[Update] Smarter Familiars

Smarter Familiars

Summoning familiars just got smarter! In today's RuneScape update - as voted for by you - we've updated the behaviour of summoned beasts, made them easier to use, and given them some handy new functions.

First up, they're smarter and more helpful in a fight:

• Familiars now join in as quickly as possible when you engage a target.
  
• They will now defend you when you're attacked and not fighting back.
  
• They will switch quickly and accurately when you change target.
  
• If assigned a target, they will stay on it until it dies, or they are told otherwise.
  
• Combat familiars will use special moves automatically while they fight, as long as scrolls and summoning points are available.
  
• Familiars can store up to 500 special move scrolls for you. These will be used before any stored in your inventory. If they die in PvM or are unsummoned, any held scrolls will go to your inventory, or the ground if it's full.

The side-bar interface has been improved:

• The visual style has been updated to be clearer and easier to read.
  
• The layout has been improved, with buttons closer together for easier use.
  
• For combat familiars, the special move button allows you to set the frequency with which they use up special move scrolls automatically.

Finally, there are a few tweaks to Summoning in general:

• Beast of Burden familiars have a handy new 'give all' option.
  
• Using a small obelisk while a damaged familiar is out will heal it to full health.
  
• The Protect from Summoning prayer now halves damage dealt by familiars by 50% in PvP.
  
  So call up the Spirit Realm and bring forth your favourite companions. We think you'll be pleased by what they can do.
  
  Mod Chris L and the RuneScape Team
  

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  In Other News

  
  
  • You can now buy 29 and 45 days of membership using RuneScape bonds.
    
  • The Wardrobe interface has been tidied, tweaked and streamlined. Give it a whirl and see what you think.
    
  • We've performed a batch of maintenance changes to Treasure Hunter, tweaking the prizes given in order to:
    • Give better prizes to low-level players.
      
    • Remove certain undesirable prizes.
      
    • Manage Treasure Hunter's impact on the economy.
      
    • Ensure that when two skills can give the same prize, the amounts given are the same for each.
  
  See the patch notes for further details of today's updates.
  
  
  Patch Notes (Click to View)

  6th October 2014
  
  
  The following fixes and tweaks have now been implemented. If you believe a change has not been documented, either in the patch notes or the news posts for this week’s update, please detail the change so that it may be added.
  
  As always, be sure to submit a bug report should you encounter a gameplay bug or graphical glitch in-game.
  
  Graphical:
  
  
  Mousing over icons on the ribbon interface will no longer show blank descriptions.
  A strange glow has been removed from an area north of Falador.
  The minimap in Oo'glog now match the pool colours correctly.
  Cave crawlers will no longer stretch whilst walking.
  There is now more water supplying the small waterfall at Baxtorian falls.
  Players no longer stand up during the pipe squeeze in the Werewolf Agility Course.
  The Vampyre bat animation for its special move has been fixed.
  The grappling animation has been updated.
  The animation when harvesting from an enriched divination spring has been updated to stop memories from appearing out of the surrounding floor.
  Thaerisk no longer plays an idle animation during combat.
  Players no longer go up a level when opening the doors to the Clan Citadel keep in HTML5.
  Equipped weapons are now sheathed when performing the Sneaky Bunny emote.
  The bloom effect on the fairy ring next to the Polypore dungeon has been corrected.
  Forgotten rangers in Daemonheim no longer have an incorrect attack animation.
  Tree shadows at the Grand Exchange are no longer patchy.
  Some height mapping issues in the Canifis area have been fixed.
  
