Design Notes

July 25, 2025

The Gates of Thelima

The Mountains of Mystery Await

This is no ordinary mountain range, and you're not just a traveler. Next month, you'll enter Thelima City, where sacred forges once bleesed weapons of great power. Now? You stand outside the city gates, and Magni, Leader of the Mana Solace Paladins, needs your help before you go any further. Log in now for a sneak peek at our next main story hub town, then complete his quests to unlock the complete Mana Solace and MindBreaker Paladin sets!

Gear up, the true danger in /thelimacity hasn't revealed itself... yet.

Release Details

Main Saga Preview: /join ThelimaCity*
Magical Rewards: Mana Solace Paladin + Mindbreaker Paladin armor sets

Weekend Daily Gifts & Boosts

Server Boost: Get double Rep until Monday!
Saturday: National Cowboy Day! Get the full Gilded Gunslinger set in the Victor's Reward Merge Shop
Sunday: battle the Nightwyrm and Orphem in /somnia for the Thelima Guardian Blades of Awe

Forge Your Rewards

Whether you're righteous or ruthless, Paladin fans will find something that'll light a fire under their cuirass. Battle across Dwarfhold and in Somnia to complete Magni's quests and collect the materials you'll need. Then forge your rewards in /thelimacity as you prepare for what's ahead.

Weapons

Mana Solace Axes, Swords, Shield, Spear, Spear & Shield
MindBreaker Axes, Swords, Shield, Spear, Spear & Shield

Helms

Mana Solace Winged Hair, Morph, Faceplate, Winged Helm, Heroic Helm
MindBreaker Winged Hair, Morph, Faceplate, Winged Helm, Heroic Helm

Capes

Mana Solace Cape, Rune, Rune & Cape
MindBreaker Cape, Rune, Rune & Cape

Grounds

Mana Solace Paladin's Ground rune
MindBreaker Paladin's Ground rune

Armors
Note: the following armors are still cooling at the Forge. They will arrive shortly.

MindBreaker + Mana Solace Paladin
Shielded MindBreaker + Mana Solace Paladins (posed, member-only)

You won't be able to enter the Gates just yet. Return August 8th for the launch of the Flame Saga's hub town and chapter 1 of the next main story.

Note: These quests have a small amount of the new rep for those who want to farm ahead, but that's a small little bonus, not the main point of the quests. More quests with higher rep rewards will release on August 8th.

Summer 2025 Limited Quantity Sets

All Summer long, we've been shining a spotlight on Lore's favorite Hero (you!) with a host of wicked-hot and killer cool rare sets... and this weekend's Limited Quantity Sets stay true to that theme. Set your alarms because our Summer Slayer gear goes on sale this Friday, July 25 at 6 PM EST.

To get the gear:

Go to your AQW Account Manage site
Find the Limited Quantity Shop section (visible shortly before 6 PM EST)
Once the items are available, grab yours before they're gone!

Each package comes with a unique set of gear and a badge in your Book of Lore and on your character page.

Name	Price	Total Qty	1st Stock	Restock
OniSlayer Combo	3,000 AC	6,000	2,000	400
Yokai OniSlayer	2,000 AC	8,000	2,000	600
Hollowborn OniSlayer	2,000 AC	8,000	2,000	600
Warforged IgnisKnight	1,500 AC	10,000	2,000	800
Ascendant Paladin*	100,000g	10,000	2,000	800
Summer Slayer Gear	50,000g	45,000	10,000	3,000

Returning Sets
Sol Invictus Champion	1,500 AC	15,000	11,409	NA**
Celestial Mystic	1,000 AC	15,000	10,455	NA**
Beach Houses (AC)	1,000 AC	10,000	8,594	NA**
Beach Houses (Mem)*	100,000g	20,000	7,561	NA**
Celestial Weapons	100,000g	45,000	12,055	NA**

* Available for current and former members
** This is the final quantity. Once it sells out, it will no longer be available in future LQSs.

Stay up to date with new release plans and boosts on the Artix Calendar and see what the latest Bug Fixes and Balance Changes are in their patch notes.

Chaos & Calendar Curveballs

We've had an unusual amount of schedule disruption this year, but this Summer especially, and I want to let you all know what's been going on. The TL;DR is that IRL Chaos crashed hard into our normally stable release calendar. From family and medical emergencies, out-of-state travel, vacations, and illnesses... multiple members of the dev team have been hit with challenges. When those things occur, our automatic responses are: "Don't worry about work; we'll get it covered," "How can we help?" and "How much time do you need?"

We tell all our team members that real-life comes first, no exceptions, and we stick to that. Because we do, it means sometimes we have to pivot on short notice.*** We pull in help from other team members. We revise the planned rewards. We shift larger releases to future weeks and load you up with new items to craft and collect.

We make it work, because that's what you do when your team members need a hand. But in changing the schedule, updates were delayed that we know many have been excited about. For any confusion the changes have caused, I apologize.

For myself and all the members of the AQWorlds team, I sincerely appreciate all of your patience and understanding. Your enthusiasm, passionate discussions about lore, and constructive feedback on all of the updates keeps the team's energy and spirits going strong.

I am sure you are as eager as the team is to begin the next main story in the Dwarfhold Mountains... things are only going to get hotter from here on out!

*** Especially true last week, when we were short on release assemblers, and this week, when some key art assets were unavoidably delayed.

Tags: Alina,