Gielinor Gazette - July 2024 (2024)

The Gazette is back and better than ever!

Hello, and welcome back to the Gielinor Gazette! We’ve been on hiatus for a few months, as we were busy behind the scenes working on a new format for this ~iconic~ monthly newsletter. Don’t worry, we’re still packed to the brim with all the content updates, developer insights, and general silliness you know and love – in a new format!

As of today, we’ll be cycling between the Gielinor Gazette and the Community Showcase each month, instead of piling on all that info at once. We want the Gazettes to feel impactful and bring you all the news you want to see, so we’re saving them for when we have exciting insights to share.

This also means you have all of July to submit your art, achievements, comments, and Postbag letters to the Community Showcase using the form below. Next month, we want to see your summer ‘scape adventures, whether you’re playing Mobile in an exotic locale or sending your character to sunny shores from the comfort of your own home.

You can send in your sunny Showcase submissions using this form:

With that out of the way, let’s see what the team has to share this month!

Tomorrow sees the re-introduction of the iconic While Guthix Sleeps quest, and some familiar foes to go along with it! Tormented demons are a treasured memory for many ‘scapers, and the Old School versions were always going to have big shoes – or claws – to fill.

It presented a particular challenge for the team, because there were two sides to the nostalgia. Part of it is the demons’ mechanics and gameplay, and part of it is the significant leap in difficulty they introduced to the game. Our players have come a long way since 2008, and during playtesting it became clear that we needed to make big changes if we were going to preserve the challenge of taking on these fearsome foes.

The ’Doubles’ and ‘Triples’ combat modes were our attempt at having our cake and eating it, too. The demons feel more or less the same as they always did, but you can now fight multiple at a time if you’re looking for the thrilling combat that came with their original release.

Another challenge was presented by the Dragon Claws. Back in 2008, these iconic weapons were closely associated with tormented demons – but in Old School RuneScape, we chose to add them to Chambers of Xeric, instead. That’s been the status quo for seven years now (how time flies!), so we didn’t want to rock the boat too much.

On the other hand, those tormented demons have some pretty nasty claws, and since the jump from Rune to Dragon Claws is already quite large, we felt there was room for a new contender. The demonbane weapons were already thematically driven by Lucien’s need for better anti-demon weaponry, so we thought we’d double down on the theming and give tormented demons a pair of Burning Claws, too.

We hope you’re all enjoying our Old School twist on these iconic enemies!

Deadman is back, baby, and Mods Manked and Daizong have been busy behind the scenes making sure this is our best Deadman tournament yet.

The team have been busy balancing the various systems and pieces of content to ensure the player experience is better than ever, using feedback from Deadman: Apocalypse to inform their decisions. For example, we’ve iterated on the Breach mechanic you loved in Apocalypse for Armageddon, introducing a whole new type of Breach that’ll keep you on your toes long after it expires.

We asked Mod Manked what he enjoyed working on the most:

“The best part for me personally about designing Deadman content is being able to completely change the meta without requiring a poll. I'm excited to see PKers get their hands on Chivalry, Rigour and Augury at level 1 Defence for the first time in Deadman history.”

“Deadman is also a place where we can put theories into practice, hence the inclusion of Blighted Overloads. In the main game, they would be overpowered, but in a world of PvP, they might fit in better.”

“We’ve also adjusted Sigils to keep everyone questioning whether they’ve found the best setup possible. The debate over which combination is best is sure to be a fun topic, and I’m sure we’ll see lots of different strategies.”

“Finally, the finale this year should be the most action-packed yet, with Breach monsters having much more of a presence. It’s going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen before, with potentially the most nostalgic finish to any Deadman event.”

Bold words! Meanwhile, Mod Daizong has his eye on the prize – or prizes, as the case may be!

“This season we implemented a variety of cosmetic rewards to encourage players who normally wouldn’t give Deadman a try to engage with this game mode. It’s been a much-requested feature since the launch of Leagues, which let players spend their League Points on cosmetic rewards. I think the new Deadman rewards are looking really nice, and I’m really looking forward to seeing players getting them with the Points they’ll earn after the end of Deadman.”

We’ve managed to get our hands on some concept art, so you can see these rewards for yourself!

Which ones will you be saving for?

Our next Varlamore update will take us from the scorching plains of the Avium Savannah to the decidedly less hospitable climes of the Hailstorm Mountains, where the Hueycoatl lies in wait...

The mechanics and flow of the fight are now implemented, so Mod Squid has been digging deep into playtesting this month, making sure this fight is as fun as possible. There are some familiar mechanics that will help less-experienced players get comfortable with harder content, as well as some new surprises that will test your group’s coordination.

Mod Squid says: “Overall, we’re aiming to capture the feeling of an escalating fight against a large, powerful creature, while working as a group. We think it’s shaping up nicely!”

We also caught up with Mod Jerv to see how the Hueycoatl is taking shape – quite literally – behind the scenes. Remember, this is only concept art, so she might look a little different on launch... but we think the colours are rather fetching!

