Global RuneScape Site News

New Item Database

Aliensvortex — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:03:25 -0500

Hello all! Lately, we've been working on the backend of the Item Database, which was very slow and buggy. Things like the advanced search clearly didn't work in the old item database, and there were lots of small flaws and inconsistencies which made it very hard to work with. Therefore, we've decided to recode the item database. Thanks to [M]ike for his help during the development of the new database!

Several areas of the database have been improved:

New category system
A cleaner layout on the item database main page
Tabbed search interface which makes it easier to switch between normal and advanced search and a better integration with the compare items feature
Better search options for equippable items in the advanced; you can browse through items by item slot and with specific stats)
Images on search results page
Improved item lookup in the compare items feature. Results are returned faster than before
Search box at the top of the whole item database, including the item pages

Due to the new category system, some items may have been placed in the wrong categories. There may also be some bugs, so if there's anything wrong, please let us know!

In addition to these updates, we are currently working on a new feedback system for the item database. We are also looking into giving more people the ability to manage the item database and other parts of the site, so stay tuned for more updates in the future!

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Mountain Daughter Quest Guide

Aliensvortex — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:01:55 -0500

We've just added a new Mountain Daughter quest guide. Many thanks to sk84ever159 for submitting this guide!

Years ago, a small tribe of people split off from the Fremennik in Rellekka and decided to inhabit the mountains to the east. There they lived as nomads for many years, but now the chieftain of the camp has lost his daughter and will not move on before she has been found.

Has she run away? Has she been eaten by trolls? Or is there something more sinister going on? Only you can find out.

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Meeting History quest guide!

[M]ike — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:20:00 -0500

Hello all, today we've added a quest guide for RuneScape's latest quest, Meeting History!

Jorral has discovered more information about the weird yet wonderful enchanted key. Where this historical information will lead is a mystery, but one thing is certain: it'll be no ordinary search for clues from the past.

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Herald: Slayer by Example

mangleman — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:07:58 -0500

The latest Herald: Slayer by Example gives some insight into my experience getting 85 slayer and how Lil McGinley feels about his role as a mentor and an example. After you've read the article, feel free to post your thoughts and comments in this topic.

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Shadow of the Storm

Aliensvortex — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:54:40 -0500

Another quest guide has just been added to Global RuneScape! This time, it's the Shadow of the Storm quest guide. Many thanks to Slim50 for this great guide!

A sinister group of dark wizards is attempting to summon Agrith-Naar, a demon of exceptional mystical power.

Rather than try to prevent them, a Saradominist priest asks the player to help summon the demon and then kill it once and for all. But all is not as it seems...

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In Aid of the Myreque Quest Guide

Aliensvortex — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:16:54 -0500

Hello everyone. A new quest guide for In Aid of the Myreque has just been added. Many thanks to our new member Slim50 for this excellent guide!

After the attack on the Myreque by Vanstrom Klause - and with the deaths of both Sani and Harold - Veliaf is counting on you to help. Now that the Myreque freedom fighters' base camp has been revealed, they'll need to move on and set up base somewhere else.

Veliaf has heard of a little-known village south of Mort'ton, referred to as 'Burgh de Rott'. This could be just the place to set up operations to strike back against the evil of Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan and his vampyric overlordship in Morytania. And, who knows what other secrets about Morytania and its dark past will be revealed?

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Herald: The Rhythm of Runescape

Aliensvortex — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:34:56 -0500

As announced by Anna Molly a few days ago, we are now re-launching the Global RuneScape Herald with a new article on the first day of every month. In the article for this month, The Rhythm of Runescape: How to skill in Runescape without really trying, Mangleman discusses how you can spend time to train repetitive and seemingly boring skills that will, in the end, reward you for your hard work. After you've read the article, feel free to post your thoughts and comments in this topic.

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Re-launch of the GRS Herald!

Anna Molly — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:14:48 -0500

As many of you have noticed, the herald has been inactive recently. Due to a lack of commitment, the herald editing team was unable to produce articles every weekend as they used to. Therefore, the Global-rs Herald is now going to be a monthly feature, with Mangleman publishing articles about runescape on the first day of every month. As soon as we are able to find more herald articles, we will begin to put out bi-weekly articles, and maybe even weekly articles once more!

If you are interesting in possibly being a herald editor, or you would like to submit a guest article, please send Mangleman a private message. Thats all for now, thanks for your time!

Stay tuned for an all new herald article June 1st!

