Design Notes

June 26, 2020

Champion of Chaos: Quest for Good & Evil

Return to Crownsreach and and CHAOS!

Every ruler needs strong generals... and Drakath, Champion of Chaos, had two of the best in Xing and Xang. But shortly before the Queen of Monsters returned to our world, the twins were defeated and disappeared. Now that you are allies in the fight against Malgor the Shadowlord, Drakath is asking for your help to find the two advisers who helped him ascend to power. /join dualplane to begin the adventure!

What about the Queen of Monsters?

When his mother, the Queen of Monsters, cast Drakath aside, abandoning him to the allied armies of Lore, he vowed revenge.  With his Chaos Lords slain or missing, he began gathering new allies in Crownsreach. His goal, to overthrow the Queen, conquer Lore, and rule. Until YOU killed her. (That is what Malgor the ShadowLord claims. As you quest to defeat him, the truth about how the Queen was slain will become clear.)

Battle to unlock new rewards

We've got a ton of rewards coming your way this weekend! Talk to Iaste in /crownsreach to find new gear in his Chaos Militia Merge shop and battle the monsters in /dualplane to get even more item drops.

• Heroic Berserker armor set (boss drops)
• Chaotic Savage armor set (merge shop)
• Chaos Mage armor set (merge shop)
• and more!

New Featured Rare Set: Eternal Duality

The battle between Good and Evil is fought in the hearts and minds of Lore's heroes... and true balance comes when you accept both sides of yourself. Our Eternal Duality set celebrates that. Head to your Game Menu to find the entire set in the Featured Gear Shop, available until July 31st.

Find all of the set gear in the Wheel of Doom merge shop:

• Chaotic WarMage armor
• Chaotic WarMage Helm and Hair
• Chaotic WarMage Dagger
• Chaotic WarMage Cloak
• Roar of Chaos Scythe

Wheel of Doom

The Wheel of Doom spins round and round... and this week, as we battle alongside the Champion of Chaos to locate his lost generals, we've added the Chaotic WarMage set in the Wheel of Doom merge shop! 

Find all of the set gear in the Wheel of Doom merge shop:

• Chaotic WarMage armor
• Chaotic WarMage Helm and Hair
• Chaotic WarMage Dagger
• Chaotic WarMage Cloak
• Roar of Chaos Scythe

Lae's Birthday Blast continues with more gear!

On Sunday, AQW artist Lae levels up in real life! Today, find the new Hollowborn Sentinel set in the Hollowborn Shop in /hollowdeep and /shadowrealm.

Then return on Sunday as we drop new 0 AC seasonal birthday gifts from the ShadowLord! 

• Hollowborn Kindness Blade
• Lae's Chibi Pet
• Lae's Birthday Cake house item
• Lae's Plushie house item

Get 25% more ACs with any Membership or AC Pack

Get 25% more AdventureCoins from any AC or membership pack you buy during our Summer AdventureCoins bonus! This is a great time to top up as we continue our Summer release lineup. 

Wait...AdventureCoin Bonus?!

That's right! Several times each year, we have bonus AdventureCoin offers (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.

Get the Artix Games Launcher

June 26, 2020

Final Weekend: Unlock the ShadowZard Set

Available every year from June 1st - 30th

The sun may be bright this Summer, but this month's seasonal set channels the darkest forces on Lore! Our June Seasonal Set is the ShadowZard Mount + Rider set. Unlock the full set and character page badge when you buy the full pack, or talk to Garek in Battleon to get individual set pieces.

June Set: ShadowZard Mount + Rider

Starting Saturday, June 1st at 12:01 AM EST (that's server time), unlock the ShadowZard Mount and Rider set.

There are two ways to get the gear:

1) Total package: Buy the entire set directly through the website for $9.99 USD 

2) Individually: Buy each of the individual pieces from Garek the Traveling Gear Merchant in Battleon.

The total cost to buy all of the gear individually is 5,000 ACs, so getting all the gear from the pack is a pretty sweet deal. 

The set includes:

• ShadowZard Mount armor
• ShadowZard Rider armor
• 4 helms
• 3 capes
• 4 weapons
• 1 pet (with quest for house guard zards)
• an exclusive character page badge

Seasonal Set Details

Each month, we'll feature a new set, available only during that month every year. 

