Jagex has made tons of large, new updates for Members and FreePlay users alike.

Many core aspects of RuneScape have changes, hopefully for the better. I’m excited, and you probably will be after seeing all the changes.

First of all, the Dual Arena is now available for Free Players. What’s that? It’s the sound of millions of FreePlayers cheering.

Second, everyone gets more bank space! Members get 32 more slots, and FreePlayers get an additional 8.

Wilderness Changes

• The wilderness is now 40% of the original size, and PvP is no longer available in the entire place. Instead, it’s now broken into several arenas with various minigames available. The rest of the wilderness is filled with nasty NPC (Revenants, as they’re called).
• PKing is done in the Bounty Hunter arena. When you enter the arena, you are assigned a bounty (a random player in the arena) that you must kill. You can attack players who aren’t your bounty, but you will be given a 3-minute penalty and must stay in the arena for the duration. Upon entering the Bounty Hunter arena, you are automatically given a skull above your head. Bounty Hunter is only available on certain worlds (members and non-members).
• You can now only bring items that Jagex deems appropriate for Wildy use. That means weapons and food mainly. This is to prevent real-world trading and item loss.
• Clan Wars is now available for FreePlay users.

Read more.

Item/Trade Changes

• In an effort to prevent scamming and real-world trading, Jagex will be placing a limitation on the trading system. “Unbalanced trades” exceeding a 3,000gp limit will no longer be allowed after the first week of January.
• When you drop items, they will only become visible to other players if their value (market value) is below 3,000gp.
• When you die in RuneScape, you leave a gravestone to protect your items for a time. The gravestone will only last a few minutes (longer if you upgrade the gravestone of if another player repairs it for you), giving you time to run back and reclaim your items. You must buy a stone from Father Aereck in the Lumbridge church (after completing the Restless Ghost quest). Gravestones do not work in the Bounty Hunter arena.
• The party room is now available to FreePlay users, as a replacement for drop-parties.

Read more.

Jagex sure has made a lot of big changes. Several things that were previously Members-Only are now available to everyone! Now, that’s progress. RuneScape is starting to get more fun than ever.

This is a bit of a coincidence, actually. I was just thinking about sending in a suggestion that some older Members-Only things be made available to FreePlay users. I thinking more along the lines of quests, or other smaller features…not Duel Arena/Clan Wars/etc! Well, great job, Jagex! Disney could learn a few things from you…

Trading just got easier…and more profitable.

RuneScape’s Grand Exchange auction house has been finished, finally. You can place an item up for sale, pick your price, and wait. You can play RuneScape…or log out and do other things while you wait for the item to be sold. You can buy anything up for sell using a handy search tool.

Also introduced are Armor Sets, boxes containing entire sets of armor…so you can forget hunting for an entire set of gold-trimmed Rune armor!

Jagex LTD has expanded the RuneScape Clan Chat system today. Now you can set-up your clan to share drops earned in multi-combat zones among nearby clan members. Whenever a monster is beat, the loot will be semi-randomly given to a clan member within 16 “squares” of the monster. If you’re not lucky enough to get the loot, the game will remember and try to improve your probability the next time around. You can read more in the RuneScape Knowledge Base.

Here’s an interesting idea that merits experimentation: What if you attack the lesser demon in the Wizards’ Tower with your clan? Will someone get the loot without having to use Telekinetic Grab?

I’m sure you’ve heard of RuneScape by now. RuneScape users play it at libraries, they rant about it on forums, and they talk about it nonstop. Some people bash it nonstop instead. On forums it’s all too easy to find people arguing about whether RuneScape is A: a great game or B: total garbage. Having recently hit the “one million users mark,” it can’t be as bad as some people say it is.

I’ve been playing RuneScape for the last few years, though I haven’t been playing four hours a week like I used to. Currently I log in now and then, every couple weeks or so.

RuneScape is a browser-based Java game set in a medieval world. Jagex LTD, the creator of RuneScape, has done a great job at creating an immersive world with a realistic economy. The goal of RuneScape is to level up and get money. Money is the fun part, as leveling-up can get boring with all the repetitive work. There are thousands of ways to earn gold coins in RuneScape. Personally I like running Rune Essence (the material used to make the Runes used for casting spells), merchanting, and mining.

Magic is one of my favorite parts of the game, as with any other game I play. You can never have too much magic in a game. In RuneScape, you need Runes to cast spells. For example, to cast the combat spell “Wind Blast” 100 times, you need 100 Death runes and 300 Air runes. You use 1 Death and 3 Air every time you cast the spell. Of course, if your one of those weirdos who doesn’t want to be a mage, you can be a melee fighter or an archer.

When you sign up, you start on “Tutorial Island”, where you learn how to play the game over 15-20 minutes. Of course, there’s more to learn then what they teach you. You’ll learn more as you play. Do they teach you that feathers sell for 5 coins each (collect 1000 and you get 5000 coins)? No, but you can figure it out. Then there are always fan sites where you can pick up useful tips. I recommend Rune HQ, Sal’s Ream of RuneScape, and The First RuneScape Fan Site.

The world of RuneScape is big and well-made. There’s plenty to keep you busy for a long time…even if you don’t want to pay for a premium account. I’ve been playing for free for quite awhile now, and I still like to play now and then.

I highly recommend RuneScape, it’s a great game you can play for free. If you get addicted and want more, you can buy a premium account for $5/month.

Rating: 4/5