Design Notes during Sep 2009 Top secret behind the scenes information about AdventureQuest Worlds and our other web based games.
Miss. Ing
September
30th, 2009
First Artix… and now Cysero!? The two have gone missing!
This isn’t like them. Don’t get me wrong—Artix and Cysero are prone to disappearing. But in the end, you can usually find them battling the Undead, hovering around the coffee maker, or jamming out with Warlic and Zhoom.
But this time is different. J6, Galanoth, and I have been searching Battleon high and low, trying to find clues to the duo’s disappearance. No footprints. No Daimyo. No stinky left socks. No luck so far.
Where could they be? I can’t even reach them on their eyePhones (Lore’s most trusted super-cellular micro-computer talking apparatus)!
Someone—or something—paladinapped Artix! And that same person most likely snatched Cysero up today (they probably lured him with something shiny like gold, tin foil, or ice cream)! But who would do such a thing?!
Maybe they have posted something on their Twitters and/or Facebooks..?
Hold on, guys, I’m coming to find you! /runs aimlessly out of Battleon, Chinchilla in tow
Missocking
September
29th, 2009 Birthday
Preperations! Has
Anyone Seen Artix? Hi guys!
Just a couple
of quick notes...
The Rep has been removed from the Ryoku 1 on 1 fight. Some hackers were using
it asn an exploit for easy reputation gain so, as of now, the
only
way to get Yokai rep is thrugh the 3v3 fights.
A lot of you have been writing to us and telling us how concerned you are about
hackers, cheaters and scammers. I just wanted to let you know
that recently we have made a few huge stides in protecting
AQW, and you from these people.
Fighting hackers, scammers and people who would try and take advantage of AE's
generally good natured attitude toward the world does take
a lot of our time. They really ruin the fun for everyone
and their actions can actually hurt the game. and We really
care about our games and the people who decide to play them,
so
we will
never
quit
fighting
the
never-ending
battle.
Birthday Stuff!
We're REALLY busy preparing battleOn for AQW's 1 YEAR BIRTHDAY!
That means that all of you founders who bought your 1 year
membership on October
10th of last year are about to have your memberships expire.
It's been a great year, and it started with you guys. Thanks
for your faith in us (it takes a lot to buy an untested
game.. especially
from us) and
thanks for growing with us. I really hope you have enjoyed
the last year as much as we have and we hope that you decide
to come back for another year.
Speaking of the birthday, we've got a little party planned and if you missed
out on being a AQW FOUNDER, you don't want to miss out on being
a 1ST UPHOLDER!
Here's a little question for you guys. Which of the Yokai Tournament Fighter
armors would you like to see most in the game for you to wear?
Let us know of the Forums so we can try to get them in the
game for you in this weekend's Yokai Tournament Shop and the
Rep shop in Akiba.
Artix: Missing? Has anyone
seen Artix? He never showed up at the lab today. He did mention
something about getting a letter asking for his help with
a huge undead monster, but he should have taken care of what
a while ago.
I'm starting to worry.
I'm sure he's fine. He'll probably show up tonight with a great story about killing
dead things. Come to think of it... that's how most of his
stories start. And end.
FaceBook & Twitter I'm pretty active
on both Facebook and Twitter. Having a phone that is smarter
than I am helps. Many of you already know my facebook and twitter
accounts but for those who don't... I try to post pictures
and fun facts about upcoming releases, but usually it's just
random stuff that comes into my head.
More Payment Options Oh yeah, SMS Cell
Phone payments now work in Singapore and South Africa for AQW.
Do you live elsewhere?
We're working on it!
Party-adin
September 28th, 2009 AQWorld's Birthday Party! Cake, Clowns, Ponies, DOOM and Ice Cream Can you believe we are only two weeks away from the biggest party of the year? AdventureQuest Worlds is turning 1 year old -- and you are invited to the main event. It may be AQW's birthday, but YOU are the one getting presents. As for the special event, you are probably expecting something completely crazy, insane, twisted, unbelievable or bizarre -- but do not worry. We ASSURE you it will be a PERFECTLY NORMAL, simple, friendly party*. Yup, nothing out of the usual at all. Seriously**!
Oooh, I just got a letter saying a new undead monster has been spotted. I am going to check it out then write you first thing tomorrow morning to tell you about it!
