Mod Chris L & Mod Avatar Wrote:Instanced God Wars Dungeons (members only)
Ever geared up for a jaunt to the God Wars Dungeon and found yourself competing with other loot-hungry adventurers for your prize? No need to worry about that, with Instanced God Wars Dungeons.

Once you've reached the kill count for your boss of choice, you'll be directed on the minimap to a safe area by an orange arrow. Once within the area, you'll see the door leading to the boss, and clicking on this door gives you a number of options: including entering the non-instanced version of the boss room; starting a new instance in either standard mode or the new hard mode; joining an existing instance; or returning to an existing instance that you've left.

Starting your own instance costs a set amount of gold coins per hour, varying depending on the boss, and anyone entering the instance can top up the time by paying again. You can set a maximum number of participants from 1 to 100 for your instance, as well as a minimum combat level. You can also add a numeric entry key, in case you want to limit the instance to players of your choice. Finally, please note that it's not yet possible to fight Nex in an instance.

Hard mode is for those of you hungry for a real challenge. Any of the God Wars bosses (with the exception of Nex) can be fought in a hard-mode instance, where they'll use the additional tactics and abilities seen in The World Wakes, but with greatly increased stats. Yields of non-rare drops are increased in hard mode, and there's a good chance of getting a new soulstone as well. These count your boss kills, which can be stored up and used in lieu of regular monster kills to gain entry for a future boss run.

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New Armour System (free players and members)
All armour has now been assigned one of three types - geared towards offence, defence or versatility - and has had its stats optimised for its purpose.

Tank gear is built for defence, giving you plenty of life points and no major penalties. This type is the most common in the game - including gear such as rune armour, dragonhide armour and spider silk robes, along with higher-end gear such as Player-Owned Ports armour - and is best used in situations where you don't want to take risks, such as boss fights.

Power gear offers a 10% boost to the damage you deal, but with much lower armour rating and life points than you'd find on tank gear of the same level. This type is excellent for Slayer assignments and combat training but dangerous if you're taking big hits, and includes Bandos armour, demon slayer armour, robes of subjugation, and all Nex gear.

Hybrid gear has lower base stats than the other types, but had a big advantage in that it has no style weakness: it's equally effective against melee, ranged and magic. You won't get the high life points you'd get from tank gear, or the big max hits you'd get with a power setup, but you'll be ready for whatever's thrown your way - invaluable in PvP or complex combat minigames. Void Knight and obsidian armour are examples of hybrid gear.

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Hit Chance Changes (free players and member)
We've increased the benefits that you combat-related skill levels have on the chance you have to hit your opponents. There's now an accuracy bonus in the related style with each level in Attack, Ranged and Magic, so the accuracy of attacks will increase as you level - all the way up to 99. Defence also benefits from the same contribution, so for every level of Defence you gain you will be granted bonus armour rating.

Put simply, higher levels will now enjoy greater accuracy from their attacks than even before, and those levelling will notice a bigger difference from level to level.

Finally, this update means that potions that boost your combat levels have been given a new lease of life - the increased benefit of levels meaning they're more effective than before. We've also changed how accuracy-boosting Prayers work, so they now use a similar mechanic - granting a bonus equivalent to a level boost in your related combat skill.

For full details of how hit chance is calculated, visit our wiki page

We really hope you have fun getting to grips with these improvements, and that some of the gear you'd perhaps stopped using after EoC will enjoy a new lease of life. As always, your feedback is the most important thing to us when deciding on future combat updates. If there's anything you'd like to see in the future, don't hesitate to let us know on the forums.

Enjoy!

Mod Chris L & Mod Avatar

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Mod Chris L Wrote:Wilderness Warbands (members only)

Risk it all in Wilderness Warbands: the brutal new combat D&D that'll test your stealth, combat and teamwork skills in the most dangerous place in RuneScape!

Quercus the ent is troubled by the emergence of savage warbands in the Wilderness. The Wilderness is a dangerous place, and it's always been home to brigands and rogues aplenty. Lately, though -as rumours abound about what happened at Orlando Smith's archaeological dig - they've begun banding together in larger, more organised groups to kill and plunder: all in the name of the RuneScape gods! Quercus is worried that they're becoming a threat to the world's balance, and while he can't intervene directly, he's looking for those who can.

