Earlier this year we presented Tempoross to you, our first iteration of the Fishing Skill Boss. Since then we've made some changes based on your feedback, and are excited to share more about this angry sea spirit once again! We're talking about this well ahead of release to give us plenty of chance to react to any feedback you have - so please let us know what you think using the links found below!

ATTENTION ALL SKILLED FISHERMEN: We, The Spirit Anglers, need your help!

Seafarers have for many generations told chilling tales of the very ocean itself coming to life. Such stories speak of waters amassing into colossal shifting forms that whip the waves into a raging storm. Perhaps you have heard talk of a vengeful Spirit of the Sea wantonly attacking sailors unprovoked? Or maybe you have heard, as some believe, that this Spirit is simply a guardian of the oceans, intent merely on fending off those who are disrespectful of its waters and wildlife?

Whatever the reason, talk of this Spirit is indeed correct. This is no mere story but in fact the work of Tempoross, the Spirit of the Sea. Much remains unknown, but our research thus far suggests the Spirit could be as old as Gielinor itself. And crucially, after lying dormant for centuries, it has finally awoken.

We of course seek to understand the reasons behind its sudden resurgence, but there are also more pressing concerns. The Spirit is coalescing once again, causing intense storms that make crossing its path a perilous task. As such, The Spirit Anglers have been formed to investigate, whilst keeping it subdued to quell the storm and allow safe passage.

We need your help! Join us and save the seas!

Tempoross Overview

Tempoross is an all new, fun and sociable way to train Fishing. Available to all members with at least level 35 Fishing, we're aiming to create an accessible, social Fishing Skill encounter that offers an alternative to the current hands-off levelling methods. With this in mind, our intentions for this boss were:

• Scalable and accessible
• It should support group sizes from 1 to 40+.
• Higher level, experienced players shouldn't feel hindered by lower level players and these lower level and/or new players should still feel useful to their team.
• 10HP accounts, level 3s and HCIM should be able to participate without risk.
• There should be a risk of failing the encounter if players aren't pulling their weight.
• Existing Fishing methods have a lot of downtime, so Tempoross should be a faster experience. It should, however, still be grindable without being exhausting.
• However, this is an alternative to existing Fishing methods and the current meta, not a replacement:
• The boss shouldn't give the best XP and best fish rates. We don't want to stop everyone from Fishing around Gielinor as that adds life and character to the world!
• Rewards should compliment traditional Fishing.

XP rates would scale based on your Fishing level. We expect that levels 35-70 would offer some of the best Fishing XP available in the game, albeit at the cost of receiving fewer fish - and being more intensive. Here's a breakdown of the approximate experience rates you should expect:

• 35 Fishing - 30k XP per hour
• 70 Fishing - 70k XP per hour
• 99 Fishing - 80k XP per hour

Note: The above experience rates are approximations to give a better understanding of how Tempoross would compare to existing content. They are not exact and are subject to change based on testing, balancing and player feedback.

Tempoross Location

A few weeks ago, a group of fishermen from Al Kharid were out on their regular fishing trip when an unnatural storm suddenly invaded the clear sky. As the sea became fierce, throwing their ship this way and that through the thick fog, the fishermen spotted a great figure with empty, glowing eyes that seemed to be formed of the ocean itself. It took all of their combined sailing skill to navigate out of the storm and back to the safety of Al Kharid. Terrified, the group headed straight to Chancellor Hassan to relay the events. Concerned, the Chancellor appointed the fishermen to investigate and over the following days, more reports of the freak storms and a terrifying creature came in - something had to be done!

The fishermen were sent to the Ruins of Unkah on the west coast of the Kharidian Desert to establish a base of operations. Amongst the abandoned ruins of this ancient town, a port was constructed and a group known as the Spirit Anglers of Sea Spirit Dock was formed. Struggling against the threat, the Spirit Anglers are in great need of all the help they can get to make the seas safe once again.

