This week’s update introduces Bounty Hunter ‘Wilderness-only’ PvP worlds (or ‘Bounty Worlds’). Our aim was to get something that feels as close to the original Wilderness as we can manage, and to add another thrill with the Bounty Hunter mechanic. The new worlds are limited to the Wilderness, and use the old ‘who can attack who’ levels.
Bounty Worlds are basically a mix of 3 previous PvP games. It has the best bits we can reuse from Bounty Hunter, PvP worlds, and the old Wilderness. In short, we’ve increased the chance to get your opponent’s items and we added the thrill of hunting a bounty within the Wilderness while surrounded by hundreds of potential PKers.
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.
Andrew
Lead Developer
In Other News…
Thirsty adventurers should head to the poll to take part in our latest vote: Guaranteed Content – Name a Pub. We have made a shortlist of your very best pub suggestions, and now we need you decide which one is your favourite. The winning idea will be added to the game in the coming months. You can find the poll under the 'Community' drop-down tab above.
Similar to the changes we made to the way PvP worlds work to prevent people from using fun weapons or low-level spells, we have updated the system to detect other ways of fighting without taking any risks. Now, if you see anyone in single-way combat who is fighting without taking any apparent damage over an extended period of time, you can jump in and teach them how fighting works.
The lilies of the valley have finished blooming, and have been removed from the game. Any you might have had lying around have been whisked away.
Leprechauns can now convert clean herbs to banknotes for you. Previously, if you'd accidentally cleaned the herb, the leprechaun wouldn't accept the herb.
The in-game skill guides now link to an appropriate page in the Game Guide if you wish to find out more information.
Subject: Wilderness Update 
Wed May 06, 2009 2:43 pm
but meh my fastest kill yet!