Jun 24, 2021

Old School RuneScape - Jagex Sarnie

For a full list of survey results please visit the newspost on the official Old School website.

Dating all the way back to 2001, the Wilderness is the only place where players can engage in PvP combat and gain all the items dropped by their defeated opponent. If you want to test your fighting mettle and scoop up your opponents' rewards, it’s the only place to be.

Since the release of Old School RuneScape, the area's undergone a few changes, most notably the Wilderness Rejuvenation projects in March 2014 and November 2018. These revamps introduced new bosses, monsters, resources and activities.

However, those who brave the Wilderness still face some frustrations, and today we're going to look at how we're hoping to address them.

It's important that we highlight from the get-go that this blog isn't going to mention adding large pieces of new content. That will come later this year when we tackle the fabled Wilderness Bosses rework, which will include a host of new rewards and more, but that will be covered in a separate blog post. The intention of this blog is to address many of the long-standing issues that have been raised by all types of players, providing a strong foundation for future change that we can build upon.

General Wilderness Changes

The main issues we're addressing today are long-standing and largely relate to balancing. Many of the changes outlined here are also intended to benefit those who engage with the activities listed the most. As such, the content offered within this blog will not be polled. This approach is similar to our previous balancing efforts, only rather than simply adjust numbers, we're hoping to achieve better results by focusing on much higher-quality changes.

Firstly, we’d like to share the results of a recent survey.

The following results are from a total of 30,064 respondents.

Which of the following best describes how often you enter the Wilderness:

I don't go into the Wilderness - 5.67%
I rarely go into the Wilderness - 55.91%
I often go into the Wilderness - 38.42%

Which of the following best describes the main reason you enter the Wilderness:

Fighting other players - 23.73%
Completing Clue Scrolls - 45.03%
Skilling content - 5.08%
Money-making - 4.44%
Killing the Wilderness bosses - 14.07%
Unique rewards - 7.66%

I understand how the Wilderness works (e.g. unique game mechanics and game rules):

Agree - 92.79%
Disagree - 7.21%

The Wilderness offers a good balance between risk and reward:

Agree - 31.05%
Disagree - 68.95%

I try to avoid spending time in the Wilderness where possible:

Agree - 68.10%
Disagree - 31.90%

I try and fight back if another player is attacking me within the Wilderness:

Agree - 31.87%
Disagree - 68.13%

I think 'Skulltricking' within the Wilderness is a problem:

Agree - 69.95%
Disagree - 30.05%

I would spend more time in the Wilderness if 'Skulltricking' was less common:

Agree - 49.62%
Disagree - 50.38%

I think organised groups of players have too much of an advantage over solo players in single-way combat:

Agree - 87.95%
Disagree - 12.05%

I would spend more time within the Wilderness if fights were fairer for solo players:

Agree - 74.91%
Disagree - 25.09%

I think the Wilderness needs more content added to it:

Agree - 77.11%
Disagree - 22.89%

When adding new content to the Wilderness, the focus should be on end-game, best-in-slot rewards:

Agree - 38.77%
Disagree - 61.23%

When adding new content to the Wilderness, the focus should be on new skilling activities:

Agree - 52.43%
Disagree - 47.57%

When adding new content to the Wilderness, the focus should be on PvP based rewards:

Agree - 83.17%
Disagree - 16.83%

When adding new content to the Wilderness, the focus should be on money-making methods:

Agree - 67.66%
Disagree - 32.34%

I think the Wilderness bosses need to be reworked:

Agree - 86.42%
Disagree - 13.58%

If the Wilderness bosses are reworked they should have new rewards added to their drop table:

Agree - 85.70%
Disagree - 14.30%

Skulltricking

Skulltricking takes various different forms, but ultimately the end goal is the same – to trick an unsuspecting victim into attacking another player, causing them to become skulled. This puts the victim in a position where they are risking much more than they had intended.

In our survey, 68% of respondents reported that they do not fight back within the Wilderness, and almost 70% of all respondents believe that Skulltricking is a big problem. This is not something we can simply ignore.

