Saturday, October 31st Design Notes: Book 2 Reimagined: Disarray


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11/1/2026 10:15:37

Laeon val Observis
Member

quote:

Saturday, October 31, 2026
Book 2 Reimagined: Disarray
Hey there, heroes!

This week, the Book 2 Reimagined project continues with a new quest: Disarray! Wait, what do you mean there's already a Book 2 quest named that?!

The quest previously known as Disarray has been renamed Dissonance, and this new quest is now Disarray! Not confusing at all! This was done because the names are more fitting like this! And of course, Dissonance will be updated in the future.

Last time, after freeing Jaania from her icy crystal prison, an explosion rocked the Deadlands!

What could have caused it? What's going on?

The latest new quest has been added to Book 2! Speak to Yolande in Atrea to play!

Also this week, a new cosmetic helm is available for purchase!

The Fleshweaver's Facade is available form the DC Cosmetiics shop for 400 Dragon Coins! It's color custom to your element, and you can click it to hide the flowing elemental energy.

There have also been a few bugfixes and updates!
Fixed an infinite loop crash with Doomed Mode Titan Wargoth.

Added a Click to Jump button to platforming quests. (And Leave quest buttons to those that were missing them)

Fixed an issue with the potion box near Sir Pent where it would rudely hide his dialogue.

Fixed the Sneevil Box Stack doing some weirdness with its box throw attack.

Mogloween Mask badges have had their names updated to better reflect their requirements.

"Get Dragon Coin" and "Dragon Amulet" buttons now have updated url paths.

Other secret things for secret projects!

And that's all for this week!

AQW

Post #: 1

11/2/2026 23:23:35

TFS
Helpful!

I really like the introduction of the Avatars into this plotline - adds more Elemental Dissonance to Book 2: Elemental Dissonance. Hope this means Ash and the Princess will also make an appearance. The sequence of Temblor and Voidstar fighting Fiamme was also super cool (also, getting to see what Temblor and Voidstar look like when they aren't anchored to the ground lol).
I also really like how the protagonist fights, and defeats, an Avatar unleashing all of her power, albeit with the aid of two other Avatars - this is the kind of rule-of-cool hype moment typical of older DragonFable stories, and makes the quest a fitting retroactive inclusion to Book 2.

Xan is an extremely unsympathetic character in this retelling of the Book 2 story. The scenes of him shedding tears were removed, he no longer helps the protagonist and the Professor willingly (and even tries to kill them), and he doubles down in this new quest by saying he'll only help them for purely selfish reasons - I'm guessing the upcoming scene of him bodyblocking the protag and the Professor from Wargoth's attacks will also be removed. This was an aspect of the original questline I quite liked, and I'm sad to see it gone. The idea that Xan was only tuned into a monster by Warlic, and might use his power for good once Warlic is out of the picture, was a good compliment to the parallel Alexander questline. Xan's relationship with Jaania has also been altered in the rewrite, to his discredit - he's no longer distraught to see her imprisoned, and instead crows over her like he's won some prize. I think the older portrayal of Xan - where the player learns that his goals of killing Warlic and freeing Jaania are actually extremely reasonable, and he's no longer 'evil' once he's achieved them because he never was 'evil,' just trapped in a Hell of Warlic's making - made him a much more interesting character while reinforcing the main plot of Warlic's irresponsibility leading to ruin (Wargoth). In the new version he's just portrayed as a selfish jerk even when he has no reason to be, making him very unsympathetic / evil just-because.
I'm also not sure why the Atealans are present for this leg of the story. They don't really do anything, they all sort of have the same nondescript personality (besides Alz'ein), and it's sort of awkward to lug them around. I thought it was weird that the Swordhaven knights knew them on a first-name basis, but then it took me until the second playthrough to realize that the Avatars didn't even acknowledge them. While writing this comment I've only just realized that a named character hasn't acknowledged them at all for like 5 or 6 quests, and all the dialogue they've had is just throwaway quips. I feel like they're just noise that distracts from the signal of the important characters - Konnan could have been our companion for this quest for example, and it could have been fun to see what he and Fiamme think of each other.

Post #: 2

11/3/2026 1:38:17

Cherubic Card
Member

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted here, sad to see how quiet it is, due to the Discord server.

Valid points you made, I had felt Xan this new go around felt very cliche? Flanderized maybe? I had forgotten what the old questline had been like (thankfully you have the playthrough) but yeah, Xan's "futuractively" undoing of the character development we saw in the original version, because we, the players see the man behind the monster in his backstory, but I don't recall Xan laughing every sentence in the old Book 2- but again, that was a very long time ago, I do not remember with any certainty.

