Design Notes

May 13, 2022

Friday the 13th: Odder Things

Aurelio Voltaire Returns for an all-new Friday the 13th Event!

Friday the 13th has returned once again… and as in years past, something dark, deadly, and VERY strange is happening on Lore. This weekend, log in and join special guest Aurelio Voltaire as he browses through Mysterious Johnson's Oddities Shop. And to help you get in the SPIRIT of the event *cough* - just a note of caution: Don't. Touch. The. Doll. O_O 

• WHO: Gothic Pirate Oddities Collector + Musician Aurelio Voltaire, the AQWorlds Team + your fellow Heroes
• WHAT: Fight to escape the Inside Out and recapture the Cursed Spirit loosed inside Mysterious Johnson's Oddities Shop
• WHEN: RIGHT NOW!
• WHERE: www.AQ.com

After you complete tonight's event, talk to Mysterious Johnson and complete his quest to farm for wicked new reward gear. Plus, battle this weekend's boss monster to unlock the pieces of the Spooky Spirit Hunter armor set!

His mysterious merge shop includes:

• Gothic Thief's gear
• Neo Necromantress' set
• Mysterious Johnson's set
• Magical Johnson's set (member-only color-custom variant)

Plus, return next Friday as we add in even more gear* will arrive in the merge shop and as monster drops!

Note: the Necrayaya set for Cinco de Mayo has also been added! Battle the Zard in Battleontown to collect all of the 0 AC and member-only seasonal set items!

Friday the 13th Featured Rare Gear

It wouldn't be Friday the 13th without new rare gear to commemorate the event -- and this week, our artists have channeled the madness of the moon and the healing power of some very dark and deadly forces. Find the Moonlit Couture and Cursed Healer sets in your Featured Gear Shop until Friday, June 10th.

Friday the 13th: The Eternally Dark Holiday

What is undead can never die… Not when there is always another Friday the 13th. /join Voltairetown to battle through all our previous Friday the 13th seasonal events.

And don't miss the rest of this month's update. See the full release lineup here: AdventureQuest Worlds calendar.

Aurelio Voltaire Returns for Friday the 13th!

Friday the 13th and Aurelio Voltaire go together like Evil Armies of Undead and Horror Movies. So of course, this Friday our always-positive, family-friendly game team and community want to welcome him back for another musical event! This weekend, slay your enemies as the strains of his songs, "The Headless Waltz," "Goodnight Demonslayer" and "The Night" echo through the halls of Mysterious Johnson's Oddities Shop. Stay up to date with all his music, art, and news updates on his site and once you've finished the event, make sure you check out his Youtube series, "Gothic Homemaking with Aurelio Voltaire." 

Aurelio Voltaire is the maker of music, films, books, comics, toys and... mayhem. He has appeared in almost ALL of the AQWorlds Friday the 13th events... and has become a fan-favorite for our players (not to mention beloved by goths, trekkies, and music-lovers in general). 

On behalf of the entire AdventureQuest Worlds team, we want to thank Aurelio Voltaire for being a part of this special event! 

*including several armor sets themed on Aurelio Voltaire's NPC designs!

Class Test Realm Opens

Tonight, the Class Test Realm opens! As a reminder, this server will be for people to try out and give feedback for in-development classes and class changes. Anyone who’s over level 40 and has a confirmed email can join this server. You can read more about this here. Once you join the server, you can find information about the classes and how to give feedback by speaking to Arlen.

Remember that nothing on the CTR server is final, and everything you see is subject to change. There won’t always be changes in progress, and not every class change will pass through the Class Test Realm. However, you can keep up to date on the CTR by joining the official Discord, or following the AQW Class Council on Twitter!

Class Changes + Reminders

Battle Healer has been finalized and made into its own item. You can find it in the PvP Trophies Merge, where the other PvP classes are.

Reminders About Class Points (courtesy of our Bugs department)

Class Points are obtained when you kill any monster, but will scale based on your and your opponent’s level. 

In order to receive full class points, your opponent must be the same or higher level than you. For each level they’re lower than you, you will receive 5% less Class Points.

For example, if your opponent is lower by:

• 0 Levels = 100% Class Points
• 1 Level = 95% Class Points
• 2 Levels = 90% Class points
• 3 Levels = 85% Class Points
• 10 Levels = 50% Class Points
• 20 Levels or more = <1% Class Points 

This means that you cannot fight super low level monsters to effectively rank up classes when you’re of a high level!

Leaving Soon: mark your calendars

Darkness.  Destruction. And madness are all happening this month in AdventureQuest Worlds! Don't miss a moment, a battle, or a limited time reward. 

Friday, May 20: Featured Gear Shop sets: Seraphic Surveillance + Blossom Kimono leave

Friday, May 27: 

• May the 4th event + seasonal items
• Featured Gear Shop: Mother's Day items + the Elegaic Mage rare gear

Daily Gift Schedule

Log in each day for a new server-wide reward item, boost, or drop rate increase. Bookmark the Daily Gift page to keep up to date with all of daily gifts! And don't miss the rest of this month's update. See the full release lineup here: AdventureQuest Worlds calendar.

Flash is Dead. AQWorlds lives on with the Artix Games Launcher!

Adobe, the maker of the Flash Player plug-in, stopped supporting Flash. But never fear! We built the Artix Games Launcher so you can continue playing AdventureQuest Worlds and your other favorite Artix Entertainment games.

Download the Launcher at artix.com/launcher, then log in and get back to battling right from your computer. No Flash Player or web browser needed.

May 06, 2022

Revenge of the Sixth

Our May the Fourth Event Continues this weekend!

On Wednesday, all our out-of-this-world Lore Wars gear and seasonal adventures returned. This weekend, log in as our May the Fourth celebration continues in /zorbaspalace! Talk to Zoda the Space Moglin. To guide your path he has come. Complete his quests to craft a weapon of your own fate you will. Then unlock all of the rest of his rewards you must. Mehehehe.

After completing Zoda's quests, talk to Memet for even more adventures!

