Become a Bug Hunter

The BugMaster General Needs YOU!

Stratos, the BugMaster General, writes: Bug Hunters... unite!

OUR MISSION: To confirm every bug, mistake, glitch, hack, typo, and error in DragonFable that other players report at www.Artix.com/Bugs! NOTE: We are Bug Hunters... not player support! We do not fix bugs other players' characters, accounts, or upgrades.

"The bigger the bug, the more satisfying the squish!"

If the line up there makes your fingers itch to grab a mallet and squash something, then keep reading, because you're just what Stratos is looking for! Read on for more details:

Please post the following on the DF forum:

1. A link to your DF character page

2. The languages you speak/write

3. A couple sentences about how long you've played DragonFable, and why you want to help squish bugs.

Here are Stratos' requirements for joining the Bug Hunter crew:

1. You need to have Skype installed. This will let him contact you directly about any of the bugs you've encountered.

2. You must be age 13 or older to join the crew, but 18+ is preferred (as we can give you more responsibilities once you've gained experience)

3. Help when you can. We don't have set times for our Bug Hunters to be available, but we would like you to be available to help regularly. 

4. Must be able to follow directions... and ask questions! Stratos has a system set up, but if there's something you don't understand, ASK! He wants to help you squish the bugs as much as you want to squish them!

5. Good critical thinking skills are a plus. (Being able to see a problem and narrow down the source or reason can speed the fixing process up.)

(Please do not include your age, email address, or Skype name when posting. Stratos will be able to contact you without them. Thank you!)

So... What Now? How do I Start Squashing?

Stratos will contact you directly if you look like a good fit for this task. It won't always (or even often) be fun. You'll read reports, play DragonFable until it breaks, then go do paperwork. But you WILL be helping the DF dev team improve the game!

Reading reports and duplicating bugs over and over again not for you? That's OK! But DO we need EVERYONE's help reporting the bugs on the Bug Tracker!

We can't fix DragonFable unless we know there are bugs... and that's where YOU come in!

Tags: Alina BugSmashing Bug Hunters Unite SQUISH SQUASH Splat Ew

The Future Looks Bright

And we've got all the time in the world to enjoy it!

We're MARRIED! Man, it has been a CRAZY adventure getting to this day. The wedding took a lot of planning, work, and help from friends. And you guys were a big part of getting it all started!

Rolith and I have known each other since 2007, when we were both working for Artix Entertainment remotely. We talked a lot online, and worked really well together, but neither of us knew we would work SO well together that we'd want to spend the rest of our lives with each other - playing, working, and building a future. In joining the AE crew, we found friends (who grew to be as close as family) and got to create games for all of you!

It's not a real party unless you've saved the world first!

Building a friendship starts with shared interests, and one of the things we both love is playing videogames with great stories. And getting to share that love with you guys gave us even more enjoyment... and more things to talk about. (After I transferred to the AQW team in 2011, some of the topics changed, but we just had more news to go over at the end of the day.)

After DragonFable players learned of our engagement in 2009 (and got to play the EPIC proposal cutscene Rolith and Ghost made), we've been flooded with support from the AE community.

Codemonkey (and codemonkey balloon*) thank you!

All of that led up to this October. We have had an INSANE month here at the Lab. In between working with everyone to get the Artix Entertainment 10th anniversary / AQWorlds 4th birthday / the Alina and Rolith in-game wedding event / fixing bugs and planning future releases... I ALSO had to make sure our real-life wedding happened and that we both survived to enjoy it!

But no wedding between AE team members could go as planned, of course! At the wedding rehearsal on Friday, we found the boat still being built. The crew was sanding tables, nailing down carpet, varnishing wood trim. (That sounds a lot like a standard Friday at the Lab - cleaning up code, nailing down item art, vanishing bugs!)

The server hamsters run EXTRA-fast on Fridays!

When we got there on Saturday for the wedding, the boat had been turned into a floating palace-ballroom and Rolith and I were treated like the King and Queen (sorry King Alteon)! Polished woodwork, candles, peacock feathers, the works. But every palace needs at least one knight in armor... and every bride needs to be prepared for unexpected surprises!

Artix (the best man) and I are ready to take on any party-crashing bugs!

It was a magical night, something out of a fairy-tale... or a fantasy RPG! Rolith and I danced, blew bubbles off the side of the boat, danced more, ate cake, and had an incredibly fun time with our family and friends! (There was even time to sing him his wedding present!)

