28 November 2006 - Eagles' Peak

It had been a tough month at Ardougne Zoo. Word had come from Matthias, the falconer, that a Hunter skill was coming, and the keepers knew they had to do something to keep the zoo interesting. A new exhibit, it had been decided, was needed to draw the crowds away from the chinchompa-baiting to the south and Nickolaus - Ardougne's self proclaimed top Hunter - had taken the task upon himself. There was one animal in particular that he believed would keep the zoo bustling and popular. Nickolaus was going to hunt a ferret!

Unfortunately, not everything has gone according to plan. After setting out for the far western reaches, somewhere between the Piscatoris Fishing Colony and the Tree Gnome Stronghold, nothing more has been heard from the zoo's eccentric associate. Can you help to find Nickolaus? Has his disappearance got anything to do with the fabled Eagles' Peak? And what does all this have to do with rabbits?

Visit Charlie, one of the keepers at Ardougne Zoo, to begin a quest that will no doubt involve a spot of dressing-up, elaborate trials and several additions to your Hunter skill!

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In other news...

The Sandwich Lady went through a traumatic experience last week when she decided that the Drunken Dwarf had been stationary too long and needed a visit. Five hours of “kebab, please!” later, the frustrated and shaken Sandwich Lady has decided to make her interface a little more accessible by adding a menu that will help customers identify her wares. Hopefully, this will stop beer-swilling dwarves from making the same mistake again. Hopefully!

When you kill someone who's using the Retribution prayer, you're supposed to take a little damage as a penalty for killing them. However, it's previously been quite easy to avoid this damage by running away. It won't be quite so easy now.

The graphical improvement for sheep and spiders has had to be postponed by a few days. But don't despair - those critters will get their promised makeover next week.

New Pages That I've Made

Hi guys and girls, Just a quick update. I've written a few pages that need a bit of attention. Here they are: Enjoy :)

rune scape auto miner - Another article about what "rune scape auto miners" and their dangers

rune skape - Oops, someone misspelled runescape, thought I better write a short article about it

free runescape 2 money cheats - A page I wrote about how anyone claiming to have "real cheats" in a liar.

play runescape - Many people think that their way of making money in runescape is the best, here I explain that it's not always the case

runescape accounts - Many people buy and sell runescape accounts, but this is against the rules, find out why

runescape private servers - There is a lot of buzz over private runescape servers, so I thought I better mention it, if you're going to use one, use caution.

runescape 2 auto bots - Discusses the MANy disadvantages to using an auto bot

runescape pking - A guide about runescape pking that one of my subscribers wrote for the site

21 November 2006 - HUNTER SKILL!

Like a seasoned Hunter, skulking behind trees and keeping unseen, the Hunter skill has waited for the right moment and pounced. That's right – after many months of patient tracking - the Hunter skill is upon us!

Those stealthy and bold enough to become a master of the Hunter skill should begin at Yanille or Nardah. Marked by animal-skin icons on the minimap, two Hunter shops have taken up premises, selling the wares necessary to begin. A quick browse and shop for bird snares, teasing sticks and magical imp boxes, amongst others, will put you in fine stead for the adventures ahead! Who knows, you may even encounter Leon, an amateur inventor who has found a bow-dacious use for animal bones...

Ready to hunt and laden with animal traps, you will now be looking for somewhere to start your training. The Hunter skill comes with three brand new and vast areas, all denoted by the animal paw icon on the minimap. A quick scurry past the ogres of Gu'Tanoth and over the Feldip Hills will lead to the Feldip Jungle, teeming with explosive chinchompas, spined larupia and various other beasties. A trek past Rellekka, toward Trollweiss Mountain, will reveal the fearsome sabretooth kyatt and cohorts, while the grounds north of the Gnome Stronghold, now connected to the Piscatoris Fishing Colony, will open up - amongst others - Matthias's magnificent falconry area!

Phew! This lengthy list does not even include the Hunter area near Uzer, nor the graahk stomping grounds round Cairn Isle, or the salamander and lizard trapping areas scattered throughout the world. See the Knowledge Base article for an extensive list of where you can test your abilities.

