Design Notes

March 10, 2016

Happy Birthday, Laken

Laken Levels Up in Life AND in-game!

March is a month of birthdays for members of the Artix Entertainment team, and that makes it time to celebrate! If you don't know who Laken is yet, let's introduce you! Laken, one of our top-notch AQWorlds artists, creates many of our coolest new items, and his NPC stars along with Dage the Evil in the "Laken vs Dage" saga! 

He started playing AQWorlds years ago and started sending us a lot of his artwork... until we kidnapped him and brought him into the team! He's crafted some wicked-good gear for everyone, and you can find the FIRST set in your game menu today!** (The Evolved Laken Adherent set will arrive tomorrow night, with the release.)

In Laken's shop TODAY you'll find:

• Seraphic Gunslinger armor
• Seal of the Gunsligher and Legion Breaker Capes
• Seraphic Flintlock and Legion Breaker guns
• Seraphic Gunslinger Hat and Stetson helms
• Dual Seraphic Flintlocks and the Seraphic Pistol and Cannon

Massive March Birthday Month!

I wasn't kidding when I said March was PACKED with AE team member birthdays! From Dage and Laken and Galanoth and Boxer502 to AQW moderators Kiyone and Sephira, all the way to MQ and ED coders Vivi and Rabblefroth, plus forum mods San Robin and Msyu! Happy birthday to them, and to all of you with March birthdays!

PLUS, today is the wiki's anniversary, so you can also find the Loremaster Mogya helm and pets in the Loremaster Rep shop in the Battleontown Librarium!!

* Check out the latest installment now when you /join envy
** All his birthday rares leave on April 1st. 

August 20, 2015

Happy Birthday, Gjappy!

Wish Gjappy a Happy Birthday /Cheer!

Gjappy, lead AQ3D tester/AQW Class balance tester/so-many-more-things-because-he-is-awesome, leveled up in real life today! Tweet him happy birthday wishes here, then find his shop in your game menu tomorrow! He's hand-crafted some really nifty items as his way of saying "thanks!" for playing AQWorlds.

June 01, 2015

Happy Birthday, Daimyo!

Log in to Battleon to get your own Daimyo Pet!

Wish happy birthday to everyone's favorite undead-slaying battle puppy*! Each year on his birthday(today!!!) Artix adds Daimyo into Battleon, so heroes can buy him as a pet. This started in the original AdventureQuest, and has become a yearly tradition. Log in through tomorrow to celebrate everyone's favorite "fearless undead slaying" battle puppy by getting your own to travel alongside you! 

* Wish him Happy Birthday on his official Daimyo FaceBook page!

Daimyo: Defender of the Secret Underground Lab

Though some of you might not know this, Daimyo often comes to the Lab with Artix.* Whenever he's here, we feel EXTRA safe from any potential undead army attacks... or student tour groups... or the lunch cart... or Herormart package delivery men...

Those are some of my favorite days at the Lab, because though Daimyo is FIERCE, he can also be pretty sweet. Especially when he wants a treat.

The Legend of Daimyo

Once upon a time there was a feudal lord from a great Eastern Kingdom. He battled an evil Witch, who cursed him into the form of an adorable puppy. While undertaking the perilous quest to return to normal, he befriended and became the faithful companion of the Paladin, Artix. No one knows Daimyo's secret or what quest is required to return to normal. Mostly because every time he tries to speak it comes out as cheerfully high pitched, "Arf!"

Daimyo... IN SPAAAAAAAAAACE!

Daimyo has many fans, but especially rare pet collectors! So many of you get so excited when his birthday rolls around that we began giving him a new outfit every year (Vampire, Derp, DoomKnight, Dage's Legion and more). The goal is to collect as many as you can! After Daimyo leaves Battleon, you'll be able to quest through one of Artix's Summer releases to get the Astro Daimyo shown below. 

Coming Later This Month: Space Daimyo!

The Daimyo pet themes usually hint at what's to come in the storyline. If you've been paying attention to Artix's Twitter, you might just be able to guess what's coming soon!

