Design Notes

February 27, 2015

Dage's Birthday Shop is Live!

Begin the darkest celebration of the year with Dage

Dage's birthday isn't until Monday, but we've decided to start celebrating early, and that means plenty of evil gear for heroes of every alignment! Log into Battleon this weekend and MORE to come next week! Talk to Dage to open his Birthday Shop. 

This weekend, you'll find:

• Legion DoomKnight Armor
• Legion DoomKnight Helm
• Legion DoomKnight Blade

These are NOT rare items, but will return each year for his birthday. There are two ways to get the gear this weekend: for ACs or, if you're a members of the Undead Legion, you can buy them with Legion Tokens. 

Dage's Birthday House Shop

The truly dark of heart will want to make their homes among the lost souls in the underworld, and now they can! The Legion Fortress was designed and created entirely by Dage for this birthday celebration!

Available right now:

• Legion Fortress house 
• Sitting Skeleton guards
• Legion Wall hanging
• Dage's Guards 

More Birthday Gear NEXT Week!

You've got the whole weekend to enjoy what's already released and to let the excitement build, because on Monday and next Friday, we've got even MORE of Dage's birthday gear heading your way!

• Legion DoomKnight Class
• Thanatos Paragon Pet (with quests for LTs and Thanatos armor set)
• the Undead Weaponscrafter house item (with quests for exclusive weapon rewards)
• MORE house items!

On Monday, the Legion DoomKnight CLASS will release for ACs, for Legion Tokens (plus some special merge items), and if you have the original Sepulchure's DoomKnight Armor, you'll be able to quest for the 0 AC set, too! 

Next Friday, the storyline release will take us back in time to when Dage was still Nulgath's apprentice. Battle through Nulgath's Underworld in "Dage the Evil: The First Betrayal!" 

And next week we'll also have a RARE armor that many of you have been waiting for these last 12 months. Let the excitement build as you battle through AQW this weekend!!

February 27, 2015

Pyrewatch Peak Invasion

The Watchtower has gone silent...

With the Firestorm Onslaught swarming into the area around Embersea, your blade and skill are needed for an escort mission to Pyrewatch Peak this Friday. When all communication with the tower guards is lost, ArchPyromancer Pyralis must investigate the disappearance of Embersea's latest shipment of medicine, and discover why they've gone silent!

• Battle the VERY aggressive Firestorm Invaders as they swarm over Pyrewatch Peak. 
• Fight your way into the heart of the watchtowre to bring aid to the sick.
• Discover WHY the Firestorm have attacked, and where they plan to strike next!

After you finish the storyline release, talk to Captain Asher to begin 2 farming quests and the Pyrewatch Peak Defender quest. Defeat 100 invaders in one sitting to unlock the Pyrewatch Defender Book of Lore achievement!

The Pyrewatch Armory is also open for you - all players can get the Pyrewatch Guard set, and Legends can bring home the Auric Leonine Archer gear. 8 weapons also drop from the monsters in Pyrewatch, so get in there and Battle On!

February 25, 2015

AQW Server Rewrite Update

Server Rewrite Progress Report: On Schedule

Alongside the weekly release updates and the other backend projects we're working on, Yorumi is making great progress on the server rewrite. He's currently working on porting over the stat system; that is on track to be done by this Friday.

Yorumi says:

"We're changing a fair bit about how stats in AQWorlds work. The modifications will make more sense both for gameplay and in an RPG sense. More stats (especially the secondary stats) will become useful; you'll want to use more than just LUK enhancements after we're through."

For example, mages will want to have INT and WIS, Warriors will want to focus on STR. Once we reach the PTR live-test (which is still several months away), we'll have a free PTR enhancements shop so you can try out all the different combinations.

Right now, we are less than a month away from the staff-only test of the new combat system. We are still on track for SRV 0.8 (the player live-test PTR) to begin in September. 

Server Rewrite Progress Chart

So that we all have a clear idea of where the server rewrite progress is at, we'll use server rewrite version numbering (SRV) and phases.

Phase 1: Porting the existing game over to proprietary server software (that we built ourselves. This is what Oversoul currently runs on).

• SRV 0 - research begins
• SRV 0.01 - server architecture meeting with Zhoom
• SRV 0.0015 - map and characters loading
• SRV 0.00175 - stat system
• SRV 0.02 - staff-only test of new combat system
• SRV 0.6 - full working Alpha stage
• SRV 0.8 - player live-test on PTR
• SRV 1.0 - full launch of Server Rewrite, Phase 1

Phase 2: Updating core game functionality on AQW 2.0. Phase 2 is where we're planning to make the changes you have all been asking for:

• the buyback shop*
• better PVP and guilds functionality 
• bank item previews 
• friends list syncing 
• adding rank 10 passives to new classes 
• cross-server/world chat 
• better anti-bot and reporting functionality and more. 

We cannot start adding in Phase 2 functionality until after Phase 1 is complete.

