Design Notes
August 11, 2014
Chaos Fan Art Winners: Lionfang
11th Lord of Chaos Fan Art Contest winners announced!
Get ready to sink your teeth into the Chaos Lord Lionfang fan art winners!
Grand Prize Winner: 11th Lord of Chaos
Stoikrex
This is pure chaos—and I ain’t lion! Fellow hero Stoikrex painted this Lionfang masterpiece and won the grand prize of: 1,000 AdventureCoins, the exclusive color-custom Chaos Paintbrush + Chaos Artist Palette dual weapon set, the Art of Chaos character page badge, and his art as an in-game House Item (to be released at a future date)!
All Other Winners
Please click here to see all the Lionfang winners in 2nd Place, 3rd Place, Runner Ups, and Above and Beyond. Great work everyone—you did a roaring good job!
Be sure to check out the Fan Art chapter in the Lorepedia to view all our Chaos Fan Art winners to date:
Battle On!
xoxo Beleen =D
March 29, 2013
Face Chaos Lord Lionfang!
It's a HUGE Friday for AQW & AE!
Quick table of contents for today:
- Chaos Lord Lionfang Battle
- Lionfang Finale Rare Shop
- Darkblood StormKing Class
- Spring Seasonal Shop Opens
- Aria's Pet Egg Quests Begins Sunday
- Dage's Birthday Rares & Lucky Day leave next week
- Artists of Artix Sketchbook on HeroMart
Chaos Lord Lionfang!
Today you get to face Chaos Lord Lionfang!
He's got the Darkblood Weapon against Chaos and he plans to use it on Drakath. His plan? Take out Drakath to solidify his own Chaos Power then use that power to destroy all evil all over Lore. Unfortunately we know that the weapon won't work against Drakath AND that Chaos Lord Lionfang wasn't quite right in the head BEFORE he became chaorrupted.
You have been entrusted with the sacred Darkblood relic and your only chance to stop is from being wasted on Drakath is to face Lionfang and take it back before it's too late.
As usual, Lionfang will drop a Member Only version of his own Chaos Lord Armor and helm...
as well as a few other member and non-member items.
Lionfang Finale Rare Shop
You will also be able to find a week long Lionfang Rares Shop (will go rare Monday, April 8th) where you can find a number of rares that you won't ever see again once they are gone!
Amazing armors and powerful weapons from contributing artists Memet, Solrac, Aegis, Veneeria and more!
Darkblood StormKing Class
Each new area we release usually comes with a class that you can unlock by reaching rank 10 in that area's reputation faction. Today we release the thunderforge Rep class... the Darkblood StormKing!
You can get the class one of two ways.
- Reach rank 10 Thunderforge reputation and drop a lot of gold to unlick the class.
- Open the Class Shop (Shops button in Game Menu, Ragnar in Battleon or Book of Lore) and pay 2000 AdventureCoins for the AC version if you don't feel like doing the repeatable rep quests in the Darkblood city of Falguard.
To read my Skills Breakdown whic tells you everything yuou need to know about the class (like how to use it) CLICK HERE!
Spring Seasonal Shop Opens
The Seasonal Key shop in Twilly has changed! The lock has melted and the Ice Token will not longer give you access to the rares! Now you will need to purchase the Storm Token from Twilly to open this shop until for a limited time.
This shop now contains:
- ThunderBolt Striker Armor (animated)
- ThunderHorn Helm
- Lightning Slasher
- DaggerDual Lightning Slashers
- Electric Storm Cape! (animated)
Remember that once the storms of spring pass and the lock heats up these items will go rare and get replaced by the summer seasonal items!
Aria's Pet Egg Hunt!
Sunday Aria begins her series of pet egg quests. For a limited time Aria will sell you rare monster eggs (one Member & one Non-Member) and you will be able to do a number of repeatable quests to merge your egg and farming items into several different rare pets.
This is a rare chance for non-members to farm for pets of their own and it won't last forever!
Dage's Birthday & Lucky Day Leaving!
It's been a great birthday month for Dage but next Wednesday, Dage's birthday rares (shop and SoulForge rares) will be leaving forever! Monday will also bring the Lucky Day Faire to a close until next year. How was your luck this year?
The Artists of Artix Sketchbook is LIVE!
It has been one of the most eagerly anticipated HeroMart items of all time but the wait is over. The Artists of Artix Sketchbook is LIVE on HEROMART! You can read more about that in the next Design Notes Post!
March 22, 2013
The Chaos Manticore
Chaos Lord Lionfang's Chaos Beast
Lionfang has set up his new base of operations in the area of Thunderforge known as the Venom Vaults. This mountain keep was once home to a mad prince who kept manticores as pets which is suicidally dangerous. Now the Chaonslaught soldiers prowl the halls while in the locked courtyard, Chaos Lord Lionfang has been training (and empowering) his Chaos Beast to ravage the face of Thunderforge attacking Darkblood and Gravelyn's soldiers from the skies.
The Darkblood weapon against chaos is now yours to use but will you use it against Lionfang or to save king Alteon? Either way you will find yourself at the gates of the Venom Vaults with Sir Valence of Swordhaven's Pactogonal Knights who has been charged with keeping tabs in Lionfang in his new base.
