Design Notes

August 27, 2012

News You Want To Know

We've got so much to share, one DN post isn't enough!

You think we would take it EASY when we only have 3 days to build the release, but here at the Lab we look at every challenge as a new opportunity to go beyond our limits! So here's the scoop what we've got coming this Friday during our chaotic Dragon*Con release!*

• Talk to Quibble to see his latest gear, Dragon-style in honor of Con!
•  Learn the secret mission of the Sisterhood of Dishpan Hands, Lore's foremost Order of Clerics!
• Epic Water-themed rewards will be yours if you help the Clerics! 
• Get the war meter to 100% by Friday, August 31st to win Dage's Paragon Set!

* Of COURSE we're going to roll live from Dragon*Con! What better place to release than from 47 stories up, looking down at a crowd of 60,000 people?!

Quibble's not Draggin' His Heels - NEW Dragon Gear!

Dragons don't much like Quibble - they say he smells disagreeable, and they don't want him near their hoards. But he DID manage to retrieve some never-before-seen-slightly used dragon-themed items from a side-future just in time for Dragon*Con!

Talk to him this Friday to grab your own pieces of the Unleashed Dragon Set!

• Unleashed Dragon Armor
• Unleashed Dragon Mask
• Unleashed Dragon Helmet
• Rage Unleashed Polearm
• Dual Dragonfang Daggers
• Dragon Scale Cape

Don't miss Solrac's set, and keep an eye out for previews of Dage's Draconic Barbarian set, too!

Secrets of the Sisterhood: Get ready to Fight Dirty!

Watching, waiting, seeking information... The Clerics of the Sisterhood of Dishpan Hands are quiet, helpful, and inconspicuous.

If you asked, they would extoll the virtues of purity and Order, cleanliness and the life-giving power of Water. But their inconspicuous presence masks a more important mission than anyone on Lore suspects - until now!

This weekend, travel to /clerictemple and speak with Cleric Dawn. The Sisters need YOUR help to push forward on a quest vital to the safety and security of every creature on Lore! She won't tell you ALL their secrets right away, but once you've gained her trust, you'll also learn the truth!

A Tidal Wave of Epic Water Rewards!

Be prepared to travel all across Lore gathering the data and surveying the potential trouble sites the Sisters direct you tot. Help them gain the knowledge they need and you'll be rewarded with a deluge of Water-themed rewards!

• HydraCaster Armor
• Tidal Breaker Armor
• Translucent Rose Cape
• Cleric's Aura Cape
• Seaworthy Scythes and Staves
• And more!

New Ballyhoo Promotion Begins Today!

If you haven't ment Ballyhoo yet, head to /battleontown and talk to the elf with the offers! Ballyhoo is the master of Promotions and Hoopla, and she's got a new offer for you.

All good Heroes should know the basics of How to Train Your Dragon... and now Ballyhoo has a new ad viewable through September 16th which will help you learn how to do that!

View her ad, then open the Magic Treasure Chest for a chance to gain either free AdventureCoins or gold! Players in the United States can view this ad up to 10 times a day!

Get Dage's War Meter to 100% by Friday for Paragon Set!

Fans of Dage the Evil and members of his Undead Legion have waited long and worked hard to earn his Paragon armor, helm, and cape! You are so close to owning a set of unparalleled, Evil armor... you just need to raise Dage's war meter to 100% by this Friday, August 31st!

The Paragon Set prices:

• Paragon Armor - 2,000 ACs
• Paragon Helm - 125 ACs
• Paragon Cape - 85 ACs

TRUE members of the Undead Legion can purchase the Paragon Set for Legion Tokens! Dage has not decided on the prices for the Legion Token version of the armor yet, but we'll announce them as soon as he has.

The 1000 AC price for Paragon Armor mentioned in previous Design Notes was only if Dage the Evil won the war. He did not win, but was convinced to release it if the meter hits 100% by Friday. The price is now 2,000 ACs. Sorry guys, that's the way the Evil cookie crumbles!

