Evergreen MMO Old School RuneScape just released Sailing, the first-ever new skill since the game's resurrection in 2013, and the first skill added to this "version" of the game – that is, not RuneScape proper – since the pre-OSRS days of 2006. But some things never change: within hours, players sniffed out an XP farm so good that it forced developer Jagex to swoop in with a hotfix.
As I write this, countless OSRS streamers – many done up in pirate garb – are rushing to level Sailing as fast as possible, and unseen hordes of diehard grinders are also quietly gunning to be the first to reach the max level of 99 in Sailing. A chunk of them got a head start thanks to an early XP boost that let them skip painful early levels.
As Jagex flagged in its Sailing catch-all, "Daddy's Special Water's special water was more generous than intended, and will now give an appropriate level of XP." Player reports and stream clips indicate this item was dishing out upwards of 10,000 XP in relatively short order, which seems to be several times greater than comparable methods of the same skill level.
The update reining in this special water arrived just a few hours after Sailing's release – enough time for early sailors to get in on the ground floor, but not enough for every player to make the most of it.
Many skills in OSRS take a while to get going, making the earliest levels some of the most arduous. This is especially true of new skills – 2006's Hunter was notoriously slow, though some more recent updates have helped the skill out – now including Sailing, as your training methods are limited and you won't really know what's most effective. This is why many players use quest rewards and other flat XP payouts to skip over low-level grinds where possible.
Instead, with a little help from Daddy's Special Water, a group of lucky players were able to catapult their Sailing grind forward, unlocking more advanced training methods and skipping the slowest parts of a new skill.
New skills are so rare, and the races to max them are so competitive, that this Sailing XP trick has left a sour taste in some players' mouths. Bagging thousands of XP early – versus hundreds post-nerf – offers a non-trivial advantage if you are in the race to 99.
It doesn't help that one of the biggest points of early feedback around Sailing has, unsurprisingly, been its slow start. Jagex accidentally offering, and then hastily removing, a way to get some extra wind in your sails can make that sting just a little more. (I do think some folks are just unaccustomed to what leveling an all-new skill actually feels like, but there are valid points to be made regarding pacing.)
All that being said, maxing a skill in OSRS requires more than 13 million XP, so getting a few thousand extra is just a drop in the bucket – even if it may save you a bit of time and tedium. More than anything, this little hurdle just reinforces my belief that MMO players will always find the optimal way to farm, come hell or (literally) high water.
