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EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

Behind the scenes information about EpicDuel's development and releases, a real-time PVP MMO that you can play online in your web browser.

	September 27, 2012 Spooky Head Design Contest! Hey there! Just to let you know, there a totally rad contest we're hosting in the AE forums! Dust off those pencils and grab that printer paper because it's time to DRAW! As many of you know, Halloween (or Mogloween) is celebrated widely among every single game Artix Entertainment makes! Delta V celebrates a Harvest Festival, but the spirit of dressing up in cool, scary and twisted ways is still a major part of the holiday. For this reason, the team and I thought it would be a great idea to kick it off this Harvest season with a contest. This contest is all about “Player Head Designs!” Since it is the time of year that Halloween rolls about, we are looking for some very awesome Scary, Funny, or Creative head designs. However, it is not required that it is related to Halloween. To be clear, all head designs must be drawn, either traditionally or digitally, but in-game screenshots are NOT allowed at all. To make life easier for you, I've uploaded head templates for all the classes and genders. You can deviate from the template, but it's a good place to start if you're running short on inspiration. I recommend printing them out and drawing over them using a lightbox to perfect your design. You can also import them into your drawing program of choice! EpicDuel Male Template EpicDuel Female Template To award the wonderful artists of the community, we have the following awards to give out: 1 Grand Prize Winner will receive 1,500 Varium, a very special 1,000 rating points achievement, all the hairstyles in-game up to the point the winner is declared, and the style they created added into the game permanently! 5 Winners will receive 1,500 Varium, an achievement, and their style featured permanently in-game! The contest will run from Thursday, September 27th till Wednesday, October 26th at 11:59pm. You have plenty of time to work on these entries to make thems as polished as possible so please use your time wisely! The rules and guidelines are short and to the point, but we advise you to follow them otherwise your entry will be disqualified. Design must be inspired by EpicDuel Your entry must be entirely made by you, and must be original work. You must include your EpicDuel Character Name with your entry. You may use any form of media for your entry. (Pencil, Flash, etc) No Screenshots. Do not change your entry or edit your forum post until the winners are selected. Only ONE entry can be submitted per person. An entire set of styles for all classes and genders can count as one entry. The head design must be made in the theme of Scary, Funny, or Creative Make sure that you provide a VALID URL to your photo. Try using a reliable photo uploader like Photobucket, TinyPic or Twitpic. Entries without working links or entries requiring a login to access will not be considered. You have until 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, October 26th to submit your entry. The team and I look forward to seeing all these awesome head designs, and may the odds be ever in your favor! Stay safe and good luck to everyone! Nightwraith Contest Entry Format (Can adjust for the contest) EpicDuel Name: Title of Entry: Image: Well, what are you waiting for? Head to the official forum topic right now and get drawing! Tags: Nightwraith contest Halloween styles Drawing Art Forums

	September 27, 2012 Patch Notes - 1.4.9g NEW CHANGES/FEATURES: Chairman Platinum has shown up and brought a new level 25 and 35 promo armor: Platinum's Pride Grants a new skill usable once per battle: Chairman's Fury Chairman's Fury uppercuts your enemy and steals 25% of their current Rage Dage the Evil has also appeared in the Minetower! He brought a new bike with him: Dage's Blood Rider He also brought guns with a new ability: Spreadfire Spreadfire deals damage to all enemies in battle, dealing 85% regular damage if it hits multiple targets Hallowarrior Achievement available in achievement shops 52 Halloween-themed home items have reappeared in the homes shop BALANCE CHANGES: Massive Strike ignores 65% of defense, reduced from 75% Maximum charge on Infernal Android special reduced from 150% to 140% damage BUGS FIXED: Defeating an NPC that grants an achievement will only show the achievement window once Tags: Titan Patch Notes

