Design Notes

February 27, 2012

Another Busy Week

It Never Ends!

We've got a LOT planned for this week but before I get into what's coming this week let's go over some old business...

Fishing Badge

The King Fisher Character Page Badge is now up on your character pages.

Of course, you must be a King Fisher with maxed out Fishing Rep to obtain this permanent pendant professing your piscatorial prowess.

Grenadier Buff

The Members who have Rank 10 Skyguard Reputation (and a few who weren't rank 10, actually) got to preview the Member Only Grenadier Class this weekend. The overall impressions were that it's a lot of fun and an interesting class build but they had problems with mana regen and felt that it was a touch under-powered, especially considering that it was the first Member Only class is a long time.

So this week we will be BUFFING Skyguard Grenadier. Here's what we are doing...

• Increasing DPS overall.
• Decreasing the mana cost for Flashbang, Sleeping Gas and Reactive Grenade by 5 mana each.
• Flashbang's base debuff will be changed to CRIT reduction instead of HIT reduction.
• Rank 4 Passive Adrenaline Rush will be changed to 8% Damage Reduction instead of 10% Dodge.

In testing Stratos was able to solo Ledgemayne and I was able to solo both Ledgermayne and Wolfwing with the fully ranked class so this class is no slouch already if you know how to use it and how to manage your mana, but this should make it REALLY nice.

By the time you read this the changes will already be in effect.

Don't forget that Itzachi, the class dealer in Battleon, will be selling this Member Only class for 2000 ACs starting this Friday if you would rather take the shortcut rather than ranking all the way to 10.

Leap Day Is Coming!

Every 4 years the calendar racks up a full day of time that was left over from all the other days. The solution to this problem is adding a day every 4th year. This is why we have a February 29th this Wednesday and Feb is normally a 28 day month.

We've decided that we want to help you leap forward too.

Starting some time on Wednesday, Feb 29th, we will be adding a Leap Day NPC to Battleon who will give you 4 simple quests. Each quest will reward you with a one-time free hour long BOOST for your XP, GOLD, REPUTATION or CLASS RANK.

You will have 24 hours from the time that we release this to get the Leap Day Boosts and then they will be gone. Plan ahead and remember that this only happens once every 4 years!

I CAN HAS AUSTRALIA DAY?!

This weekend I got to hang out with the winner of this round of the I CAN HAS MOD contest, HERZER HERRING!

She is from Australia and her wish is that we add an Australia Day NPC to the game who would sell Australian Themed Items!

As per her wish, Mick "Crocodile" Dundoo will be coming to Battleon this Friday selling a number of AUS themed items and house items which were almost entirely suggest by Herzer Herring.

As for the Golden Cheezburger, this one will work a little differently. She wished that it be changed into an rare Australian Themed HOUSE, based on the iconic Sydney Opera House! In order to get your house you will need to talk to Mick Dundoo and trade the Cheezburer in for the house.

You MUST have a Golden Cheezburger Deluxe to get this rare house and once Mick Dundoo leaves, you will never be able to get the house again!

There will also be other items like dual Bowie Knives (that's not two knives, mate... THIS is two knives!), a Rugby Uniform Armor in AUS Olympic colors of Green and Gold, A green and gold "Boomer"ang weapon, A Cricket Bat with the AUS flag on it,  Kangaroo and Barry the Platypus pets and some cool house items like an AUS flag for your wall and A Croc skin rug!

ALL OF THE ITEMS IN THE SHOPS WILL BE FOR EVERYONE! NON-MEMBERS and MEMBERS!

I mentioned the rare house over Twitter this weekend and it was met with an amazing amount of complaining. I was really surprised and a little hurt to see so many people griping about getting a completely free house based on the wish of a fellow player who did not want any recognition for herself (she didn't even want to be the NPC when I offered) but only a little recognition for the country she loves and calls her home. Thanks to everyone who saw this gift for what it is and accepted it with an excited smile.

