Over the past year, we've been keeping a rather large secret. We have been working on a complete graphical rework of RuneScape, which is looking truly spectacular. There's no need to take our word for it: look at the images below and see for yourself.

As you know, we currently offer 'High Detail' and 'Low Detail' modes. We plan on adding a new and optional detail mode, bringing you accelerated higher quality graphics. This will be in addition to the existing detail modes, as they will remain unchanged.

As if the improvements below weren't enough, an optional fullscreen version of RuneScape is due at the same time. This will let you play at a resolution of your choice, and it also supports widescreen monitors. We think you'll agree, the future of RuneScape is looking very good indeed....

Before:

After:

Click for full image

Expect more to be revealed in a Development Diary, later this month.

The dwarves of the Dwarven Mine are an industrious bunch and get through a lot of pickaxes. Nurmof, the pickaxe sales-dwarf, has always had trouble keeping up with demand and, as RuneScape shops have limitless stock, he can't possibly make enough pickaxes on his own.

Being a dwarf, Nurmof has solved his problem the dwarven way: through automation! His cave in the Dwarven Mine is now home to a machine that churns out pickaxes night and day. Powering it has become something of a problem, so Nurmof has commissioned a power station on the surface, near the mine.

Projects of this scale are rarely without their problems: a hapless dwarf has lost part of a delivery to the power station, and an adventurer is needed to recover it. As is customary on RuneScape, this may not be the end of that adventurer's involvement...

Summary

In other news...

Those who complete Perils of Ice Mountain will find a set of dwarven blueprints. To get a closer look at them, look at the wallpaper, in the Download section of our website.

What's new pussycat? Well, along with the reworked Gertrude's Cat quest, we've updated the cats and kittens throughout RuneScape. All cat and kitten variants have been looked over by the Makeover Mage and are more adorable than ever. Miaow!

The Monastery and monks east of Ice Mountain have also undergone a graphical update. Check out the fresh robes and the surrounding area - we think you'll be 'thoroug-holy' surprised by their new looks.

We've implemented a fairy ring logbook to assist you in your travels. Using the Zanaris fairy ring will display your log, so you can easily find the code combinations for your chosen destination. Your log will only display code combinations from this week onwards, however. Additionally, the rings can turn in two directions, which should speed up your selection.

You should find that it's easier and quicker to recharge your essence pouches in the Abyss. The Dark Mage now has a quick option and he'll repair your degraded pouches with less hassle.

The Bone Grinder has been improved, so that grinding silver bars to dust has been made faster. Stop by the Ectofuntus Temple to give it a go!

Bogrog, the ogre in the north of Gu'Tanoth, is offering a special service to summoners. If you trade-in your Summoning pouches, he will give you some spirit shards back. The number is equal to 70% of the spirit shards required to create the pouch. Bogrog will demand that you have a Summoning level above the requirement of the pouch - but this won't apply to level 99 familiars, of course.

Other small fixes:

• The red boater hat is no longer listed twice in your player-owned house treasure chest.
• Crossbow bolts purchasable after Death to the Dorgeshuun can now be bought and sold on the Grand Exchange in larger quantities.

When planning future projects or attempting to really push the technology of the RuneScape game, we often come across the same problem: we have no information about everyone's computer hardware. With this kind of information, we could release more RuneScape improvements that make the best use of your system's capabilities.

We have come up with a solution that we'd like you to help us with. We have developed a program that, once downloaded, will tell us the following things about your computer:

• Your operating system
• Your graphics card
• Your CPU
• Your Java version
• Relevant graphical and audio drivers

Once we've gathered together all of this information, we can begin planning our future projects and RuneScape improvements to work within these specifications. This means that very few people will miss out on some awesome updates that we have planned!

To begin downloading the program, visit this link and log in. It will guide you through an agreement page to make sure that you understand what is required. The process does not take long, so you should be back to RuneScape in no time.

The applet is completely secure and official (you can verify this by checking that your address bar states www.runescape.com/). We can guarantee that your information will only be used by Jagex to develop future games and improve RuneScape. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

NOTE - Please only download the program from RuneScape.com. This is the only legitimate source.

Click here to download the program.

Hi everyone,

We have released a new Forum in the 'Support' section of the RuneScape Forums. This is called the 'Reporting Academy', and it contains information that will help you when sending abuse reports about other players.

