26 May 2015 - D&D Improvements | Death Rework

Distraction, diversion, death – a classic Ninja Team combo in today's RuneScape update!

First up, there are a ton of improvements to Distractions and Diversions, aimed at making them more accessible and more rewarding.

There's also the long-awaited Death Rework, built and tested with your help in the beta.

We've also got prismatic dyes in Solomon's Store, and details of the week's live streams.

Read on to find out more!

D&D Improvements

Distractions and Diversions are short, fun activities designed to give you a break from skill training, while offering some unique rewards.

The Ninjas have made a ton of tweaks and fixes to D&Ds this week, so take a good look over the list below:

Bork

• Added to the D&D tracker.
• Drop improvements – previously unlocked with Varrock armour 4 - have been moved to Varrock armour 3.
• Varrock armour 4 now offers a daily teleport to Bork.

Champion's Challenge

• XP and stats have been buffed.
• The fights can be repeated weekly for an XP reward.
• Losing a fight no longer locks the player out from the fight - so there's no need to get a new scroll.
• Added to the D&D tracker.
• Can be now be completed in EoC or Legacy.
• There's a new title - 'Champion of Champions' - for defeating all 15 champions.
• The deposit box is now a bank chest.
• Scrolls can now be fed to a baby troll.
• The lesser demon fight has been tweaked.

Court Cases

• Now always rewards a mystery box.
• Mystery box rewards have been made more worthwhile.
• The XP reward has been changed to a combat XP lamp - Prayer and Summoning included.
• A new title is available for those who have completed all cases: 'The Detective'.
• It's no longer necessary to complete the tutorial to start receiving cases.

Evil Tree

• XP rates have been increased for the top three trees.
• Turns into a bonfire post-event, on which kindling can be burned, granting Firemaking XP determined by your level.
• Roots go down faster when all four are active.
• Roots respawn more slowly when three are active.
• Rewards now scale based on Farming/Woodcutting level.
• Spirit trees and the D&D Tracker are more specific on where the tree will appear.
• The leprechaun's log-banking magic now works instantly, instead of just when the inventory is full.
• It's now quicker to check the approximate health of the tree by examining it.

Familiarisation

• Now occurs exactly every 2 hours.
• The triple charm reward is now given by a consumable ticket, allowing you to choose when to use it. You can only carry one of these at a time.

Fish Flingers

• The Barbarian Assault fisherman is now found near Otto's lake, close to the leaping fish spots.
• New rewards have been added. Each of these costs 100 tokens:
  
  • Tacklebox fish teleport limit reset.
  • Fish Flingers entry ticket. Note that the cap of 15 is unchanged.
  • Extra fish caught with each success for 20 minutes. Note that this stacks with benefits from Agility and the shark outfits.

Goblin Flash Mobs

• The D&D is now free to play.
• Non-degradeable free-to-play level 55 combat gear has been added as rewards:
  
  • Gud raider axe.
  • Gud raider chainbody (power-type).
  • Gud raider shield.
• Resource rewards have been improved.

Phoenix Lair

• A new Level 84 familiar has been added:
  
  • Has a chance to burn 2 logs at once when using bonfires.
  • Requires 2 phoenix quills.
  • Uses the same scroll as the original phoenix.
  • Invisible +12 Firemaking boost.
  • Same quest restriction as the original Phoenix familiar.
• Reborn mages no longer block movement.
• Surge, Barge and Escape are now allowed.
• 10 quills can be paid to skip to the fight.
• The branch harvesting animation no longer causes a delay.
• Using unfletched twigs fletches them.
• The cave exit's 'Look at' option has been replaced with a 'confirm' box.

Skeletal Horror

• The XP reward now scales according to Slayer and Prayer levels.
• Reset now occurs at the standard Wednesday weekly reset time.
• The skeleton champion scroll and triskelion fragment have been added to drop table.
• Always drops an elite clue scroll (as long as you don't already have one).
• Added to the D&D tracker.

There's also a new title – the Distracted – for anyone who tries out all D&Ds featured in the D&D Tracker. You can find out which you still need to try via the preview in the Title interface.

Death Rework

With your help in the beta, we've reworked RuneScape's Death system. There's now more freedom in how you reclaim your items and more leeway when things go wrong, while retaining the risk in your most dangerous adventures.

When you die – as long as you're not in the Wilderness or in a safe area – the following applies:

• Items are now stored by Death when you die. He will look after them for 24 hours of in-game time. This persists across log-outs, so disconnects are no longer a danger. You will respawn in his office.
• You will be able to claim back your items in exchange for coins, by sacrificing items eligible to be lost for their coin value, or a combination of the two, using a new interface.
• Items that would have degraded on death, won't do so if reclaimed from Death's storage, as the penalty is now reflected in the buy-back mechanic.
• If you choose not to reclaim items from Death immediately, your gravestone will spawn when you leave his office. Gravestone timers have been reduced, but this will allow you to reclaim items using the degrade-on-death mechanics you're used to.
• If you choose to try and get back to your gravestone and don't make it, Death will still be holding your items.
• You can return to Death within 24 hour in-game hours if you wish to claim some of your items back later. Be aware, though, that dying again will wipe the stored items – only the items and equipment you were carrying during your most recent death are stored.
• Note that existing mechanics for items kept on death still apply. This includes extra items kept with prayers, divination items, and similar effects, including reductions for being skulled or being in a dangerous area.
• Items you were holding when you died can no longer be picked up by other players.

In the Wilderness, or in safe areas, none of the above applies. Death mechanics in PvP situations are the same as they've always been, with the exception that a stack of items is now treated as a single item for purposes of item protection.

Other, smaller tweaks are:

• You can now choose any gravestone appearance that you have unlocked. You will always get the benefits of the best one available to you, regardless of the chosen look.
• Graves are now allowed in the Corporeal Beast's lair.

Solomon's Store – Prismatic Dyes

Looking for the perfect shade of purple or an exceptionally eye-catching ochre? Prismatic dyes are for you – only on Solomon's Store!

You'll now find eight new colour slots on the recolour interface for compatible cosmetic override outfits. Each dye you purchase lets you set a colour for one of these slots, chosen from a colour wheel.

Save up to eight of your favourite colours, and use them to your heart's content. Should you ever need to replace one, simply purchase another dye from the store.

Need more RuneCoins? You can get them by redeeming Bonds, or you can purchase more on the website.

This Week's Streams

This week's streaming schedule's packed with Ninjas and furious god-beasts falling from the sky. You can see these streams – and more – over on our Twitch channel.

Developer Q&A – 16:00 UTC (game time), 26th May

Our Ninjas step out of the shadows this week to showcase their latest projects, fixes and tweaks. On the panel is:

• Mod Pi – Combat Specialist and Ninja.
• Mod Kelpie – RuneScape Project Manager and Head Ninja.
• Mod Rowley – Content Developer, lore specialist and Guardian.

Ask your questions on the forum, on Reddit, or on Twitter with the hashtag #RSDevQA.

Tuska Community Stream – 20:00 UTC, 26th May

Tuska's arrival is imminent, and our Community Team have become her emissaries, raining meteors on Gielinor for your XP-gaining enjoyment.

Join Mods Balance and JD to find out more about the mysteries of Tuska, and for the chance to win exclusive art.

Clue Scroll Highlights

In case you missed it last week, check out the highlights of the 10,000 Elite Clue Scrolls stream for loads of loot-tastic goodness.

Enjoy!

Have fun, and give us your feedback over on the forums!

The RuneScape Team

In Other News

The entrance to Death's office has been graphically improved.

Read the patch notes for further details of this week's updates.