Design Notes

May 21, 2012

Status Update

Stuff Happening Right Now!

This is just a quick post telling you some of what's going on right now and some of what to expect.

The Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures are on sale at U.S. Toys R Us locations all over the United States and also on HeroMart.com

People have been mailing us, tweeting us and letting the community know through the AQW forums as soon as they get their own collector's Artix or Sepulchure figures and sometimes they get BOTH! We've even gotten a few YouTube videos of people receiving their boxes from stores or in the mail and letting us watch them open them up!

It's a little early to say but things are looking good for a SECOND SET of collector's figures but that's a LONG way off. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

We also have a brand new poster for sale at HeroMart.com which is the Good Heroes of Lore poster, drawn, inked and colored by our own Diozz (who you may remember from his Live Draw event!)

Diozz is pretty excited about his first poster!

There are no pictures of this yet on the site but the poster also comes with the Soul of a Hero armor set, including the Great Spirit of Heroism and Valkyrie of Heroism animated cloaks, also drawn by Diozz!

The team only signed 50 of there and half of those are already gone but there are a few hundred of the unsigned ones if you don't want your pretty poster all cruddded up by a bunch of game developer signatures.

We've also got an Art Contest going on right now!

The Themes Are:
1) Artix vs. Sepulchure
2) Zombies
3) Any Combo of the above options

The Contest Info page can be found here! Please read the rules carefully and PLEASE don't waste our time with stuff you rip off from the internet. You'll get caught and we'll spend a lot of time here at the lab making fun of how stupid you are. Don't be that guy.

STUFF COMING SOON!

Now let's hop into my time traveling phonebooth and dial the number for the near future.

This weekend, AQW Zombies continues as the world of lore falls further and further into the clutches of Sepulchure and more and more of your friends succumb to the zombification effects of the vile green mist.

In this alternate timeline, the traveling sales moglin Quibble Coinbiter is still traveling from town to town selling his never-before-seen, slightly-used rares and items and this Friday he returns to Battleon with a load of Zombie and Zombie Slaying themed AC RARES and ITEMS!

We'll also be trying a couple of new things in Quibble this time...

1) INVESTMENT TRINKETS: This is a new idea that I think most of you will like. Quibble will be selling small AC trinkets for about 1000 ACs each/ What do they do? NOTHING! They just sit in your bag and take up space.

BUT... a few days after Quibble has left Battleon, these investments will appreciate in value! You will be able to sell them back for MORE than you bought them for!

That's right! Buy it for 1000... sell it back for more.

There will be two versions of this trinket. A Member and a Non-Member. They will BOTH appreciate in value after Quibble leaves but the Member one will appreciate for MORE than the non-member trinket AND Members can, of course, buy both.

2) DAGE ARMOR SPECIAL: Most of the items in Quibble's shop will stick to the normal pricing that we've been with for a while but Dage the Evil is working on a special Zombie Killer armor that will be 3000 ACS! We expect the higher price to make this one of the rarest AC armors in the game.

Oh yeah, as a Member Bonus, there will be a Member Only version of the Zombie Killer, exactly like the other one... except it only costs 1 AC.

SOON: Looking For New Mods!

Reens and Stratos will soon be in search of new Mods for AQW!

I cannot stress enough how much we appreciate how much the mods do for the game but there is a lot of game to patrol and most of the mods are volunteer staff so Reens has said that she will be looking for a few extra hands.

AS soon as the search has begun we will post all the information that you need to know to apply. Please do not spam our e-mail and Twitters asking to be made a mod. Being able to read carefully and understand what you're reading is a big part of being a mod so read this part carefully. Begging for us to make you a mod now will revel that you did not read this paragraph. That's a pretty good sign that you aren't mod material.

Until we ask for applications, please review the HOW TO BECOME A MOD page.

SOON: DeathKnight Member Only Class

It won't be this released this week and probably not next week but I'm currently building a Member Only Death Knight Class (It will have different art than the DK Armor that came with the Doom Starter Package). It will take Rank 10 Doomwood Rep BUT there will be an AC Shortcut. Both versions will be Member Only.

214 days until Just Another Day

May 15, 2012

Socking it to ya on Friday

So Long, Socks!

Tomorrow I will also be leaving Battleon and taking my sock items with me. You guys also seemed to enjoy this shop so we will probably be bringing this one back near year too but THESE items will NOT be back.

Help fight the battle against missing and forgotten left socks by grabbing one of these rares before they vanish.

FRIDAY: ACTION FIGURES & AQW ZOMBIES!

Friday will be one of the single most exciting days in AE History! Our very first Action Figures go on sale at HeroMart!

Some players are already letting us know that they have already got the action figures from their local Toys R Us locations and we're hearing nothing but good things about the two classes that come with the toys.

For a skills breakdown of DoomKnight Overlord and Paladin High Lord, click here.

I'm also hearing that people are having a LOT of fun with the new Trap Door function that we built into the special Castles that comes with the Action figures. Just target someone in your house and click the big reed button. They find themselves in your dungeon and there is NOT ESCAPE (unless you /join somewhere else).

A couple of people have even said that the 5 Special Cards that exapand your Battleon Battle Card Games have made the card game even MORE fun, if that is possible.

