Its time to vote on Old School RuneScapes first new skill! Which ones your favourite?
Following our pitch at the Winter Summit, 80% of you told us that youd like to see a new skill enter the game. Since then, weve been working hard behind the scenes to bring you not one, not two, but three pitches, based on the results of the Community Consultation phase.
In the time between our previous update and today, weve received over 138,000 votes and 44,000 survey responses. We want to thank everyone who shared their thoughts and ideas thanks to your valuable input, we have a much better understanding of the kind of new skill youd all like to see.
So, without further ado, lets introduce our potential new skills: Sailing, Taming and Shamanism.
If you can't see the video above, you can find it directly here.
Community Consultation Data
Sailing
Taming
Shamanism
Polling Approach
New Skill Player Council Discord Server
Over the coming weeks we need YOU to pick ONE skill concept youd like us to refine further. Once weve done that and showed you the results, well move to the Lock-in Poll and if the skill passes that, well start work on the New Skill Beta.
However, dont forget that we can also go backwards at any stage if we need to nothings set in stone yet!
Before we look at the new skills, lets go over the results of the Community Consultation phase.
Firstly, we found that most of you are interested in some kind of Utility skill, so in line with that, weve ensured that two out of our three pitches are Utility skills. The third is a mix between Production and Gathering, with a reward space that offers various Utility benefits.
The second most popular skill type was Combat, although it was also the most polarising. Players are open to the idea that a new skill might enhance Combat, and it proved a desirable reward space, but not all of you were interested in a full-on Combat skill. Dont worry with this in mind, we plan to be very cautious with any changes that might affect Combat.
Another common theme was the desire to explore new areas with your new skill. Design-wise, if a new skill doesnt have a strong presence in existing areas, it can feel a bit too similar to a minigame so weve made sure that each concept has a good presence in both old and new places.
Unsurprisingly, you also wanted the new skill to integrate with your existing ones although you dont think that training it should be locked behind other skill requirements. All three of our pitches include multiple options for training methods, so theres lots of integration to be had!
Gameplay-wise, you indicated you wouldnt be happy if the new skill was buyable. An item sink was a benefit, but more of a nice-to-have than a needed feature. The trouble here is that good item sinks are largely dependent on having buyables, so any skill with an item sink would naturally be buyable. Our third pitch presents a solution to this problem, incorporating the item sink into the reward space rather than the training method.
When we asked about what kind of wild, unique mechanics youd like to see, the ones you liked most were animal companions and boats.
In line with this, you also said youd really like the new skill to have a nature or magical theme. We spent a lot of time trying to weave these ideas into our pitches, without coming too close to the existing Magic skill.
Multiple training methods (including solo'able and AFK) was also a must-have feature across the board for any type of new skill, so we'll make sure to keep this in mind especially during refinement.The next portion of the survey asked your opinion on polling existing skills from RuneScape 3 or from the selection weve polled previously.
Those of you who played in 2007 will be familiar with skills like Summoning and Dungeoneering. It turns out, these skills had some mixed responses. Rest assured weve dug into your feedback and feel we have a good understanding of why these skills in particular arent the best fit in their previous iterations. Plus, weve applied those learnings to our skill pitches so its a win-win!
When we asked if youd like us to have another go at one of our previous proposed skills, one stood out far and above the rest. We reckon you can guess which one! Nevertheless, were aware that our past skill proposals come with a lot of baggage. There was an overwhelming amount of support for this skill, so please keep an open mind, read the pitch carefully, and vote as though youre seeing it for the first time!
Disclaimer:
The ideas were presenting here arent yet set in stone. Any examples given in these pitches are simply to illustrate how concepts might work in-game. If you feel any of the examples given muddy the waters, or dont feel right for the skill, please let us know all your feedback is valuable!
At the other end of the scale, please remember that these are just concepts, not finished products. If something seems vague now, remember that the nitty gritty details will be ironed out in the next stage of the process and they can change depending on your feedback.
Is this Old School RuneScape's first and only new skill?
Weve seen this idea a lot, and just want to reassure everyone that this is not an all or nothing vote. Theres absolutely no reason we cant poll more skills in the future, so please dont let this mentality influence your vote!
Your favourite skill might not make it this round, but thats not to say we wont develop it later, if thats something the community seems interested in and well do all we can to avoid getting stuck in development limbo.
So, without further ado lets see the pitches!