• Battle Palace Enforcers + Cactus Creepers
• Fight Thwompcats
• Take on Zorba the Bakk

Then head to the MurderMoon map. Fifth Lord Sepulchure is the most feared man in the galaxy, and has conquered countless worlds for the Fifth Order. He will NEVER stop until his master is satisfied. This weekend is the best chance to take him out. Talk to Hammer Wateru; he needs your help to destroy the Fifth Order’s superweapon and ensure the Freedom Fighters' victory!

And don't miss the rest of this month's update. See the full release lineup here: AdventureQuest Worlds calendar.

Come to the Darker Side for Seasonal Rewards

Find all-new out-of-this-world armor sets in your Featured Gear Shop and in Zoda's Merge Shop in /zorbaspalace this weekend.

And don't miss the interstellar seasonal gear that released in previous years.

• Necho Tech V2 armor set
• Gurgle pet
• Techno Light of Destiny laser axe (click to activate the laser blades + get 20% more Class Points when equipped)

DarkLord Class

Over the last couple of years, we've been bringing back previously rare class skills paired with new art so that ALL players can enjoy the gameplay. Previously, the DarkSide Class debuted in 2012*. Last year, we brought the class back, only available by farming! Talk to Hammer in /murdermoon to begin the battle to create a cargo-hold's worth of new space-gear... including ALL of the items in the DarkLord Class

The blue variant of the seasonal DarkSide 2.0 class is available for ALL players. A diabolically-evil red armor set variant will be locked to higher-level heroes. No OG Darkside class required.**

* OG Darkside Class owners, you'll keep your original, exclusive class just as-is, with the same art, battle pet, and skills as you've come to know and love. And if you check out the Darkside Orb's quest in /curio, you'll find a permanent, 0 AC version of the Hate Wolf battle pet PLUS a free version of the class have been added as a quest reward.

May the 4th holiday... wait, what?

Well... it's not, really. Unless you're a particular breed of nerd. As the Intergalactic Space Wiki (run by wookies, of course) tells us:

"May 4 is considered a holiday by Star Wars fans to celebrate the franchise's films series, books, and culture as well as strict religious rituals. The date was chosen for the easy pun on the catchphrase "May the Force be with you" — "May the fourth be with you". Even though the holiday was not actually created or declared by Lucasfilm many Star Wars fans across the world choose to celebrate the holiday."

Daily Gift Schedule

Log in each day for a new server-wide reward item, boost, or drop rate increase. Bookmark the Daily Gift page to keep up to date with all of daily gifts! And don't miss the rest of this month's update. See the full release lineup here: AdventureQuest Worlds calendar.

Flash is Dead. AQWorlds lives on with the Artix Games Launcher!

Adobe, the maker of the Flash Player plug-in, stopped supporting Flash. But never fear! We built the Artix Games Launcher so you can continue playing AdventureQuest Worlds and your other favorite Artix Entertainment games.

Download the Launcher at artix.com/launcher, then log in and get back to battling right from your computer. No Flash Player or web browser needed.

May 05, 2022

May 6, 2022 Quest and Item Updates

Necrotic Sword of Doom Quest Updates

In an effort to make obtaining Necrotic Sword of Doom less frustrating, we have updated the existing three Void Aura farming quests to reward a more consistent amount of them upon each turn in. We have also created two new daily quests in order to provide additional sources of Void Aura upon completion.

The following quests have been updated to now reward either 5, 6, or 7 Void Aura upon completion instead of 2, 5, or 10:

• Retrieve Void Auras
• Gathering Unstable Essences
• Commanding Shadow Essences

Two new daily quests for Void Aura have been added:*

The Encroaching Shadows (Daily)

• Defeat Warlord Icewing, Hydra Head 90, and Flibbitiestgibbet (which may be a bit different now) for misc item drops.
• Rewards x50 Void Auras, 50,000 gold, and 100,000 XP upon completion, with an additional chance to reward (Necro) Scroll of Dark Arts

Glimpse Into the Dark (Daily) (Member Only)

• Defeat Chaos Kraken, Ancient Trigoras (Phase 2), and Graveclaw the Destroyer for misc item drops.
• Rewards x100 Void Auras, 100,000 gold, and 150,000 XP upon completion, with an additional chance to reward (Necro) Scroll of Dark Arts

*Please note that the two Void Aura daily quests will not be affected by increased drop quantity events.

Additionally, Braeus now won't appear in /shadowfall until the player is level 60.

Nulgath Farming Updates

Crag and Bamboozle

• The Poisonous Deal and The Refreshing Deal quests now require Bone Axe (dropped by Big Jack Sprat) instead of Undead Plague Spear.
• The drop rate of Bone Axe has been increased.

The Undead Plague Spear could be easily acquired by a few players for a long time, so we decided to make the quest requirements equal for everyone while also increasing the drop rate of the Bone Axe instead.

Oblivion Blade of Nulgath

• The drop rate of Tainted Soul has been reduced due to recent QoL changes increasing the turn-in rate of the Dark Deal quest to levels beyond intended.
• The Diamonds of Nulgath Sale quest now rewards x9 Diamond of Nulgath upon completion. (This increases earnings when used strategically with boosts and saves time, to offset the above change a bit.)

Tendurrr The Assistant

• The Game of Gemstones quest now rewards 333,333 gold upon completion.

Item Boost Changes

The following items have had their boosts updated to be more in-line with other items of similar obtain difficulty:

• Infernal Flame Pyromancer now gives 25% more Gold/XP/CP/Rep, its damage boost remains unchanged.
• Aspect of Luxaria now gives 25% more XP.
• Stare of Greed now gives 25% more Gold.
• Gluttony's Maw now gives 25% more CP and Rep.
• Beleen's Dragonblade now gives 75% more damage to dragons.

