3rd Annual AE Pumpkin Carving Contest!

PUMPKINS! PUMPKINS! PUMPKINS!

 

 

It’s that spooky time of year again and in my first ever Design Notes post (muahahaha!) I am super duper excited to announce the 3rd Annual AE Pumpkin Carving Contest! BoooOOOooOoo!

Something wicked this way comes… Mogloween fast approaches! We’re calling out to you, Heroes, for somewicked cool AE-themed pumpkin carvings!

The past two years have shown that you guys are INCREDIBLE carvers. Check them out for inspiration; 2009 Pumpkins & 2010 Pumpkins!

Starting RIGHT NOW, we’ll be taking submissions over at the forums. This contest ends Monday, October 31st. Winners will be announced on the Design Notes and the Forums on Friday, November 4th!

Like the previous years, the Grand Prize winner(s) will receive 5,000 AdventureCoins and additional prizes may be awarded to other groovy gourds!

How does one enter, Samba? WELL, first you take a step to the left, and then a jump to the right…

Wait-wait that’s not it! These rules and guidelines are simple but MUST be followed accordingly for your entry to be considered eligible:

• Your pumpkin MUST be carved BY YOU!

• Only ONE photo submitted per person, please.

• Your pumpkin MUST be your own ORIGINAL WORK! Any work that is copied via Internet and/or Stencils or simply Copy-Pasted of some supreme pumpkin-carving legend will lead to an automatic DISQUALIFICATION.

• Your pumpkin MUST be carved in an AE theme. Check out pumpkins from 2009 and 2010!!

• Include an index card or a piece of paper with ONLY your AQW Character Name–this way we really know it’s made by you, and so we can award you with AC prizes if you win! Make sure your AQW name is readable and legible!

• Your pumpkin carving can relate to anything from AdventureQuest Worlds or any other Artix Entertainment game!

• Your canvas must be a pumpkin or another form of squash and/or gourd.

• The photo of your carved pumpkin must be of the Highest Quality—the bigger and more clear the picture, the better! Make sure that you provide a VALID URL to your photo. Try using a reliable photo uploader like Photobucket, TinyPic or Twitpic.

• You have until 11:59pm EST on Monday, October 31st to submit a photo of your carved pumpkin! 

Questions? Ready to submit? Go haunt the Pumpkin Carving Contest Thread!

 

Carve on!

Battle Vordred!

The final battle for DoomWood has begun….

Go to LightGuard keep. The teleporter on the second floor will take you to the unpredictable final battle… it is unlike anything we have done in AQWorlds before — and we hope you enjoy it!  If you are not caught up in the storyline yet, the teleporter will tell you where to go and take you to the right place. Hurry! Vordred and Artix have already begun the final battle!!

• Undead Slayer Class (Rank 10 DoomWood -or- 2,000AC Member Class)
• Evolved Shaman Class (Rank 10 Arcangrove -or- 2,000AC Free Class)
• Color customize your character with the new color picker!
• DoomWood Saga recap by the Voice of Space Ghost, George Lowe
• BOSS FIGHT with Vordred, the most powerful undead being on our world.

Valencia and Robina model the female version of
Evolved Shaman Class and UndeadSlayer Class

A BOSS BATTLE unlike any we have done before!

I am looking forward to playing this release alongside you… literally. This boss fight is truly different from the others. It will just be you and I against Vordred. (However to team up with your friends using /goto and play it together) There are multiple endings… each ending has a different cutscene and unlocks a different reward shop. You must be at least level 20 to survive the battle…. unless you are REALLY good! It is always scary trying something new… so please have fun and tell us what you think. No matter what happens, I believe in you Hero!

Tipping my helm to the team… thank you or all your hard work

At 4:30am last night, when the entire team was still up working hard on this release… I felt that special feeling in my soul. As a collective group, we broke the AE record for the most hours of lost sleep in a single week. I am really proud and you guys… and grateful for the opportunity to work along side you. To everyone who worked on this release… Cysero, Alina, Zhoom, J6, Nulgath, Samba, Dage, Mennace, Reens, Yorumi and special thanks to Warlic, Ghost, George Lowe, Llusion, and everyone else who put their all into this release…. thank you! For your reward… we will get even crazier and make the next saga even better! BATTLE ON!

Other random things!