Seasonal Sets
January: ArchFiend OverLord
February: Obsidian Samurai
March: Legion Warseeker
April: Bio-War Cultist
May: Lord of the J-Sixth + Lightning Lich Lord
June: ShadowZard Mount + Rider
July: Flameborn + Underworld Summoner
August: Urban Assassins
September: Celestial Naval Commander
October: ChronoStriker
November: Harvest Hunters
December: Northern Wanderer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the same as an upgrade bonus? 

Upgrade bonus gear is an extra reward for buying AdventureCoin or Membership packages; new bonus gear comes out roughly every month. Seasonal set packs are bought separately. Just like the Flame Dragon Warrior pack, you can buy the entire set directly, for one price, on our site. You can ALSO buy the individual pieces in-game.

This set will return EVERY June, so if you can't get it now, you'll have another chance in 2020, or 2021, or 2022, etc.

If this isn't a new upgrade bonus, what IS the next bonus?

You can see all the available upgrade bonuses on our upgrade site. The next bonus set will be available soon, so keep an eye on the Design Notes! 

What if I just want ONE of the items?

You're in luck! Talk to Garek in Battleon. He'll be selling the individual pieces of the set through May 31st.

Where do I get my gear if I buy the full set through the website?

You'll find it in your Book of Lore.

June 25, 2020

Now Available: Automatic Prize Redemption

The IoDA just got even MORE awesome!

Last week, we announced that changes were coming to the Wheel of Doom and it's "Item of Digital Awesomeness," which you can redeem for almost any item in the game. And now... we are READY to launch! 

Automatic Prize Redemption?

That's right! Before today, if you wanted to claim your prize, you'd need to follow a series of steps and write in to Player Support. The infinitely-indefatiguable Zohrah would then award those prizes by hand after reading your emails and reviewing your account. But all that is about to change.

With our new automatic prize redemption system in the Account Manager, you can log into your account manager and choose your prize from a list of options, then get it right away.

No need to contact Player Support, no need to wait.

How to Claim your Prize

Once the new system goes live, if you have a confirmed email address, you'll be able to redeem your IoDA and claim your prize by following 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

To redeem a prize, start by clicking the Spend Token button.  This will take you to where you will actually redeem your prize. 

As mentioned above, make sure you are entering the name of your desired item exactly as it appears on the AQW Wiki. 

Now click on the name of the item which is displayed and it will bring you to a verification page:

If the item displayed is exactly the item you wish, click the Get Prize Item.  If the item is not the one you thought it was, please click the Choose Different Item and refer back to the AQW Wiki and make certain you had the name exactly right.

In the case of items which have the same names, both items will be displayed and you can check the descriptions and prices to be certain you are clicking the correct one.

Item Availability

We know there are a ton of items in AdventureQuest Worlds... and you can pick almost any of them! There are some limitations, but they are very few and very reasonable. 

Farmed items: Want an item that is only available by farming? You got it! One note, though: in the case of newly released farmable items, they won't be available until at least one month after they are released.

Newly-released items:  if new items are set to go rare, you'll need to wait until they're no longer availble in-game. If they're not going rare, then the same one month wait period applies before they can be requested.

Our goal is to always put your happiness first!  We know many of you will want some of the newer items, which we wouldn't have been able to get donations for yet.  Because of this, the team is setting aside a number of each newly released item for the prize pool from the start, so we can fill these requests.

End-game reward items: You may choose farmed items that come with badges such as the Blinding Light of Destiny, Sepulchure's Armor and Drakath's Armor.  However, if you choose one of these items, we cannot award the badge for it.  You will still have to finish the quests to get the badge.

You cannot redeem these tokens for:

• An item that was made as a personal item for either staff or contest winners.
• An item to be custom crafted, or any item which was custom crafted for any reason.
• Badges
• An item that is a bonus item from a HeroMart purchase. This does include items from the ingame HeroMart which cost more than 2 HeroPoints.
• Items which were rewards from KickStarter pledges.
• Items which come from Book of Lore Achievement Badges, or items which come from quests which require an item from these badges. These are the ones which show up in your Badge Tracker in the Manage Account page.
• Miscellaneous items. (Items must be able to be equipped to be chosen)
• An item from another game.  The IoDA program is exclusive to AQW.