Story Quest Rebalancing

In order to streamline early game progression, certain quests in the following storyline areas have had their Gold, XP, and Rep (where applicable) rewards increased:

• Mobius
• Dwarfhold
• Darkovia
• Mythsong

Notable Changes

• The "What's Mine is Yours" quest in /dwarfhold has had its rewards increased.
• The "Twisted Paw" quest in /safiria has had its rep reward increased.
• The "Sanguine" quest in /lycan has had its rep reward increased.
• Quests in /chaoscave now reward Lycan rep (though they're still unrepeatable).
• Both Wolfwing Ending quests now reward Lycan rep instead of Good or Evil rep.
• The "Kimberly" quest in /palooza is no longer repeatable.

Scroll of Enrage

• Stack limit increased to 1,000.

~ Immortal Joe and Eht

May 01, 2022

Weekly Event Calendar

Upcoming Game Events: May 2022

Darkness.  Destruction. And madness are on their way! Log in all month long for new seasonal events, this year's only Friday the 13th event, wicked rewards, and a new chapter in Darkon's Saga! 

Schedule

May 1 May Seasonal Set returns (J-Sixth Lord) + May National Day drops

May 4 May the Fourth seasonal maps + gear return

May 5 Cinco de Mayo seasonal gear returns

May 6 Zoda's Weapon Crafting Quests + Friday the 13th maps re-open

May 13 Aurelio Voltaire returns for Friday the 13th

May 20 Friday the 13th Boss Farm + House Functionality update

May 27 Darkon's Saga of Madness: Chapter IX

Leaving

May 1 April seasonal set (BioWar Cultist pack), Grenwog, Earth Day events

May 6 Featured Gear Shop: Sneevil Pilot, Golden Glory, ShroomKnight sets

May 13 Featured Gear Shop: Sweet Spring Mage, Rabid Ronin, Grenwog Guardian sets

May 15 Rare daily login gifts from April 18 - 30

May 20 Featured Gear Shop: Seraphic Surveillance, Blossom Kimono sets

May 27 May the 4th + Cinco de Mayo events/gear, Featured Gear Shop: Elegaic Mage set

May 31 Rare daily login gifts from May 1 - 15 + May National Day drops

May 01, 2022

Claim your two free Treasure Chest Keys

Upgrade to unlock this member-only perk!

Members, log in and talk to Twilly in Battleon to get your two free Treasure Chest keys on the first of every month, then turn them in to get free gear! More new gear is added to Twilly's Treasure Chests throughout the year, so keep checking back!

Want to get in on this?

If you are not already a member in AdventureQuest Worlds, please consider supporting the game by becoming one, or by purchasing AdventureCoins.

You make our games possible, and for that Artix,the AE team, and I /salute you!

April 29, 2022

Darkon's Saga: FA-natical Boss Battle

Take on Fa in the Garden for new reward gear

This weekend, log in and return to Darkon's Garden for an all-new boss battle against the fan-favorite NPC:Fa! Try to avoid getting your head lopped off by her GIANT scythe (that VR headset is great for gaming... not so great for visibility.) Talk to Mi for more in the /garden for more details and her shops.

FA-ntastic New Reward Gear

Truth. Madness. You’ll find both in the Garden… along with a host of new reward gear! Battle Fa to unlock her armor, helms, and new house items, then talk to Mi to find new gear in the Garden merge shop.

Monster drops:

• Fa's Sleeveless Armor
• 2 helms
• Drumsticks + Pizza weapons
• 6 house items 
• Fa's Gamer Fuel (merge shop resource)

Merge shop:

• Astravian Adept armor set
• Shadow Astravian Adept armor set
• Fa's VR Headset helm
• Fa's Gauntlets

Featured Gear: Elegaic Mage Set

From out of the darkness, you hear a whispered chant rise, and fear floods your heart and mind. The Elegaic Mage's power surrounds its victims in the sounds of terror. Find the rare pieces of the Elegaic Mage armor set available in your game menu until May 27th. Select items from the set will be permanently available in Mi's AC shop in the /garden.

Elegaic Mage Rares:

• Elegaic Mage armor 
• Inverted Elegaic Mage armor (reversed gender)
• 16 helms
• Elegaic Mage's Monstrous Hat + Broom Staff
• Voracious Gauntlets

Mi's Garden Gear shop items

• Elegaic Hair / Locks + Morphs
• Elegaic Chibi helms
• Elegaic Rune capes
• Mystical Elegy Staff
• Magical Creatures of Madness cape
• Summoning Ring of Madness ground item

Leaving Soon: mark your calendars

Our month of Madness continues! Check out the April release calendar to see what's happening and when things leave so you don't miss a moment, a battle, or a limited time reward. 

Saturday, April 30: 

• Rare daily login gifts from April 1 - 17 
• April National Day drops

Leaving in May

• Sunday, May 1: April Seasonal Set: BioWar Cultist
• Friday, May 6: Featured Rare Sets: Sneevil Pilot, Golden Glory, ShroomKnight
• Friday, May 13: Featured Rare Sets: Sweet Spring Mage, Rabid Ronin, Grenwog Guardian
• Sunday, May 16: rare Daily Gifts released from April 18 - 30
• Friday, May 20: Featured Rare Sets: Seraphic Surveillance + Blossom Kimono 
• Friday, May 27: May the 4th, Cinco de Mayo, Featured Rare Set: Elegaic Mage

Daily Gift Schedule

2022 has been a CRAZY year so far... and it's only April! To help keep a Spring in your step, we've got something new for you every day of the week. Log in each day for a new server-wide reward item, boost, or drop rate increase. Bookmark this page to keep up to date with all of daily gifts! And don't miss the rest of this month's update. See the full release lineup here: AdventureQuest Worlds calendar.

Flash is Dead. AQWorlds lives on with the Artix Games Launcher!

Adobe, the maker of the Flash Player plug-in, has stopped supporting Flash. But never fear! We built the Artix Games Launcher so you can continue playing AdventureQuest Worlds and your other favorite Artix Entertainment games. Download the Artix Games Launcher at artix.com/launcher  and you'll be able to continue playing all your favorite Artix games right from your computer. No Flash Player or web browser needed.

April 28, 2022

Coming Soon: Class Test Realm Server

The Class Team Wants YOUR Feedback

We’d like to hear YOUR feedback on classes as we develop and balance them. So, we’re starting an experimental program, one where you’ll be able to try out classes as we create them, and get an exclusive peek along the way. 