The Hunter skill brings with it not only new areas, but new experiences. Watch your falcon swoop after dashing kebbits. Jump over pits as you lure unwitting sabretooth kyatts into them. Scour the plains for butterflies with a net and jar in tow. Master the patient, yet rewarding, technique of animal tracking. These diverse abilities will be available to you as your Hunter skill develops.

As any esteemed Hunter will tell you, the thrill of the chase is also about the reward, and a career of hunting will provide you with so many. Arm yourself with the chinchompa, an explosive rodent that can be thrown long distances! Aid your battle-weary friends with stat-boosting butterflies! Load your swamp lizard and toast enemies with its flame-throwing abilities! Collect or sell the furs of your catches, possibly even making them into weight-reducing capes, gloves for Thieving or full camouflage gear! Oh, and don't forget the imp-in-a-box, who will reluctantly help you when called upon...

So go hunt, stalk your prey stealthily and feel the call of the wild...

21 November 2006 - Concerning imps and other things...

Improvement!

It would, of course, be improper to leave out the other important updates for this week. As if the Hunter skill weren't impressive enough! That's right, the imps have had their impending makeover early, as a special treat for the impudent little blighters. Little do they know that weeks of being imprisoned in magical boxes lie ahead of them.

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Fairy rings

Keen-eyed adventurers may find two new fairy rings that can transport them to two of the more remote Hunter training areas. The codes to access these rings will be published in our Knowledge Base in a few days - we're not doing all the work for you!

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A message from Juna

Juna, the ancient snake who guards the Tears of Guthix, wishes it to be known that Guthix, in his wisdom, will not award Hunter XP to adventurers who drink his tears so soon after this skill is released. Anyone who would normally expect to gain Hunter XP as their reward will instead receive the bonus in their second-lowest stat.

When Guthix removes this restriction in early December, it will be announced in a news post.

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In other news...

Certain random events that give costumes as rewards will no longer hand out items that players already have stored in their houses' costume rooms.

The attack animations of metallic dragons have been adjusted to fix the glitch that made their chests stretch incorrectly when they attempted to breathe fire.

You can no longer turn yourself into a rock or an egg while trying to pump or pedal the Blast Furnace!

20 November 2006 - Game-world locations renamed

We have renamed our game-world locations today to better reflect the area they cover.

The way the Internet works, the physical distance to a game-world is not always the best indication of how a good a connection you will get to it. This is because some Internet routes are higher capacity than others and sometimes the route your data takes isn't what you expect and it goes via somewhere more distant first! What all this means is even if there is a game-world in the same city as you, in some cases a city a little further away can actually give less lag!

Therefore naming our game-worlds with exact city names is misleading as it makes exact location seem more important than it really is. We have therefore relabelled our game-world locations to give better visibility on which are best for you to choose from.

The numbers after each location are to distinguish between different facilities in the same area of the world. If one particular facility is causing lag for you it's easy to see which ones you could try instead.

We have also moved some of our game-worlds to Finland to improve our European coverage. There are still the same number of free and members only worlds as before.

13 November 2006 - Player gallery and more bank space

This week, the gods of RuneScape take a wee bit of a breather as the scribes and artists bring you their finest work. So what have Reldo, Postie Pete, the Makeover Mage and the Bank of RuneScape been up to? First up, straight off the presses come the next batch of Area Guides. This time the researchers have been wandering westwards and brought back tales of Kandarin, Karamja and the Void Knights. Postie Pete, of course, has had a hand (or a chin) in this update as well, bringing together some remarkable art by adventurers, heroes, scoundrels and curs from across the length and breadth of RuneScape. There are some amazing pieces in there, so you'd best put on your cleanest looking-at-artwork suit to visit the Player Gallery. Reldo has also sent one of King Roald's finest portrait painters to the Makeover Mage to capture some art for the Wallpapers section. It turns out the Mage has been busy updating some creatures, and we can now present you with the artists' work - keep an eye out for these updated NPCs in the future. The sheep are gloriously fluffy; the imps look as mischievous as they behave; the spiders are as terrifying as Evil Dave's Basement of DOOM. The Bank of RuneScape has used all the revenue they gained from some very clever investments, and have added twenty-four more slots to all members' accounts! Diango's Halloween problems have also sorted themselves out, so you'll no longer be able to go into the workshop to defeat ghosts. If you've already got your rewards from there, though, Diango will be happy to give them back if you lose them. We've also made the following changes and bug fixes:

