Design Notes

April 19, 2019

This Weekend: Toxic Wanderer Set

Will you be consumed by corruption?

Last week, we celebrated Earth Day, a day where heroes across Lore remember how much the planet means to us. Remember... we only get ONE planet, so if we abuse it, corrupt it, and poison it... we are really short onother options (until colonizing other planets is WAY more feasible). The Toxic Wander is a deadly (but wicked-cool) new set that serves as a warning to your enemies. Find all the set pieces in your Featured Gear Shop for AdventureCoins until April 31st.

Radioactive Wanderer armor
4 Radioactive Wanderer weapons
1 Radioactive Wanderer cape
7 Radioactive Wanderer helms

* This set will return every April as we celebrate Earth Day.

Tags: Alina,

April 19, 2019

The Queen of Monsters... The Story So Far

Leading Up to the War of Shadows

This week's update is smaller as the team prepares for the start of the Queen's Finale next week. But there's still battles ahead, new gear to grab, and dark tale to discover. Head to Dreadrock Keep this weekend for...

"The Story So Far," a cutscene reviewing the Queen of Monsters' plots
Armor variants of fan-favorite classes
The return of the Infernal Dark Lord set
The Radioactive Wanderer set
and our story release: the Infernal Corruption (a tale of what happens when a Good Hero is turned to Evil)

Queen of Monsters: A Pre-Finale Post-Mortem

There are a lot of benefits to updating our game stories on a weekly basis: we can adjust and re-route our stories as you react and respond to them, increasing or decreasing the importance of characters, weaving in ideas, and telling the tales you want to play. We've kept to that schedule for the last ten years, and it's part of what makes Artix Entertainment games special.

Like with any project, endeavour, or undertaking, there are real-world challenges that have to be overcome. That real-world, behind-the-scenes chaos also has an impact on where the story goes. Especially one that updates on the kind of schedule we do.

Staff changes, server limitations, program crashes, illnesses... all of those are a part of life, and a part of the life-cycle of making a video-game. The big difference is that we update our projects every week, and have roughly a week or two to work on each update. That means a couple things:

1) We have a much smaller window to react in -- whether it's to unexpected staff absences or a flood of feedback.

2) We have to get it right the first time, as closely as possible. (So when we have to, on the fly, take the story in a new direction, one we don't have a long-term plan for, it adds even more challenges to our writer and her Lore-Crew).

To be clear -- there's no blame here. Memet (our lead writer), the team, and I can tell how much you care, and we LOVE that you get invested in all our characters. We care about what you want, and your feedback. We always want to take that into consideration because we are making AQWorlds for and with you. If we see we're doing something you guys don't like, we can (and do) change direction. That can -- and has -- had the side-effect of making the story we planned to tell feel less cohesive.

We've never shied away from tackling big projects, but in hindsight, there is a lot we would have done differently with the Queen of Monsters' saga.

Part of the goal of the Queen of Monsters' finale is to rectify that, putting to rest the fragments of the story we started and introducing a new main story with more built-in room to change courses (whether that's a slight turn towards Swordhaven or a 90 degree turn towards Elemental Planes we've never entered).

And to that end, as a team we've done a lot of analysis about what we can do to prevent some of the pitfalls and downturns from the Queen of Monsters saga that weren't as well received.

The War of Shadows is the beginning of the Queen of Monsters' finale, in which we'll discover:

the fate of the Queen of Monsters
meet a cast of new characters
Explore new worlds, realms, and planes
meet a new opponent who may very well be the Queen of Monsters' deadliest rival

We're committed to moving forward with our weekly updates on the web (as long as feasibly possible), and to evolving our world and its story, because that's what you want, and what we want to give you.

Tags: Alina,

April 19, 2019

This Weekend: Infernal Dark Lord

Set Available for a Limited Time

Lord Balax'el is a scion of the Darkness, leader of the Infernal Army fighting under the banner of the Queen of Monsters fulfill her goals. For those who aspire to be like him, you're in luck! The Infernal Dark Lord armor set is back in the Featured Gear Shop!

