EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

June 29, 2018

Features/Changes

• Cost of Class Change reduced to 450 Varium, 25,000 Credits.
• To allow players to complete the Harvest Missions, Pumpkin and Candy are no longer seasonal.

Balance 

• Armor Cores:
  • Nanosteel Armor: Decreases the defense ignored of a critical hit by 15%
  • Overshield: Further reduces damage by 15% when you deflect an attack
  • Armored Roots: Increased duration to 3 turns and increased Defense and Resistance to 45% from 33%
    
    
• Primary Cores:
  • Frost Shards/Frostbite: Reduce damage to 85%
  • Energy Storm: Increased damage % to 25%
  • Curse: Reduced energy cost to 100 from 115 and increased support reduction to 40% from 30% 
  • Omega Override:  Improved base stat reduction to 35%
  • Baby/Dark Yeti Charge: Buff to 20 points
  • Growth Serum: Reduce Energy cost to 100 and Increased Support buff to 40%
    
    
• Sidearm Cores: 
  • Energy Shot: Damage % buffed to 25%
  • Laser Sights: Increase damage by 15% when deflected
    
    
• Auxiliary Cores: 
  • Salvage: Reduce base Energy cost to 90
  • Laser Sights: Increase damage by 15% when deflected
    
    
• General
  • Field Medic: Reduced healing by 25 points per level
    
    
• Bounty Hunter:
  • Smoke Screen: Increased Dexterity gained per level by 3 instead of 2
  • Static Grenade: Reduced energy drained by 3, added level scaling to improve every 3 levels above 20 and weaken every 5 levels below level 20
  • Venom Strike: Increased attack damage to 100%, reduced poison damage by 10 per level
  • Reflex Boost: Reduced base energy cost by 20
    
    
• Cyber Hunter
  • Plasma Armor: Decreased base energy cost by 10
  • EMP Grenade: Increased cooldown to 4 and increased base energy cost by 20
  • Malfunction: Increased base Technology reduction by 1 and increased scaling to 3
    
    
• Tech Mage:
  • Plasma Bolt: Reduced damage by 10 and increased base cost by 20
  • Malfunction: Increased base Technology gain by 1 and increased scaling to 3
  • Battery Backup: Increased energy restored by 12 per level
  • Plasma Rain: Increased base damage by 11 at each level and increased scaling by 1 per level and increased base cost by 5 (to match Multi-Shot)
  • Assimilation: Reduced energy drained by 8 per level and reduced scaling to 1 per 2.5 points to Strength
    
    
• Blood Mage:
  • Energy Parasite: Initial hit does full damage
  • Reflex Boost: Reduced base energy cost by 20
  • Plasma Rain: Increased base damage by 11 at each level and increased scaling by 1 per level and increased base cost by 5 (to match Multi-Shot)
    
    
• Mercenary:
  • Double Strike: Reduced base energy cost by 10 and increased % damage increase by 2 per level
  • Blood Commander: Reduced health regeneration to 70% of Wtrength
  • Adrenaline Rush: Reduced base energy cost by 20 per level
  • Maul: Increased defense ignore to 15% reduced base energy cost by 10 and increased stun chance by 4 per level
    
    
• Tactical Mercendary:
  • Field Commander: Reduced base energy cost by 10 and Increased Strength added by 2 per level
  • Double Strike: Reduced base energy cost by 10 and increased % damage increase by 2 per level
  • Battery Backup: Increased energy restored by 12 per level
  • Frenzy: Now unblockable
  • Mineral Armor: Reduced energy cost by 10 at all levels
  • Atom Smasher: Reduced energy cost by 20 and improved base % conversion by 7
  • Toxic Grenade: Reduced poison damage by 10 at all levels

Tags: Titan

June 22, 2018

Features/Changes

• NEW Arcade Games!
  • J6's Jackpot
  • Junker's Junkyard
• NEW Achievements!
  • J6's Jackpot VIP
  • Junker's Junkyard VIP
  • Every existing Arcade receives 3 new tiers
• Omega weapons return to Nightwraith  as 2018 versions!
  • Omega Obliterator 2018
  • Omega Onslaughter 2018
  • Omega Slayer 2018
  • Omega Impaler 2018
• World Cup items return to Overlord Guard!
• Rating cap increased!
• 2 NEW star tiers: Platinum and Regal

Balance 

The general idea behind this balance update was to broadly nerf Energy regeneration skills while buffing Bounty Hunters, who've had trouble coping with endless regen builds. Legends were also slightly buffed. These adjustments are small and meant to pave the way for more comprehensive balance updates in the future, likely as soon as next week.

