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The Sailing Beta is OUT NOW! Play Sailing on both desktop and mobile until July 3rd!
Welcome to the Sailing Beta! Since the Alpha back in March, weve been busy improving Sailing based on your feedback. Now were finally ready to show you the latest build!
Join the limited-time beta to set sail and experience new features like Ship Combat, Bounty Tasks, Crew Management and more!
Your feedback is critical as we move into the later stages of developing our new skill, so keep it coming!
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If you cant see the video above, click here to watch it!
We've also partnered with GentleTractor to provide some infographics for this blog. Use the arrows on either side or the dots below the image to see all 5 images!
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This blog covers all the additional content we've added since the alpha. If you're looking for a general overview of how Sailing works, try the Sailing Alpha newspost.
As a reminder, Sailing is still being developed. Your feedback will help us make changes as we approach launch, but please bear in mind that not everything is finished yet!
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
Getting Started
Upon logging in, youll start on Tutorial Island, where youll pick your characters appearance. Dont worry, youll skip the rest of the Tutorial automatically!
Sailing uses experimental features that are not supported by some clients, so you must enter a code when prompted. You'll know you've done it right if you land at Port Sarim with thousands of other landlubbers.
If youre playing on RuneLite, please note the GPU plugin and 117 HD plugin are NOT supported. You must turn off GPU and 117 HD to use the vanilla renderer or use the GPU (Experimental) plugin from the plugin hub.
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
The Sailing beta contains a clickable FAQ panel in the bottom left corner of your screen and we recommend taking full advantage of it. Once you click on it, you can view key information about Sailing gameplay and see a checklist of things to try during the beta. The panel will also flash periodically when it detects you might find it useful during particular activities.
Sailing is locked behind a quest called Pandemonium, which functions as a tutorial for the skill and explains the basics. Some of you may have already completed this quest during the alpha and will want to jump straight into all the new features, so we've made it skippable in the beta. You can skip Pandemonium by heading to the FAQ interface, navigating to the Introduction button, and clicking Complete. If you haven't already done Pandemonium, we highly recommend doing so before jumping into the content as it will teach you all you need to know about the skill!
After completing Pandemonium, youll have your very first boat. Well, raft. We all have to start somewhere, don't we? Speak to a Shipwright at Port to head to the Shipyard where you can customize the humble raft to your heart's content. As you improve your Sailing level, you can expect to have more boat modification options, including more facility slots on larger boats.
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
As it's just a beta, you're not expected to collect all the resources you need for shipbuilding. We want your focus to be purely on having fun and trying out Sailing! Get any resources you need for ship customization from the supplies chest located next to any Shipwright or in the Shipyard instance.
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
As mentioned above, you can check out the Sailing Alpha newspost for more detailed information on training Sailing. Now it's time look at new features included in the Sailing beta!
Crew Management
Are you seafaring solo? Now you can recruit up to four helpful NPC crewmembers and assign them to different activities aboard ship. Jobless Jim can be found in Port Sarim pub, but it's up to you to find the remaining three all on your own. Good luck!
To recruit an NPC, find and speak to them once you have the appropriate Sailing level. In the Sailing beta your level is capped at 30, so weve bumped all the requirements down to level 10 for now. All you have to do is find your crew!
If you're stuck, here are some hints...
- One adventurer can be found exploring an interestingly shaped island.
- One potential crewmate can be found hiding on a far-away island.
- One angler is found near her people.
The areas you find crewmates in the beta are not their final locations, as we'd like to avoid spoiling where they are on launch.
More crewmembers are planned for launch, and eventually youll be able to have a maximum of five assigned at any one time.
Once you've recruited a crewmate, you can easily assign them to any facility on your boat via the Sailing side panel or by simply talking to them.
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
Crewmates also have stats which make them better suited to certain tasks. You can view their stats when commanding them to man certain facilities. In the screenshot above, we can see that Jittery Jim has a higher Privateering stat, so hell do well at the Cannon facility.
Crew stats are set between 1 and 5, with 5 being the max level they can reach. Their stats, unlike yours, will always stay the same. This means that all NPC crew can do any type of job, but some can do certain things better than others. We considered alternative options, but we didn't want to block NPCs from certain jobs, which would be harder to display and may cause confusion during moment-to-moment gameplay.
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
Here are those stats in a bit more detail:
Helmsmanship
- Determines % of XP from trimming sails.
- Determines size of boat they can take the helm on.
Privateering
- Determines what level of cannon or other combat facilities crew can use.
