Design Notes

July 31, 2017

This Friday: Dragon of Sloth, Part 1

The Seven Deadly Dragons Saga Continues!

Dragons. Zombies. Creepy slime creatures. It’s easy to fight monsters you can see. But this weekend, the real danger is an invisible sickness spreading through the village of River’s End. Lim the Scientist has traced the outbreak to its source. Your mission: confront Phlegnn, Slime Dragon of Sloth and find a cure for the plague before it spreads beyond the quarantine zone!

This weekend, you'll need to:

• Battle plague zombies 
• Search for and concoct a cure
• Confront Phlegnn the Sloth Dragon

Reward Gear: Plague Knight Set

After you fight to "convince" Phlegnn that he's a danger to the village, you'll be able to farm for this weekend's reward gear. Our newest set was suggested and created by one of your epicly-talented fellow heroes: Antisam! He worked with Xarvinth to craft the super-sick (in the good way!), Plague Knight set!

Battle to collect the resources to create the 0 AC gear, then talk to Lim in /sloth to merge the components into each of the set's pieces.

Next Week...

This Friday is the first of a two-week battle against the Dragon of Sloth! Next week, return for part 2 of Phlegnn's story, an ACTUAL sloth monster,* and an even more evil version of the Plague Knight set... the Bloodborne Plague set and the Elemental Summoner limited quantity set!

Sins and Sloth

Some of you have asked... "How does a slime dragon and a plague represent Sloth?" That is a fair question! It would have been easy (maybe too easy) to make a sloth-shaped dragon and use that for our boss.

Each of the 7 Deadly Dragons is based on / embodies a sin. To shape this release, we drew inspiration from the following historical meaning of sloth: "without care" / "disregard" plus the more common definition of "sluggish" / "laziness."

Phlegnn, Slime Dragon of Sloth, embodies one of the most insidious sins. He destroys lives through laziness and inaction, just by choosing not to move. To... do nothing. But a dragon that doesn't move much would not make for a very fun battle. This weekend, you'll need to battle the invisible illness he's spread and fight to cure the villagers (and if you're truly kind, HIM). Get your blood pumping, your blade moving, and take. Him. DOWN!

* By popular demand, the Actual Sloth (aka the Slothagon) monster will release in-game... and not just taunt you on Twitter.

July 28, 2017

This Weekend: Dragon of Greed Rewards

Dark WardKeeper's Set Available until August 4th

For too long, the Dragon of Greed has hoarded a bright, shining treasure. This weekend, fight to reach the Dragon's hoard, and then battle to steal the 0 AC Bright WardKeeper's set from his treasure pile!

And if you like darker gear (or color-customizable items) find the Dark WardKeeper set in the Featured Gear shop until August 4th, available for AdventureCoins.

Each set has:

• 1 armor
• 7 helms
• 3 weapons
• 1 floating aegis cape

Other rewards this week include:

• AC rare Snooze McDuck pet
• Miniature GoreGold pet
• Golden Ore Elemental pet

Get Up to 40% More AdventureCoins With Any AC Package!

Through Thursday, August 10th, the Summer Madness AC Sale is ON! Get more AdventureCoins with each AC package, and the larger the AC package you buy, the more bonus ACs you'll have to spend as we continue our Summer of Dragons storyline: the Seven Deadly Dragons!

• 12k AC:  40% more - 4800 extra ACs
• 5k AC: 30% more - 1500 extra ACs
• 2k AC: 15% more - 300 extra ACs
• 900 AC: 5% more - 50 extra ACs

So many of you emailed, Tweeted, Facebooked, and messaged us in-game thanking us for the bonus ACs last year that we wanted to keep that love and excitement flowing for the rest of the summer!

Note: this offer does not apply to AdventureCoin purchases bought on Amazon.com, or the bonus ACs that come with membership packages. 

* On August 10th, the bonus amount will drop, so if you're looking to buy AdventureCoins, this is the time to do it!

July 26, 2017

Battle GoreGold, Dragon of Greed

A Dragon vs Slayer Mystery Begins July 28th!

Dragons invade, kill, and most importantly --they hoard. Each dragon guards a vast treasure trove of gold, gems, and priceless artifacts... all very, very tempting for any thieves foolish enough to risk their wrath. 

When evidence appears of a rogue DragonSlayer stealing from dragon hoards for his own benefit, Galanoth must uncover the truth.

