AdventureQuest

AdventureQuest
File:AdventureQuest-header5.jpg Logo and all the major characters present in AdventureQuest.
Developer(s)	Artix Entertainment, LLC
Publisher(s)	Artix Entertainment, LLC
Designer(s)	Artix Entertainment, LLC
Platform(s)	Macromedia Flash Player
Release	October 2001
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single-player

For other uses, see Adventure Quest

AdventureQuest (also referred to by its website name BattleOn or abbreviated to AQ) is an online single-player RPG developed by Artix Entertainment in 2002. It was released on October 15 of that year. It is written in Adobe Flash, and features animation. The game follows the adventures of a character tied with the town of Battleon (the player) as he or she explores the game world while engaging in combat with various enemies. As of September 5, 2009, aq.battleon.com, the game's hosting website, and www.battleon.com, the game's homepage, have an Alexa rating of 1,818. AdventureQuest and all related games are set within the world of Lore, formerly a tongue-in-cheek reference to the game's original title, Lands of Rising Evil, which has since been explained to refer to Lorithia, a name of the goddess of creation in the game's storyline.

Guardianship, a measure introduced on February 23, 2003 to manage the costs of running the game, added a one-time fee-based character upgrade service. Ownership of the game transferred to the newly-formed Artix Entertainment in 2004, and a server population cap was added for non-Guardian players in May of that year. In June 2004, the number of AdventureQuest players had reached one million .

By June 2005, the game had 5 million users, an amount which rapidly grew to 40 million by September 2007. In October 2006, Artix Entertainment introduced a "special group" in which a player could log on at anytime, but could only get to level 50. Around June 23, 2009, Captain Rhubarb decided to dissolve this special group. On the forums, Captain Rhubarb said: "Due to changes being made for WarpForce, and the various exploits possible in AQ to get XP outside monster battles, I decided to dissolve that special group system." As of June 18, 2009, Battleon currently holds a database of more than 65 million users. As AdventureQuest grew, Artix Entertainment added new methods to pay for in-game content, such as X-Guardianship (in October 2005) and purchasable Z-Tokens (in June 2006), and released other related games, such as DragonFable (on July 26, 2005), MechQuest (October 11, 2007), ArchKnight (now integrated into DF storyline) and ZardWars. In May, 2008, AdventureQuest Worlds, a massively multiplayer game related to AdventureQuest, was created.

Gameplay

AdventureQuest is a single player game, although sometimes players push for a common goal together, or against each other, in events such as "Clan Wars." Much of AdventureQuest's game play revolves around fighting monsters. On a turn the player may attack, equip a weapon shield or armor, drink a potion, cast a spell, call a pet or equip a miscellaneous item. Changing armor, weapon or shield does not use up a turn but equipping certain items, changing pets or drinking a potion does. On an opponent's turn it may attack, though some monsters have special attacks such as healing. Pack monsters and a few other monsters can summon reinforcements, which doesn't take up a turn.

As players defeat monsters, they gain Experience Points (XP), gold, and possibly Z-tokens. The XP is used for leveling up the player's character for more Mana, Health, etc. The gold is used for buying weapons, armor or pets. Z-Tokens are not always dropped by monsters, but they have a special rarity, and can be used to buy special weapons, items, houses, or can be exchanged for gold.

Combat Mechanics

Most fights are started through random encounters and quests, which can be found throughout the game. The battle is based on turn by turn basis.

Several things can affect the outcome of a battle, 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. 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 element of attack. Players can change their character's weapon, shield and armor. Also, some of the stronger bosses have modifiers to the Void element. There are a few other "Hidden" elements that are not shown, but still exist (Confirmed by the Knights of Order, the game's balancing team. Void is an example of such a hidden elem ent.)

Six stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, Endurance, Charisma and Luck) affect the amount of damage inflicted and taken, as well as the probability of an attack being resisted. In addition, pets and guests can assist the character in doing extra damage. The combat system also uses luck as the player attack a random number based on the weapons and stats. When a battle begins, either the player or the monster goes first mostly depending on whoever has the most Luck.

