Do you visit Runescape related forums and sites often? Do you go to only one site or several? How about loyalty to a particular fan site? Is it a good thing? I think not, at least not at the degree it is done nowadays.

What I noticed while participating on several major Runescape forums is that there is an undeclared ‘cold war’ between Runescape fan sites. While it is somewhat understandable, it still saddens me a lot.

The world gets more open every day, boundaries between countries and cultures get erased, free and open software and services are everywhere, but we keep and keep building new boundaries and walls. As an owner of a smaller Runescape fan site (Runewise) I can see these walls very clearly. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try to get any kind of partnership with a bigger site! In most cases you won’t even get a polite refusal – just silent emptiness. Well, I am a big boy and can cope with it. But another aspect of this ‘war’ is Runescape knowledge being scattered and hidden. There are so many interesting articles, blogs, guides, posts, topics out there behind those walls.

I can’t help with ‘boundaries’, but at least I can point Runescape players to most interesting materials out there regardless on what fan site or blog they are located. That is it. My mission statement right there…

So, here I am with my Runescape wisdom ‘aggregation’ blogs.
This is the older one I maintain at Runewise: http://www.runewise.net/rs/rdigest.php
And the newest addition for regular bloggers at Blogspot: http://runescapereader.blogspot.com/

Welcome! And if you would like to point me to an interesting Runescape related source, by all means, please, let me know!
Let’s make the Runescape world a little bit more open!Article Source: http://www.articlegoldmine.com

Vaskor is my Runescape name. You may also see me as vrunewise or Vaskor_RW on some of the RS forums. And, yes, I am an owner of Runewise and author of Runescape Reader’s Digest blog.

Runescape is very addictive game, which has recently just hit over 1 millions users. This article will focus on the gameplay and style of the popular online role playing game Runescape.

Membership

There 2 levels of membership in the game Runescape. The first being the Free to play or know as many as F2P, there are no membership fees and players can play the game for free.

The second, membership level is Pay to play or P2P. This is the section we will focus mostly on in this article.

This membership level is a completely optional service, which allows the user access to additional game features and content that the free to play players do not have access too. There is an extreme addition to the games content, such as a lot more content, quests, player skills, and a lot more to the playing world. Members also gain access to many mini-games with unique rewards; they also get to use many new in game items, such as armor and weapons. On top of the extra content, members also receive a larger bank to store there items and money in. Paid users also have access to post in the official Runescape forums, and also receive priority customer support over free players.

Members are granted access to special member’s only servers, which contain no in game advertisements displayed during play.

Gameplay

When players sign up for an account they start the game on Tutorial Island. This island takes roughly a half an hour to complete. On this island the new players will be taught how to use the controls of the game, by simple live walkthrough examples. After completing the tutorial, players will then be able to go the main land of Runescape, and begin real game play with the thousands of other in game players.

RuneScape has many sound effects, and the in game music, often changes with the user reaches new game areas. This music is meant to enhance mood and gameplay for the players. Players can of course decide to control the volume of the music or can disable all sound if they want to, via the in game control panel provided.Article Source: http://www.articlegoldmine.com

Nathan Westergard is an active Runescape Enthusiast and author of the #1 Selling Runescape Millions Gold Guide and owner of the active Runescape community: Runescape Gold Guide

  There are alot of new features in and around Lumbridge castle that I have only recently taken a good look at. Granted these things are not really “new”, as at this writing, they have been out for a few months. I must admit that when I log on to the game I rarely take the time to thoroughly read the main page news and all the update information right away. I’m usually just ready to jump in to the game and start grinding away.

In some ways that is more interesting to me. For example when I saw someone using the “Cabbage Teleport” recently, I was like, WTF? So then I went and found out what it was all about. I like surprises and am so pleased with the direction Runescape is going that I am enjoying it more than ever. So- I was really impressed with the new Lumbridge features which, I am sure, make being a Noob so much less painful an experience as far as learning the ropes and leveling up to a decent Combat level.

I envy the new players today who have the refined game guides on the main page and so many things that make your first few weeks and months more enjoyable by giving you helpful and intuitive tools to get the hang of the game.

