18 October 2006 - Player-Owned House Costume Room

Do you love to collect different outfits for your character but have trouble finding room for them all in your bank? Is your local banker buried under a heap of lederhosen and frog masks? Your problems are solved! From now on, if you have level 42 Construction, you can add a costume room to your house. Chests, wardrobes and cape racks in this room can be used to store many of the ensembles you can acquire around RuneScape, including: Treasure trail reward costumes Random event reward costumes Minigame reward costumes (such as Castle Wars armour) Quest reward costumes (such as Temple Knight armour) Recent holiday event rewards - you will find that the room automatically stores any holiday event reward you are entitled to! Plus, of course, the new Capes of Achievement! Naturally, bigger, higher quality pieces of furniture in this room can store more stuff. Please consult the Knowledge Base article for the complete list of storable costumes. In other news... As always, we've been working hard behind the scenes to fix glitches in the game. This week, among many other minor bugfixes, watch out for the following changes: Higher-level slayers may be pleased to hear that Duradel, the Slayer Master of Shilo Village, has finally restored Nechryael to his list of assignments. Giant rats, bats and bears have had their models and animations upgraded. Ever since the update to the combat interfaces, your attack style would be reset to Accurate mode if you switched weapons to a magic staff. This will no longer happen unless there is no appropriate attack style available on the staff to match your previous mode.

18 October 2006 - Capes of Achievement... and Goats!

Are you one of the hottest firemakers? Craftier than a clockwork cat? Bit of a wiz at wizardry? Try out our new Capes of Achievement today! Experts across RuneScape are now selling these stylish new additions to your wardrobe... but watch out! Only players who have reached level 99 of a specific skill or completed all of the quests will have the right to wear the latest in-game fashion and gain access to a funky new emote to show off their new cape! Each cape comes with a matching hood, and if you've mastered more than one skill, a trimmed model will highlight your talent. So whatever skills your achievements lie in, you can show off your dedication with these elite new items. For those of you who still wonder about reaching level 100 ... there's a sneaky boost to your stat on each cape, temporarily giving you the effects of that unattainable century! To find out where you can buy one, wander over to the Knowledge Base article. This week also sees the release of a tough, new breed of animals. Herds of Desert Goats can now be found wandering around the Kharidian - um - Desert. Now there's a surprise! Intrepid explorers who go hunting for these bleating beasts will find that they can collect goat horns, which, when powdered and mixed with Harralander, can make a new Combat potion. This magical (level 36) elixir combines the properties of a basic Attack Potion and Strength potion, so it's a handy addition to your inventory when heading into difficult combat situations. Warning: Goats and the desert effect can be bad for your health!

11 October 2006 - Players' Gallery and Wallpapers

For the past two months Postie Pete has been struggling to our gates with sackfuls of your fantastic artwork. Sculptures, paintings and etchings have been flooding in at a rate that has made even Pete sweat. He has collected together some of those that made him go "oooh", "aaah" or even made him chuckle a little. These fantastic creations are now available for viewing within the Players' Gallery. The high-standard of work has made us want to return the favour, so we have cleaned our brushes, paid Aggie for a few vials of dye and made some of our own. So, available for download to your desktop, are six sparkling wallpapers for your viewing pleasure. Will you dare go eyeballs to eyeball with the dreaded 'penance healers', who posed for this wallpaper between training for one of next year's updates, Barbarian Assault? Will you choose to marvel at the revised look of the rats, bears and elementals with our concept art? Or will you be sipping at a Blurberry Special in the gnome restaurant? The choice is yours. In other news... The far-flung areas of RuneScape have allowed our writers in to explore for another batch of Area Guides. We have been mapping the dungeons, tasting the cuisine and chatting to various characters to give a comprehensive guide of what to expect in such treacherous areas as Waterbirth Island, the Falador Mole Lair and the Cave Goblin Mines. Following the teleportation jewellery changes of last week, we have made another clutch of items usable while they are worn. The following can now be used with a simple right-click on the item and choosing the Operate option: the blessed silver sickle, the progress hat from the Mage Training Area, Prayer books, the Amulet of Catspeak, rubber chickens and the Nature Amulet. There has also been a slight name change to the magic staff reward received from the White Knights. It is now called a 'white magic staff'.