Whether youre an explorer setting foot on unexplored territory, a fisherman hoping for a monster catch, a pirate looking to sink every ship in sight, or even a courier looking to move goods from A to B, Sailing has something to offer everyone. So, acquire a vessel, set forth, and travel Gielinor like youve never travelled before!
Core Gameplay Loop
- Navigate to a Port.
- Obtain a Ship.
- Engage in fun activities at Sea.
Increasing your Sailing level allows you to explore more dangerous and exciting areas.
To get started on your Sailing journey, youll need to make your way to a port. Luckily, we have loads of those in-game already!
Next, youll need to obtain a ship. Youll have plenty of options to choose from, whether you want to hire one, purchase one, steal one or even build one from scratch. The quality of the ship will impact how far youre able to sail, and how youll fare at sea - although youll need higher Sailing levels to command the best quality vessels.
Once youve obtained your ship, you can set sail and start doing seafaring activities! This could include searching for an elusive sea monster, finding a new Fishing spot, or just seeing what else exists across the far-reaching seas of Gielinor.
Disclaimer:
Feedback on our previous Sailing pitch in 2015 told us that some players view Sailing as a 'meme' due to historical baggage within the community. As such, we've completely redesigned the skills training method. Well ensure that the majority of your XP comes from enjoyable seafaring activities, not building boats.
Were also aware that you dont want to see timegated content, so were not looking to introduce a copy of RuneScape 3s Player Owned Port system.
Content
So, what can you do at sea?
We plan for seaborne activities to make up the bulk of your Sailing training and it also makes up most of the reward space for the skill.
Wed like to focus on navigating as a core mechanic. This will be a huge part of the skill, so its important that it feels natural the current click-to-move system might feel weird on the open sea! Weve been toying with a few options, like a unique pathfinding algorithm, keyboard entry controls, or a special navigating interface. This is one of many things wed like to focus on during refinement, and you can bet youll get lots of opportunities to try this mechanic in the Beta.
But navigating would be a bit boring if the sea maintains its current copy-pasted blue texture. With this skill launch wed fully update Gielinors oceans with deep waters, coral reefs, sea currents, storms, and loads of other new content for you to discover.
We dont like the idea of giving you passive XP for navigating around aimlessly after all, you dont train Agility by walking! Instead, we plan to introduce a variety of activities you can take part in. This will be the bread and butter of the skill, the means by which youll earn the vast majority of Sailing XP. Our current suggestions include:
- Deep sea fishing
- Hunting elusive sea creatures
- Navigational challenges, where you navigate the ship across some sort of obstacle or threat
- Delivering packages from A to B
- Uncovering new islands to explore
Lastly, well throw in some passive gameplay things you can do alongside training the skill that give small amounts of XP, such as recording your adventure in the Captains Log, or dealing with random encounters. Just like the rest of the world, the sea is alive and full of danger be on the lookout for bad weather, strange creatures, and ships full of vicious pirates!
Reward Space
The intrinsic motivation for training this skill getting access to a big, awesome boat and exploring the ocean is also a major part of how youll train it. Bigger, more awesome boats will of course get you access to more content so well be adding a monumental amount of stuff for you to do, including new islands to explore and bespoke training methods, activities, and minigames to try.
Youll also get to customise your ship and show off your Sailing achievements, potentially in similar to the way we currently let you decorate your Player Owned House if we can. Of course, some of you might prefer to just focus on having the most efficient vessel possible and thats fine too! We might even look into the option of having multiple ships for different purposes.
Perhaps the most exciting part of Sailing, though, is that youll finally be gaining access to a part of the game thats been blocked since you left Tutorial Island. Ever wondered whats beyond the little bit of coastline you can see from your favourite Fishing spot? Well, wonder no more
Summary
Sailing is a support skill which lets players command their own seaworthy vessel to unlock, discover, and experience new content on the seas of Gielinor. It provides a wealth of opportunities for us to generate a huge variety of content, no matter what kind of player you are.
Most importantly, Sailing will let us expand the world of Gielinor beyond what youve ever imagined, with an entire new sea map filled with danger and excitement.
Sailing represents a huge opportunity for us to bring new types of content to the skill at a later date theres always more to discover on the open sea!
We've partnered with community creator GentleTractor and community artist Volcaban to create a digital representation of our Sailing pitch. Check it out by expanding the section below!
CLICK HERE TO SHOW
Discover new and existing creatures around the world and tame them into friendly companions! Earn their trust and take care of them, and in return they'll aid you on your adventures.
With your new Taming skill, youll be able to befriend creatures around Gielinor and take advantage of their unique abilities to explore the world in entirely new ways. Deepen your bond with your new companions by training them up to make their abilities even stronger!