	September 25, 2012 Corporate Restructuring This week, after surviving a Dragonoid attack, Delta V will be invaded by another threat. However, rather than being motivated an instinctive desire to destroy, this evil is motivated by money and power. This evil is... Chairman Platinum of EbilCorp is leading an army of corporate ninjas and mercenaries to Fortune City to claim the entire planet in the name of his corrupt enterprise. The Chairman is confident, but he's no fool -- he knows that he'll need to offer something good to win over the battle-hardened populace. Platinum's Pride Chairman Platinum believes you must dress for success, whether it's in business or intergalactic domination. For that reason, EbilCorp scientists have created a specially-designed power suit, engineered to withstand superhuman amounts of punishment, and has the ability to mutate along with its wearer's class. It also allows the wearer to unleash a devastating special attack. Chairman's Fury is a one-time use, selectable skill that can be used at any time in battle to unleash a powerful unblockable uppercut attack that steals 25% of your opponent's rage for yourself. It can be used once per battle. This item will be available as a 5-Key Varium package as soon as we release on Wednesday September 26th. A level 25 version will also be available as a 3-Key package. Both will be available in-game. Just when you thought EpicDuel couldn't fit any more evil... MOAR EVIL! A wild Dage appears! That's right, Dage the Evil has taken up residence on Delta V and he will come offering new LQS items of his own twisted creation. This new color custom bike, Dage's Blood Rider, is just a taste of the twisted treastures Dage is bringing to EpicDuel! Find Dage in the Minetower to access his shop of limited quantity items! He's packing some serious heat with the Skull Boomstick and Haunted Boomstick, two shotguns with the amazing Spreadfire ability which allows you to attack 2 targets at once! Grab these items before they're gone! Bye-Bye Infernal Weapons Due to the addition of Platinum's Pride promotional armor, we will be removing the Infernal Interdictor and Pyro Fly packages from the Varium shop and all the other Infernal and Mechachillid items from the in-game merchants. The Infernal Interdictor and the Pyro Fly will also be sellable. The key exceptions are the Infernal Android and the Mecha Cruiser, which are permanent items. Tags: Chairman Platinum Nightwraith EbilCorp Promotion Varium Dage the Evil Armors Weapons LQS

	September 21, 2012 Patch Notes - 1.4.9f NEW CHANGES/FEATURES: New Dragonoid cutscene - See Charfade, Dravax, Mirv, or Slayer New achievements for unlocking 5, 20, and 50 hairstyles Added many new Spanish translations Many improvements to City Guard code redemption system BUGS FIXED Awarded missing Dragon Master Achievements Fixed advanced classes not properly owning their current hairstyle Tags: Titan Patch Notes

