Design Notes

March 28, 2023

Friday's Game Release Written by Beleen

I wrote the April Fools Day event, and that’s no joke! 

Howdy frens! April Fools Day is only a few days away, and, unless the AQW team has been sneaking spoilers on Twitter, this year’s event is going to make even the neigh-sayers laugh! This is the 3rd release written by yours truly and incorporates 3 of my most favorite things in the world. Sure, there’s going to be a little bit of pink involved – that’s obvious – however, that’s not the mane point of the event; you’ll soon find out everything straight from the horse’s mouth, I promise you. But you won’t have to wait furlong since the April Fools event is launching this Friday, March 31st!

It's not what you think. Promise!

Fun Fact!

Did you know April Fools Day originated in France in like the 16th century? Back then, the New Year was celebrated at the end of March, so when the Gregorian calendar was introduced, the New Year was moved to January 1st. Yet some people still celebrated the New Year in late March, and this was seen as foolish by the new new-year adopters. Thus, the tradition of playing pranks and jokes on April 1st was born, and AQWorlds has been celebrating April Fools Day every year since 2009 🤗 

DID YA KNOW our 1st April 1st event was when Zorbak redrew Battleon with the Mystic Pencil of Endless Scribbles? It seemed sorta sketchy at first, but then again, that was the (pencil) point… *audible groans* Tehehe! That was one of my favorite and most memorable releases ever, so I sincerely hope my new April Fools event stirrups as much fun as Zorbak did 14 years ago! 

Needless to say, I canter wait <3 

~ Beleen  

March 27, 2023

Now Available: Slayer's Scavenger Hunt

Log in and fight to complete today's new Scavenger Hunt

Log in now and battle the Frogzard in /battleontown to get the Slayer's Scavenger Hunt clue. Decipher the hint to figure out which monster drops today's two rare 0 AC weapons. The clue + monster drops will be available through April 10th.

To make sure everyone can easily find the clue itself, it drops off the Frogzard in /battleontown.

• Read + decipher the clue to figure out where the rewards are.
• Head to the monster you THINK has the new 0 AC rare drops and battle for a chance to get them
• The clue + 0 AC rare rewards will drop through April 10th.

Check out last week's Shadowy Scavenger Hunt in this post. Its clue + reward drop will be available until March 27th.

Scavenger Hunt? What is this?

Recently, we've been making some changes to the daily login gift lineup based on your feedback. This month, we're trying out some different ideas... like the new weekly scavenger hunts we've released recently.

The second one ended last night, and our third one will be available until next Tuesday. The fourth hunt begins NOW as we prepare for this weekend completely normal Friday release!

Note: You don't need to have the clue in your inventory or bank in order to get the reward drop from the monster. If you learn where it is from a friend, a video, or the wiki, that's also fine! Getting the clue just adds to the fun of the hunt for those who want the mental challenge.

March 27, 2023

Monday, March 27th Updates

News, News, News! Come hear all about it!

Haii Everyone! With so many players on so many different platforms, the team and I found that our information had become really scattered over the last few years. Last month, we began these "round-up" Design Notes posts to make sure everyone has access to all of the same info, no matter which platform you use! Read on to see what changed recently.

Recent Bug Fixes

The following issues should have been addressed with today's restart:

• Quests requiring Tendurrr The Assistant as a turn in requirement has been adjusted to just require owning him instead.
  • Assisting Oblivion Blade, Assisting Crag and Bamboozle, Assisting Drudgen, The Game of Gemstones, Nulgath's Messenger, Kiss the Void
• Hollowborn Reaper's Scythe - Now requires Death's Scythe instead of Incarnation of Glitches Scythe.
• Hollowborn Reaper's Daggers - No longer requires Incarnation of Glitches Scythe to merge.
• Hollowborn Reaper's Karma  - No longer requires Incarnation of Glitches Scythe to merge.
• Hollowborn Reaper's Karmas - No longer requires Incarnation of Glitches Scythe to merge.

The First Speaker Updates

The First Speaker is hard. Like, really hard. We’re listening and have heard your praises, complaints, strategizing, and victories. This level of difficulty will remain a one-off, and future bosses won’t be at this level for a very long time. A multi-year saga ending boss that shows that you’ve really conquered the game. 

We spend a lot of time with these bosses in development. Testing different solutions, approaches, and thinking about how different types of players would approach them. Here’s a quick glimpse into some of the questions we try to answer when putting together these fights:

These questions must be positive before a boss can release. We work with many limitations, like system performance and lag, and we do think about them- such as making all bosses have static rotations and allowing at least two seconds to respond to most important mechanics.

• Can you beat it in a party of f2p friendly classes?
• Is the boss unengaging, uninteractive, or unfun?

These questions have strong determinants on difficulty and are generally answered positively before release.

• Can you beat it in a party of 3?
• Are there at least 4 unique class combinations that can beat it?
• Is the difficulty due to execution, gearing, or both?
• Is it possible to beat in a public party? (only ingame chat, people you haven’t played with before)
• Can you beat it without potions or boost weapons?