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One of the neatest things added to the Lumbridge landscape is the skill tutors area located outside Lumbridge Castle next to the general store and across from another new feature,  The Achievement Diary of the Lumbridge/Draynor area. ( We’ll get into that later on.)

Here you can train safely  and learn  all that you will need to know about the three types of combat in Runescape;   Ranged, Magic, and Melee.

The three tutors will answer any questions and explain the tricks of each trade.  AND they will give you assignments, called JOBS or TASKS, that require you to kill a certain amount of monsters, or collect items for them, or some type of work to be done that will introduce you to the workings of the Kingdom of Misthalin and get you motivated to start or upgrade various skills on the game. And for doing that they will give you rewards.

 For instance, when I asked the Ranged Tutor for a job, she instructed me to go and kill 24 scorpions. and when I completed the task, I was rewarded with 25 training arrows  that can be used to sharpen your Ranging skills here at the target range available here at the training area.

  Then I went to the Magic Tutor and asked her for a job. She sent me off to collect 24 logs. My reward for that was that she put some Air and Mind runes my bank account. ( Though I am not sure how many of each because I didn’t know how many I had before she rewarded me. ) Her next job for me was to bring her rune essences and she paid me 600 coins. Then she asked me to bring her 25 pairs of leather boots. I didn’t feel like making them at the time so I moved on to the Melee dude.

 Finally I approached the Melee Tutor and asked him for work, and then turned to the option of asking him for a different job just to see what type of tasks they would ask of you. Things like making 13 pizzas, making gloves and killing different stuff came up.

However, if you try and change jobs too many times with any of them you will get the following message.

So I guess it doesn’t pay to be too fussy. But go check it out and do some training there if you are a low level player or simply if you need some cash or are bored and don’t know what to do at the moment. Some of the tasks are difficult and even if your Combat is high, this is a great way to bring up crafting or cooking skills.

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YOU CAN BANK ON IT !

I was also very pleased to learn that a bank had been added on the top floor of the castle here in Lumbridge. Though there is one close in Al Kharid, it is certainly handy to have one right on the spot where the Home Teleport brings you, so I now can grab some runes and gear and teleport back to combat or whatever I was doing. Plus it just LOOKS so nice there atop the castle ! ( see Below )

Kudos to the Jagex team and all their good work to make the lands of Misthalin and beyond look so nice! Go and enjoy the new and improved city of beginnings !

Wherever you are in the lands of Runescape, you always have the option of a free teleport spell to Lumbridge using the Lumbridge Home Teleport spell. Lumbridge castle is a short jaunt to the city of Al Kharid, and in that city is a place to get free passage all the way across the Runescape F2P world.

I do alot of training on Lesser Demons on the Isle of Kajarma, which is accessed via the Port Sarim docks. Rather than carrying teleport runes with me and taking up precious inventory space that I would rather use for food on the way there, or for treasure and  gold and Adamantium ores that I collect for the trip back to the mainlands- I take advantage of a little secret to get back and forth to the islands and the bank in Al Kharid.

Here’s a typical day of training on Kajarma for my beloved character Havokslinger.

Starting out at Lumbridge Castle ( assuming I have just come back from a round of demon slaying ) after having used the Lumby Home teleport, I head east over the bridge and past the gate to the desert city of Al Kharid. I trot to the bank to deposit my swag. Then I stock up on food and get ready to go back for more monster mutilation.

Simply head south from the city to the little alcove that would be the entrance to the Great Desert area if I were on a member’s world. It’s the place they call… Shantay Pass. Here you will find desert guards and a man called Shantay, who deals in gear for travel in the Desert on members servers. If you pass beyond into the desert you must carry water in order to avoid dying of thirst. After you have spoken to the guard at the Desert gate and go through the dialogue with Shantay you will get an understanding of what this little outpost is used for.

If you are a member there is a huge playing area on the other side of that gate. There are several cities that can be reached by using a network of Flying Carpet vendors who will, for a reasonable fee, let you rent one of their magical carpets to cross barren spans of the brutally hot desert regions. This is a very fun way to travel and will save you considerable water supply. Though your water bags can be filled by cutting open certain cacti if you are carrying a knife, you still will need three or four in inventory to avoid death by dehydration. There is alot to do in the desert.

