Over the past days I have received an enormous amount of replies to my call for help with the graphics on the RuneHQ web site. There really is a lot of talent out there! I want to thank each and every single one of you that offered to help. Please forgive me for not sending out a personal thank-you note, but there's just too much emails to answer. At this moment I have stopped accepting submissions, since there have been more than enough submissions to make a proper first selection.

I have selected about a dozen people that have shown some remarkable work as a graphics artist, and I have asked them to start working on a new design for the site header. By the end of the week they should have finished their work, and then I will make the final decision as to who will be selected. I can already promise you that the end-result will be smashing.

So once again, thanks go out to all the people that have offered to help. If you were not accepted this time then it does not mean the work you submitted was no good, it only means someone else did an even better job ;o)

~Xena Dragon~

The new Quest guide for Between a Rock... has been added to the site. You can view it here


~MrStormy~

All quotations are directly from RuneScape.com

21st March 2005 - Between a Rock...

Treasure! And lots of it! That's what dwarves love, and that's what one dwarf in particular thinks he can find beneath the snow-covered mountains east of Rellekka.



Not content to dig for mere coal or copper like his fellow miners, he has his sights set for more grandiose things. But first he must get past a seemingly impenetrable rock that has baffled the dwarves for generations!



Help him if you must, but be careful you don't find yourself Between a Rock... and a very hard place indeed.

21st March 2005 - The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny has come to RuneScape, and can be found hopping around somewhere near Falador on both free and members' servers. She tends to move around quite fast, so it might take you a while to find her. She wants to hand out chocolate eggs to all players, but she can't do it without help, and everyone who lends a hand will get a reward.



When you speak to the Bunny you will be given a basket of eggs which you can use to hand out eggs to other players (right-click on the player while wielding the basket). After you have finished giving out eggs, go back to the Bunny for your reward.



These new eggs are completely different items to the Easter eggs we gave out in 2002. They look different, they have a different effect when you eat them and once they have been given from the egg baskets they are untradable.



In two weeks the Easter Bunny will vanish and all the new chocolate eggs will melt away. The rewards from the Bunny, however, will stay, and if you lose yours you can get a new one from Diango in Draynor.



So join in the Easter fun while you can!

~Lewt04~

We have updated the calculators we have from rsbandb.com. We have added the slayer calc and the combat calc from there to our menu. We hope you enjoy these updates.

~MrStormy~

Greetings,



For those that have not seen my name before; I am Xena Dragon, new RuneHQ site manager. I've joined the team to take over the burden of managing this site so that MrStormy can step back and relax a bit. Keep in mind that I do not own the site. The bills are still paid by MrStormy, and he's not going to give away the site. I'm just here to help, and make sure the site and forums stay in shape. Or to rephrase that; I am here to help improve the site and forums so that it will remain your number one place for all things related to Runescape.



As new RuneHQ manager I have been working behind the scenes for the past weeks, getting to know some of the staff and some of the inner workings of the site. One of my current goals is improve the look and feel of the site, and make the information present more accessible. I have started redesigning and I am currently at a point where I could really use the help of a professional graphics artist. I am hoping that with so many people playing Runescape and visiting our site there are some talents lurking out there, waiting to show their work to the community. If that describes you, then please get in touch with us.



What I am looking for is someone that is able to create a completely new header for the site, and some extra bits and pieces. With my limited graphical skills I have created an example page that somewhat shows what the new header should look like. The left side of the header should contain the name of the site. Don't be scared by the ugly font I used. It's just an example. The right side of the header should have a spot where different kinds of Runescape images can be placed. The entire header is scalable. When you resize your browser, the header will grow and shrink with it. That also goes for the advertisement image in the middle. When the ad grows or shrinks, so will the middle area of the header. I want to have the top area of the header stand out from the page, and the advertisement area to be sunken into the page, similar to (but not necessarily the same as) the example. The header colors will need to be variable. I want to be able to change the colors of the site, and have a bunch of different colored headers to choose from. Also, I need some different bits and pieces of graphics that have the same look as the header, but can be used as menu separators, table headers, page footers, attention grabbers and so on.