The set consists of:

Infernal Dark Lord armor
Dark Lord's Visage helm
Wings of Wrath cape

Infernal Dark Lord Set Availability

These items will be available in the Featured February Gear shop until May 3rd for AdventureCoins... but it WILL come back in the future (just like reoccuring event gear does)! The set will be avilable for two weeks whenever we have a release featuring Lord Balax'el or which takes place in Dreadrock Keep. (So if you can't get it this month, keep an eye on the Design Notes for when it will return!)

Tags: Alina,

April 11, 2019

Grenwog + Earth Day Return

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!

New for 2019: 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

Featured Spring Gear

Last year's Cutsey GrenwogSlayer is BACK in the Featured Gear Shop in your game menu, and is joined by the Lightning Mage armor set. Channel the power of nature as you defeat the villains trying to destroy it!

Our Seasonal Spring Event Returns: Grenwog is back!

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.

BattleOn Town Egg Hunt

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!)

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!

Undead Legion Updates

Underworld General Set

The Eerie Underworld General variant from AQW Community Artist is now available!

If you have the Dark Caster Collection Set from Dage's birthday event, you will find all the set pieces in your collection shop.
If you bought the Underworld General armor from Dage's Birthday shop, you can find a shop with the 0 AC set pieces in the Curio Shop in Battleontown.

Undead Legion exclusive weapon

Last month, Dage vowed to craft an exclusive weapon for he loyal members of his Undead Legion. The Blade of the Loyal Legion Warrior is available for 1,000 Legion tokens from the Undead Legion Merge Shop and gives a 20% boost to gold. It's a pricey weapon, but shows that only the most loyal and dedicated legionnaires will possess it.

Legion Castle House Quest

A new quest has been added to the Legion Castle house (available from Undead Legion Merge Shop for 25,000 Legion Tokens and 15 Shadow Shrouds).

Slay 13 opponents in the Underworld Arena to receive:

20 Legion Tokens (every time)
A chance to get the dual-wield, cape, or floating sword pet versions of the Blade of the Loyal Legion

Tags: Alina,

April 05, 2019

Beat the Heat, It's Party Time!

Celebrate the Solar New Year in BloodTusk with a WATER WAR!

Log in this week and get ready for a FLOOD of hot new gear as we celebrate the Solar New Year in Bloodtusk Ravine with the Water War Festival! This weekend's update is inspired by the real-life Songkran Festival in Thailand and other countries, where they wipe the old year clean... with water guns and balloons!

Fight the heat (and solar monsters)
Wield water guns and toss water balloons
Check out the war merge shop

This week's event was inspired by AQ3D and AQWorlds artist, Darkon. We loved his designs and wanted to weave them into the existing world of Lore.

Talk to Aquella the Water Elf (who many of you long-time AE heroes will recognize from AdventureQuest and DragonFable), Keeper of the Water Guns. She'll guide you through the festival... but there is only one REAL goal -- to have fun and get SOAKED!

Find her Water War Merge Shop featuring gear from Darkon and Crulon, then fight the Temple Gibbons to get 0 AC battlepets and regular pets. Raise the War Meter to 100% to unlock the War Boss and even more rewards!

April 1st Surprise War Still Available

On Monday, we launched the April Fool's in-game event -- a war of PUNTASTIC proportions. You can find the rare war drops and shops in-game until at least April 15th. The war map and the Nekomancer armor set will be permanent additions, so if you don't have time to farm the gear, never fear!

PAL 9001's Takeover Event Details

In the April Event Calendar, we called April the "Month of War," and that's no joke! (Even if the event was full of them.) Heroes needed to take out all 40,001 op-pun-ents and turn in war medal quests to raise the war meter and fight for drops:

Doge the Bounty Hunter Helm
A Salt and Battery daggers
A Salt mace
Rusty is a Lyin’ Pet
Disarmed daggers
Catmera pet or Battlepet

Take on the boss for its war drops:

Hobo HighLord CLASS (using the No Class skills)
Blinding Axe of Destiny Lite
Saladbolg
PAL 9001 Pet

PAL 9001's Punderful Plunder

Talk to Artix in Battleon or in /pal9001 to check out the event rare gear shop and the war merge shop! Find a host of painfully punny items inspired by some of your favorite items and ours.*

Event Rare Gear

SharkCaster armor set
Ducky Naval Commander set pieces**
Baby SharkCaster pet + battlepet
Hobo Highlord armor

Battle any of the monsters in the event map to get Punadin Badges to use in the war merge shop.