• Rune pouches don't give you a message when you drop them. Instead, they just empty and fall on the floor.
• Switching from any other weapon to a staff properly remembers your combat style.
• Yew and magic trees in farming patches regrow properly when you chop them.
• You can now take enchanted secateurs to Entrana when you go on a balloon trip there.
• In Trouble Brewing, you can't drop torches on the floor. This is to stop players dropping them for members of the opposing team, and spoiling their own team's fun.
• Noted items are back to having a black outline around the picture of the item.

WOW - Massive Surge In Runescape-Tip.com Visitors

Hi everyone, I just thought I should mention this to everyone. On Saturday we had over 3,000 unique people visit the website, and on Sunday we had WELL over 4,000 unique visitors. That's pretty darn good for 2 days. Maybe today will be even more, maybe not but let's hope the upward trend continues. I see a very bright future for runescape-tip.com and all it's loyal members. I've actually got a professional graphics designer, working on a new header and logo, it's costing an arm and a leg but i's worth it to spruce this place up a bit. I'm also working hard on a new look for the main site, I hope everyone likes it when it's done, if not, I can always change it :)

November 8th - My Birthday :)

Hi guys and girls, Today was my birthday. I got lots of well wishes from many members of the forum, some even wanted to send me cards, wow. You really can't anticipate how much people care until you give them the opportunity. I'd just like to say thanks to everyone. I had a great day and I'm glad that everyone got to share it with me. Until next time Warmest Regards Stephen Warren

6 November 2006 - Enlightened Journey

Auguste the monk is one of the more interesting brothers on Entrana, but the locals don't always like the idea of his "air-brained" schemes. This time he's been working on a plan to lift his spirits to new heights... In this new quest, you'll be invited to use your skills to help Brother Auguste reach his dreams (and earn you some experience on the way). Unlock a new costume and a brand new transport system, providing you're talented enough to tackle a unique-looking puzzle. Pack light and travel to the south-west corner of Entrana to meet with Auguste for a thrill-seeking journey across the globe. Keep your eyes open for all sorts of interesting sights on this Enlightened Journey. Once you have helped Auguste prove his theories, you will have the opportunity to help him expand his enterprise all over RuneScape, so long as you have the talent and the materials to get you there... In other news... A new farming patch has been added to the Gnome Stronghold for growing trees. It's west of the agility course, near the bank. Like the other four tree patches, this one has an obliging gardener willing to look after your saplings in exchange for a little payment, and also a handy Leprechaun to keep hold of your tools. When you switch weapons after you've been autocasting spells with a staff, your combat style will now attempt to stay on the last melee combat mode you selected rather than always defaulting to the Defensive mode. The demon butler has been updated to match the other demons. The special attack of the rune throwing axe will no longer "steal" other people's random event monsters from combat, causing them to attack you. Runecrafting pouches have always automatically emptied themselves when you drop them on the ground. We have now added a warning message to ask if you're sure you wish to drop them. Trimmed wizard hats have been updated to match the change that was made to the untrimmed versions a couple of weeks ago. The trimmed Cape of Achievement for Woodcutting had a bug where it would change its colour to match your character's leggings. This has now been fixed.

