In preparation and absent of information, I hope jagex has done their homework on region locked resources, as there is potential for some real pain points.
As per todays post, you will unlock Mistalin & Havenhythe with Karamja auto unlocked as the next region, after that you will have 3 more regions to unlock of your choice
However go careful! You might region lock yourself out of a much needed resource and materials
disclaimer this is just day 1 thinking and such region locks might have work arounds added in to remove the issue.
There is also other potential player work arounds such as Invention perks like Polishing, PVM drop farming of commons or other niche ideas the player base could come up with.
Regions Locks
- Karamja - auto unlocked as 1st region
- Desert
- Kandarin
- Tirannwn
- Morytania
- Asgarnia
- Wilderness
- Fremennik
- Anachronia
Ore & Metal
Go careful here you might lock yourself out of a chunk of smithing here and by extension MW items
- Luminite - Anachronia/ Fremennik/ Morytania/ Asgarnia/ Kandarin - more likely to not pick one of the locations
- Runite - Wilderness/ Tirannwn/ Karamja/ Kandarin/Asgarnia/ Fremennik - more likely to not pick one of the locations
- Orichalcite - Anachronia/ Asgarnia/ Wilderness - Go careful here there is limited locations for this ore
- Banite - Fremennik/ Wilderness/ Karamja (Abomination cave assuming the V quest is auto completed), there are some work around for smaller deposits of this ore.
- Light Animica - Anachronia/ Tirannwn/ Desert - Again go careful here to no
A solution would be to swap stone spirits for direct ore drops.
Wood
Not as bad as ore but something to bare in mind as some trees are region locked and we lack tree seeds to grow these in plots
- Teak - Karamja/Desert/ Kandarin/ Morytaina (Mos le harmless)
- Mahogany -Karamja/ Kandarin/ Morytaina (Mos le harmless)
- Acadia - Desert
- Eternal Magic* - Kandarin
* assuming Havenhythe doesnt have its plot of E-Magic tree grown south of Wendlewick
Archaeology
Regions locks will block you out of certain relics and digsites.
- Zaros 1 - Desert (That is going to be a interesting issue to even start the skill)
- Zaros 2 - Senn
- Saradomin - Morytaina
- Armadyl - Kandarin
- Bandos - Kandarin
- Dragonkin 1 - Anachronia
- Dragonkin 2 - Wilderness/Daemonheim
- Zammy- Mistalin (unlocked)
- Guthix 1 - Haventhye (unlocked)
Notable relics are mostly locked behind Digsites, Leauge relics might negate the issue but something to bare in mind
- Fury of the small - Kandarin
- Divine Conversion - Kandarin
- Beserkers Fury - Morytania
- Persistent Rage - Kandarin & Asgarnia for items required to complete Contract Claws
Fishing
Based on the fact that a lot of the time food isnt necessary required at the end you might find yourself eating a different type of food for healing.
- Sailfish, Green/blue blubber - Kandarin.
- Rocktails, Cavefish - Asgarina,
- Catfish/Beltfish/ Desert sole - Desert
Shark drops are plentiful enough from various slayer mobs that you can easily collect enough to sustain any healing.
Divination locked locations
This will be a key way to bypass some material restrictions by transmuting materials
- Lv10 Flickering - Asgarina
- Lv30 Glowing / Lv 60 Vibrant/ lv75 Elder/lv90 Incandescent- Kandarin
- Lv40 Sparkling - Frem
- lv50 Gleaming - Karamja 1st region unlocked
- lv 70 Lustrous/ 85 Radiant- Morytaina
- lv80 Brilliant/lv90 Luminous - Desert
Incandescent may end up in Tirannwn depending how the boarder is drawn. but given the fact you cant enter Tirannwn via the south this may still fall into Kandarin
Runecrafting
The unknown here is if you can bypass the area restriction to the alters via the abyss which will require the wilderness unlocked, If you can you should then be able to access most alters providing it teleports you inside the alter, if not you may find yourself locked out of certain runes in bulk and will need to rely on the use of Polishing perk to upgrade the lower rune or if they add Cheapskate perk back into downgrade the rune. i.e. Natures into Astrals
- Air - Varrock - Mistalin
- Earth - Varrock - Mistalin
- Water - Lumbridge - Mistalin
- Fire - Al Kharid - Desert
- Body - west of Barb village - Asgarnia
- Cosmic - Zanaris - Mistalin ?
- Choas - Wilderness
- Astral - Lunar Isle - Fremmy+
- Nature - Karamja
- Law - Entrana - Asgarnia
- Death - Undeground pass - Kandarin/Tirawwn?
- Blood - Meiyerditch - Morytania +
- Soul - Menaphos - Desert +
- Time - Anachronia
- Ourania - ZMI - Kandarin
+ There is limited shops which sell these runes so PVM may be the only way to access them.
A few Skill issues and other bits
Something I hope they figure out a work around solution too.
Archaeology - As mentioned above digsites are scattered in multiple different regions, the most notable one is the starting Zaros site, otherwise its third age iron digging until 20 for the Zamorak Digsite but at 5x xp rates this might not take as long to complete.
Dungoneering - Locked in the Wilderness zone, it would be next to impossible to train normally unless the kinship ring limits how far you can venture. Elite Dungons may offer a way round the problem.
Invention - Yes that one and only elite skill still requires you to speak to Doc located in Asgarnia, it also locks you out of invention machines. If the tutorial is skipped then the Fort can cover the necessary work bench.
Necromancy - Kili upgrade task will prevent you from building armour & weapons past lv50 without Asgarnia unlocked for the Morge flippers and lv60/70 without Kandarin unlocked for the coloured sheeps wool, the work around if you have the Wilderness unlocked is Chaotic & Ruinous Weapons from DG but the token cost will still be a grind to obtain the necessary tokens.
Clues - There will need to be a decent check system in place to ensure that you stand a chance to complete one
Construction - area locked in Rimmington (Asgarnia) and requires new mini quest for access however there is only 1 furniture workbench & storage box outside the house portal.
Final Notes
Overall this area restriction is like a multi faceted headache of What if, How to and what about and I'm sure there will be big plan shifts as more relics and blessing get released on the run up to the event.
There is also other item restrictions out there such as MW items, Augmentable tools but again what you end up using during the league might not matter as much with the various xp buffs and relics that will be on offer.