The easiest way to prevent Skulltricking is to turn off your attack options and disable auto-retaliate. However, by literally deterring players from fighting back, is it even PvP combat anymore? It’s easy to see why the majority of players don’t like this solution.

We want to make it so that players who are not planning to skull can still fight back when attacked – without falling into a position where they’re risking more than they initially intended. We are investigating the possibility of additional menu options such as ‘disable attacks that would result in getting skulled’.

In addition to this, we will also stop players from losing their skull whilst in combat with another player.

This is a big change to the unruly nature of the Wilderness, but we feel it will better the long-term health of this iconic area. We're hopeful that empowering players to fight back will bring new life to the Wilderness and create a much fairer platform for satisfying combat experiences.

Luring

Luring is any instance where a scammer tries to trick another player in order to steal their items. We’re committed to preventing these types of scams, and we’ve made good progress in the past, especially in regards to animation stalling and the mapping down of additional safe areas.

We want to make the following changes:

Map extra safe areas around Banks and hotspot locations in PvP worlds, to stop players from unintentionally straying into a danger zone.
Make doors always open in PvP worlds.

Are there any particular areas you’ve experienced this issue that we should focus on? Let us know!

Combat Area Tricks

The whole Wilderness is a PvP area, but some areas limit who you can attack and when. Currently the region is split as follows:

Single-way Combat Area: An area where a player or monster can be attacked by only one player or monster at a time.
Singles-plus Combat Area: Similar to single-way combat, with the exception that if a player is fighting a monster, they can be attacked by another player. Currently, only the Revenant Caves are singles-plus.
Multi-way Combat: An area where a player or monster can be attacked by more than one player or monster at a time.

It is currently possible to abuse these restrictions in certain situations. For example:

Player A and Player B are fighting in a single-way combat zone.
Player C is stood nearby in a multi-way combat zone.
Player A is close to dying but can instantly attack Player C, due to them being in the multi-way combat zone.

In this scenario, Player B is no longer able to attack Player A, as they are now in combat with another player!

To avoid this, we will ensure that if Player A is fighting Player B first, the rules of their area apply, and they can no longer attack Player C.

Single-Plus Combat & ‘PJ’ Timer

In most parts of the Wilderness, players who are attacked by an NPC cannot be attacked by other players. This normally is all well and good, but can cause issues when players run into a field of NPCs and "box" them, providing protection against a PK.

Some of you have also fallen victim to ‘Pile Jumping’ or ‘Player Jumping’ (both generally abbreviated to ‘PJ’) i.e. a player might attack you while you’re busy collecting loot from a kill, or steam into your fight when your opponent is nearly dead, taking the kill from you and swiping the loot.

We’re going to kill two birds with one stone here: we’ll be replacing all single-way combat areas in the Wilderness with singles-plus. This means that PvP will always take priority, so if a player is in a fight with a monster, they can be attacked by another player. In all other aspects, the old single-way combat mechanics would still apply.

Secondly, we’ll be adding a ‘PJ’ Timer to singles-plus combat areas. This will mean that players have a grace period in which they cannot be attacked by other players if they’re still fresh from an encounter.

Here's an example of how a typical combat scenario might work with the singles-plus mechanic:

Player A is attacking an NPC. Player B comes along and attempts to attack Player A. With singles-plus in effect, the NPC loses interest in Player A.

This means that Player A can now attack Player B. If Players A and B stop fighting each other, then other players could then attack Player A instead… but because of the PJ Timer, they would need to wait 10 seconds before they were able to do so.

This should mean that players can't be attacked by multiple aggressors in quick succession outside of multi-way combat zones. Speaking of which, no changes are planned at present for multi-way combat zones, and we expect those areas to remain suitable for those of you who want to group up and fight against other players.

Loot Keys

Back in November 2017, we pitched the idea of bringing across the Loot Key system from Deadman Mode, via Loot Key Scrolls. These would be a tradeable drop from Revenant NPCs found within the Revenant Caves, redeemable at Krystilia (the Edgeville witch). They would give players the ability to toggle Loot Keys.

When we put this to the polls, it narrowly failed with a 'Yes' vote of 73.9%. We haven’t revisited the possibility of adding these into the game – until now.

We’d like to bring Loot Keys to the game.

