December 29, 2015

End of 2015 Server Rewrite Update

AQWorlds is Evolving Before Your Eyes!

We've made a lot of changes to AQWorlds over the lcouple years, and gained MANY new players! That's great, because it means there are tons of new heroes for you to quest with, battle with, and talk to... but also puts our servers under a great deal of strain. 

To make AQW the BEST game it can be, we need to take the time to FIX the current issues. So... how do we DO that? WE REBUILD AQW'S SERVERS!

Phase 1: Rebuilding the Current Game (90% Complete!)

We had hoped to finish Phase 1 of the Server Rewrite back in September, but as we've said before, a project like this is *not* one that should be rushed. We want to take our time and do it right -- plus Yorumi is making some modifications in the backend that should make it easier for our designers to do more fun things faster once the rewrite is finished.

Though we are taking our time to ensure that all the changes are solid and done well, we don't want to drag our feet! I just got the latest update in from Yorumi, and am really excited to share it with you all!

Phase 1 progress so far:

• Maps 
• PvP 
• Monster AI 
• Combat 
• Inventory 
• Enhancements 
• Stats 
• Chat 
• Quests are very close 

Phase 1 still to finish:

• Shops - 80% done
• Guilds - 95% done
• Houses - 80% done
• Crafting - 80% done
• Parties - 95% done

Each of the above is VERY close to being done, and the additional coding help has been a HUGE boost for Yorumi!

We do still need to finish some existing in-game commands like /goto. The bulleted points above are probably 2 weeks of work and testing. The commands are a bigger project, but the rewrite coders know exactly what's needed and how to do it.

We are currently in pre-live testing for this last round of additions. This is what's going to take the longest part. We're estimating about 4-6 weeks for the remaining testing and bug-fixing. (You do NOT want to see what happens when you /goto your friend and land smack dab in the middle of a frogzard O_O)

Stat changes Design Notes Post

Monster AI Design Notes Post

Combat Design Notes Post

What Comes Next? Phase 2!

If Phase 1 of the server rewrite is porting the game over to the new servers, Phase 2 is where we're planning to make the changes you have all been asking for. 

We cannot start adding in Phase 2 functionality like the BuyBack shop until after Phase 1 is complete, but once it is, we can start working on things like:

• friends list syncing 
• bank item previews 
• the buyback shop
• better PVP and guilds functionality 
• adding rank 10 passives to new classes 
• cross-server/world chat 
• better anti-bot and reporting functionality and more. 

PS: the level cap will raise at some point after Phase 1 is complete. We don't want to add in more levels now until there are newer, more crazy boss monsters and content for our high-level players to battle. 

To see the full Design Notes post with all the details, click here!