* Normal? Since when have you ever done anything normal? ** Oh boy... what are you guys up to? Normally you throw some sort of undead invasion where millions of undead attack the town of Battleon. That's it right? Hah! You are going to have an undead army attack Battleon. I knew it! That is why you are going to check out that undead monster in the next paragraph. 100 gold says I am right! ... am I right? Artix ?...am I? <waits> Alright, we will find out in your post tomorrow. BET I'M RIGHT!
Prepare-adin
Sockoi
September 25th, 2009 The DragonKoi Tournament The DragonKoi Tournament Begins! It is no secret that we are huge fans of Anime and Manga. In the first part of Yokai Isle we are entering into the DragonKoi Tourament. If you are also a fan of anime and manga.... um... brace yourself! There will be selection of new armors and items to get you in the spirit. There is also a new Japanese themed house model for Members. The main town on Yokai is called <big smile> "Akiba". Named after the most amazing town in Japen (Filled to the brim with anime, manga, games, and computers) Half of our new town has been released along with the arena this week. We really hope you enjoy this special release!
Oooh... someone just got the cold shoulder!
Akiba Shops
For centuries, the town of Akiba has been a thriving city known for crafting some of the most amazing items. Two brand-new shops are finally open to everyone in Akiba! (more shops will be released, but right now everyone is at the tournament!) On the West side of town, you will find the Ninja Dojo and Cosplay Superstore, overflowing with Akiba-Attire! Some of the items you may find interesting include:
Cat Ears Headband (color custom)
Prismatic Gi Mask (color custom)
Prismatic Karategi (color custom)
Dark Gi Mask
White Gi Mask
Dark Karategi
White Karategi
There is even a brand-new Yokai themed house that you can purchase from Grams in Akiba and Penny the Real-Estate Centaur! This traditional Japanese-style home is perfect for Ninja, Samurai, and just about anyone who loves historical real-estate with a scenic view! If the house is haunted by a grudge.... um.. not our fault!
New Yokai-Isle-Style House
Legendary Hanzamune Sword Great prizes and even greater adventures are just waiting to be uncovered on Yokai Isle, including the legendary Hanzamune Sword… but, uhhhh, what exactly is that? Crafted in the 16th century by the legendary weapon smith Hanzamune, this ancient katana has been passed down throughout generations. Although it may be rusted and tarnished, the blade is still as sharp as though it were forged yesterday. Along with immortal fame, the Hanzamune Sword will be awarded to the Champion of the DragonKoi Tournament! But what do they expect you to do with this rusted katana if you actually won?
Upgrade Update... AGAIN! Hi
guys! Here are the first images of the Canadian and UK upgrade
cards.
For our friends up North!
For our friends
on the other side of the Pond!
For those who missed it before... here's a repost of the earlier info:
In the USA
You can get these cards in the U.S. right now at BestBuy,
Target, Toys R Us and Lots Of Other Places!
United Kingdom
Our cards are coming to you soon! The UK will be able to turn to WH
Smith (around October 20th) and Clinton Cards (around November 9th) for the cards.
Canada
Hey Canada! You will be able to look to your local Safeway,
Toys R Us, Macs, and Sobeys for the Upgrade Cards (around October 14th)!
Turkey
Hi
to all of our Turkish players! happy to announce that we
now offer a 6.00 TRY (Turkish Lira) SMS payment via cell phone!
Slowly but surely we're getting out to the rest of the world. Wether they want
us there or not.
The Dragon Koi Torunament has just begun!
Grateful-adin
September 23th, 2009 Thank you! On behalf of the entire team... YOU ROCK!!!! Each day we wake up and are grateful. And it is all because of you. Thank you for playing and enjoying the games. Thank you for sending your ideas, suggestions, and for making it possible for the team to make the game better for you every week. Thank you for being a part of our community... for making the amazing posts... and for sending the heart warming letters that gives us so much strength and motivation. You are the reason this is all happening.... thank you.
FaceBook, Twitter & MySpace Truth be told I am having a weeeeee little bit of trouble keeping up with all of the streams. But I invite you to add me as a friend (and actually me, not someone else claiming to be me.) on Facebook, Myspace, and you can follow my Twitter feed. These are the only ones I use.
