Old School RuneScape’s one-life Hardcore Worlds launched today, and day one delivered a smuggling case and a very busy spider. Jagex says one person brought about 115.6 million in wealth into the new economy before being banned. Meanwhile, one player’s chat log puts giant spiders at the top of the kill chart with 269 deaths, though that count is unofficial.
Watch the short YouTubeOne person smuggled 115.6 million past Tutorial Island before launch
Jagex says it spotted characters with far more wealth than was possible about an hour after the worlds went live. The source was one person who found a way to leave Tutorial Island as a Hardcore Worlds character before the mode launched. That let them earn wealth and level skills on normal worlds, then carry it all over when Hardcore Worlds opened.
The character and the alts used to move the wealth were banned about 1.5 hours after launch. Jagex published the numbers, last updated at 14:26 UTC, and says it is still chasing the rest:
- Wealth that entered the game: 115,563,777
- Removed before reaching the economy: 103,175,293
- Suspected to have reached the economy: 12,388,484
Jagex also says it found no additional wealth entering through Clan Coffers or the PvP Arena, despite player speculation, and has added safety measures to stop a repeat.
Giant spiders top one player’s count with 269 kills
The kill chart comes from Reddit user cipherhub, who built it from a RuneLite chat log covering launch up to midnight. Jagex’s launch post doesn’t include death figures, so treat these as one player’s tally and not official numbers.
Top 20 Deadliest NPC’s on Day 1 of Hardcore Worlds
byu/cipherhub in2007scape
Giant spiders lead by a wide margin, ahead of Moss Guardians (146), jail guards (144), dark wizards (105) and the witch’s experiment (85). The victims’ average total level tells the story: 50 for giant spiders and 45 for jail guards, against 137 for fire giants, which caught players who had already put in some hours.
The chart counts 3,114 deaths in all: 2,253 to NPCs outside the Wilderness, 343 to NPCs inside it, 277 to other players and 241 with no killer named. “Dark Wizards fell off,” one player replied, while another said the giant spider is “definitely holding its own.”
Dying means Reset or Transfer, and you keep the account
Despite the permadeath billing, a death doesn’t take your account away. You choose between Reset, which wipes the character back to the start of the mode with unlimited retries, and Transfer, which moves the character to the main game for good. Hardcore Worlds use Hardcore Group Ironman’s death rules, so dying in places like the Fight Caves, the Inferno, Barbarian Assault or your own house counts, while Castle Wars and Soul Wars stay safe.