For honor, for right… for justice! This weekend, enter the lair of GoreGold, Ice Dragon of Greed as you attempt to uncover the identity of the thief!

• Battle icy Kobold minions
• Explore pillaged dragon hoards
• Rule out suspected DragonSlayers
• Take on GoreGold the Ice Dragon of Greed
• Unmask the REAL culprit behind the dragon deaths and plundered hoards!

July 25, 2017

AQWorlds, Flash, and the Future

AQW:Mobile in development: No Flash Player Needed

Earlier today, Adobe posted about eventually ending Flash Player. We knew this was coming, and we've been making plans for years. That's why both AQ3D and the "currently in development" AQW:Mobile are made in Unity - so that the games will continue on, with or without Flash.

That picture right up there shows AQW:Mobile running on a desktop and on Artix's phone, using webGL.

WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API for rendering 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

What's that mean for us? That the games we build using webGL will run in your browser or mobile device without using Flash.

This is our future, and it will be EPIC. If you haven't seen Artix's status document for AQW:Mobile's progress yet, check it out here! The AQW:M team is making great progress, and we're about to begin building the MEAT of the prototype. 

Goals for AQW:Mobile include:

• Porting over as much (maybe ALL??!?!) of your existing gear as possible
• Gameplay improvements
• Scrolling backgrounds
• And more

We plan to leave the current web version of AdventureQuest Worlds up forever... or as long as the internet lets us. But no matter what Adobe does (or doesn't) do, we plan to have a version of AdventureQuest Worlds available for you to play.

What About AE's Other Games?

Never fear, Heroes, we've got you covered. Once AQW:Mobile is done, our goal is to bring our other main legacy games forward so you can keep enjoying them.

July 24, 2017

PTR Test: Auto-Enhancements

Help us test a new feature on the PTR Server!

About 2 weeks ago, Artix and I were in the command center, discussing what else we needed to put the server rewrite live. And one BIG thing came up -- making sure the game felt right to you guys that first time you log in on the new server.

Based on your feedback, a majority of our community feels positive about the changes (even if there is still room for improvement). That tells us that we're at a point where we should move forward with launch planning. BUT we want to make sure the game feels good to you, and that you can jump into it and play easily, regardless of the combat changes. To help with that, Yorumi built (in record time!) the new...

Auto-Enhancement Feature

With this new feature, you'll be able to click a button and have all your equipped gear enhanced with the best, most useful specs. Some notes:

• Only the gear types you currently have equipped will be auto-enhanced
• If you want to change any of the auto-enhancements, you can go in and manually re-enhance the item
• During the auto-enhancement testing, enhancing is free

Note: because of how different the enhancement systems are on the new vs old servers, if you enhance gear on the PTR server and then go back to the regular servers, you may encounter glitches. If you encounter issues with loading on the regular/old servers, return to the PTR and change gear to things that are showing as currently enhanced.

If you are experiencing any bugs with the Auto-Enhancement system, please report them at Artix.com/bugs. Thank you!

Did You Say... Preparing for Launch?

Yes, yes I did. We've gotten a TON of feedback, and we appreciate all of it. At this point, there are a few issues that cannot be fixed until we make the changeover to the new system/server. Yorumi is going to spend the rest of this week monitoring the auto-enhancement feature and feedback to hear your thoughts.

While he does that, he will begin preparing the servers and systems for the changeover. 

This also means it is your LAST chance to farm up the Quest Mission Sprocket requirements to unlock the 0 AC Sir Ver Bank Pet.

Once the rewrite IS live, the team will focus on fixing the issues mentioned above. We'll also begin heavily focusing on the class balance, combat changes, and class bug fixes that can only be done on the new server. 

At this point, any class bugs still occurring on the PTR server will be fixed once the rewrite is live, and new systems/features available to address them.

July 21, 2017

This Weekend: Return to Battleunder

We lava new Battleunder zones!

Battleon hasn’t always been the most peaceful place, but this weekend your home is on red (hot) alert! With dragons circling in the sky and earthquakes ripping up the ground, there’s only one thing for a Hero like you to do -- descend to the deepest reaches of Battleunder and destroy whatever threat you find! (Spoilers: Is it fire dragons? It is probably dragons!)

But beware, Hero! Where there's lava, there's heat... and sulfur. The sulfuric gases leaking through the caverns WILL make navigating the tunnels treacherous and disorienting.* You might even feel like the map is completely random. ** Keep your wits about you and a cool handkerchief, because the closer you get to the source of the quakes... the hotter it will be!