Friday, everyone gets a crack at these limited edition action figures from HeroMart! We have quite a few but there IS a fixed number and we don't plan on making more of these figures and there are even fewer Limited Edition Black figures.

Friday also marks the end of DoomWood II and the beginning of AQW Zombies.

Not sayin' any more about that.

220 days until Just ANother Day

May 14, 2012

Artix & Sepulchure Action Figures

AVAILABLE FRIDAY!

This Friday, at noon, the wait is over. The collectors action figures will finally become available for purchase at www.HeroMart.com and MOST Toys"R"Us store locations in the USA will have them on shelves (in the card game isle). Players have been reporting that some stores already have them in stock! There has been some confusion about the dates -- so this post is going to tell you EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about the action figures (and a little more.) For example, both Toys"R"Us and HeroMart will have some of the rare black variants for sale.

Dates (Fully Explained)

Last Week: Some Toys"R"Us stores started getting the figures and made them for sale
This Week: Most Toys"R"Us stores will get the figures and make them for sale
This Friday at Noon EST: HeroMart.com will put the figures up for sale.
May 23rd: 100% of Toys"R"Us will have the figures available for sale

The regular figures will be $20 at HeroMart and $24.95 at Toys"R"Us (Which is about the same if you include shipping.) The rare black variants will be $50 on HeroMart (reasonable, considering the original Deady's were $60 and sold out in the first weekend.)  TRU may sell the variants for less... but the trick is finding a store that has them.

An Indie Company making their first toys!

This is, obviously, the biggest thing to happen us as an indie game company. Indie meaning... noone owns us. We do not have a parent company. No investor ever gave us a giant lump of cash. We are 100% funded by you, the players. So, most people are really shocked to find out that we designed the packaging, took our own photos, created the codes and in-game items, paid for the production of the figures out of our own pockets, and do most everything except for the actual molding and assembly (we would if we knew how, lol) here at the lab. We hope you choose to support us by getting the figures at US based Toys"R"Us stores or online at www.HeroMart.com (shipping anywhere in the world). If this is a success we will go on to create other figures... Drakath, Cysero, Galanoth, Warlic, etc.

"I do not always go to the beach...
but when I do, people point and laugh
at me for taking pictures of action figures."

Toys"R"Us - Why our figures are not in their computers (again.)

I am probably not legally allowed to tell you what you are about to read -- but this has been a source of a lot of confusion, so I am going to tell you. Please use this information to help tell others who run into this problem. Ok? I have already been getting messages from player's who contacted their local Toys"R"Us in the United States and were told something like, "Not sure what you are talking about, we are not getting these toys in." or "These are not in our system." This also happened with the Card Game, Booster Packs and the 2012 Calendar which are for sale at Toys"R"Us now. Why does this happen?

The answer: We go through the company named Beckett to put our toys in the store. they are a great company to work with. We really like them. You may know Beckett as the company who creates the Baseball cards, Yugioh Cards, Magic the Gathering and more. In every Toys"R"Us there is an area filled with all of these type card games (including ours.)  Beckett completely controls that card section of the store. They have their own people who manage the shelves... and their inventory is, in as simple of a way I can put this, tracked seperately. So, our card game, calendar and figures are located in that isle, but very likely will never show up in Toys"R"Us's computer system.  It is weird. an I apologize for the confusion -- chalk this up to us being a growing indie company. One day I hope to have our game items in EVERY Toys"R"Us in EVERY country. But for now, I asked Beckett to send an email to each store letting them know about the figures -- and where you can find them. I hope it happens and helps. But at least you know, the figures will be located in the card game area with our other items... even if their computer says otherwise. Note: Not all store locations will have the Black Variant figures. As there are so few of them... it will take some hunting!

4 days left until they go on sale...

I hope you are all looking forward to Friday - both for the release and for the figures!  

"The Lady of the Lake raised the sword... erm... axe... high above the water and threw it to the hero. But it was really heavy. And not very aerodynamic. This is probably why King Arthur used a sword."

May 08, 2012

Action Figure Class Breakdowns

The Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures Are Almost HERE!

In fact, we've started to receive word that the action figures have already started to arrive in some U.S. Toys R Us Stores but they should be in HeroMart by around the end of this month!

The Action Figures will be available in EVERY Toys R Us location in the continental United States in the collectible card section, with our other stuff like the Card Game, Booster Packs and 2012 Calendars. Sadly, only U.S. Toys R Us stores will get the toys (Want to know why? READ THIS!) but as soon as they arrive on HeroMart, they will start being delivered everywhere that HeroMart delivers (69 countries and more added all the time)!

So today seems like a good time to do the skill breakdown for the DoomKnight Overlord and Paladin High Lord classes that come with the toys (in addition to 5 exclusive battle cards, a legendary helm, weapon and armor that matches the class art exactly and an exclusive in-game castle or fortress!).

Good guys won the coin toss so they go first...

PALADIN HIGH LORD CLASS SKILL SET

Everyone knows that the Paladin Order exists to battle the forces of darkness and the unnatural and unholy threat of the undead but there are more than one kind of paladin. There are Paladin Loremasters, Weaponmasters, Recruiters, Healers and of course the Paladin High Lords who are the elite branch. They are a relatively new branch of the order tasked with taking on threats that the outmatch normal paladins. They are put through special leadership and combat training that test their will, faith and might. Those who pass the tests are the very best of the best that the Paladin Order has to offer the world of Lore.