Sometimes, the attacks could also vary on what weapon is used. The weapon, depending on what asdadone the player is using, can sometimes release its special attack. The battle would then continue until a monster's HP drops below zero or if the players drops to zero. If the monster dies, the character is awarded with experience, gold or Z-Tokens.

If the character dies he or she has to speak to Death to return to town without any penalties. The death is saved in the game's database.

Skill Points

In an update on September 10, 2007, the green SP bar was added. This SP (Skill Points) bar is much like MP (Mana Points) and is primarily used for certain class abilities, but is also used by some armors and in the activation of certain items and usage of potions. The SP is used for some classes including mage,fighter,and rogue,and scholar(the base classes).

When the SP bar appeared, potions started to cost SP. Now it is possible to use two potions at once using less turns to heal. But using two potions heal more at the price of it over two turns.

The amount of SP for a player starts at 50. The player then gains 5 points of SP every time he/she levels up. During a battle, the player starts with how many points he/she had at the end of the last battle. However, if a player just logged in, the character will start with zero. The player gains SP every time it is their turn during battle until the bar is full.

Another feature of having SP is the ability to flee from battle. There was escape before SP was enabled but no price was paid for escaping. The player would have to have enough SP to flee from a battle. The higher the monster's level, the more SP would be needed to flee.

Further more, if a player loses to a monster, their SP is drained back down to zero regardless of the player's level.

The Elements

There are primary elements (Earth, Wind, Water, Energy, Ice, Fire, Light, and Darkness) This game is balanced so that no one element is more powerful than another element. Void, being the element apart from the 8 Lorian elements, is capable of dealing 200% damage.

Sometimes enemies will be weak to an additional element. For example, the monster "Undead Horse" has a light modifier of 120% and an Energy modifier of 130%. This is not very typical of undead, as most are weak against Fire as well as Light. There also exist two other elements, Void, previously known as Element X, which is now different, and a recently added type called Harm, which is equal to Element X instead. Some weapons, when triggered, deal Void damage (such as the Dragon Blade), or in their special attacks (such as the Gauntlet of The'Galin). The vast majority of monsters in the game have a Void resistance of 100%, however, there are handful that have a lower modifier. It has been stated on the forums by the staff that the Void resistance of most monsters will be set to 200% in a future update. Harm appears to be a completely separate neutral element which all monsters have a 100% resistance to. There are other secret elements that certain monsters use; they are not available to players. There is another secret element, Death, which is currently only used in a very strong special of the Awe Weapons.

Shops and Equipment

There are six types of equipment that improve a character's ability and survivability in combat and/or cater to miscellaneous purposes:

• Weapons - Weapons are used to deal damage with the "Attack" command. Many have triggers, which activate on monsters of a certain type, causing the weapon to either deal more damage, seek the monster's weakness, weaken a monster, etc. Also, many weapons have special attacks that will inflict more damage than their normal attack at a specific rate and it is sometimes accompanied by an animation of unique use of the weapon, such as throwing it at the enemy. This is generally frowned upon by players with high-level characters who wish to use the full power of their multi-hit armor pieces (armors that allow players to hit multiple times), which the specials will negate. Weapons may inflict damage categorized by one or more of the game's elemental damage types (fire, water, wind, ice, earth, energy, light, and darkness).

• Shields - Shields affect a character's defense modifiers, allowing them to take less damage from any (or a combination of) the elemental attacks of enemies, as well as giving them a higher chance to block attacks. Some shields also augment the player with "rewind" abilities, which allow the character to be healed once during battle, while others give the player a bonus in damage against a specific type of enemy. However, shields can weaken the player against some elements and strengthen his or her against others, requiring an armor to compensate.

