Hello everyone, welcome to this month's edition of the Alora Newspaper!
With the beloved Groot stepping down from the staff team, this month's edition of the Alora news is brought to you by Mack and KP. However, he couldn't stay away so he has returned on Code 002.
We hope that everyone has had a great month of September! It's been another busy month with some great updates and events. We hope you've enjoyed them and are ready for some great new stuff in the coming months as we edge another month closer to Alora's 3 Year Anniversary!
There have been no updates to the rules in the month of September.
Today's update contains a ton of random QOL updates and bug fixes that you guys have requested. Some of the updates include making some necessary changes to the Gauntlet to make runs smoother, a boss respawn timer on the client (icon), Custom 1-2 letter usernames — and some information on future name changes, Classic mode integrity changes (less restrictions), updates to the website to be a bit more attractive, and so much more. We'll let you check them out for yourself below!
Gauntlet changes:
Increased weapon frame drop rate by 3% on all npcs.
Players were complaining that they often found it difficult to get a weapon frame, so we’ve decided to increase all weapon frame drop rates by 3% across the table, which should hopefully greatly reduce the chance of not getting one early on.
Monsters in the Gauntlet will now drop loot 2 ticks quicker, during their death animation rather than after, to allow you to progress through the dungeon a bit more quickly.
The Gauntlet killcount on the Collection log will now include both regular and Corrupted killcounts combined.
Players will now have a chance to find 10-30 crystal/corrupted shards when doing the following actions:
Mining Crystal/corrupted ore
Chopping Phren bark
Picking Grym leaves,
Picking Linum Tirinum
Fishing Raw paddlefish
Boss respawn timer:
A new client timer has been added which will display the exact amount of time until a boss respawns.
Notes:
This timer is only shown for bosses, and not any normal NPCs. Some bosses don't respawn without player action, such as Vorkath, in which case no timer will be sent.
It works for instanced bosses as well.
It will show for any player that has attacked the boss (even if no damage was dealt).
You must have client timers enabled.
Username formatting change:
You can now have a username that is entirely lowercase, rather than the first letter being capitalized.
If your forum username's first letter was lowercase, this will automatically change for you in-game.
Example:
Previously, if you registered with the username "omicron" it would get converted to "Omicron". This will no longer occur.
Username changes (FUTURE UPDATE)
Custom name changes will soon be allowed by PMing @Omicron. As there is some manual work that needs to be done to link all of the old player's logs, this is upon request only and done manually for now.
The cost of a name change is estimated to be around $20 once it is released.
This may be subject to change in the future after some testing is done, and if we can automate name changes (through the website or through a name change ticket) then we will likely reduce the price even further.
Rare 1-letter and 2-letter usernames (AVAILABLE NOW):
These are the only name changes currently allowed (we are testing for future name changes to make sure everything works properly, as these will be lower volume):
We have changed our login system to allow shorter length usernames, but these usernames are meant to be rarer and are sold as custom donations. You can create a new account, or change your current account's name to one of these rare names for the following price:
$100 - 1 Letter
$50 - 2 Letter
Quality of life:
The commands ::prices/::priceguide will now link players to the official price guide topic.
Players can now trade in noted ensouled heads to Nieve.
Players can now use the charge/uncharge option on the Sanguinesti staff to regain their blood runes/charge it with blood runes.
Added 4 agility shortcuts to the Catacombs of Kourend
The shortcuts require 34 agility to use.
The Magic shortbow(I) will now to go the reclaimable shop upon death, and can be reclaimed for 250,000 coins.
Wesley will now crush bird nests for 200 coins each.
Added Keymaster teleport functionality.
The Bracelet of slaughter now shows how many charges are left each time it is triggered.
Added the options to the Slayer ring(eternal) in the equipment interface.
Added the “Check charges” option to the Scythe of Vitur in the equipment interface.
Added the “Check charges” option to the Sanguinesti staff in the equipment interface.
Seed pod teleport location moved next to the ladder in the grand tree.