These types of items will not appear in the Chooser list even with the exact item names.  If an item name is not appearing for you, it means the item is excluded and you will need to choose a different item.

* The D in IoDA used to stand for "donated." But Captain Rhubarb has scavenged so many items from deleted, permanently-disabled, and orphaned accounts due to be purged that he had commission a second and third ship to hold all of of the loot. Now we're passing that on to you.

** Some exceptions apply.

Item Exchanges

Choose your prize carefully There are no time limits to using your tokens to get prize items. Please make sure you research the item before redeeming your token, and that you're requesting the exact item you want. 

Changing prizes If you change your mind about your reward within the first 24 hours of redeeming your token, you may write Artix Support and use Technical Support as the category and we will undo your choice.  Just like previous IoDA requests, if you send it with the wrong category it will take longer to process.

• Include the name of the item you want to change in your request.
• Your prize will be removed and your token returned. You can them claim a different prize. 
• This option is not available for items which unlock other game content (examples include Dark Caster Armor or Nulgath Challenge Pet). These items cannot be returned. 
• This option is available once per game account.

Item exchanges We cannot exchange your item for another. Please make sure you choose your prize carefully.

IoDA FAQ

1. Will players get a bonus IoDA for the GIoDA and WIoDA redeemed?
You sure will. We are finalizing the implementation of the rewards and will have more details next week, once we see how the current system is performing.

2. If so, will there be a maximum amount of bonus IoDAs you can receive? 
The team is reviewing the max amount of bonus IoDAs and how/when they will be awarded. The bonus IoDAs were awarded for people whose original IoDA tokens were never removed, and those had a max stack. We will keep everyone up to date once we have final amounts.

3. Will players receive a bonus IoDA for the WIoDA/GIoDA currently sitting in their inventory? 
Yes, you sure will. We are currently finalizing the amount of bonus tokens that someone with a WIoDA/GIoDA can receive to remain fair to all our players (past and present).

4. Once a player redeems the bonus IoDA and an extra EIoDA, will they be removed from the user's inventory? 
Yes, all tokens are consumed now.

5. For players that receive 6 Treasure Potions per spin: once they redeem their EIoDA, will the user have to gain another EIoDA to receive 6 Treasure Potions again? 
Nope!

(Thanks to super-fan AQW player Hole for assembling this list of FAQ's)

June 22, 2020

AQWorlds Patch Notes

Check the list of bug fixes to see what the team has addressed

Reens, Cemaros and the AQW Bug Hunter team are busy squashing the bugs you submit each week to the Bug Tracker at www.Artix.com/bugs.

Please do not send non-release bugs on Twitter.  They will get lost.  Make sure you send bug report forms!

Check back weekly to see if the bug you reported has been addressed.  Please remember that not all bugs are "easy fixes" so some reported and confirmed bugs from each week may not be on the fixed list as they will require more time or a different person to fix them.

If you would like to know how the reports go from you to fixed, check this page:
http://www.aq.com/lore/guides/BugReportFAQ

Bug Fixes:

• Hedgemaze, Necrodungeon and Necropolis got some upgrades.  There is a new NPC in the Hedgemaze to assist you through the quests there. Necrodungeon has some new tweaks to make following the story line easier.  Artix And Vayles BLoD and Seppy's Armor quests have been rearranged to be easier to follow.
• Pickle Rolith can now be obtained from Burglinster.

Art Fixes:

• Colorful ChickencowMancer non-CC bit fixed.
• Infinity Shield Cape, Starry Swashbuckler, and Shadow Star Daggers have undergone a delagging.
• Giftbox Cape 2019 no longer changes colour while running.
• Norway Spirit Scarf and Iceland Spirit Scarf no longer turn into each other and got colour adjustments to match their respective flags better.
• Frozenshard Courtier have the correct heads now.

June 19, 2020

Wheel of Doom Changes

The IoDA just got even MORE awesome!

The Wheel of Doom spins round and round... and each time you try it, you walk away with prizes. 

