Quotations taken directly from RuneScape.com

1 October 2007 - Behind the Scenes - October

The month of October starts with another graphical improvement to an existing area. This time, Evil Dave’s house and the well-used town of Edgeville gets a lick of paint. The team of decorators were a little scared to progress down into Edgeville Dungeon, however, so stay tuned for further improvements to this area. You see, Vannaka is a little defensive of his existing décor and, as he can wield a two-handed sword in one hand, we don't want to question him too much...

The shops of RuneScape will be delivering a hefty blow to bots this month. Instead of finding shops empty of stock because a bot has bought it all, you will find infinite stock of various key items. With the Shop Improvement update, you will have everything necessary to make buying and selling more fun, and far less frustrating! Of course, we will also be tweaking the prices so this doesn't unbalance other aspects of the game.

More information on this subject will be made available via this month's “Development Diaries – Shop Rework”.

This month's quest brings us to the continuing tale of Ardougne's favourite bachelor, Lord Francis Handelmort. Recent break-ins to his mansion (Tribal Totem) have left him without a showpiece for his next dinner party, so he has ordered a Karamjan jade vine after looking at some "artists' impressions" in the G.A.G newsletter. Can you help retrieve a cutting? Large over-ground mazes, giant ants and some really funny content all await for those with a penchant for all things tropical. Your prize will be similar in nature to the “Tears of Guthix“ minigame, with repeatable rewards specific to two skills (not just Farming) while being a lot less wet. Be warned, however: this quest's bark is worse than its bite.

Also this month, we will be adding support for those players who play the game in organised groups or clans. In this case, we are offering a better means of distributing loot amongst your team: the 'Shared Loot' system. This is designed to be an extension of the Clan Chat channels. Each item drop recorded while signed into the 'Shared Loot' system will be allocated randomly to anyone within the group, regardless of how much damage the individual did to the creature. Anyone who does not get many drops will find that the drops balance out over a longer period of time. Of course, this system is entirely optional, so you can still group-fight just as you did before. We hope that using it will provide a safer, fairer way of sharing out your treasure during your next run to the Dagannoth Kings or Kalphite Queen!

“So,” I hear you all cry, “that’s all well and good, but what about Hallowe'en?” Well, you certainly won’t be disappointed. Most of you are aware of the results of the Guaranteed Content Poll back in June and the results will be gloomily fantastic. Being invited to the Grim Reaper's house isn’t an everyday experience, so don’t expect a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. Well, maybe a biscuit - he does love a good fig roll after a hard day's work.

As always, expect a healthy dose of your own contributions via the Postbag and the Players' Gallery, a Development Diary on the shop rework, the release of the Triple Trouble wallpaper (as decided by you) and lots more additions to the Knowledge Base.

Discuss this update on the forums.

1 October 2007 - Development Diary: Content Team

Today, we've released the fourth Development Diary. This diary is revisiting the work of the RuneScape Content team in more detail, but not necessarily in the way you might have been expecting...

This diary takes a look behind some of the tough decisions we have to make when developing RuneScape, particularly when it comes to improving old content. The focus is very much on the Shop Improvement and tackles the difficulties we have in striking the balance between making the game better, ironing out problems AND keeping players happy.

We hope you enjoy learning more about the inner-workings of Jagex and RuneScape.

To read the new Development Diary, click here.

Discuss this update on the fourms.

1 October 2007 - King Black Dragon Wallpaper

A few weeks ago we asked you to vote in a Guaranteed Content poll for the next wallpaper to be created by our artists. Over one hundred thousand of you cast your votes, and it was a pretty close call! "The Taming of Jad" came a close second, but a certain Black Dragon, proving he's still the King, came out on top.

38% of you voted for "Triple Trouble" - three warriors facing off against the mighty King Black Dragon. We're very pleased to announce the wallpaper has been created; fangs sharpened to perfection and eyes glistening evilly. Head on over to the Downloads section to check out this fantastic piece of artwork. While you're there, why not have a browse of the rest of the wallpapers?

We would like to thank all of you that voted. Those of you who do vote in our polls are making a definite difference to the game and what we produce for it. The more 'fun' polls are obviously there for you to enjoy, but all other polls really help us to understand what you want from RuneScape.

Look out for more great wallpapers in the Downloads section in future; your ideas and the poll results have given us plenty of inspiration.

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