Update:Chat update and 'Operate'



In last week's dev blog about F2P, we talked about the problems with players downloading autotypers to advertise their trade offers. Apart from the obvious difficulties for anyone trying to read the sea of spam, it provides a perfect opportunity for hijackers to sneak malicious code onto everyone's computers within the autotyper software.

We've therefore built a simple autotyper into RuneScape itself, and updated the chat system to let you block all the autotyped chat if you don't want to see it.



Right-click on the 'Public chat' tab to see the updated options.




 * Show autochat: Lets you see other players' autochat. This is disabled by default.
 * Show standard: Hides all the autochat, so you just see normal public chat.
 * Friends, Off, Hide: These public chat options haven't changed. If you've got any of these selected, autochat will be hidden.
 * Filter public chat: This will let you filter the autochat and public chat. For example, you might want to see only messages containing "whip" or "nats".
 * Setup your autochat: Lets you turn on/off your own autochat. If you're autochatting yourself, you'll automatically be switched to Show autochat.

In particularly busy places such as Varrock, Lumbridge and Edgeville, RuneScape's chat system will throttle the rate at which normal public chat can be used. It won't stop you having a normal conversation, but if you've got something to advertise, you'll likely be better off using the new autochat system.

In other news

We've also released a few more features from Poll 19:


 * We've updated all the items that have a right-click 'Operate' option when they're equipped. In particular, teleport jewellery such as the amulet of glory will now offer all its options within the right-click menu, making it far more convenient to use.
 * Players can now permanently dismiss the warnings that are shown before entering the rooms of the cave kraken and smoke devil bosses.
 * Trouble Brewing reward costumes can now be stored in POH costume rooms.



... plus a few bugfixes:


 * When you eat a karambwan or karambwanji during combat, the fish no longer blocks you from taking damage for a moment.
 * In preparation for the F2P trial period, we've made the Duel Arena available on F2P worlds so that non-members can duel there. Conversely, we've reclassified yew tree chopping as a members-only feature so that the F2P trial isn't so attractive to bots, and we've made bait packs and feather packs available to buy in F2P fishing shops.
 * When Thermy drops a clue scroll, it now appears at the correct place on the ground.
 * Run energy no longer drains while you're in the random event Maze.
 * Thermy and the Cave kraken boss now have 'Attack' options, rather than 'Fight'. They got missed last week when other monsters were changed.

In tonight's livestream, we'll be showing off some more of the new costumes for the forthcoming clue scroll update and talking more about the new skill designs from the PDC competition. Join us at 5pm BST on Twitch.

Please come to the forums to discuss the update.

''Mods Alfred, Ash, John C, Mat K, Reach and Weath

The Old School RuneScape Team''