Free-to-play
Free-to-play, also known as F2P, is the free version of RuneScape where no payment to Jagex is required to play. Players who play the free version of RuneScape are known as "free players", "F2Ps", or "non-members". This is in contrast to members, who pay a fee (either with real-world currency or with bonds purchased using in-game currency) for access to a much larger map and a multitude of skills, items, quests, and activities, which are not available to free-to-play users.
Overview[edit | edit source]
The free part of RuneScape is described by Jagex as being the game with close to 5,000 hours of skills to train to reach the maximum level of 99, while members is considered the expansion version. There is no limit to the amount of time players are able to continue playing for free, although free players are only able to enjoy about 20% of everything RuneScape has to offer. Free players can upgrade and become a member at any time by paying a fee, granting access to more skills, locations, items, etc.
Formerly, the free-to-play version of RuneScape was its only form, prior to the introduction of members and the subsequent creation of RuneScape 2. The pay-to-play servers were intended by Jagex to benefit all of the RuneScape community.
With respect to gameplay, the majority of new updates within RuneScape are restricted to pay-to-play members with the exception of updates concerning graphics or the addition of new servers. When the members service was announced, Jagex acknowledged that the free version would not be updated as often as it used to be.
Updates since launch of members version[edit | edit source]
The following are free-version updates that have been made available since the launch of the members service:
- Events in general
- Holiday events
- Some community events, such as the Cryptic Clue Fest
- Promotional events, such as Yak Track
- Various bug fixes and quality-of-life updates
- Various graphics updates
- Various bank space increases
- Various security updates
- Bank PIN on 19 September 2005
- Authenticator on 23 June 2014
- The Crafting Guild and Makeover Mage on 8 May 2002
- Some new Wilderness areas on 8 May 2002
- Abuse report system on 11 September 2002
- Fatigue system on 14 November 2002 (discontinued on RuneScape 2 launch)
- Sleeping bags (discontinued on RuneScape 2 launch) and pickaxes up to rune on 27 May 2003
- RuneScape 2 on 29 March 2004
- Runecrafting and the Rune Mysteries quest
- Ability to cut trees up to yew
- Random events (discontinued on 24 October 2012 but later re-added to Old School RuneScape as an optional feature)
- Tutorial Island (and its later incarnations) on 24 September 2002
- Reworked into Learning the Ropes on 14 July 2008
- Reworked into Unstable Foundations on 26 May 2011
- Reworked into the Ashdale Tutorial on 14 May 2018
- Up to maple bows and adamant arrows on 29 March 2005
- The Stronghold of Security on 4 July 2006
- Party Room moved to Falador on 24 July 2007
- The Grand Exchange on 26 November 2007
- The Duel Arena on 10 December 2007 (replaced with Het's Oasis on 4 January 2022)
- The Misthalin Training Centre of Excellence and Stronghold of Player Safety
- Fist of Guthix
- RuneScape High Detail
- Lumbridge and Draynor Tasks on 14 July 2008
- Some additional tasks when the achievement system was reworked
- The Mining Guild
- Revenants
- Corrupt dragon equipment
- Ancient artefacts
- Forinthry Dungeon on free trade return
- Team capes
- The Runecrafting Guild on 12 August 2008
- Beefy Bill (sells items near Lumbridge, and banks cowhides, raw beef and pots of flour for a 10% commission)
- Run energy upgrade on 9 June 2009
- Titles on 8 July 2009
- The Blood Pact quest on 15 March 2010
- Lumbridge Catacombs
- Mask of Dragith Nurn
- Faruq's Tools for Games on 15 July 2009
- Lumbridge Fishing Supplies on 17 September 2009
- The Dungeoneering skill and some resource dungeons in April 2010 (including the Mining Guild resource dungeon, which at the time contained the only runite rocks in a safe area)
- Anvil next to the Lumbridge furnace in June 2010
- Swept Away and Myths of the White Lands made permanently part of free game in June 2010 (were temporarily available in 2008)
- Gunnar's Ground (replaces Romeo & Juliet) quest and swanky boots in September 2010
