Old School Runescape Shatters User Records

After years of being online, Runescape surprised its studio when it shattered old records of concurrent users. The impulse came after the studio released a huge update over a week ago,

Game developer Jagex reported the impressive user response to the relaunch of its Leagues IV: Trailblazer Reloaded. Players returned to the game in droves which overwhelmed the servers and caused performance problems. The studio has since taken steps to expand its capacity and even added new worlds..

According to the studio, on Wednesday afternoon the number of concurrent players exceeded 190,000. The game broke several earlier records set years ago and comes close to some of the most popular modern games.

“Surreal to think that 10 years later we’re still breaking record numbers of members!” Jagex tweeted. “Thanks to everyone for playing and enjoy the dopamine over the next few weeks.”

While all the excitement rolled on, some players took advantage of a bug that reduced the effect of alchemy spells. This allowed platers to open multiple rewards at the same time without the need to qualify for them.

Details of the Treasure Seeker exploit that permitted players to open bugged casket rewards at the same time. The studio was able to fix the bug but not able to roll back all ill-gotten rewards. The offending players have also been disciplined. Although not severe, it shows the importance of honesty, even in gaming.

“Players opening in excess of 50 caskets (all the way up to beyond 1,000) will receive temporary bans and also have log slots wiped + clue items removed,” Jagex explained. “They’ll be able to participate in the League on another account, but we believe other players should have a chance to catch up and feel that players opening hundreds of bugged caskets knew to some extent that what they were doing wasn’t expected behavior.”