News

Before we dive into the bulk of the PvP Arena blog, given there will be an in-game poll soon we'd like to use this opportunity to talk about a potential new reward from Beneath Cursed Sands.

In Beneath Cursed Sands you find yourself helping the people of Sophanem once more. In return for your help, the High Priest will happily reward you with a Circlet of Water. This piece of headwear provides protection from the heat of the desert, making it an essential item for the Priests of Icthlarin.

The Circlet of Water is an untradeable helm that acts like a Waterskin when worn. When you first obtained, it is uncharged and requires Water runes to activate. Five Water runes can be used to grant 1 charge.

The Circlet of Water can hold a max of 500,000 charges. Each drink of water removes 1 charge. If lost, it can be reclaimed from the Sophanem High Priest.

The PvP Arena

Breaking news! The Emir of Al Kharid has been made aware of illicit activity going on in the glorious old battlegrounds formerly known as the Duel Arena. As a result, all fights are now overseen by the guards of Al Kharid. With this increased security, the locals feel safer approaching the area and even watching the actions. The tribunes are busier than ever before, with crowds cheering for the fighters below.

Word spreads fast and challengers from all parts of the world have come to Al Kharid to fight in the now-reputable venue. People used to shy away from it, knowing that a scrap in the Duel Arena could lead down a dark path.

Now, for the first time in a long time, a victory here may actually be seen as prestigious!

A note on feedback and recent changes...

Many of you have likely seen previous iterations of this blog. If you've been staying on top of all the changes, you will notice there aren't many differences here. We've consolidated all of the changes made since we first started talking about the PvP Arena back in February and added the relevant poll questions.

After reading all of the feedback, it was clear we were not going to reach a consensus with everyone on each reward. Ultimately we felt that it would be best to put it to the polls and let the players decide. We'll continue reviewing your feedback up to the poll going live next week and following that, we'll be doing our usual rounds of post-release feedback and tweaks where necessary with the focus being on stat bonus changes rather than drastic requirement changes!

For those of you not so keen on reading every blog iteration, make sure to check the full details on what the PvP Arena has to offer by checking the rest of the blog!

• Three modes have been added to the PvP Arena, offering a rotation between Max/Med, Zerker, and Pure builds.
• We've made significant changes to the various headgear sets, lowering their overall power level and focusing on accuracy instead.
• New images have been added for the Ornament Kit items, Calamity Chest & Breeches, and the headgear sets.
• We added a new version of Wristbands of the Arena with a 20 Defence requirement.
• The requirements for Humble Chivalry and Piety have been changed. Humble Piety now requires 40 Defence to use.

The Basics

Last year we made a number of changes to the Duel Arena in an effort to reduce the amount of Real World Trading and scamming that went on there. These were short-term measures to tide us over until we could deliver a full replacement.

Today, we’re ready to share that replacement with you.

Welcome to the PvP Arena!

The PvP Arena (known by Al Kharidians as the Emir’s Arena) gives players an opportunity to fight each other in a controlled environment, where matches take place on an alternative save game world against players of a similar skill level. You’ll be able to register your interest in finding a fight and then get on with whatever other activities you want until a match has been prepared.

Adjacent to the Chat-channel, Clan chat and Group Iron side-panels, you’ll also see the Grouping side-panel, originally created in 2014 to help players group together for minigames. It provides convenient access to a set of official chat-channels where players can seek other folks interested in playing the same minigame. It now has an extra PvP Arena button, which opens into a new side-panel for… the PvP Arena! What a twist.

Clicking the PvP Arena button will open the PvP Arena's side-panel, replacing the Grouping side-panel.


The Find button invites the player to look for a PvP Arena group.


From here you're able to register yourself for either a 1v1 Tournament or 1v1 Battle where the game decides who you fight against. Alternatively, you can join a manually created 1v1 Tournament, or organise a 1v1 fight against a friend. More on this later in the blog!

