Jagex goes to the dark side of gaming with the Runescape Hero Pass

In a move that always proves incredibly divisive, Jagex has put a target on their flagship game's back with the introduction of a Hero Pass to Runescape. This new battle pass system will reward all levels of its players with rewards, provided you sink enough hours into it.

Replacing the Yak Track and Challenge System, Hero Pass has been dubbed an always-on system, where you will rack up Hero Points as you play and complete the daily, weekly, and special missions. There will be 120 levels of content, with 99 standard and the last 21 being heroic, and you will have three months to climb the ladder. If you manage to hit level 99, you will also get a ten-level jump start on the next Hero Pass. To Jagexs’ credit, they have learned from the community feedback of the Yak Track, which they often do which makes this whole thing more surprising. Whilst players complained that the old Task System pushed them into doing content that could be overwhelmingly long, the Hero Pass has been designed so all three tiers can be completed in under an hour, and they each come with a skill bonus for faster completion.

As you can expect, there is a lot of content locked behind a paywall. To start with, the Special Missions focus on the latest content, with the first Pass’ being centred on Fort Forinthry and Necromancy, Member content. There are also a lot of rewards that are member-specific, however, it is the Premier Rewards that take the cake a bit.

The Premier Membership is Runescapes’ 12-month purchase, costing $79.99, which grants you access to the Premier Hero Pass. There are 50 cosmetics in the Standard Hero Pass, compared to 94 in the Premier one. You can also buy the Premier Pass for three bonds, which will set you back $23.99, or you can buy them from other players for 60 million coins each. Splitting a battle pass between Standard and Members is one thing, but when you also put the large majority of rewards behind this Premier level, that’s a very cynical move and leaves quite a sour taste.

Runescape is available to download now from the App Store and Google Play.