I'm curious if the changes they're making will have to do with the inevitable freezing of the protagonist, since in the original version everyone saved the day together, yet she froze them all pretty callously regardless- this new characterization of Xan may be an attempt to provide greater justification for Jaania's future act- he may try to pick another fight, Warlic and the Hero get ready to fight him off, and Jaania puts them all on ice. I'm pretty confident they're going to have her be a much more active presence this go around, and while that shouldn't come at the cost of other characters' contributions to the narrative, it will be good to see, given her impact in Book 3.

The Ataleans... I really like them, I always have, but yeah, can't remember his name off the top of my head and don't care enough to look it up, but the cross-legged one, he doesn't feel like how I remember him, or even how he looks- he's much more animated in his speech than someone who, as far as we can tell never moves a muscle feels like they should act? Between the two brothers he seemed like he'd be the more serious, stoic one, yet he's gushing over kittens in Warlic's Tower.

One thing I think is being done better this go around is the Elemental Dissonance, it feels more lead-into this go around, with the Avatars straight duking it out due to Wargoth's influence.

Post #: 3

11/3/2026 19:29:55

Verlyrus
DragonFable Boxcat

quote:

Xan is an extremely unsympathetic character in this retelling of the Book 2 story. The scenes of him shedding tears were removed

I can't find which scenes you're referring to. Do you mean the single scene where he tries to touch the crystal and then briefly looks sad?

quote:

I think the older portrayal of Xan - where the player learns that his goals of killing Warlic and freeing Jaania are actually extremely reasonable, and he's no longer 'evil' once he's achieved them because he never was 'evil,' just trapped in a Hell of Warlic's making - made him a much more interesting character while reinforcing the main plot of Warlic's irresponsibility leading to ruin (Wargoth)

Xan is still literally in constant pain and on fire. He's been that way for many, many, many years. He wasn't called an insane pyromancer because he was insanely angry at Warlic. He was obsessed with killing Warlic in Book 1, to the point that he did some very evil things just for a chance to get revenge. I don't think instantly having him be a pure bean who can do no wrong after Warlic is out of the picture is interesting. It doesn't make sense to me. He needs space and time to develop and rediscover the Alexander inside. He's selfish because his duel with Warlic and everything that happened after was and is still deeply traumatic to him. He doesn't want to lose Jaania. And as a person in an unhealthy state of mind, that manifests in an unhealthy way. In the new quest, he recoils from touching her because he is afraid. He is scared of what he knows he has become, and he fears, and maybe knows that Jaania would hate what he has become. If you think that's implying too much, I think it's about as much reading into as you've done for the previous short scene.
I intend for Xan to grow. He asks Warlic for help in Book 3 (even though, he's still consumed by Jaania). He's going to find his way there.

quote:

I don't recall Xan laughing every sentence in the old Book 2

He does.

Nirios is very stoic, but has a weakness for cute things (and spent time in Swordhaven alone, which is why the knights recognize him). I do recognize that the writing hasn't been the strongest on them, but they're here to help save Lore alongside you. When you get to the Avatars, they're in the middle of combat. Fiamme is being controlled by Wargoth. They're not going to be like "Help us, and oh, who is this new friend of yours? nice to meet you!" I won't comment more on the Atealans but they still have a very important role to play. The interactions with the Avatars in Disarray ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, after all.

Post #: 4

11/3/2026 20:51:21

Cherubic Card
Member

Confirmed it via TRS's playthrough of the old Breaking Crystal, it's hard to miss but Xan does shed a tear while explaining why he had never freed Jaania himself- they point out ice's weakness is fire, and he responds (with laughter) "Thanks captain obvious! And what is fire's weakness again?" And sheds a single tear then.

Also yeah he laughs a lot, my memory was totally shoddy- I was probably conflating white fire Xan with old Book 2 Xan, my bad G.

Just want to say, I know it seems like a lot of negativity is coming through these posts, and that's the furthest from my intent- when I really like something, ironically I often fixate on the minor gripes because I want it to be even better than it already is. I really enjoy Dragonfable and the work you guys put into it- I wont say every questline is my favorite, but the really good ones absolutely kill it- Tomix Saga, Inner Unself, Book 3's finale. I was a bit apprehensive about the rewrite for Book 2- after all, it's not like it was a writing fiasco like old Book 3 (man, what a trip that was) but thus far I've been overall pleasantly surprised. I think Jaania's increased narrative presence will plant the seeds that will ultimately blossom into The Rose, which I'm excited about- maybe we'll even hear about Yalla?

