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The first of the Road to Archaeology videos should be releasing tomorrow, and that will be just the start of out pre-release showcase.
The first of the Road to Archaeology videos should be releasing tomorrow, and that will be just the start of out pre-release showcase.
Jagex released Dungeoneering exactly like this back about a decade ago.
They released frozen through occult floors at first, then batch 2 included wraped floors.
Same with summoning. Most level 80+ familiars were only released in batch 2, which also included a whole lot of skilling familiars.
Invention too was released in 2 batches. Batch 1 was mostly combat oriented stuff while batch 2 was a bit more leaning towards skilling tools.
Archaeology isn't being released in batches - it could stand alone on what we're launching this month with no obvious gaps. Wanting to add additional content to Archaeology in the future, however, is not the same thing as batching its release. All skill get new content added over time.
It's one of the things the core team wanted to achieve based on how the last five skills were added, and that is partly why things took a little longer than we ideally wanted. I guess we'll see how well we've achieved that soon enough, though.
To think this is 1 of 6...update's gonna bring a whole big extension to the map.
The 6th area is just the Varrock Dig Site area, which has been given more of a spruce up than it received last summer. It does look nicer than it currently is, but it's not wholly new.
An unnamed landmark in RS3.In RS3/osrs, it was the home to Efaritay before it was conquered. It was also renamed in osrs.
That's the case in RS3 lore too. This was Queen Efaritay's castle/home back in the Third Age.
Not knocking Shauny and his efforts, it's appreciated and good to see, but we have had an #archaeology-discussion room on the official RS Discord server at least since Runefest.
I'll probably keep my own responses on official channels for the sake of authenticity, but have joined Shauny's server to at least lurk to know what issues people are having.
Morytania. East of Mieyrditch and south of Araxxor. Where Sleepe is in OS.
It's just a little further south down the coast than where I understand Slepe to be. The northern part of Everlight would likely overlap with southern Slepe.
You’re making it sound more and more like a minigame
There are elements akin to questing (not minigames), but it very definitely feels like a skill.
That would make more sense. Hope it is like that.
Very much so. :)
Everlight is initially unlocked at Level 20 and is the second core dig site.
It was originally unlocked at level 20, but we've bumped that up a little since Runefest to 42.
For some reason it hogged the entire dev team. I wonder if it will really have been worth 3/4 year without quests or much other new content (boss portals existed, ranch is an extension of pof with no new mechanic).
From what they've said, this will really be great, having a focus on lore, being useful for skillers and pvmers alike. But I wonder if it's worth paying the membership fee while waiting for so long.
Just to give a bit more insight...
It hasn't hogged the entire RS dev team. Only the Episodic team (a sub-team of RS dev) has worked on Arch, and only in the last month has it taken up the bulk (though still not all) of Episodic.
For the first 9 months of development (give or take) it was just a team of four of us, then we had a fifth member join for about 6 months or so, then in the last 1-2 months additional dev support from the rest of Episodic.
Arch hasn't been the cause of a dearth of content in recent years, that's more of a production issue at its core (by which I mean the production pipeline, not producers specifically - the failing falls on all of us).
Anyway, we hope Archaeology will be enjoyed and, if so, it certainly provides a lot of content. If it's worth subbing for or not we'll leave to you all to decide. :)
They never said first week, just first update. And obviously as you can see we do not get weekly updates aside from patches.
"January" is what was said at Runefest, but we were always aiming for the last Monday in January, so the push back has give the update an additional two months.
As someone with an actual degree in archaeology, I just can't bring myself to care. There's soooooo many other problems, bringing this out now just seems like a distraction tactic, rather than something the devs are actually excited about. When the dev team is excited and invested in a project they love, it invariably turns out better than when they are handed something from on high and told "do it". This is going to disappoint me.
Not sure where you are getting this impression from. As part of the core dev team that has been working on Archaeology for ~18 months, I can hand on heart say this is among (if not tops) the best projects I have had the pleasure to work on in my 9 years as an RS dev (and 14 years working at Jagex).
