Feedback and Changes
| Feedback Raised | Our Response |
| You'd like to know how we intend to poll the PvP Arena. | We made it clear that our intention was to remove the Duel Arena and replace it with something more engaging and enjoyable. This is a matter of integrity and will not be polled.
As the PvP Arena is replacing this content, it will also be added without a poll to ensure our original intentions are met. However, the Duel Arena had no rewards so we do intend to poll these from the PvP Arena. We've been trying to support specific communities within the poll system for some time now. With vote-limited polls for GIM, Iron and Ultimate Iron accounts, we feel this is a perfect opportunity for players that engage in PvP to have their say. As such, only accounts that have participated in PvP will be eligible to vote on the majority of the reward ideas. Accounts that are not eligible will be forced to skip. |
| You wanted to know if it would be possible to try these rewards before they were polled, so you could have a better idea of their impact in-game before casting your vote. | We're happy to confirm that there will be a beta for all of the PvP Arena rewards.
We're currently aiming for this to go live on March 16th, with the poll going live in-game the following week depending on your feedback! |
| There was some confusion about how exactly the ranking system would work and if it would be possible to lose your rank when losing a match. | You can indeed 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. |
| A number of keen-eyed players noticed the 'Equipment' tab in the imagery used to promote the PvP Arena blog and wanted to know more about its purpose. | The 'Equipment' tab appears 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. More on stats later in this blog. |
| Many players were concerned the stats offered when specialising in a primary and secondary Combat style would lead to fights being focused too heavily on Ranged.
Instead, you'd rather the stats offered were a reflection of already established PvP builds. |
We have opted to remove Combat style specialisation for the PvP Arena.
Instead, we'd like to propose a rota where all participants have the same stats, but each week these stats change. This would mean we could offer multiple standard PvP builds without diluting the pool of participants to place against. The following builds would be included in the rota: |
| We saw great feedback about how Reward Points could be handed out. A popular suggestion was weekly payouts. | We really like this idea, although there is a slight drawback: if you are a legit player and you have a fight and get some Reward Points, you might reasonably want your dopamine hit and your rewards right now rather than having to wait a week to get the good stuff.
We'll award Reward Points after each match, plus a bonus at the end of the week. |
| Some players were concerned that there would be an incentive for illegitimate players to participate in the PvP Arena if any of the rewards were tradeable. | We'd like to remove any incentive for illegitimate players from entering the Arena. The only tradeable rewards were the Ornament Kits, so we've opted to make all of them untradeable.
When dying in PvP, 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. In addition, all the armour rewards will be broken when purchased. This means you'll have to pay Perdu to repair them before they can be used in PvP. |
| You really liked the Ornament kits we offered, but you'd like more of them! | We've added additional Ornament Kits for the following items:
|
| We saw various questions on where the new Blighted Sacks would be usable and if they would work against NPCs. | The new Blighted Wave and Surge Sacks can only be used within the Wilderness. They are effective against both players and NPCs.
Multiple people suggested that we should allow Blighted items to also be usable in PvP worlds. This isn't something we'll be considering as part of the PvP Arena, but we are open to discussing it further. Let us know your thoughts! |
| Wristbands of the Arena were pitched as requiring 30 Defence, but as there isn't a strong established meta for 30 Defence accounts, you'd rather the requirements were changed.
We also saw concerns over the stats provided for the Wristbands, given their reduced requirements compared to Barrows Gloves. |
We're making a few changes to the Wristbands of the Arena!
First of all, we're reducing their Defence requirement to 20. This should breathe some new life into a small but already established pure bracket. Perhaps the Frogiate pure will emerge from the shadows... Next, we'll be reducing the stats of the Wristbands so that they're the same as Barrows Gloves. And lastly, we've added a new version of the Wristbands of the Arena that require 40 Defence to equip. These Wristbands will have the same stats that were originally offered in the blog, providing an upgrade for PvPers who'd usually use Barrows Gloves. |
| The Superior Calamity Chest and Breeches were pitched as requiring 55 Defence to equip, with the Elite version requiring 78 Defence. We saw various suggestions on how these requirements could be changed to better suit existing builds. | We've made the following changes:
|
| You felt the Headgear sets that worked in conjunction with the Calamity Chest and Breeches were slightly too strong for PvP in its current form and required adjusting.
You also raised concerns over how powerful the base stats of the Koriff's headgear set were when compared to existing Best-in-slot Ranged helms. |
We've opted to reduce the benefits of the helms as follows:
We've also reduced the base stats of the Koriff's headgear pieces. You can find the updated numbers further down in the blog. |
| Of all the feedback we received, it was made very clear that both the Amulet of Souls and Thaw Potions would not fit into Old School as pitched in the blog. | After reviewing all of your feedback, we've decided to the best option is to simply remove both of these rewards from the PvP Arena.
We might revisit these as rewards from future content, but not until we've carefully considered alternate designs for them. |
| A very popular suggestion was to implement alternate versions of Chivalry and Piety for accounts that are unable to unlock them due to their associated Defence requirements. | We really like this idea, but we also feel like limited accounts should still feel limited. It's part of the charm these builds offer.
We've added two new rewards to the PvP Arena. You can find all details on the Humble Chivalry & Piety unlock scrolls later in the blog. |
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!
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.
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 | 77 |
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!
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
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.
We’re limited on how many Kits we can offer with this update, so if you have a favourite you'd rather see in this list be sure to let us know!
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 the 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 take on the Void Armour set. Like Void, you’ll need the full set for it to be really effective – and like Void, it pairs 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.
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!
Moama'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.
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.
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.
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.
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, with a beta for the rewards to take place before then so you can try them out as they would be in-game!
We'll update this blog with our final poll questions once we’ve had your feedback. Please get in touch so that we can make any amendments necessary before the poll goes live.
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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