Design Notes

October 30, 2012

Take Care Up North

Hurricane Sandy Has Landed

Quite a few of you felt the wrath of mother nature as Hurricane Sandy hammered the northeastern coast of the United States. This storm broke a lot of records and has already left thousands without power or homes. My own sister had to evacuate her apartment building in New York City last night as Manhattan lost power and the gas main for her building burst. She spent half the night wandering around with no safe place to go. She's fine now, if a little soggy, and so are all the rest of my friends up there in The City but it's a pretty bad scene.

I hope that all of you, your friends and your family are all safe up there in the frozen north.

If you want to help people who have lost their homes and find themselves without food or shelter you can donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by clicking here.

Game Improvement Week

It's not a great name because we improve the game every week. Or try to, anyway.

This week we are spending time adding in the new revamped Book of Lore, and adding in the new Tutorial.

Before we set new accounts to go through the tutorial, we're going to release it for you guys and ask for your honest feedback on the AQW Forums. Once we've tweaked it out and made it as clean, fast and easy to understand as possible then we will add it to the beginning of the game. Yorumi is also fixing a lot of older bugs and TRYING to discover a new way to handle the inventory that might allow you to get more inventory space.

As you know we can't just add more as we are at the current possible limit that the game can handle.

You will help escort Twilly and Serval through the new tutorial!

We will also be adding a new wave of Mogloween Seasonal Rares and Committed Event Rares to those two shops this week. Don't forget that we still have the Birthday Event, the Alina and Rolith Wedding, the Committed Mogloween Special and the normal seasonal Mogloween releases in-game for a limited time. If you haven't played through all of those, now would be a good time to get caught up!

ONE DAY LEFT for 4th UPHOLDER!

Don't forget that tomorrow is Oct 31st, which is the LAST DAY to Upgrade and become a 4th Upholder. You will have a chance to become a 5th upholder next year but you will miss out on the rare Star Swords, the Character Page Badge and the sheer awesomeness of being a 4th Upholder!

51 days until Just Another Day

October 26, 2012

Happy Mogloween!

Are you Committed?

The Mogloween 2012 release is LIVE! This is a very special Mogloween release with musical guests One-Eyed Doll!

/join Asylum and you can watch One-Eyed Doll's brand new viceo for the song "Committed"! You'll also a new Mogloween 2012 shop, an Event Rare Shop and you can start the Committed Mogloween event!

Earlier today we released the new video in-game with most of the new items, but each of the previously released shops have had at least one more new item added to them.

If you can survive a night in the abandoned Asylum with Kimberly and me, then you will unlock the Committed Character Page Badge and the special Committed Merge Shop.

I think you'll find the Merge Shop to be especially difficult as it requires three merge items, all rare drops, all from bosses in the event, and two of the bosses are only found in the completely random maze of mirrors! So have fun with that!

Special thanks to One-Eyed Doll for allowing us to use their music and their voices in this event. For my own voice acting, I make no appologies.

Happy Mogloween 2012!

4th Upholder, Time Is Running Out!

If you haven't upgraded to become a 4th Upholder yet I should tell you that you're running out of time!

If you HAVE become a 4th Upholder, then I hope you enjoy the especially Member heavy Mogloween Shop and the other Member Only items from tonight's release. Along with all the other great benefits of supporting AQW with your Membership. Remember that you get Bragging Rights, another Character Page Badge and TWO rare Star Swords!

HeroMart Super Launch!

Today HeroMart has released THREE new items!

• NEW CD: One-Eyed Doll's Something About a Dragon, which contains three of the songs from tonight's event PLUS Battleon! and the Pony vs. Pony theme song!
  
  
• MOGLOWEEN 2012 SHIRT: Which comes with the amazing NeverMore armor and snazzy Mogloween 2012 "Haunted" Character Page Badge.
  
  
• AE 10th ANNIVERSARY SHIRT: It's been 10 Great years with you guys and we made a shirt to commemorate our BIG TENTH BIRTHDAY! This shirt comes with items in ALL 6 of the major AE games. AQW gives you the AE Dragon Conqurer Armor and Helm along with the BIG TEN Character Page Badge.

There are limited amounts of ALL of these items so don't miss out!

55 days until Just Another Day

October 24, 2012

World Premiere!

