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Hey 'Scapers!
It's a big week for RuneScape... today marks the removal of large portions of DailyScape! Our goal with this momentous shift is to ultimately let you log in and play on your own terms, when you want and how you want.
We're confident that today's changes provide a positive change but, as always, we'll be listening and open to your feedback while also carefully reviewing the data for how players engage with the changes. We're open to making tweaks and further changes, so do let us know what you think!
As a reminder, here's what DailyScape relates to and why it can be a problematic aspect of RuneScape:
DailyScape is a term that describes game content, outside of a skills core identity, that is often perceived as mandatory to engage with due to time-gated mechanics and the disproportionately high reward offering for little time investment.
With this update, we aim to move away from much of the DailyScape design by addressing the problems it can create for players. These issues have built up over time and often impact how enjoyable and flexible the game feels to play. To expand on the short definition above:
- DailyScape turns gameplay into a chore list.
- Instead of jumping straight into the content you actually want to play, many players feel they need to work through a checklist of daily activities first. Over time, this routine can start to feel repetitive and draining, especially when the same tasks need to be completed every single day.
- DailyScape creates time pressure.
- Because many of these activities reset every day, players can feel pressured to log in regularly so they dont miss out. This can make gameplay feel less relaxed, as players may worry about completing their dailies before the daily reset happens.
- Certain activities, such as Wilderness Flash Events run at specific times. This can force players to stop what theyre doing in order to participate if they want the rewards, which can break the flow of gameplay and make it harder to focus on longer-term goals.
- Daily rewards can be extremely powerful and can accelerate progression too quickly.
- The rewards from daily activities can be very strong, and when completed consistently they add up quickly. This can make them feel almost mandatory for players who want to stay efficient.
- Because of the strength of these rewards, players can move through skill levels very quickly just by completing dailies. This leads to core skilling methods, training loops, and other pieces of content being skipped entirely.
To address these issues, weve focused predominantly on revisiting existing content so it can still have a place in the new direction for RuneScape. Our approach has been to adjust and rebalance activities so they remain worthwhile and engaging without relying on the drivers that often come with DailyScape systems. That said, some pieces of content were designed with daily engagement in mind from the very get-go, which makes it quite impossible to adapt them without losing their core identity. In those rare cases, we have opted to remove that content entirely.
Weeklies and monthlies have not been touched as part of this update. While they may create some of the same pressures as daily content, the longer time window to complete them makes them far less intrusive. Well review these types of content in the future, but for this update, our focus has been specifically on dailies.
Where things have been changed or removed, we've considered their context as well - this includes making adjustments to things like achievements and other content that may currently depend on these activities.
With that in mind, lets go through how were tackling different pieces of DailyScape content! It's a big list, but we're excited about the positive impact that these changes will mean for you as the players and also for us as developers.
What is Changing
Daily Challenges (Changed, but not Removed)
Originally, Daily Challenges were very high on our list of things slated for removal and, for some players, they were the very definition of DailyScape. This was why we initially proposed taking them out entirely.
However, after careful consideration and plenty of public (and internal) discussion, weve decided not to remove them completely. We're still making some changes to better align the system with the direction were heading, but we generally agreed with player feedback that its better to take a more measured approach rather than do too much at once. Daily Challenges have also always been helpful in guiding new and returning players, especially if you're not sure what to do next.
For now, weve removed the Weekly reward track from these challenges along with the ability to extend or re-roll them. The intent is that the removal of the weekly tracker and streaks system will ease the pressure to complete Daily Challenges every day and give you a greater opportunity to ignore them on any day that you prefer to focus on something else.
Well continue to monitor these challenges and may revisit them with a view towards potential changes or outright removal in future.
Guthixian Cache
Guthixian Caches have been revisited to function more as a Divination training method rather than a timed event!
They are now available from level 35 Divination and entry into a Guthixian Cache is now entirely player-driven. Rifts no longer open on an hourly timer. Instead, once a player deposits a total of 800 memories into a rift, it opens and allows entry to the cache. The rift will remain open until you enter and subsequently exit it, so theres no need to rush in immediately, and theres no time limit while inside. You can leave whenever you like or stay until you reach 100 points.
As we anticipate that a greater number of players may find themselves in a solo situation in a cache as a result of this change, we've tweaked the way the cache is played by introducing a new mechanic! You can now collect memories and weave them into unstable memory devices. These devices can be thrown to distract nearby automatons, allowing you to carry your memory jar safely through the cache without being hit.