Update: Personal Buyback Shop

We've been getting a lot of questions about the personal buyback shop. The goal is to let players get back AC items they had sold or lost. The way we would do that is by reading your account history - the AC purchase log - and putting only those items into your personal buyback shop.

That means no rare items would be returning. You - and you alone - would regain access to only the items you had previously purchased. There will need to be restrictions on this so it cannot be abused, and we do not have finalized details on what items would be eligible, what price you would need to pay to buyback the items, or what kind of wait period would be required.

Because this functionality is so far out (we need to finish all of Phase 1 first), we've got plenty of time to plan the best way to meet the goals while addressing many of your concerns. We'll announce more details about this and other Phase 2 functionality additions as we get closer to the release date.

February 25, 2015

New Game Updates on Feb. 27

Dage's Birthday Shop The Dark Lord is leveling up! On Friday, harness Dage’s evilest & newest Items. And then... prepare yourself... because the Legion DoomKnight Class arrives Monday!
Coming Soon! ShadowFlame Dragon War War is on the horizon... are you ready for battle, soldier? Brandish your blade and prepare for the ShadowFlame Dragon War!
AQ DRAGONS fan art contest: happening now! Attention Dragon Masters! A new contest has started and we want YOU to create AQ DRAGONS fan art. Read more here!

February 24, 2015

Firestorm Onslaught

Warlord Tyndarius is Recruiting for the Scourge...

STORY TIME: Late one Friday night after a AQWorlds release, the team stayed and had serious discussions and story planning for the new continent. We choose to combine the element of Fire with the theme of the Spartans in 300. Instead of just creating some random monsters, we actually designed an army... detailing each of the roles within the Firestorm Onslaught's military.

Click for larger image

Tyndarius is the Warlord in charge, and his story is one of tragic sacrifice and conquest. To join his army... and please note, these are the villains, not the good side that you will be a part of when the story begins... you have to do something that no sane person should never, ever do.

Which Rank Would YOU Fill In His Army?

If you could join the Firestorm Onslaught (remember, these are the BAD guys!), which role would you choose?

• Scout: Locate the enemy and relay position and movement back to their commander
• Soldier: Main land combat force and backbone of the Onslaught
• Archer: Distract the enemy from cavalry movements by raining arrows down from afar
• Ranger: Deployed in small groups on very short notice to handle problems quickly and quietly
• Pikeman: Best method of stopping cavalry charges
• Knight: Protect the Warlord and engage the enemy in combat
• Tiger Cavalry: Battle while mounted on a trained Fyreborn Tiger to intimidate and destroy
• Corporal: Leads squads of soldiers into battle 
• Major: Commands a battalion, directing the battle
• Colonel: Commands a regiment of several battalions
• General: Directly below Warlord Tyndarius. The 7 Generals make up the Council of Conflagration.

Tell us your answer on Twitter (Artix and Alina), Facebook, Reddit, or the forum!

February 23, 2015

Next Monday: Dage's Birthday

Dage's Birthday Shop Opens This Friday!

Dage's birthday isn't until Sunday, but we've decided to start celebrating early, and that means plenty of evil gear for heroes of every alignment! Log into Battleon this weekend and talk to Dage to open his Birthday Shop. 

Available this Friday in the AC Rares shop:

• Legion DoomKnight Armor 
• Legion DoomKnight helms
• Underworld DoomBlade
• Dage's Underworld Fortress*
• House items, including the Underworld Blacksmith with quests for additional weapons
• And maybe some birthday surprises!

Additional gear, including the Legion DoomKnight Class, will be added to Dage's birthday shop on Monday, March 2nd.

* These are the first in-game backgrounds Dage has ever created - dark, deadly, and definitely the go-go home if you roll an Evil character.

Legion DoomKnight Class Details

Even DoomKnights have been known to swear, or been forced into, service to Dage the Evil. The humanity they once possessed has been wholly given over to Dage's Darkness and Doom itself.

The Legion Doomknight Class will release on Monday, March 2nd, and is a single-target hybrid. You'll want to use Strength or Int with this. In order of importance, stats are: 1)str, int 2)end, dex 3)wis 4)luck.

PvE battles (player versus environment):

With good survivability and reliable damage output, the class will be good for PvE. It has consistent, relentless damage as opposed to large spike damage crits. You won't be doing extra damage to other enemies with the way it is configured, you'll be doing bonus damage to your target, and receiving less damage from the target(but dealing and taking normal damage from other targets).

PvP (player versus player):

If you like going head to head against other players, you're in luck! This Class can stop your opponents from healing, and has a nice amount of chance to hit bonuses. It can also heal itself, which comes in handy during longer battles, and can get opponents from a distance.

Skills Preview

The skills below are not final, but we are getting SO many questions that we're releasing this preview early. (I am so glad you're all so excited!) Class designers are finalizing the numbers before testers start running them for balance. Entire skills may change before release based on what they find.