Youll be able to tame both existing creatures and new ones that well introduce through the skill. Each one will have unique abilities to help you on your journey if you can convince them to help you out!
Disclaimer:
We know what you're thinking. Animal companions, special abilities... is this Summoning? The short answer is no we intend to make Taming feel entirely different.
Heres the longer answer: we know that many of you have reservations about Summoning, but Community Consultation revealed that you lovethe idea of animal companions. Weve looked into what you didnt like about Summoning and made sure that Taming approaches things differently. For example, we've nixed any kind of Charms system. The core training loop of Summoning is in fact very similar to Runecraft, so we've had a hard look at how to make the core loop of Taming feel completely different.
Another big difference is that Summoning is a skill where your creatures are nothing but temporary tools. In Taming, your companions are the permanent product of your efforts to train and befriend them. You can really get to know these creatures!
Taming also allows you to level up while interacting with your companions, and youll gain XP as they level up and use your abilities. The specific nature of these abilities will be decided by the community should this pitch progress to the refinement phase.
Were aware that Summoning casts a looming shadow over any kind of animal-based skill, but were keen to work with you to ensure that Taming goes in a different, more welcome direction.
Core Gameplay Loop
- Domesticate a creature in the open world.
- Care for it by providing food, a home, and enriching activities.
- Train and level your new friend.
Increasing your Taming level grants access to new areas and new tameable creatures.
The core feature of the Taming skill is the strong bond between you and your animal companions. Its not about Hunting a creature down, or releasing it as soon as its done your bidding youll need to care for it and build its strength so it can assist you on your adventures.
Once youve tamed a creature, the main part of the skill will be looking after it. Youll need to provide it with its favourite foods, build it a cosy new home, and keep it active with lots of training. Do all this, and youll have a loyal companion to accompany you on your journey.
The actual Taming process differs depending on which creature youre trying to tame. Lassos, different kinds of food, and even toys might all be useful. Taming a creature this way would give some XP, but the bulk of your training will come from caring for your companions and levelling them up.
Content
Training an animal companion will increase its level, meaning that its unique abilities become stronger. Some of them might even unlock new abilities at higher levels!
Were offering a huge variety of abilities to train some will help unlock new areas, some will help with existing skills, and some might even help you out in combat although as we said before, were treading very carefully when it comes to combat impact.
Ultimately, the abilities we choose will be ironed out with lots of community input during the refinement phase.
As for training, we expect this will be done via multiple exciting activities around the world. An idea weve played around with is having your animal companion help you track things down. A flying creature could find hidden treasure in high places, while a more grounded one could help you dig up buried artefacts.
Once you've tamed your companion, the fastest way to train it will be by testing its mettle at dedicated Taming activities around Gielinor. Some companions may find joy in running specific obstacle courses. Others may find the sense of danger thrilling and would want to navigate elaborate mazes and traverse dangerous dungeons. Some may just want the cosy bonding time from playing good old "fetch"!
Reward Space
Companions abilities let you interact with the world in whole new ways. Fangs, fins, gills, wings these are all tools animals have that we dont. With their help, we can unlock new areas and new skilling methods. Exciting stuff!
All that aside though, animal companions are cool, cute, and fun. Theyll let you express your characters personality in new ways who doesnt want to accessorize with their own black dragon, or an adorable herd of chinchompas?
Summary
Taming is a utility skill which lets you seek out creatures to tame. Over time, youll build a unique bond with your new companion and train it so that it grows even stronger.
Taming will let you make friends with existing creatures and introduce some new ones. Each one will have special abilities to help you on your journey but remember, these are creatures with their own free will, not summoned slaves to throw away when youre done with them. Just like a real pet, your care and persistence will pay dividends in rewards.
Take care of your new friends and train them well, and youll unlock unique ways to interact with the world!
We've partnered with community creator GentleTractor and community artist Volcaban to create a digital representation of our Taming pitch. Check it out by expanding the section below!
CLICK HERE TO SHOW
Study the magical power of nature through Shamanism and unlock the ability to perform rituals. Gather components, perform rituals, and infuse objects with the magic of the Spirit Realm. Create powerful items like Tikis, Totems and Poultices, and augment your own equipment with powerful new effects.
Your mastery of Shamanism will let you unlock your third eye and gain access to the Spirit Realm and communicate with spirits lingering between the two worlds.
Core Gameplay Loop
- Forage for Natural Components throughout the world.
