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Pirate Class Relased!
Special Early Release
It is live! Go to Ospray Cove, home of the pirates and talk to Rhubarb
about become a Pirate. Unlock all 14 skills, including pirate ghost....
cannon... scurvy.... swashbuckling.... and more by turning in black pearls!
Bug Fix
The DA-only skills on the Pirate class are now working as originally
intended. If you were one of the few free players who got a sneak peak
-- congratulations!
Onward, to DragonCon!
With only a skeleton crew* left behind the
team is heading to DragonCon! I will try to post an update or two during
our trip -- we will share tales about all of the trouble we get into
with full detail** when
we get back! Enjoy the new character class and be sure to tell us what
you think on the forums.
* I will excorcise them
when I get back
** With
pictures! LOTS of pictures... mostly of people in wacky costumes
attempting to kill Zorbak. |
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DragonCon!
This is a special week for the team. We are going to DragonCon, the massive
Scifi/Fantasy/Anime Convention that takes place every year in Atlanta
Georgia. The artists use this event to charge their creative batteries* while
the game masters and I will attend panels, talent scout, and explode
our brains on the overwhelming amount of things to experience**.
It is also going to be the first time we see Voltaire in person since
we created the Deady minigame for
him. We may even get to update Zorbak
goes to Con. One thing is for certain -- every time we come back
from DragonCon we have a flurry of inspiration and ideas to improve the
games with. We are leaving Thursday.... oh.... and that of course means...
...the Pirate Class release will
be on Wednesday!
* They use Energizer (It
keeps on going, and going...)
** Hope
we get enough to level up! |
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Releasing coming today!
Today we have three new piratey quests for you -- including one piece
of AQ history that you did not know you were waiting for!
Pirate and Ninja Classes
Wooohooo! Today the art was finished for the Pirate and Ninja (male and
female of each) classes. This is very exciting as they will be the very
first classes available to free players. We have thought long on how
to make leveling them up easy and fun unlocking brand new skills with
some wild animations. We are even adding a shop with piratey hats and
ninja masks! To make sure we can pay the bills we will be doing the classes
exactly like AQ. Half the skills are for everyone, the other half require
a Dragon Amulet. We are to make one improvement over the AQ system. You
can actually level your class all the way up to the max regardless of
playing a free or an upgraded character. This way, when you finally do
upgrade (and you are going to upgrade right?) you will instantly be able
to use all of the DA skills you have unlocked.
New Quests, Classes, a HUGE war, Titan Fights!
In development now... releases weekly!
(New PIrate Quests coming later Friday!)
(First classes scheduled to be released next Thursday!)
I think we should have several different
Ninja clans wach with their own color uniforms and different types
of Masks. This also gives us an excuse to add a bunch of awesome looking
Katanas, Sai (for Rogues), NinjaTos and Shurken (Throwing Stars). |
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This is today's fortune cookie.
I assure you that the cookie is right. There's
a lot of piratical action coming your way on Friday. You can expect
the beginning of Rhubarb's pirate quest chain, as well as 2 more
random quests for his Random Quest button (which isn't very random
right now at all). I would like to take this time to state that I
don't eat a fortune cookie every day, nor do I eat chinese food every
day (I'd be dead by now if I did), but I DO really like fortune cookies
as a whole institution, and they've been creepy amounts ot accurate
lately..
This is from Reens:
From Cysero's Design Notes on the 21st:
" Reens also talks in purple, I'll let Geo and her duke it out." The
DF forum members have come up with a few ideas to avoid the need for any sort
of battle on this. Their thread is here. The
reason why my first Design Notes appearance was in purple....is this: My forum
edit colour is #9900CC purple. The same colour that's in the DNs.
Geopetal's forum colour is #996699 lighter
purple. The same colour that's in the DNs. See? Purple vs Lilac.
no problem. (Smiley face)
Apparently, though, people want
different colours.
The "use the same colour as your hair in DF" is a great idea!
Let's see...that'd be #4383C0 this colour of blue.
Well? what do YOU think? Let us know on the
forums!
Also, Pae wanted to add: "*chomps Artix*" but
her green is the same as mine is here on the DNs. |
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Thank you players and team!
