Surprise!  A little Wednesday mini-release!  Vivi and I are jumping into the S.O.O.N. list, with Korin's blessing, starting with the things we can do without needing new art and so on.  We've grabbed Azami to help start tracking the level gap issues, for starters.  With the big Mogloween release coming, we've kept it pretty simple.  This naturally ties in with the rebalancing project, so you'll see tweaks to existing equipment as we go along, if something jumps out.  Step one for today is some very basic stuff - essentially "clones" of some of our lower-level existing weapons.  

Additions to the SC Club:

• L9 Apprentice Fireball (the Novice Fireball) - BA
• Icy Starfire 1.5 (L8) - BA
• Bright Blue Plasma Ray (L7)
• buffed the L5 Blue Plasma Ray with a DPT raise and and EP usage reduction
• Missile Bayonet V2 (L9)
• Price adjustment (really a typofix) to the L6 Missile Bayonet

Tek's Arms - NSC additions, Tek's Mechs, Soluna City:

• Lightly-Used Gatling Gun (L4, FA & BA versions)
• Double Autogun N9 (FA)
• Mecha Boomstick N7 (BA)
• Bargain Bin Laser BN9 (BA)

Meanwhile, Korin has just given me a list of the things he has going on for Friday and I'm super-excited about this... also means I have a bunch of work to do!  So I will get going on that and see you on the forums!  

Typofixing on Mortis 3009 (2009? What year is it?)

Jack's dialogue was a bit typorrific, so words such as

• calibur (now, properly, caliber)
• unpredictaclbe (unpredictable)
• cemetary (should be cemetery everywhere now - including on the map rollover - except possibly in one quest end ...)

and grammatical oddnesses 

• "she left a copy of when" (inserted an "it")

should now be corrected in Mortis 3009 (2009?) 

Weapon Fix:

And, thanks to Vivi, the Tiger Roar heads should now be working as intended.

Hope you had a great weekend - I know I surely did - looking forward to the 3010 Mogloween excitement this Friday!!!!!!!

Thanks for playing, and Battle ON! 

Mogloween 3010 Part One is HERE!

Yes, it is the time of year when the orbit-path of Planet Mortis brings it close enough to visit without using a special map!  Part One begins with the transdimensional access that will launch you into a place where you may replay events of the past.  There are new items in the weapons and mecha shops NOW: higher-level versions of the Witch Launcher series and Hovering Cauldron shoulders, and the Jack Attack and Nightmare Glove arms.  Also a Level 45 version of the Doom Rider is available for Nova Gems, which scales to Level 49 - PLUS, a Level 45 version of the OverClocked Frankenmecha!  The Star Captain Exclusive will scale to Level 49 - if you are not a Star Captain you may still purchase this model; however, it will not scale unless you have upgraded.

New Starship Swag!

Click the Starship Items button at Jack on Planet Mortis to see the two new shops for 3010.  There are tons of cool items all available for credits (and all of these were created by Minar) and then don't overlook the Nova Gem Swag shop because Korin and Minar both created items for this section of the shop as well.  Everything is not as it seems...

What's new in Soluna City? Visit Tek's Mechs.

I think I may have mentioned that I put together a new updated interface for Tek?  Warlic helped me with one element, and now it all works! Now if you go through the Dropship without checking the Verified shop, you may still access it via Tek's Mechs - and even Verify your character right here in Soluna City!  Currently this shop button will take you to the same shop items as the Verified shop on the Dropship - these are the weapons newly-coded by Vivi with updated specials.  Oh, and - remember we had removed the Lg Blue Laser temporarily from Tek's Shoulders, because it would have been doing the same special as the Large Blue Laser in the Verified shop... well Vivi fixed that, and it's back in the shop. Now the Verified laser special is stronger than that of the Non-Star-Captain laser.  

To sum up, the Verified interface will take you to the low-level updated weapons if you are a Verified or Star Captain player - otherwise you will be brought to the interface that gives you the opportunity to Verify your character.  (And Maegwyn is still really proud of herself ...)

So What's Coming in Part Two?

