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 | June 28, 2013 Patch Notes - 1.5.20NEW CHANGES/FEATURES:
BUGS FIXED:
Tags: RabbleFroth Patch Notes |
 | June 28, 2013 Dread War ContinuesHey there Epic Duelists! First off, I want to thank all of you who wished me or Charfade a Happy Birthday on Twitter or Facebook (for those not in the know, we both leveled up this week). Nightwraith has already posted a step-by-step guide on how to participate in the Dread War (the post right before this), but we'll also be introducing some much needed clarifications in-game to help those who may not check the Forums or Design Notes.
War Clarity
Although participating in the war is actually pretty simple, the intricacies are complex and not thoroughly explained in-game. To address this we will be adding in-game clarifications to make more obvious certain aspects of the War such as how much Influence your alignment is earning per region and globally.
Battle Token Bye-Bye
We didn't have time last week, so we needed to cut this feature. This week we're doing it for real. The following is a quick rundown of what that means for you:
War Balance One major concern for we have for this War feature is one Alignment building an insurmountable lead. To prevent one Alignment from indefinitely dominating, we will be introducing Objective Reinforcements – the longer one side holds an Objective, the more control the other side will receive per win. Reinforcements will decay over time once the Objective has been taken. Other measures have been take to improve the overall feel of the War and alleviate the “see-saw” effect we witnessed during the War’s first week. The balance adjustments are as follows:
More Objectives
To broaden the scope of the War and add more weight to the various regions of Delta V, we will be adding more War Objectives -- Minetower in Wastelands, Archives in Biodome, the Battle Arena in Fortune City (formerly Legion Arena), and the AI core in Overlord Facility. A few more auxiliary War Objectives have also been added for a total of 6.
Achievements To add incentive to seizing all of these fancy new War Ojectives, we will be introducing evolving regional Achievements. As you gain influence in a particular region (i.e. Fortune City), your Achievement will change in appearance, similar to the War Achievements of the Infernal and Frysteland Wars.
Arbor-gone-don
Since Summer is well underway, we're Spring cleaning by removing many of the seasonal-rare Botanical and Bunny items. Since there are so many items involved, I will list them here.
Still to Come! The War has just begun! All of the features are coming together, but there are still more yet to be implemented.
Juggernaut We don’t want to leave Juggernauts, the toughest warriors Delta V has to offer, out of this fight! Soon anyone with a Skull card will be able to access Juggernaut mode from anywhere on the map, allowing full participation in the War.
War Shops Unlock the latest and greatest arsenals for your Alignment! Soon, we will introduce War Objectives with shops that are only accessible for the Alignment that controls them. Can you keep these rare weapons out of enemy hands?
War Buffs: Controlling certain War Objectives will allow you to activate influence buffs to help you capture other Objectives. For example, if you capture the turret in the Dread Plains, you can activate a buff that increases your influence earned against the Control Array.
Dynamic Environments When the Legion or Exile forces claim an area, we want it the entire region to reflect that conquest. We plan to do so with dynamic elements on each map screen that change based on which alignment is controlling a given War Objective. Imagine Exile banners draped over Alydriah’s Spire or Legion soldiers invading the Exile hideout in Old Fortune City. Such changes will go a long way toward making the War an immersive experience as Delta V is transformed into a living, breathing world.
War Missions Complete tasks for the various War NPCs around Delta V for big rewards. This feature is planned to come with a major overhaul of the existing mission system. We would rather hold onto our missions until the system is designed the way we want it rather than release a bunch of missions we might have to remove or change later.
More Wow! Isn’t that enough? Stay tuned! This War is just getting started, and we hope you’re enjoying playing it as much as we are making it! Tags: Cinderella Exiles Legion Dread War |
 | June 25, 2013 How Do I War?Step 0: Register an Account This should be obvious, but you cannot participate in this war if you do not have an EpicDuel character!
Step 1: Choose an Alignment
If you are not already in a Faction, then you will be prompted to select an alignment. Choose carefully, because although alignment change will be offered later, it will come at a price.