We have come a long way together. Yesterday, I found a large collection
of my old idea notebooks. These books were a treasure trove of the thoughts
and ideas behind the things we have actually done and are working on
right now. Those books contained everything from the original concept
sketches and planning for a game that would later be named AdventureQuest
to every thought we have had since. Then I glanced over the the GIANT
art binder full of Cysero's, Thyton's, and Oishii's Artwork -- you may
remember the following image that I posted quite some time ago...
... needless to say it has grown many
times in size. Looking at what we have done and what is yet to come
gave me a lot to be grateful for. First to thank those of you who have
supported us through the never ending improvements of our games. Your
kind words give us the motivation to keep working and those of you
who are buying DragonAmulets are paying for the servers, hardware,
bandwidth, and tools to enable the game to grow every week. Thank you
for letting us make this game for you.
Second, we should all thank the Forum
Moderators who maintain peace and sanity* in
our community. They spend their time keeping the forums a safe and
clean 24/7. They test our faithfully late releases at the last minute
and then like super heros** they come
to our rescue when things go awry. They continually go above and beyond
the call of duty for both you (telling us what needs to be changed
ASAP) and the developers (letting you know what was actually meant
when a sentence could be interpreted multiple ways.) I am so proud
to be a part of this community, and it is because of the mods that
it is here. Thank you!
| * |
Can you really
protect something we never had?
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| ** |
I think Reens would be Wonder Woman,
Seahawk would be a.. um... drentched version of Hawkman, Kalanyr
could be Batman, and Pae could be a made up Super Gecko Woman. "I
saved hundreds of dollars switching my invisible jet insurance
to Gecko!" |
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Have you ever wondered why you
can breathe underwater in AQ? Have you ever tried to
breathe the water in DF? I have, and I wouldn't suggest
trying it. Yet...
Here are some notes from
Reens: "All you MQers
that thought Artix's last DN about the MQ release
being right after DragonCon who think that means
the Beta goes live on the 4th? It doesn't. It WILL
be shortly after DragonCon, but not
the day after - give them time to
get caught up on their sleep!* There's
some fantastic art on the way that Artix just can't
WAIT to show all of you! So be prepared for one
of his infamous "sneak peeks" in the
days to come."
OOOO! Her purple looks awesome with my green!
She also wanted to mention that Geo has been... promoted... to my developmental
assistant! Personally, that sounds more like a punishment to me, but
then again hate working for msyelf. She keeps talking about thinking
outside the box, so I guess it might be time to let her out of the box
that I put her in.
*On a personal note, I want to
mention that, while fun, DragonCon will be no picnic. There are people
to meet and talk to, a lot of artwork to look at, and a lot of learing
to be done from gaming, artistic and professional panels which continue
night and day. When I came home last year and tried to tell my friends
the stories, I was unable to form a complete sentence for days. I
slept about nine hours or so last DragonCon but since then a lot
has happened... I'm rather used to not sleeping now.
I consider my insomnia a survival
tactic that will be very helpful to some of the other hard-working
members of the AE staff, namely Warlic, who really has no idea what
he's gotten himself into. There is so much going on. There is never
EVER a slow moment and it would be easy to quite literally work yourself
to death if you aren't careful. It's the only time that I've been
able to use Hit-And Run Guerilla Warfare tactics while working...
a Geurilla Job-Fair if you will. Warlic my friend, I swear this oath
in front of all of the DF fans... I will get you back here mostly
in tact! |
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Meanwhile... in the secret underground lab...
Cysero: <tap> <tap> Is
this thing on?
Artix: "It is on."
Cysero: "Right now?"
Artix: "Aye."
Cysero: "Well then, we should tell them about
the Oaklore stuff."
Artix: "You mean the thing were we accidentally trapped thousands
of new players in Oaklore with no hope of ever defeating Hydra because
it scaled and we forgot about that when we reduced the amount of EXP
needed to level?"
Cysero: "Yup, that is the one."
Artix: Sorry everyone!
Cysero: The prices of the level 4 and 5 items have
been reduced.
Thyton: "Hi!"
Artix: "What was that?"
Cysero: "Thyton talks in black."
Artix: "Oh."