Players can now make super combat potions by using Torstol potion(unf) as the herb component.
Added red spiders’ egg spawns to Forthos dungeon.
Mutated bloodvelds will now spawn mutated insatiable bloodveld instead of the regular instatiable bloodveld.
Fixed an interface exploit which allowed players to teleport places without being near the teleport wizard.
Bug fixes:
Players now need the Prifddinas requirements to get there when using a teleport crystal.
The Skillcape black chinchompa teleport location has been adjusted to level 34 wilderness.
The Prifddinas compost bin is now functional.
Players who have a Taverley black dragon task from Konar can now kill black dragons/baby black dragons in the upper area of the dungeon.
Fixed some bugs which caused players to not be able to complete Dragon Slayer 2.
Crystal platelegs now only require 2 crystal armor seeds to make instead of 3.
Fixed the entrances to the Ogre Enclave south-west of Yanille.
TzHaar-Mej can now properly be attacked.
Added the proper requirement and special attack to the dragon pickaxe(or).
Fixed typo in Mac’s dialogue.
Players can now imbue dense essence blocks with 0 prayer points.
The achievements that had to do with reaching a certain total level (100, 500, 1000) were not awarding acheivement points and have now been fixed.
Players who were listing an item in the trading post and have one of their other listed items sell would have their trading post completely cancel the item they were trying to list and go back to the main interface.
This will no longer occur, allowing you to complete listing your item.
Agility shortcut fix:
The rock climb when you teleport to the dense essence mine would previously only allow you to go one way (south), but will now work on the way back as well.
Studded leather crafting:
Players can now craft studded bodies and studded chaps.
Studded leather body:
Requires 41 crafting to make, and provides 40 base experience.
Can be made using steel studs on a leather body.
Studded leather chaps:
Requires 44 crafting to make, and provides 42 base experience.
Can be made using steel studs on leather chaps.
Agility lap counter:
Players can now track how many laps of each agility course that they’ve completed.
The command ::laps / ::agilitylaps will list the amount of laps the player has completed from each agility course.
Players can also speak to Grace in the Rogue’s den to find out how many laps they’ve completed.
We were not previously tracking the number of laps that players had completed, so the counter will start at 0 for all players as of this update.
Konar slayer task expansion:
The following tasks have been added to Konar:
Slayer Stronghold:
Aberrant spectres
Ankous
Bloodvelds
Fire giants
Hellhounds
Lizardman Canyon Lizardmen
Smoke devil dungeon Smoke devils
Ogre Enclave Blue dragons
Iorwerth Dungeon:
Players can only receive the following tasks if they can access Prifddinas:
Bloodvelds
Dark beasts
Kurasks
Nechryaels
Kraken Cove Krakens
Classic mode changes:
The following changes were made since they were deemed to no longer be necessary to the game mode:
Classic players can now claim vote books as many times per day as they’d like, and stack boosts similar to regular players.
Classic players can now use as many boosters as they’d like, and stack boosts similar to regular players.
Classic players must now pay full price for the rogue set in the vote shop.
Classic players can now use other players’ restoration pools.
Classic players can now receive the prayer bonus from using bones on other players’ gilded altars.
Alternative use for boss heads:
Players can now use their extra boss heads on the Dark Altar for prayer experience.
Each head the player has will provide 2,500 base prayer experience.
The Vorkath head, being the most common, will only provide 1,000 base prayer experience.
Magic Secateurs:
Players can now use Magic Secateurs when farming Allotments and Herb patches.
Secateurs(magic or regular) are now required to harvest Allotments/herbs.
If a player has Magic Secateurs equipped when they harvest their herb/allotment patches, they will receive a 10% boost to their yield(guaranteed at least 1 extra yield).
This boost stacks with the Skillcape 5% yield boost.
If the player has the Magic Secateurs in their inventory, they will function as normal secateurs, with no boost given.
Players can now store the Magic Secateurs with the tool leprechaun.