Now, if you are NOT a member, Shantay Pass is basically useless to you, as the bank facility there is not available on F2P and there is nothing to do except maybe kill a couple guards that don’t drop anything very exciting.

HOWEVER!- there is one cool little feature that makes it quite a valuable place to visit.

Ater getting to know what it’s all about, just talk yourself into getting arrested by conversing with Shantay. When you come here for the free trip after your first arrest (which will take a little longer and establish that he knows you )  just ask Shantay “What is this place?” -TWO TIMES IN A ROW, and you will get the following dialogue box. ( Note you will have to click on the TALK TO SHANTAY option twice.)

Reply by saying  ”I am definately an outlaw, Prepare to die..”  and he will laugh at you and threaten you with jail, or pay him 5 gold coins to get out of trouble.

REFUSE to pay him and you will get locked up !

Once you are in the jail, he will give you one more chance to pay him the 5 gold pieces. Tell him you will  not  pay by choosing the  “No, do your worst!”  response, and you will be transported to the Port Sarim Jail.

Now you have to Pick the lock on the cell door by  right clicking  on it and choosing to Pick the Lock.

  This may take a few tries, but in a matter of seconds you will be free to exit the jail and walk out to Port Sarim. Falador will be directly north and if you are in Al Kharid or around Lumbridge and want to go to Fally, this is a great quick method of getting all the way across the Runescape freeworld without walking or using runes.

Hope this little trick comes in handy for those of you who didn’t know about it !

Hey gang, hope everyone is enjoying the splendid Runescape updates. I have been drinking in all the new wonders of the High Detail world and had the pleasure today of getting to a new combat and a new Strength level in one of the mid-level training areas in the area far south of the city of Falador. Starting out in that city in the Kingdom of Asgarnia, go south out of the city’s southern exit and travel all the way past Port Sarim to the peninsula at the bottom of the map. Past the church and the jail heading to Mudskipper Point (Don’t forget about the ever useful World Map to navigate) You will see the red exclamation point on the minimap that denotes a dungeon.

Climb down into the entrance. As you travel into the caverns there you will encounter low level muggers and will then find yourself in a room filled with PIRATES to train on if you are a low level player. Continue through either of the tunnels and you will find the entrance to the ICE CAVES.

Here is a fine training area for players approaching level 50 or above. The Ice warriors in here are very aggressive and will begin to attack you as soon as you go into their frosty lair. They are superb to train on and have quite good drops including a good number of Nature Runes. The only trouble with this training spot is that the closest bank to replenish your food supply is East of Port Sarim in the small burg of Draynor Village. So go in prepared and be ready to fight.

 Roaming the tunnels to the entrance of the Ice Caves are Hobgoblins, who are especially useful for their drops of Limpwurt roots that are used in combination with Red Spider Eggs to make Strength Potions at the Apothecary in Varrock.  As you enter the caves at the point shown above you will find yourself in an arctic area underground that is filled with Ice warriors who are “chillin out” so to speak ( .. yeah I know…)

 These “cool cats” are fairly tough and will be all over you when you walk through, so be sure you are up to the task if you are just looking around or if you have come here to kick some ice.  But the real meat of the caves are the Ice Giants. They are lower level than the Warriors, but have better variety of treasure drops and also yield their coveted “Big Bones” that are GREAT Prayer experience when burying them or, as some folks do, collect them and sell them for a pretty good price.

  The tough part about getting to combat these big fellows is that the smaller-yet more powerful- Ice warriors will continue to attack you and until you have been in the area for about twenty minutes (at which point they will let you alone so that you can freely chose what you want to target) and make it difficult to get a crack at the Giants. In addition to their big bones, they drop Adamantium Arrows, Black Kite shields and a decent assortment of other booty.