Once the match is ready, you’ll be notified that it’s time to fight! You’ll be prompted to swap to the alternative save game world, giving you enough time to get to a safe place where you can hop worlds and participate.

Because fights take place on an alternative save game world, your standard game profile is left behind along with all your levels and items. To succeed in the Arena, you'll need to adapt your playstyle and master multiple builds based on what the audience craves the most. The crowds aren't easy to please as their tastes change on a weekly basis. Each week you'll be required to use one of the following builds:

Max/Med

Attack	Strength	Defence	Hitpoints	Ranged	Magic	Prayer
75	99	70	99	99	99	77

Zerker

Attack	Strength	Defence	Hitpoints	Ranged	Magic	Prayer
60	99	45	99	99	99	55

Pure

Attack	Strength	Defence	Hitpoints	Ranged	Magic	Prayer
60	99	1	99	99	99	52

As well as mastering various builds, you'll have to select which items to take into battle.

The Equipment tab will appear when you attempt to join a PvP Arena match. This is used to select the items you intend to fight with. Currently, there are around 400 items to choose from for your Inventory and worn slots. You can only use equipment that you have the stats for, so you'll need to know which items work best for whichever build is currently in rotation!

When the fight is complete, you’ll be able to return right back to where you left off! If you were successful in defeating your opponent, you’ll be rewarded with Rank Points and Reward Points.

• Rank points are used to determine your rank. When finding a fight, the PvP Arena system will try to match you with another player with a similar Rank. The more points you have, the higher your Rank is!
• Reward points are used to purchase unique items from the PvP Arena Reward store. More on this below!

You can lose your rank by losing a match. It works just like the Burthorpe Games Room, where your loss/gain depends on the ranking of your opponent. Beating a higher ranked player will reward you with more rank points.

While we can't promise a mathematically precise Elo system at this time - there would be severe diminishing returns if players are trying to grind wins against the same opponents repeatedly.

In addition, consistently losing matches will cause you to lose more points for each consecutive loss. The hope is that you'll be placed into a more appropriate rank sooner, allowing you to once again fight against players of a similar skill level.

Rank and Reward points can only be scored by winning a fight generated by the game. There are no rewards for participating in manually organised events.

Let’s look at each of the matchmaking options available and how they differ from one another!

1v1 Tournaments

Until now, Tournaments have been exclusive to the Deadman finales, so relatively few players ever get to experience them. With the introduction of the PvP Arena, we’re making Tournament-style play available to everyone!

Tournaments offer a way for players to participate in a series of 1v1 fights in succession - if you're good enough to make it to the next round, that is! You can let the game form a tournament group for you, selected from the pool of available participants, or have a go at organising one of your own!

To enter a Tournament, simply register your interest via the PvP Arena side-panel. Once enough players have signed up, the game will proceed to create a 1v1 Tournament for successful applicants.

Each Tournament consists of anywhere from 4 to 64 players, with each round being split until there are only two participants left! Here's how this might look for a Tournament of 16 players:

• 16 players are divided into eight 1v1 battles
• The eight winners from the first round then fight in four 1v1 battles
• The four winners from the second round then fight in two 1v1 battles
• The final two winners then fight each other for the victory.

You’ll receive Rank and Reward Points based on how you place – so give it your all!

Fancy creating your own Tournament? Well, you can! Please bear in mind though that participants in manually-created tournaments will not receive rewards – it’s just for fun!

Ranked 1v1 Duels

Hungry for battle but don't want to commit to a full Tournament? You’re after Ranked 1v1 Duels! These are one-off battles where the game will automatically pit you against an opponent of similar rank.

Just like tournaments, the winner of a 1v1 Battle will receive Rank and Reward Points.

Unranked 1v1 Duels

In Unranked 1v1 duels you’ll choose the opponent you want to fight, mano a mano. You won’t get rewards, but this kind of fight is great for trying out new Combat style combinations, or just getting in some practice ahead of a big Tournament!

