RuneScape Classic (abbreviated RSC, RS1 or RSclassic), publicly released on 4 January 2001, is the older version of RuneScape. It is commonly called RuneScape 1 or RS1 by players who played RuneScape Classic before RuneScape 2 was released. It was replaced on 29 March 2004, with what was then known as RuneScape 2, which is now RuneScape.
It is kept on the site for those who prefer it to the new version. The same account is used for both games, but items, progress and skills on each are quite different.
On 4 August 2005, Jagex removed the free version of RuneScape Classic. On 15 January 2006 only players who had logged in between 4 August 2005 and 15 January 2006 could play RuneScape Classic. This was due to players cheating at RuneScape Classic, since it is no longer updated. On 20 November, 2007, Jagex closed the RSC forums to non-RSC players. A player has to log in at least once every six months to be able to play.
When the free version existed, players whose membership expired would be teleported to Lumbridge. As of 2008, this feature will still teleport you to Lumbridge if you were in a Member area.
Skills[]
Woodcutting[]
There were originally only regular trees. However, Jagex later updated the game and introduced many more trees once they created the Fletching skill. Free-to-play could still only chop regular trees, though. Unlike RS2, in RSC classic, chopping trees takes more time, as you can 'slip and fall' and fail to cut the tree, and have to try to cut it again.
Firemaking[]
Only the logs of normal trees can be burnt, and you can burn logs anywhere, even banks. You had to drop the logs before you could burn them. Experience allocated per log depends on the Firemaking level itself. It is the only skill to work this way, meaning experience is gained more quickly as levels are gained. Before fletching was added, woodcutting worked the same way. After the update, some players (especially free users) complained that regular logs didn't give as much experience as they used to.
Mining[]
In Mining originally, rocks wouldn't change colour when there was ore present. It was much more a matter of guesswork and repetitive clicking. It wasn't until the introduction of Fatigue that rocks began to show when they had ore in them. Furthermore, you didn't automatically hit the rock, you had to click every individual hit. Before even that, player had to use pickaxe on a rock instead of just clicking on a rock. However, new pickaxes came out that could hit multiple times per click.
Prayer[]
For a long time, bones and big bones were the only forms of experience for Prayer. This made it very hard to train. It wasn't until someone suggested making dragon bones that there was anything better, and those were the only three bones available until RS2, besides bat bones but they were very rarely used. In the very early days of RuneScape Classic, prayer was divided into 2 parts: Prayer Good and Prayer Evil.
Magic[]
Magic, like Prayer, was divided into 2 parts: Magic Good and Magic Evil in the earlier days. Magic spells could be "failed" - the player would keep their runes but be unable to cast spells for 20 seconds. It was less likely for the player to fail spells at a higher level. Autocasting did not exist. Because runes were less common on RuneScape Classic, they gave far more experience. The experience formula was .
Tailoring[]
Tailoring was near-useless and extremely difficult to gain experience in. It was later removed and re-added as an addition to Crafting.
Influence[]
Influence was the predecessor to Quest Points. The only way to gain Influence was to complete quests. A player with a high Influence level could sell silk to the silk trader for more coins than usual.
Armour[]
Armour had many differences in RuneScape Classic, one of the main being that male and female armour differed. Female tops had more of a curvy shape and lower neckline with plates on the shoulders and gauntlets (part of the top). The skirt went all the way to the ground. In the case of male armour, it went for a more "6 pack" approach, though the entire upper body was covered right down to the hands. The legs had a rather baggy looking, sometimes being referred to as "snow pants". Some players were slightly annoyed by the fact that male characters were blocked from wearing female plate, but female characters could wear male or female plate as they wished.
When runescape classic first began, it only had Bronze, Iron, Steel, and Mithril. Later in the game, Adamantite, Black and Rune were added.
There was an NPC named Thrander just south of the east bank in Varrock that could switch male plate and legs to female plate and legs for free, but he disappeared during the transition to RS2. There was no longer any need for him, as RS2 plates change when worn by a character and skirts and legs are separate items with different prices.
Another key difference was that plate could not be worn at the same time as gloves, and legs couldn't be worn at the same time as boots. However, if a character wore chain, they could wear gloves. Some PKers preferred wearing chain in order to wear gloves and get the slight Attack boost gained at the expense of some Defence.
Bank[]
The bank in RuneScape Classic was much more difficult to use. For example, players could only withdraw or deposit limited amounts of items at a time, so trading large amounts of items was very time-consuming. Also, since only one player could talk to an NPC at any given time, using the bank in crowded trading areas was very tricky and was very time consuming.
Fatigue[]
Fatigue was introduced to combat autoers. Using skills would increase fatigue until it reached 100%, at which point you wouldn't receive any more experience, making it harder to train. At first you could only reduce it by sleeping in bed, but then after a while sleeping bags were introduced. They didn't reduce fatigue as fast as beds. Either way, it was necessary to type in a random word to wake back up again. It was introduced shortly before RuneScape 2.
The concept was greatly disliked despite the fact that the time it took to actually train skills was balanced by taking less attempts to successfully mine rocks and catch fish. It went through a few incarnations before being dropped entirely in the transition from RuneScape Classic to RuneScape 2. It was believed to have been dropped because most if not all autoers had programs called "autosleepers" that would type the random word in.
