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February |
February 3 | February 4 | February 6 | February 7 | February 10 | February 12 | February 13 | February 17 | February 21 | February 24 | February 26 | February 27 February 27, 2003: Today is exactly 1 year since we launched Runescape members. So a big big thank-you to everyone who has supported us, and has helped us get this far. It's been an amazing year, and RuneScape has really come a long way. Since the initial members launch we've added 19 new members quests, new skills like agility, fletching and thieving, plus loads and loads of new map areas, monsters and other little features. Last year also saw the launch of our new website, and our customer support service. Next year should be even better, as well as lots of new quests we're also planning some truly huge updates once our new graphics and scripting engines are complete. We have now 17 full-time staff working at Jagex dedicated to improving and supporting RuneScape, compared to just 3 this time last year. That should give you some idea of how far we've come, and how exciting the next year should be. February 26, 2003: As well as checking out our new manual layout, you can now find a new guide in our online manual on how to protect yourself from scamming. We would advise that everyone reads this. February 24, 2003: Anyone who has completed the Biohazard quest will know that King Lathas sent a team of scouts to find a way through The Underground Pass. This will allow a band of adventurers to go in search of the evil King Tyras, Lathas' brother, who has forged an alliance with the Dark Lord. You might also like to know that we've just heard back from an advanced party of scouts, who keep the King informed of their progress. The scouts have dug a tunnel into the huge mountain range that separates the mapped world of Runescape from the uncharted territories to the West. They have not yet managed to dig all the way through, but the King is anxious to send in his warriors ASAP - next week in fact. So wrap up warm and pack plenty of food for the long journey ahead. Reaching the frontier lands should then be a mere formality. We couldn't find out anymore than this, because at this point the scouts were rambling quite a bit. But that was probably just the drink talking. You, however, must keep your mind on the job in hand. If Tyras is not stopped, the whole of Runescape will surely be doomed! February 21, 2003: Reldo the Librarian has finally opened the doors of the long awaited Library of Varrock! Reldo has been busy of late, archiving all the letters of Saradomin and Zamorak. Today however, he found a set of dusty magical scrolls in a locked cupboard. These 'bestiary' scrolls, scribed by none other than the RuneScape Gods themselves, are the forthcoming creature blueprints for the new 3D RuneScape world! Despite his fear of Divine intervention, Reldo has released some of these scrolls through the Library. If he survives for the next few weeks, he may well pick up the courage to release more... February 17, 2003: They say that any system is only as good as the people who use it. This applies to capitalism, communism, and indeed the Runescape Customer Support service. They've asked me to point out that Jagex is still committed to the War against Scamming, but if you're ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED to give away your password and / or possessions, there's really not much we can do about it. So please do not give out your password to anyone, and use the trade system to protect yourself from scams. If players ask you to "lend" them your items, or play games of "trust", our advice is to just say no. It is up to you to accept or decline any deal that is offered to you- so you must decide if it is fair BEFORE you go ahead. Even with the best of intentions, sometimes money has a way of coming between friendships... In order to help us crack down on player scams, please do NOT accept membership from anyone other than your close family. If you do accept membership from somebody else, your account will probably be banned when we find out. So please help us to help you- and don't accept membership from anybody else. February 13, 2003: We just wanted to let you know how things are going with the big 3-D update. Andrew had originally planned to just update the graphics. This is no small task, as it involves remodeling every single image, and creating a new system to run it on. But the big man is not someone who does things in half-measures... For this reason, he is taking this opportunity to actually rewrite the underlying game engine. This way, Jagex can introduce new features that we've been itching to bring to Runescape for ages. Some of these things were suggestions from players, that just weren't possible under the current game engine. Things like bank-to-bank trading, multi-player combat (e.g. multiple people against one dragon), and rare weapons with special moves. Excited? You should be! Last December we decided that if we're going to spend this much time and effort doing 3-D graphics, we might as well