Tutorial Island was an island where new players were guided through the basics of playing RuneScape. It was released in the update of24 September2002,<ref name="release">Jagex. "Tutorial island". 24 September 2002. RuneScape News. *</ref> and until the July 2008 update, all new players had to have completed the tutorial before they could leave the island and begin exploring the world of Gielinor. During the July 2008 Behind the Scenes update, Jagex replaced Tutorial Island with a new tutorial, Learning the Ropes, that takes place in Lumbridge, involving a three-headed green dragon and a White Knight named Sir Vant. Players that created accounts before this were able to stay on the island if they never completed the tutorial but are now transported to the new tutorial upon login. Learning the Ropes was then taken out of the game to be reconstructed, and Tutorial Island was put back into the game as a temporary tutorial until the new one was finished. Unstable Foundations, a tutorial similar to Learning the Ropes was the next tutorial to be released. This tutorial was an improved version of the previous one. There have been 2 other tutorials since Learning the Ropes was removed. One simple one which the player had a short introduction with Explorer Jack, and was directed to complete The Blood Pact quest. The most recent tutorial takes players through the invasion of Burthorpe. During this tutorial players must aid Burthorpe and neighboring town Taverley against the war against trolls.
Tutorial Island never taught any pay-to-play skills, and there is such equivalent for new members to learn them (Burthorpe)
When players finished on Tutorial Island, they could leave the island by activating their Home Teleport spell. This did not trigger the 30 minute-long wait to use it again (before the timer was removed). After they left the Tutorial Island, they could never return.
On 15 September2008, the Learning the Ropes tutorial quest was discontinued so a new tutorial could be created. Until that was finished, Tutorial Island would become the tutorial again.<ref>Mod Osborne. File:Mod osborne.png. RuneScape Forums. Retrieved 02:48, January 30, 2010 (UTC).</ref> This lasted 1 year, until the new tutorial was released on 17 September2009.<ref>Paul. "Advisors and Objectives". 17 September 2009. RuneScape News. *</ref> Tutorial Island is no longer accessible. As of March 15, 2011, all existing accounts on Tutorial Island have been moved to Unstable Foundations.
Despite Tutorial Island being unusable and unvisited, one change has been made to the island after the release of the new tutorial: a building was "repaired";<ref>Mod Srowley. "Patch Notes - Archive". 23 September 2009. News & Announcements Forums. *</ref> however, Jagex has not given any indication that Tutorial Island will be used ever again. Tutorial Island remains on the World Map.<ref>Jagex. World Map. 28 April 2010.*</ref>
Starting the tutorial
Before they began the tutorial, players had to first customise their character. To do this, they had a simplified version of the interface later used in Learning the Ropes. There was no close-up of the head, or mouse settings. There were also fewer options to choose from. The default look was always the same: bald head, goatee, green shirt and pants. The default look was what made bots so easy to recognise. Some bots also had slight modifications, such as different hair color or style. After the player clicked, "Accept," they would be told to talk to the RuneScape guide. Note: It was recommended to train every skill learned to level 3, so you can get a head start on the game, and some skills are much easier to train in Tutorial Island; i.e.: Giant Rats there can't kill you, and rocks, furnaces, and anvils are all in the same room.
Players were expected to cut and burn at least one lot of logs, although if they wished, they can repeat until both Woodcutting and Firemaking reach level 3. The player gained experience in Woodcutting, Firemaking, and Fishing faster on Tutorial Island.
Players were expected to fish and cook successfully at least one portion of shrimps. Again, this could gain the player XP until level 3 Cooking.
Cooking
The Master Chef teaches players the finer points of Cooking; in this case, making bread.
The Master Chef also instructs players in controlling the game music and in running using their menu option.
Remember that players can also run to a position, by holding the CTRL key as they click - use the minimap to click on, or they will not run far enough if trying to escape. If players click again, even without holding CTRL, they will continue running unless they have already stopped.
Quests
The Quest guide covers using the quest menu, and what quests are about.
The dungeon in which players learn Mining and Smithing is one of the best areas to train these skills, due to the rocks' proximity to the furnace and the anvil. This area can only be accessed once, so taking the opportunity to progress to level 3 here is worthwhile. However, players will have to mine a little more to get Smithing up to 3.
The combat instructor, Vannaka (also a Slayer Master outside the Tutorial), discusses the different types of combat. Pures should pay attention, as they can make their first bit of character tweaking here.
Players are given a bronze sword and wooden shield, and only at this stage are they allowed to enter the rat cage. Players cannot die here, so food is not required. Therefore, this is a perfect opportunity to train their skills.