The Magic Secateurs will take priority when storing tools, so it will first store your Magic Secateurs instead of your regular ones if you have both.
Magic secateurs have been added to the vote shop for 400 points.
Prifddinas farming patches:
The following Farming patches in Prifddinas are now functional:
Two allotment patches
Flower patch
Immortal donator perk:
Immortal donators will now receive noted bone drops from various enemies.
The bones that will drop as noted bones are the following:
Lava dragon bones
Hydra bones
Wyrm bones
Drake bones
Ourg bones
Big bones
Babydragon bones
Superior dragon bones
Regular dragon bones and dagannoth bones will not be noted, as they are a quest reward for completing DS2.
Runecrafting shop changes:
The following runes have been added to the Ironman Runecrafting shop.
Blood runes:
Cost 6 Runecrafting points each, and require 77 Runecrafting to purchase.
Death runes:
Cost 4 Runecrafting points each, and require 65 Runecrafting to purchase.
Nature runes:
Cost 3 Runecrafting points each, and require 44 Runecrafting to purchase.
Chaos runes:
Cost 3 Runecrafting points each, and require 35 Runecrafting to purchase.
In the future, more runes will likely be added to the shop if it is well received.
Spinning Changes:
The spinning interface has been updated to a newer interface.
Players can now spin Yak hair into rope.
This requires level 35 crafting, and grants 25 base experience.
New server event bonuses:
Zalcano bonus:
It is now possible for Event managers to enable a Zalcano bonus, which boosts the chance of loot (and the pet) from Zalcano.
Gauntlet bonus:
It is now possible for Event managers to enable a Gauntlet bonus, which boosts the chance of rare loot (and the pet) from both the regular Gauntlet and the Corrupted variant.
Booster scroll fixes:
A few cases where booster scrolls were not giving the proper boost (too low) have been corrected:
Drop boosters now properly boost the loot from Zalcano.
Pet boosters now properly work for the Smolcano pet from Zalcano and the Youngllef pet from the Gauntlet.
Zalcano changes:
Zalcano's respawn time has been cut in half to speed up kills.
Website update:
Firewall tweaks:
We've received many reports that legitimate users are being banned from the website when performing normal actions (the ban lasts 5 minutes).
We've made our firewall less sensitive to prevent this, as it is intended to only block IPs of attackers that are flooding the website.
Should we receive any more reports of users being blocked, we may tweak this further in the future.
Play page:
Our play page has been updated!
It was looking a little bit outdated, so we decided to give the Play page a bit a makeover.
Not too much has changed, except for the .ZIP file being a link under the 3 main options.
Mac client (application):
We've also added a Mac-specific client, so you can install the launcher as an application and pin it to the task bar.
Vote page:
We've tidied up the vote page a bit as well.
This page now not only looks cleaner and more professional, but it also includes a screenshot of the Vote Reward Shop in-game to entice players to vote more.
We hope you enjoy this update! Please report any bugs that you encounter :)
Regards,
Omicron & Chad
September 21st, 2019
Spoiler
Hello everyone,
This week's update comes with many new pieces of content such as the Falconry method of hunting, Aerial fishing to catch fish as well as the release of the Anglerfish outfit which comes with a Fishing XP boost, the Bottomless compost bucket dropped by Hespori which holds up to 10,000 compost and doubles your current compost, the ability to custom-donate for a username change for any username, and many other bug fixes/QOL.
Bug fixes:
Username fixes:
Group Ironman mode was bugged for players who had a 1 or 2 letter username.
EIM partners with 1-2 letter names were bugged and have been fixed.
Slayer partners with 1-2 letter names were bugged and have been fixed.
Fixed many staff command bugs that were blocking them from properly issuing punishments to 1-2 letter names.
Fixed a bug with the Prifddinas agility course which stopped you from getting experience from the portals that appear throughout the course.
Fixed another Dragon Slayer II requirement bug with the Monkey Madness king (hopefully the final one)
Fixed a bug which caused your client to crash when using the Dragon pickaxe (or) special attack (the ornamented one from Zalcano).