Step 2: Open the World Map
Once you are in Delta V, war is all around you, and getting to the conflict zones has never been easier. Use the interface button on the lower part of your screen to open the redesigned World Map.
This map shows the various regions of Delta V (i.e. Fortune City, Barrens Outpost, Biodome, etc...) and the Alignment in control of each region. Click a region to zoom in and see the individual War Objectives.
Most regions feature War Objectives that can be captured by your alignment. A rollover shows the War Point value of each War Objective. If your alignment captures enough War Objectives to have the Point majority in a region, your alignment will control that region. It is not necessary to control all the War Objectives in a region to get War Points. Even if you only control one War Objective, you will still earn Points toward the daily War Point total. Different War Objectives can be worth different amounts of Points.
If you zoom out, you can see the daily War Score. Each War Objective earns the controlling alignment War Point every 15 minutes. The score resets at the end of the day.
Step 2: How to War Once you have determined where you want to fight, controlling a War Objective is fairly simple. While zoomed into a region, you can click on any War Objective to jump directly to it.
While you're on the screen with the War Objective, you will notice a bar at the top of the screen with a banner displaying the controlling alignment and leading Faction.
You can see that on this screen the Legion controls this War Objective. A Legion player can fight to defend this Objective and reinforce the position while an Exile player can fight from this screen attempt to take it for his or her alignment. Let's try to take it for the Exiles.
Automatch 1v1 or 2v2 victories earn Influence which allows you to control or reinforce a War Objective. Support for Juggernaut battles is coming soon. Challenge matches do not earn Influence. You can only earn Influence if you battle from a screen that contains a War Objective.
At the end of battle screen you will see how much Influence you earned. 1v1 battles earn 5 Influence while 2v2 battles earn 15. Influence is a versatile number that goes into a number of different places. Personal Influence
Your personal Influence, viewable from your Character Stats page, is earned through victories on War Objectives. It is not capped or taxed. Faction Influence
Faction Influence is earned through battles by all of a Faction's members. It is not capped or taxed. Banner Influence
If you belong to a Faction, your Influence accumulates on a War Objective. The Faction with the most Influence accumulated on a War Objective will have its banner displayed over it. All Influence on a War Objective is taxed so inactive Factions can be passed by more active Factions. Banner Influence is not capped. Control
Control is a number that is driven by Influence earned in victories for a War Objective. This number is capped to prevent one Alignment from building an insurmountable lead. Once an Alignment has earned a certain amount of Influence on an Objective, it is considered to be captured and goes into cooldown.
During cooldown, no Alignment can earn Influence while battling for this War Objective. Once the cooldown period is over, the controlling Alignment can reinforce its position and the attacking Alignment can battle to seize control, putting the Objective into cooldown again. This is to encourage players to move to different regions and keep the war from bogging down in one region.
Step 3: Victory As we have seen in the past, the Alignments truly succeed in Wars through active recruitment and organization. Although it's not necessary to join a Faction to participate, Factions have the tools and organization to rally forces to take down heavily fortified War Objectives.
We are currently adding more clarification and balance elements streamline the War and minimize ambiguity. Stay tuned for another DN post with more update details! |
| June 22, 2013 Patch Notes - 1.5.19
NEW CHANGES/FEATURES: The Dread War is here!
Tags: RabbleFroth |
| June 21, 2013 War Begins!
Legion and Exile forces, the time has come to man your battle stations! The Dread War officially begins today, June 21! Choose your alignment carefully, as you will not only be supporting that alignment for the Dread War, but the remainder of your time on Delta V.* This is a time of conflict- there can be no room for neutral parties. *You will be able to change alignment later, but at a steep cost with time-based limitations.
You are somewhere...around here. I also want to mention that the war system coming todayis a major change to the overall gameplay experience of EpicDuel, not just a temporary event for the next month or so. We will change the dynamics periodically and add features to keep the war fresh, but the system itself is going to be part of the core gameplay. We don't want to keep ANYONE from the clash!
