Design Notes

April 29, 2013

Kezeroth the Worldsaver

Limited Time Shop is LIVE!

In the Mirror Realm, Kezeroth the Worldsaver kept Lore from ending by throwing himself into the heart of a volcano ... and now you can honor his sacrifice by equipping his earth-themed gear! Find his 48 hour Limited Time Shop in Battleon!

Will you save the world... or end it?

The 48 hour shop will contain:

• Kezeroth the Worldsaver armor
• Forest Guardian Helm
• Lady of the Woods Helm
• Forest's Blessing Cloak

The shop will have two versions of the set: one for Members and one for AdventureCoins!

December 21, 2012

The End Of All Things

The Beast Quetzal is Free.

Last week, you saw the fate of Elim, the last hero to try and face Kezeroth The World Ender. You ventured to the very bottom of FrostDeep Dungeon and recovered the Sword of Hope... and you saw the beginning of the end. 

Now Quetzal is free, flying across the face of Lore and freezing everything in its path. It is up to you and your friends to weaken The Beast enough to use the Sword of Hope on it and put a stop to kezeroth's devastation. 

This features battles unlike anything you have ever seen in AQW before. You will be providing a very necessary lifeline to your army as they try to weaken The Beast Quetzal. Keep in mind that it is a monster powerful enough to devour worlds so IT WILL TAKE TIME to even weaken it. 

It will take courage and strength and above all a tireless spirit! 

If you have these qualities and manage to bring the beast Quetzal down, then you will still have Kezeroth to face. He is AMAZINGLY powerful and you WILL NEED FRIENDS to defeat him. 

As Promised, Kezeroth The World Ender's Armor Set (Armor, Helm and Cape) is a Member drop from Kezeroth himself (and Ultra Kezeroth), but ANYONE can BUY Kez's set from Athon's Frostval Shop for ACs. You will also find a number of random holiday rare drops from each of the Quetzal quests for all players. 

Happy Frostval!

Limited Qty Shop AND MORE!

Don't forget that we have the last LQS of the year coming tomorrow at 2:00 PM Server Time (Check your Options for the server time). You can check out a list of the new LQS Items coming tomorrow in Alina's Design Notes Post.  

Later this month we also have Dage's Sword Of The Legion shop, The revamps to the Verification Shop armors and our New Year's Eve Release! The world did not end today so we will still be updating the game through the end of the year and beyond! 

Thanks for being a part of our holiday event and Happy Frostval!

Today is Just Another Day

December 22, 2012

Broken Prophecy LQS is Live

Log in now to get this rare gear!

The world will be here for a long time to come... but this gear won't! Because you defeated Kezeroth in yesterday's 12-21-12 Frostval event, we are here to launch the last Limited Quantity Shop of 2012! This time around, Khuddar has epically-awesome post-apocalyptic AND Frostval armors and items! Quantities are limited, so make your deals with Khuddar quick!

Apocalyptic Warrior Sets

If you haven't been with us for a Limited Quantity Shop before, here's what's going to happen:

This Saturday, December 22nd, at 2PM we will open up a Limited Quantity Shop in Battleon. The items listed below will all be in the shop with the stated prices and quantities. Once that item is sold out, it is never coming back. Ever.

If you see something you like, then you're going to want to make sure you're awake and have the gold or ACs on hand to buy your chosen equips!

Here's a handy online time zone converter to make logging in at just the right moment a little easier!

Apocalyptic Warlord Set

Apocalyptic Warlord – 700 AC – 4,500 quantity
Apocalyptic DeathBringer –  700 AC – 4,000 quantity
Apocalyptic Conquerer – 700 AC – 3,500 quantity
Apocalyptic Plunderer – 700 AC – 3,000 quantity
ShadowSnow Warrior – 650 AC – 2,500 quantity
Prismatic SnowStalker – 600 AC – 2,000 quantity

Apocalyptic Plunderer Set *

Apocalyptic Warlord Helm – 85 AC – 4,500 quantity
Apocalyptic Warlord Full Helm – 85 AC – 4,500 quantity
Apocalyptic DeathBringer Helm – 85 AC – 4,000 quantity
Apocalyptic Conqueror’s Mask – 65 AC – 3,500 quantity
Apocalyptic Conqueror’s Hood – 65 AC –  3,000 quantity
Apocalyptic Plunderer’s Mask – 75 AC –  3,000 quantity
ShadowSnow Helm –  65 AC – 2,500 quantity
Horned Krampus Witch Helm – 75 AC – 2,000 quantity
Horned Krampus Helm – 75 AC – 2,000 quantity
Prismatic Furred Hood – 65 AC – 2,000 quantity
Prismatic Furred Locks – 65 AC – 2,000 quantity 

* Stealing the food from heroes' mouths, Apocalyptic Plunderers makes sure there is little for no one but themselves.

