While RuneScape launched over two decades ago, there have been very few instances where players have had the chance to start the game on the same playing field as their fellow players. Normally, a player joining RuneScape will have an experience that is familiar to most players of long-running MMORPGs. By the time they start, there will already be countless players who have reached the max level and accomplished everything in the game.
In an effort to shake things up, RuneScape has recently announced Fresh Start Worlds, wherein players will get to experience the classic free-to-play MMO as it was in its earliest days. The servers will launch with players unable to roll over their preexisting characters and instead being forced to start anew, competing against other players to discover who can level up the fastest.
How RuneScape Fresh Start Worlds Will Work
The RuneScape Fresh Start Worlds will function basically as expected. When the Fresh Start Worlds launch, everyone will have to start a brand-new account, with the intent of creating a beginner-friendly version of the long-running MMORPG. This will create a competitive atmosphere where long-time players and new players alike will compete to see who can level up and progress through RuneScape most efficiently. If players have ever dreamed about proving that they are one of the best RuneScape players, this is their opportunity to do so.
Fresh Start Worlds will roll everyone back to the beginning, and Jagex has announced that it will institute faster experience rates that will increase incrementally as the event presses on. Since the servers will only exist for a limited time, players may want to focus on the most profitable skills in RuneScape in order to maximize their duration on a Fresh Start World. At any point, however, Jagex is planning to allow players to migrate off of the Fresh Start Worlds onto the main servers.
While Jagex has not offered exact figures regarding the initial and incremental experience buffs, players should expect them to be quite significantly accelerated considering the Fresh Start Worlds are set to run for around six months yet offer rewards for a Max Cape—a feat that typically takes months or even years for the most dedicated RuneScape players.
RuneScape's Fresh Start Worlds Will Offer Unique Rewards
Since accounts made on a Fresh Start World will inevitably roll over into the main RuneScape experience, players will be rewarded with unique in-game cosmetic items to show off their achievements from the Fresh Start Worlds. The most coveted of these items will be the Challenger Halo, a typical looking golden halo that floats over the player's head, that denotes them as one achieving a world first.
This means that if a player can be the first grind to level mining all the way to 99, not only will they be rewarded with a unique skillcape that shows it was accomplished on a Fresh Start World server, but they will also receive a Challenger Halo for being the first person to do so. The only other way to receive a Challenger Halo will be to reach the top 100 of any given skill.
For everyone else that doesn't achieve a world first, Fresh Start Worlds will still reward players with unique-looking alternatives to each skill cape, as well as the ability to earn Fresh Start World versions of the Quest and Max skillcapes. It's important for players to keep in mind, however, that once they migrate these capes to the main server, they will be unable to actually wear the capes unless they have achieved 99 in each respective skill on the main server—a significantly more difficult task considering the lack of accelerated experience rates.
RuneScape is available on Mobile and PC.