EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

January 30, 2019

We just rolled a small patch with some additions and a bug fix which seems minor, but was a major headache if you enjoyed fighting NPCs. A regular release is still scheduled for later this week!

As of the writing of this, all Omega Wolf Warrior armors have been awarded to secret package owners! Congratulations! I hope it was worth the wait! Also, I finally corrected an issue that's been around since Gifting. On Christmas, a very special daily prize was supposed to be awarded, but because of a data definition mixup, the prize was mere credits! Since we know how many daily prizes everyone claimed, we were able to figure out everyone who would have earned the prize and award them the intended gift: Infernal Frostbane!

New Features/Changes

• Omega Wolf Warrior Added to Secret Package Owners!
• Infernal Frostbane awarded to those who have 26 or more daily prize claims during gifting!
• Cores:
  • Unbreakable Heart added to Endless
  • Unbreakable Spirit Added to Endless
  • Unbreakable Heart x25 added to Endless and Endless M4tr1x
  • Unbreakable Spirit x25 added to Endless and Endless M4tr1x
  • New Strength Boost, Dexterity Boost, Technology Boost, and Support Boost cores' prices increased to 8000 Credits, 475 Varium.

Bug Fixes

• Corrected error which caused NPCs like the Gamma Guard would freeze in battle

Tags: Titan

January 25, 2019

This week in EpicDuel marks the return of classic Azrael/Heartbreaker Gear to Alydroid and Administrator 12 (in the Afterlife)! VendBots across Delta V will also stocked with tons of cores to power up your characters. In addition to this new content, we've also implemented numerous balance adjustments, including skill requirements, NPC skill variety, War balance, and first strike chance.

First Strike

Due to numerous complaints that first strike RNG doesn't favor the player with the most Support enough, with too much weight given to level, we've adjusted the formula to really make those investments in the stat count.

• Support weight increases when determining first strike
• Level weight reduced when determining first strike
• First strike chance (OLD) = 50% + (1.5% * (My Support - Enemy Support)) - (10% * (My Level - Enemy Level))
• First strike chance (NEW) = 50% + (2% * (My Support - Enemy Support)) - (5% * (My Level - Enemy Level))

Balance

• Cyber Hunter
  • Malfunction: Improves with every 3.7 Support
  • Multi Shot: Improves with Support
• Bounty Hunter
  • Smoke Screen: Improves with every 3.7 Technology
  • Multi Shot: Improves with Support

War Balance

When the next war comes online, we're trying something a bit different -- making all the objectives deal standard damage. The currently system allows for one side to create a huge lead, leaving the other demoralized and unable to close the gap. Also, the multiplier for 2v2 war drops was greatly increased, making drops nearly guaranteed for 2v2 wins.

I'd like to make bigger, bolder changes to the war system -- and there have been some great ideas proposed -- but I'm not ready to implement anything big yet.

Juggernaut and Botting

Due to the prevalence of botters, particularly in Juggernaut, we've taken a few steps to make life more challenging for these lazy cheaters. We know bots are frustrating, but it's also a challenging offense to prove. Accused botters can claim, "I just didn't feel like talking." or, "I was experimenting with builds." There is also the issue of false accusation made out of spite to challenge rival factions. To try to address this plague, we've implemented a few changes to help discourage and identify botters.

• Botters rely on predictable NPC behavior so we're buffing multiple NPCs, with a focus on levels 28-35, giving them more defense and skill variety. This means botters may lose more often than not, making them more easily identifiable as a bot.
• We do have some tools to help identify botting behavior, flagging them for reduced rewards and additional investigation. Eventually, botters get clever and try to get around these, so we've adjusted to guidelines to keep up with these new habits.
• Obviously, we don't want to reveal everything we do to address bots, since, well, botters could be listening and taking notes.

Botter behavior is constantly changing, and we do take it seriously, so we will do our best to adapt as their methods do. Preferably without ruining the user experience for players trying to play legitimately.

Achievements

Hey SPORTS! Check out the new Big Game LIII Achievement available in the achievement shop!

• Big Game LIII Achievement for sale
• Generic Big Game achievement now rare
• Frost Warrior achievement now rare

Cores

NPCs around Delta V have been stocked with some new passive and active cores to power up your character. These new boost cores do stack, so you can mix and match for maximum impact!

