Quest Month - Rewards Poll Blog

To cut to the chase, we've decided to remove both new dart types from the pitch. Instead we're exploring design options for the quest that doesn't involve darts as a reward, or anything else that would need polling. We want to focus on the hype of Quest Month and the helping hand into Hunter for new players. So we will be removing the question about darts from the upcoming poll. But we'd like to chat a little bit more on how we came to this decision. The concerns we saw were: Being the same as Bronze and Steel Darts makes it hard to justify the new darts' existence, and so contributes to item bloat.

• •Tourist trap is iconic and the historical way of learning about darts, you want to preserve that.
• •New players can just use knives even if they haven't done Tourist Trap yet, so it isn't clear that the introduction of the new darts is really solving a problem for early players that wouldn't have a better solution.
• •If they're untradeable, it makes them too high effort for not enough gain.

Overall, we think you're right. Our intention with this reward, and the quest it's attached to, was to give very new players an introduction to the Hunter skill that would encourage them to pick up the skill much earlier in their journey. The focus for us here wasn't new characters where you already know the most efficient way to level up your stats and gear, but for the players setting foot in Gielinor for the first time. We had also wanted to address the fact that Fletching also lacks a clear way in for new players, and we thought it might make for a compelling double-whammy with this quest. However, we agree with the feedback here around the darts, so we will instead look to address that gap in another way in the future. We'll be putting some dedicated attention into improving the first time player experience next year, which will let us have a meaningful look at solutions to problems like this, as well as other issues for new players. This quest is about teaching Hunter to players in early game areas and to open up the options for what activities they pick up in the beginning. This is also why we're planning to add a few additional low-level Hunter areas to early-game locations like Musa Point, Al Kharid and Falador featuring existing low level Hunter creatures, as well as adding new Hunter creatures to the quest area itself. Think of the new quest as not for early game, but new game.

We want to clarify a few things here:

• •You will only be able to remove bones from the storage bag when you are at the bank, meaning the Bones to Peaches spell isn't about to become the BiS combat spell!
• •If you find yourself PKed with the Bone Storage on you, any bones you were carting around will go to the PKer, but you'll retain the bag.

We're happy with where this reward sits, so we're going to go ahead with it to the poll.

We've seen a lot of conversation around the new amulet proposal, too. We've seen lots of comparisons to the recent Necklace of Fangs, as well as thoughts around the Amulet of Glory and Amulet of Power. We again want to stress here that this quest is aimed at new players, where purchasing amulets for boosts from GE might not be common knowledge or a quick accomplishment. Plus grinding out 55 Slayer for the Necklace of Fangs drop for an iron can take a while! We wanted to give new players a cheap (the first one's on us!), accessible way to get a little extra Ranged Attack bonus while they're on their way to bigger and better things. We believe that there is a gap for this item, and that new players will benefit from the extra boost and feel encouraged to keep going on their journey. Also to clarify, the first amulet will be awarded for free for completing the quest, plus you'll unlock a shop to purchase more should you want to.

We're excited for Quest Month. We've never done something like this before and we're thrilled to be fleshing out the world even more through these smaller quests. The rewards we're sharing are not representative of every quest coming, they're just the significant rewards we wanted your input on. Many of you have shared you're happy with a small quest just awarding some XP and Quest Points, which is great news as we have some of those, too. We do still want to go to poll with the significant rewards though, so here's how the poll will look following your feedback. Question #1 Should we introduce an untradeable reward that holds up to 28 bones of any type inside it, as outlined in the blog? You'll need to be at a bank to remove any stored bones. This would be rewarded upon completing one of the secret quests coming in November. Question #2 Should we introduce a new, tradeable amulet, providing +10 Ranged Attack, as described in the blog? This amulet is aimed at new players early in their journey and would be rewarded upon completing one of the secret quests coming in November. Question #3 Should we add a handful of new low level Hunter creatures to the game as part of a new novice tier quest, as described in the blog? Access to these new creatures would be unlocked upon completing one of the secret quests coming in November. Note that none of these would be added to Hunter Rumours. Quest Month is round the corner, literally... can you believe we're mid October now? This means that we do need to get the poll out asap, so you'll see it go live soon. Off the back of the RuneFest Summit poll closing, it's now time to talk rewards for Quest Month! You voted yes for a November full of adventure, with at least one quest releasing every week! For those who want to catch up, you can check out the details in its dedicated blog for the RuneFest Summit. In a nutshell, as part of the Summit, we revealed that these will be surprise quests, following the same approach we took with The Ribbiting Tale of a Lily Pad Labour Dispute and Scrambled quests from Varlamore. While the quest details will be kept secret until release, we'll still be polling any notable rewards they offer. To fully embrace the surprise approach and do it justice, we'll do things a little different this time around: Essentially, we'll share the core elements of each notable reward, but won't go into their thematics. That way, you'll be able to experience the surprise as intended! All of these quests coming in November will reward suitable XP and quest points. But what else could be waiting for you? Let's take a look at some other rewards we have in store!