The Committed Video Is Coming

It's a real honor to type that. One-Eyed Doll is allowing us the honor of showing their video to you guys before it is officially released anywhere else ON EARTH. That's kind of a big deal.

It's a big deal for a few reasons. First, it's a big deal because I've actually seen the pre-release of the video and it's awesome. it does justice to the song which is also awesome.

The second reason that it's a big deal is that we get to help out some people that we really, honestly like. I don't know if you guys understand this but when we do these musical events, it's because WE like the bands. Voltaire, Jonathan Coulton, Paul & Storm, They Might Be Giants... these are all bands that a LOT of us really like. They don't pay us to get into the game. A lot of the time we don't even pay them. Often there is no money involved... just fun. It's an amazingly rare and super cool thing to be say that in this or any other industry.

This Friday you all get to see One-Eyed Doll's video for Committed before anyone else and the cool part is that you'll get to see it INSIDE THE INSANE ASYLUM! It will also be accompanied by the release of their album tailored especially for AE fans called "Something About a Dragon?".

The art team is working on a load of new Mogloweeny themed items for the event. Here's Solrac's Member Only Gloomcaster Set. 

Some are cool, some are cute and some are downright terrifying for folks like Reddy who are big into the creep factor.

HeroMart Avalanche Of Awesome

This Friday HeroMart will be launching THREE new items, the Something About A Dragon CD, The Mogloween 2012 T-shirt and the AE 10th Anniversary T-Shirt. (Sorry in advance, D. We're going to make you go broke, I swear.)

Each of these items comes with a Character Page Badge, and AT LEAST 1 in-game item. The Mogloween Shirt comes with the NeverMore armor by Memet who just got...promoted?... from Player Support to AQW Artist...

The AE 10th Birthday Shirt comes with the AE Dragon Conqurer set (which I colored to match the DrAEgon items) in AQW and at least one more items from EACH other the games that participated in the EbilCorp Gameocide War...

And "Something About A Dragon?" comes with the Metal Sneevil Non-Member Pet and maybe some stuff in the other games. I'm not sure on that part.

And speaking of HeroMart, keep your eyes on our Twitter accounts for sneak peeks of the AE 2013 Calendar. The art by Diozz and Dage is amazing and it will come with the Exclusive TimeTracker Class. No Chronomancer this year!

United Nations Shop LIVE!

Today we released a little shop to honor United Nations Day. On October 24, 1945, the United Nations (U.N.) came into force when the five permanent members of the security council ratified the charter that had been drawn up earlier that year. These members were: France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

You can argue about the effectiveness of the United Nations but the concept of uniting a world of many different religions, races and ideas under a banner of peace is something worth continuing to reach for.

ONE WEEK OF 4th UPHOLDER LEFT!

Next Wednesday is October 31st. In addition to being Mogloween it is ALSO the last day of the month and the last day that you can upgrade to become a 4th Upholder.

Don't miss this chance. UPGRADE NOW and become a 4th Upholder before this offer is gone forever!

I'M Not Going To Spell Check This Post

I'm really hungry and I want to go eat some dinner so I'm not going to spell check this. Don't bother letting me know what I missed on Twitter. Enjoy!

57 days until Just Another Day

October 18, 2012

800,000 Monsters!

Chairman Platinum Plays Dirty!

I think the Chairman is getting desperate.

He's losing this war and he knows it. He knows that he can't possibly win against an army of gamers united under the common goal of fighting for the survival of the game company which you all helped to build.

Today, only EpicDuel and AQ Classic were left fighting their wars, but things were getting a little too hot for our suited foe so he his his big red button and released 800,000 reserve monsters into AQW!

We only have until Friday to defeat all the EbilCorp Monsters and save the Artix Entertainment Game Network and I think we can do it!

Chunin Class Preview

VoT is gone so that means that it's time for a new AQW Birthday Class, the rare Chunin Class arrives when all the war meters reach 100%!

That's right, I said Rare. You will only be able to buy this class with AdventureCoins until next October and it is removed from the game forever.

BUT here's the good part. As a special bonus for those of you who are here to help us battle and save the network, we are offering you the chance to EARN this NON-MEMBER class (all of the other set pieces, 2 helms, 2 cloaks) for free!