Removed duplicate (3) Tool Leprechauns at the Prifddinas farming patch.
The auto-noting feature for bones that is given to Immortal donators was not properly noting Superior dragon bones, and has been fixed.
Username changes (ANY USERNAME):
Considering our test run with username changes went well for the most part, we're now opening username changes for normal names as well!
This means that you're not only limited to rare (and more expensive) 1-2 letter usernames.
The cost for this type of username change is $25 at the moment.
This is still done manually by me, but will be automated through the use of a store-bought item in the near future, which will reduce the price even further.
Castle wars fix:
A bug which caused barricades that have been destroyed/burned to still have an invisible 'barrier' on the tile that they were on, permanently locking that tile, should no longer occur.
Bottomless compost bucket:
This can now be obtained as a drop from Hespori! (1/35 chance)
It is tradable when empty. Players can right-click it to empty it out, though any compost in it will be lost.
Features:
It can be filled with compost, super compost, or ultra compost.
You can use it directly on a compost bin to fill it with compost.
The bucket can be filled with up to 10,000 uses of one type of compost.
It can be filled from a compost bin or from buckets of compost (noted ones work as well).
Each bucket added counts as two uses, so only 5,000 buckets are required to fill it to the maximum.
This effectively doubles the use of each compost bin that is added to the bucket!
Friends list changes:
The maximum number of friends you can have is now 400 rather than 200, to match OSRS.
Previously, although we updated the friends list to 300 months ago, it was actually still capped at 200 friends due to a bug which is now fixed.
Players can now use a dragon boots ornament kit on their dragon boots to gild them.
The dragon boots ornament kit can be purchased from the vote shop for 300 vote points.
Falconry:
Players can now hunt kebbits in the Falconer area.
The Falconer area can be reached by speaking to the teleport wizard and going into the skilling menu.
Players can also reach the area by exiting the kraken cave and running straight east.
To start hunting, players must speak to Matthias, who will explain the basics of Falconry, and allow you to “have a go with his bird” if you wish to do so.
The cost to “have a go with his bird” is 50,000 coins, and the falconers glove can be used until the player either logs out, or teleports away/uses the stile to exit the area.
Players can catch the following Kebbits:
Spotted Kebbit:
Requires level 43 hunter to catch, and provides 104 base experience.
Upon catching the Spotted Kebbit, players will receive 1 Spotted kebbit fur, and bones.
Dark Kebbit:
Requires level 57 hunter to catch, and provides 132 base experience.
Upon catching the Dark Kebbit, players will receive 1 Dark kebbit fur, and bones.
Dashing Kebbit:
Requires level 69 hunter to catch, and provides 156 base experience.
Upon catching the Dashing Kebbit, players will receive 1 Dashing kebbit fur, and bones.
Players who have the bonecrusher with them will not receive any bones, instead they will be buried automatically.
Aerial Fishing:
To access this area, players can use any of the boaties that are on the docks on Lake Molch in Zeah, or use the teleport in the teleport wizard interface.
To begin, speak to Alry the Angler, and he will allow you to use his Cormorant to catch fish.
The following fish can be caught:
Bluegill:
Require level 43 fishing and level 35 hunter.
Catching a bluegill will provide 11.5 base fishing experience, and 16.5 base hunter experience.
Using a knife on this fish will provide fish chunks, and 3.5 base cooking experience.
Common Tench:
Require level 56 fishing and level 45 hunter.
Catching a bluegill will provide 40 base fishing experience, and 45 base hunter experience.
Using a knife on this fish will provide fish chunks, and 10 base cooking experience.
Mottled Eel:
Require level 73 fishing and level 68 hunter.
Catching a bluegill will provide 65 base fishing experience, and 90 base hunter experience.
Using a knife on this fish will provide fish chunks, and 20 base cooking experience.
Greater Siren:
Require level 91 fishing and level 87 hunter.