In the coming weeks, we’ll be opening up a Class Testing Realm server- a special game server where you’ll be able to use classes that are still in development and give us feedback on how you feel about them.

Class Testing Realm Server details:

• Requires level 40+ and a confirmed email to join
• Monsters will not drop any items
• Login location will be in /classtesthub, not Battleon

CTR Classes

When you log into the Class Test Realm server, you’ll be greeted by Arlen, the Class Loremaster. From him, you can find the CTR Aegis and CTR Zodiac classes, which will house the in-testing classes. 

Testing Class details:

• CTR Aegis and CTR Zodiac classes
• Will constantly change to use whatever class/skills we are testing at the time
• Will not work outside of this game server

Feedback Channels

On Arlen as well, you can find information about providing feedback. He'll have important info and links to where you can send the team feedback:

• #AQW-Class-Testing channel on the official Artix Games Discord server
• Official AQWClass Twitter account
• Information on how to give more detailed feedback directly to the Class Team on the dedicated Class Testing server

#AQW-Class-Testing channel

 The official Artix Games Discord, where you can find the #aqw-class-testing channel. Discuss the in-progress classes and changes with your fellow players, and find a form to submit dedicated feedback straight to our developers.

Class Testing Realm Discord 

For those that are interested in having a more direct dialogue with the Class team, you can also find a form pinned in the Artix Games Discord to apply to join a Class Testing Realm Discord server, where you can directly give detailed and meticulous feedback and testing information to them. Anyone is allowed to apply to join this Discord.

Applications for the server are rolling, and there is no deadline for applications. They will be considered as they are received (although it may take some time to hear back). You may send in multiple applications, but please allow a 3 month wait between submissions.

Entry to this Discord is NOT a staff position, and no responsibilities are attached to joining it. We’re looking for dedicated players passionate about classes and combat in AQW to share their thoughts directly with us. Both the open feedback form and the Class Test Realm Discord will be regularly checked, and all feedback will be considered.

AQW Class Team?

AdventureQuest Worlds Class Team members are another division of our quality assurance testers. They’re skilled, experienced, and well rounded players who have joined the ranks of our creative contributors! Their love and enthusiasm of the game is what drives all of the combat-related content we bring you. Members of the Class Team - both testers and developers - will be carefully looking through all of the feedback provided by you as we develop all of our future classes. 

April 25, 2022

Darkon's Madness VIII Dev Blog

Darkon's Thoughts on Chapter VIII

Often, Cylisse (the writer for Darkon's Saga) will do "story threads" on Twitter. We're going to start posting those here, so everyone can enjoy them. But today... we've got a special thread from Darkon, sharing his thoughts on where the story is at, his thought processes on its development, and what this update means to him!

Happy Monday! I usually don't make a twitter thread for Darkon Saga, but part 8 is special to me, and judging from the reactions, to many of you as well, so here is my small thread!

I've first actually planned out the whole saga after the first Garden event, and that's when I have a better idea on what I'd like to do. One of the first things that came to mind was this particular moment between Darkon and Suki at the end of the third cutscene, where they have a conversation about the sun rising, and Darkon wishing to stay in that moment with Suki forever, not wishing for morning to come. Working with that idea in mind as the goal leads to the creation of the Eridani event, where the villagers are stuck in one long night that lasts forever.

As Darkon is stuck in the Garden where time flows unnaturally, he affects others with the same condition as well, but that’s a result of his own emotion, combined with other reasons that will be explored in part 9 (coming out on May the 27th!)

Though the creation of this event goes back further than 2 years. The portal room is a recreation of my first Darkon's map concept I drew in 2011, making this more than 10 years old already. Though the story's changed a lot, I'm still glad I'm able to reuse it.

Writing out the outline for part 7 and 8 at the same time, I noticed that part 8 final cutscene is going to be very heavy, so there are some changes I have to made. Like giving Drago his scar off-screen in part 7, and move some dialogues into NPC popup.

Working on part 7 and 8, I usually have ideas that come to my mind at the most unusual time, mostly at 3-5AM, where I have to open up my phone and note down those ideas before I go to sleep. Examples of those ideas include “Drago tosses Suki’s emblem to Darkon” and ``during Alprecha explaining the cycle, show storybook flashback” and these ideas lead to what you’ve experienced in the final cutscene.

The storybook section has been repeated 2 times before in the previous 2 events, which I hope adds to the revelation of the truth behind those lies when you hear the true story from Alprecha in this event! With so many heavy revelations, I’ve tried to place them in separate cutscenes in each event, while choosing to end each event with a cliffhanger (deciding on a cliffhanger for each event might be the most fun part for me, as that adds to the anticipation for the next event.

There are many storytelling methods we can do in AQW, from cutscenes, quests, and NPC dialogues, but another option I’m interested in is through the NPC arts. As the saga goes through a long period of time in the story, the NPC should also reflect those changes in the way they dress. The best example would be Darkon and Suki, as you see their relationship progress, Suki is adapting to become a part of the Astravians, while also holding onto her Seraphic Paladin root. The question remains, what happens to Darkon for him to get his current form?

But the final result is amazing! Everyone on the team has done such an amazing job. Couldn't have this possible without them. From Ghost's perfect timing on the final moment of the last cutscene, Cylisse's emotional dialogues, and Jongaar's amazing map music.

And most of all, thank you to every players who've played it and shared your emotions with us! I love hearing all your thoughts (and tears.) We will work hard from here on as well! Special thanks to Dove for lending me songs from DF to use. I love DF songs so much!

April 22, 2022

Darkon's Saga VIII: Operatic Fall

This weekend: Darkon's Elegy of Madness continues

This weekend, return to Darkon's Elegy of Madness saga. Log in and battle through his recollection of the Trial of the First Observatory. Discover secrets that transcend the boundaries of space & time as the full truth of Astravia's origins are revealed.

Darkon crafted a series of wicked new rewards to help you fully embrace the insanity. Talk to Drago after completing this weekend's story update in /firstobservatory. Log in and battle to collect Aurola and Suki's gear this weekend!

