In our Something Bigger dev blog, we pitched a rough design for a new minigame for OldSchool RuneScape where you'd get to revisit boss monsters of quests that you'd completed. Since then, hundreds of you have kindly sent us your thoughts via the form we posted on the forums, and we've used them as the basis for this updated version of the design. The next step will be to run an official poll: Do you, or do you not, want this minigame to be developed?
We're aware that some players would prefer us to drop this idea and install the God Wars Dungeon instead. Unfortunately we can't offer that at the moment, as we do not have the required tools or compilers to take the unfinished version from our archive, complete it, fix its bugs and other issues, and integrate it into the existing game. Please remember, if we develop this minigame now, that would not prevent us from offering the God Wars Dungeon in future, once we have the required tools. Equally, if you decide that you don't want this minigame, that would not make the God Wars Dungeon any more likely to be offered quickly.
So, here's the updated design. Player feedback is inserted in italics .
Background
"A proper back-story should be added. It would make no sense if it just pops out of nowhere."
Dominic Onion grew up on Lunar Isle, a land where magic pervades every aspect of everyday life. His father expected him to take up a career in banking, which is the traditional job for the men of Lunar Isle, But Dominic had enjoyed his magical studies, especially the art of oneiromancy, and he was showing considerable promise. Leaving Lunar Isle behind, Dominic set out to the mainland, intent on continuing his magical studies independently. This led him south to Yanille, where he had heard rumours of a great Wizards' Guild.
Life is harsh away from Lunar Isle, especially if you don't know how to cook food without astral runes, and Dominic needed to earn his living. Finding that the mainland is full of veteran adventurers, with misty memories of quests they had completed long ago, Dominic realised he could offer his magical services in exchange for a little money. For a modest fee, he would read his clients' memories, and to send them into a dream in which they could revisit monsters from their previous adventures. Before long, Dominic was running a flourishing little business, set up just outside the city walls for tax reasons. He could now afford to create the simplest dreams for his clients as a free service, charging only for more elaborate scenarios, and he could offer rewards for people whose dream-fights entertained him.
Overview
Just outside Yanille, not far from the bank, stands Dominic. He offers the service of sending you into a dream where you will find yourself in a cave, confronted with boss monsters from quests that you have completed. This would be a safe area; if you died in your dream, you would wake up without losing items.
Many players raised concerns about offering rewards for no risk and no stake. We offered to either make the minigame dangerous or to keep it safe but charge an entry fee as a stake; the entry fee idea received more support. There was also a lot of support for making part of the minigame multiplayer, and for offering a "Hard mode" option.
Reward points are earned for killing monsters in an Endurance or Rumble dream. Each defeated monster awards points calculated from its combat level. A ramping multiplier system is applied to your points so that you are rewarded considerably more for defeating a wide variety of tough monsters. Therefore, if you have completed lots of quests and thus unlocked lots of monsters, you will be eligible for more reward than a player who has not. The minigame is intended to be most rewarding to players who have completed all the relevant quests, while still allowing less distinguished players to take part.
Monsters from quests that you have not completed would not appear in the cave. If you choose to bring friends into a Rumble dream, you would encounter only monsters from quests that the whole group has completed. The game would endeavour to show you which of the relevant quests each invitee has completed. In a multiplayer Rumble, points would be shared across the team for each monster that is killed, with the largest share given to the player who did the most damage.
In a "Hard mode" Endurance or Rumble dream, you would be faced with modified versions of the quest boss monsters. Their combat stats would be buffed, and some of the more basic bosses would receive additional special attacks.
Spectators would be permitted to observe any Endurance or Rumble fight. There would be no fee for spectating.
"If you make it so people can practice on Jad without losing items on death then you're de-valueing fire cape and I'm quitting." "KBD would be fine in there but not Jad. I think Jad would be too much." "Only unlockable bosses should be included, so not the KBD." - For the sake of simplicity, let's just stick to quest bosses.