2 October 2006 - Elemental Workshop II

The scholars of the Digsite have been cataloguing their library and have stumbled upon another book talking about the strange machinery found underneath Seers' Village. Unable to decipher the technical nature of the book, the scholars invite anyone with experience of this elemental workshop to take up the challenge themselves. Will you follow in the steps of the great metallurgist Vitruvius? Dare you try to rediscover his lost arts, or will you suffer the same fate as his apprentice? New armour and new ways to treat your Elemental ore are on offer to those brave enough to think out this new chapter of history... In other news... In response to feedback from players over the last week, we've adjusted the new interfaces to make them easier to use. In particular, the Run button has been moved to the bottom of the Options interface so that it's more convenient to click. The buttons have also been redesigned to make it more obvious exactly where you can click to toggle them. The stats interface has returned to its old yellow colour since people were having trouble reading the orange version. We've also fixed the bug whereby you could no longer get defence xp while autocasting magic spells. You can now operate teleportation jewellery while you're wearing it! Just right-click on the item and choose the new Operate option. Do bear in mind that you'll have to click through the same "where would you like to go?" options as before, so it won't make it any easier for you to evade pkers. The clickable areas on the spinning wheel interface have been enlarged to make them easier to use.

2 October 2006 - Behind the Scenes - October

Hello, and welcome to another exciting Behind the Scenes article. It's October already, and Diango and his fairies are beginning to wonder where the year has gone. In order to make enough toys ready for Christmas, Diango’s shipped in as many raw materials as he can, including some of the wood from the haunted forest around Draynor Manor. What trouble can be caused by a few confused poltergeists? Will you be able to clean out the haunted workshop? Pick up your ghost-busting gear later on this month, and you might even earn yourself a spooky reward in this year's Halloween update. Also in October, Player-Owned Houses will get their first update since launch, with the all new costume room! Build magic wardrobes and treasure chests, and free up some space in the bank! Players will be able to store all their favourite random event costumes, special treasure trail outfits and even some of the odd little toys they've picked up on your travels over the years. More information will follow later this month. As well as all of your funky costumes, the POH addition will also be able to store one of our other releases this month... the awe inspiring “Capes of Achievement”. Yes, players who have reached the awesome status of having level 99 in a skill or completing all of the released quests will soon earn the right to wear a special cape. Each cape - one for each skill plus one for the quests - will be available in mono-colour or with a trim. Each cape also comes with its own special (and unique) animation, as well as a slight boost to its associated stat. The capes themselves look stunning, and will complement the outfits of even the flashiest adventurers. Player will also be able to explore the next level to the strange dungeon in Seers' Village this month, with the launch of Elemental Workshop Part 2. A new book has turned up talking about the mysteries of the “Elemental Helm”. What puzzles await? Only those with a logical mind should find out... Also this month, we see the next batch of our NPC improvements. After the dragons, giants and demons got the full treatment last month, a few of our other beasts got jealous and joined the queue to the Makeover Mage's patented “upgrade-a-race-o-matic”. What will the bears, rats and bats look like after he (or she) has woven her (or his) magic? Well, you’ll be able to find out sooner that you think, because we're releasing a range of wallpapers to support this interesting project. More to come soon! My Arm is tired. He’s tried planting spades and even dwarves, but nothing seems to be working. Clearly My Arm doesn’t know enough about what the humans call “farming”. Confused? You will be when you’re asked to accompany trolls across the map in search of the fabled goutweed. Where will My Arm take you next? Find out later this month! The Knowledge Base gets some serious updates later this month, with the next round of Area Guides, a new postbag, and of course, the players' artwork gallery. With some other small improvements like new desert goats and a new potion, you’ll always find something new to do in October!