Post-Apocalyptic Bunker House

Prismatic Furred Cape – 85 AC – 2,000 quantity
Silent Knight Blade – 200 AC – 3,500 quantity

Bunker House Merge Item – 1,500 AC  – 2,000 quantity **

** Talk to Khuddar in Battleon to merge your Post-Apocalpytic Bunker House Item into the full Post-Apocalyptic Bunker House!

Apocalyptic DeathBringer Set

Ice Warrior Armor – 33,500 gold – member – 8,500 quantity 
Licorice Twist  Armor – 23,500 gold – member – 6,000  quantity
Jolly SnowStalker Armor – 26,000 gold – member – 8,000 quantity

Licorice Fascinator Helm – 13,000 gold – member – 6,000 quantity
Licorice FlopHat – 13,000 gold – member – 6,000 quantity
Festive Furred Hood – 10,000 gold – member – 6,000 quantity
Jolly SnowStalker Hood – 10,000 gold – member – 6,000 quantity 

12-21-12 Alpacalypse Survivor ***

Short Holly Cloak – 15,000 gold – member – 6,000 quantity
Long Holly Cloak – 17,500 gold – member – 7,500 quantity
Jolly Furred Cape –  20,000 gold – member – 6,000 quantity
Furred Cape –  20,000 gold – member – 6,000 quantity

Alpacalypse Survivor Pet – 35,000 gold – member – 9,000 quantity

*** Not to be confused with Alpaca Lips Survivor. That's MUCH messier!

Licorice Twist Armor

Sassafras Armor – 45,000 gold – non-member –  20,000 quantity
Sassafras Mask – 25,000 gold – non-member – 20,000 quantity
Royal Frost Scepter – 32,500 gold – non-member – 30,000 quantity

A Few Words of Gratitude for the Holidays

Before I fly home for the holidays to spend time with family, I just want to thank you on behalf of the AQWorlds team for supporting this game and the rest of our Artix Entertainment family. Without you, we couldn't do what we love to do. As I look around the other people at the Lab, and talk to you guys on Twitter, the forums, Facebook, and in-game, I realize that there's nowhere else I'd rather be and nothing else I'd rather be doing each day. I get to do that thanks to all of you.

Happy holidays to all, and Battle On! 

December 19, 2012

New Look for AQWorlds

All-New Art for a New Year!

Prepare yourselves, because AQWorlds is getting a new look... and it's starting with our base class art! Over the last few weeks, we've mentioned the re-design of AQW's in-game interface and character creation screen, we're working on its website appearance, and the re-design of our base classes is almost done!

We leveled up our art skills!

But What About the Old Art?

If you love the current art for the base classes (the ones you choose while creating characters), never fear! We will be changing all of the base class art in-game to the new versions automatically, but if you can't do without your original gear (OGear?), you'll be able to buy it back for gold!

The Class skills themselves will not change, but the quality of the new art will reflect how far AQW has come since 2008! Especially when we finish re-designing the town of Battleon, the first map you join when you log in!

Battleon Re-design... WHAT?!

We're going all-out to make AQW look as good in its starting town as it does in the newer zones... and that means Battleon needs a makeover! Artix sketched out his plan for the town, Cysero and I reviewed it today, and we REALLY want to release this in early 2013! 

This time, the pencil is mightier than the sword!

With NPC all-new quests that will send you exploring across Lore, dynamic shops, exclusive member-only content, a library, forge, and more... Battleon will be THE place to be for all Heroes in 2013!

Sketch On!

With all of the changes we're planning, AQW is going to become even MORE awesomely fun than it already is!
But ... 

We Face a HUGE Battle, and We've Got to Win!

Because this Friday at sundown, we face the Beast Quetzal AND Kezeroth in our 12-21-12 event, and we won't be able to do ANY of these plans if Lore is destroyed! 

The Beast Quetzal is awake... and waiting!