Certificates[]
Before RS2, trading large numbers of items was much more of a hassle. At first, the only way to create stackable items out of those that couldn't be stacked normally was to turn them into certificates, or "certs" as they were referred to. Lobsters, sharks, coal, and certain logs could be traded for certs, 5 items for 1 cert. This was done by the certers: Niles, Giles, and Miles. Nowadays, in RS2, these certs are replaced by notes, which can be withdrawn from a bank in the form of a piece of paper with a picture of the item and a number on it, also, many items can be formed into a note. With the creation of new random events, these three can be seen making cameos as a Random event. The "certs" remain the only way to transfer large amounts of items in Classic.
Holiday drops[]
Main article: Discontinued rare items
The holiday drops, which produced rare items, began in RuneScape Classic. In order, these were: Pumpkins, Christmas crackers (containing party hats), Easter eggs, Halloween masks, Santa hats, bunny ears, and scythes.
Player vs. Player[]
Player Killing[]
All weapons had the same speed, so the Rune 2h sword was used by almost all free-to-play pkers. Members used Dragon weapons or Mage Arena staves. Once attacked, a player could not run away for three rounds of combat so pures worked to get high enough strength to kill their opponents in three hits. There was no running in RuneScape Classic, so "catching" was a vital skill. Good PKers could time it so that when someone tried to run away, they would immediately attack them and keep them stuck in the fight for three more rounds. Plus, you could only eat out of combat, so it made things hectic as a player waited to get a chance to run and eat, then try to eat as much as possible before combat started again. There was also a great number of "wine pures" who were pures that decreased their attack level below 5 using wine in order to gain pure attack experience from hitting dummies in Varrock. A slight advantage can be gained in the sense that their hp levels would be lower than traditional pures, while their strength would be higher. If they hit first in combat, they would be able to hit 1 to 2 damage more, and thus have a greater chance of 3-hitting somebody. With the RS2 update, the functionality of dummies was removed as it looks at your maximum attack level rather than your current. Also, player-killing was not limited to the wilderness at first. The only place where players weren't subject to attack from other characters was in Lumbridge, or if they designated themselves as NPK's (non-player killers). The second option could only be changed twice; it was eventually taken out of the game.
Duelling[]
Duelling used to be possible at any location at any time provided that both duellers were in a members world. All the player had to do was right click on a player, and "Duel" would be an option along with "Walk here", "Follow", and "Trade". It was often used as a cheap and easy way to return to Lumbridge, since dying in a duel would send the player back there, but if nothing was staked, nothing would be lost.
Many players have complained about the removal of this feature, since now everyone has to go all the way to Al Kharid to the Duel Arena there. This feature was removed, because players could now run during any point of battle, and it would not end the battle. Players would be able to fight all around the world, or bank the staked items if it was not moved to the duel arena.
One more thing players liked about the ability to duel anywhere in the world, was that if someone came to take over your spot, you could challenge them to a duel for who gets to stay there for the spot instead of switching worlds to find a less crowded area to train.
Quests[]
RuneScape Classic has 50 quests. There are 17 free quests and 33 members quests. No new free quests were released in RuneScape Classic after membership was started on 28 February 2002. The quest journal lists the free quests in alphabetical order, but the members quests in chronological order. Legends Quest is quest number 50. See listing of quests.
New quests in RuneScape Classic were very difficult to complete shortly after release because only one player can talk to an NPC at a time. This resulted in large crowds in the quest area. Jagex tried to negate this by adding duplicates of key NPCs in the quest. Busy banks were similarly difficult to use for the same reason, as only one player could talk to a banker at a time.
Problems[]
A major complaint of those who remain loyal to RuneScape Classic over RuneScape is that there are too many players who use macros to make playing it worthwhile. These players regularly complain to Jagex to do something about the problem, but as Jagex considers RuneScape Classic to be a more or less abandoned project, they are reluctant to allocate resources to combat the problem. Jagex, however, has posted on the RuneScape website that macroing will not be tolerated on RuneScape Classic. Another complaint was that the segregation of RS1 to be only allowed to member made players who chose to stay F2P in classic mad that now they have to buy membership in order to keep their items and account. RuneScape Classic has no hiscores or Knowledge Base (now called Game Guide). However, Jagex has stated before in a Behind The Scenes article for January 2004 that they would add it, [1] although this is yet to happen.
Class[]
Originally, there were classes from which players could choose. This feature was removed in early July 2002. Tutorial Island was released in the following September.
Depending on the class chosen, new players would start with a higher level in the appropriate skill. For example - a miner would start with level 5 mining, but they would also start with 8 hitpoints.
They were:
- Necromancer (Eventually became Wizard. This focused on Magic, since Necromancy was the original Magic) - Started out with a black wizard hat and a regular staff.
- Warrior (Melee combat skills) - Started out with a bronze short sword and wooden shield.
- Miner (Mining) - Started out with a pick-axe, which at that time was the only type available. These were later turned into bronze pickaxes.
- Adventurer (well rounded) - Started out with a bronze axe, tinderbox, and one piece of cooked meat. All new players started with these items after the class system was removed.
- Ranger (Ranged) - Started out with a shortbow and arrows. Later arrows were different types-- (bronze-rune)
Censor[]
In the very early version of RuneScape Classic, when someone said something offensive, it would be filtered to say "Cabbage".
Today, however, many alterations have been made to the censor so as to assure players that Runescape is not geared towards children. Words like "ass" are now no longer censored.