RuneScape Classic
| RuneScape Classic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Developer | Jagex | |||
| Publisher | Jagex | |||
| Designers | Andrew Gower | |||
| Engine | RuneTek | |||
| Latest Version | 1.0 | |||
| Release dates | 4 January 2001 | |||
| Discontinued | 29 March 2004 (main game) 6 August 2018 (servers) | |||
| Genre | Fantasy MMORPG | |||
| Platforms | ||||
| Requirements | 64 MB RAM, 300 MHz CPU | |||
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse | |||
| Website | http://jagex.com | |||
RuneScape Classic (also known as RSC, RS1 or RS Classic) was the first official release of RuneScape (DeviousMUD being the precursor). RuneScape Classic was publicly released on 4 January 2001. It was replaced on 29 March 2004, with what was then known as RuneScape 2, which formed the basis for Old School RuneScape.
On 23 May 2018, Jagex announced that RuneScape Classic would be permanently closing on 6 August 2018.
History
DeviousMUD was the forerunner of RuneScape Classic, created by Andrew Gower (one of the founders of Jagex) in 1998. DeviousMud was created using Java and had 2D isometric graphics. Although it was available to the public for a short time, Andrew Gower was unsatisfied with DeviousMUD and sought to develop a replacement with a 3D world. On the 4th of January 2001, RuneScape (later known as RuneScape Classic) was opened to everyone. Later that year, Constant Tedder joined Jagex to help with RuneScape's commercialization, since Andrew was struggling to pay the bills required to keep the rapidly growing game online. On the 27th of February 2002, the members expansion was released.
RuneScape Classic was replaced by RuneScape 2 on the 29th of March 2004, and no longer received any more updates. The final update to Classic was the addition of the Scythe for Halloween 2003. The same user account was used for all three games (RuneScape Classic, Old School RuneScape and RuneScape 3), but items, skills and progress on each were separate.
Throughout 2004, RuneScape Classic remained popular, and received regular bug fixes to keep the friends list compatible with the main game. On the 4th of August 2005, Jagex closed down the free version of RuneScape Classic due to widespread rule violations. RuneScape Classic was still open to any account with membership. After 3 February 2006, due to continued widespread rule violations, only accounts that had logged in since the free servers were shut down could log in.
Between 2009 and 2016, Jagex occasionally re-opened RuneScape Classic to members for short periods. [3]
Skills
Woodcutting
Initially in RuneScape Classic, the only way to train Woodcutting was with regular trees, with scaling experience based on the player's level. When members were introduced into the game, oak, willow, yew, and magic trees were added for use with the Fletching skill. Unlike in RuneScape 2, Free-to-play players could still only chop regular trees.
In RuneScape Classic, it was possible to "slip and fall" when attempting to chop a tree down. However, you could continue to cut logs with a full inventory. Excess logs would be automatically dropped on the ground, with the option to then use a tinderbox on the dropped logs. In very early days, player had to use the axe on a tree to cut it, requiring a lot of clicks.
Firemaking
Only the logs of normal trees could be burnt. You had to drop the logs before you could burn them, although in most cases players left their inventory full so the logs would automatically drop. Experience granted per log depended on the Firemaking level of the player.
Mining
Before the introduction of pickaxes of different materials, there was only one type of pickaxe. Pickaxes couldn't be used as weapons. In Mining originally, rocks wouldn't change colour when there was ore present. Thus, players had to prospect each rock, which led to repetitive clicking. It wasn't until the introduction of Fatigue that rocks began to show when they had ore in them. Furthermore, you didn't automatically hit the rock; you had to click every individual hit. Before even that, player had to use pickaxe on a rock instead of just clicking on a rock. New pickaxes of all kinds came out that could hit multiple times per click. Prospecting rocks remained a part of RuneScape 2 for a long time after taking over, requiring players to prospect each rock to find out what type of ore it contained, despite of the colour showing the type of ore.
Smithing
Smithing used to be one of the hardest skills in RuneScape Classic. Often, players would have to make the bars themselves or buy the certificates and uncert them. After using the bar on the anvil, they would have to go through several menus to decide which item to make. Some of the best equipment in the game could only be obtained via Smithing, including the Rune 2h sword.
Prayer
Prayer could be trained by burying bones; the ectofuntus, gilded altar, and other methods were unavailable. No player achieved level 99 Prayer before the release of RuneScape 2 due to the difficulty and expense of obtaining enough dragon bones.