Auto Attack: Physical attack, cooldown lasting 2 seconds 

Touch Of Doom: You leave a mark of Doom upon your opponents soul which slowly but surely cripples them. Applies Touch of Doom to your opponent which stacks up to 5 times. Each stack of Touch of Doom increases the damage your opponent takes from you and decreases the amount of damage they deal to you.

Soulsplit: You assault your opponent's soul directly, taking some of their power to strengthen yourself and their life force to heal yourself. 

Shadow Step:  Immerse yourself in the Darkness of the Legion and Doom. Use the shadows to strike at your opponent unexpectedly, doing moderate magic damage. Applies Torment for 4 seconds.

Imminent Doom: Doom hastens and the Legion beckons. Strike for large damage and hasten your opponent's doom, dealing a temporary DoT. Also adds temporary Decay, preventing your opponent from healing.

Dage's Favour (Passive 1):  Increase attack damage. 

Strength of the Legion (Passive 2): Moderate boost to Crit chance, small boost to hit chance.

TBD Passive 3: Stat bonus still being determined

How to Get the Legion DoomKnight Class

There will be three ways to get the Legion DoomKnight Class (armor and accessories sold separately):

1. Buy with 2000 ACs to get it immediately
2. Farm for the Class if you have the Sepulchure's DoomKnight Armor** 
3. Farm for the Class if you are a member of the Undead Legion

Note: The original Sepulchure's DoomKnight Armor is not required to get the Legion DoomKnight Class. 

** If you are one of the only 1,004 heroes who has the armor, give yourself a pat on the back! SDKA will get a stat boost similar to Blinding Light of Destiny's this Friday!

February 23, 2015

Friday: Fire in the Sky

Battle to reach Pyrewatch Peak Tower!

With the Firestorm Onslaught swarming into the area around Embersea, your blade and skill are needed for an escort mission to Pyrewatch Peak this Friday.

When all communication with the tower guards is lost, ArchPyromancer Pyralis must investigate the disappearance of Embersea's latest shipment of medicine, and discover why they've gone silent!

Find new gear in the Embersea Rep shop plus the Leonine Archer armor in the Pyrewatch Loot Merge shop!

This week's other releases include:

• Dage's birthday begins early as we release the first of his shop gear
• Take down 100 Firestorm Guards to unlock the Pyrewatch Defender badge
• Watch the "Journey to Drakonus" cutscene in Northpointe

February 23, 2015

Server Defense and the White-Hats

New Server Improvements and Defense

Protecting our servers and making sure we aren't introducing any new vulnerabiities or exploits is one of the most IMPORTANT things we can do while rebuilding the server. And working with Zhoom, Captain Rhubarb and Yorumi to ensure that is our super-group of ex-hackers (aka "the whitehats").

What an AQW whitehat looks like.*

The White Hats: Ex-Hackers Who Help

Individually, some of these talented coders have been sending us exploit reports for over 5 years. These team members are using all the tricks, tools, and knowledge that ordinary hackers use to attack AQW, but the difference is... our whitehats are working alongside the devs to help PROTECT the game. That makes them part of the good guys, and we are lucky to have them on our side! 

• Their main role is to find exploits in AQW and work with Yorumi to test patches to remove them
• They are not moderators and cannot affect or access your account (so do not get mad when they don't ban people!)
• They are official members of the team, but will never ask for your account password (no AE team members ever will!)

Since the server rewrite project started, the white hats main goal is to find exploits during testing and work with Yorumi to patch them BEFORE we release the new servers to you!

Artix Entertainment: The Good Guys

Artix often says that in the real world, he's a lot like Artix the Paladin NPC. He's a genuine, real-life good guy, and that's the way Artix Entertainment operates as a company. Though we have been battling hackers and private server creators for years, we would never "take revenge" through illegal or unethical means. 

That means we DO NOT:

• Lie 
• Cheat 
• Threaten 
• or attack the hackers/private server makers (via DDoS attacks or similar methods) 

And we would never ask any of our players or team members to do those things for us. Any action we have ever taken has always been through legal channels. That's what being a "good guy" means - operating aboveboard, doing the right thing in the right way. 

* The White Hat Helm is also available to other long-time exploit-reporting players (even if they are not part of the official AE white hat group) as our way of thanking them.

February 23, 2015

Moving Things Around

Vordred is cranky and Faith Moves!

From time to time we take a look at older maps and see what we can do to make them play a little more smoothly.  This week's job is to re-tool the /vordredboss map in order to get the shops opening in the right order!

It seems that Vordred is being difficult, so we need to take him down and give him a little bit of a lesson on how to play nice with others!  While /vordredboss is getting rebuilt, you can now get the Blinding Light of Destiny Handle from Arryd's Doomwood Challenge Shop... for a limited time only!