September
22nd, 2009 The
Physics and Metaphysics Of Time-Traveling Salesmoglins. The
Quibble Squabble. Hi guys! Let's talk
about our favorite never-before-seen used item vending
traveling sales moglin, Quibble Coinbiter.
Some people have been asking about his items.
As you know, if you've hit his "Talk" button Quibble gets his items from time
travel faeries (who occassionally attack Artix's DN's posts
and change, repeat or make-incorrect-in-some-way the date
line). The faeries grab used and discarded items from the
future, bring them back in time to before they were released
and sell them to Quibble at cost, who then passes the savings
on to you. So you get a brand new, never-before-seen, slightly
used and tarnished helm out of the deal!
The "Rare" Question. A lot of
people have been writing in and asking if Quibble's items
will never be seen again or if, as the description above
implies, these items will show up elsewhere later in game.
The answer is: Both.
SOME of Quibble's items WILL show up later in the game. For example, the Samurai
Armor that Quibble brought for us not too long ago.
This AC armor will obviously be released in the japanese themed Yokai Isle zone
upon which we are currently workin'.
The Secret Pirate Base house currently for sale will be a Holiday rare...
we will probably bring it back NEXT Talk Like A Pirate Day,
but it will be left out of the pirate zone that we have plan
for eventually.
And quite a few of the items that Quibble has released will never be seen again.
Unfortunately since the items are to be released in the FUTURE and we're not
there yet we can't tell you which items will come back and
which will go rare... beacuse we don't know ourselves. If
any of you guys happen to be FROM the future and want to
send us a list, that would be amazingly helpful...
...Also, Lotto numbers...
...Thanks in
advance, from the past.
So there you have it: A completely useless answer. Happy? Me too. (BIG thumbs
up!)
Cake-adin
September 21th, 2009 Happy Birthday Warlic! Everyone's favorite Blue Mage levels up It has become a tradition at the secret underground lab to make a special cake for the day's birthday boy/girl*. Normally we have a picture of the NPC on it. But for Warlic we did something... um... special! Because he sports a mighty powerful beard... the girls at the office made and cut out "beard masks" which we ALL wore as we stormed in the room and sang happy birthday while presenting his cake which had a giant picture of his beard drawn with icing and the words, "Happy Birthday Warlich**"
* Geo started this tradition by baking Cysero a green "C" cake and me a Black Dragon Cake three years ago. Here is a picture of neither of those. Even the games get Birthday cakes. (AQWorlds is coming on October 10th!) ** Yes, Warlich. This is why you should never, ever, outsource your cake production! LOL You should have seen us all wearing paper beards and singing. It was truly ridicules.
Release-adin
YAR!!
Ahoy!
September 18th, 2009 Pirates, Ninja & Princesses! Madness is brewing.... prepare yourself It is Talk like a Pirate Day ... erm... weekend. So prepare yourself by using the Talk like a Pirate Page!
We got just this screenshot from
some players Pirates in Battleon
Note: Yes, it is true. Artix & Beleen dressed up as Pirates in real life for this release
Pirates vs. Ninja War Yaaarg! We need all hands on deck! Raise thee anchor and hoist thee flag! A watery-war is about to commence against the pirates’ worst enemy... But these are no ordinary Ninja!
Kappa Ninja!? Those are a type of Yokai... something is odd here.
Quibble Coin Biter
Quibble Coinbiter is back in town, and you know what that means: brand-new, used, never-before seen items for purchase! And he’s come fully-stocked with an assortment of Pirate booty to commemorate this special event! You can find the following items for sale in Quibble’s shop in Battleon:
Secret Pirate Base (New House Model)
Rotting Naval Commander
(Previously named Barnacle Armor)
Captain’s Hook dagger
Sea Captain’s Hat
Rotting Captain’s Hat
Seaweed Hat
Newspaper Hat
Octobrero (Cysero’s favorite!)
Red, Blue, White, and Black Polka Dot Bandanas
Golden Flintlock Pistol
Cutlass Supreme sword (... we are still laughing)
Undead Parrot on your shoulder
Octopus Backpack
Naval Commander
Pirate Captain
Pirate Captain’s Hats (regular and Elegant)
You can get more AdventureCoins by buying them through our Upgrade page (which now includes a cell phone option, aka SMS) or earning them through AExtras.
Now that you’ve loaded up on plundered loot, you MIGHT be interest to know that Quibble has some interesting insight on the next Lord of Chaos!
