Bounty Hunter Rewards Beta & More
Get your hands on most of the upcoming rewards for Bounty Hunter in this week's action-packed beta! Keep reading for the full stats, plus some helpful tips and tricks to streamline your experience…
Earlier this month, we shared a blog detailing a few rewards planned for Bounty Hunter. Chief among these is the returning Ancient Warrior equipment (the likes of Vesta, Statius, Morrigan and Zuriel), and we also discussed the potential for Bounty Hunter-exclusive weapon imbues.
This week, you'll be able to put most of this fearsome equipment to the test in a rip-roaring Rewards Beta! While we've run Betas like this before, we don't always see as much participation as we'd like, and find that some players struggle to get comfortable in these peculiar alternate worlds. So, before we get stuck into an absolutely mammoth volume of numbers and stats, we're going to help you get acquainted with Betas in general!
To access the rewards beta, log in to any of the following worlds: 401, 405, 407, 409 or 412. There should be one for every region!
Beta Worlds: Tips & Tricks
When you first log into one of the beta worlds, you should find yourself at Ferox Enclave. You might be tempted to start zooming all over the place, but the best way to start is by visiting the table right next to your spawn.
Right-clicking on the table shows options for gear and stats.
The 'Gear' option brings up the Tournament Supplies interface, where you'll be able to see the Ancient Warrior armours and Bounty Hunter-specific weapon imbues at the very top. Scroll for any other gear you might want to try out, or use the 'Search' feature to find specific items. There's also a 'Load-outs' tab at the top left, but none of these contain any of the new rewards, so you'll be better off putting something together from scratch if you're looking to give us rewards feedback.
The 'Stats' option brings up a scroll listing all the skills available, alongside your current level. By clicking on any of the skills, you'll be able to input any value you like. This should come in handy for those of you wanting to try out the new Corrupted armours and get a feel for the potential of those 20 Defence builds!
Note: the bright purple trim on the corrupt Statius in this screenshot is placeholder and doesn't represent how it'll look in the main game!
So, we've set up our hypothetical 20 Defence account and kitted our character out in Corrupt Statius armour (as indicated by our signature tone of Placeholder Purple). You've got your Inventory sorted and you’re ready to fight. What's next?
Well actually, you’ve still got further options to explore. For example, you could head to the Altar inside the Enclave and right-click to swap your Spellbook easily - handy if you're testing the Corrupt Ancient Warrior equipment on a Zerker and planning to use Vegeance!
Alternatively, you could enjoy the comfort of swapping Spellbooks from your own home by using the Teleport to House spell, all thanks to Runes (or teletabs!) inside the Gear chest. We've taken it upon ourselves to kit your POH out with all the essentials, including an Occult altar, Ornate Jewellery Box, Ornate Rejuvenation Pool and a maxed-out Portal Nexus!
Finally, if you'd like to get somewhere else in Gielinor, make use of the aptly-named Handy Portal on the west side of the Enclave, which has a few teleport options. If you're using Ancient Warrior equipment, remember that you won't be able to attack any NPCs while wearing them - so best stick to other gear before trying to mess with any PvM content.
Now you're all set up and know everything that's on offer, it's time to put these weapons to the test! Ordinarily on Beta worlds, we see people head through the barriers of Ferox Enclave and fight it out in the Wilderness.
However, we'd like to make one final recommendation before we dive into the reward stats…
Use the free-for-all portal to fight! This might seem a little unusual but it will save you a bunch of time. Fighting other players in the Wilderness means that on death, you'll have to grab your whole setup from the Gear Chest again - since it's a beta world you have nothing to lose, however, so the time this takes can quickly get frustrating. By fighting in the Clan Wars free-for-all portal, the only thing you'll lose is the supplies you sacrificed. It's a whole lot easier to resupply a bunch of Anglerfish and Karambwan than an entire gear setup.
Simply step over the line and start whacking your opponent to your heart's content, then do it again, and again, and maybe even again, and a bunch more times - then let us know how it felt!
Ancient Warrior Equipment
Note: Ancient Warrior weapons are not available to test at this stage, only the Ancient Warrior armours and weapon imbues are available this week.
Now, onto the stats.
Firstly, we figured we'd experiment with some set effects for the beta, to help keep things fast-paced and fun inside the crater.
When equipping a full set of corrupted or uncorrupted armour (meaning all pieces must be from the same Ancient Warrior set, and either all must be corrupted or all must be uncorrupted), you can expect the following bonuses:
- Vesta's (Chainbody and Plateskirt) and Statius' (Full helm, Platebody, Platelegs) sets each provide +15% accuracy to Melee special attacks.
- Morrigan's (Coif, Brigandine, Chaps) set provides +15% accuracy to any Ranged special attack.
- Zuriel's (Hood, Robe top, Robe bottoms) provides 15% accuracy to Magic attacks. Note that this one is any old Magic attack, since there aren't a whole lot of Magic special attacks.