• Brand-New 3010 Arm and Shoulder Weapons
• 3010 Mecha Model modeled after a certain notorious skeletal villain
• Something related to Evil Jim... those chords I hear in the distance... they are haunting me....

A Mid-Week Mini-Release?!!?

As I hinted on the forums, all did go well, and Vivi coded up more specials for the Non-Star-Captain Dropship weapons!  He's putting together a note on what everything does so I'll add that in when he's done.  Oh he's done already!

NSC FA

• Salvaged Pulse Laser: Good chance at -25 bonus for 3 turns on hit
• Squire's Volt Sword: Good chance at +25 boost for 3 turns on hit
• Double Autogun: Very Good chance at -30 defense for 3 turns on hit

NSC BA

• Used Gatling Gun: Good chance for EP DoT for 3 turns on hit
• Mecha Boomstick: 140% damage
• Bargain Bin Laser: Good chance for -25 boost for 3 turns on hit
• Refurbished Machine Gun: Very good chance on each hit to raise bonus by 10 for 3 turns 

NSC BS

• Freshman Laser Pointer: Good chance for an extra shot that does 50% damage 

Thanks, Vivi!  We'll have a part three with some Heads - ideally next week but we're not promising an exact timeframe on those yet.

Update to Dropship Interface:

In response to some feedback (thanks for passing this along, neodiabolus) Korin has given SysZero a button to Tek's Dropship Shop, with a bit of extra dialogue.  

Yokai Mantis Quest Bugfix:

A couple of Gremlins reports came in with people being unable to unlock the Mantis Master.  I found where the problem was hiding, and Korin helped me with updating the code!  I'm starting to understand those kinds of bugs a little better, so this was a really exciting fix.  

Exciting Week: Monday Bugfixes, Friday is Almost Here, Azami is Back from Hiatus, and Other Notes!

This has been an exciting week already!  On Monday, we got a few bugs fixed with the new minigame 

• Invincible enemy on stage six is no longer invincible 
• The triple shots now work on a timer, so you don't have to wait until all the bullets fly off the screen, but only on the triple shots 
• Level skipping bug is gone 

Also I am going to be insufferably proud of myself and make a big deal out of this: I found and fixed the Hoverscythe A infamous "damage oover time" bug!  It was the weirdest thing ever - "oover" just didn't exist - everything looked A-Ok - and then he would attack with that arm and it would pop up again... "damage oover time."  Well, I tried something new and different, and Vivi & I tested it, and it worked!

Speaking of testing - Azami's schedule has freed up enough now so that he is back with us on the pre-testing and planning and bug-squashing again!  I'm so excited I'm dancing...

...Speaking of dancing... the forum member caneyempor was inspired to post a thread about having a Mechquest dance!  Circe, who is very excited about this, showed me the thread - and I got very excited about it as well.  I was hesitant at first, because these kinds of decisions are made by Korin, whether we are even considering an idea - so when I saw Korin online this morning I pounced him  and gave him the link.  He said he is game for a "prom" - some kind of Spring Dance!  When he said that, I danced, and then I messaged Circe (because  we're both so excited) and emailed Lyris (because her pre-staff suggestions post had something related to this) and put something up to alert the whole MQ team. So please use this link http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=18243761 to discuss your ideas - the MechQuest team is listening and starting to put together plans for the future. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm IM-ing with Lyris!

...Speaking of plans for the future... Korin has given his blessing to me and Vivi to work on the parts of the S.O.O.N. list that we can tackle without needing the entire team!  As in, stuff that doesn't require completely new art, or complex coding, and so on.  So we are going through the list making an assessment - we'll have news and results for you... er... soon (haha! get it? soon!)

Dropship Weapons With Updated Specials:

Vivi, who did the coding for these, says, "For dropship weapons here's what they do for the ones we took care of. The rest of the NSC weapons will get fixed up sometime next week. A lot of the heads don't have attack animations so I'm not sure if anything will happen with them but we'll see."