I had the pleasure of training here this morning and (Finally ) made it to Strength level 91 !… at the very same instant much to my surprise because I had not been checking on my level status, I hit Combat level 106 !! Yay me. So it was a good day in the icy realm of these creatures and I urge you all to come check out one of the more pleasant places ( not so gloomy as most dungeons) to train on the free worlds. Have at them folks, and see you next post.

Well, it’s finally here folks. Those of us F2P Runescape junkies at last have available High Detail ( Runescape HD…) Runescape. And it is well worth the waiting we endured. A sad note is that at this time unless you are a member you cannot enjoy the splendid full screen version of the game. But rest assured you will enjoy the wonderful souped-up graphics and …well high detail, of the complete Runescape world. I am quite impressed and at this writing have actually only seen a few bits of the improved landscape and character/monster detail.

The areas where I usually train are all that I have checked out so far (Lesser Demon area above for one)  besides the major city teleportation sites like Varrock and Falador. I think they have done a really nice job and am looking forward to exploring further. I have mentally plotted out waiting until I am Combat level 110 before I join Members for the rest of my Runescape career and am sure that by then things will look even better.

I am sorry to all of you who do not have computers that are up to speed and cannot enjoy the HD mode, BUT- all of the graphical improvements to the characters, buildings, landscapes and just about everything in the RS universe still look better, so no one loses. Whether you are playing in HD or  the standard Runescape mode, your character now enjoys a new look, with completely re-vamped emotes and sweet new spell effects.

    Here is an example of the new look given to spells. These shots of me coming through the teleportation matrix are on standard- NOT HD. So you can see that all of us have scored on some level and next we will take a look at some of the sweet mega-coolness of the high detail stuff (I know-I’m corny, but I am digging this shit, lol)

The lighting and water effects are superb, and brings the game to a new level of enjoyment for me. Those of us who have been around since the beginning and stayed despite the cheese-o-rama 2d graphics of the original game ( See the June 21 ‘08 Post to see a history of Runescape Graphics ) are hyped that our long lived characters have truly come of age.

I’m off to look around our new surroundings and will see you next time.

As we all wait with baited breath for the release of Runescape High Definition and all that it entails, the standard method of play (which will still be available if your computer cannot handle the mighty new graphics) has gotten re-vamped. One of the areas to get re-designed is the desert city and surrounding areas of Al Kharid. The characters and buildings have gotten a new look and it is looking very good.

This was always a fun place to come and train mining, crafting and combat in my mid levels. Then they even gave free worlders access to the Duel Arena after a few years of that neat place being a members-only feature. Al Kharid is a truly neat environment and with it being so close to Lumbridge, it is a very convenient place to come after using the Lumbridge Home teleport spell to bank and do other business such as using the Furnace to smelt ores. It is probably the best place on F2P (free to play) to do that considering it’s close proximity between the Furnace and the city’s bank.

Here’s a look at what Jagex has done to the Scorpion pit mines and the area between that and the city proper. All the visuals, from the ore sites to the new and improved scorpions, are truly a nice touch.

Not being a Member at the time, I don’t know as yet how it will look on the new HD graphics, but on standard High or Low Detail, it is a wonderful improvement to one of my favorite cities on the free worlds.

 Here’s me having a go at the Adamantium ores at the far end of the pit. Lots more texture detail on the rocky surface of the mining area add to the rustic feel of the place.

As you can see it’s quite an improvement. I can’t wait to see how it looks when the Beta testing period is over and we all get to see the new Graphics package and the awesome new full-screen mode, which will vastly improve gameplay.

 Here you can see the much better visuals in the desert stretch from the mining pit to Al Kharid itself, the water is already much better and promises to improve even more if you are able to enjoy the new HD package.

The NPC’s are also looking quite a bit better. It’s seriously more fun to battle when your enemies look and have the feel of a bit more realistic set of miniatures. We all love Runescape, and I think we can all agree that all the hard work and improvements to the game will make it even more popular than it already is.

 Here the new and improved Palace Guards team up on a lower level dude clad in Iron armor. You will notice that the look of the armor has changed, it took me a couple of days to get used to the look of the new FULL HELMETS that now appear quite different. Go and check out the improvements for yourself and in the next post we will have a look at more of the features of Al Kharid and teach those of you who do not know the little secret that lies at the farthest south point of the desert area; A free trip all the way across the Runescape map to Port Sarim from here !

