Design Notes

December 18, 2012

2013 is Almost Here

Defeat Kezeroth for a New Year of Releases!

Sharpen your blades, hone your daggers, and polish your staves, because the battle against Kezeroth the World Ender and the Beast Quetzal draws closer! We must band together to fight, and we will NOT let our world end! We can't, because we've got a whole YEAR of epic releases coming in 2013!

We MUST win to begin 2013!

Here's SOME of what we're planning to release in AQWorlds next year:

• Aid the Lumina Votari in defeating the Nocturan Creed to ensure the sun rises for the New Year!
• The next Chaos Lord is gathering a lion’s share of Lore's free agents!
  The 11th Chaos zone begins in January!
• More tradeskills: spell-scribing and blacksmithing are still in development!
  
• Some of the locations you'll visit in 2013: Vileforge Cavern, Hawkstone Peak, Amberheart Falls (massive dungeon crawl!), the Battle Coliseum, and more!
• Guilds Phase 2 - customizable Guild Halls/Towns!
• A version of Drakath's Portal where you can see which of the Chaos Runes you've unlocked!
• Chaos Lords 12 and 13 have yet to reveal themselves... but you will learn their identities soon!
• Drakath waits before the Chaos Gate! Are YOU prepared for the final confrontation?

The Lumina Votari await you, Hero!

December 30, 2011

Time For New Year's

Chronomancy and Chaos!

Time is so predictable. It always goes from past to present to future. But when Drakath converts a Chronomancer to his cause, Chaos is going to disrupt the TimeStream!

Professor Iadoa - a renowned Chronomancer who has been flitting from between lines in the TimeStream for decades - has returned to his home era and is ready to turn Time upside-down and inside-out! To do that, he's got to stop it first, and the countdown ends this New Year's!

His SHUTDOWN sequence has been initiated. If you can't halt it and defeat Iadoa before the last seconds of the apparatus' countdown run out, Time as we know it will be destroyed!

And check out the totally timely rares in Lim's New Year's Shop and the New Year's House Shop for sweet seasonal and permanent rares which will show all your friends what an epic time you had!

Last Limited Quantity Shop of 2011 - 10AM Saturday!

Get your rear in gear, because Khuddar is here! That's right, it's the last LQS of 2011 and the goods he's got in store are going to go FAST! Featuring some of the most excellent equips and amazing accessories that we've produced yet, Khuddar's got items for every adventurer sold for gold or ACs.

We've got all the vital stats and critical info outlined in THIS post! And to make doubly, triply sure that you don't miss this super shop, here's a timezone converter so you know when YOUR time is OUR time!

Notes to Know!

Shift your eyeballs up a few lines and make sure you know what time the last Limited Quantity Shop of 2011 is. Frostvale, the Song of the Frozen Heart event, Beleen and Quibble are leaving NEXT Friday! We've also got the first Etherstorm Wastes release (they're going to be HOT!), the first new mid-week release of the Yaaaaarrr!, Frostval gifts will open and a not-so-surprise announcement all arriving at various points throughout next week!

December 28, 2011

What Time is It?

It's almost 2012 - Are you ready?!

2012 is the Year of Chaos, and we're starting the year off with a BANG! Literally! This Friday you'll meet Professor Iadoa (Professor Yana, anyone?), a famous Chronomancer who has been missing for decades. He should have stayed gone, though, because now that he's back... it's time for Chaos!

The New Year's ball frozen in place. All clocks have stopped.

If this were a normal New Year's release against a normal New Year's villain, we'd make jokes about the clock ticking down until the big boss battle, races against time, etc etc. But it's not a normal year, nor is the clock ticking down! The diabolical Professor Iadoa plans to stop Time to prevent the New Year from arriving.

Ok, so maybe it's got a FEW support beams left.
Safety first!

And if he manages to charge his SHUTDOWN* apparatus, you won't have a future as the savior of Lore - because the future will never come! With epic, temporally-relevant seasonal rares (previews later this week) in the shop and as drops, this Friday's event is sure to stop you - and Time?! - in your tracks!

* Steamfed Hourglass Unit: Temporal Device Originally Wall-mounted, Now freestanding. Acronyms FTW.

What Time is the Release?

Every Friday, we get dozens (or more!) of people asking "When it the release?!" and we always give the same answer: "As soon as it's ready!" You can see this illustrated on Cysero's Twitter profile, which tells players to expect it at "As Soon As It's Ready O'Clock!"

So to remind us that the clock is always ticking, but that the release will only ever be ready when it's done, the AQW room now proudly displays a clock that says exactly when the deadline is:

What time is the release, you ask? Now you know! /grin

Almost Time for the LQS!

And you'll want to make sure YOUR real-life clock hasn't stopped, because the last Limited Quanity Shop of 2011 starts this Saturday at 10am EST! (That's 10am server time.) For previews, prices, and quantities of all the rockin' rares coming to the shop, check out the LQS Design Notes post from yesterday!

And it's time for me to be heading out, too! Time to go make chocolate-dipped peanut brittle and wrap presents for Frostval #2, celebrated with family we didn't see over the weekend. Have a good night! And a note to remember for the future (if it comes!): Those who force time are pushed back by time; those who yield to time find time on their side.