But sometimes, things still go unseen. Over the weekend, several new tactics and solutions were discovered using unintended interactions that made the fight easier than intended. Because many of you really enjoyed the level of difficulty and accomplishment that came with this, we’ve decided to address those by keeping the boss difficult (but speeding it up a bit), without affecting how most strategies work. As well, we’ve made the rewards faster to obtain and stronger.

The First Speaker boss updated:

• The First Speaker will return to position upon Power Split
• Healing reduced by 25%
• Scintillation defense buff reduced (100% -> 75%)
• Magia Burn magic vulnerability per stack increase (100 -> 300%), duration increased (16 -> 18)
• Sanctity duration reduced, and Equalizer will kill you if you have it and are hit

These changes make the fight faster, and prevent a few unintended interactions. It won’t affect most strategies outside of speeding up the fight.

Vohu's reward shop prices changed:

• Goddess of War damage bonuses increased (40% -> 50%)*
• Goddess of War no longer requires Insignia (5 -> 0), but now requires additional components
• War Blade of Power, Speed, Strength, Wisdom, and Courage Insignia price reduced (10 -> 7), but now requires additional components
• Malgor ShadowFlame Blade Insignia cost reduced (25 -> 20)

*Further update: Based on feedback, the merged armor will remain 40% to races, and instead, a quest will become available later this week to upgrade it to 50% and more rep and class rep boost.

These changes make the rewards stronger and require less boss kills to obtain, while increasing farming time spent outside the boss in return for the power.

Bugs Note from Cemaros

While optimizing inventory flow, there was an error resulting in the buyback shop in the Account manager not showing some items. This issue has now been resolved.

March 24, 2023

Spring 2023 AdventureCoin Bonus

Get 50% more ACs with any Membership or AC Pack

Your luck is in! To help you celebrate and make the most of all our Spring holiday events, get 50% more FREE bonus AdventureCoins with any AdventureCoin or Membership package you buy through Tuesday, April 4th.

Get 60,000 ACs while our Spring Bonus is on!

During our 2023 Spring AdventureCoin bonus, get 60,000 ACs for $99.95 (that's 20,000 ACs more than normal!) and unlock your choice of upgrade bonus pack, 15x Rep, Gold, Class Points, and XP server boosts, and the Mythic Item of Digital Awesomeness (IoDA). 

Mythic Item of Digital Awesomeness?!

The Mythic Item of Digital Awesomeness (or MIoDA for short) is a miscellaneous item you will get by purchasing the 40k AdventureCoin pakage. Like the other IoDA items, it allows you to choose any item in the game when you redeem it through your Account Manager.

How to Claim your MIoDA Prize

Make sure you have a confirmed email address attached to your game account, and then follow these steps:

1. Decide on the item you want
2. Log into your Account Manager
3. Click on the "Awesome Prizes" link on the sidebar
4. You'll see a list of the IoDA tokens you have available
5. Choose from a list of ALL the eligible item rewards  
6. You'll be taken to a verification page to confirm your choice

Wait...AdventureCoin Bonus?!

That's right! Several times each year, we have bonus AdventureCoin offers, where we'll increase the amount of ACs you get with each AdventureCoin or Membership pack. (example: Summer, Back to School, and during the holidays). Bonus amounts and dates may change from year to year, so keep an eye on the Design Notes and social media for more news of future bonuses.

March 24, 2023

New Featured Rare Sets

Available for a Limited Time!

Axeros, longtime AQWorlds artist, crafted several sets to help you celebrate his birthday and the end of the ShadowFlame Saga! Find the Scarlet Flame Sorcerer, Orochi Bladecaster sets, and more in your Featured Gear Shop in the game menu for AdventureCoins until April 21st. 

Axeros, longtime AQWorlds artist, crafted several sets to help you celebrate his birthday and the end of the ShadowFlame Saga! Find his new sets in the Featured Gear Shop in your game meu now:

• Orochi BladeMaster armor
• Orochi BladeMaster helms
• 4 Serpent Guardian capes
• Sheathed Orochi Wazikashi cape
• 6 Orochi BladeMaster helms
• 9 Orochi BladeMaster weapons
• Scarlet Flame Sorcerer armor
• 6 Scarlet Flame Sorcerer helms
• 3 Scarlet Flame Sorcerer capes
• Scarlet Flame Guardian pet
• 2 Scarlet Flame swords
• 4 Scarlet Flame daggers
• 1 Scarlet Flame wand
• 1 Scarlet Flame staff
• Mage of Time's Rune ground item

March 24, 2023

ShadowFlame Ultra Boss

Battle the First Speaker This Weekend

With the Shadows of War Saga complete, there was only one thing left for the team, and your Hero, to do... take down the ULTRA BOSS! This weekend, login and /join ultraspeaker to battle the enemy you know best: Malgor, your strongest servant, the First Speaker! Defeat the First Speaker each week to gain 5 Insignia*, which can be used to create a variety of strong items, and a new enhancement trait.