Use the regional map to jump to contested Objectives! With this release, we will be introducing 21 War Objectives to claim. Do you have what it takes to claim them all and shape the future of Delta V? War Objectives
As previously announced, Flags will be converted to War Objectives, which will require more active control over an area rather than simply dumping in tokens, which will be removed next week. Since I didn't have specifics last week about credit/token conversion, here is RabbleFroth's word on the subject: 1) Credits per battle will be increased. The base amount for 1v1 was 32 per win, it will increase to 37 per win, and about 2 more credits for a 1v1 loss. This bonus is appropriately increased for 2v2 and Juggernaut. The current flags will be converted to War Objectives with this release, with more areas under dispute released in the future! Next week we hope to upgrade Objectives to impart buffs to the controlling alignment in the area, and actually make it possible for the Objectives to upgrade and evolve with effort.
A new War Objective outside of Ulysses' workshop.
Coming Soon... This is going to be a gigantic update with a major change to EpicDuel's primary gameplay, but we are far from done. Other features which should (hopefully) be implemented next week include:
With so many features coming tomorrow, and even more on the horizon, this is going to be a Summer to remember for EpicDuel! |
| June 14, 2013 Patch Notes - 1.5.18NEW CHANGES/FEATURES:
BUGS FIXED:
Tags: RabbleFroth Patch Notes |
| June 13, 2013 Daring Design Notes
The Dread War is coming! Tensions between Legion and Forces are at an all-time high, and Delta V is poised to explode into all-out war June 21st. Will you fight for Freedom with the Exiles or battle in the name of Order alongside the Legion? This Friday, we will be launching the complete Dread Plains area, along with a new map / navigation system. Travelling the entirety of Delta V has never been quicker or easier!
Choose Your Destiny! Starting this Friday, all EpicDuelists will be called upon to select an alignment to participate in the upcoming war. For those of you just joining us, this means you must choose to fight for the Exiles or Legion. I have taken the liberty of describing the corresponding alignments thusly:
Choosing an alignment is not as simple as “good” and “evil” – both alignments have similar goals, but drastically different means of achieving them. Choose carefully – you will be able to change alignment later, however, to encourage loyalty, the price will be steep!
Bye-Bye Battle Tokens* After much deliberation, as of next week’s update (June 21) Battle Tokens are being discontinued. Initially, Battle Tokens were intended as a currency based entirely on a player’s effort alone, since they could not be purchased with Varium packages and could only be earned through battle victories. However, since we no longer offer credits with packages, making credits an effort currency, it no longer makes sense to keep Tokens. They will be replaced by credits at a fixed rate, so you'll see a nice little windfall based on how many tokens you currently have. Token Boost will also be removed, and achievements will cost credits rather than Tokens. Missions awarding battle tokens will be altered to award credits rather than tokens at a fixed rate.
War Banners* As we phase out Battle Tokens, War Flags will be transitioned into War Objectives, which will be captured and controlled by Faction and alignment battles, not donations. For the time being, however, the top contributor of each War Flag will own the War Objective for that Faction's alignment. So, if the Legion Faction “The Sparkling Vampires” holds the War Flag in “The Land of Terrible Fiction,” then they would be the first to claim the War Objective for the Legion in that area. But we are making these Objectives more challenging than simply dumping Battle Tokens into a flag. Also, there will be a control cap on each Objective, meaning that an alignment cannot build and insurmountable lead on an Objective.
These new War Objectives will come in the form of radar stations, turrets, shield generators, propaganda towers, and many other tactically valuable assets. Many regions of Delta V will have one or more of these Objectives ripe for the capturing. Some Objectives will even grant you bonuses toward defending or attacking other objectives, creating an interesting hierarchy of Objectives and adding new strategies to the global war. *These features are still in development and the details may change by June 21st. We will keep you informed of any changes.
Delta V World Tour 2013
Travelling has never been easier. In order to allow players to jump quickly to each War Objective, we added multiple jump points on each region. You will be able to see at a glance which areas are contested, and which are firmly under Legion or Exile control.
Bike Night Our special guest artist, the great Nulgath, has been gracious enough to lend his skills to EpicDuel for the construction of an epic new bike! Strike fear in the hearts of your enemies as you tear across the battlefields in this demonic creation!
