EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

December 20, 2011

EpicDuel’s First Annual House Decorating Contest

In case you haven't heard (that the bird is the word?), it's not too late to enter the EpicDuel Holiday House Decorating Contest! Decorate your in-game home in its holiday finest and post a picture in the ArtixEntertainment Forums by Friday, December 30th at 12 PM (noon) Eastern Standard Time to be considered for the prize, which consists of a personal EpicDuel House Item and a special achievement!

As always, your entry must be your own in-game house (please include your EpicDuel character name), and above all, be creative! See the Forums post for official rules, and Decorate On!

Tags: charfade contest decorating Prizes

December 19, 2011

First of all, I want to congratulate each and every one of our players who have participated in the Frysteland War so far. The war is still going on, so be prepared for even more goodies and ways to defend your side. This conflict is far from over!

Remember, your actions WILL determine the fate of the Yetis and the Krampus people permanently. There are consequences to your actions, so fight well, EpicDuelists!

We've got a lot to do this week and not much time to do it! We plan on releasing Thursday, but depending on progress, we could release as early as Wednesday. I apologize in advance if anything in these DNs don't make it for this release, but we're aiming high and we're willing to stock up on enough caffeine to make it happen!

There Will Be Bugs

As with most new features, bugs are inevitable. We’ll be fixing a few things for this next update- the War schedule will be synchronized with the daily events from here on out, and many people were finding it more difficult to defeat the Yetis than the Krampus, so we’ll be balancing out the War NPCs. The Cryostaff and Kringlebot will both be returning to Hank, and Frostbane is being set to Permanent Rare.

New Threads

This week, we’ll also be introducing two new armors for purchase, the Frost Reaper armor for Legion players and the Beast Rider armor for Exile players. Equipping this armor increases the amount of War Points you earn for your cause by 20%. They will also offer an 11% chance to deliver a defense variant of FrostBite, which can apply to the attacker if they hit you with a normal strike while you have the armor equipped!

Moar War!

We’re adding THREE new War Ranks to bridge the large gaps between ranks, which should make ranking up a little bit easier for all players. Some of you may notice that you have a different rank that you had before, but that will be a good thing since some ranks are easier to obtain than before.  We have also readjusted the rating points that the higher-end achievements award.

We’ll also be implementing missions that will award points toward the war- remember, missions take forever to test, so if it’s a late night release don’t be too disappointed. Hope I don’t disappoint!

NPC Improvements

Since many were having trouble getting those Krampuses and Yetis to cough up War Bombs, we are increasing the drop rate for all NPCs, with the stronger NPCs offering a significantly higher chance to drop. We’re also implementing an Ice Gem drop that can be exchanged for credits, with more valuable Gems being dropped by higher level War NPCs.

We might be implementing a drop armor from War NPCs, but that depends on how much art Nightwraith and Charfade get done- you may have noticed that the areas are pretty art-heavy and Nightwraith and Charfade can only do so much with the hours in a day!

Also, the NPCs are pretty strong and silent right now, but we will be adding in the battle text soon! Maybe I’ll even take some time this week to write even more conversation into their text!

The Night Before Juloffenblotten

On Juloffenblotten Eve, the Citizens were busy

with shopping and gifting, all in a tizzy

Buying weapons and gift wrap and fruitcake- Half Price!

All the children were proving that they could be nice!

For on Juloffenblotten Eve, the old folks all tell,

comes Titanfraggr, ringing his shiny glass bell.

“You must leave out your shoes” say the grandmums and dads

“And make sure that you try to be good and not bad.

For if you are not rowdy and do as you’re told,

and keep your word as precious as gold

the man from the mountain will come down at night

with yummy lute berries to fill up your shoes tight

Also, copper wire! Such valuable stuff!

Titanfraggr knows all, and will give you enough.

But if you are wicked, deceitful and bad,

you will lose those shoes that you once had.

He’ll take your shoes, all the shoes, one by one

and give them away to a child who has none.

Instead of shoes, bad children will find

rusted old nails, and bitter orange rind.”

Children all try to earn Titanfraggr’s grace

so leave bacon and coffee to stuff in his face!

So tonight Titanfraggr on his toboggan will ride

With his robot termites by his side

And over the ground his steeds they run

By name he calls them, one by one

You can’t really hear him, so it comes out quite jumbled

so this part of the poem is usually mumbled.

But whatever their names, they pull this man

for they are the most magical landsalmon.

His eyes how they glow! His skin, abiotic!

His copper gauntlets he keeps cationic.

He is lanky and lean, with his beard so impressive

He counts all the shoes in a manner obsessive

And as the sun rises, Titanfraggr disappears

for he won’t return, ‘least not ‘til next year.

Tags: Cinderella Juloffenblotten Frysteland War drops NPCs Armor Yeti Krampus Titanfraggr

December 15, 2011

Hi EpicDuelists, I know that these DNs are a little later than usual, but that's because you already know most of what's coming from last Friday's DNs. However, this post should help fill in the blanks and inform you on some exciting new additions! Let’s get right down to it, shall we?