Nekomancer armor set pieces (will not go rare)
Even more Ducky Helms and Weapons
Baby SharkCaster pet (for Legion Tokens + Punadin Badges)

* Shoutout to K0rey, AQW Streamer and player, who theorized that this YARRR's event would be pirate-themed. So, SO close!

** The most appropriate time to release this armor was always going to be April Fools. The idea quacked the dev team up!

A Game of Groans... Before the War

We have a ton of combat-heavy updates heading your way this month - we're starting the Queen of Monsters' Finale Saga with the 2-week War of Shadows. There's going to be darkness, death, pain, and a few new allies. That's why the team wanted this year's April Fool's update to be light-hearted and a throwback to the humor of the earliest days.

A HUGE tip of the hat to AQW Community Artist and player, ShadowSlayer Rei, whose Nekomancer armor suggestion inspired the entire theme of this year's April Fools event. (I am still seriously surprised that we have never done a Nekomancer set before. It is about time!... Ok, no. It is about cats. But still.)

* There are 10 kinds of enemies in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. The combat engine and the AQWorlds servers have not REALLY been infected, hacked, or put at risk... unless you think puns are the most dangerous form of humor.

Tags: Alina,

April 04, 2019

Become a Galactic Captain

Upgrade to unlock new exclusive gear sets!

The Goddess of War needs skilled captains and pilots to BLAST the upstarts in the past, present, and future! Starting Friday night, get the Galactic Captain mount armor, regular armor, and more when you buy any AdventureCoin or Membership package of $10 USD or more.

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 Galactic Captain to unlock two full armor sets.

Galactic Captain armor
Galactic Battle Pilot armor (ship morph)
Galactic Battle Pilot Helmet
Galactic Captain Hair
Galactic Captain Locks
Galactic Battle Pilot Wings
Galactic Port Cape
Galactic Battleship Cape
Galactic Battleship Guns
Galactic Captain's Blade
Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts added straight to your inventory
and a character page badge

Once you've chosen the Galactic Captain 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 Galactic Captain 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 Galactic Captain gear
5 Rep/XP/Gold/Class Points boosts
and a character page badge

Our Upgrade Bonuses Leveled Up... Choose your Reward!

In the past, our upgrade bonus sets would only be available for a single month, and then would become permanently rare. We made some really incredible gear... that no one can get now. I've talked with many of you individually to brainstorm and get feedback, and last month, we took a big step forward: from here on out, our upgrade bonuses will be permanently available. We will continue to add new upgrade bonuses regularly, but the big difference is... now you can choose which upgrade bonus set you want!

When you buy any AC or membership pack worth $10 USD or more, you'll be able to choose one of the following bonus sets:

Galactic Captain / Galactic Battle Pilot
Paragon Fiend / Legion Paragon Fiend Rider
Akiban Defender
Copper Void ChronoKnight
Golden Northlands Royalty

Important Details

All future upgrade bonus packs will be added under this system.
ALL of the upgrade bonus gear for a set will be available when you buy an AC or membership pack worth $10 USD.
We will no longer be doing Tier 1 and Tier 2 sets.
Each time you upgrade, you'll be able to choose another bonus set. If you've already unlocked all the available sets, once a new one releases, you'll be able to choose it immediately.

If you buy a 12,000 AC or 12 month membership pack, in addition to choosing an upgrade bonus set, you'll also get 7x Game Boosts, a character page badge, plus 10 Wheel of Doom Fortune Tickets (worth 2,000 ACs).

Upgrade Pack Changes: Why Now?

As I talked with many of your fellow AQW players about these changes, one question repeated itself over and over: "why do we need to do this? Why now?"

