Winter Summit 2024 - Overview (2024)

Everything you need to know about the 2024 Winter Summit in one handy post!

Our 2024 Winter Summit is over – and this is the place to be for all the highlights from the biggest stream of the season.

In this post you’ll find all the latest information about all the major reveals and more we showcased on the Summit, including While Guthix Sleeps, updates to our official client and the next steps for Sailing including details on the very first playable Alpha!

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of our announcements, here's a look at the roadmap and what you can expect in the very first half of 2024!

One cold winter morning in 2008, 'Scapers awoke to a brand-new quest. It was a richly immersive, sprawling adventure featuring a thrilling cast of murderers, spies and druids – plus the return of a rarely-encountered Mahjarrat! It would soon become one of the most iconic RuneScape quests of all time. Do you remember your first encounter with While Guthix Sleeps?

While Guthix Sleeps will be another quest in the Mahjarrat storyline, accompanying the likes of Desert Treasure II and Defender of Varrock. This is by far the most requested story you’ve asked for, so we’re excited to do it justice.

While Guthix Sleeps will send you on an epic journey in search of one of the most powerful artefacts in existence… if you can stop a deadly Mahjarrat from obtaining it first!

This new quest will be a remake of the 2008 original – this means that although the backported quest has been used as a starting point, we’re adding extensive enhancements and bringing it in line with our long-term story plans.

We’ve also added a selection of exciting new rewards, to match our other Grandmaster quests.

You can read all about it in the While Guthix Sleeps newspost, or in the Dev Diary below!

Long, long ago, the hero Arrav shielded Varrock against the undead armies of the Mahjarrat Zemouregal. His bravery secured the city’s future for centuries to come… but at a terrible price. As Zemouregal retreated, he made Arrav a promise – that when he returned, he would make Arrav his champion, and use Varrock’s hero against them.

This chilling prophesy foretells doom and destruction for the people of Varrock. There are fearful whispers on the streets. Tales of the dead rising from their graves. Could the prophesy be true? And if it is… who’s going to save the city this time?!

It’s time for you to take up arms and become the Defender of Varrock!

This classic quest in the Mahjarrat storyline has been backported all the way from 2008. While most of the quest remains exactly as you remember, we’ve added a little Old School spice and brought it up to our modern standards. Don’t worry – we’re not cruel enough to make you start it in the Wilderness!

Find out more information in the Defender of Varrock newspost, or keep reading to see another blast from the past arriving this year…

The Shining Kingdom will open to visitors on March 20th! Check out this overview blog for everything you need to know!

If you haven’t yet completed the recent Children of the Sun quest, we highly recommend doing so before Varlamore launches! As the first part of the Varlamore quest series, it introduces all the major players and gets you access to the kingdom itself.

Once you’re finally standing on Varlamore’s shining shores, you can look forward to content like the Fortis Colosseum, the Perilous Moons minigame, the Hunter Guild, and much, much more! For a sneak peek, check out the Varlamore Dev Diary:

When Varlamore launches, you’ll be able to explore Civitas illa Fortis and the vast Avium Savannah – but we’re not stopping there!

We’re already planning the second part of Varlamore, which will focus on two main areas: the luxurious island of Aldarin, and the inhospitable mountain range north of Civitas illa Fortis. Headline content includes a new Herblore activity on Aldarin, and a new group boss in the mountains. Just as with the first batch, you’ll also see plenty of new quests and smaller activities, as well as updates to existing content.

For the low-down, check out this Varlamore: Part Two guide from our friend GentleTractor:

Anchors are well aweigh on our first new skill. We’re finally ready to show off our progress so far and give you a glimpse of what’s waiting on the horizon in 2024.

A new skill is always a massive undertaking, and Sailing also includes a whole new area of the map to explore – so we’ve been busy behind the scenes discussing timelines, resources, and other factors that impact development.

At the Winter Summit, we showed off the Sailing development roadmap, which you can view in full in the Sailing: What’s Next newspost. It includes a step-by-step breakdown of each big milestone on our journey, and what we plan to do in the immediate future.

Thanks to the hard work of our teams, the official Old School RuneScape client is better than ever. Over the last few years, we’ve added all kinds of quality-of-life features – but we reckon we can still go bigger. That’s why 2024 will see two major client updates that will enable an even better gameplay experience.

First up, we’re adding an official HD Mode, complete with fully dynamic lighting, sunlight effects, and fog. Don’t worry – if you prefer the ‘classic’ look, SD Mode will keep Old School RuneScape looking just the way it does now. You’ll be able to switch between HD and SD modes at will – even on mobile.

If you thought that was exciting, this next bit of news is really going to blow your socks off. We’re adding an Official Client Plugin API!

