Design Notes
March 11, 2015
AQWeekly Newsletter: March 13
Voltaire, (un)Lucky Day, & rare Dage x Nulgath Armors
What luck! Friday the 13th AND Lucky Day double feature! Join Voltaire and Zazul in the all-new Unlucky Day Dark Carnival and test your (un)luck across a maelstrom of minigames & epic prizes starting this Friday!
March 26, 2013
DarkBlood StormKing Class
Summon Storms to Destroy Your Enemies!
Command the skies as you hurl lightning and roar thunder! The StormKing Class releases THIS Friday in Falguard! You can purchase it once you have Rank 10 ThunderForge Reputation or for 2,000 Adventure Coins from the Class shop in your game menu! Watch the Design Notes later this week for Cysero's skill breakdown!
Summon the Storm as a StormKing!
Spring Seasonal Shop: ThunderBolt Striker Set!
Spring has sprung, so it's time for the Winter Seasonal Shop to head North for the year! This Friday, talk to Twilly to purchase a Storm Token and unlock the Spring Seasonal Shop! The Storm Token costs 1,000 Adventure Coins to unlock a shop full of 0 Adventure Coin items!
Fight the battle electric!
Inside the Spring Seasonal Shop, you'll find:
- ThunderBolt Striker Armor (animated)
- ThunderHorn Helm
- Lightning Slasher Dagger
- Dual Lightning Slashers
- Electric Storm Cape! (animated)
Warp Necromancer Viral Backpack Item!
We are always trying new things in AQWorlds, and next week (hopefully!), we want to release the Warp Necromancer Viral Backpack item! The Warp Necromancer shop will be in-game for a few weeks so people can purchase the Warp Necromancer Cape. When the cape is equipped, YOU will get a bonus to battles, and anyone who clicks on the cape will open a shop containing the rest of the set!
The Warp Necromancer Shop will contain:
- Warp Necromancer Cape (AC price to be determined)
- Warp Necromancer Armor (0 ACs)
- Warp Necromancer Helm (0 ACs)
- Warp Necromancer weapons (0 ACs)
As long as YOU have the cape, you'll be able to access the shop at any time. But once the Warp Necromancer LTS leaves the game, the only way to get ahold of this gear will be to find someone with the cape equipped, then purchase your own cape, armor, helm, and weapon! It will be really interesting to see how far this item spreads throughout the game!
News to Know!
- An Evil Undead Limited Time Shop launches next Monday! ("Evil Dead" is one of Artix's favorite movies!)
- The King Fisher character page badge had to be removed because it was breaking on the character page. New accounts had the badge as soon as they made their accounts, and with how the badge is set up, there was no pretty way to fix it. It will return in the Book of Lore soon!
- Lucky Day event AND Dage's Birthday Shop leave on Monday, April 1st!
- Galanoth's Birthday shop in /lair WILL get an updated version of the classic Dragon Blade AND a Legion version, but it may not be tomorrow. Dage worked himself half-undead to finish the StormKing Class before leaving for vacation today. Wish him a good time!
March 15, 2013
Dwarves Vs. Giants!
Stars of Hulk Hogan's MCW Come to AQW!
Professional wrestling is finally coming to the world of Lore with the stars of Hulk Hogan's Micro Championship Wrestling! Johnny G, Sampson, Blixx, Huggy Cub, Meatball and Jersey Jess will be playing the Dwarven Champions Guild, one of Lore's toughest mercenary groups!
They are facing off against their long time rivals, Munthor and his Micro-Giants. Unfortunately, one of the Dwarven Champions Guild has taken an arrow to the knee and you are called in as a last minute substitute!
The MCW is here to stay! This event will be a permanent addition to AQW but you will find lots of rares in the Dwarves Vs. Giants Awesome Rares Shop!