Invitation to the DragonKoi Tournament on Yokai Isle
Meanwhile, heroes are receiving invitations to the DragonKoi Tourmament from Princess Miko! Check your email, it is in the middle of this week's special newsletter. (Please flag the letter as not spam if it got filtered into your spam box.) The invitation seems to be a Haiku, a japanese poem. But, is there some sort of secret message hidden within the letters of the poem?
To get to Yokai Island you will need a boat. Maybe the Pirates can help you out.... it is Talk like a Pirate Day after all! The Tournament starts next Friday -- you need to get a ride there by then!
Game Engine Updates!
Every engine needs a tune-up from time to time. And ours just got a bit better.
If you /ignore a player they can no longer /goto you
(Woooohooooo!)
All NPC & Dialog Boxes have had a speed increase
Achievement Icons have started beeing added to your character Pages with tool tips to explain them.
We moved the Game version number to the lower right of the game login screen (Oooh, a new one!)
YAR!!
September
17th, 2009 Upgrade
Update! Cards,
Cards and More Cards Hi guys! You've heard about our AE Upgrade
Cards in stores, right? They can be used to upgrade your account or get AdventureCoins!
Check out the logos at the bottom of the card.
It can be used with any of our 4 major games!
In the USA
You can get these cards in the U.S. right now at BestBuy, Target, Toys R Us and Lots Of
Other Places!
United Kingdom
Our cards are coming to you soon! The UK will
be able to turn to WH Smith (around October 20th) and Clinton
Cards (around November 9th) for the cards.
Canada
Hey Canada!
You will be able to look to your local Safeway, Toys R Us,
Macs, and Sobeys for the Upgrade Cards (around October 14th)!
EVERYWHERE can now use "Bill my Parents"
For everyone else, we have a new option to upgrade called BillMyParents. It's
a weird name but it's a great idea!
BillMyParents is an easy way to ask your parents to pay for something online.
When
you use BillMyParents, an email is sent to your parent
asking them to purchase the item you requested,
It's easy to send the request and your account gets updated automatically once
your parent makes the payment. (I copied
that directly
from the payment option, heehee)
Talk Like A Pirate Day? Ninja Heavy Zone? WAR! Everyone
knows that Pirates and Ninja are natural enemies in the wild.
This weekend is National Talk Like A Pirate Day (a very beloved
holiday around the underground lab) and also the start of
the Yokai Island zone heavily influenced by Artix's trip
to and from Japan.
You can't put Pirates and Ninja into the same release without a war. It has to
be done. This micro-war will be the first step in getting
to Yokai Island. You will need to defeat the Yokai Ninja
boss in order to move forward and get your first peek at
the 4th Lord Of Chaos!
Someone
get this thing offa my face!
Also, Quibble will be selling an Octopus that you can wear on your face, and
one that you can wear on your back. Also, some other stuff.
Like a house that looks like a pirate ship.
Ahoy!
September
16th, 2009 Ahoy
Me Hearties! Saturday
Be Talk Like A Pirate Day! All hands on deck! Get thee urchins out of yer ears and lissen up! This Saturday
be national Talk Like A Pirate Day!
What does this mean, you ask? It is exactly what the title
suggests… you get to spend a whole day acting like a pirate!
Well… more like a whole weekend.
In AQWorlds this week, we arrrrrr going to release a
motherload of Pirate-Inspired items! Aye, that we be!
Brand-new items
will be washing ashore, ranging from Skeletal Parrots
to Barnacled Armor and Pirate Hats aplenty!
Yes sirree, Quibble Coinbiter the Traveling Sales Moglin
is coming to Battleon this weekend and dragging his treasure
chest behind him! You know he’s ganna have some awesome
loot to commemorate TLAPD!
We arrrrr even releasing a Pirate
Ship themed AC house for all the Salty Dawgs and Scallywags out there! Fill
your vessel
with an assortment of nautical nonsense and invite your
savvy crew over for a celebration! Just make sure everyone’s
got
their sea legs and try not to go overboard!
Shiver Me Timbers!
Trouble over thee Horizon!
Avast me maties and hold fast! There appears to be trouble
a’brewing over yonder! Hoist thee anchors! Raise thee flag!
Get ye ship crew and prepare fer battle! Arrrrrrgh!
