AdventureQuest Worlds

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AdventureQuest Worlds, often shortened to AQWorlds or simply AQW, is a browser-based MMORPG or massively multiplayer online role playing game developed by Artix Entertainment in 2008. Unlike most massively multiplayer role playing games, AdventureQuest Worlds was developed entirely in Adobe Flash. It currently has over 16 million registered accounts,^[1][2] reaching 6 million in May^[3] and 9 million in July 2009.^[4]

Setting

The setting of the game is in the same universe as AdventureQuest, DragonFable, and MechQuest. The universe of AdventureQuest Worlds came into being when the Dragon of Time was defeated by Galanoth leading all the stray storylines of the previous games to come together into one.

Gameplay

Upon creating an account, players are asked to choose one of four "starting classes" to be as their personal character, which are warrior, mage, healer, and rogue. When the players start the game, they will also automatically receive a default weapon. In AQWorlds, there is little meaning of weapons; they are all based on art quality. The only significant choice a player can make about a weapon based on how "good" it is is when viewing a weapon's base damage range. Otherwise, the weapon (which come in either a sword, club, ax, pole arm, staff, dagger, or gun, helm, cape, and armor) are all based on looks. If a player has a pet it is also useless unless it is a batltle pet. The way a player can advance and essentially progress and get better is by leveling up, which adds to their stat character page, making various abilities and attack power better, enhancements (which enhance a weapon to add stat modifiers, which come in either wizard, fighter, thief, healer, hybrid, spellbreaker, lucky, spitfire, and adventurer), and class. Class can determine all of your stats and the way you play because of the abilities. All classes have 5 abilities, one of which is always an "auto attack" or simply just striking an enemy. They may also have another "passive" abilities that is unlocked at rank 10. Classes all start off as Rank 1 and progress as they receive class points from defeating enemies. This may depend on the enemies' level and stars (1-5). Upon defeating enemies, players also receive experience and gold. Players an also receive reputation for a certain faction in order to gain ranks (again, 1-10) for completing the various quests and quest chains in the game.

Events

AdventureQuest Worlds has special events on special occasions, usually lasting afterwards to a week. Some are unique to the day (one time only), while others are presumed to be annual events. There were also live events with guest stars like Voltaire, One-Eyed Doll, George Lowe, Paul and Storm, Jonathan Coulton, the cast of Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ayi Jihu, ArcAttack, They Might Be Giants, Andrew Huang, Mia J. Park, and Michael Sinterniklaas as the voice of Deady.

Plot synopsis

Prologue

The Doom Knight Sepulchure and his army invaded Swordhaven. King Alteon of Lore faced Sepulchure in a one-on-one duel to stop him. Unfortunately, the duel was crashed by Drakath who killed Sepulchure and plans to unleash his 13 Lords of Chaos upon Lore. Drakath crashes the castle of Shadowfall.^[5] After the attack, the forces of good (led by King Alteon) and the forces of evil (led by Sepulchure's daughter Gravelyn) form a truce to fight Drakath and the Lords of Chaos. There are already signs of Chaorruption (short for Chaos Corruption) in the nearby forest and marsh causing the player to capture the Chaorrupted Wolves, Chaorrupted Bear, and Chaos Spiders alongside some antidote-based plants to be studied.

13 Lords of Chaos Saga

Drakath sends each of his 13 Lords of Chaos to each of the countries to cause chaos there:

• The First Lord of Chaos is Escherion, a battle mage who is a homage to M.C. Escher. Escherion arrived in Mobius with his army of Fire Imps, Chaos Sp-Eyes, Cyclops Raiders, Chainsaw Sneevils, and Gargoyles. Escherion used his Staff of Inversion to invert everything there including its Guardian Tower which he uses as a base. His henchmen are Slugfit, Cyclops Warlord, and Head Gargoyle. He sent his armies throughout Chiral Valley to look for the Runix Cube. The players had to go to the locations to retrieve the pieces of the Runix Cube first in Mobius, the Faerie Woods, and Cornelis. Upon recovering all three pieces, the players forge the disguise of a pizza delivery guy to infiltrate his tower and fight through the soldiers there. After besting Head Gargoyle, the players finally confront Escherion. They throw the Runix Cube at him not knowing what it does. He takes the opportunity to grab the Cube and eject the character from the tower, then awakening the Lake Hydra (the first of the "Chaos Beasts" that accompany each Chaos Lord) under orders by Drakath. When the Lake Hydra is defeated, the character then goes back to Escherion. After taking out the Staff of Inversion and Escherion, the character demands that Escherion leave Chiral Valley and never return. When Escherion retaliates, the character uses a Mirror Shield found in Cornelis to deflect Escherion's spells. When he tries to polymorph the character, he ends up turning himself into a toad which undoes the effects of his inversion spells. Drakath gets word of this and prepares his next Lord of Chaos after stating that Escherion has served his purpose.
• The Second Lord(s) of Chaos are the twins Xing and Xang. They haven't been fought yet, but have enticed Maximilian Lionfang and Nythera to their side. Xing and Xang were then seen taking interest in the Void. Xing and Xang also appear in the Bloodtusk Ravine where they are summoned by the player to answer five questions. They also pair the Trolls and Horcs against each other in order to help Drakath determine who will become the Ninth Lord of Chaos.
• The Third Lord of Chaos is Vath, a Drow Dragonlord who wields the Dragon Control Amulet and the Sword of Dragon Control to control the dragon Stalagbite. He enslaved Dwarfhold with his army of Drow Soldiers, Drow Assassins, and Chaotic Draconians and is served by the Drow Warden Elfis (who is a homage to Elvis Presley) and the Scorpion Rider D'wain Jonsen (who is a homage to Dwayne Johnson). The Chaos Beast hatched by him is the Rock Roc using the Chaos Gemeralds. After the players hijack Stalagbite to shoot down the Rock Rock, Vath regains control of Stalagbite as the players finish off the Rock Roc. The players then fight Vath even when he summons Stalagbite to his side. After defeating Vath and Stalagbite, the players demand that Vath surrenders. When Vath conjures his Dragon Control Amulet, the players throw the disarmed Sword of Dragon Control at the amulet destroying both of the Dragon Control items. This frees Stalagbite from Vath's control as Stalagbite pins down Vath. Upon stating that he will meet the players again and will remember their good deeds, Stalagbite carries Vath away to an unknown fate.
• The Fourth Lord of Chaos is Kitsune, an anthropomorphic fox. Upon being Chaorrupted by Drakath, he persuaded the Blue Kappa Ninja, Green Kappa Ninja, Ninja Noppera-bōs, Samurai Noppera-bōs, Tanukis, Tsukumo-gamis, and Funa-Yureis to join his cause into claiming Yōkai Island for the Yōkai. His henchmen are Dai Tengu, SoulTaker, Onibaba, Nure-Onna, and Neko Mata. Princess Ai No Miko summoned the players to Yōkai Island when she discovers that her father Emperor Daisho has been brainwashed by Kitsune as the players compete in the Dragon Koi Tournament for the prize of the Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade. He uses the stolen Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade to summon the Forbidden O-Dokuro from the Rift of Time as his Chaos Beast. The players managed to defeat Kitsune and reclaim the Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade. When Kitsune refuses to admit defeat, he charges the players until they unknowingly use the Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade to open a rift that sucks Kitsune into the Yokai World as the players close the rift. With Kitsune gone, Emperor Daisho is freed from Kitsune's spell and the players win the Dragon Koi Tournament.
• The Fifth Lord of Chaos is Wolfwing, a Werepyre (part werewolf, part vampire) that was Chaorrupted by Drakath as stated to the player by Shadowslayer Z. Chaos Wolfwing created an army of Chaos Lycan Knights, Chaos Vampire Knights, and Werepyres in a plot to take over Darkovia. Because of his threats, the players had to get the Vampire Queen Safira and the Werewolf King Constantin to call a truce to help defeat Wolfwing. He bites a dragon on the Mystic Wolf Moon to turn it into the Dracowerepyre (a combination of a dragon, a vampire and a werewolf) as his Chaos Beast. When the players defeat Wolfwing, he is shot by an arrow launched by Shadowslayer Z. What Shadowslayer Z and the players don't know is that the moon is slowly restoring Wolfwing's remains.
• The Sixth Lord of Chaos is a Chaorrupted Kimberly Freeman of One-Eyed Doll who was Chaorrupted by a song done by Drakath. She used Discordia (a parody of Erik from The Phantom of the Opera) as her proxy in her plans to take over Mythsong Canyon. Kimberly and Discordia used mesmerizing music to hypnotize the Beatles, Tune-A-Fish, Grateful Undeads, Rock Lobsters, Stingers, Pachelbells Cannons, Music Pirates, and Flying Music Pirates to disrupt Lorestockapalooza (a homage to Woodstock). She sent the players back in time to fight her Chaos Beast Pony Gary Yellow (a Triceratops/Dragon-like creature).^[6] Upon Kimberly's defeat, she is freed from the control of Drakath's Chaorrupted song.
• The Seventh Lord of Chaos is Ledgermayne, a bunch of raw mana that gained shape upon exposure to Drakath's chaos magic making him a "living magic." He bewitched the Seed Spitters, Gorillaphants (part gorilla, part elephant creatures), Acornents (which were created from acorns), Karasus (which were created from ravens), Swamp Frogdrakes, Swamp Lurkers, Anglerfish, Merdraconians (half Draconian, half fish), Earth Elementals, Water Elementals, Wind Elementals, Fire Elementals, Volcanic Maggots, Scoria Serpents, Living Fires, Mana Imps, and Mana Falcons in a plot to take over Arcangrove. While the players were gathering the components to the Supreme Arcane Staff (consisting of the Rod of Defiance from Mudluk Village, the Runes of Riparian from the Natatorium in Arcangrove Loch, the Wraps of Gilead from Great Gilead, and the Chaos Focus Gem from Mount Mafic). Upon knowing that Drakath would fail, Ledgermayne took matters into his own hands and leaves Drakath to initiate his own plans. When it came to the Chaos Focus Gem, Ledgermayne appeared and smashed it stating that the players will never defeat him. Yet the players managed to gather the fragments. Ledgermayne frees the Mana Golem from its prison on the Para-Elemental Plane of Magic to be his Chaos Beast. Upon Ledgermayne's defeat, Drakath appears and combines his powers with the players' Supreme Arcane Staff to reduce Ledgermayne back into raw mana.
• The Eighth Lord of Chaos is Tibicenas, a Chaos Jinn who used the hedge-mage Zahart as his master in a plot to conquer the Sandsea. He used the Heart of the Sphinx to animate the Chaos Sphinx as his Chaos Beast. When the genie ring that Zahart was wielding was destroyed by Zhoom, Tibicenas turned against Zahart and began his plans to go to the Djinn World and take revenge on the Efreet. With help from the Efreet, the players managed to defeat Tibicenas who explodes after that freeing Zahart from his control.
• The Ninth Lord of Chaos is Krellenos, a Troll prophet who assists Xing and Xang into pitting the Orcs and Trolls of Bloodtusk Ravine against each other. He even managed to Chaorrupt his brother Antiphuus into a Chaotic Troll. His army consisted of Chaotic Chinchilizards (a hybrid of a chinchilla and a lizard), Chaotic Horcboars, Chaotic Koalions (a hybrid of a koala and a lion), Chaotic Lemurphants (a hybrid of a lemur and an elephant), Chaotic Rhisons (a hybrid of a rhinoceros and a bison), Chaos Tigriffs (a hybrid of a tiger and an eagle), Chaotic Vultures, Chaorrupted Good Soldiers, Chaorrupted Evil Soldiers, Chaorrupted Good Lieutenants, Chaorrupted Evil Lieutentants, Serpentress (described to be female Trolls that were turned into Half-Troll Half-Snake creatured by the Singing Gods), Chaos Horc Spirits, and Chaos Troll Spirits. He later transforms a Serpentress into the Gruaige Baas (an undead Gorgon) to be his Chaos Beast. Krellenos is killed by his sister Khasaanda (who is a homage to Cassandra) who steals his Chaos Powers, usurps his position, and plans to defeat Drakath. Upon being defeated in a forced battle against the players, Khasaanda plans to use her Chaos powers to track down Drakath and use her Chaos powers to defeat Drakath.