I am aware that this is a lot of work, and a lot to ask for free. On the other hand, imagine your work displayed at the top of every RuneHQ page. Needless to say, we will give credit where credit is due. So, if you think you can lend us a hand, and get some exposure of your work then please drop me a line at xena@runehq.com soon. Please make sure to grab the example header and its images, so that you know what sizes to use for the various elements.



Looking forward to seeing your work soon !

~Xena Dragon~

A new special report has been added about Tutorial Island. Thanks to coolgeekz for this great guide.
View it here.



Enjoy!



~Lewt04~

We have a new special report on Money Making. Thanks to Asphyx_Vyndikate for this great guide.
View it here.



Hope you Enjoy!



~Lewt04~

We have a new special report on the burning of shades in the Mort'ton tombs by odm666 and Dakmor shade.
View it here.

Enjoy!

Shane12088

All quotations are directly from RuneScape.com

14-Mar-2005 - Lumbridge Swamp Caves

One of the pools of water in the swamp south of Lumbridge has drained away, revealing the entrance to a new dungeon.



It is an extremely dangerous area, and those venturing in unprepared will not get far. You will not be able to see without a light source, but the candle seller outside the entrance will teach you how to make lanterns. Higher-level lanterns will allow you to avoid some of the hazards of the cave, but these have higher crafting, smithing and firemaking requirements.



Those who can banish the darkness will find the caves packed with new Slayer monsters to train on, plus the fearsome giant frog.

14th March 2005 - Magic and Wilderness Updates

New Teleother Spells

High-level Mages now have the ability to teleport other players to Lumbridge, Falador and Camelot.



These spells open an interface for the recipient with information on where the teleport is to and even who cast it. Naturally you may not want random people offering to teleport you around the world, so we've added an "Accept Aid" option to the in-game menus.



This option defaults to "no", which means you won't receive any teleport offers. You can change this very easily in the options menu in the game (click on the spanner icon).

New Teleport Block Spell

We've also added a new Teleport Block spell to the high level Mage's arsenal. This spell will prevent the target player from using any teleports for 5 minutes. This includes teleport spells, magic levers, and teleporting jewellery.



Just like the Bind spells there is a cool-down period afterwards during which the target will be immune to the spell, lasting for 1 minute after the Teleport Block has worn off. Obviously this spell can only be cast on other players, and it can only be cast in the Wilderness.



We have changed the ladder to the Mage Arena bank area in the deep Wilderness. It is now a lever rather than a ladder. This means it is another thing you will not be able to use if you have had a teleport block spell cast on you.

Wilderness changes

Now that the Wilderness is slightly more dangerous we
have had to reconsider one or two features which were intended for

mid-level players and which were unique to the wilderness:

• 
  Merlin's Crystal is only an intermediate quest, yet it sent you to a multi-way combat zone in the Wilderness. You now need to go to a different chaos altar.
  
  



• We have removed some of the gates in the Edgeville wilderness dungeon to aid the escape of players from that area.
  
  



• There was one medium level clue which sent you into the Wilderness. This now sends you elsewhere. All the high level Wilderness clues remain unchanged.
  
  

There are still plenty of unique features for higher level players in the Wilderness.

RuneHQ Staff

All quotations are directly from RuneScape.com

We have uploaded the guide for the Mountain Daughter Quest

You can find it by clicking the link above or by going to the Quest Guide page.

7th March 2005 - Mountain Daughter + Changes

Mountain Daughter

The Fremennik people regard themselves as noble warriors, wise keepers of ancient knowledge, shielded from the ignorance of the outside world. The outside world, on the other hand, views the Fremennik as an insignificant group of petty bickerers who continually fall out with each other and create their own tribes. One such tribe roams the mountains east of Rellekka, always moving on to find new supplies of food and avoiding the terror of the trolls.