After brainstorming item ideas for the shop we farmed Skyguard for a while and I showed her some of the cool mod powers she could use while she was a mod, like going to secret mod only maps and even going back in time to closed events (While we were time traveling I let her pick up Alpha Pirate for herself as well as some other rares from past areas).

She is a heck of a player, a loyal AQW Member & Supporter and a lot of fun to hang out with. Herzer Herring, it was a true pleasure getting to hang out with you. Thanks!

We will probably only do ONE MORE ROUND of I CAN HAS MOD and we will let you know as soon as that starts!

Etherstorm Goes Out With A Bang!

The Eterstorm Saga is closing starting with this weekend's war. The outcome of the entire area will be decided by the outcome of the war. You will be able to fight on the side of Good, Evil or even Desoloth.

This weekend we will ALSO be releasing the Elemental Dracomaner Class for Etherstorm Rank 10. There will be an AC version in Itzachi as well but after this class we will probably start doing what we did with Grenadier and letting the Rank 10 people have it a week before anyone else so they can get a head start on mastering the class.

We will be posting a skill breakdown and some images of the class later on this week.

Dage The Evil's Deathday Party!

Dage's birthday is March 2nd! There was a typo (not mine) in the 2012 AE calendar that said March 22'nd but it's actually this Friday!

He has decided to craft some custom items for his birthday!

Here is a full list of the birthday items. They are ALL ACs, and he priced them a little higher than average but hey, he's evil, whatcha gonna do?

1. Paragon Mini Pet: 2000 acs
2. Legion Vampire Armor: 1000 acs
3. Legion Vampire Helm: 100 acs
4. Vampire Bat Cape: 200 acs
5. Legion Vampire Scythe: 500 acs
6. Dark Caster Hair: 100 acs
7. Dage’s DeathKnight: 800 acs

The pet is NON-MEMBER and it is also NOT a Battle Pet but does grant the person who owns the pet access to special quests and special additional Dage Rewards.

February 17, 2012

POWER week: Tradeskills+

Something's Fishy in this Release!

Grab your tacklebox and /equip your wading boots, because Fishing has come to AQWorlds! With 30 ranks to cast, catch and explode through, you'll find yourself rising from Fishmonger to Squid Kid all the way to the level 30 King Fisher in no time!

You'll have to fight to reel in the best catch!

With rewards ranging from the Mystic Fishstick Staff to the Runed Master Angler armor, if you have the skills to wrangle your fishing rod well, you'll be swimming in fantastically finned gear! (And you can bet none of the rewards will be carp-y! Ok... all except the Fish Armor.) AND you'll get 80 free ACs worth of Fishing Dynamite, so you can make your OWN Fish Rain!

Cannibalism?! You (Loch Ness) MONSTER!

Once you reach Rank 30 in your new trade and earn the title of King Fisher, you'll find a shiny badge in your Book of Lore! (Character page badge coming NEXT week, and that's no fish story!) And if you can catch a mysteriously DUM-fish, you'll unlock the Derp Moosefish Achievement! (But we're not telling you HOW to get THAT one.)

Fishy Rewards to Collect in Your Cooler:

• Rune Master Angler Armor
• Mystic Fishstick
• Mysterious Fish and Flopping Fish Pet (member-only)
• Fish Suit, Fishin' Rod
• Shrimp Axe, Boot Mace (to the FACE!)
• And much more!

And happenin' house items to show of your skills:

• Magical Aquarium (Will display your "rank up" fish!)
• Fishing Pole Collection
• Fishing Dynamite!
• Even more to store!

We're hoping to reel you in hook, line and sinker with this first tradeskill, because it's the first of a series we want to introduce throughout 2012!

Dance to the Carnaval Music!

Carnaval is here, so get your rear in gear and /dance the night away! Samba's in Battleon with a bounty of beautifully, birhgtly-plumed armors, helms, capes, a pet and weapons to equip!

And for those of you who feel like getting into the "bloco das piranhas" spirit, get your role-reversal armor by joining the /love map!

