AdventureQuest

AdventureQuest
File:InduPordetras.jpg This image shows a lot of the AdventureQuest NPCs and Character Class leaders.
Developer(s)	Artix Entertainment
Platform(s)	Macromedia Flash Player
Release	2002
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single-player

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A minimized version of the AdventureQuest logo.

AdventureQuest (also referred to by its website name BattleOn, or as simply AQ) is an online, single-player, RPG developed by Artix Entertainment in 2002. It is created in Flash and uses anime-style graphics and animations.

Characters engage in turn-based combat against monsters to accumulate experience points (known as XP) and gold. Characters have a combat level and six stats to train. Several Character classes are available including fighter, knight, paladin, mage, wizard, necromancer, rogue, beast master, dragon slayer, ninja, dracomancer, and vampire slayer. Players may use gold that they have earned from killing monsters and completing quests to purchase weapons, armour, shields, spells, pets and miscellaneous items to aid them in combat. There are always new areas to explore, and special events such as holidays and wars for players to meet new types of monsters and complete quests.

Players may play a limited version of AdventureQuest for free (free players are called Adventurers), or pay a one-time fee of US $19.95 to become a Guardian and unlock extra features. An X-Boost, which costs an additional US $5, if bought with Guardianship, and $10.95 for existing Guardians, grants the player 10% extra XP per battle and other benefits. Guardians may also play ArchKnight, another Artix game loosely based on AdventureQuest which is somewhat abandoned and replaced by DragonFable. As there is a limit on the amount of free players playing simultaneously, and the free version of the game is very limited, some consider the free version to be simply a free demo, instead of a free web RPG. All accounts (including free accounts) can have up to five different characters.

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The AdventureQuest starting screen

History

Artix Entertainment, formed in 2004, introduced a server cap in May 2004, a month before AdventureQuest reached one million users.

As AdventureQuest grew, Artix Entertainment added new methods to pay for in-game content, such as X-Guardianship (in October 2005) and Z-Tokens (in June 2006), and released other games, such as DragonFable (on 26 July 2005), ArchKnight and ZardWars. Recently Artix Entertainment has been creating small flash games called MiniGames.

Gameplay

Combat

Much of AdventureQuest's gameplay revolves around fighting monsters and participating in events such as wars and holidays. In a fight, characters and monsters take turns attacking each other to reduce each other's health (known as HP). Once you're opponents health reaches zero you gain whatever experience and gold that monster is worth and you have a chance to find a small amount of Z-Tokens.

On his or her turn a character may attack with his or her weapon, cast a spell, drink a potion, use items, or run away. Before performing any of these activities, a player may change his or her character's weapon, shield, armor and pet (if one changes ones pet, ones turn is over). On a monster's turn, it may only attack, though some monsters have special attacks, such as healing. Under certain circumstances, a player may freeze a monster, causing its next attack turn to be skipped.

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A battle in AdventureQuest

Many factors can affect the outcome of a battle including the characters level, stats, weapons, armor, shield, and weaknesses to the monster's element as explained above. Both characters and monsters have a "defense modifier" for each of the eight elements; a higher defense modifier means an attack of that element does more damage, and a lower one means it does less. There is also a defense modifier for each of the three methods of attacks: melee, ranged and magic; a lower number means greater vulnerability to that method of attack. Players occasionally change their character's weapon, shield and armour according to the monster's defense modifiers.

Six stats affect the amount of damage inflicted and taken, as well as the probability of an attack being resisted. In addition, pets and guests assist the character in doing extra damage. Strategic use of spells and items will give a character an advantage in combat.

Once a monster's HP drops to zero, the monster dies, and the character is awarded with experience and gold. Sometimes, but not always, they will also be rewarded with Z-Tokens. If a character's HP drops below zero, the character dies, and has to speak to a non-player character named 'Death' to return to Battleon without any penalties. You can also click the hourglass near him to do a quest. This quest is a special "walk around" quest where you search for "Death"'s 12 lost hourglasses.