have a game engine that can do justice to it. This does of course mean that you have to hold out a bit longer than we originally suggested, but we believe that it will be WELL worth the wait. Runescape will of course be the same game that you know and love- just with more features and things to do. Watch this space for some sneak previews! February 12, 2003: We have become aware that some players believe that Jagex is now churning out news items so as to avoid actually bringing out game updates. This is categorically NOT the case! Furthermore, Andrew Gower does NOT write these news items, Paul Eyres does (that would be me then). So nobody is being pulled away from game development or programming work. The long and the short of it is that Jagex wanted to make the game more interactive for its players, and so they created the role of Community Relations Officer. I was then hired to perform this function. So anything that you read under news and updates has almost certainly been written by me. (If it is someone else, they would normally sign it as such). Furthermore, we have in fact EXPANDED our quest development team. A close inspection will show that we bring out updates just as often as before, the only difference is, they tend to be much bigger now! (Tytn's Shilo Village quest is a good example). We appreciate that some players may only be interested in game updates. If this applies to you, we suggest that you only read the features marked in red. These are cunningly entitled "Game Updates". Are you a pole vaulter?...No I'm German, but how did you know my name? For all you eagle-eyed players, who may be concerned about the apparent disappearance of the "Polls" section of this page, worry not! Rather than doing away with the polls, we have expanded this section to include general feedback in response to player queries. Today, for example, we've posted a feature about the crucial random element in Runescape skills. We will certainly be running polls in the near future, just as soon as Chris (one of our game programmers) finishes his other more immediate game-enhancing tasks. As part of our ongoing commitment to improving customer support, Jagex is pleased to welcome two new recruits to our offices. Mark Ogilvie and Andrew "Stretch" Birmingham are now permanent additions to the Jagex team. Andrew describes himself as a tech-head, whose first computer was the Atari 800. He's a big fan of the Crow, and likes to wear a long trench-coat in order to make people aware of this. He doesn't like it when people use his real name, so we'll just go with "Stretch", the epithet he gained as a reward for being very tall. Mark doesn't have such a prominent nickname, but says that his friends tend to call him "Og". He tells us that he likes big swords and girls, which we should probably qualify by pointing out that he plays live action roleplay games at the weekend. Og doesn't like marmite or selfishness, and was quite insistent about this. But what really makes his blood boil is when people leave the foil or cellophane cover on tubs of margarine or cheese spread. Of course we knew this already, as Og had included it on his CV. Welcome to Jagex, Og and Stretch. I've just been speaking to the big man himself (Andrew, that is) who wanted to clarify a few things about skills and probability. Occasionally we hear complaints along the lines of "I'm a level 60 and I just got PK'd by a level 40- this game is so buggy!" Please remember that there is a random (i.e. luck based) element to every test of skill- be it in combat, or when fishing, mining etc. A level 60 player will, more often than not, beat the level 40 player. But even if we discount all the other factors involved (potions, magic, hits remaining etc) there will be the odd occasion when the (very lucky) level 40 player will beat the level 60 player. In Runescape, as in life, there is a chance element to every encounter, no matter how much the odds seem to be in your favor. If every test of skill was predetermined by the stats, it would be a very dull world indeed! By way of random example, the bookmakers were convinced that the Raiders would beat the Buccaneers in this year's Superbowl. My Dad was also convinced of this, and so I was more than happy to take £10 off him when the Buccaneers won. February 10, 2003: Please remember not to give your password out to anyone! The head of Customer Support has informed us about a new breed of super-criminal that is terrorizing our super-highways. Although Daniel didn't use those exact words. We heard from "Dantvman", who was, understandably, still in a state of shock. "I have just been hacked by a runescape criminal mastermind and I am wondering if I get my stolen items back. The name of the hacker: Rune Banner". Smelling blood, our support team pounced, eager to finally catch this elusive "criminal mastermind". Here's what they found: Rune banner: "Do you choose to give me your password
