Design Notes

April 23, 2015

Congratulations, J6!

Today is J6's 10 Year Anniversary with Artix Entertainment!

J6, aka The BountyHunter, has been creating art with Artix Krieger and the rest of the AE team for the last TEN years! In that amount of time, he could have traveled 58,784,998,170 miles away if he were moving at the speed of light... but we are glad he isn't, because he wouldn't have been here creating the amazing backgrounds, items, and character art we love so much.

Help us celebrate J6's anniversary with the free J6 Anniversary Helm, now available in the Hyperium shop! If you want to give him a shout-out directly, find him on Twitter!

Secret message only our robotic players (or anyone with the internet) can decode: 01001000 01100001 01110000 01110000 01111001 00100000 00110001 00110000 00100000 01111001 01100101 01100001 01110010 00100000 01100001 01101110 01101110 01101001 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 01100001 01110010 01111001 00101100 00100000 01001010 00110110 00100001 

October 17, 2013

J6 is going to Space Academy!

You guys made it happen! THANKS!

Thanks to ALL of you who voted for J6, he won the Axe Apollo contest for a chance to go into space! Through working together, you've all helped to send our Bountyhunter on the first step of his greatest journey yet: up where he belongs, among the stars!

1st Artist in SPAAAAAAAAAACE!

J6 says: A big thanks to everyone who voted to help send me to space. I got word that I made it to the finals, which means I'm heading off to Orlando in December to fly a fighter jet, throw up in zero G training and pass out in a centrifuge. Science!

Why does he want to go into space?

"Art is all about breaking boundaries; traveling into space would let me create and inspire a new generation with a first-person view of the universe!" 

Galaxy-sized Gifts

If J6 takes that big step for J6-kind up into space, when he returns, we'll have the astronomically-awesome thank you shop EVER!

• J6 Astronaut Armor set
• Spaceship house
• Space background
• And, of course, SQUIGGLES

July 30, 2013

Feelin’ So Fly

Vote for J6!

Everyone’s favorite bounty hunter and AQWorlds Artist, J6, needs YOUR help going to Space!

All you have to do is click the above picture to be taken to the Voting Page. Then, click the green VOTE button on that page and help J6 get one small step closer to making a giant leap into Space Travel!

Today’s Featured Artist

It’s Tuesday! And that means it’s time for another Featured Artist Showcase Shop!

Later this afternoon, J6’s Showcase Shop will appear in the Game Menu, featuring a treasure chest of Chess items!

Armors

White Bishop

Black Bishop

White Knight

Black Knight

White Pawn

Black Pawn

White Rook

Black Rook

White Royalty--Legends only!

Black Royalty--Legends only!

Helms

White Bishop Hat

Black Bishop Hat

White Knight Helm

Black Knight Helm

White Pawn Halfhelm

Black Pawn Halfhelm

White Rook Great Helm

Black Rook Great Helm

White Tiara--Legends Only!

White Crown--Legends Only

Black Crown--Legends only

Back Tiara--Legends only

All of these items are permanent additions, because on Friday, you and your royal army can play Enchanted Chess inside the Wizard University!

The 411 on J6

Every bounty hunter has to start somewhere, and for J6, it all began in 2004. J6 worked on the original AdventureQuest doing everything from backgrounds to items to monsters and animation. As the company leveled up, so did J6, moving from game to game as they were being created. But this bounty hunter’s true calling became background art, creating beautiful scenery that filled computer monitors worldwide(web) with breathtaking landscapes.

J6 has virtually made every AdventureQuest Worlds background and still (somehow) finds time to create weapons, helms, and armors alongside his beautiful wife Cinazool. Like most bounty hunters, J6 works on board his starship far, far away in the fabled lands of Canada, but wishes to work in the Secret Underground Lab with the rest of the Artix Entertainment team. Unfortunately, the Lab cannot accommodate for starships… only dragons. (But with your help, we might be able to send J6 into space on a real starship!)

J6 wishes to share a quote that would help inspire future artists and intrepid bounty hunters. After a successful mercenary mission, J6 was awarded with this quote from Scott Adams: "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Give a shout out to J6 on his Twitter!

J6’s Featured Artist Showcase Shop launches later this afternoon. Stay tuned to my Twitter for more details, and stay epic my heroes! 

xoxo Beleen

July 29, 2013

Mondays are Magical

You don’t need a Crystal Ball to see into the future!

Predicting the future is a pretty impressive skill. I just so happen to be pretty good at it, too. And I wish to share my gift with you in the form of sneak-peek Design Notes! Woohoo!

Tuesday Predictions

Tomorrow is Tuesday—and I foresee that the Featured Artist Shop will showcase a bounty of items from your favorite Bounty Hunter, J6!