We think Loot Keys could help reduce the number of players waiting around PvP areas to simply loot leftover goodies, while also promoting a higher risk vs reward factor, as players could choose to stay within the Wilderness for longer without banking, or go for multiple kills in a row on PvP worlds without fear of losing their hard-earned spoils!

However, Loot Keys will work slightly differently from how they were originally proposed. Instead of being a tradeable drop, they will be a purchasable and permanent unlock for 5 million gold that will grant players the ability to toggle the functionality on or off as they please. This will only be possible at the Ferox Enclave, the same location the unlock is purchased.

Loot Keys will turn all the loot you'd normally get from a player in the Wilderness or PvP worlds into a Key, which will only use one inventory slot.
A player can hold up to five of them at once, after which PvP drops will revert to normal functionality until they have either redeemed or destroyed a Key.
Keys can only be redeemed at a Bank or destroyed. They cannot be banked.
Killing another player who has Loot Keys will assign you their most valuable Keys. If you already have a lot in your inventory, you will receive the most valuable Keys until you are holding a total of five.
Skulled players that have two or more Keys in their inventory will have a skull icon over their head that shows how many keys they hold.

We'll also be updating the functionality of Loot Keys by adding various levels of customisation, allowing you to tailor the benefits they provide based on your playstyle. The following options will be available on release:

The ability to exclude food and/or potions from Loot Keys, causing them to drop to the floor as per existing behaviour.
Players will be able to set a loot threshold, causing any items above that value to be excluded from Loot Keys. Instead they'd drop to the floor as per existing behaviour.

Ultimate Iron players will not be able to unlock Loot Keys, preventing them entirely from gaining access to the benefits they provide.

Fountain of Rune

In order to tackle risk-free usage of the Fountain of Rune, we will prevent players from logging out for three seconds after they use a spell that benefits fountain effects.

This only applies when the Fountain of Rune effect is used to get a free rune cost for a spell and will not apply to players using the fountain to charge an Amulet of Glory.

Iron Accounts & PvP Loot

With so many different ways to approach Old School, it’s great to see the many unique builds that players create to maximise their potential strength, especially when it comes to PvP content!

Players looking for a challenge might create an Iron account with the sole intention of excelling in PvP situations. These accounts cannot gain experience from combat with other players, so they must work around that limitation to create extremely powerful builds that would otherwise be impossible. And of course, Iron accounts can’t trade with other players, so they need to gather many items and supplies for this to be effective.

Currently, if an Iron player defeats another person in the Wilderness or PvP worlds, they cannot pick up the dropped items. This means that the defeated player can run back to where they perished and simply loot their items back, removing a lot of the thrill involved in fighting another player on such dangerous terms in the first place.

To make things more nail-biting, we’d like any items that would normally drop on death to still appear on the floor upon defeat, but no one will be able to pick them up – including the player who lost them. Untradeable items will still be able to be picked up by the defeated player where they aren't automatically added to your inventory (broken items, Graceful below 20 wild, etc.).

Equipment Rebalancing

With the recent Ranged Meta portion of the Equipment Rebalancing out of the way, our focus now shifts to PvP changes. For those unaware, we originally pitched them as focusing on Dragonhide armours and Dinh’s Bulwark. However, there some additions have been thrown into the mix. Let’s take a look.

Dinh’s Bulwark

Dinh’s Bulwark is an overwhelming defensive force in PvP, and a niche item. It gives certain account builds the potential to ‘tank’ in some encounters, such as the God Wars Dungeon. This is thanks to its incredibly high defence bonuses, with no negative stats to offset them.

Our previous proposal was to change its defensive bonuses, with a focus towards reducing Melee and Magic defence, making it an outstanding Ranged defence item instead. This would mean players using the shield in PvP situations would have to make up the lost defence in other aspects of their equipped gear, helping to further balance out the combat triangle.

A lot of you were worried that by reducing the defensive stats of Dinh’s Bulwark, we were effectively removing its only use. This wasn’t entirely accurate, given the shield does have uses outside of PvP, which the proposed changes would only have improved further. Nonetheless, we have a new idea that will ensure Dinh’s Bulwark has plenty to offer beyond just its reduced defensive capabilities.