Cysero: Tell them about the Pirates!
Artix: "About the classes or the quests?
Cysero: Well, Geopetal says we should not tell
anyone about the new class-skill thing that makes your base class work
with your new class file until we actually have one working."
Artix: "Right. Should we tell them the zone which contains the pirate
town will have THREE Titan boss fights at the end?
Cysero: No
Artix: OK. Should we tell them about the quests that will lead up to
our first two way war?
Cysero: No
Artix: Should we tell them about the top secret thingy in the center
of the island....
Cysero: Yes. Just do not tell them it has anything
to do with MechQuest.
Artix: ...
Cysero: Should I tell everyone you are planning
on releasing the MechQuest beta as soon as we get back from DragonCon?
Artix: NO!
Cysero: Then why does it say that on the calendar on the wall?
Artix: <Tackles Cysero>
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So we had a kind of neat idea.
Wehn you complete today's quest you will recieve 1 of
10 Messages In A Bottle. Each message contains a fraction
of a secret message from a pirate. If you are the FIRST
PERSON to assemble the ENTIRE message, and post it in
forum thread entitled =DF=Message
In A Bottle, (or one of the follow-up
threads when that one gets to full and gets locked) then
you will recieve 500 Dragon Coins!
Here are the rules. You cannot
post a portion of the message then edit your message.
Anyone who tries that will be disqualified from the contest.
You must post the entire message all at once. As soon
as the entire message has been posted, a winner will
be announced on the forums as well as the design notes
and the contest will be closed.
Just a reminder for people who are low on bagspace, you can write down
the message and SELL the bottle, or destroy it. You don't need to keep
it all the bottles, you just need the entire message.
We will be rolling Osprey Cove out to you guys in a couple of minutes
so start your engines!
.....AND the winner is... Grebob!
That was really fast! Let a Mod know your ID number and your prize
will get delivered ASAP! |
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Arrrrrrr! We be goin' ta Osprey Cove!
<Covers his eye with his hand and makes his best mean pirate face> Yarr!
Aginst all odds Cysero be makin' ye a town to explore later ta'day! So be looking
forward to meeting Scrap the barber and gettin some new dooos fer yar har.. harr
harrrr!
Note: This new town will be explorable today with a new hair shop!
Pirates vs. Ninja and the secrets of AdventureQuest
There are many oddities in the world of lore.... and the secrets behind
them are FINALLY about to be explained. In the upcoming weeks some
of the most bizzare things in AdventureQuest will be 100% justified
once and for all. The Ninja and Pirate classes will become available
too!
Coming next!
The move to the secret underground lab sure did throw us off this week*.
Here have in the works: Pirates vs Ninja, DeathKnight testing, Mage/Rogue
buffs, Punch'em Crunch'em Undead minigame, MechQuest Beta, still working
on that top secret TV series**, and with
Xan finally defeated... several new villians are rising to take his place
-- prepare yourself for the coming chaos of Master Necromancer Noxus!
(Expect another Titan Dragon Battle!)
| * |
Amazing how they
fit that moving truck down the 10 mile elevator shaft.
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| ** |
OMG Artix... you cannot keep a secret
to save your life, can you? |
Thank you to everyone who helped in coming up with descriptions for the
new weapons that will be released in Osprey cove! Below are the ones
that will be going live today.
Swords
Clipper Cutlass - Cutting cunning curs cross countless continents! (Gwydeon)
Jolly Roger - Jolly Roger - Jolly Roger won't be half as jolly when he
finds out you have this... (nightshade)
Corsair's Rapier - Silm, fast, and deadly- what more could a gentlemanly
pirate want? (pokequeen1000)
Staves
Bowsprit - This staff was supposedly made from the bow of an infamous
pirate ship. It will have all your enemies bowing down to you. (pjc)
Deadlight - The glow of this staff shimmers like moonlight on the sea
when somebody walks the plank. (shimmer)
mizzenstaff - Your enemies won't be mizzen anything when they take a
look at this powerful staff! (Hiraku Tatlin)
Fathom's Deep - Your enemies can't even begin to fathom this staff's
power.... (Morgan LeNox)
Daggers
Jib - Arrrr sailor, you got moxie. This blade be liking the cut of you're
opponent. (Chediak Higashi)
Barnacle Shucker - Used by the smartest of Pirates,this dagger was supposed
to be used for scraping barnacles off ships,but will also cut any enemy
in half! (SinKiller)
Black Jack - These daggers will have your enemies saying "Hit me!" (Tolkienfanatic)
Scurvy's Bane - made with 100% citrus (pencoin)
killicks point - The weapon will definitly keep your enemies ashore.
