Design Notes

February 04, 2023

Clickable Map Items Issue FIXED!

Server Issue is now fixed!

Thank you all for your patience as Captain Rhubarb looked into the issue that occured after the release earlier tonight.*

Investigating current server Issue

Captain Rhubarb is currently investigating the issue where heroes can't recieve map clickable items which is needed to complete their active quest.

* Unfortunately, if you were working on any active map clickable quest during this time, you'll have to re-accept the quest and gather the requirements once more.

February 03, 2023

Yokai New Year Returns

Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit in AQWorlds

Happy Lunar New Year, Heroes! This weekend, we're celebrating with Empress Miko in Akiba once again. She's got a special guest this year, Yue Huang, the Descendant of the Jade Rabbit. Log in and battle to unlock new reward gear, then revisit all our previous seasonal Akiba New Year bosses!

This weekend, log in and /join Akibacny. Talk to Miko to get the seasonal gear you may have missed out on before now and begin Yue Huang's quests to unlock all-new seasonal items in the /yokaihunt map.

Yokai New Year House Shop additions

• Year of the Rabbit scroll
• Year of the Rabbit fireworks

Yokai New Year Locations:

• /akiba - Classic Chunin Class
• /akibacny - Ai No Miko’s Merge
• /akibacny - Go 1 Screen Up 
• /dragonkoiz - Imperial Chunin Class
• /shadowfortress - DragonSoul Shinobi Class
• /yokaihunt - Yue's Design + Etokoun Merge shops

New Lunar New Year Gear

Battle the Elixir Etokoun to get reward drops + merge shop resources to create all-new gear and select accessories in Yue Huang's Designer Merge shop.  

Yue's Design Merge

• Lunarian Astromancer Armor + gear
• Oni Hatamoto Armor + gear
• Honored Oni Hatamoto Armor

Elixir Etokoun Drops

• Lunarian Astromancer Trainee armor, helms, and weapons
• Lunarian Asteroid Cape
• Lunarian Mochi Bunny pet
• Elixir Etokoun House Guard
• Elixir Etokoun Companion pet

Other Heroes AFKing Got You Down?

We've added the "No AFK" flag to several more maps to help your battle experience. In addition to the Ultra boss maps, the following will now automatically move players when they go /afk:

• /Bludrutbrawl 
• /VoidXyfrag
• /VoidNightbane
• /VoidFlibbi
• /DarkCarnax

Leaving Soon: mark your calendars

Don't miss out on your favorite limited time events, stories, and gear!

Friday, February 10th: 

• Nulgath 2023 collection chest + shop
• Friday the 13th rare gear
• Groundhorc's Day gear
• Holiday House shop in your game menu

Friday, February 17th: 

• Beleen's Pink Shop

Friday, February 24th: 

• Yokai New Year
• Hero's Heart Day seasonal events
• Lorebowl gear + /punt map
• Pancake Day gear

Daily Gift Schedule

Log in each day for a new server-wide reward item, boost, or drop rate increase. Bookmark this page to keep up to date with all of daily gifts! And don't miss the rest of this month's update. See the full release lineup here: AdventureQuest Worlds calendar.

February 03, 2023

Eternal Hero of Time Set

Upgrade to unlock the exclusive armor sets

Once upon another time, or perhaps in the near past or future, Chaos and the ShadowFlame infect your world. The Eternal Hero of Time is the key to unlocking salvation. Get the Eternal Hero of Time upgrade bonus pack when you buy any AdventureCoin or Membership package of $10 USD or more and unlock all 27 items plus a character page badge.

After you purchase an account upgrade, select a bonus set of your choice from a list of options in your Account Manager. 

Pack Details

 Choose the Eternal Hero of Time upgrade bonus to unlock all 3 armor sets: featuring Eternal Dragon, ShadowFlame, and Chaos themes. 