Looks like it’s going to be a Treasure Chest full of Chess! Get ready to pwn some Pawns starting Tuesday afternoon!

Perfection Prediction

Upgrading your account to a Legend Membership comes with a gazillion perks, but the deal hits critical perfection with the GameStop-exclusive Combo Breaker Armor Set!

If you’re living in the United States and have a GameStop nearby, follow these simple steps:

• fuel-up the family Dragon (or minivan, whatever)
• fly on over to a GameStop near you
• pick up an Artix Entertainment Game Card
• fly back home (or teleport, if the option is available)
• Upgrade your Membership following these instructions
• Unlock the Combo Breaker Armor Set
• Become Lore’s greatest C-c-c-combo Breaker!

This special offer is ONLY available until August 11th. Click here for more information!

Friday Predictions

Wondering where I got my magical capabilities? From the Wizard University of Battleon! And this Friday night, the University doors will open to the DragonRune Hall, the Academy of Mana Manipulation, and SpellCrafting!

Marvel at the magical miracles and buff your SpellScribing tradeskills so you can craft consumable potions. And there will be a special room where you can use J6’s Chess Items in, too! It’s bound to be MAGIC!

Next Week’s Prediction 

Looks like Quibble is packing his bags and has a direct flight to Battleon next Friday!

Everyone’s favorite traveling sales-moglin always brings the best rare items with him. And next week is no different—Quibble is stocking his shop with some of the COOLEST items I have ever seen. And you’ll need his epic gear if you hope to defeat the next Chaos Lord who is anxiously awaiting your arrival…

Contest Prediction

The Bad Guys & Good Battles Contest was such a HUGE hit! We received hundreds of awesome entries and have finally chosen the top winners.

The top winners are posted at Artix.com, but everyone who entered—and wasn’t disqualified—will receive a Loremaster Character Page Badge! All the entries will eventually be added into the Lorepedia =D Thank you so much for helping us track down and record all those Artix Entertainment monsters!

And this is ONLY the beginning. New monsters are popping up all the time, so in the future we will release another Bad Guys & Good Battles Contest for a chance to win more prizes. Sweet for us… but not so sweet for the monsters you defeat =p

Pretty Pink’s Prediction

Wowza! With so much going on, I predict that this week is going to be the best one ever! Actually, that’s no prediction—that’s a FACT!

See you on the battlefield, my hero!

xoxo Beleen

PS: Last month's SUATMR winner chose to remain anonymous, but wound up choosing the Starsword!

April 11, 2013

J6 Saga Study Guide

A Simple Guide to a Complex Saga

Embark on the exciting conclusion of the J6 Saga this Friday evening!

Here’s a helpful spoiler-free guide to aid you on your J6 adventures from beginning to end. Give a great big THANK YOU to Sora To Hoshi for helping with this guide and providing screenshots =D

Pencil Puddle

J6 goes out for a picnic and forgets to draw his zone. But not all is what it seems! Fight the Sketchy Dragon for a clue to find the elusive Bounty Hunter J6.

Begin your J6 adventures by typing /join J6 in the chat field in-game!

The Rusty Spittoon Saloon

Grab some Moglinberry juice and help the local patrons with their quests. Discover valuable information about the mysterious J6 and test your knowledge against the Bounty Hunter himself.

Answer all of J6’s questions correctly and he’ll award you with coordinates to his Hyperium Spaceship!

Hyperium  

Watch out for those darn Turrets! You and your friends must work together as a team to get past the Turrets. Don’t give up—it WILL take some time! Crack into the Bounty Hunter armory by clicking on the gauges in the correct order, meet H.A.L. the computer, and find the hidden VR Room Access Card.

Continue on your quest with J6 and pay special attention to his clues!

Zephyrus

Once you’ve found the VR Room Access card, you can embark on Virtual Reality missions! Explore the Zephyrus train, talk to the passengers, and make sure none of them are hiding anything.

Retrieve the Crystallized Dragons Breath, spin open a chamber, and run across the Zephyrus roof until you reach the Hyperium once more!

Planet Westion

Finding the Chapter 5 Datadisk allows you to find out more about J6! Travel through the Moonyard playing AS J6 but make sure to hold your nose… because this is one Virtual Reality simulation that really STINKS!

Kick some Robo-butt in the Moonyard and return to the Hyperium when finished.

Banzai Planet

After helping H.A.L. with some missions, find the location of Datadisk 4 and journey to Banzai! Nullify all life on this planet by winning multiple mini games and defeating the L.O.S.E.R.S.

After disarming the bomb, make your way back to the Hyperium floating through space and complete your mission.

Evil Medieval

Help H.A.L. and get a clue to the location of Datadisk 3. Watch the content of this Chapter 3 Datadisk in the VR Room once you found it.

Afterwards, speak with J6 and help him with his last minute quests before taking flight into hyperspace!