Development for AQW:Mobile is going to go into overdrive. With AQW:Mobile, we will not be able to do nearly as many rare items (this is in large part for game performance reasons, like managing asset loading, just like in AQ3D). It is also a pretty big blow to the artists and future players to lose access to entire sets of gear every month.

We want to avoid that. We want to keep all the incredible art the team makes available for everyone, no matter when they start playing. And as we move into new platforms (mobile devices, Steam, ... maybe consoles?!) we want to make sure that art is available for the new heroes who will join you.

Upgrade Pack Changes: Why These Changes?

The goal with all these changes is to reward you even more -- to give you guys more options and more choices. (Plus, this new method lets people who upgrade multiple times get multiple rewards.) This is a great improvement for players who want to collect upgrade bonus sets (but may not always have the ability to when they first release).

Tags: Alina,

April 03, 2019

Want to join the AQW Class Tester Team?

Class Tester Team Accepting New Members

Our in-game Class Test and Balance Team is amazing... and more, they all started as members of our player community! They joined our corps of contributors* to make the game better for everyone. We're looking for some fresh new faces to bring new enthusiasm, energy, and awesomeness to the team! And that's why we're here today.

What Do Class Testers Do?

Class Testers / Balancers work with the Lead Class Designer and dev team, giving feedback during the design and balancing of new classes, plus helping as we re-balance existing classes to bring them up to our current power levels.

Important Information

We love when players ascend, and join the ranks of our community team! We offer challenges, very bad jokes, and some pretty sweet perks. Read on if you think you’re ready to apply.

You must be 18 to apply and join the community team. No exceptions.
Please do not include attachments. Emails with attachments will not be actioned.
Only send one email application (so make sure it’s accurate before hitting the “send” button!)
Your AQW and other AE game account histories will be reviewed, as well as your AE Master and forum accounts, if applicable.
Participation in the community team is strictly voluntary, and not a paid position.
You may receive memberships, secondary currency, and/or other sweet loot as a “thank you” for your participation and contribution
All applications will be read and considered. If you are selected for consideration, we will email you.
Deadline for applications is Midnight server time April 10th, 2019!

How to Apply

Please follow the instructions below:

Email your application to AEcontributors@battleon.com
Put AQW CLASS TESTER APPLICATION in the subject line (Note: emails without specific subject lines will not be received.)

Include the following:

Real name
Age (18+ only)
Country of residence
AQW game account
AE Master Account (if you have one)
AE Forum account (if you have one)
Social media accounts (optional)
List any languages other than English you read/write
Include the general days/times you would be available to help test
Answer question 1: "why do you want to join the class tester/balance team?"
Answer question 2: "what in-game stat do you think is the strongest and why? (example: attack power, hit chance, dodge)"

It will take some time for Pisces and the tester team to get through all the applications so please be patient. If we do not respond, we want to thank you for being awesome enough to apply!

Community Team Member Traits

There are a few things we look for in all our community team members, regardless of whether you want to moderate the game, test it, fix it, build it, or polish the in-game doorknobs. Anyone meeting the criteria below is welcome to apply!

Eager to serve and improve the community... while having a lot of fun with your team mates
Team players with an enthusiastic, positive attitude towards AQW and its players
Responsiblity, maturity, and coolness under pressure
Willingness to follow all in-game rules and team guidelines
Ability to read and write English at a secondary school level

Good Luck!

* Our class testers (and all our other community team contributors) put in their time and effort to help the community and games... but we always stress that real-life obligations have to come first. That means we occasionally lose some team members to outside responsibilities... but we ALSO get to bring on MORE new team members!

Tags: Alina,

March 31, 2019

Unlock the Bio-War Cultist Set

Available every year from April 1st - 30th

April is the month of WAR! The world of Lore is never peaceful for long... and the battles that lie ahead of you are only going to get more intense. Embrace your fate (and a future full of combat... literally*). This month's seasonal set will outfit you for the coming conflict: the Bio-War Cultist.

* The Goddess will be pleased. She favors her devoted Cultists.