/Dance your way to great-looking gear:

• Vai-Vai Carnaval Armor and Headdress!
• Plumage of Pain 12!
• Capoiera Capybara Member-only BATTLE PET!
• Jungle, Ivory and Carnaval Headdresses 12!
• Alegre Carnaval Armor 12!
• Carnaval of Love Armor 12!
• Pink Carnaval Feather Cape 12!
• With so much more!

2 new emotes added for Members!

HEY MEMBERS! We've got a small but emote-ional bonus for you today: the /useweapon brings back the classic /use emote that we removed so long ago, and /danceweapon will let you /dance your way through the battlefield!

AQ3D Pre-Registration Delayed!

As we noted here at Artix.com (the AQ3D Design Notes page), the name pre-registration for ANYONE who has ever supported Artix Entertainment's games.* Pre-Reg moved to NEXT week! Keep up to date and find out all the latest news on our first foray into the third dimension in gaming at Artix's AQ3D Design Notes!

*HeroMart items do not count, sorry! We can only track game/secondary currency upgrades in relation to your game account.

Member Bonuses for AC Packages!

Hey AC-buying MEMBERS! If you've bought either the 2,000; 5,000; or 12,000 AC packages since January 1st, you have unlocked the following member-only BONUS items:

• 2k AC package: the Battle Wyvern BATTLE PET!
• 5k AC package: color custom Dreadnought Armor!
• 12k AC package: Mindbreaker Class!

Dreadnought Color Custom Armor (5k AC package)
and Mindbreaker Class (12k AC package)!

For any more questions on this SUPER-awesome new package deal, check out Cysero's Design Notes post! And remember:

HOW DO I GET THIS GEAR?
You can get all of this EPIC gear from the badge shops in the AE section of your Book of Lore!

Mia J. Park Music for You!

And Artix wants you to remember to be sure to support Mia J Park, up-and-coming indie vocalist, the guest star of this Valentine's Day's "Love's Eternal Curse" event! (Hint: She was the voice of the mer'angel and sang the songs!)

She was getting a lot of requests from you guys for her song "One Way Ticket" that she wrote specially for our event, so she put a free link to it on her website! Why not wander your way through the interweb to check it out? While you're there, why not listen to all the rest of her awesome music!

Coming Soon!

• SkyGuard Saga - Invade the SkyPirate Base!
• Desoloth Confrontation - War in Etherstorm!
• Return of the Xan Saga and the rise of the Battle PoisonMistress!
• Lucky Week!

February 16, 2012

Power Week Continues!

We Got Yer Updates, RIGHT HERE!

Power Week is continuing here at AE's Secret Underground Lab at lightspeed! I wanted to keep you guys in-the-know so here are some updates about the pile of stuff that is coming at you!

AQ3D Name Camping TONIGHT SOON!

UPDATE: There are SIGNIFICANT bugs that were just discovered in last minute testing (of course) which means that we will need to POSTPONE AQ3D Name Pre-registration until they have been sorted out. Sorry for the falst start.

AE's 3D game project will be opening its servers soon to past and present AQW Members (as well as Dragonlords, Star Captains, Guardians, HeroSmash Members, etc) as well as anyone who has ever supported AE with ACs, SmashCoins, Varium etc. Basicly ANYONE who has every purchased ANYTHING and helped keep us going can get their name!

Once things get rolling you will need to go to ARTIX.COM to pre-register your character name. This will give you the chance to get your name before anyone else. Don't bother trying to take our names (Artix, Cysero, Alina, etc) We've already taken them.

Things To Remember:

1. This is NOT Alpha Testing, this is JUST CHARACTER NAME RESERVATION! There might be some new stuff to see but there will be no game to play just yet.
   
   
2. You won't be able to reserve your name unless you have a MASTER ACCOUNT set up on the AE PORTAL SITE!
   
   
3. You won't be able to reserve your name unless you have your ACCOUNT LINKED TO YOUR MASTER ACCOUNT!

I imagine it's going to be CRAZY then the servers do eventually open with everyone trying to cram into the servers all at once so good luck! Keep your eyes on ARTIX.COM and our Twitter feeds to know when the floodgates open!

