Happy New Year!

The YEAR OF CHAOS is about to begin...

Friends, thank you for the best year ever! Before the highly anticipated insanity of 2010 begins, let us take a moment to look back over the year... and chuckle at all of the victories, train-wrecks and embarrassing moments that we shared together.

As you may recall, we launched AQWorlds just before the start of 2009. The game was brand new and did not even have a story yet. I was shocked when I realized how many things did not exist until this year. Thanks to your ideas, suggestions and very appreciated encouragement, the team accomplished....

211+
Weekly Releases 
between our 5 games this year!!

• The storyline began!
  The intro of the game where Drakath first appeared, slew Sepulchure and mortally wounded King Alteon
• Our first game-wide Wars!
  We battled side by side against millions of monsters in a massively multiplayer version of the wars for the first time.
• Housing was released!
• The 1st Lord of Chaos: Escherion
  In a zone inspired by the artwork of MC Escher, players battled their first Chaos Lord. Escherion is a battle mage with the power of inversion.
• The 2nd Lord of Chaos: The Twins
  The Twins were originally balanced, once offering good advice and one offering bad... until Drakath intervined, and secretly replaced the good one with... well, that is a story for next year. The Twins have not been fought and currently only appear during one-time-only special events.
• The 3rd Lord of Chaos: Vath
  The 3rd Chaos Lord is a Dark Elf DragonLord. Controlling a giant Dragon named Stalagbite he took control of the Dwarfhold Mountains and the mystic forge within.
• The 4th Lord of Chaos Revealed: Kitsune
  Inspired by Artix's adventures to the far East, Yokai Isle features anime-spoofs and famous Japanese monsters that you may never have heard of!
• 18,000 Mages Teleported the town of Battleon
  In order to move the town from the path of an on-coming meteor, all of the mages of the world united to cast a giant teleportation spell. On the first attempt, we landed above Gravelyn's evil fortress. 
  
• AQWorld's goes widescreen!
  Eveyr map in the game was resized to our new, bigger screensize.
• Voltaire Friday the 13th Event
  Our first live event with a musical guest star! 32,000 players showed up for the 1st live event crushing the servers like a peanut under an elephant's foot. Then, there was a second Friday the 13th... and we did another one with hourly shows!
• Artix, Twilly & Zorbak visited Japan
  
• Warpforce, our 1st Expansion was released!
  The team that runs the original AdventureQuest created a full spin off game taking classic AQ style game play to the stars.
• The MechQuest ArtBook
  Our first artbook! Created at the lab by Johnny Atomic, Aisha and the team, it is BEAUTIFUL! (and full of Artix's bad grammar and typos). See for yourself
• NPC's got those pop-up thingies
  It might not sound like a big deal, but it really added a lot to the game!
• DragonCon 2009!!!
  Best convention ever! We ran a panel and players came dressed as J6, Escherion, Tek, Yulgar, Cleric Joy, and Ash! One player (Sunbrella) even flew all the way from New Zealand to come meet us! As usual Zorbak took lots of pictures! Oh, we also went to JCON this year which was a blast!
• Special Events
  
  
  • SuperBowl (& Moglin Punting)
  • Hero's Heart Day
  • St. Patrick's Day Drakel Cannon
  • Mother's Day
  • Earth Day
  • 40th Anniversary of landing on the Moon
  • Father's Day
  • Ninja Day
    What!? I do not remember a Ninja day. exactly the point. Ninjas are very sneaky!
  • Independance Day (US & Canadia)
  • Graduation Shop
  • Talk like a PIRATE Day, "ARRRRRR!!!"
  • Mogloween (Cauldron Sisters, the Thriller!)
  • Harvest Festival (Oishii & Turdrakens)
  • Frostval (Hungry for Cookies?)
    
  
  
  
• The Save Chuckles Movement
  It was an inside joke started by players that spiraled out of control, ending with a T-shirt and the world's cheesiest infomercial.... it called for the return of Sepulchure's laugh-aholic skeletal sidekick (who originated from DragonFable!)
• The PTR: Stats and PvP began
  The biggest and most important project of the year finally opened giving players (and the staff) a glimpse of upcoming PvP and player stats. (PTR Server - currently , Member only)
• Forum Contests
  We many fun contests on the forums this year... here are a few of the most memorable!
  
