Well, the weather outside is frightful, but our updates this month are so delightful! December has descended on Gielinor and Festive Mode is fully engaged. Come on in from the cold and see what’s under the Christmas Tree, and also get a small taste of what the early New Year has in store…

Smooth Movement

We know a lot of you were excited for some of the tech updates that were glimpsed during RuneFest. Well, we're delighted to say that the first of those will be arriving in December!

Smooth Movement will address the way characters currently traverse Gielinor. Currently, characters will start and stop instantly, with no acceleration or deceleration, and change speed suddenly during movement. And when turning, they start moving in their new direction immediately. This makes turning look jagged and unnatural.

A number of changes are being introduced to transform all of this. If you're interested in a very detailed and technical look into this then head on over to the dev blog. But essentially, factors such as acceleration, changes to catch-up and a new routing system will mean that both your character and NPCs will move a lot more realistically, and navigate the world's various buildings and objects in a far more natural way.

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Advent Calendar

It’s the giving season, and boy do we have some great gifts for you! From December 1st to December 25th, you’ll be able to open a new door on the Advent Calendar every day and tear into the Christmassy goodies within.

This year the prizes include a new range of cosy Christmas Jumpers, the Santa Claws weapon override and the Santa Paws outfit for Felix the Cat! Plus, when you log in and use the calendar for 15 days, you’ll receive Merry the Christmas Yeti, who can accompany you on all your wintery travels.

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Christmas Event

There’s some cracking good fun going on in the Grand Exchange, too…

The Christmas Cracker event is making an explosive return! In case you’ve forgotten, the event works like this: you’ll team up with your fellow players to build a gigantic cracker in the Grand Exchange, gaining Construction XP as you go. When the cracker is complete, you and your companions get to tug it open and claim the prizes inside!

Our sources also tell us that Santa will be having some trouble with his presents – it seems his sleigh just isn’t built for the sheer amount of gifts he has to deliver to the children of Gielinor, causing some of them to slip off the back. Hopefully the snowglobes weren’t among them! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to track down the lost presents and return them to Santa – in exchange for rewards, of course. The rewards in question are a snuggly Rudolf jumper, the Merry title, and some Cracker Paper to contribute to the Christmas Cracker event.

Both events run from December 16th to January 5th, and are free-to-play, so everyone can join in the festive fun!

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Sleigher Armour

A word of warning: something’s been spotted in the woods around Draynor. Something large, something covered in red, something… jingling. If you’re brave enough, you can find your own set of Sleigher Armour in Solomon’s General Store from December 10th – 31st.

And if you’re wandering up Draynor way… you’d better watch out.

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Wintumber Warmer

Come gather ‘round and celebrate the end of one wonderful year in Gielinor, and the start of a new one! From January 2nd – 6th, the Lumbridge Crater will be home to a gigantic bonfire, where generous players can donate their logs in return for 25% extra XP.

But that’s not all! You’ll also be able to partake in Poi Dancing, Fire Breathing, Lantern Building and even Spirit Summoning. You may remember the other attractions from past events, but now there’s a twist: instead of earning items like Fire Poi, Fire Stones, and Fire Wood from Treasure Hunter in order to use the event, you’ll earn them by participating in the event itself.

There will be a 10% XP boost in the area, and appropriately placed Bank chests to allow for community skilling. Of course, no New Year’s celebration would be complete without fireworks, so there are a number of those scattered about for you all to play with. Please don’t tell Health & Safety.

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Anniversary Cake

It’s been a few years now, but we’ve still got some slices of that massive Anniversary Cake left. So many, in fact, that we’re giving them away! To celebrate RuneScape's 19th birthday on January 4th (!!!), when you log in on January 1st, you’ll get your very own Anniversary Cake. The use-by date is January 7th, though, so eat it up quick! Hopefully this is the year we finally finish it.

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Year Ahead

Towards the end of this month you can look forward to our Year Ahead roundup, which will cover some of the in-game content coming in 2020. You’ll find out more about Archaeology and the Elder God Wars Dungeon, and we’ve also managed to squeeze in a few new things you haven’t heard about yet…

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Road to Archaeology

Are you prepared for RuneScape’s newest skill? No? Then you’d better keep an eye out for the Road to Archaeology videos, which will start rolling out in the New Year on January 3rd, 10th, and 17th. Hang out with Mod Osborne and Mod Timbo on their archaeological dig, where they’ll be discussing what you can expect from Archaeology, helping you prepare ahead of time, and giving you a tour of some of the lesser-known dig sites of Gielinor.

Not enough Archaeology for you? Never fear – the second Archaeology Journal will also arrive some time this month. This time, Tony’s getting very excited about somewhere called Warforge!

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Premier Club

Premier Club is the best way to enjoy everything that RuneScape has to offer, and is now available once again! Premier Club members not only get to enjoy all the incredible benefits of RuneScape membership for a discounted price – they also get loads of juicy extras on top! You can read more about all of that here. For the first time, this year Premier Club members also receive the Premier Pass, granting them access to all the best rewards from Yak Track. What's Yak Track, you ask? Well...

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Yak Track

Count Yakula’s Yak Track continues! Which ghoulish goodies have you unlocked so far?

The Yak Track is open, and there are lots of very generous rewards available completely free to absolutely everyone. However, Premier Pass owners get loads more prizes, including the Abyssal Prowler pet, the sinister Witch’s Doll pet, and the menacing Raven outfit. You can snap up Premier Club membership at any time throughout the event to receive the Premier Pass - this will unlock any of the Premium track items you’ve already won on your journey. You can also grab Premier Pass with Bonds if you don't want to join the Premier Club.

You can read more about Yak Track here.

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January Sale

Why not ring in the New Year in style with some fresh new duds from Solomon’s General Store? Throughout January, you’ll get up to 75% off animations, weapon overrides, splat packs, and much, much more.

Next time you hear from us, it'll be 2020! Here's hoping that next year brings even more awesome updates and exciting surprises. And from all of us here at Jagex: Happy 'Scaping!

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The RuneScape Team