Cysero
Is Looking Out
For Himself

May 30th, 2008
Artix Vs. The Undead

The release is LIVE and SO is the PALADIN CLASS!

Make sure to grab and level the paladin armor from Artix in Doomwood!

This week's quest FINALLY ties directly into the Artix Vs. The Undead animated short that we released last year.

If you've never seen the short... be sure to watch it HERE.

Also new this week: The quest drops 2 weapons, the giant undead's sword and Artix's massive stone hammer! These are excellent weapons for the paladin class (or warrior) and these keepsake weapons only drop from this quest. We decided to drop these weapons instead of the normal one-for-every-base-class style that we normally do because we wanted you to really feel like you were part of the short, and take something home so you could say "I was there!"

We tried to make this a kind of touch one so good luck heroes!

Enjoy!

Cysero
Is Looking Out
For You

May 29th, 2008
Security Update!!!

Hey guys,

Quick security update. It was recently discovered that some versions of the Adobe Flash player (the player that you already have some version of, if you play DF, AQ, MQ or a host of other web games) have a built-in security issue that could allow some very clever hackers access to some of your personal information.

We HIGHLY suggest that you head over to the Adobe website and click their GET FLASH button. It looks a bit like this:

This will grab the latest updated version of the player: Version 9.0.124.0 which has been patched to fix the security issue. It's a fast download and it's very simple to install.

If you are worried about the download, don't be. You're just downloading and installing the lastest version of the plug-in that allows you to play Flash videos and video games. It's not spyware, it won't give you pop-ups, it won't try and sell you long distance service, snakeoil, or legless dogs (Just hear me out... they're like cuddly throw pillows!).

In other news, someone on the forums said that they had posted a link to the MMO site, but in reality it was a Rickroll. This was patently against forums rules, and that person was properly punished for violating forums rules... but personally speaking, that was pretty funny. I lol'd.

Cysero
Has His Own
Class

May 28th, 2008
AE's MMO.

Maybe you saw this in the Zardian. If you didn't then here.

"By Artix von Krieger

Greetings and salutations, friends! I would like to congratulate The Zardian staff on the one year anniversary of their amazing E-zine. To make this one year anniversary issue extra special, we are going to make the largest official announcement ever right here, right now! *looks up* The title may have given it away, but read the next line loudly in your mind and let yourself feel the adrenaline rush we are experiencing by telling you ... Because ... We built a massively multiplayer game engine.

It is true. A 100 percent flash-based, in your browser, AQ/DF/MQ inspired, real-time combat, honest to goodness massively multiplayer online game. As I am sure you are already thinking, this is a wish come true! At long last we will accomplish the seemingly impossible goal of adventuring and battle alongside each other for real. The best part is, you will be able to import data from your existing AQ/DF/MQ characters and accounts, making all of your old hard work and effort really mean something. Like our other games, we are growing this one from scratch. Alpha testing will start in early June. (We fully expect everything to break, catch on fire, and blow up - just like with the other games!) We hope you are excited about this new project and will become involved and help us build it alongside the other games."

If you want the whole story you'll have to check out the latest issue of The Zardian.

So there ya have it, straight from the paladin's mouth. This is really exciting for us! I was running around the Inn with some of the guys and I took THIS screenie, if you're curious about the look of the game. Yeah I know that there is actually a toilet there, I just missed it. Blame it on the hair.

If you want to chat with other AE gamers about the MMO, the dutiful, clever and loyal forums staff have set up a special place to chat about it, which you can find HERE.

This is still in development, but the stress testing will be creeping up on us soon, and you can expect to meet a lot of us live in game during the stress test. I'll be there for sure. Because it's only a stress test it will be missing a lot of the final game functionality, but let's see if we can just get that many people in the game without crashing the servers.

We don't have any specific dates for you yet, but you can expect to hear more about this is the near future.

Are you as excited as I am? Or more?

Cysero
Does Not
Drink Coffee

May 27th, 2008
Trading Places

Morning. *Yawn stretch*

As promised on Friday the Memorial Day Holiday DA shop has been removed, about 15 seconds ago. I hope you got a chance to nab the rares if you're that kind of player. I got mine and stuffed them DIRECTLY into the bank.

It kinda takes the fun out of being a rare collector when you can just give yourself any item at any time. I LOVE making DF but sometimes I envy you guys. All you have to do is wait for the release. Either we further the plot and reveal some more of the story to you or we add new functionality, like puzzles or minigames that you've never seen before, but either way we try and bring you at least one surprise a week.

There are no surprises on this end (that is a flat lie, there are ALWAYS surprises, but they're usually the bad kind... like bugs). We should switch positions some week. You guys make the release and we'll play through it. Deal?

