MOD STU talks all thing RUNESCAPE! Requiem for a Dragon, Xau Tak, Lore Counsel, Anima, New player experience, UI, Ashdale

Originally posted by Jagex_Stu

Thank you for the interview!

As we covered a lot of topics, I've put together some timestamps. Enjoy!

Warmup:

• How are you? (note: interview recorded Fri 12th April evening)
• How do you feel about the final product [Requiem for a Dragon]?
• How did you first hear about RuneScape?
• Transition from sci-fi to medieval & RuneScape humour
• Do you believe in aliens?
• Favourite sci-fi franchise / Westwood's Dune

New player experience:

• Favourite tutorial?
• Have we thought about putting Davendale on desktop? (A/B testing)
• What's the hardest part of making a new player tutorial? (politics - problem 1 & 2)
• The monumental task of tutorialising RuneScape
• Ashdale focused on core principles (particularly EoC as it was at the time)
• Ashdale vs Burthorpe as new player hub
• Ashdale as the minigame hub

Originally posted by Jagex_Stu

(had to split them into multiple comments as reddit wasn't letting me post them altogether. Too many links, possibly?)

A Shadow over Ashdale quest:

• Favourite part of design process (environmental storytelling)
• Is one of the cutscenes deliberately referencing Alien?

Shattered Worlds:

• Design aim of Shattered Worlds
• Do you see a quest or lore being added to supplement Shattered Worlds?
• Could you see an elite dungeon mode for Shattered Worlds?
• Is the Nexus in Lumbridge connected to Shattered Worlds lore-wise?

The Death of Chivalry quest:

• What was one of your favourite parts of Death of Chivalry? (design reviewership)
• Respect for the Black Knights’ Fortress quest
• Art & audio
• Could the Wand of Resurrection connect to necromancy stories? (the intended theme)
• The overarching theme that the dead should stay dead
• The human cost of immortality (Saradomin)
• Saradomin and the needs of the many
• Saradomin vs Guthix
• Would you want to work on a continuation of Sir Owen's story?

Dimension of Disaster:

• New Varrock is beautiful. Do you have a favourite thing about it?
• Musical inspirations
• Closed economy
• Who's your favourite mahjarrat?
• The fatal flaw of the mahjarrat

Originally posted by Jagex_Stu

Random lore questions:

• Who's cooler, Kerapac or Kranon?
• What is the hidden meaning of cats in RuneScape (particularly Pieces of Hate)?
• Are banite and black stone similar materials? Like iron and steel?
• Does RuneScape exist in a multiverse?
• Dimension of Disaster's uchronia lore (Varrock & Falador)
• Invention's Talking, Mysterious & Hallucinogenic perks
• Are dark portals the same phenomenon as Teragard's Schism?
• Did the same force corrupt Mah's egg and consume Jas?
• Could Jas be corrupted like Seiryu was intended to be?
• (Lore disclaimer - narrative serves the release schedule)
• Was Mur a shadow leviathan?

Originally posted by Jagex_Stu

Random lore questions (continued):

• Is the shadow that Guthix fears the same force that Rasial warns us of?
• Are these shadows the same force that is whispering beneath Daemonheim?
• Guthix seems to view shadow as necessary. If so, why?
• What are anima, anathema and Raksha's "something else"?
• Could you define necrotic energy and underworld energy and how they're different?
• Jas created the Needle; can she time travel without it?
• Why does Xau-Tak seem to be outside of time?
• Is Guthix truly gone forever?
• Could Seren become an elder god?
• Did Sliske and Guthix have an agreement, somewhat like Dumbledore and Snape?
• Could Guthix and his daughter ever be reunited?
• Was Loarnab a shadow colossus?
• Are all of the things connected? (with segue to why Loarnab is in New Varrock)
• Wushanko guardians

Originally posted by Jagex_Stu

Random lore questions (continued):

• What is Moia's armguard made of?
• Is Moia being setup like an anti-World Guardian?
• Is the energy surrounding Bilrach at the end of Battle of Forinthry necrotic energy?
• We think Prideslayer is going to enjoy Requiem for a Dragon - we had you in mind when writing this quest
• Is Bilrach's resurrection related to Lucien's resurrection in the 'Til Death Do Us Part halloween event?
• What are mahjarrat?
• Could you see another Ritual for the mahjarrat, to make more?
• Does Moia have a soul, being half-human?
• Could you see us re-visiting Ungael? (this one aged like wine since last Friday :D)
• Using the shard of Zaros on the Monolith
• Easter eggs in Requiem for a Dragon
• Is Zemouregal Orcus? And if so, where is the real Zemouregal?
• Clarification that Zemouregal reverted to skeletal at the end of Succession
• Zemouregal's characterisation & preference for mindless minions
• Wights and Sliske
• Do necrotic energy and shadow anima have similar characteristics?
• Xau-Tak and black stone hands
• Making things make sense - everything is connected
• Synonyms and resonating stories
• Upcoming (now past) Requiem for a Dragon livestream, dev diary, etc
• Vor in Vorkath?
• Do you think the shadow realm (lore book) might appear in-game at some point?

Originally posted by Standard-Yogurt-4514

We love you u/Jagex_Stu !!!! Amazing work and can't wait to see what the team delivers lore-wise in the future.