The XP tracker (formerly known as the XP Counter or XP ticker) was originally released by Jagex to members along with the Bonus XP Weekend on 12 March, 2010. Exactly one month later, the XP Counter was released on 12 April, 2010 to all players. It didn't get very much attention because it was displayed on the same announcement that unveiled the highly-anticipated skill, Dungeoneering.
Access and placement
The settings for the XP tracker are under the interface settings menu. This can be accessed from the options menu by pressing the options button 
or the escape key (Esc) and then selecting Interface Settings. The on-screen location of the XP tracker can be changed from the options menu as well, by first selecting Edit mode, and then selecting Gameplay HUDs editing.
Use
A player using the XP tracker.
When opened, up to three counters will be shown on screen. Each displays the amount of experience a player has received since they last reset that counter. Logging in or out does not affect the counter whatsoever. Every time a player has the counter out and receives experience in one of the tracked skills, the additional xp will show up briefly, and the total in that skill be updated correspondingly.
To reset a counter, choose "Reset Counter to Zero" option at the bottom. This is not reversible, so be sure that you want to reset the counter before you do it.
XP pop-ups
A player using the XP Pop-up while training herblore
Also included in the update was an XP Pop-up option. Once the player begins to train a skill the pop-up will be displayed in the top-middle of the game screen. XP rises from the player and into the pop-up, displaying the type of XP gained through the skill's respective icon. A loader that encircles the skill icon will proceed to load based on remaining xp until the next level. Once it's full and the level has been achieved the icon alerts the player with fireworks, plus tells you any new unlocked milestones. The advantage to this is that player is told when a new level is reached but the character doesn't stop working (if Fletching or Smithing, for example). Before the player would have to click continue to have the character resume work. Additionally, if one wants to check how much exp if left before level-up, the player can simply hover over the globe rather than navigating to the skills panel.
If the pop-up is clicked on it will take the player to the Skill Advance Guide, which helps the player track milestones and allows many sorting/filtering options. The XP Pop-up can be toggled by right-clicking on the XP Counter button.
Updates
The earliest designs
- The button for the XP Counter was originally a circle with the text "XP+". On 13 April, 2010, a day after the main release, the XP Counter icon was changed slightly and the "XP+" was simply changed to "XP".
- On 25 May 2010, Jagex changed the XP Counter reset button and made it so that a player had to right-click the XP Counter button and choose "Reset XP Total". This cleared up previous frustration, as players were able to unintentionally reset their counter by an accidental left click on the box.
- On 25 August 2010, the font for the XP Counter was updated.
- On 24 November 2010, commas were added to the XP Counter making the shown experience easier to read.
- An update increased the allotted counter space as digits of experience increased.
- On 22 November 2011, as part of the RuneScape Revolution Update, the XP Counter button received a graphical update (but only when viewed with Resizeable or Fullscreen modes). The new style had a more metallic and modern feel.
Prior to 16 January 2012
- On 16 January 2012, the XP Counter was revamped. Two optional counters were added, which allowed players to setup three separate counters to track total XP and/or XP gained in a specific skill. The counter box was removed, and the graphics and layout of the counter were changed.
- The release of Runescape 3 changed how the xp track was accessed, but the overall function remained the same.
Trivia
The interface seen during Bonus XP weekend
- Jagex originally had no priority to release the counter, but many players made threads on the official RuneScape forums for the XP Counter to remain after the Bonus XP weekend. Jagex then confirmed that they would look into releasing the feature.
The XP Counter displays "Lots!" after 214,748,364.7 experience is surpassed.
- Before 25 May 2010, the Alt Text, when the mouse was hovering over the XP Counter icon, was "Click". This did not tell anything useful about the XP Counter itself. Other buttons have more informative Alt Text, such as "World Map" and "Turn run mode on". Afterwards, the text was changed to "Open XP Total", and later on, "Toggle XP Total". The text is currently "Toggle XP Display".
- The allotted space for the XP Counter seems to only be 8 digits. Before an update, if a player received over 99,999,999 experience, the ninth digit was placed over the colon, near the right side of the "P". Now, the allotted space simply increases.
- When the experience on the counter reaches over 214,748,364.7 experience, the counter will display the word "Lots!". A higher number cannot be shown because RuneScape uses 32-bit signed integers, which cannot store numbers higher than 2,147,483,647. Since experience is stored to the tenth of an experience point, the maximum experience on the counter is one-tenth of this.
Bonus XP
- On 16 January 2011, Hati Wolf was released (second Hati wolf was released on 16 January 2012). When training combat skills with Hati paws, the amount of gained XP appears in between two parentheses as seen on the right. This also applies when woodcutting while wearing Lumberjack Clothing, the Golden mining suit and any type of Brawling gloves.
- There is currently a glitch where the XP counter quickly shows a very large amount of experience (usually the total xp earned in that skill) upon opening. This may happen for one or many skills. No experience is gained or lost when this occurs.
- The XP Counter is together with the Stats tab on fixed screen the only interface where the total level icon is still
. - Once players have achieved level 99 in a skill without getting the maximum amount of XP, the pop-up globe no longer appears for that skill, but the experience still appears. Unless virtual levelling is used, then it will still pop-up.
- If a player gains experience in two skills simultaneously and the player is wearing XP-boosting gear for both skills (such as burning wood with the inferno adze while wearing flame gloves/ring and lumberjack clothing), the XP pop-up will not show the amount of bonus XP but instead will just show the total experience earned.