Shops and equipment

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Yulgar's Inn's shop, a shop in AdventureQuest

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An ad picture for the Legendary Blade Of Awe.

There are six types of equipment which increase a character's effectiveness in combat:

• Weapons are used to attack and inflict damage on monsters. Each individual weapon is given its own damage range, which can increase when a player's statistics are increased. Most weapons have "specials" or a special attack that occurs at a set rate. Weapons are divided into three categories which are melee, ranged, and magic.
• Shields affect a character's defense modifier.
• Armor, like shields, affect a character's defense modifier and also can give extra attacks.
• Items such as healing potions. Some items affect the character's defense modifier while others increase the player's statistics.
• Spells are an alternative method of attack. Some spells have other uses, like healing the player.
• Pets offer a bonus attack. The rate of the pet attacking can be increased with player statistics.

AdventureQuest has many shops where players may purchase equipment using gold. Every piece of equipment has a level requirement which the character must meet to be able to buy it. Each player starts out with a default weapon and armor that is automatically equipped. If a player regrets buying any equipment, they may sell the equipment at a loss. A character may hold up to seven weapons at a time (without including the default weapon), while they may purchase storage space to hold items outside of battle. Most equipment specializes in one of the eight elements (fire, ice, water, wind, earth, energy, light and darkness), but some equipment do not specialize in any element. There is also a rarely seen element, known as Element X.

Quests, events and challenges

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The map of the AdventureQuest world.

The most basic fights are started through random encounters (by clicking the "Battle Monsters") button, and after winning such fights, characters return to Battleon and can be fully healed by an NPC.

Besides random encounters, players can embark on quests. Quests are generally more challenging than random encounters because the character has to fight several monsters, and usually is not given the opportunity to heal in between battles. Some quests entail additional challenges, such as rolling a dice and continuing only if a high number is rolled.

Many quests are started by speaking to a character or by exploring regions on the map. Events are quests which are available for a limited period of time. There are annual events during AdventureQuest "holidays", such as Mogloween and Frostvale, and one-time events, such as wars. In challenges, characters have to defeat as many monsters as possible, but unlike quests, there is no immediate reward or plot continuation.

Stats

Characters have six stats which affect their success in combat:

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A character's statistics

• Strength (STR) increases the random damage of melee (and ranged) attacks, and the accuracy of melee attacks.
• Dexterity (DEX) increases the random damage of ranged attacks, the accuracy of all types of attacks, and the ability to block attacks.
• Intellect (INT) increases the random damage of magic attacks, the accuracy of magic attacks, and the character's maximum MP.
• Endurance (END) increases the character's maximum HP.
• Charisma (CHA) increases the damage and accuracy of pets and guests.
• Luck (LUK) increases a character's chance of going first in a battle, finding a treasure chest, and dodging monster attacks, as well as affecting accuracy for all attack types.

For each combat level a character gains, they are given 5 stat points. They may use these stat points to train their stats by paying a stat trainer and defeating them in combat.

If a player regrets training a stat, they may untrain their character's stats by doing the "Death's Domain" quest and losing to Sir Pwnsalot in combat. However, the money spent in training the stat will not be refunded.

Guardianship

Guardianship is a "premium" version of AdventureQuest, which players can buy for a one-time fee. As AdventureQuest has grown, Artix Entertainment has raised the fee several times; as of 22 October 2006, Guardianship costs $19.95, which can be paid for using credit card, PayPal, or PayByCash. Players who have bought this premium version are called "Guardians", while those playing the free version are called "Adventurers".

This premium version offers players several benefits. It grants access to additional quests, events, wars, locations, and a whole separate server. Many weapons, armours, shields, pets and other items in the game are only available to Guardians. Besides starting with two health and mana potions (instead of one of each type for Adventurers), Guardians have more powerful starting weapons, and can train up to level 10 in each class (instead of 5 for Adventurers). In addition, they can log in at any time, despite the server cap which limits the number of Adventurers that may play simultaneously.