NSC BS 

• N-00B Missile (2x): 40% crit chance on each hit 
• Miscalibrated Sniper Rifle: 90% chance at +50 bonus for this shot 
• N-00B Missile (4x): 40% crit chance on each hit, extra damage for additional EP cost 
• Retractable Rifle: 80% chance at 50% extra damage 

SC FS 

• Sapphire Mana Photon: EP DoT for 3 turns on hit 

SC BS 

• Star Sapphire Blaster: EP DoT for 3 turns on hit 

SC HD 

• SC Staredown: 80% chance to deal 160% damage 

NG BA 

• Inker: -40 bonus for 3 turns on hit 

NG BS 

• Robotic Rifle: 50% chance for 50% extra damage, heals HP equal to the damage done 

NG HD 

• Rock N Roll Skull Mask: -25 boost and bonus for 3 turns on hit, +3 crit passive 

Verified FA 

• Cavalier Blue Photon: 150% damage 
• Crusader's Shining Repeater: 168% damage, higher EP cost than normal 
• Experimental Stun Gun: Stuns for 1 round 
• Verified BA 
• Dragontooth Chaingun: 120% damage, each successful hit lowers enemy defense by 10 for 3 turns 
• Verified BS 
• Large Blue Laser: -30 Bonus for 3 rounds on hit 
• Sniper Rifle: +60 bonus for this attack only 
• Large Military Repeater: HP DoT on hit  

Thanks, Vivi!! And of course, if you discover that something isn't working as intended, please report it in the Gremlins forum.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and thanks for playing!  And now I'm going to go outside to enjoy the beautiful, sunny day!  

Shiny Dropship! The Dropship just got a lot more fun!  Remember when you made a new character and it seemed like it took forever to get to Level 3 so that you could finally land on Soluna?  You should totally think about starting a new new character - so much is changing that you will want to see it all!  Talk to SysZero on the Dropship to see the new Missions Roster, where you may choose to complete a series of missions or even skip over everything and go straight to Land the Ship now! There is a lot more to do on the Dropship now though - you should walk around, click around, and see what's new.  You can always go back to the Dropship by visiting Admina in Soluna City, too.

Tell your friends while the Birthday Celebration is still going on this week, so that they can pick up the Newbatron AnniV 3010 or one of the earlier anniversary models.  Remember, if you give them your referral link (look on the News Screen in Soluna City for the Recruit button for your personalized link) then you will get in-game rewards for your character!  And if your friend upgrades to Star Captain, you even get bonus Nova Gems! 

New Minigame - Planetary Defender! The not-to-be-missed new minigame that Korin has made, Planetary Defender, is ready to play - just keep walking left, (or, West) on the Dropship! Talk with Alex to learn how to play.  Can you get through all 30 levels to win the prize?

Dropship Weapons Update: You should also see what Tek has to offer in her shops - Vivi and I updated a whole long list of Dropship weapons.  If you already own these, there is no need to re-buy them - you will already have the updated specials!  New characters will get a better taste of some of the less-complicated specials earlier in the game now.  Plus, battles will be more interesting!

Vivi prepared a quick list of the specials and updated weapons that he posted on the forums already - he did the coding for this project! (I'll get that list of specials into a proper Design Note later this weekend.)

We'll be updating more of the NSC Dropship weapons over the next week as well.  I'm working on an update to Tek's Mechs shop interface in Soluna that I hope to have ready by next week - there's just one little important thing that doesn't want to work as intended.  Pesky Gremlins!

Typofixing: Hospital: Also I finished another zone for the Typofixing Project - the Hospital (ideally) is typo-free now!  Thanks for your reports in the Gremlins forum and thanks to neodiabolus and Terosin, the Gremlins ArchKnights who are helping organize the typofixing posts, behind the scenes!

Thanks for playing - have a great weekend and I'll see you on the forums - and probably on facebook as well.

Hero Mart!

It's official: HeroMart is open for business!  Now you can "Dungeon Dive in Style" - check out the HeroMart site http://www.heromart.com 

Check back often, because we have plans to stock MANY new items ... including...

The First Artix Entertainment Full-Length Novel!

One of the most well-loved storylines in AdventureQuest's long history is the Great Fire War. Starring Galanoth, Demento, and YOU, the hero, as you battle against Akriloth and a host of fire monsters, this story has gone down in AQ's history as one of the most widely-talked about and reminisced-over wars we've done so far. But the story hasn't ended! Artix Entertainment's first full-length novel, The Dragon's Secret, is coming this November to HeroMart !

