Dig site Update

After years of bureaucracy, the Varrock Dig Site has finally received its second round of funding and is now looking substantially snazzier. The whole area has received a visual upgrade, including new NPC models.

We’ve also been able to make a few quality of life improvements in the area:

The globetrotter outfit now teleports you directly to a certain underground clue if you have completed Dig Site quest, not just to the winch.

The player character will no longer sink into the ground around the site.

The winches on the surface now properly match up with the relative positions of the caves below.

There is now a tool cupboard in the exam centre to replace any tools students or workmen might have misplaced.

The Dig Site quest has also been improved:

Hint boxes have been added to the quest.

Digging spots can now just be clicked on (no more "Use tool on soil" with a tiny click zone).

All hand-ins are now handled via left click interactions (no need to "Use item on NPC", though these still work).

The role of the curator has been replaced with a new NPC - Seth Minas - to keep students on-site throughout the quest.

Cups of tea will now spawn in one of the new buildings in this area.

Groundskeeping work means that there are now fewer bushes to search for lost objects.

You can now carry multiple panning trays and fill them all up before having to check them.

If you try to pan with only full panning trays in your inventory, you will automatically check and empty one of your full panning trays first.

Pickpocketing is now the default option (for members) on Varrock Dig Site workmen.

The components of the chemical compound used in the quest can now all be found in the caves to better make use of this area.

Ammonium nitrate and nitroglycerine are now identified on pickup, and do not have to be taken to archaeological expert Terry Balando (though he is still able to identify any unidentified items you might still have lying around).

Leather boots and gloves are no longer required to dig at archaeological grids. You will still need the relevant qualification and tools.

Examiners will now provide the appropriate tools for each qualification, in an attempt to reduce theft on-site.

The Dig Site quest journal has been updated to reflect the changes made to the area.

Please don't disturb the various students, workers, examiners, researchers or professors during this crucial time. They're all very busy planning how to spend their new budgets...

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Wiki Integration

In September last year, we partnered with rs.wiki to bring you all the information you could possibly need about the world of RuneScape. Today is the next big step in that partnership.

We’re very excited to announce that all 45,577 articles on the RuneScape Wiki can now be searched from within the game.

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How to Search the Wiki

Open Chat

Type: /wiki [search term]

Press Enter

These steps will launch the relevant wiki page in your internet browser.

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Patch Notes

Take a glance at the patch notes to get the inside scoop on the dig site rework and all the other small changes we’ve made this week, including the following changes to The Needle Skips:

When searching for keywords, the search box will re-highlight if you guessed an incorrect word, saving you a click. If a new keyword is discovered, the subchapter it belongs to will flash around the portrait.

Read all the patch notes here.

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Double Daily Keys

The sun is shining and we’re all in the mood for a good old fashioned treasure hunt. From Monday, May 20th to Sunday, June 2nd, the amount of daily treasure hunter keys received will be doubled.

Please note that this only counts for daily keys, not keys earned in game or bought.

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Portable Vic the Trader Update

When we released the Portable Trader we intended on a limited release until the 26th of May. However, we’ve received a lot of feedback asking for the Elite Woodcutting outfit to be added to his store. We will add this outfit on the 27th of May, and to give everyone the chance to purchase it before the Trader goes off sale, we’ve also extended the Portable Trader cut off date to Sunday, June 2nd.

Happy Shopping!

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Elite Skilling Outfits

At the same time we like to inform you that the Elite Woodcutting outfits and the Elite Hunter outfits will be made available in game soon.

The Maple, Oaken, and Willow sentinel outfits will appear in game in about a month. All three can be combined to create the Nature’s Sentinel outfit.

The Desert, Arctic, Jungle and Volcanic outfits will become available at the same time as the Hunter modernisation update. You can find out more about the upcoming changes to Hunter here.

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LootScape

Our live streams are always a great opportunity to grab some awesome in-game prizes. And this May, we’ve done one particularly hefty update of the LootScape for you! We’ve added a bonanza package for your Player-Owned Farm, courtesy of Granny Potterington. In addition, we thought it would be time to bring back some player-favourite goodies: the skilling outfit piece, the Loots Cape and Nature’s Balance (main-hand sword override).

This May, each and every RuneScape stream watched will give you a random drop from one of the following:

Guaranteed:

Between 10-100 Player-Owned Farm Beans

A name re-roller or trait re-roller

A random animal for their farm

Guaranteed drop from Basic Drop Table (see below)

View counter goes up on Orb

Chance based:

A random skilling outfit piece (if unowned)

Either Nature’s Balance or Loots Cape (if unowned)

Basic Drop Table: Prismatic small fallen star, Prismatic medium fallen star, Prismatic small lamp, Prismatic medium lamp, Spirit Ruby, Spirit Diamond, Advanced Pulse Core, Spring, Silverhawk down, Medium DG Token Box, Small DG Token Box, Uncut Dragonstone, Large Cash Bag, Medium Cash Bag or Small Cash Bag.

Exciting isn’t it?! So don’t wait up - connect your RS account to your Twitch account and find out more here. Once that’s done, have fun and watch our streams during the day for a guaranteed drop.

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Live streams this week

Each week, we host developer Q&As, exclusive in-game first looks and more. And it’s all live on our Twitch channel, join us! Missed a stream? Don’t worry, we keep them all on our YouTube channel. Be sure to Subscribe to be the first to know.

Tuesday, May 21st – 16:00 UTC (Game Time) – General Q&A

In today’s Q&A we’ve got lots to show! First Mod Shauny will wrap up on the latest Data from last Friday’s stream, then we will talk about the oh-so-exciting bank improvements and placeholders, followed by a highlight of the freshly added Digsite Rework. And as usual, our JMods will be ready to answer all questions you might have on these exciting updates!

You may have also heard a Needle whisper that these are “Desperate Times” in Gielinor, or maybe seen dark clouds ahead. There are still much mysteries to be uncovered. Wonder when that could be…

LootScape will be enabled (see all details above).

Friday, May 24th – 18:00 UTC (Game Time) – Spidermash Featured Stream

This week, our featured streamer is Spidermash. Join him for a community-favourite Castle Wars and then some bossing!

And since we love to support our amazing Content Creators, this featured stream is also an opportunity to grab a LootScape! That’s right, you can now receive in-game loot when you watch a RuneScape streamer. It works exactly the same way as our official streams, just watch Spidermash's stream (his Twitch channel) and you’ll receive the LootScape the following day!

LootScape will be enabled (see all details above).

Sunday, May 26th – 18:00 UTC (Game Time) – PvM with Mod Lee

Our resident PvM expert Mod Lee knows no fear and he’s ready to take you all on another round of boss mass. From Vorago to the Kalphite King, the Corporeal Beast, the Angel of Death, if you’ve got a set to complete, an achievement to unlock, or simply want to hang out with friends and slay some, this is the place and time!

LootScape will be enabled (see all details above).

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Pink skirts Events

Of course, adventures continue in Gielinor even when we're too busy (PKing) creating the adventures of tomorrow. Our PMods are here to welcome you in a range of PvM Boss Masses, Events and Q&As each week. Check out all the community events organised by the Pink Skirts on their official schedule here

The RuneScape Team