	September 20, 2012 Charfade Triumphant Yaar and so forth Yesterday was Talk like a Pirate Day! If you haven’t already grabbed the cheevo and items from that salty wench Isla “Big Tuna” Grier. The Dragon’s Reckoning The Dragon’s Reckoning is coming to its epic conclusion with an epic cutscene! What will become of the Dragonoid? What about Dravax? Will Mirv finally get the praise and attention he craves? See Charfade in-game to find out! Epic Stylist! You may have noticed that you can now purchase hairstyles, and said hairstyles are yours forever. Changing between hairstyles or just changing your colors now only costs credits! Unfortunately, this is only relevant going forward, as we cannot figure out every hairstyle every player has ever had. But the Steve-bots are eager for you to get your hair did, so they’re offering a new, evolving Epic Stylist cheevo! Epicly stylish! Can you buy enough styles to unlock them all? Codes...How Do They Work? If you follow any of the ED staff on Twitter, you may have noticed us posting codes periodically. What are these codes and how are they used? Currently, the codes can be redeemed for free Starter-Kit weapons, but we are expanding the system to offer a number of different prizes. Here's a step-by-step guide for redeeming these codes. Step 0: Get a Code Currently, you can get these codes by seeing us in person at a convention or by following us on Twitter! Nightwraith Cinderella Titan Charfade RabbleFroth Step 1: Find a City Guard They primarily hang out in Central Station and Fortune City. You can use the Delta V map to travel quickly between areas if you don't feel like going on foot (or by bike). Step 2: Select the "Prize Code" option Step 3: Enter the Code and select "Submit" These codes are currently one-time use so only the first one to redeem the code will get the prize. Stay tuned for more developments on this exciting feature as we add features such as more prizes, more redemptions per code, and more ways to receive codes! Something Ebil This Way Comes! Some twenty years before the current events of EpicDuel, Baelius had a “falling out” with his investors and backers when he declared the colony on Delta V a sovereign state and declared war. But not all of his backers turned on him -- Baelius’s war was partly financed by the mysterious and influential Chairman Platinum. Word has it that the Chairman is returning to inspect his investment. Is he coming to free the people of Delta V from Baelius' vile machination or will this be a hostile takeover? Knowing the Chairman, we suspect the latter. Terrible Tachinids If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I had a pet caterpillar named Nova. Nova was a happy caterpillar, was hand-fed the finest tomato leaves whenever he was hungry. Eventually, he was slated to pupate (that is, metamorphose into his adult form), and after wandering for a bit, he turned brown and began pupating. He was also a lucky caterpillar -- I’d noticed that he had cleared an infection by braconid parasitoids. But his luck was not to last -- a few days after pupating, I noticed that his coloration was off, and there was a weird discoloration along his ventral nerve cord. Naturally, I observed, and much to my horror eventually Nova exploded, leaving a pile of slimy grey maggots. These are the larvae of tachinid flies (likely Winthemia manduca), which lay their eggs on lepidopteran larvae (ie. caterpillars), and develop inside the caterpillar. They’ll begin to devour the caterpillar from the inside during diapause and emerge. They’ll spend a day or two as free-living maggots, and pupate for 10-24 days depending on environmental temperature. As adults, they resemble house flies, and will repeat the whole process over again. As they reduce populations of lepidopteran pests naturally, they are attractive for use in integrated pest management. However, they are not extremely host-specific, and will attack related species to the target organism- eg. an East European tachinid fly introduced in the US in areas affected by gypsy moth has caused a massive reduction in Saturniid moth numbers. Tags: Steve Cinderella styles TLAPD Pirate Dragons Dragonoid charfade Twitter Codes

	September 19, 2012 Minor Patch Notes NEW CHANGES/FEATURES: It finally be Talk Like A Pirate Day, ya scurvy curs! BUGS FIXED Fixed several screens getting stuck on loading Bioborg thorns were reflecting damage on some ranged attacks Server stability improvements Ally chat option disabled for the Juggernaut Tags: Titan Patch Notes

	September 15, 2012 Patch Notes - 1.4.9e NEW CHANGES/FEATURES: 2 new missions from Charfade and the Harbinger. 16 new level 35 limited quantity weapons from Charfade New level 35 and level 25 armor: Harbinger Husk Return of the Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day weapons Buying a hairstyle now permanently unlocks it for that character (prices adjusted accordingly) 1 new hairstyle per gender per class (6 total) Mission requirements now show the earliest mission(s) you need to do in a chain instead of just the previous mission What's New button replaced by Upgrade Shop Added What's New and Varium balance to Upgrade Shop Daily leaderboards now update every minute (instead of every 3 minutes) Added poll's status to interface (OPEN or CLOSED) BUGS FIXED Switched Locker Key achievements to their correct names The sell item button would appear when you had nothing in your inventory Class change news screen directly opens up the class change interface "The Short List" mission now displays correctly Text was cut off when removing a player from your faction Screen behind the Armour Hazard would hang on loading Heavy Mechachillid Armor in the Finder Bot was jumping to incorrect NPC Tags: Titan Patch Notes