 THE PICTURE ABOVE IS ON THE HIGH DEFINITION VERSION OF THE GAME, THE PICTURES BELOW IN THE GUIDE WERE TAKEN ON THE STANDARD HIGH DETAIL MODE. Other than the graphics everything is exactly the same.

Continuing on from the last post ( June 23, 2008 in the archives) where we looked at how to gain entrance into this training area, let’s move into the lower tiers of this fairly vast underground complex. As you enter through the tunnel hidden behind the poster in the jail cell area, you will be greeted by level 6 Muggers. Here is a fairly good area to train in if you are a low level.

BUT FIRST LET’S GO GET OUR 10K GOLD AND AWESOME GLOVES !

This is the beginning of the dungeon where you arrive at from the tunnel. ( Behind the poster )  The Mugger room shown above is the room at the very SOUTHWEST corner of the map above. The very north-east corner shows the room that has a staircase that goes up to another level. You will have to travel through the cavern area on the east side of the above map through all the various levels of Roaches, but don’t worry, they will not attack you unless you first attack them.    

  Climb those Stairs. (Northeast corner room of map above )

   You will now be on this level Go to the North room and pull the Magic Lever there. This lever will open the door to where you will find the Chest where your 10,000 gold coin and Security Glove rewards will be found. If you ever die and use the gloves, or decide to get rid of them by destroying them, they can always be gotten again by repeating the pulling the lever and going to the treasure Chest procedures.

AFTER PULLING THE LEVER:

Go down the stairs you came up to get to the lever room.

  Cross from the stairs and enter the door shown above.

   You will be in this area now. Head around the corner to the little alcove shown below and there you will find the treasure chest that contains the Security  Gloves and will put 10,000 gold coins into your inventory !

 Congrats! You now have this neat pair of fighting gloves that add to your Attack, Defense, and Strength statistics. They, as I mentioned, match the Security Boots you can get at The Stronghold Of Security. Which we will start looking at in the next set of posts here at Runescape-junkie.

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Now let’s have a close look at some of the nasty creatures that roam around this place. The story is that the Jail areas  below the Safety classroom on the surface were originally created to hold the various bad guys and gang members that roamed around in the city of Varrock. The place eventually fell into disrepair and was overtaken by the giant Cockroaches that are so prolific here. Eventually the place was excavated and is now open for adventurers to come and explore and kill these fiends and collect the treasure you drop.

( NOTE: I AM ONLY LISTING FREE WORLD DROPS HERE )

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  COCKROACH DRONE

These little nasties are LEVEL 8. They have a mere 11 hitpoints but still drop decent goodies including; Air, Fire, Water and Earth runes as well as Gems and bronze daggers and helmets. Perfect training for Nooby players to level up on. These tiny things are found throughout this dungeon.

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  COCKROACH WORKERS

These big bugs are level 56 ! I recommend being at least in the forties in your combat level to start in on these fellows. They can hit pretty hard so be careful if you are that low. Their drops are very good and include;  Cosmic, Death, Nature, Chaos as well as Earth and Water runes. I have collected TONS of Natures and Chaos from these guys, and at higher levels it is fun to waste lots of these guys and not worry about carrying hardly any food and just rake in the loot.

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      ~ COCKROACH SOLDIERS ~

  NOW HERE ARE THE REAL BADASSES !!

Not only can these big boys kick your ass up close and personal, they spit nasty black goo that drains hitpoints fast! These are the most powerful creatures to train on in the free world, except for greater demons in the wilderness. These have taken over as the popular thing for high levels to train on over lesser Demons. They are tougher to kill, but their drops are supremely better than Lessers.

These level 83 beasts have a whopping 96 hit points and I wouldn’t try to solo kill these guys unless you are somewhere around combat level 80 unless you have alot of guts, lol. But the cool thing is, this area is multi-combat, so you can team up on these things and even loot share on them if you want.