Geopetal made a Tog-shaped Groom's Cake!

The entire night - and the entire time leading up to this amazing night - is going to be something neither of us ever forgets. We are so excited to officially start our lives together, and we're so excited that you all saved Artix Entertainment's games before Friday so you'd have time to make our in-game wedding go off without a hitch (so that we could GET hitched)!

Rolith says "This picture file shall be saved as Kissyface.jpg!"

Thank you all so much for supporting us as we've battled through bugs, bad luck, and unforeseen surprises and cheering us on as we've worked to bring you epic releases and the crazy stories that go along with them! We're looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together... and to building an awesomely-epic future with our family, friends, and you!

* Codemonkey balloon by the talented Beleen!

PS: Both Rolith and I REALLY want to get a wedding release in DragonFable finished. As soon as we have the time, we will put that together for you all to celebrate with us! In the meantime, please enjoy the Alina/Rolith wedding shop in Falconreach!

Tags: Alina Rolith We Got MARRIED Thank you all

Frostval Follies and Frantic Fighting!

Merry Frostval, Heroes!*

It is wonderful to see you all again, and at such a joyous time of year! But I must admit, I am sore vexed with you. WHAT have you done to ROLITH?! For months, he'd be fine day in and day out. But when a chill wind blew or a moglin crossed his path, he'd get a look in his eye. A dangerous glint. And I knew Trouble was coming. He loves those moglins as much as he does those dratted, raucous togs of his.

He didn't want Chilly to catch a cold!

And you killed his TogTog. His most beloved, cherished TogMount. I near wept to see him so heartbroken. All he was trying to do was protect those moglins! I know it's not your fault they get attacked every year! But sometimes Rol just gets... fixated. He finds a project or an idea - like revamping the Keep - and just goes all out. Right now, it's protecting those moglins.

I've NEVER seen him THIS angry! This is his RAGE face.

He did everything he could to make their time in his Safety Camp fun, frolicful, and Frostval-y. I mean, he even did that silly Silly Hat thing! Do you KNOW how many times I pricked my fingers sewing those hats? ... They ARE pretty adorable, though. I hope you'll keep yours! But then you had to test him. Didn't you trust that he'd keep his moglin friends safe? Rol is the gentlest Captain I know. I've never SEEN that expression on his face before!

You HIT my Fiance!** Ooooh, if we weren't such good friends, hero...

I know you are charged with protecting Lore. You have a destiny to fulfill and without you, we'd all be doomdust ground beneath villains' heels. I see you almost every day, making your potions, crafting your helms and hats... We're good friends, aren't we? But Hero, let me just be clear. My Sees-All Solution - the one that shows the future - showed me something that was NOT very merry!

Attacking Rolith was just... MEAN! He was only trying to help the moglins. So he was a bit misguided. A little delusional. We all have bad months, right?

Merry FrostRol to all, and to all some good loot!

I don't know if we can come to an understanding, but I will continue to hope. It is Frostval, after all! Please, Hero, remember that Rolith has been your long-time friend. Do not hurt him if you can help it! In the spirit of Frostval, forgive and let live. The moglins are safe, the Togs (all except TogTog *sniff*) are rolling in the snow and enjoying Gorillaphant Rawhide Treats.

Let's all come together to celebrate the season! And speaking of celebrating... I'd take a look at your backpack if I were you! Seems to me your presents might deserve a looksee or two.

Merry Frostval from the DragonFable team, and all of us at Artix Entertainment!***

* With Rolith suffering from the Plague, I thought I'd hop back onto the DF team for a night and help him get this release out. Sorry about the Saturday morning release, but we hope you enjoy Frostval!
** Rolith definitely plans on making the boss battle harder. But right now he's mumbling incoherently about lemons, rawhide, and presents, so I'm sending him to bed.
*** Be sure to keep an eye on the AQW Design Notes! Artix is going to make a big "AE Year in Review" post later today!

Tags: Alina

Potions in Motion: Preparing for War!

Fire Dousing Draught? Check. (We're DEFINITELY going to need this one.)
Light-emitting Liquid? Got it. (That should come in handly...)
Potion of Inscrutable Mutation? Oooooh YEAH! (Who's going to turn the undead into a cute lil' fluffy BUNNIES? This alchemist!)