And as you adventure through the tunnels, keep an eye out for the following:

• A super-powerful and wise Dragon creature who can tell you more about yourself
• A mysterious 7-sided box
• Hapless adventurers who need rescuing
• Caverns of treasure to loot
• A cave full of dragon-goat hybrid creatures?!?!?! 

* If you're worried about not having a map for this dungeon, you can always flash back to what the DragonFable team suggested its players do.

** Spoiler: this week's map is partially a random dungeon. It's been a looooong time since we've done one of these. We hope you enjoy it!

Hot Rewards On Their Way

Several new sets are headed your way this weekend. Collect Lava Gems to forge new permanent gear (like the Lava Guardian Warrior set below), grab loot from the Treasure Pile (IF you can find it), and find the Draconic Oracle armor in the July Featured Gear shop (only available until August 4th).

Battleunder: the Basics

If you've never been to Battleunder before, you're in luck! You've got 3 or 4 new zones to play through before this week's release! Battleunder is a vast system of caverns and tunnels that lies directly under the town of Battleon. Paladin Yara is your guide, sending you on quests to take out monsters and recover sweet loot.

• Battleunder: explore the new cavern system with Yara and recover a powerful blade.
• BattleunderB: Yara is back with new quests... and a mysterious magic chest she needs you to open! 
• BattleunderC: Your mission here is crystal clear - the undead have penetrated into crystal caverns, and we need to clear them out.
• BattleunderD: An ancient water spirit is trapped inside this icy region. Free her and reap the rewards (Legend-only)
• BattleunderE: Explore the hottest new area in Battleunder to discover the cause of earthquakes rocking the town above. (New this week for all heroes!)

July 20, 2017

Summer Madness AC Sale

Get Up to 40% More AdventureCoins With Any AC Package!

Through Thursday, August 10th, the Summer Madness AC Sale is ON! Get more AdventureCoins with each AC package, and the larger the AC package you buy, the more bonus ACs you'll have to spend as we continue our Summer of Dragons storyline: the Seven Deadly Dragons!

• 12k AC:  40% more - 4800 extra ACs
• 5k AC: 30% more - 1500 extra ACs
• 2k AC: 15% more - 300 extra ACs
• 900 AC: 5% more - 50 extra ACs

So many of you emailed, Tweeted, Facebooked, and messaged us in-game thanking us for the bonus ACs last year that we wanted to keep that love and excitement flowing for the rest of the summer!

Note: this offer does not apply to AdventureCoin purchases bought on Amazon.com, or the bonus ACs that come with membership packages. 

* On August 10th, the bonus amount will drop, so if you're looking to buy AdventureCoins, this is the time to do it!

July 19, 2017

Join the AQW Community Team!

Now Closed!

Moderator, Tester, Bug Hunters Accepting New Members

Our in-game moderators, bug hunters, and testers are amazing... and more, they all started as members of our player community! They joined our corps of contributors* to make the game and community better for everyone. We're looking for some fresh new faces to bring new enthusiasm, energy, and awesomeness to the teams! And that's why we're here today.

What Do Moderators, Bug Hunters, and Testers Do?

All three groups work to improve the game and community, but there are a few key differences:

• Moderators: read and take action on in-game reports. They help keep the game safe for everyone.
• Testers: work directly with the game developers to find and fix bugs before new releases go out.
• Bug Hunters: read, review, and confirm bug reports sent to Artix.com/bugs.

If you'd like to know more about the differences between team members, check out Cysero's FAQ.

Important Information

We love when players ascend, and join the ranks of our community team! We offer challenges, very bad jokes, and some pretty sweet perks. Read on if you think you’re ready to apply.

• You must be 18 to apply and join the community team. No exceptions.
• You may only apply for ONE position.
• Please do not include attachments.  Emails with attachments will not be actioned.
  
• Only send one email application (so make sure it’s accurate before hitting the “send” button!)
• Your AQW and other AE game account histories will be reviewed, as well as your AE Master and forum accounts, if applicable.
• Participation in the community team is strictly voluntary, and not a paid position.
• You may receive memberships, secondary currency, and/or other sweet loot as a “thank you” for your participation and contribution
• All applications will be read and considered. If you are selected for consideration, we will email you.
• Deadline for applications is Midnight server time August 2nd, 2017!

