Design Notes

September 27, 2024

Azalith Morningstar Challenge Boss

Return to the Celestial Realm This Weekend

Your final confrontation against Azalith, the fallen ArchAngel, is almost here. The coming battle will decide the fate of the Celestials and Infernals. But first... you must prepare. Hunt down her minions, take on the Infernal Vanguard, and see what new skills the Morningstar herself has learned in our newest Challenge Boss Battle!

New Game Release

Challenge Boss: Battle the Apex Azalith Challenge Boss in the Infernal Arena
New Rewards: permanent + rare Celestial Realm rewards
Collection Chest Update: third + final shipment of Talk Like a Pirate Day Collection rares

Weekend Daily Gifts & Boosts

Server Boost: double Gold, Reputation, Class Points, and EXP
Saturday: Battle Magma Blazebeard in the /BlazingBeach map to collect new pirate weapons and the Noble Parrot cape.
Sunday: Battle Kathool in the /DeepChaos map to collect a hefty load of achor-themed items. 

New Reward Sets

This weekend, we've got host of new reward items for you to collect and create. Defeat the monsters in the /ChampAzalith to collect 20 new 0 AC items in the Celestial and Infernal Wanderer sets. 

Challenge Boss Rewards

Head to the /ChampAzalith and /ApexAzalith maps now to begin fighting to unlock this weekend's rewards.

Plus, take on Azalith's Infernal Vanguard minions to get:

• Maah-na's armor, wings, and hood
• Akh-a's Spear + Shield, Spear, and Companion Pet

Blood Caster Set

Aranx wanted to craft a very special gift for you to thank you for celebrating his birthday. Enter.. the Blood Caster! Buy the entire Blood Caster set from the Featured Gear Shop for AdventureCoins or craft the pieces of the Infernal Blood Caster set in the merge shop in /ApexAzalith.

Featured Gear Shop: Magical Girl x Mermaids

ranx is on FIRE this week! (Even when his gear is under water.) Find his seasonal magical girl x mermaid fusion armor + helm in your Featured Gear Shop for AdventureCoins until November 1st. They will return next September.

• Magical MerMariner armor
• Shimmering MerMariner Locks
• Opalescent MerMariner armor
• Opalescent MerMariner Locks

Boss Battle Guide

You'll face a wide variety of boss types as you battle through our weekly releases. 

Azalith, Morningstar Boss Update

Yesterday, we rolled out an update to the boss, fixing an issue where mis-timed heals would lead to instant party wipes. The changes (which included added DMG to the Inversion attack) diminished the difficulty of the battle but increased the difficulty in coordinating with party members. This was not the goal.

A new update will go live shortly, bringing the Azalith, Morningstar boss closer to its original version but with a Decay attack instead of the heal inversion. This will keep mis-timed heals ineffective, but less detrimental to the health of the party. 

Azalith, Morningstar Updates:

• Changed attack speed from 2 seconds to 2.5 seconds
• Inversion Magic now applies Decay, no longer deals damage
• Tenebrae now removes Decay

We've received a lot of feedback about why last week's challenge boss felt so frustrating. The entire team appreciates everyone who took the time to share their thoughts.

We've added several design guidelines to help ensure sure future boss battles are more enjoyable from the start: 

• no Rare Rarity gear tied to challenge boss fights 
• Azalith, Morningstar and the Divina Voluntas item will not be required for future farms

Stay up to date with new release plans and boosts on the Artix Calendar and see what the latest Bug Fixes and Balance Changes are in the patch notes.

September 08, 2015

Answer Aranx's Call This Friday

Save the Celestial Realm before it's too late!

The three Celestial Avatars of Time, Death, and Life are missing. A portal to the Infernal Realm (two realms to the left of the Underworld) has been opened by Chamat, the Queen of Monsters’ talented Lieutenant. Infernal creatures are flooding into the Celestial Realm, and Aranx needs YOUR help to drive the dark beasts out and discover where the Avatars have gone -- if his world falls… Lore will be next!

War in the Celestial Realm

There are no certainties in war. There is a precipice on either side of you, Hero — a precipice of caution and a precipice of over-daring... but failure is not an option for Aranx, and he will make it worth your while! 

If you battle for him, he'll give you the opportunity to earn gear from his Celestial Realm merge shop and purchasegear from the Rares shop. 

Aranx levels up in Real Life - Birthday Shop!

This Sunday, Aranx-the-Artist levels up, and that means an in-game birthday shop! He's crafted some amazing gear for his once-a-year shop (including the galactically-gorgeous set you see in the image above!) If you love space-themed gear like I do, you are not going to want to miss the items in this shop!

Changes and Updates

Art Update: The art for the baby seal pet from the August Birthday Shop has been updated to avoid any potential copyright infringement claims. 

In this case, the team member had quickly created the seal pet art a long time ago to use while practicing animation, and didn't remember how much reference art had been left in. It is always better to do 100% original art. Make sure when using reference art that it's for inspiration only! 

If you purchased the AdventureCoin version of the Baby Seal pet and do not like the new version, you can contact Player Support to get a full refund.

Reward Update: If you see that you've been unexpectedly awarded the Ancient Grovebreaker Blade, give Captain Rhubarb a hearty Thanks! He's tweaked the AQW prize reward package system to award those for Paygarden purchases from August forward.

Bug Fix Update: The bugged Bard Class skill is still being investigated. Thanks to those who reported is last week! We'll get that fixed as soon as possible!