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RuneScape is a massive multiplayer online role-playing computer game (game where hundreds of people play at the same time over the internet and can interact with each other) (MMORPG) imeplemented in a Java applet with in-game graphics rendered in 3D. RuneScape was launched by Jagex Ltd. on January 4, 2001 and offers both paid and free memberships to users. The game allows players to develop many different skills ranging from metal smithing to cooking, and thus offers the ability to develop an entire player economy which does not predispose players to solely fighting monsters. Members play the game on the RuneScape website, provided that they have a suitable Java (TM) plugin installed in their browser.

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Overview

RuneScape is set in a medieval fantasy world, similar to Guild Wars or EverQuest games, where players control character representations of themselves. As with most massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), there is no overall objective or end to the game. Players explore, form alliances, perform optional tasks, and complete quests for rewards and to build character's skills.

During peak hours, as many as 160,000 players may be online across 90 international servers. These servers are located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands, making it the most popular online Java-based game in the world. RuneScape is typically updated on a weekly basis with the addition of new skills, quests, or other details added to the imaginary world.

History and Development

Version 1: Original started out as a one man project. Developer (Andrew Gower) started work on the original game in 1998. This version was very different to the RuneScape of today. It had Isometric graphics, and was originally titled 'DeviousMUD'. This version was never released to the public, and only a few people ever saw it.

Version 2: Developer scrapped version 1, and started work on a complete rewrite in 1999. Despite being a complete rewrite, this version was very similar to version 1, with the same graphics and name. This version was released as a public beta for only about 1 week, and then withdrawn again.

Version 3: Developer started yet again with a 3rd attempt starting on Oct 1999. This time the isometric view was replaced, in favor of 3d graphics and 2d sprites. The game was renamed to RuneScape and released to the public on January 5, 2001. This version is still online today and is currently called RuneScape Classic.

Jagex Ltd formed: In December 2001 Jagex Limited was founded as a commercial operation to take over the running of RuneScape. Jagex acquired RuneScape and all related technologies, and continued to develop the game further. Andrew joined Jagex as lead developer.

Members launch: On February 27, 2002, Jagex launched a new optional 'members service'. This allows players to pay $5 USD a month to obtain access to new quests, features and skills. Paying members have a far greater choice of things to do, but it is still possible to play the game for free, and there is in fact still more free content available than ever before. Whilst not a new version as such (the game still ran on the same version 3D engine), this did significantly change the focus of the game.

Version 4: Jagex went for yet another complete rewrite. Version 4 changes the graphics to full 3d and has many other significant improvements. Whilst in development this version was called 'RuneScape 2', but when launched was just called 'RuneScape' (version 3 being renamed at the same time). An incomplete beta of this version was available to members on December 1, 2003, and then the finished version was launched on March 17, 2004. This is the current version of the game being promoted by Jagex. This is the version most people think of when one says 'RuneScape'.

The free version of RuneScape Classic was removed on August 3, 2005, due to the massive amount of rule breakers and an inability to punish them. Now, only subscribers that pay on a monthly basis can play "RuneScape Classic."

On September 26, 2005, the RuneScape website was redeveloped and now uses a more logical format. The new format was mainly designed to improve navigation and to help make particular sections of the website more secure.

Combat

Combat is an important aspect of the game, and killing monsters is one of most direct ways of gaining wealth. Combat is also needed to complete many of the quests, and can be used to fight other players.

Players are ranked in strength based upon their combat level. Combat levels are based upon a math formula which considers 7 skill areas: a player's attack, defence, strength, hit points, prayer, magic and ranged skill. Other skills, while benificial will not increase one's combat level.

Combat is subdivided into three primary categories: melee, ranged, and magic; a so-called combat triangle.

Melee

Melee based combat is the simplest form of combat a player can choose to specialize in; those who do so are named 'warriors'. This skill is also the most basic and is most often trained by a player's attacks upon various monsters or other players. As a player gathers experience in their strength or attack skills, their level is raised. The attack skill determines the chance of a successful strike, whilst strength determines the maximum damage a player can deal (higher level yielding greater accuracy and more damage, respectively). Note also the defence stat, which determines the chance of a player's successful evasion of an opponent's strike. Notably however, this can be trained by means other than melee attacks. A higher attack level will also allow a player to wield more powerful weaponry, whilst a high level in defence allows the player to equip himself with more powerful armour.