March 20, 2015

Brimstone Steppes

The Bandits of the Heath

Life is hard on the Steppes.  General Kyron knows this better than anyone. That's why he did it, right?  Robbing caravans, holding up travelers, demanding tolls that didn't exist.  One-time Bandit Chieftain Kyron did what he had to do in order to ensure the survival of his troupe.  But that is all over and done with. 

There's a problem, though... recently, reports of bandit activity have made Kyron nervous.  With the war and the plague, he cannot afford any distractions.  It is up to you to help Kyron take down his former comrades, and escape the shackles of his troubled past!

Centaur Tier Package Details

Hold your horses heroes, because one does not simply rock the Centaur morph. Here’s the lowdown on how you can giddy up as Lore’s first-ever four-legged legend! (Click the picture for the full rundown!)

Rumors of Dragon Sightings!

Rumors about of dragons being sighted on the steppes, and over the Fire Islands themselves.  Visit Vasalkar's Lair to take your chance at finding the 0 AC Akriloth's Bane polearm (available for a limited time), and also a hint about what comes next!

Happy Birthday Galanoth!

Gear up to DragOn! It's Galanoth the DragonSlayer's birthday today, so we released a special addition to the Lair map in his honor!

To celebrate, he'll need YOUR help to throw a party for every DragonSlayer on Lore. If there's one thing DragonSlayers do well (besides slaying dragons...) it's PARTY! He'll need you to go on quest to provide all the tastiest birthday treats: Dragon-Spice Cake, Wyrmfire Punch, Dragondoodle Cookies, and more!

Suggestion Shop Update:

Tonight is the first of several new Player Suggestion shop updates we'll be adding in over the coming weeks! We're starting the series of updates with Boxer502's "Rowan's Sword of Will."  One of your fellow heroes, Boxer502 is best known for the many tophat suggestions that have found their way into our holiday event releases!

March 10, 2015

Happy Birthday, Laken!

Laken Levels Up in Real Life

March is a month of birthdays for members of the Artix Entertainment team, and that makes it time to celebrate! Laken, an AQWorlds artist, created some excellent new gear for you to help celebrate with him. You can find all of his rare items in the /darkbirthday map now!

In Laken's shop you'll find:

• Laken the Evil armor
• Laken the Good helm
• Evil Lance of Prevarication 
• The Faken armor

There is also a version of the Evil Lance of Prevarication in the Undead Legion Merge shop! All his birthday rares leave on March 27th, along with the Dage birthday rares.

Kiyone, Sephira, and More Leveling up!

I wasn't kidding when I said March was PACKED with AE team member birthdays! From Dage and Laken and Galanoth to AQW moderators Kiyone and Sephira, all the way to MQ and ED coders Vivi and Rabblefroth, plus forum mods San Robin and Msyu! Happy birthday to them, and to all of you with March birthdays!

March 04, 2015

AQWeekly Newsletter: March 6

Dage's New Class, Items, and New Storyline Release!

After crushing the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, complete the Champion's Gauntlet Daily Quests, score hot new loot by Dage & Laken, and then embark on Dage’s new storyline release!

February 25, 2015

New Game Updates on Feb. 27

Dage's Birthday Shop The Dark Lord is leveling up! On Friday, harness Dage’s evilest & newest Items. And then... prepare yourself... because the Legion DoomKnight Class arrives Monday!
Coming Soon! ShadowFlame Dragon War War is on the horizon... are you ready for battle, soldier? Brandish your blade and prepare for the ShadowFlame Dragon War!
AQ DRAGONS fan art contest: happening now! Attention Dragon Masters! A new contest has started and we want YOU to create AQ DRAGONS fan art. Read more here!

December 18, 2014

Unwrapping Holiday Cheer

Fellow AQW player Submeobi sent me pink presents!