Faith has really made herself at home in /Northpointe, which is why she has disappeared from Battleon.  Fear not, Beastmasters, as her Beastmaster Shop and quests have made the trip to Northpointe!

In-game Event Leave Dates

• Tuesday, February 24th: Pancake Day leaves
• Friday, February 27th: Quibble*, Hero's Heart Day and Friday the 13th leave
• Monday, March 2nd: Chinese New Year and Carnaval leave

* Note: all gear tagged as "awesome" from Quibble's shop will return during the Firestorm Saga

February 20, 2015

Unlock Fyreborn Tigermaster

Fyreborn TigerMaster AC Tier Packages

Things are heating up in Embersea Isle as the Firestorm Onslaught begins its invasion of the Ring of Fires... and now YOU can get your gauntlets on the hottest mount armor yet: the Fyreborn TigerMaster! Starting this Friday, February 20th, at 6 PM server time, get your gauntlets on our first AC package of the year: the Fyreborn TigerMaster gear!

Fyreborn TigerMaster set comes with all 3 AC packages

We've got a lot of amazing gear coming up over the next couple months (Dage's birthday shop, Legion DoomKnight Class, Friday the 13th, and more), so if you need to restock your ACs, now's the time!*

Get all 23 items with a 12,000 AC package - 7 items exclusive to the 12k AC package plus every item included in the other two AC packages.

Dark Fyreborn TigerMaster set comes with 12k AC package

• 4 armors (Fyreborn TigerMaster, Dark Fyreborn TigerMaster, Dark Fyreborn Guard, and the Fyreborn Guard)
• 10 weapons
• 4 helms
• 2 capes
• 3 pets
• and the TigerMaster character page badge!

Get 13 items with a 5,000 AC package and dominate Lore from the back of a ferocious tiger!

• 2 armors (Fyreborn TigerMaster and the Bright Fyreborn Guard)
• 6 weapons
• 2 helms
• 1 cape
• 2 pets

Get 6 items with a 5,000 AC package and battle through Lore from the back of your own tamed tiger mount!

• 1 armors (Fyreborn TigerMaster)
• 1 weapon
• 2 helms
• 1 cape
• 1 pets

TigerMaster AC Rares Shop

Select items from the Fyreborn Tigermaster sets will also be available for individual purchase from your game menu.

Get More Gear When You Buy ACs

Until Friday, March 27th, when you buy any AC package worth $10 USD or more, you'll get even MORE gear: the Golden Gladiator and Draconic DoomKnight sets!

• Golden Gladiator set 
• AND the Draconic DoomKnight set

The Draconic DoomKnight AC bonus items leave permanently on Friday, March 27th and the Golden Gladiator bonus set leaves March 20th.

February 20, 2015

Embersea: Ring of Fires

This Friday, Begin the Defense of the Ring of Fires!

This Friday, journey to Embersea, once the jewel of the Firestorm Caldera, now the capital city of the newly-shattered Ring of Fire island chain. Speak with Warlord Kyron, former Captain of the Firestorm Guard, now in charge of halting the advance of the Firestorm Onslaught. 

He and the townspeople of Embersea prepare for war on TWO fronts as attacks from the Onslaught increase and a vicious plague rages… They need YOU to help defend Embersea Isle and the rest of their country, the Ring of Fire!

This weekend, /join embersea to battle to defend the city from the Living Lava, Pyroclash, Coal Creepers, Fyresyn, and Pyradons fleeing from the coming Firestorm Onslaught!

This weekend, you'll meet:

• Kyron: Warlord of Embersea and Reputation Vendor
• Skira: Water Temple Priestess and Potion Vendor
• Makhai: Feverfew Temple Guard and Gear Vendor
• Cernuous: Embersea Pet Shop Vendor
• Calleus: Repentant Hair Shop owner
• Fornax: Pyromancer, member of the Order of the Rising Phoenix

We're trying something NEW in Embersea: when you hit ranks 5 and 10 in Embersea Reputation, the NPCs text will change to offer more information and reflect your growing relationship with them.

February 20, 2015

Yokai New Year and Carnaval

Are You Ready To /Party?

Usually the end of the year is considered the holiday season, but February has just been FILLED with them - Valentine's Day, Friday the 13th, Pancake Day, and now... Chinese New Year and Carnaval! That means only one thing: the party continues!

This year, we're celebrating Chinese New Year and Carnaval in the same week, because bigger parties are better! So grab your beads, feathers, sparkly costumes, chinese lanters, and cheongams and get the celebration started! /join akibacny or /carnaval (or talk to Miko and Frevo in Battleon) to begin the adventure!

Don't Forget Your Party Clothes!

Can't go to Carnaval without a Samba costume! We have a ton of Carnaval gear to help you celebrate, including two gorgeous full sets for free players: Roroth's HarleQuint set and the voodoo-themed Samba costume pictured below...