Standing in front of her shop, Alina takes a quick inventory of the potions in her belt-pouch. Just in case... trouble... should arise. When all the tonics, brews, and cordials are accounted for, she gazes over the land around her. Birdsong fills the air as sunlight filters down onto the newly mown grass which has finally fully re-grown. She frowns, an inner monologue turning the pleasant day dark:

Falconreach is starting to look SO nice! There've been so many improvements, and the construction moglins are finally able to take lunchbreaks again. If only the calendar wasn't such an accurate predictor of invasions! I HATE to think that in a little over a day, troops of skeletons and doom-dwellers will come marching into our fair city.

No.

Not again.

We CAN'T let them destroy our home again.

Alina knocks on the Mayor's door, peeks in, and snorts in disgust to see him sleeping amidst gold coins piled high all over his desk. We really MUST do something about him, she thinks. Backing away and heading for the center of town, Alina uses a Boom-Voice Brew to call in the surrounding townspeople, then climbs onto an over-turned box and looks down. They gather around her, faces upturned, anticipatory dread clouding their expressions.

"Citizens of Falconreach, residents of LORE! Heroes, hark unto me!

Are you willing to let our homes- our LIVES- be destroyed again? Do you want to see Falconreach in flames, reduced to one lone board again?

You KNOW what is heading for us. WHO is coming our way. I say we can rise up and drive him back! Together we are a force of Nature, stronger than any who would oppose us with mere skeletons and constructs and golems. We CAN triumph!

Warriors- hone your weapons!
Rogues- scout for advance invaders!
Mages- ready your energies to take out his troops!

And you. You story-tellers and song-singers, dancers of dreams, and weavers of imagination- spread the word. Rally the people! Use your gifts of art and song and tales to inflame the hearts of those who are too afraid to face what is coming.

Go. He is coming and we must prepare.

Sepulchure is almost here."

Tags: Alina

Still Alive!

I'm making a note here. Huge success! (Ok, maybe I am a few years behind the times. I will get caught up. Rolith will make sure of that.) I wanted to hop on here and say hi to you guys, we haven't spoken in a while! (Or to be more accurate, I haven't typed at you for a few weeks.)

How've you been? I've been keeping up with you guys on the DF forum and on Twitter, and y'all seem to be having a blast with what's been going on in DragonFable. And let me tell you, it is only going to get BETTER! Much, much, much, WAY better. Rolith would call that a combo-breaker. +1000 pts!

You wouldn't happen to know of an unlucky day coming up anytime soon. Oh, you have? Eeeeexcellent. You just keep an eye on that little square on the calendar, and be sure to keep free of commitments, because you are going to want to be parked behind your computer, Mountain Dew in one hand and mouse in the other.  It's going to be... well. I was an English major. I write for a living. And I am at a loss to describe what is coming up. Get ready to be flabbergasted!

I've got some fun stuff to talk about, too. (Not that DF isn't always fun. But this stuff is offline-fun!) You guys might remember that recently I went to Ireland. I did not meet any Sneevilchauns, but I saw some amazing scenery, multiple double-rainbows (so intense!), and had one of the best times of my life exploring an incredible country.

Only a single rainbow, but still beautiful! Irish skies were smiling!

One of the COOLEST parts of the trip was visiting Blarney Castle. Not only did I get to kiss the Blarney Stone (I levelled up in eloquence!), but I explored all over it. Even the dungeon, which do exist outside of RPGS.

Way in the back there, that is a cell.

I also saw the murder-hole, which is the hole that defenders used to attack invaders. The name pretty much says it all.

One cute story I wanted to tell you guys was about the Ice-cream Eating Collie of the Little Village of Sneem." Sneem was a VERY tiny village (I think it was big enough to be called a village) that the tour bus stopped in. In the village was an excellent ice cream shop. When we got off the bus, we were greeted by a very friendly, very soggy Collie. (It rains a LOT in Ireland.) and he seemed very happy to see us all, wagging his tail and licking our hands.

My mother, sister, and I made sure to get our ice cream cones and came out to enjoy the drizzle. We watched the Collie go from tourist to tourist, local to local, from bus to bus, begging for ice cream. And he got it! I counted 4 cones devoured by the dog. Not the healthiest dog food, but probably the tastiest. The guide told us this is the dog's regular meal-time habit.

I have WAY too many pictures from the trip (over 600!) and so I cannot share them all with you, but I wish I could! And beyond the awesome things I got to experience, my family is Irish-American, and I'd love to take some extra time on the next trip to find long-lost relatives. If you ever get the chance to go to Ireland, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is a country that is hard to describe, but I know that I will definitely be going back there. Many times, if possible.

