Now that we have a good idea of how the Wilderness Rejuvenation II poll is fairing, we’d like to address the rewards from Revenant caves and gather your feedback based on the information we’ve provided. If you haven't already, you can catch up by reading the previous Dev Blog.
Changelog:
- Added an alternate version of the Amulet of Peril. The original version remains unchanged.
- Altered the Loot Key Scroll so that it only allows players to gather 5 kills to keys. After this you will need to redeem another Loot Key Scroll. No other changes were made.
- Altered the way PvP armours degrade so it no longer impacts switching gear, such as in hybrid fights. The armours will still only last for a maximum of 60 minutes.
- Added clarification regarding why PvP armours degrade.
- Added a new reward, Sinister Scroll.
- Added a new reward, Ancient Crystals.
- Added a new reward, Minus XP Lamp.
Reviewing the results of the poll, the main content is passing favourably but it’s clear we need to revisit the rewards on offer. After reviewing your feedback over the last few days, we are aware some changes need to be made and further clarification given for the rewards we initially offered.
We want to promote a risk vs reward scenario and bring with it the adrenaline rush you get when seeing that rare drop appear on the ground. Without any unique drops, the drop table for Revenants will be filled with supplies and alchables – great for many other NPC’s but not the most exciting of things to get from the Wilderness!
We want to be open and honest with you on this one, but ultimately, it’s down to what passes the polls.
A lot of people were concerned over the effectiveness of the Amulet of Peril, especially when it came to accounts built specifically for rushing. We also saw a lot of very valid comments regarding the full details of the amulet not being released, which understandably hindered their decision to vote. If you didn't get chance to read up on the amulet's effects, you can catch up by reading the "Amulet of Peril" section of the previous Dev Blog.
We've been thinking of ways we can change up the Amulet of Peril based on your feedback and we'd like to propose two potential options. If there is overwhelming feedback received for a particular one, that will get added to the poll. If there is no clear favourite, we will look to poll the amulet concept with both options to choose from if the main amulet question passes, in which case the favoured vote would win.
Option 1
The amulet when uncharged would have +5 to all Attack bonus stats and +5 to Melee Strength only. When fully charged, it would have +25 to all Attack bonus stats and +15 to Melee Strength only.
The amulet would charge based on the % of hitpoints the wearer has left, working in increments of 10. A player with 99 HP would have to be at 9 hitpoints or less to gain the maximum stat bonus from the amulet.
For the amulet to gain any additional stats, you must be in combat with your primary target for a minimum of 5 game cycles, which is equivalent to 3 seconds. If you attack a new target, this timer will reset.
Option 2
The amulet when uncharged would have the same offensive stats as an Amulet of fury, however, these stats would not change based on your % of hitpoints missing. Instead of applying scaling stats, the amulet would simply apply a scaling flat damage boost to all attack styles (Melee, Ranged and Magic) from +0% when uncharged to +25% when fully charged.
With the above gear, the max hit of a player using a Super Strength potion and the Piety prayer, would be 50.
The amulet would charge based on the % of hitpoints the wearer has left, working in increments of 25. A player with 99 HP would have to be at 9 hitpoints or less to gain the maximum damage bonus from the amulet.
The above table shows the breakdown of how much extra a player would hit with the scaling damage bonus. This is taken based on the player having +142 Melee strength, using a Super Strength potion and the Piety prayer.
For the amulet to gain any additional damage, you must be in combat with your primary target for a minimum of 5 game cycles, which is equivalent to 3 seconds. If you attack a new target, this timer will reset.
Both versions of the amulet would apply in PvP combat only.
Currently in most PvP situations, most players tend to sit at maximum HP throughout the entire fight. This means that other than a well-timed, or rather lucky special attack, there can be little opportunity to get a good kill. The purpose of the amulet is to mix up the current meta of sitting at full HP by giving players an incentive to risk being at lower HP.
Being as low as 9hp is an extremely high risk. A well timed counter attack or vengeance could end the fight in an instant, and we expect the amulet to be a valuable item to protect. We're really excited to see how just how it gets used.
If you didn't get chance to read up on how Loot Keys work, you can catch up by reading the "Loot Key Scroll" section in the previous Dev Blog.
Many players have asked why isn’t this in the Bounty Hunter store. Whilst we can see why this would be wanted and it does give more options for PKers to spend their points on, we think them coming as a drop is a more favourable option. You can currently purchase any item of choice from the Bounty Hunter store via Emblems (which can be obtained from the G.E). The Loot Key Scroll would be tradeable, meaning anyone that doesn’t want to gather or buy Emblems could buy the scroll from the G.E (just as you would Emblems).
We want to help diversify the Revenant drop table by adding it as a tradeable drop, whilst also giving everyone a chance to obtain the unlock.
We’ve also seen players request the ability for Loot Keys to have the option for food and supplies to be split from the key, so they can restock after each kill. If we did this then the Loot Keys would be far too strong – players are already gaining a huge benefit of not having to carry a full inventory of loot. Any player that intends to PK and gather supplies from the defeated whilst doing so should simply toggle off Loot Keys.
