Design Notes

September 23, 2015

History of the AQWorlds Upholders

Seven Years of AQWorlds Most Legendary Members Revisited!

Seven years ago, AdventureQuest Worlds went live and players jumped at the chance to become the first Members of AQW. These lucky, early supporters of the game became the game's Founders. Every October after that, we hold the Upholder promotion - anyone upgrading their account during that period (or whose membership ends after November 1st of that year) becomes an Upholder... making them one of our most Legendary supporters. 

AdventureQuest Worlds would not be what it is today without their support. This is their story!

2009: 1st Upholders

Starsword: Golden Starsword
Highlights: The FIRST-ever Upholders, were able to buy Upholder with membership or AdventureCoins
Stats: 40,906 Heroes still have a Golden Starsword

2010: 2nd Upholders

Starsword: Onyx Starsword
Highlights: Survived the Mystery of the Disappearing Upholder Badges... but survived unscathed, and everyone had their badges awarded over the weekend!
Stats: 48,109 Heroes still have an Onyx Starsword

2011: 3rd Upholders

Starsword: Platinum Starsword
Highlights: Had an agonizing month-long wait for their starswords BUT got to unlock the mega-awesome rep quests from the They Might be Giants birthday event while they waited!
Stats: 48,663 Heroes still have a Platinum Starsword

2012: 4th Upholders

Starsword: Chaos and Chaorrupted Starswords
Highlights: The first year to get TWO Starswords... because we love to give you MORE than what you expect!
Stats: 44,615 Heroes still have one of the Chaos Starswords

2013: 5th Upholders

Starsword: Galactic, Chrono, and Legion Starswords
Highlights: Lucky 5th Upholders got THREE starswords -- there were so many good ideas from the community, we picked multiple starswords! Plus, we added "Upholder shops" into the Book of Lore so Upholders could regain their starswords if they'd sold or lost them in the past. 
Stats: 55,794 Heroes still have a Galactic, Chrono, or Legion Starsword 
(With 3 starswords adding to their total, the 5th Upholder starswords win the "Most Widely Used Starswords" award!)

2014: 6th Upholders

Starsword: Doom and Brilliant Starswords
Highlights: This year we introduced the Sentinel CLASS exclusively for Upholder and Founders - because they are always on guard against Choaos, the Queen of Monsters, and any other threat!
Stats: 37,033 Heroes still have a Doom or Brilliant Starsword

2015: 7th Upholders

Starsword: Paragon and Mechanical
Highlights: Upholders and Founders get an entire zone in Dragonroad dedicated JUST to them in this week's "Starsword: The Legend Beginz" release! 
Stats: 0 Heroes still have a Paragon or Mechanical Starsword... YET!  But many of you are already 7th Upholders and will automatically unlock these when you lock in on October 1st!

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. When we say we make our games for and with you guys, and that your support goes directly back into developing the game - we mean it!

That's why we continue to reward the AQWorlds' Founders, who supported us in the very beginning. It's why we strive to continually add value to memberships for AQWorlds Legends and Upholders - to make sure our members know how much we appreciate them!

Upholder Starswords 2009 - 2015

We are the story-tellers, and the adventure makers. We create the realities we want to live in, and play through. That is the history of the Upholders SO FAR... will you join us in writing the NEXT chapter of the AdventureQuest Worlds upholders? 

May 30, 2012

DeathKnight Class Breakdown

(Pre-translated From Zombie For Your Convenience)
Death Is Upon You

Friday we are introducing the DeathKnight Class for Members only from the Doomwood Reputation Shops for Rank 10 or from Itzachi in Battleon for 2000 ACs.

DeathKnight Class Art, Work-In-Progress from Aranx

DEATHKNIGHT CLASS SKILL SET

The origins of Deathknights are shrouded in mystery. Some say that these undead warriors were pulled from the cold earth by wicked necromancy to answer the threat of the paladins. Some say that a fallen paladin threw off the chill of the grave and pulled himself back to life to lead an eternal perversion of the noble Paladin Order.

Whatever their origins, they are walking death. Not allied to Darkness or even Evil like the DoomKnights... these creatures are simply walking death and opposed to all of the warmth and joy that Life provides.

This is a melee warrior type class so you will want Fighter Enhancements. Only the last skill is magical, so you MAY want to try Hybrid or a Luck build for PvP but mostly you just want strength. The class is built around a LOT of Damage Over Time (DoT) skills. Yorumi wrote an all new mana regen model just for this class which returns mana to you every time you hit an enemy AND every time a DoT ticks off damage on your foe. Some of the skills can be a little costly but if you keep the DoT damage flowing off your target than you will be able to handle it with ease.