2 November 2006 - New Payment Option - US PayBySMS/Text

We are pleased to announce the launch of payment by SMS/Text Message in the United States! This service is in addition to the existing Pay by Phone option and allows a quick and easy way to get our optional "members game" for those without a credit card. Payment by SMS/Text Message in the United States costs $9.99 for one month of membership. The higher cost of this payment method covers the additional costs we incur running the convenience of this service. Please note: Our other existing payment methods are still the same price as before. e.g. subscription via credit-card in the US is still only USD$5.00 a month. Also please note that boost, T-mobile and Verizon Mobile Phone Companies do not currently support the PaybySMS option in the United States. All US customers who wish to subscribe using PayBySMS/Text can now do so by clicking the 'Start a new subscription' link from our front page. For more information about Payment by SMS/Text message, please click here. We are constantly looking to make our PayByPhone and PayBySMS/Text Message payment option available for more countries. If these payment options are not yet available in your country, be sure to check the latest news and announcements regularly.

1 November 2006 - Behind the Scenes - November

Welcome to November's Behind the Scenes article! First to be released this month, we have Enlightened Journey. Rumours from Entrana suggest that one of the monks has an even greater desire to rise to the heavens than the others. In fact, his desire is so great that he is planning to make a hot air balloon! An experiment like that will need the expert help of an adventurer, so later this month don't be surprised if you get invited to join Auguste on a trip across the world. Watch out for trouble from the locals and a unique puzzle to tax your brain. For those who can keep their heads above the clouds, a rather nice reward awaits... We're also updating the website with a plethora of new area guides! About 20 new guides in total will be launched including the Void Knight Outpost, Brimhaven dungeon, Isafdar and the TzHaar City. Along with this we will also be launching a new set of wallpapers, another popular gallery page (for which the Postie is eternally grateful) and, of course, a new set of readers' letters. After that little lot, we'll be giving you something we know all our members will be happy about: More bank space! We will be adding another three rows to the bank so you can store even more - erm - stuff! Hopefully, many of you are also using the new costume room (released last month) to store your costumes in, so you'll find you've got even more room to keep all of your gear. Now, we know what you're thinking: “What on RuneScape can I do with all that new bank space?”Well, how about we release lots of new equipment and objects for you to store, and perhaps even use with a shiny new skill? Yes, towards the end of the month we will be releasing the Hunter skill. This new addition to the RuneScape skill list is a non-combat skill which gives the player the opportunity to track, net, trap and generally scare the fur right off a brand new range of creatures! Hundreds of new objects and large areas of the map will now be opened up to you to explore and lay in wait for these pesky varmints. Rewards range from brand new weapons and armour all the way to your own imp in a box. Speaking of imps, they are due to go "under the knife" this month, along with spiders and sheep. These three beasties have somehow barged their way to the front of the queue and will be receiving the full treatment from the Makeover Mage and his (or her) team of surgeons. Naturally, this means all of the spiders will be getting a new look, so be prepared for some rather scary legs to be creeping round a forest / jungle / ice plateau / cavern near you. And finally this month, we release our second quest: Eagles' Peak. This exciting update is focused around the Hunter skill again, inviting the player to learn more about the mysterious disappearance of one of Ardougne Zoo's freelance specimen hunters. After promising them the delivery of a rare ferret the poor chap set out to the far western reaches, somewhere between the Piscatoris Fishing Colony and the Tree Gnome Stronghold. Something strange must have happened to him, though, as he has been missing for days! Will you be able to use your new-found skills to track him down? Don’t forget: The Halloween update will be taken down on the 13th of November, so don't delay - get your pumpkin hats today!

