An Introduction To Old School RuneScape For New And Returning Players

As some of you may know, Old School RuneScape will be coming out on mobile devices on the 30th of this month. The resulting population boost will probably put our game on the map and get even more people into it, so I figured it'd be good to give a brief summary of what Old School RuneScape is and how it's changed from vanilla RS2.

In 2001, Andrew Gower launched an MMO called RuneScape (this early version is now given the retronym RuneScape Classic). After being redesigned and relaunched as RuneScape 2 in 2004, it quickly grew into one of the most popular online games on the market, reaching its peak player numbers in 2007. After a series of controversial updates and graphical overhauls made RuneScape more and more unrecognizable, demand for a legacy server gradually grew. Finally, in February 2013, Old School RuneScape servers were opened following a fan vote.

Originally based on a backup of RuneScape as it was on 10 Aug 2007, the game has since received 5 1/2 years worth of updates. This post will briefly explain the mechanics of OSRS (for new players) and go over what's changed (for returning ones)

Aside from its retro (or, less charitably, extremely outdated) graphics, OSRS' gameplay is unlikely any you'll see in another MMO. There are no classes, and everyone has the same 23 skills. Players are divided between normal accounts, which have no restrictions, and ironman accounts, who cannot trade with other players and need to do everything self-sufficiently. Skill progression is long, and is some of the most grindy you'll see in any game. But progression can't be bought (bonds can be sold for coins, but not experience), and neither can the sense of accomplishment you receive when you achieve your goals. This is the game for grinding out your goals, all of which you set for yourself.

There's no main storyline or campaign in Old School. Instead, you set goals for yourself. You can train your skills, do quests, fight monsters, play minigames, or lounge around and do nothing.  calistomebel.com  up to you. To start with, I recommend doing all of the Free-to-Play quests. If you decide to become a member, take an hour or so to explore Zeah, a brand new continent that was added in January 2016 (Phase 2 of its expansion, the Kebos Lowlands, is coming in a few months).

Lastly, and probably most importantly, Old School RuneScape is a democratically run game. All major content must be approved by 75% of members to be added - and, as a player, you're generally expected (but not required) to participate in polls once you have the requisite total level.

If you played RuneScape c.2006-2009, you'll likely be familiar with much of the game - the mechanics are still the same, the graphics are as low-spec as ever, and all of the NPCs and towns are where you remember them being. But since 2013, a lot of new content has been added. As soon as you get off Tutorial Island, I recommend heading to Falador and checking out the basement of the Party Room - there you'll find a museum that was released for the 5th birthday event earlier this year that has exhibits on the first five years of updates for the game.

New Locations

Here's a map showing all of the blank space that from the vanilla version of the game that has been filled over the last 5 1/2 years. Fossil Island has finally been realized, and an entire new landmass is available for skilling and pvming content in the form of Zeah.

New Quests

Old School RuneScape's backup was from August 2007, meaning that the latest quest available at the time of release was King's Ransom, the finale to the Camelot series. After initially dismissing quests as low priority given their lack of replayability, the dev team finally began making new quests for the game, gating new areas and content behind continuations of storylines started years ago. The Troll questline has been continued with Making Friends With My Arm, taking the player to an icy settlement to the far north. Dragon Slayer and Monkey Madness both have Grandmaster sequels that have been widely acclaimed as some of the best content ever made for the game. Three of the five houses of Great Kourend in Zeah have quests expanding on their lore, and two more are coming. And, most excitingly, the Elf storyline will be completed next year as Priffddinas is finally opened with Song of the Elves!

Skilling

All of the old methods for training skills exist, but many are no longer the most efficient. To name but a few examples: Mining has been revolutionized with the Motherlode Mine and the Blast Mine, most people train Agility using parkour-style rooftop courses in major cities, and Firemaking is now profitable thanks to a Zeah-based skilling boss known as the Wintertodt. Fishing has been given a fast-paced training method in the form of minnows, used to catch sharks.

End-Game Content

The fire cape is still impressive, but it's nowhere near top dog anymore. Raids, a form of coop PvM content, have been added in Zeah and Meiyerditch and feature some of the toughest bosses ever made for the game. Slayer, as one progresses in skill level and unlocks more content, now provides an additional incentive to train in the form of both a rewards point system (which, among other things, can sometimes allow you to choose your Slayer assignment) and a vastly increased number of available monsters to kill.

And then there is the Inferno...but don't even think about it. You need to be maxed to even attempt it. Hundreds of thousands of players and less than 2,000 have done it.