Catching a bluegill will provide 100 base fishing experience, and 130 base hunter experience.
Using a knife on this fish will provide fish chunks, and 25 base cooking experience.
Players only have a chance to catch the aforementioned fish if they have the levels required to do so, and the higher their levels, the more likely they are to catch a better fish.
Whenever a fish is caught, there is a 1/20,000 chance of getting a Golden Tench, an incredibly rare cosmetic weapon.
Every 3-6 catches, the cormorant will consume a fish chunk, or king worm from the player’s inventory.
If the player doesn’t have any king worm’s or fish chunks, the cormorant will refuse to catch fish.
King worms can be obtained from the king worm pile on the ground next to Alry the angler.
Fish chunks can be obtained by using a knife on the fish caught by the cormorant.
Whenever a fish is caught, players have a chance to receive a Molch pearl, which is used as a currency for Alry’s Wares.
Alry’s wares:
In the shop the following items are sold:
Anglers outfit:
100 Molch pearls per set piece
Pearl fishing rod:
100 Molch Pearls
This rod is equippable, and can be used in place of a regular fishing rod.
Pearl fly fishing rod:
125 Molch pearls
This rod is equippable, and can be used in place of a fly fishing rod.
Pearl barbarian rod:
150 Molch pearls
This rod is equippable, and can be used in place of a barbarian fishing rod.
Fish sack:
1000 Molch pearls
Angler outfit set effect added:
Each piece of the angler set will now provide the following bonus:
Angler hat:
0.3% bonus fishing experience.
Angler top:
0.7% bonus fishing experience.
Angler waders:
0.6% bonus fishing experience.
Angler boots:
0.2% bonus fishing experience.
Set bonus:
If all the pieces of the set are worn, players will receive an extra 0.5% bonus, totaling 2.5% bonus fishing experience.
New teleports added to teleport wizard:
Cities:
Tree Gnome Stronghold
This location is essential to some quests, and was only accessible through the Skilling interface (Gnome Agility Course) which many players do not know, and has provided unnecessary confusion. Due to this, we've decided to add a direct teleport.
Skilling:
Piscatoris Falconry area
Lake Molch (Aerial Fishing)
Name change fixes:
Any punishments that you had on your old username (eg. A mute) will now properly transfer to your new username.
If you have your new name on your friends/ignore list, it will be removed upon the name change so you can't PM yourself afterwards.
If you have a clan chat, it will be linked to your new name so that you can keep your rank structure.
You will no longer lose your rank in other Clan chats (eg. Gamble CC)
Website changes:
Hiscores fixes:
You can now search for 1 or 2 letter names.
Previous username:
When posting on the forums, it will now show your previous username on the left-hand side (user details)
Game news fix:
With new, shorter usernames, it sometimes led to weird visual bugs on the game news section of forum profiles (Eg. if your username was "A", the word "Dragon Axe" would be formatted like your username and capitalized to "DrAgon Axe").
We hope you enjoy the time & effort that we put into getting this update out as quickly as possible :)If you encounter any bugs, please report them immediately.
This month KP will be interviewing: C4 aka Hellish and Doofy.
We'll get started with C4 first.
Q: How is this new stage in your college years treating you? You mentioned in your resignation that you left the staff team because of it, I still don't know if I can forgive you...
A: To be honest, it's a mixed bag, it varies significantly day by day & department by department. Some days I'll have absolutely nothing to do on clinic, whereas others, I have long shifts or presentations to make. All in all was hoping to learn more than I am at the moment, hopefully, that comes as I progress through the rotations.
Q: If your mother didn't beat you up until you become a doctor, what would you like to be?
A: Both my parents actually attempted to dissuade my brother & me from pursuing this career. If not for medicine, which I'd decided on from a young age, I'd have probably studied pure biology & genetics, however, I'm not sure how far I'd be able to go in that field without a medical degree.
A: We broke up. I caught Vuqe cheating with Scuffed EIM just one time too many. I decided to get my revenge by telling him that items dropped by an Ultimate Ironman will last for 60 minutes. Vuqe, being the whale he is, dropped & lost all his seeds. We separated shortly after.