The Chaos Beast has a number of Member Only drops and Sir Valence has a shop with Dage's Manticore Assassin set inside...
But in a unique challenge, you will be given the opportunity to storm Lionfang's treasure vault where you will find chest after chest filled with NON-MEMBER armors, weapons, helms, cloaks and wings, all of which can be stored for free (they are all 0 ACs). The only catch is that you need the Treasure Vault KEY which Lionfang has placed on his pet... the Chaos manticore. Check the pictures below for some examples of what you'll find inside.
Game Menu Button
To help keep up to date with the latest releases we have added the ability to open the game menu (normally in Battneon only) from anywhere in the game. All you need to do is press the small treasure chest button now found next to your backpack button on the game's interface frame.
What Else Is Going On?
We have a lot more going on in-game tonight. For details check out Alina's DNs Post from earlier today!
- The new Royal Commander set comes with a 1 Month AQW Membersip Upgrade!
- The Treasure Map has been updates with a new clue which will unlock the Dragon Priest, Shadow Commander and Anonymous Drone gear!
- Galanoth's Birthday Challenge continues with access to the new Prismatic Dragonslayer and Evolved Dragonslayer sets! Head to /lair and wish the big guy a Happy Birthday!
Next week: Chaos Lord Lionfang!
Have a great weekend!
Or ELSE!
March 01, 2013
Death Pits / Dage's Birthday!
The Death Pits Await You!
Chaos Lord Lionfang is still searching for the one item that might serve as a weapon against Chaos and he's letting nothing stand in his way. He has discovered that the Darkblood relic called the Tears Of The Mother has been hidden at the bottom of the Darkblood Death Pits and now it's a race to reach the relic.
Since the beginning of history the various Darkblood tribes of Thunderforge waged war with each other for the precious Rotstone mines which became known as the Death Pits. They would toss their captives down into the poisonous mines and work them to death.
Once the tribes came together and built Falguard, uniting all the Darkblood under one Primarch, they continued the practice sending out slavers to capture humans, horcs and other creatures to do their mining for them.
Now the Death Pits are haunted by the memories of a thousand, thousand lost souls. The walls and floors are littered with the bones of the dead (and undead). This dark, bleak hole in the earth is where the Primarch has hidden the Tears of the Mother and sent Logash to protect them.
If you survive the journey to the bottm of the Death Pits, great treasures await you un the form of an unlockable shop and several monster drops for Members and non-members alike.
Happy Birthday Dage!
Tomorrow is Dage The Evil's birthday and he has sent a shadow of himself to Battleon with enticing birthday rares to lure fresh souls into his Soul Forge, where there are a number of new Dage items for Legion members to earn!
His Birthday Shop contains 12 AC Rare items, including the DarkCaster Arcanist Ring, the Ascended Paragon Pet with 2 farming quests that provide items for the SoulForge and the new Ascended DarkCaster set. You can also use your gold to purchase Essence Of The Undead Legend which Dage has assured us will return on his Birthday every year (and possibly a few other special events).
Meanwhile, Dage has finally left Shadowfall to set up his new base of power in his SoulForge, where he uses the souls of his Legion to forge new, increasingly diabolical weapons armors and more.
Dage's birthday doesn't last forever so don't miss out.
Happy Deathday Dage!
Stormbringer Set
For a Limited time we are offering EVERYONE who buys ANYTHING from us, the Stormbringer Set!
I mean anything. Any Membership package and any AC bundle. Buy something, relog and look in your Book of Lore in the Achievement Badges section and use the Stormbringer Badge to access the items!
No, You Can't Be A Mod.
The No, You Can't Be A Mod shirt in Heromart is now on sale in Green and Black. It comes with a character page achievement badge, a non-member pet, a tasty muffin AND the NOT A MOD Class!
To read the Skills Breakdown for the class, just click here!
That's all I got. have a great weekend!
OR ELSE!
EXTRA NOTE:
You guys are submitting great pics to the Dage the Evil contest, but we've got to keep all comments on the pictures clean. (Family friendly and all, right?) If you're going to submit your pictures on Twitter, please post them there directly, not on Twitpic. Or use any free online photo gallery.
Our volunteer forum moderators thank you.
February 02, 2013
Limited-Edition Gravelyn Print!
Gear Up for your Next Adventure at HeroMart!
Embrace the Darkness with one of our limited-edition Empress Gravelyn Prints at HeroMart! This 8.5 x 11 semi-gloss art print of Gravelyn, Empress of the ShadowScythe, will overshadow any other art it is near.
Each special edition print comes with an exclusive in-game item, while purchasing both at once unlocks the Dark Empress Blade!
Unarmored Gravelyn:
- Shadow Wraith (Pet).
Armored Gravelyn:
- Shadow of Sepulchure (Cape).
Purchase both special edition prints:
- Shadow Wraith (Pet).
- Shadow of Sepulchure (Cape).
- BONUS Dark Empress Blade(Weapon).
Both of these prints were redesigned by Diozz_AQW.
Signed deluxe prints by Diozz are also available for purchase.
Who Is Gravelyn, Empress of the Shadowscythe?