In the so-called 'Runescape Combat Triangle', which is designed to stop any single class of combatant in becoming superior, a warrior is normally most effective against the 'ranger' (archer), due to the weak nature of a ranger's armour. Warriors can be effective against mages, though only at close range. Platemail armor, the armour of choice for many warriors, weakens your magic defence significantly.

Ranged

Ranged combat most popularly consists of the use of bow and arrows, but can also include crossbow and bolts, as well as a variety of miscellaneous members-only items including throwing knives/axes, javelins, throwing rings, and a crystal bow which fires a given number of 'charges', to name a few. Higher range stats results in an increased chance of striking the target, as well as a greater damage output, although the latter is also affected by the ammunition type, such as steel ammunition as opposed to bronze ammunition. Ranging is harder to train in the free version, as only members can make their own arrows. Some arrows are often lost in an attack, while more may be lost if you are not quick enough to retrieve them. While training, it is possible and benificial to trap your target behind a fence or other obstruction, making it so they cannot hit you with melee. In player vs. player situations, ranging tends to be most effective against mages.

In the ranged attack, several armour pieces also increase your attack, so it is best to wear full leather with vambraces instead of gloves. With level 40 range, 40 defence and the Dragon Slayer quest, you will be able to wear full green dragon leather. At level 40 you will also be able to equip a Robin Hood hat and rangers boots. At levels 50, 60 and 70 you will be able to wear blue dragon leather, red dragon leather, and black dragon leather respectively. Rangers usually beat mages.

Magic

Magical attacks are marked by the use of runestones (simply known as 'runes') as a form of ammunition. The 'runes' are probably only 1cm in diameter as they can be 'stacked' (Multiple items that take only one space). As with all other combat stats, players must train their magic stats to a higher degree in order to generate a higher damage output, as well as increase the likelihood of a successful strike. As levels are increased, a greater number of spells become available to the player. Apart from combat, magic can also be used to teleport to (normally) set locations at higher levels, or enchant amulets and magical rings which enhance other abilities. In the new RuneScape (RuneScape 2), failed missile spells receive equal experience points received to what would have been received if the missile spell had been successful. Magical combat is most effective against people in metal armour (and therefore, best against melee warriors).

While some experience is received for a failed missile spell in RuneScape2, it must be noted that it is not the full experience. For damage-causing spells, assuming a fighting stance of strength or attack, the experience derived from damage is two times the damage itself. (ExpMagic=2*damage+default experience) There is also a default experience that is received, which differs from spell to spell; generally, the higher leveled the spell, the more default, or "base" experience. As for spells cast on a defensive setting, (This is known only for staffs, and by that, it is meant all staffs.) the experience given to magic is 4/3*damage+default experience.

Ancient Magicks is another form of magic, which only members may perform. Ancient Magicks cannot be performed by a traditional mage, only by praying at the proper temple after passing the Desert Treasure quest can access the spell of the Ancient Magicks. The weakest attack requires a level 50 mage and thus requires a great deal of specialization.To autocast Ancient magicks, you must use the Ancient staff, bought after the Desert Treasure quest. Ancient Magicks is very powerful compared to standard magic, not only because of the high damage, but because every spell has a side effect, such as poisoning, blinding, stealing health, or stunning your foe. Several effects are concurrent (you can be blinded while poisoned) and Ancient Magicks is one of the only forms of combat in which one person can fight a mob (in a multi-way combat zone) because several Ancient Magicks spells allow you to hit multiple targets at once. Some of the spells will hit in a 3 by 3 square, attacking all in that range. However Ancient Magicks is more expensive than regular magics to cast, because it uses more runes.

There are currently 4 types of elemental spells, of which there is a fire form, earth form, wind form, and water form of each type. The four types are "strike", "bolt", "blast" and "wave". This allows for a total of 16 elemental spells such as "fire strike" or "wind wave". For strike attacks you need mind runes. For bolt attacks, you need chaos runes. For blast attacks you need death runes. For wave attacks you need blood runes, which are available exclusively to members.

