A player has allegedly found an exploit in Old School RuneScape that allowed him to generate event currency and exchange it for items. According to his statement, he earned 450 billion gold, which he then sold to gold sellers for $100,000.
What was this exploit? The issue revolved around a general achievement in the MMORPG and the mini-game Soul Wars. By combining these, Twitter user Lyrn was able to generate items endlessly, which he then sold in the auction house:
- For the Hard Combat Achievements, a high level of equipment, knowledge of tough bosses, and the completion of a series of difficult quests are required. Lyrn had achieved this success beforehand.
- As a reward for the achievement, there is, among other things, a discount on items from the mini-game Soul Wars. The items there then cost 50% less zeal.
- However, the vendor buys these items back at any time for 80% of the original price.
And this is exactly where the exploit begins. Lyrn bought the item Black Mask for 250 instead of 500 zeal. He then sold it back to the vendor for 400 zeal. He then programmed a bot that constantly bought and resold the item. Thus, he allegedly earned 2.7 million zeal per hour.
The zeal he gained was exchanged for a box containing various items and materials. He then sold them in the auction house for gold. The gold he ultimately sold to gold sellers.
According to his statement, Lyrn earned about 450 billion gold in two weeks until a patch just before Christmas came that fixed the issue. Of the 450 billion, he managed to sell almost 350 billion before he was banned. This corresponds to about $100,000 based on a purchase by gold sellers.
You can check out the entire method and an analysis in this video by YouTuber SirPugger:
Exploit sounds realistic, but evidence is lacking
How realistic are the claims? Although Lyrn has published a video with a corresponding bot and the collected items, there is currently no proof that his story is true. The recordings may have originated on a private server, says MoldRS, a well-known content creator for Old School RuneScape (via Twitter).
YouTuber SirPugger, however, examined the items that Lyrn sold in the auction house. Around December 18, he noticed a spike in supply and a drop in price.
Since millions of these items are sold every day under normal circumstances, the exploit could indeed have been carried out around that time without attracting too much attention.
Basically, the exploit seems possible, especially when looking at the comments on Twitter and YouTube. Yagex has made mistakes before, and this trick with the buyback could simply have been overlooked.
We contacted Lyrn again to get some details and possible proof to see if the story is really true.
However, RuneScape players are generally very engaged and a bit crazy. Just recently, a record was set that required nearly 40,000 play hours:
That players use MMORPGs to farm gold and resell it is particularly a lucrative business in countries with high poverty. We previously reported in 2020 about a man from Venezuela whose main source of income was the sale of gold in Tibia:
Man in Venezuela feeds his family by playing a very old MMORPG