Monster drops:

• Ancient Creature armor, helms, and tail
• 7 Boss-themed house items (no spoilers!)

Merge shop:

• Aurola's Armor
• Aurola's Coat cape
• Princess Suki's Armor
• Princess Suki's helms + Gauntlets

Featured Rares: Sakura Blossom + Seraphic Surveillance Sets

Madness awaits in our story update, but the Featured Gear Shop's additions will soothe your spirit. Find the Spring-themed Sakura Blossom Kimono and Seraphic Surveillance sets available in your game menu until May 20th.

Class + Guardian Tower + Server Updates

Thanks to your Gold donations, the Battleon town Guardian Tower has been rebuilt + restored! The new art is up and the /tower map has returned!

Class Changes

• Health of the dummies in /classhall have been rounded off, they now do small amounts to damage to interact better with mana regen, and have monster types

• Fire Dragon Scales quest in /firewar has been increased to 2500 gold and xp, and mobs now drop x1 Fire Dragon Scale at 100%. The full explanation for this change can be found in this Design Notes post.

Plus, Captain Rhubarb rolled out a few new updates to the game servers:

• Fishing tradeskill bug fixes
• Mod reports will remain even after players log out (that means players can't evade reports just by logging out anymore)

Leaving Soon: mark your calendars

Our month of Madness continues! Check out the April release calendar to see what's happening and when things leave so you don't miss a moment, a battle, or a limited time reward. 

Friday, April 29: 

• April Fools, Grenwog + Earth Day event rares leave

Saturday, April 30: 

• Rare daily login gifts from April 1 - 17 
• April National Day drops

Sunday, May 1:

• April Seasonal Set

Friday, May 6:

• April Fools rare gear + April 8th Featured Gear: Sneevil Pilot, Black + Gold Gear, ShroomKnight set

Daily Gift Schedule

2022 has been a CRAZY year so far... and it's only April! To help keep a Spring in your step, we've got something new for you every day of the week. Log in each day for a new server-wide reward item, boost, or drop rate increase. Bookmark this page to keep up to date with all of daily gifts! And don't miss the rest of this month's update. See the full release lineup here: AdventureQuest Worlds calendar.

Log in for Yoshino's next limited-time live event this Tuesday, April 26th! The "live" portion begins just after midnight and will last as long as they can... but we'll leave the map available for 2-3 days so more people have a chance to enjoy it! 

Flash is Dead. AQWorlds lives on with the Artix Games Launcher!

Adobe, the maker of the Flash Player plug-in, has stopped supporting Flash. But never fear! We built the Artix Games Launcher so you can continue playing AdventureQuest Worlds and your other favorite Artix Entertainment games. Download the Artix Games Launcher at artix.com/launcher  and you'll be able to continue playing all your favorite Artix games right from your computer. No Flash Player or web browser needed.

April 22, 2022

Class and Combat Dev Blog #3

Meateors, Merits, and Motivations

Making and creating new forms of gameplay and new mechanics can be a tough but rewarding journey. Despite being filled with seemingly infinite amounts of work and pitfalls, we still always strive to produce the best experience for all of our players. 

The April Fools Meateor event is an example of new gameplay, mechanics, and even potentially new game modes. For our Dev Blog #3, I’d like to discuss our approach, mentality, principles, and how we put together this event.

Intentions Behind the Design

In reality, the Meateor event breaks down into several smaller events.

1. The gold donation drive that funded the rebuild of Battleon town and new features. 
2. The World Boss Chickencow- a novel mechanic in AdventureQuest Worlds*. 
3. The rolling narrative that slowly built up anticipation to the event, and ties all of the game mechanics together. 

As this is a combat-oriented dev blog, we’ll focus on the first two.

Gold Donation
This drive was fairly simple: built on the bones of the AdventureCoin gifting event we ran over the winter holiday, this was a good opportunity for us to put together a community-driven experience with rewards and real cooperative goals that everyone could work towards.

Gold farming methods have been rapidly evolving, but ways to use and spend gold have been lagging behind in comparison. We’re still working on more meaningful ways to spend gold throughout the game, but saw this as a good opportunity for everyone to make a real, impactful difference to the game by spending gold they’ve been saved throughout the years.

Truthfully, the plan was always for the highest tier of rewards to be achieved; they were all carefully planned within the community's abilities (and the stashes of gold you all had stored away!). And you’ve proved us right, smashing right through the ONE TRILLION GOLD target in a week and a half!

World Boss
The second part of this event was creating a World Boss for everyone to fight at once. The days leading up to the creation of this boss were... let's just say... very hectic. Our original plans were to create a war with only one enemy, and over time (and several brainstorm meetings), that idea refined into creating a single monster that everybody could fight at the same time. BUT...

and this is a BIG BUT....

This meant that we had to create something that we had never done before.

The idea for adding World Bosses came about simply as the natural conclusion of having large scale boss fights and a single enemy war. The way for World Bosses to exist was paved by the Live Event test bosses that Yoshino** appeared in the last month.

While we didn’t plan for those to lead to World Bosses at first, your feedback to them let us know that you really enjoyed this sort of event. That gave us the confidence to put the time and effort into fleshing the idea out more. 

The development of this was an all-hands-on-deck approach, giving us a crazy and work-filled week, and couldn’t have been done without the help of all of our developers. But what we created was something really special that we've never done before in this way, and the very positive responses we saw from you guys made all the effort worth it.

Your continued support and vocal feedback events like this gives us the push to know we should keep doing events like this in the future!

*An event similar to this was done many years ago, but it was mostly manually orchestrated.
** Reens' right-hand general, the dev responsible for all of the item set-up plus some of the map-building, bug fixes, and GOOD chaos happening in-game.

Problems and Solutions

Creating this boss gave us a new event type that acted as a massive community-oriented activity: everyone would fight the boss at once, and everyone would receive a reward at the end of it. This paired very nicely with the community-focused gold drive.

But it also presented a very large question: there was a good reason for EVERYONE to participate in the event as a community, but why would ANYONE participate in the event as an individual?

