Battle of Lumbridge



The Battle of Lumbridge is a world event that takes place alongside the beginning of the Sixth Age and the dawn of RuneScape 3. The battle is waged between Saradomin and Zamorak and occurs in Lumbridge between the area which was the Lumbridge Swamp and west of the Lumbridge Castle. The battle features weekly choices made by the players which will define its outcome and course of action. It was stated by Jagex as having an "ultimate outcome [which] will set the course for RuneScape’s future.".

History
A few weeks after the Assassination of Guthix (two weeks before the battle), a large portal appeared west of Lumbridge Castle and south of the H.A.M. Hideout, although it was not known at the time what role this mysterious portal would play in the battle. On 11 July, the portal increased in size and several other NPCs were added to the scene. The original NPCs' dialogue was also altered slightly to reflect the change to the portal. This same event occurred again on 17 July.

Finally, on 22 July the portal opened, and Zamorak used it to travel into Gielinor, where he attempted to harness the power left when Guthix died. At this point Zamorak was confronted by Saradomin and at once the two began fighting. They reached a stalemate and the ground where the portal was disintegrated forming a large crater where the life force of Guthix began seeping out from the ground.

At the opening of their encounter, Zamorak and Saradomin found themselves equally matched. Both gods raised defensive structures and teleported in their generals and first waves of soldiers. The early stage of the battle broke down into a general close combat with neither side gaining an upper hand. The battle raged along the perimeter with troops fighting among the siege towers and towards the centre of the crater. The gods began teleporting followers in to collect fragments of Guthix's power, in the form of divine tears, to increase their power and overwhelm the opposing god.

Individual troops that did manage to reach the other faction's base would simply be incinerated by the sentries and generals. A slow but steady stream of soldiers would continue to reinforce the battlefield and make their way into the fray one at a time. Unfortunately, to reach the battlefield the soldiers had to pass through narrow bottlenecks between their camps and the crater. Thousands of soldiers on both sides charged straight to their deaths as large of groups of adventurers waited at the mouth of the bottlenecks to kill them for any divine tears they might carry. Lucky soldiers who survived the bloodbath at the battlefield's entrances were soon finished off by adventurers gathering divine tears at the centre of the crater.

As the battle wore on, however, troops were teleported to different parts of the battlefield. Both Moia and Padomenes had realised that most of their troops were being killed off by adventurers waiting right outside their camps. To circumvent this problem, the two generals began teleporting their soldiers directly into the battlefield in addition to sending steady streams of soldiers from their camps. Sometimes soldiers would be teleported directly outside their enemies' camp, where they would quickly be eliminated by sentries.

On the first day of the battle, both sides had only deployed basic troops that used melee, ranged, and magic attacks. Within days, however, specialised fighters were deployed as well, from field medics to minelayers. Some adventurers on the battlefield had even reported encountering extremely powerful soldiers of various combat styles who have already managed to amass many divine tears.

Aligning with a faction


With Zamorak and Saradomin both struggling to gain control of the power left by Guthix, they require the aid of adventurers to help them gain the upper hand. Players may choose which god they wish to follow, and head to either the Saradominist or the Zamorakian camp to help out. If the player wishes to change sides, they may speak to Kara-Meir located near the Lumbridge lodestone at any time.

Players can help by collecting Divine tears to help fuel their god's power and help them gain the upper hand. Tears can be collected in two ways, either through combat or skilling.

Divine tears


After joining one of the gods, players will be given a token depending on what god they chose (i.e Zamorakian token or Saradominist token). The token increases in level the more tears contributed to the chosen god, starting off at bronze then silver, gold, runite and dragon. The token gives a small boost to the amount of Divine tears you collect and reduces damage taken from the other gods forces by a small amount.

Tears can be earned from combat both on and off the battlefield. Players may attack the enemy faction's NPC reinforcements, and upon defeating them will be awarded with tears. Depending on how many Divine Tears the player has collecting that day, the number of Divine Tears that is collected decreases from five at a time, down to zero. Players may also receive tears as drops from creatures slain outside the battlefield.

Tears can also be earned from skilling, both on and off the battlefield. On the battlefield are mining, woodcutting, and fishing plots which can be used to collect tears beginning at a rate of 5 at a time which will gradually decrease as the player continues to collect them. There is no skill requirement to do this, and players collecting tears on the battlefield will not be attacked by enemy soldiers. Tears can also be earned by skilling outside the battlefield, in a similar way to how anagogic orts are collected. Tears are awarded from skilling surprisingly frequently, and a player can quickly collect a substantial amount of tears from skilling activities such as farming, fishing, herblore, hunting, mining, runecrafting, and woodcutting. The players skill levels (and utilised tools and equipment) used to obtain these tears also have no effect on the rate at which they are collected (both on or off the battlefield).