Payment

The main form of payment is membership, a monthly, three-monthly, six-monthly or yearly fee required to access additional game content. However AQ Worlds can be played for free without this additional game content. Like Artix Entertainment's other games, microtransactions, known in AdventureQuest Worlds as AdventureCoins, can be used to buy exclusive ingame items. Most Artix Entertainment merchandise can also be redeemed for ingame items.

Adventure Coins may be bought on the website or via Battleon Points. (Used only if the account on AQ Worlds has been linked with the Master Account) They can be used in many shops on the game such as Yulgar's Suggestion Shop. The coins can be used to buy some of the best items in the game in terms of art quality. There is a variety of methods you can use to purchase coins. This includes Cell Phone, Home phone, Credit Card and Cards that you can redeem online (bought in a shop) These are only a few methods.

Reception

This section requires expansion.

Carolyn Koh, from MMORPG.com, stated that "AdventureQuest Worlds is a fun little casual MMO".^[7] Kotaku's Mike Fahey praised the idea of using advertisements when the player died.^[8] Pete Davison, from GamePro, also noted the advertisements at death, calling it an "interesting" idea.^[9]

See also

• Artix Entertainment
• AdventureQuest
• DragonFable
• [http://www.aq.com AQworlds

References

External links

• AdventureQuest Worlds
• AdventureQuest Worlds design notes