- Gather Spiritual Components at Disturbed Sites.
- Draw a Ritual Circle anywhere in the world.
- Create powerful shamanic items through Rituals.
Increasing your Shamanism level grants access to more rituals and deeper parts of the Spirit Realm.
At its core, Shamanism is trained by gathering components and using them to produce new things.
Youll need to gather two kinds of components Natural and Spiritual. Once you have enough, you can create a Ritual Circle and start crafting powerful shamanic items. Thats where the bulk of your XP will come from!
Disclaimer:
This is our wildcard pitch. Instead of being a utility skill, it offers utility through the reward space. The core gameplay loop, however, feels definitively Old School, with a mix of gathering and production activities.
Community Consultation revealed that you had a strong desire for a skill that enhanced existing items as part of the reward space. Combining elements of magic and nature, we took our learnings from the survey results to come up with something unique and fun. While this pitch is certainly the wildest of the three, we really think youll like it. Its about finding the magic of nature all around you and we think it could have strong ties to the ongoing lore of the game
Gathering
As we said before, youll need to gather both Natural and Spiritual Components to power your Rituals. Naturally, youll need to use different methods to gather each.
You can forage Natural Components from nature! Look for new nodes scattered across Gielinor and use your Shamanism skill to harvest the goods. Youre looking for things like mushrooms, roots, bark, leaves, berries, and other nature-y stuff.
Shamanism also lets you gather valuable reagents from beasts around the world. Bring your Carving Knife to pick up valuable components from your kills, like Giant Bone Marrow, Hellhound Blood, Giant Frog Spleens, and more
As for the Spiritual Components, youll gather these from special nodes called Disturbed Sites. These are places where the veil between the Spirit World and our own is thin, and careful adventurers can get their hands on Spiritual Components physical manifestations of magic that are essential to shamanistic rites.
We imagine that most of the gathered items would be untradeable, as to avoid the skill being buyable in response to community concerns mentioned at the start of this blog.
Production
Heres where it all comes together. Bring your Components and combine them into powerful new items in a Ritual Circle!
You can create a Ritual Circle anywhere in the world. Just like fires are used for Cooking, Ritual Circles are used for Shamanism and much like fires, they can be drawn in most outdoor areas.
Youll be able to produce new items like Tikis, Poultices, Oils and Totems but youll also be able to augment your existing gear with powerful magic bonuses.
The Spirit Realm
The Spirit Realm is an alternate reality populated by spirits! Skilled shamans can tap into the power of this realm and use it to power their abilities.
Disturbed Sites are places where the veil between Gielinor and the Spirit Realm is especially thin. You already know that you can find Spiritual Components here, but heres something even more exciting you can use Disturbed Sites to cross over into the Spirit Realm, and explore this mysterious new area
The Spirit Realm is a mirror of the Gielinor you know and love, but its subtly different. A locked door in our world might be open in the Spirit Realm, or vice versa. Mastery of Shamanism will let you navigate the game world by jumping between the two, unlocking new paths and revealing hidden secrets.
We dont quite know what the Spirit Realm will look like at this early stage. Should Shamanism move through to the refinement stage, well be sure to discuss our ideas with you.
Reward Space
The biggest reward from Shamanism is the ability to create potent magical items. Poultices, Wards, Oils, Incense, Salves, Idols, Relics, Tikis, and Totems are all on the table. While we wont decide the exact effects until the refinement stage, were aiming for these rewards to provide valuable utility. Perhaps a special Oil that makes tools better, or a quirky Relic to provide magical support. Theres a huge variety of potential uses for this stuff, and were excited to narrow it down.
On top of this, we want to let you augment your existing items. Shamanism will provide new and exciting ways to improve your gear, whether that be a stat increase on your armour, a new damage type for your weapon, or more efficient skilling tools. This is another thing well properly iron out during the refinement phase.
Finally, as your Shamanism skill increases, youll be able to delve deeper into the Spirit Realm. Who knows what you may discover?
Summary
Shamanism is a combination Gathering and Production skill that lets you harness the power of nature to create powerful utility and support items, while upgrading your existing equipment and exploring the mysterious Spirit Realm.
Shamanisms core gameplay loop is quintessentially Old School, a familiar process with a magical twist.
Ready to perform some rituals? Grab your fellow shamans and let us know!
We've partnered with community creator GentleTractor and community artist Volcaban to create a digital representation of our Shamanism pitch. Check it out by expanding the section below!
CLICK HERE TO SHOW
Weve presented our pitches now its time for you to pick a favourite and tell us which one we should refine further!