Hiya heroes! Today is a very special… and very PINK… day! Our fellow AQW player and dear friend, Submeobi, sent this HUGE PINK BOX to the Secret Underground Lab. Artix fled the scene before I unwrapped all this awesomeness…  MEGA PHOTO COLLAGE below!
(click here for an even BIGGER pic omg!)

Oh Submeobi, you always bring me so much joy AND bring me the best gifts ever! You never cease to amaze me, and your sweet birthday card and warm holiday wishes (plus cozy Santa hats) have made this the greatest December to remember! Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!!!!

And this is why I love everyone here at Artix Entertainment—and that includes players like you, too! We are all one big happy family, and I couldn’t ask for more love and merriment from the best extended family known to mankind. Thank you Submeobi for showering me with so much pink and making Artix’s eyes bleed rainbows—that is perhaps the greatest gift of all >:D

And thank YOU for being a part of the Artix Entertainment family <3 We could not have achieved all of this without the support from our magnificent Members and devoted AdventureCoins buyers, and everyone here at the Secret Underground Lab is blessed to have you by our side. You guys and gals are amazing. True story.

On behalf of the AdventureQuest Worlds team, we wish you sincere holiday wishes and look forward to battling alongside you into the New Year 2015!

Stay warm. Stay pink. Stay positive. And stay epic, my lovely heroes!

Battle ON!

xoxo Beleen =D

December 11, 2014

Unwrapping Excitement

Watch Beleen Unwrap Her Birthday Presents

OMG EEEEEE! I AM SOOO HAPPY!!! I just filmed myself unwrapping my in-game birthday presents on YouTube!

Click to watch the full video!

All of these items are arriving this Friday, December 12, at www.AQ.com .

Thank you everyone who suggested these items on my Twitter and on the AQW Facebook page – we couldn’t have made sooooo much PINK possible without your genius ideas! Keep up the great work, and stay super pink my loves!

xoxo Beleen the Birthday Girl 

December 08, 2014

Browser Based Birthday!

Watch Beleen unwrap her presents this Thursday

Hiya hero! Did you know that my birthday is THIS WEEK!? And you know what that means… a glorious onslaught of PINK ITEMS is headed YOUR way!

The AQW team has done a fabulous job of keeping my presents under wraps. But come this Thursday afternoon, they are letting me unwrap my gifts—on YouTube!

Be sure to subscribe to the Artix Entertainment YouTube channel and be the first to watch my real-life excitement as I showcase all the new pink items arriving Friday, December 12, in Beleen’s Birthday Shop at www.AQ.com!

xoxo Beleen =D

February 27, 2014

Hardcore Paragon Pet

How Hardcore Are You?

As many of you know, Dage The Evil's birthday is Sunday and we kicked off his birthday with a bang on Wednesday by releasing the new (eventually Rare) BladeMaster Class!

You can see my Class Breakdown HERE. Maybe you got it for ACs. Maybe you're an Undead Legion follower and you grabbed it for Legion Tokens. Maybe you're still farming Legion Tokens so you can get it before it goes rare in about a month. All good options. 

IF you're a loyal Undead Legionnaire then it's fair to assume that you're a pretty Hardcore Player, but exactly how Hardcore Are you? 

The Hardcore Paragon Pet Club (No Whiners Allowed)!

Tomorrow, we will be adding a bunch of new stuff to Dage's Birthday Shop but my favorite is the Hardcore Paragon Pet!

There would be a 
picture of it here but
Dage hasn't finished
the art for it yet.

Like most Paragon Pets, this one comes with a quest. Since I've been covering for Alina during her well-earned holiday, I've seen a LOT of you saying that Legion Tokens were too easy to farm and you wanted a REAL challenge. So I made one for you. 

WARNING: If the impossible scares you, just crawl back into your casual-gamer hole right now. 

The Hardcore Paragon Pet comes with 3 possible rewards. 

• 66 Legion Tokens (we might raise that, considering...)
• The BladeMaster Dual Katanas

• or The Living BladeMaster armor. 

