The Aftermath of While Guthix Sleeps
The changes brought forward by RuneScape's first Grandmaster Quest
~ Lord Shalaj
Introduction
RuneScape's first Grand Master Quest was a surprising, yet enjoyable release. Right when people where expecting another release into the Goblin/Mourning Ends storyline, we receive a quest that combined several unfinished quests into one. The phrase that While Guthix Sleeps 'finished several storylines' is not entirely true, as WGS is incomplete itself.
A quest which had the hardest requirements in RuneScape gave the high leveled and more experienced a chance to test their skills on something challenging. With 13 quests as its requirement, which include the hardest quests prior to its release (Mourning Ends Part II, Recipe for Disaster, Summer's End) along with a 270 Quest Point requirement. At the time of its announcement, this 270 QP requirement was quite expected as a Grand Master quest meant that you should have completed most of the quests to be deemed worthy of completing WGS.
However, it didn't stop there. The skills requirement was another challenging task. If you don't count the skills that were the needed in the required quests, you still land up with a huge quota of time-comsuming skill requirements. 75 Magic, 65 Herblore and 65 Farming were in the list.
Naturally, a quest of such gigantic proportions (in all fields) was bound to have some juicy rewards, something the players had begun anticipating ever since The DragonKin Forge was released, and no matter how ground-shattering the rewards are...they still are very controversial even to this date. The features unlocked after WGS pose a balanced prize, with some receiving negative views while others positive.
Dragon Platebody
Players had been waiting for this for a long time, even though a fair number of smart people had resigned themselves to the fact that even if it was released, it would be inferior to a Bandos Chestplate. On the matter of defence stats, if compared to a Bandos Chestplate, the average number equals out, as the Chestplate is lower in stab and slash defence, but wins by far in Range defence and crush. The most vital part however in this comparison, that provides the upper edge to Bandos Chestplate is the +4 Strength bonus and +1 Prayer bonus. Since the Platebody is nil on both, it loses out. Apart from the sudden spike on its release due to player frenzy, the plate has been settling out on a price of 10-12m. A Bandos chestplate is only a few million coins higher. On the matter of looks, the Platebody still doesn't pass due to some odd shoulder positioning and an irksome brown line at the waist.
However, the lump/shard/slice you receive at the end of the quest is quite an excellent reward, with them being sold at around 3m these days which is a worthy of completing a Grand Master quest. Many players got upto 13m for it on the first few days of the release, which is more than the current Dragon Platebody price.
Tormented Demons
Tormented Demons, arguably, have the potential of holding the title "most changes in the shortest span of time". Each week at the time of their release saw a change into their attacking style (or the players').
Tormented Demons were the pioneers in prayer-switching boss monsters. These were released alongside Elite Black Knights, another set of prayer-switchers but these don't pose a big threat nor are a good source of money. Tormented Demons, on the other hand, were a gold mine on the first few days of their release. The Dragon slice/shard/lump (s) were too common which resulted in player's gaining too many drops. That was change #1.
Players found a method of safespotting the TDs, which made them a piece of cake because the demons always tried to melee you even if you were safespotted. Player's could camp there for hours, and the only hassle was switching weapons. (and luring the demons back) This made our change #2.
Now, just a few weeks after the above update, TDs saw another update. Their spawn points and area that they could cover were put a bit more nearer or overlapped. This made soloing them a lot more difficult.
Change #4 involved stopping the Darklight abuse on their shield.
However, despite all these changes, I can safely say, these are one of the most challenging bosses (with Corporeal Beast taking up the first spot). While trying to slay a demon, you have to keep check of -
-HP.
-Prayer.
-The correct style of attacking.*
-The correct protection prayer.*
-The demon's special charge up magic attack.*
-Familiar issues
-Any other problems (bolts, lag, special attack etc.)
Even today, these demons are widely killed in hopes of a set of Dragon Claws either for money or for personal use. These provide the right amount of challenge to a player, something many had been moaning was lacking from RuneScape. The only thing from the players is to start CSing them despite the drops reaching a settled price.
Dragon Claws
What had people hooked on to TDs wasn't the Dragon pieces, it was Dragon Claws. In the first few weeks, Dragon claws played an enigmatic role with rumours of their power flying all around RuneScape. Not many people expected such a powerful weapon in the "claws" series of weapons, due to the lower versions of it being rather useless as compared to different weapons of the same category. Dragon Claws are ordinary for usual hits, but it's their special attack that ranks them on top. Slice and Dice, which takes 50% of the special attack bar pelts upto 4 hits on a player which makes it extremely deadly seeing their accuracy. This is the ultimate special attack weapon (for the time being) which doesn't degrade over time. Due to the complexity of Tormented Demons and also the market price of Dragon Claws being more than 50 times the GE price, soloing was the best way to kill these. Even today, soloing is not a bad option, but now that the price of Dragon Claws has finally stabilised at 20-25m, CSing Tormented Demons in teams which have players assigned specific roles comes on top. In fact, a person could just go on normal GWD trips to save up on money for Dragon Claws.