Log in tonight for:

• First Speaker Ultra Boss battle in /ultraspeaker
• Malgor Insignia Rewards: Goddess of War set + Dauntless Enhancement
• Talk to Inevitabilis in /timeinn and complete her quests to unlock the four Hero of Time sets
• New Weapon Enhancements: Praxis and Dauntless
• Undead Painsaw set in the Dark Birthday Merge shop
• Undead Legion exclusive gear: Legion Inn house, house guard, and Dage's Devastation Paragon Helm
• Featured Rare Sets + House Items: Scarlet Flame Sorcerer + Orochi BladeMaster
• New functionality for Guild Leaders in the account site: manage your offline guild members
• Pax East 2023 axe available from Valencia in /museum... if you know the secret code!

The First Speaker battle tips

• The First Speaker’s autoattack reduces your damage and defense over time. You can cleanse this by taking the Equalizer attack, but if you and your team get greedy, it could result in your loss!
• Every time The First Speaker uses Equalizer, he heals a large amount. Be prepared to counteract this, or your fight could drag on forever.
• Two of The First Speaker’s abilities are devastatingly powerful or debilitating to your team. Be ready to taunt them to minimize their impact.

The full breakdown and boss abilities can be found on the wiki here. 

First Speaker Merge Shop Rewards

Goddess of War set: Fight the boss to collect Insignia and obtain the Goddess of War set, featuring damage boosted weapons of every race, and an armor that increases your damage to all races by 40%!

Dauntless Enhancement: Create a new enhancement trait in /forge using your new insignia and resources!

Dauntless/ Weapon Enhancement

• 100% chance to activate on second skill
• 3 second cooldown
• Deals 220 - 660% Physical Damage, increasing the lower your health is, always hits and crits
• Heals you based on how much damage you did and applies Dauntless for 12 seconds, increasing your Crit Chance by 15%, Haste by 25%, and decreasing mana cost by 50%. Also applies Decay, Cannot Heal for 6 seconds.

DIFFICULTY WARNING: This is a very difficult fight that requires careful coordination and planning. Come prepared to practice the fight, and you will eventually succeed! 

New Mid-Level Weapon Forge Enhancement Trait

Need a hand on your journey? We've got your back! If you're level 60 or higher, you can join /forge to create Praxis, a weapon enhancement focused around parrying your opponent and dealing increasing damage as the fight goes on. Note: This enhancement trait may change in the future based on player and team feedback.

Praxis / Weapon Enhancement

• 100% chance to activate on second skill
• 12 second cooldown
• Deals 250% Hybrid Damage
• Applies Spinning Dragon to the target for 1 second, reducing the next hit they do to 0, and Praxis for 32 seconds, reducing dodge by 30%. Deals +100% damage on each successive hit to the same target.

The list of all enhancement traits can be found here. 

*Weekly quests reset every Friday at 12:01 AM EST. If you complete a weekly quest on a Thursday, it will be available again on Friday! 

Dage's Dark Birthday Update

Head to Dage's /darkbirthday map this weekend to find even MORE wicked new gear to unlock.

Dage's Dark Birthday Merge:

• Mortal Underworld Painsaw Man armor
• Underworld Painsaw Man armor
• 2 Underworld Painsaw helms
• 1 Underworld Painsaw cape
• 2 Underworld Painsaw Gauntlets
• Dage's Devastation Paragon Helm

The Undead Painsaw set is available for ALL heroes, and Dage's Devastation Paragon helm is an Undead Legion exclusive, requiring Legion Tokens.

Undead Legion Merge Shop:

• Legion Inn House
• Dage the Lich King House Guard
  

New Guild Management Tool

Good news, Guild Leaders! Available now: Captain Rhubarb added added new guild management functionality for you in the Account Manager! You can promote, demote, and kick members that are offline.

Guild leaders, take note: you'll need to log out and back in if you want to see the updated information on a given server. If your guild members are online, on other servers, they will also need to log out and back in to get the most up-to-date information.

Class Changes for March 23, 2023

Read on to stay up to date with the latest news about what we've updated and what's been fixed for AdventureQuest Worlds classes + combat.

Miscellaneous

• Necromancer, Pinkomancer, and Grim Necro second and fifth skill switched
• StoneCrusher and Infinity Titan fourth skill defensive auras duration increased to 8 seconds

Bug Fixes

• Dragon of Time, Mindbreaker, and Psionic Mindbreaker’s healing mechanic fixed
• Several recently broken boss skills fixed
• Elysium damage on the Enhancement Traits page fixed. 
• This was a typo, and there are no changes to the enhancement in-game.

Find the full post (with past updates) here.

April Calendar of Events

It's no joke... I herd you wanted some Good events? We'll stop stallion and get you mare of what you asked for! Check out the April 2023 event calendar to see our upcoming game releases. Daily Login Gift updates to be added soon.

Note: the March calendar previously listed an update to the Wheel of Doom for tonight. The set intended for that release was moved to April 7th, and will be a reward set instead.