  
  • House Decorating Contest
  • The Ballyhoo Commercial Contest
  • Pumpkin Carving Contest
  • Holiday Cookie Contest
  
  
  
• DoomKnight Released!
  Doooooooooom...... then Beleen forces us to make Pretty Pretty Pink DoomKnight armor for the girls.
• 1st TV Commecial
  With footage inspired by the players, voice acting recorded in Artix's bathroom and edited on $99 off-the-shelf video software... it was shown nationally on major channels including Cartoon Network, Nickleodon, and MTV! (Older version)
• AQWorlds gets a 10+ rating by the ESRB
  We also joined TrustE, which is a highly respected privacy protection program. While you and the players already know we are honest and responsible, it is nice having major organizations give us their stamp of approval!
• Golden OnSlaught
  (AQWorld's 1st Birthday Party)
  Twig was left alone to decorate... cake, presents and Sweetish Fish as far as the eye could see. Meanwhile, a ground of overzealous Knight's kidnapped the entire staff (It was so funny how Cysero was trapped in a chalk circle and could not cross it.) In order to save them EVERY player in the game turned undead and joined Gravelyn's army of darkness in the most bizzare rescue mission EVER. Epic win. In the end, the heroes were rescued, the knights of the Golden Onslaught joined the players and their former leader, Maxmillian Lionfang, excaped... and ran into the Chaos Lord(s) known as The Twins. You can still get wallpapers from ArtixWallpapers.com
  
• Interview in in Beckett's GAMER Magazine
  AQWorlds appeared in a magazine for the first time (both last month, and it will again next month.)
• The AQWorld's Deady 8" Vinyl Figure
  We released a collector's figure with Voltaire. ALL the units we had available to sell from the lab were sold out in a weekend.... behind the scenes we created a brand new online store called HeroMart. (If you are not a Hero, we also made VillianMart) 
  
• EpicDuel, our 5th Game was released!
  Titan & Nightwraith officially became part of Artix Entertainment and got access to hardware and talent to build EpicDuel even better.
• AQWorlds is at 14 Million Free accounts
  X weapons, x friends, x armors, (Zhoom is getting the numbers for me still... he said right after the release.) and one extremely hyper, radio-active hampster powered database server.
• Master Account System goes into Alpha!
  "The One Login to Rule them All!"
  While still in development, it is going to allow for cross game achievements, item unlocking, friends lists, contentests for our community and more!
• Cysero had a baby!
  Well, not him personally. Little Jack, the future harvester of missing left socks, was born on Dec 26th!
• Signed Charity Auction Poster for $15,000!??
  When new posters were created for the secret underground lab, there was one made at a different size. Cysero suggested that instead of just hanging it on the wall, that we auction it for the Child's Play Charity. With hopes of sending $100 to $200... the team was SHOCKED when bidding closed at $14,999.42. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Child's Play Charity which helps sick kids in Children's Hospitals.

Now.... are you ready for everything that is about to happen in 2010? Battle on in the New Year friends!

The New Release

Fireworks have already been added to Battleon… so let’s ring in 2010 by blowing some stuff up! Makes complete sense, right?
Played DragonFable as of late? If so, you might recognize the newest… he loves SCIENCE and goes by the name of Lim! Since Cysero is off being a new Daddy, Lim has decided to help set up things for the New Year Party.
But some baddies have showed up, putting a damper on the New Year festivities (which include bundles of fireworks, new items, and a gigantic crystal Countdown Ball). While Lim makes wire cable repairs in an all-new map, specially made for New Years, it will be up to you to slay the power-cable gnawing monsters, including Ice Master Yeti!

So come celebrate 2010 with your friends and family as you watch the giant Countdown Ball drop in the famous Time’s Rectangle! (It’s kinda like a Square, but with longer sides) In the middle of this new map, a massive crystal ball is perched on a pole, slowly counting down to the new decade. A timer is beneath it too, showing you the exact time left until the arrival of 2010! Everyone is going to be there!

The Gift Boxes open on New Year’s Day!
These are the last days of 2009. The time has come to reflect on all of the great memories and achievements of the year… and also your last chance to obtain your Gift Boxes from the giant red bag in Battleon! At midnight (or close to it) on New Years Day, the presents will magically unwrap (you will have to relogin in to see them) so you can start 2010 off on the right track—with a brand new Armor, Sword, 


Cape, Helm, and Pet!
The entire Staff at Artix Entertainment (and me!) wants to wish you a Happy New Year! Our warmest wishes go out to your friends and family and everyone else who is a part of the AQW Family. The new year is rapidly approaching, so what better time than ever to celebrate everyone’s hard work with a huge New Years celebration! We could not have done this without you, so thank you for making AQWorlds your favorite MMORPG in 2009… and we will see you again next year… which happens to be in a few days!

Tinsels Presents unlocked!