A Very Barrows New Year!

While we’re looking bleary eyed and shaggy after New Year, we can honestly say that the reworked Barrows and Barrows Brothers are faring much better! Head to southern Morytania, as the Barrows Brothers are waiting and they look nothing short of dazzling.

The first change you’ll notice is to the surface environment. Creeping mist encircles your feet, and the mounds genuinely look like a resting place for the damned, rather than a series of grassy hillocks. Next, take a deep breath and delve below the surface, where you’ll be thoroughly unsettled by the dank and imposing crypts.

Are you brave enough to take the fatal step to wake a Barrows Brother? Pluck up the courage, and you’ll come face-to-face with metallic black and grey armour for these iconic enemies. While you might have had a soft spot for the pink and purple look, we think that their new get-up makes them more fearsome and better represents the gear they offer. What’s more, if you’ve claimed any of the Brothers’ armour or weapons for your own, the new look will be reflected in the worn gear as well.

To celebrate all of these improvements, we’ve given you a 1 in 10 chance of getting double drops on any runes, bolt racks and Barrows items you might receive. That also extends to a new draconic visage drop. These bonuses will only stay in game until the 11th of January, so get looting!

Have a Very Barrows New Year!

Mod Tim
RuneScape Content Developer

In Other News...

Clans achieving Tier 7 for their citadels this January will unlock a new trophy vexillum – a visual upgrade to the standard clan vexillum that, once unlocked, can be activated by an administrator speaking to the Clan Quartermaster. Once you’ve achieved this, a clan administrator can switch the vexillum style back and forth by speaking to the Quartermaster again. This will only be available to unlock during January, so now’s the time to make that final push to the top!

Patch notes for this update: (Click to View)

Graphical:


The Mime and Drill Demon random events are now using the updated chat interface.
Rubbing a Dominion Tower medallion now uses the updated chat interface.
Un-noting ore at the Blast Furnace now uses the updated chat interface.
A bizarre patch of blue water along the border of Trollheim and the Wilderness has been removed.
The yak hair rope on the make-x interface no longer displays as the image for a magic string.
The Thanksgiving event holiday icon has been removed.
Several places where bloom caused the screen to go white have been fixed.
The male studded chaps (g) is now trimmed around the left pocket, in line with the female variant.
Part of a missing rocky outcrop has been replaced in Meiyerditch.
Waterfalls in the Living Rock Caverns now animate correctly.
Some hidden nature runes are now visible in the Wilderness.
Players no longer clip through their cape when performing the Runecraft skillcape emote.
The citharede robe bottoms no longer stretch when performing skillcape emotes.
Two chairs in the Varrock castle throne room no longer clip with the wall.
A tile which caused players to sink in the Wilderness has now been blocked.
Light creature animations have been updated in the Tears of Guthix cave.
The trapdoor in Edgeville has been updated to closer match the model of the ladder in the dungeon.
Caroline's skirt from Sea Slug no longer stretches.
Black spiked vambraces no longer look brown.
The text on the main clan citadel interface is no longer beige on a beige background.
Some balance beams are no longer invisible in DirectX mode.



Quests & Tasks:


The cursed magic tree in the Spirit Realm has been returned.
The "Engage" Varrock task no longer displays as unlocked without the required Firemaking level.
Speaking to Captain Bleemadge no longer instantly transports the player on a glider.
The toolbelt now works correctly when slashing a portrait or tapestry in Darkness of Hallowvale.
A typo has been fixed for Amascut in the Icthlarin's Little Helper quest.
A trapdoor in Spirit of Summer no longer has just a "Close" option, which makes players descend the trapdoor.
Some additional information has been added to the quest journal for Witch's House at certain stages of the quest.
Rune shards from Garden of Tranquillity can now be crushed with a pestle and mortar in a toolbelt.
A hammer in a toolbelt now functions correctly when trying to remove planks in the In Aid of the Myreque quest.
A saw in a toolbelt will now fix the machine in The Eyes of Glouphrie.
A typo in Spirits of the Elid has been fixed.
Bob the Cat can no longer talk to the player in certain circumstances during the Ritual of the Mahjarrat quest.
The brazier from Lunar Diplomacy can now be lit using a tinderbox in a toolbelt.



