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October 26, 2011
[image]http://epicduel.artix.com/images/icon/Cinderella_ED-DN_2011.jpg[/image]

Harvest Part Tres
Hello there, EpicDuelists! It’s your friendly neighborhood Cinderella with the continuation of the Great Harvest Festival! Our first *real* event in EpicDuel is going so well, and I’m really excited to be experiencing this with you!



A Harvest of Gear
[image]http://cms.battleon.com/ed/images/Harvest%20Husk%20Lowres.png[/image]
So, getting this out of the way first, as it seems the only question anyone has asked me about the Harvest is when the Harvest Armors are being released. Well, Nightwraith is working hard to get out several armors for you. Keep watching this space for previews!

We’ll also be bringing back last year’s Harvest rares, so everyone should be able to find something they enjoy!



Continued Retrain Improvements

While the retrain improvements were certainly a giant step up from the previous iteration of the feature, there remain some issues. For one thing, we’re addressing the issue with your weapons being unequipped from your character on retrain. Following the adjustment, the system will be able to intelligently know for which items you meet the requirements.

Not too intelligently, though. We don’t need to accidentally program Skynet here...

...or do we? 0_0



More Snorkness!

If you’ve been working on the Ooky Spooky mission, you may have noticed that Snork has gotten a makeover lately. His frightening visage is reminiscent of the Indigenous War God, and in homage to his patron, Snork will soon be able to engage players in battle.

There may be other secret rewards in this or future Harvest updates, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any other treats!
[image]http://cms.battleon.com/ed/images/Night%20Hazard%20Lowres.jpg[/image]


Future Directions

We’ve already started work on the next big EpicDuel event! We’ll have some big improvements to the quest engine which should make this extra-exciting for players!



BattleCard Mod Packs this FRIDAY!
[image]http://www.aq.com/images/cms/AQWorlds-CardGame-ModPack.jpg[/image]

As if a major release wasn't enough to get you excited about the weekend, the new BattleCard Mod Packs will be released in Toys R Us stores throughout the United States this Friday! Purchase both packs to unlock the PaladinSlayer class in AQW! For more details, check out Alina's writeup in the AQW Design Notes!



Like a Prayer

Commonly called “Praying Mantises” because of their folded raptorial forelegs, Mantids are members of the order Mantodea, which contains over 2,000 species in 15 families. Mantises are closely related to cockroaches and rockcrawlers, as well as termites.

Mantises are easily recognized by their distinctive elongated prothorax, raptorial (grasping) forelimbs, and distinctive triangular head with large oval eyes. The structure of the Mantis’s eye creates a pseudopupil, giving the insect a cute appearance. The distinctive foreleg structure is used to capture prey, which can include lizards, frogs, birds, snakes, fish, rodents, and other insects, as well as defend themselves from larger predators. They are commonly eaten by larger predators due to lack of chemical defenses.

Mantises display a behavior similar to the “rocking” behavior of stick insects. This is either an adaptation to mimic the swaying of a leaf (there are many mantises which have adapted as leaf mimics) or a way to gauge the distance between landmarks.

There are some commonly-held beliefs about mantises- one is that the female must consume the male in order to mate. This is controversial, since the behavior has only been observed in captivity with starved females. In the wild, or with recently-fed females, this behavior is not observed. In the United States, mantises are not endangered, and are in fact quite common and sold as an alternative to pesticides. Only one species of mantis is considered at risk, Apteromantis aptera, which is listed as “Low Risk” in its native habitat of Spain.