Community Spotlight: Leagues Discord Leaders

Welcome to the first of our new Community Spotlight series! Here we catch up with community space leaders, artists, and content creators that we think you need to know about! We'll learn all about the work they do, plus find out more about their time in Gielinor. We'll also round up some of the latest news, events and content from across the month so you don't miss a thing! So, without further ado, let's introduce our very first guests… We're kicking off this brand new series with the Admins of the Leagues Discord Server! This team have been pillars of our community for years now, and with Leagues VI well underway we couldn't think of a better time to get to know these community leaders. This team of Leagues legends launched the community space back in 2019 and it has been going from strength to strength ever since. Your go-to place for reveal discussions, teaser tidbits and finding comradery with fellow Leagues lovers. Leading the ship are admins Wolaznik, Spiedie, Hammer and Chardo. Wolaznik Hi, my name is Wolaznik. I created the OSRS Leagues Discord in 2019 shortly after the announcement of the Twisted League. Chardo Hello, I am Chardo. I’ve also been part of the server since just after its inception back in 2019. Spiedie Hi, I'm known as Spiedie. I joined the server about a week before Twisted League started, but I became part of the moderation team just before Trailblazer. Hammer I go by the name of Hammer God and I'm the UK-based Admin of the Leagues Discord. What got you into gaming, and how did you discover Old School? Wolaznik: My intro into gaming started with the Gameboy Advance and years of playing Pokémon. I found that I really enjoyed simple graphics and shied away from most PC games until I discovered RuneScape in 2006. My RuneScape discovery story is similar to many that you hear from the mid-2000’s; visiting a friend’s house and watching their older sibling killing pixelated-looking red dragons. I was immediately hooked, and still am 20 years later. Chardo: N64 Golden Eye gaming nights with my dad and a copy of Pokémon Red were my first introductions to gaming. I don’t remember exactly how I found RuneScape, but I know I started in 2003 using Miniclip. I remember clogging the phone line at my grandparents' house to use the dial-up, and specifically waiting around on Halloween in 2003 thinking some rare item was going to be dropped (it wasn’t!). I stopped playing around the time of the Evolution of Combat, but I found OSRS thanks to the Deadman Mode marketing when it first launched. Spiedie: I started playing games when I got my first computer at about five years old and never stopped. In 2004 I watched my brother play through Tutorial Island and wanted to try it for myself. I still clearly remember the excitement of finding a whole 800gp while killing chickens in the chicken pen! Hammer: My first foray into gaming was our family's PlayStation 1. I would spend so long playing Crash Bandicoot, watching my mum play Spyro and playing Crash Bash together, which was my favourite game at the time. Then I got my very own PlayStation 2 on launch day with a copy of TimeSplitters, which ended up becoming one of my favourite game series of all time. That's definitely one of the main reasons I got into gaming, alongside RuneScape of course! I was watching my brother do Castle Wars back in 2005 and I was intrigued by it. My earliest memory was killing the small rats at the side of Lumbridge Castle, and meeting my first RuneScape friend! We would often venture out on weekends and discover the rest of the F2P world little by little together. Discovering the iconic landmarks of Varrock and Falador with him are some of the fondest memories from my childhood. Can you share some of your stand-out moments from your time in Old School? Wolaznik: Prior to Twisted League, I was a never-PvMer. My first big PvM encounter was Chambers of Xeric in Twisted League, where I was convinced by Chardo to give it a try. Doing so convinced me to try out most PvM encounters in the game. While I’m still an average PvMer at best, Leagues really convinced me to branch out into content I would not have typically engaged with. Spiedie: The release of Old School is still my favourite moment. Everyone with an equal start, early-game gear actually being good and really feeling the progression. Quite similar to a Leagues start, actually! Chardo: I’m not an elite gamer so it would have to be achieving a Leagues First in the original Trailblazer League. I planned out every step to be the first to catch a Crystal impling and still had about a 30-minute lead on the next person. Hammer: It’s probably between being in the top 100 of the overall UIM hiscores or managing to push into Dragon in Trailblazer League late in the game, and nearly getting into the top 600. What do you love about OSRS Leagues? Wolaznik: My favorite part about OSRS Leagues is that it gives every type of player the opportunity to engage with and try content that they might never have the time or confidence to try otherwise. Spiedie: That experience of early game where levels and upgrades come quickly and have a big impact. Chardo: For me and I believe many in the Leagues Discord, the best part of Leagues is planning and coming up with unique ways to achieve tasks or goals. The Discord at times has found issues that the J-Mods have been able