You asked for a challenge so here it is: You will get 66 Legion Tokens each time you finish the quest unless you get one of the items. Each of the items is a 1% drop (0 AC for storage, naturally) from the quest. In order to complete the quest, you will need to collect 13 Ribs from Binky the ungodly-powerful, nasty-as-frak unicorn monster and each rib only has a 2% Drop rate. 

You read that right. 2% chance to get a rib, IF you manage to kill the unkillable Binky. Collect 13 ribs to complete the quest. 1% chance that you'll get one of these items, making them two of the rarest items EVER in AQW.

Sound impossible? Some say it is. Some say it's not worth buying the pet. That's fine. It isn't for them...

It's for YOU. I made this quest as hard as I could think without making it literally impossible for those few of you who say that the game has become too simple... who say that even Drakath is too easy and you need a REAL challenge. 

Remember: This quest is NOT REQUIRED AT ALL. Complaining about it is like complaining about a test you don't have to take. Accepting this challenge will require you to spend 2000AC on the pet but if you're really a HARDCORE player, then this is just exactly what you've been asking for.

Good luck and godspeed, adventurer. 

Sounds Dumb, What Else Ya  Got?

Fair enough. Also coming in the shop will be the Legion DreadRider armor (800 ACs) and helm (90 ACs)...

... The DreadMarch Armor (500 ACs or 500 Legion tokens), helm (90 ACs or 90 Legion Tokens and cape (250 ACs or 250 Legion Tokens)...

... And finally some items that we missed in the initial BladeMaster release: BladeMaster Hood (90 ACs), BladeMaster Wraps (9000 Gold for everyone), BladeMaster Horns (90 ACs), the BladeMaster Mask (Legend only, 9000 gold) and the BladeMaster Cape (animated, 250 ACs).

Something About A Free, Signed Poster?

Thanks for reminding me. Once the BladeMaster Class goes rare (again, in a month or so) we will be looking through everyone who has it (AC or Legion TOken version, both work) and drawing a name at random. That lucky Legionnaire will recieve a free Undead Legion Poster signed by Dage The Evil. We'll even pay the shipping. 

What Else Is Happening Tomorrow? 

That's not enough? 

No, That's Basicaly Just A Shop.

OK, true. We also have our Mardi Gras/Carnival Big Bad Voodoo Event! There will be beads and dark magic and some colorully attired undead. It's not something that you want to miss beacuse of all those things I just mentioned. Especially the last one. 

See ya tomorrow! 

January 28, 2014

Nulgath’s Birthday Items

Unwrap these Archfiend-approved presents

Nulgath leveled up IRL last week, but you can still party like an Archfiend with Nulgath’s personal stash of loot.

• Nulgath Face Morph
• Nulgath Armor
• Mini-Nulgath Battle Pet
• Nulgath Challenge Pet
• Greater Bloodbeacon Polearm + 5

Find the Nulgath Birthday Shop in your Game Menu and unleash your inner Archfiend!

xoxo Beleen

December 14, 2013

It’s My Birthday!

Birthday Rares Shop now open in Frostvale

Yippie! I’m so super happy you came to my birthday in Frostvale!

Since today is my special day, the AQWorlds team said I could release anything I want in my birthday shop.

…anything, you say?! Tehehee… well you know what that means… BRING ON THE PINK RARES, baby!

After asking my friends on Twitter what THEY wanted in my birthday shop, I narrowed down my favorites (and the possible ones) and created an onslaught of pink awesomeness (or madness?)!

All the items in my shop are RARE, and were priced accordingly to the original items so that way it’s fair for everyone. Of course, Dage the Evil and Nulgath aren’t all too happy that I “enhanced” their beloved items PINK, but hey, it’s MY birthday, and I am the Queen of Pink, so…. muahahahaa >:D (Now that’s how you do EVIL the right way, Dage and Nulgath!)
(Alina note: You are an example to all Evil-doers everywhere! #FF5DD9forever!)