Rares Include Memet's Color Custom Giant Dwarf Set and Micro-Giant Weapons
You can also find lots of drops on the fighters in the area as you battle your way to the top of the brackets and Members get 2 special level 50 Bonus Fights with Member Only drops and a Member Only Achievement Badge in your Book of Lore!
The Member Only Dwarlord Set Items Drop from the 2 Challenge Monsters!
All this is going on while Artix and several other members of the AE team will be cheering for the wrestlers of the MCW at MEGACON in Orlando this Saturday. You might also spy Chairman Platinum trying to make a dark deal with some of the wrestlers.
We couldn't have a wrestling event without Memet's Color Custom Luchadwarves set!
You can learn more about this event and the MCW on our EVENT PAGE!
New Battleon Continues To Grow
The Museum will be open for business starting tonight!
You will be able to collect statues of the Chaos Beasts by completing the quests to new museum defeat them. This is only the start of the new museum quests. Many more will be added as the museum keeps growing along with new Battleon.
The best part of the new museum is that you can find buttons that will take you DIRECTLY to the chaos beasts* (unless you haven't gotten to that part of the quest chain. In which case it will take you to the start of the chain).
* To go on the 1st Chaos Beast quest in /museum if you've already beaten that Beast, click the statue all the way to the left and it will take you straight there.
DragonClaw Set Special Offer
Login for this weekend's release and you'll see our NEW special item set! Buy any AdentureCoin package worth 900 ACs or more (either through AQW or using Artix Points, sorry SMS AC packages don't go up to 900) to unlock the DragonClaw badge and item set!
Set comes with:
- DragonClaw Guard Armor
- DragonHorn Helm
- DragonTooth Shield Cape
- DragonFang Staff
- and badges in the Character Page (coming next week) and Book of Lore!
What Else Is Going On?
- Spring Break Red Dragon Challenge
- Dage's Birthday Shop and SoulForge Rares!
- Lucky Day Fair with Evolved Leprechaun Class
- Suggestion Shop update!
- Lucky 13 Contest!
- Dage Art Contest Winners Coming Early Next Week!
- The server-wide Gold Boost ends Monday, but a week-long Rep Boost begins!
It has been a BIG week for us!
March 13, 2013
What the LUCK!
Lucky Day launches early this year!
Someone’s LUK just got buffed! The Shamrock Fair starts today on 3-13-2013!
ShamRock ‘n Roll in the Shamrock Fair and win Golden Tickets in minigames:
- Smack a Sneevil
- Jackpot o’ Gold
- Rainbow Run!
- Ring Toss
- Hedge Maze
- Clover Fields
- Shamrock Smash!
Use Golden Tickets to buy Lucky Day Seasonal Rares from Mog O’Rahilly’s Lucky Day Shamrock Fair Merge Shop (now THAT’s a mouthful)! Additionally, a brand-new RARE Armor Set can be found in this shop that will never be offered again:
Guardian o' Sláinte Armor, Hata o' Sláinte Helm, Gruaige o' Sláinte Helm, and Galánta Tuar Ceatha Polearm
And because we love you so much, the Evolved Leprechaun Class has returned as well! YAAY! You can get the Evolved Leprechaun Class in 2 ways:
- Turn in12 Lucky Clovers, 20 Rainbow Shards, and 2,000 Golden Tickets to the Lucky Day Shamrock Fair Merge Shop, run by Mog O’Rahilly
- Buy the Evolved Leprechaun Class with 2,000 AdventureCoins
Make your friends GREEN with envy! I hope you have a fun-filled Lucky Day full of LUK, leprechauns, and LOTS of loot!
March 12, 2013
Friday: MCW Invades AQW
Mega Micro Showdown in the Sound Studio!
Duck and cover, because when the micro wrestlers of MCW invade AQWorlds this Friday, you're going to want to get out of the way... or get bodyslammed! The stars of Hulk Hogan's Micro Wrestling Championship took over the Lab today so we could record their lines for this Friday's Mega Micro Showdown in the Battle Coliseum!
The Bigger they are... the harder they fall!