We need you and all your friends to log in and defeat Kezeroth during our End of All Things Frostval event! Slay the Beast Quetzal to thwart the World Ender's plot and make sure that there will be a Lore to battle in next year... and for many years to come!

December 18, 2012

2013 is Almost Here

Defeat Kezeroth for a New Year of Releases!

Sharpen your blades, hone your daggers, and polish your staves, because the battle against Kezeroth the World Ender and the Beast Quetzal draws closer! We must band together to fight, and we will NOT let our world end! We can't, because we've got a whole YEAR of epic releases coming in 2013!

We MUST win to begin 2013!

Here's SOME of what we're planning to release in AQWorlds next year:

• Aid the Lumina Votari in defeating the Nocturan Creed to ensure the sun rises for the New Year!
• The next Chaos Lord is gathering a lion’s share of Lore's free agents!
  The 11th Chaos zone begins in January!
• More tradeskills: spell-scribing and blacksmithing are still in development!
  
• Some of the locations you'll visit in 2013: Vileforge Cavern, Hawkstone Peak, Amberheart Falls (massive dungeon crawl!), the Battle Coliseum, and more!
• Guilds Phase 2 - customizable Guild Halls/Towns!
• A version of Drakath's Portal where you can see which of the Chaos Runes you've unlocked!
• Chaos Lords 12 and 13 have yet to reveal themselves... but you will learn their identities soon!
• Drakath waits before the Chaos Gate! Are YOU prepared for the final confrontation?

The Lumina Votari await you, Hero!

December 17, 2012

Kezeroth's Icy Apocalypse

12 Days of Holi-Daily Quests!

Log in Friday and every day after until January 1st, complete all 12 Holi-Daily Quests, and you'll unlock a New Year's shop with two all-new armors! Each day, you'll get 1 more merge item (the quest will reward either member or non-member merge items) until you have all 12 and can create your new gear!

The member-only version of the armor will be color-custom! The merge items AND reward armors will be 0ACs so you can store them for free... forever!

Beleen's Birthday/Quibble Shops NEW Update!

Get your gear before it's gone! Quibble Coinbiter's holiday gear will leave in early January. Beleen's birthday shop will move to her NPC in Frostvale so that you have a little while longer to stock up on your favorite festively-pink gear!

December 16, 2012

Changes Made to Quests

A Few More Ways to Make AQWorlds Work Better!

Since Friday night, changes have been made to a number of the quests in-game (including many of Nulgath's farming quests) to optimize how they interact with the servers. These changes are not designed to increase the quests' difficulty. Each altered quest has had 1 monster drop added to it.

Many of the Nulgath quests have had one of the following items added to them: Nulgath Rune 1-9. Each Nulgath Rune has a 100% chance to drop from its monster. None of the other items required for the quests were altered.*

You will find the difficulty has not increased. Much.

For the quests which have had Nulgath Runes added to them, you can find the monsters dropping them in either /nulgath, /tercessuinotlim, or /evilwarnul.

The Oblivion Blade of Nulgath (Rare) and the Oblivion Blade of Nulgath each now require you to possess the correct pet in order to do the quests. The change made in September introduced a hole which allowed anyone to do them.

* For the "Nulgath" quest, 5 Charged Mana Energies - each at 100% - were added to the Mana Elemental. The regular Mana Energy drop from the Mana Golem has had its' drop rate lowered back to normal (it was raised during the Dage/Nulgath war).

The Undead Legion is many and strong.

A few of Dage's Legion quests have also had an item added to them. Slay the Dreadfiend of Nulgath to find the Darkness Core Dage requires.

Random Disconnect Bug Solution

We've had many people reporting that they are getting randomly disconnected while questing recently. It appears to be caused by accepting to many item drops at the same time, too quickly. While we investigate a permanent solution to this issue, please accept or deny your item drops as they come in to avoid the abrupt disconnects.

This Friday: Just Another Day?

No way! This week's release is the conclusion to the End of All Things storyline began last Wednesday on 12-12-12... and it takes place on 12-21-12 - the end of the world! We WILL NOT let our world end, but we're going to need EVERYONE to help save it!

With this blade, YOU will help us save Lore!

Make sure you have the Sword of Hope from the bottom of FrostDeep dungeon, because you will not be able to start this Friday's release without it!

New Chronomancer, Chronocorruptor, TimeKiller, and member quests will also be added this Friday!