It's Carnaval in Terra da Festa! P

Carnaval (or Carnival/Carnivale in other parts of the world) is the world's largest party. Every year more and more people from all over the globe celebrate this festival of fun and transformation but NOBODY does it like Brazil! It is a week-long party full of parades, food, fun and friends where your normal life is overturned and everyone generally goes nuts, and it's finally come to LORE!

Batista, one of our volunteers, translated the release!

In the town of Terra da Festa, the party is in full swing bringing you amazing party outfits inspired by those seen in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Some of out Brazilian players have complained that the previews of the outfits were not a revealing as the real deal, but we wanted to keep the game friendly for everyone so we had to tone them down a little. 

Members will find special bonus quests with special Member Only rewards, but there are shops and an AC Rares Shop and other quests for everyone to enjoy! In an AQW first, players from Brazil will find the ENTIRE release has been translates into their native tongue.

We've got SO MUCH for you in the permanent Carnaval map:

• Lots of Items, both Rare and permanent 
• Carnaval storyline
• Brazil Mythology Monsters
• Rio de Janeiro-inspired Map
• Day and Nighttime versions of Map
• New NPCs
• Carnaval music
• Cutscenes
• Member-only Quests
• Special surprises for Paymentez players
• Paymentez-exclusive Quests
• English and Portuguese translations, courtesy of Tendou no Mazo

We want to thank all of you for your support! Obrigado Pelo Seu Suporte Have fun and Happy Carnaval! 

Chinese New Year of the Sheep 2015!

This year you get a double dose of international celebration! On the other side of the planet in China, everyone is celebrating Chinese New Year . In /Akibacny the princess of Yokai Island,Ai No Miko, and the river dragon Panlong need your help once again.

In AQW it has become tradition that we sell a Non-Member AC pet to go with the theme of the Chinese New year. This year it's the Yokai Ram to honor the year of the sheep!  We are adding a few truly amazing Rare items that you will never see again in the Chinese New Year Shop too. Such as... Memet's Golden Yang set! 

You will also find a number of Member and Non-Member Seasonal Items returning to earn while Chinese New Years lasts! Happy New Year!

February 19, 2015

AQ3D Update!

AQ3D is evolving!

I've been asked to do a little recap of the recent additions to the AQW 3D (now simply being called the AQ3D) Tech Demo here on the good ol' AQW Design Notes. 

If you've tried the Tech Demo for yourself recently then you probably know most of this already but if you haven't then here's what you've missed. 

1. We have added Battleon. 

You can only go into one of the buildings (The Inn), but it's still beautiful and a lot of fun to run around. You can battle trolluks, see where you can climb and chat with everyone. 

2. Zhoom was kind enough to add the single most requested feature of the tech demo so far... the ability to jump! 

The very minute that jumping was added, people began hopping up on things and making up their own parkour obstacle courses. 

3. We added an obstacle course. We wanted to give all these jumping beans something to jump on so Zhoom and Xero whipped up a quickie obstacle course that is pretty fun. 

If you win, there's no way out so you actually have to refresh your browser and log back but its still fun to see how fast you can do it. I made a short video of me running the course which you can see below. Can you beat my time?

4. As of today Zhoom is starting to test out new items! Every time you log in your color will be randomized as usual but you might also have a helm, shoulder pauldrons, gloves, a different weapon or maybe just a different hairstyle. 

If you haven't gotten the chance to try the Tech Demo out, now is a great time to jump in. There are a LOT of bugs and not much is funnier than a pre-alpha, bugtastic version of a game. 

AQ.COM/TechDemo

Remember that this is only a TECH DEMO, it's before Beta, it's before Alpha. The game will only keep growing and adding things. If you have questions about the Tech Demo, I made a short FAQ about it which you can read HERE.  See you in Battleon! 

February 19, 2015

Wiki Maintenance: Feb. 23rd

Wiki will be available for normal use

The official AQWorlds wiki is going to be undergoing maintenance from Monday Feb. 23rd at 12am EST to Tuesday Feb. 24th at 11:59pm EST. During this time, wiki members will not be able to create or edit wiki pages.

Anyone using the wiki to find information should still be able to view wiki pages, use the search bar, etc. Joining the wiki is also still going to be accessible.

Thank you for understanding, and we apologize for any inconveniences this may cause. If you have any other questions, you can always send message to Rickyb20 and the rest of the Wiki team on Twitter!

February 18, 2015

72 Hour Heart Slasher Hunt

Take On Nastasia for a Rare Reward!

Every night in your dreams, you see her, you slay her, but the battle always goes on! True love may be forever, but Nastasia's won't BE here forever! You'll only be able to get the Heart Slasher or Noxious Heart Slasher blades from Nastasia in /necromance for the next 72 hours! So why not grab your favorite battle companion, gear up, and start slaying? 

Take the NecRomancer DOWN!

Show the one you love your battle prowess... or /party all night long with your friends as you slash your way to one of these 0AC perma-rare blades!