There was a lot of laughter, a TON of screaming (wrestling yells and battlecries sound REALLY similar), and a lot of barking (Miko's dog did not expect an army of wrestlers this morning)!
Dwarven Warrior armors are sized for human heroes!
In addition to the TWO member-only, level 50 challenge fights (WITH exclusive animations and drops!), we'll have some of the biggest monsters dropping some of the most awesome rewards! Like these armors by Solrac and Memet:
Lucky Day Returns Tomorrow!
Do ya feel LUK-y, Hero? Gold, games, and green gear galore! Lucky Day MUST be coming soon, and that means the Shamrock Fair is back in town! Join Mog O'Rahilly, Ringo, and all the other Fair-folk TOMORROW in-game for all the LUK, leprechauns, and loot you can handle!
ShamROCK!
Once the Fair opens tomorrow, you'll be able to play any of our 7 minigames and earn loads of lucky seasonal items AND rare rewards! Talk to Mog O'Rahilly in the /luck map and he'll tell you what to do to unlock them all!
The Guardian o' Sláinte set will go perma-rare!
Coming tomorrow:
- Evolved Leprechaun Class returns!
- Guardian o' Sláinte Armor set (Rare!)
- Galánta Tuar Ceatha Polearm (Rare!)
- And so much more!
Things to Remember!
Through Friday, buy ANY Upgrade or AdventureCoin package to unlock the StormBringer set! This Friday, the DragonClaw set releases! Unlock by purchasing 900 ACs or more!
Also good to know:
- Next week: the Lionfang Saga returns with... the Chaos Beast Battle!
- The Lionfang Saga Class releases THIS MONTH!
March 16, 2012
Lucky Day, Rockin' Fair!
Do ya feel LUK-y, Hero?
Gold, games, and green gear galore! It MUST be Lucky Day, and that means the Shamrock Fair is back in town! Join Mog O'Rahilly, Ringo, and all the other Fair-folk for a month* of LUK, leprechauns, and lots and LOTS of loot!
ShamROCK!
Toss your hat into the ring with our newest game - Ring Toss! Just head north of the Tower of Strength in the /luck map and you'll meet Ringo, the newest Shamrock Sneevil! If you trust in your LUK, then grab a ring and let'er rip! You could win a bountiful hand of golden tickets!
Let Lucky Day ring!
* The Fair will stay in-game until April 13, so get your game on while you can!
Lucky Day Rewards and Rares!
It's your LUK-y Day, because we've got loads of lucky rares and rewards for you to earn! Talk to Mog O'Rahilly in the /luck map and he'll tell you how to earn these sweet seasonal rares! We'll also have some AC rare-rares, too!
The McLuck-iest member-only Lucky Day rewards!
- Scrooge McLuck 12 Armor, Sword, Helm, and Cape set! (member-only)
- Fortune's Blade 12 (member-only)
- Lucky Mercenary (AC rare)
- Lucky O'Daggers (AC rare)
- Sack O'Coins mace (AC rare)
- Lucky Charm 12
- Celtic Paddle of Pain 12
- Lucky Emerald Cutter 12
- Leprechaun's Curse 12
- Lucky Knight 12
- Lucky Knight's Helm 12
Evolved Leprechaun Class!
Luck o' the Leprechaun Class to ye, me lads and lassies! And we mean, it, too. The Evolved Leprechaun Class is loaded with LUK; you'll be crackin' crits all over the place when you battle baddies with this beastly class!
Read Cysero's Design Notes
for details on Evolved Leprechaun Class!
Some shops leave and some shops stay!
You'll notice the Spring Limited Time Shop and the Australia Day shop have both left Battleon. But the Dage Deathday shop is still there, so never fear, Legion fans! If you haven't had a chance to earn the requirements for your favorite rare Legion item, you'll have ONE MORE WEEK in which to get them!