30 October 2006 - Halloween Event - for ALL players!

The time is here once again; the evenings are drawing in, the pumpkins have been carved, and RuneScape is once more filled with seasonal spookiness! Halloween this year brings problems for Diango in his workshop in the form of enough poltergeists to fill a gnomeball stadium. The evil tree that seems to keep eating passers-by in the middle of the room is also cause for some concern. Rewards to be had for combating this spectral and... err... woody threat include a full Halloween costume and a Jack o'Lantern helmet. It doesn't matter if you are a member or not, as all of the prizes are available to both members and non-members. For those of you who were not here last year, the 'Scared' emote is also back, but try not to get too frightened! After the event is done, you'll find that Diango's new holiday item recovery system will also make getting your bobble hats back for winter a lot simpler. It will also cover the recovery of almost all of the holiday event items that you would have to otherwise go looking all over the place for. Speak to Diango by his stall in Draynor to start this year's Halloween event.Don't forget to check the Knowledge Base for more information. Look out ghosts! Evil trees beware! Runescapians know exactly who they are gonna call! The Halloween event will be available for 2 weeks only. We'll take it away in the week commencing Monday 13th November. Please make sure you've finished collecting your reward items BEFORE this date. In other news... If you've got a Bank PIN, you will now be asked to enter it before removing items from your house's costume room, in much the same way that you enter it before removing items from your RuneScape bank account.If you haven't got a Bank PIN and you'd like to set one, visit your local branch of the Bank of RuneScape and speak to the bankers today!We'd like to remind you all once again that the Bank PIN is NOT a substitute for other forms of account security, and players still need to make sure no-one finds out their passwords. Visit our Knowledge Base to learn about keeping your account secure. The requirement for equipping Slayer Gloves has been raised from level 17 to level 42 in the Slayer skill. This should make relatively little difference, as you would never have been able to fight a Fever Spider effectively without a Slayer level of 42. Part of the door of Varrock's western bank had gone missing. It is now being restored. Players may now keep mourner outfits in their houses' costume rooms!

30 October 2006 - Postbag from the Hedge

It's October, and Postie Pete has been hopping around the world again collecting replies to your questions! This month we look at why rats run widdershins, ask chaos dwarves how they remain so cool, and finally we get that long-awaited reply from the Wise Old Man! Click here to see what they have to say for themselves.

23 October 2006 - Would you like to see My Arm?

Trolls have never been renowned as farmers. But Burntmeat the troll cook has heard a rumour that humans are able to grow goutweed, and he's keen to give it a try. In the kitchen of the Troll Stronghold, Burntmeat is hoping for a kind adventurer to teach his assistant this skill. If you've done Eadgar's Ruse and The Feud, come back to the Troll Stronghold and meet My Arm, Burntmeat's exasperating young assistant. With My Arm by your side, prepare for a memorable voyage to sunny Karamja as you discover exactly how stupid a troll can be! This bizarre quest features jungle villagers, seafarers, dung and trolls aplenty. If you can survive all that and help My Arm grow his own goutweed, you'll earn yourself a nice xp reward, plus a little something to help you get more out of the Farming skill. But watch out for an encounter with the biggest bird ever seen in RuneScape... A note about the Quest Point Cape: Now that we've just released a new quest, all the players who'd got the new QP cape or hood will find that they've no longer got the right to wear these items since they haven't got all the available quest points. If you were wearing the QP cape or hood when you logged off before the update, the items will try to take themselves off you when you log back in. If there was not sufficient space in your inventory or bank for the items to appear, you will be able to retrieve them from the Wise Old Man of Draynor Village free of charge. You will be able to wear them again as soon as you have the maximum possible number of quest points. In other news... The new Fletching cape is now available from Hickton in Catherby rather than the Ranging Guild. This allows players with level 99 fletching to buy the cape even if they have never gained access to the Guild. If you have completed Darkness of Hallowvale and One Small Favour, you can now save an extra bankspace by storing the Meiyerditch short-cut key on your keyring. Players who have completed the Rag and Bone Man quest, but who have not yet found all the bones on the wish-list, will now see a little yellow asterisk (*) on their quest list to remind them that they still have more work to do if they want to earn all the quest points available from the Odd Old Man. Many people have requested that costumes stored in their houses' costume rooms should be protected in some way by the Bank PIN system. Although we have not yet made this change, we are working on it, and it should be released in the near future.In the meantime, we'd like to remind you all that the Bank PIN is NOT a substitute for other forms of account security, and players still need to make sure no-one finds out their passwords. Visit our Knowledge Base to learn about keeping your account secure.