The minimum requirement is to kill one rat, using any combat style you prefer, however the player may choose to train each style to the maximum level of 3, while gaining no life points - the essence of a pure character being able to maximise their strike while keeping their combat level low. If players choose to progress any skill here, they will be reminded of their next action, but can still carry on.
Ranged combat
The instructor gives players a shortbow and 50 bronze arrows, and will give more arrows for free if they run out. The free ammunition makes it worthwhile training Ranged to level 3.
When players leave the cage before learning ranged attacks, they cannot re-enter. Some players would drop the arrows and then claim more. Once they had around 1000 or more arrows they would move on and bank it, meaning once they had finished the tutorial they would have arrows to sell for money or trade it to their main account.
Banking
The Financial Advisor instructs players in using RuneScape's banks, and in some possible ways to make money. He suggests three options for making money; killing monsters, completing quests, and levelling skills in fishing, mining, etc...
Generally, both cash and items can be withdrawn from any branch, not just the one they were deposited at. Any items deposited into the bank on Tutorial Island is placed into the player's inventory once they leave the island.
Brother Brace instructs players in Prayer, although if they choose the path of a pure, they may choose not to acquire any, as Prayer also contributes to combat level. The effects of high-level Prayers can be devastating in combat, but the low to mid-level prayers are mostly useful for melee combat.
Brother Brace also instructs players in using the Friends List and the Ignore List and in general conduct. However, he only briefly mentions the clan chat in passing, without going into any detail.
There is an organ upstairs which can be played. However, as of 6 November2008, the organ couldn't be reached as the doors to the room with the staircase are non-objects (players can't open them or even examine them - it was effectively one big wall across). This caused some accounts left inside to be completely trapped. At some point before Tutorial Island was shut down, the doors were once again placed, allowing any trapped accounts still left on the island to escape.
The Magic Instructor introduces players to their spell list and spell casting, though practical magic combat will require players to use a magical staff and set an attack spell for it.
Note: as of September 2010 update Magic Staffs are no-longer required to use auto-cast.
The Magic Instructor gives five air runes and five mind runes. If players drop them and talk to the instructor again, he will give more runes. Repeating this to obtain 30 of each rune (collecting 5 previously dropped sets) enables level 3 Magic to be reached.
It is also possible to keep dropping them and getting more, possibly even banking them and doing it over.
The magic instructor will now instruct you to give your Home Teleport spell a try, which will teleport you to Lumbridge. Players cannot take any extra items off the island and any standard items that they banked will be back in their inventory. Players are now standing next to the Lumbridge Sage.
Music
The following music tracks are used on Tutorial Island:
If the player went to the edges of the map (the very north, east, south, and west parts of the island), you would see that Tutorial Island is surrounded by a giant Unknown space. This, however, changed. Players with accounts still on the Island will see that they are no longer on a separate island, but on the actual Tutorial Island on the world map.
There used to be a glitch on Tutorial Island. You could die by being attacked by a giant rat while firemaking. If you died on Tutorial Island, you would arrive on Lumbridge with all the items a newcomer would have.
It is possible to have an account on Tutorial Island after it was removed, as long as the account was made before the update.
Following the release of RuneScape 2 new players used to appear on the Tutorial Island located south of the Wizards' Tower, however Jagex later created a separate version surrounded by Unknown.
Bunny ears were dropped on Tutorial Island during the easter event.
The Drunken Dwarf "evicts" a player that has glitched their way onto Tutorial IslandIf you stand near the water at the very edge behind the Wizards Tower and use the Orb of Oculus, you can still see a small part of the Island.
If standing at the south western most point of the Lumbridge Swamp you will be able to see most of the bank on Tutorial Island.
Accessing the island now causes the Drunken Dwarf to say "Oy mate, you shouldn't be here!" where he'll throw a beer at the player, causing him/her to collapse and appear at Lumbridge.
On 28 August2012 along with Big Chinchompa Minigame, on the un-updated Evolution of Combat Beta Server, if you logged out in this new area and logged back into the beta, it was possible to no clip to Tutorial Island through a huge hole in the house of the Quest guide. This made it possible to re-do the whole tutorial, although, the NPCs only talked to you if you did the original tutorial back in 2007. This glitch has since been fixed.
On one of the small islands around Tutorial Island is the open trapdoor.
It has been revealed in the Runescape 4th Livestream Q&A, The Future of Runescape, that very soon (Possibly November), Tutorial Island will be deleted from game, in order to make room for new quests featuring the Signature HeroAriane. It will be removed in favor of an expanded and graphically updated Wizard's Tower.