The Paladin High Lord is a warrior type class and some of their power is drawn from the Strength stat  but others draw their magical damage from Int. I suggest Hybrid for decent damage but higher heals. That depends on how you like to play.

AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers.

PURIFYING FLAME

20 mana, 6 second cooldown

Shoots a ball of holy fire at your foe causing damage over time and a decrease in Crit for as long as your foe burns. Damage increase with each additional party member.

This is a pretty basic, magic based blast with a burn effect attached to it. Good for pulling from across the room. You will notice that we added some new functionality to each of these new classes in places... the skills are pretty good on their own but some skills like THIS one will get stronger and stronger with each additional player you add to your party!

This function will affect the base damage of the initial fire blast but won't change the DoT value.

WORD OF LIGHT

30 mana, 10 second cooldown

Heals you and your allies. The Heal grows strong with each person added to your party!

A very good AoE (Area of effect) heal that starts out good and only gets stronger and stronger with each player that accepts your party invite. It's a little costly but WELL worth the mana. This makes you VERY useful in party situations but contains more than enough healing juice to keep you patched up in a solo fight.

UNDERMINE

10 mana, 5 second cooldown

Stacks up to 5 times. Strike that does low damage but slows your enemy with each stack. Has a chance to stun Undead foes for 4 seconds.

Here is the pesky skill that you need to maintain. It's fast, light damage and costs next to nothing from your mana pool but the stacking haste debuff makes it one you should not underestimate. If you plan on skipping this skill just because you don't like keeping the stacks up that is your call but if I were you I would use it every time.

The pretty good chance that you'll stun an undead enemy is just gravy.

PURE BLOOD & SOUL GLOW

Rank 4 passives

Increase CRIT CHANCE by 12%

Increase DAMAGE by 10%

People tend to underestimate how much damage you get from these. A 10% damage increase takes a critical of 1000 all the way to 1100 and who doesn't like to crit 12% more?

LIGHT WAVE

30 mana, 10 second cooldown

You send out a wave of light that damages all enemies in range and reduces their damage for a short time. Effects grow stronger with more people in your party.

Here is your AoE Damage skill for taking out multiple enemies in a single room, It's a decent AoE with pretty high damage on its own BUT when you have a full party, with the right enhancements, you can take out entire rooms at once! It's also a good skill to use against bosses as well.

DIVINE HAND

Rank 10 passive

Your target suffers a massive blow from an unseen divine helper.

You've seen this before and you'll see it again. At rank 10, you suddenly gain a power that goes off randomly, costs no mana and does MASSIVE damage to a single target.

Now let's see the darker side of the coin...

DOOMKNIGHT OVERLORD CLASS SKILL SET

Empress Gravelyn is not pleased. Vordred, an undead soldier capable of resisting the light based paladin powers, was beyond her control. The necropolis, source of her undead armies, has fallen into the hands of an upstart little girl. Dage and Nulgath are fighting over the title of Lord of Evil which was a title that was hard won by her father, Sepulchure and hers by birthright. The time has come when Gravelyn has had enough. She has taken her elite DoomKnight soldiers, some of the strongest undead creates in her arsenal shaped in her father's image, and has superchaged them. The ritual was long, blindingly painful and mind meltingly complex. Most of the DoomKnights who entered the royal chamber on Shadowfall left as piles of ashes and bones but a few.. the darkest and strongest were reshaped into DoomKnight Overlords!

The DoomKnight Overlord is also a warrior type class and like it's lightside mirror image, draws power from STR and INT, so Hybrid is probably a good way to go. But you could try all Wizard or all Fighter enh and see what happens.

AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers.

TORTURE

10 mana, 3 second cooldown

Magically torment your foe's mind, causing slight damage but also reducing their damage and crit. Damage increase with each additional party member.

This is a very nice lead-off power. The damage potential is EXCELLENT considering the tiny cooldown, strong damage and low mana cost of this ability. Tack the Damage AND Crit debuff onto this skill and it gets even better. Get a part full of friends and it becomes something staggeringly powerful.

SCREAMING DARKNESS

25 mana, 12 second cooldown

Causes all foes within range to burst into flames, dealing moderate damage and causing them to burn for Damage over time. Effects increase with each additional party member.

You get an AoE early in this class progression. Makes it easy to pull an entire room but dangerous if you don't have your third skill yet, but DOES significantly increase your damage output. The damage is balanced out with a pretty hefty mana cost and a long-ish cooldown. Remember that this power also gets stronger with additional party members and while the damage goes up the mana and cooldown never change so... go make some friends.

DARK CHALLENGE

25 mana, 10 second cooldown

Has a 50/50 chance of either stunning your foe a few seconds or giving you back some health. Healing effects increase with each additional party member.

Here is where you test your luck (not the stat). Either you are going to stun your foe (except for some bosses) OR you're going to cast a pretty beefy HoT (Heal over Time) on yourself. It's WIN/WIN! The advantage that this has over Pali High Lord is that your stun will work on a LOT more than just undead. The disadvantage is that it shares the skill with your heal so you can never count on what you're going to get.