Rewards

Your time within the arena won’t go to waste, even if you aren't able to reach the top ranks! There are loads of rewards waiting to be snatched up with your hard-earned Reward points. We haven't given the same love and attention to PvP as we have with other updates, and so we'd really like to be able to provide items that can breathe new life into the scene.

Accordingly, the rewards are focused on PvP, so they can only be used against other players. If any of the non-cosmetic items are equipped, you will simply be unable to attack anything other than players.

The non-cosmetic rewards can only be used in the following PvP-enabled areas:

• The Wilderness
• PvP Worlds
• Soul Wars
• Castle Wars
• Fight Pits
• Clan Wars

Notice that some of these items are untradeable, where they'd typically be tradeable. This is intentional. The aim here is to reduce the appeal for illegitimate players – but don’t worry, we're certain these items will still see plenty of use from genuine PvP players!

Ornament Kits

For a small number of Reward points, you'll be able to purchase the following untradeable Ornament kits:

• Dragon Claws Ornament Kit
• Dragon Warhammer Ornament Kit
• Heavy Ballista Ornament Kit
• Armadyl Ornament Kit for Armadyl Helm, Chestplate and Chainskirt (one Kit is required for each item)
• Bandos Ornament Kit for Bandos Chestplate, Tassets and Boots (one Kit is required for each item)
• Elder Chaos Robes Ornament Kit (one Kit is required for each item)
• Dagon'hai Robes Ornament Kit (one Kit is required for each item)
• Elder Maul Ornament Kit

Wondering what these might look like in-game? Well you're in luck! We have previews available for some of the Ornament Kits below!

A WIP collection of the various Ornament Kit items.

Dragon Claws and Elder Chaos Robes Ornament Kit items.

Dragon Warhammer Ornament Kit.

Heavy Ballista and Armadyl Ornament Kit items.

Elder Maul and Bandos Ornament Kit items.

The cosmetically enhanced versions of the items have identical combat stats, special attacks and requirements to the originals. Should you be killed in PvP without protecting them, the altered item is reverted to its standard variant and dropped to the killer, while the Ornament Kit is returned to the player who died.

New Blighted Sacks

For a small number of Reward Points, you'll be able to purchase two new Blighted Sacks that can be used within the Wilderness.

• A Blighted Wave Sack that supplies the Runes required for any Wave spell.
• A Blighted Surge Sack that supplies the Runes required for any Surge spell.

These sacks are untradeable. The following behaviour applies should you die with one of them in your Inventory:

• Non-PvP Death above and below 20 Wilderness: Blighted Sacks sent to your Gravestone if they are not protected.
• PvP death above and below 20 Wilderness: Any unprotected Blighted Sacks are destroyed and converted into an appropriate number of coins, which then drop to the player killer.

Imbue Scrolls

The only way players can imbue items outside of Nightmare Zone is by playing Soul Wars. Given this is predominantly a PvP activity, it felt fitting to expand on this offering by giving players the chance to purchase Imbue Scrolls for a low price from the PvP Arena Reward Shop. These would be untradeable and would allow players to imbue the following items:

• Black mask
• Salve amulet
• Salve amulet (e)
• Seers ring
• Archers ring
• Warrior ring
• Berserker ring
• Ring of the Gods
• Tyrannical ring
• Treasonous ring
• Ring of Suffering
• Granite ring
• Slayer helmet
• Wristbands of the Arena

A Quick Note...

All of the rewards from this point on in the blog act the same way. If you die with them in PvP, they transform into a broken version and money is dropped to the player killer. You must then take them to Perdu to be repaired. They will be broken when purchased, meaning you'll have to pay Perdu to repair them before they can be used in PvP.

You can use a Trouver Parchment on all of them! Unsure of how Trouver Parchments work? The Old School Wiki has a handy explanation.

Wristbands of the Arena

Do you hate having to complete quests before your account is ready to step foot into the Wilderness and fight other players? Well, shame on you, because quests are great! But sure, for those of you whose spacebars really cannot take the strain, we've got you covered...

