Hail adventurers!  This week we have a special extra mini release for you, and it is not a quest.  We just updated the town of Hunter's Paradise* in a couple ways. There is music, and more npc dialogue, and, well.. I'll let you discover the rest.  There is something new here that we will be seeing more of in the future, for certain.

*  Travel south, then south-west from Valencia to reach Hunter's Paradise.  

Happy post-turkey day food coma recovery period! (Wow, that's a mouthful. Much like Thanksgiving Day was for most Americans!)

If you experienced the great feasting that is Thanksgiving this past weekend, I hope yours was full of food and merriment with friends and family!  I had a great time visiting Rolith's family in rural Pennsylvania, the land where so many great coders come from!  (Note: that smell you smell when you're driving over there is probably a hog farm. Or mushrooms. You won't smell chocolate in the air unless you're near Hershey, Pennsylvania. We were not. I learned this quickly.) There was VERY much food thanks to some very nice grandmas and aunts and cousins who cooked all day. And then there was VERY much napping on couches as people slept off copious amounts of turkey and side dishes.

I went with some of his family out shopping on Black Friday. That was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be, probably because we went at 4 PM instead of 4 AM. All the crazy shoppers were gone already. And so were all the great deals. Sadface!

But even if you didn't get nifty discounts on Black Friday, you aren't out of luck yet! Today is Cyber Monday so if you prefer online shopping (like I do) then get your mouse-button finger in gear and get clicking for some great deals!

Speaking of great deals, have you seen the NEW electronic gift certificates for BattleOn Points at HeroMart? (Electronic means no shipping!)

You can buy them in the following denominations:

• 5,000 BP for 25.00 USD
• 10,000 BP for 50.00 USD
• 15,000 BP for 75.00 USD
• 20,000 BP for 100.00 USD

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It's early morning on the Friday after Thanksgiving and that means it's Black Friday sale time! This year we have three themed shops for you!

* The Half-Off Shop which features some of the coolest items from DF at half price and half-drawn!
* The Black Market Moglin has a special shop with high level items from devious weaponsmith True Mortal!
* Twig has special Black Marker items he made just for you!
* Check the Gold and DC Stuff shops at your Real Estate Orb!  There are some new Fall and Thankstaking-themed items there to spruce up your house with holiday cheer!

Have fun shopping and working off all the turkey from yesterday! We'll have a new quest for you guys later tonight!

UPDATE!
The new Earth Orb quest is now live! Visit Guardian Fortuna in Willowshire to start your search for the Nature half of the Earth Orb. Will you be able to survive in... the Temple of Gloom!?

What does Dr. Voltabolt's turkey say? Gobble gobble GOBB-*bzzzzt*!  It's the day before Thanksgiving for all our US players, and that means that it's the start of the Thankstaking event!

This year, we're giving Oishii, the most High and Deadly Lunchlady, a bigger role to play in DragonFable.

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Cysero needs a
new avatar!

Thank you for making our donation possible!

Child's Play is a charity that raises money to make lives better for sick children in hospitals around the world. It was started by gamers, like you and me, and is a cause that the BattleOn Games Team feels very strongly about.

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For those who have been following the minor npcs in Hunter's Paradise, you know that Dirk and Rat have set off on their big adventure.  Equipped with nothing more than some shabby weapons, sweet costumes, and their wits.  But what has become of them?  Well, we know they were in the crowd during Falconreach Idle.. but that is their last known whereabouts. Those who know them are a little apprehensive about what they might have gotten themselves into, and likely for good reason. 

Shenanigans Incoming!

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Things in the underground lab are never what you'd all 'normal' by any means.  I mean a typical work week involves undead invasions and more caffeine and sushi than is strictly dietarily recommended, but this week was destined to be stranger than usual.  It's time for Thanksgiving in the United States and the entire Underground Lab is in a hurry to get things done before the big Turkey day this Thursday.  Me and Alina both have an even tighter deadline than the rest of the team because we are leaving early Wednesday afternoon for a trip to the land where all great Code Monkeys come from: rural Southeastern PA to visit my family and enjoy the first Thanksgiving home I've had since I started working with Artix Entertainment.   

All this hurry and we're planning one of the biggest release weeks we've seen since... well... last week!  But to be fair, Falconreach Idle was a HUGE event.   

Oishii, the Most High and Deadly Lunch Lady has sent out invitations to you and the rest of the Heroes of Lore to join her for the Feast of WelcomeGiving, and as a personal warning, I'd make sure your war gear was ready.  Harvest Time in LORE may be a time for giving thanks and preparing for the long winter ahead, but if past years are any indication it doesn’t matter how good the chef is, expecting trouble is just practical advice, and with a name like "Deadly Lunch Lady" well, maybe you should stock up on some Healing Potions from Reens and sharpen your skills and swords.  

