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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.
Nightwraith

October 26, 2018

Ghoulish Styles Part 2

Ghoulish Styles 2

It's Halloween...almost! Check out this week's update for new ghoulish weapons, travel forms, and armor. Plus, new balance updates and bug fixes will round out this exciting update!

Balance

  • Phantasm Blast -- Deal 45% base damage to Energy, increasing by 4% each round in battle (65% max)
  • Assimilation -- Unblockable; Deals 75% damage
  • Energy Parasite -- Attacker absorbs 1.7x the amount of energy drained
  • Static Grenade -- Attacker gains 80% of drained energy
  • Reflex boost -- Support scaling buffed to 2.5

Spooky Gear!

Visit Xraal in the Biological Preserve to check out the latest in spook-tacular weaponry and travel forms!

Weapons

  • Horror Havoc P
  • Horror Havoc E
  • Horror Beastbreaker P
  • Horror Beastbreaker E​

Armors

  • Horror Husk Armor

Travel Forms

  • Mini Boo
  • Screaming Skull
  • Skeletal Graverider
  • Skeletal Graverider CC

Achievements

I know so little about sports that Teufel Hunden had to remind me that the World Series was currently underway. That's not a nerd pride thing. That's a Cleveland sports thing. You get burned enough, you stop touching the stove eventually. Anyway, pick up the new Big Show 2018 Achievement from the shop while it lasts!

 

2019 Calendar Items

EpicDuel Calendar Items

I'm happy to announce that EpicDuel will be receiving 3 in-game items for buyers of the 2019 Calendar! This will include the Corrupted Chronomancer Armor, Chrono Cluster Sword P, and Chrono Cluster Sword E!

Bug Fixes

  • Prisoner of the Nightmare now properly awards 10,000 Credits instead of 5,000. Those who completed this mission between last Friday and today will receive the difference in Credits
  • People with 100 Buddy Slots should now have the Epic Buddy achievement

Tester Search

I'm happy to say that the search for testers has concluded, and the final candidates have been contact. However, because all the candidates haven't yet been trained and signed NDAs, we're not ready to announce at this time. If you weren't contacted, it doesn't mean that you weren't a strong candidate, but you didn't make the cut this time. We'll probably use this list of candidates when we're looking for more testers, so fuming about our choices on social media probably won't boost your chance, especially if you were very close to the cutoff.  I've very excited to get our new testers trained and ready to help us address some of the biggest challenges facing EpicDuel, especially as we head into the busy holiday season!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

October 19, 2018

Ghoulish Styles

Ghoulish Styles

Don't have a costume yet for Halloween? No problem! This update is introducing 9 new monstrous style sets and 2 new travel forms that are perfect to get you into the spirit of the season! This is just part 1 of a 2 part seasonal update to introduce some holiday cheer and fear into Delta V!

New Features/Changes

  • Because of exploitation, the level requirement to give fame has been increased to 10
  • Standardized hairstyle pricing:
    • Varium styles without a set (style is unique to a class and doesn’t unlock across classes) = 145 Varium
    • Varium styles with a set = 210
    • Credit styles without a set = 745
    • Credit styles with a set = 995
  • Max Buddy List size increased to 200
  • HalloWarrior achievement is going rare!

 

Achievements

  • Epic Buddy -- 100 Buddy Slots
  • Extreme Buddy -- 150 Buddy Slots
  • Legendary Buddy -- 200 Buddy Slots

 

Styles

  • Demon Skull
  • Paper Bag
  • Evil Clown
  • Mummy
  • Pumpkin Head
  • Flaming Pumpkin
  • Alien Suit
  • Alien Head
  • Alien Teeth


Vehicles/Travel Forms

Visit Xraal to check out these fun new travel forms!

  • Pumpkin Mutation 
  • Jack O Bomb Mutation (Type /boom to see some festive fireworks!)

 

Bugs/Fixes

  • Yeti Furs can now be sold  
  • Platinum stars should show on characters pages
  • Nightmare's End - Nightmare Kartherax Cell awarded on mission completion instead of drop to allow players to win Nightmare Kartherax Slayer achievement from beating Nightmare Kartherax
  • Prisoner of the Nightmare now awards 10,000 Credits to compensate for altered reward on Nightmare's End 
  • City Guard outside Valestras now correct labeled as level 3.

Gifting Update!

