AdventureQuest - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

AdventureQuest is an online flash

Adobe Flash

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based single-player RPG developed by Artix Entertainment

Artix Entertainment

Artix Entertainment, LLC. is a game development company that works primarily with browser-based role-playing games. As of September 2010, the company has over 110 million users in their games.-History:...

in 2002. As of June 14, 2010, aq.battleon.com, the game's hosting website, and www.battleon.com, the game's homepage, have an Alexa

Alexa Internet

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rating of 3,041. As of June 18, 2009, Battleon.com currently holds a database of more than 65 million users.

A one time "guardianship" fee was introduced in 2003, allowing the player to access more game content. 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 2005 a microtransaction system was put into place. In response to criticism that server restrictions made logging on for non paying customers extremely hard, in October 2006 Artix Entertainment introduced a server in which a player could log on at anytime but had a tight level limit.

Gameplay

AdventureQuest is a single player RPG; however the character data is stored on a server. The gameplay is similar to a traditional RPG in that much of its game play revolves around fighting monsters in a turn based system. As players defeat monsters they gain experience points, gold and occasionally "Z-tokens", a secondary currency that can also be bought with real-world money. There are also special items or sets called Mastercrafts or MC for short.

Combat mechanics

Most fights start through random encounters and quests, which can be found throughout the game. The battle system is turn-based; on their turn the player may attack, equip an item, use an item, cast a spell or call a pet. Both characters and monsters have elemental and weapon based resistances and weaknesses. Six stats (Strength, Dexterity, Intellect, Endurance, Charisma and Luck) also affect the amount of damage inflicted and taken, as well as the probability of an attack being resisted. There are three kinds of attacks which include melee, ranged and magic, depending on the type of weapon used. A battle ends when the enemy's HP drops to zero or if the player's drops to zero (except in special combat scenarios, where a player must die to advance).

Like most other RPGs, AdventureQuest has special releases or events and a limited time shop (for rare or short time equipment selling) based on real-life holidays. Holidays include: Snugglefest (Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

), the Blarney War (St. Patrick's Day), April Fools, Mogloween (Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

) and Frostval (Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

Skill Points

In an update on September 10, 2007, a Skill Points (SP) bar was added. The SP bar, like mana, is used primarily for certain class abilities, it is also used for some armors and in the activation of certain items and the usage of potions. When the SP bar appeared, potions required SP to use, because of the update players can use 2 potions for more SP, requiring less turns to heal. Skill points are required to flee from battle, the higher the monster's level, the more SP is needed. Fleeing from battle prior to the introduction of SP was enabled but at no cost.

Players begin with a limit of 50 Skill Points, this limit is raised by 5 for every level gained. When a player logs in, their character will start with zero SP, the only way to gain SP is by taking turns during battle until the bar is full. Players start each battle with the points they had at the end of the previous battle. If a character dies, their SP is reset to zero.

Clans

In AdventureQuest, players can participate in competitive activities. There are eight clans available for players to join, representing the eight elemental realms. Clan bases contain a shop that sells items of its respective element, as well as clan-unique items.

In addition to the in-game leaders of these clans, there are also player-leaders who are elected at the BattleOn Forums. These players ensure activity and stability for their respective clans and also play larger parts during clan based game releases. Aside from this, they also have a variety of other jobs in regards to their clans.

Alignment

AdventureQuest has an alignment system, similar to that of Dungeons and Dragons, which includes selection between Good and Evil as well as Unity and Chaos, actions taken in-game affects the player's alignment, and will (for instance) give the player a selection of custom rewards in game events. The game also includes equipment that will bestow special effects depending on the players' alignment.

Houses

In December 2006, housing was introduced. Houses may be bought with Z-tokens; players may also use these to 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, the amount of which is based on the type of house. Also, with some houses you can have an Estate, where you can buy certain Estate Items to get resources. Using these resources you can send guards or an army into a war, that is happening at that time. You can also use them for cheaper stat training in conjunction with the Stat Trainers.

Moglins

Moglins are short animals with large ears that you will meet throughout the game. Moglins, such as Twilly, can do things for you, such as heal you, sell you items, and occasionally you will fight dark and evil moglins, such as Zorbak.
Moglins can fly with their ears, which is a little known fact. The moglin Zorbak sweared that
"Twilly will be my brother when Moglins learn how to fly with their ears!" As you advance
through the game, you will go on multiple quests. You will discover Moglins can fly, and
even if it is for a short time of 10 seconds, it is still flying.
Moglins sometimes are a bit dense. Twig, for instance, the yellow moglin at the guardian
tower, keeps using the teleporter to teleport to the second floor of the inn, behaviour which
often earns a kick from residents, such as Blackhawke. And he does it over and over again!
Moglins eat a variety of things. Twig, who is mentioned in the paraghraph above, loves eating
fish and ice cream. When you visit the isle d'oriens, aka the hole in the sky,you will discover
a recipe book for multiple types of fish ice cream. And in one quest, you will find that Twilly,
the local moglin healer is tricked into eating evil brownie batter. From this you can also tell
that moglins are quite gullible.

Guardianship

Guardianship gives players access to premium content, which they can buy for a one-time fee, this fee goes towards the maintenance of the game and servers. In addition, it allows users unlimited logins, despite the server cap which limits the number of non members that may play simultaneously. Besides that, it also comes with a Z-Token boost, which boosts the player's Z-Token amount for 1000. Other 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. Players can also upgrade to second form of membership, X-Guardian, which gives more ingame advantages such as faster XP gain.

Z-Tokens

Introduced in June 2006, 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, weapons, pets, and items - 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. Also there's a special shop called the Limited Time Shop which offers mostly Z-Token equipment, that is either discounted or going rare.

Critical reception

A common criticism of AdventureQuest is the low player capacity of the free-to-play server. OMGN praised the graphics theme and the broad range of quests, events, stories, equipment and monsters. The battle system was considered easy to learn, but held "nothing to get excited about."

Server cap

There is a limit on the number of free players which can play simultaneously, depending on the time of day (peak times such as in the afternoon or evening) and factored server load. Both free players and Guardians count towards the server cap, something the free players have complained about frequently in the past. The limit was fixed at 4,000 during the early days of AdventureQuest, but it currently fluctuates from 2000 to 4500. 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, difficulties are often presented for free players trying to log in at busy hours of the day, and even still, the server limit sometimes spontaneously decreases as soon as there are free spots available or all of the spots are maxed.

Free accounts start out with 24 free logins that are used each time that specific account (not character) 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 hosting the game. As of July 14th 2011, the Server Cap was removed for the summer and the "Server Cap" misc items were added to the "Limited Time Shop."