and let me log on." That's right folks, he's that good! Blink and you might just miss it. Even the normally hard-as-nails Daniel was said to utter a shrill cry when he read this report. So tie an extra knot in your knapsack today, and try and resist the temptation to give away your password to anyone- no matter how ingenious they are... February 7, 2003: To all those who were surprised with yesterday's news about the educational benefits of Runescape- you weren't alone! Everyone at Jagex was also intrigued by this great new justification for playing computer games... So I am pleased to announce that yesterday was no fluke. It appears that Runescape also operates as a teacher of foreign languages- especially if you're not actually English in the first place. "I just wanted to say thanks to all runescapes team.Last winter,I didnt know a word in english.I started to play runescape and I learned to talk the language very fast." OK, so there's a bit of punctuation missing, but it's no worse than most of the stuff that everyone else seems to manage! "Im a girl from quebec and I talk french" continues our linguistic friend. "Its an easy way to learn languages.Now im in high english class at school :) thx a lot. It would be very cool if there was a german,spanish,etc.. version of runescape." Indeed it would- just watch this space... February 6, 2003: Learning can be fun...no really, it can! OK look, bear with me on this. It seems that Runescape really does have a positive educational value for its players. But don't start canceling your subscriptions! We heard from Madamemerlin- great name by the way. She found that she is now more skilled in the ancient (and almost forgotten) art of academia. "I used to do the crossword from the paper everyday. Often when there was a clue I knew the answer due to being on Runescape so much." OK then, how about this one: nine across, starts with "obses",ends with "ive", and describes the temperament of someone who can't get enough of something... No seriously though, we're pleased that Runescape is helping to stimulate the old grey matter. But we would always encourage players to not be on Runescape so much that they neglect the offline world. But by the sounds of it, our friend Madamemerlin has got the balance just right: "In class once, I was one of the only ones who knew the main substances in steel, thanks to you I am learning and my mom stops nagging me". Just doing our job ma'am. February 4, 2003: To all those who have been waiting patiently for the Library of Varrock, it will be opening very soon indeed! Regulars to Misthalin's fair city will have been marveling at the slow but steady construction of this great new building. And for those who haven't found it yet, it's right behind that tree, next to the man who stands there sometimes. And just as the building is close to completion, we find out- and you're never going to believe this- that's right, we've still got loads of empty shelf space. Perhaps you might know of some stories for the library. These might be great tales of myths and monsters; epic fantasies of courage and honor, of 250-400 words in length, and which don't happen to include the names of actual Runescape players. OK, you can include YOUR name- I know some people like to work on their ego XP stat. Just send any finds to our good friend Saradomin. Having been Zamoraked off the letters page, he needs something to pick up his spirits. Just don't try to rewrite too much of Runescape's complex history (stick to the story itself). Old Sara's a stickler for accuracy- but then if you created a whole universe, you would be too. So this should be a day to rejoice for all you bibliophiles. And anyone who just likes books. February 3, 2003: With all the talk of romance in Runescape recently, we'd like to remind players about the importance of playing the game safely. You should NOT give out your personal details to other players online- even if they claim to be Jagex staff! This includes your name, address, phone number and email address. Unfortunately we have to be aware that internet games are played by certain dangerous individuals, who may lie about their age, gender, occupation etc. For this reason you should stick to using your friends list as a safe way of communicating with other players online. You can block messages if you feel uncomfortable with someone, and you should contact customer support if you have any concerns about another player's behavior. If you do decide to ignore our advice and meet up with someone in person, please make sure that it is in a public place, and that a parent or guardian comes with you. You should also let your friends know where you will be. For more information, please see our online manual. To read more about chatting safely online, please visit www.chatdanger.com Finally, please remember that even though you may get on well with someone online, you can never be absolutely certain that they are for real. Please bear this in mind at all times. We would like to apologize to anyone whose game time was interrupted last night. Our UK service went down, due to a powercut at Telehouse. This was, unfortunately, out of our control, but Andrew is now looking into the matter. We hope it did not cause too much inconvenience to our UK players. |