December is still over a month away, but it will be here before you know it! That means Gifting 2018 is also fast approaching! I've been taking a bit of time each week to make small changes to improve the experience and make this year's event as exciting and rewarding as possible! Here are a few of the changes you can look forward to this year:

  • New gift giving tiers*
  • Room limit expanded to 150 from 130*
  • Gifting price reduced to 325

*Still requires testing

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon!

Some things were left on the cutting room floor this update, but that just mean more for next week! Join us next week for some of the wildest weapons and armors yet!

 

Tester Search

After many discussions and investigations, we've narrowed down our list of testers and we will being interviewing them next week. We received more applications than we expect so we thank you for your patience during this process!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

October 12, 2018

The Pirate's Nightmare Redux

Finally!

Earlier this week, fearless warriors all over Delta V were able to challenge Nightmare Kartherax at long last! Now, they'll be able to explore the Nightmare and uncover its mysteries in this content-rich release with 30 new missions!

 

General Changes:

The following changes are designed to address some of the imbalances with players in the high 30s matching with high rank Legendary players. Additional changes to mission tracking will allow Juggernaut victories to count toward 2v2 missions.

  • Tighter matching at high levels for 1v1
  • 38s and 39s should encounter high rank Legends less often.
  • Level difference weighted higher when calculating first strike:
    • New formula --> First Strike Chance = (50 + ((My Team’s Support - Enemy Team’s Support) * 1.5) - ((My Team’s Level - Enemy Team’s Level) * 10)) * (My Support / (My Team’s Support * Team Size))
  • Juggernaut victories will count towards 2v2 missions
  • Promotional Package Phantasm Droids now properly tagged as seasonal rares.

 

Balance

  • Legendary Stat Buff:
    • Sidearm Damage: 3 → 4 per point
    • Auxiliary Damage: 3 → 4 per point
    • Robot Damage: 3 → 4 per point

 

Achievements

We're releasing 2 new achievements, including a new upgradeable achievement!

  • HalloWarrior 2. This will replace the HalloWarrior achievement after this year. The original HalloWarrior achievement will go rare after this season!
  • Upgradeable Achievement: Pumpkin Seed. Can you afford to become a Pumpkin God?

Missions

The West Naval Yard is under siege by a malevolent force! Many of you have already discovered the tear that leads to he Nightmare realm, but now it's time to discover why all this is happening and how it relates to the various characters in the Naval Yard and Beyond! Note: Defeating Legendary versions of NPCs will not count toward the mission. Also, The Pirate's Nightmare chain will only open after you've complete Waves of Wrath Part 3.

  • The Pirate's Nightmare Part 1:
    • Tides of Fear
    • Clear the Docks
    • Grim Catch
    • Gamma Glitch
    • Something's Fishy
    • What Do Gods Fear?
    • Caden's Reverie
    • Research Trip
    • You Saw This Coming
    • Status Report
  • The Pirate's Nightmare Part 2:
    • Dreams of the Void
    • The Nightmare Spreads
    • Nightmare Prince
    • Nightmare Tether
    • Dreams of the Dead
    • Nightmare Gate
    • Nightmare Preppers
    • Prisoner of the Nightmare
    • Nightmare's End
    • The Waking World

For those who haven't yet complete Waves of Wrath, there's a fun mission chain you can do immediately! These mild missions are a great way to boost your credits to help you grab the latest seasonal gear and achievements!

  • Harrowing Harvest:
    • Seasonal Shipment 
    • Prowling for Pumpkins
    • Candy Delivery
    • Ooooo Piece of Candy
    • Sugar Rush
    • Electro Light Display
    • Exterminator
    • Greedy Harvest
    • Harvest Companion
    • Harvest Tradition

Tester Hunt

I'd like to extend my thanks to all of you who applied during out call for testers. It was very nice to see so many people eager to help EpicDuel thrive and become a part of it's development. We're still reviewing applications and narrowing the list, but when we've determined the final candidates, we'll reach out to them individually for interviews. We'll post the final list when the testers have been interviewed and approved. We thank you in advance for you patience during this process!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

October 05, 2018

Heroic Housing Winners!

Heroic Housing

First of all, I want to extend my appreciation and thanks to everyone who participated in the EpicDuel Heroic Housing Contest 2018! I also want to thank our judges who took their time to collect all the entries and tally the votes. We had a tremendous response to this contest with over 100 entries! Many of them were exceptionally creative, and it was very difficult to narrow down the list to 25 winners. We considered many factors when selecting winners including color schemes, patterns, function, and overall creative effort put into the house design. 