Wristbands of the Arena are an untradeable alternative to Barrows Gloves, offering the same stats for those that want to focus entirely on PvP.

Barrows Gloves typically require 41 Defence to equip. Wristbands of the Arena, however, would require just 20 Defence, which we think would bring a little more variety to the PvP scene.

It will also be possible to imbue the Wristbands of the Arena to improve their accuracy stats slightly. Doing so will increase their Defence requirement to 40.

Note that unlike Barrows Gloves the Wristbands would only be usable in PvP combat, so you will still have to get questing if you plan on doing anything that would normally call for the Barrows Gloves.

Centurion Cuirass

We’ve come for quests, now it’s time for non-PvP minigames. Skip Barbarian Assault with our next item, which is an alternative to the Fighter Torso!

The Centurion Cuirass is a lost artefact unearthed during the restoration of the Arena. Once donned by only the mightiest warriors, the sandy and well-worn armour is now a relic of what once was. A symbol of the arena's past fortune, and a hope that it may thrive once again.

The Cuirass is untradeable, and has similar stats to the Fighter Torso, but with slightly higher defensive stats. It requires 40 Defence to equip.

Calamity Chest & Breeches

The Calamity Armour was once shared between three infamous followers of an Ancient god – Maoma, Saika and Koriff. The Calamity Coven sought to emulate their deity and take control of their own fate, and they reasoned that wealth was their only means to do so. They believed that each and every person had the right to do whatever they needed to take control of their life – and if they were too weak, then others would take control for them.

With these shared beliefs spurring them, they brought about what is known as the Calamity – the complete downfall of the once glorious Duel Arena. Once a bustling hive of healthy competition, under their reign of tyranny it quickly became a dark and corrupt place. Even years after the Calamity Coven retreated into the shadows, the Arena is still fighting to shed its iniquitous reputation.

The Calamity Armour set is an untradeable PvP Armour set. You’ll need the full set for it to be really effective, pairing it with three interchangeable helms that are required to activate the set effects. We’ll talk more about those in a moment.

The armour has low defence, so it’s risky in PvP and requires the wearer to be good at predicting their opponent’s next move and quickly switching gear to reduce incoming damage.

It comes in three tiers, allowing for flexibility with different PvP builds.

The Calamity armour with various headgear pieces equipped.

The Calamity Chest and Breeches have no requirements.

The Superior Calamity Chest and Breeches require 50 Defence to equip.

The Elite Calamity Chest and Breeches require 75 Defence to equip.

Maoma's Headgear Set

Maoma was the corrupt captain of the Emir’s guard. Her job was to oversee fights at the arena and ensure that order was upheld – but in reality, she was taking bribes to look the other way. Some say she even instigated some of the fights to make the Arena more popular and recruited prisoners to bolster the fighters’ ranks!

Maoma's Headgear is an untradeable helm that can be used alongside the Calamity Armour to activate the full set effect when using the Melee Combat style. The set favours accuracy over max hits, which should make for more consistent KO potential, while leaving Torva’s set open for those who really want to risk it all for their max hits!

Maoma's Med Helm has no requirements.

Maoma's Full Helm requires 50 Defence to equip.

Maoma's Great Helm requires 75 Defence to equip.

Koriff's Headgear Set

Koriff was the crowd-pleaser. Perhaps the most notorious of all, she would always be the centre of attention at the Arena. With a charming personality, she'd make sure the richer visitors had a particularly good time, pampering them with the best seats and service possible. Little did they know of her collaboration with Saika, Maoma, and the thieves they paid to pick the rich guests' pockets.

They say that fighters couldn’t help but come back for more bloodshed, even at the cost of their own life expectancy. They also say that Koriff had a direct hand in encouraging them back to the Arena, only for them to die shortly after. When crowds became tired of certain competitors, you could bet that their bodies would be carried out pierced with barely-visible crossbow bolts – and that Koriff had earned a windfall betting against them.