War Rewards: What Goes Rare and When!

We've mentioned this in previous Design Notes, but we get thousands of new players each month, and new news is better than old news, even if it's the same news. The war content going rare will be removed on September 4th, after the team returns from Dragon*Con.

The war rewards - Dage's Paragon and the Legacy of Nulgath sets - will be available until September 21st! You all battled so hard to earn them, we want to give you all extra time to squeeze in that last bit of farming before they're gone.

The following war content will STAY after the war ends:

• The Underworld map
• Underworld monsters
• Monster drops
• Underworld story-related cutscenes and cinematics
• The War Merge shops
• All of the items from the Token/Diamond shops will go rare except the Evolved Blademaster and Abyssal Priest of Nulgath armors!

The following war content will GO RARE after the war ends:

• The Dage and Nulgath Rares shops
• The Legion Token/Diamond farming quests
• The quests to get Dage and Nulgath's rare weapons
• All of the items from the Token/Diamond shops will go rare except the Evolved Blademaster and Abyssal Priest of Nulgath armors! 

Target and Matomy Promotion Reminders!

Don't forget: you need to redeem the Artix Entertainment gamecard from Target stores before August 31, 2012 to unlock the Bullseye Spear! The 2,000 AC version of the spear Valencia is selling will also be removed on August 31st.

You have until September 2, 2012 to complete at least one offer through our Matomy AExtras promotion. The grand prize is a combo pack of the black Artix and Sepulchure action figures! You can also win either 3,000 or 4,500 ACs!

Click here to begin participating in AExtras offers! (Make sure you have a separate email just for doing this.)

Retcons: changing the past to aid the future

Sometimes we have ideas in mind when writing the releases that make sense to us, but don't come across clearly to you guys. That happened with last week's Gravelyn release.

We'll be going back to it and changing some of the key details to indicate that it takes place AFTER the Doomwood II zone. This should clear up some confusion (and let us keep the easter egg in Drakath's opening scene).

Power Gems Issues? Read Here!

Some of you are still having issues receiving your newsletter. Please remember the steps to check, and there is now a Help Page FAQ dedicated to these kinds of email-related errors.

Here is how to get Power Gems:

• Make sure your AQWorlds Game Account has a Confirmed Email.
• Every week, check your AQWorlds Newsletter delivered to your email inbox.
• Click the special link that you will find in the Newsletters.
• If you're having issues with your email or receiving newsletters, please see this Email Help Page for more assistance!

August 20, 2012

Gravelyn Grows Impatient

Shadows are stirring inside the Empress' Fortress!

With Chaos on the move and the Alliance not advancing in their crusade to overcome it, Empress Gravelyn is growing impatient. She needs to move, and soon! This Friday, you will be summoned to her throne room in /Shadowfall.

She'll send you on quests into the heart of her Fortess AND through the rest of Lore to prove your allegiance! (... or to see why Good is ineffective! Will you remain true to your King?)

Rob strangers to finance your Empress, save strangers to prove to the Empress that a Good alignment is the right choice... and watch as Gravelyn begins the journey to reclaim her throne in the eyes of ALL Lore!

This week's rewards will come in three styles: Evil, Good, (and for those of you who just HAVE to be different) Chaos!

Quibble Update on Friday!

Time keeps on ticking into the future... and so do your rewards! Quibble's shop will be updated just in the nick of time this Friday with: Time Travel-themed gear! Look for more art previews later this week.

Power Gem Newsletter Info!

It sounds like a lot of you are looking forward to getting all of that shiny Power Gem gear that Twilly has in Battleon!

New features often come with bugs, and not all of them can be caught without a wide pool of testers. (That's you!) Here are some things to be aware of:

If you have a confirmed email but aren't receiving the newsletter:

The issue is most likely that your email provider blocked the individual message. (It might have been flagged as spam accidentally.) You can sign-up with new email and you'll start getting the newsletter again!