- Determines damage capabilities when using cannons.
Deckhandiness
- Determines % of XP from general Sailing tasks, like salvaging.
- Determines amount of cargo carried at once.
Youll note that NPC crewmembers can operate all kinds of facilities aboard ship. A major feedback point from the alpha was that players wanted quality-of-life changes to how you load and unload cargo your NPC crew can help with that! When you are completing a courier task, theyll follow you conga-line style to deposit the goods.
Let us know what other activities youd like your crew to help with!
Side Panel
With the introduction of NPC crewmembers, the Sailing side panel now has increased functionality.
Were especially excited to hear feedback from those of you using mobile to try the beta. The Sailing side panel is critical for navigation, so were really keen to see how it shapes up on different devices.
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
During the alpha, buttons for crewmembers were previously greyed out. They are now clickable - for each crewmember on your ship, you will have a dedicated button to easily assign them to new facilities.
The three tabs on the side panel let you switch between three different views: facilities, ship stats and your crew.
You might have also noticed that boats also have names now! Your boat's name will be displayed at the top of your side panel, and you can have up to five boats with different facilities on each. The names are randomly generated from a set list of pre-determined words, so if you want a particular combination then you better have lots of RNG or lots of GP to roll a new one!
Ship Combat and Bounty Tasks
We've created a new variation of Port Task called bounty tasks where you can battle sea creatures using the Cannon on your ship. Hurry along, Jittery Jim needs some targets to shoot!
To get started, head to your nearest notice board at port and open the menu. The bounty tasks are labelled as 'wanted' jobs with the big scary shark picture, as opposed to 'courier' jobs which ask you to transfer goods from A to B. These tasks will ask you to take down a specific sea monster, loot it, and bring back the loot for XP and rewards.
Ship combat works much like combat on land. Once you've got someone assigned to your Cannon (whether that be another player, an NPC or yourself), you will be able to engage in combat with a sea creature.
- If you are manning the cannon yourself, simply click the monster while ensuring that your boat is within range.
- If your crewmember is controlling your cannon, head to your Sailing side panel and ensure 'follow Captain's target' is ON. It should be on by default and persist over log-out. From there, attack the monster with standard or ship combat while you or someone else navigates the boat in range.
If you want a higher resolution look at the image above, click here!
Sailors, beware - sea creatures can fight back! Keep track of your boat's stats using the side panel. Boats also have health bars, which are displayed above them just like in regular combat.
Your ship's max health is determined by the strength of your hull. Its defence is improved through higher tiers of keels, which makes the ship harder to hit, rolling against enemy accuracy. Keels also affect how the ship moves through water, so a better keel protects the most critical parts of the ship from damage. As you progress through Sailing, you should build better facilities and improve your boat to get higher stats.
Certain facilities will also be a soft requirement for traversing dangerous waters, such as the stormy waters near Tempoross, which require an Oak Keel or higher. On the world map, you will notice hazardous waters because they are a slightly different colour in comparison to the standard shallow, open and deep sea. These are areas where you are encouraged to build a specific facility because they contain hazards that will affect your boat's stats.
Repair Kits
So, your ship has taken some damage. Its okay!
Even if your ship capsizes, it won't count as a death on your player character and you will be able to retrieve your ship for a small fee by speaking to a shipwright at port. But remember, if your player character gets attacked by something on your ship, such as an NPC pirate, then your death will count as a normal player death. Watch out!
Damage to your ship will be displayed on your boat's HP bar, visible in-game or on the side panel. All the functionality of your ship will remain the same, even if you've taken damage, but if your boat's HP reaches zero, you will return to the last port you visited.
You can use a tradeable repair kit to repair your boat and restore its HP. Most repair kits can be made at the workbench in your Player Owned House although as youre blocked from going there in the beta, the shipwright will let you use theirs. The materials used are listed below:
| Repair Kit | Amount Healed | Plank Type | Nail Type | Adhesive Required | Construction Level | Lowest Workbench Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repair kit | 5 | 3x Planks | 15x Bronze nails | 5x Swamp paste | 1 | None (can be combined in inv) |
| Oak repair kit | 10 | 3x Oak planks | 15x Iron nails | 5x Swamp paste | 19 | Wooden workbench |
| Teak repair kit | 20 | 3x Teak planks | 15x Steel nails | 5x Swamp paste | 30 | Oak workbench |
| Mahogany repair kit | 30 | 3x Mahogany planks | 15x Mithril nails | 5x Swamp paste | 47 | Steel framed workbench |
| Camphor repair kit | 40 | 3x Camphor planks | 15x Adamant nails | 5x Swamp paste | 66 | Steel framed workbench |
| Ironwood repair kit | 45 | 3x Ironwood planks | 15x Rune nails | 5x Swamp paste | 80 | Bench with vice |
| Rosewood repair kit | 50 | 3x Rosewood planks | 15x Dragon nails | 5x Swamp paste | 92 | Bench with lathe |
Some of these materials are new resources and will be included in our next planned poll after the beta ends.