Our fellow hero Submeobi mailed me a box of birthday items, too! And OF COURSE it was full of enough pink to melt Artix’s eyes. (Good thing this happened AFTER Artix’s wedding, huh?) 

Thank you SO MUCH Submeobi! And thank you to everyone who helped decide which items should be glorious pink in my Birthday Rares Shop!

I am so blessed to have amazing friends like you =D You have really made my special day even more special, and I cannot wait to see you and your friends adorned in pink-a-licious items. Be sure to send me screenshots on my Twitter—I’d love to see them and totally flaunt them!

Have a wonderful day, have a glorious weekend, and as always… battle on, my loves!

xoxo Beleen

PS: The Santa Cutie helms will arrive in Quibble's shop this Friday. We've got to make sure that little guy has some PINK items for Frostval, right?! Right!

September 04, 2013

Aranx’s Birthday on Friday!

Angels know how to celebrate!

I bet you’re wondering what Beleen does on a daily basis. Besides tormenting poor Artix with an endless onslaught of pink shenanigans, I help write quests, storylines, cutscene scripts, item descriptions, the weekly newsletter, design notes, Facebook updates, random Twitter tweets, the Artix weekly write-up, and item uploads (setting them up, uploading, testing, re-uploading, testing some more, finding bugs...trying to squash bugs...having Alina squash the bugs for me...and getting the files ready for Friday night).

And today I had the pleasure of uploading Aranx’s birthday items into our database (and of COURSE I had to share them with you)!

I uploaded, tested, named, and described 9 of Aranx’s Birthday Items ascending from the heavens this Friday night for his special day. Above you will see the Descended Amadis Armor, equipped with color custom Descended Amadis Wings and the Tousled Archangel Hair (helm).

If you wish to follow a darker route, check out the above armor. He’s wearing the Fallen Amadis Armor, the Scar of the Fallen Amadis helm, and the massive Fallen Amadis Annex wings.

And here’s a few more birthday presents Aranx has for you.

…oh how I wish Aranx would have a birthday every week!

But this weekend we can all enjoy Aranx’s birthday. Yippie!

xoxo Beleen

September 03, 2013

Monday in Disguise!

It’s Tuesday. Feels like Monday. Excited about Friday!

OH YAY! Thank goodness I found you here. I’ve got a bunch of stuff I want to share with you because this week—and the next few weeks actually—are going to FLY BY sooo fast because…well… just take a look at what’s going on this week aaaaaand I’ll fill you in with more details soon…ish.  

Wheel of Doom

Ladies and Gentleman! Berserkers and Guardians! Step right up and take a spin on the Wheel of Doom. Don’t be shy—every spin wins a prize!

When you /join doom, enter Swaggy’s friendly-looking tent and give the Wheel of Doom a spin. Want to find out more?  Click this link here and Alina will explain everything to you. For wheel =D 

Siege the Day

Despite your best efforts, Swordhaven continues to be consumed by Chaos! We cannot let Chaos win, Hero!

Looks like we need to take a different approach to defeating Chaos… so how about a minigame?! This Friday evening, defend the kingdom of Swordhaven in a ‘Castle-Defense’ style minigame. I just hope you can save the city from the Chaotic Siege!

Happy Birthday Aranx!

Everyone’s favorite Archangel Aranx is ascending into another year older! In order to celebrate, Aranx wishes to share with YOU his glorious Fallen Amadis Armor Set.

On Friday evening, you can become one of Aranx’s Fallen Amadis—who fights for Good or Evil, your choice!—and test your angelic aptitude against the forces of Chaos.

A Pirate’s Sneak Peak

Talk Like a Pirate Day only be a few short weeks away, but Solrac wants t’give all ye landlubbers ‘nd scallywags a sneak-peek at…

Galactic Naval Commander Armor Set!

Avast! This Naval Commander be out of this world, matey. Ye might be able to plunder s’more pirate spoilers on Solrac’s Twitter… if me doesn’t steal them for the Design Notes first!

Yarrharrharr!

xoxo (skulls and crossbones?) Beleen