Old School RuneScape had a bit of a hiccup this week as the game was suddenly taken offline to allow Jagex to investigate a potentially economy-breaking bug, ultimately resulting in an unprecedented server rollback. Although the bug in question was initially unspecified while the team set about fixing it, Jagex has since provided some details on what exactly went wrong. The short version is that the code for the pickpocketing update, released earlier today, included an undetected logic error that allowed players to use pickpocketed coin pouches to convert other items into massive amounts of coin. Because the effects of this bug were so far-reaching, the devs had no choice but to initiate a server rollback, the first in Old School RuneScape’s history, which the devs describe as “an immense undertaking.”
Jagex acknowledges that, although the bug was its fault, it quickly became aware that a number of players were exploiting it to line their coffers with ill-gotten gains, with many using the funny money to buy bonds to redeem for membership subscriptions. As such, Jagex will be removing these illegitimately purchased memberships from players’ accounts, and those players “will also see action taken against their accounts and will temporarily be removed from the game.” The servers have since been brought back up, though the devpost notes that some players may be temporarily unable to log into the game. The devs are working hard to remedy the issue on affected accounts and ask that players remain patient while they iron the problem out.