Previously, every third Guthixian Cache granted a boosted effect that provided various benefits. With today's changes, every Guthixian Cache will now give this boost, though for a shorter duration. This can be calculated as Points 20, with a maximum boost time of 5 minutes per completed cache.
This ensures consistent rewards while keeping gameplay engaging and manageable. We're excited to hear how you get on with the new Guthixian Cache system!
Soul Reaper Tasks
Soul Reaper no longer has a daily task cap. Instead, you can train Slayer via bossing as much as you'd like. Put differently, Death now acts similar to a Slayer Master, but for bosses!
Reaper tasks can now be assigned and completed indefinitely, with no daily limit - Instead, a new Reaper Points cap of 300 points per week has been implemented. Reaper tasks can still be taken and completed after reaching this cap, but no additional reaper points will be given. Reaper tasks now also reward Slayer points alongside reaper points. Slayer points are not capped and Reaper tasks can now be reset using Slayer points - this replaces the previous reroll system.
Reaper assignments now require level 45 Slayer and an overall combat level of 50 and have also generally been rebalanced with a view towards task length, reaper points and XP.
Travelling Merchant:
Although we appreciate why the Travelling Merchant became a fan-favorite, its also one of the bigger DailyScape offenders. Not only does the merchant bypass large portions of the games progression, it is also unpredictable with how it spawns. This irregularity forces you to drop everything you're doing and hurry over to the merchant, which goes against what we're trying to achieve with the Road to Restoration.
With that in mind, we knew we had to address the Merchant while also finding a way to address the reasons for why it became such a favourite!
The Travelling Merchant has now been fully disabled but we have rebalanced various pieces of content to compensate for this. The following four changes (A. - D.) are all related to the Travelling Merchant's removal, read on to find out more about that!
A. Stealing Creation Outfit Redistribution
You've pointed out some challenges with the Stealing Creation minigame, including that its difficult to engage with due to its age and the requirement of a minimum of 10 players to start. Reworking the minigame from the ground up was beyond the scope of this project, but we also understand that the main reason players participated in this minigame was to get the Artisans and Fletchers outfits, which were only available through the reward shop...
To make these outfits more accessible and provide you with greater choice, each piece of both outfits has now been added to Stanley Limelights Traders and can be purchased for 360 Thaler per piece!
B. Runespan Balancing
Runespan point output has been doubled alongside the removal of the Travelling Merchant mentioned above. This will heavily reduce the time required to earn Esteem or buy other items in Wizard Finix's Runecrafting Shop. The increased output will also have a positive effect on obtaining the altar teleport tabs which will both Runecrafters and Clue Chasers will now come to use more frequently.
(New vs Previous Runespan Points Table - Click to Expand)
If you are on mobile, please rotate your device to landscape mode.
| Lvl | Rune | NEW Points | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Air rune | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 1 | Mind rune | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| 5 | Water rune | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| 9 | Earth rune | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| 14 | Fire rune | 1 | 0.5 |
| 20 | Body rune | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| 27 | Cosmic rune | 1.8 | 0.9 |
| 35 | Chaos rune | 2.2 | 1.1 |
| 40 | Astral rune | 2.6 | 1.3 |
| 44 | Nature rune | 3 | 1.5 |
| 54 | Law rune | 3.4 | 1.7 |
| 65 | Death rune | 5 | 2.5 |
| 77 | Blood rune | 6 | 3 |
| 90 | Soul rune | 7 | 3.5 |
C. Livid Farm Balancing
Livid Farm offers a several useful spells, but you've pointed out that it can take a fairly long time to earn enough produce points to get them all. Many of you mentioned preferring to use the Travelling Merchant to avoid this time investment.
To make things smoother, weve cut the cost of each spell by 70%, so that you can unlock them much faster! A few weeks ago we also fixed a few lingering issues with fences that were causing problems, just to tidy things up a bit. Get in, get on, get out!
- The cost to buy spells has been reduced to 30% of their previous cost, heavily reducing the time needed to fully unlock everything.
