[BTS] November 2014

Behind the Scenes
November 2014

Behind the Scenes - November 2014

Elf City Part 2, improved Treasure Trails, a rockin' quest featuring the elder gods, and a weekend of Double XP madness are up for grabs in RuneScape this month.

Read on to find out more!

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Double XP Weekend

We’re starting November with a bang… a big, double XP shaped bang!

From now, until midday on Monday 3rd November, members will get double XP for almost every activity in RuneScape, and free players 1.2x XP.

Get your banks ready for a levelling fest!

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Elf City - Part 2

Our first new update of the month sees the final parts of the elf city being added to the game, a huge addition making it officially the largest city in Gielinor, both in terms of size and variety of content on offer.

For those of you who are yet to visit, there’s never been a better reason to complete the Plague's End quest and unlock Prifddinas - the jewel in RuneScape’s crown.



There’s so much to it - here are some of the highlights.

• For Agility training, there’s a brand new course for players over level 77 in the skill, with bonus rewards for higher-level players. Keep your eyes open for hidden shortcuts. There’s also a daily tai chi-inspired agility training method elsewhere in the city.
  
• You’ll be able to make crystal flasks which can hold 2 or more different potions, combining their effects in many different ways. Some of these recipes you'll unlocked via dungeoneering.
  
• You’ll have access to crystal singing, which allows you to convert your own crystal seeds into weapons, shields, tools and teleports. There's an NPC who can upgrade your dragon pickaxe or hatchet, too. Level 75 Crafting, Construction and Smithing are required.
  
• There’s the Motherlode Maw, a Dragonkin statue that grants special rewards to those with 2490 skill level total and at least 115 Dungeoneering. Accessible daily with motherlode shards - which you may have already started collecting - it should prove useful to anyone working on their completionist and trimmed completionist capes.
  
• Cleansing crystals – a new way of training prayer for anyone over level 75.
  
• Access to shadow cores – a new combat creature that allows you to gain Divination XP. They can also get you light cores – the secondary ingredient for a new divination summoning creature, granting more time in Tears of Guthix, and faster XP gain while gathering memories.
  
• Edimmu: level 90 slayer targets who drop a new type of ash, a pet and an upgrade for certain amulets.

There are also new perfect potions, gorajo cards, rewards for impling collecting, new titles, new pickpocketing targets, lore, lamps, capes… So much!

There are also plenty of changes to the existing city based on your feedback, including boosts to the Voice of Seren.

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Treasure Trails

We've been busy making a bunch of new Treasure Trails, which will be added to the game this month.

We've also made some important changes to the way that all Treasure Trails work: updating items needed to complete them.

You'll also be able to reroll rewards or improve your rewards on future trails if the rewards you get aren’t great.

Of course, with new trails come new rewards! These include explosive barrel backpacks, dyes for your level 90 gear and an updated general rewards list to make Treasure Trails much more lucrative.

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Heart of Stone

Those of you at RuneFest or watching the streams from my 2015 reveal talk will know all about our first Elder God-series quest, which we have now called Heart of Stone. If you haven’t watched it, you really should! But I’ll give you a quick rundown now.

Heart of Stone is a low-level quest, requiring 25 Runecrafting, 35 Magic and completion of the Carnillean Rising and Rune Memories quests.

Have your wits about you as you hunt a dangerous criminal across the world. You’ll be joined by a golem with the unique ability to track down a hitherto unknown teleport spell. There'll be combat along the way, and plenty of puzzles to get your teeth into.

During your quest you’ll find out more about the elder gods, learning about their motivations and origins via relics hidden around RuneScape, making this quest a treat for lore lovers.

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Guthixian Caches

Let's not forget Guthixian Caches - an awesome divination D&D that the Ninja Team deftly deployed earlier this week.

Originally billed for the first week of November, the ninjas put their masked noses to the grindstone and got it in game in time for Double XP weekend.

If you haven't tried it yet, check out the news for more details and give it a go!

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Well of Goodwill

Through the whole month of November we’re re-opening the Well of Goodwill - in both the RuneScape main game and OSRS - where you can deposit in-game items, gold or Bonds and donate to a charitable cause.

Pop in your unwanted stuff and we’ll donate a US dollar for every 5 mil of wealth that you generously give. We’ve got three great charities lined up – AbleGamers, DonateGames and YoungMinds – and you can choose which your donation goes to, or split it among them. The choice is yours.

There are two new titles to earn, plus three cool tunics available at Solomon’s, from which all proceeds go to charity.

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Solomon's Store

Solomon’s made some changes to the weapon override feature to make the system more flexible and he has added some new fancy new threads to his store this month.

There are two outfit sets, focused around Nex and the KBD respectively, with visual upgrades available for those who wear the sets while slaying the boss.

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Death's Door - Ending 3rd November

After almost two weeks of ghost-hunting, the Death's Door Halloween Event ends with Monday 3rd November's game update.

A couple of other NPCs who've set up shop around Burthorpe's lodestone - Balthazar and Vic the Trader - will also be leaving the game on Monday, so tie up any business you have with them this weekend!

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Have Fun!

Enjoy all that extra XP this weekend. Have fun!

WOOTERS OUT!

Mod Mark
RuneScape Design Director

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What is Behind the Scenes?

Behind the Scenes is a sneak peek at the planned game updates that we hope to launch in the coming month.

This, however, is only a plan - not a promise - that a particular update will be released in a particular way or at a particular time. To get you the highest quality updates as quickly as possible, we usually keep on tweaking and testing right up until the moment before release, so sometimes things change or take a bit longer than expected. We aren't afraid to change our plan if necessary, as we will never launch an update before it is ready.