We didn’t want you to log in to the game, play, then log out feeling like you hadn’t achieved anything tangible in your play session.

Our solution was to break the event into multiple parts: two events each having two motivational categories, one for personal motivation and one for community motivation.

The Gold donation Drive:

• Personal motivation: the donation amount badge 
• Community goal: the battleon renovations

The World Boss:

• Personal motivation: the gold, exp, and item farming from feathers dropped during combat 
• Community goal: the victory badge

This proved very successful in setting up a reason for anyone to participate in the event, and a reason for everyone to participate in the event.

Gold Donation Stats:

 Out of all of the donations in the gold drive...

• About 60% of you donated exactly 15 million gold 
• About 10% of you donated 100 million or more. 

After the defeat of the World Boss, there were numerous requests for the boss to return, or a new way to farm Feathers to appear. Using these personal factors to drive the community targets ensured participation across the whole event.

Evolving Gameplay

When we're creating new gameplay and mechanics in a game as established as AQWorlds is, one of the challenges we face is accounting for how the existing community plays the game. That might sound strange, but building habits and patterns and routines are a part of playing any game, and when we introduce something new, it can take a bit of time to get used to.

To help with that, we often borrow ideas from context-sensitive design to assist us in deciding how best to proceed. That means we take into account:

• how you and other existing players feel feel about something 
• how the existing game mechanics interplay with something
• and how the new designs will feel in the already existing game before we deliver it to you 

Put simply, the goal is to slowly evolve gameplay elements to match what we envision, rather than simply dropping it into the game.

For the Giant Chickencow, this meant we wanted to borrow as many existing elements and mechanics as we could to make the addition of World Bosses as smooth as possible.

How did we do that? We presented the World Boss system as an evolution of our existing war system. We reused visual elements that already existed and were well understood, like the war meter as a boss health representation, instead of creating completely new visual elements to show it.

However, this doesn’t come without its potential pitfalls. Borrowing existing elements helps everyone understand new mechanics. But it also means they bring any knowledge or misunderstandings they already have. 

To solve this, we had to figure out an effective way to communicate that this was a completely new mechanic, while still borrowing existing knowledge to make understanding it easier.

The answer? Communication, communication, communication! We put explanations for the mechanics in a variety of places including:

• the event NPC you accepted the quest from 
• the Design Notes, 
• and a new drop-during-combat system to make it more apparent that you weren’t intended to defeat the boss in one sitting

Classes, Chaos, Live Events, and More

So what does this mean for the game, and where are we going next?

Based on the extremely positive response from all of the class changes earlier this year (where we focused on more detailed changes and quality of life adjustments), we plan to continue this trend, and will add in more soon.

This next batch won’t be as rigid as the first, and we’ll be deciding what classes we edit as we review them. We already know we'll be starting with:

• DragonLord 
• Dark Metal Necro variants*** 
• Pyromancer
• Cryomancer
• Elemental Warrior 

These edits will likely come slower than the first batch, as there’s other ongoing work.

As mentioned in the previous blog, these aren’t all necessarily buffs; some may be, but the primary focus is to make the classes more usable and feel better to use, especially relative to when you’re expected to obtain them.

Alongside these, we will continue our minor edits to Non-OP pvp classes. These were previously put on hold to wait for fixes to PvP bugs. The edits will be very light, and made on duplicated classes that only function within PvP areas.

Also on the list of plans:

• Housing system updates from Captain Rhubarb and Spider (very soon!)
• continuing to adjust rewards from earlier chaos sagas (which was put on hold because of the unexpected amount of work generated by the more in-depth class edits)
• Quality of life changes to some of the more repetitive farms 
• /Classhall updates later in the year

An exciting way to get you all a deeper look into the class balancing process will be coming soon as well, so you can look forward to news about it in the upcoming weeks.

Next Tuesday, you can expect to see the first in a new series of official live events, hosted by Yoshino. Keep an eye on his Twitter account for more information and previews.

BlackSmithing: this is another big question on everyone’s minds. We’re shooting for a summer release. The goal is for them to function similarly to awe enhancements, activating an ability under certain conditions.

Unlike the awe enhancements, however, we can make these more interesting, activating off of skills other than the autoattack, and using a cooldown instead of a chance activation system. 

The details for this are still in development, and plans are still being formulated. BUT you can expect them to be unlocked in a similar fashion to awe enhancements, involving some quests based on your blacksmithing reputation and then being accessible to purchase.

We may try some more unique mechanics with these, as well. We're planning on effects like reduction of enemy dodge, immediate damage, primary stat supplements, and more. All of this is still being worked on, though, so everything listed here is subject to change.

So.... what did you think of this dev blog post?

 Tell us on Twitter at @AqwClass and @Alina_AE, or join the official Artix Games Discord Server to share your feedback with us directly, and discuss it with other players! 
~ Eht

*** The team has tentative plans to return the class later this year.

April 18, 2022

Monday Updates + Reminders

Monday Balance update: Fire Dragon Scale

As we continue adding in new quality of life updates to the game, we've found some of them have had an unexpected impact on game balance, the flow of older content, and in some cases, have caused additional server strain. Today's change: Fire Dragon Scale drop per mob changed to x1 (on the "Fire Dragon Scales" quest from the /firewar map) 

The recent QoL change -- being able to turn in quests during combat --made several quests significantly faster to farm. This is adding an unexpected amount of strain on the server and creating some unintentionally-overpowered farming spots. (Firewar, in particular, was affected by this because of its set-up.)

We'll be monitoring this change for a day or two to see the impact it has on the server + balance. The next adjustment, planned for later this week, is a buff to the gold rewards.

Additional changes to /firewar and other areas may be needed going forward as we continue seeing how the QoL changes impact those older areas. As always, we're watching for your feedback and will make adjustments as necessary based on your feedback and what we see from the data in-game.

TRIPLE Dark Spirit Orbs + Void Aura Boosts End tonight

Last call for TRIPLE Dark Spirit Orbs and Void Aura boosted drop rates! We extended it through 11:59 PM EST tonight so everyone could make the most of the double resource reward boost. Only a few hours left... 

