2009 Christmas event

The 2009 Christmas event, officially known as A Christmas Warble, was a Holiday Event released by Jagex on 21 December 2009. Unlike previous events, this one lasted three weeks, not two. It was removed on 11 January 2010 with the news item "Nomad's Requiem."

Storyline

 * This is a basic overview of what players needed to do to complete the event. For the full walkthrough, see this page.

Players entered the Land of Snow through Christmas Cupboards in Draynor, Falador, or Varrock. They talked to the Queen of Snow, who revealed that a wizard named Ebenezer Scourge had ruined her feast. Players had to create a costume to scare Scourge into changing everything back.

Rewards



 * The Christmas ghost costume.
 * The candy cane, which when wielded has the option to "Spin." When spun, your character will throw it into the air. The Candy Cane will then rotate 360 degrees mid-air before being caught again.
 * The Dramatic Point emote.
 * Your snow imp can be summoned in the Land of Snow (you must have done the Myths of the White Lands quest first).
 * If not already unlocked, the emotes Freeze and Melt and Snowman Dance are also unlocked.

Music
Music tracks unlocked:
 * Silent Knight
 * Ghost of Christmas Presents
 * Smorgasbord

Development


The 2009 Christmas event was developed mainly in September and October of 2009 and was the first project developed by Mod Edam.

Mod Edam stated that he wanted the graphics of the event to "have a 'Christmassy' atmosphere" and said that he was "really pleased with what was produced." To add to the "Christmassy" atmosphere, Jagex created a new particles system in RuneScape that included a more realistic look of snow.

Mod Edam based the story of the event on A Christmas Carol, a traditional Christmas novel written by Charles Dickens.

Mod Edam also said that the rewards of the event would not give any player any notable advantage over another, but would still be fun and not useless.

Announcement


The 2009 Christmas event was first announced in the news item "Christmas Cards and Blog". It linked to a Developers' Blog written by the developer of the event, Mod Edam. In the developer blog, titled "Holiday Event: A Christmas Warble", Mod Edam gave a few details about what the event would be like.

Mod Edam said that new characters would be released with the event, but Jack Frost and snow imps, characters seen in a previous Christmas event, would have small cameos. Santa Claus's appearance was confirmed by Jagex Christmas cards that represent the event. Mod Edam confirmed in the blog that the plot would be based on a traditional Christmas story, but he did not say what. This was later confirmed to be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

After many questions about them on the RuneScape Forums, Mod Edam confirmed that the rewards of the event would not be the same as the rewards from previous events, and that they would not be tradeable.

Before its release, Mod Ajd said that the Christmas event was going to be better than the previous year's, but Jagex would "leave [it up to] the players to decide that one."

Following the announcement of the event, many users on the RuneScape Forums speculated that the event's story would be based on Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. This was not confirmed until the event was actually released on 21 December. RuneScape players based their theories on several hints released by Jagex:


 * The title of the first blog by Edam is "A Christmas Warble," "warble" being a variation of the word carol (i.e. A Christmas Carol).
 * The caption for one of the pictures posted on Edam's blog stated, "Beware of the Humbug." "Humbug" is a well-known word that Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol's main character, often says in the book.
 * One of the Christmas cards released at the same time as the "Christmas Cards and Blog" news post is titled "A Christmas Warble" and captioned, "Santa brings a Hint of Christmas Future in this festive card." The picture is of Santa Claus, an old man, speculated to be based on Ebenezer Scrooge, and a young boy with a crutch under his arm, speculated to be based on Tiny Tim.
 * "Christmas Cards and Blog" makes a reference to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who is one of the four ghosts that visits Scrooge in the novel: "Like the Ghost of Christmas Future we're here to offer a hint of what's to come this Christmas, in the form of a new Christmas card and developer blog."

Release
A Christmas Warble was released on 21 December 2009 with the news item "A Christmas Warble (Christmas 2009)".

Many users on the RuneScape Forums commented on the delay of the release of the event. The 2006, 2007, and 2008 Christmas events were all released on either the 16th or the 18th of December, but the 2009 Christmas event was released on the 21st. The 2009 Christmas event is the latest released Christmas event since 2004.

The event ended three weeks later on 11 January 2010, with the news post "Nomad's Requiem". The snowballs that players were given melted on 19 January 2010.

Criticism
A large amount of criticism has been from ex-members because they were forced to take off their Capes of Accomplishment and other members objects in order to complete the event. In response to overwhelmingly negative feedback, Mod Edam announced that the problem was not intended, but would not be changed.

Glitch
After players finished the event, players discovered that if they spun their candy cane and then quickly switched to another weapon (the most popular being a godsword), then their avatar would spin the other weapon instead. In response to comments from players, Mod Edam confirmed that it was an unintended glitch in the game. Players insisted that Mod Edam leave the glitch in (as it provided no advantage for players, but was just fun to do); however, Mod Edam said that the glitch would be fixed anyway, as it could have potentially created other graphical errors. The glitch was removed on 11 January 2010.

Trivia



 * Tiny Thom and Ebenezer Scourge are based on Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge, characters in the novel A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, as much of the event is based on the novel.
 * The idea of travelling through a wardrobe to a parallel world blanketed in snow is similar to that seen in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the second novel within the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.
 * At the time of this event, the penguins from Penguin Hide and Seek featured a sleek, new costume, like during the Hallowe'en events, only this time they're dressed as snowmen instead of Jack 'o Lanterns.
 * The candy cane was an option for a reward in the Christmas Guaranteed Content Poll (July 2008), though it lost to the Santa suit.
 * If you have started or completed "Recipe for Disaster" your character would mention that the fire spell that Ebenezer Scourge had casted was similar to what the Culinaromancer did to the people at the feast in Lumbridge.
 * If you use a snowball on your snow imp it eats it and says "Yum, snow, my favourite!"
 * When passing the barrier or logging in with the Christmas ghost costume on in Port Phasmatys, players may receive a message saying, "The ghosts eye you suspiciously and recognise that you are masquerading as one of them."
 * In this quest players have the opportunity to witness new facial expressions when talking to NPCs. Sir Amik Varze and a drunk partygoer are the only ones that show it when spoken to. It could possibly be the drunk or merry facial expression.
 * When you attempt to bring Hartwin with you to the Land of Snow, the Queen of Snow tells you she is tired of picking up [his] mess.