Wow, Alydriah certainly has a beautify new coat. Hey, is that made out of..AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! T_T

War Ranks

Last time, Nightwraith introduced the mechanisms by which you’ll be able to crush your opponents’ side with munitions either purchased from an Armory Bot or dropped from Yetis and Krampuses during battle. When you join the war, you’ll start out as a Frysteland War Grunt, but you’ll be able to rise through the ranks to become a Frysteland War General!

You’ll be able to earn a variety of achievements, including the elusive Frysteland War Hero badge (renamed from Most Wanted), or the Bombadier achievement!

You can check out your personal contribution at any time by visiting your alignment's War Hero board.  This will give you your own personal score so you can see how you stack up against your friends! This time more than ever, the fate of Frysteland and Delta V hang in the balance!

New Characters

You’ll be seeing some new faces in Frysteland this week, many of them being Krampuses.

Aldhagrimm the Erudite, the Krampus Shaman, is your go-to for information about the War. Ahldagrimm is the oldest member of the Krampus tribe at 80 years of age. As a young woman, she was known as Ahldagrimm the Know-It-All, but following the death of her sister, she seemingly aged 20 years in one night. Ahldagrimm has lived through the rise of Baelius, the Uprising and subsequent Exile, and has buried 3 Kings- her father, sister, and nephew- along with temporarily leading the Krampus people with her brother-in-law Tryggvi the Woeful. She will assist you if you seek Wisdom and Knowledge, but if you seek only death and destruction, well, she has friends on the other side...

Ylwa the Demon Rider: The Beasts corrupted by the Outsiders are still Beasts, according to Ylwa. But it takes a very special breed of BeastRider to bond with a corrupted yeti, and Ylwa is that kind of BeastRider. Since that horrid woman started doing... whatever she did... to the Beasts, they’ve been harder to train, more horrible, more like beasts. But Ylwa is never one to back down from a challenge, and she Rides a Beast the Outsiders call a “Frost Demon”, but Ylwa knows the Beast’s name is Maia, and she holds some sway over the other Hazards.

Fenris the Vicious: Fenris is the large, violent, wolf-like Krampus Champion. He has slain countless enemies, and his name is feared among the Arctic Guards, as well as among the Flatlanders- the name the Krampus have given Snork’s people.

Everybody look under your seat...

As a special present for all of our players, everybody is getting 10 FREE inventory spaces! You get inventory! And you get inventory! Everybody gets 10 inventory spaces!

We will still be working on ways to conserve inventory space, don’t worry. But this might tide players over for a little while.  For those who just can't wait to stockpile rares, we're raising the inventory cap to 120 items!

Fairy Tales

The smallest insects on record are the tiny, delicate fairyflies, with some species even smaller than a single-celled Paramecium. These tiny little insects are parasitic wasps, who lay their eggs in the eggs of other insects, and have very unique nervous systems with neurons lacking nuclei to accommodate for their small size. They earn their nickname from their distinctive wings, which are fringed with tiny delicate hairs called setae. 

Tags: Cinderella Legion exile Factions War Achievements Yeti Krampus

December 09, 2011

Sorry EpicDuelist, but it looks like this ambitious Frysteland War has become a bit too ambitious for one week. The upshot of that is that next week you will be able to participate in the largest, most polished EpicDuel event ever! We're very excited about this feature, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we're enjoying building it!

In the meantime, I'd like to give you a brief rundown of the rules. The NPCs scattered throughout Frysteland will do their best to explain it, but its a very complex feature and it may not be clear what to do at first.

The Rules:

To participate you MUST be in a Faction.  This is a Legion vs Exile conflict and will affect the rest of the story, so it's crucial to join or create a Faction to participate.  We will be reducing the cost to create a Faction to help those who may be on the fence about getting involved in the war.

Once you enter Frysteland, which you can do by clicking the Map icon or visiting one of the NPCs that can take you there (Hank, Alydriah, or the Krampus Traders), you will meet a number of NPCs imploring you to choose a side to support in the war.

Most prominently, you will see a new type of Faction Flag. This is a Faction War Flag, which will be used to indicate which side is currently winning the Frysteland War. The leader will be determined by points. But how does one earn points you might ask?

Once you have chosen a side, you can venture to the Legion (left) or Exile (right) bases, where you will meet Alydriah and her Yeti army or a host of Krampuses ready to defend their homeland.  

If you are Legion, you will want to defeat as many Krampuses as you can to crush their puny resistance against your dominion, whereas the Exiles will want to unleash their fury against the army of corrupted Yetis and Arctic Guards to push the Legion out of Frysteland for good! You can challenge these NPCs as much as you want regardless of your level or rank. They will not count toward you battle record or earn you XP. More challenging NPCs will be worth more points.

Some of these NPCs will offer missions, which are worth even larger point bonuses! 