(Jadugarr)
Here is a link to the official
post for discussion. Everyone did a GREAT
JOB! Was this fun? Should we do it more often? |
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Last night I got the best fortune
ever to come out of a fortune cookie. It says: "When
the time comes, take the first one from the right." That
is how fortune cookies SHOULD be! Cryptic and very specific! I'll let
you guys know what the cookie is talking about as soon as I find out.
I'd scan it to show you guys but I can't find a scanner. Here's why...
We made the official move to the new undergound lair on Monday.
We had chairs. That is all that we had.
We had no internet, no phone, no scanners (except Warlic who insists
that he is a Scanner)
and no writing materials. I was the only person with a pencil, but that's
just because I have carried a pencil in my pocket almost every day since
I was born.
We did our best to keep production going by making most of a new minigame
for you guys. We did have a lot of fun and we got a lot of work done
on it because we were completely free of distractions that come from
being an internet gaming company. We didn't have to stop what we were
doing a million times a day to answer phone calls, e-mails, IMs and other
things that pull our attention away from actually MAKING a game.
We didn't have Internet on the second day either (see the post below),
so we all did what we could (having gotten the mini-game to a decently
workable stage, now we just need more opponents to beat which Ghost is
working on) and I got to spend the entire day forging new swords, daggers
and staves!
As productive as we were, the stress of making the game was slightly
lifted by our inability to do anything, and we all got pretty silly.
Sillier than usual.
Artix decided to see how many times he could spin in one of out new chairs,
without giving himself another push (it was 12). We all started making
bets on how many times he could spin without barfling (<--that was
a typo but i like the word so much that i'm going to keep it). We had
the system all set up (I was giving four to one odds against him being
able to spin one hundred times without getting sick with a spread of
ten spins and ten minutes after he stopped spinning) when we realized
what we were doing and stopped.
The next day Artix and Warlic were
sitting around making plans for MechQuest. As usual, when they hit
upon a great idea, Artix got really excited and shouted "LET'S
DO IT!" and lifted aloft his clicky pen to begin making design
documents! He jammed his thumb down on the clicky top of the pen
only then remembering that it was, in fact, a metal mechanical pencil
and he was holding it the wrong way. We are still looking for a way
to remove the graphite that is resting comfortably deep within his
increasingly infected-looking right thumb.
Zhoom has been sick (not from spinning
chairs) two days this week (including today, get well soon dude),
which threw a MAJOR monkey-wrench into our gears. Now that we have
inernet again, we are able to talk to him at home (while he SHOULD
be asleep), but with internet come the distractions that I mentioned
earlier... kind of a double-edged sword.
In short, it will be a certified miracle if we get anything released
this week for you guys. As soon as I post this I will return to making
the pirate town of Osprey Cove (Can you
say First Mate Rhubarb?) with a few new shops at which
to spend your gold. Sad to say that there just might not be enough time
to actually make the first quest in the zone. |
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Life without the internet.... IS HARD!
You never truly appriciate something until you lose it*.
Without the internet we reverted back to caveman like behavoir... grunting,
hitting each other with clubs, being offended at Geico commercials**.
But all was not lost. Yesterday we made you a brand new minigame called
Punch'em Crunch'em Undead! You play as Rickety Balbone, the great bone-white
hype and box your way through enemies like Mr T-bone, Chuck Mortis, and...
oh yes.... Drago-lich! (If you saw how hard I laugh every time I read
Drago-lich out loud.... "I must crush you.".... you would start
laughing too). We are going to get Ghost's help finishing up some of
the opponent animations than release it for you in a few days. Today
Cysero made you some AWESOME looking weapons for the next event. If you
have taken Xan down... then you are ready for what is about to come next.