I hope that you, my fellow Americans, had a great memorial day (Personally, I had the best one ever), and that you non-americans had a great normal weekend... unless it was your birthday. In that case I hope you had a great birthday weekend.

I got up too early. I'm going to go curl up behind the fridge and take a nap. It's warm there. (do not try this at home. I am a professional napper).

geopetal
Doesn't
Understand
Why They
Don't Animate
Rocks.

Cysero
Is Running SO
Late

May 23rd, 2008
DF Music Contest and Release!

Time for the winners! Thank you to everyone that entered, you all did an awesome job with this! We has some seriously incredible entries! Make sure to visit the entry thread on the forums and check them out!

Over The Top award:
theoutcrowd "Warcry of the Paladin" - This entry was simply amazing!

Best Performance (Vocal/Musical):
Winner:
Tomix "Necropolis-themed Music"

Honorable Mentions:
Personater "The Sorrowful Abyss"
DragoonX "In Town"

Best Lyrics:
Winner:
Redhouse129 "The Ballad of Artix Krieger"

Honorable Mentions:
Sairex the DragWolf "Rattle them Bones"
Suuichi "Untitled"
Silver Dragon "The Eight Elements of the Dragon"
Crimzon5 "DragonFable Lore"
Marimzirtud "A Hero's Story"


Most Original:
Winner:
Lkeas "The Necromancer"

Honorable Mentions:
SEVERiN "Undead Slayin' Gangsta Rap"


Funniest:
Winner:
LANDIS "Ode to DF"

Honorable Mentions:
Guns Bovolt "Rhapsody of the Lich Slayer"
Darugai "The Hero Pep Music"
Cow Face "Level One Lament"
.Discipline "An Ode to Geo"


Best Parody:
Winner:
Muffinladdie "Falconreach" ("Ikea" parody - Johnathon Coulton)

Honorable Mentions:
BerserkerChaosDragon "Cysero's Theme" ("Shaft" parody - Isaac Hayes)
jainya "Necro-U School Song" ("Auld Lang Syne" parody - Robert Burns)
nightflayer7 "Psycho Paladin" ("Ridin'" parody - Chamillionaire)
Xianyd "Artix Krieger" ("Pinball Wizard" parody - Pete Townshend)
Robofire2 "He is Cysero" ("We are the Champions" parody - Queen)


Special Recognition:
Stormfyre "Untitled"
Eruvadhor/Bane "King Alteon's Royal Fanfare"
Crohner "Ash Sneevil Slayer"

(As a side note: KickKat, a former staff member, entered just for fun. His piece, "A Summer Dream... A DragonFable Dream" was beautifully done.)

Judges:
Alac
Circe
KickKat
IceMaster Yeti

We've got a release coming your way. It is one of the most original to date. You go back and play through one of Artix's oldest memories. The memory of how he met Vayle... and lost everything in his life.

We are also adding a special DA Only Memorial Day holiday shop to town for the weekend. To honor all of the fallen heroes of our own beloved Falconreach Artix has clensed a number of weapons from the very first DF war ever, changing them from pure darkness to purest light! These weapons will only be available for the holiday weekend, and then they well become rares.

We are almost ready to roll them out to you! Give us a couple of more minutes.

I'd love to stick around and chat about stuff but I've got somewhere very important to be!

Cysero
Understands
Why They
Reanimate
Food.

May 21th, 2008
OOOO!

Ok, guys. This is serious.

TONIGHT:

A number of select theatres are showing the live action Deathnote movie (the dub, not the sub, Nythera informs me). They were showing it last night too but we had forgotten until today.

Artix, Zhoom, Rolith, Galanoth, Miltonius, my friend Alces and I are totally going.

There is ONE showtime. Ours is at 7:30. If there is a theatre near you showing it, then yours will probably be around that time.

The Live action movie isn't as good as the anime which is far inferior to the manga. Still... Deathnote is deathnote.

I'd give you a complete listing of the theatres showing it but I don't have one on me, so you're on your own. Good luck and happy hunting.

"Justice will prevail!" -L, The Worlds Greatest Detective.

Cysero
Waves!

May 20th, 2008
The Birth Of A Hero

This weekend's continuation of the Necropolis storyline will explain quite a lot.

Have you ever wondered what Artix looked like as a kid?

Like this.

This week you will journey into Artix's memory as he revels his mysterious ties to Lady Vayle. The coolest part is that you will get to play through his flashback as the young hero before he joined the order of paladins.

There are a lot of surprises in store so I won't ruin too much of the fun but you WILL have to battle as the drastically underpowered young Artix in order to take the flashback to completion. This is one of the hero's most formative experiences... so try not to get him killed, K?

geopetal
Taken for
granite.