Quercus will regularly send out notifications as warband camps crop up in the Wilderness. You'll need to gather some strong, trustworthy friends, gear up, and make your way there past the PKers and other perils of the Wilderness. Do this, though, and with skill, teamwork and plenty of courage, you'll be able to take the warband down.


If you've set your sights on taking out a warband, a direct assault isn't the way to go. Each warband camp is based around a summoning beam, used by the warband to summon in allies. Get close enough without being seen, and you'll be able to convert the beam, switching its alignment to that of a rival god. The conversion process is quicker the more people are involved, so be sure to sneak in as many saboteurs as you can. Once that's complete, the colour of the beam will change, and you'll be able to start another such process: this time, a summoning ritual to bring in a rival warband! Once successful, the opposing force will attack and you can get stuck into the fight on your own terms. These are the first enemies in the game to use Evolution of Combat mechanics and all-new AI, so they'll still be formidable foes!


If you make yourself seen, the warband will summon like-minded rogues through the beam, and the fight will be stacked against you. Also, never forget that this is the Wilderness. You'll make a tempting target for PKers - or even traitors from your own ranks - who may deliberately alert the warband to distract you while they take you down.

Everyone involved with converting the beam or summoning in the rival warband will receive a healthy helping of Prayer or Summoning XP (respectively) at the completion of each stage. The leader of each warband also gives a chunk of Slayer XP to those responsible for his demise. On top of that, each warband's camp includes tents, filled with crates of ill-gotten goods related to a number of skills: Construction, Farming, Herblore, Mining and Smithing. Everyone involved can loot up to 25 of these per camp, and bringing these back to Quercus will earn you generous XP in the crates' related skills. You can't teleport while carrying the crates, though, so this might be easier said than done!

Finally, each time you loot a tent you have a chance to pick up the Wand of Treachery. This level 70 magic weapon is both powerful and tradeable, but there's a catch: when you pick it up, the fact will be broadcast to everyone in the vicinity, your prayer points will be completely drained, and you'll become attackable by everyone - regardless of their level. It's at times like that you find out who your friends really are!

The risks involved are great, but the rewards are greater still. Do you have the cunning and the skill to survive in RuneScape's wildest lands?

Mod Chris L

How to start Wilderness Warbands:

Speak to Quercus, by the bridge between Edgeville and the Grand Exchange.
Requirements:

You must be a RuneScape member.

There are no level requirements, but you'll need good combat skills to take on the bandits or go toe-to-toe with PKers.

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In Other News

Two new outfits, inspired by the Armadylean and Bandosian warband leaders, will be available on the Squeal of Fortune from this weekend. Keep an eye on the news for more details!
The increased chance to win Slayer Masks and XP lamps on the Squeal of Fortune - along with the 1.5x Slayer XP from Squeal of Fortune-won lamps - has been extended by three days: until Thursday March 28th, 23:59 (GMT).
The Sizzling Summer Promissory Note will expire on the 1st April. Be sure to use up any remaining XP before then!
Player-owned port totems have been reworked to function consistently and to offer more benefits.
Higher-end capes have had their armour values corrected. While the capes have lowered armour values, they still remain the most potent capes in game.
The player-owned ports log book now states the amount of time until a ship returns.
You can now toggle off the aquanites assignment option at Kuradal. Players will need to pay points to re-enable it again.
Aviansie can now be given as a Slayer task by Sumona, Duradel/Lapalok and Kuradal.
The Queen Black Dragon now counts as a black dragon for Slayer assignments.
Several common Slayer creatures have had their life points increased.
The Smash ability will now turn off Akrisae's prayers for a short time.
The home teleport spell in Dungeoneering will now be less likely to be interrupted by combat ending.
Following player feedback, we have altered the drop rates of the rarer items from the World Wakes automatons.
The default left-click option in a bank's side interface is now "Deposit all".
The Tribute to Guthix event has been extended to last an additional week, and the tribute stone north of Falador will now become a permanent prayer altar and small obelisk at 100,000 rune essence. If you haven't chipped in with your essence, be sure to do so now!
Several changes have been made to Nex. These are detailed in the patch notes.
We've made a batch of tweaks to the early game. See the patch notes for full details.
The patch notes archive can be seen here.

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