Tag: Jagex

RuneScape Hammered By Service Attacks


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Jagex has put out a warning for players to avoid high risk content as the servers for both RuneScape and Old School are currently being disrupted by an ongoing targeted attack. More news is to come and Jagex has not ruled out the possibility of a rollback.

As you may be aware, we’re currently experiencing service disruption across both game and web services, this is affecting both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape.

We are aware that RuneScape (as well as other games) are being targeted by attacks which are causing connectivity issues for our players.

We are doing everything we can to mitigate any impact on your gameplay experience – our Systems Team are currently working to improve stability across our core hosting platform to improve the situation.

Whilst this is ongoing, we would strongly suggest that you do not partake in dangerous/high-risk content such as PvP or high level PvM and as always, don’t risk anything you’re not prepared to lose.

Should you need to get in touch with Customer Support, please use the Support Centre on the RuneScape website.

Kind Regards,
The RuneScape Team

(Source: RuneScape)

Old School: One Last Shot At Artisan


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Old School RuneScape launched as a snapshot of the MMO as it was back in 2007, and since then has updated with a ton of new content all sourced from the forums and approved by a majority of players via content polls. With the variety of content added, Old School RuneScape has pretty much established itself as a separate product, and not just a classic RuneScape experience. One of the largest content additions put up to player approval has been Artisan, a new skill that does not exist in RuneScape 3. The idea of Artisan is that the skill gathers from other skills to create new items.

Unfortunately the players have not voted to approve the skill over several re-imaginings. The latest dev blog details the most recent version of Artisan being presented for approval, noting that this is the final dev blog on the matter. The Artisan skill will have players receiving gathering and crafting tasks from artisan masters and will allow them to craft items and tools that will aid in everyday life. For one example, it will be possible to craft wieldable tools (saving inventory space) or creating slow-burn logs which burn longer and decreases odds for burning food.

In addition to voting on the addition of the skill, players will also have the ability to vote on individual items and see them added to existing skills if the Artisan skill as a whole does not pass.

(Source: RuneScape)

RuneScape Releases First Expansion


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Jaex has released the first part of the first expansion for RuneScape. Lost City of the Elves is set to release in three content chunks, the first being the quest Plague’s End, the largest quest to be added into the game and the conclusion of a quest series that began in 2002. The second and third chunks of the expansion will be released in September and October respectively, with each part introducing a new section of the Elven city of Iowerth. The expansion promises “hundreds of hours of new content,” introducing new mini-games, dozens of new training methods, new equipment, new items, and and more.

“This has been a year of resurgence for RuneScape, from the introduction of the Legacy combat mode and Twitch integration to the launch of our debut expansion pack, voted for by players as part of our Player Power initiative,” said Phil Mansell, vice president of RuneScape. “In addition to the remarkable environments, challenges, and gameplay that the Lost City of the Elves brings, it also underlines the collaborative efforts between the RuneScape development team and our passionately loyal players as we work to bring the game they want to experience to life.”

When the original quest released in 2002, RuneScape looked like this.

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(Source: Jagex Press Release)

Ironman Mode Considered For RuneScape


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The RPG community is one that is constantly challenging itself to complete games in new and unconventional ways. We’ve talked about this before on Dungeons & Dragons Online, where some communities institute perma-death, deleting their characters if they die. As unofficial challenges, of course, participation is completely based on the honor code. There is no way to know for sure if a player has kept up their end of the deal, which can often lead to distrust and fighting within said communities.

Jagex has noticed the popularity of an Ironman Mode, a game type where players level up completely self-sufficiently. The company is planning on implementing an official version of this mode, where players will be completely restricted from interacting with others. While the fine details are still being worked out, players will be unable to trade with others in any way, either by direct trade, picking up drops, picking up other players’ loot, using the auction house, buy items sold by other players to shops, or accepting aid. Players will also not be allowed to group up, join multiplayer minigames, receive buffs, use housing services by other players, or group up in Dungeoneering.

There is also a hardcore version being thought of which will delete the player’s character when they die, leaving only their highscore behind. The mode has support in both versions of RuneScape.

(Source: RuneScape)

RuneScape Legacy Goes Live Monday


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Jagex has announced today that RuneScape’s Legacy Mode will go live on Monday, July 14th. Legacy mode, as voted on by players, reverts RuneScape back to the combat system that existed prior to the introduction of Evolution of Combat. Abilities are removed, the old interface has been reintroduced, several systems have been reverted back, and more.