Smells like Pirates and Ninjas***!
Also, we have some testing of new class armors including Death Knight
that we will need your help with. Check in tomorrow to find out more!
| * |
Like your mind.
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| ** |
"It is so easy... a game developer
can do it!" |
| *** |
Forum Topic: How can YOU tell a Pirate
or a Ninja by smell alone? I mean... do Ninja's have smell stealth? |
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Shhh.... secret!
<Looks around to make sure no prying eyes are watching> What is the password? <waits> "Swordfish!",
you say of course <nods> Excellent.... I can trust you with this information.
The location of the secret underground lab has moved today. Today the team will
show up for play at the new, bigger, secreter* underground
lab conviently located next to... a road... that is just miles away from 7-11**.
I know we will all fondly miss the days of cramming 9 of us around a desk build
for two and Safiria and Nythera will miss their small complety black, lightless
room*** but this is
a good day for our games. Each game now has a work room (Including AdventureQuest,
DragonFable and MechQuest). This is so exciting... Finally, I am sure we learned
from our past mistakes and the internet will be up and running as we arrive today!
No Internet Today
...
Internet Alternatives
Not a problem! We connected some tin cans with string and set up a TCAN
(Tin Can Area Network) and replaced that DSL line with SSSL (Smoke
Signal Subscriber Line). We are getting blazing speeds of one word
per minute ****I
always get a chuckle with situations like this... because they are
almost 100% guarenteed to happen no matter how many times you called
*coughs* namelessinternetcompany *coughs* and asked them to set up
thing a specific way so that it did not. But as a small very mobile
team we do have a few advantages! For example... because everyone is
on wireless laptops -- so we can just go to a coffeeshop or my house
to work! Just as long as no one asks me to carry that 10 ton development
server***** again
today... my back is still killing me! <does best igor impersonation
to go call the ISP>
| * |
Just in case you ever get this on a
vocab test:
Good is to Gooder as Secret is to....
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The one next to the old office. |
| *** |
They now have a large completely black,
lightless room. (They are Vampires after all!) |
| **** |
Except for when that pesky wind starts
up. |
| ***** |
It must be so heavy because of all
the data we put on it! |
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(Because the date today confounds me!)
The epic showdown
is happening NOW! Literally the "biggest" fight in DF history!
HOW TO GET TO XAN
To face the insane pyromancer you should use the portal to visit Warlic.
Begin the chain of quests to save the town of Lymcrest. These quests
were designed for players of all levels and feature some amazing item
rewards! In the final quest you will team up with Warlic…and,
well, it is without question our most insane quest yet (with an animated
cutscene from Miltonius, awesome looking high level weapons from J6,
and the sort of humor you would expect from Cysero). Good luck!
THE STORY SO FAR
Xan is an insane Pyromancer who has total control over the element of
fire. We do not know what events drove him to the depths of total insanity
and left him engulfed in those magical flames…ok, Warlic did
say it was his fault…but we do know that he and his fire monsters
show no mercy. His armies burned Falconreach to the last board. He
turned the town of Lymcrest’s river into a boiling trench of
lava. He can now cast illusions over his infernal armies to disguise
them. Even as you read this one of his spies has replaced someone from
town and watches our every step. The Pyronomicon has boosted his wicked
power to unthinkable levels. His only weakness thus far has been his
fixation on getting back at Warlic and his allies. Xan must be stopped
and only you have the power to do it. But be careful my friend, Xan
will never yield. It will take the full power of a DragonLord in order
to finally take down this monster….
Earlier Today....
Players say, "Do not just give us a picture! We want more info!"
DF Team says, "But a picture is worth 1,000 words..."
Players say, "Hmmm....."
DF Team <Thinks> "Did we do it? Yes? Victory!">
Players, "Not good enough!"
DF Team says, "Doh..."
Players say, "Besides, we wrote more than a thousand words in the
last five minutes of posts. Tell us more now and be sure there are lots
and lots of *'s!"
* says, "Do I get a say in
this?"
Players and DF Team say, "NO!"
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Ever
had an entire volcano mad at you?