April Set: Bio-War Cultist

Starting Monday, April 1st at 12:01 AM EST (that's server time), unlock the Bio-War Cultist and War Cultist armors and all their accessories!**

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 4,000 ACs, so getting all the gear from the pack is a pretty sweet deal (you save 2,000 ACs).

The set includes:

Bio-War Cultist armor
War Cultist armor
War Cultist Helms
Bio-War Cultist Helms
War Cultist Wings
Bio-War and War Cultist Blades
War Cultist Claws
an exclusive character page badge

** The character page badge will go live in the afternoon on Monday, April 1st.

Seasonal Set Details

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

Seasonal Sets
September: Celestial Naval Commander
October: ChronoStriker
November: Harvest Hunters
December: Northern Wanderer
January: ArchFiend OverLord
February: Obsidian Samurai
March: Legion Warseeker
April: Bio-War Cultist
May - August: ??? - come back to see what we'll bring!

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 April, 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 January 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.

Tags: Alina,

March 29, 2019

Become an Infernal Warlord

Available in the Wheel of Doom and Merge shop!

The Wheel of Doom spins round and round... and this week, as we prepare to enter the month of WAR on Monday, we've got an all-new set of gear for you -- the Infernal WarLord!

New Gear from the Wheel of Doom!

We know a lot of you are raring to redeem your free spins... so we're adding a full new Epic rarity set for you, crafted by AQW Artist, Crulon! Each piece of the Infernal Warlord set will be available from the Wheel of Doom and from the Doom merge shop.

Get your Free Spins

Everyone loves to get prizes... and that's why we brought back back free spins for the Wheel of Doom!

Members get one free spin a day while their upgrade is active
All players get one free spin a week.

See the Free Spins Design Notes for more details.

Platinum Item of Donated Awesomeness

We've gotten a lot of really positive feedback after introducing the free spins... but also a lot of you who wanted 1) a way to make sure you got an Item of Donated Awesomeness and 2) kept spinning in a quest to get the Epic Item of Donated Awesomeness to drop from the Wheel... and then not didn't get it.

That's why, earlier this month, we introduced the Platinum Item of Donated Awesomeness. This item is available from the Doom Merge Shop, so even if you don't receive the EIoDA as a bonus prize, you can save up your Treasure Potions and get the PIoDA.

Important Points

The PIoDA will be a Wheel of Doom merge shop exclusive.
Cost: 1,000 Treasure Potions.
You can get both the EIoDA (from the Wheel) and the PIoDA (from the merge shop)
The PIoDA currently stacks up to x5.

At a cost of 1,000 Treasure Potions, that means a member who ONLY uses their one free spin per day/week will need to log in every day for about 2.5 years to get it... but they WILL get it eventually.

* Exceptions include staff personal items, cu

Tags: Alina,

March 29, 2019

April 2019 Event Calendar

Month of WAR!

"Shadows run when a good Hero goes to war." If March was the month of Evil, April is the month of... WAR! Get your /party on as we celebrate the real-life Thai New Year with a micro-war in Bloodtusk Ravine before beginning the year-long Queen of Monsters' finale saga with the War of Shadows.

April 1: April Seasonal Set: Bio-War Cultist

April 5:

Dage Birthday and March seasonal events leave
Songkran Water War in Bloodtusk Ravine
Galactic Battle Captain upgrade pack

April 12: Grenwog and Earth Day return

April 19: Infernal Recruitment: Lord Balax'el's Army Grows

April 26: Shadows of War, Part 1: The Queen's Eyes

May 1: New Seasonal Set arrives

May 3:

Shadows of War, Part 2: When Dragons Rage
Infinity Throne Upgrade Set

Tags: Alina,

March 28, 2019

Midweek Update Medley

Bits, Bites, and Bytes of News for You

As March draws to a close, we've got a melange of things you need, want, or should know before we move into April. Read on for news, and then come back tomorrow for the April release calendar!

Email Imposter Alert

Keep an eye out for emails claiming to be from ArtixHelp@gmail.com or Boacompra@gmail.com -- these are not legitimate emails from Artix Entertainment or Boacompra (a Brasilian payment provider).

