Battle of Lumbridge

The Battle of Lumbridge was an approximately ten-week world event that took place alongside the beginning of the Sixth Age and the dawn of RuneScape 3. It started on 22 July 2013. The event was set to end on 30 September 2013 after ten weeks of battle. However, the event was extended for two days, and ended on 2 October 2013.

The battle was waged between the god of order, Saradomin, and the god of chaos, Zamorak, and occured in Lumbridge between the area which was the Lumbridge Swamp and west of the Lumbridge Castle. The battle featured weekly choices made by the players which defined its outcome and the course of action. It was stated by Jagex as having an "ultimate outcome [which] will set the course for RuneScape’s future.".

History
Some time after Guthix was assassinated and the Edicts of Guthix were abolished, a large portal appeared west of Lumbridge Castle. People flocked to the portal, all speculating as to what the portal was, and what would come through it, although most agreed that its appearance had something to do with a god. As time went by, the portal grew bigger, and more people flocked to it.

Weeks after the portal first appeared, it finally opened, and Zamorak stepped through it. Seeing cracks of green energy in the ground, power left after Guthix's death, Zamorak started destroying the area in an attempt to get it, causing onlookers to flee. At this point Zamorak was shot in the back by Saradomin, and at once the two began fighting. Firing beams of energy at each other, they caused a huge explosion, damaging much of the nearby Lumbridge, and forming a large crater, with more of Guthix's power seeping out of the ground.

They both created a camp at the edge of the battlefield, and Zamorak summoned his general Moia and some Black Knights, while Saradomin summoned his general Padomenes and summoned some White Knights, which charged at each other, beginning the battle. The gods tasked their followers with collecting fragments of Guthix's power, in the form of divine tears, which were found all over the crater, to increase their power and overwhelm the opposing god.

Aligning with a faction


With Zamorak and Saradomin both struggling to gain control of the power left by Guthix, they required the aid of adventurers to help them gain the upper hand. Players chose which god they wished to follow, and headed to either the Saradominist or the Zamorakian camp after confirming with the Recruitment Officer their desire to help. The Recruitment Officer gave the player a token representing the side the player wished to help. If the player wished to change sides, they spoke to Kara-Meir located near the Lumbridge lodestone at any time.

Player helped by collecting divine tears to help fuel their god's power and help them gain the upper hand. Tears were collected in two ways, either through combat or skilling.

Divine tears
After joining one of the gods, players were given a token depending on what god they chose (i.e Zamorakian token or Saradominist token). The token improved through depositing divine tears to the chosen god (and receiving renown for doing so), starting off at bronze then silver, gold, runite and dragon. Tokens gave a small boost to the amount of divine tears the player collected. Gold, Runite and Dragon tokens even reduced damage taken from the other gods forces by a small amount. Tokens also changed the amount of experience earned while skilling or fighting on the battlefield.


 * For resource gathering skills, the experience gained was:
 * $$XP = (10 + \mathrm{SkillLevel}) \cdot \mathrm{TokenModifier}$$


 * For combat, the experience gained was approximately:
 * $$XP = (3 + \mathrm{SkillLevelOfCombatStyle}) \cdot \mathrm{TokenModifier}$$


 * where the modifier for a bronze token was 1.4, for a silver token was 1.6, gold was 1.8, runite 2.0, and dragon 2.4.

Tears were earned from combat both on and off the battlefield. Players could attack the enemy faction's NPC reinforcements, and upon defeating them tears appeared in the players inventory. If players died during battle, they received the game message "A comrade helps you off the battlefield." and respawned in their faction's camp. They did not lose any items in their inventory (including divine tears), and did not leave behind a gravestone. Players could also receive tears as drops from charm-dropping creatures slain outside the battlefield. Obtaining tears outside the battlefield could be switched off via the battle interface.

Tears could also be earned from skilling, both on and off the battlefield. On the battlefield were mining, woodcutting, and fishing spots. There was no skill requirement to do this, and players collecting tears on the battlefield were not attacked by enemy soldiers, save for aggressive Saradominist and Zamorakian sharpshooters. The resources randomly become depleted for a short amount of time, even when no players were collecting tears from them. Tears could also be earned by skilling outside the battlefield, in a similar way to how anagogic orts are collected. Tears were awarded from skilling surprisingly frequently, and a player could 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 had no effect on the rate at which they were collected (both on or off the battlefield).