- Full access to Thessalia's services
- Wind Rush spell (removed for all players following Evolution of Combat)
- The sling (later changed to chargebow)
- The make-x feature in October 2010
- The ability to compare and change equipment while banking
- Clay rings and the Ring of Devotion on 24 November 2010
- Pottery urns on 15 February 2011
- Access to the water well in Barbarian Village and five new clay rocks
- Access to the Artisans' Workshop in March 2011
- 30 minute cooldown for Home Teleport removed in March 2011
- Access to canoes in February 2011
- The Clan vexillium for clan members in April 2011
- Money pouch and tool belt in December 2011
- Squeal of Fortune on 28 February 2012 (discontinued in February 2014 and replaced with Treasure Hunter)
- Access to the Lodestone Network in March 2012
- Dungeoneering tool belt in April 2012
- The Runespan in April 2012
- Bonfires in May 2012
- Solomon's General Store in July 2012
- Botany Bay
- Stolen Hearts (replaces Prince Ali Rescue) in September 2012
- What's Mine is Yours (replaces Doric's Quest) in October 2012
- Evolution of Combat in November 2012
- Ranged weapons up to magic bows and rune arrows
- Imphide, spider silk and batwing equipment
- Strike spells no longer require mind runes, bolt spells no longer require chaos runes, and blast spells no longer require death runes
- Teleport block spell
- Reworked Rune Mysteries (replaces Rune Mysteries (historical)) quest in November 2012
- Access to Burthorpe and Taverley in March 2013
- Ability to train every members' skills up to level 5
- Access to more items (such as Ranged potions, Magic potions, Attack potions, Defence potions, Spirit wolves, and dreadfowl)
- Four new quests (Death Plateau, Druidic Ritual, Let Them Eat Pie and Wolf Whistle)
- Run energy update: reduced drain rate, reduced weight penalty, and increased restore rate (March 2013)
- Dragonstone armour on 11 June 2013
- RuneScape 3 and the Battle of Lumbridge world event in July 2013
- The Death of Chivalry in August 2013
- Bonds in September 2013
- The Bird and the Beast world event
- Daily Challenges (up to two at a time)
- 1.2x experience gain during members' double XP weekend since February 2014
- Ability to use bonus XP during bonus XP weekends
- Treasure Hunter (replaces Squeal of Fortune) in February 2014
- Small and medium cash bags
- Ability to redeem all fallen stars (only small and medium stars at first; large and huge stars later made available to F2P in hidden update)
- Ramokee and Warband cosmetic equipment
- Various holiday promotional items
- Magic notepaper (became available to free players at launch of Treasure Hunter)
- Silverhawk feathers in March 2014 (no use in free version, but free players can sell them to members)
- Portable skilling station in May 2014
- Spring cleaner in June 2014
- Elite training dummies in August 2014
- Toy royal battleships in January 2015
- Some elite skilling outfits and their lower tier counterparts, including Magic Golem, Infinity Ethereal, Fury Shark, Warped Gorajan Trailblazer, and Nature's Sentinel
- Veteran capes on 17 February 2014
- HiScores returned in April 2014
- Bank presets on 7 April 2014
- Skill-specific medium XP lamps for free skills on 7 April 2014
- Cabbage Facepunch Bonanza on 14 April 2014
- A Shadow over Ashdale on 22 April 2014
- Legacy Mode on 14 July 2014
- Ironman Mode on 13 October 2014
- Ghost hunter equipment on 20 October 2014
- Old School RuneScape on 19 February 2015
- The Nexus on 16 March 2015
- Protean bars on 23 April 2015
- Goblin raids on 26 May 2015
- Tuska Comes world event on 1 June 2015
- Metal gauntlets and Battle robes on 10 August 2015
- Burthorpe Games Room on 5 October 2015
- Metal boots on 10 October 2015
- Blue, dark and light mystic equipment on 23 November 2015
- Beneath Cursed Tides on 14 December 2015
- RuneMetrics on 22 February 2016
- The Free To Play Extravaganza on 29 February 2016:
- King Black Dragon and Giant Mole, along with the ability to sell their drops
- Dual wielding and new abilities
- Dungeoneering equipment up to level 50
- Ability to wear arrowstorm, bladestorm and Spellstorm drapes
- Meg's cases on 3 May 2016 (later removed for all players)
- ability to enter Player-owned port and unlock its music tracks
