AdventureQuest Worlds

Adventure Quest World
Developer(s)	Artix Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Artix Entertainment (Artix Krieger, founder of Artix Entertainment)
Series	The newer and multiplayer version of AdventureQuest
Version	Version 1.0
Platform(s)	Adobe Flash Player
Release date(s)	2 June 2008 (Alpha) 18 August 2008 (Beta) 10 October 2008 (Live)
Genre(s)	MMORPG a.k.a. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+
System requirements Web browser & Adobe Flash Player 8.0+

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, reaching 6 million in May and 9 million in July 2009. On 10 October 2011, the game celebrated its third birthday.

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, and Michael Sinterniklaas as the voice of Deady.

Plot synopsis

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.

The plot centers on the player hunting down the 13 Lords of Chaos, a group controlled by the antagonist Drakath. The player may also choose to side with two other factions known as Good (led by King Alteon) or Evil (led by Gravelyn) who have teamed up to fight Drakath and his 13 Lords of Chaos, each of which can summon a deadly Chaos Beast.

• 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. and used his Staff of Inversion to invert everything there including it's 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. 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-bō, 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. 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.
• 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). 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 it's 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 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.

Sub-Plots

Outside of the Lords of Chaos storyline, there were some sub-plots that occured in the middle of the different arcs:

• King Alteon's former archlord Maximilian Lionfang and his soldiers have just purged a castle of it's necromancer. When it came to the truce between good and evil, Maximilian Lionfang was blind to the fact that Drakath and his 13 Lords of Chaos are attacking Lore. Maximilian and his forces then capture King Alteon, Artix, Cysero, Robina, Warlic, Beleen, Galanoth, J6, Princess Ai No Miko, Twilly, Llusion, and Zhoom for the purpose of seeing his way of thinking. He even sent a message to Gravelyn stating that he will be going after her once he starts the Golden Onslaught. The players had to become temporary undead in order to get through the Death Fog surround his castle and fight his army of Golden Casters, Golden Cavalries, and Golden Warriors. Upon the players defeating Maximilian Lionfang and freeing the captives, Gravelyn tells the surviving members of the Golden Onslaught that they are free to join up with her or King Alteon. When Maximilian Lionfang refuses to believe the truth, he ends up jumping out of his castle. Upon emerging from his moat, he is approached by Xing and Xang who tell him that the alliance "must be punished.

• In the Frozen Northlands, Guwio Village is attacked by Snow Golems (the second versions of them) and Frost Wyrm Riders that are coming from Mount Frost. Upon defeating an armored Frost Dragon, the players are approached by Queen Aisha who is not pleased on how here "people" are treated and sends the players down Mount Frost. The players and the village Adak are approached by Nythera who states that she has a plan to defeat Queen Aisha and also reveals that Queen Aisha is the Queen of the Ice Dragons. Upon entering Queen Aisha's throne room, the players and Nythera confront Queen Aisha. While Nythera plans the instrument to Queen Aisha's defeat, Queen Aisha summons her Drake which fights the players. When the players defeat Queen Aisha's Drake, Queen Aisha transforms into her dragon form. Nythera arrives and uses the Chaos Gemerald to turn into a dragon where their attacks send the players flying out of Queen Aisha's lair. Nythera emerges victorious and tells the players to let Adak know that Queen Aisha was defeated. When Nythera discovers signs of her Chaorruption, she is approached by Xing and Xang. Sometime later, Adak informs the players that Nythera has gone missing and the players had to use a C.P.S. (short for Chaos Positioning System) to track her down. After destroying some Chaos Gemeralds, the players confront Nythera to stop her into losing herself to Chaos. Nythera ends up breaking a Chaos Gemerald enabling her to assume her dragon form. Upon her defeat, the players try to reason with Nythera's dragon form only for Nythera's dragon form to escape to the Void. When the players follow her into the Void, the players find Nythera in a meeting with the Void Dragon who asks Nythera if she is ready to fulfill her destiny. The Void Dragon wants Nythera to sacrifice herself so that he can become the greatest dragon in all of Lore much to the objection of Nythera. When the Void Dragon tries to sacrifice Nythera, the players intervene and managed to defeat the Void Dragon. Upon telling Nythera that she can't have her destiny influenced by others, Nythera thanks the players and uses her dragon form to get them out of the Void and back to Guwio Village. Unfortunately, Xing and Xang have taken interest in the Void.