EVERY time you spin, you will receive:

• 10,000 gold 
• Treasure Potion
• 1 hour EXP Boost
• A chance for a bonus prize

Use the Treasure Potions and the XP Boosts in combat or in the Wheel of Doom Merge Shop. Save up enough Treasure Potions and you'll unlock one of our Items of Digital* Awesomeness (IoDA)! With one of those sweet treasures, you can claim almost any** item in AdventureQuest Worlds.

Introducing... Automatic Prize Redemption

Before today, if you wanted to claim your prize, you'd need to follow a series of steps and write in to Player Support. The infinitely-indefatiguable Zohrah would then award those prizes by hand after reading your emails and reviewing your account. But all that is about to change.***

We are in the final stages of testing an IoDA Automatic Prize Redemption system that will let you log into your account manager and choose your prize from a list of options right away.

No need to contact Player Support, no need to wait.

That is the good news! Slightly-less-exciting news... While we are in final testing, Zohrah will not be able to manually award any IoDA prize claims. All current support tickets for IoDA prize claims are on hold while we finalize the new set-up.

*** We really appreciate everyone's patience as Zohrah has raced to award your prizes. But she is only human (for now) and so would have to take breaks from awarding the prizes to eat, sleep, and answer emails. She's been incredibly excited to introduce this feature for you all. She knew you'd be thrilled!

WHHAAAAT?! How will that work?

Once the new system goes live, if you have a confirmed email address, you'll be able to redeem your IoDA and claim your prize by following 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

* The D in IoDA used to stand for "donated." But Captain Rhubarb has scavenged so many items from deleted, permanently-disabled, and orphaned accounts due to be purged that he had commission a second and third ship to hold all of of the loot. Now we're passing that on to you.

** Some exceptions apply.

When will this go live?!

The system went into final testing earlier this week. A host of release, bug, and security testers have been poking and prodding at all of the gear, widgets, hamsters. and one very annoyed Dricken used to make things run smoothly.

We expect to go live this coming week if all goes well, and will keep everyone posted. A full list of details, exceptions, and a walk-through of the new system will also come next week.

June 19, 2020

Summer Shop + Pride Gear

Summer is here, and so is the hottest gear of the year!

Log in this weekend because the Summer Shop is BACK! Find all the returning seasonal items you guys love to battle through the beach in, and keep checking back as we continue to add more new gear all summer long! 

Find the Summer Shop in your game menu, containing:

• Summer Style armor
• Summer Rave armor
• Prismatic Summer Rave armor
• Summer Rave accessories
• Victory and Battle Swimwear armors
• Robes of Knowledge
• Class of 2019 banner cape

The seasonal surfboard staffs are now in a shop of their own:

• Artix Dragon surfboard
• Treasure Map surfboard
• Surfboard of the Nation
• Surfboard of the Legion
• Surfboard of Destiny
• and more

We'll add new 2020 exclusive surfboards to the shop next month.

Be proud of who you are...

This month, and every month. The Artix Entertainment community has always been made up of many different heroes. We live in different countries, believe different things, have different types of families.... but one thing has always been true. We believe that you should always be proud of who you are and the struggles you've overcome.

And this month -- when people across the world celebrate Pride Month and so many are coming together to work towards a better world -- the message is even more important. Stay true to who you are, no matter who you are, and never be afraid to show the world your true colors.

We know many of you are still stuck at home and can't celebrate like you normally would in the real world. So this weekend, head to your game menu to find a ton of new gear to help you /party in our world.

• Pastel and Rainbow Pride Parade outfits
• Rainbow Splash! Pride Street Wear
• Wings of Pride, Love, and more
• and more

#WorldGoals: Equality. Respect. Kindness for all. 

Today is Juneteenth. Some of you might be asking... "What's that?" Many of you already know. In case you don't, though... this is the best day to drop some knowledge on you.

Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of slaves in the United States. Most states in the US celebrate this on June 19th (hence the name) but in several areas around the country the celebrations can stretch across several days of parades, parties, lectures, and exhibitions celebrating African-American culture.

Members of our player community have every color skin, practice every religion, and come from nearly every country around the world. It has always been important to us to represent and promote equality, unity, kindness, and the spirit of playing together.

I hope you'll join us in continuing to move towards a better world, where all heroes can work alongside each other as we direct our combined energy, talent, and skill towards goals that will take us all further and higher.