• Legends
  
  • Primary Damage: 1 → 2 per point
  • Sidearm Damage: 2 → 3 per point
  • Auxiliary Damage: 2 → 3 per point
  • Defense: 1 → 2 per point
  • Resistance: 1 → 2 per point
  • Robot Damage: 2 → 3 per point
  • Medical Mastery: 1 → 2 per point
  • Energy Efficiency: 1 per point (unchanged)
  • NPC Crusher: 1 → 2 per point
  • NPC Armor: 1 → 2 per point
• Bounty Hunter:
  • Massacre → Increased Damage % +2 per level and +1 for level 1 and reduced base energy cost by 10 
  • Mark of Blood → Increased % of HP gained +1 and reduced base energy cost by 10
  • Static Grenade → Reduced number of energy points drained from target by 2
• Cyber Hunter:
  • Static Charge → Reduced % of Damage converted to Energy by 1 except level 10
  • Massacre buff Increased Damge % +2 per level and +1 for level 1 and reduced base energy cost by 10
• Tech Mage:
  • Assimilation → Reduced energy points drained by 2 per level 
  • Battery Backup → Reduced energy restored by 2 per level
• Blood Mage:
  • Energy Parasite → Reduced % of target's energy consumed by 1 per level except level 10
  • Mark of Blood → buff Increased % of HP gained +1
• Mercenary:
  • Static Smash → Reduced % of Damage conversion to Energy by 2 per level
• Tactical Mercendary:
  • Battery Backup → Reduced energy restored by 2 per level
  • Atom Smasher → Reduced % of energy conversion by 2 per level

Botting

• Moved location of a closing interface button to thwart autoclickers
• This is a minor step until more drastic measures can be taken

Tags: Nightwraith

June 19, 2018

Greetings EpicDuelists! I'm very pleased to announce a new update coming later this week! I want to try to include as much content as I can while allowing for enough testing so I'm predicting a Friday release. For those of you who haven't followed

Wait. What? A release? Yup! I posted a tweeet a few weeks ago asking what themes for Arcade games players would like to see and I was flooded with ideas and suggestions for release content. The EpicDuel community is still hungry for new releases and possesses an incredible passion for the game. This moved me to devote my efforts to giving EpicDuel the attention it deserves! I'm not a programmer like Titan or Rabble so I can't promise any big features, but I'll do my best with the game as it is.

Arcade

The Arcade machines scattered throughout Delta V but mainly concentrated in Valestra's Arcade have been sadly neglected since their introduction. Years ago, we updated the Arcade with several games themed after popular items from other AE games. I've put out the call again and received some great items to adapt to the world of Delta V! The Arcade is something I hope to expand further so if there are other themes you'd like, let me know!

Achievements

In addition to being a great way to win cool weapons and home decorations, Arcades are also excellent for boosting rating points! I've boosted the achievements for Arcades to all have 3 more tiers. This will result in a HUGE rating point boost for those who've dominated the leaderboards. Don't fret, though! I've also boosted the Rating Point system include 2 more tiers: Platinum and Regal Stars! Currently, nobody has hit the existing cap, but with the addition of new achievement tiers, I expect a few lucky souls to cross the threshhold to the new tier! Who will be the first to go Platinum?

Balance

I've heard a lot of requests to buff Legendary Ranks. The last time we addressed Legendary Ranks we nerfed their power while also buffing the Underdog skill. For this reason, I'm buffing Legendary Skills as follows:

Primary Damage: 1 → 2 per point
Sidearm Damage: 2 → 3 per point
Auxiliary Damage: 2 → 3 per point
Defense: 1 → 2 per point
Resistance: 1 → 2 per point
Robot Damage: 2 → 3 per point
Medical Mastery: 1 → 2 per point
Energy Efficiency: 1 per point (unchanged)
NPC Crusher: 1 → 2 per point
NPC Armor: 1 → 2 per point

They're not as powerful as they were originally, but it's a start. We'll see how this changes balance and go from there.

Another area I will address is the potency of energy regeneration skills by reducing their effectiveness. These nerfs will be broad but not severe as I'd rather proceed with a scalpel than a mallet to address balance. My goal is to offer balance updates weekly to keep the game fresh and try to nudge the classes to some sort of equilibrium.

OMEGA

By popular request, I've decided to bring back the Omega Weapons with some special conditions. First, they will be rebranded as 2018 editions, allowing the originals to retain their rarity score. Second, they will be available in-game at Nightwraith for Varium only. This was a tough decision, but it seemed most fair to those who joined us during Omega but missed out on those awesome weapons. Since we're still in Omega, it just made sense to give people another chance. I'm not sure how long they will remain in game, but since they're tagged RARE, it won't be forever!

That's all for now. Back to work! Hopefully this will be the first of many successful updates to EpicDuel! 

Tags: Nightwraith