- South Falador Teleport - 35,000 -> 10,000
- Repair Rune Pouch - 70,000 -> 20,000
- North Ardougne Teleport - 110,000 -> 35,000
- Remote Farm - 150,000 -> 45,000
- Spiritual Healing - 200,000 -> 60,000
- Make Leather - 250,000 -> 75,000
- Disruption Shield - 290,000 -> 90,000
- Vengeance Group - 330,000 -> 100,000
- Trollheim Farm Teleport - 370,000 -> 110,000
- Tele-group Trollheim Farm - 400,000 -> 120,000
- Borrowed Power - 430,000 -> 130,000
D. Uncharted Island Map Balancing
The Travelling Merchant had been a sizable source of these maps instead of them being earned through training at the Deep Sea Fishing Hub. To address this, the drop rates for both Uncharted Island Maps at the Deep Sea Fishing Hub have been significantly increased, making it more likely to obtain them there (though we're still keeping the rates of that elusive red island map close to our chest). We will be monitoring the flow of these items in the coming weeks to see where they settle.
Wicked Hood
It is no longer possible to get free daily runes or rune essence. Any remaining wicked hood teleport charges can still be used, but you are unable to gain new daily wicked hood teleport charges to altars apart from those obtained through any remaining Tokens you may still have. While Tokens cannot be obtained anymore, they are not yet being removed from the game, so you don't need to worry about losing them!
As an additional reminder, the Runespan point output has been doubled, making it easier to obtain altar teleport tabs through that method!
You are still able to store talismans to use the hood itself as a talisman, and can still teleport to the Runecrafting Guild using the hood.
Vis Wax, Rune Goldberg Machine & Quick Teleporting Changes
The Rune Goldberg Machine, used to obtain Vis Wax, was another frequently engaged daily that contributes to the DailyScape issue. We've addressed this and believe that you will be quite happy to hear about the changes we've implemented here with regards to quick teleport charges!
We've now removed the machine and you will no longer be able to gain new Vis Wax. Any Vis Wax currently in your inventory or bank will not be removed and can be used to add quick teleport charges.
Speaking of quick teleport charges, player discussions and our own internal design explorations happily agreed that these would make an excellent use for law runes. With today's change, you will now be able to add quick teleport charges via the home teleport interface, at a cost of one quick teleport charge for five law runes.
As we have now bid farewell to the Rune Goldberg Machine, the skillcape perk for Runecrafting also needed looking at. It has been updated to have a chance to act as an anima stone whilst Runecrafting.
The masterwork bow crafting process has also been updated to no longer need vis wax. You will now be able to use a bucket of wax and water to create refined wax, which can then be used to wax a magic string. This replaces the previous need for the bucket of vis wax. Should you already have a bucket of Vis Wax, (if you are half way through the creation process for example), the bucket of wax and 50 Vis Wax can now be separated.
Daily Shop & NPC Free Item Collection Runs
We've changed how various shops and a number of NPCs who previously gave free daily items work. These were previously used for daily runs, so we have changed the way they work to no longer reset daily! Stock that previously would have reset daily now accumulates over the course of seven days to a new and increased cap. This provides you with more freedom to do such runs over a longer window of time! All shop stock remains personal.
Full List of Affected Shops & NPCs (Click to Expand)
If you are on mobile, please rotate your device to landscape mode.
- Pure Essence from Wizard Cromperty
- Flax from Geoffrey
- Potato Cactus from Weird Old Man
- Sand from Bert
- Logs from Coeden
- Slayer Equipment Shops
- Turael/Spria
- Jaqueline Manslaughter
- Mazchna/Achtryn
- Vannaka
- Chaeldar
- Sumona & Duradel/Lapalok
- Burthorpe
- Canafis
- Edgeville Dungeon
- Zanaris
- Pollnivneach
- Shilo Village
- Contraband Yak Produce
- Chargurr's Fresh Meat
- Gerrant's Fishy Business
- Lumbridge Fishing Supplies
- Fishing Guild Shop
- Fernahei's Fishing Hut
- Shantay Pass Shop
- Ava's Odds and Ends
- Frawd's Gift shop
- Island Fishmonger
- Etceteria Fish
- Fremennik Fishmonger
- Menaphos Fishing Shop
- Magic Guild Store - Runes and Staves
- Baba Yaga's Magic Shop
- Tutab's Magical Market
- Void Knight Magic Store
- Lundail's Arena-side Rune
- Ali's Rune Shop
- Survival Shop (Anachronia)
- Anachronia Base Camp Rune Shop
- Anachronia Gem Shop
- Battle Runes (Mage of Zamorak)