X-Guardian Boost

Introduced in October 2005, the X-Guardian Boost (or simply the X-Boost) grants players several benefits, including an extra 10% XP per battle, 10,000 free gold, 200 free Z-Tokens and more starting potions. It can be bought with Guardianship for an extra $5.00, and costs $9.95 for existing Guardians. Guardians who have bought the X-Boost are called X-Guardians.

Z-Tokens

Introduced in June 2006 to replace the former system of donating money for items, Z-Tokens are rare coins in AdventureQuest, which players (both Adventurers and Guardians) will occasionally find after winning battles. Guardians may also purchase Z-Tokens with real money, with various exchange rates, including $9.95 for 2000 Z-Tokens.

Players may exchange Z-Tokens for in-game gold at the rate of 3,000 gold per 200 Z-Tokens, or use Z-Tokens to buy weapons, shields, armour and pets which are generally more powerful than those bought with in-game gold. They may also purchase inventory slots with Z-Tokens (at the rate of 200 Z-Tokens per slot).

Clans

There are 8 clans in AdventureQuest (one for each element). The bases can be found at Paxia, an island found by sailing east on the map. Players support their chosen clan through donating gold and Z-tokens. The Clans also have shops to buy Weapons and other items of the element of the Clan the player are in. Something else that the Clans hold is an activity in which the players play a puzzling, remembrance game to gain extra health for their particular Clan's base. The game is a lot like Simon. The longer the character plays the game the more health the Clan's base accumulates. Earlier in the Clan's development, there was only Geoto, Aerodu, and Nautica. Five other clans have since been added, but those who were in one of the original clans received a trophy that had benefits when used during battle.

The 8 Paxia Clans:

• Igneus (Clan of Fire)
• Glacius (Clan of Ice)
• Geoto (Clan of Earth)
• Aerodu (Clan of Wind)
• Lucian (Clan of Light)
• Nocturu (Clan of Darkness)
• Dynami (Clan of Energy)
• Nautica (Clan of Water)

Other Artix Entertainment games

In addition to AdventureQuest, Artix Entertainment has developed several other games, which only Guardians may play. ZardWars is a game similar to AdventureQuest, where the only monsters players can fight are "Zards" (dinosaur-type lizards). ArchKnight is a mini-game set three years before AdventureQuest. DragonFable, released on 26 July 2005, continues the storyline of ArchKnight. Recently, DragonFable was opened to non-Guardians, but players may purchase a Dragon Amulet, the DragonFable equivalent of Guardianship. Artix Entertainment was developing AssaultMecha, a new game where players control "mechs" (mechanised vehicles), but the project was cancelled.

Criticism

Server cap

There is a limit on the number of free players which can play simultaneously. The limit was fixed at 4,000 during the early days of AdventureQuest, but it currently fluctuates from 9,500 to 28,000 according to time of day and server load. Once the limit is reached, only Guardians may log in, until sufficient players log out or the limit increases.

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Overloaded servers are a problem with AdventureQuest

Because of the server cap, it can be difficult for free players to log in, especially because the server limit may occasionally decrease by nearly 50%, and all the available slots are usually taken moments after the server limit is increased.

Free players have tried various means to bypass the server cap. A web browser script that would immediately log a player in once it detected an available slot on the server was once available. In the past, there have been bugs which could be exploited by free players bypass the server cap, but these bugs have been fixed. Some fan sites offer server stats to give players a good idea of when to log in. Some free players, after successfully logging in, leave their computer on continuously to stay logged in.

Free accounts start out with 25 free logins that are used once every time that account logs into the game. AdventureQuest provides a survey that upon completion grants users another 24 hours of unlimited free logins. Additionally, after confirming the account's e-mail address, they get 48 hours of unlimited free login time, to help them become familiar with the game. After all free logins are used up and the server cap hinders logging in, it is suggested by staff to play another game or pay to continue playing.