One of AQWorlds' most beloved characters, Empress Gravelyn is the daughter of Sepulchure and leader of both the Shadowscythe AND the Evil faction of the Alliance against Chaos! She commands her skeletal warriors and legions of Evil players from her fortress in Shadowfall!
She sends a message to Drakath, Champion of Chaos:
"Beware, for one day Shadowfall will RISE again! The day I take to the skies... you die."
Who Will YOU Ally With: Good or Evil?
If you choose to ally with Evil, Embrace the Darkness and bow to Gravelyn, Empress of the ShadowScythe! Followers of King Alteon the Good must accept the Alliance with Gravelyn's Evil warriors... or go rogue like General Lionfang!
Once one of Good King Alteon's most loyal generals, Lionfang could not stand the idea of allying with Evil, and has accepted Chaos instead! Begin his story in our current Chaos Saga!
February 01, 2013
Defeat the Beast
Battle Through Shattersword to Fight Graveclaw!
Imprisoned by the great King Alteon ages ago, Graveclaw the Defiler has regained enough strength to rise again. Summoning his minions deep within Shattersword Cavern, Graveclaw prepares to unleash his army against the world of Lore! Suit-up in Quibble Coinbiter’s Rare items and delve the dark depths of Shattersword Cavern to defeat the most beastly burden known to man! Wield your weapon, conjure your spells, and Battle ON to victory!
ALL players can relive King Alteon's battle against Graveclaw the Defiler by clicking on the golden statue of King Alteon in /battleontown! But you'll need to upgrade to fight your way to the bottom of Shattersword Cavern and defeat Graveclaw once and for all!
#BlameCanada for No Power and Derp Cutscenes!
If you haven't watched tonight's cutscenes... prepare for DERP! Normally, it takes 1 animator 2-3 days to finish the 2-3 cutscenes for each week's release. But yesterday night, we got a call from Ghost, who had been working on the boss monster AND cutscene animations! A severe storm had knocked his power out, so he couldn't finish the cutscenes OR the boss monster (or, y'know, even turn his laptop on to send them to us)!
At Artix Entertainment, we never back down from a challenge, or an opportunity to have fun making games, and this news was an opportunity to do BOTH! So Cysero and Samba put on their +15 Animating gauntlets, I pared down the battle scenes, and we got ready to knock out DERP versions of Ghosts soon-to-be-REALLY-finished epic cutscenes!
24 hours of frenzy led to the entire team - and parts of the rest of the game itself - getting turned upside down and inside out! But we pulled it off before release, because that's just how we roll!*
We will let everyone know as soon as Ghost is finished with THIS week's cutscenes! Until then, we would LOVE to hear your comments on the derp versions! Record your audio commentary as you watch them and send us the links!
* To make matters even MORE absurd, Ghost's power was turned back on 2 hours before the release! Not enough time to finish anything but the boss monster. He's hard at work to get you the epic cinematics you love, but for now... enjoy the DERP!
Quibble Coinbiter's Shop is live!
Everyone’s favorite traveling sales Moglin, Quibble Coinbiter, is making his way back to Battleon! Brand-new never-before-seen armors, helms, weapons, and more await the greatest Rare Item collector. Gear up in Golden Onslaughter and Darkblood rare items and show the world just how awesome you are!
Don't miss your chance to get this gear, because it's never going to return! We're not sure where he got it, and we don't really want to know. We just love /equipping it, and hope you all do, too!
This Sunday: Superbowl Half-Time Shop!
It's the biggest American Football game of the year. The 49rs and the Ravens are facing off and it's time for the halftime show. When you've had your fill of watching Beyonce do her thing on stage... head to Battleon and look for the button labled PUNT!
Come join the PUNT map to celebrate this day and these two super-teams with the Miners and Crows armors and the return of other seasonal favorites like the Spiked Pigskin and the Moglin Ref pet! Don't forget that this is the ONLY time of year that you will be able to get the Moglin Punter Character Page Achievement Badge and all you have to do kis kick Twilly the full 100 yards!
Good luck and no matter who wins we hope you enjoy the Superbowl!
January 25, 2013
Chaos Lord Lionfang
Starting the AQW Power Weekend Right!
The Darkblood City of Falguard. Its great stone walls and massive oak doors have kept the secrets of the Darkblood safe for centuries... until now.
Months after mysteriously disappearing from Onslaught Tower, Archlord Lionfang has reappeard as Chaos Lord Lionfang and he is turning his chaorrupted army and startling new powers on the city of Falguard!
Join forces with Captain Madra of the Falguard Dreadwatch and safe as many of the Darkblood people from his wrath as you can. His powers are great, but if he unlocks the secret of the Darkblood weapon against Chaos then there will be no stopping him.
The city of Falguard features the Thunderforge Reputation Shop, Daily Rep Quests, repeatable rep grinding quests for Members, a Darkblood Weapon Shop, the Darkblood Armor shop and even the Darkblood Styalist for those of you who need your horns reshaped by Darkblood magic.
As always, this is just the beginning of the Reputation Shop. it will continue to be filled as the storyline unfolds before you.
AQW Power Weekend!