This is what happens when elemental fire magic
is left in the hands of a madman bent on vengeance, and then slips
out of his grasp. One of the quests being released during the Xan
Finale is the much-talked-aboot Xan Titan fight. This quest and this
spectacular showdown will only be available to Dragon Amulet holders
who have hatched their dragons, so If you haven't
done that yet, now would be a really good time.
The monster has already been animated by Ghost
and is ready to destroy any DragonLord that tries to stop him.
We've also been tossing around the idea of letting
you stomp out a few Bassaults in Dragon Rider form on your way to
the titan fight. Bassault might be a monster who has given you trouble
in the past but, as you know, when you mount your dragon you deal
several hundred damage a hit and you have 15,000 hit points. You
would swat him like a fly (or a firefly in his case). Wouldn't that
be fun?
Let us know on the forums.
(Oops, looks like I destroyed the DN's for the
7th)
UPDATE: There seems to be a lot of confusion
on this point. There will be 2, count them, 2 Xan quests this weekend.
The first quest is for everyone, in which you and Warlic will go
to Xan's volcanic fortress and face him.
AFTER that quest a special DA only quest will
unlock where DA players will be able to mount heir dragons and fight
TITAN Xan,pictured above. |
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Coming
Friday....
Xan's Wrath - The Story so far
Drakath was defeated by a hero in the race for the Black Dragon Box.
In an act of desperation he cashed in a favor that was due to his father.
(Just who was Drakath's father?) The favor requested that the insane
pyromancer named Xan unleash his army of fire monsters against the
unsuspecting town of Falconreach. Never before had there been a war
of this size. Even King Alteon personally lead his troops to intercept
the fiery army. Alas, the King's most elite Knights were wiped out
and like a wave of flame the fires burned through falconreach. We were
pushed back step by step until the defender's of Falconreach stood
back to back in the center of town. The town was a wasteland of ashes
save a single board. That is when Xan walked into town and a lone defender
stood against him. We all watched in horror as our last hope was nearly
obliterated by Xan's pyromancy. It was only luck that the insane fire
mage was distracted with news of his arch rival Warlic and abruptly
left the battlefield. We rebuilt Falconreach.... but this was not the
last we heard of Xan.
The Pyromancer returned to his Volcanic lair and begun
devising a trap for Warlic. An army of light monsters arrived our nearby
beach which we easily battled. In the end it was discovered that they
were in fact fire monsters under an illusion spell! Worse yet there
are rumors that Xan has replaced one of the townsfolk with a spy. Meanwhile,
the small town of Lymcrest has endured countless hardships due to Xan's
experiments. Fiery magic has corrupted the land around them, even their
river has turned to fire!
Only one thing is certain, Xan is up to something big!
This time, we must go on the offense. High level heros should speak
with the blue mage Warlic to find out how you can help. This Friday...
the last and final showdown will take place. Be sure to have your Dragon
ready. |
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Dig
this...
That isn't Sir Malifact, that is YOU...(unless
you're female, in which case, we're working on the art). The
art for the male armor is ready, and this is the male character dressed
in the armor with the cloak, helm, and sword.
We're working on a host of new, ebil dark powers
with which you will lay waste to your enemies in true DeathKnight
fashion! We're also working on an interesting way for you guys (ALL
of you, free and DA) to TEST the fully powered armor before we release
it into the game, as a levelable armor.
If we get all this working soon, then you will
be able to taste the dark, chocolatey goodness of a fallen paladin.* If
not then we'll have ot working eventually, either way... sooner or
later (possibly MUCH later) the DeathKnight Armor will be coming
to DragonFable!
Neat, right?
*Artix says: "... No coconut" |
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Zhoom,
Cysero, Oishii and myself went out for some sushi at
our favorite restaurant. This is not uncommon... we have
been there four times in the last three days! It is the
only good restaurant in the area that is open late. As
established regulars we have an ongoing deal.... when
we are hungry we go there and eat sushi... when they
have problems with the undead.... we go there and battle
the undead THEN eat sushi. Zhoom even learned how to
eat with chopsticks* there
(although the kind waitress still crafts him a "newbie
set" by wrapping rubber band around two chop sticks
with a piece of paper in the middle. So... we finish
eating and sit back in our chairs. At the table behind
us we here a small child asking the waitress, "Can
I have a fortune cookie?" To which the waitress
smiled kindly and replied, "I am sorry. Japanese
restaurants do not have fortune cookies." Then the
child sat up and pointed to our table... he pointed straight
at Cysero and said, "So how did he get one?" We
ALL turn and look at Cysero who had just unwrapped a
fortune cookie and with a big grin was laughing at the
message in side of it. Zhoom, Oishii and I stare at him
and ask, "Where did you get that?" Cysero looks
up at us and with a perfectly straight face said, "I
brought it myself of course!".