Take H.A.L. Offline

Now that you are in hyperspace, go to the VR Room and await instructions from the Baron.

You need to find a way to turn H.A.L. off—so you must challenge your Memory against his!

Defeat H.A.L. at his game and discover the secret to powering down this super computer.

Last Week’s Cliffhanger

Once the Baron breaks onto the Hyperium, it is up to YOU to decide weather or not to Shoot J6 or Spare J6’s Life.

And this Friday, YOU are the sole decider of J6's fate! Will you be the Bounty Hunter's friend or foe? Will you help him with his mission… or put a permanent end to J6?

Log in tomorrow night for the highly anticipated J6 Saga Finale! 

April 05, 2013

J6 Saga Walkthrough

Get up to speed on the J6 Saga!

Everyone’s favorite Bounty Hunter is wrapping up his massive saga starting tonight! But in order to embark on J6’s new release, there’s a lot you need to do beforehand. 

And I mean A LOT.

A lot of time.

A lot of patience.

And a lot of team work!

Since the release is still a few hours away (assuming you aren’t from the future…or reading this AFTER we’ve launched), now is the time to catch up on the extremely complex J6 Saga extravaganza!

J6 Saga Check List

1. /join j6 to begin your J6 Saga adventures
2. Complete quests in J6 map and defeat the Sketchy Dragon until you find J6’s Secret Hideout Map and equip it
3. Find the Dwakel Decoder
4. Use J6’s Secret Hideout Map to find the Rusty Spittoon Saloon
5. Help the Saloon patrons with their quests and learn about J6
6. Find J6, snag the Crystalized Dragons Breath, get a perfect score on J6’s Quiz, and receive coordinates to the Hyperium Starship
7. Bring 2 friends to the Hyperium to get past the Turrets
8. Access the Bounty Hunter Shop by clicking the gauges in the right order
9. Embark on H.A.L.’s Missions in the 3rd floor using the Elevator
10. Find where J6 keeps his VR Room Access Ticket
11. Go to the VR Room on the 2nd floor using the Elevator
12. Complete missions in the VR Room and H.A.L.
13. Find missing Datadisks hidden all over Lore
14. Return to the VR Room after finding Datadisks
15. Now you’re ready to help J6 conclude his saga starting tonight!

See! I told you there’s A LOT. But A LOT of fun, I promise!

Good luck, intrepid Bounty Hunters!

Galactically-Awesome Items!

J6's Bounty Hunter shop has had a planet-sized update, and NONE of it is going rare! Check out the following gear after you complete J6's storyline quests:

• JVI Armor and Helm
• Highway Bounty Hunter Set
• Galactic Eviscerator set
• FF0000 Blaster Gun
• Azimuth Blaster Gun

• Heavy Metal Mercenary set
• J-Roku Samurai set
• J-Roku Katana
• Mercilessness Mercenary Gun
• Shotgun of Aphelion
• Behemoth Blade of BlueMoon
• Backscattering Blades
• Albedo Battle Axe

January 13, 2013

Coming Soon to AQWorlds

The 2013 Release Momentum Keeps Growing!

Strap on your hardest helm and equip your sharpest blade this Friday, because you're definitely going to want to see the next chapter in Lionfang's Chaos storyline - the updated and polished version of the Golden Onslaught War! You HAVE battled through the Blackhorn Tombs, right? 

Last Friday's release took place in Lionfang's past (but you did not travel back in time. Try not to think too hard about the mechanics of that. Timey-wimey explanation!) Cysero's going to try to find time ("Heeeeeey time-travel fairies!") to build a timeline to make things easier to understand!

The team is ALSO going to be working on re-designing the town of Battleon (and Battleontown)! Current plans for the restructure include re-doing the Guardian Tower, updated town NPCs, FINALLY questing to unlock the pieces of the Blade of Awe and SO MUCH MORE!*

This project is HUGE and will take at least 2-3 Phases to complete, but work on Phase 1 begins this week!**

* Watch out for falling puns!
** Construction moglins are magic, and move so fast that the town's appearance is likely to change in the blink of an eye (or a server restart) once it is ready to release.***
*** Release date not set yet. 

And to top off all the excitement, J6 and Beleen are planning out the next "J6 the Bounty Hunter" release! Speaking of J6... Don't forget to vote to send him into space in REAL LIFE!

August 25, 2013

Send J6 Into Space

Help Send him there in Real Life!

J6 the Bountyhunter gets to travel through galaxies on a mysterious mission. In real life, J6 the Lead Artist creates art on the ground ... but is always looking up to the sky for inspiration! 

He has worked on EVERY game Artix Entertainment has made; working together, we can make his dream come true!

Where to Vote for J6?

