Runescape - Changes to PvP, Bounty Worlds, and Gravestones

This week we have removed the majority of boss- and minigame-only drops from the PvP and Bounty Worlds. Reading the forums, we noted that several people felt that dropping items like dragonfire shields, dragon full helms, Slayer-only items (like the abyssal whip) and barrows equipment was a bad move. The general feeling was that these drops not only made the original source less exciting, but also effectively increased the rate at which these objects came into the game, which had an adverse effect on the economy. We agreed! As such, we have made the following changes:

We have replaced many objects on the PvP drop tables with more generic items.
We have added “loot drops”, which are objects worth large sums of cash. These objects can be sold to Mandrith in Edgeville or his brother Nastroth in Lumbridge (who only appear in PvP worlds).
Due to forum feedback, we have removed all poisoned items from the drop tables.
Please note that we have not tried to change the average value of PvP drops – they are intended to be exactly the same as before. Also, it is still possible to get the items we’ve removed from the drop tables if your opponent is carrying them, and the chances of getting these items from your opponent’s inventory are the same as before.

Old monsters find new home in old Bounty Hunter crater
We’ve been made aware of a few existing monsters in the game that are too few in number, especially in areas busy with eager slayers. We made a list of these critters from the forums, and have added a menagerie of appropriate beasts to the Bounty Hunter crater. The area will now contain hellhounds, lesser demons, greater demons and a range of skeletons.

Teleports and switches
All teleport spells cast in Bounty Worlds will now take you to Edgeville, and there is a new switch leading to the high-level Wilderness from the ruined building south of the bank in Edgeville.

Gravestone changes
If you die in a special area (what we call an “instanced” event), you will now be given a gravestone, which will appear in the nearest non-instanced place to the one where you died. For example, if you died while fighting Bork in the Chaos Tunnels, your gravestone would appear outside the portal to Bork’s cave, giving you a chance to return and collect your items. The gravestone will be marked on the world map, and a timer will tell you how much time you have left before it disappears. Logging out will not make the gravestone disappear, although the timer will continue to count down while you are offline. Also, all gravestones will now remain in place for one minute more than they used to.

Finally, we just want to let you know that we have added an earning-potential display to PvP and Bounty Worlds interfaces. For more information on this update, visit the Recent Updates thread in the forums.

Mod Mark
RuneScape Lead Designer

In Other News…

The abyssal whip’s special attack now drains 25% of your target’s run energy, rather than 10%.

An activity bar, similar to the one recently added to Soul Wars, has been added to the Fishing Trawler minigame.

The recently added seaweed nets should now break less often.

We’ve fixed an issue in the Fist of Guthix minigame so that your run energy will now recharge at the rate it is supposed to when standing near the centre.

Summoning scrolls have been added to the pre-purchase advice system detailing what you’ll need in order to summon the various creatures.