As with any challenge you issue, you know what reaction you might get. You might need a heal VERY badly and only get a stun. If it enough to give you the upper hand? You might want a stun but get a heal when your lifebar is already full...

The HoT is decent on its own but gets REALLY strong with a full party, unfortunately a party does not affect your stun duration.

BLACK BLOOD & RAW HATE

Rank 4 passives

Increase CRIT CHANCE by 12%

Increase DAMAGE by 10%

The Pali High Lord has the exact same Rank 4 passives. More damage, more crits.

MIASMA

50 mana, 8 second cooldown

Deals massive damage and significantly lowers your target's ability to hit anything for a short while.

This is a HUGE damage power and it's strength is consistent even if you are on your own. The mana cost is VERY high and since you're on a warrior mana regen model the Hit debuff on your target is not your friend so be smart when you use this nuke. It's a great opener and a great closer and if you manage your mana well enough you can use it during battle too. Since the cooldown is only 8 seconds you should be able to use it as frequently as your mana allows.

DEATH KNELL

Rank 10 passive

Your foe is attacked by it' own shadow, dealing massive damage as it resists being pulled to the underworld.

It's a cool description but it comes down to the same thing as Pali High Lord's rank 10 passive. People who fully rank up this class will occasionally and suddenly deal a MASSIVE hit to a single target with no effect on the Doomknight Overlord's mana or cooldown.

The Big Picture

Looks like both classes are very good multi-purpose classes a lot like Dragonlord. Paladin High Lord has a more dependable heal but what it gains in survivability and party-usefulness it looses out in the raw damage potential which Doomknight Overlord enjoys. In PvP, if you party up, you will be a force to be reckoned with in BOTH of these classes.

Remember that we don't have unlimited funds so we've only made a fixed number of these toys and if we make more we want to make new characters so they are already Limited Quantity Rares.

Oh yeah, if you get both toys you can become the abomination I'm calling the DOOMPALADIN HIGH OVERLORD!

Ew.

227 days until Just Another Day

April 30, 2012

Returning to Doomwood!

Back For More Undead Fun!

And by fun I mean torture.

For us, not you.

Once again, Artix is personally crafting this story which means that we get to do a lot of things that the engine has never done before (which means a lot of new and interesting bugs). It also means INSANE cutscenes as the story continues.

I don't know if you were here for the last Doomwood but it nearly KILLED poor Samba. We asked an inhuman amount of effort from our (at that time) rookie animator, and while this amount of work would have killed, driven insane or caused a lesser animator to walk out of the AE Undergrounjd Lab never to return... Samba somehow rose to the occasion week after week (each week getting steadily worse for her) and somehow managed to pull off the equivalent of THREE MONTHS worth of weekly release animation in just under a single month.

Now we're back and while Artix DID learn that he needs to write fewer cutscenes, he seemed to think that meant that he could just make those few longer and even more insane than the earlier ones!

Needless to say this week it's all hands on deck as we return to Doomwood with an all new story which in nicely to the introduction of our first action figures!

I'm sorry to say that also means that I will be needed in the weekly releases for a while which means no time for Mid-Weeks, BUT we will probably have more MEMBER ONLY addition content in Doomwood than we have had in any other zone. Special fights, side storylines (which is much like a mid-week in itself) special armors, weapons, pets, capes, helms and other goodies and maybe even a special class (we'll have to see on that one).

Artix & Sepulchure Toys

They are nearly here!

My sources (at least the reliable ones) tell me that they are on their way to the U.S. Toys R Us locations right now. They should arrive there a week or two before theyn reach us here and become availible on HeroMart.Com.

People often ask us why we can't get them to Toys R Us locations in other countries and that's mostly because there are different branches of the company and our relationship is so far only with the American branch of the company.

If our stuff keeps selling well in the American branch then we might be invited to start up a relationship with various other branches of Toys R Us... but that's really up to you guys.

Toys R Us gets to set their own price and we want the HeroMart price to be competative with the Toys R Us price so we have to wait and see what they set their prices at before we can set ours. If we decided early and went too high with the HJeroMart price, then we would be shooting ourselves in the foot and losing sales to Toys R Us. If we go to low, then we undercut Toys R Us and they might decide to cut ties with us which kills any future deals we might make with ANY branch.

SO... soon they will get theirs, we will find out what the decide for the price and then we will be able to tell you the HeroMart price whicl will be very close to the store price.

For the special Limited Edition BLACK version of the toys, I'm pretty sure that the price will be $50. It comes with the same in-game items as the normal versions but we made a LOT less of these and you will ONLY be able to get them from HeroMart. These are for hardcore collectors ONLY (or maybe people who want to resell them on E-bay for double price when they sell our and go rare).

More news on that as it arrises.

Limited Time DOOM Starter Package!

A lot of you seem to be taking advantage of this deal and not just for the rare DeathKnight set!

Here's the deal: Right now we are offering our normal 3 month +1000 ACs Membership package (both on our payment page AND on the Portal Site payment page so you can get it with Artix Points) except for a limited time you get an ADDITIONAL 1000 AdventureCoins AND you get the DeathKnight Set (armor, helm, cape and sword based on the traditional DragonFable design) as a bonus!