Check the Events Page (Link Is on it's way, YARRR!)
in a wee bit fer more details regardin’ the savvy
pirates’ life!
Release-adin
September 11th, 2009 DragonCon Review The full story .... what are you waiting for? READ ON!!!
Something wicked under Battleon Battle under Battle on! Deep beneath the new home of our town lurks monsters and danger. What will you find down there? Good question -- but a better one is HOW are you going to get down there? Look for secret passages around down. Also, Escherion is now dropping his armor. Oh, it is also national Grandparent's day. Show your appriciation to the ones who came before the ones who came before you by picking up some new items from our Elder's shop. Also, Penny the Centaur 21 housing dealer will be selling <groans> Grandfather clocks!
Cysero!!! What happened to you underneath Battleon?
New Items
Bone Terror's Head
Bony Chestplate
Skeletal Claymore
Yara's Sword
Bone Terror Skull
Soul Terror Sword
Unholy Terror Mace
Shadow Terror Axe
Bone Terror Armor
Citizen's Kane (Seasonal Rare)
Herding Cane (Seasonal Rare)
Golden Cane (Seasonal Rare)
Cherry Wood Cane (Seasonal Rare)
Candy Cane (Seasonal Rare)
Bone Cane (Seasonal Rare)
Echerion's Robe (EPIC AWESOME!)
New House Items
Grandmother Clock (Seasonal Rare)
Grandfather Clock (Seasonal Rare)
Poor-Zorbak-adin
September 8th, 2009 Zorbak goes to Con Photos ... well, it is more of a video really! The official Zorbak goes to Con site has been updated. I made a video slide show for you showing off some of Zorbak's favorite.... and, erm... not so favorite photos. Check backout my full review of DragonCon 2009.
This week in AdventureQuest Worlds It was not long ago two meteors were on a collision course with our town of Battleon. In a historic event, the combined magic of every mage in our world teleported the entire town to the safety of GreenGuard forest! But... did anyone look UNDER our landing spot? What dangers, dungeons and creatures did we land our town on top of!? Find out this Friday.... secret passages will be opening around town! (Rumor has it there is a secret underground lab somewhere down there too.)
Meanwhile, as we approach the 1st Birthday of AdventureQuest Worlds (MOGLOWEEN!!!), we are working rapidly on Stats and PvP that will take us version 1.0! We will need your help testing on the soon to open "Public Test Server". Shhhh *whispers* and an inside secret just between us... The next brand new area is in the far, far, far east. Inspired by my recent real-life adventure, it will be a Japanese themed zone. Overflowing with Yokai, Ninja, Samurai, super cute NPCs, a beautiful story based on real legends, and tons of references to your favorite anime and manga series (Maybe even a few you have not heard of yet) it will be the craziest zone we have ever made. Oh, if the rumors of the next Chaos Lord are true, *gulps*, then we are all going to need to get a lot stronger just to face his minions!
Forum Question: What is your favorite Anime/Manga series? Do you like Naruto? One Piece? Death Note? Dragon Ball? The Melencholy of Haruhi Suzimia? Inuyasha? Gundam? K-On? Kitaro? Yakitate!! Japan? See you on the forums.
Inspired-adin
September 8th, 2009 Back from DragonCon! With over 12 gigabytes of photos and video WOW! We just got back from the very inspiring DragonCon 2009 convention. We ran an official AQWorlds panel which was awesome! We were very honored that the room was packed with incredible players. A few of them traveled unbelievable distances to come be with us. Thank you! Some amazing players even came dressed as their favorite AE characters!
Words cannot describe how the team felt we when saw this... (Whoops - I accidentally spelled Yulgar, Yuldar!)
If you could not be there do not worry! We showed ALL of the screenies submission in a slideshow during our panel (you got some laughs and cheers!) ALSO........ oh yes, Zorbak ran around and got his picture taken with people in costume at the 45,000 person convention. New theme this year... it will be called "Zorbak goes todies at Con" -- because everyone was trying to eat him, disintigrate him, blow him up, or decapitate him with lightsabers! We have.. oh.. just... um.. a few thousand photos to sort through and we will post the best for you ASAP!
Hey Escherion... is that a Frog in your voice?
