas, spot problems quickly, etc..

- A much faster 3d engine, which will be used for one of the massive updates we have planned, (see below).

Things like this sure take a lot of time, and that's in addition to the usual bug-fixes, updates, and new features we've been adding at the same time. The good news is that most of this 'behind the scenes groundwork' is now complete, and now I'm looking forwards to working on the exciting bits that build on this.

Next we will be working on:

- Finishing the new new database driven customer support system. I estimate this will enable our support staff to deal with queries at least 2 or 3 times as fast at the moment, and should really improve the quality of our service. It will also allow us to really effectively stamp down on trouble-makers and cheats.

- Vastly vastly improved graphics. We've had two 3d-modellers working on redrawing all the 2d sprites as glorious 3d models for some time now. These really do make the game look a lot better. To work properly this also needs a faster 3d-engine (which is luckily nearly complete). I still need to do quite a lot of work to integrate the new 3d-engine into the game. I hope to get some preview screenshots of some of the new models on the site soon.

- Interactive music, which changes depending on what you are doing and where you are. To stop the music getting annoying and repetative too quickly our musician is going to have to write an awful lot of it! Wish him luck :-)

- Player owned houses. This is a very complicated feature to add because we don't just want the houses to be empty buildings which do nothing. We are trying to implement all the best ideas we've had from players regarding these, so they aren't just a big disappointment. Making them interesting involves making the maps a lot more interactive than they currently are which is a lot of work, but worth the effort.

- The new interactive map system I am developing for the player owned houses is also going to be used for an all new 'scenario' system. This is going to be a really fun feature wherby the game can randomly generate entirely new areas of map on-the-fly. These areas will be tailored to match the abilities of the players entering. This will allow players to form small adventuring teams, and then get away from the crowded training areas and go on their own private adventure. As a result will allow us to add a lot of clever content in these areas which isn't possible at the moment.

- The usual new quests, new maps and new monsters, etc... Both Paul and Thomas will be working on this, and I believe they have another two quests nearly ready to go online.

There's even more planned after this, but these aren't small updates, :-) and so will certainly keep me busy for the next few months.

Andrew

I have added the quests page and added all the weapon stats curtesy of "tip.it". I have also been working on the wood cutting skill asking around what level you can cut certain wood and how much experience you get from each kind. I am also going to figure out if you get more experience if you light better wood. If you want me to add a monsters list of what they drop and how much experience they give and items you are going to have to send it to me via e-mail. I will not add anything copied straight from another website though. 

-mowbuss

I am waiting on news of what carpentry will do and if you have any news on quests I would like to know and will pay a rune med if you send me guides to all the quests including members quests (I will check other web sites to make sure you didn't just copy the stuff from them). I will also pay a rune med for fletching stats (what damage that different bows and arrows do).

-mowbuss

Massive crackdown on cheating players.

As part of our promised commitment to stamping down and stopping cheats in RuneScape we have developed a new system to automatically detect people using macro/bot software to gain stats unfairly.

It clearly says in our rules that using software to automatically play the game for you and raise your stats for you is cheating!. This will not be tolerated. It is just not fair on the players who play the game honestly and get their levels fairly.

Our new system is extremely efficient and accurate, and in the last 24 hours we have already identified nearly 2000 players who have been cheating in this way. We also believe that we will be able to identify all future offenders and will continue modifying and improving our detection software to do so. From this point on if you use a macro or use a modified version of the RuneScape client, it is almost 100% certain that you WILL be banned or erased.

Since these people gained their stats/items unfairly we have unfortunately had no choice but to completely wipe the stats and inventory of the aprox 2000 people who we have caught using macro/bot software. It seems obvious that these players should not be allowed to keep what they did not gain honestly in the first place.

If you are one of the people who we stat-wiped then whining and making excuses to us won't help. Our new system is designed to have a 0% rate of false positives, and we KNOW you were cheating. The stat-wipe is irreversible, so if you want to get your stats back then the only way to do it is to start playing the game fairly, and EARN your way to greatness like everyone else has to.

Click here For a complete list of all the people who have already been stat-wiped. We expect to catch more people at it over the next few days. I hope this proves we are deadly serious about stopping this cheating in runescape.

Two new members quests are now online.

In the first quest you must help the dwarves win a fishing competition. To start the quest look for the passage way at east Kandarin.

In the second quest you must carry out a number of tasks for the monks south of Ardougne.

CREDIT CARD FRAUD WARNING

We have noticed a few players have attempted to upgrade their accounts to membership using stolen or unauthorised credit cards. This will not be tolerated.

We have already started taking action and have PERMANENTLY BANNED several high-level players for using stolen credit cards to obtain membership illegally. We are now investigating what further legal action we can take to prosecute offenders to the maximum extent permitted by law.

We are aware than in some cases, the player banned had accepted a membership offered to them by a 'friend' and did not realise that the card used was a stolen one. Hence we were forced to ban some honest players who had accepted what they thought was a generous gift, but was actually an illegal theft!

We really don't want to have to ban any more innocent players. Therefore if you suspect your account may have been upgraded with a stolen card, or if someone else paid for your membership, (especially if it was someone you don't know in real life), then contact us with all relevant information immediately by emailing: creditcardfraud@jagex.com

If the payment used on your account is fraudulent and you do NOT report it to us at the above address we will take action against you.

If someone outside your family offers to upgrade your account say "no". You should be VERY wary about people you don't know in real life offering to pay your membership even if they are a friend in the game. If you want to report someone for offering to upgrade your account then please email all relevant information to: creditcardfraud@jagex.com

Both members and free-edition runescape have been updated with new content. 

First up the members wilderness has been expanded to include: a new level-56 wilderness area, scorpion ravine, pirate hall, rogues to pickpocket, doors to lock pick, high level wilderness dungeon, shadow-spider monster, fire-giant monster. 

Members also can now trade wood certificates for those valuable logs, and purchase/steal spice from the spice stall which when added to stew before cooking can be used to make curry (heals 19hp) 

With all these new wilderness areas for members we've decided to make some of the older wilderness areas available to free-edition users. Explore the bandit camp, dark warrior castle, and overgrown village. Free users also now have access to the crafting guild 

Both members and free versions have been updated with a new 'make-over mage' character, who can change your character appearance... for a price

I currently need a general forum system so you can ask questions, and other people and I can answer them. Or if you want to sell something on "rs" you can post and some one will reply if they want to buy it. If you have any news or know where I can get a forum from, e-mail me by clicking here.

-mowbuss

Latest RuneScape News – 30^th April 2002

New members update online! Many RPGs have a thieving/rogue skill and this is something, which until now has been missing from RuneScape.

  We’ve now added this popular skill to the members version and it includes abilities such as pick-pocketing, picking locks, disarming traps, and stealing from market stalls. For more information about the new thieving skill please refer to the online manual.

  In addition we have added a quest which uses the new skill. Can you help the rightful owner steal back the lost tribal totem? The quest starts in Brimhaven, and after that is set entirely in the brand new city Ardoungne. You will need a thieving level of at least 21 to complete this quest, so practice your thieving before you start