My favorite DF Newsletter
We have not had so much released at the same time since we launched the
Dragons. I had no idea where to even start when writing the newsletter
that I sent to you. So... I wrote EVERY sentence as a question**!
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Artix once caught a fly with Chopsticks.
In the fly's defense it was HUGE and could not fly very fast. The
waiter did not see the fly but he did see Artix moving the chopsticks
around erratically in the air. So he came over, took them out of
Artix's hand and then begun explaining the proper way to use them.
(Artix's girlfriend nearly fell out of the booth from laughing
so hard)
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Or did I? |
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We hope you
are having fun leveling up your characters. Zhoom, Cysero and I just
fixed a number of bugs:
- Level 10 to 20 drops are now working in Artix's quests!
- Defeating the Death Knight will now drop DeathKnight stuff (All
levels!)
- Doom Essences are now stackable
- The Ghost Paladin quest will now allow you to walk back to the
healing pad without getting stuck (and some of my horrible excsor-spelling
has been fixed)
- Everyone can now walk into the first frame of the Haunted Castle
quest as originally intended. You will still need a DA to get past
the Castle gates. You should no longer "shrink" during
the first battle.
- The "Bladed Shoulder" undead will no longer freeze while
attacking.
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It is late Friday
night and we are here at the underground lab buliding more for you. Below
is our progress:
- Level Cap Raised to 40 (Check!)
- New Warlic Quest Released (Check!)
- 3 new Level 31 Weapons (Check!)
- Artix arrives in Falconreach (Check!)
- 4 new Random Undead Quests (Check!)
- 1 new DragonAmulet only Quest - Haunted Castle! (Check!)
- DeathKnight Items (Check!)
We did a lot
in only two days. I would like to thank Cysero, Zhoom, Warlic, Ghost,
Geopetal, Reens, Warlic, and everyone who helped test to launch tonight!
Second I would like to say... this was fun, we hope you like it! One
of Artix's 4 random quests is actually a self contained quest chain.
It features the Ghost of a Paladin who needs your help to be freed
of his curse. Once you gather all of his items the quest will begin
dropping rewards that for some players will be HIGHLY desireable. We
also tried something new with the "Mystery Doors" which continuously
tempts you to correctly open one of three doors to find the "Final
Room". Also we did a tribute to our first mini-game Undead Assault
(If you ever played the minigame you should get a kick out of this
quest). The Haunted Castle was the first quest that Warlic has built.
It is a full sized castle with skeletal guards and a very valuable
reward. You will really like it if you were anxious for a longer classic
dungeon crawl style quest. What I really like about this release is
that it was specifically made for adventurers of ALL LEVELS! The monsters
have a fixed level, but the challenge and rewards will increase for
you every 10 levels. We have built the universal loot tables for level
1 to 10, and 10 to 20. We are currently working on new items for level
20 to 30 and 30 to 40. We are switching to bug squishing mode now.
Talk to again tomorrow morning!
Later today
the level cap will increase to 40, you will get the brand new Xan quest,
and Artix will be coming to Falconreach to battle the undead by your
side with an experimental* new random
quest and loot table system!
For this released we have created several new monsters and quests.
This will be our very first non-war, all-levels release! Unfortunately
less than a quarter of the things we wanted to do can feasibly be finished
today. There is still a chance that something will go terribly wrong
and the Artix release will be delayed (Given that we have not tested
a single thing yet... we are being mighty optimistic about our progress!)
Realistically we need an entire week to do this right... but when has
that stopped us before**?
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Experimental (Ex-pear-ah-men-tal) adj.
Game synonym meaning "buggy" .