Welcome to new magical time we call the AQW Power Weekend!
Here's what you need to know.
- The Power Weekend runs from now until Monday around Noon, server time.
- Players can get DOUBLE XP on EVERY SERVER!
- Members can get slight MORE than DOUBLE XP on the MEMBER ONLY SERVERS.
- Members can also get DOUBLE REPUTATION on the MEMBER ONLY SERVERS.
It's as simple as that! This really is one weekend you don't want to miss out on.
MOD Birthday Shops!
This weekend it is Stratos and Vokun's Birthdays! Stratos is our Bug Hunter General as well as a holding a number of other positions in AE. Vokun is one of our newest volunteer developers on AQW's art team!
You can find Stratos's Birthday Shop in Battleon and Vokun;s in Shadowfall, but if you get lost just talk to Stratos in Battleon. His button should take you to Shadowfall!
We are getting reports that some of Vokun's birthday items are missing but we added everything that he sent us. He might have left a few items out of his show so we will add them as soon as we get them!
QUIBBLE COMING NEXT WEEK & More!
Don't forget that Quibble Coinbiter will be coming next week with a bunch of super sweet rares and items! he's always got some interesting stuff!
We added a big button to the Dragon's lair in battleon ebcause quite a few ne players had no idea that it was there. Just dropping some love on an old favorite.
The new Jade Samurai set has replaced the Golden Set that accomplanies the ONE YEAR UPGRADE. This set is ALSO Limited Time Only so grab it while it lasts!
Coming next week: Watch as a young King Alteon defeats Gravelclaw the Defiler, imprisoning him deep below the Forest of Chaos! Members will need to battle to the bottom of Shattersword Cavern to stop him from rising again!
This will be a pretty fun weekend and I have a few alts to level so maybe I'll see you guys on AQW!
Have a nice weekend.
OR ELSE!
January 23, 2013
Coming Friday
Darkblood, Treasure Chests, MOD Birthdays and More!
This Friday the new Chaos Lord Lionfang saga continues in the Darkblood city of Falguard.
Captain Madra and one of her Falguard Dreadwatch Soldiers
This week you will enter the mysterious Darkblood city of FALGUARD, whose doors have remained closed to outsiders for years. The Darkblood Scroll has been translated and a newly empowered CHAOS LORD LIONFANG plans to test out his new powers searching for the Darkblood weapon that may be able to defeat Chaos.
The City will feature the Thunderforge Reputation Shop (on Madra herself), A Weapon Shop, An Armor Shop, a Hair Shop, at least one dark alley, a few quests to grind Thunderguard Reputation (more for Members) and, of course, the storyline quests.
Can you find the secret weapon of the Darkblood before Chaos Lord Lionfang rips Falguard apart?
Other Stuff Happening This Week
- We have new treasure chest items coming for all of you who have unlocked been stocking the treasure chests up and Members who have been stockpiling your free Treasure Chest Keys from Twilly
- We have TWO Mod birthday shops coming Friday as well. Captain Stratos, Co-head Moderator and Bug Master General and Vokun, one of our newest volunteer assistant developers!
- The 1 Year Member Golden Set Member Package is going away, to be replaced by the Jade Samurai 1 Year Member Set which is exactly the same as the other package but with a different set.
Stuff Coming In The Future
We're working on some new Membership perks for you guys, in addition to the one that Alina talked about earlier. We are trying to workout a system where Members would simply get MORE ACs. If you buy the 2000 AC package and you're a Member then you would get more than 2000 ACs.
How many more? Still working on making it happen (It may never happen, but we're trying) so we'll saw for sure at that time.
Next week Quibble will be coming back to Battleon and will be bringing a host of all new, slightly used rares from the future (and past in this case). A few of you were asking if Xavier Lionfang's Silver Lion Armor would be released during the Lionfang Saga... well, it is.
Funny story: ORIGINALLY the Lionfang armor art was silver, but went back for a recolor and came out the gold version that we all know. Makes sense that Xavier would get his big brother's hand-me-downs.
Changes to Battleon will start happening soon. Things will start moving, appearing, vanishing, shifting, sliding and expanding.
The Search For New Mods Continues
Reens and Stratos are still looking for a few good players who help expand the Moderator team of AQW.
If you want to know how to apply, READ THIS CAREFULLY. I've had people e-mailing me and even trying to apply on Twitter which just proves that you either
- Didn't bother to read the directions,
- Skimmed them but didn't pay attention, or
- Can't read English well enough to be a Mod.
No matter which way you go, if you can't even apply correctly then you lacking some very necessary qualifications that we need in our Mods.
People have been asking me who "won the Mod contest?". I can't stress enough that this is not a contest to be won, it's a volunteer job to be applied for. It's a pretty serious and necessary position and we have some fairly high standards for what we expect from our Mods.
It's hours and hours of helping, reading thousands of player reports and trying your best to help other players. It's a thankless job but that's OK because we don't pay you anything. We even put restrictions on the items that Mods get. The only rewards are a gold name, the chance to test the releases before they are finished and the chance to help make AQW a better and safer game for everyone.
January 18, 2013
The Golden Onslaught
The Imvasion of Onslaught Tower!
