November

November
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November 28, 2002:

We've recently had a few queries from RuneScape users who say the RuneScape Windows client is crashing. (Even though it worked fine previously). We haven't changed our windows client recently, and from what we've been told it seems it's actually a recent windows update which is causing this problem.

We believe this problem has now been fixed in another windows update. Therefore if you are having problems with the RuneScape client failing we recommend you visit windowsupdate.com to get the latest patches. This should fix it.

November 25, 2002:

Due to popular demand, it is now possible to mine and fish for longer without getting tired!

There are now two sort of rocks you can mine:

Soft rocks- These rocks spawn quite slowly, but they are easy to mine so you get very little fatigue from them. Mining these rocks is much like mining was originally before we changed it. You can easily get a full load of ore before you become too tired to mine.

Hard rocks- These use our new mining system for less repeat clicking. You can get the ore out of the rocks very quickly, and you can see it spawn so you aren't clicking blindly. However you will need to rest quite often when mining these rocks. For people who don't like clicking the same spot on the screen over and over you may find this way more fun.

We've also adjusted the fishing system. We considered introducing deep and shallow fish, but it doesn't work too well so instead we've just made the fish give a lot less fatigue than before, and spawn close to the original rate. This was what most players indicated they wanted.

One final note: We are aware that the numbers of soft and hard rocks may need balancing slightly. We will be keeping a close eye on this to make sure there are enough rocks of each type available. Depending on which rock type is most popular we may need to adjust the numbers slightly, so there is no need to ask us about this.

November 16, 2002:

Well most players now seem to like the new mining system. However there is still quite a lot of people who still say they actually preferred the older one. I'm quite surprised by this, but if that's what you want then that's what I'll provide.

Therefore we're going to bring back the old mining and fishing systems BUT we're also going to keep the new system!! In other words to make sure everybody is happy you will be able to choose how you mine and fish!!

This will work by having two sorts of rocks so you can choose, one sort uses the old system, the other sort uses the new system, e.g.

Soft rocks - work very similar to the old pre-fatigue system for the people who preferred it before, (slow spawns, lots of missing, and clicking, but very very very low fatigue so you can easily get a full load of ore)
Hard rocks - work like our new system for all the people who think the new way is better. (You tire out faster, but you can get the ore very quickly and you can see it spawn so you aren't clicking blindly)
        And we'll do something similar for the fish so the old system is available again for that too, as well as an alternative new system to give you the CHOICE. This should make everyone happy, since you can just choose the way you like best.
        This not only makes sure everyone has a mining method they enjoy, but it also adds more variety to the game since if you find mining is getting dull you can try out the other method for a bit, and get a nice change :-) Perhaps we will even add more types of mining in the future and increase the variety even further (for instance using tools other than a pickaxe)
        Hope everyone likes this idea
        Andrew

November 15, 2002:

Today we've made the following small changes to mining:

You can now mine twice as much silver before getting tired. This is because it was pointed out that it shouldn't really by harder to get silver than gold. This actually now means silver is easier to get than it has ever been in the past
We've made it 2-3 times easier to get gems under the new mining system, since that wasn't quite balanced correctly
We've added a new mine in the swamp south of Lumbridge with 4 mithril rocks, and 1 adamanite rock, this is to replace the rocks removed from elsewhere. The rocks were moved to make sure everything is the correct distance from a bed for the new system to work properly.
We made bread, pies, and pizza restore TWICE as much fatigue as they did before, which should make these foods much more worthwhile. We predict enterprising pizza sellers will turn up at the mining sites shortly :-)

        A few confused players seem to think the new fatigue system actually makes mining take longer, but this is not the case. After testing every single mining site at every single level, we can conclusively say that it takes no longer to get ore, or level-up than before. But it's a heck of a lot less tedious and repetitive.

        Remember we've added lots of new beds so you might not have to walk as far as you think, we're hoping to add all bed locations to our worldmap soon to help you find them.

        We think the only people who will not prefer the new system now, are of course the cheats/macroers, and a few odd people who bizarrely LIKED clicking on the same point on their screen, over and over and over again.. weird!

November 14, 2002:

We've worked extremely hard today to update the mining/fishing system with respect to your comments and feedback. Here is how the new system works.