When the time comes you will register your name at

http://www.ARTIX.com

but only if you meet the criteria listed above.

Get On The Line!

FISHING is coming tomorrow. We are busy adding lots of amazing gear and at least 2 achievements to this trade skill. It really is a lot of fun!

FAITH has changed her hair color but she is still waiting to sell you bait, fishing poles and TNT as well as give you lots of advice about becoming a better angler!

As my grandmother always said... "There is nothing quite as satisfying as tossing a lit barrel of explosives into a cool, calm pond and wathcing it rain fish!"

Remember that this is only the first of AQW's trade skills and will have many uses in the future but this week it will just be a very fun and very deep fishing system.

Member Bonuses for AC Packages

Tomorrow we will be releasing the Member Bonus additions to the three standard AC packages. People still seem a little confused about them so I'll address a few questions here.

• Are the Member Bonus Items Member Only? Yes. I would think that one could have gone without saying but it turns out that it's still one of my top 10 questions about the items.
  
  
• Do the AC Packages Stack, IE. If I buy six 2000 AC packages do I get the 12,000 AC Class? No, the packages are seperate and do not stack. Each package unlocks it's own item or items. If you get the 12,000 AC package then you only unlock the 12,000 AC Badge, Shop and Class Set.
  
  
• Can I Use Artix Points to buy the AC Packages through the Portal Site? Yes you can. It calls the same function in the payment flow so no matter how you buy your 2000, 5000 and/or 12,000 AC Package, it will unlock the Member Bonus Items for you.
  
  
• Is there anything for the 1000 AC package on the Portal Site? Sorry, but no. These were added to the packages that are availible through AQW's payment page. Since there is no 1000 package there, there is no Member Bonus for that package.
  
  
• When I got my Membership I also got the 5000 extra ACs for 5$, Do I get the 5000 AC CC Armor? No, the Member Bonus Items are only being added to the three stand-alone AC packages. Getting 20$ worth of ACs for 5$ is pretty great on its own!
  
  
• Do I have to buy them after Friday? No, we are also reaching back to Jan 1st 2012. If you have purchased an AC Package in 2012, then you have already unlocked that bonus shop! We were only going back 6 weeks but decided to take it all the way back to the start of this year.
  
  
• Are these going rare? Nope, they are staying as Member Bonuses in-game for the life of the game.
  
  
• How do I get my Member Bonus Items? After you purchase the 2000, 5000 or 12,000 AC package, the next time you log in you will see a new badge in the AE Tab of you Book of Lore! Click the badge, open the shop that appears on the page and get your Bonus Items!
  
  
• What comes with each package? Glad you asked...

The 2000 AC Package comes with the Member Only Battle Wyvern Battle Pet. This pet works for anyone but if you have a Pet Class equipped it will attack for you!

The 5000 AC Package comes with the totally Color Custom Member Only Dreadnought Armor Set! Every piece of this unstoppable from the plate to the trim to the glow on the ram horns on the helm is color custom.

the 12,000 AC Package comes with the Member Only Mindbreaker Class Set. You have spent years training your body to be a fighting machine but you have ALSO honed your psychic abilities to work in unision with your weapons to create the ultimate psionic warrior!

Many of you have been asking about the class's powers so I've done a skills breakdown for you.

MINDBREAKER CLASS SKILL SET

This is a very good, very strong, multi-purpose class with a few single target atttacks and debuffs, a few multi-attack AoEs for farming and a decent heal to keep you going. It's not bad in PvP either. This class seems to come down to mana management.

Althought it is a magic based psychic warrior (which means WIZARD ENH fit it best), it's built on the Warrior mana-regen model which means you get mana for every hit you deliver or every hit you take.

PSYCHIC ASSAULT

2 second cooldown

Using your mind, you reach out and cause pain to your foe. This is the Mindbreaker's basic attack.