Now, however, their chieftain has lost his daughter and will not move his camp until she has been found. Will you be able to find a way into the camp, convince the chieftain to accept your help, and discover the secrets of the Mountain Daughter?

New Castlewars Rewards

We said at the end of last year that we would be creating more things for you to spend your Castlewars tickets on, so we have. There are now two full sets of new decorative armours! These have higher ticket costs and better combat stats than the red & blue set. The hoods and capes from Castlewars are now also for sale, so you can now show your colours outside of the arena.

You can sell your old decorative armour back to the shop to get its ticket value, so you can put those tickets towards getting the new items.

Wilderness Team Capes and Castle Wars Team Capes Improvements

These items used to convert the dots representing your teammates on the minimap to green. This overrode the green dots representing people on your friends list.

Now people wearing the same Wilderness or Castle Wars team cape as you will appear as a blue dot on your minimap. People on your friends list will appear as green dots even while you are wearing the capes.

1st March 2005 - Friendlist server upgraded

I've just finished performing another upgrade of the friendlist server.

The system is now twice as fast as before which should hopefully mean less waiting for your friendlist to load, and less problems during early morning backups

1st March 2005 - Bug in Guthix Rest Tea

This is a quick warning that we've just fixed a bug in the 'Guthix Rest' tea, which is available after completing the One Small Favour quest.

Unsuprisingly, it wasn't intended that this tea instantly restores 100% of your hitpoints when you drink it. It's only supposed to boost the max hitpoints if you are at full health.

We have now fixed this, so the effects of the tea are now as follows:

• Cures some poison


• Restores some run energy


• Boosts max hitpoints by 5 if you are at full health

I'm posting this news to warn you this has changed. So please DONT go fighting huge great monsters with only tea to heal you, it won't be a good idea!

28th February 2005 - One Small Favour

Yanni Salika, the Shilo Village Antiques Dealer, sadly doesn't attract the custom he was once used to ever since a bizarre incident caused zombies to overrun the village where he has set up shop.

Now that the zombies have been dealt with, he has recently been stocktaking and trying to revamp his spring collection, but it seems that before he can start attracting new customers to his shop he will need One Small Favour doing - perhaps some kindly adventurer can see their way clear to lending him a quick hand?

23rd February 2005 - Wilderness Capes Change

Due to concerns from our legendary players about the colour of the new white wilderness capes, we have changed the colour of those wilderness capes so that the Cape of Legends is once again a unique status symbol for those players who have achieved the task of gaining entrance to the Legends Guild.

I hope you all enjoy all of the new updates, and the new quest guide.

First off, we have found someone to take over management and help out here at Rune Headquarters. Xena_Dragon will be managing the site for us and he is also going to make some really great changes around here. We will also be adding lots more staff to keep up with the work load.



I will be around and check in on things, but not as much as needed. This will take the stress away from me and really help me to unwind for a bit.



I will let him fill you in on all the changes planned once he gets up to speed and figures out what he needs and what he can acomplished.



~MrStormy~

Fellow Runescape users, thanks to the work done by Wwee3, we now have the special report about Hunting Metal Dragons.


Click Here to see it.

Good Luck huntng them dragons and hope you have fun with the guide


~Lewt04

I just wanted to let all of the donators know that I have just gotten around to sending out thank you emails for the past 5-7 days of donations.

Although money isn't a big factor as in why MrStormy and I are wanting to find new management to take over the site, this will help continue to keep the server up until we can find someone to take it over.

Thank you for your donations. They will keep the server going and I'm sure the rest of the RuneHQ users are very grateful also.

If you didn't receive an email or I didn't ask for you to reply with your forum username, please email me at lisa@runehq.com and I'll look into it. There were a lot of donations so I may have skipped over a few by accident. All emails were sent out to the paypal email that you used for the donation, so check your junk mail folders if you don't have the runehq domain in your approval domains.