Please note, Magic level allows you to cast more spells and increases your acuraccy. It can not increase the max damage a certain spell can do. At level one magic, air strike will do the same damage as level 99 magic.

Combat Triangle

RuneScape has a 'combat triangle', which is intended to stop any one class becoming dominant. In member's worlds, magic will tend to beat melee, ranged will tend to beat magic, and melee will tend to beat ranged. In free worlds, this triangle tends to differ (eg. mages are at the top because rangers cannot wear the best armor possible for them). However the Combat Triangle is merely a chart of strengths and weaknesses, and players with a disadvantage still are able to beat the advantageous class if they use skill and strategy. Equipment also plays a huge role in changing how combat will result, so if you had lots of magic defense, you would do well against Mages for example. By taking advantage of the combat triangle, players can alter the outcome of a battle dramatically.

Other Combat Factors

All three combat types also rely on the player's defence and hitpoints stats. The defence stat determines how likely one is to block an incoming attack, whereas hitpoints stat determine how much damage can be taken before dying. The prayer stat, while seeming subtle at first, can turn the tide in a fight. Prayers such as the protection spells can render a person invulnerable to enemy attack, and they provide numerous protections. The most powerful and recent prayers can also set back the enemy in different ways. When fighting other types, players generally switch armor to best suit their opponents attack. Warriors fighting mages will usually wear dragon hide armor, a type armor with high "magic defence". To counter this, the mage may use a dagger, a weapon which armor high in "magic defence" is usually vulnerable to.

In addition, the equipment a player is holding, the potions he has consumed, how much and what kind of food he has, luck, and tactics countless other factors all combine to determine who will win the battle.

Certain weapons, mostly melee weapons, have special attacks on them. These are almost always high-end weapons. The amount of times you can do a special attack is determined by how much percentage of the special attack bar it takes per attack. This is different for every attack.

Combat Level

A player's 'overall combat level' is derived from the 7 stats mentioned above: attack, strength, defence, hitpoints, magic, prayer, and ranged. The combat level is designed to indicate a players overall strength and is also used to decide which players can fight each other to stop, for example, very high level players preying on very new players. The maximum combat level in RuneScape Classic is 123 (123.75), and the maximum in RuneScape 2 is 126 (126.225).

Your combat level, in Runescape 2, is determined by your combat type. If you're a meleer, and your melee stats are better than your magic or range, then your combat level will be based on them.

Equally, the same goes for range and magic.

(For more information, see RuneScape skills.)

Player vs Player combat

Players cannot normally fight with each other in most areas of the map. There are however 4 different areas where player vs player combat is allowed in RuneScape, each with different rules and properties. Here more than anywhere else, the RuneScape combat triangle becomes an important factor in determining who emerges the victor. Rangers will have an advantage against mages, mages will have an advantage against warriors, and warriors have an advantage against rangers.

The Wilderness

For a long time the only way to fight other players was to visit the Wilderness. The Wilderness, or what they call, wildy is a large area of map located in northern RuneScape. The Wilderness has great rewards, but also great risks. The Wilderness is the most hostile of the Player VS Player types available because players can be attacked and if killed, will lose all but their most valuable items. Killing another player in this area is referred to as PKing (Player Killing). As one gets deeper into the Wilderness they can fight with other players further and further away from their combat level which makes it more dangerous (or easier if they are atacking a weaker player). Some areas of the wilderness only allow 1-on-1 battles, whilst other areas allow multi combat and potentially huge team wars.

The level of the wilderness tells you what level players you can engage in combat above and below your own combat level. For example, If you are in level 50 wilderness, you can fight people 50 levels below or 50 levels above. A pure is a player who only trains in certain skills to keep their combat level low. This Allows them to engage in combat with less equipped players, however their lack of certain skills means that they will not win every engagement.

There are different forms of PKing in the wilderness. RPKing (random player killing) is a term used to describe someone who kills any person they see in the wilderness, whether he/she be hostile or not. Some people and clans follow AntiRPKing, meaning that the only people they strike are other pkers, not innocents such as rune miners, trainers, or those working on a treasure trail.

