The Great Orb Project

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Introduction

Wizards have discovered a form of energy released during runecrafting! The problem is that the two lead researchers of the project cannot agree on whether the green or yellow forms of energy is the more important form of energy. To start playing the Great Orb Project, you should begin by talking to one of the two lead researchers: either Wizard Acantha (green) or Wizard Vief (yellow) in the Runecrafting Guild. To get there, travel to the Wizard's Tower south of Draynor Village and enter the Runecrafting Guild portal on the second floor. They will give you a hat that matches the type of orb you should be collecting and three wands. The purpose is to collect as many of your colour of orbs by moving them adjacent to the runecrafting altar while at the same time preventing your opponents from collecting their type of orb. Jagex suggests Worlds 60 and 61 to easily find other players also interested in playing the minigame.

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Requirements and Equipment

This minigame is available to both free players and members, but there are some basic requirements necessary to be able to play it. You must be able to enter the Runecrafting Guild, which requires you to have level 50 Runecrafting. Since everything you need to play the minigame is provided, you should keep a free inventory to hold wands and essence provided to you during the game. In addition, you must have empty helmet and weapon slots. The higher your runecrafting level, the further the distance you can manipulate orbs. Some recommended equipment includes:

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How to Play

To start, join one of the two wizard's teams, and wait for the portal to open. Step through, and you will be teleported to the air altar, along with your teammates and your opponents. You should have a total of three wands in your possession: an attractor wand (used to pull the orbs towards yourself), a repeller wand (used to push the orbs away from yourself), and a barrier generator (used to form a temporary energy barrier through which no orbs can move through unless that orb is being pushed/pulled at the moment you put up the shield.

You can use wands to move orbs of either colour until only 30 seconds remain; after that you will only be able to manipulate orbs of your own colour. Each "round" lasts two minutes, after which you will be teleported to the next altar in the sequence and begin again. A list of the altars and the sequence is listed below. There are 6 altars for free players and 8 for members.

  1. Air
  2. Mind
  3. Water
  4. Earth
  5. Fire
  6. Body
  7. Chaos (members only)
  8. Nature (members only)

At the end of the two minutes, the round will end and the team with more orbs collected will win. Whether you win or lose, you will be granted a small amount of rune or pure essence. You will be given some time to craft runes with it (you gain double experience for crafting runes during this time) and then you should enter the portal to be transported to the next altar in the sequence. Below is an annotated image of the playing field.

Gop Ingameshot
Wands
Pic Name
Yellow Repeller Repeller (Yellow/Green)
Yellow Barrier Generator Barrier Generator (Yellow/Green)
Yellow Attractor Attractor (Yellow/Green)

Barriers cannot be placed too close to the altar; the spots shown are "choke" points where they block many orbs - these spots block far more orbs than other places.

The scoreboard at the top of your screen shows what altar you are on and which ones you have finished. It also shows which team won each altar by highlighting the rune with green or with a yellow starburst.

If the minigame bar empties, you will be removed from the game and returned to the runecrafting guild. Keep it full by participating in the game (move orbs, place and destroy barriers).

Orbs must be nearly touching the altar to score. It must be adjacent to the altar, on any of the squares touching the altar.

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Strategies and Tactics

Remember, the purpose of this game is to "score" as many of your orbs as possible by manipulating them to move them adjacent to the altar, and to prevent your opponents from "scoring" on their orbs. Therefore, an organised team that works together always has an easier job at succeeding in this minigame. Make use of your barriers to make your opponents waste time and work together with teammates to save time gathering orbs.

One essential fact about the barriers is that they do not work on orbs that are already being manipulated at the moment they are placed. As said before, the best place to erect barriers is at the "choke" points shown above.

Sometimes, repelling your orbs is actually faster than attracting them. Try attracting your orb near the altar, then run around behind it and repel it towards the altar. This can actually be faster than straight attracting, and works the best when you attract it to an area directly outside of the space between the pillars, then repel.

If an orb gets lined up between the standing stones around the altar, the best way to score is to stand on the exact opposite area across the altar and attract it. This saves time because you won't be blocking it from touching the altar, and the orb will often dislodge itself from around the corner stones automatically.

If someone on your team is already attracting or repelling an orb, it is sometimes beneficial to help them, as you can often save them running time. Your level in runecrafting also has an effect on this. Beware however, because occasionally "helping" someone can cause the orb to get stuck and end up taking far more time than if they had manipulated the orb on their own.

To make the most of your essence awards, you can save them in essence pouches and craft them all at the highest altar you can use (likely natures for members and bodies for free players) in the game to gain the highest possible experience. However, you can choose to craft them at any time.

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Rewards

Each altar completed will give you some essence in your inventory, the amount depending on how well your team performed in that round. You should either save this for a later altar or you can craft it right away to receive double the normal amount of experience. For those who wish to get the most of their rewards in consecutive matches, there is a bank deposit box near the entry portal.

Runecrafting Guild Token

Once all of the rounds have been completed, you will receive an amount of tokens based on how well your team did. For each round your team won, you will receive 100 tokens. In addition, you will receive extra tokens if your team won overall, giving a maximum sum per round of 1000 tokens. Remember, tokens are only awarded at the end of the game, so you might not wish to start a game if you are not sure you'll be able to finish.

You will be able to exchange your tokens at Wizard Elriss, the wizard who welcomed you to the guild.

