Yes, it seems like the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year and yes, it makes our eyes roll too, but December is finally here and now there’s simply no holding us back. All cynicism has gone. We’re diving in headfirst by booking in the Christmas food delivery, stocking up on mince pies, shouting “ho ho ho!” at people in the street and using words like ‘jolly’ whenever it’s vaguely feasible. We’ve even stopped complaining about the family down the road that insists on setting up its Christmas garden display on November 1st.As you might expect, we have plenty of Yuletide-themed updates for you this month, including our brand new wintery quest Violet is Blue, the return of Winter Weekends, the Christmas Cracker and - of course - our annual Advent Calendar content. But before we get to all of that...Alchemical OnyxBack at the April Game Jam, we foolishly asked what you all wanted from our designers, and the number one project that stood out was new Alchemical Onyx items. As a result, we have a whopping THREE new items designed in conjunction with the community which will arrive on December 3rd.Grace of the Elves is a new non-degradable necklace designed to help you out whilst skilling.This is made by crafting an alchemical onyx necklace which requires:91 crafting1 gold bar1 alchemical onyx (purchased, or requires 107 invention to discover)This necklace can then be enchanted using the level 6 enchant spell requiring 87 magicThe item offers the following:Store up to 500 charges of Sign of the Porter by using porters on the necklace. It will act like a Sign of the Porter whilst worn and charged.Teleport to your skilling portals are attuned to inside the Max Guild garden. And, if you don’t have access, you will receive a free one-off attunement.Reduce the drain rate of the Chronicle Absorption, Lightform and Superheat Seren prayers.Whilst using gathering skills (Divination, Mining, Woodcutting, Fishing, Farming, Hunter) you have a chance to roll on the rare . Yes, this means that if you wear Luck of the Dwarves and the Grace of the Elves, you have a chance at getting a Hazelmere’s Signet Ring.The second item is the Ingenuity of Humans. It is a new sigil that allows your next hit to be a guaranteed hitCan be created on a workbench after discovering the blueprint with 114 invention. This requires:1 alchemical onyx10 stunning components750 x smooth parts50 x Direct ComponentsIt degrades with use and requires fortunate components to recharge.It works with abilities and spells, allowing players to use Vulnerability or a statius warhammer whilst using a different style.Passage of the Abyss is a pocket-slot item that can hold up to six different compacted jewellery all in one item! No need to carry around all of those teleports – now you can do it in a single item:Passage of the abyss can be created on a workbench after discovering the blueprint with 118 invention. The player requires:1 alchemical onyx50 magic components1 teleportation compactorIt can store up to six of any of the compacted jewellery made from Invention.To add a particular piece of jewellery to the Passage of the Abyss requires 100 the maximum charge of the jewellery. So to add an Amulet of Glory, you would need 400 charges.You can combine any of the different forms of an item to reach this number, including an already compacted version of the item.Passage of the Abyss can be recoloured so that you can have multiple and have different teleports on each item.Teleporting with Passage of the Abyss removes charges from the item and can be recharged at a rate of 500 charges per fortunate component.Winter WeekendsAs you may have noticed, the first day of the winter weekends has now started! Here’s what we’ve got lined up this year. Note that the Grand Exchange will be hosting portals to each of the events as and when they happen:All month (November 30th-January 7th) – Player Owned Ports25 voyages per day instead of 15.All player-owned ports voyages return 30% extra resources or trade goods.Ability to get The Barmaid's special voyage on Saturdays and Sundays as well as Thursdays.November 30th-December 3rd – Elite Dungeons & DungeoneeringDouble DG tokens can be earned from DG and elite dungeonsElite DungeonsLore book drop rate doubled25% increased Slayer XP from dungeon NPC's1 extra T92 material whenever the material is hit on the 1 free death per run - works in story mode AND normal runsDungeoneeringNo experience penalty upon deathDecember 7th-10th – Deep Sea Fishing & FishingFishingSpots move around half as frequently as beforeDeep Sea FishingWill be available to all players regardless of levelEncounters are more commonBottled boosts last twice as longUncharted maps, fishing notes and bottled boosts are found more frequentlyXP bonus cap increased to 30% and bonus builds up 10% quicker from fishing frenzyNo electrified jellyfish spawnSwarm fishing acts as if you were 5 levels higherCustom fish (sea turtles, great whites, manta rays) bait is 50% more effectiveDecember 14th-17th – Combat & SlayerCharm drops give one more charm than normalIncreased chance of rare drops and enhanced lucky items25% increased Slayer experienceAll Slayer assignments are treated as using a Slayer VIP ticketShattered Worlds grants 50% extra anima10% cheaper instance feesAbility to loot from Mazcab Raids once per dayYou may choose your Boss Slayer assignments over the weekendIncreased ushabti catch chanceIncreased drop rate of grimoire pages from SolakDecember 21st-24th – Gathering & Support10% chance not to deplete uncharted isles resources while harvestingMining rocks and trees replenish twice as quicklyDivinationKnowledge fragments spawn more frequently and training hotspots move less frequently in the Hall of MemoriesThievingIncreased loot and chance of totems from safecracking.HunterChance of getting +1 loot.AgilityHigher chance of activating The Pit MinigameDecember 28th-31st - Minigames+1 Castle Wars gold ticket per game, regardless of win, lose or drawDouble commendation points from Pest ControlDouble Bonus XP and gambling rewards from Barbarian AssaultBosses killed in Dominion Tower are counted twice for the purposes of reward unlocks+50% Dominion Factor earned+50% produce points at Livid Farm (stacks with boosters)An extra 600 daily bonus points in Cabbage Facepunch Bonanza100% increased Menaphos