Log in and talk to the Kenai in Stoneheart Fall about the Forest Gate to get started on this week's release!
From the Kensai’s cave:
Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Such is the case today when I learned there IS such a thing as too much background. So the offering is now five quests, rather than six. Ambition, being what it is, is often hard on the ego when things don’t work quite the way you plan them to. Such is life, and we learn and move on.
You can only gain the new weapons if you locate the forest gate. (for those of you who were wondering) The other quests have other drops.
Next week:
You will at last meet the guardians who stand sentinel by their gate. They have been apparently waiting for you for a VERY long time. Next week… the boss fight with the guardians of the forest gate.
Music drives us, and often the lyrics of a song find relevance in our daily lives. For today, the best quote for relevance is “What a long strange trip it’s been”. It seems Nivalis, ever the crafty villain has done his dead level best to stop yet another release from happening. He really doesn’t want you to discover the gates. And that’s what happens this Friday! You will embark on a search for the Forest Gate, and the Guardians who await you.
Often a Heroes quality is known to all, from their own heroic deeds in defense of Kingdom and all that he holds dear. Sometimes however, the people who must rely on the hero have not had the opportunity to observe that hero doing what he does best. In those cases the quality of the hero must be tested to the fullest. What qualities are sought for depend on the person doing the searching. The next few quests are going to test your qualities.
The quality being tested now is patience. You must seek out the forest gate where it lies hidden, somewhere in the vast forested region between Oaklore and Falconreach.
Tomorrow you will navigate through a series of quests while searching for the forest gate. If you find the gate, a shiny new Nature weapon set awaits you! There are not one, not two, not even three, but SIX new quests, built into one. Only one of the quests holds the forest gate and the guardians! Good Luck!
You guys did an absolutely amazing job finishing the Friday the 13th Rift War! All of you guys fought together and went through an insane amount of waves in the last hour bringing home victory for the War Challenge with just ten minutes to spare!
You guys literally beat us to the boss fight, after us having a crazy week at the office*! The imp pets were awarded in a special mini-quest with the new Ashen Squire monsters. Now though... now it's time for the boss! Tomix did an amazing job animating it and Rolith did some very mean things programming it. Tomix also made a wicked looking helm for the boss fight rewards!
Fixes! Just a quick note, Rolith has adjusted the xp for leveling from 60 to 70. I've also fixed several items that were unsellable/undestroyable if you're looking to clear some inventory space.
*Rolith got bogged down with server work and poor Tomix was sick on Thursday. D:
Congrats guys! You beat us to the war boss! Rolith is now running around the office with his hair on fire.* You guys can collect your imp pets in the new, special wave of Ashen Squires! The General attacks tomorrow!
True Mortal has crafted a special scythe in honor of his birthday! Log in now to get the Glaive of the Orb. It will only be available for a limited time!
A Message from Tomix and Ghost regarding the war:
Noooooooo! You're going too fast! Slooooooooow doooooooooooowwwwwwwn or the cutscenes and rewards won't be ready!*
*May be slightly exaggerated... ;) but yeah, you're going waaaaay fast. D:<
So, the end of 2011 was a crazy holiday season with people getting sick, travelling and foolishly thinking they could take vacations! With all the rush of trying to get everything done poor Togslayer armor got lost in the shuffle.
Luckily, it's a leap year, so we totally have an extra day.
So, it has been decided that we're going to have a special release on February 29th, 2012. For that one day, 24 hours, you'll be able to get Togslayer, gather "coal" from a random quest filled with togs and train the armor up. After that, you gotta wait for next time the Frostval Storybook appears.
A special shop is now live in Falconreach! It is the Year of the Water Dragon and True Mortal has crafted a beautiful staff and scythe that will be available for just a limited time!
The next True Mortal quest is here! This week's quest is a cutscene teaser. Very soon you guys will have to help True Mortal quest for the other gates! Log in now to learn more about the mysterious guardian and what secrets he holods inside himself!
Swordhaven The blacksmith shop is open in Swordhaven! Visit the newly opened shop and trade in a lost amulet for one of the Purified Guard's Weapons!
The Swordhaven Fields random is now available from the Guard Captain as well! In addition to some of the previously redone weapons, the Fields also have a chance to drop a redone version of The Scourge axe.
Rift War: NEW Challenge Over 4 million waves have been defeated in Rift War! As a new War Challenge, can you guys defeat the remains of the infernal army by Thurday, January 26th, 6pm server time? If you can... some impish pets may await you as rewards!
The 50% by Friday War Challenge has been met! Unfortunately, it wasn't done by 6pm server so those hats will have to wait until the next war, but look for the new infernal weapons to appear tomorrow!