We need your help more than ever before! Archlord Maximilian Lionfang has recovered the Darkblood Scroll which reveals the existence of an ancient weapon which might have the power to defeat Chaos itself, and with this information in his hands... he has revealed his true colors! He has kidnapped Artix, Robina, Alina, Yorumi, Beleen, Warlic, King Alteon and several more of our friends... even me. Our very lives depend on YOU!
This former general of King Alteon's Army has broken the Great Truce and taken up the title of Archlord of his zealot faction, the Golden Onslaught. In recent days the heroes of battleon and even King Alteon have gone missing, replaced by illusions cast by Gravelyn's Imperial Illusionists to prevent wiespread panic! Tonight you will relive the exciting story of AQW's first Birthday event as you battle at Empress Gravelyn's side to save your friends from Onslaught Tower.
This expanded version of the Invasion of Onslaught Tower features an elnarged map so you can see more of the tower than you ever did before. It introduces a new NPC in the form of Archlich Xollen, Commander of the Shadowscythe Invasion Force, as well as a new expanded storyline full of new quests and a crazy amount of new items (all the rare items from the original event stay rare)!
- Lionfang Invasion AC Shop: 13 Items including the DoomKnight Prime and a number of other great new AC items, plus the classic DoomKnight items presented by Gravelyn in the original event.
- Lionfang Invasion Shop: 13 Member and non-member items for gold. Unlock this shop by completing this week's release
- Monster Drops: 8 Member and non-member drops! Every single monster drops something new this week!
- Member Only Side-Quests: Members can quest to get the hard-to-get Color Custom Lionfang Royalty set when they unlock the bonus quests at the end of the release!
The blue parts are color custom
This week's release sets you up for next week, as we head to the Darkblood city of Falguard, deep inside the boarders of Thunderforge!
New Barber and Armor Color Pets!
Check out the Battleon Helper Shop for 2 brand new pets that do cool stuff!
- Sergeant Snipps: This little Moglin will be happy to follow Members around giving them haircuts, dye jobs and even colored contacts at will!
- Daro: This violet Moglin is a master blacksmith's helper and can recolor your armor on the fly. He's a NON-MEMBER pet that you can purchase for 1000 ACs.
Season Of The Witch Shop
The Season Of The Witch Shop has been update with 4 brand new items including a new Battle Pet for Members!
These are GUARENTEED Rare items, but there are lots of Grimm Stalkers out there so you might see other versions of the armor in the future. This version will never return once it is gone.
Verification Weapons
Finally, we have completed our long-awaited upgrades to the verification shops promised last month during Frostval to all of our DragonLords, Star Captains and Guardians.
Thank you all for upgrading in the other games and thank you for your continued support in AQW! :)
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY RARES
Just a reminder that you can still get your February Rares Raffle Ticket from Cleric Joy's shop for your chance to win the SUATMR contest and walk away with something that smells like the inside of my backpack.
Remember that you can increase your chances of winning with Memberships and AExtras but you NEED ACCESS TO YOUR REGISTERED AQW E-MAIL TO WIN. No E-mail, No rares for you.
For a full list of the contest rules check the SUATMR contest page.
Or else!
Empress of the Shadowscythe
January 14, 2013
Gone Missing
For Your Eyes Only
Hero, As you well know, several heroes from around Lore have been reported as missing. I've had my dark illusionists disguise themselves and take the places of Artix, Cysero, Alina, Zhoom, Ai No Miko, Warlic and a number of other heroes to avoid any panic. Most recently King Alteon has gone missing. Something must be done.
I don't expect the replacements to fool people for very long. Posters like this one have begun to pop up all over the land.
I have recently discovered who is responsible for the abductions. I command you, in the name of the Great Truce, to meet me at my fortress this Friday. I have devised a plan to rescue our friends and I will need able bodied soldiers to put this plan into action.
Echos Of The Past
Do you recognize the message above? Then you were probably playing back in October of 2009 when we first ran this adventure for AQW's first birthday. This week we continue Lionfang's Legacy with the re-release of the Assault on Onslaught Tower. There will be no war this time, but there will be a larger, expanded tower map, new quests, Member Only side quests, new music and of course new items!
Blackhorn Tomb
Have you ventured into Blackhorn Tomb to face the Bonefeeder yet?
The first part of the Lionfang's Legacy storyline was released last week with a number of new quests, 2 new cutscenes, an AC shop, an unlockable item shop several new monster drops!
If you want to understand more about Maxamilian Lionfang, then Blackhorn is the place to start!
Some History
Some people were confused about how last week's story design notes fit into the history of the game. I will explain all of this in this week's release but I might as well clear it up now.
After Drakath revealed himself to the world and destroyed my father, King Alteon and I sent agents out into the world to look into the threat that Chaos posed and any possible solutions or weaknesses.
General Lionfang found something interesting in Darkblood rumors and made his way to Thunderforge where the Darkblood live in the city of Falguard. His first act in the area was to "cleanse" an ancient tower of the necromancer who was living there. Much of the crumbling structure was destroyed in the battle between the undead and Lionfang's loyal soldiers. Finding the location a valuable strategic asset, he converted the remains of the necromancer's tower into Lion's Keep, building it far stronger than it was before.
