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? 

November 05, 2010

Chaos Lord Showdown

in addition to Player Suggestion Shop Update, AE’s 1^st ever Novel, Pumpkin Carving Winners announced, and quite possibly the longest Design Notes post that I have ever made.

I love Fridays! Once again, Artix and Cysero have entrusted me with tonight’s release while they are at ShadoCon in Tampa, Florida. Wahhaha >:D

Don’t worry, I haven’t had the time to change everything back to pink. …yet.

I hope you have equipped the necessary protective eyewear because this is going to be the longest, pinkest, and most uberly awesomely epic DN post to date!

A Cut Above the Rest: Onyx Starswords for 2^nd Upholders!

In case you missed it, or have been AFK for over a month, or just joining in the legendary AQW madness that you are now an accomplice to, 2^nd Upholders received their awesome badge and Onyx Starswords this past Wednesday!

Because of the support from our most dedicated players, this has been the best Birthday ever! We could not have gotten this far without you guys and gals! The entire AE team loves making games that you guys love to play—it’s almost like it’s our job or something =p So thank you all for your kindness and support, and we will continue doing our VERY best to make the very best games out there for you!    

Chaos Lord Ledgermayne

As a special THANK YOU to all our wonderful Members and 2^nd Upholders, you will be the FIRST to fight the Arcangrove Chaos Lord! (throwing you right into a heated Chaos boss battle is a great way to thank someone, right?)

You already survived the enchanting realm of Arcangrove and proved victorious throughout its perils. You pieced together the Supreme Arcane Staff and explored the Para-Elemental Plane of Magic, defeating the great Chaos Beast: the Mana Golem. So taking out Chaos Lord Ledgermayne should be a piece of cake…

Uh-hem, the cake is a LIE!

Chaos Lord Ledgermayne is waiting for YOU in the Para-Elemental Plane of Magic. And he…she…whatever-it-is is not too happy that you have foiled its plans of world domination thus far. A new boss mechanic will require you to pay close attention during the showdown if you hope to survive long enough.

Speak to Rayst in Arcangrove if you are ready to take on Chaos Lord Ledgermayne!

Items that are out of this World

If you are lucky enough to defeat the Chaos Lord, you might just be lucky enough to get his impressive item drops. Ledgermayne holds some of the coolest items that are out of this world. Literally. They’re from the para-element plane of magic. Not from this world ^___^

Here is a nice spoiler of the items that Ledgermayne has stored away under that big bulbous head of his: Astral Entity (seen above in their natural habitat), Wizard's Blessing & Dark Wizard's Disparage Staves, Ledgermayne Armor, Ledge Head, The Supreme Arcane Staff (a 1% Drop Rate!), Fragmented Astral Helm, Armored Astral Morph, and the Astral Runes Cape.

Best of luck to all of our Members and 2^nd Upholders! You guys are ganna need it.

New Items in the Player Suggestion Shop  

More items have been added to the Player Suggestion Shop inside Yulgar’s Inn! All of the items in this shop were inspired by our fellow players. We have some really talented artists out there. Did your item get picked? Check ‘em out!

• White Witch and Warlock Armor with matching hats, inspired by Redleafchannel  
• Demonic Devourer, inspired by Max Man58
• The Clockwork Scythe, inspired by Unleashed Rage
• Petrified Autumn Wood Polearm, inspired by Mennace
• HolloEnergy Blade, inspired by Hollo
• And the Sword Of Animus, inspired by Vampirel28

We truly have some amazing artists out there! We are so honored that we get to make YOUR own ideas into amazing AQW items!!

If you wanna see your item in game, head on over to the forums and submit them in our Suggestion Thread! You never know if your idea will be the next one seen in the Player Suggestion Shop!

The Dragon’s Secret

Our first full-length novel, The Dragon's Secret, has arrived at HeroMart!

Written by Lyra Trice Solis, a member of the AdventureQuest storyline team, The Dragon's Secret tells the tale of apprentice mage John Black who loses his entire family to a dragon onslaught and vows to get his revenge one way… or another.

Filled with dragons, dwarves, and some VERY dark magic, The Dragon's Secret puts you right in the middle of the Great Fire War in a brand new and exciting way! Special in-game items in AdventureQuest, DragonFable, MechQuest, and AdventureQuest Worlds are given to those who discover The Dragon’s Secret.

Get the exclusive Crystal Seed Runed Staff in AQW by using the special promo-code found inside the novel!

Pumpkin Carving Contest Winners!

The results are in! Pumpkin Contest Winners! The prizes have been awarded to the winners. Thanks for making this the BEST Carving Contest yet! Way to squash the competition!

Last Week of Mogloween—get your tricks and treats!

This is the FINAL week of Mogloween! If you haven’t already gotten your fill of the MASSIVE amount of Mogloweeny Seasonal Rares… now is your last chance. The fight with the Vampire Lord Incubus still rages on, so if you haven’t already confronted him yet, you just might want to do so since he drops some pretty impressive items!

If you missed last week’s musical mayhem event, One-Eyed Doll is still around for an encore. Jam out to the “You’re a Vampire” music video and make sure to get your hands on the OED Event Items while you can!

BIG BladeHaven Update!

BladeHaven is our newest game… AND NOW it’s available for EVERYONE!

It's got FIRST PERSON slashing action, achievements, terrified villagers, Jimmy The Eye... pretty much everything you'd want out of a single-player, first person slasher webgame! You will need a Battleon Master Account linked to your other game accounts if you want to join the newest game taking the internet over by brute force. If you get the "Mercenary Contract" item in BLADEHAVEN then you automatically receive the Non-Member Mercenary Gnome Pet in AQWorlds!

WOW!

I told you this was going to be a long one. But well worth it, right? Go forth my heroes and...

Battle On!