Hello Adventurers - it's been a while since we talked in detail about our roadmap, and we're eager to check in with you about our progress so far, our journey ahead and changes we're making to deliver the best possible experience every step of the way. So, let's talk Roadmap!
Umbral Sands will be launching in late June.
Our Minor Updates will continue to deliver more quests, rewards and content every month.
We're bringing the Agility Skill forward to release in July.
The Prayer Skill is moving to our Winter Update.
The Scorned Wilderness will be launching in September, on more platforms.
In December, we'll be delivering Prayer alongside the next update we're currently developing - currently under the name "Luminance". Oooh.
Now, let's deep dive into everything coming in more detail.
This Major Update brings Ashenfall's largest region to date, alongside everything you've come to expect from these kinds of updates. We'll be adding an additional tier of material progression, including Adamant Armour, Infinity Robes and Red Dragonhide. Complete quests to help Icthlarin root out the cause of the chaos that has corrupted the sands of this region. Cross the sands on a Magic Carpet, and introduce the chitinous carapace of the Kalphites to cold steel- I mean, Adamantite. We'll also be introducing a new in-game challenge called the Nightmare Crucible. A heightened challenge that pits you against the toughest enemies Ashenfall has... so far.
Want to prove your mettle even more? The Fire Caves are a wave based combat challenge that pits you against the might of the desert, culminating in a showdown with the tempestuous and incendiary Fuzan. And yes, there's a cape.
We're pulling forward Agility as a skill for a range of reasons. Firstly, we've heard so much feedback about the jumping feeling... off. With that in mind, the team has been working on ways to improve the experience including vertical jump height, in-air control and feel. We're currently tinkering with ways to make this feel better, and we don't want to wait to fix this. Bundling in this change with a broader reassessment on how we look at Agility feels like a natural fit.
Our aim with agility is to deliver on your expectations of a skill - Abilities, Skill Spells, Stat Upgrades and bonus unlocks that change how you engage with the world around you. When you think Agility, most of you would be right to think "laps". Our aim is to build on that idea of practicing courses to create traversal challenges - paths marked along a space that challenge your movement abilities to reward you with XP, asking you to do more with an expanding toolset of agility spells and ability upgrades as you progress further into the world.
We know that Agility Shortcuts have been a part of RuneScape from its conception, but we're focused on the core skill system and what it can offer you beyond just the occasional shortcut at this stage. All of this should come together to open up new opportunities, new movement tech, and new rewards for you to earn.
Prayer is going to be a Combat and Support Skill that allows you to unlock powerful passive effects, boosting combat capabilities, restoring health, improving resource gathering efficiency- and yes: protecting against specific damage types. Bury bones, build an Altar within your base, unlock your first prayer slot and start toggling on your chosen prayer. Running low on prayer points? Refill your prayer points at Altars in the world, or at home... but be on your guard, as some enemies will sap prayer points on-hit. Expect skill spells, buffs, passive unlocks, stat upgrades and extra unlocks along the way, drawing on the rich RuneScape history for some inspiration.
Work is really moving along with Scorned Wilderness, and we're excited to be delivering the climactic confrontation of Kuldra's Saga. This includes the Runite Tier, as well as filling out the Skill Tracks for existing skills to 99 with more features. We're also working alongside its development to bring the experience to more platforms. We have mentioned this a few times since we launched into early access, but as we approach this release, we'll share more information, so stay tuned.
In August, we are electing to not release a minor update to do our due diligence on refining the experience for the Scorned Wilderness release, as well as support for more platforms. We want this release to be the absolute best update yet, and we're taking the additional time to make sure that this release feels as big and smooth as our scaly God-Eater herself. The entire team are piling on to this update to deliver something we're really proud of. This means that August will not have a minor update, but once Scorned Wilderness releases, we're back to our monthly cadence, so look forward to those!
Our next major update after Scorned Wilderness is being designed out already, and we're excited to see what it's bringing alongside Prayer. For now, we're focused on Kuldra's Saga, but rest assured - there is more RuneScape: Dragonwilds on the way. Like the other major updates, this will be a free update for all players with a bunch of cool content to get involved with. We'll share more about it in detail at RuneFest, so be sure to tune in to the livestream or be there on the day to find out more.
(Still thinking of coming to RuneFest? Tickets are on sale now, and there's still some spaces available!)
As we continue to work on developing RuneScape: Dragonwilds, we're continually reminded how lucky we are to have such an amazing community around us. Feedback is coming through to us every day across Steam, our socials, our Discord and our Reddit. We're thrilled to continue to work on this project and share our working with so many of you. Thank you, as always.