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Fist of Guthix Guide

Aliensvortex — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:44:02 -0500

Hi everyone. We've added a new minigame guide for Fist of Guthix - many thanks to x_ashe for this great guide!

There are strange secrets buried in the cold and ancient parts of the world, and every now and then one of them is drawn back into the light. The druids of Guthix, searching for something or other in caves beneath the Wilderness, have found a truly ancient artefact and its truly bizarre guardian.

Fist of Guthix is a combat-based minigame that pits you against a single opponent in a battle of cunning, speed and sheer determination. The rewards are great for those who can both hunt their enemy and evade that same enemy in turn...

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TokTz-Ket-Dill quest guide

Aliensvortex — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:55:38 -0500

The quest guide for the latest quest, TokTz-Ket-Dill, is now available. Thanks to Syntax Error and Death for this great guide! As usual, feedback is always welcome.

One of the various creatures inhabiting the Karamja volcano has dug a series of tunnels underneath the TzHaar city. Some of them have already collapsed and the TzHaar fear that their home will end up in ruin. They may be a proud race, but they need your help. Are you up for the task of maneuvering your way through TzHaar society — and all the quirks that come with it — and stabilising the tunnels in order to save the city?

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Icthlarin's Little Helper

Aliensvortex — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:23:31 -0500

Hello everyone! A new quest guide for Icthlarin's Little Helper has just been added. Many thanks to Anna Molly for this great guide!

In the deep south of the desert, unrest is brewing. The Menaphites have barred their city's gates from all. An unsettling desert wanderer may know of a secret entrance to Sophanem - the city of the dead. Will you become Icthlarin's Little Helper by entering? Enter into a titanic struggle for the soul of the High Priest of Icthlarin in a land where the cat is top dog.

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Perils of Ice Mountain Quest Guide

Aliensvortex — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:53:44 -0500

Hello all! We've just added a guide for the latest quest in RuneScape, Perils of Ice Mountain. Many thanks to Syntax Error for this great guide!

The dwarves of the Dwarven Mine have built the latest marvel of dwarven engineering: a machine to automatically make pickaxes for the many miners. In order to supply energy for this machine, they have commissioned a new power station on the slopes of Ice Mountain.

Projects of this scale are never without their problems, though. A hapless dwarf delivering resources to the power station has lost part of his delivery and any adventurer who helps him is bound to find more problems to solve.

Other news
When I wrote the Herald article "A Developer's View" a few weeks ago, I said that one of the things that made me work on a new code was the need for a better way to administrate the site. I've been working on this lately, and most of the core code of it has been done. Therefore, I've decided that it's time to start giving some users access to it - so they'll be able to edit the site. Syntax Error, who wrote the quest guide announced in this post, is the first user to get access to the control panel. He can only add and edit quest guides at the moment, but as bugs are fixed in other sections, he will get access to more areas of the administration panel, thus being the first one to become a site editor since [M]ike was promoted one year ago.

Obviously, as development continues, more people will eventually get access to it, which hopefully should make updates happen at a faster rate than before. To start with I will pick a few forum members based on their past contributions to the site, but as the system gets developed there might be other ways to show your interest, such as application forms or polls in a forum section for site editors. We will post more about this in the future, so be sure to stay tuned! Also, keep in mind that only forum members will have the ability to become site editors, and members with many good submissions will obviously have higher chances of becoming site editors.

That's all for now, enjoy!

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Grand Exchange synchronization

Aliensvortex — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:09:39 -0500

Hello all! When the Grand Exchange price database was released a few weeks ago, it also gave us the possibility to automatically update any item's Grand Exchange values from the RuneScape website. So we decided to make a feature that did exactly that, so all the prices in the item database are now retrieved from the Grand Exchange. The prices will automatically be updated once a day, but it is also possible to update the market values manually by clicking the small update icon () next to the item's values when you are viewing an item. We may add a chart that shows the items' price history, but we currently don't have enough data to do so at the moment.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome. If there is an item that seems to be retrieving the wrong information (which means that it looks up the wrong item in the Grand Exchange), please let us know so we can fix it. That's all for now, enjoy!

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Legacy of Seergaze Quest Guide

Aliensvortex — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:54:52 -0500

Hello all! We've released the Legacy of Seergaze quest guide! Many thanks to Death for this great guide! Feel free to post your feedback and comments on this guide.