The winners will be receiving 5000 Artix Points, a rare Achievement in EpicDuel, and 2 new home items! If you weren't among the winners, please be good sports to the winners and judges, even if you disagree strongly with our decisions. There will definitely be more contests to enter! 

 

Without further ado, presented in no particular order, here are your winners!


....Sr.Eddye....

..Jordan.S..

.Darkness Lord.

ArMaGeDoN1000

Bane Hallow

Croissant

DarckCiToxD

Eldor The Beast

Exosen

FlaShSyll R3v0luTiOn

I.Fun3ral.I

Idriz

WhiteCollar

Josie Sparkles

l.Strong Mercenary.l

Machaon

NIKO BELLIC 4

Officer Blastlo

RomanianQueen

Runetide

Sr. Luciano

TwoFaced Illusion

Aldy16

True Mortal

Yamira

 

I ask that winners of the contest please not change your house ( other than maybe adding your trophies ) for a few weeks, so that visitors may see your epic house creation! Also as a heads up, it may take a few hours or so before you receive your achievement, trophies, and Artix points because we need to add it manually onto your characters.

Once again we thank our EpicDuel players, and we hope to see you in the next contest!

Tags: Titan


Nightwraith

October 05, 2018

Get Your Ghoulish Gear Here

Get your ghoulish gear here!

Ghoulish Gear!

This update EpicDuel is retiring the 2018 Stun Gun promotion and bringing a brand new promo pack with 6 devastating weapons loaded with new powerful cores! This is the first fully-load promo pack EpicDuel has released in a long time so it was tricky to get everything together in time. I hope they complement your spooky seasonal looks nicely!


Vampiric Boomstick P/E
Passive: Spreadfire: Damages all enemies. Deals 85% damage if it hits multiple targets.
Special: Blood Shot: Fire a powerful shot with a 25% chance to crit that returns 20% damage to user as HP.

Ghoul Cannon 2018 / Spectral Blaster 2018
Special: Soul Siphon: Reduce and absorb enemy energy by 25% of normal auxiliary damage.

Phantasm Droid P / E
Special: Phantasm Blast: Deal 60% base damage to Energy, increasing by 3% each round in battle (80% max).

Balance

  • Legendary Stat Buff:
    • Primary Damage: 2 → 3 per point
    • Defense: 2 → 3 per point
    • Resistance: 2 → 3 per point
  •  Cyber Hunter
    • Malfunction: Improves with ever 3.4 Support
    • Defense Matrix: Improves with every .6 Support
  • Tech Mage
    • Defense Matrix: Improves with every .6 Support

 

Rarity Value

Since Gifting Even Prizes are unique items, I increased the rarity value of the following items:

  • Titan's Alpha Blaster
  • Titan's Alpha Blade
  • Titan's Alpha Daggers
  • Titan's Alpha Staff
  • Titan's Alpha Maul
  • Nightwraith's Alpha Daggers
  • Nightwraith's Alpha Staff
  • Nightwraith's Alpha Maul
  • Nightwraith's Alpha Blaster
  • Nightwraith's Alpha Blade
  • Nightwraith's Founder Armor
  • Nightwraith's Gamma Bike
  • Nightwraith's Gamma Bot 

 

Achievements

Since there's a new Omega achievement as of a few weeks ago, I've updated the rarity of the legacy achievements. This should be a nice boost for veteran players and a HUGE boost to the Elites and Founders still showing the young punks what for.

  • Legacy Achievements increased in value
  • Alpha Tester --> 7000
  • Beta Tester --> 5500
  • Elite --> 7500
  • Founder --> 7500
  • One in a Million --> 5000
  • Gamma Tester --> 4000
  • Delta Knight --> 3500

 

Bosses

It looks like Nightmare Kartherax is casting a mighty forcefield between itself and the the calamari-craving duelists who want to test their steel against his tentacles. It's either a brilliant strategy or an act of fear. Either way, it looks like the Nightmare Kartherax boss in currently still inaccessible. This is really strange since it was working in the testing environment. Something is keeping the boss from loading, and I'll do everything I can to get it working. 

It was also my intention to release missions for this update, as they were listed as a feature for last update, but sadly, this did not happen again. I just hit too many walls and didn't have the necessary time to implement and test them. Will they be released next week? I hope so, but I'm learning to be more cautious about what I promise from week to week, as unforeseen issues can arise which make certain features impossible within the given timeframe. I promise to do better in the future for you and myself to keep the scope ambitious, yet attainable.

Tags: Nightwraith

 

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