Design Notes

February 04, 2011

Tonight’s Release is live!

Celebrating the Chinese New Year and Super Bowl Sunday!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! That means “Happy New Year” in Chinese! Ai no Miko taught me it =D

So Gong Xi Fa Cai my friends! The time has come to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Akiba!

But it’s not like we can just sit back and party the night away. Thanks to an evil chaorrupted spirit known as the Nian, the Four Creatures of the World are in danger so there is no time to waste! The newly made-over Princess Ai no Miko is waiting for you in Akiba to help save these sacred creatures.

Each Creature—the Black Tortoise, White Tiger, Red Bird, and Blue Dragon—symbolizes the four directions, seasons, and elements of Lore. These Creatures are deeply rooted in the Chinese Mythology and we cannot let them succumb to the Nian! You must save them!

Miko will send you on 8 different quests in order to save the Four Creatures. But these quests are unlike any other you’ve been on. You will have to search the entire world of Lore in order to get the required items to forge the necessary Emblems to free each Creature’s spirit from the Nian. Only then will you be able to set their spirits free!

Ai no Miko also has a Seasonal Rare House Item and Merge Shop loaded with Chinese New Year items. Some items in here sell for gold… some sell for ACs… but most of them require intensive Item farming for their item requirements! You’re ganna have to get creative—and super lucky!—if you hope to get the coolest gear in the Shop!

There is even the Non-Member Chinese New Year Bunny Pet! Last year for Chinese New Year, we offered a very special non-member pet for AdventureCoins. It’s only fair to keep the same pricing as last year, so this year’s non-member AC pet is selling for only 300 AdventureCoins! 300 ACs is fairly easy to get, using the AExtras page (make sure you have a REAL but SECONDARY e-mail set up to avoid possible spam!) and even the basic 3 month membership comes with 1000 ACs standard =D

This adorable ball of fur will only be available during this Chinese New Year release for the Year of the Rabbit. The next Year of the Rabbit is 12 years away… so you can wait until then OR you can get your little Rabbit pet now ^___^ I wouldn’t miss this opportunity if I were you!

Ctrl+Alt+Del Event—extended ‘til Monday!

Speaking of opportunities… this is your last chance to play through the Winter-een-mas special event! Make sure you get all the Event Rare Items in the shop because they will NEVER be available again! The Event Rare shop will disappear forever this Monday, February 7^th but the Event itself will still be playable for upgraded Members after that.

SuperBowl Sunday… on Friday!

This Sunday is Super Bowl XLV! So we are celebrating in the only way we know how—with pigskin weapons, deadly pom-pom chakras, giant foam fingers, moglin referees, protective headgear, football armors, and cheerleader costumes!

/Cheer your favorite team to victory while showing your Super Bowl spirit! You can also play the classic minigame, Punt Twilly, and bring your team to victory (and a Moglin Punter Achievement to your Character Page) with a perfect score of 100 Yards!

Pet of the OMGFINALLY Month!

Calm down, calm down—we’re only a *few* months late on releasing the next Pet of the Month =p But thanks to the super-awesome Lodarazs, Aria has a new Panda Bear cub in her shop!

D’aaawwwww! It’s even got some bamboo in its mouth! But be careful—you know what they say about panda bears: they eat, shoots, and leafs. HA GET IT? ‘Cuz like, there’s this joke that goes something like… oh never mind…. It’s been a long week, my friends  ^____^    

Wow… now that’s A LOT going on in just one night! If tonight’s release doesn’t score a touchdown in your score book then I don’t know what else will! Everyone worked REALLY hard on this week's release so on behalf of the entire team... ENJOY! Or else!

Happy Chinese New Year and Battle On!

November 12, 2010

The Hollow Halls

“The corridors in HollowSoul are so big that people often get lost and die within its walls.” You will soon see why!

It’s Friday again! Man, this week has just flown on by. With the release of the Novel and Calendar pre-orders in HeroMart… along with the Toys R Us meetings… and finals coming up in college… and preparing for this week’s release… and playing BladeHaven nonstop… and preparing for the holiday season… and battling the Flu irl… it has been one hectic week!