There were two types of protection prayers : "Paralyze Monster", which would work the same way as "Protect from Melee" but wouldn't work against players, and "Protect from Missiles", which would completely protect the player from Ranged used by other players. Enemy monsters did not have an ability to use Magic or Ranged.
In the very early days of RuneScape Classic, prayer was divided into two skills: PrayGood and PrayEvil.
Magic
Combat magic spells could be cast simultaneously to fighting with melee, and Autocasting did not exist. Most combat spells were represented by a simple, flying blue star. Since magic spells were not governed by normal accuracy rules, high level spells (including the god spells, the most powerful spells in the game) could prove deadly.
All magic spells, including non-combat magic, could be "failed" if the player's level was not sufficiently high - the player would keep their runes but be unable to cast spells for 20 seconds. In RuneScape Classic, wearing full armour did not have a penalty on magic accuracy.
Runes were far less common in RuneScape Classic due to the absence of a Runecraft skill. In return, spells gave far more experience, making it a very quick skill to train for wealthy players.
Magic, like Prayer, was once divided into two skills: GoodMagic and EvilMagic. The evil magic spells were Confuse, Thick Skin, Shock Bolt, Elemental Bolt and Fear, and the good magic spells were Chill Bolt, Burst of Strength, Camouflage, Rock Skin and Wind Bolt.
Ranged
In RuneScape Classic, players could not use Ranged weapons when engaged in Melee combat. The arrow projectile was represented as a green star. Most players would train Ranged at a safe spot, including firing arrows over tables and through windows. Ranged was primarily a "support" skill, since it could be used to target a monster or player that was already engaged in melee combat, and assist other players.
There was no specialized armour for rangers, and players could fire ranged weapons while wearing full plate armour with no penalty.
Before the Fletching skill was introduced, there was only one type of arrow and only a few types of ranged weapons.
Defunct skills
Influence
Influence was the predecessor to Quest points. The only way to gain Influence was to complete quests. A player with a high Influence level could sell silk to the silk trader in Al Kharid for more coins than usual. Influence had since been removed from RuneScape Classic, in favour of the now used quest points.
Tailoring
Tailoring was an early skill concept dedicated to the production of clothes. Tailoring was later removed when leatherworking was released as part of the Crafting skill.
Carpentry
Carpentry was a proposed skill in RuneScape Classic with no amicable or possible method of training it (although there were proposed locations for player-owned houses, such as East Falador and parts of East Varrock). Carpentry would be removed from the skill list when Agility was released, and eventually released in RuneScape 2 as the Construction skill. While the original concept for player-owned-houses was to be part of the overworld, in RuneScape 2 they were made into instances.
Armour
Armour had many differences in RuneScape Classic—one of the main being that male and female armour were incompatible items. Female tops had more curved shape and lower neckline with plates on the shoulders and gauntlets (part of the top). The skirt went all the way to the ground. In the case of male armour, it went for a more muscled approach, though the entire upper body was covered right down to the hands. The legs had a rather baggy look, sometimes being referred to as "snow pants." Some players were slightly annoyed by the fact that male characters were blocked from wearing female plate, even though female characters could wear male or female plates as they wished.
When RuneScape Classic first began, it only had bronze, iron, steel, and mithril. Later in the game, adamant, black and rune were added.
There was a non-player character named Thrander just south of the east bank in Varrock that could switch male platebodies and platelegs to female platebodies and plateskirts for free, but he disappeared during the transition to RuneScape 2, as players discovered an easy way to obtain money from purchasing cheaper female counterparts and converting them for more expensive male counterparts. There was no longer any need for him seeing as the new RuneScape 2 platebodies change when worn by a character, and skirts and legs are separate items with different prices.
Another key difference was that platebodies could not be worn at the same time as gloves, and legs couldn't be worn at the same time as boots. However, if a character wore chainbody, they could wear gloves. Some player killers preferred wearing chainmail in order to wear Klank's gauntlets and get the slight Attack boost gained at the expense of some Defence.
In very early RuneScape Classic, there was an equipment stat called "Hiding". It was to be used to make aggressive monsters not notice players and thus not attack them. Hiding was later removed.
Before November 2001, players did not need Attack/Defence requirements for weapons/armour. This allowed for pure PKers to have 1 Attack and Defence with full rune.