It's Thursday, just a few hours left for the official War Challenge announced last Friday on the homepage! If you guys can get to 50% by Friday then new fire weapons, crafted by Dracelix, will be added to the war loot table!
Dracelix has also decided to up the ante on his own! If you guys can get to 50% by 6PM server time tonight then these awesome imp hats will be added as well!
Dracelix has revamped a very special set of weapons for the Frostval finale boss fight this week! Check them out in all their frosty goodness!
This Friday we'll have to face down Rolith and try to save the holiday! I don't think those poor moglins can take anymore silly hat days.... Rolith himself is programming his boss monster. Every time I ask how it's going he just starts twirling his moustache and laughing. Which is weird 'cause I'm not sure where he got the moustache from.
Friday is also going to be presents day! Dracelix has worked hard on some crazy awesome weapons to go with a very special gift from Ghost!
Chronocorrupter Time is ticking down on those Chaorrupted Clocks. If you want your chance at the exclusive Chronocorrupter Armor in DF, there are very few calendars left!
Rolith is being crazy overprotective in Frostvale this year. Will you be able to get inside and stop him? Or are you going to be stuck out in the cold during this year's Frostval? You'll be able to collect coal in this week's quest to upgrade your presents once they open too!
The TogTog House and organ furniture is also available in Chapter 6 of the Frostval Storybook too! Tomix and Dracelix made some really cool items to go inside of it!
Happy Birthday to Dracelix and Tomix as well! Dracelix has made a special glaive that can be bought through the News Post!
The stockings have been hung on the super-fortified boundry fence patrolled by fierce togs with care...
It's going to have to be a stealthy Frostval this year if you want in!
TogTog Poor Togtog was taken down too soon by that rogue ice golem. Tomix has worked hard to create a nice, cozy one room house for you to enjoy.
Sorry about the smell, but it'll keep you nice and warm this Frostval season. It shouldn't be so bad inside if you fung shui the organ furniture that Tomix and Dracelix are making!
Frostvale Break-In The only way you're getting in Frostvale this holiday season is if you break in! Rolith has gone crazy overboard protecting the moglins this year and you have to make sure he doesn't keep out all the holiday cheer as well. You're going to have to get past his packs of roving togs first.... Better hope you can make it through!
This week's release is slated for... tomorrow! The Underground Lab is shutting down for it's own de-togging over the holidays (we can only do that when Rolith is out of town, so it's the perfect time right now.) so look for the new quest, hopefully*, tomorrow! There's a lot to do, so back to work I go to make sure the release isn't too late....
Looks like someone else has taken over the protection of the frost moglins... At least that means less work for you, right?! Nothing could possibly go wrong this year with extra help to keep Frostvale safe!
Swordhaven Our two apprentices have met their third and are now trying to impress her! Can Alex impress her with his levitating skills? Or will he end up destroying all the rare resource materials she needs for her studies? Will she even get her nose out of her book long enough to notice?
It happened early this morning. A huge black panther raced into the village. It was being pursued by a large Oni. Kensai Greydawn grinned wolfishly as the Oni came in, and stepped into a battlestance. The Oni froze then started laughing. A quick slash from his nodachi into the thin air was the Kensai’s response. The Oni opened his mouth to laugh then started coughing blood. Somehow, from across a distance, Kensai Greydawns strike hit home, but I do not understand how. The Panther turned and leapt into the air taking the Oni down the rest of the way. Thorn raced across the village and stopped in front of the panther. For a moment it seemed almost as if they were conversing, then the panther turned and padded across the square and sat down in front of Kensai Greydawn. The panther seems to have attached himself to Kensai Greydawn. His name is Tsumedo.
Congratulations to Lady_Dragonrider for providing the winning name.
Runners Up:
Axemeus for Tachi SeventhSword2 for Musashi Shaiyal for Chiyo Asgardian Ferret for Bak Hira Discipline for Nakitai
Honorable Mention:
Lady Greydawn for bringing back memories of the coolest cat to ever stride through my life. Lester was my cat for fifteen years, and never failed to bring the laughter into our lives.
Thank you all for your submissions. You all have such clever ideas!
That creepy, burnt out house in Swordhaven's Residential Section holds secrets... you know it! No one in town will go near it. Rumors swirl about what happened to it and what's contained inside now. All that's left is for you to explore it and see what you find... and open a new character slot!
With the new slot you'll be able to see Swordhaven past and learn the story of a promising young wizard's apprentice! Dracelix has also made new versions of the Legendary Magma weapons that can be found in the new Mutant Caves random quest!