Coming Friday we're also bringing out THREE shops for the biggest shopping day of the year.  Cysero will be releasing new wares, of course, but the Black Market Moglin will throw his hat in as well.  So too, strangely, will Twig.   

All and all, along with a quest from Geo this Friday this week's looking far too busy for the three working days we've got, well, two and a half at this point.   

Which is why I'm more than a little crazy to shove in my own release, too.  There's been talk lately of how there aren't quite enough challenges in DragonFable.  I've decided to fix that at least a little, and let you guys be glutons for punishment of your own choosing.  Rolith will be directing you into hunting the Great Obsidian Tog. 

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Falconreach Idle with your host, Lim!

It's DragonFable's very first voice-acting event! (So make sure your sound and music options are checked!) Starring the vocal talents of George Lowe*, Cysero and Lim (voiced by their real life counterparts), Serenity (played by me), and Lime the moglin (voiced by the talented Nythera), Falconreach Idle is DragonFable's first parody of all those reality TV talent shows you know, love (or maybe hate) so much!

And it ALL starts tonight! It'll be a half-hour packed with action, puns, and a panel of judges who are VERY ready to tell you exactly what they think about your act!  So instead of grasping your remote control, you'll need to grab your mouse and click your way to Falconreach because YOU are going to be a STAR! 

Rewards for Falconreach Idle are made by Tomix and True Mortal in recognition of your awesome acting abilities on-stage!

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That's right, we now have MORE Artix Entertainment 2011 Year of the Moglin calendars to sell you!  Our first print run of them sold out in under FOUR DAYS!  We know that not everyone who wanted one got a chance to order a calendar (and get the AWESOME Chronomancer class!), so we've ordered another 1,000 calendars from the printer!

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We are hard at work getting everything ready for Falconreach Idle this Friday! 

We had a bit of a set-back but found (what we think is) a really funny solution to the problem.  The files are HUGE because of all the sound so rather than make a laggy quest, we've decided to break the event up into parts. 

And what happens on TV when a show is broken up into parts? Commercials!  We think we've found a funny commercial, and I bet you can't guess what it'll be for.  Or maybe you can.  We can't ever outsmart ALL of you!  The things you guess before we give hints about them always surprises me!

Aaaaanyways! Here's a screenshot of the Judging panel from the event.  You'll be performing before a BIG crowd. I hope you don't get stage-fright!

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It's not quite our own TV show, but it's as close as DragonFable's going to come for the foreseeable future... it's new, it will release live on Friday, it's... FALCONREACH IDLE!

What IS Falconreach Idle, you ask? I'd be happy to tell you.  Lim, that SCIENCE!-savvy weaponsmith in Falconreach, has decided you superstar heroes give him WAY too much work to do on his own.  He needs an assistant!  But not just ANY assistant will do.  Oh no, no, no!

He needs the very BEST, most specialest, most smartest, most... well, you get the picture.  Lim wants an assistant who will be an asset to him and his shop and, to find that special someone, he's holding a contest!

It's not just ANY contest, though!  It's a TALENT contest!  No one will be singing, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for those of you who don't watch that talent-show megalith whose name I won't mention but which sounds like Samerian Bridle) but there WILL be a host of other talent acts.

And YOU will be one of them! That's right, you'll be a contestant in Falconreach Idle while Cysero, Serenity, and GEORGE LOWE judge!  Lim will act as the host (our very own DF-style Brian Bleekrest, not to rhyme with any well-known talent show host names...) who will keep the show moving along at a fast- and decidedly pun-filled- pace. 

Your act will be one of 3 awesome and entertaining showstoppers.  Our very talented and impartial judges will vote and hopefully by the end of the event, Lim will have a brand new, much shinier assistant (compared to the Orb he has in his shop right now)!

There's ONE more thing to mention... now, what was it? Something about... maybe... no... oh right!  The thing that makes this event so unique! (Besides the amazing George Lowe starring as himself!)  All the main characters in the event are voice-acted!  That's right, make sure you have your sound button checked "on" this Friday because we've all read OUR lines for you!  It'll be up to YOU to read yours.  If you haven't heard what Cysero, Serenity, Lim, or George Lowe sound like in real life, now's your chance! 

True Mortal and Tomix have done some GORGEOUS rewards for you guys!  Look for previews on Wednesday in a Sneak Peek Design Notes!

That's all for today!  Enjoy your Monday, I'm off to get a hot dog with the crew. 

Gifts from us to YOU!