  
  
  Skills, D&Ds & Minigames:
  
  
  The Remote Farming cure patch option now works on the herb patch in Prifddinas.
  Silverhawk boots now give Agility experience while fletching broad arrows.
  Elves tending farming patches will no longer perform an unconvincing impersonation of a leprechaun when the player claims Evil Tree rewards.
  The delay has been removed when rotating the puzzle in celtic knot treasure trail scroll boxes and caskets.
  An issue with the camera stretching the view of the game in Dominion Tower has been fixed.
  A typo on the Pest Control commendation rewards interface has been corrected.
  Auto-cast spells are now set upon entering a Sinkhole, to match what happens with Dungeoneering.
  Players can bank dominion tower bombs once again.
  A spelling mistake in the Minigames section of the Adventurers interface has been corrected.
  A grammatical error in a line of The Trapper's chat in Player-Owned Ports has been fixed.
  Lucky items and the Auspicious katana can be protected by item protect prayers in the Wilderness and placed in gravestones, but will otherwise be destroyed on death.
  Many more activities will now trigger key tokens.
  Silverhawk boots will now be triggered by more activities.
  You can now use the 'multiple chests' radio buttons and 'categories' button in the 'reward' and 'no more keys screen' in Treasure Hunter.
  Objects that are free to play but require membership to cash out will no longer show up as members items in Treasure Hunter.
  Silverhawk feathers, magic notepaper and spring cleaner springs now ask for confirmation before they are discarded in Treasure Hunter.
  The prize you have won has been added to the message when you claim something in Treasure Hunter.
  
  
  
  Quests, Challenges & Achievements:
  
  
  During the Troll Romance quest, Dunstan no longer greets the player too many times.
  Azzanadra will now recommend having the correct combat level for the Fate of the Gods quest.
  An issue with penguins sometimes not appearing when Larry and the player are in the snowy bird hide during the Cold War quest has been fixed.
  
  
  
  Other:
  
  
  A number of creatures have had their drop tables adjusted to increase the value of runes.
  The auto-cast spell selection highlight box has been returned to the spell books.
  Hand cannons once again have a chance to explode when used.
  Agile armour is now classed as hybrid armour.
  Attacking another player with no ammo or runes no longer forces the opposing player into combat.
  A few force walk tiles in theLumbridge cabbage field have been removed.
  A force walk tile has been removed from the Falador clan camp area.
  Burying bones with Strongarm Burial activated will no longer mentions burying bones in the chat window.
  The names of stairs in Meiyerditch have been corrected.
  Silver and golden precision bracelets have had their stats updated.
  Pressing the map shorcut key (default 'M') will now also close maps as well as open them.
  The lucky dragon 2h sword now possesses the same special attack as its regular counterpart.
  A spelling mistake with Islwyn's dialogue about Clan Cadarn has been fixed.
  Players with more than 2.147b elemental runes in their inventory via a combination of elemental and combination runes can now cast spells correctly.
  Split private chat will now hide correctly when the chat box is minimised in Legacy mode.
  Smoke Tendrils is now correctly listed as a members ability in the Magic Skill Advance Guide.
  It is no longer possible to take loot from Araxxi and roll for a pet at the same time.
  An issue where it was possible to avoid taking damage in the darkness in the third path of the Araxxor fight has been fixed.
  Araxxor is now much more likely to be in the players favoured stance when setting up an instanced fight.
  A couple of clan recruitment links from in-game to the forums have been fixed.
  The error message that appears when a player tries to select a reserved display name has been corrected.
  Empty action bars will no longer show orange numbers when logging in.
  Selecting 'Follower details' whilst the layout is locked will now open or close the follower interface.
  
  
  
  Ninja Fixes:
  
  
  The wave counter in the Fight Caves and Fight Kiln will now stay on the screen for the entire duration of the fight.
  After many years of guarding the gate east of Varrock so that only workmen can pass through; the Museum Guard is now allowing adventurers to do so too.
  A fused slayer helmet will now tell the player how many charges remain after teleporting.
  Purchased items within the Daemonheim rewards store are now easier to identify.
  
  
  
  Engine Fixes:
  
  
  Ironman Quickchat icons have been fixed.
  Right click menus should no longer be left behind after the interface it was connected to is closed.
  
  
  
  HTML5 Engine Fixes:
  
  
  The HTML5 client should no longer crash when encountering a skybox.

But still not smart enough to revolt against their oppressors.