New PVP/Wildy/BH in runescape

Well, a few days ago there was a new aspect added to runescape; it's sort of a cross between the old PVP, bounty hunter, and wilderness.

From the Runescape website:

Here’s how it works:

You can attack anyone within the level range determined by the Wilderness level, starting with 1 just above Edgeville to 56 at the top of the map. If you kill someone who isn’t your bounty target, it is considered a ‘rogue kill’. There is no penalty for rogue kills any more. It will add 1 to your ‘rogue kills’ highscore, and you will get a drop based on the ‘drop potential’ mechanic from PvP worlds (see here for more details). We have, however, made it so that, when drop potential is converted to items, it is 3 times more likely to give you items your target was carrying, as opposed to generated items. The average size of the rewards is based on your drop potential the same as in PvP worlds.

After you have spent 30 minutes in a dangerous area on a Bounty World, the system will start looking for suitable ‘bounty targets’ for you. After 60 minutes, the chance of being assigned a target increases further. (Note: this doesn’t have to be all in one go, and isn’t reset by leaving.) Your target will always be a similar level to you. To make things even more interesting, you will also be their target! If you kill your target, it will add 1 to your ‘bounty kills’ highscore, and you will receive a generous boost to your drop: the average size of these drops is boosted by an extra hour of drop potential (just as if you’d spent an hour in a hot zone), on top of the drop you would receive normally. In addition to this, we’ve made it more likely that you’ll get items from your opponent’s actual inventory for killing your target – this also applies to rogue kills and in normal PvP worlds, but at a lower rate.

To make sure you have a chance of getting to the rewards, there are a couple of extra rules. Firstly, if your bounty target is fighting someone else in a single-way combat area, you will be able to attack your target, and their original foe will be locked out. Secondly, if you are fighting your enemy but do not inflict enough damage to count as the ‘hero’ (in the same way as drops are awarded when fighting monsters), your target will remain your target. Basically, your bounty target will remain your bounty target until one of you kills the other, or one of you leaves the Wilderness for more than ten minutes.

It isn’t all about the rewards, of course: it’s also about the thrill of trying to hunt someone down in an environment where the levels are well-matched. That’s why we brought back the old Wilderness levels, and restricted the action to the old Wilderness area. You can only fight in the Wilderness, and the only other area available is Edgeville, where you can restock and prepare for battle. You have to be in one of those areas before you can log into a Bounty World. So, head to Edgeville, switch to a Bounty World, and see if you can work your way up the Rogue/Bounty Hunter highscore tables.

I don't play Runescape much anymore, so tell me what you think of it!

- Mr X