OC by @OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml

Hey 'Scapers,

It's been a few weeks now since our previous Player Avatar introduction and it's time for another check-in!

As a quick reminder:

• The Player Avatar is the character model and its foundational customizations (gender, hair style, top, legs, shoes and facial hair as well as the colour variations that are available to each of these aspects) that you chose when you first created your character. It's quite likely that you have changed a few aspects, such as your hair style or your base shirt and trousers since then.

• The Player Avatar is what is beneath all that armour that you wear after you spent hours agonizing over its details. It is the chathead you see every time you speak to an NPC in game.

Since our last update we've been busy with the work of ungrafting heads and skins from their old components and preparing them for use with the new Player Avatar....

for which we're delighted to be able to share a first preview of the new Avatars in-game head!

Today we're previewing some technical work that may sound innocuous at first read, but that will actually have a significant impact with regards to resolving some longstanding player feedback about RuneScape's visuals.

The RuneScape Launcher is currently an Intel-based application on Mac, supported through Rosetta 2 compatibility.

As of Mac OS 26.4, you’ll see a warning notification for the Jagex Launcher highlighting support is ending for these kinds of applications. Compatibility is due to end with the release of Mac OS 28 in 2027.

We know this will seem a little disconcerting, so we’re sharing this quick update today on what to expect. We will be developing an Apple Silicon native version of the Jagex Launcher, which will launch before the rollout of macOS 28.

We’re fully committed to ensuring there’s no disruption for any of our Mac players because of the changes to compatibility. We’ll let you know the launch date for the Mac native version of the Jagex Launcher later this year!

Today we're launching the Blooming Burrow spring event as well as an update to the Cosmetic Toggle. Read more about both of these in their dedicated sections below!

A brand new landmass arrives in RuneScape today! Welcome to Havenhythe.

Found to the east of Morytania, Havenhythe is a quiet and mysterious place with a long history behind it. Once home to ancient civilisations, strange magic, and stories long forgotten, the island has mostly been left to time.

Your journey begins with a vision when you visit the the Rusty Anchor in Port Sarim. A warning of something stirring beyond the sea. Before long you will find yourself setting sail to see what is really waiting there.

Havenhythe marks the beginning of a brand new story that will unfold across the year. It's also a chance for us to lean back into something that sits right at the heart of RuneScape. Exploration, strange characters, smaller grounded adventures, and plenty of things for players to discover for themselves

Hey 'Scapers!

It's been a long time coming, but the Player Owned Housing system is getting reworked and the Construction Skill is being bumped up to 120 as part of this year's roadmap! As a brief reminder, here's what we previously said about this update during our RS Ahead back in January.

Hey 'Scapers!

Today we want to talk about the first launch of our player Avatar project.

This blog is a little different - rather than outright previewing work-in-progress (before it's ready for prime-time), we wanted to share a bit of under-the-hood insight about the Avatar Project - what it is and what's involved in relaunching it.

This is slated to launch later this year - future updates may either expand the selection on offer (e.g. more hairstyles) or will implement new updates that the previous iterations didn't yet address (e.g. update NPCs).

We also plan to revisit the Player Avatar as a Community Topic a number of times in the time ahead, so please consider today just the first step of many.

Active Monthly Grandfather Rate subscribers unaffected by Membership Price changes.

Thank you for being a valued RuneScape Member.

Over the last two years, your support has enabled substantial updates like Leagues, Amascut, Thieving 120, The Return to the Desert Series and Group Ironman - as well as significant improvements to player support and anti-cheat.

As we look to the future, the exciting roadmaps and announcements we’ve recently shared are the biggest and most ambitious we’ve ever done, and all part of a wider shift to make RuneScape games even better: from enhancing our core systems, to improving our supporting services, and ensuring continued delivery of the kind of updates players value most.

To support this, we're making some changes to our Memberships: From April 9th (or your next bill date after this), the price of Membership will be changing for 12 Month Memberships and 1 Month Memberships. New Membership subscriptions will be available at the new prices as of today, March 10th.

Your price will not be changing if you are actively on a Grandfathered rate monthly subscription (any subscription started, sustained and in active use from before September 27 2024).

RuneScape developer Jagex announced earlier today that it is once again increasing the price of RuneScape memberships. Effective today, the price of a monthly membership subscription has increased from $13.99 to $14.99 per month while the price of an annual membership has increased from $99.48 to $131.88 per year.

