Stellarstop Community Post #3
This week I have a rather large review on the Wilderness and Player Killing update, which has created a lot of havoc in the form of begging and an unbalanced Grand Exchange as well as friendly trades and epic player kills. There are also two pictures from the particularly new changes (the Chaos Elemental's appearance and the Forthinry Dungeon).
Update Review - 1st February 2011The update which caused a huge amount of excitement for almost all of Runescape this week was the return of the long lost wilderness PKing and free trade. Promised to return two weeks ago after a month long poll, this update has brought back a lot of the old things which made Runescape huge prior the 2007 update. Some of these things were grand, while others were the entire reason why it was removed in the first place.
This reinstallation of wilderness pking and free trade has essentially brought back Real World Trading (RWT), scamming, luring and the
real fear of being in the wilderness. Already there has talk of how gold sharing websites have exploded back into the game, and how they are possibly so full of gold purchasing requests that they have to delay other orders for up to a month! (
Source - Contains swearing) Even in lawful trade, prices of almost all items have changed dramatically; the most dramatic of which, was the blue party hat, rising over 250mill in one day and then dropping 160mill the next (
Grand Exchange). This is the largest price increase of any item of Runescape, ever (in an incredibly short time as well). Others have also spoken of how they are finding it virtually impossible to sell their regular goods such as herbs, seeds and various runes. In my own experience, battle staves have dropped almost to their 7k mark, making the purchase of them from Naff and Yaga (Varrock Staff Shop, Lunar Isle Magic Shop) virtually profitless. More so an annoyance then actually problematic, people are also beginning far more often than what they previously were. It seems everyone really does not understand what Free Trade really is. It is not Free Gold for all; it is unbalanced transfers between people.
More positively however, pkers are once again enjoying the thrill of the kill, gaining and losing millions of GP. I was impressed to see one particular
video by ArchAngelofBh , who received quite a hefty amount of money as well as Pking another huge amount of cash in one day. There was also a
video by Logdotzip who talked about greed, just as a warning for others staking large amounts. In his experience, he gained over 1billion gold, and lost it all in a single day. As said in the
Free Trade Competition post, during this week over 47 Trillion gold was traded, Pked or staked; the equivalent of 1,222 blue Party hats!
Such an update has to have some other changes to Runescape, most of which was taken generally well. Gravestones have had their timers doubled and it no longer costs prayer points to repair of bless graves. This should both, allow players to reach their graves easier without the risk of losing their items (and to stop others looting their graves if they cannot reach it in time) and to encourage helping others, as it won't give them any negatives.
The Summer quest series and the Defender of Varrock episodes are now safe and away from the possibly of being player killed. In the Defender of Varrock's cause, Armoured Zombies are now instanced, and you are only allowed to enter the area via the Captain in Varrock castle. This allows you to kill the zombies without the possibility of someone taking your space! In Summer's case, the post-rewards of the quest have been boosted. For those who now enter the 8 available portals to the spirit plane you will receive double the exp you previously would of gotten (for those who have already entered it, you will receive the original xp again if you re-enter them). One quest however, is still dangerously within the wilderness; The Temple of Senntisten. In the middle of this quest, you are required to go to Ghorrock (Far North West of wilderness) to enter the castle. This area is still dangerous, and you required to bring good armour and weapons if you want to survive once inside. Although not a long time is spent in the wilderness, it is still very risky; it might be that this is changed later on, for now however, it is very dangerous.
Lastly, there are two new areas in Runescape, to help accommodate the moved NPCs and activities. North-East of Faldor there is now a cave called "Gamer's Grotto". Inside holds a portal to the Fist of Guthix (now the only way there), Stealing Creation and the 3 Clan Wars portals. Visually, this place is dull and lifeless; brown rocky walls take away the eerie vibe which was once held when they were located in the wilderness. It would be nice if Jagex could redecorate the cave to be haunted or more naturalistic (to fit the elemental attractiveness associated with the word "grotto").
The second of these places is the Forthinry Dungeon. A PvP enabled cavern home to Green Dragons, Hellhounds, Ankous, Lesser and Greater Demons; and Revenants. The two entrances to this place are in level 17 wilderness, near the south-western steps of the Wilderness Volcano, and in level 31 Wilderness, east of The Forgotten Cemetery. The Revenants are located to the North east side of the dungeon, and are all located in this medium sized room. Unlike previously, they cannot far cast you, so unless you are within 5 so squares, none will attack you. They have also lost the ability to teleblock and freeze you, greatly rendering their power. An addition to this dungeon is the new ability on the Forthinry Bracelet. While worn and using the option "repel", you will then be immune to any damage from the Revenants for 60 seconds, and none will auto attack you for 1 hour. This can be particularly helpful against the harder creatures like the beast, knight and dragon; for everything else, it's just a quick convenience.
Be wary however, they are not incredibly easy, while some (it could depend on luck, or the actual creature - currently unsure) may not hit at all, others can hit hard, and very rapid. I had a Prayer Mantis familiar out and he was packed with 400 points of damage in a set of 5 dart-speed magic attacks.
But I suppose the whole point of them still being here, is that they now drop every item that was previously dropped in Bounty Hunter/PvP only worlds! They now all drop the ancient armour, corrupt dragon and brawler gloves. These new drops are the entire reason why you should kill either of them; as previously they were ultimately pointless. Below I have provided a picture of myself at the Forthinry Dungeon, and Kate at the Chaos Elemental (with its new graphical appearance).
Myself fighting a Revenant Cyclops and goblin.
Kate behind the new brilliant looking Chaos Elemental.
Community NewsOn Saturday there was a Castle Wars event, which did not have a huge turnout, however, I’m pretty sure Jesse and Aaron had a fun time owning me on every single attempt.
This week's Saturday event will be a game of
Pest Control. So make sure you come to slaughter some evil bugs!
As next Monday will be Valentine's Day, I will also be hosting another event (most likely Sunday). It will be designed to focus on Jagex's Valentine's Day weekend event.
Member of the WeekFor being a long time member and supporter of Stellarstop, Ron is our member of the week!. Ron and his Stellar PvM events have played a very important part in Stellarstop's history, and I don't think anybody would disagree that he totally deserves recognition for this. Thanks Ron!
Submit your ArticlesIf you would like to submit your own article or art piece relating to one of the changes to Stellarstop, Runescape or Stellar Dawn please sent it via a Private Message to myself (
Roanlo Zolo)