• 6 Armors
• 6 Helms
• 3 Capes
• 6 Daggers
• 3 Ground items
• 3 Pets
• 3 Polearms
• 3 Swords
• and a character page badge

Once you've chosen the Eternal Hero of Time on the Account Manager page, log in and find the set's shop in the Other Achievements tab in your Book of Lore. 

12000 AC or 12 month membership package rewards:

• ALL the Eternal Hero of Time gear
• 7 Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts 
• 10 Wheel of Doom Tickets (worth 2,000 ACs!)
• and a character page badge

Boosts and Doom Tickets will be added directly to your inventory.

2k and 5k AC or 1, 3, or 6 month membership package rewards:

• ALL the Eternal Hero of Time gear
• 5 Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts 
• and a character page badge

February 01, 2023

Tuesday Updates

February is already here... and I'm back at the lab!

Last week, I left for a delayed Christmas celebration with family. I stayed completely offline the entire trip (highly recommended). Since returning, have been laser-focused on checking in with the teams, getting caught up, and planning AQW's February / March game updates. Thank you to everyone for the "happy vacation" and "welcome back" wishes! Now... the catch-up work begins! 

And I'm trying a new method to get as much information out to as many players as possible. Rather than just replying to people on Twitter (or Discord, or in-game) I'm saving questions and answering them in blocks on the Design Notes. 

It's been a while since our last ultra boss? Are there any plans for a new one?

Why yes, yes there are! *Eyes the AdventureQuest Worlds March calendar* https://Artix.com/calendar

When is the next Void Aura / Legion Token / Dark Spirit Orbs (etc) Boost?

Glad you asked! The server + farming resource boosts are now available on the February Event Calendar at Artix.com/calendar. Daily Login Gift drops will be added tomorrow.

The calendar shows future updates?! 

Each November, I rough out the calendar for the upcoming year. Flexibility is built in (b/c real-life happens) but having a road map is vital. Since we have fixed dates like holidays, birthdays and other "must-have" events, we can see the shape of the future and plan accordingly.

Now that we've shifted over to the calendar at https://Artix.com/calendar, it will be easier to post those dates in advance. I just need to transfer what's in my spreadsheet to the site. :)

Are we missing any updates from the Nulgath Collection Chest? Like 0 AC versions of the member gold items?

The Nulgath collection chest is complete, and received its final update last week. 

The planned 0 AC versions of the member gold items should all be in the Nulgath collection chest. (Example: the member-gold Abaddon Annihilator Scythes have a 0 AC version in the chest). The battle pet in the chest will remain member-only.

But what about missing Frostval Gifting event rewards + Book of Lore badges?

There are several Frostval gifting additions (ex: pet quests for house items) I'll take care of now that I've returned from vacation.

Each tier's badge was added to the Book of Lore several weeks ago. You will only see the highest badge in the Book of Lore, due to how the achievements were awarded. 

Hornless Morph of the LQS Eternal Cosmic Dragon Set? Where?!

Sometimes artists on Twitter will show preview art that isn't sent in because their plans evolve, or because the art changes between WIP screenshots and the final form released in-game. The helms mentioned were not sent in, so weren't created. They can be added in the future, but there is no ETA.

Where can I submit storyline and single/two week release ideas?

Currently, we aren't accepting these ideas. But if that changes, the best place will be on the AQW Suggestions board on our forum.

When is the next 50% bonus acs?

No AC bonus planned for this month. We'll post when the next bonus begins once it gets closer. Keep an eye on the Design Notes for news.

Lots of Day X of asking for (thing)

My Twitter feed fills up pretty quickly, and I don't always have a lot of time to skim it and/or reply. Tweets like this come across pretty spammy, though I know that's not the intent (I hope O_O). To keep it as easy as possible to read my feed when time allows, I usually mute this type of tweet.

If you have a suggestion for an item, the best thing to do is post it on the AQW Suggestions board on our forum. 

Dage's Birthday Coming Soon: the AQW Art Forge is firing up again

Dage is getting the forge fired up to start this year's Legion set for the Birthday Collection in March. We're rallying all the AQW artists to begin crafting because...