• The “Blending” Light of Destiny
• Rolith’s Pony Pranks – For the past several months Rolith has been pranking me by changing my computer & cellphone wallpapers to pretty pink ponies. Lately… I have been noticing certain AE team members chuckling when I walk by. I think they are up to something… bigger. Please let me know if you see anything “pony releted” happening in the games.
• Our players are AWESOME! Check out what your fellow players think of Doomwood!

Next Friday: The ArcAttack Musical Event!

Don’t forget to come back next week for our next in-game musical event

Our special musical guest, ArcAttack will be here to help us make our way toward the end of the DoomWood Saga. There will be an event rare item shop, voice-acted cutscenes and, of course, the coursing science-driven music of ArcAttack!

Click HERE to read more about the event and see some live ArcAttack videos!

The DragonHero Set

The 72 hour achievement and exclusive items

Created by Menace, this DragonHero armor is being gifted to ALL AQWorlds Members tonight!!! There is also an achievement – use it inside your Book of Lore to access the items.  This armor will most likely become known as the 72-hour armor. New players who upgrade in AQWorlds within 72-hours of account creation will be bestowed this armor… and since we are starting this today, anyone who upgrades in 72 hours from launch will be able to get it too. Yup, that is the sword in the background of the image!

Paladin and DoomKnight BUFF!

The war between light and darkness

The war raging on between the forces of light and darkness is causing an unexpected effect on Paladins and DoomKnights across the world… they are becoming more powerful. This Friday, those who possess the member-only Paladin and DoomKnight classes, will find themselves far more formitable in combat. However, due to the new power of these classes, those who do not yet possess either class will find these classes MUCH harder to aquire.

DoomKnight

Currently the DoomKnight class is 10,000 gold and Member (located in ShadowFall). On Friday due to how powerful it is becoming, it will require rank 10 Warrior, rank 10 Healer, rank 5 Evil Faction and Member. This makes sense because a DoomKnight is foremost a warrior with evil healing skills. We are changing some of the skills and adding a level 10 passive ability called: DOOMSTRIKE. It adds a small chance on every attack to do a MASSIVE darkness attack for about 50x your weapon damage. If you are a member and do not already have it… GET DOOMKNIGHT NOW IN SHADOWFALL BEFORE FRIDAY!

Paladin

Currently the Paladin Class requires rank 10 Warrrior and rank 10 Healer and member (located in /join swordhaven) On Friday it will require Rank 10 warrior, rank 10 Healer and rank 5 Good Faction and Member. This makes sense because a Paladin is foremost a warrior with good healing skills. We are changing a lot of skills and boosting damage… and exorcism… which is powerful especially when you blast undead opponents. Also, rank 10 of Paladin will unlock passive… there will be a small chance on every attack to instantly do Ultimate Heal (All-Team-Mate Heal) that will completely heal your party and make you invulnerable from damage for a short amount of time. If you are a Member and do not already have it… get Paladin before Friday!

AdventureCoin Classes

Two weeks ago, the Necromancer Class appeared. A free version of the class was released which required Rank 10 DoomWood rep, the completion of the Tower of Necromancy (which was a lot of fun!), and a 1% rare drop (The Creature Shard). Alternatively the class could be obtained for 2,000 AC with no other requirements. After the dust settled, the player reaction was extremely positive… and for the first time in a LONG time, everyone seemed to be happy. However, unlike Necromancer, Paladin and DoomKnight are existing Member exclusive classes and require an active membership to use.

I spent a good amount of time talking to the players on the Sir Ver server today about what we should do now that we are buffing them. Classes are not like rare items… we actually want everyone to get and use them. Most of the players I was talking to already had the items… so this really only affects new players in the future. If you already have the class, congratulations! You do not have to do anything and you will just be more powerful when the release goes live on Friday! Those who do not have it on Friday will either need to complete the requirements OR you can pay for your time and obtain either member-only class for 2,000 AC.

Again, the BEST way to get these classes is right now BEFORE FRIDAY when the classes are buffed and gain their rank 10 bonus “chance to happen” powers. Either way, please remember both the normal and AC versions of this class are both identical, and exclusive to members.