This is Mindbreaker's Auto Attack but we this is the first time that we have added a seperate animation to the auto attack.

You appear to focus for a moment and send a blast of mental energy at your target. This is roughly the same amount of animation as swinging your weapon for an auto attack so should not cause any frame rate drop (lag) and might even be better depending on your weapon.

MINDFIRE

15 mana, 4 second cooldown

A psychic fire engulfs your foe dealing light damage and applies Brain Fog reducing Haste and Hit by 3%, stacking up to 5 times and lasting 10 seconds.

This is a decent single target attack and reducing both your target's Haste and Hit up to 15% will keep them nice and slow and keep them missing a lot more than they should. I imagine Brain Fog is like giving your enemy a mirgane that gets worse with each stack and if you have ever tried to do ANYTHING with that kind of headache then you know it can really slow you down and keep you off target.

PSYCHIC WAVE

15 mana, 4 second cooldown

You send out waves of psychic energy dealing moderate damage to one or two enemies near you.

This is a very basic AoE. It will only attack up to two targets at once so you shouldn't get overwhealned by tons of monsters as you fight. Its power remains constant and has no draw drawbacks. Just a good solid AoE.

This is another of the new skill animations that we added just for Mindbreaker. Waves of psychic energy flow out of you hitting everything near you. This new effect is also applied during MB's last activatable skill, Esper's Might. Makes me want to yell "KANEDAAAAA!" when I use it.

If you don't get that, shame on you.

CEREBRAL SIPHON

20 mana, 6 second cooldown

You lash out with a mental spear, striking your foe for damage based on stacks of Brain Fog also healing yourself for half the difference between your max HP and your current HP.

A very useful attack and pretty cheap heal. The attack gets stronger the more stacks of Brain Fog you have on your target and it always heals for you half of what you're missing.

If you're at 50% HP, it heals you up to 75%. If you are at 90% HP, it takes you up to 95%, if you are at 1% it takes you up to 50.5%. It's a little deceptive because it will never FULLY heal you but if you're smart and manage your mana well then you will also never die.

DEEP INSIGHT & MENTAL FOCUS

Rank 4 passives

Increase Crit by 8%

Incerase Damage by 15%

Pretty basic Rank 4 passives. You crit more often and get a generous damage buff out of these skills.

ESPER'S MIGHT

20 mana, 10 second cooldown

A powerful psychic burst AoE which will hit one or two foes. Damage increases based on stacks of Brain Fog as well as greatly reducing your enemies damage output for a short time.

A stronger AoE than Psychic Wave, and can become fairly devestating with 5 stacks of Brain Fog up. Note that none of the skills consume those stacks so the only way you get weaker is if you let the Brain Fog expire. This is a very useful skill that can be used at its base level when farming (since most monsters won't last long enough to get 5 stacks of Brain Fog) or can be used in its powered up state against boss monsters or other players in PvP. The debuff is really the key. With the Haste and Hit debuff from Mindfire and the Damage debuff from this skill your enemy is reduced to little more than an angry kitten or slightly stale english muffin.

MIND OVER MATTER

Rank 10 passive

When you are at risk of being defeated your amazing mind will occasionally construct an invisible psychic shield around you blocking all incoming damage for 5 seconds.

A new twist on the rank 10 passive to increase survivability. It is basicly a random "OH $#!%, I'M GONNA DIE!" power. Due to its very specific set of circumstances, it goes off a lot more often than the average rank 10 passive but you probably won't notice that because by the time you're that low you'll be spamming your heal power. BUT when you're low on mana and waiting to get enough for a heal... you'll be glad it's there.

Tiny Member Perks

While I was in the engine adding the new psychic animations I also added one for the upcoming Member Only Grenadier Class (Skyguard, Rank 10) and added two highly requested emotes for Members. /useweapon and /danceweapon.