(Due to so many people asking nicely for the shop to stay, and because we had an issue with one of our payment sites, we wanted to make sure everyone who wanted to got the chance to get these epic items.)
J6 in SPAAAAAACE!
J6, AQW's Lead Artist, has a chance to win a contest go into outerspace. For real, in real life. No joke. And YOU can help send him up there, where he belongs! All you have to do is head to this site and click the button. You can vote once per day, EVERY day until the contest ends. So if you haven't voted yet, get your rocketboosters in gear and go go go!
Space. J6 belongs among the stars.
Help us send him there!
As of this writing, J6 has 14,939 votes, and 99% of that is YOU guys helping to send him there. It's amazing what the power of a community of individuals can do when they band together. Nothing is out of reach, not even the moon!
So whether or not J6 wins the contest, gets shot into space, and draws the first extra-orbital AQWorlds item, you guys made a difference in helping one artist realize a life-long dream. For that, thank you. :)
Magic Thief Guest Author Event!
Join us for a fantastical AQWorlds in-game special event with magical literary guest-star, Sarah Prineas. Meet magicians, thieves, nobility, and misery-monsters as her characters cause Chaos! She's graciously allowed us to write her characters into an all-new story that takes place on Lore.
Meet Pettivox, Bennett, Conn, Rowan, and the Duchess!
What will happen when they arrive, you ask? Warlic, Cysero, Conn – a pickpocket turned wizard – and your Hero will discover that the ley lines which contain Lore’s magic are vulnerable to infection by Chaos. When Drakath uses the nefarious wizard, Pettivox, to infect them, it will be up to you and Conn to save all of the magic (and mages) on Lore!
These are misery eels. They feed on your sadness.
Join us NEXT WEEK for the most magically - and massively - manipulative event yet!
March 12, 2012
Is it your Lucky Week?
Everyone Can Use A Little More Luck!
Happy Monday, happy peoples!
Just a quick Design Notes to let you know what we're working on this week for both the mid-week and the big Friday release.
Back To Dwarfhold!
For the mid-week we are finally going to open the Dwarfhold Market!
It's been a LONG time since we have visited this area and if you walk to the area pictured above it has ready "Dwarven Market closed pending repairs" for FAR TOO LONG!
This Wednesday, you will get the chance to help make those repairs and get the Dwarven market up and running again!
No deep and dangerous plots this week. Sometimes a hero just needs to take care of business to either help the people out of a jam or serve their own needs. There's nothing wrong about getting your hands dirty doing a little hard work. It won't be easy but that is why they call it HARD WORK.
You will be able to re-open a weapon shop, a dwarven armorer and a hair shop all of which will have new items to sell you (not merge items, just plain old gold shops. Dwarves LOVE them some gold). As always, the mid-week and all of the shops and items unlocked are for AQW Members Only!
This IS one of the locked areas in the Vath storyline so if you have not yet been to the Pines to visit the Inn-ternet or Donna Charmer the llama farmer, then you will need to do those quests first before you head beneath the mountain.
Friday: LUCKY DAY!
It's almost Lucky Day again and that means that the Shamrock Fair is coming to town!
As we do every year we will be adding a brand new fair game to the Shamrock Fair this year, which means another way to earn Golden Tickets to redeem for awesome seasonal rares! AS it is tradition, we will also be adding one or two AC Rares as well that you will never see again.
We are also working on the long awaited Evolved Leprechaun Class. We released Evolved Leprechaun Armor last year (and we will again this year) and the Class will LOOK identical but will operate very differently.
Like the original Leprechaun class this class will also be for everyone, Non-Members and Members alike,.
There will be THREE ways to get the class:
- You will be able to purchase the class for ACs from Mog O'Rahilly in the Shamrock Fair or from Itzachi in Battleon, but only until the Shamrock Fair closes.
- You will be able to EARN it with a combination of Golden Tickets earned from Fair games and some farming quests which Mog O'Rahilly will give you. It won't be easy but if you're dedicated then you will be able to earn the class before the Fair closes.
