Sailing is one of the skills in Old School RuneScape (OSRS) that has gained a considerable amount of popularity among its player base. One reason for this is that it is one of the essential skills in role-playing games with a ton of customization options. There’s also the fan voting throughout the years that made Sailing one of the most popular choices for new skills in OSRS. In this article, we will discuss the possibilities and challenges of Sailing in OSRS.
Why The Need for Sailing?
In a traditional role-playing video game like OSRS, having a diverse skillset is important. This is especially true for OSRS since it does not have a specific skill like Sailing, and the game has bodies of water worth exploring!
The first proposed skill to be added to OSRS was when Jagex made a poll in 2015, Sailing was one of the choices, but it never materialized. However, there was a glimpse of the skill when it was added to the game as an April Fool’s Joke back in 2014, before the poll.
In 2023, Jagex revisited the poll and found that an overwhelming majority of players wanted Sailing as a skill in OSRS. As of early 2024, the skill is in development and may see a release date in late 2024 or some time in 2025. We may see quests that may raise OSRS gold along the way.
Sailing (2014 Version)
The first version of Sailing was made as an April Fool’s prank back in 2014. It featured a variety of ships from small to large, but with only one island available to “explore.” This island, a part of the Eastern Lands, had eight NPCs who didn’t really help move the story nor the player along besides providing hints at what each of their character backgrounds were.
However, what it did introduce in OSRS was the idea that players can set sail to another location through a body of water. This possibility gave both players and Jagex an incentive to propose a new skill to be added to OSRS.
Sailing (2015 Proposal)
When Jagex decided to open a poll for a new skill to be added to OSRS, Sailing was considered to be the top pick.
In the proposal, players could build ships from logs, fortify ships with defenses like cannons, and access new upgrade paths related to Sailing. However, the fan poll did not reach the required 75%, instead only reaching 68%. Thus, the features and rewards that came with Sailing were supposedly meant to be incorporated into the game in later updates. But the skill is yet to be released.
Sailing (2023 Proposal)
In 2023, Jagex revived the polls on which skill to add to the game. With an overwhelming number of votes (around 71%), Sailing became the first new skill in development.
This version of Sailing will incorporate elements from the 2014 prank and the 2015 proposal. Here is a brief rundown of what players may expect when Sailing becomes available:
- You can own a variety of ships from the smallest one to the largest. This also indicates the skill level of Sailing as larger ships are obtained or made after reaching the required level.
- Various activities that will raise the skill level may be included in the game. This includes fishing, hunting, navigational challenges, courier missions, and discovering new islands, among others.
- Passive activities may also be included in the game. Some activities like recording adventures in the Captain’s Log, random encounters (bad weather and pirates), and sailing may also increase the skill level a little.
Potential Challenges
A game that is using an old game engine will have its fair share of challenges. One of the possible setbacks is the user interface. How the ship(s) scale with the larger environment, for example. Or, how the controls will be implemented: mouse, keyboard, or a separate navigation interface within the game.
Then there are the inherent challenges of how to make the skill interesting for players for them to consider leveling it up. What are the activities that will make the skill a worthwhile investment? Or what do players need to start excelling in Sailing? Which existing skills can Sailing be based upon? While we’re at it, how will Sailing be integrated into the game design?
What may be a good starting point to answer these questions is how the game already implemented some elements of Sailing back in 2014, and there’s the community feedback that the developers always check. Of course, there will be an intensive beta-testing period in which some players may add or remove suggestions and give constructive feedback.
For instance, the suggestion to add some sort of landmark or achievement marker to the first player to reach a new island, like how Woox got the first Infernal Cape. Many games have implemented this function, and this will potentially memorialize players in the game.
Conclusion
The possibilities of Sailing may be endless right now, but we have to remember that game developers have to limit what they add to the game because they want to make the experience unique. This is especially true for OSRS since it should not feel like it is going to be a down-scaled version of the main RuneScape game. What’s in store for us players should be enough to hype us with the teasers and constant updates by Jagex. We’ll see, then, if they can deliver this new skill and keep us in our seats.