Click this link: Vote for J6! You'll need to click the green "Vote" button, sign into your Facebook account, then submit your vote for AQW's favorite Bountyhunter/artist! You can only vote once per Facebook account, so let your friends know, too!

Why does he want to go into space?

"Art is all about breaking boundaries; traveling into space would let me create and inspire a new generation with a first-person view of the universe!"

Winning this contest would send him to a training camp where he would have the chance to fly into space with an international crew. This is not a joke contest; the last time he tried, he got the most votes, but the number of votes didn't matter. This time it does! Help to send our Bountyhunter up where he belongs: among the stars!

If we all vote together, we have the power to send an artist up into space! Will you help us?

Plus, if he gets there AND makes an epic item when he returns, we would be the first videogame company to have an item drawn by an artist in space!

November 12, 2012

Skyguard and Book Bugs

Coming Today and Friday!

This week, the Member Only Skyguard quest line comes to a dramatic conclusion. We've also got an update to the Player Suggestion shop coming as well as some stuff that was meant to go in last week.

Today we will be removing Death's Rares, Adding the special Quest to the Golden Dragon Statue house item along with its very rare reward.

Friday we will also be celebrating (read as: poking fun at) the release of the final Twilight movie with the "Twilight of the Lycan" Limited TIME Shop. Sparkly Lycan Armor? Maybe?

Today is also J6's Birthday and he has released his birthday items. We'll he released some of them. He admitted that his old age is getting to him and he forgot some of the items but will be adding them later today as well. two of the items but by the time you read this they will all be there.

If you feel like wishing J6 a Happy Birthday feel free to spam his Twitter.

Bugs and Fixes

This week have a few more things we're going to try to release including the second stab at the tutorial with a lot of the changed that you guys suggested including adding a brief shop run through and attaching the Save The Princess From the Dragon Dragon From The Princess part. We were going to leave it in but separate but so many of you mentioned it being your first memory of the game that we decided to tack it on after you say goodbye to Serval.

We will also be adding the Character Page Achievement for completing the tutorial.

We've got the new Book of Lore working (kind of) but there are several issues that will get ironed out this week. One is that people who did not test Guilds on the PTR were able to get the reward scythe. The scythes have been removed from people who did not help test and the shop properly secured.

A lot of you thought it was a bug that you could open shops that you hadn't unlocked. That was intentional. If you tried yo BUY something you would realize that you could not buy things from shops which you had not unlocked. We added the ability to LOOK at the items to see if you liked them prior to purchasing them. This only applies to badges that are visible all the time. Other badges (and shops) like most HeroMart badges are invisible until you unlock the badge by purchasing that HeroMart Item.We will be adding a note to the shops that you won't be able to BUY items from the shop until the badge is unlocked on all badges with shops.

Some of you are reporting that the scrolling feature is broken, which we are looking into (it might be the book or might be the fact that the latest version of the Flash Player has SEVERE issues with the FireFox browser).

Lastly the BIG issue is with the Recruit-A-Friend system currently to be found in Twilly. The revamped system will give you Friend gems for getting your friends to play, and you also get an % of the gold and XP that they earn on your own character not to mention 200 ACs for every friend that decides to become a Member.

Unfortunately, it's causing the game to crash horribly. Yorumi is currently looking at the system. Hopefully a fix will be found soon but expect a couple of restarts today.

Many of you commented on Friday that you really liked the new Book of Lore design, finding it a lot simpler to navigate and more fun to use. Hopefully after we get it working as intented then it will be a tool you go to a lot more often.

38 days until Just Another Day

September 28, 2012

The Marriage of J6

A Wedding In Three Acts.

J6, AQW's Lead Artist, has worked on just about every game we have ever made or currently have in production. He's got his own faction of rabid followers, his own t-shirt on HeroMart and has drawn many of the items and almost ALL of the maps that you walk around during every new release. He is an amazingly talented artist and craftsman who has also made real life sculptures of Artix, Galanoth's Dragonslayer Helm and his own J6 Helm.

He is capable, versatile and best of all very, very fast. This dude is a machine who has never failed to meet or best any task that we've thrown at him no matter how busy he is.

J6 lives and works from Canada so we don't get to see him as often as we'd like but when he does visit, Cinazool always comes with him. She is a kind, bubbly, fun, friendly and stunningly beautiful woman and after years of dating, they have finally decided to tie the knot and you're invited! 

Artix was actually able to fly up to the great white north to attend the real wedding earlier this month, but for those of us who couldn't make it we have crafted this special in-game event for you. J6 honored me by asking me to write the event and keep all details about it from him. He wanted to be surprised. 

I was so stressed about making it funny that I got writers block and went through four complete re-writes. Everyone on the AQW team chipped in on this one and I even managed to trick J6 into doing the art for Captain Stubbing and the Love Goat map.