Skills & Minigames:


Nomad no longer faces the wrong way in the "No more Nomad... No more!" fight introduction in Dominion Tower.
A typo has been fixed when unlocking the colossal bomb reward from Dominion Tower.
The Flash Powder Factory outfit's set effect for increasing doses when crafting potions now works for super restore potions.
Making unfinished juju potions now gives experience when wearing the Flash Powder Factory outfit.



Other:


A "bank-all from pouch" button has been added to the bank and deposit interfaces.
Mahogany and teak logs now have a "Craft" option.
The shop stock of mycelium items has been increased.
The Raptor no longer teleports into the middle of the large sword in the middle of the Wilderness.
The "Slice" option on pineapples is now below the "Use" option.
Armadyl shards can once again be ground correctly.
Some ancient portals in the Wilderness now have multicombat added.
The Saintly and Corruption aura descriptions have been updated to clarify how Prayer point recovery works.
The Gravedigger random event's spinning icons are no longer quite as jittery.
The Task System button no longer looks highlighted.
Implings can no longer pass through a corner of Mubariz’s house.
The camera no longer moves through rocks during magic carpet journeys from Shantay Pass.
The player no longer teleports slightly when approaching the magic carpet in Shantay Pass while running.
Several pop up messages have been added when trying to dig without a spade on certain locations.
The Clan noticeboard no longer states that anyone can attend when set to admin+.
Buying battlestaves from Naff now only prints the "x coins have been removed from your money pouch" message once.
Fishing nets on the toolbelt can now be used to fish in the Mort Myre swamp.
Player titles now update correctly when switching gender.
The chatbox no longer displays some chat at the top of the window when it's at minimal height.
A skull object in the Wilderness has been returned.
The multiway combat icon's tooltip is now visible when the money pouch is open.
Music unlock hints will now always display when "Unlock hint" is selected.
A tile on Lunar Isle no longer forces the player to walk off of it.
Right-click reporting players no longer requires line of sight.
The money pouch now functions correctly when trying to buy anything after logging in first time without a bank pin set.
Looting Zogre coffins now puts the coins gained into the money pouch.
It is no longer possible to grind fishing bait or ashes on a free world.
Silver crossbow bolts now have a "Members:" prefix on the Skill Advance Guide.
The sound when holding backspace on the chat window has been removed.
The text on radimus notes, plaster fragment, and dusty scroll now wraps correctly.
The "Search" bank function no longer places the caret in the wrong place.
Coins are now added to the money pouch from random event reward boxes.
Some quick chat options have been modified to relate to Friends' Chat channels.

I love it..not been yet but from the pictures I have seen everything looks great. My favourite place in Runescape just got better.

A lot of people do not like some of the new amour, but personally i think it all looks cool. Seen a few pictures, but only had Guthans in my bank..I LOVE it. http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/3136/...141457.png

Giving this update a 5 already and I'm not able to log into the game for another 4 hours to check it out myself, haha.

Any graphical improvements on the game are a good update to me, but seeing Micah's picture of the new Guthan's armor definitely sold me. It has more of a fierce look to it than it did before. Makes me want to collect all the barrows sets now, haha. I wonder what my Verac will look like; excited to see it when I get home. Also might start doing a bit of barrows this week, you never know what you may get unless you try.

Thanks for sharing the picture, Micah!

The barrows update was nice. The behind the scenes update was horrible. Jagex decided to lower the fming requirement for the upcoming quest from 90 fming to 74.

http://services.runescape.com/m=forum/g=...1,63492617

not a barrows person, but at some stage I may go there and do it, only did the necessary for tasks/quests etc

I've always loved barrows so I thought this update was pretty good.

Love the update, the barrows were definitely in need of one! 5 for sure.

Every time they graphically update something, my framerate drops to about 4 and it becomes unplayable. I get that they're trying to make the game look better, but there's a reason I'm playing in safe mode.

I get that they're trying to make the game look better, but there's a reason I'm playing in safe mode.

As far as I know, most people do not have lag due to this update, I do not recall having any from any previous graphical updates. When there is lag for everyone (such as after the Bot Nuke) I can understand being upset with Jagex, but I think this is more a problem on your end.

To an extent it is. I'm playing on a pretty old computer here, but there's absolutely no reason why the Safe Mode minimum graphics have to be souped up as much as they are. I would much rather have something I can play.