April 14, 2022

Triple Update Weekend

New + Returning Spring Holiday Events

I hope you're hungry, because this weekend's release is EXTRA-meaty! We've got three seasonal holiday release updates heading your way, so gear up and get ready to battle on!

This weekend, battle through new and returning seasonal events in:

• meateorhunt
• grenwog
• grenstory
• pollution
• totengeld

This weekend's events + releases

Meateor Hunt: our April Fowls event continues as Cysero, Lim, and Warlic ask for your help to hunt down fragments of the Meateor for... reasons. GOOD reasons. Really. O_O

Grenwog returns: our seasonal spring event boss + rewards are back! This year, the Grenwog's gotten into the spirit of our fowl joke and mutated into the ultimate abomination: the Chickrenwog

Earth Day is back: Talk to Captain Lore in /pollution to complete the story evevent, then find new reward drops from Ozone + General Pollution

Evil Faction Rewards: Find Dage's DeathKnight Helm in the /darkwarlegion merge shop and the Wrath of Nulgath Blade in the /darkwarnation merge shop.

Spring Featured Rare Gear: Check out the Sweet Spring Mage, Rabid Ronin, and Grenwog Guardian Warrior sets in your Featured Gear shop in the game menu until April 29th.

Wheel of Doom Merge Set: Find the Rabid Spring Rockstar in the Wheel of Doom Merge shop! Spin the Wheel to collect Fortune Tickets and redeem them for a wicked, rockin' rabbit-themed set.

TRIPLE Void Aura Boost: we're starting tomorrow's Void Aura Boost a litttttle early! Log in now for a TRIPLE Drop boost on Void Aura quest rewards! (Get 6, 15, or 30 Void Auras instead of 2, 5, or 10) 

Curio Shop Update: the latest Battleontown Gold Donation reward is ready! /join Curio to check out Vinara's updated shop.*

100 Million Gold Donation Badge: Unlock the Battleontown Philanthropist character page badge by donating 100 million gold during our April Fowls 2022 event!**

Class Updates

• ShadowWalker of Time / ShadowWeaver of Time / ShadowStalker of Time skill descriptions updated for clarity and accuracy
• Darkside / Dark Lord Blinding Pain description updates for clarity

April Fowls 2022: Meateor Hunt

Earlier this month, a giant meateor from the Plane of Breakfast crashed into Battleontown. But from the looks (and smell!) of it, there was more to it just a giant egg: a few bits broke away while it was entered the atmosphere. This weekend, /join meateorhunt and talk to Cysero the Mad Weaponsmith, Lim the Sanest Scientist, and Warlic the ArchMage need your help to hunt them all down. For... reasons O_O. 

New Featured Spring Armor sets

We've got a basketful of new Grenwog gear to get you hoppin'! Check out the color-customizable Sweet Spring Mage, Rabid Ronin, and Grenwog Guardian Warrior sets in your Featured Gear shop in the game menu until April 29th.

Grenwog Boss Battle + the Battleon Egg Hunt return

Every year, heroes hunt around Battleon for eggs and prizes, and battle the deadly, egg-sucking Grenwog as we celebrate the return of Spring! This weekend talk to Cabdury (the friendliest, most inedible bunny in town) to begin this year's Egg Hunt quests in Battleon.

Collect the eggs hidden around BattleOn and the rest of the town to unlock the Backpack of Eggs and the Vorpal Bunny pet! (Note: Any Vorpal Bunny will be able to access the quests to get this year's regular Berserker Bunny items. Enjoy!) 

Springtastic Rewards

Grenwog gear, collect it all! (Or as much as you can carry) New this year: the Classy Bunny armor set drops from the Grenwog boss. The Eggceptional Bunny armor set drops from the Rabid Lupus!

• Cyberpunk Grenwog pet
• Evolved Berserker Bunny set
• Berserker Bunny armor, helm, and longsword
• Daisy on your back cape
• Mayflower and Marshmallow Cheep pets
• Fire Egg Staff, Carrotine Cutter, ChickenCow Club
• And much more!

Cross-Lore Egg Hunt

After whetting your detection skills in BattleOn, TRUE eggsplorers can talk to Cabdury and decipher his clues to find the pink, green, blue, purple, or multicolored eggs hidden around the rest of Lore to unlock all-new rewards: the Steampunk Eggsplorer set!

• Pink Eggs: Cape
• Green Eggs: Helm
• Blue Eggs: Weapon
• Purple Eggs: Armor
• Multicolored Eggs: Magical Shifting Grenwog Egg House

Once you've collected all those, why not try Cabdury's Treat Hunt to unlock the Evolved Berserker Bunny set? The merge items will drop from the bosses in Greenguard Forest.  With an Armor, a Helm, a Spear, and a Long-sword, you'll have a bun-tiful amount of items to choose from! The Evolved Berserker Bunny Armor also requires the drop from the final Vorpal Bunny quest.

Battle the Grenwogs

The legendary Grenwog is one of the fiercest beasts on Lore. Each spring, it awakens with one thing on its mind -- FOOD. And its favorite snack is, of course, eggs! (And the heroes who try to steal them. So beware!) Last year's Jurassic Grenwog adventure will return, along with the seasonal boss battle in the /grenwog map!

Grenwog gear, collect it all! (Or as much as you can carry):

• Cyberpunk Grenwog pet
• Evolved Berserker Bunny set
• Berserker Bunny armor, helm, and longsword
• Daisy on your back cape
• Mayflower and Marshmallow Cheep pets
• Fire Egg Staff, Carrotine Cutter, ChickenCow Club
• And much more!

Celebrate Earth Day this Weekend!

Be a hero, join the clean-up crew to save the world from the evils of pollution! Captain Lore is back and he needs your help again! /Join pollution to help Captain Lore battle General Pollution, the foulest villain around, free his eco-friendly energy platform from the chaotic clutches of General Pollution! Reduce, reuse, and recycle as many elementals as you can to unlock Captain Lore's shop and gain access to the greenest gear in the game! 