We’ll achieve this by addressing one of the main feedback points we received – giving you the ability to fight back when using the shield!

This new design retains the existing nerfs to the Bulwark’s defensive stats, but allows it to better fill the ‘tank’ role, while also creating a niche defence-scaling offensive item; -something which doesn't exist in the game currently. Here’s what we’re changing:

We’ll increase its attack speed and attack bonus, giving it increased DPS and additional utility in a ‘tank’ role.
We’ll buff its special attack, allowing it to reduce the offensive capabilities of each monster it hits.
While in offensive mode, the Bulwark’s Strength bonus will scale based on the defence bonus of any equipped gear.

We’ve upped the Crush attack bonus to +124 to help slightly with its new role.
We’ve also increased the attack speed from 7 to 5. With its new passive effect (see below), having a more reasonable attack speed is more in-line with other slow two-handed weapons used for DPS, such as the Scythe of Vitur.

New Passive Effect:

When not in defensive mode, your Melee strength is increased by the following:

((Average stab, slash, crush, ranged defence - 200)/3)-38

This results in one max hit every 12 average defence bonus above 200.
With less than 200 average defence bonus, this results in a max hit of 15 down from 24 (with no Melee strength bonus).
In full best-in-slot defensive gear, providing an average defence bonus of +498, this results in a max hit of 46 from 32 (32 would have been the previous max hit in this same gear).

All of which results in Dinh's Bulwark having an exciting new role as the only weapon which scales its offense on defensive gear!

This change makes a huge difference to where you would use the Bulwark. Notably, you would be able to achieve more DPS with it than when using a Zamorakian Hasta in full Justiciar against creatures like General Graardor (though it is still weaker than a Dragon Scimitar in full offensive gear). Essentially, where you would usually use Dinh’s Bulwark in a ‘tank’ role, you’ll be able to deal even more damage than before.

New Special Attack Effect:

In addition to the current area of effect damage of the Bulwark’s special attack, we’ll make it so that enemies hit by the special attack will also have their highest offensive stat reduced by 5% of its current value, either Melee (attack + strength), Magic attack or Ranged attack.

Xerician Robes

Xerician Robes are fabled for being a cheap alternative to Mystic Robes, and their low cost means they see great use throughout the Wilderness. Much like Dragonhide Armours, many players feel like their strength is too high for an incredibly low cost.

As such, we’ll be changing the offensive capabilities of Xerician Robes slightly by reducing the Magic attack bonus they offer. In total, 10 Magic attack bonus will be removed, with changes being made to the both the top and bottom.

This will also help offset the Magic defence lost from Black Dragonhide (which is itself covered later in this blog), while still ensuring that they are a stronger Magic option than Wizard Robes.

Elemental Staves

During our initial Equipment Rebalancing proposal, many of you were interested in the rebalancing of lesser used and lower tier items to make them more effective. A popular suggestion was that we improve Elemental Staves, given how as you progress through the different tiers of staves, the only thing that increases is their Melee capabilities... which is rather irrelevant for Magic-based attacks!

The above changes would see each tier of stave benefit from a linear increase of 2+ to Magic attack and defence bonus.

This keeps them below the Ancient staff, which has +15 in both Magic attack and defence, but helps to alleviate some of the changes to Xerician Robes by providing better bonuses for higher valued items.

Dragonhide Armour

As we’ve mentioned in previous iterations of the Equipment Rebalance, Dragonhide armour has been notoriously powerful for an incredibly low cost. It offers high Defence bonuses, especially against Magic Attacks, with negligible negative stats to offset this. The armour generally goes against the combat triangle, and doesn't follow the same stat distribution as similar Ranged armours.

As the issue with Dragonhide is most prevalent in PvP, we feel it’s important that any changes are made as part of the Wilderness Changes project.

Our focus remains on changes to both the Melee and Magic defence bonuses of standard Dragonhide armours, in an attempt to encourage players to try different armour pieces. This will have a much lower impact on players focusing on PvM encounters, and naturally balances the Combat triangle.

We have adjusted our approach slightly based on your feedback, which can be seen in the tables below.

