Update:RS2 progress report

This official news post is copyrighted by Jagex. It is a direct quote from the RuneScape website.
This update was added on 31 January 2004.

We appreciate how patient everyone has been in the wait for RS2. The Beta has gone well and we have been fixing bugs at a rapid rate.

We want to let you know that:

There will be a very large update to RS2 early next week where we hope to get most (but not quite all) the remaining quests and map online.

We have also been working hard to tweak RS2 on the basis of your feedback. For instance we've been working to make sure the nice graphics and animations don't get in the way of the actual game. This means reducing the delay/lag on lots of animations, and removing a few annoying animations entirely - so things like cooking, taking items, dropping items, and other skills, are much faster to do (no longer slower to do than rs1). You will see some of these changes in next weeks update, and they really help the game flow a lot better.

We are still on target for the full launch of RS2. We are hoping to be ready at the start of March. This is not yet written in stone however we wanted to let you know what sort of time frame we are working to here.

It is now 100% certain that we WILL keep RS1 running past the RS2 launch. We understand that some people don't like us changing things, so RS1 will be kept for those people, and we'll try to resist updating/changing it! RS2 will meanwhile continue to be updated on a regular basis for the people who do like updates.

Here's the current plan for how running the 2 games together will work This may be revised slightly depending on the feedback we get:

1. When we do the full RS2 launch in March, the beta accounts will be discarded. And there will be a once only copy of all RS1 save-games to both RS1 and RS2. So at this point you will have the same stats and items in both games. After that you can continue to play on whichever you prefer.
2. You will use the same username+password to play either RS1 or RS2. Also the friends list will be linked between the 2 games, so it will even be possible to continue talking to friends who are playing on the other game. Players who have members subscriptions will receive member benefits in BOTH games for their payment. Creating a new free account will also automatically create a profile in both games.
3. Items/levels gained in one version of the game will not affect the other one. We are currently planning on having seperate hiscore tables for the two games.

Thanks
The Jagex Development Team