26th March 2004 - RS2 now has much less lag

Many thanks to everyone who has been helping us load test RS2 over the last few days. This testing has helped me discover that it was in fact lagging more than it should do, particularly when large numbers of players were on a world at once.
I am pleased to announce I have just fixed that problem, which should make RS2 significantly less laggy. It should now be able to handle far far more players before it starts slowing down.

Also the code which sends the new game files to you when the game is updated has been improved. So updates should now download much more quickly too.


25th March 2004 - RS2 - Duelling and Extras

Duelling
We have added duelling for members to Runescape 2!

Duelling takes place in the new Duel Arena northeast of Al Kharid. There are six duel arenas which are surrounded by walkways, from which you can challenge other players and watch the duels.

When you challenge someone to a duel, you will be given a duelling options screen so you can determine between yourselves the stake for the duel and the type of duel that you wish to have.

There are lots of new options for you to try out, most should be self-evident.

No Forfeit means that you can't chicken out and have to fight to the death; you can normally forfeit (and automatically lose) a duel by leaving through a trap door in an arena.
No Movement turns off any movement; by default you can move anywhere within your arena while duelling.
Obstacles gives you a choice between the types of arena you would like - either a plain arena or an arena with obstacles in it that may help Rangers and Mages. The other options are: No Weapons, No Armour, No Ranged, No Melee, No Magic, No Potions, No Food, No Prayer.
Once you have chosen your options you will be taken to an appropriate arena. Your opponent will be indicated by a yellow arrow over their head.

When you are watching a match you can lean on a wall by clicking on it. Your camera will move to a nice angle so you can watch the action. As soon as you walk somewhere it will turn off again.
Fadli, who is at the entrance to the Duel Arena, can look after your stuff whilst you are duelling. After a duel has finished both the winner and the loser will respawn at the hospital at the side of the arenas where the nice nurses will make sure you are at full health for your next duel.

Please be aware: We have opened a specific section of our forum purely for issues relating to the duelling arena, please do not contact Customer Support regarding it as they will be unable to help.

Changes to pickpocketing

Following feedback from beta testers we have now made some adjustments to pickpocketing.
Now when you are caught thieving the npc gives a small set amount of damage and then stops fighting you. You are left stunned for a few seconds during which time you can't move or do more pickpocketing.
After that you can continue to pickpocket the npc as before.

We have also fixed the following bugs:


Fixed: If you entered the rune essence from a p2p area then tried to leave on f2p server you got stuck.
Fixed: You could smith studs on free servers.
Fixed: Crafting xp for some dragonhide items which required muliple pieces of leather was too low.
Fixed: You could lose ownership of your kitten by logging out while fishing.
Fixed: One of the characters in the observatory quest would give you a half full jug of wine.
Fixed: The shilo village bridge didn't show up on low detail mode.


Taken from Runescape.com