Evolution of Combat Launches 20th November!

After five months of feedback and fine-tuning, the time is finally here: we're hugely excited to be able to announce the official live launch date of the Evolution of Combat: the 20th of November 2012!

With thousands of hours of playtime from yourselves and hundreds of changes to the system from your feedback, we’re now looking forward to a new era in RuneScape. Once the Evolution of Combat has been released, you can look forward to some great new boss monsters and combat-related updates that would never have been possible previously.

We also had an overwhelmingly positive response to the Combat Academy and survey that launched last week and are now making some small tweaks and adjustments prior to launch.

Naturally, you'll have lots of questions about the Evolution of Combat now that the date is confirmed, and we're going to be running a live stream this weekend to address these. You can post your questions in the forums here. In the meantime, check out our FAQ.

There will also be further news posts over the next few days, detailing key changes and how best to prepare for the launch. While it's securely founded in the RuneScape combat you know so well, it contains an array of large-scale improvements and new features, including:

Abilities: These are a replacement for the old special attacks found on weapons, but they're an whole different beast. Divided up into three classes: basic, threshold and ultimate, these do more damage than regular attacks and cause a range of nasty negative effects to your opponent, such as damage over time or stuns. Some may even bestow positive effects, healing you or further boosting your damage output for a set amount of time. Making sound use of abilities will push your combat prowess to new heights.
Adrenaline: This new resource is built each time you hit an enemy with an auto-attack, or with a basic ability. It's spent when you use the more powerful threshold and ultimate abilities, and when you eat food in combat, so you'll want to build it as quickly as possible during a fight.
Action Bar: This handy new interface holds all your ability buttons, and can give quick access to essentials such as potions, food and utility items.
Armour and Life Points: The armour you wear now greatly affects your maximum life points. The Evolution of Combat is balanced with this in mind, so you'll need to gear up to stand up to your foes!
Dual Wielding: That's right - with the launch of the Evolution of Combat, this much-requested feature will be fully implemented. With abilities specific to dual-wielded weapons and increased gear choices for mages such as wands and orbs, your choice of gear loadout has never been more varied. Off-hand versions of most weapons will be made available once the Evolution of Combat launches, so no need to go out and buy duplicates of your favourites just yet.
And Much More: We've introduced far too many new features, tweaks and improvements to list here, but some of the biggest are as follows:
We've filled out gaps in gear progression, including loads of brand-new level 50 gear and new options for mages and rangers.
The combat triangle is more important than ever, and you'll need to take careful count of your foe's fighting style to prevail.
There's an array of awesome-looking new animations for the new abilities and distinct combat styles.
We’ve also listened carefully to feedback from those among you who know and particularly enjoy the current system. With your input in mind, we've made many changes to the Evolution of Combat which will allow you to continue playing with the traditional style of combat, while also benefiting from the raft of improvements the update brings.

For full details, take a look at our FAQ or our quick guide on the wiki. If you haven't already, you can also still log into the beta and give the new system a whirl - be sure to try out the new Combat Academy in Lumbridge while you're there!

Just two weeks to go - plant the date securely in your calendar, because you won't want to miss the Evolution of Combat launch!

The RuneScape Team

I'm excited for the EoC but it's just too soon for it to be released. Needs some more work to be ready unless Jagex has been hiding some of the development work from the beta. This announcement has also caused bandos armour to crash in price hard due to barrows giving exact same stats with veracs giving prayer bonus.

The riots have already begun. Lost 13mil on D claws and 20mil on Bandos.

My bank is pretty much shot but I'm excited for the new combat.

Ugh. I won't finish Slayer and maxed combat in time
Was kinda hoping they'd delay it longer..

The riots have already begun. Lost 13mil on D claws and 20mil on Bandos.

My bank is pretty much shot but I'm excited for the new combat.

Yeah I had no clue about the Bandos nerf, its too late for me to not lose lots of money on my armour. So I iwll just hold onto it, hoping they eventually re-balance it.

I sold a few of my items at a loss so I could stock up on items I'm expecting to rise. I wasn't ready for the announcement so it kind of messed up my plans, but I still think I'm going to come out ahead.

As for the actual update, couldn't be happier. I still feel like it needs work, but I think these days you just see more and more unfinished products being released, because these things are getting bigger and bigger and the most effective way to iron out the rest of the bugs at the end is to get a lot of people playing the game and let them complain about what's wrong so you know what to fix.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!

12 days to max out combat skills!!!!!!

It's going to take some getting used to, just wish Jagex would announce more in advance.

It's going to take some getting used to, just wish Jagex would announce more in advance.

Well you knew it was coming out this year, they stated their goal was October and it is a couple weeks after that. They also gave 2 weeks notice on top of that. Not sure what more you want? :o

How much did Bandos and claws get nerfed by?