Long and long and long ago when you called the /use or /dance emotes you would have your weapon in your hand. A lot of players hated this and requested that we remove the weapon. We did as they asked but suddenly a whole different crop of players were demaning that we add it back. Having just removed it and quieted the first group, we didn't want to add it back.

So finally you will be able to decide to either /use or /useweapon, and /dance or /danceweapon but the weapon versions are only for Members. it's not a HUGE perk but more specialized Member emotes is always good.

CARNAVAL TIME

I have been learning more and more about Carnaval in Brazil since we announced our Carnaval Shop coming Friday... like a tradition called "bloco das piranhas" where dudes put on skirts and wigs and pretend to be beautiful ladies. The results are often nightmarish but pretty hilarious.

In OUR Shop we will have colorful armors, bongos, flamedancer torches, crazy masks and the world's largest and most dangerous martial arts rodent, the Capoeira Capybara Member Only Battle Pet.

Rumors About Nulgath

Lastly, I'd like to address some rumors that have been floating around about Nulgath. Sadly, some of the rumors are true. He HAS put aside his work on AQW to go build his own game under the EBILCORP corperate umbrella. He will NOT (cannot) delete his area and remove all of his stuff from the game. AE owns the rights to that game content and we are keeping it in the game. Finally, YES... his game looks pretty rad.

More Mia J Park Music For You!

From Artix - "Mia was getting a lot of requests from players for her song "One Way Ticket" that she wrote just for the AQWorlds event. So she put a link to it, for free, on the *coughs* You know, I never feel bad about plugging her music... we should just rename the the company to Mia Entertainment and make all game upgrades just buying her CD... of course... more than 30 of you would have to buy her CD for this to work!"

Here's the link to the free One Way Ticket download - http://www.miajpark.net/aqw.html

309 days until Just Another Day

February 13, 2012

Power Week!

Loads Of Stuff Coming This Week!

This is going to be a pretty HUGE week for us so I've started calling it POWER WEEK! (in my head)

Here's a quick table of contents of this Design Notes post so you can skip to the bits that interest you.

• Fishing Trade Skill!
• Old Heroes' Heart Day Returns!
• AQW's First Carnaval Shop!
• New Dage Quests In Shadowfall!
• I CAN HAS MOD Winner Selection today!
• MEMBER PERK: Bonus Member Items for AC packages!
• MEMBER PERK: Reserve your AQ3D Character Name!
• Stuff is Leaving!

So let's get down to it!

Have A Little More Faith!

Fishing, AQW's first trade skill is coming this Friday! It will be the first of several trade skills, including but not limited to fishing, alchemy and blacksmithing and eventually you will use your trade skills to help build up your Guild Town! Fishing might also have other uses if we continue to add trade skills like Cooking!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's go FISHING with FAITH!

You may know Faith as the head of HeroMart but what you may not know is that she is a fishing FIEND in real life! She was the perfect NPC to help you when your line gets tangled.

You will be able to unlock TONS of different fishing Ranks, special items and even get an aquarium for your house where you can display your latest catches!

You will be able to use a regular fishing pole, special member only SUPER POLE that will let you catch up to 3 fish at a time or barrels of HIGH EXPLOSIVES which will make it RAIN fish down around you (the TNT is basicly the AC shortcut since it can't miss but each barrel only costs 8 ACs each)!

As I mentioned, Fishing will become a very handy skill in the future but this Friday it will just be a nice relaxing diversion (like fishing is in real life). It will give you a chance to build up your skill ranks, unlock some of the new items that you can only get from the fishing trade skill and enjoy the music and scenery.

Have A Heart!

Now that you have played through the Love's Eternal Curse Special Event (The event is staying in the game except for the Event Rares Shop which is leaving next Monday), you may be asking yourself where Big Daddy, the Godfather of Love and his LOVE map are this year.

Never fear, Baby! The LOVE map with the Heroes' Heart Day Adventures along with the return of some of your favorite pink (and blue... and other colors) seasonal rares will be reintroduced to AQW this Friday!

Don't Be Sad, It's CARNAVAL!