Artix Entertainment defends the server cap as a way of controlling server load and covering the cost of running the game. AdventureQuest recently introduced sponsored advertising to allow more servers to be purchased.

Lack of free content

Most of the content, quests and updates are only available to Guardians; therefore, the free version of AdventureQuest is very limited. Some updates, such as X-Guardianship and Z-Tokens, entirely focus on new ways to pay for in-game content. The constant reminders to buy Guardianship are often perceived as a form of nagware, and these, combined with the server cap, lead some to perceive the free version of AdventureQuest as a free demo, instead of a free web RPG as advertised.

Monotony and lack of features

AdventureQuest has been criticised for its repetitive gameplay, which primarily consists of killing monsters to gain experience and gold. There is little strategy involved in winning battles, and training takes a long time, often requiring the player to repeat tedious tasks.

In addition, AdventureQuest has also been criticised for lacking basic features present in other RPGs. Artix Entertainment rebuts by reminding players that AdventureQuest is still in the testing stage and thus lacks many features, and that the game has weekly updates and is ever-changing. Originally intended to be a simple, single-player RPG, AdventureQuest has grown much faster than Artix anticipated, and rewriting the game engine to add extra features is not feasible.

Lack of in-game interaction

Being a single-player game, AdventureQuest provides no means of in-game interaction between players. This has been cited as a reason for its small market share in the online RPG genre. Several commonly-requested in-game interaction features, which Artix Entertainment has repeatedly stated will not be implemented, include:

• Battles between players. Some high-leveled players find the monsters too easy, boring or tedious, and wish to challenge other players. DragonFable has a system which allows one to challenge other players, but the characters of the other players are computer-controlled.
• Item trading. In the past, players were able to trade items with the approval of a staff member, but this feature was removed because the staff could not handle the backlog of requests.
• In-game messaging and friends/block lists. The forums are an avenue for players to meet and interact with other players, but players must register for a forum account.

X-Guardian Boost and Z-Tokens

The introduction of the X-Guardian Boost and Z-Tokens have been met with some controversy. Some Guardians are unhappy that despite Artix Entertainment's claims that Guardianship grants access to all features and future updates in AdventureQuest, they still have to pay for the X-Boost to enjoy "everything". The X-Boost has been criticized for offering numerical benefits (such as 10,000 gold, 200 Z-Tokens and 10% more XP per battle) instead of useful features. Some regard the X-Boost and Z-Tokens as marketing ploys by Artix Entertainment to convince players to pay for in-game benefits. It should be noted that Z-Tokens are available to Adventurers via random monster battles, though it is minimal amounts (1-10) if any that can be earned at a time.

Trivia

• AdventureQuest is set in the fictional world of Lore, because the game used to be called "Land Of Rising Evil".
• As of 17 October 2006, www.battleon.com has an Alexa ranking of 1656.

Adventure Quest is not known to shy away from potential parodies. Some parodies are:

• The Rodents of Unusual size (R.O.U.S) is a reference to The Princess Bride.
• The "Duke of HaZard" is a reference of the Dukes of Hazzard.
• When asking Robina Hood about Rogue class quests, she states: "By the great Tri-Farce, I am a Ranger!" This is a reference to the Triforce of the Legend of Zelda Series.
• The company that developed the game ArtixEntertainment is named after one of the major NPC's in the game, Artix Krieger, who is also the alter ego of the games original creator Adam Bohn.
• Some of the players are lucky enough to have weapons named after them, like Kolo's Temper Katana or The Stratospheric Tachi. This most often occurs when an item created by a character on the forums is passed by Artix and appears in-game.

External links

• BattleOn - Main site for AdventureQuest.
• DragonFable - Flash game parallel to AdventureQuest's plot.
• UltimateAQ- A fansite with helpful in-game information.
• AQstats - A fansite with player stats and an AQ specific wiki.
• Battleon Forums - The official forum which includes an AQ encyclopedia.
• Beta - The Beta Version for Adventure Quest.