It will at LEAST be here until the end of the week but this IS a Limited Time offer and once it's gone the armor set will go Rare (Any future DeathKnight class will have new art).

Even if you're already an AQW Member, getting DOUBLE ACs and a rare armor set for the same old 3 month price is a pretty good deal!

If you have already taken advantage of this deal and can't find the set, remember to look in your BOOK OF LORE in the AE section. You will see the DeathKnight badge near the bottom and you can open the shop from there! :)

The LAST Live Draw!

This Wednesday is the final of the five AE artist run of Live Draw events. Dage The Evil is on deck and warming up his drawing hand (by hand signing 500 of his Coffee Dragon prints which sold out over the weekend on HeroMart)

About the gauntlet.... don't ask.

As usual, we have no idea what he's going to draw beforehand but knowing Dage it will be EPIC. Like a banana with a hat or something!

Remember, we go live at 4:00 PM EST (Server Time) and the shop will stay up for only about 24 hours!

Beware Fakes

A lot of you older players have heard this before but over the weekend we got to hear from a whole new wave of NEW players telling us that Alina was promising them they could become mods or offering them free Coffee Dragon prints in exchange for passwords or credit card information.

THAT IS NOT THE REAL ALINA!

No member of the AE staff will EVER ask for your password or credit card information. Neither Alina or I have personal Facebook accounts... we only have Fan Pages. Here is MINE and here is Alina's.

Fake Facebooks and Twitter accounts pop up ALL THE TIME and there are LOTS of people who think that they have found the real deal, but use your head. Be smart. Look around the internet, talk to your friends... most importantly, don't believe everything that you see on the internet.

April 25, 2012

World Premiere of Video!

GAME UPDATE:

Diozz's Live Draw was a lot of fun and the Artix vs. Sepulchure video is a HUGE hit! Also, the Member only Mid-Week Release is now LIVE! /join lightguard and talk to the paladin loremaster, Michem to start your new mini-adventure!

Behind the scenes: Artix vs Sepulchure

DoomWood Part 2 is coming... and this time, the story is going to break ALL of the rules and finally allow players to reforge the Blinding Light of Destiny. (The storyline will be available to ALL players.)  Building excitement before DoomWood Part 2 begins... is a "WHAT IF" video. There has never been a showdown between the ultimate evil DoomKnight Sepulchure (Gravelyn's father who was the main villian of DragonFable and destroyed at the beginning AQWorlds by Drakath.), and the good Paladin Artix. (Well, as you know Artix MIGHT not not be a Paladin by the textbook defination... but he is 100% good.) This is all about to change in the debut of this action packed stop motion video... Artix vs Sepulchure! (I, um... really hope I do not lose? O_O)

I have been writing anything goes "ALL GAME" design note posts at www.Artix.com with even more insider news. Please bookmark it and check in daily. To create this video, we teamed up with rising star stop-motion animator Counter656. He animated the video by taking the soon to be released Artix and Sepulchure collector's action figures, chopping them up into smaller pieces, and adding TONS more joints. (Like they do on Robot Chicken.) . It took him about a week per minute of animation. Then he used Adobe AfterEffects to create the Special FX.  The result is... amazing. I cannot wait to watch it in game with you tonight.

The figures in the video are our FIRST action figures and the team is incredibly excited -- mostly because if these do well, we get to create more in the future including Drakath, Dage, Warlic, Galanoth, J6, etc... The figures will be available VERY soon (like 3 to 5 weeks) at www.HeroMart.com and in U.S. based Toys"R"Us locations.

Artix (Paladin) figure includes:

• 5 exclusive cards for the AQworlds Card Game
• Paladin's Castle - with working trap door.
• Paladin HighLord Class
• Paladin Highlord's Armor
• Artix's Helm (not that he ever wears it... you should though!)
• Highlord's Battleaxe of Destiny (Similiar to the Blinding Light)

Sepulchure (DoomKnight) figure includes:

• 5 exclusive cards for the AQworlds Card Game
• DoomKnight's Castle - with working trap door.
• DoomKnight Overlord Class
• DoomKnight Overlord's Armor
• Sepulchure's Helm (ULTRA RARE)
• Overlord's DoomBlade

In addition to the regular Artix & Sepulchure figures we made a VERY LIMITED number of "Black Armor" variants. Because this is the 1st edition, they are expected to become very rare and desirable in the future. (*whispers* Like... leave them in the box if you manage to get one, ok?)

\

Also tonight, there is a mid-week release. I am pretty sure it will be in this place in DoomWood... beause Cysero asked me to come up with 12 more Paladin names. (Thank you to everyone on Twitter who helped me!) One of my favorites was "Derpadin".... so we asked Beleen to draw us a Derp Paladin... "Where is Derpadin!?" I LOVE her Derp art! (Also be sure to check www.Artix.com later this week for a video of Beleen doing motion capture for the 3D game project.)

Twitter/FaceBook/Forums Question: On a scale of 1 to Derp, how much do you love Derpadin? "My love for Derpadin is [YOUR ANSWER] out of derp." It could be 5, 62, 8999, A, Blue, Leiderhosen, etc

April 23, 2012

Save the World or Blow it Up!

