New Varrock (Museum)
esterday was a very surprising day for me. It appeared the local branch of a bank had sponsored my English final exam (school is getting more commercial every day). And there was the totally renewed Varrock, with it's new museum! Talking about new things, I would like to use the opportunity to compliment king Roald of Varrock with his new outfit. A Royal Mantle looks a lot better than a brown cape, well done your majesty! And now the article, surprisingly, it is about the new look of Varrock, and the new museum.
When I logged on to check out the new update, I found myself in Al Kharid, so I took some Varrock teleport runes from the bank, and teleported to the capital of Misthalin. The first sight was amazing! I appeared next to the renewed fountain at the central square, I must say, the new look really gets it back in line with Falador. Both cities now show off a part of their history - Falador is a wealthy mining city around a mighty castle, while Varrock has the look of an ancient but still mighty city. Old in a new way.
Also, there are a few new roads in and around the town, like a very fast route to the dig site (unfortunately, only for workmen, I wonder if there is ever going to be some quest to use this as a shortcut...), and the popular route between the east bank and Aubury's Rune Shop. Also, the poor parts of the city look even more shabby, and for some reason the palace seems to have changed into a castle. And there a big disadvantage of the update: the ranged training spot on the roof of the palace is gone, instead the guards use the place to train melee now.
I mentioned it before: the renewed Varrock Museum. As promised, there is a lot to do there. You can learn a bit more about some creatures in RuneScape as well as helping out with founds from the dig site. Also, you can complete the timeline of RuneScape by telling the museum historian about you adventures. A real must: it earns you quite a lot of xp, and a lot of Kudos. Which brings me to the next part of the story, the museum is also very rewarding. By helping out, you earn Kudos, you can use these in a future update to dig on a new archaeological site on an island north of Morytania.
If you like details, you can spend hours in Varrock, for example, I decided to check out how the newly added Stray Dogs would react with my cat. The result was expectable, but not spectacular: the dog in case was barking at my cat, but that was all. I would like to see this improved in something more spectacular, the dogs seem to be just there for the looks, maybe this can be improved once? A funny detail are the chandeliers' in the West Bank "It's reassuring to see that the bank's spending money usefully." There are many more details like this to discover.
Of course there are always people complaining about new updates, like this topic (quick find: 27-28-818-44754956) on Jagex "promoting cruelty to animals". Shooing the Stray Dogs (I'm sorry for the cute creatures being discriminated, so they get capitals) isn't even necessary: just keep walking and they will go away when you reach the border of the area which they are programmed to follow players in. I must say that it is sad dogs seem to have such a low position in RuneScape, I hope one of the future quests will get us an Amulet of Dogspeak and the ability to take our dogs around on our travels, just like cats.
Overall, the reactions on the update of Varrock are very positive, in game as well as on the forums. Compared to the Falador update, there are some differences: this is really an update; there are several new things in the city, the change of Falador was just a makeover while at this change the opportunity is used to add some small new features to the game (Stray Dogs, the improved museum, changed guards, and more small things).
So far this week's Herald, I am not sure about next week's, I will be hanging out in the Spanish city of Barcelona then (to recover from the shock of sponsored exams). So next week you might find an article written by someone else, or one I wrote on forehand. Also, rest assured that I have auto-checked the spelling of the article this time.