We genuinely cant predict the outcome of the poll at this stage. Even internally we can't decide on a favourite and so its anyones guess which idea will come out on top!
Only one of these pitches can advance to the refinement stage. We need you to cast your vote and tell us your thoughts so we can make this tough decision together.
Unfortunately, our polling system doesnt have the option to let you rank the pitches in order of preference so these are the questions were going with:
(Multiple Choice) Question #1: After reading the New Skill Pitch blog, which concept(s) for a New Skill in Old School RuneScape would you be happy to see refined further? Select all that apply.
- Sailing
- Taming
- Shamanism
- I didn't like any of them
- Skip
(Singular Choice) Question #2: Which New Skill Pitch is your favourite?
- Sailing
- Taming
- Shamanism
- I didn't like any of them
- Skip
Question #3: Would you be interested in filling out a survey to provide additional feedback?
- Yes
- No
- Skip
Additional polls may be necessary to decide which skill should move forward to refinement. For example, if more than one skill proves popular, we may poll them against each other in a single question.
Weve also accounted for the small possibility that the community's 'favourite' skill could have scored negatively in other parts of the poll. If this happens, well consider choosing a close-second favourite for refinement provided thats more agreeable, of course!
As youve seen, each pitch has plenty of concepts to iron out in the refinement phase, and were sure youll have lots of ideas to share with us! Luckily, weve got various feedback channels at our disposal, and well be keeping a close eye on all of them over the coming weeks.
If all goes smoothly, wed like to open the Skill Pitches Poll on April 4th!
First impressions are important, and we hope you like what youve seen today. If not, the good news is that our new polling approach gives us loads of flexibility to make amendments!
Were dedicating the next week (and beyond) to listening to your feedback on each of our proposals and clarifying points where needed. To help you get involved, weve created a survey (your favourite!) which will ask for your thoughts on the three pitches above.
We're also holding events to establish touchpoints with the community on the new skill process:
Event | Purpose | Date | Platform |
Skill Pitches Survey | Tell us your thoughts about Sailing, Shamanism, and Taming! Youll also have the opportunity to submit your questions for our stream later in the week. | March 27th | Survey |
Pre-Recorded Q&A Stream (2 hours) | A pre-recorded stream made before this blog released, where we sat down to discuss questions we thought you'd have after reading the blog. | March 28th, 16:00 BST | Twitch/YouTube |
Stages Discussion with Mods Kieren, Curse, Ayiza, Light and Elena (1 hour) | Were experimenting with Stages, a Discord voice platform where we can jump into a channel, invite questions and speak with the community directly. This would be more informal than our regular Q&As! | Likely to be Wednesday March 29th, but well confirm the exact time and date in the Discord server. | New Skill Player Council Discord |
Live Twitch Q&A with Mods Kieren, Ayiza, Light and Elena | Answering top questions from the community as part of a scheduled Q&A. Questions will be gathered from top social threads as well as the survey linked in this blog. | March 30th, 17:00 BST | Twitch/YouTube |
Reddit AMA with Mods Elena, Curse, Ayiza, Light and Kieren | Ask us anything about the new skill pitches! | TBD | |
Data Stream (Community Consultation) | Discussing the results of the Community Consultation in a dedicated data stream! We may also decide to present this data in a blog. | TBD | Twitch/YouTube |
Community/Creator Roundtable Discussion | Hear what top community members and content creators have to say about the new skill pitches! | TBD | Twitch/YouTube |
Events marked 'TBD' are dependent on how community feedback evolves over the next few weeks
New Skill Player Council Discord Server
Selected applicants from the Community Consultation survey have been (or will shortly be) assigned a General Contributor role in the New Skill Player Council Discord Server. Theyll be able to give feedback on the three pitches from this blog. Well be keeping a close eye on discussion over the coming weeks, and opening and closing channels as appropriate to ensure the server is being used in a constructive way.
Participating players were selected using account-based criteria from the in-game poll. We wanted a range of opinions and felt this was the fairest way to handle the applications, since so many of you were up for sharing your feedback. If you havent been selected, youll still be able to join the Discord and read and react to whats being said by clicking this link.
Its likely that well add more contributors in future, but were not sure when or how well do that just yet.
Were working towards weekly check-ins and Q&As to keep the Discord engaged. Discord is a new platform for us, so were excited to experiment and discover what works and what doesnt.
As always, we welcome your feedback, and we cant wait to see which skill pitch you like best!
You can discuss this update on our official forums, 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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