Written by Lyra Trice Solis, a member of the AdventureQuest storyline team, The Dragon's Secret tells the story of apprentice mage John Black, who loses his entire family to a dragon attack and vows to get his revenge, one way or the other. (A dragon? In the Great Fire War? Whoever could it be?) He doesn't think things can get any worse until he discovers a secret about one of his best friends which pushes his loyalty to the limit. Come along with John and his group of incorrigible friends as they escape confinement, battle dragons, stow away on a pirate ship, face off against a terrible and evil mage, and confront the underwater Council of the Mer! Through the story, John must choose between revenge and friendship, and decide whether or not to risk everything to stand up for what he believes in! Filled with dragons, dwarves, and VERY dark magic, The Dragon's Secret will tell the tale of the Great Fire War in a brand-new and exciting way! 

Read More

BladeHaven Beta Release

The Beta release for BladeHaven is scheduled to begin on Thursday!!!  The Beta will use the ONE LOGIN TO RULE THEM ALL and will be open to Star Captains, Guardians, DragonLords, AQWorlds Members and Epic Duel Elite Players (those who upgraded before the merger with Artix Entertainment) and ED players that have upgraded after the merger (is there a formal name for you yet?) !  So if you haven't made your Master Account yet, now's a great time to do that!

Bladehaven is a first-person swordfighting game which is unique and (in my opinion) highly addictive. It features achievements that will earn your Master Account some of that valuable EXP - you know you want some!

A Bladehaven info page is coming tomorrow to let all types of players know whether you'll be able to test.  So, check it out to see whether you meet the requirements for the testing phase, and have fun!! 

That's Mister Korin now...

Korin's amazing (and very fun) wife said "I do" over the weekend. There's a thread on the MechQuest General Discussion forum here http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=18168672 if you'd like to participate in the celebratory well-wishing!

Rolith Levels Up!

Dragonfable's Design Notes for 10/11 is the place to wish Rolith a Happy Birthday on the Forums (right now this is the active thread http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=18216000 ) and also you may use Twitter ( @Rolith_AE ) Let him know that you saw it on MQ's Design Notes! While he is the lead coder for DF, Rolith spares some time to do a bit for MechQuest when he can - so please let him know how much his MQ players appreciate him.

Dropship Update!

Vivi has made more progress with the weapons I hinted at the other day - I can reveal that the shops on the Dropship are going to give new players some incentive to begin expanding inventory.  More variety in attack abilities earlier in the game is sure to enhance the battle experience. 

Happy Birthday, MQ!  Week Two!

The celebration continues!  Now you can finally ride the Floorivator again!  There is a lot of partying to be revisited, and here's what is NEW this year:

In case you didn't see these already, the Newbatron AnniV3010 models are for sale in the Holiday Shop in Soluna City.  Did you get one yet?  NEW TODAY: a shipment of special Anniversary Mods for your mecha models!  Visit the Holiday Shop in Soluna City and grab yours now!

If you have a Starship, you will be glad to know that when you ride the Floorivator at Tek's Mechs, there is a series of special 3010 Starship items in the shops downstairs! 

Thanks to Minar, we have a 3-year Anniversary Cake!  Also I learned how to make a couple of things - Korin started me off, so I had a couple of simple things ready - and then with many thanks to Warlic (who happens to be an excellent real-life teacher as well as being the Dean in-game) we even have a couple of items in the Nova Gem section!  One of the things he told me how to do, and the other was extra code he added to something I made, to make it more betterer.  He also sent me what he did, so that I can know for next time.  So ... I've been to GEARS and learned things! 

Looking Ahead:

Looking ahead, and speaking of learning things, I have been working with Vivi who has coded up some very nice weapons updates - can't say too much about this just yet, but he is doing excellent work that you will see when the time comes!  Also behind the scenes Lyris has some things up her sleeve.  Korin has been doing insane things for upcoming weeks and everyone has been working hard & not saying much... yet.  I am sworn to secrecy, as is usually the case, but I can tell you that the MQ Team is extremely excited about this season!