Vordred and the “Temple of DoomWood”

The classes are not the only thing becoming more powerful… Vordred, the PaladinSlayer seems to be growing more powerful with each passing too. Which is why you must venture into the ruins known as the Temple of DoomWood this weekend and learn how to get past his seemingly indestructable armor. Remember… this is AQWorlds. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. If we do not find a way to defeat him, in the next few weeks, it is possible that Vordred will win the game… and who knows what would happen then!

P.S. Rumors are spreading that a Dracolich is coming in this Friday’s release.

Necromancer Breakdown!

Unraveling The Mystery Of Necromancer

The Necromancer Class comes out TOMORROW. Somehow people are still confused about the EARNED & AC versions of the class so I will try and break it down.

There will be 2 paths to get that lead to obtaining the non-member Necromancer class.

PATH 1, The Earned Path: You can EARN the Necromancer through hard work and dedication. Once you reach the top of the Tower of Necromancy in DoomWood the master of the tower will offer you the class if you are able to deliver 2 items. The first is the Necropolis University Expanded edition of the Necromonicon which can ONLY be found for Rank 10 DOOMWOOD REPUTATION from the DoomWood Rep Shop in LightGuard Keep. The second item a Creature Shard that will be a 5% drop from the Creature Creation in the Chopping Maul.

In summary, to earn the EARNED version you need to get to Doomwood Rep Rank 10, Farm the Creature Creation and overcome all of the tests and puzzles on your way to the top of the tower.

PATH 2, The AC Path: You can BUY the Necromancer for 2000 ACs from Zorbak in his hut in the Chopping Maul map. You will have to have completed all of the doomwood quests neccessary to enter Zorbak’s hut but hopefully you have aleady done that.

the AC version will also be able to be purchased through Quibble until he leaves town, then you will have to buy it from Zorbak if you want that version. It will NOT be going Rare when Quibble leaves.

Other than the price (and the fact that you can store the AC version for free because it is an AC item) there is NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL between these two versions of the class. They have the same appearance, they have the same skills.

Necromantic Skill Set

Now let me tell you what to expect from Necromancer.

You need to understand the Necromancer to really master it. Necromancers are all about stealing life energy from the living and even sacrificing their own life energy to become more powerful. If you are unwise, you can eaisly kill yourself with this class.

The class balances on the razor’s edge between life and death. Using your own life force to power your pet and stealing your enemies life force to keep you alive. It needs you to pay attention and use your brain.

Watch your HP bar, find the happy place between sacrifice and power… then DESTROY! 

AUTO ATTACK

2 second cooldown.

A basic attack, taught to all adventurers. 

SUMMON MINION

45 mana, 16 second cooldown.

Summon an undead minion to your side or sends it into a frenzy, doubleing all damage at the cost of health.

This is a very necessary skill to understand.

FIRST, if you do not summon your minion, your attacks will do next to nothing to your foe.This should the first skill you use, unless the Skeletal Minion is already standing right in front of you.

SECOND, if you have another pet equipped, UNequip it. Your minion cannot be summoned if you already have a pet equipped.

THIRD, once your minion has been summoned this becomes a POWERFUL attack buff for your pet. You watch as your pet goes into overdrive doing slightly more than DOUBLE DAMAGE for the duration of the effect, but you also watch a portion of your life energy tick away.  

WEAKEN

15 Mana, 5 second cooldown.

Weakens the target, lowering damage while stealing some of its life and healing you.

You will be using this skill a LOT. Not only does it do a small amount of damage and return some HP to you, it also lowers your foe’s damage output by 40% for the duration of the effect. As nice as this is, between your pet’s Frenzy skill and the Infect skill, you will be giving up a lot of your life.

Use this to keep you going.

INFECT

3 second cooldown.

Infect yourself, damaginf yourself tor estore MP.

THIS SKILL is the dangerous one. You can get away without using it, but if you learn how to use it wisely, it basicaly opens up a world of infinite power to you. Use this skill to convert a good portion of your HP directly into MP.

Master this skill and you master the class.

DEATH’S SPEED & DEATH’S STRENGTH

Passive.

Increase Damage Output by 20%

Increase Haste by 20%

Pretty standard fare here. Ranking up the class unlocks the ability to do more damage and do it faster than ever before.

COMMAND UNDEAD

20 Mana, 6 second cooldown.

Order your pet to attack doing increased damage.

Here is your mini-nuke. It’s a very handy power to unlock as it buffs your pet for a beefy single strike against your foe which only costs mana, without eating any of your life. Use in conjunction with Summon Frenzy skill and apply liberally to foe for best results.