Dialogue
In RuneScape Classic, there weren't dialogue boxes for conversations with non-player characters. All the dialogue was yellow text overhead the player and NPC. A non-player character could talk to only one player at a time. This resulted in competition over who got to talk to NPC when a new shop or quest was released, and it often took several minutes of waiting to talk to an NPC. This would also enable griefing. There weren't right-click options for shopkeepers, bankers, etc. to quickly open the shop or bank screen.
Fatigue
Fatigue was introduced to combat macro users. Training skills would increase fatigue until it reached 100%, at which point players could not receive any more experience. Players were taught about fatigue on Tutorial Island by the Fatigue expert. At first, players could only reduce Fatigue by sleeping in beds located in houses or buildings, but after a while sleeping bags were introduced that could be used anywhere. They did not reduce fatigue as quickly as beds. After the release of sleeping bags, it became necessary to type in a random word to wake up from sleep.
The concept was greatly disliked, despite skill training rates being rebalanced by reducing the failure rate for mining rocks and catching fish. It went through a few reworks before being dropped entirely in the transition from RuneScape Classic to RuneScape 2. It was likely dropped because of macro users developing programs called "autosleepers" that would type the random word in. The removal of fatigue in RuneScape 2 coincided with the addition of random events.
RuneScape Classic also had an anti-macroing mechanic where players would be logged out if they stood on one square for too long.
Certificates
In RuneScape Classic, unstackable items (although mostly only raw materials) could be traded 25 at a time for stackable certificates, or "certs". Lobsters, sharks, coal, and certain logs could be traded for certs - 5 items would be exchanged for 1 cert. This was done by Niles, Giles, and Miles, who were located in Draynor Village's market. In RuneScape 2, these certs were replaced by notes, which can be withdrawn from a bank in the form of a piece of paper with a picture of the item and a number on it, and many items can be withdrawn as such. With the creation of new random events, Niles, Giles, and Miles can be seen making cameos as a random event.
Holiday drops
The holiday drops, which produced rare items, began in RuneScape Classic. In order of appearance, they were: pumpkins, Christmas crackers (containing partyhats or other items), Easter eggs, Halloween masks, Santa hats, Bunny ears, and Scythes.
Newer holiday items are still being released in the main version of RuneScape, but it is common to have to complete a series of tasks in order to achieve the holiday item(s), starting with the yo-yo.
Player vs. player
Player killing
Once attacked, players in RuneScape Classic cannot not run away for three rounds of combat, and players could only eat food after they had retreated from melee combat. Combat pures worked to get high Strength to kill their opponents in three hits. "Catching" players to return to combat before they had consumed enough food to reach full health was a vital skill.
In RuneScape Classic, all weapons had the same speed, so the Rune 2h sword was used by almost all free-to-play player killers. Members used dragon weapons and Mage Arena staves.
When RuneScape was first released, players were able to attack each other anywhere in the world except for in Lumbridge. Both players had to be within 5 combat levels of each other, and there was an exception in place to prevent what would now be called "pure accounts" from working. It was possible to opt-in or opt-out of having a "player killer enabled" account, encompassing both the ability to attack and to be attacked, but the setting could only be changed a total of two times. Attempting to attack another player around a Guard would result in the Guard yelling "Hey! No fighting!"[4], then intervening to attack the aggressive player. The Wilderness was released 13 August 2001 (Update) to replace world-wide combat.
Duelling
Duelling was possible at any location in the game world provided that both duellers were in a member's world. All the player had to do was right click on a player, and "Duel" would be an option along with "Walk here", "Follow", and "Trade". It was often used as a cheap and easy way to return to Lumbridge, since dying in a duel would send the player back there (and if nothing was staked, nothing would be lost). Draynor Village (the closest settlement to Lumbridge with a bank in Classic) and Lumbridge were hotspots for duels.
Quests
RuneScape Classic had 50 quests. There were 17 free quests and 33 members quests. No new free quests were released in RuneScape Classic after membership was released on 27 February 2002. The quest journal listed the free quests in alphabetical order, but the members quests in chronological order. Legends' Quest was quest number 50. See listing of quests.
New quests in RuneScape Classic were very difficult to complete shortly after release because only one player can talk to an NPC at a time. This resulted in large crowds in the quest area. Jagex tried to negate this by adding duplicates of key NPCs in the quest. Busy banks were similarly difficult to use for the same reason, as only one player could talk to a banker at a time.