It's Getting Chilly! Check out the Frostval Storybook and play through past events! Snow is coming....
Frist of all a new version of Swordhaven is up! The Guard Captain has two new random quests, with more to come next week. Fight your way through the forests and marshes around Swordhaven and collect revamped versions of weapons that dropped from the original randoms!
Ohhhh, pretty!
The residential section is also open, as well as a new shop with adorable Sewer Pets in the Market!
Dragonsgrasp They flying city of Dragonsgrasp also got an update this week with a brand new house item shop! Just find your way to the Inn and the continue going left past the guard with the polearm. A brand new house style (NINE rooms!*) and lots of new house items await you there!
This week we'll see a bunch of new randoms in Swordhaven which begs the question... what would you like to see drop from the new randoms?
The original randoms had a huge amount of classic weapons and DF's new mystery intern has been charged with revamping them for the new randoms, but which ones would you guys like to see redone? (The new intern would like to sleep so redoing allllll the old wespons might be a bit much.) Which weapons do you like just the way they are but want to see higher level versions of? Try to keep it to the drops available in the original randoms!
Child's Play Child's Play is an awesome charity that helps get games and fun items to sick kids around the world. Artrix Entertainment has been a supporter for several years. This year though, thanks to all our players generosity we've been able to become Platnium Sponsers! We just want to thank all of you for helping through playing our games! We couldn't have done it without you!
It's Black Friday... Friiiii-day... Friiiiiiiii-day!*
The shops are now live with the new water Monolith set from Tomix and pitch black Harvester Wings from True Mortal! There are also lots of goodies in the Half-Off shop. Everything from the Half-Awf set to Half-Dragon Wings!
Turducken Fever! The Turducken Titan is still buggy, but Rolith is working hard to tenderize it into submission. Keep a look-out for it!
Oh woooooow, it's been a crazy couple days! I was up last night until three am working on the feast map for you guys, then I flew north for the winter (/cough, Thanksgiving dinner) today, Rolith isn't feeling well, Turduckens are exploding and the release is finally live!
Just visit the sign-post in Falconreach and hit EAT to dig into this year's Thankstaking quests! Remember that Friday will see new Black Friday shops too!
I'm sorry it's so late, it has been a craaaazzzy day to end a very short week. Enjoy your Turducken!
Happy Thankstaking week! This Thursday will be turkey day for most of the AE family which means a very short week to get stuff together for you guys. This also means the quest release for you guys will be on Wednesday! Eric Greydawn has sent along the script to Ghost and I'm putting together the quest map now and it will hopefully all be ready by Wednesday....*
Friday will see special shops though too! Tomix and True Mortal are working on brand new rares for the Black Friday shop and we'll also have the traditional Half-Off Shop!
Last weeks quest to Swordhaven only scratched at the surface of what the capital has to offer... we only saw the very outskirts and everyone was busy checking out those ancient scrolls (or trying to steal the ones you were delivering since they didn't pre-order).
This week the beginning of the town proper is now open for exploration! Ghost has worked hard on getting the majesty of Swordhaven across and you'll be able to wander through the Market and Plaza sections this week. The Residential and Nobles (a.k.a. Fancypants) sections will come in next few weeks as well as weapon, pet and house shops!
Those of you with an itch to explore can find their way into Swordhaven's massive sewer system. Locked doors, hidden chests and stockpiled goodies await those who are willing to venture into their depths. Can you brave all the creepy crawlies that live down there though?
We're working on the beginning of a whole new town for this Friday! Ghost is hard at work on the surface of Swordhaven proper!
Last weeks simple escort quest only saw the very outskirts of the town, which was fairly closed up due to everyone avoiding the crazy bandits and Jillians who were after the ancient scrolls (the smart ones had gotten theirs the night before at midnight anyways). This week will see the main part of town starting to open up, as well as new random quests, an extensive, stinky sewer system and a creepy, mysterious burnt down house! The town will not be finished this week but will continue to grow in the coming weeks.
Thankstaking! Eric Greydawn has been hard at work writing the cutscenes for this year's Thankstanking event which will happen next week! Will you be able to be fight off the effects of a heavy meal and save the day?
The Friday after Thankstaking will also have the traditional shops! Tomix and True Mortal are working on awesome new items for the 26th, but I'd like to know what you guys want to see in the Half-Off Shop! Let me know on the forums.
The escort quest is coming soon, guys! There are some techinical issues and I'm working to get them fixed, but I didn't want to hold back the Sil Ruins. So get in there and get exploring!
Update: The quest has been rebuilt! Vist Faramonde in Verteroche Crossing to start the latest escort quest!