- If you already have the original Leprechaun class from back in 2009, you will be able to earn it much faster using special quests designed just for you long time players, rare collectors and class fans. Don't worry, the original will only unlock these easier farming quests for you... you will NOT have to trade in your original Leppy.
Please note that this class will be a SEASONAL RARE, it will return every Lucky Day.
I will tell you guys a lot more about this class when I do the Skill Breakdown a little later this week but Evolved Leprechaun is a CRIT based class with lots of skills to buff your Crit CHANCE, as well as some all new skills which will raise your Crit DAMAGE. Rather than doing double damage, your crits might do triple or even quadruple damage and you will be criting often.
It's based on the original class to some degree but each skill is new designed just for this new class. It will work best with LUCK Enh (as it should) and like all modern classes it will have a rank 10 passive.
So, get out your shamrocks, green shirts, horse shoes, rabbit's feet (Ampy, run for yo life) and lucky pennies! It's time to go to the fair!
284 days until Just Another Day
March 10, 2011
A Glimpse Into The Future!
Come, Peer Into My Crystal Ball...
Just keep your hands off of it. It's gets finger prints like you wouldn't believe.
First, let's look into the IMMEDIATE future, shall we? The far-flung date of tomorrow.
As the mists of time part for us a new Shamrock Fair Minigame is revealed. Luckee the moglin invites you to play Shamrock Smash.
Shamrock Smash is a break-out style minigame where you reflect a ball off of Luckee's shamrock shield and bounce it into the sky to destroy bricks. Some will break, others will not. Some will give you bonus points, others will explode and take your ball with them and still others will release THREE balls onto the field.
What level will you be able to make it to? How many Golden Tickets will you be able to take home?
Speaking of Golden Tickets there will be a BUNCH of new items in the prize booth, including 4 new armors!
Ragnar
Let my crystal ball guide you over to tomorrow's Battleon where you will find Ragnar.
You AQ Classic fans will recognize the armor that the norse warriror is wearing. Members will be able to buy the Asgardian Set from Ragnar starting tomorrow, along with all the other items from the upgrade shop.
Now... Let Us Peer Deeper Into The Future...
All the way to mid-April. We finally got the packaging samples back from the printer and this is the first photo of what the AdventureQuest Worlds Anything Goes Battleon Battle Cards Card Game (Artix thought of the name) will look like on the shelves of U.S. Toys R' Us stores.
If you can't get to a Toys R' Us in the United States, fear not. My crystal balls tells me that a few weeks after it's Toys R' Us release you will be able to order the Battle Cards directly from HeroMart which delivers all over the globe!
Don't forget the card game comes with the bonus non-member Color Custom CardClasher Class!
Further... Further Into The Distant Future!
As we gaze through time into the distant future we can see some interesting Membership perks on the horizon.
I see two new Achievement Badges... The first is for people who have had a membership for 3 or more months. I see that this Achievement will appear on your Character Page as well as in your Book of Lore. I see that the badge in the Book of lore will open a shop which will contain ANOTHER armor set from AQ Classic... The Battle Tested Axe Master Armor!
I also see that when this Achievement arrives, the armor set will be NON-MEMBER, but you will need to have purchased at least 3 months worth of AQW membership to unlock it.
But wait, I see more...
My crystal ball is showing us that there will be ANOTHER Achievement Badge for people who have at least 15 MONTHS worth of total membership purchases (the memberships will NOT need to be consecutive). This Achievement will ALSO appear on your Character Page and In your Book of Lore but it will unlock an exclusive non-member CLASS.
This is the future we're talking about and it's hard to see this far. I can't... quite... tell you what the class will be yet but I can see that these two member bonuses will be a PERMENANT addition to AQW and that they will be retroactive too. That means that if you EVER had a 3 month membership you will unlock the first achievement and if you have EVER had a total of 15 months worth of membership you will unlock BOTH achievements, even if you are currently a non-member.