To make sure you DO get the newsletters, Captain Rhubarb is going to set up a "Send me a sample newsletter" link to make sure that you receive it. The next week, you'll get an actual newsletter with a Power Gem link!

If you get a message that the Game Database Server is unreachable:

You may be clicking an old link, or your email might not be confirmed. That just means the data you used was invalid. Make sure your email is confirmed and try again when the next newsletter reaches you.

If you get a newsletter which has code instead of a link:

Please post a screenshot on the forum showing that error. In the meantime, Megalops is going to look into what could be causing that.

Current Promotion Reminders!

Artix Gamecards are still in stock at US Target locations! Redeem your card before August 31st, 2012, to unlock the Bullseye Spear bonus item AND Artix Points! They can be used to purchase AQWorlds membership or Adventure Coins! 

Our AExtras offer with Matomy is still running! You have until September 2nd to complete at least one offer. The grand prize is a combo pack of the black Artix and Sepulchure action figures! You can also win either 3,000 or 4,500 ACs!

Click here to begin participating in AExtras offers! (Make sure you have a separate email just for doing this.)

Can you get to 100% for the Paragon Set?

Dage the Evil has been persuaded! If you can get his war meter to 100% before the release time on August 31st (while we're at Dragon*Con!), he will offer his Paragon Set for Adventure Coins once the goal is reached! How fast can you battle?!

He sees how hard his followers have battled through this war, and he wants to reward your valiant efforts! But don't think that because he's giving you a gift, that he is any less Evil...

Sword of the Legion Shop News!

The Sword of the Legion, a reward from The Stranger's quest in /evilwardage, will unlock a shop on Dage's NPC in the future! He's not sure what to put in there yet, so let him know on Twitter what you'd like to see!

Artix's Dragon*Con Update!

DragonCon takes place every year in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a weekend long convention (Recommended ages 15+) with 30,000+ attendees... most in amazing costumes. I guess it is really like a weekend long costume party with celebrity guests (walk of fame), panels featuring the casts of your favorite sci-fi/fantasy/etc TV shows, video games, art galleries, table top games, concerts, shopping and... well, check out the schedule on the DragonCon website. As mentioned in our previous post, the Artix Entertainment team will be attending in force again this year. We will be running a panel and a fan table!

Our artist Jemini (pictured above) has like 3 different costumes this year!

Come see us at DragonCon

• Artix Entertainment ALL GAMES Panel:  Saturday @ 5:30pm at the Hilton in Grand Salon E! 
• Fan Table: We are taking turns running it all weekend. Located... um... wherever all the cool fan tables are.

3rd Birthday Event almost over!

If you haven't played our 3rd birthday extravaganza with guest stars They Might Be Giants yet, then /join collection today! You will only be able to access this event until October 12th, 2012, when we launch our 4th birthday/wedding event!

Play through The Collector event to unlock:

• TWO Character page and Book of Lore achievements!
• Token merge shops!
• Vindicator of They set!
  
• Super-Fan Swag Merge Shop!
• It Might Be A House Item Shop!
• And TWO ALL-NEW TMBG song written JUST for AQWorlds!

August 15, 2012

Dage vs Nulgath War

The war is almost over... the rewards almost here!

In the biggest, EVILLEST war AQWorlds has ever seen... we're about to see a WINNER! Nulgath's Abyssal Army has the war meter at 91% while Dage's Undead Legion has reached 54%. The mercenaries fight for BOTH sides... and can switch at any time. Will the current front-runner remain in first place? YOU decide!

And your rewards will be...

Should he win, Nulgath offers the color-custom Legacy of Nulgath set to all those who have fought for him during this clash of Evil Commanders! To claim the entire set you will need: 50 Diamonds of Nulgath and 50,000 gold! The set is non-member, so all of Nulgath's loyal followers can show their allegiance.