When you're ready to repair your ship, you can left click the repair kit from your Inventory and then click anywhere on your ship. You dont have to click where you see visible damage the repair kit will sort it all for you! Multiple people can restore the ship at once to rapidly restore health in high-pressure situations.
Repair kits can be stored in the cargo hold, and we recommend keeping a few on board just in case!
Random Sea Events
Before you jump into battling a monodon, we want to mention a new feature you'll encounter during the beta: random sea events!
This is a neat new system for spawning short encounters that appear randomly as you sail the seas, with the goal of making Sailing feel more immersive, alive and interesting. During the alpha, you told us that Sailing gameplay can get a little repetitive, especially on longer trips, so we want to directly address that feedback.
Random events will spawn after a certain amount of time. They typically show up on the horizon in front of the boat, and it's totally up to you whether you want to interact with the event for rewards or not. Unlike random events on land, they won't take you out of the world or off your boat and will take around 30 seconds to complete.
We're aiming to strike the right balance between making sea events rewarding enough to tempt you into doing them, but not so outrageously rewarding as to make you feel FOMO if youre too busy.
Random events will not appear during certain quest states or when youre participating in a Barracuda Trial.
In the beta, there are three random sea events (although more will be planned for launch):
- Strong Winds: Gives your boat a gust of wind outside the usual timer.
- Underwater Glow: A glowing spot in the water to chase around for XP.
- Lost Goods: A floating crate containing lost property for you to claim.
As always, your feedback on these events or suggestions for future ones are welcome!
Additional Improvements
One of the main reasons we run playtests like these is to gather valuable player feedback from our community.
Thanks to your diligent playtesting and survey-filling, you should see a noticeable improvement since the last time you tried Sailing.
Below weve listed some smaller changes weve made since the Alpha. Its not an exhaustive list, and we have some improvements were not yet ready to share, but we hope this will make for wait for it smooth Sailing.
If you didnt manage to leave your feedback before, nows your chance! Let us know what further improvements we should make, and where we should focus our attention.
Beta Changes
General
- NPC Crewmates can now load or unload cargo, and should help to relieve other pain points raised during the Alpha.
- Random events have been added!
- The Beta is now playable on mobile.
- Updated map labels to reflect correct terminology. We really appreciate this one, and hope you never apologise about being pedantic we love how passionate you are!
Sea Charting
- Removed the anti-rust tonic tool as it wasn't adding anything to gameplay. In future we plan to tutorialize tools like this in small quests.
- Sea charting hints are now displayed as "???" by default, so if you want to look for things without knowing what they are you can. Opening the More information panel in the interface will give you the missing hint.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed mapping issues which caused boats to get stuck. If this happens during the beta, please send us information via screenshots in the bug-report forum. so we can take another look.
- Fixed a bug where you might appear under other player boats if you're on another players' boat.
- Fixed a bug where imps could walk on water.
Longer Term Changes
General
- Some of you have asked for the Captain's Log to be viewable within the side panel, and it should be possible to add this feature as part of our polish pass on interfaces and UX.
- To address the feedback that longer voyages that can become tedious, we're going to add rapids (areas of water in the ocean which increase the speed of your boat) in places outside of Barracuda Trials. These are unlocked by completing Sea Charting milestones, as it fits thematically to be rewarded with a better Sailing route for discovering and charting all objects within an area.
- Ensure that NPCs are always on top of players (during the Pandemonium quest it could be difficult to locate some NPCs with hundreds of other players also standing in the same spot).
- It is possible to forget when you trimmed your sails, since the visual before/after trimming is similar. We're keeping a close eye on feedback and if needed we will differentiate between the animations.
- The non-Sailing XP rewards from the Pandemonium quest will be awarded in the form of Lamps. There was some confusion about why we decided to make this change. It was made in relation to players who don't want to train other skills but are interested in playing Sailing, such as gimmick accounts which aim to be 1XP from 99 in every skill. As the quest is mandatory for Sailing, we decided it would be fair to make this change.