HeroMart.... shhhhhh!

HeroMart, our bizarre online ... bazaar... featuring our first Music CD, The NPCs: Critical Hits, and the ChickenCow T-shirt - is being released to the General Public next Wednesday! If you are reading this, you are an insider!  Being a valued insider, you can secretly access the live, working*, store before anyone else! Just go to http://www.heromart.com and click on the blue gem in Robina's necklace. (Artix says: "Shhhh. Secret.") There are even reports of some people being able to place an order successfully already!**

*(Mostly-working)

**If you encounter an error message, keep in mind that our testers have probably reported it already, and that the fix is probably in process - but please do keep notes for when we have an official place*** to report any errors, just in case they do persist!

***I will be sure to update the DNs to let you know what to do, as soon as we have an // I learn about // our official bug-reporting system!

Overheard at the Knife & Spork

GEARS Student: "Where is the Anniversary Party?"

Maegwyn: Well of course this is that time of year when the Floorivator actually works!  Usually!

GEARS Student: Well the Floorivator isn't working at Tek's

Maegwyn: It's gone flibberty...

GEARS Student: "Is there a party this year?"

Maegwyn: Party like it's 3009!  ...3008!  ...3007!

We are absolutely opening up the party for celebrations this month - we have a couple of starship items prepared, along with some other Anniversary trinkets.  It looks like we should have that sprocket by Friday to de-flibbert the Floorivator, and we're still on track with the Dropship revamp for this month as well.

I had intended to consult with blues and Vivi before posting the following, because of the arm cooldowns, which I'd left at 2 but perhaps they really ought to be at 3 - but anyway here is info on the SCMM and Birthday Newbatron specials!

Vivi says:

Wow, did we really forget descriptions...those will get added when someone who can do it has time (don't know if it can be done before Monday or not).

(Maegwyn says: oops... Right-o.  My fault... sorry!  I'll get on that!  And now back to Vivi!)

Anyway, quick rundown of the specials on Nemesis so that everyone knows what it does.

First off: The Front Shoulder and Back Arm ONLY work while all defaults are equipped. If you change anything their specials disappear (so when you customize it make sure to replace those two).

Front Arm (1 hit, CD = 2) <--intended at 3?
Damage starts at 125% and increases by 25% per use
-25 enemy defense for three turns

Back Arm (1 hit, CD = 2) <--intended at 3?
Damage starts at 125% and increases by 25% per use
-25 enemy bonus for three turns

Front Shoulder (3 hits, CD = 3)
Increasing damage per hit
Hit 1: -25 enemy defense for three turns, stacks with front arm
Hit 2: 1.5x HP DoT for three turns
Hit 3: 1.5x EP DoT for three turns

Back Shoulder (3 hits, CD = 3)
Increasing damage per hit
Hit 1: -15 enemy bonus for three turns, stacks with back arm
Hit 2: 1.5x HP DoT for three turns, stacks with front shoulder
Hit 3: 1.5x EP DoT for three turns, stacks with front shoulder

Head (4 hits, CD = 5)
Increasing Damage per Hit
Crit chance on each hit

Body (4 hits, CD = 5)
Increasing damage per hit
Hits 1 and 3 have a high crit chance
Hit 2 lowers immobility resist
Hit 4 attempts to stun

_____________________________

And while I'm on it, here are the specials for the Anniversary Newbatrons. The NG model has an additional 30 EP as an extra bonus.

Front Arm (2 hits, CD = 3)
Single EP DoT for three turns

Back Arm (2 hits, CD = 3)
Single EP DoT for three turns

Front Shoulder (1 hit, CD = 3)
Crit chance

Back Shoulder (1 hit, CD = 3)
Crit chance

Head (4 hits, CD = 4)
+25 boost and bonus for three turns

Body (1 hit, CD = 4)
Chance for any one of the following:
3007: Guaranteed Stun
3008: Extra hit
3009: 3 turn HP DoT (1x for NSC, 1.5x for SC, 2x for NG)
3010: Heal HP equal to the damage done

Floorivator: Which way is up?