Getting tears on the battlefield, either from combat or skilling, started from a multiplier of 4 (for free players) or 5 (for members). As more tears were collected, the multiplier decreased down to zero, so as to prevent a player in exceeding the daily maximum divine tears collection limit. The tear multiplier was restored every day at midnight (UTC). Previously, there was a bug where the multiplier was not restored but this has since been fixed.

The multiplier displayed in the battlefield HUD was rounded to the nearest integer; i.e. the player's multiplier had a constantly decreasing fractional part that was not displayed. As the player could not have non-integer amounts of an item, this was handled differently. At most times, the fractional part was ignored; however, at amounts that were (invisibly) closer to the next integer, tear gathering could show the fractional part. For example, at a newly changed 4x multiplier, the player may have noticed tears were harvested in a pattern such as 4, 4, 4, 5. The additional tears bonus from tokens cannot entirely account for such a regular interval. More definitively, the opposite could occur at a 5x multiplier with a pattern such as 5, 5, 5, 4.

Free players could harvest up to 1,320 divine tears a day, while members could harvest 3,000. While mining a divine shard, a message would sometimes be displayed saying players had reached a 'weekly limit' of divine tears gathered, however this would not stop them from actually collecting divine tears by other methods. It was also still possible to mine another divine shard, but it sometimes required several tries. The following table shows the tear multiplier when players gathered a certain amount of tears in a day.

After the voting in week 8, the rate of divine tears gained in the battlefield was increased by 5%. On the final week of the battle, the daily limit on divine tears was increased to 4,500 for members, and 1,920 for free players.

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

The Duke's Dilemma (m)


The Duke's Dilemma was a weekly player-choice event during the Battle of Lumbridge. Lumbridge was very badly damaged by the battle, and Duke Horacio was currently working on rebuilding the city. Each week he asked players to vote on how to allocate the town's emergency resources toward dealing with various situations pertaining to this goal. The Duke had a total of 160,000 coins to use for rebuilding. The situation changed periodically through the world event. Players were limited later on in the event by the amount of money they spent. Voting could 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 chose, they were rewarded with an amount of bonus experience for voting, which players could add to a skill of their choosing (e.g. "The Duke grants you an XP bonus. This will be used up as the player earns XP in this skill."). Members will earn double experience as you earn experience in the skill, until the experience bonus from Duke Horacio decreases to zero. The remaining bonus experience can be checked by hovering over the chosen skill in the skills menu. Several of these bonuses are bugged though, fishing for example.

The first two weeks were available to all players: free players and members. However, starting at week 3, the voting changed to require membership. The Duke's Dilemma ended in week 8 when the remaining treasury was exhausted to buy food for the citizens of Lumbridge.

Buffs and reinforcements
Every week throughout the event, players could spend their votes accumulated through contributing divine tears. Votes were used to decide the outcome of chosen buffs and reinforcements for the following week. Votes not spent in the previous week carried over to the following week.

Buffs provided a boost to the faction (such as more damage to the enemy, or less damage from the enemy), and the chosen buff was displayed in the battle HUD. Reinforcements to the battlefield were in the form of more powerful enemies providing additional benefits to the faction.

The voting officially ended at the beginning of week 10.

Switching factions
Players who wished to switch factions could do so by talking to Kara-Meir. Players would lose their god token (Zamorakian token or Saradominist token), accumulated renown, and votes. However, players retained in their inventory all battle-related items (i.e. divine tears, sacred metal fragments, warpriest armour, etc.), and were still able to use unlocked emotes and titles.

Random events
From time to time, random events occurred on the battlefield. Messages appeared as a drop down from the battlefield score HUD, and as game text in the chatbox when they occur. It was possible for two different events to happen at the same time, even two different node events such as the sacred metal nodes and yellow nodes.

Jagex Moderator clones
Occasionally, clones of Jagex mods appeared on the battlefield, fighting for the god that mod supports. While they had different appearances and used different combat styles, they all provided a healing aura to nearby followers, and boosted the speed at which divine tears were gathered.

Players could attack the clones, and the clones' level scaled to the level of the players that attacked them. The clones could be healed for 10 divine tears by right-clicking them and selecting the heal option. The clones were not aggressive towards players as they targeted other JMods first, then NPCs. They did not charge to the other side of the field.