If you complete the event, you will be awarded the J6 Wedding Badge in your Book of Lore (not a character page badge) and you will also unlock all of the Member, Non-Member and AC items in J6's Wedding Shop. You will also find a lot of new drops on the various goats found in the release and on Filthy McGee.

As usual there are the stock wedding items like the Bounty Hunter's Berry Mug, the Silver Eternal Flame, Cinazool's Wedding Bouquet and some others but we also have some brand new armors, helms, back items, weapons and pets in this special event.

Congrats, J6 and Cinazool. May you have the best of all possible lives together.

Four NEW Rare Houses in J6's House Shop!

Click the "Rare House Shop" button in Battleon to check out J6's four NEW rare houses! These aren't just ANY new houses, either. They have a secret, owner-only entrance, so that no one can enter unless YOU are home! If you want your friends to gain entrance, you'll need to go to your /house and then they will need to /goto YOU!

Guild Renaming is LIVE and FREE this weekend!

Check your Guild menu to see how to re-name it! This weekend only, Guild re-naming is FREE!  On Monday it will begin costing AdventureCoins. Be warned, if your client is cached, your name change may not appear immediately.

Vindicator of They Leaves Oct 12th!

It's been almost one year since we did our special They Might Be Giants AQW Birthday event and as we mentioned when we released it... we only have the rights to use this stuff in AQW for a year. Our contract with TMBG expires on October 12th, so on that day the event will be locked forever. No more rep farming quests, no more special songs that they wrote and performed just for AQW and no more Vindicator of They Class.

Time is growing short. If you haven't had the chance to earn the Vindicator class and items, remember that you still have a few weeks to buy it from Itzachi in Battleon.

83 days until Just Another Day

September 24, 2012

Bounty on Bachelors

J6 is Getting (Has Been) Married!

The love J6 and Cinazul share shines brighter than the largest gold bounty! As Artix announced on his Design Notes post, J6 married his long-time love Cinazool a week ago, but since you guys couldn't make that one... we're holding his in-game wedding FRIDAY!

You can't put a price on true love!

Cysero's written an epic event worthy of one of Artix Entertainment's long-time artists... complete with Cake, Cruise, AND Crashers! Get ready to celebrate, but bring your sharpest blade because the battle for true love is NEVER over!

Wedding Rares coming this Friday:

• Silver Eternal Flame
• J6 Wedding Cake Helm
• Honeymoon Hyperium House
• And more!

Rare House Shop This Wednesday!

J6 hasn't been busy enough getting married, so in his spare time, he's made a few new Houses for you and your friends to /party in!

The only house bigger on the inside than the outside.

There will also be House versions of the Temple of Hope and the Cleric Temple!

My 1st Battle-pet Shop!

Meet Balboa. He trains Battle-pets to fight alongside the Heroes of Lore! And this Wednesday (or maybe Thursday...) he'll set up shop in Battleon to introduce you to his newest stable of creature-companions!

Samba will have more news in tomorrow's Design Notes about what to expect in this Battle-tastic shop!

June 14, 2012

CVS Gamecard Item

Write a Prescription for DESTRUCTION!

We've been getting a lot of questions about how to get your Prescription for Destruction after you purchase an Artix Entertainment CVS gamecard, so we'd like to clear up the confusion.

Once you've purchased the Artix Entertainment gamecard from CVS, follow these steps to receive your axe:

• Redeem your card here: Get your Artix Points and CVS Axe
• Check your Artix master account email for easy instructions on how to get your Rx for Destruction axe in any AE game.
• You will need to use the code on the card to get your Artix Points before the end of June, then you'll need to use it AGAIN to get the axe in AQWorlds.

Not sure what we're talking about?

Head to your local CVS Pharmacy because Artix Entertainment Game Cards are now in-stock at CVS locations across the United States! Purchasing an AE-branded CVS game card unlocks the Prescription for Destruction axe AND gets you Artix Points that can be used for any of our games.

Ridin' the Waves Like a J6!

You saw the Nulgath surfboard on last night's Design Notes. Today we've got the art for J6, Dage, and Daimyo's surfboards! The last one we need is the Samba surfboard, and Diozz is hard at work on it now. ALL of the surfboards will release in the Summer Shop TOMORROW, and they all cost 350 ACs. Get ready to /hang ten!

Preparing for Planet Banzai!

The next installment of the J6 Saga releases tomorrow! You'll be heading to Planet Banzai to face the L.O.S.E.R.S: the League of Super Evil Rangers, and they are preparing for DESTRUCTION! (That seems to be a theme this week.)

Have a great day, and as you fall asleep tonight, dream a dream of thwarting DOOM!

June 11, 2012

J6 Saga, Summer Shop, and More News

Summer's crazy releases continue with J6!

