It’s that time again. The time when players use experience calculators to figure out exactly how much supplies they need for whatever skill they’re training on double xp weekend. The news thread is announcing 99’s and 120’s like a stock ticker at opening bell. It’s one of the most fun and most rewarding times to be a player. The market opportunities alone are endless. There is gp to be saved, made, and spent in copious amounts. The amounts of experience people earn is remarkable, I’ve personally seen friends make over a hundred million experience. On double xp weekends vacation days are taken, sales of pizza rolls and energy drinks increase, and schools notice a sharp incline in students that are “sick”. Yes, it really is the Superbowl of RuneScape only this one comes twice a year. It hasn’t always been this way though. There was a time when there were no double xp weekends. I know, sad right? Luckily for us we have them now. This month let’s take a look at how this tradition evolved into what it is today. Of course I’ll also provide you with some tips although at this point we are all so versed in double xp gains it may be like reminding Tom Brady how to pass.

Traditions start from somewhere. It often feels like something has just always been that way. That is what double xp is like to us now but it started much more recent then you would think. According to the RuneScape wiki, the first bonus experience weekend was in March of 2010. Bonus experience weekend was the predecessor of double experience weekend. It had a timer where the multiplier started at double and went down over time. These weekends were more restrictive in what skills you could gain experience in and boosts you could use. For example, Summoning and Prayer were excluded in the early years becoming a much more recent addition. Many of the methods pioneered back then are still used today. It was exciting to find the most efficient method because you literally had a clock you were running against. I can remember on more than one occasion where I ran my multiplier all the way to the bottom .01x on the first day. Bonus experience weekends were fun and a way for people to talk and share training methods, but they were nothing compared to what they would develop into in time.

The double experience weekends we know and love started in 2012. October of that year was the first true double experience weekend. There were still restrictions on what skills could be trained but to have the whole weekend to double your gains was like a dream come true. This is where many of the more modern training methods arose. It was fun to push yourself to see just how much experience you could get. However, great highs often are followed by great lows and as Dickens once said “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times”. The very next month saw the release of EoC and no matter where you stand on that, one thing is unquestionable, it was a chaotic time in RuneScape. Then in 2013 there were no double experience weekends. Its hard to say why Jagex did this but personally I think they were caving to the critics that said there was too much easy xp in the game, especially with the release of Squeal of Fortune the previous year. Whether it was the pressure or just a mistake in strategy, double xp weekends came back in 2014.

The most special double xp weekends happened in February 2015 and 2016. These were the years that Jagex teamed up with Special Effect for their gaming event called Game Blast. Special Effect is a UK based charity that helps disabled kids be able to play video games with assistive technology. Jagex took donations and opened the Well of Goodwill which converted gp to real money for the charity. They also had 24 hour long live streams featuring Jmods doing all manner of silly things in order to raise money. It was a rewarding time to be a RuneScape player. You felt like not only the game company whose game you love was making a difference but you were too regardless of your financial ability to do so. Oh yeah, and did I mention you had a whole weekend of double experience?

2017 would see some changes to double xp weekends. First instead of doing the wildly popular Game Blast event, Jagex opted to do something they called Game Jam instead. No 24 hour live-stream, no Well of Goodwill, no Special Effect, and no charity. All of that was replaced with actual real time game development. Players made suggestions and Jmods tried to work on the most feasible ideas. The live-streams were interesting although not as long or exciting. The double experience weekend itself was the real star of the show. Then, in celebration and preparation for the release of Menaphos another double xp weekend was held in May. This was unusual because up until then there had never been three double xp weekends in one year. Double xp weekends are almost always in February and September, this was the first summer double xp weekend. Which brings us to this weekend. September 15th is the start and I can’t wait.

As promised here’s a few tips for your double xp weekend. Of course train buyables, it saves a tremendous amount of money even if the supplies are more expensive than normal. One buyable in particular is the best and that is Summoning. Not only does it save money but it saves charms which is very beneficial. If your bank standing find a portables world. Whether its Smithing, Cooking, Fletching, or Herblore there is a portable for you. In addition there are usually pulse cores going off at these locations as well. Don’t forget to feed your clan avatar its a small bonus but we’re all about efficiency here. Use your skilling dummies. These little guys are great and really add up. Not all proteins are created equal. Bars and hides are the best xp and traps and planks are better AFK than normal methods but cogs and memories don’t have the same bang for their buck. If you’re working on agility don’t forget your Silverhawk feathers and boots. Always better to train two skills at the same time. Take the time to know what to stack. Not everything works on double xp weekend but a lot does, make sure to have your skilling outfits, pulse cores, portables, clan avatar and anything else you can add to it.

Double xp weekend really has become a tradition for RuneScape players. I love everything about it from the preparations to the sleep deprivation. Its our moment to have fun and be proud of what we play. I hope we’ll see Game Blast return in the future and add that little bit extra to our Superbowl. Its hard to believe its only been around in one form or another for seven years. RuneScape wouldn’t be the same without it. Be kind to your fellow players this weekend and I wish everyone big gains. Until next time, Happy RuneScaping.