As for all of the management emails, MrStormy has been reading them whenever he gets a chance and will reply as soon as he can. Please remember that he does work a full time job and does have to spend a little bit of time with me, as I am his wife or else I'll kick his butt. He's gotten a lot of great emails. Thanks to everyone who is interested in helping!

Thanks again and Have a nice day!
Weezy

If you are interested in taking over Management of RuneHQ, read this post first:



Post detailing information about managing RuneHQ



Also:



You MUST be over 18, and preferably over 21, a copy of your driver’s license would do for proof of age, but age is not the only factor. I need someone who is:



1. Dedicated to keeping the image of RuneHQ in tact.

2. Someone who agrees and supports our rules 100% ( I will not stand for someone taking over and allowing this place to turn into a flame haven for immature little jerks)

3. Responsible

4. Intelligent

5 Knowledgeable - Must know PHP, XHTML, CSS at the very least and be willing to prove it.

6. Patient - you must have the patience’s required to fairly handle all the frustrations involved in running a fairly major site like this.



This site is not going to change just because I let someone else run it. I want the site to improve, not to go down in a pit of flames, so I will not hand over the site to just anyone, this is a hard decision and I will not make any hasty moves.



I am not interested in moving the site to your server! This site will stay on the current server at least for now. I may be willing to discuss this issue at a later date. The current server costs us $210.00 per month. DO NOT RECOMMEND A CHEAPER SERVER! This has been tried. We cannot run on FREE web hosts or cheap dedicated servers. I have searched hi and low and trust me I know what I am doing when it comes to web hosting and dedicated servers for this site. Anyone suggesting a free web host or a cheap dedicated server will automatically be considered clueless and ignored.



This site uses over 1000 Gig of bandwidth monthly and CANNOT run reliably on anything less than a Dual Xeon Server with a gig or more of memory. Sharing of the hosting with other domains on the server is not possible as this site uses a lot of resources. The server must also have the GD libraries installed and Freetype Support to allow creation of the dynamic sigs.



I am basically looking for a partner to help manage the site and maybe pay some
of the costs if needed, not someone to buy me out or fully take over the site.
I reserve the right to stay involved and at some point may come back and be more
of a factor than I can right now. I am in no hurry to turn over management to
anyone else. The server is paid for for a couple of months and I plan on taking
my time in making a decision on new management. I have gotten tons of emails,
and truthfully I have to much email to even sort it all out. Most of the emails
however have been from people under 18 that have not got the foggiest clue of
what it takes to run a site like this.



If you are over 18, and interested in taking on management of a substantial web
site like RuneHQ, I have set up a dedicated email address for you to email me. This will make it easier on me to sort out the people who are interested in managing this site.



Please email me at runehq_management@runehq.com.



Serious inquires from people OVER 18 only please. Emailing me if you are under
18 will only make it harder for me to get this done and keep this site up. I
do not have the time needed to weed through pointless emails. If you can't type
more than 20 sentences in your email, also don't bother! I am only interested
in people dedicated enough to send me detailed emails describing their skills
and desire to run this site.


WARNING, anyone using the above email for pointless questions asking about using the sites content or asking stupid questions will get a Flaming hateful response! I will not tolerate emails to this address that are from people under 18 or asking stupid questions. This email is to be used for SERIOUS inquiries only!!!! You have been warned!

Edit: New item! The new guide for One Small Favour can be found here.

Quotations taken directly from Runescape.com

28th February 2005 - One Small Favour

Yanni Salika, the Shilo Village Antiques Dealer, sadly doesn't attract the custom he was once used to ever since a bizarre incident caused zombies to overrun the village where he has set up shop.

Now that the zombies have been dealt with, he has recently been stocktaking and trying to revamp his spring collection, but it seems that before he can start attracting new customers to his shop he will need One Small Favour doing - perhaps some kindly adventurer can see their way clear to lending him a quick hand?