Return to DoomWood!

Previously In DoomWood: The tale of DoomWood Part 1 is packed with puns, reveres vicious villains, and is overrun with undead, all while revealing the secrets of Artix's past... and future! This Friday, watch a "Previously in DoomWood" cutscene to revisit those memories of your journey with Artix to the deepest reaches of DoomWood!

If you haven't finished the zone (or started it) yet, then you should /join lightguard RIGHT NOW! You won't be required to have finished Part 1 to play, but when Part 2 REALLY starts next week, having that background knowledge is going to make the zone feel a lot fuller.

DoomWood Part 2: Whispers of the Shadow Lord will be available for ALL players and continues the story of Artix, Vordred, Sally, and Gravelyn, taking it to darker, more undead-ly places than ANY of us could have imagined!

DoomWood Member-only Mid-week!

PALADIN PUNCH! (Not the fruit drink.) In this week's member-only mid-week release, Cysero sets up your return (or introduction) to DoomWood but, as in any quest, your companions are the key to success! To unlock all the rewards this week has to offer, you'll want to make fast friends with Michtem, the Paladin Loremaster you'll meet on arrival.

When a misunderstanding pits you against one of DoomWood's Guardian Spirits, though, if fate is not kind, you won't have a ghost of a chance to survive! Rewards will include the Paladin Loremaster armor as well as a wide assortment of helms and capes, since we heard you guys wanted more of them!

SkyGuard: Things that Make You Go BOOMMM!

In the latest installment of the SkyGuard storyline, SkyPirates invade the High Command's mountaintop base, seeking to sabatoge communications and searching for access to their secret weapon. And that secret weapon just happens to be the all-new, high-powered battle-tech war mech, Project M3cha-d34th!

But when Stratos goes rogue, disobeying the High Command's orders, you'll need to deal with the SkyPirates on your own! Something's rotten in the High Command, and it will take all you've got to save the base and all of Lore without blowing it all sky high!

Dark Caster X, Knave1 Rares Shops leave May 7th!

Join Dage's Legion... or try to infiltrate it! Speak to Dage in Battleon to access the Dark Caster X shop. Talk to Knave1 in Swordhaven to browse his show of slayer-ful gear! Both shops leave May 7th, so all of you asking for extensions to the shop can rest easy, you've got time left... but not a lot!

Cerberoz Livedraw this Wednesday at 4pm!

Join us this Wednesday at 4PM server time for Cerberoz's in-game live-draw event! We'll be taking your suggestions over Twitter about what he should draw so that you can see your input shape the item as it appears on the screen!

If you haven't joined us for an in-game LiveDraw event yet, here's what's going on:

You'll want to /join stream once the event starts and you'll be able to watch as one of AE's epic artists draws an item based on your real-time suggestions! That item will go into the Black Market shop in the /stream map and, once the art is polished up, the item will turn into the weapon you've just seen created.

AQW Action Figure Video Premiere after Livedraw!

And make sure to stay in /stream after Cerberoz's drawing event ends to watch the world premiere of the AQWorlds Action Figure video! Created using stop-motion animation, you'll watch the Artix and Sepulchure action figures comes to life before your eyes! Look for more details about the premiere as the event draws closer!

News about the action figures?

The action figures are on their way to the Lab as we speak! We'll have prices and release dates to you guys as soon as they are finalized!

One of the Good guys!

We've got a sneak peek of one of HeroMart's newest items! Drawn by Cerberoz, this poster features all-new, dynamically-posted character art of some of AQWorlds' most well-known Good characters!

We'll have more information on this poster and all of the other new HeroMart items as the decisions are made. Keep an eye on HeroMart's Coming Soon page for more news!

AE heads to Relay for Life!

The world is made up of everyday heroes, and this weekend Artix Entertainment is joining a whole group of them as we race to find a cure to save lives in Relay for Life! We'll be walking, running, /stepdancing, and even /sambaing our way up, down, and around the track for 18 hours from Friday  to Saturday.

If you're in the area, /party up with us at the Charles S Rushe Middle School from 6PM Friday night to 12PM Saturday! We'd love to see all our local players there!

Ludum Dare Update: Kitty.coli

This weekend, Cysero, Samba, Rolith, Thyton, Warlic, Epic Duel's RabbleFroth, and I participated in the Ludum Dare, a timed game-making competition. Scroll down to see more details about our infection-themed top-down shooter called Kitty.coli (takes place inside a cat's gut)!

Although we didn't finish on time for the contest - thanks to some unforeseen bugs (how appropriate!) - we have the beginnings of an awesome minigame with absolutely SICK art (literally)!

Thanks to all of you who supported us over this weekend with questions and encouragement! Making games is something we love to do so much that sometimes it's hard to stop when Friday's releases are over.

Coming SOON in AQW!