This post was just a teaser.... I am going to do a full write up of the craziness that Cysero, Safiria, Galanoth, the rest of the team and myself got ourselves into at DragonCon along with bonus stories like the impromtu Twitter contest! Meanwhile, here at the lab we just realized it is Tuesdsay!!!!!!!! What do you want for a release this week?
P.S. It is good to be home, WE MISSED YOU!
Sock-rot
SOCK DRAGONS Delivered! They
Aren't Housebroken. Sorry. Hi guys!
It's SO great to back in the lab, doing what we do! Thanks to everyone who came
to our panel (including special guest star Voltaire who
showed up to chat for a few minutes, mid-panel)! It's so
great to see an entire room filled to the brim with our
amazing players from all around the world (a few came from
the UK, and Sunumbrella came to visit us all the way from
new Zealand)!
Special
thanks to our cosplayers who used their amazing creativity
to show us how our creativity has impacted them... by bringing
some of our most beloved and behated characters to life!
For those of you who were at the panel and gave your names to either me or Westwind
(thanks West), you will find the Sock Dragon pet curled
up at the bottom of your backpacks. Thanks for coming to
con, everyone. In my opinion, this was the best year ever
and you were all a HUGE part of that!
I'm sure we will be posting some of our favorite memories and updating "Zorbak goes to Dies At CON" soon, but here is a brief list of my favorite
memories.
Those of you following me on Twitter have already heard
these so you may leave early:
Finally attending
every single Voltaire Show at con!
Hanging out with Voltaire after the show and getting to see the first ever AQW
DEADY toy!
Both Machinima panels! (getting to see Stolen Life)
Meeting Pae and Maegwyn in person for the first time!
Following the "Roving Rave" around the streets of Atlanta, weaving in and out
of convention hotels for a few hours.
Staying up with my best friend Alces until the pool opened at 6 AM and going
for a dip.
Playing Mad Scientist University with the AE staff!
All the Awesome celebs (BSG panel, Thyton and Ron Glass in the glass elevator,
Jason Momoa pretending to puke on Artix...)
Getting to see my first "I Fight Dragons" show!
Getting to see my first "ArcAttack" show!
Getting my FACE ROCKED OFF then taped back on THEN ROCKED OFF AGAIN By the unbelievable
rock powers of "One-Eyed Doll"!
Cleaning up the Hyatt Recengy ballroom in exchance for one more set from One-Eyed
Doll.
Hanging out with Kimberly and Number Three (Of One-Eyed Doll) after the show!
One-eyed Doll.... One-eared Zorbak?
Finally, the fantastic Artix Entertaiment panel which just gets larger and cooler
every year. Sorry for those of you whom I struck with candy
bars. Hopefully next year we will have a larger room so
we can kick Twilly around a little.
Screenie Queenie
Screenie Success! A special thanks to everyone who helped out! This was my first year at DragonCon. And even though I am an English Major, I cannot think of a proper word to describe how awesome it was! There were so many people and vendors and costumes and lightsabers that I didn’t think it could get any better!
Oh, but it so did!
This past Saturday was our AQWorlds Panel. Before I begin, I’d like for you to imagine a room the size of your classroom. Not too big, but not too small either. Got it? Now, fill that room with 120 AQW fans, packed in to the point of exploding. They were overflowing out of the doorway and into the hallway, too!
If there was a fire, no one would have been able to escape.
The screenshots you all submitted were AWESOME! As soon as the panel began, Zhoom worked his magic and your screenies were projected on a massive white screen, visible to the world (in the room, that is). Throughout our panel—which was 1 ½ hours long—your screenshots provided many laughs and cheers and was an epic success!
Because of the massive amount of fantastic player submissions, there is no possible way to list everyone whose leet photography skillz made the panel (which surpassed 200). However, some of the best action-packed jaw-dropping screenshots actually made it to the AQW Screenshots PageCongratulations!
Once again, I would like to thank everyone who submitted a screenshot! I know everyone at the panel enjoyed seeing your characters on the big-screen, and I can’t wait until next year! DragonCon is only 363 days away, and it’s never too early to prepare.
Stay tuned for more stories, fond memories and pictures of Zorbak getting his
head chewed on! Can't wait for next year!
Dragonsock 09!
September 4th, 2009 LIVE from DRAGONCON 09! Let The Rep Farming BEGIN! Hi guys!