“The design process of Hueycoatl was a bit different to what we have done before. This time, Mod Squid and I jumped into it together as a blank slate. We knew we wanted a big serpent that would curl around a mountain, and since Varlamore is Roman and Aztec inspired, I took inspiration from the shape language used in various murals and statuesque depictions of Quetzacoatl, a Mesoamerican deity. However, I wanted to bring in elements of an animal that screams “Roman!” as well; a lion. She became a colourful winged lion-serpent with draconic influences.

“Her feathers and scales are made of a stone-like material that the Dwarves favour and collected in the past. The Dwarves of Cam Torum, who once lived in the area, were formerly caretakers of the Hueycoatl. When the creature entered a long hibernation, they stopped performing this duty, and gradually forgot their role - but legends of an immense, mountain-dwelling serpent who brought prosperity to the dwarves still remain. It was a playful process, approached with so much passion and creativity; I would say the Hueycoatl is my favourite boss I've worked on so far!”

Onto another boss now, this time in the dank caves of Morytania, where we caught up with Mod Arcane and Araxxor.

Our version of this iconic arachnid is very different from his iteration in RuneScape. Pretty much only the name and lore are the same. In RuneScape, Araxxor is notoriously one of the hardest fights going, but we’ve taken a somewhat more relaxed approach. At 92 Slayer he’s not exactly a cakewalk, but he’s a much more moderate foe than, say, the Desert Treasure II bosses. We’ve designed the fight around the fast-paced, repeatable Slayer grind, right down to the rewards – which should keep you going and provide a tidy profit to spend on gearing up against even nastier bosses down the line.

Mod Arcane, any comment on Araxxor?

Beeg Spider.

Very astute. Can you tell us more about how Araxxor has changed from his RuneScape appearance?

Basically everything. Our Araxxor is only similar to RuneScape’s version in terms of name and lore. He’s still Araxxor, he’s still a big arachnid lurking beneath Morytania – but the gameplay in this fight will be completely different.

Speaking of gameplay, we chose a slightly more relaxed approach to the fight than we’ve seen in other bosses. Can we look forward to similar Slayer bosses in the future?

I think we’d like to do more Slayer bosses in general, to be honest. A dark beast boss would be cool next.

Last question. If Araxxor wore jeans, would he wear them like this, this or like this?

I think it would be like this, yeah.

If all this talk of spiders and Slayer mobs has you excited, you’ll be thrilled to hear that we’ve got one more ‘S’ to add to the list: SURVEYS!

...and a poll, but that didn’t quite match. Yes, very soon you’ll be able to exercise your democratic power in Quality of Life Poll 82, where you’ll get to vote on a variety of improvements for minigames, along with a little extra surprise. Towards the end of this week we’ll reveal the full poll blog, packed with all the juicy details you need to cast your vote. Eyes peeled!

Meanwhile, let’s get back to those surveys we promised. First up, we want to know what YOU think about Jagex Accounts. We’re always looking for feedback on our most-requested features, and Account Security is top of our list. We want to know what you love most about Jagex Accounts, what you like least, and how easy you find to use them. Let us know in the survey below!

Our second survey is more of a call for volunteers. We recently wrapped up our latest Mobile UI Beta and received loads of feedback from our most dedicated mobile players. Thanks, everyone!

However, the team feels they could really benefit from some more targeted information. With this in mind, we’re recruiting volunteers for a series of feedback interviews, where you’ll get the chance to tell us how you feel about Mobile UI directly. We’re especially keen to hear from players who use the mobile client less frequently – so if that’s someone you know, point them in the direction of this lovely, shiny sign-up form.

That’s all from us for this month’s Gielinor Gazette. We hope you’re enjoying the new format, and we can’t wait to see what you’re creating for the Community Showcase in August. You are creating something, right? Oh good, we thought so.

There are a few different things you can submit to the Community Showcase, including:

• Player Achievements
• Screenshots
• Old-School Related Videos
• Postbag Letters to your favourite NPCs
• Fan Art, Cosplay, and any other kind of creative activity you can think of!

We’re also looking for answers to the question: “What’s your favourite Old School plugin?”

If you’ve got something to submit to the Community Showcase, you can do so using this form:

We’ll see you next month for more Old School shenanigans – until then, Happy ‘Scaping!

You can also discuss this update on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

Mods Abe, Abyss, Arcane, Archie, Argo, Ash, Ayiza, BigRig, Blossom, Boko, Bruno, Chilly, Criminal, Crystal, Curse, Daizong, Dylan, Ed, Elena, Enigma, Errol, Gecko, Gengis, Gizmo, Goblin, Grub, Halo, Harold, Hend, Hooti, Hornet, Husky, Jalo, Jerv, Keyser, Kieren, Kirby, Kurotou, Leebleh, Lenny, Light, Liron, Mack, Manked, Markos, Maylea, Meat, Moogle, Morty, Necro, Nin, Nox, Nylu, Other, Pumpkin, Redfield, Regent, Rice, Roq, Ry, Saiyan, Sarnie, Shogun, Shroom, Sigma, Skane, Skylark, Smithy, Sova, Squid, Starry, Suharun, Surma, Sween, Tide, Titus, Tsourorf, Tyran, Veda, Vegard, West & Wolfy

The Old School Team.