- Gower Quest and One Piercing Note on 20 June 2016
- ability to harvest cursed energy on 8 August 2016
- Skilling pets on 22 August 2016
- Prayer potions on 13 March 2017
- Wizard Rinsit's Runecrafting Shop and unstable essence on 20 March 2017
- Ring of Luck on 27 March 2017
- Runecrafting urns on 24 July 2017
- Splitbark armour, snakeskin armour, turoth and basilisk boots, crossbows and bolts up to and including rune, and additional combat abilities on 14 August 2017
- Surge, Devotion, Barricade and Reflect on 14 August 2017
- Claws, darts, and throwing axes up to and including rune, as well as additional off-hand equipment (including defenders) on 21 August 2017
- Witch's House on 11 September 2017
- Free-to-play Content Additions on 9 October 2017
- The Fletching skill
- All combat abilities (excluding Metamorphosis, Berserk and abilities unlocked by member’s content)
- Seven quests: A Soul's Bane, Priest in Peril, Gertrude's Cat, Missing, Presumed Death, Perils of Ice Mountain, Song from the Depths and Broken Home (along with its post-quest replay challenges, and although Asylum surgeon's ring is obtainable, it is not usable not free-to-play).
- Two D&Ds: Shooting Stars and Evil Trees
- Access to Silvarea
- The Warriors' Guild
- High level wilderness (including the Chaos Elemental and the Mage Arena cave)
- Boss pets for Chaos Elemental and Giant Mole (King black dragon scale may be obtained by free players but requires 99 Summoning to unlock the pet)
- Additional magic and ranged equipment
- Blue and black Wizard Robes, coifs, blue Mystic Robes, green dragonhide armour, and blue dragonhide armour can be crafted
- Green, blue and red dragons in the Wilderness
- Dragon bones can be buried for Prayer experience
- Combat pets on 20 November 2017
- Improved shop stocks, energy potions, and access to more achievements on 4 December 2017
- Certain Treasure Trail rewards (mostly cosmetic) on 26 February 2018
- Scare Tactics and four new combat abilities on 12 March 2018
- Construction content up to level 5 and access to player-owned houses on 6 August 2018
- Violet is Blue and Yeti Town on 17 December 2018
- Mining and Smithing rework on 7 January 2019
- Strong mining urns
- Strong smelting urns
- Ability to make and enchant a Ring of Luck
- Chef's Assistant on 11 February 2019
- Dairy churn and dairy products
- Guam and tarromin incense sticks on 25 March 2019
- Bank rework on 30 September 2019
- 49 additional bank spaces
- War's Retreat on 27 January 2020
- Once Upon a Slime on 10 February 2020
- Ability to train Archaeology to level 20, on 30 March 2020
- Medium bladed orikalkum salvage on 4 May 2020
- Medium spiky and huge plated orikalkum salvage on 7 December 2020
- Violet is Blue Too on 14 December 2020
- Additional bank presets on 25 January 2021
- Richie and Zez pets on 1 February 2021
- Heartstealer on 8 February 2021
- Free Masterwork, Kharidian and Mortyanian music boxes on 19 April 2021
- Free Wealth evaluator on 26 April 2021
- Tiny bladed, tiny spiky, small plated and large plated orikalkum salvage on 26 July 2021
- Medium blunt orikalkum salvage on 31 August 2021
- Large and huge cash bags on 27 September 2021
- Large, huge and giant prismatic lamps from Treasure Hunter (skill-specific lamps remain limited to members) on 27 September 2021
- Some rewards from Croesus on 27 September 2021
- Soups made from drops (although they have no use on free worlds)
- Medium plated orikalkum salvage
- Tiny blunt, large blunt and huge bladed orikalkum salvage on 25 October 2021
- Het's Oasis and its music tracks (activities are limited to members) on 4 January 2022
- Small bladed and spiky orikalkum salvage on 28 February 2022
- Tiny bladed, small and medium plated, large blunt and huge spiky necronium salvage on 1 August 2022
- Challenger halo and halo of returning (can only be bought from members) on 26 September 2022
In addition to the differences described above, the majority of features outside the games (such as the official RuneScape forums) are open to members only, but also to F2P players with at least 2.5 million total experience or a skill total of 350. This requirement was 12.5 million total experience or a skill total of 500 before an update by Jagex on 15 March 2010.