How to Apply

Whether you’re considering applying for a Moderator, Tester or Bug Hunter, you'll need to follow the instructions below:

Email your application to [email protected]

• Moderators: put AQW MOD APPLICATION in the subject line
• Bug hunters: put AQW BUG HUNTER APPLICATION in the subject line
• Testers: put AQW TESTER APPLICATION in the subject line
• Note: emails without specific subject lines will not be received.

Include the following:

1. Real name
2. Age (18+ only)
3. Country of residence
4. AQW game account
5. AE Master Account (if you have one)
6. AE Forum account (if you have one)
7. Social media accounts (optional)
8. List any languages other than English you read/write

Moderator applications: Include a paragraph telling us what you think being a mod will mean and any experience you have that makes you a good candidate.

Tester applications: Include the days and times you're available to help test. Most testing takes place on Friday, but there are things to help test throughout the week.

Bug Hunter applications: Include a short paragraph on talking about any experience you think makes you a good candidate, and why you should be considered for the position.

It will take some time for Sora, Reens and Cemaros to get through all the applications so please be patient. If we do not respond, we want to thank you for being awesome enough to apply!  

Moderator Candidate Message

Sora here, Head of the Moderators for AQWorlds.  I am looking for new mods, and now is your chance to apply! Our moderators need to be the most trustworthy and responsible players in the community. And MUST be over 18.

Important qualities for moderators:

• Be fair, honest, and willing to ask for guidance and input
• Be eager to serve and improve the community

Tester Candidate Message

Reens is the head of our Tester team. We release new content EVERY WEEK. (Sometimes, multiple times a week!) That means we have a ton of new quests, monsters, and maps to test… and that requires testers!

Important qualities for testers:

• Know AQWorlds inside out, upside down, and right-side ‘round
• Eager and ready to play new releases before they go live, test them, break them, help fix them, then play them again (over and over until they’re right!)

Bug Hunter Candidate Message

Bug reports are a part of building videogames, and we get them throughout the week!  But with a crew of dedicated and knowledgeable Bug Hunters, lead by Cemaros, we can smash’em all.

Important qualities for Bug Hunters:

• Able to think outside the box
• Able to follow written directions precisely
• Able to work independently or as part of a team
• Good communication skills
• Experienced and knowledgeable*
• Be at least partly insane already.  If you've seen Cemaros's twitter, you already know about this part.

Note: Being experienced does not mean you have to be level 50+ but you should have played long enough to understand the game.

Community Team Member Traits

There are a few things we look for in all our community team members, regardless of whether you want to moderate the game, test it, fix it, build it, or polish the in-game doorknobs. Anyone meeting the criteria below is welcome to apply!

• Eager to serve and improve the community... while having a lot of fun with your team mates
• Team players with an enthusiastic, positive attitude towards AQW and its players
• Responsiblity, maturity, and coolness under pressure
• Willingness to follow all in-game rules and team guidelines
• Ability to read and write English at a secondary school level

Good Luck!

* Our moderators, testers, and bug hunters put in their time and effort to help the community and games... but we always stress that real-life obligations have to come first. That means we occasionally lose some team members to outside responsibilities... but we ALSO get to bring on MORE new team members!

July 14, 2017

This Weekend: Dragon of Pride

Valsarian says: "Dragons > You!"

The 7 Deadly Dragons Saga continues this weekend as we face… Valsarian, Storm Dragon of Pride! For millennia, dragons were the greatest creatures on Lore… until humans came. Until DragonSlayers came. 

Starting this Friday, your adventure begins in Darkmoor Village, the first town Valsarian's Storm Drakel army has conquered as he begins his press to turn humans into slaves... and Dragons into KINGS! 

Electrifying Reward Gear

Find the Blackbolt armor set in the Ashfall Gear shop for AdventureCoins, and battle Valsarian the Storm Dragon of Pride to collect all the pieces of the BoltStriker set! All of the Storm Drakel have a chance to drop even more reward gear, so get in and get battling!

Battle the second of 7 Deadly Dragons this weekend at www.AQ.com. 

Happy Birthday, Bido!

Long-time hero and guest artist, Bido, levels up in the real world this weekend. He's crafted some celebratory gear to help you /party - find it in the July Featured Shop in your game menu until August 4th!

July 14, 2017

Deadly Double Server Boost

Get Double Gold, XP, Rep, and CP on the PTR server all weekend!

Log in this weekend to get double Gold, XP, Class Points, and Rep on PTR servers. (That is 100% more!) 