Duel Arena

The Duel Arena is only available to subscribers. Located in the Al-Kharid desert it allows a more formal fight where the players can pre-agree the exact terms of combat, and what items will be gambled. It is possible to change a large number of settings to restrict exactly which items and combat styles are required, and players can choose either to duel for fun (in which case no items change hands), or to wager items which the winner will receive. Because of the option to limit the risk to a level of a player's do choosing, this way of testing a player's combat prowess against other is popular with many players.

Castle Wars

• See main article: Castle Wars

Castle Wars is a mini-game involving two teams in a capture the flag-type game. The aim of the game is to take the enemy's standard (flag) from their castle and take it back to the standard in your own castle to gain points. You must prevent the opposing team from taking your flag by blocking them from your castle (place barricades, lock doors or collapse tunnels underground), or by killing them. Slain players will respawn within the game, so both sides are constantly fighting in most games. The game lasts for 20 minutes, and the team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Fight Pit

The TzHaar Fight Pit is a massive, free-for-all arena in which player can attack each other with no limits to time or tactics. The game is based on the last man standing ruleset, there are no limitations regarding one's attacks. If the fight continues too long, monsters from the 'audience' may appear in the arena. These monsters start out at combat level 22, and appear in increasing waves, combat level rising from 22 to 45 to 90, after which the players start to recieve constant damage from nowhere. This is designed to prevent people from agreeing not to attack each other, thus preventing a new game from starting. As with the Castle Wars minigame, dying in the Fight Pit allows a player to retain their items with no penalty. Instead, the player is sent to the waiting area, ready for the next battle. If a player manages to defeat all opponents in the Fight Pit, they receive a number of TokKul, which is used to purchase new items in the TzHaar City. They can also choose to stay in the Fight Pit in order to potentially increase their prize; however this poses a significant risk as it is highly likely that the food supplies of the victor will be depleted, and as such he may not survive another round.

Skills

In Runescape there is no general level for player as such. Player must train each skill individually. In this game, there are 21 Skills including Extraction Ones such as: Mining, Woodcutting, Thieving and Fishing, plus secondary (Processing) skills (such as Smithing, Cooking, Fletching). Unlike most other MMORPGs, you can train every skill to maximum (level 99).

Skills are abilities that enable players to perform activities in the game. Some skills are available only to members and some skills are only present in newer versions of the game, while yet others can only be utilised by completing a specific quest. Many of the high-level abilities in each skill are reserved for members only. Players gain experience in a skill when they perform activities that utilize that skill, for instance mining a rock would raise the mining skill. A player's level of experience determines the level of that skill. New abilities are given to the player when he reaches certain levels. Higher-level abilities in turn give more experience to compensate for the roughly quadratic increase in experience points needed to reach each new level.

As in a number of games, some players chose to focus on improving themselves in a small number of skills. Players who train only one or a few related stats that affect combat level are known as "pure". Some people may have multiple accounts, one or more of which is a "pure account". The purpose of pure accounts is to try to be the same level as an enemy, or a lower level, but specialize in dealing a lot more damage, which is especially helpful in player vs player combat.

Quests

Quests in RuneScape are one-time adventures which serve a variety of purposes. The novice quests act as tutorials to acquaint new users with the various skills and abilities. All quests include some kind of reward such as money, rare/valuable items, or an increase in abilities. Some quests are part of an overlapping storyline. Each quest also awards a certain number of quest points. Thirty-two quest points will grant access to the Champions' Guild. The members-only Hero's (55 quest points required to start) and Legend's (107 required) quests grant access to their respective guilds upon completion. Quests can be found all over the map, in the game's three kingdoms of Misthalin, Asgarnia and Kandarin, as well as some even more distant lands.

Mini-games

See main article: RuneScape mini-game

There are a few mini-games that can be played within RuneScape. These are available to paying members only. These may or may not provide a benifit to players, however they are fun and unique things to do within the game.

Community

Players of RuneScape represent a wide range of nationalities, and ages. However, the user base is predominantly English speaking because the game itself is currently only available in English.