Mercenaries make their way into the rotten swamps of Morytania from Paterdomus to the front-lines at Burgh de Rott. The Vyrewatch continue to draw blood tithes from the pitiful citizens of Meiyerditch, the great ghetto-city of the Sanguinesti region, its weakened citizens growing fewer in number every day. The vampyres are getting more tithes from somewhere, but how long before House Drakan settles its eye upon Misthalin and the lands to the west?

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Herald: The Runescape Age Limit

Aliensvortex — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:12:17 -0500

Hello all! It's time for a new article in the Global RuneScape Herald. Two weeks ago, Mangleman wrote about how adults enjoy RuneScape, but in this week's article, Feed24 writes about why RuneScape appeals to younger players and why pre-teen children often ignore RuneScape's age limit. After you've read the article, we invite you to post your thoughts and comments in this topic.

On a side note, this article is actually the 50th article published in the Herald! Thanks to everybody who has contributed in the past, and remember that we accept Herald submissions from any registered member of the forums!

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Herald: Why RuneScape?

Aliensvortex — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:12:35 -0500

Hello all! It's Sunday and as usual, we bring you the weekly Global RuneScape Herald article. This week's article, written by Renegade, is about why RuneScape has become so popular, despite its bad reputation in other gaming communites. After you've read the article, feel free to post your thoughts and comments in this topic. Enjoy!

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Herald: The Aging Video Game Culture

Aliensvortex — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:29:46 -0500

Hello all! We know we're a bit late with this week's Herald article. The latest article is entitled The Aging Video Game Culture and is an article about adults playing video games - from the view of a 27 year old player. Enjoy!

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Updates, updates, updates...

Aliensvortex — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:57:03 -0500

Hello all! A few days ago, on March 20th, Global RuneScape saw its third anniversary. In 2006 and 2007 we made some major updates to the site for its birthday, but this year's update was so big that we had to delay it a few days.

Firstly, we've moved the site to a new server. Our old host told us that the site's resource usage was too high, and due to the constant growth of the site, we decided that it was time for us to move on from a shared server to a private server. Some of you might have been experiencing long load times recently, especially in the forums. These issues should be fixed.

There has been a major update in the site backend; the whole system Global RuneScape runs on has been completely rewritten from scratch. This gives us much more flexibility, and you may notice that the whole site is integrated with the forums. When you are logged on in the forums, it will show your status and number of private messages in the header. That means no more login boxes when you're already logged in! If there's something else you would like to see in the header, feel free to let us know! A screenshot posted a few weeks ago showed a "settings" button in the new header. We didn't have time to add the functionality we had planned there, so it will be added later.

With this update, we will also look for more site editors! We have a new control panel for the site editors which will give them the ability to change all guides, database entries, images and calculators. We will make a separate announcement for this in the future, so be sure to check the site news here regularly!

New tools
As mentioned in the Herald article I posted a few weeks ago, there is a new set of calculators, including a new combat calculator!

We also have added forum hiscores. All members of the Global RuneScape forums with more than 10 posts will be listed here. You also need to set a valid RuneScape name in your profile, which can be done in your User Control Panel.

Speaking of hiscores, we have another new tool, the hiscore history! Every time you enter your name in one of the (new!) calculators or use the hiscore lookup feature somewhere on the site, the stats will be saved in the database. You can then view your progress in the hiscore history tool. The forum hiscores will be updated once a day, so one entry will be added every day in the hiscore history for all users listed in the forum hiscores.

We've also added the the ability to search the site using the search box in the header. We also have new RSS news feeds that can be viewed by clicking the RSS icon (an orange icon with rounded corners) in your web browser (not supported by older browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 or Firefox 1.5).

We would really like to get some feedback and suggestions, because there is certainly room for improvement. We have a lot of things we'd like to change, so you could call this new backend a beta, since it's not really finished. If you see any bugs, or something you really don't like, then let us know!

That's all for now. Enjoy!

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New Herald: Cabbage, *****, and other chat filter nightmares

[M]ike — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:47:22 -0500

Hello all, it's Sunday so that means a new herald! This weeks herald was once again, written by Mangleman. It discusses the various issues caused by the ingame chat filtering system. After you've read the article, we invite you to post your thoughts and comments in this topic.

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God Wars, an Old Player Takes a New Look

Aliensvortex — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:05:39 -0500

Hello all! Again, we're sorry for the delay again, Herald articles should be published on Sundays! Anyway, we bring you the latest article, entitled God Wars, an Old Player Takes a New Look by Mangleman, and hope you don't mind seeing this news a few hours too late. After you've read the article, we invite you to post your thoughts and comments in this topic.

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