Editor's Note
by Alac
For a small State of the Forums address, I'd like to talk about the effects of the very recent DragonFable release, which featured the hatching of your dragon companion/pet. It was gratifying to see such excitement over a release the staff had worked so hard on, and just a touch insane. You guys went wild! Because of this, many of you may have noticed that there was a great increase in the amount of lag on both the forums and the game itself. We apologize for the inconvenience of having had to shut down the forum three times; it was due to the amount of people online, in consideration of other forum configuration factors, and so that the necessary maintenance could be performed. Our guest viewers may have noticed that for a time, people were unable to view the forums unless they registered; this, too, was due to the large number of people seeking to view the boards. Excited DF players were posting threads faster than the forum could prune the old ones.
The hatching was a success and now many players are in possession of their very own dragon. If you have a Dragon Amulet, you are able to customize the appearance of your dragon, as well. Remember, though, the dragons are babies! It makes sense that they wouldn't be able to fight well in regular battles just yet. Let sleeping dragon babies lie without pushing or prodding (or making bug reports about their inactivity). The DragonRider saga is up next and the excitement over the coming armor is definitely justified. Skills abound that will make you and your dragon partner a pair that villians and monsters should fear!
On the AQ front, there was a tie-in to the hatching event in DF. Battleon was attacked once more by the Exodus. And this time, it was in the form of a gigantic Titan. Luckily though, a DragonLord appeared to help save the day. Also released in AdventureQuest was Fairwind Spring, found on the Travel Map. Travel there to meet Sarah Renee, Kysatoo, Alana, and the Professor. You'll begin the arduous task of mining for the gems and other material needed to create a rare object which will let you summon a new pet.
Please also welcome to the ArchKnights team Damselindigital and bballman23. Damselindigital will be covering the Speculations and Theories board while bballman23 will help cover the AQ GGD. Good luck to them both! Congratulations should also be extended to Dark_Wurm and Versilaryan. Dark_Wurm is June's Artist of the month and is a member of the cohap gallery: the R.W.A.W.C.W.S.N.F. Versilaryan is May's Writer of the Month. Both have produced excellent work and I highly recommend you head on over to the Gallery of Creative Adventurers and check our their pieces as well as those of the other artists and authors who exhibit their work on the AE forums.
Also, please don't forget to submit your questions for the members of AE staff (moderators, game staff, admins) to Nel at Nel@battleon.com! He's still investigating and could use your help in probing the inner minds' of the men, women, and moglins behind the games AE makes.
As usual, much work has gone on behind the scenes in order to bring you the games you enjoy. Members of the AE staff have been involved in writing dialogue; drawing cutscenes, monsters, NPC art, and other surprises; vectoring and animating new material; and coming up with even more new ideas to keep the artists busy. It's hard work, but it's fun nevertheless. And the excitement that the players infect us with makes all the effort worth it.
We're still looking for new authors, so please refer to the article on new submissions if you are 18 or over and interested in writing for The Zardian. So ends the second issue of The Zardian after much work and some excellent writing by our staff authors. Many thanks to this week's contributing authors, smbdoll, and the entire team that makes the ezine possible.