Cysero
Reminds You
That The Cake
Is A Lie.

May 16th, 2008
Death By Chocolate

Tonights release is currently in testing! Expect a release... sometime tonight!

Yeah, I totally have to try and make a cake like this!

We are now LIVE, people. The latest quest in the Doomwood: Necropolis zone has SIX never-before seen monsters drawn by Thyton, Colored by Oishii and animated by Ghost. The quest also drops NINE brand new food-themed weapons up to level 35!

I should mention that we are ALSO planning on raising the level cap to 50 by the end of this zone (but not tonight). Have fun! Or Else!

DF Music Contest

The newest contest has been decided! This month we want you to break out your guitars, xylophones, coconuts, spoons, even your pots and pans and make some beautiful DF music! You can enter in lyrics or an entire song, but it has to be DragonFable themed. What do you think the Necropolis' school song is? What muzak does Yulgar have playing in his shop? Does Zorbak call for death metal... or does he go for the infinitely more evil Pop genre?

Winners of the contest will receive DC's for their main character and, as always, we reserve the right to award additional prizes for those who go above and beyond!

Where: The =DF= Original Music Thread

When: The contest thread will close for judging on Wednesday, May 21st, at 12:00PM, winners will be announced on Friday, May 23rd, in the evening.

What to do: Create an original music piece that is DF themed! Please write out the lyrics (you're welcome to compose the music as well, but it's not necessary, just remember to include the sheet music and/or tab if you do) and post them!

Only ONE entry per person, please do not post multiple entries.

geopetal
I is rock.

May 14th, 2008
The Contest Contest

Sooooo... it's been a while since the last contest. We've been tossing ideas around the office of crazy things we can make you do things you'd have fun with! So what kind of contest would you like to see? Original Art? Comic strips? Writing? Lego models of characters? Sending geopetal presents*? Edits? What your character is doing for summer vacation? Let us know!

Snack Time

All that is undead is not made of meat.... This week you and Artix will check out the more culinary side of the Necropolis as you explore the Icecreamatorium. Let us know what kind of food puns will make you giggle (or just give you a stomach-ache). Just remember, you are what you eat! Nomnomnooommmm.

* I really like this one!

Cysero
Is Rolling With
The Punches.

Rolith
Is NOT
Throwing Said
Punches.

May 9th, 2008
Speedbumps

Sorry guys, We just got back online after a minor technical catastrophe at the secret undergroud lab. I won't say that it's my fault exactly... lets just say that I have quite a lot of socks, and someone left the sock cages open after feeding time, and if you've ever wondered what a sock's favorite food is... ethernet cord is a safe guess.

As a result the DF release may be slightly later than usual, but we will try our hardest to get the quests out to you in a timely manor. Bear with us.

Thanks!

AAAAND we're back. Sorry for the delay but BOTH brand new quests have been launched. Head to the Necropolis or to Valencia's zone to take on either of these new quests! Enjoy your weekend (if it's your weekend... we have some time travelers on here who are a day ahead of us).

So, the epic sized tog at the end of Valencia might have been too uber for the game. Sorry. My bad. He's been reduced in 1337ness for sake of quest completion.

Also, the extra monsters and boss have been buffed considerably. That is all! Thanks!

Cysero
Doesn't Want
The World. He
Just Wants
Your Half.

May 8th, 2008
Classic AE!

Wow.

*Blows the dust off the Design Notes*

I guess it's been a while since we posted anything. Sorry about that. Things have been a little nuts around here. Still working on this week's release... the next chapter of the Doomwood: Necropolis zone. You and Artix start by tossing monkey wrenches into Necromancy University's Build-A-Beast Workshop (where you will get a chance to spawn your own randomly created monstrosity!).

Geo is also working on a special quest for Valencia. Hope you're good at puzzles.

One of the reasons that things have been so crazy this week was that we were interviwewed over the phone for a weekly gaming podcast. By we I mean Artix, Galanoth, Warlic, Safiria, and myself. Some other people were in the room but decided to stay all quiet. *glares at Rolith*. It hasn't been released but as soon as it is (and I like the way we sound) I'll link you guys to it.

Some of you have noticed that Ballyhoo has returned to town. I know that 50 free gold isn't a great reward for you rich-as-anything level 40 players, but there are a lot of lower level players who think gold is too hard to come by, and who would complain about free gold? We thought we would give them a hand.

Rolith is waving his arms in the air and telling me to let you all know that the necromancer class armor will NOT be coming out this weekend.

I've got a lot more work to do on this week's quest so off I go back into my TMBG, Coulton, SweetAfton23, Regina Spektor, Katy Perry, Sabbath, Cake and Random Other Stuff work coma!

Rolith
Running a
little behind.