Lionfang's report to his King stated that the Necromancer had gone rogue and was killing loyal soldiers of Good only to reanimate them as servants of Evil, thus breaking the Great Truce. Reports of Lionfang's actions against my Evil followers had grown in number so I commanded my scryers to show me the past.
The truth of the matter is that General Lionfang simply attacked the necromancer who was using Shadowfall sanctioned body parts to perform his experiments. This means that it was LIONFANG who actually broke the Great Truce, boldly striking first against the side of Evil.
If only we had known General Lionfang's true feelings earlier, we might have been able to stop him from building his powerful base of soldiers and zealot followers which he now calls his Golden Onslaught. He has even changed the name of the tower from Lion's Keep to Onslaught Tower, flaunting his military might.
The man made a dangerous enemy when he decided to break the Great Truce and attack my follower. LONG UNLIVE THE SHADOWSCYTHE!
Season Of The Witch Hunter
This Wednesday, the Season of the Witch Hunter begins and the rare GrimmStalker armor will be sold for a short time.
It's being sold in celebration of the release of the new Hansel and Gretel movie for all of you classic dark fairy tale fans out there.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY RARES
The SUATMR Contest is in full swing!
Want to win one of the rare items on THIS LIST?
Here is what you do:
- Buy a February Rares Raffle Ticket from Cleric Joy's Shop (or Warlic's Shop) in Battleon.
- Increase your chances by buying a Membership (every day left increases your chances by 1)!
- Increase your chances again by completing AEXtras offers (every one completed since Jan 1 increases your chances by 1 again)!
- Have a valid E-Mail attached to your AQW Account. We notify winners by mail. If you don't check your mail, you lose. No exceptions.
Good luck, hero.
January 13, 2013
Coming Soon to AQWorlds
The 2013 Release Momentum Keeps Growing!
Strap on your hardest helm and equip your sharpest blade this Friday, because you're definitely going to want to see the next chapter in Lionfang's Chaos storyline - the updated and polished version of the Golden Onslaught War! You HAVE battled through the Blackhorn Tombs, right?
Last Friday's release took place in Lionfang's past (but you did not travel back in time. Try not to think too hard about the mechanics of that. Timey-wimey explanation!) Cysero's going to try to find time ("Heeeeeey time-travel fairies!") to build a timeline to make things easier to understand!
The team is ALSO going to be working on re-designing the town of Battleon (and Battleontown)! Current plans for the restructure include re-doing the Guardian Tower, updated town NPCs, FINALLY questing to unlock the pieces of the Blade of Awe and SO MUCH MORE!*
This project is HUGE and will take at least 2-3 Phases to complete, but work on Phase 1 begins this week!**
* Watch out for falling puns!
** Construction moglins are magic, and move so fast that the town's appearance is likely to change in the blink of an eye (or a server restart) once it is ready to release.***
*** Release date not set yet.
And to top off all the excitement, J6 and Beleen are planning out the next "J6 the Bounty Hunter" release! Speaking of J6... Don't forget to vote to send him into space in REAL LIFE!
January 12, 2013
Read the Design Notes for News
And See How Your Ideas Make AQWorlds Happen!
AE is a company built on direct player feedback; we always want to know what you think of our plans and how we can make them even MORE awesome! We want to see your drawings, hear your ideas, and find out what YOU want to see come to AQWorlds next!
Sometimes though, things get so hectic that the ideas we throw out on Twitter, the forum, or Facebook never make it to all of you. So remember: For OFFICIAL announcements of what's coming in AQWorlds, read the Design Notes and the homepage!
This is the button to click to get all your AQW news!
You've already found them, so you're one step ahead! Anything not said here is not officially planned. It's an idea, a thought, a "would this be cool?"
And even after we've announced the release schedule, plans may change. Nothing is final until the servers restart. Because as much as we may WANT to do something, sometimes we find out that it's just not possible that week. So keep an eye on the Design Notes for progress updates as we find them out!
January 11, 2013
Into Blackhorn Keep
I Hope You Love Spiders!
Today we begin the new Maximillian Lionfang's Chaos Story. Many of you have long wondered if Lionfang, who began his life as a one-off bad guy for our first birthday event, would ever actually become a Lord of Chaos.
Spoiler: He does.
We're trying something kind of interesting and new with this release. Based heavily on Lionfang's established lore, we're back tracking a bit and showing you how you first met Maximilian Lionfang when he was a General for King Alteon.
You will follow his lead to the ancient Blackhorn Tomb (some of you might recognize the name from last week's adventure) where General Lionfang has tracked an ancient scroll that might reveal a way to defeat Chaos itself!
In this release you will find an AC shop at the beginning of the release with a host of amazing items, lots of drops on the monsters and if you complete the release you will unlock another shop full of Member and Non-Member gold items and armors!
NEXT WEEK: Come back to relive a special expanded version of the assault on Lionfang's Keep, or play through it for the very first time!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY RARES!
Our newest and dumbest contest yet is live! Read ALL about it on the SUATMR Contest Page (pronounced soo-AHT-meer)!