Problems
A major complaint of those who remained loyal to RuneScape Classic over RuneScape was that there were too many players who used macros to make playing it worthwhile. These players regularly complained to Jagex to do something about the problem, but as Jagex considered RuneScape Classic to be, more or less, an abandoned project (and retrofitting anti-macro features on to the old game engine would not be easy), they were reluctant to allocate resources to combat the issue. Jagex, however, had posted on the RuneScape website that macroing would not be tolerated on RuneScape Classic.
Another complaint was that free-to-play Classic players had to pay for a membership in order to keep their items and account. RuneScape Classic featured no Hiscores after the release of RuneScape 2.
After the release of RuneScape 2, Jagex maintained that RuneScape Classic would no longer be updated. Nevertheless, the game saw a few minor updates:
- Mass bans of bots (during 2004, 2005, and 2006)
- Player Moderator crowns (late 2009)
- The ability to withdraw or deposit 'x' items (late 2009)
- Some bug fixes, such as the Flames of Zamorak appearing out of nowhere (early 2009)
- The return of the ability to send private messages to players on other games (late 2009)
Classes
Originally, there were classes from which players could choose. This feature was removed in early July 2002. Tutorial Island was released in the following September. Depending on the class chosen, new players would start with a higher level in relevant skills. For example, a miner would start with level 7 Mining.
The available classes were:
- Necromancer (EvilMagic, later removed after a major update to the Magic skill) - Started out with a black wizard hat and a regular staff.
- Wizard (7 GoodMagic) - Started out with a blue (later black) wizard hat and a regular staff.
- Warrior (3 Attack, 3 Strength, 3 Defence, 12 Hitpoints) - Started out with a bronze short sword and wooden shield.
- Miner (7 Mining) - Started out with a pick-axe, which at that time was the only type available. These were later turned into bronze pickaxes.
- Ranger (12 Hitpoints) - Started out with a shortbow and 10 arrows. These later became bronze arrows after the release of the Fletching skill and multiple arrow types.
- Adventurer (2 Attack, 2 Strength, 2 Defence) - Started out with a tinderbox, a bronze axe and one piece of cooked meat.
After the class system was removed, all new players started out with a bronze axe, cooked meat, and tinderbox.
Re-openings
Closure
On 23 May 2018, Jagex announced that the RuneScape Classic servers would close on 6 August 2018, citing the increasing probability of game-breaking bugs, bots and macro users, and the inability to support Classic in the future as leading causes[5]. This news caused some players to riot in Falador, as well as in Draynor Village on RuneScape Classic itself. Following the announcement of the closure, player counts for RuneScape Classic increased significantly, particularly on the day of closure, when more than 400 players were online concurrently. Prior to the scheduled closure of RuneScape Classic, automatic system messages were periodically sent, broadcasting the time until server shutdown.
On 6 August 2018 at 7:00 AM (UTC), the scheduled time of closure for RuneScape Classic, many players' games crashed; however, servers were not shut down, and players could immediately log in again. No official comment was made until approximately 45 minutes after the scheduled shutdown of Classic servers, when a three-minute system update message was sent to all users; once again, when the timer reached zero, no players were forced to log out. It was later revealed that the closure of Classic servers was manually delayed so a player could complete Legends' Quest[6]. With the scheduled closure already delayed by two hours, Titus Furius was the last player to complete Legends' Quest[7] at approximately 9:04 AM (UTC), moments later another three-minute system update message was sent to all players.
At 9:07 AM (UTC), all players were forced to log out of RuneScape Classic, and the servers were shut down permanently.[8][9]
Trivia
- During 2001, when an error occurred with the chat filter, it would return "Cabbage" intead. A humorous glitch endured for an entire day in which anything said by any player came out as "Cabbage."
- In the beginning of RuneScape Classic (around January 2001), it was mentioned by the developers of RuneScape that the following were needed to "create" the game:
- Over 120000 map tiles make up the huge world
- Over 800 frames of animation for the monsters and players
- Over 200 different objects to find and trade (200 Items)
- Over 2900 items of scenery with over 100 different designs
- Over 250 characters all walking around the map, with over 75 different designs
- After RuneScape 2 was released, your RuneScape Classic items were automatically transferred over to RuneScape 2. You had a week to play RuneScape 2 and if you did not like it, you were able to transfer your items back to RuneScape Classic. After several players complained, Jagex then let players transfer their items from RuneScape Classic back to RuneScape 2 [10]
- The best in slot gear was: dragon med helm, rune platebody, rune platelegs, dragon sq shield, Dragon battleaxe (known simply as the dragon axe in Classic), amulet of glory (known as the dragonstone amulet in Classic), and the cape of legends.