Koriff's Headgear is an untradeable helm that can be used alongside the Calamity Armour to activate benefits when using the Ranged Combat style. With Void Knight and Elite Void Knight equipment in mind, Koriff’s headgear set should sit slightly higher in offensive capabilities than Karil’s, but lower defence than Armadyl.

Koriff's Headband has no requirements.

Koriff's Cowl requires 50 Defence to equip.

Koriff's Coif requires 75 Defence to equip.

Saika's Headgear Set

Saika was the puppet master. She was in charge of the Arena’s economy, making sure to profit from the crowds that came to watch the fights. Her greed knew no bounds as she fudged the numbers for years - claiming the cost of running the place was so high that it barely made any profit. These sketchy numbers made their way to the Emir, and he kept shelling out to keep it going. Unfortunately for him, the funding would go straight to Saika's pocket. She would pay destitute citizens a pittance to pretend they were working, just to keep up her ruse.

Saika's Headgear is an untradeable helm that can be used alongside the Calamity Armour to activate benefits when using the Magic Combat style. Due to the low Magic attack bonuses available from each piece, we’ve added quite a bit of Magic accuracy bonus. This should place Saika’s headgear set somewhere between Ahrim’s and Ancestral for PvP.

Saika's Hood has no requirements.

Saika's Veil requires 50 Defence to equip.

Saika's Shroud requires 75 Defence to equip.

Other Reward Ideas

In addition to the juicy loot we've proposed so far, we'd also like to open the discussion on some other rewards - a new left-click teleport than can be used up to level 30 Wilderness and Humble versions of the Chivalry and Piety Prayers!

We're still not entirely sure about the design of these, so we thought it best to put them out there and see what you think!

New Left-Click Teleport

The only available left-click teleport that can be used up to level 30 Wilderness is the Royal Seed Pod, a reward given to players after completing Monkey Madness II.

This leaves certain PvP focused account builds without a similar option, as completion of the quest grants Defence experience.

We'd like to change this by offering an alternative to the Royal Seed Pod from the PvP Arena reward shop. This new teleport item would be untradeable and can teleport players to the PvP Arena.

Humble Chivalry and Piety unlock scrolls

Currently, the only way players can gain access to the Chivalry and Piety Prayers is by completing King's Ransom, the final quest in the Camelot quest series, originally released in 2007! Over the years we've seen countless suggestions and requests to make these Prayers available to all types of account builds, but the quest requires 65 Defence in order to complete and they have Defence requirements associated with them. That's not something we're looking to remove willy-nilly!

With the PvP Arena, we feel like there is an opportunity for us to provide a weaker version of the Prayers that don't require Defence levels.

The Humble Chivalry unlock scroll grants you access to Chivalry if you haven't already unlocked it. The existing 60 Prayer requirement remains regardless of which Prayer version is unlocked.

The Chivalry Prayer changes as follows:

• If you have completed the King's Ransom Knight Waves and have level 65 Defence, Chivalry acts as it currently does, granting +20% Defence, +18% Strength and +15% Attack.
• If you have not completed the Knight Waves or lack level 65 Defence, Chivalry grants +18% Strength and +15% Attack, and you are blocked from performing PvM attacks while the Prayer is active.

Humble Piety unlock scroll grants you access to Piety if you haven't already unlocked it. The existing 70 Prayer requirement remains regardless of which Prayer version is unlocked. In addition to this, 40 Defence is also required.

The Piety Prayer changes as follows:

• If you have completed the King's Ransom Knight Waves and have level 70 Defence, Piety acts as it currently does, granting +25% Defence, +23% Strength and +20% Attack.
• If you have not completed the Knight Waves, or lack level 70 Defence, Piety grants just +23% Strength and +20% Attack, and you are blocked from performing PvM attacks while the prayer is active.

That’s it for now! We're hoping to be able to release the PvP Arena sometime around May!

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 reference on the above content, check out the official Old School Wiki.

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