WHAT IS IT?: It's a contest where you can win one of my or another dev or mod's rare items!
HOW DO I ENTER?: Talk to Cleric Joy in Battleon, click her SHOP button and buy a February Rares Raffle Ticket! You must have this item in your backpack or bank on the day of the drawing to enter the raffle.
WHEN IS THE DRAWING?: The drawing will be the first Tuesday of every month, so the first drawing will be held on Tuesday, Feb 5th!
HOW DO I HELP MY CHANCES OF WINNING?: The Rares Raffle Ticket enters you in the contest and gives you 1 chance to win. Every DAY of AQW Membership left on your account on the day of the drawing increases your chances by 1 (200 days left = 200 more chances). Also, every AExtra that you've completed from jan 1 to the day of the drawing increases your chances by 1 more (12 AExtras done = 12 more chances to win).
WHAT CAN I WIN?: See the SUATMR Contest Page for a list of possible prizes!
I DON'T GET IT!: Really? OK, then you should really, really go read the SUATMR Contest Page. Seriously, read every word.
RANGER CLASS, 2000 ACs
We've been getting a FLOOD of requests in recent months to sell the Ranger Class for ACs like all other recent classes. When I say a flood, I mean a FLOOD. Of all the the coming features that we've talked about or hinted at, all the bugs past and present this one change has beaten them ALL in terms of the numbers of people asking for this.
I've never been a fan of the idea since I thought that it was quite the badge of honor to have earned the class. More reasonable heads than mine pointed out that it's STILL a badge of honor if you earn it, even if a version is sold for ACs.
As of tonight, you will be able to buy the Ranger Class from Ragnar's Class Shop for 2000 ACs, BUT the earned version of the class, identical in every other way, will be renamed to the MASTER Ranger Class so you can more easily prove to your friends and other players that you EARNED this class.
This is the only Class for which we plan to make this concession, so enjoy it all you hard core Sandsea farmers (past, present and future)! Wear your Ranger class with pride!
Seasonal Rare Shop On Twilly
A few changes to Twilly's Pop-up in Battleon. He is now hosting a Seasonal Rare Shop. This little shop is just an fun little option for people with ACs to burn who like the items he has. Every season (Spring being the next) Twilly will get NEW seasonally-themed items that will also go rare.
All you have to do is purchase Twilly's 2013 Ice Token and that will enable you to open the shop and grab ALL of the Seasonal items which are all 0 ACs. Items will go perma-rare in March when the Spring shop opens!
The New New Mage
The new Mage base Class Art is live and with it the new Mage Armor in the mage trainer's shop.
Due to a large influx of player requests, the previous version of the mage armor will remain availible but as been renamed "Noble Mage". Dage really went all out redesigning the base classes and we are now VERY proud that new players, just coming to AQ.COM for the first time will be greeted by these amazing classes.
New Offer Pop-Ups!
Recently, we have added a couple of special offer pop-ups in-game for a very small amount of people who met the exact qualifications for the offer and a lot of people were asking "Why not me?!"
In response to this we have added a small array of NEW special offers targeted directly at YOU. If you DO qualify for these special offers, keep in mind that these are limited time offers and you might never see them again.
If you guys like these and continue to ask for them when we might expand the offers even further. If not then these will just... go away.
New Verification Armors
Members of our OTHER games were promised updated armors for their DragonLord, StarLord & Guardian shops in the Guardian Tower as a Frostval Gift. Sadly, a million things fell down on our heads all at once and these got backlogged BUT THEY ARE FINALLY HERE!
You can find the new armors in the same verification shops where you can find your special classes, and the weapons for the new armors will arrive NEXT week! Enjoy and Happy (Belated) Frostval!
Last Chance for 2012 Holiday Gear!
Alina says remember: Make sure to log in before Monday, January 14th, because that will be your LAST chance to access:
- our Kezeroth the World Ender Frostval event until December
- the Save the Sun New Year's event until January
- Quibble Coinbiter's Shop
- the 2013 Sun/Moon Rares Shop*
- the Last-ever Limited Quantity Shop**
* This shop will go PERMA-RARE! Welcome in 2013 with some of the shiniest gear of the season!
** This is the LAST Limited Quantity Shop we will do. Once this gear is gone, it will NEVER return!
Weekend Project
This weekend Artix, Dage, a few of the other team members and I are getting together to sharpen out Mobile Development skills. I can't even say that we're making a game, per se. I will say that we are making something very small and barely functional for multiple mobile devices.
Whatever we spit out at the end of this weekend might just be a total disaster but we DO plan on releasing it for free on as many mobile platforms as we can figure out,
Keep and eye on our Twitter feeds, Artix.com and the AQW Facebook Fanpage for updates to see how things are going!
Have a great day.
OR ELSE!
January 08, 2013
Servers Offline at 12AM EST
AQWorlds Offline at Midnight for Maintenance
Our quest to optimize AQWorlds' performance continues! The game will be offline tonight, beginning at midnight, for around 3 hours while we clean up the database. We'll return as soon as all the junk 0's and 1's clogging it up have been swept clear and tossed into a binary trash-bin!
The server hamsters get a 1.5 hour break tonight!
A NEW version of the New Mage Base Class!