Legacy of Nulgath Set

Should Dage win, he offers the legendary Paragon Set! For many years, his warriors have fought to possess this epic gear. What will become of it if he loses?! If you don't want to find out, then /join evilwardage and BATTLE ON! If he is victorious, the Paragon Set will sell for 1,000 Adventure Coins so that his most loyal followers can show their allegiance.

Dage's Paragon Set!

Dark Caster Class Requirements!

If you are one of the lucky few who held on to your Dark Caster armor, then you've got a fun time coming! To unlock the Class this Friday, you'll need to visit Dage and undertake a perilous quest! ONLY those who possess the original Dark Caster armor will be able to go on this VERY difficult adventure, but the reward will be the epic Dark Caster Class!

Face the Dragon of Time this Friday!

You cannot fight the Dragon of Time because his death allowed you - and your world - to live! But you CAN learn what he sacrificed to allow you to be! This week, gain the trust of Vaxt Ahas, the Unending, the universe-snake which inhabits the Time Void. Prove your worth and show that you have what it takes to walk amongst the Ages.

Eternal Dragon of Time

If you have what it takes, then you will see how Galanoth came to slay the Dragon of Time - what took place before the battle and how its death created the AQWorlds you know today! 

Quibble Coinbiter is almost here! 

Don't forget to stop by Quibble Coinbiter's shop in Battleon this Friday! His chest is chock-full of gear taken from your past, present, and future... all contained within our current Chaos zone, The Span! You'll be able to purchase these sweet member-only pets and much more!

Twig wif a Fwish and the Gween Pet!

Artix Cards at Target!

Head to your local Target store, because Artix Gamecards are in stock! Redeem your Artix Gamecard before August 31st, 2012, to unlock the Bullseye Spear bonus item AND Artix Points! They can be used to purchase AQWorlds membership or Adventure Coins!*

Ready... aim... SLAY!

If you don't have a Target store nearby, you can ALSO pick up the Bullseye Spear at Valencia's AC shop in /battleontown for 2,000 ACs! Valencia will only keep the Spear in stock while the promotional item is available at Target!

* Follow the steps listed here to unlock your Bullseye Spear. Just look for the Bullseye achievement in your Book of Lore instead of the Flamestop.

Coming Soon in AQWorlds!

• Gravelyn takes control! With an entire army of Undead and Evil followers, no self-respecting Empress sits around and just... waits. Next Friday, return to Shadowfall to help Gravelyn use Evil to bring Order out of Chaos!
• The Sisterhood of the Dishpan Hands has many secrets! Do YOU know why these helpful clerics are stationed around Lore? What are they waiting... and watching... for? Journey to their Temple to learn more!
• J6's in-game wedding event! (Anyone like cake?)
• Alina and Rolith's in-game wedding event/AQWorlds 4th birthday! (The power of Love!)
• More Chaos! More Chaorruption! More... EVERYTHING!

August 24, 2010

Expect More Play

and Pay Less at Target!

So I was shopping for my Back-to-School supplies at my favorite Target store today… and lookie what I found!

WOOAAAH! AdventureQuest Worlds Upgrade cards ON SALE for only 16.96?!!? Am I reading that correctly? …Is this some sort of trick? Has the massive amounts of pink text damaged my eyes beyond repair?!

Actually, it is a proven fact that the color ‘pink’ cannot cause blindness. THUS! This is not a typo, nor is it a trap, and Target Stores nationwide really are having this awesome 15% Off Sale going on right now!

From now until Saturday, August 28, you can get your AdventureQuest Worlds Upgrade card—a $19.95 value—for only $16.96 at a Target store near you! That’s where I found this sweet deal, and that’s where I took that sweet picture up there ^____^

And just remember: Expect More when you’re a Member… and Pay Less for your Upgrade at any Target store nationwide! Thanks for helping support the team! You guys and gals rule =D