Journey with J6 on an all-new adventure in space! In "Bountyhunter Banzai," you'll land on a planet destined for super-stardom... if it doesn't go supernova first! The LOSERs (that's League of Super Evil Rangers to you) have a Doomsday Rocket and they're ready to use it! You'll need to decide what path to take in order to stop them. Choose poorly and BOOM!

With space-tastic new gear, a MASSIVE new monster to battle (if you can unlock the fight), 3 new minigames, and new clues to lead you towards HAL's ultimate objective, this is one mission you won't want to fail!

Summer Shop Updates All Week Long!

Log in now to access the Summer Shop! It will only be around for a couple of weeks BUT will be updated today, Wednesday, AND Friday with new gear! All your favorite gear from previous Summers are back, including the Battle Swimwear and the Evil Professor Dolpho pet!

The Ignited One set!*

NEW this year are the items in the Ignited One set, the Fire Dancer set, and the NPC surfboards! The Fire Dancer Set releases in the Summer Shop on Wednesday along with 3 of the NPC surfboards. The others will release this Friday! NPCs being surfed this year are: Dage, Nulgath, J6, Samba, and Daimyo!**

* Note: the member-only Fists of Fire drop off last week's Xan boss.
** Last year's NPC surfboards are RARE and will not return.

The Fire Dancer Set by Jemini also features the Triple Torches of Fiery Death!

Don't Sell Your Investment Trinket Yet!!!!

DO NOT sell your Investment trinket yet! Both the non-member and the member-only AC Investment Trinkets will increase in price on Wednesday, so you'll get more ACs back than you paid for them. We will announce when the sell-back price increases here and on Twitter. The member-only trinket will sell-back for MORE than the non-member trinket!

Again, to repeat, do NOT sell back your investment trinkets yet! Wait until we announce the increased sell-back price!

Tier 2 of the Destiny/Necrotic Weapons Coming Soon!

Dage is hard at work on the art for the Tier 2 Destiny and Necrotic weapon sets. You'll see pictures popping up on Twitter throughout the week, and if Beleen has time, the quests to get them will release on Friday!

Issues with Last Week's Release Resolved!

Last week, the Alchemy Tradeskill released. There were some issues on Friday night, which included the merge shop not accepting potions for Academic Merits as well as the Enhancement system breaking. The Rep quests on Lim were also added.

One of the hardest things about programming is that if you fix one thing (like adding new code to the merge shop function), a seemingly unrelated thing (like the Enhancement system) breaks HORRIBLY! Thankfully Yorumi and Dumoose were right at hand to get fixes up and live.

CVS GameCards Now Available!

Have you got a Prescription for Destruction? No? Then head to your local CVS Pharmacy! CVS locations all across the United States now carry Artix Entertainment gamecards and until the end of June, the Rx for Destruction Axe unlocks when you redeem your Artix Points!

The CVS AE gamecards can be used for ANY of our games! When you redeem your card (follow the instructions on the back!), you'll get your Artix Points and automatically unlock the prize code with the same PIN number from the scratch-off card.

Artix Entertainment on the News!

Artix and the crew at the Secret Underground Lab were featured on local news station Channel 8! See what the Lab REALLY looks like when we're not all lurching down the hall pretending to be zombies. Check out Artix chair-surfing, Beleen's bouncy-ball chair, Cysero's feet, and my hair as we show some AQWorlds gameplay from Etherstorm!

Click the pic to watch the video! (May not play in all areas)

PS - Luckily the mountain of action figures did NOT come crashing down on Artix as he held Daimyo.

1 Year Membership Golden Package Next Week!

The Golden Plate from the original AdventureQuest has long been a player-favorite! Starting next week, when you purchase the 1 Year Golden Membership Package, you'll get the shiniest armor around in addition to some sweet extras (just like the Doom Starter package from a few months ago)!

Remember: AQWorlds membership gets you access to exclusive storylines, quests, gear, and gameplay perks!

Contest Winners Announced Later This Week!

Zhimaira and Beleen are hard at work this week judging the Artix vs Sepulchure/ZOMBIES!!! art contest! We anticipate announcing winners at some point this week. We'll keep you posted!

Mod Hunt Emails Going Out Soon!

This morning Reens said she was veeeeeeeeery close to sending out replies to moderator application emails! If you've already received yours, congratulations! She may still be sending out more in the coming days. We'll announce when all the prospective moderators have been emailed.

March 20, 2012

Magic Lesson #2

The more you know...

The more you can EXPLODE! (With your magic.) As The Magic Thief event draws closer, the AQW team is hard at work creating, crafting, and concocting all the components necessary to make this the most magically-massive guest author event ever!

To inspire all you mage and wizard-wannabe's out there, we're giving a lesson a day about the nature of Magic on Lore*! Up next is...