• Armor - Armor, in addition to modifying the player's defense modifiers (see shields), is the game's main way of giving characters choices in special attacks. The armor types provided by class and sub race leaders allow the use of special abilities, either chosen by the player after selecting the "Attack" (and sometimes "Armor Skills") option or randomly triggered in combat. The skills provided by these armor pieces generally cost mana and are improved by performing quests for the sub race/class leader. Some types of armor grant the player a mounted animal/machine, and may attack in the player's stead (though inflicting the same type and amount of damage). However, some armors strengthen the player against some elements but weaken others simultaneously, requiring a shield to compensate for the disadvantage.

• Guests - Guests are temporary characters that join the player in combat, and are usually acquired in event-based quests or temporarily by randomly finding or clicking on specific items. Certain class skills allow the player to have more than one Guest at once. The damage output of some Guests depends on the players' Charisma.

• Spells - Spells are alternate, single-click attacks that typically cost mana. They are usually more powerful than normal attacks, and may also use other special features, like healing, or bringing up a guest and etc. Some spells heal mana at some cost.

• Pets - Pets may be chosen by a player during combat (taking up, in that case, the player's turn) and thereafter will automatically appear alongside the character. Like guests, they fight and/or heal alongside the player, but are purchased at vendors and follow the character until sold (being stored as inventory items).

• Miscellaneous - Miscellaneous items provide various benefits, such as defending from attacks, boosting player stats, augmenting attack power, or even unlocking music. Potions that refill health or mana are also classified as miscellaneous, though they are given their own menu and do not take up inventory space. Miscellaneous items other than Potions must be activated before use. "Merchant Items" are miscellaneous items that are sold at varying prices based on a pattern in the game's internal clock. SP is usually used to activate these items.

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 purchase it. Equipment may also be sold to any vendor at a defect. Many chests and quest-completion screens in the game offer rewards that must be purchased, and essentially act as a vendor with advanced items. A character may hold up to eight of each type of equipment at a time in battle, while they may purchase storage space with Z-Tokens to hold items outside combat. Most equipment specializes in one of the game's eight elements, but some specialize in more than one element or have no element at all. Not all types of equipment can be bought with gold, as there are equipment that need Guardianship or Z-Tokens to buy.

Guests and Pets

File:Battleposition12.PNG

The position in which battles take place, including guests.

Pets are the second party member a player can have. Pets are obtained by buying them from shops, except for Cudgel, who joins the player temporarily during the Drakel vs. Elf saga and Krabby who can be found in the Maelstrom quests. Pets can cause status effects, can sometimes attack, and some can heal the player. Pets' attack power and attack rate are determined by the amount of Charisma a character has.

Guests are the third party member a player can have. Guests are obtained during quests, wars, and can be summoned using Summon Spells, and completing the "beasts of legend" challenge in the guardian tower and class skills. Some guests can inflict status effects, and a few can even trigger against some enemies. Guests attack rates are also affected by Charisma, unlike Galrick, Diviara or Giliara who attacks 100% of the time regardless of the player's Charisma amount. The player attacks first, then the guest, then the pet. But this can occur if you use the summon skull spell of like that that can take away the your current guest and replace with the guest you have summoned. If you cast that same summoning spell again, that guest will go away and you end up with no guest.

Classes

Classes are distinct forms of fighting in which the player may train. Each class has ten skills, which are activated in battle by a unique class armor, although non-paying adventurers may only acquire the first five skills. The base classes are: Fighter, Mage, Rogue and the initially unavailable Scholar. Once a user has established skill in one of the base classes, they will be able to train in one of the advanced classes: Knight, Beastmaster, Wizard, Paladin, Pirate, Necromancer, Berserker and Martial Artist. Advanced classes include Dragonslayer, Dracomancer, Ninja and Vampireslayer.

File:AQmage.jpg

An example of a base class armor (Mage).