Over the years, RuneScape has developed quite a following and the result has been the emergence of fansites, with their own communities. A few of the popular ones are listed below in the External Links section.

Drop Parties

Occasionally, players host drop parties. A drop party is where a player or group of players drop items they would otherwise keep, thus allowing nearby players to pick up their dropped belongings. Parties are sometimes advertised on forums so that more people attend. However, sometimes other players will host fake drop parties where the activity is not mutually beneficial. To remedy this, Jagex installed a party room in which all items are in plain sight beforehand.

Clans

Clans are groups of players that are commonly formed because the group shares similar interests or combat levels. Many clans venture into the largest player versus player (PvP) area in RuneScape, known as "The Wilderness". These clans hope to find and eliminate other clans or players in support of the clan by taking the dead players' leftover items. The size of clans varies, as clans can be very large and powerful, or just a small group of friends. Clans are also found participating in events such as monster killing, drop parties, mini-games, and multi-quests.

Graphics

The latest version of RuneScape is rendered in complete 3D.

A lot of emphasis has been placed on allowing players to customize their character. Players are given a wide choice in creating character models, from hairstyle to facial features and gender. Additionally, appearance can be further optimised by wearing/holding different items, with each different weapon having a unique image. Once the game has started, players can change their character's appearance in total at a variety of places in the land of RuneScape.

There are also many different animations in the game for the variety of things one can do from combat, to magic, to the various quests. The game can be run on high or low detail level. While high detail gives different things more texture or design (and has sound), low detail gives everything a cleaner cut look (without sound), and reduces in-game latency.

From February 2005 onward, Jagex has put a massive effort forward to update the RuneScape free world cities. They began with Lumbridge and Thurgo's Peninsula, and on September 2005 they announced that the cities of Port Sarim and Rimmington have been graphically updated. They plan to eventually improve the graphics of the whole free world (and maybe members areas too) without causing more lag for people using dial-up internet connections.

Fashion

A lot of emphasis goes on fashion in the world of RuneScape as members are willing to pay large sums of money for items such as rare berets or trimmed/gold trimmed armour (which bears no effect on the armour other than it changes its appearence slightly). Also, as mentioned elsewhere in this article santa hats and different coloured party hats are among the most expensive items in the game.

Random events

See main article: RuneScape Random Events

A variety of random events can take place in the game, positive and negative, which are said by Jagex to prevent macroing. They can also add variety to some of the more repetitive activities in the game.

Players must respond to most of these in the correct manner or will receive a negative effect (such as being teleported across the map). If a random event requiring you to talk to someone (i.e. Mysterious Old Man) occurs, you should respond, or you may receive such a negative effect.

Weapons

See main article: RuneScape weapons.

The main weapons available in RuneScape are dagger, short sword, long sword, mace, warhammer, battle axe, claws, scimitar, pick axe, hatchet, spear, two-handed swords, and halberd.

They are all available in the following metals, in order from weakest to strongest: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Black, Mithril, Adamant, and Rune.

Dragonmetal, commonly referred to as dragon, is the strongest metal in the game, and is for members only. The only weapons that have dragonmetal versions are: daggers, scimitars, long swords, battleaxes, halberds, maces, hatchets, and spears.

There are also many other weapons that do not go into the basic weapons such as the Granite Maul, Silverlight and Obsidian weapons from the TzHaar Pits, and the Abyssal Whip.

Also, look out for some new weapons, at least one for each group (bronze,iron,steel,etc.)

Moderators

There are 3 types of moderators, each with a different role.

• Jagex Moderator (J-Mod): These are the employees of Jagex. They consist of coders, script writers, graphic designers, and customer service staff. In RuneScape, they can be identified by a gold crown beside their name. On RuneScape's official forums, posts created by Jagex moderators appear in green with the addition of the words "Jagex Mod" beneath their name. All Jagex staff members have the word "Mod" as the first part of their name, with the exceptions of Andrew, Paul, and Ian. As well as P-mod and F-mod abilities (See below), Jagex-mods have a number of additional abilities for playtesting purposes. J-Mod accounts are only used for testing and policing the game. They are not used for normal play, to avoid an unfair advantage from their 'playtesting powers'. To ensure this it is not possible to trade with a Jagex Mod in-game, and it is not possible for a Jagex Mod to attack regular players in the Wilderness or vise-vera, and Jagex Mods do not appear in the hiscore tables.