May 4th, 2008
Hey, it's still the 3rd somewhere!

Let us just say that sometimes, things don't go as planned. As big as this week's release was, there shouldn't have been anything stopping us from getting the Lymcrest floors out to you guys Friday night. But, as a few of you saw earlier today when we thought we were ready to go, there was just something not working for us this week! Call it bad luck, or call it karma for having swiped the last outback roll last time we got sushi. But after seeing this I think most will agree it was probably a good idea for us to take the new quest offline and do some much needed bug fixing.

Thank you all for your patience. Not 100% of the bugs may be sorted out at this point, but we think we've got the big ones. Some monsters may decide they want to ignore the laws of physics and walk through an occasional wall, but who are we to stop them? We just happen to be doing exactly the same thing this week, after all!

Cysero
Is Confident
No Items Will
Vanish!

Rolith
Nobody Likes
his style...

May 2st, 2008
The Bank Job

The release is mostly live!

For those of you who forgot, let me remind you.

THIS WEEK:
* The Falconreach Bank with 5 free item slots for DA holders, and up to 30 buyable slots! (LIVE)
* Continued DeathKnight final balance testing (still live)
* Continued Paladin class armor testing (ditto)
* 5 Brand New levels to the Lymcrest Labyrith (Not Live, yet but it will be by tomorrow morning!)
* 9 Brand New weapons in Cysero's Superstore of Savings! (LIVE and pretty!)
* A new Necropolis Side quest featuring the Doomcrawler! (UNDEAD! (live))
* 3 Brand new helms dropping from the new Doomcrawler quest! (LIVE! and all 3 helms are for any player!)

We tested our brains out to make sure there were absolutely NO cracks in the bank code. We are 100% certain that your items are safe in there! That really saying something for a game as bug prone as ours... but we wouldn't have released something THAT important without being VERY VERY VERY sure!

I spent a few hours putting my valuables in there and trying to get them to erase themselves from existance. I tried HARD. The Bank is safe as a... well, as a bank I guess.

Rolith is working on the Labyrinth floors right now, they floors work fine but he's working on a few methods to make creating them faster for us. He assures me that they will be released tonight sometime.

The 9 new weapons in my shop are some of my favorites that I've ever made, but that is one weaponsmith's opinion. They're really pretty creepy.

I will also mention that the Sandsea Inn is also live. I will ALSO also mention that there is nothing to do there but walk around and talk to people. I like people and I like talking, so I count it as part of the release.

Have a good weekend guys!

Alright, so it's offically the 3rd, but I figured I'd drop in to let you guys know that the new labyrinth floors are going to be a bit later then originally expected. Check back here sometime tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Cysero
Admits, It Was
A Bad Hint

May 1st, 2008
OK, So It Is A Bank

It's some new functionality that Rolith has been working on for a while and he's pretty sure that he's got it working. Which is to say, he's pretty sure it won't take all the items that you put in the bank and vanish.

The "Inventory Issue" has been a big one in DF for as long as we can remember and having buyable bag slots really helped but it just wasn't enough. If you have a Dragon Amuelt, (Sorry free players, but inventory takes server space and the DA helps pay for the servers!) starting tomorrow, you will be able to go into the Falconreach Town Hall, speak to Aleisa and use the power of your Dragon Amulet to open your own pocket dimension with 5 FREE extra inventory slots! If that's not enough for you, you will be able to use Dragon Coins to add slots to the bank, up to 30 total slots in addition to your backpack!

One neat function of the bank is how you can use it for stackable items. If you drop a stackable item into the bank (like Defender's Medals or PvP Trophies, etc) then all future drops of that kind will automatically join the stack in the bank. How do we do it? MAGIC!

In addition to the bank we will be continuing both DeathKnight and Paladin class armor testing.

In addition to that I will be adding 9 brand new weapons to my Superstore of Savings (6 of them have a Disease element so bring lots of soap).

In addition to that we will be releasing 5 new levels of the Lymcrest Labyrinth, with some special illusionary walls so keep your eyes peeled.

In addition to that we will also be releasing an unlockable Necropolis side quest. It will be a test of will and a test of power against a new and improved Doomcrawler! You get to select from 10 levels of difficulty ranging from Simple to Impossible! How much can you take?

In addition to that, the Necropolis side quest will drop 3 brand new helms.

In addition to that we will be releasing the Oasis Inn in The Sandsea. There is nothing to do there but you can talk to some of the locals. *shrug*

But really, the big news is the DA only Bank.

Side note: There are a LOT of DF movies on Youtube. People beating me... people beating Artix... people beating us both.... people beating us on their dragons... but one of our players sent this fan video to me and all I can say is... LASER CAT! LAWL!