Features available to former members[edit | edit source]
Players who were members at one point retain access to a few features:
- Free bank boosters for members.
- Songs unlocked in members areas.
- Emotes and titles unlocked from members content.
- Bonus Dungeoneering XP from the Scroll of Daemonheim.
- Ability to view their materials if they have unlocked Invention.
- Sacrifice, Devotion, Transfigure and Greater Concentrated Blast abilities.
- Upgraded gravestone.
- Some items obtained from members content — see Category:Free-to-play items that require membership to obtain.
- Examples include the thigat staff in Dungeoneering.
- Certain elite skilling outfits, unless previously obtained from Treasure Hunter.
- Certain Treasure Trail rewards, except from Sandy Clue Scrolls.
- Unrestricted trade (subscribing for the first time permanently removes the 25k trade limit from the account).
- Ability to obtain Unreadable pages if they meet the requirements.
- No longer having to use bait or feathers for fishing if the corresponding prawn perks have been unlocked.
- The gift from Sliske and the ability to see mysterious ghosts.
- The 5% Runecrafting boost from completing Hero's Welcome.
- Ability to use the Wicked Hood's Wizards' Tower teleport and access its interface via an ethereal outfit.
- Any existing Grand Exchange offers beyond the three slots will continue to be fulfilled.
- Members-only Daemonheim achievements are counted when determining how many rusty coins the player receives at the beginning of a dungeon.
- Ability to retrieve and store certain items at Hidey-holes designated for Treasure Trails.
- Ability to store gold and silver ores in an ore box and metal bank as well as gold and silver bars in the metal bank if Family Crest has been completed.
- Ability to store an extra 20 ores in ore boxes if the achievement Everything is Oresome is completed.
- Ability to smith dart tips if The Tourist Trap is completed.
- Experience gained as a non-member will count towards harmony pillars.
- Ability to complete certain members achievements (such as The School of Jewels) if the members-only steps have previously been completed.
- +1% Mining experience when wearing any full golem outfit if the Varrock easy achievements have been completed.
- Ability to pass the pontifex barrier in the Kharid-et Dig Site.
- Skills higher than the F2P level cap remain at that level and can be utilised on some occasions
- Examples include the agility shortcut south of Varrock
- Higher agility will slightly increase max stamina while mining.
- Benefits from the Infernal Puzzle Box (most notably that your adrenaline does not drain outside of combat) if it has been added to your tool belt after unlocking tier 6 of the puzzle box.
Removed from free version[edit | edit source]
Jagex has also occasionally removed features from the free version:
- Various items that have been accidentally added to free-to-play
- Examples include the Shantay disclaimer and chicken egg (unchecked)
- RuneScape Classic in August 2005
- Completely shut down in August 2018
- Run energy boosts from Agility for former members on 9 June 2009
- Hiscores in November 2011
- Returned in April 2014
- Advertisements on 20 June 2016
- Daily Challenges for members skills (so free players would stop receiving daily challenges they could not complete) on 22 August 2016
- Free players began receiving Daily Challenges for members skills up to level 5 after the Burthorpe and Taverley update.
- Daily Challenges for members skills were added back in December 2017 but could be toggled off after reaching the level 5 cap following a further update in January 2018
- Tier-75 warpriest armour following the end of their respective world events
- Ability to access the bank via William and Ian on 9 October 2017
- Access to magic and elder evil trees on 4 December 2017
- Ability for former members to use Bladed Dive on 29 October 2018
- Ability to use Surge and Escape on 5 December 2022 (as both abilities are now locked behind level 30 Agility). However, Jagex said they intended to lower the requirement to level 5 so that they can be used by free players again.[1] The abilities could still be used by free players who have previously reached level 30 Agility.