If you were in-game earlier this month, you might have seen Artix share some secrets about what's coming in AQWorlds over the next few months. But now we're going to tell EVERYONE! So here's what you have to look forward to:

• DoomWood Part 2 - Whispers of the Shadow Lord starts NEXT WEEK!
• Alchemy Tradeskill - IN TESTING NOW!
• Dage vs Nulgath War THIS SUMMER!
• The next Chaos Lord - a Chaorrupted Chronomancer explores your destiny... and the timelines which combined to form AQWorlds!
• We are working every day to get Guilds ready for release, BUT we really want to do this right, so testing and time are of utmost importance before it can release. /Cheer Yorumi on as he commands the code to make it happen!

April 16, 2012

Planet in Peril - Knave1's story

Assault of the Banished One!

Undead minion rebellion?! Scattered throughout Lore are the undead minions of necromancers; most of them cannot talk or think. They can only do the bidding of their Masters. But some... some DO remember their time as humans, remember what it was like to be free. And those that do have passed down through generations of undead the story of the Desterrat Moya - the Banished One.

An entity which inhabited this plane long before Lore's current pantheon, this creature has clashed with gods... and lost. An Elder One from the time when the stars we see were dark, the Moya is very powerful and grows stronger feeding on the pleas and petitions of the undead minions who can still think. However, though they look on the Moya as a deity, they do not comprehend its true nature and that may be their downfall!

Their cries have strengthened the Moya enough that it has broken free of the dimension where it has been sealed away, and now it travels to us! The undead* believe the Desterrat Moya comes to free them... but it has different, deadlier plans.

Work with Knave1, King Alteon's Royal UndeadSlayer, to save Lore from the threat of the Banished One and prevent an undead uprising! Look for Knave1's rewards shop, awesome monster drops, and a few rare boss drops from the Moya! Plus, the Interfector Deorum helm will be released, as well as new spear weapons!

* Although Dage the Evil created the art for the Desterrat Moya, Knave1's storyline is not connected to his Undead Legion. Good question though, Askewen!

Who is Knave1 and why does he get a story?

Knave1 is the winner of the final I Can Has Mod contest! His wish was for his own storyline, an armor, and his own NPC. He asked to be King Alteon's personal UndeadSlayer and wanted your help to slay an Undead god. We thought that was a REALLY cool wish and immediately started planning out how to realize his dream.

Originally the Final Cheezburger item was going to be called the GodSlayer Armor, but in response to many players feeling uncomfortable with the name, we decided to call it the Interfector Deorum Armor.** It keeps the spirit of the idea but is not as abrasive for a lot of you guys. So if you're wondering where you're Final Cheezburger went in your inventory, look for the Interfector Deorum Armor!

** With players from around the world, all of whom have different backgrounds and ideologies, creating content that pleases the majority can be a challenge. This time, we got enough negative feedback about the original name of Knave1's armor that we felt it would be more beneficial to the community as a whole to change it.

Earth Day 2012!

Hero, your planet is in peril, and NOT just from the Desterrat Moya! Pollution can kill a world dead just as easily as an attack from an inter-dimensional deity! This Friday AQWorlds celebrates Earth Day with the return of General Pollution, Captain Lore, and all the epic Earth Day seasonal rares!

 Thyton in-game Livedraw Wednesday, 4PM!

Quick as a ninja, Thyton's going to appear in-game this Wednesday at 4PM server time, draw an all-new weapon based on your suggestions, and disappear in a cloud of smoke! Make sure you log in and /join stream to watch the event! A shop will be available for you to purchase the item which will turn into whatever Thyton makes! This is the third in our series of in-game Livedraw events!

Grenwog, Lucky Day, Evolved Leprechaun Class Gone!

It was egg-citing while it lasted, but then our luck ran out! Grenwog and the Lucky Day Fair, as well as the Evolved Leprechaun Class, have all vanished. They will return next year with all new seasonal rares!

Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures!

Your luck is in! (Even if Lucky Day is out.) The Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures are currently on a boat in the middle of the ocean, making their way here! And the timing could not be better, because DoomWood: Part 2: Whispers of the Darkness Lord begins in TWO WEEKS! 

As Artix said on the AQ3D design notes:
To kick off the storyline, we will be releasing a stop motion battle video of the upcoming Sepulchure and Artix action figures which was created by our new friend from overseas. He took the figures apart, added a bunch of extra joints, and... well.. he sort of "robot chicken-ized" it.

If you want Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures of your own, you'll be able to find them at Heromart and US Toys R Us stores! Each action figure contains 5 rare cards to go along with out BattleOn Battle Card Game and includes a code to unlock the Caste or Doomknight item set!

April 09, 2012

Voltaire returns for Friday the 13!

Deady vs the Sleezter Bunee!

Clones, bombs, and... BUNNIES?! Voltaire and Deady are BACK this Friday the 13th for an all-new event featuring the creepiest Bunee this dimension has ever seen! Sleezter Bunny's army of furry clones will have you hoppin' while Voltaire gets you rockin' to acoustic remixes of some of your favorite songs from his last album!

With eggs so spoiled they'll rot your flesh, a bomb built to blast, and an army of bunny clones that reproduces like... well, rabbits, this is going to be ONE event where showing a lucky rabbit's foot might attract more monsters than it repels!

Sleezter Bunee Toys at Heromart!

No Friday the 13th event with Voltaire would be complete without real-world swag to remember it by! Take home your very own Sleezter Bunee Toy from Heromart this Friday!