Just spam this sucker. It’s not like you’re running out of mana anytime soon, right?

SO there you have it. Necromancer in a nutshell. If I were you I’d use Wizard Enhancements since Necro gets its power mainly from INT and slightly from WIS like Magi do.

Right now the Skeletal Mintion pet that you summon to stand before you, shield you and attack your enemies is the ONLY Battle Pet in AQW. We plan on adding several more in coming weeks which will be REAL pets (not temp pets) and nearly all of which are planned to be member only.

ALSO COMING TOMORROW!

In addition to the Necromancer Class to be found at the top of the Tower of Necromancy and the AC version in Zorbak’s Hut, we have also spent all week working on the devilishly constructed Tower of Necromancy. The original plan for the tower was set down on paper by Artix and it goes from pretty simple to nearly impossible in only 10 floors!

If you are able to make it to the top, not only will you get a bonus cutscene where you meet the Master of the Tower but you will ALSO gain access to the MEMBER ONLY Necromancer Shop in which you will find a treasure trove of necrotic weapons and a few alternate armors for the necromancer.

Quibble is also getting a buff this week, vastly increasing the number of items he is offering. This round will be more Pali themed and less skull-i-fied but there are a few putrid additions all provided by AE artist Mennace.

HeroSmash gets bugged – but you won’t guess what kind

Hey power people! Here is a sneak peek at our upcoming release for HeroSmash.

Super City gets infested with a major bug problem. You’ll never guess where these bugs come from but they will have a link to a MAJOR story plot that will affect everyone in Super City. Think you’ve got what it takes to squash these bugs into oblivion? You better, because I HATE bugs! Count me out of this one.

 

Busy and Stuff

Bentley

I have been busy with all kinds of stuff and havent been able to post anything..but since vacation started i’m back to update this little blog.

Necromancer & Conventions

The Tower Of Necromancy

This Friday, the story of DoomWood continues as we head to the Tower Of Necromancy where questions will be answered, wits will be tested, old characters will re-appear and NECROMANCER CLASS will be obtained.

As you may remember from my last post, there will be TWO ways to get your hands on the non-member Necromancer Class. The first will require a LOT of hard work. First you will need to reach RANK 10 in DoomWood Reputation to purchase some materials that will be required to unlock the class, Next you will need to farm the Creature Creation for a not-very-rare drop, and lastly you will need to reach the top of the Tower Of Necromancy in the heart of DoomWood Forest.

The maniacal master of the tower will test you, and if you are able to reach the top of the tower, you will be able to unlock and equip the powerful Necromancer Class!

The other option is to buy it with AdventureCoins. Zorbak, who is always looking to cause trouble, will offer to sell an AC version of the class for 2000 ACs. This AC version of the Necromancer Class will also be added to Quibble’s shop for the duration of his stay (at least one more week). Once he leaves, you will still be able to buy it from Zorbak or earn it from the Tower. Or both,

but no reason for that since they are completely identical other than price.

The top of the tower will also sport some necrotic weapons and some member only options for Necromancer like a Color Custom version of the base armor and hood…

Or purchase the member only Necrolock robes and hood, also for gold. They are not CC but they’re still quite lovely.

Meanwhile, back in the AE Underground lab… Yorumi is still hard at work building this innovative new type of class. Our aim is to allow you to command a new type of pet called Battle Pets to do your bidding. Most of the class skills are buffs to the pet’s damage or haste, but other skills will allow you to regain mana or life through pet attacks.

The class SHOULD come with a very basic version of a Battle Pet built in (a skeleton in this case), but later we want to open other Battle Pets to the game for member-only purchase. THESE Battle Pets might even come with their own signature skill, unlike the base pet that comes build into the class.

There is still a long way to go to make the class function the way we would like it to, but as soon as I have some solid skills ready for balancing I will give you guys a skills write up.

Meanwhile, back in the AE Underground lab… Artix is single-handedly planning out the levels of the tower, trying to create a unique challenge for you. You will be required to take command of several skeletal minions and move them across the room to reach a lever. Once you acomplish this task, the platform will take you one level higher in the tower. Sounds pretty simple, right?