Sub Races

In AdventureQuest, players may visit the ruler of a sub race to become part of it. Once a player has become a sub race, it can be removed (if desired) by accessing the "The Cure" quest in Darkovia. Sub races do not alter a character's base appearance (although the armor available makes the player appear as such during battle), and generally are only applicable when the appropriate armor is equipped or if the player is involved in a sub race quest. The sub races are Vampire, Werewolf and WerePyre.

File:SafiriaVampireQueenSmall12.PNG

Safiria, Queen of the vampires.

Other sub races also exist, such as the DracoWolves and DracoVamps, though will not be available to players due to Nightbane (the leader of both factions)'s inability to make more of his own kind. Being the joint leader of both Werewolf/Dragons and Vampire/Dragons, Nightbane is considered a "Dracopyre", which is a combination of Dragon, Werewolf and Vampire. In early 2007, there was war between Wolfwing and Nightbane (depicted by in-game "event" quests) which Nightbane eventually lost.

Vampire

In AQ, a character who is a vampire looks the same as always, even when they wear the sub race armor (which is optional). Sometimes the armor's most powerful special will occur, giving the character the temporary appearance of a Vampire Lord. The only other special is it allows the player to steal a randomly chosen amount of life from their opponent.

Werewolf

Werewolves, or Lycans for short, in AQ, look the same except when they wear the sub race armor. When donned, Lycan (the actual name of the armor) gives the appearance of an actual wolf wearing armor and standing on their hind legs. The most powerful armor special gives the character the appearance of an Alpha Werewolf, a huge wolf-like figure with a hunched back, spiked bracelets, and metal shoulder pads.

The Were-King, obvious king of all werewolves in AQ, looks almost the same as an Alpha Werewolf, but with golden shoulder pads and bracelets. He is also a historically mysterious being in the game.

Werepyre

In AQ, Werepyres appear to be quite a literal mix of the most feral cornerstones of the other two subraces. Huge and imposing in appearance when worn, Werepyre Form is currently a Guardians-Only armor. The player appears as a huge wolf-vampire bat hybrid with red eyes, black fur, a long snout, prominent fangs, large triangular wings, a torn red shirt, brown pants, and a brown belt with a silver buckle. On the arms are a single spiked metal bracelet, an arm bracer, and one simple metal shoulder pad. It should also be noted that the one detail about the armor that differs from person to person is the nose, which takes on the color of your character's current face color.

WolfWing, the lord of all werepyres, is the only one who can give you this subrace, though the price is not being able to access Castle Darkovia and the Werewolf Lair. WolfWing is also famous for being the only Guardians Only fightable Non-Player-Character who has not, as of yet, appeared in the Void. He is nearly impossible to beat without the use of overpowered weapons or glitching. He also is considered by many to be the most mysterious figure in the game to date. He was originally a human. In the past, he was the single most powerful Darkovian-based NPC, yet still refuses to exploit this in favor of peace.

The less-peaceful Dracopyre, NightBane, was once a werepyre (Wolfwing's son in fact). After WolfWing gifted him with more power than most werepyres in return from saving all werepyres from the brink of extinction, NightBane increased his own power by consuming the blood of a thousand dragons. This made him more powerful than even WolfWing and drastically changed his appearance. NightBane has just recently become a reappearing villain with his appearance in the recent chasing of the Huntress.He has recently also been turned back into his human form and has died.

Clans

In AdventureQuest, players may join a clan on the island of Paxia, and participate in Clan activities such as Clan Wars and Clan Challenges.

There are eight clans available for players to join, representing the eight elemental realms. The clan names and elements are as follows: Geoto (Earth), Aerodu (Wind), Nautica (Water), Dynami (Energy), Igneus (Fire), Glacius (Ice), Lucian (Light), and Nocturu (Darkness). The clan leaders in the same order as above are respectively: Geoto, Aerodu, Nautica, Dynamo, Igneox, Glaciar, Lucius, and Noctros. To become part of a clan, players may enter Paxia, click on the location of a clan's base and speak to the clan's leader, asking to join. The player is guaranteed entrance in any clan unless she or he is already in a clan, or if a Clan War currently ensues.