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

Progress of the battle

 * By the second day of the event, there had been over 20 million votes cast in the battle. 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 over 9 million. The followers of Zamorak had collected more tears per person, but Saradomin had at least twice as many followers. Saradomin's lead had increased in absolute terms, but had decreased as a proportion of the total accumulated.
 * By the end of week 1, Saradomin had extended his lead over Zamorak, but the rate of tears collected had declined in comparison to Zamorak.
 * At the end of week 2, Saradomin maintained a small lead, but was very slowly losing percentage points as an effect of the law of large numbers. Both factions had their damage buffed by 10%.
 * At the beginning of week 4, the Zamorakian lesser demon champion and the Saradominist centaur champion joined the battle. In response to this, quartermasters on both factions opened up access to the Tier 2 rewards from their stores.
 * During week 4, the crater became more unstable, increasing the frequency of unstable node events. Sacred metal fragments became available from grey nodes.
 * At the beginning of week 6, a second Saradominist champion joined Saradomin's cause, fighting alongside the first Saradominist champion. Meanwhile, the Zamorakian champion became 50% more powerful.
 * At the beginning of week 7, quartermasters on both factions opened up access to the Tier 3 rewards. Also, icyenic and infernal weapon overrides were added to free-to-play during this week.
 * The beginning of week 8 saw the entry of both factions' elite units: two Saradominist prideleaders and one Zamorakian butcher demon.
 * During week 8, the frequency of sacred metal fragment drops from silver nodes and enemies increased.
 * At the beginning of week 9, a buff went into effect for both sides for an increase in the number of tears gained on the battlefield by 5%.
 * At the beginning of week 10, both quartermasters had reduced their costs of rewards by 5%. In addition, the Zamorakian siege beast and Saradominist colossus joined the battle for their respective factions. The divine tears cap became 4,500 for members as opposed to 3,000, and 1,980 for non-members as opposed to 1,320.
 * During week 10, the drop rates of titles increased, and the quantities and drop rates of sacred metal fragments increased.
 * At midnight on 30 September, an inexhaustible sacred metal node appeared in front of Saradomin Camp's gates.

Battle statistics
The following is the final number of tears collected for Saradomin and Zamorak for the event. For historical data, see Battle of Lumbridge/Data.

During battle

 * Many buildings were destroyed in the battle that Duke Horacio needed to accomodate people into different houses or make refugee shelters.
 * Numerous NPCs 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, god statue and the Water Altar near the Lumbridge Swamp were moved.
 * The H.A.M. Hideout was moved and graphically updated.

After the battle

 * Moia teleports the wounded Zamorak to safety.
 * Saradomin gains the Guthixian power and teleports as well.
 * Both Saradomin and Zamorak Camps are abandoned, except for the Zamorakian quartermaster and the Saradominist quartermaster. A wounded female Saradominist combatant is left behind in a tent behind the Saradominist quartermaster.
 * Kara-Meir leaves the battlefield.
 * The Saradominist preacher makes an appearance at the Lumbridge crater, which becomes a permanent scar on the landscape of Lumbridge.
 * The Lumbridge Rebuildathon commences with the aim of tearing down both camps to rebuild buildings that were destroyed as a result of the battle.
 * Saradomin moves up the godhood hierarchy and becomes a Tier 3 god, while Zamorak falls down a tier to become a Tier 5 god.

Rewards
Divine tears could be collected both on and off the battlefield, from both skilling and combat. These were turned in at the god camps in exchange for renown, which could be used to purchase a variety of rewards. Over the course of the 10-week event, tier 2 rewards were unlocked at the beginning of week 4, and tier 3 rewards were unlocked at the beginning of week 7. After the week 9 vote, all prices were reduced by 5%.

Renown-based rewards are still available for a short period after the event.

Trivia

 * As of week 9 of the battle, there was a glitch where spending votes causes your contribution (and hiscore) to be reduced by the same amount.
 * At the beginning of week 9, after the activation of the buff increasing the tear gather rate on-field by 5%, there was a bug that showed the wrong modifier in the interface. The correct modifier was still used for the tears gained. Players could also collect tears beyond the daily tear cap. This was patched shortly afterwards.
 * During week 10, an inexhaustible sacred metal node had appeared in front of Saradomin Camp's gates, and was thought to be a glitch and subsequently patched. Upon release on 30 September, it was confirmed to be an intentional feature, and that the node was initially released too early due to the confusion over Runedates.
 * If the player attacked an enemy NPC with low enough health, it at times rounds down to zero, making it impossible for you to kill them until their health regenerates back up.