Friday's Design Notes tell the tale of the new Base Class art... and why it hasn't been released. While Yorumi works to find room inside AQWorlds to add the new Classes in, Dage re-designed the Mage armor in response to your feedback! The previous version of the Mage Class art will be available to buy in the near future.
Our art skills have really leveled up!
Now that the base class redesigns are finished, Dage is returning to work on the verification armors and weapons. We'll announce their release date once we have a better idea of when they will be done!
Work Begins on a New Battleon!
Tomorrow, Artix, J6, and I will meet to finalize the layout of the new Battleon! We are all really excited about our plans for how to expand the town! A library filled with lore about the world*, a brand-new pet shop where Aria sends members on quests to unlock pets**, Valencia's museum ***, and so much more!
J6 will turn this sketch into incredible art!
* Would you like to write and submit stories about your AQW hero?
** This was one of my favorite parts of early DragonFable!
*** What treasure hunter can resist questing around Lore for relics?!
2013 is Off to an Awesome - and Chaotic - Start!
Join us this Friday as we explore one of AQWorlds most loved - and hated - villains! We've got so much we want to do this year, but before we do any of that, we want to jump right into the next Chaos storyline!
Evil and Good must stand together in the fight against Chaos... but General Maximillian Lionfang is willing to risk everything to prevent that Alliance! King Alteon needs YOU to aid Lionfang in his quest to find a weakness in Drakath's power or he will be free to play his deadly, Chaotic game and Lore will be the prize!
January 07, 2013
Lionfang Family Legacy
This Friday, Learn More About The Next Chaos Lord.
We introduced Maximilian Lionfang during AQW's very first birthday celebration event. Some of you know him as the leader of the dogmatic Golden Onslaught whose only goal is destroy any and all things EVIL, no matter what the cost.
This Friday, we are turning back the clock and re-introducing AQW to General Lionfang, before he took up his banner against evil. This quest takes place before the events of the first birthday event and NEXT week we get the pleasure of re-introducing the event with expanded content for those who missed out. It's kind of cool that we get to go back, touch up old stuff and bring it back to the game as a core element of a much larger storyline.
First, a little history about the Lionfang family.
Maximilian Lionfang and his younger brother Xavier were raised by their father, Darius who served for many years as a knight under King Slugwrath before joining General Alteon's rebellion and becoming a key player in the overthrow of the tyrannical king. Darius raised his boys to believe that you should stand up to evil wherever you meet it, but his guilt over his actions while serving under Slugwrath drove these teachings to extremes.
In the early years of King Alteon's reign Maximilian and Xavier both signed up as recruits under the good king but Maximilian rose quickly through the ranks by making a name for himself as someone who could get things done. Darius Lionfang was slain in a battle with the archlich Noxus in one of the first clashes between King Alteon's forces and those of the DoomKnight Sepulchure.
Xavier left the military to seek revenge for their father's death but Maximilian remained a loyal soldier thinking that the far-reaching hand of his majesty's army would prove a better tool in the battle against evil. His charisma and steadfast adherence to the cause of good earned Maximilian a General's banner and a fearsome loyalty from those who served under him but some of his soldiers whispered that he could take things too far. However, most knew how his father had died and thus turned a blind eye to his all-consuming hatred of Evil.
Now Maximilian is one of Good King Alteon's most trusted generals. When Drakath attacked and Sepulchure was destroyed, Lore saw that a new, powerful threat had arisen that could not be defeated by the forces of good or evil alone and the Great Truce between Good and Evil was formed. General Lionfang was charged with finding out all that he could about the nature of Chaos on Lore. For years he and his troops have scoured the land searching for clues and finally building Lion's Keep on the edge of Thunderforge, a dark and mysterious land north of Skullholm populated by numerous creatures who serve Empress Gravelyn.
His recent letters to his majesty hint that he might have found something in his search to battle Chaos in an ancient tomb called Blackhorn...
A New Contest Is Coming!
So I was talking with Artix and Alina and we came up with an idea. We were thinking that I might take a lot of my old rares and offer them up as prizes for some sort of drawing. My Alpha Pirate has just been gathering dust since I got it up to rank 10.
The contest that we're thinking of will be kind of similar to the old I Can Has Mod contest in that you will get to hang out with a mod or dev for a few hours and you'd also get to pick from a list of old rares that I and the other mods and devs have donated as prizes. That's where the similarities end.
There will be no wishing of any kind, other than the normal, fruitless kind that always happens.
You'll have to buy a ticket or a potion and have it in your inventory at the time of the drawing,Membership will get you 50 extra chances and each completed AExtra will get you 1 more chance to win. We'll do the drawing once a month and random winner will get the option of being named or remaining secret of they want.
We'll tell you more (like when the contest starts and what you need to have in your inventory to be in the contest) as soon as we figure out more details ourselves.
We are considering calling the contest SHUT UP AND TAKE MY RARES!
We have already discussed this idea on Twitter a little bit and I'm really impressed with so many old school players stepping forward and volunteering their own ancient rares for no reason other than they want to make someone else's day.
It's great to know that we have so many amazing players like you guys, but let's see how it goes with the devs and mods first :)
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