27 September 2006 - Area Sounds

The way we use sound in the free and members' worlds gets its well deserved update this week with the inclusion of Area Sounds. These ambient effects add a new level of immersion into our game world, with waterfalls growing louder as you walk towards them, trees with birds and animal sounds in them, bubbling fountains, wind whistling through the mountains, the sound of the sea lapping against the shore and mysterious howls haunting the peaks of the Wilderness. It really does add a new dimension to the game. As well as new ambient sounds, you'll also notice you can hear a lot more of what other people are doing around you, especially when they're fighting. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have enjoyed developing them. In other news... Along with the area sounds, interface updates and new tutors, we've been busily improving existing features of the game. This week: Adventurers who have defeated the terrible Iban and obtained his staff may use its new right-click option to check how many charges it has.Don't forget - it takes one charge to cast Iban Blast on a monster but two to cast it on another player. Baby dragons have now shrunk slightly to solve the problem where their heads rendered incorrectly when they leant forwards. This doesn't affect their stats. Rune and Adamant boots now have a +2 and +1 strength bonus respectively. The random junk you occasionally found in chests and crates around the world has now been removed. Members can still get all those items from sources such as the Trawler, the HAM cave and the Digsite.

27 September 2006 - Player interfaces

We've now been able to rework some of the core interfaces used for controlling your character. The combat, worn-items and options interfaces have been completely changed, getting away from the old designs which featured text on tiny buttons and replacing them with clearer graphics. Naturally these changes will take you a little while to get used to, so please check out the Knowledge Base page that explains what's happened before you do something dangerous like rushing into the Kalphite Queen's hive...

27 September 2006 - Skill Tutors

This week the Duke of Lumbridge has recruited a number of tutors to help our new players, both F2P and members. Adventurers fresh from Tutorial Island can often find themselves a bit lost in Lumbridge, so he decided to offer a bit of a helping hand. The tutors (marked with a "?" icon on your minimap) are mostly based in Lumbridge, with just one residing in Varrock. As well as offering free advice on skills at any level, they also give you basic equipment should you lose it and even some training weapons and basic supplies.Other additions include: A Lumbridge bank, found at the top of Lumbridge Castle. A revamp of the way signposts work. A glassblower on Entrana. An improved Newcomer map - to offer more information on where you are in the world.Available from certain General Stores. Useful reminders on what to do if you should happen to die while young. A free teleport to help the lost adventurer who has no clue where they are.Please note – this teleport cannot be used to evade combat. Along with the new guides you'll find the swamps south of Lumbridge have received a bit of landscaping with more rocks being exposed for mining, new fishing spots in the river and Father Uhrney moving his hut even further away from the hustle and bustle of city life. With all this recent tectonic movement going on, a small island has appeared in the middle of the River Lum enabling those crossbow-equipped adventurers to cross to Al Kharid and back.

27 September 2006 - Postbag from the Hedge

In this month's edition of the postbag, we have the answers to all those questions that have been bothering you for so long: Who's the better swordsman - Vannaka or Harrallak Menarous?Where did Baba Yaga get that amazing house?Why do hill giants keep their boxer shorts so shiny and clean?Plus a poem from a crab, and much more... Don't forget to keep sending us your artwork for the forthcoming Gallery!