While all of these are free to use in the beta, our current thinking is for each piece of uncorrupted Ancient Warrior armour to require 5,000,000 GP to charge and activate its bonuses, while corrupted pieces would require 1,500,000 GP. On death, these armours revert to their inert state and will reward whoever killed you with the GP used to activate them.
The Corrupt armour variants retain a good chunk of their uncorrupt equivalents' offensive stats, but lose a lot of their defensive bonuses. In exchange, you'll be able to gain access to seriously hard-hitting gear at the 20 Defence bracket - assuming you're willing to take the risk of activating the armour pieces!
So, exactly how much bang are you getting for your buck? Let's find out…
Statius' Armour
Statius' Tier-78 Uncorrupted armour set
Statius' Tier-20 Corrupted armour set
Of the two melee sets, Statius' trades off a little offensive capability for some more defensive bonuses. The full set still provides a pretty beastly Crush bonus and a small amount of Prayer bonus, perfect for a hammer, mace or maul!
Vesta's Armour
Vesta's Tier-78 Uncorrupted armour set
Vesta's Tier-20 Corrupted armour set
Vesta's set doesn't include a helm like Statius' set, on top of sporting weaker defensive bonuses. For your troubles, you'll receive some hefty accuracy bonuses and some hard-hitting Strength bonuses. If you believe the best defence really is a good offence, this might be the set for you!
Morrigan's Armour
Morrigan's Tier-78 Uncorrupted armour set
Morrigan's Tier-20 Corrupted armour set
Anybody fond of Ranged will be eyeing up this set, which provides a really strong balance between offense and defense compared to other Ranged armours.
Zuriel's Armour
Zuriel's Tier-78 Uncorrupted armour set
Zuriel's Tier-20 Corrupted armour set
Last and potentially least (Magic's never been the belle of the Bounty Hunter ball, but you lot are pretty creative and may well find a way) is Zuriel's set. Boasting some serious Magic bonuses on top of the 15% accuracy increase with a full set, Zuriel's armour may well make splashing a thing of the past - we'd love to see if you come up with any creative combos using this set that really make Magic shine inside the crater!
Weapon Imbues
While the Ancient Warrior weapons won't be making an appearance in this beta, we've got a handful of imbued offerings for you to get involved with!
Following feedback we received following our last Rewards blog, we opted to scrap a planned imbue for the Heavy ballista. So, we have a fabulous five offerings for the time being, starting with...
Dark Bow (i)
The Dark bow is an absolutely iconic weapon in Old School, especially when you get to see its special attack used in conjunction with Dragon Arrows. Despite its instantly recognisable appearance, it's not been at its best in the last few years, so we've imbued it with the following changes in beta worlds:
- Ranged Accuracy increased from 95 to 105.
- Special Attack cost reduced from 55% to 45%
- Minimum Special Attack damage for Dragon Arrows increased from 8 to 10, and for non-Dragon Arrows increased from 5 to 7.
- Special Attack damage now rolls between the minimum and maximum hits, rather than being clamped by it. This means if your max hit is 48 (for example purposes) using Dragon Arrows, you'll roll damage between 10 and 48, giving you an average hit of 29. With the non-imbued behaviour, any hit below a 10 is rounded up to a 10, so you'd still have an average hit of 24.
Ultimately these changes aim to lean into the Dark Bow's existing KO power and make it a more reliable Special attack weapon, while opening up the ability to combo it with other offerings!
Barrelchest Anchor (i)
This one's for all the 60 Attack builds out there who've grown tired of Dragon weaponry. We want to bolster this nautical nightmare's KO potential to help 60 Attack builds punch up a little, while still leaving enough of a gap for the Armadyl Godsword to be a worthwhile unlock.
- Crush bonus increased from 92 to 102.
- Strength bonus increased from 100 to 110.
- Special attack damage increased from +10% to +25%.
Dragon Longsword (i)
Ahh, the weapon of choice for Gielinor's champions: the Dragon Longsword (Obsidian Cape and Rune platebody optional). Unlocked alongside the Dragon Dagger in the Lost City quest, this Longsword's limited popularity is proof that bigger isn't always better, as it doesn’t have much of a use-case while the Dragon dagger remains particularly relevant for 60 Attack builds.
Our proposed changes aim to make the Dragon Longsword a viable alternative against high defence targets, trading off max hits for much higher accuracy and potentially momentum swings while facing off against troublesome tanks.
- Stab bonus increased from 58 to 62.
- Slash bonus increased from 69 to 75.
- Special attack now gains +25% Accuracy.
- Special attack delays your next attack by 4 ticks (2.4s) rather than 5. This means you'll be able to keep on the offensive and dump your Special attack energy in a similar fashion to the Dragon Dagger.
Dragon Mace (i)
If you've always dreamed about crushing your opponent's armour and smashing them to pieces with a big, red, spiky mace then you should probably seek help. But… you should also check out these slight tweaks to the Dragon Mace. Hehe.
