It's Friday, and we had an early release today! Now, for some notes to you! We'll start off with a note from Plasma Charge:

Star Date: 28 September 2012

A transmission to all active mecha pilots!

Char has requested your presence in Dean Warlic’s office to speak to you about wormhole technology and to offer you an experimental new weapon to aid you in the battle against the Shadowscythe. The new weapon is available for all players who have completed Lagos and all previous missions.

Here’s Blues with the literally head spinning specials of the new weapon:

Numbers are NSC/SC/NG

Starts with 110/115/120% damage

CD=0

- Gains + 5/8/10% damage per use, caps at 250%

- decreases enemy defense by 5/8/10 per hit, caps at -75

- decreases enemy BtH by 3/5/8 per hit, caps at -50

- decreases enemy damage by 2/4/6 per hit, caps at -40

Thank you Blues! =D

Also be sure to check in with Tek on Monday because we’re having a party! This Monday MechQuest will be turning 5 years old, and to thank all you players who help support the game Tek has commissioned a special anniversary mecha, as well as some sweet Starship loot designed by the ever-amazing Minar!

The annual Soluna bounty hunt has final come to an end which means Captain Rhubarb has returned to Lagos and took all his booty with him, also Tek is reporting that her stock of Imitation DragonConquest Blades is running low and will run out on Monday! So if you plan on getting this ferocious blade you have until Monday when it becomes RARE for a year - until Dragon*Con season 2013!

In Gremlins news:  Vivi managed to squish the gremlins in both Ghosthunter damage and the Seppy front arm crit blade. (Sepulchure Ultimate and Sepulchure of Doom)

Enjoy your Shaking of Dimensions, watch out for Gremlins, I hope you have a good weekend and I’ll see you all on Monday!

Plasma Charge

*transmission ended*

Char says that the wormhole tech may have unseen consequences. The weapons have been thoroughly tested and they appear to be working as intended, so doesn't it make you wonder what she could be talking about? Find out as the Dragonoid Saga progresses later this fall!

bzzt transmission incoming from Nightwraith at Epic Duel!

The Chairman Has Landed!

The nefarious Chairman has landed in EpicDuel and he's come to claim Delta V for his own! To lull the populace into compliance Chairman Platinum is selling powerful Ebilcorp armors of his own deisgn. These armors have a special skill, Chairman's Fury, a one-time use, selectable skill that can be used to unleash a powerful unblockable uppercut attack that steals 25% of your opponent's rage for yourself.


As if that weren't enough "ebil" at once, Dage the Evil himself has stumbled upon Delta V to share is wares with those he deems worthy. Do you have what it takes to wield one of his monstrous creations?

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NEW Wormhole Quest (access it via the Dean Warlic button in Soluna City): It's a race against time - can you get to Starstorm before Boltavolt does? (Cliffhanger...)  The cutscenes in the Wormhole this week are the simple style, rather than the animated, to give Lyris some breathing room.  The backgrounds - specially destroyed by Minar - have some animated fire effects.  Note that this can cause a bit of lag in the quest, but shouldn't affect your ability to complete it.  

Here's Vivi with the specials he programmed into the new Star Captain Monthly Mecha, the Dharmahp, according to blues' specs:

Mecha Triggers - Additional Damage Against: 
Shadowscythe: +25% damage 
EbilCorp Units: +20% damage 
Equippable Enemies: +15% damage 

BA - 2 Hits --> CD=2 
Both hits do increased damage 
First hit lowers immobility resistance by 100 for 3 turns 
Second hit attempts a stun 

FA - 2 Hits 
All hits do increased damage 
First hit lowers enemy bonus by 30 for 3 turns 
Second hit lowers enemy defense by 50 for 3 turns 
Chance for a third hit 

Shoulders - 2 Hits ---> CD=1 
Alternating damage buff. Start with 125% damage and add +15% every turn, caps at 250% 

Head - 3 Hits 
Increasing damage per hit 
Hit 1: Chance for a Bonus BoT, starts with +10, adds +10 every turn, lasts 5 turns 
Hit 2: Chance for a double HP DoT for 5 turns 
Hit 3: Chance for HP drain of damage done 
Damage BoT, starts with +10%, adds +10 every turn, lasts 5 turns (not tied to any hit, activates at the end of the attack) 

Body - 2 hits 
Both hits do increased damage 
Critical BOT. Starts with 5% and adds 5% crit chance every turn, caps at 75% (not tied to any hit, activates at the end of the attack)

Thanks for putting that together!

We had lots of time for testing and tweaking, so we hope you won't find any Gremlins - if you do, please report them via the Gremlins forum

Have a great weekend - stay cool if you're in a hot climate, and keep warm if it's your winter! Thanks for playing MechQuest! 

You'll need to go see Dean Warlic via the button on the main Soluna City menu on the right side of your screen - if you played the quest already, just one more time! There are lots of Skip buttons for that Prequel so it won't take you long.  And that button will take you to the NEW installment of this Wormhole - which is Part One and will be continued in the upcoming weeks.

Lyris put together some more great cutscenes, Vivi connected them to the awesome quest he "reskinned" and added some features - I set up the town file and worked with Vivi on the quest a bit, worked with Lyris on dialogue ... too much to list.  

Minar, who had a birthday July 10th (Happy Birthday!) drew and animated some really great weapons to reward you for Part 1 of the saga.  He also colored and made some tweaks to the new enemy you'll face here in the quest. blues designed specials and Vivi coded these - I did some preliminary coding on the monster file and set everything up in the database.  Korin checked in while on vacation and offered to help - I told him he could name the weapons... somehow right after he saw how many there were, he suddenly had to go... hahahaha!  It didn't take me that long to do once Minar helped come up with the names - but that's because I'm used to it.  There really are a lot of weapons!  (And I'm just teasing Korin... )

We've got big plans for the next installment of this Wormhole chapter of the Dragonoid Saga, and we're already working on it.  So that'll be in the next week or two.  I'm not sure whether I'll receive the elements for the SCMM while Korin is away or if that will have to wait but we're prepared to release it for you if it does come down the pike this week.  I know a lot of you have been waiting for it.

Then I mentioned that Minar is working on a Sekrit Projekt and some of you began to speculate really big things - I really wanted it to be a surprise so I don't want to say what it is, but everyone on the forums who has guessed so far has not been anywhere NEAR close.  But actually people on the forums did mention it in another context.  It's something for Star Captains, it's not a new game feature, and it's really cool!

I need to write to you guys more frequently on the Design Notes!  For now, I have to dash.  Whatever happened to all those questions you were all asking?  Did I answer yours?  Well thanks for playing MechQuest - please tell your friends, use your referral link, and stuff.  And I'll talk with you again soon!  Time to go for a ride in the VW Bug!

The Traveler Gets a New Shipment!  A Star Captain Head complements the Ring shoulder series, and a Nova Gem and a non-Star Captain shoulder also arrive!

The Star Captain Macabre Circlet series: Each of the 4 hits has a chance for a critical hit. Can nerf enemy damage by -10% for 5 turns.  Can reduce enemy Bonus to Hit by -10% for 5 turns.  Has the potential to do HP and/or EP Damage Over Time for 5 turns.

The Nova Gem Poison Cannon series: May add +30 to your Bonus to Hit for 3 turns.  Good chance to do critical damage. May merge purge all Bonus to Hit nerfs affecting you; can also merge purge all Damage nerfs affecting you.

The non-Star Captain Flamethrower series: Does extra damage.  Good chance for an HP DoT - decent chance for an EP DoT as well.  Also has the potential to blind the enemy with a Bonus to Hit Nerf over Time (-10 per turn for 3 turns).

The 4th of July Mecha Models stay in the shop over this weekend! NG and SC get a buff! A lively discussion of the power level of the Deflagrator models is underway on the Balance Discussion Forums.  After some mid-week Staff discussion of your comments, we decided to buff the Star Captain and Nova Gem models a bit - the Star Captain models now have a chance to get what was previously the Nova Gem exclusive special, and the Nova Gem models have a greatly-increased chance of that special.  So we are keeping the shop open this weekend for you to pick up a Deflagrator.  

Char is working on opening the wormhole... but... 

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The first step in improving C-Mail is the addition of a Storyline button. This will advise you of what you should do next to progress in the requirements for accessing the next quest. Some people are missing something that is required for access to the Dragonoid Saga, for example (although currently everyone can use the New Release button to access Yokai when there is a new Yokai release, this new feature is designed to keep you moving along with the actual storyline).

The C-Mail messages that we're also working on, which will come a bit later, will tell you about the non-essential quests as well. Lyris and Vivi have been working closely with me to set things out in documents for Korin - who is setting up the mechanics of the interface.

So, the requirements for the Dragonoid Saga will be in the Storyline section, and that is the first improvement you will see. This is being set up to track each character's progress, to show you step-by-step what you are still missing from the required quests.

We will be adding new actual C-Mail messages as the next step. When both of these improvements are in game, they will work together to help you do things in order and help keep you from missing something (whether it is an actual requirement in the Story button or just a C-Mailed directive showing what you should do next for the best understanding of the story).