Update:Behind the Scenes - July (2010)
This update was added on 1 July 2010.
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Our first launch this month is all about the past of one of our favourite characters, the enigmatic (and often suspicious) Dionysius, more commonly known as the Wise Old Man. Many of you have no doubt heard vicious rumours about party hats and rune heists, but only his most trusted friends know about his love life, specifically loves lost. In the new quest this month, you’ll witness first-hand what happens when someone’s burnt by an old flame. Quest through a mysterious NOH (that’s an NPC-owned house) that’s been twisted by the grudges of a scorned woman!
The quest requirements include the highest current quest levels for Magic (77), Construction (68) and Crafting (67), so get levelling now if you want to tackle Love Story when it’s launched. For more information, check the blog here. We are also improving the look of dragons in the game with this update, so look out for some scorching new graphics to accompany the summer heat.
The next update this month looks at new rewards to use outside of Daemonheim. Originally, the dungeon entrances just east of the Wilderness required vast amounts of resources to build, which were to be gathered in secret by the dungeon’s workers. To this end, the forces behind it created many resource dungeons around RuneScape, closed off and hidden from prying eyes. As adventurers become wiser regarding the mysteries of Daemonheim, they will find they are able to discover and enter these hidden resource dungeons scattered around the world. There are more than fifteen of these resource dungeons to be found in existing areas, such as Edgeville Dungeon (several being available in the free game), each of which requires a certain Dungeoneering level to enter. Each resource dungeon provides a one-off reward for finding it, plus resources such as new rune rocks or the lair of a mighty frost dragon (lvl 166)!
If that doesn’t float your Fremennik longboat, how about the new class ring rewards we’re introducing for use within Daemonheim. With three rings each for rangers, mages, warriors and skillers, we’re sure that everyone will find at least one class ring to suit their play style. Just choose your favourite ring ability and use your Dungeoneering tokens to upgrade it up to tier 10; you even can switch your ring’s class for 'hybriding' within a dungeon, so long as you’re not in combat. Perhaps you’re a skiller who wants higher returns from resource spots; maybe you’re a big melee tank who wants to be able to soak up even more damage; or you could be a ranger who needs to be able to snipe targets for even greater damage; and even mages can get huge boosts to elemental damage with the Blazer class ring.
We’re also adding the Construction skill to Dungeoneering in the form of a new building spot to the smuggler’s room. Players with the appropriate Construction level will be able to create their own locations in the start room, whether it’s a prayer altar or farming spot, or even the new group gatestone portal (fantastic for getting your team about within larger dungeons), there’s bound to be something useful you can build (assuming you have the appropriate materials, of course).
We also plan to have the work for single-player instance dungeons completed, so those solo Dungeoneers who need to log out for five minutes or who suffer some infernal disconnection issues will find their dungeon still remains when they come back. For more info on all of these Dungeoneering updates, check out this blog.
Our final update this month starts with a rework of our old treasure trails. We wanted to make sure that players felt more rewarded for doing every treasure trail and not just rely on blind luck to get a treasure trail-only reward or cool pieces of costume. So we’ve changed all of the existing trails to ensure that you’ll always get a unique, trail-specific reward every time you open the reward casket at the end! Naturally, to achieve this, we needed to add a plethora of new rewards and challenges, so this update will also introduce a brand new set of treasure trails – called the elite treasure trails – and new rewards.
These trails (dropped only by high-level boss monsters like the Skeletal Horror and Bork) introduce a new puzzle known as the celtic knot. These knot puzzles are similar in style to the sliding tile puzzles, but with a whole new set of challenges to solve them. You may also be asked to fight a Guthix wizard while searching for the 150+ new rewards, many of which have been added to the existing trails in the game. Look out for dragon masks, 3rd Age prayer gear, holy ranger gear, treasure trail-specific familiars and animal staves to name just a few.
Have fun!
Mod Mark
RuneScape Lead Designer