to fix before release which is fun, too. Hammer: The choices, being able to try different Relics, different regions, different builds and have a chance to have a go at content that I haven’t been able to try in the main game yet. Tell us about your favourite League to date and why? Wolaznik: While I loved the unknown that came with Twisted League, I still think my favorite League was the original Trailblazer. The area unlocking was a game changer that proved to be a favourite with the community. Spiedie: Twisted League. The combination of Leagues being new and having never done much Zeah content provided a great potential for figuring out strategies for skill and item progression. Chardo: I’m going to be a bit controversial on this question and say Shattered Relics. At the time, I can admit I was a bit of a complainer, but looking back the League had the most versatility for future editions. I know it’s not a popular opinion but I like the idea of being fully locked out of some content based on my decision path. Hammer: It has to be the Trailblazer League. It was the first League where I had a lot more free time to play to really get into it. I picked Fremennik, Asgarnia and Tirannwn (in that order for the Discord memes) and it was my first foray into a lot of PVM, as I always stuck to mostly skilling before. The 1t blowpipe went brrr on absolutely everything and I loved it! Are you more of a planner or a wing it and see what happens Leagues player? Wolaznik: I used to be a hard-core planner, step by step. These days I am usually prepping League-related requirements on the Wiki up to the day before release and do not have as much time to plan, so I have become a wing it player. It has surprisingly worked for my play style the past few Leagues! Spiedie: Both? I like to gather many plans and strategies. I then make a plan for the first day or so, and then adapt afterwards using the strategies gathered during the planning phase. Chardo: I’m 100% a planner, and I’d say 99% of the Leagues Discord is, too. People are starting to upgrade from Google Sheets to full-on websites designed to track their tasks. My advice? Just remember Leagues is about having fun. The "meta" route for any individual is whatever they’ll enjoy the most, whether that’s the most efficient path or finally trying out content they’ve never completed in the main game. Hammer: Definitely wing it and see what happens. Unless I'm doing a pure randomiser League, I'll usually know what regions and Relics I will pick before the worlds open. When I do a randomiser approach, I have the first hour or two up to the first region choice planned out in tasks that I want to complete, then after that it's all vibes. A screenshot from an end-of-League drop party hosted by the Leagues Discord server. If you can’t see the image above, click here! Do you have any advice for new players wanting to get involved in a League? Wolaznik: There are no wrong selections. Choose the Relics, regions, and Combat Masteries that fit your play style and that you enjoy. Also, try something new in Leagues that you have never tried in the main game! The most important thing about going into Leagues and the community: have fun! Choose the path and adventure that suits you so that you have the best time playing. Spiedie: Set yourself goals like defeating a boss or reaching some level milestone. Taking on content you do not have much experience in yet can be a great goal! Chardo: I would definitely suggest you check out the OSRS Wiki for past Leagues and to get a better understanding of what to expect. You should pick your own goal for Leagues as well; while you need a certain amount of points to achieve all Relics, you will start to lose some steam if you don’t have your own goals (pets, trying new content, raids, etc.). Just remember Leagues is about having fun. The meta route for any individual person is what they’ll enjoy the most; whether that is the most efficient route or getting to try new content they’ve never completed in the main game. Hammer: My advice would be to pick regions that have the content you enjoy the most rather than because of what gear is available. You are so strong in Leagues, gear is a lot less important as you will shred through most things anyway and you're a lot less likely to burn out. Read the Relic descriptions carefully and have fun! So, the Leagues Discord, give us the quick TLDR of what it's all about. Wolaznik: The Leagues Discord is a place for players to collaborate, debate, strategise, theorycraft, and discuss the upcoming or current OSRS League. It is here that they can also catch the latest and greatest League reveals and quickly find out additional details or quirks about each reveal. They can also find player-made guides and threads for their region, Relic, or mastery combinations. Spiedie: Whether you want a plan to use, have your own plan to share, or something in between, you can do it in the Leagues Discord. Chardo: We not only track all officially released news but also borderline stalk (official) J-Mods' social media posts to make sure everyone has every bit of information for the League. How did you get started with the server, and how has it developed over time? Wolaznik: With the release of the first League in 2019, I wanted to offer a space for players to collaborate on strategy and resources. Back then we were not getting reveals and