Every day, we receive lots of inaccurate abuse reports, which take up a lot of our time. By creating this Forum, we hope everyone will have a better idea of what to report, so we can spend more time moderating in-game or on the Forums. Let's work together to make that happen!

Here are a couple of quick pointers to get you started:

Noob:

Being called a noob can be annoying. You may have a bad game of Castle Wars, for example, and find that a player follows you around afterwards, calling you a 'noob'. As irritating as this may be to you, please do not report it unless there is something more serious that you'd like us to take a look at! If the player is really bothering you, add them to your Ignore List - that way, you'll have no more trouble from them!

Filtered language **** ****:

It may be that you have wandered RuneScape and seen someone activate the in-game chat filter. The filter removes inappropriate words, so you do not need to send us a report. If a person is annoying you by continuously using the filter, we would advise you to use your Ignore List. To sum up: don't report for starred-out language only, as the filter has done its job. Of course, if there is something other than just starred-out language that you are concerned about, please send us a report about that player.

For more great reporting tips please visit our new Forum 'The Reporting Academy'.

Thanks for listening,

RuneScape Community Management

The Vyrewatch continue to draw blood tithes from the citizens of Meiyerditch, while the Saradominist powers of Misthalin seem unable to break Drakan's stranglehold over the dread land of Morytania. The two forces are bound by Guthixian Edicts, preventing any confrontation that would start another war between the gods.

Mercenaries trickle into Morytania through Paterdomus and are guided down to the frontline in Burgh de Rott, but they are not enough. In Meiyerditch, the little blood that remains in the veins of the townsfolk continues to flow. With such organised evil and so few allies, what new efforts can the Myreque make?

A new rumour has been heard among the assembled mercenaries near Paterdomus. One of their number saw something suspicious in the temple and believes you should investigate it.

Farther south, word comes that Safalaan has tasks for an enthusiastic, young and just-promoted private of the Myreque. Your part in the tale is about to get more involved...

What new secrets are to be discovered in Paterdomus? Can the Myreque strike back against the Vyrewatch? What has the mysterious Safalaan got in store for you? Cross the border, once again, into Morytania and these questions may well be answered.

Summary

In other news...

The recently added Treasure Trail items, along with the Trouble Brewing clothing, can now be stored in your player-owned house. We know that these item sets can take up valuable bank space, so you can now store them safely away in your costume room!

We've made some core changes that will benefit the prices of items that appear stuck or stationary. Items traded between players or via the Grand Exchange will now change price more frequently.

Various icefiends have had a graphical rework. These ice-cool little creatures will melt your heart when you see them in their glacial glory!

The entrance to Morytania has been re-vamped graphically, to make it look even more fang-tastic. Stop and have a peek on your way to the Legacy of Seergaze quest.

Around 50 new clues have been added to the medium and hard Treasure Trails this week with the introduction of some taxing riddles and anagrams. Prepare to have your brain twisted as you decipher some true puzzlers!

We couldn't have spiced up the clues without doing the same to the rewards, so we've brought them up to date this week. You'll get your puzzling mitts on more familiar items such as Construction gear, and new rewards like jewelled canes, animal masks and the top hat.

For a list of additions to the Treasure Trail items, please visit the Knowledge Base here.

Summary

In other news...

In Customer Support news, we are very pleased to announce an update to our Offence Appeal system. This update allows players to appeal their previously-issued permanent mutes. For more information about this change, visit the 'Appeals Update' thread in the News and Announcement RuneScape Forum, or type the following quick-find code into the 'Jump to thread' text box at the top of the Forum window: 13-14-482-56082709.

There is now a minimum and maximum number of players required to start a game of Bounty Hunter, so the craters don't get overcrowded. As a result, we've increased the number of worlds Bounty Hunter can be played on.

It seems that Summoning pets were behaving slightly strangely. Now, a black labrador will no longer change colour when it's fully grown!

Last week, there seemed to be some ground movement near the bank in west Falador. We've called in the landscape gardeners and it's been leveled out.

A number of Guthix druids have discovered an unexplored cave under the lower Wilderness, just north of Varrock. Inside is a new, one-on-one, tactical PvP combat minigame, available to both members and free players!