- Stab bonus increased from 40 to 44.
- Crush bonus increased from 60 to 64.
- Special attack accuracy rolls against 60% of your target's Defence. If you'd like to more-or-less recreate the Battle of the Trident (and we're not talking about Kraken uniques) then this might be the bullet point for you!
Abyssal Dagger (i)
As part of Poll 78, we reduced the special attack cost of this demonic dagger to 25%. We'd like to propose the following boosts inside Bounty Hunter, to give the Abyssal Dagger a place in PvP that isn't in the Dragon Dagger's shadow.
- Stab bonus increased from 75 to 85.
- Special attack damage reduction removed (-15% to 0%).
These tweaks are small, but should give builds with 70 Attack the option to use something that feels like a Dragon Dagger with a little more consistency, making those extra Attack levels feel worthwhile.
That's everything we've got for you in the Bounty Hunter Rewards Beta at this stage. We hope you get stuck in and give them a try - or perhaps even just get involved in the Edge-style PvP. It's a ton of fun and we're sure you'll love it!
We can't wait to hear your feedback and make the necessary tweaks to these rewards, so please get in touch across the usual channels and let us know how you're finding them.
In case you missed it, the winners of the 12th Annual Golden Gnomes were announced last Friday, March 24th!
You can check out the full VOD either by clicking here or by watching the video below (if you're able to see the embed!). If you're in a rush you can check out this mini-blog linking to all of the winners.
Once again, a huge congratulations to all of the winners! Last year was an absolutely fantastic year for creators and creativity in Old School, and we can't wait to see what you pull out for the rest of 2023. After all, the 13th Annual Golden Gnomes is not so far away…
It's not all awards shows, betas and bloodshed! We've got a few smaller tweaks for the main game too.
- Players will now receive level up notifications when they've advanced a combat level. These behave the same as existing level up messages and will respect any pre-existing thresholds for Clan and Group chat notifications. If the thought of another level up notification potentially interrupting your actions terrifies you, don't panic, read the next one!
- Added a new Gameplay setting to allow you to disable the level-up interface. Phew! You will continue to get level-up fireworks, jingles, messages and broadcasts, but leveling will no longer delay or interrupt your actions.
- Re-enabled the ability to drop a max stack of items. Any of you looking to drop 2,147,482,647 of any given item can rejoice, there's no longer a risk of max stacks disappearing on drop!
- Players inside the Arceuus library will now receive a message in their chatbox letting them know when the books have shifted locations.
- Cerberus' flame attack will no longer damage players after the hellish hound has died. There were some rare occasions where Cerberus would die and launch a flame attack at the same time, leaving Cerberus dead but players vulnerable to damage from the flame. Bad dog.
- Some grammar has been corrected in the notifications about GIM group leaders being demoted due to inactivity.
- The Volatile Staff was moved to the basic tier of reward chest in LMS, while the Lightbearer and the Voidwaker were added to the superior tier.
- The Saradomin Godsword no longer shows gold-rimmed hitsplats for very low-damage values.
- Rearranged a few gameplay settings to make them appear under the correct header.
- The monkeys in Trouble Brewing are no longer susceptible to Alchemy spells. Please stop turning intelligent creatures into GP!
- Players can now challenge each other to friendly duels and Clan Wars without the interfaces suddenly cancelling.
- Activity highscores that previously had a minimum KC of 35 have been expanded; the new minimum is 30. Players currently in the 30-34 range should find their scores are added gradually after some more gaming sessions. As the system would be expected to struggle with the load from a big influx of newly ranked players all at once, we're taking it down in small steps like this, like we did last month.
That's all we've got for you this week! We'd like to issue a quick reminder before we wrap up, though.
This won't apply to all of you, but it's our final chance to flag it!
To apologise for a period of downtime during November 2022, we sent a large number of players a one-time passcode for 2 days' Membership, to cover the time lost. This code expires on Friday, March 31st.
In case you missed it, this code can be used on any account, or even gifted to another player or friend who might want to get back into Old School.
To find your code, head to the Account Settings section of our website (while you're there, check to see if you're eligible to upgrade to a Jagex Account and head to your Messages.
Look for a message titled 'Data Centre Outage Follow Up' to claim and redeem your code. You can pop the code into the Code Redemption Screen, and double-check to make sure you're logged in to the account you want to claim membership on. If the redemption was successful, you'll receive a confirmation message.
Make sure you don't miss out!
This week's hint is for the clue obtained from the Chemist!
The PvP rota has moved to Period B:
- 560 - (UK) - PvP World
- 579 - (US) - High-Risk PvP World
- 561 - (UK) - Free-to-Play PvP World
- 580 - (US) - LMS Competitive
World 390 (AUS) for LMS Competitive has been de-activated with this rota. The PvP Arena is using '1 Def Pure' loadouts in Ranked Duels and Tournaments this week.
You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.
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The Old School Team.
