RuneScape 3 is due in the next few months, and it's the biggest change to the game –for players and Jagex alike –since that time. “Every few years we want to do something really big, really special, something that's a significant step forward,”says executive producer Phil Mansell. “We want to make a big improvement to the game on every single front.”In order to shore up the game against changing web standards and to enable Jagex to take greater advantage of modern hardware, RuneScape has been totally rebuilt for a new engine. While the Java client will still be supported, the developers have spent the last year working on a new version of the game powered by HTML5.
 
This means no Java updates to install and consistent performance across devices - including tablets. The game will no longer be as CPU-intensive as it once was, with rendering now liable to be handed off to graphics hardware: a change that pays dividends for the game's visuals across the board. Dynamic lighting, shadows, normal maps and reflective water are all supported, and the game's customary 'wall of mist' effect caused by a low draw distance can effectively be pushed back to the horizon. This was the version that most people played, and it can still be played on the Oldschool RuneScape server with a new character. Smaller incremental upgrades were made in the years that followed, and developers began releasing new quests and content every few weeks. The first fullscreen client landed in 2008 as RuneScape HD, which offered players a new high-detail mode that required a graphics card. The latest release is a similarly huge step forward, adding an all-new HTML 5 client that will run on any PC, tablet, or smart device, as well as a dedicated downloadable desktop client for Windows.
 
Now officially named RuneScape 3, the game has evolved far beyond the previous numbered versions, and I found it a hell of a lot more fun to play. The new customization features were received without much discussion, good or bad; however, what review there has been seems to suggest that users find the game more navigable and intuitive with the new systems. The only complaints have arisen when players are confronted with technical bugs, freezing their otherwise resizable, movable windows in place. Excitingly, visual improvement wasn’t the only thing on Jagex’s mind. Steven Lord, Head of Audio at Jagex headed up two major projects that have revolutionized gamers’ listening experience.
 
As I mentioned there is an event to kick off Runescape 3 called the Battle of Lumbridge. Both Saradomin, the god of order wisdom and light, and Zamorok, the god of chaos and destruction, have come to Lumbridge to fight. You actually get to see them having a Harry Potter style magic battle. The tears of Guthix, the dead god of balance, are seeping into the ground, and it is your job to gather up the divine tears and give it to one of the gods to earn the favor of and strengthen your chosen god. Can you tell which god is which? Since player crafting is kind of a big deal in Runescape, it means that players gather and craft tons of items everyday. These can be sold/bought either directly via player-to-player trading, or they can be sold at the Grand Exchange auction house.
 
The prices are set by the players themselves and the average price of items fluctuate depending on supply and demand. In fact, one of the many ways to earn money in RS is to play the market –players can try to buy items at lower than average prices and then sell them at a higher price later. Many a player has won and lost fortunes at the Grand Exchange.
 
In terms of updates, Runescape gets weekly updates and every month you’ll get a ‘behind the scenes’post showing what’s coming to the game in the upcoming month. The constant updates and tweaks to the game really show how much farther it has yet to come and how alive and supported everything is. Of course, plenty of players will voice their criticism of updates and due to this Jagex have now released player polls so that players get to choose which content is released into the game.