Bounty Hunter (historical)

Bounty Hunter is a minigame released on December 10, 2007, to replace player killing for both P2P and F2P players on specific worlds. On other worlds, the area outside is available, including the bank, but the caves cannot be entered. Jagex has reduced the number of P2P Bounty Hunter worlds from 5 to 2, thus making the number of people Bounty Hunting to be more condensed, Later with the February 19 updates Jagex increased Bounty Hunter worlds for F2P and P2P(Only later to reduce them and then re-add them with a maximum capacity update). As of 19 February 2008, Bounty Hunter is restricted to a 'special' single(You can be attacked by more then one player at a time) player PvP combat zone.

Entrance
The main entrance is at the southeast corner of the large grey area in the wilderness, at approximately level 19, northeast of Edgeville and north-northwest of Varrock. The area beyond the steps is no longer wilderness and Revenants cannot pursue a player into this area.

The Games necklace can be used to teleport here.

There is a bank, similar in appearance to the bank in the Zamorakian altar, where players may restock or deposit loot or prohibited items, as well as most other banking tasks.

Playing
To begin playing Bounty Hunter, the player first must speak with Mandrith, who will explain how the minigame works. Players cannot take any of the following into the bounty hunter area:


 * Non-combat items. The player can take food, potions, etc. in, but cannot bring logs, spades or other items not related to combat.
 * More than one piece of armour per combat style per body part. For example, the player cannot take a Green dragonhide body and Black dragonhide body, however, the player could take Green dragonhide body and Black dragonhide chaps (since they are different body parts), or Green dragonhide body and a Rune platebody (since they are different fighting styles).
 * More than 4 wieldable weapons, or more than 1,000 of each type of stackable ammunition (runes, arrows, bolts, etc.).
 * Coins.
 * "Member item" - pay-to-play items in free-to-play worlds.

In addition, the player cannot deliberately drop any items or stacks of items worth more than 1,000 coins (based on the market value at the Grand Exchange) in the Bounty Hunter crater.

Upon entering, the player will become a special type of skulled as soon as he/she starts the minigame. The player will have a skull (in the colours of brown, grey, green, blue, or red) and pile of coins over the player's head, depending on the value of the items he/she carries at the time.

Players are given a bounty hunter to kill, and if they kill anyone else they get a "pick-up penalty" for a limited time, where they cannot use the Protect Item Prayer. In addition, if they pick up any items while under a pickup penalty, they get a "leave penalty", where on top of not being able to use Protect Item, they cannot leave the crater or even log out until the penalty expires, or until they kill their designated target.



Caves
Only combat related supplies may be taken in to the combat area, and you must be able to use any weapon or armour piece that you take with you. Any amount of armour from the 3 combat areas are allowed, and you may only take four weapons with you into the game.

There are three cave entrances to the east of the steps, bank and scorecard area, from east to west they are: In free world: In member world: On entering, players find themselves at a random doorway and are immune to attack for 6 seconds. Any depleted player stats are replenished on entry and exit.
 * Low Level Crater 3-55
 * Medium Level crater 50-100
 * High Level crater 95+
 * Low Level Crater 3-67
 * Medium Level Crater 62-112
 * High Level Crater 107+

The orbs at the sides of the cave entrance can be used to view the action inside, from any of the 9 orb posts within. Only the cave or caves that the player has the level to enter can be viewed. Note that if a player is above the level for a lower arena, they can still look into the lower-level orb and unlock the area's music. The pan and tilt controls operate while viewing and the cursor can be used to get player name and level.

In battle
The player will receive their target, marked in the top right corner of the screen. This will also display any penalty that is in effect.

The player will also be a target, both for bounty hunters or rogues killing any player, despite the penalty. The area is single combat, nonetheless a lone player could be subjected to the wrath of rogue hunters or the bounty hunter that's after him.

If the target is within range, a red arrow on the minimap points in the general direction, changing to yellow when closer and to a hollow yellow overhead arrow on the main screen.

Enemy tactics
Piling is no longer effective as the Bounty Hunter has become a single player Player vs Player combat zone. As of 19 February 2008, the Bounty Locate Spell is available to Free Players and the Magic level required to cast it has been significantly lowered to 32. Therefore, while in the minigame, it is likely that the player who is supposed to hunt you down will teleport to find you much sooner than previously before.

The latest update also allows Bounty Hunters to steal their bounty from combat, much like the Revenants. Therefore it is not uncommon to see hunters waiting for players to weaken their bounty first before finishing them off.

