One of the highlights of Runefest 2011 was the A Character Is Born insider session, where our intrepid artists collaborated with a hall full of RuneScape fans to create a new monster, the Sunfreet, to be featured in the Dominion Tower.

The beast has now manifested within the tower, and can be faced in Special Mode. This flying monstrosity rains fire from above before closing for the kill with teeth, claws and its lethal tail; at combat level 530, the Sunfreet is sure to test the toughest of you. There’s also an easier encounter, featuring a level 80 Sunfreet. This fight is an opportunity for everyone, even those without the skills or completed quests usually required, to try some hands-on Dominion Tower action.

Those defeating the high-level Sunfreet will have the achievement recorded on their dominion marker, and the marker will change visually to commemorate the victory. While there are no rewards for defeating the easier version, it's a great way for lower levelled players to see what's in store once they meet the requirements.

Since the Dominion Tower has launched, we've received a wealth of feedback from you on how to improve the content. Accordingly, we’ve made the following changes:

• You can now carry multiple sets of goliath, swift and spellcaster gloves. No more trekking back to the tower halfway through a Slayer task! The gloves also last longer before they degrade.
• Where a fight requires access to the standard spellbook for elemental spells, such as the dagannoth mothers, your spellbook will automatically switch to the standard book when the fight begins. It will switch back afterwards.
• Power-up items can now be exchanged for XP books. Have a surplus of scorpion meat or a proliferation of potions? Simply click the 'exchange' option on your reward chest to convert any unwanted consumables therein to tomes of XP.
• Better and more varied spectator angles are available. There are now more ways to view the action, and the camera will track the combatant by default.
• Adamant arrows and bolts will no longer appear as rewards, meaning better loot, more often.
• It's now possible to skip taunt and victory cutscenes, so you can get right into the action or straight on to your next match.
• We’ve upped the conversion rate of dominion factor-to-XP to a level that we feel is competitive. We’ll be keeping an eye on this in the near future and tweaking if necessary, but we hope the extra XP will be icing on the cake of the awesome combat and rewards available in the tower.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so feel free to join the discussion on the forums.

Enjoy!

Mod Tim

In Other News

- A new "Total XP" tooltip has been added on the stat interface when hovering over the total level gained.

- Runecrafting essence pouches now have the left-click option dynamically switch between "Empty" and "Fill" depending on whether it has essence inside.

- Hati and Skoll have returned to their icy homes. Remember that you still have until the 17th of May 2012 to use up your XP boosts from the gloves and boots!

- Ever wondered whether to say arr-DOYN or arr-DOG-nee? Not sure if it's tuh-ZAR or just plain ZAR? All is revealed in our new Pronunciation Guide.