The cave appears to have been left undisturbed since the time of the god wars, guarded over the years by Fiara, a giant earwig and protector of something called the Fist of Guthix. Great powers emanate from this 'Fist' and the druids have managed to convince Fiara to allow them to gather charges from it. Being light on numbers, they need others to help them, which is where you come in!

In the spirit of Guthix, Fiara has introduced a 'balance' to this minigame. For each adventurer looking to absorb the power of the fist, there is another trying to chop, range or cast spells at them!

You and another adventurer must each take a turn being the hunted or the hunter. The hunted's task is to survive as long as possible, storing charges in a stone of power as the time counts down, while the hunter simply has to defeat the hunted in as quick a time as possible!

The energy of this mysterious area has quite an impact on those who attempt to absorb the power from the Fist of Guthix. Even the mightiest of warriors will find themselves severely weakened as they avoid the hunter, making it incredibly difficult to survive for long. The cave does offer some help in the form of places to hide, but will this be enough?

After both you and your opponent have had a chance to be the hunted, victory is assigned to those who stored the most charges in their stone of power. Fist of Guthix tokens will then be given out, based on how well you did, with which you can purchase a wide variety of rewards, including magical gloves to help you boost your XP, spiked shields and many more.

Fist of Guthix is available to play on ALL free and members worlds. There is a list of recommended worlds on the Themed Worlds Knowledge Base page.

We have also put a cap of the number of players who can play Fist of Guthix on any world at any time, which is set at 250 players. This will maximise your enjoyment of Fist of Guthix and minimise any conflict from other ongoing matches!

Summary

In other news...

Hunter pet variations have been added to many places in RuneScape. Monkeys, squirrels, raccoons and geckos can now be found in several different shapes, colours and sizes, so get hunting!

The Party Room chest has been changed to better reflect the value of the items that are in it. It now checks the items against the Grand Exchange market price, so you should find a more accurate drop party value in banks or the Party Room.

Having looked at feedback on the Forums, we have changed the ibis, granite crab and granite lobster so that they give a small amount of Fishing experience when catching fish - a nice little bonus, we think you'll find!

A few graphical issues popped up last week: a pier in Neitiznot disappeared and a small hole opened up on Karamja! Guthix has restored the balance and these have been repaired.

Finally, a change has been made to the Culinaromancer's chest and the gnome ingredients shop at the Grand Tree. Item prices in these shops should be more attractive.

It seems that the problem-prone Easter Bunny is once again experiencing difficulties. He's spent so much time redecorating his warren that he hasn't noticed critters burrowing in and devouring his entire chocolate stockpile.

Now, devoid of cocoa stocks, the chocolate egg production has ground to a halt and the forecast for Easter celebrations looks bleak. No need to worry, though - the Easter Bunny is an inventive sort, and has come up with an eggs-emplary new idea: use a chocatrice! These fearsome creatures, incubated from a chocolate-coated cockatrice egg, can turn their targets into chocolate with one lethal, chocifying gaze.

It falls to you, then, to create this curious creature. You'll need to track down some of the lost chocolate to make a chocatrice egg and then carefully incubate it. The critters who ate the chocolate supply are sealed in the Easter Bunny's tunnels and will prove a suitable target for your chocatrice.

So, this Easter, you will come to the aid of chocolate lovers everywhere, incubating your own chocatrice, guiding it around the Easter Bunny's tunnels and turning the greedy rats into something altogether more delicious...

Summary

In other news...

The music system now has a counter which keeps 'track' of how many songs you've unlocked. You'll have the Air Guitar emote in no time!

Players will now always receive a TzHaar fire cape and 8,000 TokKul after defeating TzTok-Jad. You can keep any extra fire capes you win as spares in case you lose them, or speak to TzHaar-Mej-Jal, master of the Fight Cave, who will purchase spare fire capes from you for 8,000 TokKul a piece.

We're constantly looking at item prices on the Grand Exchange and how they match up with similar items and those that are unfinished versions of other items. Prices for some of these sorts of items have been adjusted following this pattern. For example, an unstrung necklace will more closely follow the price of the strung version.

You might have found in the recently refurbished Edgeville Dungeon that fighting chaos druids was a slow process. The death animation has been reduced so you don't have to spend as much time waiting before picking up your loot!