Insect Facts Yay! Most people while visiting the plant store would be outraged to find a late-instar caterpillar on one of the store's plants for sale. Most people however, are not me. Papilo polyxenes or the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly lays its eggs on members of the Apiaceae or carrot family. I discovered my new friend happily nomming on some curly parsley, but females will oviposit on carrots, dill, Queen Anne's Lace, and fennel but will also accept rue as a more novel host. The early instar caterpillars resemble bird droppings in shape and coloration, but after molting are characterized by black bands and yellow spots. Short-photoperiod (fall) caterpillars that will overwinter as pupae are brown and long-photoperiod (summer) caterpillars who do not pupate so long are green. One pretty cool thing about these guys is that the caterpillars have a gland held behind the head capsule called the osmenterium. It's an orange, forked gland that resembles horns or a snake's tongue (swallowtail caterpillars tend to have characteristics that are snakelike to fool predators) and smells pretty terrible. After the caterpillar has eaten all he or she can possibly eat, it will pupate within a suspended chrysalis, which can be either green or brown depending on the environment. Upon eclosion (emergence from the pupal casing) the butterfly's gender can be determined by wing markings. Wings of both sexes are mainly black with a conspicuous orange spot, but males have a yellow band at the bottom of the hindwing and females have an iridescent blue band. This species is common throughout the North American continent and is the state butterfly of Oklahoma. Tags: War Cinderella Legion exile PvP Flags Alignment Nulgath Bike |
| June 07, 2013 WorldbuildingGreetings EpicDuelists! Unfortunately there is no release today, but I have emerged from the nest of dry erase boards to give you more details about the upcoming war and talk a little about the planning process. It's sometimes challenging to pick what to say and what to hold onto when certain points are still uncertain, but I shall do my best.
Before The Dread War officially begins, Delta V will be receiving a much-needed facelift. From the Barrens to the Bio Dome, Delta V will be reshaped with the most advanced satellite imaging technology (i.e. drawn better.) with the ability to zoom in on any known region. This will allow quick jumping to individual areas of interest within each region, making navigation much quicker. This quick jumping with be essential for reaching contested areas in the War. The main focus of the Dread War will be this objective, as seen in the background of the first of many areas of the Dread Plains. This apparatus is the top of a massive control array. What does it control?
The Legion or Exile forces that gain and hold control of this structure will find out. Capturing this array will not be quite so simple, however. In order to have the best chance of taking it, you will need to capture surrounding support structures: turrets, shield generators, propaganda speakers, etc... These structures will confer great benefits to those who hold them and will be essential for turning the tide of the Dread War.
How do you capture these objectives? Battle. You will need to visit the physical location of the objective and queue for battle. Battle victories will award influence, but this time the influence will apply toward the objective's capture bar. Unlike the old Flag system that allows Factions to collect, store, and dump a massive amount of Battle Tokens to secure a flag, these points can only be captured by the collective efforts of all Factions of an alignment. Top Factions will still be honored, but the emphasis will be more on the alignment vs. alignment struggle rather than Faction vs. Faction. Similar to the Infernal War, everyone will soon be required to choose an alignment. To discourage people from piling on the "winning" team, switching alignment will not be easy so we recommend deciding in advance.
Why Plan? We want to be very careful with the upcoming Faction War. We have always believed that Factions would be the driving purpose for playing EpicDuel. We've added some features to cultivate conflict among Factions, but it never felt connected. Depositing tokens or firing a cannon at an arbitrary target, while novel at first, never really captured the feeling of all-out war that we wanted to convey. Wars are exciting, but require a tremendous amount of upkeep and preparation. Our goal with the new war system is to provide ongoing entertainment and excitement for EpicDuelists of all levels and classes, Varium and non-Varium. We want to provide recognition and incentives at the personal, Faction, and alignment levels to motivate everyone to participate. These are lofty goals, but with enough planning, we can deliver a system that meets our criteria and surpasses expectations.
The boards are full and our heads or packed with ideas. Now all that remains is execution. This will be a War to remember -- Delta V will never be the same! Tags: War The Dread War Factions Control Legion exile Planning Delta V Map Nightwraith |
