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AdventureQuest 3D Beta Preview & Tour

AdventureQuest 3D Beta Preview & Tour

There’s nothing like revisiting an old game to make you feel your age, and this past Friday, I had the glorious chance to remember the “good old days” of AdventureQuest. No, not AQWorlds, I’m talking the very original AdventureQuest web game that appeared on the Internet in 2002. Now that alone might not make me very old, except I was already an adult in 2002, not a junior-high slacker. What I did for fun on the internet back in those days is a completely different story.

Thankfully I could leave my nostalgia filter at home, because it wasn’t AdventureQuest itself I was visiting. Instead, I went on tour with the one-and-only Artix (Adam Bohn) of AdventureQuest 3D. AQ3D is (and isn’t) a reimagining of the browser-game of yesterday, with new social gaming and MMO features thrown in. If you’re yawning at that idea, you haven’t followed Artix Entertainment closely, for the studio’s gaming development and design is as eccentric and energetic as its creator. AQ3D is not your old-school MMO.

Let’s get started with the news up front, the stuff the fans out there are already chomping to read. First of all, open beta is coming this October. Yes, in the tradition of AQ and AQWorlds, AQ3D will be opening its doors to the public sometime in the month of spoopy memes and pumpkin spice. That open beta will include all launch platforms – PC and Mac (on Steam), Android, and Apple iOS. No one gets left out.

AdventureQuest 3D Beta Preview & Tour

The Pumpkinlord Armor

And that’s a good thing, because October also means Mogloween. Not only does that mean a host of themed events (now in 3D!), it means the appearance of the badass Pumpkinlord Armor (seriously, just look at it!) – along with a haunted house, a new area, and the great GORDTHULU. I heard something about Nick Cage coming to reprise his role as Ghost Rider too, or was that “I hope he doesn’t sue?”. Either way best not to think about it, Nick Cage memes might push the terror of Mogloween too far.

Our tour also included the brand new ShadowSkull Tower, a menacing haven full of the undead. This dungeon encounter is split into a series of ‘rooms,’ each randomly picked from a selection of floors made (yes, just like some dungeons in other Artix games). These rooms may also include puzzles for players to solve to continue to the next area. The boss, too, has some variations available, though I won’t spoil more. This gives areas enough variety to not be exactly the same every time they’re run, while having the hand-crafted development of a traditional RPG.

Here’s more of what you can expect in the first weeks of Open Beta, including the DragonSlayer Armor!:

Open Beta Teaser




Now, for the uninitiated, let’s get back to the basics of AdventureQuest 3D. If you’ve ever played AdventureQuest or AdventureQuest Worlds, the setting is already familiar. From BattleOn to favorite characters (and enemies), AQ3D is, well, as its name implies. As I looked around BattleOn, I felt both wistful and disoriented. The town is excellent recreated (as it should be in the hands of its own creator), but for veterans like myself the mere idea of the world being more life-like is a bit like discovering the earth isn’t flat after all. But even if you’re feeling your age in gaming years, you can enjoy new features in the new BattleOn, including an Animal Crossing style Museum and a stage for special guests ala AQWorlds.

While BattleOn may not be split into multiple screens, each area of the world is its own little zone. Yes, this means that AQ3D isn’t one big seamless open world. It also means that the game content can be downloaded (streamed) “on demand,” only loading and saving area files once a player makes their first visit. This is a smart use of the streaming technology, especially once you consider mobile players being included in the same cross-platform world.

Indeed, mobile users have been thought of every step along the way. Artix is forward thinking, aiming to embrace mobile gaming as part of AQ3D’s core design. This can be seen not only in a clean, multi-platform AI, but also in the summoning system. This lets any player share a quick, randomly generated code (like “blue65”) which, when used, will let any other player go directly to their location. No need to wait on flight paths, or figure out how to get to the dungeon your friend’s stuck in – just put in the word and presto. This idea’s pretty edgy for an MMO, where tradition states everyone takes the long way, yet sensible for a mobile game where players may not have the time to run halfway around the world to spend time with their friends. There will also be scaling, which means no one gets left out. The traditional leveling experience still exists, but players will free of some of the restrictions that are barriers to having fun.

AdventureQuest 3D Beta Preview & Tour

Scenic moments are now 3D.

Speaking of barriers, how about the one that stands between solo players who look wistfully at the dungeons surrounded by unfamiliar faces? Yes, that one will also be crushed down some, making dungeons more available to smaller parties including lone wanderers, while offering full parties an additional difficulty should they be up for the challenge. Players will also enjoy getting to use the gear they want through a fusion system that will transfer stats to the desired piece of gear. Forget clunky wardrobes!

While there’s still a war raging over “how many puns is too mulch?”, AdventureQuest 3D remains distinctly Artix Entertainment’s child. Just as much love has gone into AQ3D as AdventureQuest, which has even made Frogzards look cooler. There are dozens of classes on the way (we’ve been told the goal is to have 60 ready by launch), each with their own set of skills and story. And Artix is still developing “in the moment,” taking each day and week as it comes. The constant attention to community, to story, and to improvisation remains reliable even years later as AQ3D prepares to hit open beta.