• Player Moderator (P-Mod): A volunteer team consisting of regular players that are hand picked by Jagex staff to help maintain RuneScape to keep it safe and free from rule breaking. They have the ability to mute players for a short amount of time, and they are also able to send priority abuse reports. Player moderators are not employees of Jagex and they receive no tangible benefits. Player moderators are not expected to spend any more time playing the game than they would normally, but merely to report problems they see during the normal course of play. Player moderators are identified by a silver crown beside their name in RuneScape, but are not identified on RuneScape's official forums.

• Forum Moderator (F-Mod): A volunteer team consisting of regular players that work to carry out the tasks of managing RuneScape's official forums in order to keep them safe and free from rule breaking. Like player moderators, forum moderators are hand picked by Jagex staff. They are not employees of Jagex and they receive no tangible benefits. Forum moderators can move and lock threads, hide posts or entire threads, edit titles, and temporarily ban players from posting for 24 hours. Posts of theirs appear in green with the addition of the words "Forum Mod" beneath their name. Forum moderators are not identified by a crown beside their name in RuneScape.

All Player and Forum moderators are hand-picked by Jagex; there is no other way to become one. J-Mods apply as employees.

In-game Slang and Terminology

See main article: RuneScape In-Game Slang and Terminology

RuneScape players have their own language which can be incomprehensible to outsiders and difficult for newcomers to learn. This consists mostly of the proliferation of ingame terminology and the abbreviation of commonly used words, such as "baxe" for 'battle axe', "pk" for 'player killing', "wtf?" for 'what the fuck', "scimmy" or "skimmy" for 'scimitar', "hally" for 'halberd' and "phat" for 'party hat'. This list is not exhaustive. This allows for easy communication between established players despite the small space available in the ingame messaging system.

Price Information

Runescape is a Java Browser-Based game; no software purchase is required and gameplay is free (excluding any fees incurred by an Internet Service Provider to access the internet). Additional game content can be unlocked by upgrading to a members account. Paying through mail and single month subscriptions cost US$7.95 per month, while full year subscriptions are available at US$5.50 per month (total cost US$65.95; charged in advance). Using a Credit Card, subscriptions are US$5.00 per month. You are automatically charged that amount every month for as long as you keep your membership.

External links

Official Links

• JaGeX Ltd. - The official Jagex website.
• RuneScape - The official RuneScape website.

High traffic fansites

No sub-domain links here.

• Zybez - One of the oldest fansites, contains guides, info, and maps.
• RuneVillage - Offering quest guides, skill guides, maps and a community.
• RuneScape Tips - First and largest RuneScape fansite with comprehensive guidesو full atlas, calculators and more.
• RuneHQ - A major fansite, with guides, information and community features.
• Sal's Realm of Runescape Nice site, with complete guides and a growing community.

Medium-traffic fansites

• Global RuneScape - A fansite offering Quest Guides, Skill Guides, maps, topsites directory and forums.
• Runescape Community - Great forum, constantly growing community and helpful information for any player, from newbie to experienced.
• Runescape Russia - A Russian Runescape fan site, many articles and guides.
• RuneScape International - Providing guides and spoilers.
• Nomad Gaming - Provides Quest guides and Skill guides.
• Roenskeep Dutch RuneScape helpsite with guides, calculators and more.
• RuneScapeChat.com Ultimate RuneScape forum, discuss news, spells, magic, cheats, monsters, or maps.

Dynamic Signatures

Below are some sites offering the popular Dynamic Stat Signatures.

• RSBandB - Also offering other great tools, including the increasingly popular "Goal Sigs" (started at RHQ, made its way to RSBandB).
• RuneHQ - Forum registration required.
• IceFuzion - Free High quality Signature Designs, Random Quotes.
• RuneWeb - Also offering guides and info.
• SaraClan - Requires registration

• RuneScape
• Mmorpg