Legitimate emails from Artix Entertainment and Boacompra do not use @gmail.com or other public providers.

Make sure your AE emails are being sent from one of the following:

@battleon.com
@artix.com

If you ever have questions about whether an email you've received is legitimate, please contact the Artix Help team through our Support Pages.

Dage Birthday + March Events Leave Soon

March is our Month of Evil, and brings with it Dage the Evil's birthday, the Lucky Day Fair, and more. All our limited-time March events will leave for the year on Friday, April 5th.

March Seasonal Set - Legion WarSeeker - Leaves April 1st

Our March seasonal set, the Legion WarSeeker, will leave at 12:01 AM EST on Monday, April 1st. It will be replaced by the Bio-War Cultist set, crafted just for you by AQW Community Artist, Noire.

Undead Legion Weapon Update

Exclusive Undead Legion weapon update: @DageTheEvil has not forgotten about the weapon he is crafting just for his loyal followers. The estimated release date is the first week of April. Keep an eye out for previews in the near future.

Gear/Quest Update for the Undead Legion House

Earlier this month, we announced plans to update the Undead Legion House with new gear and a quest or two. Those updates are still planned, and will release along with the new weapon Dage is making for the Undead Legion. (Note: the Legion House will *not* be required to get the new weapon, but will be used to unlock additional variants of the item, like the floating sword pet.)

Not Live, but Not Forgotten

A tip of the hat to AQW player Cynderella, who asked for updates on several of the projects the AQW team has planned:

(New) Server Rewrite: Update announced in January. The new server will be used for AQ2D (or whatever it's true, final, for-real name will be), but will not release for AQWorlds (the web version you play now).
Monster Hunter Class This class is no longer scheduled for release on the web.
Decreasing Username Cap Limit Good news! After meeting with Captain Rhubarb and Nythera last week, implementation plans are in place to allow you to change your character name to one with 3 letters. (Included in the plans are a few new, additional account security measures Captain is adding.) Keep an eye on future Design Notes for more updates.

These story/zone updates are still planned for the future, but will be worked in around the Queen of Monsters' finale arcs:

"Mysterious Egg" followup to the 7 Deadly Dragons Saga
Wolfwing/Werepyre's Return
Mystcroft event: Masquerade Part 2
Chaos Saga / Other Area revamps Based on your feedback, we will continue to do these, but as time allows rather than one every month.

Achievement Tracker Class/Micro Zone Updates

I had wanted to do these myself, because I think they're a very fun idea... but the universe has a way of interfering with plans. My schedule has changed enough to make this unfeasible for the foreseeable future, so I reassigned the micro-zones for last year's Achievement Tracker classes to another designer. Work on them is currently in the planning stages.

Classic Alpha Pirates Returned to OG Owners

Earlier this week, the team added a 0 AC tag to the Classic Alpha Pirate Class. If you are one of the original heroes who received the class back in 2008 (during the 1st Mulligan Day) and no longer have it... GOOD NEWS! Yorumi is adding the class back to your account yesterday. If you do not see your armor on your account, hang tight. We'll be adding the rest in today.

Tags: Alina,

April 01, 2019

The Puns are HERE!

PAL 9001 Has Infected the AQWorlds Combat Engine*

A message from the REAL Punadin, Artix Krieger: "Greetings, my friend! I am glad to C you so # today. An unknown enemy appears to have rewritten the game’s combat engine, weaponizing the humor we love most. Waves of wea-PUN-ized enemies are headed to Battleon *right now*. Why? I do not know, except they must think we are FOOLS. But we have been PUNderestimated, and I know you will stand with me as we fight back against this onslaught of PUN-ishment. We must regain control of the combat engine. This war will be short, it will be sweet, and it will be PAINFULLY PUNNY."