First thing on the agenda: HAPPY BIRTHDAY J6!

Yes, our very own bounty hunter is leveling up in real life! If you see J6 in game, make sure you wish him a happy birthday. You could always deliver him a personal happy birthday wish inside the Hyperium! Well… if you can find it, that is.

Secondly: HollowSoul Castle Expanded!

Duke Ellington is waiting for you in the Hollow Halls. Only the bravest Members will have the opportunity of exploring HollowSoul… but your success of reaching the end is something no one can promise. These corridors are unlike anything you have ever encountered. For starters, it’s a new map so of course you haven’t seen it! =p

But more importantly, there is no “right” path since the halls will forever change no matter which direction you go. Yeah, it’s pretty aggravating especially if you are trying to test it out and Cysero is over in the corner LOL’ing his mutton chops off. Grrr >………<

There are 3 Keys hidden inside 3 secret Treasure Chests throughout the Hollow Halls. You will have to search each random hall for each treasure chest without first getting pwned by the VERY aggressive monsters inside. Yup, they are all set to aggro so don’t think for a second that you can just run through blindly and hope to find each treasure chest without taking out the baddies first.

More fun in store: even if you are in a group with your close buddies, you will still get lost. Duke Ellington said that people get lost and die within the castle’s walls… and this will prove true tonight. Until you Respawn, and then will have to start back at the beginning. WAHAHAA!

Even more fun: you can go to the Hollow Halls anytime you want, but if you haven’t already completed Duke’s Quests in the first HollowSoul Castle map, then you will get stuck in the Hollow Halls FOREVER.

So let’s say that you completed Duke’s original quests, found all the keys in the Hollow Halls, survived the onslaught of aggroing monsters, and reached “the end.” There is a Hollowsoul Lich waiting for you! If you defeat him and get his skull, you can turn it back into the Duke for a chance to get the Hollow Revenant Armor. This armor is pretty killer on its own, but is also a pre-requirement for something totally awesomesauce in Duke Ellington’s Merge Shop.   

Thirdadadly: Hollow Halls Merge Shop

Merge Shops are so much fun. Especially when the item requirements are crazy ridiculous! Duke Ellington has a new Merge Shop that has some killer items in it.

Every item in this shop requires more than 1 item turn in, either from the Hollow Halls, Hollowsoul Castle, or from other places in Lore. Happy Hunting!

Chaos Lord Ledgermayne—now available for everyone!

Last week the Members really showed Ledgehead who was boss. But tonight, everyone gets to bring the fight to the Arcangrove Chaos Lord!

Ledgermayne even has SIX more item drops in addition to his 9 original drops. So even if you have already defeated the Chaos Lord, you might wanna go back because he has something AMAZING you should check out…

OMGOMGOMG is that… woahh… what ARE THOSE? ...Mods? AhAH kidding. What you are looking at are the Atomosian Armaments and Academic Acoutrements… dual wielding “daggers” that are different items!

You can thank J6 for coming up with the necessary genius coding and Dage for making these awesome items! The merge shop in Hollow Halls has a similar item… and there *might* even be another one floating around in game somewhere… but that’s a secret.

So if you are caught up in the Arcangrove storyline, head on over to Rayst by the Tower of Magic and take the final fight to Chaos Lord Ledgermayne!

Pet ‘o the Month: Iron Rune Dragon

Look everyone—we remembered about the Pet of the Month! YAAAY! Since November is Month of the Dragon, Cysero made a VERY awesome Iron Run Dragon for you!

The Iron Rune Dragon is not actually a baby dragon but a dwarven construct shaped and given life deep within the Great Forge in Dwarfhold Keep. Or at least that’s what his item description says. This little guy will only be available for the month of November (and by ‘only’ I mean ‘probably, maybe, if we remember to take him out come December’) so make sure you get him while ya can!

I know there are A LOT of Dragon collectors out there… so don’t miss out on the Iron Rune Dragon!

Well folks, I think that might be it. I am very happy that I got to share all this with you (and flood your monitor screens with an absurd amount of pink).

Have a great weekend and Battle on!