These blades will only be around for 72 hours, and both the Hero's Heart Day AND Friday the 13th events will leave next Friday, February 27th*! 

NOTE 2: if you want a really good screenshot of your new gear (or want to send your true love a picture of your AQWorlds character, /join pinkmap for a heart-warming screenshot background!

* All Friday the 13th maps will remain open to Legends (except for the rare gear)

February 18, 2015

New DRAGONS Game Update!

Introducing Leaderboards and the Exclusive Cookie Clicker Dragon

Have you played Artix’s newest mobile game, AdventureQuest DRAGONS?

If you haven’t… now is the best time to do so! Because the easy-to-pick-up and hard-to-put-down DRAGONS game was just updated with global leaderboards and the exclusive Cookie Clicker dragon, “Krumblor.”

Download the free app at
www.AQDRAGONS.com 

Fast fact time GO GO GO!

• Over 5,000 shining reviews on Google Play!
• Sharing AdventureQuest DRAGONS with 5 friends gets you the Cookie Dragon
• Introducing Leaderboards... with all bugs squashed!
• DRAGONS Fan Art Contest starting soon
• Web version of AQ DRAGONS hatching soon-ish

Do you have what it takes to become the best Dragon Master? Then prove it at www.AQDRAGONS.com!

February 17, 2015

Journey to Embersea Isle

This Friday, Begin the Defense of the Ring of Fires!

This Friday, journey to Embersea, once the jewel of the Firestorm Caldera, now the capital city of the newly-shattered Ring of Fire island chain. Speak with Warlord Kyron, former Captain of the Firestorm Guard, now in charge of halting the advance of the Firestorm Onslaught. 

He and the townspeople of Embersea prepare for war on TWO fronts as attacks from the Onslaught increase and a vicious plague rages… They need YOU to help defend their city!

Fyreborn TigerMaster AC Tier Packages

Things are heating up in Embersea Isle as the Firestorm Onslaught begins its invasion of the Ring of Fires... and now YOU can get your gauntlets on the hottest mount armor yet: the Fyreborn TigerMaster!

Dark TigerMaster: only available with the 12k AC package

Starting this Friday, February 20th, at 6 PM server time, get your gauntlets on our first AC package of the year: the Fyreborn TigerMaster gear! Get all 18 items with a 12,000 AC package, or get the armor and select accessories with any other AC package of $10 USD or more. Select items from the Fyreborn Tigermaster sets will also be available in-game from shops in your game menu and in Embersea Isle!

Keep an eye on the Design Notes for more details tomorrow! 

Also releasing this week:

• Tuesday: Pancake Day!
• Wednesday: Limited Time Weapon Hunt
• Friday: Carnval and Chinese New Year events return

February 17, 2015

It's Pancake Day!

Grab Your Maple Syrup!

The Grand Master Lunch Lady Oishii has returned to Battleon bringing with her a few silly, pancake based items. You can find her in Yulgar's Inn but watch out, you will probably get hit at random by her flying flapjacks of doom! 

Seasonal items are returning - like the Pancake Hat w/Butter and the Oolong the pancake bunny pet, and there is even a new Pancake Puppy pet!

Oishii's Pancake Goodies:

• Pancake Hat
• Pancake Hat w/Butter
• The Full Stack
• Oolong Pet
• Pancake-Topus pet
• Pancake Puppy pet

February 14, 2015

Free Daily Legend Boosts

Thank you for supporting AQWorlds!

Legendary Heroes are some of Lore's most skilled and valued heroes. As our way of showing appreciation for your dedication, choose a free 1 hour boost every day you return to battle! Log in and talk to Ragnar, then accept and complete the free Daily Boost quest; choose a single rep, gold, exp, or class points boost as a reward!

Epic Membership Perks

• Create your own Guild and invite your friends
• 6,000+ items are Member-Only!
• Master 20 special Classes
• Adopt 1000+ Pets and Battle Pets
• Access Member-Only Servers
• Play through Member-Only Storylines and zones loaded with Gold and Exp
• Receive 2 free Treasure Chest Keys from Twilly at the first of every month
• Earn 50 ACs for each Treasure Chest Key you sell back
• Flaunt your Membership Badge on your Character Page
• Be the first to test new functionality
• Become more powerful with exclusive enhancements
• And many more to come!

Not a member? You can get in on this and all our other membership perks when you upgrade your AQWorlds account! 

February 14, 2015

Voltaire's Holiday Giveaway

Voltaire Loves You, Friday the 13th, and AQW!

It's the weekend of Friday the 13th and you know what that means? It means that Voltaire has returned, as he has every Friday the 13th for the last 6 YEARS! However, instead of leading a live event as he has in the past, this time you'll need to get his help finding one of the gifts for Jagger's girlfriend. AND you can replay all our previous Friday the 13th events!