	September 11, 2012 Final Reckoning The votes are still rolling in, but you've made your voices loud and clear. You will defend Charfade and Delta V to the last! Although this is a noble path, it does little to discourage Dravax and the planet-destroying Dragonoid that have come seeking Char. The final hour of judgment approaches -- are you ready? A Living Charfade Is a Happy Charfade Charfade is so pleased by your overwhelming support that she's constructing a new series of items to offer in her Limited Quantity Shop. She's also reverse engineered Dravax's technology to produce male and female class-changing variants of the Harbinger Armor (Credit and Varium only payment options like Infernal Android). You can complete the look at with a quick style change for a new Harbinger style! Yarrrr and Such! This release will also see the return of the epic Talk Like a Pirate Day weapons. We know it's a little early (actual TLAPD is September 19), but holidays on Delta V are a bit more...fluid than other games. In any case, you'll need all the help you can get sending the Dragonoid back from whence it came. Visit BigTuna in the West Naval Yard to acquire these awesome items while you can! Also, "Yarrr!" Pirate Cheevo! Stop by a VendBot anywhere on Delta V to pick up the TLaPD achievement for 1500 Battle Tokens! If you missed it last year, now's the perfect time to grab it before it's too late! "Yarrr...I'm unattrictive." Tags: Titan Nightwraith charfade TLAPD Pirates Yaaaar Dragons Dragonoid Achievements Dravax

	September 08, 2012 Patch Notes - 1.4.9d NEW CHANGES/FEATURES: In-game polling system First poll: The fate of Charfade Ulysses, Galatea, Nightwraith, and Cinderella have moved back to their usual spots Blueprint scraps are now sellable Exile/Legion locker keys have been turned into achievements BUGS FIXED Dravax can now be challenged by players of any level (for real this time) A few other bugs were addressed in the hotfix earlier this week Tags: Titan Patch Notes

	September 06, 2012 A Practical DragonCon Recap Howdy there, EpicDuelists. I'm stopping by briefly to turn the DNs over to EpicDuel tester and Mod Practel for a thorough DragonCon recap. Artix did a pretty amazing job describing the event from the developers' perspectives, but I think it's equally interesting to read about the Con through a different set of eyes. Without further ado, heeeeeeere's Practel! ---------- We’re home! Hey there, Duelists! You might have noticed that this Design Notes post isn’t from your friendly neighborhood warrior princess, Cinderella. This is my first (and most likely last) Design Notes post! Some of you may not know me, so let me introduce myself. My name is Practel, I’ve been playing EpicDuel since December of 2009 when EpicDuel merged with Artix Entertainment. I became a tester (someone who tests the weekly releases every week for bugs and to make sure it’s stable for you guys) in August 2011, and now I am an in-game Moderator for EpicDuel and a forum ArchKnight! I’ll be writing the DragonCon Recap since our awesome story telling writer Cinderella wasn’t able to attend (which is sad, there’s always next year!) What is DragonCon?** Every year about 50 Artix Entertainment staff and assistant staff travel from their secret undisclosed battle locations to Atlanta Georgia (an 8 hour bus ride) to attend DragonCon! DragonCon is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe! Each year the convention attracts about 60 to 70 thousand people, and an awesome group of Artix Entertainment players! To see everything that the con has to offer is almost impossible, but those who are courageous enough to fight the “4 days with no sleep” boss can do it! The con offers something for anyone. There are panels about everything from making your own functional steampunk R2-D2, to meet-and-greets with some of the biggest names in TVs, Movies, Gaming and Books. There are thousands of people dressed up as their favorite characters, movie marathons, a sea of tables for table top games like Dungeons and Dragons, card games like Pokémon, Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh, board games like Risk, Settlers of Catan and King of Tokyo. Did I mention there were storm troopers? *DragonCon Pizza Party Meet and Greet! Each year, generally the day before the convention officially starts, AE throws an awesome pizza party for all the players that attend. People come across the world just to hang out and talk with the staff about the games, what’s coming up, and genuinely have a good time. The players LOVE hanging out with the staff, and the staff love hanging out with the players! Each year a different, very dedicated player will come by and discuss the game to the point where even the player knows more than the developers about their own game! This year there was one player who was VERY dedicated and even cosplayed as Artix! The Artix Entertainment Panel** Just like the awesome pizza party AE holds every year, it’s always a tradition to hold one of the coolest panels in all of DragonCon! This year was definitely the best panel AE has ever hosted – it had well over 100 people attending to come and watch, laugh, even cry, and genuinely enjoy their time as a player and proud con-goer. Each game lead stood up, discussed the game they headed, told the players what was going to happen in the future, and answered questions. Coincidently, I happen to have a video of Nightwraith discussing some EpicDuel stuff! As promised, anyone who went to DragonCon this year should have received their Slayer armor and DragonBuster II sword by now! If you signed the paper for the AQW item, but forgot to list your EpicDuel name, please let us know! The Booth Artix Entertainment always has a player fan booth, where about 5 or 6 staff sit, talk to players, answer questions, and have a good time. For the entire convention. During this time, we had a few very friendly players that most of us knew from Twitter and the forums visit. I was completely shocked and happy when one of my good friends A.C.W popped up and introduced himself to me officially in real life! If you visited the booth, you could have gotten a bunch of cool ribbons to put on your badge. One for each day the booth was open! HawkBlackWell He came in a champ… left as a legend. One very awesome, and very dedicated player by the name of HawkBlackWell did the unimaginable… he challenged Titan to an Epic BattleOn Battle Cards game! The stakes were as follows: If Titan won, he would receive one steampunk trophy. If HawkBlackWell won, he would receive one permanent NPC in EpicDuel! The battle was tight… Titan was annihilating HawkBlackWell, and it was in everyones eyes that Titan was going to win. Then, the most magical thing happened. HawkBlackWell played his deadliest card, life swap, swapping his and Titan’s HP. Titan was instantly annihilated. A deal is a deal, and it was a tournament between Titan and HawkBlackWell. Look for a HawkBlackWell NPC sometime in the future! Returning Home It’s always sad to leave the wonderful players each year, but there’s always the time where everyone needs to get back to reality, go to school, work… life. Everyone had a great time this year at DragonCon, and it was all thanks to you guys, the players. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be where we are today. As usual, we hope to see you next year, for another epic time with the team. BattleOn!* Practel Tags: DragonCon Titan Nightwraith RabbleFroth charfade Cinderella HawkBlackWell Pizza Convention Artix Entertainment Panel Cards NPC