It is late, and I need to get ready to head back to the Secret Underground Lab in the morning. So I will leave you with this uber-adorable finishing note: Rolith and I adopted a hedgehog last night. His name is Hermie (short for Hermes, because he moves so FAST!) the Hedgehog, and he is too cute for words. Except the ones I just typed. He is cute enough for those words. Here is a pic of him being all grumpy and camera-shy after coming home:

That's all I've got for tonight, but I'll try to come around more often in the future. Even if it's just to say hi and see how you guys are enjoying the game! See you in the DF forums (which I still read every day) and on Twitter!

Tags: Alina Ireland Hermie JustSayingHi

Timey Fly... ies...?

11pm: The end of the day. A new trinket is out as well. We all survived... I think. I haven't seen Rolith. I'm starting to worry. But so tired....

Oh. Oh no.

Tags: April Fools Project C8 Alina

The Ficus is Eternal

2pm: I can hear the togs growling... Another level of Eternal Spring weapons for you. More new stuff to come... (Hopefully!)

Tags: April Fools Project C8 Alina

Eternity is Forever

Noon: Another level of the Spring Eternal Weapons.... Hopefully food will be here soon. Need sustenance... something other than coffee....

Tags: April Fools Project C8 Alina

Tooooo Muuuucccchh Cooofffeeeee

11am: Too much. TooMuchTooMuchTooMuch.....

Tags: April Fools Project C8 Alina

Found Coffee

9am: I was sitting at my desk, work work working. The next thing I know, I'm waking up with Mr. Ficus standing over me.... Leaves dripping. Rolith found coffee though, so hopefully that won't happen again. I hope it's enough...

Tags: April Fools Project C8 Alina

Even More Weapons

8am: Last level of True Mortal's weapons... Must find more to release... Must find more coffee....

Tags: April Fools Project C8 Alina

Time Is Running Together

7am: Is it 7 already? More coffee... Time is all runny....

Tags: April Fools Project C8 Alina

Building DF better, stronger, faster, harder

EXTERNAL MEMO TO DRAGONFABLE
TEAM AND PLAYERS

RE: PROJECT C8H1N4O2

Project C8 is not only well underway, but after yesterday's meeting, it is evolving! All team members have received their assigned, itemized instructions geared towards ensuring that Project C8 becomes the success we envision it.

In order to keep all team members, support staff, auxiliary staff, and players up to date, the Alchemy Containment Center of the Secret Underground Lab- hub of DragonFable communications- is sending out this internal and external memo to all parties involved.

To wit, the itemized list of assignments to be completed before this Friday's release will include- but is not limited to- the following projects:

• Weapon Set 1 (3 levels)
• Trinket 1 (3 levels)
• Weapon Set 2 (4 levels)
• Trinket 2 (3 levels)
• Quest 1
• Weapon Set 3 (3 levels)
• Quest 2
• Titan Fight 1
• Other projects To Be Determined

This Friday, projects will release ON the hour, EVERY hour, throughout the day. With Project Lead CodeMonkey's revolutionary new release system in production, we have confidence that it will meet every expectation, and then surpass them. 

Questions, concerns, and comments can all be relayed through the Department of Forum Communication.

BattleOn!

The Ficus

Tags: Alina

HeroSmash Alpha Phase 3: Open to ALL DragonLords!

Are you ready to SMASH, heroes? Alternatively, if you're prefer villainy, are you ready to smash heroes?! (See why punctuation is so important?) But enough grammatical gabbing, we have a game to promote!

So pull on your power-pants and grab your gaming gear because HeroSmash is opening Phase 3 of it's Alpha test today for ALL DragonLords! That's right, any Dragon Amulet or other AE membership, Adventure Coin, Battle Point, or Varium purchase* linked to your MASTER ACCOUNT will get you into HEROSMASH phase 3 test today!

The Alpha test will determine which player becomes a MAIN VILLAIN (and HERO!)! Featuring all new customizable, stylized “Vinyl” super characters, a “combine any powers you want” combat system and an open-ended, player-driven storyline that will turn a few lucky players into immortalized major game super villians and heroes!

Like EPIC ALPHA RARES? How about Alpha Achievements on your character page? If that's for you, then the HeroSmash Alpha Phase 3 test is where you want to be! SMASH through the bad (or good) guys, query cunning characters to unlock quotable quests, and dive into a world of deception and massive (or SMASH-ive) mayhem!