Don't fear. As we grow closer to the time we will be able to see the class.
The vision is going... going... gone.
OH, it's back!
No wait, that's just more news about Charlie Sheen.*rolls eyes*
See you tomorrow on Lucky Day!
March 08, 2011
Not The Best Morning
See What Happens When I Do Things By Myself?
Let me start by saying Happy International Women's Day, Happy Mardi Gras and Happy Pancake Day.
Why did we pick Pancake Day last year to celebrate, instead of one of the other two concurrent holidays? Two reasons, first and most important, it's PANCAKE DAY. It's a silly holiday and we're all about the silly. The second reason is that LAST year we celebrated INTERNATIONAL Pancake Day, which is in February. Today is the actual Pancake Day as recognized in most English Speaking countries.
The Grand Master Lunch Lady Oishii as returned to Battleon bringing with her a few silly, pancake based items including the Full Stack helm which is my favorite helm in AQW. You can find her in Yulgar's Inn but watch out, you will probably get hit at random by her flying flapjacks of doom!
We had all the files ready yesterday so when I turned on my computer this morning I thought I would kick Pancake Day off. As with most releases, large or small, I gave a 10 minute warning before the servers shurt down and restarted (a necessary part of most releases) but at the 2 minute warning I noticed that last year's Chinchilla With Syrup was still in the shop instead of this year's rare Pink Chinchilla W/ Syrup (one of the rare Member/AC items in the game. Yay free storage!).
They are both very silly pets and not hugely desirable but rare is rare and fair is fair. I was able to get the pink chinchilla into Oishii's shop a mere 35 seconds after the servers went back up. Due to caching issues i'm sure a few of you got last year's rare pet so... well done. That was some fast clicking.
I had to kick everyone out of Yulgar to make sure that the properly coded map was live. That was kick 1.
The someone on Twitter pointed out that I was no longer selling the Luck Enhancements from my warm and sudsy bath upstairs.
This was because I built the map on last year's map before the Stats release. I remembered to put the Giant's tale in Yulgar's chat box but I forgot my own. Once I had re-added my current chat box to the map and sent it to the live servers I had to kick everyone out of the map.
Again.
That was kick 2.
Suddenly another of my extremely helpful Twitter followers pointed out that Yulgar was wearing my clothes. Apparently all of the files used to make the Yulgar NPC had the same name as my own NPC so when I fixed my chat box I over-wrote all of Yulgar's clothed with my own.
DOH!
I ran back to the file and quickly got Yulgar back into his own Innkeeper clothes and again sent the fixed Yulgar's Inn file to the live servers. To make sure everyone say the fix I was forced to kick everyone out of Yulgar. Again. Again. That was kick 3.
Just as I was satisfied that everyone was fine, all the shops were working. Another of my Tweeple noticed that Yulgar was STILL wearing my clothes in his chat box. *sigh*
Once more I flew back to the file and asked Yulgar what was wrong with him. He looked at me pointedly. I replaced THAT Yulgar file with the correct one and sent the file to the live server. To guarentee that everyone had the most recent version of the file i was forced to kick everyone out of Yulgar's Inn. Again. Again. Again. That was kick 4.
SO, if you were one of the people who was awake this morning and suffered through being kicked out of Yulgar's Inn time and time again, that is why and I appologize.
Not my best day ever. I'd also like to thank AQWwiki contributor and new AQW Mod Mturf for adding this as an entry to the wiki so I can relive this day any time I want. Big thanks there, buddy.
Friday is Your Lucky Day!
This Friday the Shamrock Fair will be returning to the game for another limited engagement.
You will be able to play all of last year's great Shamrock Fair Mini-Games (plus one all new mini-game) and gather Golden Tickets to buy all of last year's returning Seasonal Rare Items or any of the NEW Seasoal Rares which will be coming to the shops.
AQ3D
BattleGems
BioBeasts
Dragons
Undead Assault