- TzHaar-Mej-Roh's Rune Store
- Aubury's Rune Shop
- Betty's Magic Emporium
- Carwen Essencebinder's Runecrafting Shop
- Sophanem Slayer Supplies
- Culinaromancer's Food Chest
- Bandit Duty Free
- Arhein's General Store (Seaweed & Pineapples)
- Lupe Free Supplies
- Dell Monti Pineapples & Apples
- The Lighthouse Store
- Beefy Bill's Supplies
- Harmony Pillar Farm Shop
- Aemad's Adventuring Supplies
- Obli's General Store
- Kagemeex's Herblore Shop
- Sigmund the Merchant
- Razmire's Building Merchants
- Razmire's Free Planks
- The Black Marketeer Ports Resources
- Rosie's Free Supplies
- Mami Rimba's Shop
- Sarah's Farming shop
- Vanessa's Farming shop
- Richard's Farming shop
- Alice's Farming shop
- Papa Mambo's shop
- Fort Fortinthry Kitchen Shop
- Fort Fortinthry Botanists Shop
Liberation of Mazcab
The loot cap at the Liberation of Mazcab raid plays into the DailyScape related issue of forced engagement driven by fomo. Raid lockout as a mechanic is something we haven't implemented since the Liberation of Mazcab was released, and we wanted to bring this encounter more in line with how we've designed other boss encounters. You should be allowed to killed them as much as you'd like, without being bound by time restrictions!
The cap on daily loot has now been removed and drop rates of rare items have been adjusted. You are still required to complete the canals puzzle before challenging Yakamaru each time. The reward for reaching maximum reputation with the Goebies previously gave a free re-roll per raid lockout. We have changed this reward so that it now provides an increased chance of obtaining rare loot instead.
With todays changes you'll be able to get in there and get grinding for those drops and pets on your own time - happy hunting!
Phoenix Lair
The Phoenix Lair has long been the only viable source of Phoenix Quills in the game, and the daily engagement cap made it feel like players had to log in every day to make the most of it. That cap has now been removed, giving players full freedom to engage whenever they want!
To balance for unlimited participation, XP rates have been adjusted. Quill drops have also been tweaked so that the Phoenix now drops two quills instead of five on subsequent kills, while the first kill during the In Pyre Need quest still awards five quills. These changes let players farm quills at their own pace without daily pressure while keeping rewards meaningful.
Serenity Posts
To compensate for the cap removal, XP has been adjusted. The Serenity Posts still reward active engagement, and players who maintain the correct stances will earn higher average rates of XP than those AFKing. That being said, in true RuneScape fashion, it's totally fine to just chill and AFK train agility on the side.
Crystal Tree Blossom:
The Crystal Tree in Prifddinas has also been looked at... You no longer have to visit it every day to collect your crystal tree blossom! Instead, the tree will now store up to 30 charges, increasing by 1 each day at the daily reset. XP per blossom has been reduced to balance this change.
Red & Crystal Sandstone
Weve removed the daily cap on Sandstone, so you can now mine it indefinitely! The rocks mining stats and XP have been adjusted to match other rocks of similar levels. The Sandstone in Sophanem and Meilyr, which have extra requirements, now have lower hitpoints, making them quicker and easier to mine.
Fish Flingers
Fish Flingers brings some fun, different gameplay mechanics that provide a cool alternative way to train Fishing. To make it more flexible, weve removed both the daily cap and the requirement to have an entry ticket! The XP rates havent changed and all the rewards are still available.
In short, less fishing for pesky tickets, more time consistently playing with your friends!
Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars is an iconic D&D, and weve made it more flexible and strengthened that "star-chasing" gameplay loop by removing the daily cap! You can now claim star sprite rewards after mining each star. We have shortened the spawn time to around 90 minutes and have consequently rebalanced its XP and rewards, seeing as stars are now more available. We've also replaced the old store's mining buffs with a 15-minute buff you get from every star you mine.
Daily Tzhaar-Hur-Zuh Tokkul
Daily Tokkul also fell into the trap of becoming a daily grind to acquire 8,000 Tokkul from TzHaar-Hur-Zuh after completing the Karamja Elite Achievements. Instead of needing to get 8,000 Tokkul every day, you will now receive a one-time lump sum of 150,000 Tokkul! We feel this is a pretty fair trade off for how often players were engaging with this content.