- The abilities were made available to F2P again on 12 December 2022.
Free versus members[edit | edit source]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
The following popups historically appeared once you reach certain milestones in F2P.
Interface about the benefits of Dual wielding after trying to wield an Off-hand bronze dagger.
Interface after going through a tour of the Clan Citadel.
Interface after attempting to enter TzHaar City.
Interface about Fish Flingers if talking to the Fisherman.
Interface about the Refer a Friend programme when entering Daemonheim for the first time.
Update history[edit | edit source]
- patch 6 September 2021 (Update):
- Achievements for the Giant Mole, King Black Dragon and Chaos Elemental no longer display membership as a requirement - including in the Bossing Path - as they can be completed in free-to-play.
- ninja 23 August 2021 (Update):
- The following area task achievements can now be completed on F2P worlds:
- Fixed a lobby error on Steam which caused an empty popup to appear for free-to-play users when clicking the membership icon.
- patch 9 August 2021 (Update):
- The 'Breaking the Seal' Archaeology mystery achievement is now free-to-play.
- The 'use all' function now works consistently across XP items in free-to-play.
- patch 27 January 2020 (Update):
- Free-to-play players retrieving Members items from Death will not be told to partially empty their bank.
- An issue where logging into F2P would sometimes switch your currently selected action bar has been fixed.
- Free-to-play players can no longer use the Large and Huge Celebration Lamps when they select the "Use All" option.
- patch 9 December 2019 (Update):
- Yak Track tasks will now no longer scale down when a member swaps into a free-to-play world.
- patch 14 October 2019 (Update):
- Fixed an issue causing Armour spikes to be usable in Free-to-Play Worlds.
- patch 18 February 2019 (Update):
- Ex-members in free-to-play worlds will no longer be able to use shield abilities whilst still wielding a members only shield.
- Prevented teleporting using a PoH mounted amulet of glory on F2P worlds.
- ninja 21 August 2017 (Update):
- Pay-to-play off-hand equipment from bronze to rune that isn't otherwise locked behind membership (such as darts, throwing axes, claws, defenders and some low-level shields) can now be equipped in Free-to-play.
- Pay-to-play mainhand claws, darts and throwing axes from bronze to rune can now be equipped in Free-to-play.
- hotfix 20 February 2017 (Update):
- Logging in to a free-to-play world with skillcape perks active on a Max or Completionist cape now functions correctly.
- patch 13 July 2015 (Update):
- Various members-only equipment will now correctly rescale themselves and not activate when entering free to play worlds.
- patch 20 April 2015 (Update):
- Free-to-play players can no longer smith pickaxes that require a members-only quest.
- patch 29 August 2013 (Update):
- Free to play players will now be informed once they have reached their daily resource limit for divine tears.
- The level-up milestone messages now show "Maximum free-to-play level achieved" at the correct level.
- patch 13 August 2013 (Update):
- Free-to-play players can no longer start the Priest in Peril.
- patch 30 April 2013 (Update):
- Players will no longer have their lifepoints lowered whilst wearing non-member armour and logging into a free world.
- patch 14 January 2013 (Update):
- F2P players who lost membership while a pet cat was following them, should no longer have issues getting Ozan to follow them during Stolen Hearts.
- patch 13 November 2012 (Update):
- Free players will now be moved out of the Chaos Temple upper level in the Wilderness.
- patch 24 October 2012 (Update):
- The Scarecrow Mask can now be equipped by free-to-play players.
- patch 6 December 2011 (Update):
- While on a free world, tooltips for members' only skills on the skills interface are now readable.
- patch 23 March 2010 (Update):
- Fairy ring locations no longer have any options on free worlds.
- patch 11 January 2010 (Update):
- Sigmund no longer has a visible pickpocket option on free worlds.
- Estate Agent icons are no longer visible on free worlds.
- The farming patch spirit will no longer appear on free worlds.