Legacy mode is optional with Evolution of Combat still available for those who prefer it. There are several changes coming that will affect all players, including the recalculating of player combat levels back to the old maximum of 138 (currently 200), as well as the reintroduction of weapon-specific special attacks and a change to how strength stats affect combat.

(Source: RuneScape)

MMOrning Shots: Gorilla Warfare


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Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from RuneScape, where Jagex has teamed up with the Unity for Wildlife charity and United for Rhino campaign to help raise awareness for illegal poaching. Over the course of the next two weeks, players will be able to answer daily rhino questions. Answer four of them correctly and adopt your very own white rhino. Get ten questions and you’ll have a black rhino to hug and squeeze and call George.

Save MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The Eventual Removal of Evolution of Combat?


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Evolution of Combat was introduced to RuneScape on November 20th, 2012. A massive undertaking and equally dramatic shift in gameplay for the eleven year old MMO, Evolution of Combat introduced abilities, a hotbar, dual wielding, new equipment, and altered how creatures in the world needed to be fought. New items were introduced and many spells and other items were removed entirely or rendered useless by changes to how the game balanced combat. As one might expect when a game implements such a radical change, an indeterminate number of players up and quit.

Nearly two years have passed and Jagex has slowly working to bring those players back. Old School RuneScape was introduced at the end of February, a snapshot version of RuneScape culled from 2007, long before the introduction of features such as the Evolution of Combat, Grand Exchange auction house, or microtransactions. To move even further, Jagex announced that further content on Old School would be sourced directly from the community and put up to a vote before it would be implemented.

On the RuneScape 3 front, Jagex implemented a combat mode called “momentum” which was meant to replace abilities in regular encounters with monsters, by boosting offensive and defensive stats. Revolution was later added that is similar to momentum, however this mode automatically activates abilities, allowing the player to play somewhat like they did prior to Evolution of Combat.

The latest update to bring back players from pre-Evolution of Combat is Legacy Mode, but Legacy does more than simply automate a player’s combat. Legacy Mode was voted in with an 81% (200 thousand votes) majority. The mode reintroduces the old user interface and completely removes the abilities for people who choose it (unlike Revolution/Momentum which automates or ignores abilities). For all players, the maximum combat level has been reconfigured to its old cap of 138 (as opposed to 200), and weapon-specific special attacks are being reintroduced. Damage output and experience rates are supposed to be lower on Legacy Mode, but “near optimum” in comparison according to Jagex.

A few people have emailed me asking if I think that Jagex will remove Evolution of Combat altogether, and my prediction is to wait and see on legacy mode. 81% of the community wanted legacy mode introduced, and that doesn’t count those who quit due to Evolution of Combat and didn’t vote. I think what Jagex will do is iterate on legacy mode to become just as viable as using abilities and, should  the time ever come where not enough people are using Evolution of Combat to justify the resources spent on updating both systems, it might be removed entirely.

For right now, however, Jagex wants to appeal to both crowds.

Old School RuneScape Gets New School Skill


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Old School RuneScape isn’t simply about allowing disgruntled players to relive the golden days of the past, since its introduction earlier this year the offshoot has gone in a rather separate direction from its New School counterpart. Thanks to a content system where updates are suggested and then voted on by the community, with nothing making its way in unless the majority say yes, Old School RuneScape has seen a few content updates from past its time, like optional hud improvements and even the god wars dungeon and godswords. The players even managed to vote in content that never existed back in the day, like new items and interfaces and even a new skill.

Designed by a member of the community and voted on by players, the Artisan skill is a bit like a craftsman’s take on slayer, where a slayer master gives assignments to kill certain creatures. In Artisan, an artisan master gives assignments to craft specific items in return for experience, the benefit being that you level in any related skills simultaneously. Players will be able to craft creature idols which, when burned, offer combat boosts. Players will also be able to learn how to craft special items that boost other skills, like cooking better quality food or new clothing.

You can check it all out at the dev blog below.

(Source: Old School RuneScape)

Transformers Universe Q&A with David Nicholson


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Jagex has released a new question and answer session on Transformers Universe with Vice President David Nicholson. Check it out in its entirety below.

• How have you found the fan response to the Transformers you’ve created for the game?