First off, I have decided to put the site back on line while I look for someone to take over the site. I am hoping I can find someone suitable and keep the site up, but that still needs to be worked out. If I can find someone meeting my requirements, the site may be saved, but I am not hopeful at this point. If I don't find someone, then the site will be taken back off line eventually as I am not able to devote the time needed to keep it up. I have disabled new registrations for the time being. If we find some new management, this may be turned back on for new users to register.



For all of you asking, the answer is NO, you may NOT use any content from RuneHQ on your site. Doing so without permission is a copyright violation and we will not allow it. If we find our information on any site other than rsbandb.com, we will take action to get your site shut down! You may however copy the guides and other site information for personal use on your pc, but any attempt to put them on a web accessible site is NOT allowed.

Quotations taken directly from Runescape.com

22nd February 2005 - Wilderness Capes, and Changes

Wilderness capes

To help you identify friend and foe, there are now several enterprising merchants spread throughout the wilderness, each selling different Team Capes.

When worn, these capes will make anyone else wearing the same cape appear Green on the minimap, and everyone else will appear White.

Also, those players with the same cape will have their Attack option moved onto the right-click menu, while everyone else's Attack option will be left-click. This won't stop you from being able to hurt people, but it should help prevent those accidents that can happen in the heat of combat.

New graphics in the Lumbridge area

You may have noticed our graphics team have been getting better, and some of our new members' areas are looking really impressive; therefore they have decided to spend a bit of time improving the graphics of the area around Lumbridge and Draynor Village to give a better first impression to new players.

Crystal bow changes

There is now a third roving elf in the forests of Isafdar. She will create a new crystal bow or shield from a seed when your existing equipment runs out of charges.

The first time that you take the seed to the elf, she will charge the standard price for either the crystal bow or shield. However, every time you go back to her she will reduce the price, but she will not go below 180k for the bow or 150k for the shield.

Crystal equipment now also has 2500 charges before it reverts to its seed.

HAM!

A growing feeling of resentment has boiled over because the King of Varrock isn't seen to be taking a strong enough stance about the increasing monster population.

A new militant group has emerged calling themselves Humans Against Monsters, (aka HAM) and they've taken up residence in one of the ruined buildings near Lumbridge. Any would-be thieves might find perfect pickings amongst a rabble like this - but beware, you may find you've got more to deal with than a clip round the ear for your misdemeanor.

Changes to the Magic Shortbow

When we first launched RuneScape 2, one of our main concerns was to make the game less melée oriented, and to give our players the choice of ranging or maging rather than feeling forced to take the warrior's route. This meant we had to increase the effectiveness of certain elements of the game, some of which we now realise were slightly overcompensated for.

After months of careful consideration and discussion, we have decided to reduce the effectiveness of the magic shortbow's special attack. Each double shot will now use 55% of the special attack bar, rather than the previous 35%.

It is clear to us that our initial attempts to balance the PK triangle were biased towards the ranger (specifically the amount of damage that could be done over a very short amount of time), so we have decided that reducing the rate in which the shortbow specials were used is the best solution. Obviously we're not expecting all of you to embrace this change overnight, but it was necessary.

Over the next few months we will be releasing several improvements and additions to the PK triangle with mages, rangers and fighters all receiving new equipment to play with.

Obviously, it is very important to address the current issues in the balance of the game before releasing any new equipment. We will continue to do this to make sure the 3 classes remain equally powerful.

~ RuneHQ Staff ~

Sorry to say folks, but the time for Runehq has ended.



We are sorry to do this but RuneHQ is shutting down effective immeadiately.



The site has turned into a constant source of stress and frustration for us. It has gotten too big and we cannot seem to find adequate help to maintain it. This site has caused way too many fights and problems for us and we need to step away and take a break. If someone is interested in taking over the management and bills for the site, I may be willing to discuss this and let someone else take over. The server costs $210.00 per month. The sponsor and donations do pay for most of this so far but you cannot count on that and must be willing to pay the difference or all of this cost. I will not however discuss this with anyone under 18 years of age! Also, this domain will always be owned by us because we use it as our primary email addresses and even though we don't want to manage the site, we would still like to be involved if someone else is interested in taking over the management.