It takes a little finesse to use the class to its maximum potential but we have a pretty high opinion of out Members so we're not worried.

AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers.

CHILLING STRIKE

5 mana, 5 second cooldown

The chill of death seeps into your foe. Death's Chill causes more damage over time for each stack of this skill. Stacks up to 5 times.

You will notice that this skill doesn't do any damage on it's own. It's not actually an attack, it just applies Death's Chill up to 5 times and each time you stack it, the DoT from the skill gets a little stronger. Considering that this skill affects every other usable skill, do not underestimate its importance. Plus, the DoT gives you Mana...

FROSTFANG

15 mana, 8 second cooldown

This moderate strike causes Frostbite, a damage over time effect that also slows your foe's attack speed. Enemy haste reduced more with more stacks of Death's Chill.

This skill IS an attack PLUS it has a DoT AND it slows your foe down. Your target's haste will get debuffed more with more stacks of Death's Chill but it will consume all the stacks of Death's Chill so you will want to reapply them quickly. Plus, the DoT gives you Mana...

DEATHGRIP

25 mana, 18 second cooldown

A powerful strike that causes Deathgrip. Your foe feels the life slowly crushed out of them causing damage over time and reducing their damage. Enemy damage reduced more with more stacks of Death's Chill. Has a small chance to cause a 6 second stun.

This skill is also an attack, a strong one, PLUS it applies yet another DoT AND it applies a fairly strong damage debuff to your foe which gets stronger with more stacks of Death's Chill AND ALSO it has a small chance to stun your opponent for 6 seconds which is just the cherry on top of this skill. It's expensive and the cooldown is pretty long but it's worth it. Plus, the DoT gives you Mana...

DEATH'S MIGHT & RUTHLESS

Rank 4 passives

Increase STR STAT by 12%

Increase CRIT CHANCE by 12%

More damage and more chance to crit. Since it's a Member Class you get a full 12% of both.

DEATH SHROUD

30 mana, 20 second cooldown

You tap into the power of Death to pull your form back together. Causes you to heal over time, and significantly increases your damage resistance, but also slows your attack speed and reduces your damage output and crit chance while you are regenerating. Amount healed increases with stacks of Death's Chill.

Here is your "turtle heal". You cast a Heal Over Time (HoT) on yourself, and cut all damage you take by a very large amount, but everything has a price. You will also nerf your outgoing damage and lower your own crit % while the heal is in effect. Basiclly, you take yourself out of the fight for a few seconds to regenerate.

The heal also gets stronger with stacks of Death's Chill but like the other skills this one also eats the entire stack so you really have to decide where and when to use your stacks. The skill is very expensive and has a very slow cooldown but it's very useful. At level 45 with full level Fighter Enh I was healing for about 150 a tick, and with a full stack of Death's Chill I was seeing upwards of 400 a tick!

FINAL WORD

Rank 10 passive

Rarely, a frozen wave explodes out of you smiting your foe with all of the finality of death itself.

At rank 10, you suddenly gain a power that goes off randomly, costs no mana and does MASSIVE damage to a single target. You've seen this skill before but with a totally single target class like this it's really the best place for it.

And there it is... DeathKnight Class. Aranx said that after the armor he will probably have time for some matching set pieces (Helm, weapon and/or cape) which will also go into DoomWood Rep at Rank 10 and also be for you Members Only.

Don't Forget...

There's lots to remember this week

• Zhimaira’s "Artix vs Sepulchure" / "Zombies!" Art Contest ends this Thursday, May 31st! Make sure to post your entries here.
• The Zombie Caesar armor limited time shop leaves tonight!
• ShadowScythe Mousepads go on same Friday on HeroMart.Com
• Plenty of Artix & Sepulchure Toys left at HeroMart but we mail out more and more every day and sooner or later these real life limited quantity rares will be gone for good. 
• Quibble gets an item buff this Friday with the Rare Zombie Quibble Bank Pet and more!

204 days until Just Another Day

March 26, 2012

Poison, Member Class, LQS!

Poison: Good or Evil?

Death. Life. All contained within a single vial - the power of poison. To harm or heal, cure or kill... to be Good or Evil... all contained in a single drop. We all must make choices, and we must all grow into our decisions. Life is not black and white and, as we've seen, neither are alignments. Even the most toxic poison can sometimes cure*.

Lion lion, metal-bright, will we
do what you think is right?