Following feedback comments about potential abuse, we would not offer free runes or arrows for use in the minigame, as we would then end up nerfing the combat XP.
1. When casting spells, you get a little Magic XP for using up your runes. That would be awarded as usual, but you would get no additional XP for the damage you deal.
Rewards
Points that you earn in the dreams can be traded with Dominic for your choice of items from his shop. Most of the offered items are commonly required by skillers, but offer little or no XP when gathering them. Points will be easier to earn in the hard mode versions of the Endurance and Rumble dreams.
"Anything resource bots collect, I'm down with being in the rewards, as long as the amounts of the values are tweaked with street prices every so often." "When adding essence and flax rewards the amounts should be more than when manually picking flax/mining pure ess because this method of obtaining them is more advanced." "Limpwurt roots DO give a considerable amount of XP for getting them... either combat or farming. Change them to red spider eggs." - The suggestion of apples was unpopular; various alternatives were written in.
- Subject to the outcome of a separate poll question - Sets of level 50 melee, ranged or magic armour, consisting of helm, body, legs, gloves & boots. The armour will degrade over time if used in combat outside the minigame, and may be recharged in exchange for points. The armour is tradeable, but can be equipped only by players who've earned enough points in the minigame. The complete set offers a random health-restoring chance during combat.
-
Subject to the outcome of a separate poll question - Sets of level 65 melee, ranged or magic armour, consisting of helm, body, legs, gloves & boots. The armour will degrade over time if used in combat outside the minigame, and may be recharged in exchange for points. The armour is tradeable, but can be equipped only by players who've earned enough points in the minigame. The complete set offers a better random health-restoring chance during combat.
-
Subject to the outcome of a separate poll question - Teleport scrolls that take you to any Runecrafting altar.
-
Subject to the outcome of a separate poll question - Teleport scrolls that take you to any player-owned house portal.
-
Consumable potions that boost stats, but only inside this minigame. Your stats are reset on exit.
-
Snape grass
-
Red spider eggs
-
Flax
-
Buckets of sand
-
Potato cacti
-
Seaweed
-
Elemental runes
-
Rune essence
-
Pure essence (for a higher price than rune essence)
-
Supercompost potions
- Blue dragon scales
While we've had quite a few players request the Slayer helmet as a reward, we regrettably don't have suitable graphics.
What now?
We'd like to put this to a poll, starting soon. The poll will ask the following questions, requiring 75% 'Yes' answers for the feature to be created:
-
The Dom Onion's Cave minigame will be developed and added to OldSchool RuneScape with the features described in the latest developer blog.
-
Assuming that the new minigame is created, its rewards should include teleport scrolls that take you to any Runecrafting altar.
-
Assuming that the new minigame is created, its rewards should include teleport scrolls that take you to any player-owned house portal.
-
Assuming that the new minigame is created, its rewards should include sets of level 50 melee, ranged or magic armour, as described in the developer blog.
- Assuming that the new minigame is created, its rewards should include sets of level 65 melee, ranged or magic armour, as described in the developer blog.
The poll will also ask the following multiple-choice questions, with the most popular answers being adopted:
-
Assuming that the new minigame is created, where should it be placed? Yanille, Edgeville, Falador, Varrock, Seers' Village, Ardougne.
- Assuming that the new minigame is created, what should it be called? "Dom Onion's Cave", "DreamArena", "Dominic's Den", "Nightmare Zone", "Domain of Morpheus"
What else?
We'll also be offering some additional features that you've requested on the forums:
-
A right-click 'Report' option will be added to chat messages for all players.
-
Characters like Bob who repair Barrows kit would offer to repair all your damaged kit in a single transaction.
-
The elf offers to recharge all your teleport crystals in a single transaction.
-
The herbalist in Nardah will combine potion vials into 4-dose vials, including banknotes.
- The amount of rare items spawning on each world should be increased to two.
Mod Ash & Mod Nexus
Content Developers
05-Jun-2013 16:32:08 - Last edited on 05-Jun-2013 17:14:20 by Mod Michelle