• In Doomwood, there had been a lot of Paladins going missing in the area. They discover that a Paladin Slayer named Vordred is behind this and Vordred ends up turning the players into Undead. Lucky for them, Vayle arrives and uses the last power in her creature shard to restore them to normal. The players learn from Zorbak that Vordred was created in the Necropolis. When the players enter a tower and meet it's inhabitant Sally, she states that she helped to create Vordred with her lich teacher Noxus. Vordred later attacks Lightguard Keep and tracks Artix to his cell only to discover that Artix is missing. Vayle reveals that escaped and went to look for Vordred. When Vordred claims Artix's Blinding Light of Destiny, he discovers that it is not powered by light, but by the souls that he had freed from the undead. Vordred converts the Blinding Light of Destiny into the Shadow Reaper of Doom which he plans to use to slay Artix. Vordred joins Noxus into attacking Shadowfall where they confront Gravelyn as Noxus reveals that he was the one who taught Sepulchure about necromancy. Upon taking over Gravelyn's army, Vordred and Noxus managed to enslave Gravelyn and plan to use her as bait to lure out Artix. When Noxus sends Vordred to Castlemania upon getting word from Sally that ArcAttack is there, the players managed to fight their way through Noxus' army. With help from the head of Gravelyn's servant Chuckles, the players managed to rescue Gravelyn and defeat Noxus. Gravelyn takes the opportunity to switch Noxus' head with Chuckles' head while planning to have Cysero convert Noxus' head into a weapon for her to use. The players arrive in Castlemania where they planned to have ArcAttack give Vordred too much electricity to handle. Unfortunately, it made Vordred even stronger as he leaves to go confront Artix. When the players catch up to Artix, the players join him into fighting Vordred. Artix managed to command the Spirit Orbs in the skulls and Shadow Reaper of Doom that Vordred absorbed into attacking him from within severely weakening him. The players managed to use their attacks to remove Vordred's armor revealing his true form of Enraged Vordred. When Enraged Vordred tries to convert Artix into an Undead, it doesn't work as it turns out that Artix is the true Champion of Darkness. Vordred unleashes his shadow while the players use the Shadowscythe Amulet to transform Artix into a Darkness Dragon which pins the giant Vordred shadow as Vordred becomes Shadow Vordred. When Vordred is defeated, he is finished off by Daimyo, Zorbak, Vayle, and Gravelyn before he can make one last attempt to kill Artix. When Sally learns that Vordred was destroyed, she is approached by Drakath who gives her Vordred's helmet. After Drakath leaves, Sally vows to reconstruct Vordred and make him stronger upon opening the real Necropolis.

• A strange archway appears in Battleon where the players go through. They encounter the Dravix priest X'Dir who states that his dragon master Desoloth has been wrongfully imprisoned by the Prime Elemental Dragons. Upon the players defeating the dragons Moganth the Prime Earth Dragon, Udaroth the Prime Water Dragon, Cellot the Prime Air Dragon, and Zellare the Prime Fire Dragon, the players end up freeing Desoloth. It was then revealed that the players were tricked and end up fighting Desoloth who is the the embodiment of all the elements. Despite his defeat, Desoloth makes a quick recovery and leaves his shade behind while he escapes into Lore and has X'Dir teleport the players back to Battleon. Desoloth ends up heading to Etherstorm Wastes where the elements there end up colliding and battling. The players arrive in Etherstorm Wastes and meet the Dravix Hs'Sakar: High Priest of the Prime Fire Dragon who reveals the situation to the players and learns that the players were misled by X'Dir into freeing him. Upon studying the scroll that Hs'Sakar gave him, the players start in Etherstorm Waste's Fire Realm and end up securing the dragon Ssikari to be Zellare's successor. Once that is done, Warlic and Galanoth arrive to help the players. The players, Galanoth, and Warlic meet the other Dravix priests Dr'Ader: High Priest of the Prime Earth Dragon, As'iiur: High Priest of the Prime Air Dragon, and Ll'rillor: High Priest of the Prime Water Dragon. While the Dravix priests discuss the situation at Hs'Sakar's alter, Galanoth tells the players and Warlic that the elements going out of control would end up causing a worldwide dragon war if they don't act fast. At Hs'Sakar's alter, the Dravix priests learn the identity of the other three dragons that they can train to use to help the players defeat Desoloth. X'Dir then arrives and starts to tell the Dravix priests of what he has to say. As'iiur brings the players and Galanoth to Etherstorm Waste's Air Realm where the Earth and Air battle following the demise of Cellot. As'iiur tells the players and Drakath that he has offered to create a spell that would bind and subdue Desoloth. While the players gather the ingredients for the spell, As'iiur discusses the strength of the spell to Galanoth. When the ingredients are gathered, As'iiur sends the players to get the spell info from Hs'Sakar while he asks Galanoth of the potency of the Dragon's Fire Pollen. In a bright light, As'iiur's screams are heard. When the players and Warlic arrive, they learn that Galanoth has left in a rage which would not go well with the binding spell that was to be used on Desoloth. While As'iiur prepares to find a successor for Cellot, Warlic and Artix set out to find Galanoth for their sakes and for the sake of the Dravix priests. As'iiur meets with X'Dir where it was mentioned that Galanoth was able to injure Desoloth. As'iiur mentions that he called upon the Air Spell to left Galanoth. In Etherstorm Waste's Water Realm, the players learned that they have hide the remaining dragons except for Ss'Kari and that they are deciding on As'iiur's replacement. Meanwhile, Galanoth and As'iiur's lemur Omom are visited by the Air Acolyte Ang'st who helps with his situation. The players temporarily become the Priests of Air in place of As'iiur. Ll'rillor had the players interrupt the magical weave that is protecting the Proto Prime Dragons. Meanwhile, Galanoth sees X'Dir and As'iiur with Desoloth as Galanoth grabs his sword. After breaking the spell and slaying the Deep Dweller, the players retrieve the eggs of the Proto Prime Dragons. Ang'st arrives telling everyone that Galanoth is in grave danger. Warlic leaves to help Ang'st rescue Galanoth while the players stay with the Dravix Priests. Galanoth continues his with Desoloth while the Dravix Priests have the Proto Prime Dragons. Galanoth makes a strike to Desoloth's mouth only to lose his right arm in the process. Warlic heals Galanoth as they hope that the players and the Dravix Priests can train the Proto Prime Dragons and take down Desoloth for him.

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

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

See also

• Artix Entertainment
• AdventureQuest
• DragonFable

External links

• AdventureQuest Worlds
• AdventureQuest Worlds design notes