Their drops include:

~Mith Medium helms and gold pieces

 ~RUNE Scimitars and Square Shields (of which I’ve gotten quite a few ) and rarely Rune 2-Handers and Chainmail (Haven’t gotten one as of this post )

~Laws, Death and Fire Runes

~Mithril ore (TONS of these to be gotten ), Adamantium ore and extremely rare Runite ore drops

~ Gems

SO GET ON OVER TO THE STRONGHOLD OF PLAYER SAFETY AND GET YOU SOME EXPERIENCE AND SOME GOOD SWAG !

And, lest I forget, there is a shortcut into the room where you pulled the lever, that will take you directly into that Chamber where you pulled the lever and will save you some travel if you are there to battle the higher level roaches. However there are usually always players there to compete with you if you want to solo-kill the Cockroach Soldiers. But it is a perfect place to team train on them and is accessed via the crevice in the ground next to the classroom very near the other entrance to the dungeon. ( See below. )

That is a good and often asked question - Where do I train for the best Experience and the best treasure Drops? Well, here is a sampling of some of the best places to train on different Runescape Monsters for different level players and may give you some ideas that will hopefully be fun and lucrative for your Character.

I will start with what I am doing at the time, and for the next few posts I will be visiting all of the free world areas of just training on monsters to gain Melee combat experience. However in most all of these places, there are also  “safe spots”  where you can basically hide behind an obstacle and do long range (a.k.a. Mage or Range ) Later on we will visit the best place to train Mage and Range more exclusively.

 But for now, strap on your armor and Melee weapon of choice, ( See Choosing a Runescape Weapon on Free-to-Play post on this site-type it in the ol’ search bar on any page ) and let’s go visit the best training areas for one on one ( or multiple Combat. )

I’m going to start with the Higher level monsters and work my way down to the weakest. And this site will go in reverse order, as I post them chronologically, so just scroll down  (and to previous posts ) to find the critters that fit in to what level YOU are.

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STRONGHOLD OF PLAYER SAFETY:

This is where I am currently doing Strength training. It is alot of fun and the drops from the giant bugs in here are quite good for the free worlds. Find your way to Barbarian Village ( see world map ) and go North.  DIRECTLY SOUTH of the City of Edgeville is the entrance to the SRONGHOLD OF PLAYER SAFETY.

To be able to enter the Stronghold, you must first enter the class room and learn security tips about how NOT to give away your password, get “scammed”, avoiding bad situations in general with your Runescape character and how properly to use the Report Abuse functions.

YOU WILL ALSO GET A BONUS FROM TAKING THE SAFETY TEST - 10K GOLD AND A PAIR OF COOL GLOVES THAT MATCH THE BOOTS YOU CAN GET FROM THE STRONGHOLD OF SECURITY 

After speaking with the teacher (above) you will take the security test and then will have access to the Stronghold below the classroom.

Then the first time you go below into the Jail Cell area (entrance shown above, on the other side of the classroom from the regular door )  you will have to read all of the signs on the cell doors that will teach again game security facts. This and the Security DUNGEON area close by in Barbarian Village are a fun way Jagex came up with to stop newer and naive players from getting ripped off by other more seasoned players. I was scammed for almost a million gold pieces worth of stuff one time by trusting the wrong person in the game, so it is a good thing to know these security tips they give you, though it may seem goofy at the time.

Here are the Jail cells and the Guard who will tell you what to do.

   After you read all of the signs, ( you will only have to do it once)  from then on in you will simply come in through the back entrance, and find the empty cell with a poster on the wall, behind that is the tunnel to the area with the Giant Roaches that we want to get to.

  (hmm… a tunnel hidden behind a poster…Shawshank Redemption? )

NEXT: 10,000 free gold pieces and some cool free GLOVES ! plus..TREASURE DROPPIN’ COCKROACHES FROM HELL

In another huge advancement in Runescape gameplay, Jagex has announced that it will be completely updating its graphics and the look and feel of the game !  For those of you who have been around long enough to remember the original Runescape, now called “Runescape Classic ” this will remind you of the beta-phase testing the game went through when “Runescape 2″ debuted. (Now of course Runescape 2 is just “Runescape“) Confused?