Dragon Claws have altered today's PvP by a good margin. Firstly, for each normal PK'er, there are 2 players who are just there for the sole purpose of PJ'ing. These players always remain with Protect from Melee hovering over them, come in the maximum strength boosting armour, and never engage in any duels so it is quite difficult to kill them. (In fact, the only way would be a 49-50 Dark Bow special attack, but on armour like Bandos, this is mostly going to fail. These PJ'ers, thanks to Dragon Claws, can kill off a person at FULL HP if they get a little lucky with hits. Which is why it is absolutely mandatory to keep protecting from melee at all possible times when not in duels.
However, if you surpass the strenous task of finding some to PK, you WILL get PJ'ed 70% of the time. GE and Varrock West Bank are some of the worst spots for PKing, but players don't seem to realise that. The moment you get your opponent on low hp, as he eats, it makes you vulnerable from attacks from other players. And PJers capitalise on this.
Dragon Claws are angels in disguise for PKers who own them, but nightmares for those who don't. The PJer problem can be solved through various ways, which I hope is done soon.
Quest Cape
Quest Capes were the least respected capes, due to player's belief it was somewhat easier than the skills with very low respect, i.e. Cooking and Fletching. Guarenteed, experience-wise, Quest Cape hardly came upto 7m experience in total keeping all requirements in mind (however it got higher if you also counted "recommended skills"). And this equation was enough to form the basic formula - Any achievement cape > Quest Cape.
While Guthix Sleeps changed this..by far. Apart from some of the highest requirements, the quest itself is quite hard, termed upto "Grandmaster" level, though of course with guides its not that difficult either. However, from personal experience, I found that reaching the requirements for the quest was harder than the quest itself. (As I had to deal with 50 quests which included the likes of Darkness of Hallowvale and Ratcatchers..LOL)
As more and more quests release each month, the Quest Cape's difficulty will only keep increasing and at some point it would be harder than most of the skills rather than a select few.
Anyways...the 150th Quest is nearing, which is expected to raise the bar even more.
Dagon'Hai robes and Elite Black armour
Right on the first week on the release of our first Grandmaster Quest, a new problem arose. There was no other way to obtain these items other than from the quest itself. Few players capitalised on this, and sold their sets for more than 2 million even when they were only halfway through the quest. They later realised they needed the sets further which made them panic-stricken.
However, Dagon'Hai robes were soon found to be a rare drop from Dagon'Hai mages in Chaos Tunnels, which made players think that the Elite Black Knights would drop their respective armour pieces too. It was later confirmed that they do drop them, but they are extremely rare, which if combined with the annoying aspect of switching weapons could not make them a good source of money or armour.
It created a muddle of confusion in a person's mind. Should he sell it for a huge gain, but start begging for the set if the sequel to WGS requires the use of this set? It was a terrible mind game, and the people who took the risk of selling it are still waiting to see whether it was a wise decision or not.
The DragonKin
A lot more information was gathered from WGS about the enigmatic race of DragonKin. A brief look into what more do we know.
Before WGS -
Eons ago, before any other gods walked Gielinor, the elder-gods ruled over it. One of the elder-gods, Jas, possessed a stone of great power, a stone which would in time become known as The Stone of Jas. When the elder-gods left Gielinor, Jas enslaved the Dragonkin and commanded them to guard the Stone. The Dragonkin had other plans, however. Not taking kindly to being enslaved, they used the Stone's power to conquer Gielinor, keeping the Stone safely hidden in their castle in Morytania.
Year 1 of the First age, Guthix came across Gielinor in a sad state. Believing that no god would allow a realm to enter such a state of lifelessness, Guthix assumed that no other gods ruled Gielinor, a correct assumption. Being a god, Guthix sensed the power of the Stone of Jas. Apparently there WERE gods before him, yet they had long since abandoned this realm. Guthix took the stone of Jas (how he was able to take it from the Dragonkin is unknown; he may have stolen it; he may have found it, and believing it to be unowned, took it as his own) and used it to shape Gielinor to his liking. The Dragonkin were aware of this, but they could not act. As powerful as the Stone had made them, without it they were weak, and certainly no match for a God, especially not one with the Stone.
Satisfied with his work, Guthix opened a portal and allowed humans to come forth and settle it. Confident that the humans would lead a peaceful existence, Guthix hid the Stone of Jas and concealed it with his magics, then entered a deep sleep, a sleep from which he would not awaken for thousands of years. Because of the concealment, the Dragonkin could not locate the stone. They still tried, however, in great secrecy. This was not successful, and the Dragonkin remained hidden.