Donations have trailed off and our ad clicks were down to 2 or 3 a day and not bringing in enough revenue to pay for the site fully. This may have made it hard on us to continue funding the site in the future and we are kinda tight on funds and cannot absorb the differences if there is a need. We would like to thank those that have donated, but money is NOT the reason we are shutting down the site. It is only a small factor in our decision. Continued dontations will NOT bring the site back. The server is currently payed for until April 1st and we have enough donations since the shutdown to pay for one more month, so if someone takes over, there would not be a server payment needed until May 1st.



PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL ME ABOUT FREE SERVERS OR WEB HOSTING! This site can NOT run off a free hosting account, we get too much traffic and require too many resources to run this site for those to work. Again, it is not about Money, or Bandwidth or the server. The main reason for this shutdown is the constant stress and turmoil caused by trying to get things done correctly and not having adequate good help to accomplis this.



We hope you all the best and hope you all luck with your Runescape endevors. We hope you find a good place to call home.



It was fun while it lasted, but this is the end for RuneHQ for Weezy and I.



~MrStormy~

The new guide for Ghosts Ahoy can be found here.


______________________________

Quotations taken directly from Runescape.com

15th February 2005 - Ghosts Ahoy and Slayer Update

Ghosts Ahoy!

The Morytania swamp waters have further receeded, providing access to a town called Port Phasmatys. Head eastwards from Canifis, and provided you can survive the vampires and leeches in the swamps, you should have no trouble finding the place.

Port Phasmatys itself has many of the facilities you would expect in a thriving RuneScape town, including a bank, a furnace, an inn and a general store. However, unlike most RuneScape towns, Port Phasmatys is almost entirely populated by ghosts. The citizens of Port Phasmatys have unwittingly consigned themselves to an immortal existence, trapped forever in this world as unwilling ghosts.

Players can try and help resolve this tragic situation in the Ghosts Ahoy quest. Necrovarus, Lord of the Temple of Phasmatys, holds the key to the door into the next world. Can you convince him to open it and set the trapped souls free?

To the north of the town is the Ectofunctus. This provides a way to get more prayer experience from the various bones in the game. It is also a source of ectotokens, used as currency by many of the local ghosts. Speak to the ghost disciples and they will give you more details about how to use the Ectofunctus.

Slayer Reassignment

Thank you for all the constructive feedback we have received on the slayer skill.

Players can now get a replacement task for their slayer assignment if they really don't like the one they have been given.

We didn't want to make it so that people could just keep on rejecting their assignment until they got given the creature they wanted to train on anyway. Part of our aim for the slayer skill was to increase the variety in combat training and give players an incentive to explore new training areas. That is an element we are very keen to keep.

Therefore if you currently have a high level slayer assignment that you feel you can't do, you can now replace it with a low level assignment by talking to the slayer master in Burthorpe. However if you already have a low level assignment then he won't replace it for you again, so you can't keep cycling what you've got to achieve.

It is also worth noting that the Burthorpe slayer master will sometimes tell you to kill Kalphites. Do not worry, this does not mean you will have to kill the extremely strong Kalphite Queen. There are lots of lower level Kalphites in the game.

8th February 2005 - New St Louis worlds online

We've just finished another round of upgrades on our servers to keep up with the number of people playing RuneScape.

We've just put 9 new worlds online. 8 of them are located in St Louis which is another new location for us. We've also added another world to the UK, and moved world 42 to be a members world.

The net result of all this is:
# free users have 4 more worlds
# members have 5 more worlds

Enjoy the extra space!
Andrew

~ RuneHQ Staff ~

MrStormy has sent in a support ticket to Invision regarding the forum problems. Until they reply, the forum will be down, as it has been for the past day or so.


The server has also been acting up and we have sent in a support ticket for that also.


We are looking into both problems and will get them fixed as soon as we can.


Sorry for the problems and Have a nice day,

RuneHQ Owner
Weezyrowe