You can now actually see ore in the rock on the screen, so you can see when it spawns Ore now appears in the rocks TWICE as fast as it did pre-fatigue When ore is available you will always manage to get it now, you very very rarely miss To compensate for the faster spawns you get slightly tired as you mine The higher level you have, the more you can mine before you become tired

We've put a LOT of effort into balancing this system, I even wrote a little test program to compare the overall times of mining and fishing before and after, (this takes into account the extra time taken to go and get some rest), the time it takes to get ore / level should new be pretty much EXACTLY the same it was before, but mining is now much more varied and fun. We've also moved an awful lots of bed, and a few rocks/fish to make certain all the sites always have a bed within a carefully calculated distance,

Please give the system a good chance before sending any feedback. We've really put a lot of effort into making sure the version#2 system doesn't disadvantage anyone (except cheats!)

We might need to make a few more tweaks yet, but hopefully we're getting close to a really good system now.

Thanks Andrew

November 13, 2002:

Update

Mining improved! We have changed mining and fishing so that they no longer consist of hours of tedious repetitive clicking. The rocks are now easier to mine so you don't have to click anything like as much, and prospecting always works.

Instead of the repetitive clicking we have introduced a new 'fatigue' system which means as you do tasks such as mining your character slowly becomes tired. After a certain point (which depends on your level, and on the rock), you will become too tired to mine. When this happens simply rest at a bed or eat some food, and you'll feel much more lively again. The upshot of this is that the honest miners should be able to get their ore slightly quicker, whilst the cheats will just have to go somewhere else.

Also due to popular request we have modified the wilderness monsters so they are always aggressive regardless of your level. It was pointed out by many players that the wilderness is supposed to be dangerous place, so the new monster attacking rule has been removed in this zone.

Fatigue System Note

To the small minority of people complaining that mining is harder before they've even tried it properly - Please just give the new system a chance. It's only just gone online, so you can't possible have tried it out properly yet! If you were able to master an entirely new aspect of the game in under 2 hours then it would be pretty boring.

We've tested this update very thoroughly, and actually sat with a stop watch timing how long it takes to get an inventory full of ore with both the old and new system. We've deliberately made the system a bit more complex, and introduced strategies and tactics which you will have to discover. If you are finding that leveling your mining is slower, that's because you're doing it wrong!!!

Luckily most people have already started to discover there is more to this update than meets the eye, and are busy enjoying discovering the new system. Thanks to everyone who's told us how much they are enjoying this update.

We always welcome well thought out feedback from players regarding new updates. But please make sure you understand the subject you're talking about first.

Fatigue Changes

Now the initial mayhem from fatigue has died down we've managed to get some useful feedback from the players with respect to this update

It seems that whilst mining doesn't really take that much longer, a lot of players are perceiving it as more work, which means it loses some of its appeal. Also we didn't anticipate the effect of everyone using the same few rocks and entire mining sites standing empty which wasn't the desired result at all!

Therefore we're going to change the fatigue shortly. A lot of people think it was good idea but it was a bit overdone, so we're to create a new system which is in between the old and new ways of mining, which should hopefully appeal to everyone.

Here are the changes we are planning on putting in place, in response to your feedback:

You will be able to mine/fish all the way up to 100% fatigue
Your fatigue will go up more slowly, so you spend more time mining and less time sleeping
Rare foods such as pizza and pies will heal more fatigue points
To compensate you will have to wait for the ore to spawn in the rocks again. But the spawn times will be MUCH faster than they were originally and you will be able to actually see the ore in the rock on the screen, so you know where to mine

        The aim isn't to make the the game harder/easier than it was before fatigue, just to make it more interesting and varied. Therefore I'm going to create a small test computer program to calculate the average time to get each ore at each level, to make 100% certain that the fatigue system is the same overall difficulty as the pre-fatigue system.

        Please bear with us whilst we tweak this new system, new skills and system such as fatigue always take a little while to balance, but we do listen to your comments.

        thanks,
        Andrew

November 11, 2002:

Server upgrades. This morning we upgraded our Philadelphia servers. We've made the following improvements:

All Philadelphia servers moved to a new power circuit
Our main database server has twice as much memory (it now has 2gig)
We've replaced our web server with a new one which is four times more powerful

We apologize for not fixing the bug mentioned below today. Unforeseen problems with today's upgrade slowed us down slightly. We are waiting for one of our servers to be repaired (hopefully tomorrow).

November 6, 2002:

There is a small bug in Varrock, so please be careful. It is possible to get stuck behind a fence in the south-east corner near the 'dancing donkey' inn. Please do NOT go there or you may become trapped.

If you are already trapped then it is possible to escape by clicking 'attack' on an npc on the opposite side of the fence, or by clicking 'follow' on a player on the opposite side of the fence. If you still can't get out then wait until Monday when the builders are coming in to remove that fence.

We apologize for this bug, it will be fixed on Monday. Anyone trying to get other players trapped in that space will be BANNED for bug abuse.