The humans spread out over RuneScape during the late first and early second age. In the Second age, new gods entered the realm, including Saradomin and Zaros, as well as the Mahjarrat. Zaros, by recruiting the Mahjarrat, quickly established himself as the dominant God on Gielinor. However, turmoil came from within Zaros's forces as his Mahjarrat general, Zamorak, betrayed and murdered him, causing a transference of Zaros's godly powers to Zamorak. The other gods were outraged by this and banished Zamorak, but he returned at the start of the third age, intent on conquering the entirety of Gielinor. The God Wars began.
During the God Wars, Guthix awoke. He saw the destruction being wreaked by the Gods of Gielinor and forbade them from interfering directly in Gielinor, banishing them to the God Realm. With the God Wars over, Gielinor entered its 4th age. At the start of this age, a Fremennik happened upon the Stone of Jas in a cave. He touched it and received a dose of its incredible power. The instant the Stone was awakened, the Dragonkin felt it. They tore through human settlements, no longer caring for secrecy. They destroyed all in their path in a desperate search for the Stone. Without the stone, however, they were weak. Weak enough to be bested by human heroes of the time such as Robert the Strong.
All the while, the Stone of Jas was being extensively studied by the Fremenniks. A certain tribe of the Fremenniks, the Moonclan, figured out how to create runes so that even humans who had not studied the stone or had not been exposed to its power could cast magic. This enraged the other Fremennik tribes, who fought them. The Moonclan used their superior magic abilities to escape their pursuers with the Stone, keeping it with them on their island. That did not last however, and the Stone of Jas disappeared yet again. Who took it is not known, but I suspect it was Guthix's followers, who hid it in the Guthixian temple deep in Lumbridge caves.
Despite losing the Stone, humans had already learned enough about magic to begin using it to their advantage. Their talent for magic meant that they could be safe from all the other races that meant them harm. Their small settlements grew into large cities, the ones in which we currently live today.
After WGS -
Later in the 5th age, the humans began to experience unwelcome reminders of the past: the Mahjarrat began their machinations again, equally interested with world domination as with fighting amongst each other. One particularly ingenious Mahjarrat successfully took control of the Staff of Armadyll, which allowed him to become far more powerful than ever before. With this incredibly powerful artifact, Lucien began preparations for his conquest.
Lucien had in his employ a cunning archeologist, Movario. Movario was a genius, and succeeded in tracking down for Lucien something that would increase his power even further, an incredibly ancient and powerful artifact, the Stone of Jas. Lucien stole the stone and took it away to an unknown place. The Dragonkin noticed. The power of the Stone being awakened once more called out to the Dragonkin. They could feel its power and it beckoned to them. They knew of Lucien and they knew what he had done. Rather than seize the Stone immediately, however, the Dragonkin chose to watch. And wait. From their secret fortress somewhere in the far corner of the world, the Dragonkin bide their time, puppet-masters of Gielinor, counting down the days until the move against Lucien, destroying him, and taking the two most powerful artifacts in RuneScape in one fell swoop. The Dragonkin wait.
The return of the DragonKin has been hinted in numerous Postbags from the Hedge, and even the DragonKin symbol was found in North-eastern wilderness ruins in the Spirit Realm. The fact that these ruins serve no purpose right now led people to believe it was (or is) the dwelling of the DragonKin.
A few examples -
Postbag 23 wrote:Dear Dragon Impling,
Puro-Puro...nice place you got there. Anyway, to my question. I've heard implings steal all the loot they own. If that's the case, how did you come across dragon arrows and darts? Was there a previous owner to these long-awaited items? Who did you originally steal them from before you got your thieving hands on them?
Sincerely, A Dragon Impling Hunter, Biohurricane
Dear Biohurricane,
Puro-Puro is the place of ours. We found it. Many others wanted to go there and their desire attracted us to it. Now adventurers come and play with us, desiring our things. It makes our bellies fat and keeps us happy.
Dragon stuff? We found it in secret places. Many different worlds, many different places. All hidden. Deep down, in the darkness. Huge piles of things. Left for a long time, though their masters begin to stir.
Have you got tasty things in your pockets? We shall have them. All of them. Give them unto us! I sense gems in your pockets. We shall take them. I'm hungry. I need them. What else do you have? Coins, seem most desired of all. Strange really but we don't like holding them...they are heavy and it would take all the implings to carry many of them.
Mr Pete of Posting has given me a nice pen. I sense he wants it back. He's never getting it. I already called in the imps. They are on their way. Perhaps I'll keep this paper t...