Runecrafting Guild Shop

Talismans

You can purchase all of the rune talismans (excluding blood and death) here in exchange for tokens. P2P talismans (cosmic, chaos, nature, law) cannot be purchased on F2P worlds.

Robes, Hats, and Gloves

These come in three colours, blue, yellow, and green, and are available to both free players and members. Each piece you wear (excluding the hat) also grants a runecrafting level bonus while playing the minigame. The robes cannot help you use pouches (members) you could not ordinarily use, and have absolutely no effect outside the minigame, and within the game only effect how well you are able to manipulate orbs. No levels are required to wear Runecrafter Robes. Members can store sets of Runecrafter robes in the magic wardrobe of their POH costume room.

  • Robe tops give +3 to Runecrafting.
  • Robe skirts give +3 to Runecrafting.
  • Gloves give +2 to Runecrafting.
Runecrafter robes
Pic Name Attack Values Defence values Other
Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Summoning Strength Prayer
Runecrafter Hat -Blue- Runecrafter hat +0 +0 +0 +3 +0 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +0 +0 +0
Runecrafter Robe -Blue- Runecrafter robe +0 +0 +0 +5 +0 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +0 +0 +0
Runecrafter Skirt -Blue- Runecrafter skirt +0 +0 +0 +4 +0 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +0 +0 +0
Runecrafter Gloves -Blue- Runecrafter gloves +0 +0 +0 +2 +0 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +0 +0 +0
Master runecrafter robes
Pic Name Attack Values Defence values Other
Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Summoning Strength Prayer
Master Runecrafter Hat Master runecrafter hat +0 +0 +0 +3 +0 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +0 +0 +0
Master Runecrafter Body Master runecrafter body +0 +0 +0 +5 +0 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +0 +0 +0
Master Runecrafter Skirt Master runecrafter skirt +0 +0 +0 +4 +0 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +0 +0 +0
Master Runecrafter Boots Master runecrafter boots +0 +0 +0 +2 +0 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +0 +0 +0

Teleport Tablets

You can also buy teleport tablets that act the same as the ones you craft in your house, but these can teleport you to just outside of their respective altar. There are also teleport tablets to the Runecrafting Guild for sale. P2P teleport tablets (cosmic, chaos, astral, nature, law, death, blood) cannot be purchased on F2P worlds.

Talisman Staff

The talisman staff can be purchased by free players and members. After you add a talisman to it, it acts the same as the respective tiara, as well as helping you to "distract eyes" in the Abyss. To bind a talisman to a staff, take both to the talisman's altar and use either one on it. To craft an omni-talisman staff, you will have to speak to Wizard Korvak. No levels are required to wield these.

Runecrafting Staff
Pic Name Attack Values Defence values Other
Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Stab Slash Crush Magic Range Summoning Strength Prayer
Talisman Staff Runecrafting Staff +0 +1 +7 +5 +0 +2 +3 +1 +15 +0 +0 +33 +0

Unlike the others, the law staff has no combat stats so that it can be brought to Entrana.

Rune Essence

Finally, you can buy essence for the bargain basement price of 1 token per essence. On F2P worlds, you will receive regular rune essence, and on P2P worlds you will receive pure essence.

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Other Guild Offerings

The Runecrafting Guild also offers other services to fellow runecrafters. From a map containing the locations of nearly all the altars in Runescape, to the magnificent omni-talisman, there is something for every runecrafter to enjoy.

The Omni-Talisman (members only)

When you show Wizard Elriss a runecrafting talisman or tiara, she will grant you a one-time experience bonus. If you manage to collect and show her every available talisman, she will also give you the omni-talisman, which can be used to access every runecrafting altar. Note that you get to keep the talismans or tiaras you show to Wizard Elriss. With the help of Wizard Korvak, you can turn the omni-talisman into a tiara or a runecrafting staff (see below).

Experience Bonuses
TalismanXP
Air Talisman9
Mind Talisman9
Water Talisman11
Earth Talisman17
Fire Talisman27
Body Talisman50
Cosmic Talisman109
Chaos Talisman216
Nature Talisman531
Law Talisman1,428
Death Talisman4,242
Blood Talisman6,957
Total13,606

Wizard Korvak (members only)

This slightly demented wizard offers some unique services to runecrafters. Firstly, he is the one to go to in order to convert an omni-talisman from Wizard Elriss into a tiara or runecrafting staff. He can also replace lost medium abyssal pouches for free, as well as repairing others. Repair services will cost you a fee, however, of 9,000 gp for a large pouch restoration and 12,000 for a giant pouch restoration. He will also offer to sell you a large pouch for 25,000 coins or a giant pouch for 50,000 coins.

Altar map

In the centre of the guild is an enormous map, showing nearly all of the altars in Runescape. Simply hold a talisman in your inventory, click reveal, and the map will show you the location of the altar. Using an omni-talisman (members only) will reveal all of the altars viewable on the map.

Gop Altarmap
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Credits

Original Guide by: tryto

Thanks to: 1st_Archer00, bluehooloovo, chenw2, Dark_Spirus, dchdman1, dragnfly, Elven_Mist, essiw, funky2776, Grasle, halo2_rocks7, hatebringer, Link0962, Jaffy1, Mrmegakirby, monkeyguy789, N_Odie, pokemama, Salleh, Speedyshel, SportsGuy, vlad the old, Vulxai, wyvren2000

Last Updated by: Arceus

Last updated: 10-Nov-2014


RuneScape 2007
Find this page on the Internet Archive with a date as close to Aug 10, 2007 as possible.

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