This year we will ALSO have the 13th Friday the 13th event (in November!) so we need to do something BIG! But right NOW, Voltaire is giving away two download cards with EVERY SINGLE ORDER from the webstore from now until Monday at noon Eastern Standard Time.

These cards contain codes that allow you to download a whole bunch of exclusive in-game pets that were only ever available to people who played Voltaire's events live and purchased one of his Deady vinyl toys. But now you can get them when you purchase anything at all from the store! Supplies are limited so order now!

This offer is available only at Voltaire.net and not in the European webstore.

February 13, 2015

True Love Never Dies

But YOU Can Get (Un)Lucky This Weekend!

Tonight is Friday the 13th: undead love and invasion are in the air, because it’s the most nec-ROMANTIC Hero’s Heart Day since 2009! True love never dies, but sometimes you need to choose between your love… and the world! Hunt for Voltaire, Lore's favorite gypsy pirate musician and battle through Lore to defeat an undead invasion and help Jagger retrieve the 13 Dark Gifts his love, Nastasia, desires! 

NOW: /join necromance to begin your quest to help Jagger and his girlfiend (I mean girlFRIEND) Nastasia have the best Hero's Heart Day EVER!

You'll need to:

• Bring her gifts
• Bring her DIFFERENT gifts
• Stop an undead invasion by battling across the world
• And finally, choose whether to slay or save the Necromancer!

Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th Gear!

We've got a ton of the most heroic, heart-filled gear for Hero's Heart Day, and a bounty of the most beautifully-unlucky Friday the 13th gear a necromancer(/slayer) could hope for!

Talk to Quibble in Battleon to get the Unlucky Quibble Bank pet! You'll also find the Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th shop there, with Gravelyn's Doom Fire cape (based on and priced the same as the original Doom Fire cape from 2009) and the Dark Heart StarSabre! 

If you /join necromance, you'll also see the Hero's Heart Day/Friday the 13th rares shop, which contains the armors featured above. Jagger's Unlucky Love shop also has the Gold variation of the Dark StarSabre (which will return each year). 

Once you've completed this year's release, battle Nastasia for a chance to get the seasonal rare Elegant Gothic Valentine armor set or the RARE Pink version of the Dark Heart Saber!  

And don't forget to /join pinkmap to take heart-filled screenshots of your favorite gear and /group of friends! 

Happy Valentine’s Day: 200 Free AdventureCoins!

We love our brave heroes, so you deserve something extra special this Hero’s Heart Day. Log in between Feb 13th - 20th and get 200 AdventureCoins!

You must be level 10 or higher (becasue, you know, you gotta be responsible when spending those AdventureCoins).  

The Unluckiest Hero's Heart Day Yet!

Those of you watching our Twitter feeds today saw a running commentary of bad luck and bug smashing! From our release coder/animator being stranded in the middle of nowhere* to an Adobe Flash Player update blocking some of our players**, to the seriously creepy clown***, this has been one Hero's Heart Day I will NEVER forget! (Fortunately, there's not another Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th crossover until 2026!)

* He's safe now!
** Update your Flash Player version!
*** He's getting closer!

Have a fantastic Friday the 13th (for another 55 minutes) and an AMAZING Valentine's Day tomorrow!

February 13, 2015

Update Your Flash Player

Don't miss this weekend's new release!

Adobe released a super-important update to Flash Player updated last week. Make sure you update yours to the latest version from the official Adobe website.

We've had reports of older versions of Flash player triggering errors in certain browsers depending on the browser, Flash Player version, antivirus program (like AVG), and browser plugin.

If you see blackscreens or warning messages when you go to log in at the aq.com/play-now page, update your Flash Player version!

Help Us Check Our Site

We want to make sure all our pages are working properly. We need help checking our log in screen and upgrade pages across all browsers and FP version combinations.

To help check our login page, follow these steps:

1. Go to this URL: http://www.aq.com/play-now/
   
2. Check to see if you see the login screen 
3. If you see a black screen or get a warning message, please post your browser and Flash Player version (and screenshots if you have them) on this post at Artix.com 

To help check our upgrade page, follow these steps:

1. Go to this URL: https://www.aq.com/order-now/direct/
2. Click on any "Buy Now" button
3. Click "no" to the bonus offer
4. See if the payment window appears properly.
5. If you see any errors or get a warning message, please post your browser and Flash Player version (and screenshots if you have them) on this post at Artix.com 

Note: you do NOT need to make a purchase for this test. We just need to know if the window appears and will let you enter text. If you

February 12, 2015

Valentine's Day Reward Hunt

Take On the Red Dragon for a Rare Reward!

True love is forever, but you'll only be able to get the Dark Heart Harvester scythe from the Red Dragon in /lair for the next 72 hours! So why not grab your favorite battle companion, gear up, and start slaying? 

Take the Red Dragon DOWN!

Show the one you love your battle prowess... or /party all night long with your friends as you slay your way to one of the sharpest, darkest scythes in game!* 

NEW: if you want a really good screenshot of your new scythe (or want to send your true love a picture of your AQWorlds character, /join pinkmap for a heart-warming screenshot background!