reputation from Shifting TombsDouble zeal from Soul WarsDouble points from Stealing CreationJanuary 4th-7th – Player Owned Farm & FarmingPlayer Owned FarmImproved chances of breedingImproved chances of shiniesImproved happiness and health from feedingIncreased yield from harvested animalsMore beans from selling animalsIncreased drop rate of animals from combatHoneycombs are more effective when used on animalsFarming10% increased yield from allotment and herb patches25% increased yield from compost binsViolet is BlueWe have a brand new festive quest arriving for you on December 17th. After the somewhat intense and dramatic events of our Hallowe’en event ‘Til Death To Us Part, we felt it suitable to dial the pace back a little for Christmas. As with Broken Home a few years ago, we've decided to make a permanent new quest rather than a temporary event. Because it's permanent, you could at some stage down the line be playing it in the middle of summer, so it won't be overtly Christmassy. But it will be seasonal! There'll be snow, family and celebration.It's been ten years since the quest Myths of the White Lands launched, and to celebrate that incredible milestone we're going back to the Land of Snow for our new quest, Violet is Blue.Violet is a yeti. Or at least, she thinks she is. Her parents, who actually are yetis, found a tiny human baby lost in the snow, adopted her, and have been raising her ever since. The problem is, Violet is six now and she's insistent that it's time to visit Yeti Town to enjoy the annual yeti festival.That's you come in. Her mum and dad fear that she might not be accepted, so they need your help in making her trip the most magical adventure it can be. It's a puzzle quest, but with a twist. You need to get Violet from A-to-B, but getting there alone isn’t quite enough – this needs to be a magical journal that Violet will cherish forever.This is a novice quest with no requirements, and is available to all RuneScape players. There's also additional post-quest XP available for high level players to make sure it's well worth your time.Advent CalendarThis year’s Christmas countdown has begun! From December 1st through until Christmas Day itself, players can enjoy a festive free daily gift!You’ll find the Advent Calendar on the Community tab. The prizes will remain available up until January 7th, so don’t worry if you miss a day here and there. The Treasure Hunter promotions will be time-limited, however – once they’re gone, they’re gone.Free goodies include lamps, prismatic stars, relics, crates and an assortment of new cosmetics. Also look out for an exclusive Christmas Day treat.The Christmas CrackerMake sure you head over to the Grand Exchange on December 17th for a smattering of seasonal treats!First off is the return of the Christmas Cracker. Work together with your fellow players to prize open our huge cracker and win yourself a present. The cracker will be available to open around once per day, and to take part you must have contributed 100 festive papers. And yes, opening the cracker itself will also be a quicker process this year! Don’t worry if you’re not online the moment it is opened – if you’ve contributed, you can grab your reward at any time while the event is still active.Oh, and do keep your eyes peeled for Santa, too. He’ll be at the GE along with his sleigh offering players the chance to grab some sweet XP. 'Tis indeed the season to be jolly!Celebration LampsAlso available are a ion of lamps to see in the New Year! In the five days leading up to the New Year festivities, celebration lamps will be available each day on Treasure Hunter that provide an XP boost in all skills. Note that combat XP can be deactivated, but these stats won’t be redistributed to other skills.Once you’ve used a number of Celebration Lamps, the XP you receive from them will begin to increase in +2% increments, up to a maximum of +10%. The more you use, the more XP you’ll get! We’ve also brought back the global 10% XP buff for the duration of Celebration Lamps – it stacks, too, giving you some truly awesome gains potential entering the New Year!Premier ClubAmidst all the excitement, you may have forgotten that Premier Club remains available, and remains the best value RuneScape membership deal.There are lots of other perks too, including free daily keys, Premier Club Reward Tokens and - on the highest level Gold tier - loads of extras such as access to the Premier Club Vault, VIP Premier World and the VIP Premier forum, badges for forum and chat and a monthly prize draw.Gold members also get the new Valkyrie outfit complete with wings and an assortment of weapons.This year, all Premier Club members will receive the new Premier Club Artefact, which offers the following perks:10% increased XP from all normal sources (excludes the same items as the Illumination aura). This can be used daily and lasts 1 hour.1 free Aura reset. This stacks with the Hellion aura reset.50% chance to act like a sign of the porter. This can be used daily and lasts 1 hour.Slayer: 20% increased hitchance against enemies below 15% health (does not work in PvP) and a 10% chance that your slayer count will not increase.Click here to see the complete list of benefits.Mining & SmithingWhat did you make of the Mining & Smithing beta? Thanks ever so much for all of your feedback. It’s amazingly helpful to hear from our players, and we’re taking all of that information and using it to make sure that Mining & Smithing is everything you want it to be when it launches in the New Year.We’re (nearly) all grown up!You may or may not be aware that RuneScape will somewhat amazingly celebrate its 18th birthday on January 4th. 18 years! We’re not afraid to admit that we’re more than a little proud that our once somewhat frivolous little game has endured for so long, evolving along the way to become one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world! And it is quite literally all thanks to you, our players. We’re feeling some real deep warm and fuzzies right now.18 is such a significant birthday. Here in the UK that means we can legally do things like get a tattoo, vote, buy fireworks, put a tenner on Lucky Turn in the 16:30 at Kempton, stand for election as an MP, drive a bus and finally rent The Terminator. Look out for a little extra birthday content from us in the New Year.