One of the surprise quests, which is Experienced tier, will introduce a new reward that:

• •Holds up to 28 bones of any type inside it.
• •If set to 'open', bones will automatically be stored inside when picked up.
• •You'll need to remove the bones from the sack before burying or offering at an altar.
• •You'll only be able to remove bones from the bag in the bank.
• •Players can wear it on their back.
• •If lost, you'll need to recover it from an NPC for a fee.

This untradeable reward will require completing the quest to be able to use it. One final note on this one. You might be thinking you've already worked out what quest would reward an item like this. If so, ask yourself this: Would we really make it that obvious? Question #1 Should we introduce an untradeable reward that holds up to 28 bones of any type inside it, as outlined in the blog? You'll need to be at a bank to remove any stored bones. This would be rewarded upon completing one of the secret quests coming in November.

Another surprise quest, which is Intermediate tier, will reward a new amulet upon quest completion. This amulet is aimed at early game, and provides +10 Ranged Attack. This amulet would be tradeable and has no level requirements. Once you've completed the quest you'll get one amulet for free and you'll unlock a shop where you can buy more. We wanted to bridge the gap at lower levels, giving fresh faced adventurers a chance to get their hands on a little extra Ranged Attack bonus early in their journey. Question #2 Should we introduce a new, tradeable amulet, providing +10 Ranged Attack, as described in the blog? This amulet is aimed at new players early in their journey and would be rewarded upon completing one of the secret quests coming in November.

Likewise, one of the surprise quests, which is Novice tier, will reward not one but two low-level ranged throwables. Some highlights from these darts are:

• •They both have low level requirements.
• •One requires Level 1 Hunter, Level 1 Fletching and Level 1 Ranged.
• •The other requires Level 5 Ranged, Level 12 Hunter, and Level 15 Fletching.
• •One of the darts will be equivalent to Bronze darts, whereas the other would be equivalent to Steel darts. However, the new darts will have lower level requirements to make as stated above, and they won't require the completion of The Tourist Trap quest to Fletch.
• •Like other darts, any type of feathers can be used to create them, meaning putting them together should be convenient.
• •They will work with blowpipes.
• •They're untradeable.

We looked to Darts for this reward as they felt the most fitting for this quest and the new Hunter creatures we're looking to introduce (which we'll go onto in a second). We also wanted to add a more accessible way to gain more Ranged gear for early level or newer players. Question #3 Should we add two new low level darts as described in the blog? The first type is equivalent to Bronze darts, the second equivalent to Steel darts, but each have lower level requirements to make. Both of these darts would be untradeable and be rewarded upon completing one of the secret quests coming in November.

We're planning to introduce, new low level Hunter methods to the game, helping those who are just finding their feet in Gielinor to learn the ropes of the Hunter skill.

• •One new Hunter method with two levels of creature to hunt, Level 1 and Level 12. The level 12 creature will drop an item required to fletch the new darts.
• •We'll also be adding two new birds to bird hunting, at Level 1 and Level 17. The level 17 bird will also drop an item needed to fletch the new darts.

These new methods won't be added to Hunter Rumours, this is because the current rumour list's lowest level is 19, and these creatures fall below that. We're happy to reassess this decision though, so let us know your thoughts and feedback! Question #3 Should we add a handful of new low level Hunter creatures to the game as part of a new novice tier quest, as described in the blog? Access to these new creatures would be unlocked upon completing one of the secret quests coming in November. Note that none of these would be added to Hunter Rumours. We're also planning to add a few additional low-level Hunter areas to early-game locations like Musa Point, Al Kharid and Falador. These will be a handful of low-level creatures like birds and butterflies, but will not include the new creatures mentioned above. We're hoping this makes early Hunting even more convenient to grind for the fresh faced adventurers! That's a wrap for the polled rewards to come with Quest Month! We'll be closely monitoring your feedback, so let us know what you think across our social platforms. We're looking to set this rewards poll live soon, pending your feedback, so make sure to share your thoughts with us!