The eight clan leaders, Paxus and Negatus, Paxia on the Travel Map and Paxus Arena.

Only players that have joined a particular clan and those without a clan may enter a clan's base. Clan bases contain a shop which sells items of its element, as well as (occasionally) clan-unique items. Some of these items are more powerful when used by a member of the corresponding clan, such as the "Gong of the Wind" series of Pets.

Despite the in-game leaders of these clans, there are also the elected player-leaders who gain said positions via an election hosted on the BattleOn Forums. These "player-leaders" ensure activity and stability for their respective clans and also play larger parts during Paxia oriented game releases. Aside from this, they also have a variety of other jobs in regards to their clans. The current Clan Leaders, or heads, are as followed; Ultrapowerpie - Aerodu; TUSS - Dynami; Oliver Bell - Geoto; Brianspenceni, Cryogenesis, and Arctic Ninja - Glacius; Igneus Clan Council - Igneus; kandymine - Lucian; Sir Gnome - Nautica (It is worth noting that Nautica is against a council, however, Sir Gnome organizes their democratic principles); and lastly, Dread_Shadow_Max, and Bardox - Nocturu.

Players may leave a previously-joined clan if no Clan Wars or Clan Events are currently active by speaking with the Negatus Statue on Monolith Island, which lies off the shore of Paxia. Also on Monolith Island is Paxus, who provides information about the eight Paxian clans and their creation.

There are a few Clans not available to the General Public. The AdventureQuest Team Clan is used to mark characters belonging to Staff Members. The Test Characters Clan is used to mark characters used by Staff & KoO (Knights of Order) for Testing purposes. Characters in the Test Characters, and the AdventureQuest Team Clans have their equipment hidden on their character pages to prevent normal players from gaining a sneak preview at unreleased items. There is also the C/A/T (Cheaters/Abusers/Time Wasters Clan) where a character, not an account, is sent. This clan however is to stop cheaters. They get items like steal plate, and they will face certain monsters that lowers their exp and gold drastically. Some C/A/T clan members may not be able to log in to that character at all.

Clan Wars and Challenges

Every so often, Paxia has challenges and wars. During these wars, players will fight random battles against opposing forces on Paxia, battling things such as Airships and other clan members in computer controlled PvP and can repair their bases to help keep ahead in the war. Eventually, the clans with the best health at the end of the war is awarded war spoils.

Challenges are given by Paxus, and happen in his personal arena which floats above Paxia. They can vary from guessing things to winning battles and so forth. Clans with the highest score gain prizes for this.

These challenges are done in the Octo-Paxi Arena which is the on a little island on the south of Paxia. Most of the time it is a question mark because there aren't any current events. The latest event was the "Clans in Chaos" event.

Alignment

Players in AdventureQuest may take one of several alignments, similar to those of Dungeons and Dragons, which include the selection between Good and Evil as well as Unity and Chaos. These alignments are chosen by actions in-game, and will (for instance) give the player a selection of either good or evil items as a reward in a war. The game also includes a Chaos/Unity shield which will augment a player's stats based on chosen alignment. There are a couple of other equipment that have special effects depending on the players' alignment.

Also available in-game is a "Moral Compass", accessible by speaking with Twilly in the town of Battleon. A marker on the compass allows players to see where they currently lie on the Good/Evil/Unity/Chaos axis.

Towns

There are four towns that can be explored fully, three of which are open to non-Guardians. While Lolosia is generally exclusive to Guardians, a non-Guardian may visit the town by giving a pet rock to Valencia, in return for which she will provide a Travel Pass, enabling access to the town.

Houses

In early 2007 Housing was introduced, currently players can buy houses with Z-tokens. They can also buy pictures and guards to decorate and protect their house. When a player visits another player's house, he/she must battle the owner's guards (if any) to gain access to that house. Some buildings yield various resources. Players can also take some potions if their number of potions is low amounts of potions given are based on the type of house.