Each Bunee comes with SIX pets - 6 non-member pets!* Voltaire's IRL loot never fails to stun, stupefy, and terrify, so if you're looking to scare the living daylights out of your enemies (... or friends!), then these are the toys to stick on their shelves when they're not looking!

 * The Heromart site is out of date. You will get all SIX in-game pets when you purchase a Sleezter Bunee toy!

J6 Shirts in Heromart now!

Bounty Hunters, take note! J6 shirts are back in stock now but they won't be on shelves for long! This is the third time we've restocked the J6 shirts, and we don't know how many more we'll make, so if you want to look as fly as a J6, head to Heromart now!

Shirt comes with the J6 helm and the J6 Cowboy Armor!

Action Figures Coming Soon!

Now YOU have the power to choose who wins! Pit Artix against Sepulchure, Sepulchure against GI Joe, or Artix against a T-Rex! You decide the battles, you decide the winner! All you need to do is head to Heromart.com and pick up your own copies of our first-ever action figures! We expect to get the toys in late April or early May. We'll let you know as soon as we get them in!

Wednesday Livestream at 4pm with Mido!

Mido comes to AQW! If you've played through Etherstorm, you'll have met him already. And now you get to see his incredible art skills in action! This Wednesday at 4PM server time, log in to AQWorlds and /join stream to see Mido take YOUR suggestions and turn them into an awesome in-game item!

GodSlayer Armor coming this week!

When Knave1, the winner of the last I Can Has Mod contest, made his wish, he decided to become an in-game NPC with his very own storyline! He is King Alteon's Royal UndeadSlayer, and he needs your help to slay an undead god. With that as a base, we think we've crafted a compelling tale that will explore a facet of the undead most people never consider!

He also requested that his release be short, so we'll be fitting the entire tale into a single release, and it will all take place NEXT Friday! BUT the Final Golden Cheezburger will turn into the GodSlayer armor THIS week! I hope you've hung on to yours!

Botters Beware!

Bans for Botters! Earlier today, Yorumi had a coding breakthrough! He implemented a solution which lets us ban scores of botters which previously went undetected. In the first hour the patch was live, we disabled the accounts of 3,200 botters! They will be disabled for 24 hours THIS time, but if it happens again, the ban will become permanent.

Please, guys, we want you to enjoy PLAYING the game, hanging out with friends, and slaying epic monsters. Play right, fight hard, and BATTLE ON!

More news coming!

Look from more news from Cysero about the Voltaire Friday the 13th event as the week continues! Be sure to join us this Wednesday for the Livestream event with Mido! And get ready for Doomwood Part 2, which is coming in a couple weeks!

March 21, 2012

Magic Lesson #3

The nexus next to us

Exploring a world's backstory - its history, lore, and all of the little details which flesh out a land - makes a game richer and allows you to immerse yourself in your character. We don't always have enough time to do that in AQW, which is why I'm so excited about getting to share some of these details with you!

With that said, let the next magic lesson* begin!

Nexuses as Portals:

Nexuses, formed where two or more ley lines cross, do not only act as reservoirs of magic on Lore; they can also be portals to the para-elemental plane of magic. On rare occasions, mages can directly transport themselves to the plane through the manipulation of these portals.

Two of the 4 member-only
Embero Spell** armor rewards!

You may have encountered one of these portals in-game already. If you're a mage and you haven't, then you haven't been paying close enough attention to the pull of your focus stone.*** Legend has it that if a mages looks inside themself and follows the pull of their stone, they will be led towards the nearest nexus. In that respect, it is both focus stone and lodestone.

Event AC rares: Nexus Rift Blade and
Fade Tome and Staff Armaments!

While ley lines are fine for everyday magical needs, if the spell you are attempting requires massive amounts of magic, it would be wise to situate yourself near a nexus. The availability of extra power could mean the difference between life and death. IF you're strong enough to channel it all!

Mana Thief Armor - available in the Event AC Rares shop!

* All magic lessons will be placed in Arcangrove's magical tome after the event is over.
** The Embero Spell transforms a Hero into the form of the creature they most resemble inside!
*** More on focus stones tomorrow!

Misery-loving Magical Monsters

There are many monsters in the world of Sarah Prineas' The Magic Thief, but I was most intrigued by the idea of the misery eels. A monster that is attracted to pain and suffering has so much potential, and allows for so many opportunities to completely upset and overturn expectations!

Cysero teaches a baby misery eel the joys of playtime!****

In the event, Cysero studies the misery eels and, as you can see above, one young eel decides to study HIM in turn!

*** Everybody needs a biscuit to wind a piece of string around.

Action Figures On the Way!

We are SO excited about introducing the first-ever Artix Entertainment action figures! They are coming soon and we don't have an exact date for their Heromart and Toys R Us releases yet, but we could not wait to show you how AWESOME they are!

Artix and Sepulchure action figures!

There will ALSO be a limited number of variant figures in Black versions of the armor. Pay attention to these, because DoomWood: Part 2 "Reforging the Blinding Light of Destiny" is starting soon. They will exclusively be available at HeroMart for our craziest players.

Have a great night and don't forget to check out the event page for The Magic Thief: Chaos in Your Veins!