Design Notes
October 04, 2013
Dragon Rises Triumphant
The Royal Wedding's Chaotic Conclusion!
Good King Alteon has been fighting Chaorruption since AQWorlds began, and THIS week, you will see how much of an effect Chaos has had on him! Log in now to play the conclusion of the Royal Wedding event, the rise of Swordhaven's Chaos Beast... and the beginning of the most Chaotic chapter in AQWorlds' history!
Chaotic DragonFORCE!
We had planned to finish the wedding release in one week last week. This week's storyline release IS a bit shorter than usual, but had we not split last week's release into two parts, we would not have been able to put nearly as much effort into this week's cutscenes as we did. I'd rather do them right than do them quickly! (Especially when the reactions to the release have been so emotional!)
Ghost, our lead animator, drew his reaction to what he did this week:
Sad Ghost felt ALL the feels!
Make sure to tweet your reactions to the storyline to @ArtixKrieger and @Alina_AE so we can keep track of how many feels you have felt! You can also share your reactions on the AQW Facebook page or our forum!
The new loading screen is live, too!
In addition to finishing LAST week's release THIS week, we also released:
Enjoy the beginning of the REAL Chaos in Swordhaven... and the rest of Lore!
October 04, 2013
Become a Blood ShadowCaster
Unlock Blood ShadowCaster with a 3 Month Membership!
Become a Blood ShadowCaster to command the darkest of the magical arts: Blood magic! Will you sacrifice the blood of your friends and enemies to become more powerful? Will you do what must be done to ensure that you CAN control your own destiny?
Starting today, October 4th, at 12 PM server time (Noon), upgrade with a 3 month membership package to unlock the Blood ShadowCaster set!
Much the same way we did versions of the Lightcaster for ACs and membership, we've done the same for the Shadow Sorcerer / ShadowCaster, but with a different color palette for the separate sets. Find details on the Shadow Sorcerer 5k AC package here!
Where Can I Get It?
You can upgrade your account in any of the following places:
- Through your game menu, using the in-game payment system. Click on the Treasure Chest at the bottom of your screen to bring the menu up!
- Using the payment page at AQ.com!
- On our Portal Site, under the AQWorlds game packages section.
Get ALL the gear: ! armor, 5 wings, 5 helms, and 2 staffs when you purchase the 3 month membership. Each item is 0 ACs for free storage and the package come with a character page badge!
To find the gear:
- Open your Book of Lore
- Click the Badges section
- Go into the "Other Badges" section
- Scroll until you see the BloodCaster badge
October 02, 2013
Battlemage Breakdown
Mages! Swordhaven Needs Your Help!
What do you do when your entire city has become chaorrupted, and your spellcasters just aren't sturdy enough to handle the fight? You train them to cast spells while encased in solid steel, of course!
How to Become a Battlemage
Only the most loyal defenders of Swordhaven can train to be Battlemages! Once you have reached rank 10 in Swordhaven rep, you'll be able to buy this class from the Swordhaven rep shop - talk to Sir Vival in /castle or Roald in /ceremony. You can also buy this class by talking to Ragnar in Battleon for 2000 ACs. This is not a member-only class.
Built like a tank, but mana-friendly!
Battlemage Skills Breakdown
The Battlemage focuses on taking down his opponents as quickly as possible. He is capable of focusing greater amounts of mana into each spell for the maximum effect. He specializes in wearing heavy armor for defense in order to spend all of his mana on offensive spells.
Battlemages excel at taking down multiple enemies at once with their devastating AOE attacks, but can also focus their damage on a single target when fighting tougher enemies.
ARCANE STRIKE
2 second cooldown
Battlemages are rejuvenated by their Arcane Strike granting them bonus mana with every successful blow.
This ability replaces auto-attack. It functions similarly, except that as a Battlemage it also restores some of your mana.
ENCHANTED BLADE
15 mana, 12 second cooldown. Requires rank 1.
Removes the explosion (AOE) effect from the Battlemage's attacks but increases all spell damage and accuracy by 50% for 12 seconds.
Use this whenever you want to focus on one enemy at a time. Awesome for boss fights due to its damage and accuracy increases, and imperative for those times when you want to avoid pulling more than one enemy.
ARCANE FIRE
45 mana, 15 second cooldown. Requires rank 2.
Summon an explosive fire ball burning with arcane energies on up to 3 targets.
Just a nice boost of extra damage. Unless you have Enchanted Blade up, this will aggro enemies that you're not currently fighting if you're standing next to them.
EXPLOSIVE SHIELD
29 mana, 45 second cooldown. Requires rank 3.
Break apart surrounding raw mana and form it into an Arcane Shield transfering most incoming damage to the Battlemage's MP instead of HP, as well as reducing mana costs for 10 seconds. The initial break explodes damaging up to 3 enemies.
This is a pretty sweet shield. While it's up, you'll mostly take damage to your mana pool instead of your health. And to make up for it, your spells will cost less mana. As a bonus, you'll do a burst of AOE damage when you first cast it. Again, you will aggro nearby enemies with this unless you're using Enchanted Blade.
HEAVY ARMOR EXPERTISE
Passive. Requires rank 4.
Physical Damage received reduced by 30%.
BATTLE HARDENED MAGE
Passive. Requires rank 4.
Wisdom increased by 20%.
ARCANE DEVASTATION
62 mana, 18 second cooldown. Requires rank 5.
Conjure a powerful, explosive, arcane blast damaging up to 3 targets. If Enchanted Blade is active, your target will be weakened and take 30% more damage from all sources.
When you're fighting multiple enemies, this serves up a nasty chunk of AOE damage. In a boss fight, this attack is even stronger, as it will cause your target to take extra damage from anything and anyone that hits it while the effect is up. The effect lasts slightly past the cooldown, so if you use this ability every time it becomes available you'll be doing 30% more damage for the entire fight.
Oh, and once more: you will aggro nearby enemies with this unless you're using Enchanted Blade.
In summary: This is a great class for boss fights, just make sure you use both Enchanted Blade and Arcane Devastation every time they cool down if you want to be at your most effective. It's also a strong class for farming/questing, since you can use your AOE abilities to smash several enemies at once.
EDIT: The following changes have been made to this class!
- Arcane Fire mana cost increased from 40 to 45
- Explosive Shield mana cost increased from 23 to 29
- Arcane Devastation mana cost decreased from 65 to 62
- Arcane Devastation's Enchanted Blade buff now lasts past its cooldown. This means subsequent uses of Arcane Devastation can do 30% more damage if you time it right.
- To make up for increased mana costs, Arcane strike returns more mana per hit.
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