Cylisse: February event scripts all approved

Cylisse, the AQW lead writer, says: All of February's scripts are set and approved! Now I'm rolling my sleeves up for March! That means, it's Dage time! There's a story I really want to write, and hopefully the pitch gets the Ok!
(Alina note: What a phenomenal script review call! Now.. on to DARKNESS. I am a huge fan of the first draft of the Dage event pitch... can't wait to see the final form!)

February 01, 2023

Obsidian Samurai Returns

Available every year from February 1st - 28th

February is a month of celebration... from ringing in the Yokai New Year to the SuperBowl /party all the way to Hero's Heart Day! To help ALL our heroes get in the spirit, this month's seasonal set features a new set straight out of Empress Miko's royal Yokai Court: the Obsidian Samurai.

Unlock the entire set: Buy pack on the website for $9.99 USD* then find all your gear in your Book of Lore badge shop.

Buy individual set items: Talk to Garek to get items from his shop in Battleon for AdventureCoins.

The Obsidian Samurai gear includes:

• Obsidian Samurai armor
• Samurai's Shadow Cape (glow is color-customizable)
• Obsidian Samurai Banners cape
• 2 battle helms
• 4 hair helms
• 5 weapons

* Unlocks an exclusive character page badge 

Seasonal Set Schedule

Each month, we'll feature a new set, available only during that month every year. 

January 31, 2023

Nulgath's 2023 Birthday Collection Update

Unlock 180+ rare items in Nulgath's Birthday Collection

Nulgath’s birthday celebration continues this weekend, and we want everyone to get in on the /party! For all you real-life rare hunters, the final update to the Nulgath 2023 Collection Chest is here! Log in now to find the newest additions to the Nulgath 2023 Collection Chest in Battleon, featuring Nulgath's DoomFiend set. Get all of the 2023 event rare gear (over 180 items) + a character page badge for 10,000 ACs.

This week we added:

• Enchanted Void + Nation Ritualist sets (color-customizable)*
• Nation Ritualist's Sigils + Chthonic Fiend Claws Gauntlets
• Chthonic Fiend Slayer set
• Parasitic NecroFiend set
• Parasitic Necro Nymph pet

Plus, find all of the gear released last week in the Nulgath's Collection Chest:

• DoomFiend of Nulgath (crafted for you by legendary artist, Nulgath)
• Abyssal Reaver set
• Nation Phalanx + Lancer sets
• Crystallized Void Vanguard set
• Immortal Void General set
• Revontheus Legacy, Fabled Legacy, and One-Winged sets
• NULLB0rg set
• Messenger + Samurai of Abbadon sets
• ShadowScythe Fiend of Nulgath set
• Phalanx, Nation, and Revontheus Legacy ground runes
• Plus additional pets, weapons and more!

If you buy the chest this week, the items from last week will be automatically included to your chest. You can also buy individual items from Nubble the Makai in Battleon.

*  Non color-customizable variants of this set will be available as reward farming gear in this week's release of the birthday story.

Just want a couple of the items listed above? Apart from the exclusive pets, all of the gear contained inside the Nulgath 2023 Collection chest will also be available to buy individually in Nubble's shop.

Read on for important information

A few important tips to remember:

• All of this year's event rare items will be available individually from the birthday rares shop in Battleon until February 24th, 2023.
• In order to prevent shop abuse, the Collection Chest pet and Badge Quest pet cannot be sold.

Nulgath's Seasonal Birthday Shop Returns

Find Nulgath's seasonal birthday shop is full of dark and deadly gear. These sets will return every year for his birthday, as our way of helping all his fans celebrate! Find the shop in your Game Menu until February 24th. 

Nulgath's seasonal Birthday Shop features:

• Forsaken Fiend armor set*
• Void Rebirth armor set
• Void Awakening armor set
• Shielded variants of both armors
• Nulgath's Bounty Hunter Drone Pet (with two quests)
• Nulgath's Birthday Gift Pet (with one quest)

*New armor set added this year.