So, what's on the agenda? Glad you asked! We will be introducing 8+ skills in today's first test of the customizable mix-and-match skill system. We are adding a shop containing all of these skills in the center of town.

Sound too good to be true? Well, there's just one catch: You need to have your DragonLord account linked to a Master Account on our Portal site.

You can read Artix's Play by Play leading up to the release here!

SMASH ON!

* But NOT Dragon Coin, Nova Gem, or Z-token purchase

Tags: Alina HeroSmash

Break into Spring with some Design Notes!

Welcome to Spring! Yesterday was the first day of Spring, and boy, have some fun things sprung up around here in DragonFable!

Last week was the Feature-a-Day Lucky Week when we introduced a whole host of the most awesome features we could pack into five (very long) days! Rolith coded his little monkey fingers to the bone, but got a bunch of banans for each new string of binary he wrote. (That's a LOT of bananas, because there was a TON of code!)

And last Friday we released the insane new demo-preview-premiere-"other exciting word" of the Player Content Creation System and boy, was it a HUGE step forward in DragonFable's game play. YOU guys are going to be the game designers once we have this system fully up and running!

We didn'nt get as much of it finished as we wanted to last week, but that will be changing over the next couple of weeks. THIS week Rolith is going to try to get cutscenes done so that you can actually tell a story with your quest. Forum question: Which NPC do you want to be the first NPC included in cutscenes: Valencia, Cysero, or Robina?

Also this week we'll have a Verteroche quest for you (it's about time that town got roche'in!)! You're a hero and sometimes a guardian, but you don't really do any guarding! That should change this week if we get everything done that we want to! 

And start saving up for a Dragon Coin shop that's going to come out on Friday! True Mortal has been inspired by the sun shining, the bluebirds singing, and the ringing of hammers on anvils that echoes from Yulgar's shop, not to mention all the Spring rains that will shortly be pouring down upon us. So what better element to flood you with than a Water set?

PS: March 23rd, if you have ANY UPGRADED AE GAME ACCOUNT linked to your AE Master Account, you can try Alpha Phase 3 of HeroSmash w/ POWERS! It's a chance for ALL upgraded members to smash heroes or pound villains! What more could you want?!

Tags: Alina

You've unlocked an achievement: Thursday's Release!

There's no badge for that, but we hope you enjoy today's release anyways!

Now CLICKCLICKCLICK your way to your character page because, if you have a Dragon Amulet, you ALSO have badges on your Character Page!

You will have almost all of the badges in the Quest Log in-game! (All except for the DoomKnight Armor badge. We can't do that for some technical reasons full of codespeak that Rolith explained twice before giving up on me.)

If you don't have a Dragon Amulet, you can still see all the badges you've earned by going to the in-game Quest Log, but you won't be able to just send all your friends a link to your awesome character page and say "Oh yeah? I TOTALLY completed the Ravenloss Saga, and I've got the badge to prove it!" and various justifiable boastings like that.

Have fun posting links to your character pages over the next couple days, and make sure to share with your friends whenever you unlock a new achievement! It'll magnify the coolness of earning it AND you'll have all the bragging rights you could hope for!

In fact, why not check out MY character page? I'm missing a few things, but not for long! Not when you can all see that I've been slacking! /shiftyeyes

COMING TOMORROW: Player Created Content System!

Rolith and I (mostly Rolith) will be working long into the night and tomorrow to get this ready for testing. We hope you'll keep us company on our Twitters! Mine and Rolith

Tags: Alina Lucky Week

A good deal you can take to the bank!

We've got a real deal for you today! But first, lets run through a fairly common scenario:

A year ago bought a Dragon Coin sword (or any DC item) from somewhere in-game, and you're level 35. It works amazingly well for your level and has some gorgeous art.

After leveling up twice, the sword is no longer useful, but you like it a lot and have some good memories of killing great opponents with it, so you want to keep it. BUT your bank is full up with Defender Medals, all those absolutely adorable pets you just HAVE to collect, and that Ruby Statue from the Vurr'men Ruins that you could only ever get to drop ONCE. (*mutter mutter*)

You can't throw any of THOSE things out, so your DC sword is sitting in your inventory taking up a precious spot.  What do you do, hero, WHAT do you DO?!

You let us solve your problem for you, that's what!