Many of you already know what Carnaval (not to be confused with a carnival) is but for those of you who don't it's a HUGE celebration. It's celebrated in several countries but in Brazil it's something truly spectacular. Most of the country grinds to a halt just to have this party-to-end-all-parties that continues both day and night for an ENTIRE WEEK! There are parades, dancing, food and CRAZY costumes in every corner of the country as every city and town try and out-party each other. 

It's kind of like Dragoncon if it went on for a week and had 5 million people attending.

This Friday AQW will be joining in the festivities with our first CARNAVAL shop which will contain special items and costumes just for just for Carnaval!

New Dage The Evil Quests Coming Friday!

Now that the portal to the Underworld has been opened (in last week's event) Dage The Evil will be adding several new repeatable quests to his NPC sending you there. The quests won't be any easier but they will give you more options to collect Legion Tokens to buy items from his insane merge shop!

I CAN HAS DELUXE WINNER!?

Today is the day. A e-mail has been sent to the new I CAN HAS MOD WINNER! Winner, you have one week to check your e-mail and get back to us or we will continue down the list! Make sure that you check the e-mail that you have provided for your AQw account to see if you have won!

Of course, we won't announce the winner until we've had contact with them, but as son as we hear back from them (unless they don't want to be known) then we will let you guys know the name of the winner!

There were 233,892 people who entered the contest this time which is more than DOUBLE the number of people who entered last time. REMEMBER: HOLD ON TO YOUR CHEEZBURGER (Inventory or bank, it matters not)!

Last time the Cheezburger was wished into the Darkside Class. Who knows what it will become this time, if anything!

Good luck! There is only 1 winner and 233,891 non-winners (you guys aren't losers) so if you're a non-winner THIS time, then there is always next time!

MEMBER PERK: Bonus Member Items for AC Packages!

In our continuing effort to give the Members more in 2012, we have decided to add Member Bonus Items to the existing AC Packages starting Friday. 

The AC packages will be exactly the same as they always have been. They will cost the same and you will still get exactly the same amount of ACs with each of the three largest packages but NOW they will also unlock achievements in your Book of Lore that will open shops which will give you different Member Only Bonus Items depending on which AC Package you got.

2,000 AC Package: This package will now unlock the badge and shop that will give you the Battle Wyvern. This is a MEMBER ONLY Battle Pet!

5,000 AC Package: This package will now unlock the badge and shop that will give you the Member Only Color Custom Dreadnought Armor Set! (NOTE: this only applies to the package itself, not the bonus AC offer when you Upgrade.)

12,000 AC Package: This package will now unlock the badge and shop that will give you the MindBreaker Member Only Class! This bonus class is a balanced warrior of the mind. Special animations have been added to this psychic warrior class.

You will be able to unlock these badges and items contained within when you purchase these AC packages through our site or by using Artix points on the Portal Site. These bonuses will be permanent additions to the game and EVERYONE will unlock these badges, so if you don't can't become a member right now, these items will be waiting for you when you decide to upgrade or re-up.

Each of these items will cost 0AC for free storage.

These are NOT collective and do NOT stack. EACH Package unlocks it's own shop, but to get all of the items you will need to have bought all three of them packages.

This offer is ALSO retroactive for 6 weeks from this Friday! If you have purchased one or more of these packages in the last 6 weeks (from Friday) then you will already have these badges and items unlocked for you.

MEMBER PERK: Reserve Your AQ3D Character Name!

Our game project with the working title AQ3D is progressing and we have decided that it's time to allow Members (both present and past) to reserve their character names for this game!

If you are currently supporting or have EVER supported AQW (or any of our other games) with a Membership, you will be able to reserve your name for AQ3D!

IMPORTANT! In order to do this you need your AQW account connected to your Master Account! Like EpicDuel, HeroSmash and Pony Vs. Pony, you will log into this NEW game with your Master Account info. If your AQW account isn't connected to your Master Account then YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RESERVE YOUR NAME!

If you have not yet created a Master Account, Do so by CLICKING HERE!

