Runescape: God Statues Distraction and Diversion

Yesterday, 3 January 2013, Runescape released the God Statues Distraction and Diversion.  Like battling the Trolls for bonus exp, it can be done once each calendar month.
Monique was a lot more interested than I, since she is actively training the associated skills.   (Construction, Prayer, and Slayer.)  So while I was doing my daily challenge (Dungeoneering) she went to check the statues out.  By the time I was done with my task, she was too.

Based on her comments, I went and did mine, just to see for myself.  God Statues turns out to be a very quick, very easy, series of 4 statues to build each month.  You help Ernie (who goes by Copernicus Glyphand when he's working) by building scaffolding to his directions.  Choose one of 4 gods to build a statue of.  You can pick Commander Zilyana, Juna, K'ril Tsutsaroth, or General Graardor.

There are 4 locations to build on, one north from Lumbridge, one near the border between Taverly and Burthorpe, one south of the Yanille lodestone, and one just across the river east of Canifis.  You can build any of the four statues, and they can be duplicated between spots.  (I built 2 Juna's to test this.)

Copernicus will tell you the minimum and maximum dimensions of the scaffolding, and correct you you until the scaffolds are right.  Very easy to do, just stack them all to the minimum, then go back and use the rest to the max heights.  Don't worry about it being right.  Check in with Copernicus, and he'll tell you which towers are too short or too tall.  Keep adjusting until it's perfect.
 
Then you and he stir up a cloud of dust while sculpting on the big rock.  When finished, you collect Construction exp automatically.  Then Copernicus suggests you pray at the stone.  If you've build for Prayer exp, the locals love your statue, and do not interrupt your prayers.  You gain exp.
If you've built for Slayer exp, the locals hate your statue, and a fairly low-level local attacks you.  Defeat him, and you gain Slayer exp.  It's a pretty heft chunk of experience.  At 99 in all three skills, I got 34k exp each time in Construction.  And 17k in either Slayer or Prayer for each statue built.

The requirements are minimal.  At least 60 Achievements, Let Them Eat Pie, and have tutorial mode manually turned off.  Basically this D & D is just an easy way to gain some free exp each month.  There's no real puzzles, and no life-risking combat.  No high skills are needed.  If you've maxed Prayer, Construction, and Slayer, the statues won't be of any practical use.  But if you're working on those skills, the time versus the rewards is very... rewarding.  :^)

Graphically, it's okay.  Decent work, and mildly attractive.  But it doesn't look like Jagex really hurt themselves trying to impress us.  Honestly, I had hoped the statues would look more detailed, like the preview art we saw on the Runescape website.

Taken altogether, a quick and pleasant way to level up the 3 skills.  Not especially fun, but not boring either.  Worth it if you're leveling those skills.