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Why are the Forum Moderators drawing
their weapons while staring at me like that? (Special Note: Zhoom,
Cysero and I will be online and working all weekend... which also
means you will get a DesignNotes update tomorrow!) |
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It
is the greatest pleasure of my life to announce Artix Entertainment's
plans for our next great game, and our first massively miltuiplayer
game... RhinocerosQuest!
Choose your own starting rhinoceros from a massive 16 rhinoceros
class table! Color cusomize your own rhinoceros with our innovative
color selection system, which allows billions of possible color
combos including colors that only incects can see, like the color "itchy"!Invite up to 6 rhinoceros friends to go questing around the lost
continent of Lore, called "Rhinoceros", unlock ancient
rhinoceros mysteries and discover fabulous rhinoceros treasures,
like "The Silver Plated Horn Cover Of Steven Rhinoceros" or "The
Onyx Rhinoceros Wax Of Transmutation"!Rhinoceros, Rhinoceros, Rhinoceros!Exclusive multiuser rhinoceros content will be made available
to anyone who chooses to support the game by purchasing a "Platimun
Rhinoceros Horn'! Members will also recieve a plush rhinoceros
and a bowl of Rhinoceros and Cheese (cheese and rhinoceros flavored
pasta snack)!
*Artix finally manages to shake Cysero hard enough to wake him*
ARTIX: Are you OK?
CYSERO: YEAH! That dream just gave me the
best idea!
ARTIX: Is this the RhinocerosQuest dream again?
CYSERO: YEAH!
ARTIX: No.
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Coming Tomorrow!
- Level Cap Increase to 40
- New Xan Quest
- Artix comes to town with an experimental new random quest system
(and the first test of the Universal Loot Table!)
The team is pulling all of its resources to focus fire
on completing the new quests and items for tomorrow. I wish we had
more time to fully flesh this test of random quests and the universal
loot table out. I should not be telling you this, but Cysero finished
the new Xan quest mid-ysterday... which means <smiles> everything
you see tomorrow will be the result of only 1.5 days work! It is also
a very experimental test.... things are going to be interesting! If
you like this weekend's release, we will build you a lot more!
I promised not to post images of the Death Knight....
I promised not to post images of the Death Knight....
I promised not to post images of the Death Knight....
I promised not to post images of the Death Knight....
Dang it!
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"DRAGON:
I REALLY SHOULD JUST EAT THIS ADVENTURER NOW. IT WOULD SAVE ME A LOT
OF TROUBLE IN 30 OR SO LEVELS."
Remember that from the very beginning of the
game? A lot of people assumed that at level 30 you would get to fight
that dragon, which won't happen. The dragon as just making a joke
about how around lvl 30 you're much more of a threat than a puny
level 1 hero, and it could just save itself the hassle of fighting
you later (assuming it ever has to fight you) by eating you now.
I just want to make it really clear that you should not expect a dragon
fight when we raise the level cap this weekend.
What you SHOULD expect: A new link on the Xan
quest chain, drawing you ever closer to your showdown with the insane
pyromancer, a little more information about Xan's past that will
explain why he's currently taking his firey wrath out on the helpless
mining town of Lymcrest, and a new boss who we have temporarily named "Splashy" that
has an interesting berserker type skill. The more you hurt Splashy,
the harder Spashy will hit back.
The quest should reward you with some new, rather
pretty water element weapons (free and DA) and who doesn't like free
weapons?!
Finally, with all of these things close to completion
and about to go into testing... We get to turn our attention to Artix's
special guest spot in town. There will be undead enemies like you've
never seen, swinging axes, tossing potions, and of course the metal-fisted
masters of Bone-Fu. You will see new quest layouts that you've never
seen should make each quest run an unique experience, even if you
decide to run the same quest fifty times, and a new interface that
will unlock something special for people who feel like playing all
the quests out to completion.
Of course, we would not release something this
new and fun without some EXTRA special exclusive content (special
DA only quests and rewards... that sort of thing) for our Dragon
Amulet holders!
Assuming we get all this up and running by Friday
(and, bless my yo-yo, it's looking almost POSSIBLE at this point!),
this should be a weekend to remember for DragonFable players! |
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