D’hide Bodies

We’ve scaled back on some of the nerfs to D’hide body Melee defence bonuses, but stuck with the previously proposed Magic defence bonus reduction.

To give an idea of how much of a difference this is from our previous proposal, here's the side-by-side:

Old proposal - 27% nerf to defensive stats of Black D’hide bodies
New proposal - 22% nerf to defensive stats of Black D’hide bodies

To see what a Black D'hide Body is currently like in-game, refer to the God D’hide row.

Dragonhide Chaps

Much like bodies, we’ve scaled back on some of the nerfs to D’hide chaps' Melee defence bonuses, but kept the previously proposed Magic defence bonus reduction.

Here's the difference:

Old proposal - 35% nerf to defensive stats of Black D'hide chaps
New proposal - 24% nerf to defensive stats of Black D'hide chaps

To see what Black D'hide Chaps are currently like in-game, refer to the God D’hide row.

Dragonhide Vambraces

There are no stat changes here compared to our previously proposal.

Blessed/God D’hide Armour

With both Crystal and Karil's armour base stats remaining as they are, they naturally become a more expensive alternative to help fill the gap left by the changes to the standard and much cheaper Dragonhide armours.

As Blessed Dragonhide armour is locked behind the completion of Treasure Trails, the pieces typically hold a much higher cost than their craftable counterparts. We know there is a lot of support within the community to leave Blessed Dragonhide out of the rebalancing changes, so we're going to do exactly that. All God variations of the armour will retain the same stats they have right now.

It is important to note that due to the reduction in stats for both Black D’hide Chaps and Vambraces, accounts that were previously able to equip them will be more negatively impacted than before. Our intention was to ensure Dragonhide armour was reduced in strength relative to its cost as opposed to simply its stats.

As such, we’ll be removing the Defence requirement needed to equip both Blessed D’hide Chaps and Vambraces to match that of their Black D’hide equivalent. This will ensure no accounts are negatively impacted in a way which we did not intend with this portion of the Equipment Rebalancing project. As a result, low Defence account builds will gain access to an additional +2 Prayer bonus over what they would have had before.

Blessed D’hide bodies will still require 40 Defence to equip as Black D'hide bodies also have a 40 Defence requirement.

Revenant Caves

In October 2020 we made some significant changes to the Revenant Caves. This included redistributing the Revenants all throughout the caves and rebalancing of their drop tables. You can read all of the changes here!

Following the results of the survey, and plenty of time to monitor the impact of the changes made last year, we have a host of changes we’d like to propose for the Revenant Caves. These focus on tackling some of the more prominent issues within the caves, such as increasing the amount of gold that can be earned per hour.

Revenant Cave Entrance

We’ll be making the entrance to the Revenant Caves in level 26 Wilderness one-way only. The Caves rely heavily on a risk vs reward element, and while this location offers great accessibility to them, it also provides a rather convenient escape route for those trying to avoid action!

Revenant Changes

In response to the survey results, internal monitoring, and player feedback, we’ll be making a series of balancing changes to Revenants:

We’ll be increasing the number of Revenants available within the caves, starting with an additional spawn in each location.
We’ll be reducing the spawn timer by ~30%, so they respawn faster and players don't have to hop worlds in order to maintain a good level of kills per hour.
We’ll be adding a cooldown to their healing mechanic, so they cannot heal again for a set amount of time if they have healed recently.
We’ll add unique mechanics to Revenants Dragons, Dark Beasts and Orks, so they are more engaging to fight.
Revenants will be weaker against different combat styles, encouraging use of a variety of weapons. It’s time to dust off your bows, sceptres and chainmaces!
Certain item drops from Revenants will no longer be noted, meaning players will need to keep an Amulet of Avarice equipped if they want to ensure notes of all drops.
The Amulet of Avarice will be upgraded to provide 20% more accuracy and damage towards Revenants – much like the Salve Amulet does currently.
The standard drops from the Revenants drop table will be improved by ~50%.

Revenant Boss

Balancing changes aside, we wanted to spice things up in the caves, so we asked how you felt about us adding a Revenant boss!