20 September 2006 - Slug Menace

For Holgart, the peaceful village of Witchaven was the perfect place to retire and spend the rest of his days fishing. Sadly, some greedy merchant decided to build a huge fishing platform right in front of them, killing off the livelihood of every fisherman in the village. Many adventurers have already visited the platform and its strange guests, but little has been done about their strange powers... until now. Despite the fact that most of the population of nearby Ardougne had forgotten the village even existed, Mayor Hobb is a proud and resourceful man who will not leave the glory of Witchaven to the history books. Is he responsible for the sudden rise in activity in the area, or is there some other power at work here? Whatever it may be, it's the perfect opportunity for the Temple Knights to send out their most promising initiate for a spot of investigation and possibly a little heroic evil-destroying action. Will you be able to resist the darkness that lurks in the murky waters? Where does your destiny lie? Only those brave enough to tackle the Slug Menace are likely find out... one way or another. Keen Temple Knight recruits should know that the rank of Proselyte will be available to anyone who can complete the mission, as well as access to a new set of armour. Report to Sir Tiffy in Falador park for more information regarding this hypnotic adventure... In other news... Along with Slug Menace and the game engine upgrades we mentioned in previous announcements, we've also adjusted a few game features that needed attention. In particular: Duradel, the Slayer Master in Shilo Village, has been persuaded to rethink the assignments he sets. He's dropped the weaker monsters from his list, so experienced adventurers may find him much more likely to set them a challenge worthy of their combat skills. If you're smelting iron ore with a ring of forging, you'll now automatically stop when the ring melts. We've fixed a bug where some of the Vyrewatch kit was the wrong colour. When you cast a spell at a monster, it should now flinch in pain instead of just standing impassively and glaring at you. South of the Barrows, the Burgh de Rott fence has been extended as far as the Vyrewall so that unwary adventurers won't wander unexpectedly into the nasty Vampyre Juvinates that roam that region.This being Morytania, the fence is falling down already, and anyone who's reaching the end of In Aid of the Myreque will be able to find a way through.If you're stuck behind the fence with the vampyres, don't worry - you will be able to climb out to freedom. We've added a bit more variety to the sound of woodcutting! The interface you see when you use a spinning wheel has been enlarged to make room for future spinnable items. Along with this we've added an option for spinning crossbow strings out of tree roots. The monks who run the ship from Port Sarim to Entrana do not permit you to take gauntlets or hand-armour to their holy island. However adventurers travelling to Entrana through the Abyss were able to take such items onto Entrana via the Law Altar.Saradomin has recently tightened up his restrictions, so it is no longer possible to take gauntlets or other armoured hand-wear through the Abyss to Entrana.

18 September 2006 - Progress update

We're sure some of you are wondering when the next update will be and what we've been up to lately - So we thought we'd tell you a little bit about what's been going on. We haven't forgotten about you! We have just been (very) busy upgrading Runescript (our custom scripting language that we use to write the game). Before we can start using the new version, we need to make sure that everything still works and that the changes won't break existing content. With a game as complex as RuneScape this has been an enormous task, hence the gap in updates last week. Indeed key people have been working evenings and weekends as well to get it all done! Naturally we are still working on the types of exciting updates you'd expect, but 'under the hood' upgrades like this are also essential to help us do new types of content and continue to raise the standard of future releases. We are aiming for an update later this week assuming the rest of our internal testing continues to progress without issue. If you're wondering what it will be, do read the behind the scenes document for September. We are still planning on sticking to that schedule and releasing the updates we said we would this month. And that's in addition to the Runescript upgrade work! Thanks for your patience!

4 September 2006 - Myreque Pt III - Darkness of Hallowvale

The new Myreque base in Burgh de Rott seems to be safe for now, although the loss of Sani and Harold is still keenly felt. Veliaf has organised patrols in the area and is keeping a watchful eye on nearby Vampyre activity. Some of the locals succumb occasionally to the ravages of a nearby Vampyre Juvinate, but without more help, there's little that the Myreque can do. Or is there? Veliaf has an ambitious plan to try and gain entry into the Vampyre ruled lands of the Sanguinesti region and the blood tithed ghetto of Meiyerditch. With luck, there may still be some resistance in that dread area. But if there is, it's most likely very well hidden. Navigating the maze-little ghetto of Meiyerditch will take cat-like agility skills and an incredible eye for detail, especially when trying to evade the demanding, ever-watching Vyrewatch who patrol the skies above. If this resistance exists, and with your help, there maybe a chance to pull back the Darkness of Hallowvale. In other news... The small fishing village of Witchaven has been added to the map, just east of Ardougne. It has lost all its trade since the construction of the nearby fishing platform, and the villagers are getting desperate. But there's something very fishy going on... you'll have your chance to investigate the secrets of that village later this month.