Q: This question is going to make Mack angry no matter what. IF you had to pick between revamping Chambers of Xeric or the Achievement Diaries, which one would you pick and why?
A: Obviously would pick both. If I HAD to, however, I'd say raids. I've seen firsthand the proposed raids changes and they'd be fantastic BUT, there needs to be a major overhaul in loot accompanying it, donator statuses are disproportionately overpowered.
Q: What do you enjoy doing the most on Alora? Bullying Paine doesn't count.
A: Although the amount of hours I've been putting in Alora has dropped, I still enjoy working on my main account to truly complete it. I just spent 2 weeks trying to get an eternal slayer ring (which I got today), going to passively work on some 200m skills and other niche items. Just whatever I feel like doing tbh.
Q: What is your most unusual talent?
A: 1. As a fair few people here know, I'm able to draw on my skin and have it appear as an allergic reaction. Take Redius's signature for example: https://i.imgur.com/olyw7sJ.png
2. To be muted on a whim, at any point in time by God
Q: Ever since you returned to the staff team, you seem to have found the balance between the game and IRL. Being able to stay consistent in the game and not burning out is something that not everyone can do. What’s the secret?
A: Although I don't have as much free time as I used to due to work, finding the balance between staying consistent and not burning out has been really important for me. For me, it was understanding that my position here on the staff team is a volunteer position. I don't force myself to get on when I really don't feel like it, whether its because I'm exhausted or feel like playing something else that night. I know that if I were to force myself to get on and be a stafferman every day after I get home from work I would for sure be burnt out. Personally, I believe that even if I am not on all the time, I am able to perform my duties much better because I am choosing to do them, rather than feeling like I have to do them.
Q: Why are dolphins the cutest animal on the planet, and why do you love them so much?
A: I actually don't think dolphins are the cutest animal, however, I do think they are pretty badass. Dolphins are incredibly intelligent, and a lot of people don't realize there are 40 different species of dolphins and one of my favorite species of dolphins are Killer Whales (Orcas). Transient Killer whales will often play with their food or even hurt other marine mammals such as seals just for fun, oftentimes doing so by flinging them up into the air or drowning them.
Q: When are you going to take those hands off Jisoo? You know who he belongs to...
A: I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this question... I do not think of Jisoo as property, nor do I believe he belongs to anyone but himself. He is an amazing person and someone I consider a close friend. I have been fortunate enough to spend lots of time talking and working with him throughout my time here on Alora.
Q: If you had to pick ONE content update, rework or fix to add to Alora, what would it be and why?
A: Curses. Specifically, soul split so I don't have to pay attention when killing bosses.
Q: If you were an animated character, who would you be and why?
A: This is a hard one... I think I might have to go with Donkey from Shrek. There is just something about his ability to communicate and subconsciously manipulate 'people' into doing what is in his best interest that intrigues me.
Q: Who is the best hardcore ironman, Smiv or IM Moe? They both seem to be extremely talented, but I think you are the right person to pick a winner on this.
A: Personally, I must go with Smiv on this one. Although Moe and Smiv have a similar track record with their HCIMs, Smiv’s tenacity and ‘not going to quit’ attitude is oddly inspiring. Who knows what NPC will take his life next and I’m sure as per usual, it will be a pleasant surprise.
Disclaimer:
Have any interview questions that you would like to ask any of the staff members?
Don't hesitate to send me a private message via forums / Discord and I'll include them in the next edition along with the answers from that staff member!
Content Polls:
Take a few minutes to check out our latest content poll. Please vote and leave any feedback in a comment on the thread. It can be found below.
Check out some of the recent work put out by some of our content creators! They put a lot of work into these videos and it makes for great entertainment while grinding out whatever it is you may be doing in-game.
Also please make sure to check out our streamers when they are live! They would love to have you keep them company while they grind out whatever it is they are grinding that day!