In July 2008 estates were introduced. This update allows the player/owner of the house to add various "add-ons" to their property (Fruit Orchard, Fishing Pond etc.). These add-ons can be leveled up to strengthen it from monster attacks and increase its resource (food, wood, stone and energy) production while others consume resources to run (Storage Building, Trade Hut, Guard Tower etc.).

In April 2009 Portals two other worlds were introduced these came in the forms of paintings each leading to either Trescol or Kairula, in addition to that Mega World Portals were also introduced these required an estate and at least one portal to another world to be built and allowed for users to send armies to participate in wars, the player would gain about 10% of the normal EXP and Gold they would but in addition to that the armies could also bring back valuables which will be released following the future release of the Museum.

As well as portals the Guard Tower functions like the Mega World Portal except you can't get any valuables but you will still gain EXP and Gold as you would if you sent armies via the Mega World Portal.

Annual Events

The yearly holiday events in the game are:

• Snugglefest, which takes place during Saint Valentine's Day.
• Frostval, which takes place during the month of December and through Christmas Day.
• Mogloween, which takes place during Halloween.
• Harvest Festival, which takes place during Thanksgiving Day.
• Grenwog Festival, which takes place during Easter.
• Blarney War, which takes place during Saint Patrick's Day.
• Talk like a Pirate Day, which takes place during September.
• Wizard Games, which happens twice yearly with no known correlation to an actual month or holiday, is now a permanent addition to the map of Lore for players to obtain spells.
• B.U.R.P. Invasion, which takes place every two years.
• April Fools' Day, which takes place on every April the 1st.

Storyline

Up until June, 2008, the storyline focused on an apocalyptic being named The'Galin. While there is a deity for each element in the AQ universe, there is a supreme Goddess that creates all of them, the creator Lorithia. Lorithia promoted The'Galin, a human, to be a God thousands of years before the main story begins. The'Galin eventually becomes troubled by the flaws of creation, and sees the only solution as "uncreating" all of creation. Henceforth he was known as the Devourer.

Akriloth

The first major villain to be introduced, this arc was known as the Great Fire War. This long event set the standard of all major story arcs in Adventure Quest. First, there would be a "kill bar" in which the event still goes on until a certain number of enemies are killed. However, the number of enemies would be fulfilled too quickly, which led the AQ team to manually adjust the bar, letting the bar fill up over the course of about a week. Then, there would be a major reward, and the process is repeated. This is done until the final boss is fought, which is Akriloth in this case.

Even though the event itself was over quickly, the story arc still continued, introducing the characters of Drakath, Mysterious Necromancer, and Drakonnan. They were all related to Akriloth's central goal, which was to obtain the fire orbs for power.

In Dragonfable most answers of the fire war was answered like the reason to get the orb of fire, Demento's death, how the ice claymore was forged and the orgin of Drakonnan.

Carnax

The second major villain to be introduced, this arc was actually split into three parts.

The first part was the advent, in which players merely fought incarnations of Carnax's arms, body, and an incomplete avatar in a single quest. This quest was very difficult, and only high-level players were able to complete it. It was about a year later when the Stonerule story began.

The second part dealt with actually fighting Carnax, who arrived in his flesh in the city of Stonerule. The game has been alluding to Carnax's arrival since its creation, in which the first quest new players took hinted at the Drakel fearing something (Carnax). Several major characters were introduced, and all of them whom stayed except for the Shadowgale family, who merely served as a "prophet" for Carnax's arrival.

The third and final part dealt with the future, in which a villain known as Makkissar revived Carnax to fight a future human resistance, called the Order. Players don't get to fight Carnax again; instead they fight with spawns of Carnax, which were just regular creatures but with very good drops.

It should be noted that inflation, a major concern with players, began with the Carnax story. The popularity of AQ began to skyrocket at this time, and players also started to go into serious grinding. As a result, prices of items soared, which leveled out to current prices around a year later.

