AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! RuneFest always brings about some exciting news, but I never expected it to be this good. Two new 120 skills, a new skill, new God Wars dungeon, and more. So much to cover, so little time.
First and foremost, the new 120 skills. How did I do? Herblore and Farming placed 5th and 3rd respectively in my predictions article a few weeks ago (Agility was 4th ), so I’d call that a win. I was really, really hoping for Construction and Summoning, but the reasons they gave for the two are pretty good. The updates drop next month, so be stocking up on seeds, vials, and herbs. Farming will introduce another Player-Owned Farm on Anachronia, the newest major expansion of the game map, and allow you to raise and breed dinosaurs! How exciting! Assuming they don’t take your hand off (or worse), of course.
Herblore is a bit more controversial for me. I definitely understand the wonders of new elven combination potions, but how is that more important/asked for than a Construction expansion or rework? Weapon poison+++ is great, Summoning/Prayer potions are interesting, and new Overloads (!), but Jagex, come on! Unless you have that update scheduled for next year, I’m extremely disappointed. Its tie-in to Farming would push it up in importance since they want every level having an unlock, so I understand why Construction or Summoning got pushed back.
The biggest announcement is the new skill, Archaeology! With a shift in focus to the history of the world, it makes sense that Archaeology would be added to the game. They considered Spellcraft, Necromancy, and a few others, but I have to say this is probably the best one for the game. It mixes elements from gathering skills, in that you dig in dedicated dig sites for items, and artisan skills, by combining, repairing, and improving on your finds. New weapons, an Invention gizmo, and Summoning creatures will keep this fresh throughout all 120 levels. That’s right, it’s a 120! In addition to this, free-to-players will get access to it all the way up to 20! On the Annual Survey they asked about extending members skills to 30 for free-to-play, so when Archaeology drops in January 2020 it will provide excellent feedback for whether they should or not.
The most exciting thing about Archaeology, however, is the relic powers. Choose up to three from 20+ different ones, they will be permanent passive abilities on your character. They released information on two already: Abyssal Link, which removes the rune cost of teleport spells at the expense of experience (a very minor downside, in my opinion), and Slayer Introspection, which gives you either the minimum or maximum number of creatures on a new task. The interesting thing about these is that it does not seem to increase the power level of the player, but instead allow several quality of life updates like not having to run to the bank for runes (though that does mean you have more spaces in your pack for PvM).
Speaking of PvM, the new Elder God Wars Dungeon looks to be very interesting. Jagex tends to drop a new boss every year, but with this expansion (if the previous two and current lore are anything to go by) there should be five, one for each Elder God. I have not started the quests involving the Elder Gods just yet, but from the lore I’ve seen this looks to be interesting since they view life as ants. Who will they choose as their champions?
There’s so much more to talk about, but these were my favorites from RuneFest. Thanks for reading!