The chance to earn the class will only last until the birthday event closes and takes all the rares with it (about a month from when we win). You will have to farm to earn the class BUT you won't have to come back every day and earn it like you did with VoT.

All you have to do is earn 300 Chunin tokens and the class is yours. Non-members can earn one at a time but Members can earn two extra for a grand total of 3 at a time, and you can farm the quests for the tokens non-stop as fast as you want!

This class is a strength based warrior type class which is designed to take on multiple enemies at once. It has no heal but every power debuffs the enemies ability to hit or damage you so it has a very high survivability!

Come back tomorrow for the full Chunin Skills Breakdown!

Alina and Rolith Get Married!

Tomorrow you can also expect the Alina and Rolith wedding event. Since the real Alina and Rolith are getting married this weekend you will actually get to see them get married BEFORE they really get married!

As the real couple scrambles to get all the last minute prep-work done for their real wedding you will be helping their characters take care of all of THEIR last minute disasters! This will probably be a little closer to a real life wedding than any of us would like to admit.

I hope you can make it and help the AE family wish Alina and Rolith many years of happiness together!

4th Upholder!

The month of October is already half gone and Mogloween fast approaches. Remember that you only have two weeks left to grab your piece of history and become a 4th upholder!

To learn more, read m,y earlier 4th Upholder Design Notes. That will tell you everything that you need to know about how to get your character page badge and your TWO rare Star Swords!

63 days until Just Another Day

October 01, 2012

4th Upholders!

What is an Upholder?

AQW is coming up on another birthday! That's means that we are once again offering the chance to become an AQW Upholder (The same way that the Founders got their chance at the birth of the game and the way 1st Upholders got their chance three years ago, 2nd Upholders got the chance two years ago and 3rd Upholders got the chance last year at this time).

What Does A 4th Upholder Get?!

Normally, an Upholder gets a Character Page Badge and a rare Star Sword. This year, when you become a 4th Upholder you get TWO rare Star Swords. (they're both non-member, so you can swing that sword forever and 0 ACs so you can store it for free), an achievement badge on your character page and some CRAZY bragging rights.

Why two Star Swords?

Last year, Platinum was the theme of the Upholder Star Sword and the Naval Commander. This year is The Year of Chaos... but do we listen to those players who want a redesigned Chaorrupted Star Sword to match the design of the Chaotic Naval Commander...

...or do we listen to the players calling for a Chaotic Star Sword in the Chaos color scheme but who want to keep the original Star Sword design pure and unchanged?

Easy. We do both and give you TWO Star Swords!

Those of you who have been playing for a while know that Founders already get bragging rights. They can say "I was supporting the game before you even heard of it!" and they have the fancy Platinum Dragon pet and character page achievement badge to prove it!

I'm sure you've also seen somebody with the 1st Upholder Golden Star Sword, 2nd Upholder Onyx Star Sword or last year's 3rd Upholder Platinum Star Sword and said to yourself... "DANG! WHY did I have to miss out on that?!"

This is YOUR chance to grab some of the spotlight for yourself (even if you're already a Founder or a 1st Upholder, 2nd Upholder, 3rd Upholder or ALL FOUR!)

Sounds Great! How Do I become a 4th Upholder?!

It couldn't be simpler. Become an Member!

1.  If you are ALREADY a Member and your membership expires ON or AFTER November 1st, 2012, then you're are ALREADY a 4th Upholder. Gratz.
2. If you help support AQW by buying ANY membership ANY TIME during the month of October (from October 1st to October 31st, as long as it expires on or after November 1st) then you become a 4th Upholder!

I Think My Membership Already Makes Me A 4th Upholder. How Can I Check?

Also, easy. Just click the Manage Account link on the left under the ACCOUNT section.

As soon as you sign in you'll see when your membership expires. Here's mine:

Cool! When Do I Get My Super Sweet 4th Upholder Swords and Badge?

Starting no later than Wednesday (Oct 3rd), you will find your 4th Upholder Badge in your Book of Lore in the Badges tab. Click on this badge and you will see that THIS YEAR it comes with a shop. You will be able to grab your swords from that shop and start showing them off as well as your Character Page Badge. 

Only Memberships Count?

Yes. You can use Artix Points on the Portal site or any method in AQW to upgrade, but it MUST be an AQW Membership. AdventureCoins DO NOT COUNT TOWARD 4th Upholder.