Darkovia

This section of The'Galin story dealt with Nightbane, which is part werepyre and part dragon. Though not quite as popular as Carnax, the Darkovia plot did not have a central villain. Instead, several previous villains, such as the Zardmaster, now become connected with The'Galin. This bringing together of previous minor villains culminates in the "Battle of the Sinister 7", a part of the main arc.

At this time, a quest called "Epic Quest" was created. Created mainly to spur interest to get low level players to level up, the Epic Quest ended up consisting of 15 different parts. In order to get to the next part, the level requirement increases by 5. Thus, the first part requires merely level 15 to take part, but the final part required level 85. The Epic Quest's purpose is to hint at a mysterious entity soon to come to the world (The'Galin) and introduce us to one of his servants, the human-spider hybrid Epheel.

Eastern Map

It is at this time that the original map of AQ expanded rapidly to such a degree that there is a button for "Travel East". Here, players are introduced to the Clans. It was mostly uninvolved with The'Galin save for one battle in the main arc.

Players are also introduced to Isle D'Oriens, a middle-ground of sorts between the real world and the magical world. They are introduced to the Eternal and the Huntress, both of whom are allies in the war against The'Galin. More of the Devourer's servants make their debut.

Finally, players get to meet Falerin the Loremaster, who is from another dimension called Caelestia. They also meet his "assistant" Galrick. After a few months, they lead us off to find the Temple of Hope, beginning the main storyline.

The order, which helped fight Carnax part 3, also makes a return, though it takes place in the middle of the main arc.

Main arc

The main story begins with Frostvale, in which a war is fought against Ice monsters led by King Frost. What's different is that the final reward is the Ice Orb, which isn't an equip item. Falerin then introduces us, after a brief quest, to the Temple of Hope, in which the player learns about The'Galin, the deities, and how various villains were actually servants of his.

The first task was to acquire all eight elemental orbs, of which the Ice Orb was one. Taking place over several months, players were finally asked to acquire a ninth orb, the Orb of Creation. Unlike the other orbs, which could be acquired by a single quest, the Orb of Creation required a chain of 5 quests to be completed.

Several battles then took place, in which the player finally sees The'Galin's main forces, which consisted of extraterrestrial beings either evil by nature or forced to do his bidding. These included the Exodus (darkness based), the Predecessors (energy based), Evil Tikis (earth based), Clokes (wind based), Void Dragons (non-elemental based), Brilhado (light based), fire demons used in the Akriloth story (fire based), the monsters fought in Frostvale (ice based), and sea squirts (water based).

The Brilhado were actually The'Galin's greatest forces, capable of commanding all others (except the void dragons). The player is introduced to another island - Deren - which is even further East of the already expanded travel map. The Brilhado were important enough to designate as an arc of itself, with 7 different quests required, plus two extra scenes. When Deren was released, the story has gotten complicated enough that extra material had to be published on the forums, which is now compiled all into one encyclopedia entry. The material dealt with how Carnax and Akriloth were used by the Devourer, The'Galin's backstory, and the present state of affairs on Deren.

Finally, the last section dealt with the Devourer's forces directly attacking the world, such as obliterating Granemor, destroying Augerthorne, and various other skirmishes. What was unique in this war is that almost all the quests involved the player's side losing. Finally, the Devourer attacks the Temple of Hope itself, in which the players finally manage to repel the Devourer's forces. The 2.5 million enemies required also set a record for most enemies needed to be destroyed. The character Galrick also perished.

The Devourer isn't destroyed, though, as he is a God, but he is repelled without uncreating the world, as he is convinced (through a certain degree of coercion) that not all creation is bad.

