The time, date, and location of the Winter Finals are ready to be announced. This post will clarify everything you need to know should you wish to take part, follow the action on Twitch, or attend the final in person. More information regarding the Spring '18 Season which will begin with the end of the Finals.
Winter Finals
The Winter Finals will begin at approximately 12pm GMT (7am EST) on Monday 4th December! The Finals will run until Saturday 9th, culminating in the Permadeath Stage beginning at 7pm GMT. We’ll be live from 7pm GMT, Saturday 9th December, on twitch.tv/runescape, make sure you tune in to see who will take home the $20,000 prize!
Now that the logistical information has been shared, it's fitting to remind you all of the big changes being made for the Winter Finals.
Supply chests: The chests will appear each time the fog advances. We will announce the location of these chests in two different stages: the first notification of the location will remain vague (e.g. Falador), whilst the second notification will be specific (e.g. Falador Party Room). The chests themselves will offer very lucrative rewards, such as sought-after weapons with special attacks, lamps which will increase combat skills, and Overload potions. We intend for these chests to encourage fights throughout the entire duration of the Permadeath stage, and also to offer a huge power increase for those courageous enough to attempt to loot them.
Final areas: The next change comes with the addition of a second 'final area'. We will evenly split players between the two final areas: Barbarian Village and the Demonic Ruins in the Wilderness. Players will be assigned a final area location randomly once the Permadeath stage begins, with the fog being specific to each player. The last surviving 64 players in each final area (128 players in total) will be transported to the final islands, which are detailed below. The aim of this is to split up large groups of players and to promote a more varied viewing experience with two groups of players having to adapt to different tactics depending on their designated final area.
Permadeath Beta: We will be holding a public beta of the Deadman Mode Permadeath on 23rd November. This will make sure that all of our systems are fully functional ready for the actual final in early December. We will also be inviting our casters in for a live rehearsal to ensure that all parties are fully aware of the format and content changes prior to the final broadcast. We'll be sharing more information regarding the beta as the date draws nearer.
Moderation: We will be supported in real time by our anti-cheating specialists to help moderate the events of the Finals, specifically those found to be boxing, as well as running real time account checks for the final participants.
Final 1v1 Stage: The remaining 128 survivors will be teleported to an area containing 64 individual arenas. Players will be teleported to a random arena regardless of level, location, gear etc. for a set of 7 brackets of 1v1 fights.
The structure is as follows:
Bracket 1: 128 players, 64 arenas
Bracket 2: 64 players, 32 arenas
Bracket 3: 32 players, 16 arenas
Bracket 4: 16 players, 8 arenas
Bracket 5: 8 players, Quarter final
Bracket 6: 4 players, Semi final
Bracket 7: 2 players, Grand final
For the first bracket, players will be teleported with the gear, stats and inventory that they left the mainland with.
Items that are manually dropped by players cannot be picked up or traded whilst they are in the arenas.
Healing supplies will not be dropped on death.
A slow ticking fog will begin to chip away at players health in order to prevent intentional stalling.
Once only one player remains in an arena they will automatically be teleported onto the next bracket. You will have a short period of time in which to loot from your opponent.
Players who are successful at progressing beyond the first bracket will have their inventory wiped of supplies (food and potions) and we will be providing a set number of food and potions potions to even the competition outside of gear upgrades that they have obtained along the way. We will announce the amount of supplies prior to the launch of the Winter Finals.
We previously shared a mock-up of the final concept, seen from afar. We've instead opted to stylize the arenas to fit thematically with Deadman. Below are some examples of the appearance of the arenas, as combatants descend from the top to the bottom. In addition to the images below, we have a special surprise awaiting you for the grand final.
The top of the arena.The middle of the arena.The final 16
Prizes
The Finals represents a restructuring of our prize offerings.
1st place will receive $20,000.
2nd place will receive $10,000
3rd and 4th place will receive $1,000
The remaining 12 players who comprise the final 16 will receive the prize of 12 Months Membership.
The top of the arena.
The middle of the arena.
The final 16