December 13, 2012

2 Day Rare SponZard Item!

The Halfling's PvP Medal +900!

The SponZard Button strikes again! In honor of the release of the new Hobbit movie, our sponsors have authorized us to release a new NON-MEMBER PvP Amulet... the Halfling's PvP Medal +900. 

As the name implies, this non-member PvP amulet will give anyone who wears it an extra 900 HP inside any PvP game or dueling arena. This is also the first PvP amulet to cost 0 ACs which will allow for free storage. 

Here's the catch, it's only available for the next 2 days! 

The item is a random reward from the SponZard button which appears from time to time in the LOWER RIGHT corner of Battleon. Just watch an ad and claim your reward and if you're lucky then it will be this rare PvP Amulet! 

As we've mentioned, it only appears at random intervals so if it shows up for YOU make sure to click it. Remember that this item will only be available for 2 DAYS so don't miss your chance! 

The End Of All Things, Part 1!

In case you haven't been able to log on since last night, be sure to log in and play through the first part of this year's two part Frostval release, The End Of All Things. 

It was a late release ast night but as soon as the servers opened our Twitter and the AQW forums exploded with excited messages about how cool this release is. High marks on the story, cutscenes, items, and even the reduced lag... but most of the praise came for the new villian, Kezeroth The World Ender. 

If you haven't played through this release yet, log in and see what everyone is talking about! 

PERSONAL NOTE: This was an insane release. 2 huge maps, 3 unbelievable cutscenes, a handful of really amazing items, and a couple of new features like mini-cutscenes to give some character to the dungeon crawl all between Monday and Wednesday. That's about ten days worth of production crammed into three and we bled to make it happen by 12-12-12 (Server time). 

I don't get to write for AQW much anymore so when I get the chance I really want to give you guys something to remember. It was a real win for me to see pages and pages of people having their minds blown by this release. The outpouring of support from the community was really something to behold and I'm just so glad that it went over so well and that so many of you enjoyed it. Your feedback is always appreciated, but it's great (and exceptionally rare) when it's almost all positive. 

You'd think that the team could take the win and maybe a well deserved rest but no. We were back here bright and early working, trying to make sure that Part 2 lives up to Part 1, and getting things ready for tomorrow. 

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a new round of Quibble Frostval Rares (Including our first Frostval BattlePet for Members), Beleen's Insane Pinkomancer Birthday Shop (all items pinked by Beleen), The Big Red Member Gift Bag, Tinsel's Present Quests and special side quests in the 12-12-12 event for Chronomancers, Chronocorruptors, TimeKillers and Members! 

7 days until Just Another Day

December 12, 2012

12-12-12 Has Arrived!

The End OF All Things - Part 1

12-12-12 has finally arrived, and with it, the beginning of the end. Kezeroth The World Ender is about to be awoken!

This is the first part of AQW's 2 part special Frostval Event. ANYONE can participate in this event without having completed the previous years events (but it is recommended thast you do). The second part will be on Friday December 21st (AKA Just Another Day) assuming that the world doesn't end (It won't).

As usual, the event NPC (Athon the Crhonomancer) has a Seasonal Rare Shop that you can unlock by completing the event but if you make it to the bottom of FrostDeep Dungeon, you will also be able to claim the Sword of Hope! 

This item is FREE for ALL PLAYERS and you WILL need it complete Part 2, but you will also find a few more options. Members will be able to transform their Sword of Hope into Kezeroth's massive warhammer and level 50 Members will be able to claim BOTH of Kezeroth's amazing warhammers! 

This special release has taken an unbelievable amount of effort on the part of the AQW team to complete by Wednesday (even of it's a late one). Every single contributing staff member has pulled at LEAST one all-nighter this week to get this out today. 

So What Happens Friday? 

A LOT MORE STUFF!

On Friday, out Chronomancers, Chornocorruptors, TimeKillers and Members will get special side-quests added to this release with exclusive rewards for each of these sub-sets of people. Quibble will be receiving a TON of new Frostval Items including a new rare bank Pet for 2012! The Big Red Bag of Member Presents and Tinsel with her non-member present quests will also be arriving on Friday not to mention it's Beleen's Super-Pink Birthday (with a super-pink birthday shop!)

That is a LOT of stuff in one week, but it's Frostval and that puts everyone in a giving mood! :)

Good luck facing Kezeroth, hero. You'll need it. 

8 days until Just Another Day