The War Is Over! Rewards are all unlocked already!
You can still play through it so don't worry - it's just all unlocked and here is how it went down. Freddy Yeti was trying to send you tech as a Frostval present, and Mr. Z sent EC units to intercept the shipment and get hold of it for EbilCorp. There was a war - and you won it in what just might be record time! You went out on Thoh to find the parts that went missing when the starship crashed, and you had to fight mini-bosses to get each piece of the mecha. (You can still do this.) You are able to collect them for a build-a-mech style or just to use as weapons as you go along - and if you can defeat Mr. Z you open shops with a chassis (NSC, SC, and NG versions) and a fully-decked-out mecha model (for Nova Gems only).
Happy Frostval to All! You really pulled together and fought valiantly - great job!! This release was a lot of fun to put together. It was kind of crazy and a lot to do - and with it being a short week & people on the team having limited time with school committments, travel, computer issues I have to say I'm amazed & proud of us for getting this release out to you! Also even knowing that, for some reason I decided I should make a bazillion levels of everything so everyone would be able to have nice rewards so I gave myself a ton of extra work - but it all came together in the end! I like to try to fill you in on who did what, and I'm hoping I don't forget anyone's contribution... Lyris did the opening cutscene and Korin set up the mecha & did the war questing. When Korin finished vectorizing and animating, Minar shaded & colored the mecha. I learned how to break off the weapons to make into standalones and also how to make an empty chassis. Vivi's laptop is having serious issues so I asked blues for relatively simple specials design & then I coded the weapons with Vivi's help when he could get online on his family PC, and then when Korin finished the quests & came back from a bit of Christmas shopping, I turned the chassis (body attack) and fully-equipped mecha over to Korin to code so I could do some Christmas shopping. Vivi & Korin are really good teachers and Warlic laid a good foundation in helping me understand the basics - not that I was writing new code or anything, but you have to know what to modify and where it belongs in order to get things working as intended. The worst thing that happened (that I know of so far anyway) wasn't a coding issue - I made some kind of weird error when setting everything up in the database and for a few hours the weapons were unsellable and un-destroyable. That's fixed now, though. I'm hoping there aren't any major bugs with any of the specials!! If you find one, please let us know on the Gremlins forum.
A facebook friend of mine, David Lark (a.k.a. davids8765 if you play AQWorlds), helped me with names for the rewards - huge thanks!! The language of Latvia is featured - and it's my fault if anything is misspelled! Also a forum member, Master Merlin, mentioned on the forums that he had suggested pricing the Build-a-Mecha chassis the same as a standalone weapon - I used that concept (& it may be that others have suggested the same but his came to my attention) with a bit of tweaking from Vivi to keep it affordable and in line with our 1000-NG pricing of a completely-built model.
Specials:
FA Sniega Lielgabals SC only ---> CD=0- starts with extra damage- adds +20% damage per use (only the weapon), caps at 300%- adds +10 BtH per use (only the weapon), caps at 100 BtH
BA Ledus Bumba (NSC, SC, NG) ---> CD=3- starts with extra damage- normal (NSC) /1.5 time, double) HP DoT for 3 turns- SC and NG only: 20 roll for stopping enemy EP regen for 3 turns- NG only: 40 roll for a crit
FS Laasteka Shot (NSC Only) ---> CD=3- starts with extra damage- Chance for a 1.5 time EP DoT for 3 turns- chance for a critical strike
BS Laasteka Shard (NSC, SC, NG) ---> CD=3- starts with extra damage- Chance (NG guaranteed) for a normal (NSC) / 1.5 time (SC) / double (NG) HP DoT for 3 turns- SC and NG only: chance for a crit- NG only: chance for stopping enemy EP regen for 3 turns
HD Sniegapika Volley (NG only) ---> CD=5- starts with 1.5 times damage- general damage boost of +12 per turn over 5 turns- general BtH boost of +15 per turn for 5 turns- defense BoT of +10 per turn for 5 turns
Chassis Milziiga Sniegapika (NSC, SC, NG) ---> CD=5- Uses 0 EP- gives the mecha higher EP reserves. - starts with extra damage- NSC & SC have a chance and NG guarantee for damaging also EP with half of damage done to HP- SC and NG only: double HP DoT for 5 turns- NG only: chance for a critical strike.
If you have the fully-equipped Nova Gem model, in addition to the NG specials described above, the weapons which don't sell as standalones for NGs have the following: FA: - starts with extra damage- adds +25% damage per use (only the weapon), caps at 300%- adds +15 BtH per use (only the weapon), caps at 100 BtH FS: starts with extra damage- double EP DoT for 3 turns- chance for a crit- additional chance for damaging EP with half of damage done to HP
Ok I think that should cover it all! Oh - also if you are a Star Captain be sure to grab the gift boxes - they will open on gift-giving day which is traditionally New Year's Day so I'm shooting for that as our deadline for having them all ready but if we have to be a little later this time it'll still be early January - and the wrapped gifts are fun to play with before they open, anyway!
Have a very happy Frostval! Thanks for playing MechQuest!
We are kicking off Frostval with a trip to Planet Thoh where you may go back in time to replay events of past years. You should go all the way back to '08 and visit Dr. Kringle in that first cabin in town - his NG Holiday Weapons shop is now stocked with 3011 versions of these classic designs: "The Kringler," "Candy Cane," and "Mint-Zooka." This year they come with a new feature - along with their new specials, if you have the head, the arm, and one of the shoulders equipped, you get a Set Bonus! Each use lowers your opponent's stun resistance for that turn and attempts to stun. So it's definitely worth getting the whole set.
You will also find a L45 version of the Magic Bag arm (non-Star Captain) in the Arm weapon shop in '09, and there is a L45 Face of Frostval Past in the NG '09 Vilmart Back Room shop.
Star Captains have a new mod this year - you'll find it in the YourZelf mod shop at Freddy Yeti when you arrive in Frostvale. You may want to keep it for its benefits, or you may want to use it in the Merge Shop to merge your old Zorbo into this year's model. Caution: merging will REMOVE your older, RARE Zorbo from your inventory, so DO NOT merge if you want to keep your older Zorbo!!!! We have made one available for Nova Gems for the people who like to collect rares.
I had fun turning Zorbo into an elf! His specials remain the same, but he looks a bit different. I love how I get to do a little bit of all sorts of different things. Vivi sent the new code for the set weapons before he got on the road to travel and Korin helped me figure out how to tweak things so that it all functions as intended. And if something doesn't work quite right, Vivi will be around to fix it on Monday, or to explain to me how to fix it, so thanks for your Gremlin reports on the forums - they really help!
We're also working on the new Frostval content for next week - there is a new mecha on its way, and Korin has a screenshot of the work in progress here!
Good luck to everyone with final exams and safe traveling to everyone with holiday travel plans! Thanks for playing MechQuest - please don't forget to tell your friends how much fun it is to play!
Buggy Monday on Tuesday: Vivi fixed the weapons & mecha model, and I was able to fix the starship item. Vivi & I are a great team but of course it's thanks to all of you for reporting the issues, and thanks to the Gremlins Archknights neodiabolus and Terosin for confirming/replicating them, along with their work on the forum.
Harvester Arms now have a Back Arm Graphic
Ice Harvester Mecha series now recognizes the caps to the defense and accuracy buffs
The Evil Jim Poster Portal now only works for the Starship Captain (same as the Mortis Map)
Korin tells me that he has questions on his Formspring about whether the heads on the Graupel and Droxal mechas have been fixed. I haven't been able to find reports on the Gremlins forumand I suspect this bug may have been hanging around since last year with the original models. So if you are trying to stun your opponent and you find that your mecha's head is attempting to stun you, please let us know the details at the above link, and meanwhile we'll be looking into what's going on with that.
Mecha and Weapons Specials: Blues designed some nice specials for the new Star Captain and Nova Gem Ice Harvester mecha and the "broken-off" weapons for the non-Star Captains. Vivi describes them:
Ice Harvester Mecha The non-default pieces of it are identical to the weapons on the SC mecha Specials are listed as SC (NG)
Front Arm: 2 hits Hit 1: Chance for a crit, chance for +10 (+15) defense for three turns Hit 2: Chance for +10 (+15) bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha Chance for a third shot that stuns the enemy if it hits
Back Arm: 2 hits Hit 1: Chance for a crit, -15 (-20) bonus to the enemy for three turns Hit 2: -50 (-70) defense to the enemy for three turns
Front Shoulder: 3 hits All hits have a high crit chance Each hit gives +5 (+8) Bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha
Back Shoulder: 3 hits All hits have a high crit chance Each hit gives +5 (+8) Defense, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha
Head: 1 hit Chance to deal 135% (150%) damage Buff Over Time to Boost of +8 (+10) per turn for 5 turns NG only: chance for +10 Bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha
Body: 2 hits Hit 1: Chance for a crit, chance to give +10 (+15) defense for 5 turns Hit 2: Chance to give +10 (+15) defense for 5 turns (stacks with the first hit), chance for +10 (+15) Bonus, doesn't wear off and stacks with itself/other weapons from the mecha
New Year! As 3010 draws to a close, on behalf of the entire MechQuest team I'd like to thank all of you for your loyal and continued support of the game! Whether you started playing years ago or just discovered MQ today, we never forget that it is you who keeps us going! Thank you so much for playing MechQuest!
Maybe you've already supported us by upgrading - Star Captains get exclusive giftbox weapons that will open on New Year's Day - there is still time to upgrade and get your own free giftbox weapons! Also as a way of thanking you for your support, this year we designed the Frostval Mecha "Ice Harvester" model for Star Captains and Nova Gems. If you are non-Star Captain and/or don't have the Nova Gems for this, we did "break off" the head and arms so that you can get a 'taste' of what this Holiday mecha model has to offer.
AExtras and SuperRewards: You probably know about using AExtras to earn Nova Gems, but did you know that you can get BattleOn Game Points and use them toward Nova Gems or even to upgrade to Star Captain? (Along with opportunities for all of our games, of course.) Log in to the Portal Site to check out ways to earn BattleOn Game Points! Click on the "Get Points" tab after you log in - SuperRewards is a fabulous opportunity with a selection of completely FREE offers. It has its own tab on the Get Points page, so definitely give it a click!
Happy Holidays and stay tuned - we have more happening for the New Year!
Bugfix Monday: Yesterday (Monday) Korin was able to fix a blackscreen issue that had been hanging around for a while on exiting the Inn at Khaeldron. If you try to walk out the way you walked in, the big "Leave?" button will now take you outside the door of the Inn.
Frostval News:
On Wednesday, the Star Captain Gift Boxes will arrive in the Holiday Shop in Soluna City with the snowfall.
Then on Friday, when we bring back last year's Frostval on Planet Thoh, we will NOT be re-releasing last year's Zorbos (the Shoulder Weapon and the Starship Item). Instead, we will be releasing a 3010 version of each, with a new look and a less-strong version of the weapon specials, for Nova Gems.
If you still have last year's version of the Ticklish Zorbo shoulder, you should NOT sell it - it will scale to L45 beginning on Friday.
We will be releasing a higher-level version of the "Frozen" series mecha models from 2009
We are looking at selecting other weapons and possibly mecha models from past years to include at higher levels also.
In Other News:
I keep forgetting to post on the Design Notes the Official Answer to a rumor that needs to be laid to rest. The Luck stat does NOT increase the rate of weapon specials.
We accidentally skipped a thread of Museum Artwork submissions, so we've got some chosen for the next new exhibit already - and please visit the Art Museum Submissions Forum to post your new artwork!