Lastly, cool to see a dev posting in this old forum! Can't believe my last post (before this thread) was way back in 2018! Fleshweaver was naught but a dream....

Post #: 5

11/3/2026 23:40:39

TFS
Helpful!

quote:

I can't find which scenes you're referring to. Do you mean the single scene where he tries to touch the crystal and then briefly looks sad?

Original version of Breaking Crystal, where he explains that his curse prevents him from freeing Jaania and steam (evaporated tear) comes from his eye

quote:

I don't think instantly having him be a pure bean who can do no wrong after Warlic is out of the picture is interesting.

Well, it doesn't have to be black or white. A villainous character can still show moments of humanity, or be sympathetic to the audience, while still being a villain. The original version of the questline did a fine job balancing the tragic/sympathetic elements of the character while still being sure to remind us that he's capable of evil, and I hoped that the remake would have retained or expanded upon this duality instead of reducing it.

If he's still the exact same character in Book 2 as he is in Book 1, even though his motivations for behaving the way he does in Book 1 have been resolved, that sort of reduces him to a more one-note character than he was before - and makes his eventual redemption in Book 3 seem more abrupt. The more tragic elements of the character being more prominent, and the more villainous elements of the character being reduced in prominence as the storyline resolved them, was a good midway point for his whole Book 1-3 character arc, IMO.

I also recognize that Xan likely has to be a one-note monster here so that the ending with Jaania freezing him can make more sense, but that doesn't mean the audience also has to be denied room to sympathize with him

quote:

I think it's about as much reading into as you've done for the previous short scene.

Well, there's not much reading into it - in one version he is shown to be sad, so the player assumes that he is sad and feels bad for him. In the other version he's instead a jerk to the people who have just helped him, where he wasn't before - so of course the player assumes the text on the screen is all there is to him.

I do recognize that I'm probably the only person who really liked original book 2 / cares this much about xan as a character and could just be fixated on some minor thing that's not really important though

quote:

Nirios is very stoic, but has a weakness for cute things (and spent time in Swordhaven alone, which is why the knights recognize him). I do recognize that the writing hasn't been the strongest on them, but they're here to help save Lore alongside you. When you get to the Avatars, they're in the middle of combat. Fiamme is being controlled by Wargoth. They're not going to be like "Help us, and oh, who is this new friend of yours? nice to meet you!" I won't comment more on the Atealans but they still have a very important role to play. The interactions with the Avatars in Disarray ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, after all.

Yeah I don't know what's going to happen when Veyla comes back so no comment on future plot relevance. I just feel like the quests that are already out could have de-cluttered an already cluttered plotline by focusing on only one character (Alz'ein, who unlike her friends is a very compelling character and already very well-liked by players - and is also the one with the Veyla connection) and had the other three stay home

I would also like to say that I don't like being negative either, there are many things I both like and dislike about both versions of the storyline and don't want to come across like I'm just saying "old good new bad" because it's a remake of something old and nostalgic. Alz'ein and Konnan are much better characters here than they were in the original, and I imagine Jaania is being set up for increased prominence as well

< Message edited by TFS -- 11/3/2026 23:41:58 >

Post #: 6

11/4/2026 0:41:25

Cherubic Card
Member

I think you've got some solid points TFS- I can see where you're coming from. There's still time though, they may want Xan's humanity to be a bit more of a slow burn, no pun intended. It's also been a very long time since Alexander came out, and it might be good to have a quest that reminds us of it, Xan remembering the three of them apprenticing under the oddly-irrelevant wizard that trained three of Lore's most powerful mages with fondness.

It's funny you say you like Alz'ein, to me she just feels... Kinda like the same character we've seen multiple times before? One critique I would have had though is, why it was Nirios who accompanied us instead of Eteaos? The latter seemed much more charismatic and charming than the former, and more inclined to long traveling, given he's not a living turret permanently hovering cross-legged. Makes him look so goofy when he's supposed to be running or gets hit by an enemy because he doesn't react at all, while Eteaos just would have had Cryptic rigging.

I don't want to bellyache too much since there's still plenty of Book 2 to be rewritten, so maybe there's some big grand purpose to it, but just feels odd to have the naturally charismatic brother who wasn't, politely as could be, telling us he thinks we're a waste of his time and that he has better things to do than deal with us. I'm not saying Nirios was wrong for feeling that way, given the circumstances at the time, but I am saying he was that way, while Eteaos wasn't.

Post #: 7

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