It's also important to note that this is NOT Alpha Testing. We are still miles and miles away from having something playable for you guys to test. This is ONLY to camp your name before someone else can get it!

We are aiming for Thursday Night but you never know what could go wrong between here and there. You will go to ARTIX.COM and we will have opened the Character Name Reservation Page!

If there is a change in schedule we will announce it here.

Read more about the AQ3D Project
On ARTIX.COM!

One Last Note...

The Punt map and Halftime Shop have left fot another year. Tomorrow Lady Azjurai will be leaving Battleon and taking all of her special wedding gear with her (presumably on her honeymoon. Gratz again Lady Az!). Lastly Quibble and Loves Curse Event Rares shop will both be leaving together next Monday!

January 30, 2012

Tradeskills are coming to AQW

Go Fish! ... No, really. Bring your poles!

That's right, we're introducing tradeskills into AQWorlds this year, and we're starting with Fishing!

BOOM! Fish Rain!

It's not a minigame... kind of. You'll be able to actually fish, but you'll be able to rank up 30 levels of your Fishing skill (and eventually skills like Blacksmithing, Potionmaking, scroll-scribing, etc), and receive different gear and items to earn at each of the ranks!

Ranks 1-10 of 30!

You'll also buy fishy-looking gear that will enhance your abilities! Members will gain access to extras like the Super-pole! (Catch 3x the fish in one cast!) And speaking of FISH... there's a whole school of different, tasty fishies to catch and cook up (once Cooking is introduced, that is)! There's also the possibility of the fish you catch being able to increase your HP, STR, or other stats at some point in the future!

Just wait until you catch the Jumbo Shrimp!

Look for this deliciously exciting release to be introduced February 17! Dumoose has been the angler-wrangler for this project and says that testing is going swimmingly! We've got ideas in mind for other tradeskills to introduce as the year goes on, each with their own member and AC bonuses, but what would YOU like to see? Let us know on Twitter and the forums!

This is the start of a whole new type of AQW gameplay, and we're looking forward to building the different skills up with you all to be as awesome as possible!

Earth Realm- get ready, rock-steady!

Rocks rumble and crystal shatters; the earth is unsteady and it's up to YOU to get Etherstorm's defenses in order before the world begins to break apart! Head inside the mystical, magical crystal realm which houses the Earth Realm's secrets! Battle crystallized elements as the earth fights back, but be careful... things could get rocky!

Desoloth is getting ready to launch an all-out attack and if your plans are not in place before he does, the elemental war he's planning will tear Draconic society - and all of Lore - apart!

Etherstorm's Quibble comes FRIDAY!

Lets not have any quibbling over this announcement, because the items Quibble Coinbiter - our favorite time-traveling salesmoglin - will bring are going to be fundamentally, elementally EPIC! Look for more previews of them as the week goes on! You'll find him in Battleon, shop open and shelves stocked, this Friday!

Member Mid-week release: Cornelis!

HEY MEMBERS! Are you ready for another mid-week member-only release? You are? GREAT! Because we've got one in the works for you, and it'll take place in the much-beloved, long-ago released Cornelis map in Chiral Valley! Things are going to get pretty twisted, and the residents there need YOUR help to straighten their lives out!

An AUS-ome holiday!

Thanks so much to Captain Sephira for the extra-special Aussie swag she sent to help us celebrate Augstralia Day! It arrived this morning and Cysero and I paraded through the halls of the Lab showing off all the sweet gear from a different hemisphere!

Beleen models our Aus-some gifts!

But the Australia cape (which looks great with my shirt today, coincidentally!) and flags were not all! We've received pins, a GIANT FOAM FINGER, and the wicked umbrella hats you see in the picture below! Beleen also trumpeted her excitement at the swag to the whole team when she blew on the Extra-Special Aussie NoiseMaker (tm)!

The foam finger points away from Australia.

Once again, thanks to Captain Sephira for the epic gear and rockin' letter! Happy belated Australia Day, everyone!