	September 05, 2012 Bugs and Stability Hotfix BUGS FIXED Several changes to improve server stability Dravax can now be challenged by players of any level Saving location in homes would fail Some players were missing the Dragon Master achievement after buying a Draconic weapon/armor Tags: Titan Patch Notes Hotfix

	September 05, 2012 Charfade’s Fate Welcome Home! First off, a hearty welcome back to all of our staff and players who had the opportunity to attend DragonCon! Practel twisted my arm and he’ll be writing a recap post later this week. Codes and Keys* If you visited us at DragonCon or follow us on Twitter, you may have seen some codes being posted that you could redeem for a starter pack of weapons by entering the code at any City Guard to redeem the code for starter pack items! How can you get a code? Well, we gave codes out at DragonCon, but the best way to find a code is to follow us on Twitter or Facebook! It is possible that this code redemption system could be used for other promotions in the future so stay tuned for more developments! Decide Charfade’s Fate!* As Nightwraith announced at the panel at DragonCon (and you may have seen in this video by Practel) we are allowing players to decide whether to save or sacrifice Charfade. To decide this, we will be polling players in game. Visit Dravax to choose a side. After voting, you’ll be able to see how many players are with you and against you. When the poll is complete, Charfade will be sacrified or saved based entirely on YOUR votes! Also, to discourage “stuffing the ballot box”, voting will be restricted by account, IP, and level (you must be at LEAST level 5 to vote). Lock ‘em up!* The missions to obtain the Exile and Legion locker keys are going rare with this update, and eventually these keys will convert into achievements. The Blueprint scraps will be sellable if you still have some taking up space in your inventory. Tags: Cinderella Dragonoid Dragon Draconic Keys Achievements DragonCon