Players will be able to secure safe passage to the Sea Spirit Dock via a small group of rowing boats that will ferry you from Al Kharid.

A WIP image of the Ruins of Unkah and the Sea Spirit Dock, the proposed lobby area for Tempoross.

Players must face Tempoross between two boats. Each boat has two cannons that will prove crucial in your efforts to defeat him, so you'll want to be spread evenly between them. Fishing spots will spawn on the North and South sides of the island, providing much needed ammunition to fill the cannons, and giving you the opportunity to run around the island with your friends!

 
A WIP image of the layout for the Tempoross encounter.

Tempoross Encounter

A WIP image of the Tempoross spawn animation.

Tempoross has three important stats you will need be aware of if you wish to prevail:

• Energy - Behaves like regenerating armour and is reduced in Phase 1.
• Spirit - Behaves like Health and is reduced in Phase 2.
• Storm Intensity - Phase 1 failure timer. You must reduce its Energy before this reaches 100%!

Phase 1: Storm
Beneath the surface, the glowing Spirit Fish swarmed together, exploding forth into a colossal, watery form.

Core Loop: Gathering and Loading

Harpoonfish are currently gathered by fishing in harpoon spots on the island. As development continues, we'll be keeping a close eye on how this feels and if it's not hitting the desired intensity and feel, we can tweak the gathering mechanics to be more involved. This could be anything from higher yield spots to a personal rod or line. Cooking Harpoonfish is a way to gain extra points but decreased XP rates. To offset the cooking time, these will do more damage than raw Harpoonfish.

A WIP image of an enthusiastic seafarer telling you to load the cannons.

Like fishing, loading cannons is a progressive action, but one cannon alone is not enough - the team will need to work together to keep as many cannons running as optimally as possible.

Adding Layers: Attacks

Players must also remain wary of Tempoross' attacks. These shake up the core loop, keeping the playing space dynamic and forcing players to stay mobile. For this reason, we've opted for attacks that hinder things like mobility and resource hoarding as opposed to causing damage, as we didn't want hoarding food to be the solution. This means Tempoross is considered a safe activity and is accessible to a wider group of players, especially those with accounts focused purely on skilling.

Wave Attack

Tempoross will occasionally unleash a huge, 360 degree wave that covers the entire area. You'll need to tether yourself to masts or totem poles by using a rope to avoid being swept away.

If tethered, the wave will pass over the player without any effect. You cannot move while tethered but can tether/untether freely. If not tethered, the wave will hit the player, knocking them back five tiles away from Tempoross (subject to change). Players will also lose 2-4 raw Harpoonfish, 2-4 cooked Harpoonfish and a random tool (hammer, rope, lighting rod or empty/full bucket.

The wave also has a chance of breaking each mast and totem pole, so you'll need to repair them with a hammer before the next wave hits.

Amounts are subject to change in testing, which will be based on the frequency of the attacks vs the amount of fish you can gather within that time.

A WIP image of part of an attack animation for Tempoross.

Lightning Attack

Lightning strikes are also a hazard. The tile they hit and the area around it will ignite, and in some cases this can block off pathways. Fires can be put out with buckets of water. To prevent this, players have the opportunity to place a lightning rod on the targeted tile. Again, this will be tuned as necessary.

A WIP image of how cannons can be impacted by the Lightning attack from Tempoross.

Torrent Attack

Tempoross will target cannons with water torrents. This doesn't break them, but does make loading them temporarily impossible. There's room for this mechanic to expand as needed to hit the right intensity and feel, so we'll be keeping an eye on that.

Storm Intensity

During Phase 1, The intensity of the storm will continuously increase, and if it reaches 100% your party will be forced to retreat until it subsides. As the intensity grows, Tempoross will attack with more frequency and power, such as breaking the masts more often. With this in mind, you'll need to keep the cannons firing despite the harsh conditions if you're to successfully subdue Tempoross.

