The Month Ahead: April 2017

Mod Mark talks Achievements, the Documentary, and great scaly beasts. Read on!

Gemstone Dragons

Let's start by talking about dragons!

Following in the scaly footsteps of the rune and adamant dragons, this April we're launching a brand-new type of fire breathing foe – the gemstone dragon.

Initially there will be 3 new sorts of gem dragons hitting the shores of RuneScape –dragonstone, onyx and hydrix dragons. Each has a fearsome special attack themed after their associated gem, and they are all designed to be very high level Slayer targets, with the Hydrix requiring level 101 Slayer to fight.

Obviously, this is the first significant launch on the way to the proper level 120 Slayer launch later in the year, but for now you'll need to use the new wilder pie to boost your Slayer level, which requires crushed Dragonstone, an uncooked wild pie and level 90 Cooking to make. CRUNCHY!

These reptilian reprobates will be dropping pieces of the new gemstone armour, which should be of particular interest to any hybrid fighters out there. Coming in at level 80, it can be attuned to one of the enchanted effects the dragonstone, onyx or hydrix bolts.

Achievements

April also sees the first launch of our new-look Achievements system – a super convenient way of looking at all the tasks, feats, diaries and other similar things in the game. It's a great way to see what you've got left to do and what you're close to completing, and it can recommend activities that'll help you meet the requirements for important bits of content, such as boss fighting and the elf city. It's also a great tool to use when you're bank standing and looking for something quick to fill a spare chunk of time.

This is just the first stage of the new Achievements system. There are plenty of new tasks and upgrades to the system planned for the future (including Menaphos!) and we'll be waiting to hear your feedback on how it might be improved once you start using it. Check out the dev diaries on the Achievement system for more info.

Events

Look out for the return of Guthixian butterflies in April, a great way to grab some XP for your lowest skills as we pay tribute to Guthix, and there'll be some secret Easter shenanigans... but the main event over Easter is the Spring Fayre – a 4-week event that takes place in the lush new Lumbridge Crater. There are carnival rides like a helter skelter, an agility course, dances, booths… and a bunch of prizes to win too!

Work continues on the huge Menaphos and Shattered Worlds updates planned later in the year, with another team of play testers the community coming into the office this month to check them out and give us even more feedback, and to hear more about some of the updates were already planning for later in the year.

Documentary

Finally, we're also releasing the RuneScape Documentary, celebrating the 15 year anniversary last year. It's an incredibly honest account of the amazing journey we've all taken, with interviews fans, founders, old faces and new, looking into the great times, key moments and the challenging times…and why we have the most amazing community in games.

Find out about our humble beginnings, the birth of RuneFest and Old School, Wilderness woes, and even hear the most famous player of all time.

We'll be launching the Documentary on Sunday, April 9th 6.30pm UK Time (That's 17:30 Game Time) – do make sure you tune into our Twitch channel for a special live stream that accompanies the launch!

Have fun, and have a great Easter break.

Wooters out!

Mod Mark

What is a Behind the Scenes article?

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.