The change we'd like to propose to the original Loot Key Scroll is to no longer make them a permanent unlock once the scroll has been used. Players will still be able to toggle Loot Keys on or off as many times as they like from the Witch in Edgeville at no extra cost, but would only be able to get 5 keys in total with them enabled before they lose the ability and need to get a new scroll. This also counts for any kills where you do not pick up a key.
If in the event you kill someone holding Loot Keys, you will still be able to pick them up (with a limit of 5 keys in your inventory at any one time) without it taking away from your remaining kills to keys counter.
This will mean players wishing to use Loot Keys will have to choose their targets wisely, given they can only claim a certain amount of kills to keys before having to purchase a new scroll. It also helps with keeping the item in high demand!
When killing a player with Loot Keys enabled, the key would be dropped in the way you'd expect normal loot to drop from a kill. You will still need to run over and pick it up. Keys would have an "Inspect" option on them, this option is available while they are on the floor or in your inventory. This will tell you the value of the key. You can then decide whether or not it's worth getting rid of one of your existing keys for one on the floor, etc.
Keys will always be lost on death, meaning their contents will never be protected. Players holding keys will not have any special skulls or indicators.
The PvP Armours were iconic to the original release of the Revenant caves and brought a large amount of variety to the Wilderness - we're looking to repoll all of the armours. Although many players that used these before knew how effective they were, some have raised concerns over their strength.
First off, let’s make it clear that we intentionally kept the stats the same as they were when first introduced, as we know what impact they had. We also didn’t want to shy away from the fact we offered these as they were before, which is why we didn’t change the armour names from their originals.
We want to offer the PvP armours as a more exclusive PvP item but don’t want to change any of the stats. Instead we’d like to propose them as having no offensive bonuses when not attacking a player. This means that in any Player vs NPC (PvM) activity, you would only gain the defensive bonuses of the gear. The items will still degrade as usual.
Many players were concerned about people switching to the PvP armours for a single tick simply to spec or tank, in an attempt to avoid the degradation timer. We have coded the armours in a way that stops players from being able to extend the duration of their armours whatsoever. The absolute maximum amount of time the armour will last is 60 minutes.
Previously, the armours would degrade by 1 minute each time a piece was swapped out (regardless of if you've worn it for a full minute or not). This wasn't great for anyone that was intending to use the PvP armours to hybrid, or swap out to gain a defensive boost. We've now changed the way the degradation timer works so it operates in line with each game cycle. Simply put, the armour will now degrade every 0.6 seconds whilst in combat, regardless of gear swaps.
You can find the stats of the PvP armours in the previous Dev Blog under the "PvP Armours" section.
Why aren't we considering making PvP armours non-degradable?
The honest answer is we have considered it, but we feel like it's the wrong decision to make for the armours. One of the main things that kept the PvP armours so exclusive was the fact that as soon as one was equipped, it was tied to that player forever (or until it turned to dust). This naturally kept them a rare item, which helped them hold their value. They could never be traded, never repaired, and eventually, left the game entirely. With the addition of a gold sink, we believe we have a great balance, though we are always open to additional feedback.
We're not looking to repoll the proposed ranged gloves/vambraces. Although they are at a higher pass percentage than the PvP armours, it was clear with the feedback received that many people feel an item like this should come from another piece of content. We've taken the feedback on board regarding what changes could be made, but as many of them didn't fit the theme of the Wilderness or being a drop from the Revenant caves, we've decided to not repoll them at this moment in time.
When used on an Amulet of Glory, the Sinister Scroll would create the Sinister Amulet, a brand new tradeable necklace.
Sinister Amulet provides the same stats as an Amulet of Glory, with the added ability of increasing the effectiveness of the Smite prayer. Instead of lowering your opponent's prayer by 1/4 of damage dealt, Smite would instead drain by 1/3 of damage dealt.
This item would become untradeable once used and would crumble to dust after being worn for 100 hits. We'd like to gather more feedback on how many hits would seem effective enough without making the item last for too long.
This idea was originally polled back in 2014 with the release of Bounty Hunter. It achieved around a 72% "Yes" with approximately 30 thousand votes.
Ancient crystals are a new rare tradeable resource that drop from Revenants. Players can use 4 Ancient crystals and 4 Marble blocks to build their very own Wilderness Obelisk in their house.
Creating the Wilderness obelisk in a PoH would require 80 Construction and offers a one-way teleport to any of the 6 current Wilderness obelisk locations. Completion of the Wilderness diaries would allow players to choose the teleport location.
The Wilderness obelisk would be placed in the Superior Garden room, taking up the same hotspot as the Spirit tree/Fairy ring. Completing the obelisk would grant players with XP similar to other furniture of the same level, but should not be seen as a new training method.
Minus XP lamps are for those out there who have simply misclicked on a skill. They allow players to reduce a small amount of XP in their skills of choice. With account bound limitations to prevent abuse, they offer a new option for anyone wanting to revive a failed pure.
We'd like to offer Minus XP Lamps as a reward from the Revenant caves.
These lamps would allow players to remove 50xp from any combat skill of their choosing. There would be a limit of 10 lamps per player, meaning a total of 500xp could be removed. You would only be able to use the lamps on a combat skill that is level 50 or below.
Minus XP Lamps would be tradeable and activating one would cost 5 million gold coins.
We'd love to get more feedback on the changes proposed above, so please discuss this update on our forums.
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