(Laughs) Well, being able to design and implement our own TRANSFORMERS could have been a double edged sword, especially when it comes to the fans and their respect and love for the TRANSFORMERS brand. We’re really pleased, the fan response has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s obviously a huge honor, privilege and responsibility to introduce new characters into the TRANSFORMERS universe. Throughout development we’ve worked very closely with Hasbro, sharing our initial thoughts and ideas, taking on board their feedback and working within the existing Transformers canon.

• Can you talk about the process of creating new Transformers, and why you felt it was important to generate new ones for the game?

The actual task of introducing new characters starts with research. Hundreds of Transformers already exist across movies, TV shows and books, so we want to make sure we’re not overlapping with something that’s already in place. After that, it becomes a collaborative process between the creative team and the concept team as they start working up concepts, and develop initial thoughts on names biographies and backstories for the characters. It’s an exhilarating process! We’re really excited about the characters that we’ve created, and can’t wait for players to get their hands on them.

• Where did you take inspiration for the type of game Transformers Universe is?

MMOs have been a growing genre for many years now and it’s been interesting to watch the transition from traditional MMORPGs through to MOBAs and on to war games like World of Tanks. We don’t like being pigeon-holed and feel that Transformers Universe, as a blend of strategic, tactical and collaborative game play is best described as a multiplayer online tactical action (MOTA) game. There’s huge competition out there for people’s attention, from games, films, TV, books and more, and we think Transformers Universe can really stand out because not only is it Transformers, and millions of people around the world have grown up with this brand for 30 years, but we’ve got a game that, irrelevant of the brand attached to it, stands on its own merits. The game plays to many strengths. It offers players the chance to collect these great Transformers warriors and lead them into battle; it lets you go head to head against players from around the world; and it features game modes that suit your style of play. Ultimately, who doesn’t like huge robot warriors that can kick ass and who also have fantastic and growing back stories. It’s the perfect mechanical storm!

• Can you talk a bit about the background of the story and how that was created?

We’ve been able to build on established lore and really take Transformers Universe off in a unique direction. Narrative will be an important part of Transformers Universe and the way gamers play it will impact on how the story develops. We’ve worked very hard with Hasbro on building out the storyline for Transformers Universe, and as part of that we’ve added award-winning music video and feature film director, Alex De Rakoff, to the team to help establish tone and narrative for the game too.

• What are your future plans for rolling out content?

Obviously our current focus is on delivering a great product for launch. We are using the beta period to get feedback from real players and understand what’s working for people and what isn’t. After that we’ll be more open about our future plans. We’ve got plans for content updates, significant narrative events that are really going to steer the story and a pipeline of numerous bots that players are going to meet post-launch. But, at the moment, the focus is all about the here and the now, and that means releasing a product that is worthy of the TRANSFORMERS brand as well as being worthy of the fans loyalty and patience.

• How does the pricing structure work for the game?

Transformers Universe will be free-to-play and content will not be gated by a subscription. If you’ve got the time then you’ll be able to get everything you want without spending a penny. We want players to experience the best of what we’re offering, while allowing those that are a little more time constrained the option of getting into the experience a little quicker.

• Are you hoping to pick up fans of the movies with the release coming this summer?

Firstly, and I say this from the perspective of being a TRANSFOMERS fan, it’s going to be a bumper summer for people like me! It’s completely serendipitous that the film and Transformers Universe are released within the same time frame. There is very little content or story overlap between the film and the game. That said, the fact that there is another movie hitting the screens at a similar time as Transformers Universe is being played, can only bode well for both the hardcore fans and the more casual observers. You can enjoy the movie experience and then come home, log on and continue the adventure in the comfort of your own home

Jagex Details Possible Free To Play For OldSchool RuneScape


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Old School RuneScape launched last year and continues its own track of development with a specialized team of developers. In the latest developer blog, Jagex discusses bot busting and free to play.Currently, Old School RuneScape is limited to players who have an active subscription to the main RuneScape game. Last year saw a limited free trial which Jagex acknowledges did not meet its mark as it did not see a significant increase in membership.

As part of an ongoing experiment in implementing free to play, new accounts starting May 27th will have trial access to Old School RuneScape for two weeks with a reminder that it may result in nothing changed.

The F2P journey that we are now all embarking upon will end two ways. If we find the right way to introduce F2P we will poll that method to you as a permanent addition to the game. However, you must also be prepared to accept that if we cannot find the right method, we can’t offer F2P as a permanent addition to Old School.

You can check out the entire dev blog at the link below.

(Source: RuneScape)