It's the second RuneScape membership price hike in less than 2 years, following the previous much-criticized pricing change Jagex implemented in September 2024 after its sale to private equity firms earlier that year. Players who have maintained an active monthly membership with a grandfathered rate from before the September 2024 price increase will be able to continue that membership at the lower monthly rate.

Hey 'Scapers!

Today is the fifth entry in our blog series on the Road to Restoration, and we know it's something that many of you have been looking forward to for a while... a look at how we plan to improve the Grand Exchange!

Hey Scapers'

A few weeks ago we shared a very early design for the overhaul of the Aura system. We talked about the issues that Auras and the Aura system presented and how we plan to address these issues, as well as where we would transfer meaningful Aura effects. That blog intended to show a very early set of design ideas for effects and include the community in shaping its direction - not intended as things set in stone, but rather to include you in the design phase and kick off discussions. In particular, we were keen to explore what types of rewards you thought were the best fit for where these effects should go.

Based on some of the comments we saw, we realise the need to be clearer on this in the future, as it can be difficult to talk about designs when they come this early and are still cooking. As always however, your insights were very valuable, and we took this opportunity to listen carefully to what you've discussed and closely followed how reactions evolved over time.

Since then, we've been busy beavering away and making changes based on your feedback, where possible, and we'll cover these today as well as some of the questions we saw pop up.

We'll begin with an important question that came up following the first blog.

We’ve loved seeing everyone dive into the new combat changes! While we’re continuing to monitor the update overall, a few issues have come up today.

We attempted a coldfix to address some of them, but as a few problems have persisted, we wanted to share a quick update to keep everyone informed about what’s been happening.

Due to the size of this newspost we have had to split in two

Combat has always been a key part of RuneScape, and now it’s getting a full modern makeover. Melee, Ranged, and Magic are being refreshed with cleaner systems, sharper visuals, and a more enjoyable experience for players at every level. Since December, we’ve been running a Beta with you, the players, listening to feedback, rolling out near-weekly updates, and fine-tuning the systems to make sure this update hits just right.

Today we launch the modernisation. There has been a lot of back and forth during the Beta, so before we go through the full list of updates, let’s take a look at what we set out to achieve with this project.

Our focus, more than ever, is making sure every Membership type offers the best value possible in the content and features we deliver for RuneScape.

With a shift in focus for RuneScape, Premier still offers the best value subscription method – but many of the benefits are in direct conflict with our new design direction.

In January, we made some initial adjustments to coincide with the removal of Treasure Hunter and hundreds of items from sale – such as no longer offering Bonus Daily Keys & the MTX-item-laden Premier Vault.

As we move towards a redefined future for RuneScape, it’s time we take another pass on Premier Benefits – including how we can better distribute its gated benefits to all Members, no matter how you choose to subscribe.

We also have some news on some added value we’re going to restore to Premier too, without compromising on the values that will restore a bright future for RuneScape.

Hey 'Scapers! I'm Mod Breezy, here once again to welcome you to our 4th design blog in the Road to Restoration series! In these design blogs we share information on upcoming updates that are part of the Road to Restoration roadmap. We've covered a lot of topics already and have been keeping an eye on your discussions and feedback so far as we continue on this journey together.

The Road to Restoration roadmap aims to address integrity and game health, and has multiple goals as we shape the future of RuneScape. In case you haven't read the first blog, we covered what we want to achieve in our direction for RuneScape, you can check out that blog here.

Today we will be launching our fifth and final (for this project) beta update for the upcoming Combat Style Modernisation.

It’s been an incredible journey since the first beta back in December, and your continued feedback and insights have helped shape this update every step of the way. This week will focus on more number polishing while adding in some additional important touches to round out this beta.

As we mentioned last week The Combat Style Modernisation update is launching on the 2nd of March and not on the previously announced 23rd of February.

Hi again 'Scapers

Over the past few months, we’ve been running a series of betas to give you hands-on access to our planned Combat Modernisation update. Each beta has helped us gather your feedback, make meaningful changes, and significantly improve Combat Modernisation with every iteration.

The Combat Modernisation update was originally scheduled to release next week, but we have decided that, to make sure it launches with the quality you expect, we want to extend our beta tests by one week. This means that the Combat Modernisation update will now launch on the 2nd of March and not on the 23rd of February.