New players who enter RuneScape have to complete a tutorial. So far, there have been six versions of the tutorial. Currently, when a new player creates their account, they are asked whether they have never played before, have played before recently, or have played before but not for a long time. If the first or second option is chosen, players will be brought to Tutorial Island, and if the third option is chosen, they will be sent to straight to Burthorpe, skipping the tutorial alltogether.
History[]
Tutorial Island[]
A player on Tutorial Island
The first ever tutorial, Tutorial Island, released 24 September 2002, was the longest of any tutorials. The quest showed the player around the island, teaching him/her about the basic skills and interfaces along the way. The Tutorial Island landmass remained on Gielinor long after the removal of the tutorial.
Although it was believed to be used for new content in the future, it was eventually removed from the game world with the Wizards' Tower update during November 2012. However the island is now accessible again by starting the quest, Beneath Cursed Tides.
On 23 March 2018, in a hidden update, a graphically touched up and slightly tweaked tutorial island that does not appear on the world map started being used for some new players. As of 14 May 2018, the updated tutorial island fully replaced the Ashdale Tutorial.
Learning the Ropes[]
Sir Vant tries to defeat the dragon
On 14 July 2008, Tutorial Island was replaced with a new tutorial, Learning the Ropes. The quest centred around a White Knight, Sir Vant, who was having trouble with a three-headed green dragon that was causing disruption in the cellar under Lumbridge. Sir Vant could not defeat the dragon, and it got away. He then tells you to head up to the surface, where you walk around a copy of Lumbridge and learn about certain skills and interfaces.
The percentage of people completing this tutorial was much lower than before, so Jagex removed it, saying they will recreate it in time, making it much better. Tutorial Island then again took place as RuneScape's tutorial from September 2008 onwards.
Unstable Foundations[]
The dragon, sound asleep under a soon-to-be caved-in roof
The updates on 17 September 2009 gave a final goodbye to Tutorial Island and implemented Unstable Foundations. The quest was a remake of the previous tutorial, Learning the Ropes, and was remade to focus on the more important things, like controls, so the player could then learn more if they want to with their new advisor, Roddeck.
In the quest, the player must help a White Knight named Sir Vant to kill a dragon who is preventing him from escaping the Lumbridge cellar. The player feeds the dragon some drugged meat, which makes it fall asleep under a ceiling held up by two wooden posts. The player and Sir Vant both attach an oily fuse to the wooden posts, then light up, which causes the ceiling to cave in on the dragon, thus killing it. The player must either mine or woodcut their way out.
The player is rewarded 1 Quest point, level 4 Mining/Woodcutting (depends on which way you escaped the cellar), the ability to chat freely, the ability to explore RuneScape, and the services of an advisor.
Introductory tasks[]
May 2011 removed the Unstable Foundations quest and the new tutorial was centred around the Introductory tasks. Players had to speak to Explorer Jack in Lumbridge to start the tutorial. This included The Blood Pact quest.
Troll Warzone[]
Beginning January 2012, the new Troll Warzone tutorial was used. This included an overhaul to the Taverley and Burthorpe area, including a new novice quest Let Them Eat Pie and reworks of Druidic Ritual, Wolf Whistle, and Death Plateau.
Ashdale[]
The town of Ashdale
From November 2013 until May 2018, Ashdale was introduced as the new tutorial island. Players would end up in Taverley after finishing this tutorial. Similar to Let Them Eat Pie, Ashdale had a novice quest attached to it called A Shadow over Ashdale in April 2014. Troll Warzone is still largely available for players to experience. Following the completion of the Ashdale tutorial, the Path system interface was introduced, which directs players to complete The Blood Pact quest, Demon Slayer quest, a Bank tutorial, a Challenge System tutorial, a Shopkeeper tutorial, and A Shadow over Ashdale quest. The path system could be disabled, however, and players were free to explore RuneScape after completion of the Ashdale tutorial. It was possible to bypass this tutorial altogether, during character creation an interface asks if the individual had played RuneScape before, if they select that they had, they would spawn in Taverley, however the task system was still set as active, so this method only skipped the forced completion of A Shadow over Ashdale.
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