I'd not worked directly with Mod Ryan or Mod Iago before Archaeology - though have a bunch of times with Timbo over the years - and it's been re-invigorating for me. I've personally been in a bit of a slump through working on Invention and Menaphos, and they and this project have pulled me back out of it.
No update is universally loved and every update has its issues, but I am confident we've got a great update here that will find its fans. Even if not, I am super proud of what we've managed to create, regardless of how it ends up being received by the community. You develop a feeling for which updates are going to hit home and I have that feeling with Archaeology.
... Read moreThey won't have a use in Archaeology at release (maybe in the future, but I can't see a good way for how they could be used).
I've just been worried that it would basically go up to 99 with content, and that orthen would then try to bridge the gap between 99 and 120.
If it's in addition to a fully filled 1-120, simply for more lore/rewards, that's really really great and I'll enjoy it a lot.
All five sites have unlocks in the 115-119 range, even the first site, which you gain access to at level 5. A bunch of rewards too.
I don't want to suggest that means it's going to be perfect from day one, but we've been working on this update for a long time, and the ethos of the core team has been to try not to repeat mistakes of past skill releases.
We'll make all new ones instead, I'm sure. ;)
Oh right, batches
No, not batched. Arch is launching fully formed. What we release at launch is more than enough to stand alone. Orthen would be additional content.
They actually plugged in achievements this week or last. Maybe some people would consider that polish. I would lean that way as I am not an achievement hunter or anything, but I have a feeling that the majority of the player base would not consider this added polish.
Don't get me wrong though I am quite happy they are taking time to polish it more and more.
To clarify, this week was adding MORE achievements. We already had 100+ Arch cheevos ready for the Jan release date.
Sure, communication can always improve (and I would assume that is part of the purpose of whatever this survey is), but the Runefest demo (search for videos) speaks for itself, as will the skill. I don't feel the need to change anyone's mind (Great Minds' post) or try to convince with words, nor do I think any words I could say would convince. Not to say I don't have a bunch of convincing arguments, but 'show not tell' and all that.
And on that note, just hang in there a little while longer...
Yes, all skills
No, only Archaeology (to start with). IF that goes well (and I don't see why it wouldn't), then we will most likely expand it to all P2P skills. I can see why this point has been misunderstood, but it's best to be clear.
Tremendous, I just feel like all major updates these days feel like the take a long time to come out (and by that I mean from their announcement until release) - not meant as a criticism but you can really feel the work going on in the background as the standard has become much higher.
There's already so much pressure on you guys from the community I can only guess that there's pressure from Senior Figures down to meet 'our' expectations.
Do you think the skill will come with a release date given a couple of weeks (or longer!) in advance? Really would love to book the day off and just get stuck in for hours uninterrupted :)
You'll get advance warning, for sure; should be enough time to book holiday days.
I think one of the mods said it most likely wont be during the first quarter. So April at the earliest. Plus they want to release teaser vids beforehand.
None of us here should be even hinting at a new date, so if you heard one of us saying that, either they misspoke or what was said was misinterpreted.
When the new date has been announced, it will be clear and obvious (and I really hope we can announce a new date soonTM - the stream yesterday suggested it might be announced later this month).
We are still planning to release a Road to Archaeology video series ahead of the skill release, so there should be enough time for anyone making plans to play from launch/taking holiday, etc.
In the meantime, feel free to drop into the #archaeology-discussion room on our Discord server.
Ah good, so hopefully the last Monday this month.
I think given the push back that happened already, they'll have the poor Mods working overtime to meet that deadline.
A part of the reason for the push back (or, at least, a byproduct of it) was so that we could finish to the level of polish we feel everyone (you and us) deserves WITHOUT needing to rely on overtime. In fact, the overtime I'd already put in pre-Xmas I've been able to claim back as time off in lieu. I know others put in some overtime and may not have claimed it back yet, but they're able to.