March 22, 2023

Midweek Update Medley

Bits, Bites, and Bytes of News for You

Hello all, and happy Wednesday! As we near the end of the month, we've got a melange of things you may be interested in and/or need to know about before we move into April. Read on for news, and then come back tomorrow for the April release calendar!

Upcoming Gear Sneak Peek

We've got some great gear heading your way. Check out previews below:

• New farmable Underworld Painsaw set arrives this week from Lae
• Tagai's very Good Mage and Rogue of Swordhaven
• Hikari's new Necromancer will teach you the meaning of pain
• Lae's dark new Druids will arrive in the near future

AQWorlds Moderator Call Update

Sora to Hoshi, the lead AQWorlds moderator, just sent the final list of candidates she wants for Wave 3. We're hoping to get emails out to that group soon.

She writes: Thanks to everyone who got the Mod Note in their inventory for being so patient with the gap between wave 2 and 3. With the holidays, the new year, and just STUFF it got pushed back farther than I wanted. Thanks for being patient.

AQW:Infinity + Artix On the Way to PAX East

From Artix in the latest AQW:Infinity Design Notes post: Here is your latest progress report. First up... I posted a video with both AdventureQuest Worlds Infinity and the existing web on YouTube for you.

Since the video was posted, we have replaced the backgrounds with the new higher quality one and added leaf particles and sun rays. It looks absolutely beautiful. With all of these characters on the screen, it still scrolls smoothly at 60 FPS on my iPhone.

Special Convention Item... for everyone?

We are building a special convention item. But we do not want anyone to miss out. So we are creating a code that can be shared. Anyone who gets the code from us at the convention can share it online for anyone who could not make it.

Who from the team will be there?

This is our very first PAX experience! Our current roster includes Dage, Zhoom, Jongaar, Despair, & Artix.  If you want anything signed, a selfie, or just want to say hi we are looking forward to meeting you. 

Ramadan Mubarak Wishes+ Player Request

To all our heroes celebrating Ramadan: the entire AE team and I hope the holiday brings you and your family health, happiness, and peace. For this year, and all the years to come, may you find prosperity and joy in all you do. Ramadan Mubarak!

إلى جميع أبطالنا الذين يحتفلون بشهر رمضان: فريق AE بأكمله وآمل أن يجلب لك العيد لك ولعائلتك الصحة والسعادة والسلام. لهذا العام وكل السنوات القادمة ، قد تجد الرخاء والسعادة في كل ما تفعله. رمضان مبارك!

Once again, many thanks to the very talented Yunashimi, an AQWorlds Hero and guest contributor, for creating this beautiful graphic. It captures the mood and feel of the holiday perfectly.

Player Requests + How an Idea Evolves

Over the years, we've received countless requests from players and team members alike to add in more "real world" items, your in-game hero can reflect who you are offline. A player on Twitter today asked if the hijab in the image above was available in-game, we thought: "No, but it could be!" 

Gathering feedback on the idea, I found:

• The leads loved the idea of giving players the option to wear an item that matters so much to them
• One of our Muslim testers really liked the idea, but was concerned because of a real-world situation happening in Iran where women are fighting for the choice not to wear headcoverings
• Several players on Discord expressed concern about releasing religious-based content / focusing on just one religion / making players feel forced to farm for a drop related to a religion they don't practice

In many other games, hairstyle selections include cultural headgear as an option. This feels like the right way for us to go, too.We are already working on adding more diverse hairs to Bev's Battleon Hair Shop in the near future.

Expanding on that plan by adding headcovering options from different cultures and groups makes the most sense, and gives to most flexibility and freedom of choice.

* Today, I was asked why I make an extra effort to post good wishes for Ramadan/Eid on social media. When I was young, I saw some of my Muslim neighbors experience hatred + abuse. The impact it had on them stayed with me ever since. Sending messages like this is a (small) way I can help people feel welcome.

Badger Byte #9846: NPC Friendship Timer Reminder

The NPC Friendship system uses our standard "clock resets at midnight" just like all the daily quests. (Originally, it used a true 24 hour clock, and reset 24 hours after your last interaction. This was very confusing to players, so we changed it.)