Phase 2: Coalesce
An intense whirlpool swirled as the colossal form submerged, drawing in the dispersed Spirit Fish...

If you successfully reduce Tempoross' Energy to zero before the storm gets too intense, it will submerge, triggering Phase 2. While submerged, Tempoross draws in the fish you scattered in Phase 1 to regain its Energy. The storm will subside during this time, so this is your chance to get in close and remove the energised fish directly, reducing Tempoross' total Spirit. Spirit acts like health and once it's fully depleted, Tempoross won't be able to regain energy and will instead have to retreat for a longer period, leaving the seas safe until it can surface again. If Tempoross' energy reaches 100% before you deplete its Spirit, it will resurface and Phase 1 will start again.

It'll take 2-3 phase cycles to fully subdue Tempoross.

 

For encounters that must scale to accommodate small or large groups, interactions that are repeatable and have a big capacity work the best.

Mechanics that need altering according to group size create balance issues, potentially resulting in players favouring a particular group size as to avoid gameplay they feel may be too boring or punishing. Fiddly mechanics are generally time sensitive too. For large groups, this can result in players racing to complete a mechanic - and we'd much prefer they were competing with the boss as opposed to each other!

Gathering, however, can take numerous forms. Do we make players click and wait on a static fishing spot? Or have them hopping about between tasks all while avoiding assorted aquatic attacks? One of those sounds more interesting than the other, right? Of course, we don't want the fight to be overwhelming, so we must ensure we strike the right balance.

Rewards

Rewards can be collected from pools of debris that is left at the end of the encounter. These will always contains some resources but of course, should you prevail and successfully subdue Tempoross, you'll receive more resources and earn a chance of gaining unique rewards!

Pool of Debris

A WIP image of the Pool of Debris left behind after encountering Tempoross.

If you leave without looting this debris, or you wish to save your reward chances to use in one go, the pool will also be available in the lobby area. You'd be able to store a maximum of 8,000 reward chances in the pool. We applaud anyone daring enough to resist the temptation to loot the pools until they're completely full!

Alongside Spirit Bait and a chance at unique rewards, you'll also receive a selection of noted fish based on your Fishing level as well as small amounts of other resources, such as ore.

Spirit Flakes

Concept art showing how Spirit Flakes might look.

Spirit Flakes are fish food infused with the energy of Tempoross itself. These are an untradeable resource that when automatically consumed while fishing, provide a 50% chance of catching an extra fish for no additional XP. This effect stacks with Rada's Blessing and the flakes can be used on any type of fish.

Spirit Flakes would be a common reward in varying amounts from the pools of debris, though keeping a supply of them on hand will require regular encounters with Tempoross.

Fish Barrel

A WIP image of the Fish Barrel.

The Fish Barrel can store a total of 28 raw fish, and can store multiple species simultaneously. Fish can only be removed from the barrel at a Bank, similar to the looting bag. It would be possible to combine the Fish Barrel with the Fish Sack (the latter of which can be purchased for 1,000 molch pearls from Alry the Angler on Molch Island) to create an equippable version of the Fish Barrel that would be worn in the cape slot.

The Fish Barrel is untradeable and is fairly rare.

 

The Tackle Box provides additional storage for fishing equipment including rods, feathers, bait and the Angler's outfit. Equipment must be taken from the box before it is used. This saves on Bank space and improves organisation.

You'd be able to effectively store up to 2,147,483,647 of most pieces of fishing equipment, with exceptions to this being the charged variants of the Infernal and Crystal Harpoons, of which you can only store a maximum of one each.

The Tackle Box is untradeable and is fairly rare.

Pieces of the Angler's outfit, along with a large amount of Spirit Bait, can be given to an NPC to transform it into a Spirit Angler's outfit piece for the same slot. This is an alternative style for the Angler's outfit, and has the same stats and Fishing XP bonus. It can be converted back to the standard Angler's style for free by speaking to the same NPC.