Cysero coming at you LIVE from our 46th floor hotel room, thanks to Zhoom for letting me borrow his laptop to update the Design Notes.
The Good and Evil reputationshops are now open! In these shops you will find a NUMBER of new items which you unlock by increasing your reputation with either the forces of Good led by King Alteon in Swordhaven, or the forces of Evil, led by Gavelyn in Shadowfall.
You will find a LOT of member-only items in these shops but there are also a fair number of non-member items, such as the Platimun Knight armor in King Alteon's good rep shop , and the long awated Shadow Lich armor in Gravelyn's evil rep shop. And every single item in both shops can be bought with gold!
In addition to all of this reppy goodness, the final boss fight with Vath and Stalagbite is fianlly open to non-members. This conculdes the Dwarfhold Quest chain, as another of Drakath's Lords of Chaos falls to the heroes of Lore... and another Chaos Beast is awakened.
DragonCon stuff! We're all VERY happy to be back at Dragoncon and we've already met a few AQW players. Last night I heard from behind me ..."Cysero?". It was Sununbrella, one of the Cysero's Defenders! She flew ALL THE WAY FROM NEW ZEALAND TO MEET US! (THAT is the kind of superfan who earns her Sock Dragon and a lot more!) We got to hang out with her all night, she went with us to the Voltaire show and we had the honor of hanging out with this amazing player AND Voltaire after the show where we got to see his NEWEST Deady the Teddy toy based on art from AQW! What a great night!
Today I ran into 4 more players all wearing their Save Chuckles T-shirts! If you want to you can keep track of our adventures throught the con as Artix, Rolith and I have a non-stop streams of tweets coming from our phones. Artix is even running some Twitter mini-contests. You can find us on Twitter as @Cysero, @Rolith and @Artixkrieger!
Enjoy the VERY early release guys and see you when we get back!
Convention-adin
Sockvention
September 2nd-th-ish, 2009 We are going to DragonCon! The biggest Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Anime Con in the states Each year the friendly AE team makes the perilous journey to DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. What is it? Imagine a four day long, 35,000 person costume party with games, comics, anime, robot battling, art galleries, vendors, concerts, celebrity guests, and panels on everything from how to swordfight or make a costume, or write a novel, discuss your favorite TV series with the actors.... and there is even a panel on AQWorlds where you can meet... us! This is our 5th year attending. We are leaving early tomorrow morning. In addition to a huge number of us from the secret underground lab, we will meet some of the amazing forum community staff in person for the first time there! If you are attending, please come to our panel - we would love to meet you. If you were not able to make it this year, Zorbak will be taking pictures with all of the cosplayers for you to see!
"Thanks guys! We will take lots of pictures for you :-)"
Official AQWorlds Panel at DragonCon When: Saturday, 2:30 PM Where: Agusta Room in the Sheraton Hotel What: Meet the team and watch us as we hopelessly embarrass ourselves while talking about new villians, areas, features (like PvP and Stats), and all of the antics that take place behind the scenes. Aye, it is indeed very likely we will end up throwing food prizes at the 3 people who attend... which you may be able to deflect with Beleen's balloon weapons (requires correctly answering trivia questions to obtain!)
This Week's Releases We will be launching the AQWorlds and DragonFable releases... including DF's Major DoomKnight release! on Friday from DragonCon! But we have no idea where we will actually be when we launch them... which we are going to attempt to do with our phones. Which is going to be really comical if something goes wrong! Cysero, Rolith and I will try to keep you updated with the play by play via Twitter. Read Beleen's post below to see how a little piece of you can be seen during our panel! ... wish us luck!
Cysero's
Guide To Surviving DragonCon! Everything
You Never Needed To Know About What To Have With
You At All Times During A Convention.
This will be Beleen's first time at DragonCon and she's not
alone.
I have decided to give you con-noobies some helpful hints about what to bring to make
sure that you come out of your con experience more or less
in one piece:
WHAT TO BRING
A Large Bag. You're going to
to be carrying a LOT of stuff around with you and picking
up a lot of stuff as you con so a large bag is necessary.
A Towel. Your hotel room will probably come equipped with these but I always
preffer to bring a large, beach-sized towel with me wherever
I go. Hitchikers listed most of the uses, but for a more
practical example: I have fallen asleep in the hallways
of more than one convention hotel and it's always nice
to have a towel for a blanket or pillow. Note: Cysero also wore a white bathrobe to our last panel - use your best judgement with all advice.