Yeah…

Meanwhile, back in the AE Underground lab… Zhoom, being the clever code monkey that he is ,believes that he has found the recent source of massive lag in DoomWood. He could be wrong but he has, to my knowledge, never been wrong about anything else. Ever. We will continue trying to track down some of the pesky quest bugs in that area as well. We will be applying those fixes as the week continues.

Come See Us, Please!

AE is going to more conventions than EVER this year. Granted, we are mostly going to ones we can drive to in under an hour but still, more is more, and we would LOVE to meet you guys.

Here’s what’s goin down…

E3: THIS WEEK Artix and Titan will be heading to the E3 (The Electronic Entertainment Expo).

It’s not really a convention but more of a big annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association.

There, they will rub elbows with some of the industry greats and also get to play with some of the worlds coolest toys. E3 runs June 7-9 and we don’t have a panel or booth but if you happen to be in L.A., get a chance to visit the E3, and know what Artix or Titan look like… say hi!

PARIAHCON: Then, this weekend Artix, Nythera, Thyton, Jemini, Korin, me and a few other members of the AE staff will head to Lakeland, FL for PariahCon 2011.

This one actually IS a convention claiming to be Lakeland’s first anime/gaming/collectible convention. Considering that Lakeland is a wonderful but only mid-sized town with roughly 584,000 people inhabiting it, that comes as no great surprise.

We will have a panel, Artist Alley booth AND a booth at this one. The Con runs JUNE 10-11 and our panel is at Friday, 4:00 PM in the Main Events room on the 7th floor of the hotel hosting the convention.

After our panel, we’ll mostly be playing (and selling) Battle Cards at our swag booth. This WILL be a small con. If you happen to make it we’ll be able to hang around with you like… all day.

METROCON: This convention is a bit larger being held, as it is every year, at the Tampa Convention Center, June 17-19.

Once again, we’ve got a panel and swag booth. Our panel at this convention will be 2:00 PM on Saturday then several hours of trying to follow Artix through the merch room. He vanishes like a 4 year old in a department store. POOF.

DRAGONCON: This is our BIG convention that we go to every year, and I consider to be my home away from home.As always it’s held the first weekend of SEPTEMBER (Sept. 2-5) in Atlanta, GA.

We will have a panel and that is it but we will ALSO be giving away our yearly DragonCon Pet (last year those who came out to see us helped us come up with the Steampunk Dragon non-member pet).

Our Panel is on Friday 2:30 – 5 PM. The room is yet to be decided but you will find us in your Con Guide under the MMO Track. I will also accept ALL Battle Card challenges offered at this con. Probably the others too. I will be fully prepared to sit down on the floor in the middle of a hall way surrounded by roughly 80,000 con-goers and begin dueling.

I can’t speak for everyone but I utterly and completely LOVE running into players at conventions and at DragonCon especially! This is how I first met Stratos who is now one of the head Mods, as well as a number of other super-fans who came out just to attend our panel and many of them have also become trusted friends. A few of those guys have also become mods, come to think of it.

That doesn’t mean that coming to con will make you a Mod, but if you’re the kind of AE fan who makes the trip just to meet us (sometimes from as far away as New Zealand!), it’s a pretty good bet that you’re the kind of person that we’re looking for to be a mod.

Get Well Soon

If you follow our Twitter feeds, you know that Alina had surgery last week. She considers it minor surgery but she also tried to work from home within an hour of being released from the hospital so that’s how sane (or dedicated) SHE is.

Rolith (her husband to be… got enganged at DragonCon last year!) and I wouldn’t let her. She eventually resigned herself to sleeping off her surgery and trying to heal.

I just want you all to know that she is well, recovering nicely, even spent 45 minutes on the phone with Artix talking over DoomWood plot this morning. With some luck she hopes to be back in the lab toward the end of this week.

Get well soon, Alina. We miss you at the AQW table and the halls of the AE lab are far too quiet without “There’s a MAYUN in there!” bouncing off of them. (Inside joke. Ask her.)

Now, stop laughing, you’ll pop a stitch, and get some sleep.

Even MORE new weapons are in Boomingdales!

Hey power people!

Polistar just finished up a batch of some wicked weapons that were so hardcore I had to push them out today! You know the drill – Head to Main Street east and go to the special shop in Boomingdales. Get yourself the Frostalizer, Artillery Buster, Torchio, and the XTREME!