However, that's not the only way to earn points. The other way is a jovial little game of sabotage! By purchasing bombs from a special VendBot located in Frysteland, players can strike at their enemy's home base on the opposite side of Frysteland.

Bombs can also be dropped by NPCs.  This will give everyone an opportunity to inflict massive damage against their foes.

The vulnerable point in the enemy's base is this Dark Matter Generator hidden deep within each compound!

Click the core as you would an NPC and you will be presented with the option to plant a bomb.  If you have a bomb, plant it on the core as see a cutscene of a volent explosion. Please note that you cannot plant bombs on your own core. As the war progresses and the core takes more damage it will become progressively more unstable. Enough bombs will knock it offline for an enormous point bonus!

Each day, we will keep track of all the points earned by each player.  The top players in each alignment will be displayed on the War Hero Boards in each alignment's base. 

At the end of each day, the point leader for the Legion and Exiles will each receive the Frysteland War Hero medal!

We still plan on releasing last years Frost Weapons along with some unexpected new arrivals.  These weapons will give you a big damage bonus against the Frysteland NPCs and should make that War Hero medal much more attainable!

Tags: Nightwraith

December 06, 2011

Brace Yourselves: The Battle Begins!

Hello there, EpicDuelists! Hopefully this week’s Design Notes will answer all those questions I’ve been getting since the last update. We’ve been working diligently on the big Juloffenblotten update!

The War for Frysteland

We’ve been slowly introducing players to Delta V’s Frozen Northlands- Frysteland- and its inhabitants the Krampus. Now, you’ll recall that the Krampus have a long tradition of Beast Riding, making them uniquely able to harness the power of the corrupted Yetis threatening Legion and Exile targets alike. If only you could get them on your side…

Since the war requires alignment, Factions will become important for proving your loyalty. To that end, faction creation costs are getting slashed so even more players will be able to support the cause!

Aldriah and her Legion forces have moved into Frysteland and seek to corrupt the Yetis to add them to their war effort as biological weapons. Only the Krampuses have stood in her way, but now they are poised to fall to this latest Legion assault. The Exiles hope to sway the last remaining Krampuses to join their cause by assisting them in pushing Alydriah out of Frysteland for good!

In addition to the direct storyline quests (written by yours truly, so blame me if there are quest types you don’t like), defeating certain enemies will add points to your side’s War Leaderboard. Those loyal to the Legion will need to crush the Krampuses to demoralize them into submitting to the Legion.  Exiles, seeking the loyalty of the Krampuses in their rebellion will need to defeat Yetis that have been corrupted by Legion manipulation and Alydriah's fierce Arctic Guards. There will be plenty of enemies for each level, but higher level foes will yield bigger points! Additionally, completing quests for either alignment will earn you BIG points toward your cause!

Checking your progress will be a snap, with leaderboards at both the Legion Outpost and the Krampus Village displaying the “Most Wanted” list of those players who contribute the most toward the war, and you can earn the “Most Wanted” Achievement!

Remember: your performance determines the outcome of the war! The first quests will be available at Holiday Hank or Winter Alydriah depending upon your alignment.

Frost Gear Solid

This week will also see the return of the old Frost weapons, as well as a new crop of weapons for the season. One exception will be Frostbane, which will be retired and marked as permanent rare.  Congratulations to those who got it while it lasted! Remember, some of these Frost weapons will be credit-only, so all players have reason to be merry!

Insect Fact: Eggs

Many things lay eggs, including most insects. For the most part, an insect mom lays her eggs shortly after mating, but other species delay egg laying, and the eggs hatch immediately after being laid.

In social insects, the entire colony will care for the offspring, some of which will be the result of mating, and some the result of parthenogenesis, which is the development of an unfertilized egg into an individual.

The Pacific Beetle cockroach has a range from Asia toward the Americas, and lives quite happily in Hawaii. This insect is unique in the sense that it is the only insect to display true viviparity- that is, egg laying or development does not occur, and the offspring complete larval development within the female.  

-----Intercepted Transmission from Alydriah to Legion Commander Edgar Boothe-----

My dearest Boothe-

 

As always, the Legion applauds your dedication to the cause of Order. I imagine it can get terrible DULL in the Northlands, but I should have a job for you soon enough.

You well know how the wretched creatures who occupy the Northland have some sort of power over the wildlife. My geneticists have nearly perfected the designs for the new Hazards- the imperfect SnowHazards have already been released, and they have proven vastly more powerful than the native population. However, they are unpredictable, and I fear that, should the indigens utilize the Hazards for combat, they could quite comfortably cause damage to our Arctic Outpost, maybe even venture onto the main continent. If we can convince the Krampus to join our side, they could be an effective weapon. If they refuse, exterminate them like the rest of the vermin infesting this planet.

I’d like to thank you for the new pet. You know how I love expanding my menagerie.

 

Yours in Order:

Alydriah Descarl

Tags: Cinderella Frysteland Juloffenblotten snow Winter Factions War