Drawing from Ley Lines and Nexuses:

The largest nexus is the core of the planet; it contains the most pure magic available, and is centered where the Verix overlaps the Horix. There is no mage strong enough to tap into this nexus, except perhaps Warlic or Cysero, and they will neither confirm or deny their ability to utilize it. Normal nexuses and ley lines can be tapped into and drawn from safely, in controlled amounts.

Artist rendition of the normally-invisible ley lines which criss-cross Lore.

As yet, no regular mage has been known to draw directly from the Core. Doing so would be like tapping a person’s heart to draw blood: the pressure of the flow of blood/magic escaping would be overwhelming.

The magician would be flooded with pure magic, overcome in a deluge of power which would burn through their physical, mental, and magical veins. Their stores of mana – magical will and stamina – would be destroyed.  They would be “burnt out” and lose the ability to perform magic... and their lives.

The Infinity Orb, one of Friday's rewards!

Severing another mage's connection to the ley lines IS possible, but dangerous. The potential for lashback - which would negatively affect the severing mage - is enormous. Most choose not to risk it.

* All magic lessons will be placed in Arcangrove's magical tome after the event is over.

Mid-Week Member Release Delayed!

Cysero's swamped with work, but that work isn't the mid-week member-only release. They will resume in the near future. In the meantime, why not send Cysero some ideas for where you'd like to see the next expansion take place? There are so many possibilities; pick your favorites and let him know!

Look fly like a J6 with HeroMart's newest t-shirt!

Head to Heromart, Artix Entertainment's real-life loot store and snag your very own J6-style shirt! These fly off the shelves faster than the speed of light, so if you want to look like a bounty hunter* as you battle through life, this is the shirt for you!

And any bounty hunter worth their guns wants to score the critical fashion hit they'll get when they equip the epic promotional rewards that come with purchase - the J6 Helmet and the J6 Cowboy Armor!

Send J6 to outerspace... he's almost there!

AQWorlds' lead artist, J6, is astronomically talented! So who better to be Artix Entertainment's ambassador to the galaxy? He has a chance to win a contest to go on the ultimate quest - into space! And YOU can help send him up there, where he belongs!

As of this writing, J6 has 24,949 votes! Keep it up and soon we may have an AQW artist who has seen the stars firsthand! Thank you ALL for helping him work to achieve his dream!

March 15, 2012

The Astronaut & The Leprechaun

Let's Get Rid Of J6

At least for a while. The Metro news group and SXC (Space Expedition Curacao) are currently running a contest and the winner will win a trip to SPACE!

We all want to send J6 where he belongs and if they let him bring a pencil we've asked him to do a drawing for us while he's up there. He would be the first video game developer to go into space and when he gets back we could give everyone this item that he creates while floating above the Earth!

We're asking EVERYONE to help and it's really easy.

1. Click on THIS LINK.
2. Click the little VOTE BUTTON that looks like this.
   
   

That's it! Right now it appears that he is in 2nd place (you can check how well "Send J6 Where He Belongs" is going right HERE). Feel free to post this on your FaceBook and Twitter and tell everyone that you know.

NOTE: You can vote once PER DAY so be sure to vote for him every day until the voting is closed!

I want to emphasize that this is NOT an in-game event. If we pull this off, it will happen IN REAL LIFE! The actual Lead Artist for AQW will be actually going into actual space!

Together, we can lift J6 up amongst the stars.

For around an hour.

EVOLVED LEPRECHAUN CLASS SKILL SET

Lucky Day arrives this weekend and the Shamrock Fair will be in town. The fair will have all the fun fair games and seasonal rares from last year plus a few new rares this year. We are also adding the new Evolved Leprechaun Class to the game.

Before I get into the skills, let me answer a few questions that are being asked about this class.

• Will this class be rare? It will be a SEASONAL RARE (but with no tag) so it will return every year, much like the Evolved Clawsuit Class.
  
  
• Do I have to have the original Leprechaun Class to get this class? No. For those of you who DID grab the original class back in 2009, it will make getting the new class much simpler but it's isn't necessary.
  
  
• How will I get the class? There are three ways that you will be able to get the class...
  
  
  1. You will be able to purchase the class for ACs from Mog O'Rahilly in the Shamrock Fair or from Itzachi in Battleon, but only until the Shamrock Fair closes.
     
     
  2. You will be able to EARN it with a combination of Golden Tickets earned from Fair games and some farming quests which Mog O'Rahilly will give you. It won't be easy but if you're dedicated then you will be able to earn the class before the Fair closes.
     
     
  3. If you already have the original Leprechaun class from back in 2009, you will be able to earn it much faster using special quests designed just for you long time players, rare collectors and class fans. Don't worry, the original will only unlock these easier farming quests for you... you will NOT have to trade in your original Leppy.
     
