Cast your eyes east for the first update of the new year - more of the enigmatic Wushanko Islands are yours to explore via your Player-Owned Port!

Set sail for the new Loop and Shield regions and claim hull-busting hauls of booty. Meet three new adventurers - the Trapper, the Architect and the Chef - and help them succeed in their eastern endeavours. Collect new forgotten scrolls containing recipes for a level 85 cape, ring and thrown weapons and craft them using your hard-won loot.

If you're a seasoned sea-dog already, read on! Alternatively, if you've never set foot in a Player-Owned Port before, click here to find out what it's all about.

Ship Shape

Experienced Portmasters will find plenty of adventures in the Loop and Shield regions of the Wushanko Isles - over 300 new voyages in total. On these voyages, you'll be able to pick up new resources - azure and terracotta - to further augment your ships.

There are also new trade goods - pearls and koi scales - to put together the amazing new high-level gear. You'll find these in the Hook region and beyond.

There are also three fully-voiced adventurers to attract to the port:

• The Architect: a serene, well-spoken lady who's looking to complement her earthquake-proofing methods with western building techniques. She can visit your port as soon as you hit level 90 in Construction, and you can build the ornate arch port improvement to make this more likely.
• The Chef: an errant gastronome with a penchant for experimental - and potentially toxic - seasoning. Hit 90 Cooking for a chance to bring him on board, and add the cooking pot improvement to up the likelihood.
• The Trapper: this mightily moustachioed big-game hunter loves tracking wild beasts - almost as much he loves polishing Ol' Bessie: his beloved cannon. He can show up at your port as soon as you hit level 90 Hunter, with an increased chance if you've built the trap improvement.

Each member of this disparate trio can embark on their own voyages to the Eastern Lands on your ships, and can even team up for an adventure if they're all in port at once.

The somewhat shady-looking Trader who's set up residence in your port will exchange port resources for trade goods - at a rate favourable to himself, of course. He'll have a daily special offer for you, too - be sure to visit him regularly to take advantage of this!



Finally, you may see an all-new random event, where you'll help Seasinger Umi to locate some lost items, in exchange for a helping of port resources.

Accoutrements of the East

Voyaging in the Hook region and beyond can now yield pearls and koi scales, whose main purpose is to craft some awe-inspiring new gear:

• Reefwalker's cape: a level 85 cape (Defence and Constitution levels required) for all combat styles. It comes in two varieties: the standard version, which degrades until it's destroyed, but is tradeable; and the superior version, whose reparability and improved stats are matched by its increased cost and untradeability. For armour and life point bonuses in particular, the superior reefwalker's cape is best-in-slot.
  
  Make these capes with level 90 Crafting and copious quantities of koi scales.
  
• Leviathan ring: a mighty level 85 ring (again, Defence and Constitution) offering a 2 or 5% chance (dependent on version) to halve the damage of attacks made against its wearer, plus hearty critical-chance boosts for all styles of combat. As with the reefwalker's cape, the standard version of the ring degrades until it's destroyed, and is tradeable; while the superior version has better stats and can be repaired when fully degraded, but costs more to craft and maintain and is untradeable.
  
  Make these rings with level 90 Crafting - bring plenty of pearls!
  
• Death Lotus darts: these level 85 thrown weapons round out the ranged roster nicely.
  
  Make them with 92 Fletching, ancient bones and ascension shards.

These new pieces of equipment are universally useful additions to any high-level warrior's *****.

Shoring Up

With today's update, there are many great reasons to get back into the Portmaster's life. But what if you've yet to find your sea legs?

For those of you still languishing in land-lubberdom, Player-Owned Ports is a high-level minigame where you'll manage your own harbour: recruiting crew members and outfitting ships which you'll send on voyages to the fabled Eastern Lands.

Your ships will adventure in real time, before bringing back tales of their exploits and - all being well - a cargo hold full of exotic treasures. This loot can be used to improve your ships; attract new sailors or fully-voiced adventurers to crew your vessels; or to craft some of the best food and armour in the game. As the voyages happen in their own time, managing your port's a great way to earn rewards while you're logged out, or while you're off adventuring elsewhere.

You'll need level 90 in at least one of nine skills to start managing your port. If you don't meet these requirements just yet, you can get a taste of the Harbourmaster's life by heading through the portal at the north end of Port Sarim and talking to Meg: a novice swashbuckler who needs adventuring advice if she's to survive another day!

For full details of Player-Owned Ports, visit the wiki.

Set Sail!

The bounty of the Wushanko Isles is rich indeed, and it's there for the taking by your brave seafarers. Weigh anchor!

The RuneScape Team

How to start Player-Owned Ports:

Visit the Ports Portal at the north end of Port Sarim.

Requirements:

You must be a RuneScape member.

You need level 90 in at least one of the following skills:

• Construction
• Cooking
• Fishing
• Herblore
• Hunter
• Prayer
• Runecrafting
• Slayer
• Thieving

To access the three new adventurers, you will need level 90 in Construction, Cooking and Hunter respectively.

In Other News

• From Friday, we're running a promotion during which all XP lamps on the Squeal of Fortune will be replaced with fallen stars. These give slightly more XP than the lamps would have, but as Bonus XP that's given out as you train, rather than a lump sum as before. Keep an eye on the news for more details!
• Head on over to Solomon's Store for some awe-inspiring Bandos and Armadyl-themed treats: armour overrides styled after the Bandosian and Armadylean golems, and some grand god-themed teleport animations.
• It's now possible to repair Player-Owned Ports gear with surplus trade goods. To do this, use the damaged or broken item on your port's crafting table or anvil - whichever was used to make the item originally.
• For the immediate future, the Black Marketeer and Trader will not offer azure or terracotta.
• The Christmas festivities around Gielinor have been tidied away for another year.
• The following changes have been made to Nex:
  
  • Players can now start up their own private, instanced Nex fights, in a similar way to other GWD bosses.
  • Nex will now enter a Deflect Magic stance instead of Deflect Ranged on every other fight.
  • Nex's wings will now recolour to green while deflecting ranged, blue when deflecting magic, and red-orange when deflecting melee.
  • The Virtus wand and book now degrade the same way as similar tiered items.
• The royal crossbow no longer recharges by the Forging Fire attack, but can now be recharged by 25% by using a royal crossbow component on the crossbow.

Take a look at the patch notes for other updates released today.