- Were working on making it so that Windcatcher settings are remembered, so you wont have to turn it on again every time you set sail.
Port Tasks
- Players told us that port tasks refreshing daily disincentivised them from training Sailing on certain days. To address this, with each daily reset, all tasks on a board are replaced. After completing a certain number of tasks from that specific board, all of its tasks will also be replaced. As the board updates after you've done a few tasks, you wont feel like youre playing DailyScape, or that none of the tasks are worth doing. We hope this solution satisfies everyone, but would like to hear feedback.
- In general, we received lots of helpful feedback on port task interfaces and how we could improve them. Well investigate this in more detail when we carry out a polish pass for UX.
Sea Charting
- Some players felt that the visuals for the Current Duck and Spyglass indicators were too similar, so we'll consider feedback from the beta and make a judgement call about whether we need to revisit those visual effects.
- We aim to revisit the mermaid activity to make it feel a little more thematic and rewarding. The team is considering an underwater cutscene when you dive down, and the ability to get a special kind of salvage from the loot you pick up at the depths of the sea.
- During the alpha, we noticed that players were finding it odd that they bumped into charting locations they could not chart so soon (those outside of Bedabin Basin or the Bay of Sarim). We'll be taking a pass over the progression in the first four areas that players encounter to ensure it feels smooth.
- We intend to add mooring points on smaller islands to help incentivise players to visit them.
- Players would like to know when they reach maximum speed. We're exploring a wake animation, but this isn't something we can promise for launch.
Shipwreck Salvaging
- We're considering how the XP distribution between salvaging and sorting works, considering feedback from players that sorting salvage can feel underwhelming. We need to consider it in a bit more detail due to the fact salvage is currently tradeable via the Cargo Hold and we don't want buyable Sailing XP.
Bug Fixes
- Thanks to your diligent reporting, weve got a range of bugs on our hitlist. We'll keep a known issues list updated within the Sailing Discord in the bug-report forum.. Please check that out before sending your reports in!
Max Cape
When Sailing launches, every maxed player will no longer be maxed. As exciting as that is, we also recognise that it can be a difficult change for players who have made the effort to grind out those skills. Players have become accustomed to the benefits of a Max Cape and losing them can feel like a massive blow.
We've considered as a team how to deal with the Max Cape in a way that honours the communitys wishes. After carefully reviewing community discussion and weighing up the broader impact on the game, we've decided that the Max Cape will be treated as lost when a new skill is added to the game youll need 99 in the new skill before you can get it back.
We understand that this might feel frustrating. After all, reaching max level status is a huge achievement. But Old School RuneScape is a living, evolving game. New content should bring fresh goals and challenges, and the Max Cape should reflect that. Making players re-earn it isnt taking something away from the community, its rising to the challenge of meeting an evolving standard for the game. Players who re-earn their Max Cape have proved ongoing dedication and commitment, just like when new combat achievements or quests are released. This approach also keeps the system fair and consistent: a skill is a skill, regardless of when it's added. We don't want to create convoluted systems where we have different rules for new versus old skills.
However, we won't be putting players through unnecessary hurdles for the sake of it. We're being mindful about progression within Sailing, especially in light of community discussions. Although we can't give you a solid XP/hr estimate, we want to assure you that this skill wont feel slow to train. That's why we've put so much effort into providing different training methods, and we hope you'll be able to evaluate them better against each other during the beta. We're always going to be open to changing XP based on feedback and once we're later into development we will be able to balance it accordingly.
Many maxed players have combined their other special capes with the Max Cape. Dont worry youll be able to get your Infernal (or Fire) Capes back, even if you lose the Max Cape that goes with them. When Sailing launches, youll be able to dismantle any Max Cape variant to get the component pieces back. The Max Cape, of course, will not be returned unless youre level 99 Sailing, of course. If youve used a Trouver Parchment on your Max Cape, well explore whether its possible to restore the same version back to you.
We hope this decision is received with an open mind. We believe that this solution makes the most sense for the game, but we are open to making further changes. Let us know your thoughts in the latest survey!
Survey
Speaking of which, you can find that survey either in-game or right here.
No matter how you voted, we appreciate every single one of you who has ever taken the time to share your thoughts on Sailing. Playtests such as these are a huge milestone for the project and for the team. This is our chance to hear directly from you about what improvements we need to make so go on, raise those anchors and lets set sail together!
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