There is a limit on the amount of tears a player can collect per day. Free players can receive up to 1,320 Divine tears a day. Members can receive 3,000 tears on a daily basis.

Once divine tears are collected, they have to be deposited at the collection point located in each of the faction's camp. If the player switches between factions, the contribution to the previous faction is reset.

The Duke's Dilemma


Lumbridge was very badly damaged by the battle, and Duke Horacio is currently working on rebuilding the city. Each week he asks players to vote on how to allocate the town's emergency resources toward dealing with various situations pertaining to this goal. The Duke has a total of 160,000 coins to use for rebuilding. The situation will change periodically through the event. Players will be limited later on in the event by the amount of money they have spent. Voting can be done by either speaking to Duke Horacio, using the right click option "Manage-Crisis", or by accessing the lectern in his room.

Regardless of which option the player chooses, they will be rewarded with an amount of bonus experience for voting, with players able to choose what skill to apply it to. This bonus experience is "added" to the skill, and is used up as players train that skill (excluding the use of lamps, etc). The remaining bonus experience can be checked by hovering over the chosen skill in the skills menu.

Week 1: Destruction of homes
Two crafters, each with a wife and child, have lost their homes in the destruction. There is a damaged house in Lumbridge which could be restored.

The options given to the player are:
 * Restore the house, moving the Zamorakian herbalist in, for 20,000 coins.
 * Restore the house, moving the Saradominist summoner in, for 20,000 coins.
 * Restore the house as a refugee shelter, moving both families in, for 40,000 coins.
 * Leave the house alone, and this costs nothing.

Buffs and reinforcements
Every week, votes (accumulated through contributing divine tears) can be spent to decide the outcome of chosen buffs and reinforcements for the following week.

Buffs provide a boost to the faction (such as more damage to the enemy, or less damage from the enemy), and the chosen buff will be displayed in battle HUD.

Reinforcements to the battlefield will be in the form of more powerful enemies providing additional benefits to the faction.

Random events
From time to time, random events will occur on the battlefield. Messages appear as a drop down from the battlefield score HUD, and as game text in the chatbox when they occur.

Jagex Moderator clones
Occasionally, clones of Jagex mods will appear on the battlefield, fighting for the God that mod supports. While they have different appearances and use different combat styles, they all provide a healing aura to nearby followers, and boost the speed at which divine tears are gathered.

Players can attack the clones, and the clones' level scale to the level of players that attack them. The clones can be healed for 10 divine tears by right-clicking them and selecting the heal option. The clones are not aggressive towards players as they target other JMods first, then NPCs. They do not charge to the other side of the field.

The clones always drop a sizable amount of divine tears, and have the potential to drop several joke-items (such as off-white partyhats and really rotten potatoes) which will vanish if a player attempts to retrieve them.

Progress of the battle

 * By the second day of the event, the hi-scores showed that players who aligned themselves with Saradomin had fewer points than those who followed Zamorak, although Saradomin had a greater number of followers as compared to Zamorak.
 * By the end of day four, Saradomin's lead had extended to 9 million. It was still the case that the followers of Zamorak collected more tears per person, but Saradomin has at least twice as many followers.

Outcome of the battle

 * Many buildings were destroyed in the battle that Duke Horacio needed to accomodate people into different houses or make refugee shelters.
 * Several NPCs including King Roald, Aeonisig Raispher, Fred the Farmer, Hank, Explorer Jack, Hans, Wise Old Man, Maggie, Wendy, the Lumbridge Guardsmen, the Lumbridge Sage, Father Aereck, Donie, the Herald of Lumbridge, the Candle seller, the Lumbridge Shopkeeper and Shop assistant, the Cook, Miss Schism, the Town Crier, the Doomsayer, Harlan and the High Priest of Entrana received new dialogue relating to the Battle of Lumbridge.
 * New voice-acted NPCs were added to inform players of the battle:
 * Ardougne - Concerned mother and Frightened girl
 * Varrock - Saradominist fanatic and Zamorakian fanatic
 * Taverley - Panicking old soldier
 * Edgeville - Belligerent man and Argumentative man
 * Falador - Excited knight
 * Yanille - Harbinger of destruction
 * Catherby - Drunken mariner


 * The Lumbridge lodestone, Farming patch, and the Water altar near Lumbridge Swamps were moved.
 * The H.A.M. Hideout was moved.

Rewards
Divine tears can be collected both on and off the battlefield, from both skilling and combat. These are turned in at the god camps in exchange for renown, which can be used to purchase a variety of rewards.