Return to the Potionmaker storyline this Friday as Alina decides whether to remain passively making potions or take up her poisoned blade to save a life... and change her future! To begin the Potionmaker storyline, head to Swordhaven castle and take a right when you reach the drawbridge. You'll find Alina with a tale to tell and potions to sell!

* That also means the most potent medicine can kill.

Mid-week Member-only release: BloodAncient Class!

We didn't think it could be done, but it looks like we WILL be able to release a member-only class during one of Cysero's mid-week releases! To that end, prepare yourselves for the BloodAncient Class! With skills like Draw Blood, Soul Grip, and Aspect of Mist, you'll find the battlefields left bloody in your wake!

You will be able to earn this Class just by playing this week's mid-week release in Darkovia OR by purchasing it from Itzachi in Battleon for Adventure Coins! (But ONLY members will be able to use ACs to buy the class.)

Limited Quantity Shop: Saturday, March 31st at 10 AM!

For epic rare items galore, you'll want to log in this Saturday at 10 AM EST, no foolin'! The Spring Limited Quantity Shop will feature awesome armors, wicked weapons, and amazing accessories from your favorite AQWorlds artists! Check out our first art preview from Solrac, Solrac's Legacy:

His legacy is Cyborg technology.

Watch the Design Notes for more art previews throughout the week, and make sure you know when the shop opens for YOU with this timezone converter!

I Can Haz Mod Contest!

Remember, the last I Can Haz Mod contest ends THIS FRIDAY, March 30! So if you haven't purchased your Last Golden Cheezburger from Cleric Joy in Battleon, hurry! The winner will be granted one selfless wish AND get to spend 2 hours with their favorite AQW dev or mod, AND get temporary modship (and all attendant privileges) for 2 hours!

Coming up!

• Look for a skill breakdown for Blood Ancient Class to come this week!
• Next week: Treasure Chest loot update!
• Next week: Suggestion Shop update!
• Next week: Grenwog returns!
• Artist Livestream Week! 1 AQW artist a day will stream live in-game to show how art for AQW is created!

January 30, 2012

Tradeskills are coming to AQW

Go Fish! ... No, really. Bring your poles!

That's right, we're introducing tradeskills into AQWorlds this year, and we're starting with Fishing!

BOOM! Fish Rain!

It's not a minigame... kind of. You'll be able to actually fish, but you'll be able to rank up 30 levels of your Fishing skill (and eventually skills like Blacksmithing, Potionmaking, scroll-scribing, etc), and receive different gear and items to earn at each of the ranks!

Ranks 1-10 of 30!

You'll also buy fishy-looking gear that will enhance your abilities! Members will gain access to extras like the Super-pole! (Catch 3x the fish in one cast!) And speaking of FISH... there's a whole school of different, tasty fishies to catch and cook up (once Cooking is introduced, that is)! There's also the possibility of the fish you catch being able to increase your HP, STR, or other stats at some point in the future!

Just wait until you catch the Jumbo Shrimp!

Look for this deliciously exciting release to be introduced February 17! Dumoose has been the angler-wrangler for this project and says that testing is going swimmingly! We've got ideas in mind for other tradeskills to introduce as the year goes on, each with their own member and AC bonuses, but what would YOU like to see? Let us know on Twitter and the forums!

This is the start of a whole new type of AQW gameplay, and we're looking forward to building the different skills up with you all to be as awesome as possible!

Earth Realm- get ready, rock-steady!

Rocks rumble and crystal shatters; the earth is unsteady and it's up to YOU to get Etherstorm's defenses in order before the world begins to break apart! Head inside the mystical, magical crystal realm which houses the Earth Realm's secrets! Battle crystallized elements as the earth fights back, but be careful... things could get rocky!

Desoloth is getting ready to launch an all-out attack and if your plans are not in place before he does, the elemental war he's planning will tear Draconic society - and all of Lore - apart!

Etherstorm's Quibble comes FRIDAY!

Lets not have any quibbling over this announcement, because the items Quibble Coinbiter - our favorite time-traveling salesmoglin - will bring are going to be fundamentally, elementally EPIC! Look for more previews of them as the week goes on! You'll find him in Battleon, shop open and shelves stocked, this Friday!

Member Mid-week release: Cornelis!

HEY MEMBERS! Are you ready for another mid-week member-only release? You are? GREAT! Because we've got one in the works for you, and it'll take place in the much-beloved, long-ago released Cornelis map in Chiral Valley! Things are going to get pretty twisted, and the residents there need YOUR help to straighten their lives out!

An AUS-ome holiday!