Players fortunate enough to have gathered the full Spirit Angler's outfit will find it proves quite useful in your future endeavours with Tempoross. Wearing the full outfit will function as a rope when tethering to masts and totem poles. This saves you an inventory slot and ensures you don't lose your rope when the waves hit.

Harpoonfish Trophy

While fishing in the pools of debris, you may by chance happen upon a rather spectacular aquatic specimen. A fish so fine that it would be worthy of stuffing and mounting onto a wooden board to be displayed in your Player Owned House, showcasing your fishing prowess.

The Fish Trophy is untradeable and is the rarest of the rewards.

Tome of Water and Soaked Pages

Requiring level 50 Magic to equip, the Tome of Water is a new offhand magic item similar to Tome of Fire, but for water spells. Water spells are weak compared to the fire alternatives, so the goal of this item is less about raw damage and more about utility. With the increased effectiveness of Curse and Binding spells when wielding the Tome of Water, we want it to feel reasonably reliable and not like you wasted an item switch.

By adding Soaked Pages to the Tome of Water, the tome will become charged. The effects while wielding the charged tome are as follows:

• Unlimited Water Runes
• Standard Spellbook Water, Curse and Binding spell accuracy is increased by 20%
• Standard Spellbook Curse effects are increased by 50% (e.g. the 10% defense reduction from Vulnerability would become 15%)
• Standard Spellbook Binding effects are increased by 30% (e.g. the 10 second root from Snare would become 13 seconds). This would also stack with the effects of the Swampbark armour set.

Water combat spells, Weakening and Binding spells will consume one charge. Using the Tome of Water with Ancient Magicks will provide unlimited Water Runes and consume no charges when used in this way, but you would not benefit from the increased spell accuracy or Binding effects.

The uncharged Tome of Water and the Soaked Pages will be tradeable, whereas the charged Tome of Water will be untradeable. The Tome of Water is a rare reward whilst the Soaked Pages are somewhat uncommon. It will be possible to exchange a Tome of Water for 50 Soaked Pages, should you find yourself having too many tomes and not enough pages.

Let us know what you think about the Tome of Water and its effects by replying to one of the dedicated feedback areas at the bottom of this blog!

Heron Pet Recolour

We'd like to offer the ability to recolour the Heron pet by using Spirit Flakes. We feel that trying to match the Great Blue Heron found in the real world is a perfect fit given the concept art for Spirit Flakes. Did you have a different colour in mind? Let us know! You'd be able to return the Heron back to its normal self by using raw fish on it.

Fishing Trawler Improvements

When we first announced the Fishing Skill Boss, you were very clear that instead of focusing on new fishing changes, you wanted to see quality of life changes to existing Fishing content like the Fishing Trawler activity. So that's what we're offering right now!

There was no shortage of player suggestions, ranging from small tweaks to massive overhauls. We're focusing on making the activity more rewarding while streamlining the gameplay to make it less monotonous. We hope you like what you see!

Currently the Fishing Trawler minigame is rather tedious, and there's not much variety in what you can do to contribute to a more successful trawl. We've seen plenty of suggestions on how to make the minigame feel more engaging, and we'd like to share one of those with you.

There are many unknown dangers in the oceans, and being on the Fishing Trawler is as dangerous as any other ship exploring the vastness of the open seas. Whilst embarking on a trawl, your crew may face some rather unfortunate situations with tentacles. On occasion, the upper level of the Fishing Trawler will have Kraken tentacles spawn near the net and attack it! Players will have to use an axe to chop the tentacles away, but leaving a hole open presents the perfect opportunity for an eager tentacle to return - so make sure you fill any holes in with Swamp Paste! Failing to tackle the tentacles will cause the trawler nets to constantly rip, lowering the overall XP/fish received.

Chopping the tentacles and filling the holes would grant a large amount of contribution.