Here's your chance to win a HeroMart item of your choice totally FREE! All you need is a Battleon Master Account!

On December 10th, 2010 Artix Entertainment LLC. will randomly select FIVE winners for our Holiday Sweepstakes. Each winner will be contacted via e-mail and be allowed to select ONE item of their choice from our new AE Store, HeroMart. Since they are nearly all gone, we're even setting aside five AE Year of the Moglin 2011 Calendars just for the sweepstakes.

The item will be sent to the winners anywhere in the world (even if it's not on the HeroMart delivery country list), completely free of charge and shipping.

We will announce the winners on the AQW Design Notes on December 10th!

Rules and How To Enter:

1. All you have to do to enter is start a Battleon Master Account on our portal site (Register a Free Account here!). That counts as one entry into the AE Holiday Sweepstakes.
   *If you already have an account, see #3.

2. For each AE GAME (not game account, but game. i.e. DragonFable, AdventureQuest, AdventureQuest Worlds, EpicDuel, & MechQuest) that you have linked to your Master Account you get ONE additional entry into the sweepstakes, for a grand total of SIX entries!

3. If you already have a Master Account and/or have already linked your game accounts to it then you are already entered into the sweepstakes, but if you want to increase your chances be sure to link each AE GAME to your account!

4. You must also have a valid e-mail linked to the Master Account. We will be alerting winners via e-mail, and without a valid e-mail we will not be able to contact you!

5. The number of game accounts that you have linked to the Master Account and the upgrade status of those game accounts will not be considered in the drawing.

6. If we get no e-mail response from one of our winners after two weeks, a new winner will be selected.

7. AE reserves the right to disqualify entries based on a history of hacking, cheating or other violations of our Terms of Service.

8. Good luck and happy holidays from Artix Entertainment!

Here's a link to everything I just said plus all the legal-type language that we are required to post.

Pay special attnetion to rule number two. It doesn't matter if you link 1 or 6 or 19 or 300 DF accounts to your master account, it only counts as ONE entry for DF. Each GAME counts, each ACCOUNT does NOT.

We're starting the holidays a little early but I'm always ready to celebrate something like this! We've got more contests, events and surprises headed your way before the end of the year so be sure to check back every day!

It's Friday again and time to catch up on some Orb drama!

The Earth Orb and Valorus
Our last quest in the Earth Orb saga had us racing across the country side to provide a distraction for Valencia. Just exactly what did she hide and where?

This week, on your return to Willowshire, you find that the Dravir have pushed forward and they captured Lord Valorus, the original Captain of the Tower of Earth! Fight your way back into the upper reaches of the Tower and rescue Valorous and find out the real Secret of the Thorn! A brand new nature helm made by True Mortal will drop from the quest.

The Darkness Orb and Vayle
The time has come to return to Doomwood, the Darkness Orb, and the story of the luckless Vayle!  When you last left her, she had had the most important thing in the world ripped away from her.
And she blames YOU!  But all is not lost. While she is not quite a friend, she is also not quite an enemy. Even though you're not sure of your welcome with her, you'll still need to find her quickly because dark forces are moving to form an alliance with her.

If that happens, the end of the world will be nearer than it was yesterday. And you don't want that! So talk to Tomix to see if he'll come along with you and assist you in swaying Vayle to your side.
If you can't, there will be dire consequences!  A Darkness helm, cape, and wings will drop from the quest as rewards!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
By player request (/waves at Mordred) a new helm has been added to the Mysterous Stranger's Doom Helm Shop! There are now level 40, 50 and 60 versions of the Pheonix Doom!

New Music!
If you're feeling nostalgic, swing by the Shadow of the Wind Village, Osprey Cove or the Sandsea. Ghost has created new music to experience as you revisit the classic quests!

The Artix Entertainment 2011 Year of the Moglin calendar is now available for PRE-ORDER!  We have less than 1,000 of them to sell for this print run, and we are not sure when we'll be printing more.  Each calendar comes with a Battleon Code Card inside it, so if you want the AWESOME Chronomancer class in AQWorlds, Chronomancer class in DragonFable, Chronos Mecha in MechQuest, and Chronomancer armor in AdventureQuest (yes you get ALL FOUR with one code!), then you need to buy a calendar of your own before we run out!

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It's a Sneak Peek Wednesday once more, and I think you're going to REALLY like what we'll be showing you: the Chronomancer's skill list!

I know there's been a ton of chatter about DragonFable's newest class on Twitter and the forums, but if you haven't heard about it yet, here's some important information to remember:

Chronomancer class is the in-game promotional item attached to Artix Entertainment's first Calendar, the 2011 Year of the Moglin!  This calendar features 12 of your favorite female NPCs from AdventureQuest, DragonFable, MechQuest, and AQWorlds! (You'll also receive the Chronomancer class in AQWorlds, Chronos Mech in MQ, and the Chronomancer armor in AQ when you purchase the calendar!)