General Pollution’s evil knows no bounds. He has moved beyond polluting our world and is now using a new ally to pour his filthy lies into the minds of the good people of Lore. His scientists have created Commodore Core… a super-villain leading the push for deep-lore drilling straight into the heart of Lore’s core under the guise of finding newer, cleaner sources of energy.

Need help battling through the Earth Day seasonal event? Check out the event guide in the Lorepedia

April 14, 2022

Dage's 2022 Birthday Leaves Tomorrow

Don't miss out on this year's dark + deadly gear

LAST CALL! Dage's 2022 seasonal birthday event maps + rare collection chest leave with tomorrow night's update! Don't miss out on this year's dark and deadly gear. Log in and battle through all of Dage the Evil's returning birthday zones, take on wicked bosses, and check out his seasonal birthday gear shop.

Log in and battle through the following zones to get wicked reward drops:

• /darkbirthday
• /undervoid
• /futurewar
• /futurelegion
• /futurewardage
• /legionarena
• /dage
• /ultradage

Who is Dage the Evil?

If you're just joining us, you might not know who Dage the Evil is. In-game, Dage the Evil is the leader of the Undead Legion, ruler of the Underworld, and the Dark Weaponsmith. Many years ago, in the real world, the artist behind the NPC started releasing more and more rewards for his birthday until it became an annual, fan-favorite holiday. 

Members of the Undead Legion will also be able to craft items for gear exclusive to Dage the Evil's most loyal followers. If you're not a member of the Undead Legion, never fear! You, too, can sell your soul to Dage the Evil and become a part of his immortal army.

Dark Caster Class Series

The Undead Legion is made up of Lore's finest undead (and not-undead-yet) warriors. Each class is available from Dage's Dark Birthday Shop for 2,000 ACs and will return each year for his birthday.

• Infinite Dark Caster Class uses the Evolved DC class skills
• Timeless Dark Caster Class uses the Arcane DC class skills
• Immortal Dark Caster Class uses the original DC class skills

2022 Dark Birthday Collection Chest

Last chance to celebrate darkness, destruction, and Dage the Evil's 2022 birthday event! Unlock over the 150+ event rare items: including 11 armors, a quest pet, and a rare exclusive character page badge for 10,000 ACs! (Over 45,000 ACs worth of gear)

• Get the full collection for 10,000 ACs and unlock over 45,000 ACs worth of gear or
• Check the Dark Birthday shop shop in your game menu to buy individual items from the collection

The collection includes:

• Underworld Legacy 2022 Collection Chest (unlocks the full collection shop)
• Dage's Dark Knight of the Underworld set
• Underworld SoulReaper set
• Underworld DeathFiend set
• Underworld Malevolence set
• Nation Vampire set
• Legion Evocatus set*
• Havoc and Combat Sage sets
• ElectroMage, Enchanted ElectroMage, and Enchanted Dark Electromage sets
• BonaFiend Manslayer set
• Dark Artist armor + accessories
• Legion Devourer set
• Underworld Cryomancer set
• Underworld Warden capes** 
• Void Recruit's Rune (ground item)
• Fiendish Fury, Underworld Legion, Dage's Dark Eternal Flame capes
• Dark Knight's Burning Skull pet (with quest for exclusive character page badge)

Just want a couple of the items listed above? Apart from the exclusive Underworld Legacy Collection Chest pet itself, all of the gear contained inside the Collection Chest will also be available individually in his Birthday Shop.

May 06, 2022

Become an Eldritch Guardian

Upgrade to unlock the exclusive armor sets

From out of the depths, a sinister new army rises. They herald the dawn of a darker, deadlier elder deity. BEWARE.  Get the Eldritch Guardian upgrade bonus pack when you buy any AdventureCoin or Membership package of $10 USD or more and unlock all of the gear and character page badge.

After you purchase an account upgrade, select a bonus set of your choice from a list of options in your Account Manager. 

Pack Details

 Choose the Eldritch Guardian Upgrade Bonus Set to unlock the full armor set. 

• 4 armors Armor
• 2 Capes
• 4 Gauntlets
• 4 Daggers
• 4 Swords
• 14 Helms
• 2 Ground Runes (Eldritch Creature's Guardians)
• and a character page badge

Once you've chosen the Eldritch Guardian Upgrade Bonus Set bonus on the Account Manager page, log in and find the set's shop in the Other Achievements tab in your Book of Lore. 

12000 AC or 12 month membership package rewards:

• ALL the Eldritch Guardian Upgrade Bonus Set gear
• 7 Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts 
• 10 Wheel of Doom Tickets (worth 2,000 ACs!)
• and a character page badge

Boosts and Doom Tickets will be added directly to your inventory.

2k and 5k AC or 1, 3, or 6 month membership package rewards:

• ALL the Eldritch Guardian Upgrade Bonus Set gear
• 5 Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts 
• and a character page badge

May 01, 2022

Unlock the Lord of the J-Sixth Set

Available every year from May 1st - 31st

May is the month of many things: spring showers, carniverous flowers, and LORE WARS! Our May Seasonal Set features gear from our May the Fourth shop as we celebrate one of the most-beloved fictional universes and pop-culture phenomenons EVER. This month's seasonal gear will outfit you for adventures in space... and beyond: the J-Sixth Lord, Lightning Lich Emperor, and the StarWalker.

May Sets: May the Fourth Gear

Unlock our May the Fourth (be with you) sets: the Lightning Lich Lord, The StarWalker, and the J-Sixth Lord (with color-custom trim).

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 6,000 ACs, so getting all the gear from the pack is a pretty sweet deal (you save 4,000 ACs).

The set includes:

• J-Sixth Lord armor
• Lightning Lich Emperor armor
• The SkyWalker armor
• J-Sixth Lord helm, cape, and color customizable lightblade
• Lightning Lich Emperor helm, moglin pet, and battle pet
• The SkyWalker helms, capes, and dual color-customizable lightblades
• 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 May, so if you can't get it now, you'll have another chance in upcoming years.

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.