Tears of Guthix (minigame)

Tears of Guthix is a short Distraction and Diversion that players may use to gain experience in their lowest levelled skill without having to train that particular skill.

To participate, players must have: The Tears of Guthix quest entry in the Quest List will track how many experience points are required and how much time is remaining before the player can again tell a story to Juna and collect tears again (see below).
 * Completed Tears of Guthix (quest).
 * Earned at least 100,000 total experience or one quest point since they last participated (unless they have never played before).
 * Waited at least 7 days (this is a rolling 167 hours, unlike Penguin Hide and Seek).

A player must travel through the Lumbridge Swamp Caves to the Tears of Guthix cavern and tell a story to Juna, the serpent guardian of Guthix's tears. Virtually each time a story is told to Juna, players recount a story based upon a quest that they have completed. Since the Swamp Caves are dark, players require a light source in order to play this Distraction and Diversion. The fastest method is to simply use the games necklace to teleport directly.



Checking eligibility
Players may find out whether they are eligible to play the game via one of three methods. The first is to go to Juna and try to play, and if a player is not eligible then she will mention the requirements not met.

The second method is to use the Quest List located in the noticeboard, and choose Tears of Guthix. Players will be able to check how many days, and how many experience points, are needed before being allowed to play the Distraction and Diversion.

The third method, as of 27 August 2010, is having the Runescape Toolbar personalized to show what Distractions and Diversions are ready for you to do.

The journal describes the time left in whole number of days, rounded down, until players are allowed to again access to the caves guarded by Juna. If a player can return within two days, the time until they can return is to the nearest hour (example: "1 day 7 hours"). If a player can return within four hours, the time remaining is given to the nearest minute (example: "2 hours 36 minutes").

Playing the game
Players need to collect the blue tears flowing from the inner walls, increasing their collected tear count. Players need to avoid collecting the green tears, as these decrease the tear count.''' The locations of the tears changes more quickly if there are more players in the game. Therefore, it is suggested to find a less crowded world.''' There are 3 spots with green tears and 3 spots with blue tears at all times.

The game relies heavily on the player's quest points. The more quest points a player has, the longer the player is able to collect tears, and therefore the more experience the player gets. The time a player has is the player's Quest Points in Ticks which is 0.6 of a second. 43 quest points are required for the Tears of Guthix quest. The maximum a player can have is 3 minutes, regardless of maximum quest points.

When playing the game the tears tend to switch randomly quite fast and without warning. Players can see when the tears will change colour by looking closely at the darker blue particles coming off the wall with tears. When the tears switch to green, some players walk to the nearest blue tears (players cannot run in the Distraction and Diversion), regardless of which wall they are on. Other players believe that walking from wall to wall wastes time and it is best to stay at the same wall, waiting for any tears there to turn blue.

The interface shows the number of tears collected in the stone bowl, and a bar represents time remaining.

Rewards
After time runs out, the player receives experience based on the number of tears collected. The maximum number of tears collected is reported to be 267 (with 316 QP), disproving the belief that the maximum is 200 tears.

The experience is added to the skill with the least experience, unless you don't meet the requirements needed to train the skill (e.g. You need to own a POH to be able to train construction.) Also, the Tears will not grant experience to a skill that has only recently been released into the game. The amount of experience per tear increases as the player's level increases, until they reach level 30. Once level 30 is reached, the player receives a maximum of 180 experience for each tear collected.

The experience per tear is based on the current experience of the lowest level skill, and is calculated according to the following formula:

Level * 6 = Xp. The experience per tear is capped at 180 (with your lowest skill at level 30).

The experience per tear is capped at 300 for those who have made an ornate bowl, requiring 80 Crafting and Mining, not assistable nor can the requirement be reached with boosts.

Contrary to popular belief, the experience will not' necessarily go into Dungeoneering if the player has level 99 in all other skills. It will only go into Dungeoneering if, levels ignored, Dungeoneering is the skill with the lowest experience.

Messages
Players receive a message indicating the skill in which experience was received.

Trivia

 * The 14 July 2008 Tutorial Island Update gave every player one quest point, which counted toward the Tears of Guthix requirement.
 * When your character tells Juna a story about Miscellania and Etceteria, Juna says, "War, what is it good for?" to which your character will reply, "Absolutely nothing!" These are lyrics from the Edwin Starr song "War".
 * Players who have not completed the Tears of Guthix quest can collect tears in the quest Death to the Dorgeshuun.
 * Despite being unable to extinguish a light source inside the Tears of Guthix cave, if you manage to make it through the Lumbridge Swamp Caves without a light source, you will not be bitten by insects in the Tears of Guthix cave.
 * In a Lores and History, it is revealed that it was Zanik who came up with the trial to get to the tears.
 * In the RuneScape novel Betrayal at Falador it is thought that Kara-Meir drank the tears of Guthix in order to repair the runite necklace.
 * On 28 April 2010, RuneScape was updated to allow players to gain experience for Dungeoneering if it is their lowest skill. This update was not applied correctly at first and as a result, many players did not receive Dungeoneering experience. The game was quickly updated again.
 * Prior to the Level-up Messages update on 21 May 2008, the number of days until a player could collect tears was rounded up to the nearest day. For example, "Tomorrow" would mean a player could collect tears again within 48 hours, and similarly "Later Today" would mean tears could be collected again within 24 hours. Also, players could visit Juna and collect tears up to an hour earlier than they were supposed to, i.e. 167 hours after they had last done so, rather than the 168 hours in a week.
 * If a player had completed the Romeo and Juliet quest prior to its removal, the player will still mention the story of Romeo and Juliet.
 * The official logo of the Tears of Guthix, when it was classified as a minigame, which is a snake (Juna) coiled inside a shield, has been compared to the famous Superman logo. According to the novelization of Superman Returns, Superman's logo is a family crest, a serpent coiled inside a shield, a warning not to return to the ways of violence and deception after a great war, which could be said to fit with the end of God Wars theme.