Energy Bars. Meals come unpredictably during con and staying alive can be hard.
You never know when you'll be stuck at a table-top gaming
session that lasts 14 hours straight... and if you leave
the brutal GM will just kill you.
Bottle Of Water. See above.
Cash (Well Hidden). As you explore the convention you WILL encounter some stuff
you NEED to own. Swords, pithy shirts, novels, Lou Ferigno
selling autographs... and there is a 50% chance that the
thing you want to buy, you
can't
buy
with plastic.. If you plan on falling asleep
in a hall somewhere, be sure that your cash is in your
sock
or in the secret pocket in your boxers... you don't want
to wake up broke.
A Mobile Computing Device. Most modern cell phones will do, but you might not
get a signal in the underground mazes that connect the
convention hotels. Having a wireless card in a small laptop
is priceless. Hopefully a smartphone attached to a 3G
network will do (con-testing my iPhone this year). You
might or might not Tweet. You might or might not need to
check your facebook but your FRIENDS will NEED to contact
you about something that you HAVE TO SEE RIGHT NOW!
A Friend. The buddy system is always a good idea. That's why I bring Alces. He's
part Dr. Gonzo, part Chief Medical Officer and part Tech
Support. He is all best friend and has been for more than
half of my life.
A Camera. Fully charged. Memory card empty. NEEDS a flash. Your cell won't do
for this. Too many dark corners with Halo Spartans hiding
in them.
A Zorbak Plushy. It's the ultimate ice-breaker. "Can I get a picture of you holding
this guy, please?" "Sure... what is he?"
Good Walking Shoes. Trust me.
That should
be, more or less, everything that you need to pack. Other
options include: clean clothes, costumes, things you want
autographed, video camera, portable game systems (some lines
are long), a map of the con (some of us like getting lost),
a pair of scissors (for a lock of Kevin Sorbo's hair while
he's passed out in a fountain somewhere), a sketchbook (for
ideas), a steampunk R2 unit... just cause.
Here's a little sneak peek at a few of the armors from the Good and Evil rep
shops being released early Friday.
We've also got 10 good weapons and 10 evil weapons, good and evil helms, good
and evil back items, 1 good pet and one evil pet!
Gravelyn and King Alteon will each have FIVE new quests for grinding rep. The
first three will be open at Rank 1 and the last two will
unlock when you hit Rank 4 Rep with your faction.
One of the Rank 4 Rep quests, will be a member only Daily quest that will get
you 4000 REPUTATION per day!
Non-members? Are you prepared for Vath?
September 1st, 2009 The All-Call for In-Game Photographers! It’s ganna be a screenshot showdown.
Do you have what it takes to be an in-game photographer? Do you possess the necessary finesse of capturing the right picture at the right time? If so, get your fingers ready… set… and Print Screen! (guide on how to take a screenshot)
As you probably already know, DragonCon is only a few days away. And the AE Team is STOKED!
We wanna do something really cool this year at our panel. But we want you and your friends to be a part of it, too!
This is an official all-call for screenshots. Everyone is eligible to enter!
Take a picture of something funny that happened in AQWorlds. Maybe take a pic of your coolest armor and hairstyle. Or a screenie from an epic boss battle! The possibilities are endless!
Your screenshot will be seen by hundreds of people at DragonCon! So make sure it’s a good one!
Screenie Conditions Please follow the rules stated below precisely. Otherwise, your screenshot will NOT be eligible and consequently, will not be displayed at our DragonCon panel.
You may only submit ONE (1) screenshot, so make sure it’s awesome.
Your screenshot MUST be cropped to just the game screen. In other words, do not submit a screenie of your entire desktop.
Screenshots MUST be saved as a JPEG. Any other formats (such as .png) will be disregarded.
Your screenie must abide by all AQW Terms and Conditions—so no foul language, inappropriate content, etc.
Screenshots will only be accepted up until 11:59pm EST on Thursday, September 3rd.
Please send your amazing screenshot to:
aqwscreenies@battleon.com
Remember, your screenshot will be seen by hundreds of people at USA’s largest science fiction, anime, and comic book convention: DragonCon! The AE Team can’t wait to see your talented in-game photography skills!