Ready to play? We have early access codes available, including another limited run of our unique and in-demand OnRPG/MMOHuts Capes! The capes are gone, but we have awesome Warbrand Chests with four exclusive items! Hit the giveaway and get in before they’re gone.

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  • Bruno Kae

    60 classes? That is insane! AQW has around 80 unique classes (and a lot of alternate versions) but took then almost 8 years… maybe you meant armors.

    • Unknown

      Yup that’s what I’ve thought to and what’s worse is if you haven’t read adam bohans latest review he’s also planning weekly content updates for AQ3D which I think it’s gonna be a downfall for the game and yet everybody wonders why the other games are failing. Well after hearing 60 classes they are pulling most of their staff on AQ3D and leaving the other games to die.

      • Blue

        They have enough content for weekly releases. Since the end of Pre-Beta, around 20% of items became rare, so they could easily re-add those for weekly content updates. Also, there are a ton of items that haven’t but released at all such as the Clawmurai Armor, Death Knight Armor, Dricken Armor, Fiery Wings, the black version of Fiery Wings, the flaming skull helm which is to be rewarded from the Shadowskull Tower dungeon, etc. Sure, AE’s made errors such as making early announcements, but that’s usually because of new things popping up such as a new Unity update or a bug arising that are hindering them. With the majority of content that AQ3D is missing, I wouldn’t doubt them for these weekly releases.

        • Unknown

          The weekly releases wasn’t one of my main concerns. I was actually concerned about how starter classes are for sale ingame which makes the starter class selection screen meaningless and I’ve got a whole list of issues I got with this game and with AE which is probably why I won’t back AQ3D and their other games. I mean I like AE’s main sagas but the BS side sagas and jumping from to from one storyline to another storyline without finishing that first storyline is irritating in my opinion. And I had some issues with AE support which is why I’ve been backing some other games outside of AE and probably done with AE for good or at least till they get their act together.

        • Unknown

          Actually after reading the AQ3D design notes and finding about open beta coming up soon and thinking about what I should of addressed earlier more clearly I don’t think you understood what I ment by weekly releases ruining AQ3D I mean yeah it’s good having frequent releases but I think having a release every single week is pushing it alot and going overkill and it takes alot of ideas and takes out alot of the creativity. I think alot of the creativity is gone from AQWorlds which is why alot of the players who thought it was cool is gone. I mean people still think it’s cool but mostly kids and some adults and not alot of people like they had back in the day also probably for alot of other technical reasons with the game not being up to full functionality like it should of been years ago and it all got put off because of the weekly releases yeah they only got 1 coder for the game but my point is doing the weekly releases for all their games is what kills it by chugging out weekly releases even if it’s good releases or bad releases even if it takes 5 minutes or an hour to complete. And I don’t think you need 50+ classes for variety in the game. They could release 1-2 classes here and there and I think it’s stupid how they are selling the starter classes ingame when you can choose the starter class at the starter class selection screen as a new character. It just makes the starter class selection screen useless and irrelevant in my opinion. These are my main concerns about AQ3D and I’m sure alot of the other players who know what MMOs are all about are concerned to because no one is asking them to never update and not release any classes ever. But all I’m just trying to say is people and including me think the weekly releases and flooding the game with 50+ classes as a variety is what ruins the game like over half the classes are useless in AQWorlds and the games that used to do weekly releases are dead like herosmash,warpforce,oversoul,and epicduel is pretty much dying and AQ classic is giving boring releases and idk about dragonfable and AQWorlds gives out boring releases and me and a group of people who know what real MMOs are and aren’t just hardcore AE fans are concerned how AQ3D is gonna turn out we are hoping it just doesn’t turn out into another weekly release content game with a crapload of classes. But in my opinion no offense to AE and their fans but it feels like they perfer to do quantity over quality. I’ve considered coming back to AQ3D like in the future like after open beta but not on my tech demo account I created 2 years ago I was gonna make a new account without the beta features and I’m not even sure if I wanna give AQ3D my money due to how AQWorlds turned out and I’ve quit that game and I guarentee I’m not going back.

    • Unknown

      Just came back to see if anyone else posted and after rereading your post and nope he didn’t mean armors. He really ment classes adam bohan (artix) really is planning 60+ classes for AQ3D and yeah I agree it is insane.

  • Unknown

    Yawn. I’ve tested this since tech demo phase I’ve had high hopes but after reading his latest interview and hearing he plans to have 60+ classes ready by launch and have weekly updates according to the latest interview he had then this game isn’t worth it if it’s gonna go down the same road AQWorlds and the previous games went down. I was even gonna back the kickstarter project and everything but after reading this I’m so glad I didn’t.