Bork
Bork will no longer be a repeatable D&D, meaning you can fight it as many times as you want, but Slayer XP will only be awarded on the first kill. The first kill now gives 30,000 Slayer XP, while any subsequent kills will no longer provide Slayer XP. You can still fight Bork repeatedly for its drops, making it more about the rewards than daily XP grind. To compensate for the change in accessibility, we've rebalanced the drop tables to remove the enhancements provided by Tier 2 luck, the Might Fall quest and the Varrock Armour 3.
Aquarium Decorations:
Aquarium decorations can tap into the DailyScape feel if they are engaged consistently and day after day. However, were not removing them! Instead, oyster, kelp, and seaweed decorations now reset weekly and generate 5 the usual quantity, letting players enjoy them without the daily grind.
Slime Pit Teleport:
The Slime Pit can sometimes feel pretty slow and frustrating to get through, which made the daily teleport charges on the Morytania Legs 4 feel like a must-use item just to make it manageable. We have changed this so that Morytania Legs 4 now gives you unlimited teleports, so that you can get around without worrying about running out of charges. Happy sliming!
Evil Tree & Mini Evil Tree
The Evil Tree is another iconic D&D, and were making it more flexible by removing the daily cap, so you can interact with it as much as you like. Youll still get the woodcutting buff after successfully defeating a tree, but XP rates have been reduced to balance for unlimited participation. As part of the unlocking of the daily cap on the Evil Tree, we felt it necessary to balance things out by removing the Mini Evil Tree (a more egregious DailyScape contributor) that was spawned using the Nature's Sentinel outfit.
What isn't Changing
Sinkholes & Gorajo Card
Sinkholes present many of the same challenges as other time-specific content: they have daily caps and require players to be in a specific place at a specific time. While we had previously announced plans to remove Sinkholes and the free Gorajo Card, weve decided to hold off on this for now.
Players raised a valid concern that removing them outright at this stage would take away meaningful training support before providing a proper rework or replacement. With that in mind, we may revisit this decision in the future as part of the Dungeoneering Refresh & Remaster.
What is being Removed
Wilderness Flash Events
Wilderness Flash Events exhibit a lot of the challenges inherent in the DailyScape issue, even though we do appreciate that they also became a social event for some players. Unfortunately, the nature of their time-pressured content combined with their XP and GP output for disproportionately low input did mean that their continued place in RuneScape was unviable. We have removed Wilderness Flash Events from the game, and have made tweaks to the related mini-quests.
That being said, the rewards that you could previously only obtain through The "Sack of Wild Rewards" and "Sack of Very Wild Rewards" items have been redistributed to other Wilderness content! That includes catching Black Salamanders, finishing a lap of the wilderness agility course, felling Bloodwood Trees in the wilderness, fully claiming herbs from the wilderness herb patch and completing a wilderness slayer task.
Wilderness Warbands
The Wilderness Warbands D&D was a contributor to the issues that DailyScape created, with a 7-hour delay between activities often forcing engagement and interrupting meaningful play. Wilderness Warbands has therefore been disabled, though Quercus, the host, will remain by the Wilderness wall so that players can still claim any remaining rewards with him.
Motherlode Maw & Motherlode Shards
The Motherlode Maw and Shards previously provided enhancers that skip or speed up parts of content, which taps into one of those key DailyScape issues mentioned above.
The Maw has been disabled and Shards are no longer obtainable. Youre still able to exchange any remaining Shards with Wythien as well as use any enhancers you already have.
Divine Locations
Divine Locations have occupied a particular space in the daily play cycle. They dont add significantly interesting gameplay but do provide large amounts of XP while also multiplying skilling resources, especially as multiple players can interact with the same location. Going forward, Divine Locations can no longer be crafted from Divination.
Any Divine Locations you already own will stay in your inventory or bank and can still be used. Additionally, the Memory-Storage Bot (Juna) now has an increased chance to spawn Chronicle Fragments instead of increasing your divine location craft limit.
Modified Headwear (Free Items)
You can no longer get free daily items from Modified Headwear. These originated from MTX long ago and as part of our Road to Restoration goals we want to address this.
- The following headwear no longer gives items daily.
- Modified Artisan's Bandana
- Modified Shaman's Headdress
- Modified Blacksmith Helmet
- Modified Botanist Mask
- Modified Farmer's Hat
- Modified Sous Chef's Toque
- Modified Diviner's Headwear
- Modified First Age Tiara
- Modified Ritualist's Mask
That's enough for now. Head on over to the official threads on Discord and Reddit and let us know what you think about todays changes!