This received an overwhelming amount of support in the survey, with over 80% of respondents in favour. Here’s the design we came up with:

Initial concept art for the Revenant boss, designed by Mod Jerv.

This fearsome foe has a chance to spawn after a Revenant has been killed. A broadcast will be sent to everyone within the caves to make them aware when it spawns. From there, the race is on to find it and take it down!

While the Revenant Caves are singles-plus combat, the boss will be excluded from this restriction, meaning multiple players can attack it at the same time. It will have various special attacks you’ll need to avoid, and the drop will go to the player who dealt the most damage... unless that player was an Iron account!

There will be no new uniques added to the boss. Instead you’ll be rewarded handsomely with three rolls of the Revenant Dragon drop table!

An in-game render of the Revenant boss based on concept art.

Wilderness Slayer Caves

Finally, let's turn our attention to the Wilderness Slayer Caves. Added to the game back in October last year, they are home to a small variety of monsters that are commonly assigned by Krystilia.

These monsters are stronger than their other Wilderness counterparts, and as such have an improved drop table, and a 15% increased drop rate of Larran's Key.

Much like with the Revenant Caves, we’d like to propose some changes to the Wilderness Slayer caves to make them a better place to train. The survey results provided us with some great insight into which changes we should prioritise:

We’re going to remove the stalagmites from any room where they impact the effectiveness of using a Dwarf multicannon. As this cave is a multi-way combat area, it makes sense for them to be utilised to their fullest potential!
We’ll be updating the drop table of all cave monsters so that they are unique to the area (much like how creatures within the Catacombs of Kourend work). This will include some of the Wilderness-exclusive consumables that are currently only obtainable via Last Man Standing and Soul Wars. We’re hopeful this change will provide some additional revenue to those taking the risk to train here!
New Slayer-only areas will be added to the cave for Abyssal Demons, Dust Devils, Jellies and Nechryaels. Each of these will also benefit from the previously mentioned Wilderness Slayer cave unique drop tables! These areas will have enough of each creature in to make spells such as Ice Barrage a viable option.

We’ll also tweak the Slayer assignments given by Krystillia as follows:

Number of Fire Giant kills required per task reduced from 100-150 to 75-125.
Number of Hill Giant kills required per task reduced from 100-150 to 75-125.
Number of Bloodveld kills required per task reduced from 90-140 to 70-110.
Additional Bloodveld spawns will be added to the Wilderness God Wars dungeon. These additional spawns will replace some of the werewolves that roam the area.
Additional bear spawns will be added north of the Ferox Enclave.

At the moment we are not looking to implement Wilderness-only Clue Scrolls, though this is something we may revisit again in the future.

Superior Wilderness Slayer Cave Creature

Last but not least, we’ll be looking to implement a unique Superior Slayer creature which has a chance of spawning while the 'Bigger and Badder' perk is unlocked. All you have to do is kill any creature in the cave while on a Wilderness Slayer task.

This Superior Slayer creature will spawn regardless of which creature was killed, excluding new Slayer-only area creatures (they all have their own Superior counterpart already).

If the beast is defeated, players will be rewarded with three rolls of the drop table of whichever creature it spawned from. Also, you’ll be guaranteed a roll on the Blighted item drop table, a Larran’s Key, and an Ensouled Head (should the downed creature be eligible to drop one).

Your Feedback Matters

We’re hopeful that these changes will put some pizzazz into the Wilderness, and make it a fun and fair fight for all. As always, your feedback is invaluable for shaping any changes to the game, so please keep it coming!

Let us know what you think of this Wilderness proposal by posting on the official forums, on the 2007Scape Reddit, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel.

Mods Acorn, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, Banjo, Boko, Bonsai, Brow, Bruno, Curse, Daizong, Deagle, Dibber, Ditto, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Errol, Fed, Flippy, Gecko, Grub, Halo, Husky, Jndr, John C, Kandosii, Katies, Kieren, Kirby, Lenny, Light, Lottie, Mack, Maylea, MikeD, Morty, Nasty, Nin, Oasis, Roq, Ry, Sarnie, Squid, Steve W, Sween, Tide, Vegard, West, Wolfy & Zuko

The Old School Team