For today's feature, DragonLords will be saving Dragon Coins instead of spending them as we introduce the all-new UNLIMITED bank storage for Dragon Coin items!

That's right, if you have a Dragon Amulet, you'll NEVER need to sell or destroy a Dragon Coin item EVER AGAIN!

So now, when you go to the Bank in Falconreach, you'll see the following:

Note the area outlined in red in the lower right-hand corner of the picture. This will tell you how many bank spaces you have used as well as how many Dragon Coin items you have stored in the there.

Then check out THIS pretty picture:

See that green text for the item names? That's new. That means the item is bought for Dragon Coins. Now you can tell at a glance which of your items you've paid real money for. (And should probably not just throw away at the Sneevil Dumpsite!)

When you add a DC item to your Bank inventory, you will automatically gain ANOTHER Bank inventory slot.  In other words, DC items are taking up invisible Bank inventory slots, so you can store as many of them as you need!

COMING TOMORROW: Character page achievements!

Due to time constraints, Daily quests will need to be pushed to some point in the future. We feel the Player Content Creation System is more widely anticipated, so we're going to spend the rest of the week working on that once character page achievements are done.

Tags: Alina Lucky Week

Where do you keep YOUR armor?

Most heroes have a backpack and a belt pouch. MAYBE a vault in the Mayor's bank, if they're lucky. But the greatest of heroes have something special: an Armor Closet!

If you haven't heard about this most awesome of storage spaces, you won't have to twist my arm(or) to get me to fill you in on the details!

You can buy a Closet of your very own from your very friendly, VERY eager Real Estate Orb. It will wheel and deal and sell you items you can't even pretend to need, but that you know you want. The Armor Closet, however, is something to need AND want because it will let you hold ALMOST ALL the armors in the game that you've unlocked!

The Armor Closet can be purchased for the most reasonable price (according to Cysero) of 1,000 Dragon Coins.

And now that we've restructured the Armor Closet, here's what you'll have access to (so long as you've unlocked them in-game):

• your Base Class
• DragonLord Armor
• Color-custom DragonLord Armor
• Evolved DragonLord Armor
• Color-custom Evolved DragonLord Armor
• Guardian Armor
• Ranger Armor
• Pirate Armor
• Dread Pirate Armor
• Ninja Armor
• PumpkinLord Armor
• Evolved PumpkinLord Armor
• DeathKnight Armor
• Paladin Armor
• Necromancer Armor
• Pirate Monkey Armor
• Ninja Monkey Armor
• DragonSlayer Armor
• FrostMoglin Armor
• TechnoMancer Armor
• Gnomish Personal Steamtank (GPS) Armor
• Gnomish Personal Steamtank (GPS) Mk II Armor
• DoomKnight Armor
• Kathool Adept Armor
• Zardbie Armor
  
• ChronoMancer Armor
• SoulWeaver Armor

The armors in red are NEW additions to the Armor Closet. Remember, you can only access these armors if you've legitimately unlocked them in-game. That means to get the Kathool Adept armor or the DoomKnight armor, you need to have purchased it. To get the ChronoMancer armor, you must have purchased the AE 2011 Calendar from HeroMart.

The new Armor Closet may not look all that different, but believe me, we've shined up the code with lemon-y scented polish, buffed out the dings and dents that heroes keep knocking into the wood, and given it a nice rub-down with one of Cysero's right socks!

It will now be MUCH faster to update, so there should be less real-life lag in adding new armors into the closet. (Knock on newly-polished wood!)

Ghost's new war intro cutscene is live! He did an awesome job, so go check it out! You'll be fairy-ly please, I think. /grin

From Artix:

The recent earthquake tragedy in Japan has affected people in all parts of the world.

This tragedy was especially heartfelt here at Artix Entertainment because of our many friends and their relatives currently living in Japan. Thankfully, all our loved ones survived the catastrophe. However, Japan is still struggling to provide food, shelter, and medicine to all affected people.

On behalf of all the players of AQWorlds and our other games, we have made a donation of $5,000 to the Japanese Red Cross Society. We hope this contribution helps in the relief effort. You can visit www.RedCross.org for information on how you can help too.

Tags: Alina Lucky Week

The unluckiest start to a Lucky Week ever!

It's the first day of Lucky Week and we have a LOT to go clover! I mean go over. Out of my head Sneevilchauns!