A vast amount of players use a strategy which entails bringing a single weapon, often a poisoned Dragon Dagger, and using the "Protect Item" prayer to prevent loss of the item.

F2P Tactics

 * Most F2P players bring some sort of finisher weapon, since they do not have access to special attacks. The vast majority of players use 2-Handed Swords for this purpose. The player starts combat with a Scimitar or similar weapon, but switches to the 2-Handed Sword to deal the finishing blow.


 * The Bounty Locate spell can be used to get away from dangerous situations, as long as the player is not in combat at the time. A good example would be when a large mass of white dots is visible at the edge of the minimap.


 * Being a part of a team is an advantage. Team members can protect you a number of ways, including scaring off other players who want to attack a single person, or killing someone who wants to kill that player's teammate.

P2P Tactics
- Many people use high-leveled weapons such as Dragon, Barrows, Ancients, ect. Use them, but requires a min attack level of 60.

- High-leveled food is highly required, because the intense damage that players do. Swordfishes or higher is strongly recommended.

- For armour, bring: Dragon, Barrows, 3rd age, Tzhaar, ect.

- As same as the F2P tatic, most people bring a finisher weapon, but this time, its with a dragon 2-handed, or Dharoks, or whatever weapon that must have a strength bonus of 80+.

Money making Tactics
As of 19 February 2008, a Bounty reward is available to all hunters who have killed at least 10 players in the minigame. The rewards are categorised depending on which entrance did you enter to kill your bounty.
 * Low-level area: up to 40 000 gp value of reward
 * Mid-level area: up to 80 000 gp value of reward
 * High-level area: up to 120 000 gp value of reward

In F2P worlds, low-level players use the tactic of picking up 'leftovers,' which is where low-level players dart back and forth inbetween the caves picking up as many mithril/adamant arrows as they can, but without taking in any items themselves - this tactic is popular mainly because of the vast amount of rangers, exits and arrows in caves. Incidentally, the adamant arrows sell for 100gp upwards in the Grand Exchange.

Equipment Value
While in the arena an icon will be visible above the player's head. The value of the equipment and inventory the player is carrying will determine the colour as shown in the following table:



The colours of all the equipment values are the same colours as the following metals: Bronze, Steel, Adamant, Rune and Dragon.

Leaving
The only way out is by the doorways at intervals in the walls. Teleporting out is not possible. If the player became a "Rogue" (by killing a person who was not assigned to you), a countdown of 180 seconds (3 minutes) will begin. You can see how much time is left in the count down on the top-right corner of your screen. It won't have any effect on you if don't pick up the dropped items, but if you do, you cannot leave for another 3 minutes which resets itself everytime you pick up items, including bones, potions and even a pile of arrows ( small amount of arrows won't reset it but a large one will) You will find that logging out is also impossible. The only way to stop the countdown is to kill the player you were assigned to kill in the first place.

Reception
The minigame is generally criticised by the Runescape community, claiming that it is not an adequate replacement for PKing, as many people are instantly killed the second they enter the caves. This is not helped by the fact that many people were angry about other aspects of the 10th December update, and were rioting all over Runescape.

Jagex also released another PvP minigame titled Clan Wars. This is a 'safe' minigame where clans can battle each other and see who is the victor. Many people come here to train their combat skills and to play a minigame with their friends. Jagex has said that they are working on updates to clan wars to possibly include rewards.

On February 19th, 2008, Jagex made the Bounty Hunter a single-combat player-killing area, receiving some support of the Runescape community. However, there are a few minority who argue that this eliminated the last source of player-killing clans. Lots of people are angry over the large range of combat levels in the arenas. Many of these lower players often bounty locate to players many levels higher than their own. Jagex has said they are making a multi combat mini-game for the clans.

On April 9th, 2008, Jagex released a new PvP minigame titled Fist of Guthix. This 'safe' minigame is a single-combat game where you compete against another player to see who can gather the most charges before they are killed by their opponent. There has been mixed feedback about the new minigame and whether or not it satisfies those wishing for a PKing aspect of the game.

Dying
If you die in Bounty Hunter you will lose ALL your items! Due to recent updates you can not be attacked by a whole clan of people, however it is still possible to die from part of a clan if some of them have you as their target.So only take items you are prepared to lose! The only way to not lose your items is with the Protect item prayer which saves your best item (note: if you have a pickup penalty then you will not be able to use this prayer). If you do happen to die during the game you will appear outside the caves and not in your normal respawn location. After you die and get teleported to out side of the caves, you will not be able to enter a cave again for 2 minutes.