Current Storyline

As The'Galin is defeated, the player does not know yet if a new villain is involved. The current story takes place in Granemor, which has been rebuilt into a fortified city (it used to be more like a shantytown). As for the storyline, nothing of main importance seems to be happening, but, there seem to be 3 current sub-plots:

• Currently, the NPC character Cenara has been infected with a "Dracopyre" virus, causing her to change. She changed into the Dracopyre GraceFang and flew off to find her half-brother who has become NightReign. Their fight was interrupted and there is now a truce between them. (Dracopyre Legacy Sub-plot)
• The Vartai are back and with stranger connections, a new villain, and mysterious turnovers. (Vartai Sub-plot)
• The No Man's Land near Granemor hosts 2 creatures named Visia and Mutant King. Currently, Both the Mutant King and Visia have been defeated, and now, their master, Absolix has been revealed. It was also revealed that Absolix was created by Cartwright. (Mutant Sub-plot)

Ballyhoo

Ballyhoo is a character, introduced in late 2007, that allowed players to earn gold and temporary items (and, starting January 2008, a variable amount of Z-Tokens) by watching in-game advertisements. The limit to the amount of gold a player can earn through this system is limited, though this limit consistently changes. This limit is currently set at a randomized maximum of 8-15 times a day.

Most advertisements shown are those for Artix Entertainment's other online RPGs or the guardian aspect of Adventure Quest; other sponsors include entertainment aimed at a younger audience, such as the Cartoon Network or Space Chimps, as examples.

Upgrades

Guardianship

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Guardianship is a "premium" version of AdventureQuest, which players can buy for a one-time fee. Players who have bought this premium version are called "Guardians", while those playing the free version are called "Adventurers".

The premium version grants the player more quests, weapons, pets, armor etc. Guardians also have more powerful starting weapons. In addition, they can log in at any time, despite the server cap which limits the number of Adventurers that may play simultaneously, and they can use all 10 of the skills trainable using classes. Besides that, it also comes with a Z token boost, which boosts the player's Z token amount for 1000.

X - Guardianship

X - Guardianship is the upgraded version of guardianship. Besides having all normal guardian benefits, it also enables X - Guardians to get an additional 10% experience points for every monster they defeat. They also can start with three potions with maximum of 35 potions of each type, and receive a single-time bonus of 25,000 gold. Besides that, it also comes with a Z token boost, which boosts the player's Z token amount for 500 more, which adds up to 1500 free Z tokens.

Guardian exclusives

There are some other exclusive things for Guardians. These exclusives include the ability to have an account for ArchKnight and ZardWars, which are side mini-games similar to AQ also created by Artix Entertainment.

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 will occasionally find after winning battles. Players may also purchase Z-Tokens with real money, with various exchange rates.

Players may use Z-Tokens to buy shields, armor, and weapons - these combat items, tend to be more powerful than normal items, and can be bought with a much lower, relative level. They may also purchase inventory slots with Z-Tokens, or trade them for in-game gold.

Critical reception

A common criticism of AdventureQuest is the low player capacity of the free-to-play server. Grrlgamer.com highlighted the simplicity of the game play, the "not bad" artwork, and interesting story with quirky humor. However, the reviewer criticized the animation and the lack of indication of quest levels, and claimed the NPC names to be unimaginative. OMNG praised the graphics theme, and the broad range of quests, events, stories, equipment and monsters. The battle system was considered easy to learn, but "nothing to get excited about."

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 4,000 to 10,000 according to time of day and server load. Once the limit is reached, only Guardians and X-Guardians may log in, until sufficient players log out or the limit increases.

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 accounts start out with 24 free logins that are used once every time that account logs into the game. AdventureQuest also provides an account confirmation that upon completion grants users another 48 hours of unlimited free logins.

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. The advertising is limited to a row of icons on the side of the homepage as to not interfere with the game.

See also

• Artix Entertainment
• DragonFable
• MechQuest
• AdventureQuest Worlds
• List of characters in AdventureQuest

External links

• AdventureQuest
• AdventureQuest Wiki
• AdventureQuest Wikia
• DragonFable
• MechQuest
• AdventureQuest Worlds
• EbilGames
• Artix vs. The Undead
• Ask Zorbak
• Death From Above
• BattleOn forums