Rolith thinks we should rename Lucky Week "Monkey Week" and I think he might have a point. Why is that, you ask? Because while this week is very lucky for YOU (and ALL the heroes of Lore), it is going to be a crazy one for the codemonkey!

If you scan down the Design Notes page a little, your eyes will light upon a rather detailed post outlining all of the awetastic and fantasome features we've got planned for this week. (Yes, that DOES mean a release a day! On Friday we'll have TWO feature releases! Talk about getting lucky!)

First up on that list is the start of the Rainbow Bridge war! There's a good deal of information you'll need to know about this ALL NEW war system if you want to stay in the green (and gold) and perform at your peak:

• There are no war waves! Instead, 90% of the QUESTS in DragonFable count as "waves"
• You must first visit the war camp in order to "sign in" so that the game knows you're fighting in the war.
• You will then get a Rainbow Shard (the war resource) when you COMPLETE a quest which counts as a "wave" (along with your regular loot, gold, and EXP!

And now let me tell you a sad tale of woe as to why today was the unluckiest start to a Lucky holiday EVER!

Around 4pm server time, I got a phone call from Ghost. I'd talked to him early this morning and he was on task and on time for a speedy Spectral delivery of the cutscene via those almost-magical interwebs.* So when I got his call, I didn't think much of anything was wrong. But something was. Very, very wrong.

Ghost had lost power in his whole TOWN and it wasn't looking like it'd get turned on before tomorrow. So we were stuck without a cutscene and you were stuck without an explanation. But wait!

I assured Ghost to stay warm (Canadian winters are no joke!) and not worry about work. When he gets power back tomorrow (IF he gets it back. Cross your fingers, or whatever helpful superstition works for you.) we'll upload and roll live his cutscene, and you can see all the pretty animations!

* Which I suspect are powered by microscopic gerbils running through nanotubes. It makes as much sense as any detailed explanation of how the internet works as I've ever heard!

Tags: Alina

The Rainbow Bridge War is live!

Welcome to Lucky Week!

Log in and head to Falconreach, then click on the Lucky Day Storybook. It will now take you to Chapter 4, the (Somewhere Over the) Rainbow Bridge war!

The Rainbow Shatters opening cutscene will give you background information, and then you can head out into the game and fight your way through all the quests you know and love. Just about every quest which includes battles in it will drop Rainbow Shards in addition to regular loot IF you have decided to participate in the war. You do that by visiting the war camp.

The Pi Day shop is in Falconreach! Happy 3.14.......... and the hidden shop is, well, hiding somewhere in Willowshire. Good luck hunting!

More thorough and coherent Design Notes will be posted in an hour or two, but the DF team needs food. And when I get back to the Lab, I will tell you the sad tale of why Canada's Energy Commission doesn't want you to have an animated cutscene.

See you soon! Enjoy the start of the war!

Tags: Alina

Unlucky in Willowshire!

The start of Lucky Week is happening THIS week with the introduction of the Lucky Day Storybook! You'll be able to revisit the previous years of Lucky Day events AND get all the shamrockin' seasonal rares! But we wouldn't just re-release the previous levels of the weapons from prior years. This year we'll have NEW, higher levels!

So get ready to relive:

• the Gold Fever! war, in which those gold-digging, box-hunting sneevils steal Falconreach's treasury!
• the Ninth Time's a Charm random dungeon where you'll need to collect clovers to open a charming shop!
• the Gild the World Gold war, in which Baron Au'mydas gains the power to turn everything he touches (and kisses!) to gold!

and NEXT week will unlock the Rainbow Bridge war and all SIX new game features, starting sometime Monday evening!

But that's not all we have in store for you this week! We've got a very unfortunate town full of people in danger from the Entropy Dragon and his many mayhem-causing minions!

While you, Fae, and Valencia are dutifully reporting to Guardian Fortuna in Willowshire, the Entropy Dragon is wreaking havoc! Watch as his monster-minions get in your way as they try to stop you from rescuing trapped townspeople. It's going to be a bitter battle, and you STILL don't know what happened to Trey and the Blade of Awe! If you're lucky- or possibly UNlucky- you'll find out soon...

Have a great weekend, everyone! We'll see you Monday with the start of Lucky Week!

We hope that all of our players in Japan and the surrounding areas are safe and healthy! All of our thoughts are with you as you work to rebuild. If those of you unaffected by this disaster would like to help, here is the website of the Red Cross, where you can donate aid.

Tags: Alina