We missed the double server boost on the 4th of July, so we're making it up to you guys this weekend. (Plus, the double boost on the PTR servers is a great incentive for you to check out all the newest changes and fixes.)

The PTR servers are:

• Zorbak
• Safiria
• Testing Server 2

But if you just can't bear to leave the regular servers, you'll still get 15% more Gold, XP, Rep, and Class Points... but you'll be missing out on primo farming bonuses!

July 11, 2017

July Custom Weapon Winner

Congratulations, Chadough! 

Chadough is the winner of our monthly Custom Weapon raffle! Each month, we choose one winner from among all the accounts that have upgraded (bought membership or AdventureCoins) in the previous month and work with them to create a custom weapon. 

Our luck was in, and Chadough logged onto AQW today! We were able to catch up with him in-game and give him the news in person. He'll spend some time deciding the details of his custom weapon, and we'll get that out to him by the end of the month.

Will You Do This Again?

Good question! Short answer, yes... at least, we will next month! During the first week of August, we'll choose one person from among a list of people who upgrade in July to get their very own custom weapon (with the option of sharing it with up to 10 friends). Keep an eye on the Design Notes to see if this fun surprise will continue after tha

July 10, 2017

Summer AC Giveaway

Log in for a chance to get 1000 FREE AdventureCoins!

Summer’s here, and so is our newest saga - the 7 Deadly Dragons! To celebrate your victory over the Dragon of Gluttony, we’re giving away 1000 AdventureCoins to one lucky hero each day until July 31st! 

How to Enter

All you need to do is log in! Each day until July 31st, we'll pick one hero who's logged in within the last 24 hours and give them 1000 FREE AdventureCoins!

(That means today's winner came from everyone who logged in yesterday. Tomorrow's winner will come from everyone who logs in today.)

Daily Winners

10: Spam and Reeses
11: TitaniumQwaser
12: Afking
13: Amy 104
14: thefallenkingdom
15: Holy Black Knight
16: 5eta17: Faris
18: Poor Maiden
19: Virus Eyes
20: Thekunz11
21: Tom Felton
22: Grizzzzz
23: London191
24: grove48
25: Hathor
26: jjgarv
27: the white fatalis
28: Miyyahh
29: amelia foster
30: ReckTehSkrubs
31: strongwiper

July 07, 2017

This Friday: July Upgrade Bonus

This Friday, upgrade to unlock the Mystic DragonCaller gear!

To celebrate the magic of dragons... and the MIGHT of slaying them... Aranx crafted the Mystic DragonCaller for our July upgrade bonus gear. Unlock the full set when you buy any membership or AdventureCoin package worth $10 USD or more starting this Friday, July 7th, at 6 PM EST.  

Unlock the darker Mythic DragonMaster set with a 12 month membership or 12000 AdventureCoin package. This upgrade bonus leaves August 4th, 2017. 

Tier 1: Mystic DragonCaller

Shown on the left in the image above

Tier 2: Mythic DragonMaster

Shown on the right in the image above

Get Up to 50% More AdventureCoins With Any AC Package!

Our Summer Madness AdventureCoin Bonus Sale is happening right now! Get more AdventureCoins with each AC package, and the larger the AC package you buy, the more bonus ACs you'll have to spend as we begin our Summer of Dragons storyline: the Seven Deadly Dragons!

So many of you emailed, Tweeted, Facebooked, and messaged us in-game thanking us for the bonus ACs last year that we wanted to keep that love and excitement flowing for the rest of the summer!

Note: this offer does not apply to AdventureCoin purchases bought on Amazon.com, or the bonus ACs that come with membership packages. 

* On July 20th, the bonus amount will drop, so this is your best chance to get the MOST free ACs!

July 03, 2017

This Friday: Dragon of Gluttony

The 7 Deadly Dragons Saga continues this weekend!

“What do you call an entire army of Royal Knights? An afternoon snack.” - DragonSlayer Training Manual, page 2. 

Glutus, Dragon of Gluttony, has terrorized men -- especially DragonSlayers -- for far too long. NO DragonSlayer has managed to survive battle with him, and Galanoth is making this battle personal. After years of gorging, and eating thousands of heroes, knights, and 'Slayers, it's time for Glutus to go on a DIE-t! 

There's just oooooooone small* problem, and you're going to need a lot of grit, a bit of wit, and a VERY strong stomach to survive it.

Battle the first of 7 Deadly Dragons this Friday at www.AQ.com.

* Hint: it is not really small. It's not small at all.