spoilers and the Wiki did not have super fine details (like all knife spawns, for example) so there was a lot of room for discovery. The server began with players primarily being in the dark about the release of a League, with players scrounging and guessing wild theories and strategies based on every Reddit and Twitter (X) comment a J-Mod made. Today, we have a really fun and exciting collaboration with the J-Mods in the League server. Lots of players say the spoiler and prep hype is nearly as exciting as the League itself! What were the challenges and highlights you've seen on that journey? Wolaznik: The Leagues Discord has a lot of very passionate players. Sometimes that passion can be intense when things do not go their way. One of our challenges in the past was keeping that passion and excitement from getting too out of hand and keeping it respectful of other players and J-Mods. On the other hand, the fiery passion is also one of the best parts of the server. It is full of excitement and engagement that continues to be the highlight every year for many of us. Chardo: We’ve had a handful of challenges, but the greatest has been the growth of the Discord. We were more than doubling year-over-year for the first few Leagues, and it was difficult to manage with our relatively small crew. Release day is insane nowadays; we often have a 30-minute slow-mode cooldown active, and chat still moves faster than most Twitch chats. Originally in the first couple Leagues, we spent a lot more time finding commentary from J-Mods on various social media posts to organise into one place, now we’re more a hub of not only J-Mods commentary but League resources and planning. Can you share any stand-out moments that have happened within your community? Wolaznik: In the hype and lead up on release day for one of the prior Leagues, there were so many people talking (even with slow-mode) we just couldn't navigate away because of the massive amount of people engaging and chatting, otherwise you'd miss things! The hype around Leagues and the build up in the server is one of the most fascinating things to witness in OSRS! Chardo: Over the last few years we’ve tried to run some sort of Discord sponsored event. Last year, Hammer God along with some of the other mods knocked it out of the park with some crazy sage challenges like defeating 6 Jads without losing health, Prayer and their screen blacked out! Hammer: Coming up with the Sage’s Challenge Discord event! This was a randomised list of 3-5 in-game challenges on a challenge card generated by our Discord bot that players needed to complete during the League. It started with Novice difficulty at first and went up a difficulty tier every time you submitted your challenge card. Watching everyone's reaction when a new high tier challenge card was generated and seeing them discuss the challenges was really fun! Spiedie: The tradition of every J-Mod getting their own emote in the server. Here's the emote for Mod West! If you can’t see the image above, click here! What do you enjoy most about being part of your community? Wolaznik: I love the impact that comes out of Leagues and the Leagues community. It is great to see how detailed players get with edge cases and considerations for how different areas of the game interact with the Relics and tasks. Additionally, Leagues has led to fine-detailed documentation of different aspects of the game. Who knew being locked to a single area in game would result in us documenting every single rat spawn on the Wiki? Spiedie: Many players bringing up new ideas or strategies, combining into ideas bouncing around quickly into either a great new strategy or a realisation that the strategy won't work, until another player brings up some barely-used pieces of content solving the missing piece of the puzzle. Chardo: For me it’s the identification of unique strategies and the sub communities that get created for each League. People who wanted to be Door Gang and just spec Dinh's bulwark repeatedly, walkers from Twisted League or the people who spam “Wildy Bad” every year to try and not have people pick the wilderness so there are less PKers. Hammer: The chaos of the daily reveals and speculating and strategising with everybody in the Discord. How can a player get involved with the server? Wolaznik: Join the Discord server and start by setting your ranks, regions, and roles in #bot-commands. You will be able to find players that share your combinations and discuss with them in the latest Leagues strategy thread, plus we have threads for most region combos. Finally, check out #reveals to get caught up on all the information we know so far about the current League! Chardo: I would recommend you quickly check out the #bot-commands channel so you can link up your past League(s) performances and get your trophy assigned as a role. Your performance in the previous League will determine your name color in the Discord up until we start the next one, and then everyone returns to bronze on day one! Hammer: Get involved in discussions, speculating and strategising and find some new friends to take on group content in the League with. Is there anything else you want to let players know about your community? Hammer: We really love turtles here. Thank you to the Leagues Discord Admin team for answering our questions! Make sure to join the server to get stuck into their awesome community.