Anything Else I Should Know?

Yup!

We appreciate every single upgrade and AC that you guys pay for. Nearly every penny you spend goes back into the game. People seem to like the idea of ACs a lot more than Memberships a lot of you Members said that memberships benefits were getting thin and we listened to you adding more Member items, Member dailies, Member areas, Member rewards added to AC packages, Member Classes, Member Only Mid-week releases (it's been a while since I've been able to do one but I still have more planned!), Member Boss fights, Member perks to trade skills, the Members Only ability to create guilds (with more Member only bonuses planned as we expands the guild system) and your monthly Treasure Chest Key allowance!

You may not know this but AQW (like all AE games) is ENTIRELY supported by the players. We have no financial backers and nobody owns stock in the company. We get a few bcuks from advertizers but without you we would nobody to advertize to. Without you there is no way that we could possibly keep the game running and we cannot thank you all enough but our Founders will always hold a special place in our hearts for believing in us and supporting the game before we even had a game to support. Once again you Founders will receive an upgraded version of your Platinum Dragon pet... the Chaotic Armored Platinum Dragon Battle Pet!

We are happy to be able to provide our Founders with this special treat every year to keep saying thanks for believing in us. If you missed your chance to become a Founder in AQW, remember that we have two new games coming soon and BOTH OverSoul and Legend of Lore will offer you the chance to become Founders in those games!

I Love AQW! It's The Best Game EVER!

Thank you, AQW Player! What a nice thing to say! But seriously... thank YOU for playing. We LOVE making the game for you guys and thanks to the support of Founders four years year ago, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and now 4th Upholders and everyone in between we get to keep making it better and better every week!

It doesn't matter if you were here from the first day or THIS is YOUR first day... we're so happy that you could be with us to celebrate FOUR amazing years of AdventureQuest Worlds, and we hope that you will stick around for many more birthdays and keep adventuring with us.

September 20, 2012

Coming Up!

Coming Friday

With guilds soft launch yesterday, we found a few bugs in guild creation and naming but nothing to stop Phase 1 from fully launching tomorrow!

It may not seem like much of a release to you guys, but we've worked for a REALLY LONG TIME on phase 1, Yorumi is still working on as I type this and will still be working on it up the minute we launch tomorrow.

You can look forward to a lot of guild upgrades in Phase 2 and beyond including Guild Halls that you can build, decorate and grow together as a team, Guild renaming options, Customizable Guild banners so your group can unite under one flag, Guild name and banner displayed on your character page, special guild only challenges and more!

To kick it off J6 will have a few special Guild Battles for you this weekend. You will need to work together with your guild as a solid unit to defeat these special challenge fights. You MIGHT be able to take them on with a group of well trained strangers but I wouldn't suggest it. There will, of course, be Special drops and a merge shop to rewards your successful efforts.

4th Upholder Coming in October

October is not only AQW's 4th Birthday but also Artix Entertainment's 10th Birthday! We are planning something larger than we've ever had before for our special AE birthday event but I'll save that for later.

October is also a special time for our supporters as it's your chance to become an AQW UPHOLDER!

When AQW launched we gave everyone who supported us the chance to become an AQW Founder. Since then our Members have the chance to uphold the tradition by supporting AQW with a Membership every year around this time.

Upholders get a special Character Page Badge, a rare Star Sword (This is the year of CHAOS so... CHAOTIC STAR SWORD!) some insane bragging rights and the knowledge that they helped support AQW! There are two ways to become a 4th upholder.

1. If you have an AQW Membership that expires ON OR AFTER November 1st, 2012 then you're in the clear. You are already a 4th Upholder and will automatically receive the badge as soon as it's made.
   
   
2. Option 2 is simple. Just upgrade to a Member (3 months or longer) any time from October 1st to October 31st, 2012. Poof, you'll become a 4th Upholder that very second.

That's pretty much it. I will be posting a picture of the Chaos Star Sword and the badge a little closer to October.

LQS and TLPD Staying

The Limited Quantity Shop and the Talk Like A Pirate Day shops will both remain in Battleon through the weekend and possibly longer. We don't have any set dates on the shops removal, otherwise I'd just tell you when it was.