Thanks so much to Captain Sephira for the extra-special Aussie swag she sent to help us celebrate Augstralia Day! It arrived this morning and Cysero and I paraded through the halls of the Lab showing off all the sweet gear from a different hemisphere!

Beleen models our Aus-some gifts!

But the Australia cape (which looks great with my shirt today, coincidentally!) and flags were not all! We've received pins, a GIANT FOAM FINGER, and the wicked umbrella hats you see in the picture below! Beleen also trumpeted her excitement at the swag to the whole team when she blew on the Extra-Special Aussie NoiseMaker (tm)!

The foam finger points away from Australia.

Once again, thanks to Captain Sephira for the epic gear and rockin' letter! Happy belated Australia Day, everyone!

March 11, 2011

Tonight’s Lucky Release!

Irish you the best of luck =D

The luckiest day of the year is rapidly approaching… so we are celebrating Good Luck Day all week long! Adorn yourself in green leprechaun attire and wield shamrock blades while searching for the end of the rainbow. Legend says that a pot of gold resides at the end of every rainbow… but there is only one way to find out if it is true or not!

In addition to the Rainbow map making its highly anticipated return, Lore’s most fun fair is coming back to town! Join your friends at the Shamrock Fair and play 6 of our fun-filled minigames:

• Shamrock Smash: break-out style minigame where you reflect a ball off of Luckee's shamrock shield and bounce it into the sky to destroy bricks

• Smack a Sneevil: Smack ‘n Whack pesky Sneevils ‘til they don’t come back!

• Jackpot O’ Gold: Test your strength (and your luck) with this classic carnival game!

• Hedge Maze: Can you find the secret well in the middle of this massive maze?

• Clover Fields: Watch for the last shiny clover and pick it for the highest Ticket prize!

• Rainbow Run: Play a Sneevilchaun and collect as many Gold Coins as you can!

Each game offers Golden Tickets prize giveaways. And when you have collected enough, you can get your hands on some Lucky Prizes that are sure to make your friends green with envy. And green in appearance ^____^

But wait--there's a new feature we JUST added!

You can now share your high scores with your Facebook friends! Just click the Facebook Share button and start braggin' about how lucky AND skilled you are! =D

Prizes, Prizes, and More Prizes

There are A LOT of prizes to be won in the Shamrock Fair. 45 of them, in fact! You might have to head to the bank and throw some stuff in because you don’t want to miss out on getting these rockin’ Shamrock Fair Items!

All of these items in Mog O’Rahilly’s shop are Seasonal Rares… except one. Polistar made the Cloverfield Stalker Armor just for you, and it will be going permanently Rare once the event is over. This is the only item in this shop that is selling for ACs while all the others require Golden Ticket turn-ins.

Wanna earn 2x the amount of  Golden Tickets? You can purchase a Lucky Hat from the Fair-y Faeries in front of the Shamrock Fair to double your Golden Ticket payouts! 

But Beleen! I’m running low on ACs! Well don’t worry my friends; you’re in luck! You can use our AExtras special offers system to earn FREE AdventureCoins. Just click here to check it out. By completing each offer from our sponsors, you can win free ACs and get your hands on the Lucky Hat in no time!

A new face (and armor set) in Battleon

Ragnar has made his way to Battleon with the Asgardian Armor set! AQ Classic fans will recognize the armor that the Norse warrior is wearing. Only the greatest heroes will be able to buy the Asgardian Set from Ragnar along with all the other items from the upgrade shop.

Asguardians... and pancakes!

The only way you can get all this super sweet swag is by being a Member! If you have supported us by upgrading, then you can be one of the first to show off the Asgardian Armor set. Thank you for helping keep AQW alive and running, because without you wonderful guys and gals, none of this would be possible!!

J6’s Cousin is a Mad Green Inventor?!

J6’s cousin needs some help! David is a self proclaimed Mad Green Inventor and is on the hunt to “find his true self”…ermm, whatever that means. If you are looking to do some of the oddest, weirdest, and most difficult-est quests in all of AQW, head to the Frozen Northlands and /join David!

J6's cousin is a giant, too!

This is just one of those funny ha-ha additions we do around the game. It actually took a great deal of new functionality and I gatta give a hand to Yorumi for making it possible!

On behalf of the entire AQW Team, we hope you have uber amounts of fun during this special clover-filled release. We have NO idea how we managed to conjure up this HUGE of a release in 5 days… but we did have a lot of motivation and support from players like you! And a lot of luck, too. And coffee. Mmmm.

So Irish you and your pals the best of luck =D