[I'm afraid that I had to grab the letter in my teeth and teleport away before that dratted imp tried to steal my letters as well as my pen. I hope none have gone missing from my bag - Postie Pete.]
Postbag wrote:Dear Spiritual and mysterious, yet serious god of balance which i am not really familiar with yet, Guthix
I have several questions for thee and in able for thee to respond, thee must think carefully...
1. If there are three gods, then how does thy brother, Saradomin, has his own island, meaning Entrana, that is being inhabited by locals that only adore thy brethren, Saradomin? Don't you think that thou and thy other brethren, Zamorak, shall also have ye own island which shelters people that worship both thee and thy brother?
2. Do thee have any plans on this place you call "Gielenor"?
3. If we haven't discovered all of our planet, don't you think there is a place not located on any terrain here in "Gielenor"? Perhaps, something unimaginably mysterious beneath the seas, which we see almost everywhere we go.
4. Which city do thee think is most superior to the others?
5. I am not sure if thee has seen it all, but was there any other creatures that inhabited this place before that are now extinct?
That is all for now. I hope thee could answer my queries...
Darkmon12
1) There are not only three gods upon this world. I know not why, but this is a lie spread by one of mine brothers for his own secret purpose.
As for Entrana, it is my understanding that this island was the place where Saradomin didst first step forth upon this world, and as such hath been honoured by his followers more than other such locations.
If thou hath truly looked upon this place however, thou will know that although it carries the veneer of Saradominism, at it's heart and under it's skin it hath still the touch of Zamorak below its' earth. There doth not exist a place in the mortal realm wholly aligned with one deity or the other, for this would disrupt the balance and I shall not allow that to occur.
2) I hath many plans for this world, for it is crucial in mine experiments.
Some day thou may see what mine purpose is, but for now, I shall keep it secret to all for fear that knowledge of my intentions may change the observations which I must make in mine experiment.
3) If thou art asking of the city beneath the waves, it hath been submerged for many centuries, and most commonfolk consider it naught but a myth.
I tell thee true, however, that such a place doth indeed exist, and even as I write this there are those working to re-establish access between this place and the outside world that hath all but forgotten it over these past centuries.
4) Mine senses oft draw me to Taverley, for it hath a tranquil beauty in the way it absorbed nature as part of itself, rather than forcing the natural world out of it as other cities such as Falador hath done.
5) There are many creatures that once walked upon this land that have since been destroyed as a race upon this plane completely.
Those called in as warriors by the various deities of this world in the so called 'god wars' thou shouldst be particularly glad are no longer walking within this realm, for such abominations brought forth by Zamorak as he waged his war should not be seen on this plane ever again.
I hope mine responses hath been satisfactory and as clear as the questions themselves.
Ancient Notes wrote:The Baxtorian Falls are well worth investigating, in my opinion, since water leaves the lake above this area yet none appears to flow into it. What could be the source of this quantity of water?
My investigations show that water temperature in the Baxtorian Falls area are substantially higher than might be expected given the local climate. The source of this heat will now be the focus of my studies.
Our best guess is that some sort of heat generation process is occurring in the tunnels we have scryed, though the denizens are proving quite a hindrance to our free travel. Research was never this dangerous for my teachers.
Barakur has proved his worth, as we were forced to slay several dragons in our way to inner regions. The caves are clearly of artificial manufacture, though the excavations must have been thousands of years ago, to judge by the...
Our theory of artificial origins has been vindicated! We have discovered a sturdy door, which seems to be a similar age to the original excavations. I am sure that there is a magical or mechanical activity behind it, though it may be simply be a great rush of water.
The door resists all of our efforts to penetrate it, even the fishing explosives which Derril suggested were tried with no success. there must be some way through which is linked to magic, though perhaps all who know the secret are now long dead.
Note: All DragonKin information has been taken from this thread - http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=770272
---
Well that was my article, hope you enjoyed reading it. I'm waiting the sequel of WGS, not only because of the challenges it will present, but because we will gain more knowledge into the murky lives of the DragonKin. Jagex has done some great work in keeping this mystery, and it can arguably be the biggest secret ever kept from us, since mentions of the DragonKin started years back. As for now, I, like the DragonKin, will wait.
~ By Lord Shalaj
About the Author
Lord Shalaj has been playing RuneScape for a bit more than 2 years, and thoroughly enjoys contributing in various Forums, RS related or not. In RuneScape his favourite skills stand as Woodcutting, Strength and Summoning and he has already achieved mastery in the first two and hopes of achieving mastery in the third one somewhere in the future. He is known by his friends as "Shal" and also "Noob". (:P)
Did you Know?
...when fighting a strange plant in guthans, you will be healed much more than the damage that appears on the spec splash? You can even be healed if you hit a 0.
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(and I thought that my blog posts got long at times 
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