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Hello hello!  It's Monday again, and Autumn is falling all over itself to flood the land around the Secret Underground Lab with grey skies and chilly winds.  It's wonderful that Fall is finally here!  Time for apple cider and pumpkin pie!  What do YOU like to do in the Fall? Jump in leaf piles?  Drink Pumpkin Spice lattes?

What I'd like to do right now, though, is tell you about what's coming up in this week's release!  We're continuing TWO Orb sagas this week!

The Stone Orb starts rockin' again!

Geopetal is working on the next Stone Orb quest!  That was underway before we took a break for Mogloween, and we're excited to be getting back to it.  We've got a lot of plans up our sleeves for this one, so make sure you follow along and if you haven't been keeping up to date on the chain, head to Willowshire and have fun playing the previous quests!

Shedding light on the Darkness Orb!

I'll be working on beginning to finish up the captivating story of the luckless Vayle and the elusive Darkness Orb!  In the first part of this two-part mini quest chain, you'll need to gather some help from a VERY useful NPC nearby and then find clues to where Vayle is hiding! (You'd go to ground, too, if you'd been through everything she's lived through!) 

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2:50 PM - Getting the files all up on our testing server and getting ready to go live.  Thanks for all the help from testers over the last couple of days!

2:10 PM - Doomknight properly in the Armor closet. 

2:00 PM - Having to make some changes to the Zhoom quest chain to make him deal damage properly.  His double-shot now deals metal damage, should make him more useful in the light-regions. :-D

1:30 PM - Working on getting Zhoom to deal damage again.  He'll be scaling like Tomix and the Candy sisters eventually but for now let's just make him useful at all again. :)

1:21 PM - For confirmation - These fixes will all go live once we're done for the day, not as they happen.  Most of the work was done over the course of the week with the help of Aelthai and Verlyrus and the testers, today's about assembling the final files, getting the database ready for the change over and making sure what we think is fixed is actually fixed. 

1:13 PM - Mage's Shield no longer freezes pvp fights with pets.

12:50 PM - Wake working!

12:30 PM - Pizza Time

12:24 PM - Infinate Stun Doomknight bug fix confirmed! Wake next

12:10 PM - Working on some final bugs and testing of changes for this week's bug fixes.  Let's see how I do with this whole live-design-noting as things get confirmed fixed.  Remeber, if something is too buggy, we might need to pull back and not release it this week,so 100% of the things mentioned might not go live this week.

Happy Friday! 

It's definitely Fall today, even in Florida, and you can see pumpkins decorating homes and stores all throughout the area, so what better time to release a Gourd Hunt? 

Rare gourd Rewards will be dropping from MANY quests throughout the game from this Friday to next, so you'll want to replay as many quests as possible in order to get your rare, never-seen-again gourd items! 

Here's what you'll be hunting for:

• Shiny Gourd (level 10) and Mighty Shiny Gourd (level 40)
• Flaming Gourd (30) and Purple Flaming Gourd (50)
• Platinum Pumpkin (20) and Glowing Platinum Pumpkin (60)

There are three new items which the pumpkins will grow into, a low and high level of each, all made by True Mortal!

If you don't feel like farming (because you don't really HUNT gourds, do you?) for the gourds, then we have a solution for you!  You can talk to Cysero outside his Superstore of Savings in Falconreach and just BUY yourself some gourds!

Of course, Nature takes her time, so the Dragon Coin gourds will also take a week to grow into the items. But for those of you with the Coins and a lack of time, this is a great way to ensure that you get a chance to grab these awesome items!

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Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a FANTASTIC Mogloween!  Parties, candy, trick-or-treating, pumpkin-carving... it really is a FUN holiday! And Fall is such a great time of the year.  If you don't live in a sub-tropical climate, the leaves will change color and neighbors burn piles of them, scenting the air with the delicious smell of woodsmoke.  That's probably the thing I miss most about not living in the MidWest anymore.  But Florida is great right now; I spend most of my weekends outdoors grilling and chilling with friends. Does life get any better?

I know for our Canadian friends, the watch is on for early snowfalls.  Lucky people! (Ghost will not appreciate my enthusiasm for snow. Not when he has to shovel drifts taller than HE is!)  So if you ARE Canadian, I guess it's time to break out your snowboots and hunt down your shovels and snow plows.  I'll just be over here wishing for a white winter in a few months.

And speaking of hunting... let's talk about this week's DragonFable release!

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