     
• What do I need to do to earn the class? If you want to earn the class, it should be fairly simple compared to the reputation classes but still pretty challenging to do before the Shamrock Fair closes. (it will be up until April 16th, more than a month from Friday)
  
  You will need 2000 Golden Tickets from fair games, 20 Rainbow Shards and 12 Lucky Clovers. the Shards and Clovers you will earn from farming quests that Mog O'Rahilly gives.
  
  You will be able to earn the Tickets and Shards as quickly as you want but the Lucky Clovers you will only be able to earn by doing daily quests. Most people will be able to earn 1 a day but people with the original Leprechaun will earn 3 a day. They will also be able to earn the Shards at a much faster rate.
  
  Remember that ANYONE can earn tickets twice as fast by buying the Lucky hat from the sprites outside the fair.

Now, let's talk about this new and improved Leprechaun.

The class will be using the Evolved Leprechaun Armor art because... duh.

Again, we tried something new with this class. First off, it's on a rogue mana regen model which means it gets mana from every hit that connects and every dodge that you pull off. You will also get healed a little if you dodge but you won't be dodging a lot so don't count on that.

This class is specially designed to work with LUCKY Enhancements which I sell from the bathtub in Yulgar's inn. Every point of luck that you have ads more to your critical rating AND your damage modifier

The last thing that you should know about this is that it is DESIGNED to get critical hits often (as someone lucky would do). It has fairly low survivability with no heal and only one solid damage mitigation skill, but it can deal a TON of damage in a very short time. The idea is to do as much damage as you can as fast as you can, before you die.

If you don't want to die, find a healer or get some potions.

It's not great for farming as it has no AoE skills, and it's pretty decent at soloing because of the damage output but it's a beast in PvP. Petrify or no petrify, smart Vindicators will be running from you.

Another really nice thing about this class is, due to the fact that it does large damage consistently, rather than HUGE burst DPS occasionally, it's like a piranha chewing relentlessly through your opponent. And like a piranha, the more of you there are, the more deadly you are.

AMAS

2 second cooldown

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers.

The idea is to raise your crit and since your AA is your fastest skill, THIS skill will be your damage dealer. Once you add all your Crit buffs, you should see 600, 700, 800, 1200, 700, 800, 1000 floating off your enemies every 2 seconds.

SOILSIGH

20 mana, 20 second cooldown

Instantly cause 50% weapon damage, also applies Keen to you which increases your Crit Damage by 5% for 12 seconds.

Notice that it is not your Crit CHANCE but your Crit DAMAGE that gets buffed here. That means higher damage crits at your normal rate which should be pretty high if you have Lucky enh slotted.

AMHARACH

10 mana, 12 second cooldown

Deals damage based on how much time is left on Keen (less time means more damage) and reduces all incoming damage by 40% for 6 seconds

Here is a nice damage skill, faithful to the original Leprechaun Class design with an added damage mitigation bonus. You will have to decide if you want the higher damage from attacking when Keen is about to wear off or the 40% Damage reduction. In my experience the damage reduction was more worth it by far but when it's your class, it will be your call.

Swing and a miss!

TRODAI

20 mana, 20 second cooldown

Deals moderate damage, Also applies Stalic for 12 seconds which causes all attacks to do 110% damage, increases Crit Chance and Crit Damage by an additional 7% each.

This is where things start to get crazy. Once again you have the ability to increase your Crit Damage but also your chance to crit by 7% each. On top of that, it's a decent attack. When you unlock this skill, the fun really starts.

GASTA & GEARAIGH

Rank 4 passives

Increase Haste by 10%

Increase Crit by 10%

Even more crit chance and this one doesn't fade, plus an overall haste buff which you will appreciate as this class has some LONG cooldowns.

SLANAITHEOIR

30 mana, 40 second cooldown

Increases LUCK stat, haste, dodge, Crit Chance and Crit Damage for 15 seconds.

Once more, calling back to the original Leprechaun Class but with more suitable effects. Remember that this is a LUCK based class which affects Crit chance as well as overall damage so increasing your LUCK serves 2 purposes. On top of that you get ANOTHER boost to Crit chance as well as Crit Damage, an increase to Haste and to Dodge. This is a serious buff.

EIRINN GO BRASCH

Rank 10 passive

Rarely, your astounding luck allows you to do QUADRUPLE damage on all crits for 10 seconds.

 By now you will be feeling the power of the crit. Now imagine 10 full seconds of 4X crits on top of the fact that you're critting 90% of the time AND already doing extra crit damage if you apply your buffs right!

Summary

I think you'll have a LOT of fun with this class. It might make going back to other classes a little dull after seeing all those big, tasty, orange crit numbers flying around. It's also only the second time that we've had a Luck based class in-game but a lot of people really like playing a lucky warrior build for the crits. You people will enjoy this especially.

281 days until Just Another Day