Join us tomorrow night for the "Fridayr the 13th: True Love Never Dies" Hero's Heart Day / Friday the 13th double event!

* Some of you DragonFable fans might recognize this as a darker version of the Love Harvester... and you'd be right! Tomix sent us some very shiny DF art a while back, and this is the perfect time for it!)

February 12, 2015

Friday 13th Story Time!

Artix Entertainment & the history of Friday the 13th

As a young child, I was keenly aware of the terrifying Friday the 13th movies featuring the hockey mask wearing Jason Vorheese. These were days before iconic movie monsters like Jason, Freddy, & Chucky were nerfed by popular media down to the ranks of Count Dracula and the Wolfman. I had actually believed that the whole Friday the 13th is an unlucky day superstition was because of the movies... but I was wrong.

Story time! It seems like forever ago that we ran our first ever Friday the 13th event inside the game DragonFable. (Which they are re-creating at www.DragonFable.com this weekend.) I am not positive, but we may have been the first video game to do an event of this type. Nobody did weekly events back then. Let alone special events around strange holidays... like the unluckiest day of the year. An army of undead wearing hockey masks attacked the town of FalconReach. Gosh only knows where the Necromancer responsible got that many hockey masks... at the end of the war, the necromancer was revealed to be the little devious blue moglin, Zorbak. It became tradition, so the next year undead invaded the town again. But this time the head of the army was a mysterious girl necromancer wearing purple robes. This was the first sighting of the Vayle, the Necromantress. If you played the Doomwood saga in either AQWorlds or DragonFable then you already know she became one of the most important and interesting characters in our world... as far as darkness and the undead go. If you have not played, then you really should open you map and hit the DoomWood button. When writing the design notes to talk about that event I did some research and found that Friday the 13th... has a long crazy history!

Friday the 13th being unlucky comes from a huge number of pretty hard to verify historical events. The Knights Templar were wiped out on a Friday the 13th. The book Canturbury Tales featured the day promoting it's association with unluckyness. The number 13 itself has a lot of unluckiness assosiated with it. For example... Did you know it is a Nose myth that having thirteen people seated at a table results in the dead of one of the diners? Along with breaking a mirror and walking under a ladder, the day of Friday the 13th has prospered in our lore as a spooky and terrible day to do anything... like... the biggest event we had ever thrown!

Enter Voltaire! We first met him at the DragonCon Convention. He is the darkest, spookiest, and frankly the funniest entertainer we have ever met. Very few people can do such shocking and decidedly non-PG performances for live audiences of 5,000+ people yet also be flexible enough to create songs for TV shows on the Cartoon Network. If you have not heard this story before... I was visiting New York and he invited me out for Sushi. I pitched an idea for a live event and he smiled and replied, "So when do you want to do it?" I said, "How about Friday the 13th?" he said, "But that is only 2 weeks away..."  I said "no problem!" It was the biggest event we had ever attempted at the time-- 5 acts, voice acting, music overlays, several new major server features that required a live syncing of every instance of the event on every server. What could go wrong? Well, if you were there, you know. We maxed out the server entire network... literally filled every server to capacity and the bandwidth usage was so high we brought down a lot of other sites hosted on the same network. The event was so huge Gamer magazine asked me to write an article about it and I did a TEDx talk on how we did. But more importantly, everyone who played it loved it... we turned our Friday the 13th events into a tradition. (and as to not burn out Voltaire, we try to keep it to one BIG Friday the 13th event featuring him per year.)

As it turns out there are THREE Friday the 13ths this year!

Friday, Feburary 13th, 2015 (THIS FRIDAY!)
Friday, March 13th, 2015
Friday, November 13th, 2015

Back on the topic of movies... many people including myself always imagined that there would be a 13th Friday the 13th movie. That somehow it would be really special-- the best of them all. Maybe one day that will happen. But something that WILL happen... is OUR THIRTENTN FRIDAY THE 13TH EVENT which will actually happen in November of this year! O_O

To spread the word of this week's event... please tweet using the hashtag #Fridaythe13th and  www.AQ.com . If you have any great screenshots from past events please share them with me. Maybe we can get a gallery of screenshots up on Facebook too!

February 12, 2015

Noobshire Throwback

Ready for Clawsome Cat Puns?

With the recent addition of Exploding Kittens to Aria’s Pet Shop in BattleOn Town, it’s a great time for Legends to revisit Lowell, the meme-crazed Kittarian. Get ready for a little internet culture insanity as Cysero personally created this Legends-only mid-week release back in June of 2012.

Click here for ACWO's Throwback!!

Reminder from Sora

Deadline for submitting an application for Mod/Tester is this Sunday.  I won't accept any emails sent after Midnight so get them in soon if you have not. Click here for all the information. 

Good luck to everyone who has applied!