PAL 9001's Takeover Event Details

In the April Event Calendar, we called April the "Month of War," and that's no joke! (Even if the event is full of them.) Take out all 40,001 op-pun-ents and turn in war medal quests to raise the war meter. Each time you turn in a quest, you have a chance to get one of the following items:

Doge the Bounty Hunter Helm
A Salt and Battery daggers
A Salt mace
Rusty is a Lyin’ Pet
Disarmed daggers
Catmera pet or Battlepet

Once the war meter hits 100%, take on the boss for its war drops.

Hobo HighLord CLASS (using the No Class skills)
Blinding Axe of Destiny Lite
Saladbolg
PAL 9001 Pet

PAL 9001's Punderful Plunder

Talk to Artix in Battleon or in /pal9001 to check out the event rare gear shop and the war merge shop! Find a host of painfully punny items inspired by some of your favorite items and ours.*

Event Rare Gear

SharkCaster armor set
Ducky Naval Commander set pieces**
Baby SharkCaster pet + battlepet
Hobo Highlord armor

Battle any of the monsters in the event map to get Punadin Badges to use in the war merge shop.

Nekomancer armor set pieces (will not go rare)
Even more Ducky Helms and Weapons
Baby SharkCaster pet (for Legion Tokens + Punadin Badges)

* Shoutout to K0rey, AQW Streamer and player, who theorized that this YARRR's event would be pirate-themed. So, SO close!

** The most appropriate time to release this armor was always going to be April Fools. The idea quacked the dev team up!

A Game of Groans... Before the War

A HUGE tip of the hat to AQW Community Artist and player, ShadowSlayer Rei, whose Nekomancer armor suggestion inspired the entire theme of this year's event. (I am still seriously surprised that we have never done a Nekomancer set before. It is about time!... Ok, no. It is about cats. But still.)

Tags: Alina,

March 29, 2019

This Weekend: Stryche's Saga Continues

Return to the Lands of the Hunter's Moon Clan

This weekend, enter the Mooncursed Lair as we continue Stryche's battle to save his people! Marchosias, the rebellious leader of the Mooncursed Warriors, is still free to threaten the lives of the Hunter's Moon Clan. To defeat him will require skill, sacrifice, and a moon-forged weapon strong enough to cut through Marchosias' madness.But there is more to Voland's curse than we know, and if you're not careful, one of your closest friends may lose himself... forever.

Forge a powerful weapon made of magic and moonlight
Battle Eclipsed and Moon-cursed warriors
Explore the Marchosias' lair and confront him in battle

Stryche's Saga, Part 1: Answer the Call of Vorland, the Spirit Bear

Stryche, Warrior and the owner of Battleon's HeroMart Store, has been your friend and fellow defender of Lore for years. This weekend, explore his past and join in the fight to defend his home from Marchosias, a rival warrior who'll stop at nothing to take control of the Hunter's Moon Clan.

Confront his greatest rival for leadership of the clan
Battle Werebears and slavish acolytes
Fight monsters to get all-new reward gear

Tags: Alina,

March 22, 2019

Limited Time Set: UnderWorld General

Dage x ShadowScythe Crossover Armor Set

What happens when Dage's birthday is followed by a ShadowScythe story? The most EVIL crossover! This set is an Undead Legion twist on the ShadowScythe General art. Find it in your Dark Caster Collection Chest for free or Dage's Birthday Shop for AdvenureCoins for a limited time.

Set pieces include:

Underworld General armor
3 Underworld General helms
2 Underworld General capes
Underworld General Axe

Tags: Alina,

April 19, 2019

Class Armors Abound

Find Armor Variants of your favorite Classes

Earlier this week, we released a surprise for all you heroes who want armor versions of your favorite classes. And tonight, we added even more!

Armors added tonight:

Chunin*
Mindbreaker
Acolyte
Ninja
Sorcerer
Thief of Hours
Warlord
Renegade
Darkside*
DragonSlayer
DoomKnight*

Find the armors in their class shops, with the exception of the Chunin, Darkside, and original DoomKnight armors. If you have those classes, you'll find quests to get the armors in the Battleontown Curio Shop. Unlock the majority of the classes listed above, the Chunin and Darkside Classes are no longer available, so the armors have been added to quests, and the classes are required to unlock them.

Armors added Monday: