Star Date: 31 December 3013 // 1 January 3014:

Happy New Year! To ring out the old year and ring in the new, we've added some new Candy Cane themed Partizan Energy Blades for everyone, and also some Starship Items for Star Captains. Go to the Frostval Replays button in Soluna City Main to get to the new shops.  (Honestly I would have liked to do more, but I'm glad to have a few new things ready for you. I hope you've been enjoying all the year-end and New Year gifts and purchasables we've been bringing you!)

Giftbox News: 

• Back Arm Giftbox is now fixed: it was displaying an unwrapped present from a year in the past.
• We customarily unwrap these at the turn of the New Year, but this year we are shifting the date to the first full week of the New Year.  This means you still have time to upgrade to Star Captain if you have not already, and pick up your free giftbox weapons!
• Minar is putting together some terrific art & animation for this year's set!

Coming in 3014:

WAR! This was originally to be the Practel vs. Korin war, and it is undergoing some design modifications. Here's a note from Practel 

Hi Guys, 

I've been lurking the forums for some time and feel like I owe you guys an explanation to the Practel vs. Korin war. To get right to the point, the PvK war in its current state will not be released. Instead, another war will occur in its place. While I'm confident you guys will enjoy the new war, I hesitate to release information about it at this time. I believe part of the issue with the PvK war was that I announced it and hyped it far too early. A war is a huge project to undertake, and it was a mistake for me to want to do most of it by myself. While I genuinely wanted it to be a learning experience, I did not realize the amount of work it would take to make a great war. Furthermore, launching a huge-scale project only 2 weeks before school started for myself and some other team members was a big mistake. I couldn't commit to the project, which as a result, delayed it indefinitely. 

While I know a few of you may know this, 2 months ago I left all of my Artix Entertainment responsibilities to focus on my school work as well as pursue new experiences and opportunities within the video game industry. I left Artix Entertainment and the MechQuest team with full support from my co-workers. Our team leader, Maegwyn, fully supported my decision and stressed that school must always come first. I miss the team a whole lot - they are a great group of people, and I'm extraordinarily happy I was able to work with them for so long - but I worked as a volunteer at AE for 2 years, and it was time for a change. I suppose I should have offered this explanation 2 months ago instead of now. 

The team is a group of extremely talented people, and I know for a fact that they have some great ideas that they are excited to share with you guys soon. While the team may be small, they are full of ambition and desire and will get the job done. 

I suppose I'll see you guys around later on, but if not, 
Battle On!

We certainly miss Practel & wish him well - and we stay in touch! *waves at ol' Praccy* ... and then also coming in 3014...

The 89.7 GJNK Incidents Continue: Blade and ACW0 have a funny storyline cooked up so you will want to tune in for this!

Gark II: The dangerous planet of Gark holds more adventures in 3014, as promised.

Liath: The ends you thought were loose and dangling were just put on hold! There is more to discover.

AND MORE. As we firm our plans, we'll continue to reveal them! 

Thank you all so much for playing MechQuest - your support and enthusiasm is contagious! Wishing you a healthy, happy, and adventure-filled New Year! 

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 forum and 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!