Free players and members can put their Player Safety knowledge to the test in our brand new Stronghold! Travel south of Edgeville to learn from the gublinch, stamp on cockroaches and take the Player Safety examinations...

As ever, there are strange occurrences afoot in the slug-riddled town of Witchaven. Kennith, the odd little boy with a (justified) aversion to sea slugs, is convinced that the townsfolk are up to no good in the caverns beneath the town and he is looking for a brave adventurer with a talent for Mining to investigate.

You may have heard of FunOrb but know very little about what it involves. Well, it's a new website that we've released, offering a great selection of browser-based games that we'll be adding to regularly!

Surok has managed to escape from Varrock Library! Follow him through the Chaos Tunnels and capture him before he can wreak further mischief on the great city of Varrock.

Earlier this year, we promised a few important fixes and improvements to our recent content in the 'Future Changes to Recent Updates' newspost. In the State of Play, we'll bring you up-to-date with their progress and give you an idea of how they'll affect you.

Winkin the gnome has taken his crops to market, so Farmer Blinkin has been left in charge. Simple instructions have been left: harvest the Farming patches while Winkin is away. Unfortunately, a family of hungry rabbits have moved into the neighbourhood and they are eating the seeds before Winkin can say,"Get off my land"!

As if this wasn't nuisance enough, the hired farmhands have had one too many blurberry specials and forgotten where they planted their seeds. It has all become a bit too much for poor Blinkin, so he has opened the farm's doors to any adventurer who is willing to help.

It's not all bad news, however. Everyone knows that gnomes are magical creatures and industrious, to say the least; so, the farmyard has been imbued with magic that will let you know when you are close to a seed. So grab a spade, start digging and improve your Farming levels while helping out poor Blinkin!

Oh, and be sure to pay a visit to Mrs Winkin's Farming Emporium. Here you can trade in your hard-earned points for prizes, like seeds and chunks of Farming XP!

Summary

New Farming Amulets:

The magical amulet of nature has been revised by the clever druids of Taverley to provide budding farmers with even more assistance! Not only will it retain it's previous functions - updating it's owner on the state of their Farming patch - it will also offer you two welcome additions and the ability to talk!

You will now be able to contact a farmer that is near your patch, and you can use the amulet to teleport to your diseased plant. These changes will certainly allow you to manage your patches much more effectively.

But that's not all! The druids have been able to put some of the original amulet's magic into a new amulet of Farming, which can be bought from Farming stores throughout Runescape. These lesser amulets have only a limited number of uses and will only work with vegetable or flower patches. These will inform your of the state of your chosen Farming patch, much as the amulet of nature did previously.

Following your disruptive behaviour in the Tyras Camp, things are not going well for the catapult guard. Already unpopular with his comrades after various security lapses, he's now neglected the catapult, allowing damp to seep in and rot the frame. General Hining is furious, the replacement catapult parts haven't arrived and the rookie catapult engineer has gone missing in hostile Isafdar.

It's a good thing, then, that a bold adventurer with your Construction knowledge is in the area; however, this will take much more effort than simply building furniture. You'll need to source some schematics, collect the finest materials and exert your mind as well as your hammer-hand...and that's just when building the catapult. You will also need to put it through some rigorous tests before the fearsome weapon can be deployed. After all, you'll want to be pretty sure of where your boulders are going to land!

As well as some Construction know-how, you will also learn to be more effective when using Castle Wars catapults. Needless to say, this Catapult Construction quest will help make amends for the carnage you caused during your last visit.

In other news...

Over the past week, the new music system has been causing issues with server load, leading us to remove some of it so that it doesn't interrupt your enjoyment of the game. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this has caused you over the past few days - as you can imagine, it is difficult for us to know the exact effect that hundreds of thousands of players, both members and free, will have on servers when we release a new piece of content like this! We have put in a lot of work to optimise the music system, so you can now use it without any server issues at all.

On another musical note, we have looked at those songs that players cannot unlock, due to them being related to completed quests. Anyone who missed out on unlocking a quest-specific track while the music system was deactivated, and who can't return to the area to unlock it again, will have the track unlocked for them in this update. As always, if you notice any further issues with this or any other content, please do send us a bug report. Your support is incredibly helpful in these matters.