Well if you weren’t around in those days, when our favorite game started out, it was 2D ! Yes, Runescape Characters were flat and very pixelated. Then when the game got it’s boost of Andrew Gower power, and Jagex ( Gower is the Company’s CEO equivalent) decided to really put Runescape on the map. A new graphics system was introduced and tested by actual players on the Internet.

I remember having my only character, Havokslinger, ( who is now a lvl 105 ) with his little 2 dimensional armored butt of level 30 something - get to do the “beta testing” of what was going to be Runescape 2. Those players who chose to try the new graphics engine had nothing to lose, just log in on a Beta world and play away. The only drawback was that anything new you got, or any experience you gained, simply did not count. You were merely testing the new graphics engine for Jagex.

But what fun it was ! And the excitement of a whole new look to the game was to be waited for with baited breath ! Lol although I know a few players personally, and lots of complainers online ( people who played and were diehard fans of ”classic”), that did not like these new changes a bit, no sir. They were sure it was going to ruin the game, or cause incredibly insane lag, or that Jagex would no longer offer free play.

For a while, Jagex offered both options of the new graphics and old. Eventually they stopped updating “classic” and all the new cool things were lost to those who never made the switch to ” Runescape 2 “. Now Classic Runescape is an old school oddity and I believe there are only several hundred players that are allowed continue on that ghost from the past.

NOW ANOTHER GENERATION:

Here we are on the verge of yet another upgrade in the quality of Runescape gameplay. Only this time there will be no testing or waiting for the switch other than waiting for the updates to load once they are perfected.

The Characters will be more realistic, and the subtle yet powerful changes of important aspects like shadows, water effects and myriads of other graphical improvements that will surely make gameplay even more pleasurable than it already is to us hardcore fans.

Let’s take a visual walk through the history of the Graphics of runescape.

CLASSIC:

  Hehe… well here is some Runescape Classic Combat for ya! Pretty corny huh? Well Runescape is no WOW  graphically but we’ve come a long way baby !

   How’s that for some ranging action in classic? (o..m..g…right? ) Although I do admit I love the old Rune Color!

Here are some more blasts to the past when I started:

  Very basic buildings- Hey, there were no on-line games around !!

Goofy fishing interface and screen setup to say the least huh? ( Are we THINKING nets?)

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THE BETA ERA:

  Well, we’re all 3 dimensional at least, but the older style Lessers Demons, along with us heroes, still have no shadows…always room for improvement right?

  A notable improvement over Classic Runescape buildings, but not quite there yet…

Ahh… the chaos of Player Killing. I have never heard so many complaints as when Jagex pulled free roaming PKing in favor of Bounty Hunter…

  You’ll never see this again ! This dream of a Drop Party during Beta testing was fun …Who cared, you couldn’t keep or lose anything permanently.

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A GLIMPSE OF THINGS TO COME:

The new improvemants in the graphics will lean heavily on things like shadow and water realism, like in the following example comparing today’s graphics to new and improved, note the edges of the grass look more like grass, and not just painted color on the ground to show a path…

Here in a section of the Desert, we see the nice effect the new shadows will give, to add a bit of realism…

AND… THANK THE GODS THEY ARE IMPROVING ON THE ULTRA CHEESY TALKING HEADS OF THE CHAT INTERFACE !

And finally a glimpse of something I am personally looking forward to… Optimizing the space of the rather small Runescape playing screen. There will apparently be a third option added to the existing ones of “High Detail” and “Low Detail”, an option as shown below that will give you the full screen and fit in all the stat items and inventory applications on the actual screen itself. Not sure how that is going to work, but it looks good !

  In a commentary of this screenshot on the Runescape site, the Jagex team promises individual character shadows on each character. These upgrades to the Graphics will require more up to date memories and processor requirements, so those out there with really outdated machines may have to upgrade to get all of the new visual goodies, but you will still enjoy improved play if not.

No exact date for this amazing Update yet, but Jagex says it will be soon… Hope to see you out there playing ( look for Havokslinger ) and hope you are looking forward to the new improvements as much as I am !

HAPPY RUNING !