i know i've missed a lot! fill me in, what's new?

hey guys i haven't played since the beginning of summer. i really, really, really have no idea what i've missed. reply with everything i need to know to get back into the flow of the game.

 

Well, in July Solomon's General Store was released, which lets players buy in-game shit for real-world money. It's been quite controversial, but doesn't look like it's going anywhere.
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Solomon's_General_Store

In mid-July, RuneScape reached 200,000,000 accounts. There was an in-game event giving players "200m glasses" and a Boogie Bow.
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/200_million_accounts_celebration

In august, Clan Avatars were released. They're rather large and ugly familiars that can be summoned by members of your clan with the job "Avatar Warden". You can give the avatar Anagogic Ort (dropped when killing monsters or skilling), and you will receive a weeks worth of "Avatar Buffs", which inlucde a week-long ho-hum xp bonus.
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Clan_Avatars

August-September included and concluded with the Sizzling Summer promotion, which gave members a Promissory Note worth 1 million experience that can be used in any skill.
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Sizzling_Summer

Members also got "Fate Cards" which could be used to claim various rewards, most notable are "insta-kill" (Deathtouched) darts, allowing players to one-hit kill most monsters.
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Fate_cards
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Deathtouched_dart

In early September, God Wars had a significant update and graphical overhaul.

Toward the end of September, Jagex updated their Botwatch system and released Botany Bay, a sort of 'court trial' that lets players see who is caught botting. So far, it seems to be ineffective, but Jagex maintains that it will be updated continuously through the coming months and be quite effective at catching and banning bots. It is very effective against advertising bots.
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Botany_Bay

Al-Kharid had it's graphics updated at the end of September as well.

October didn't have much aside from a mediocre Halloween event, which has since ended.
http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Update:Halloween_2012:_Haunted_Houses

There were a few quests added:
Some Like It Cold
Carnillean Rising
Diamond in the Rough
Stolen Hearts
What's Mine is Yours

Dorric's Quest and Prince Ali Rescue were removed, replaced by some of the quests above. I probably missed a few. :/

Of everything that happened, I think the most notable were the Promissory Notes / Free 1m experience, the insta-kill darts, and the Bottany Bay / Botwatch update (which seemed quite useless, despite all the attention it had).

The Evolution of Combat had been in beta throughout this time. It is nearly complete, and set to be released on the 20th of this month, which is probably the biggest news in Runescape right now.

 

thanks for the informative post, man.

how has the culture changed? what's the main ways people make money? is there still gambling? what's up with new armour/ weapons?

 

People still dislike the way the game is moving. Money making is pretty much the same, stocking up on goods would be smart since bots will most likely be down after EOC update. Flower Game will be gone in EOC, but Easter rings will probably replace them, if not then it will move to IRC. Not many new weapons atm but in EOC, there will be loads of new weapons witch include dual wielding.

 

Would also like to point out that GP prices have lowered since you left as there was a max cash (2147M) glitch that was exploited producing billions upon billions of coins. Jagex did not manage to ban the majority of bug abusers so their money flooded the GE as well as the GP industry.