Some of you will already be familiar with RuneLite’s Plugin Library, a selection of helpful add-ons that expand players’ gameplay options. With the upcoming Plugin API and Plugin Hub, you’ll be able to use Plugins on the Official Client, too – and even create your own!

This means that mobile users will have access to Plugins for the first time in Old School RuneScape history. With this update, switching from PC to mobile will be easier than ever – you’ll have all your favourite helpers lined up and ready to go, no matter where you are.

The Future of the Official Client newspost explains both of these updates in detail, and includes a few gorgeous screenshots – so go on, have a read!

You might not be starting any quests in the Wilderness, but we will be hopping over the ditch for this next update.

In recent years, Wilderness PvP has favoured level 20-40 areas – which means that the likes of Zerkers and Pures are struggling to find a cosy spot to call home.

2024’s first PvP update looks to remedy this problem by breathing new life into an iconic low-level location. The Chaos Temple will become a hotspot where players can make some cash, score some PvP-focused loot, and fight with players around their combat level.

You see, the Chaos Temple has just become a lot more chaotic. Undead pirates have descended upon the area and are locked in fierce battle against the elder chaos druids. It’s a multi-combat moshpit! With the pirates vying to get the edge on their newfound enemies, and the chaos druids continuing to teleport folks all over the place, you’ll need to keep your wits about you if you plan to survive the battle.

Take out the pirates, and you’ll be rewarded with some Wilderness-oriented uniques: Chivalry Prayer Scrolls, Adamant Seeds, and Blip Blocking Scrolls that block the chaos druids’ pesky teleporting abilities. This loot should be fairly consistent, allowing players to amass wealth – and risk – over time. Ready to make a fast exit? Watch out. The chaos druids have developed teleblocking powers, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for danger and plan your escape carefully.

You can find more information about this update and the future of PvP in our dedicated blog.

We’re super excited to build on everything we’ve learned from last year’s PvP improvements and can’t wait to carry that energy into 2024. Yes, that may well mean the return of a certain game mode… so keep your eyes peeled for more news on that front!

Still with us? Let’s take a look and learn about the future of holiday events!

Holiday events are one of our favourite things about Old School RuneScape, and 2024 will see plenty of festivities for you to enjoy! This year you can expect to see events for Easter, Pride, Halloween, and Christmas.

However, there’s one regular event missing from that list. We’ve made the tough decision not to include an in-game event for our birthday this year, and instead reserve special events like this for our milestone years.

That said, nobody wants their birthday to go completely unnoticed, so we’ll still be decorating the Falador Party Room for the occasion. You’ll also still be able to claim any previous years’ birthday rewards. Who knows? We may just find time to squeeze in a special surprise or two…

The upside of this change means that the team has more time to spend on Quality-of-Life updates that will improve the long-term health of the game. For example, we’re still working on a few changes from Poll 80, which will be making their way to the game soon. We’re already generating ideas for Poll 81, so keep your eyes peeled for more news!

That’s it for the giveaways. Many thanks to our partners Makeship, Steamforged and Creator Crafted for the prizes and congratulations to all our winners – codes for your prizes will be winging their way to you soon, if you don’t have them already!

For more info on any of the products shown, check out the links below.

Dragon Plushies from Makeship

Have you got a funny feeling you are being followed?

Your favourite OSRS dragons are now available in plushie form - IRL pets that wont burn the house down!

These cuddly critters are on pre-sale now available for a limited time only, so grab ‘em while you can! There is a 10% discount if you buy 2 and a 15% discount for 3!

Visit the Makeship store for full details.

RuneScape Kingdoms Boardgame from Steamforged Games

Want to quest, skill, meet memorable NPC’s, slay mighty monsters, and craft awesome gear on the tabletop? Then this is for you! RuneScape Kingdoms: Shadow of Elvarg is a co-operative board game that you can play on your own or with friends.

It is coming to retailers globally on February 29th and will soon ship to Kickstarter backers and pre-orders!

For more info on the full RuneScape Kingdoms range including board game expansions, online exclusives, and also the TTRPG (tabletop role playing game for those who don’t know), check out Streamforged’s store.

LED Lights and more from Creator Crafted

Creator Crafted’s community driven designs light up your home and bring RuneScape to life, celebrating in game achievements or a favourite memory from a moment in OSRS’s history!

As a Winter Summit treat, you can get a 10% discount on their full range of LED lights and mousepads. For all their designs and to apply the discount automatically use this link or insert the code SUMMIT at checkout.

You've got absolutely loads to unpack, but we've got you covered! Here's a full list of every question you'll be able to vote on once our Summit Greenlight poll goes live!

You can also discuss this update on our official forums, on the 2007Scape subreddit, the Steam forums, or the community-led OSRS Discord in the #gameupdate channel. For more info on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

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