One of the most successful MMORPGs of the past 20+ years has announced community servers via a roadmap, where players are supposed to have full control over rules and modifiers.
Which MMORPG is it? RuneScape may already be 23 years old, but it still ranks among the most popular and successful online role-playing games on the market. Following the acquisition of developer Jagex in January 2024, it was stated:
- more than 300 million accounts have been created for RuneScape
- the MMORPG has generated over one billion US dollars in revenue
In this regard, RuneScape, similar to World of Warcraft, has been accompanied for several years by a strong Classic variant: Old School RuneScape. In the news recap from MeinMMO last weekend, you could read that this nostalgia version was able to enjoy strong player numbers once again: 160,352 players were online simultaneously in the MMORPG classic.
RuneScape and Old School RuneScape are also available on Steam:
What has Jagex announced for RuneScape? Recently, the developers introduced the new roadmap for the Old School version of the MMORPG (via runescape.com). One of the most exciting points of the roadmap is called “Project Zanaris,” which emerged from an analysis of a community survey from last year.
This project involves the provision of community servers where you can play god and set rules and modifiers. In the official announcement of the community servers, it says:
On the community servers, you can change Old School RuneScape, as you know and love it, through various elements and create a completely new gaming experience. Do you want NPCs to deal 5x the damage? Do you want to make everyone an ultimate Ironman or implement PvP everywhere? All of this and much more will soon be possible.
On these servers, you set the rules, and you can also choose who can access your creation – whether it’s a small group of close friends, your clan, or the entire community!
Players will be able to browse and filter the lists of available servers and join whenever they want. Ultimately, Project Zanaris is a place where anyone can create and share a new Old School experience – or play in someone else’s!
Jagex via runescape.com
There is currently no release date for “Project Zanaris.” However, the open beta is supposed to start sometime in 2025. It is also clear that a new, separate team will be working on the community servers. Thus, no resources will be taken away from RuneScape and Old School RuneScape.
What else is on the roadmap? The newly presented roadmap extends into the upcoming year and includes the following releases:
- Varlamore, The Rising Darkness – Release on September 25, 2024: Update with a new area, boss challenge, fresh activities, and more.
- Client update and revised mobile UI on October 9, 2024
- Curse of Arrav – Release in Winter 2024: The continuation of the Mahjarrat story
- Wrathmaw in November 2024: The first Wilderness boss for Old School RuneScape
- Leagues V – Raging Echoes in November 2024: New iteration of the leagues, with new mechanics, modified enemies, and more
- Giant Bosses in Spring 2025: The fire and ice counterparts of Obor and Bryophyta are coming
- Varlamore, The Final Dawn – Release in Spring 2025: New expansion with the finale of Varlamore
- Sailing (release timeframe yet to be announced): This feature is intended to allow you to explore islands and points of interest, fight at sea, and customize your ship
- HD update and API interface with open beta in 2025
By the way: Some time ago, the operators of RuneScape also asked the community whether they would be willing to pay more for the subscription if it meant reducing microtransactions in the game.
Apparently, a sufficiently large part of the community answered this question positively. Because now the responsible parties at Jagex announced the largest price increase in the 23-year history of the MMORPG classic. However, the developers remain silent about whether, when, and in what form the microtransactions of RuneScape will be reduced.