• Big Tuna
  • Paralysis Coating (Unlimited)
• Vendbot
  • Strength Boost (Gun)
  • Strength Boost (Armor)
  • Strength Boost (Aux)
  • Dexterity Boost (Primary)
  • Dexterity Boost (Armor)
  • Dexterity Boost (Aux)
  • Technology Boost (Primary)
  • Technology Boost (Gun)
  • Technology Boost (Aux)
  • Support Boost (Primary)
  • Support Boost (Gun)
  • Support Boost (Armor)
• Endless M4tr1x
  • Unbreakable Heart
  • Unbreakable Spirit
• You now have the ability to buy more than one of the same Limited Quantity core at a time

Home Items

NEW TOILETS! This is for you, Blatslo ;)

Gifting Rewards

A large part of my time this month has been devoted to creating wishes for the top 15 winners. So far most of these have been delivered, with a few tweaks here and there. All have been contacted so the last few wishes are nearly finished. As of the writing of this, color separations for the Omega Wolf Warrior Armor Secret Package reward are underway. This should be completed and given to all the Package holders by the end of the day. Thank you all for your patience! Next week should be clearer skies for more content, achievements, and missions!

Tags: Nightwraith

January 18, 2019

Gifting is officially over and the work to reward the most generous gifters continues! Although our primary focus has been on granting the wishes for the winners, we've still managed a major quality of life improvement, especially for those with inventories overflowing with Arcade Tokens. We still haven't heard back from one of our winners so if you're a winner and haven't been contacted by Nightwraith, please check your spam filter or contact player support.

Wishes Granted

As of this update, nearly all the winners of the 2018 Gifting Event have received their wishes! If you received your reward, I hope you like it! I've been impressed by the creativity the winners have put forth in ideas for custom touches to their items, including custom colored core, effects, and armor animations. It'll be an incredible challenge to top the prizes next year!

Bandit J......In Progress
Spank Me......Complete
mr.darkgrinder......Complete
R A C I N G......Complete
GodOfSanta......Complete
RomanianSanta......Complete
CyanideSuicide......Complete
D0uble Tr0uble......Complete
Gladiator Blitz......Complete
Properto Reloaded......Pending
SantasQueen......Complete
Shego......Complete
.S A G A R......Complete
DaBomb CHOP V8 FTYPE......Pending
Accomplishment......Complete

Secret Packages

The Secret Packages will be opening today. Since this is a manual process, it may take awhile, but we'll announce when all the items were awarded.  You will receive rewards based on how many packages you received, so if you received 2 packages, you will receive 2 sets of rewards. Secret Package Rewards are:

• Frozen Dage's Apocalypse P
• Frozen Dage's Apocalypse E
• Thawed Dage's Apocalypse P
• Thawed Dage's Apocalypse E
• As some of you have deduced the the Omega Wolf Warrior armor is coming, but unfortunately it still needs some more time.

I tried to set the sellback up earlier this week for the rewards, but it was easier to give everyone bulk credits per package they won. This amounted to 500K per Secret Package and 100K per Silver Secret Package. This was awarded earlier this week so you don't need to do anything to claim it. 

General

• Arcade Tokens and other mission items no longer count towards Inventory or Bank space. This should help those who have piles upon piles of Tokens stocked up from Gifting. I have a feeling more Arcades will be arriving on Delta V very soon!
• Fixed bug allowing the use of spaces at the front of character names

War and the Artix Launcher

For those playing via the Artix Launcher, the War Bar was not working earlier this week. This should now be fixed! If you notice any other bugs in the launcher, please submit a report using the official Artix Bug Tracker. 

Tags: Nightwraith

January 11, 2019

Gifting is officially over and what a end it was! On behalf of EpicDuel and all of Artix Entertainment we'd like to congratulate the winners and thank them for their generosity. If you're a winner and haven't been contacted by Nightwraith, please check your spam filter or contact player support.

Gifting

Once again, congratulations! Your rewards are certainly well-deserved, and we've been impressed by the thought and creativity put into the wishes so far. As of this update, several of the winners will have received their prizes. Some are still in progress, but I hope to have all aside from Bandit J's rewards completed soon. We can't wait for you all to receive and show off your prizes!

Bandit J......In Progress
Spank Me......Complete
mr.darkgrinder......Complete
R A C I N G......In Progress
GodOfSanta......Complete
RomanianSanta......Complete
CyanideSuicide......In Progress
D0uble Tr0uble......Pending
Gladiator Blitz......In Progress
Properto Reloaded......Pending
SantasQueen......Complete
Shego......Complete
.S A G A R......Pending
DaBomb CHOP V8 FTYPE......Pending
Accomplishment......Complete

Silver Secret Packages

The Silver Secret Packages will be opening today. Since this is a manual process, it may take awhile, but we'll announce when all the items were awarded. If you have a Secret Package, it will not open just yet, but you will receive the silver rewards. You will receive rewards based on how many packages you received, so if you received 2 packages, you will receive 2 sets of rewards. The Silver Secret Package Rewards are:

• Omega Wolf Mutation
• Frozen Dage's Desolation P
• Frozen Dage's Desolation E

General

• 15K Varium Package Removed
• Epic Supporter 2018 Achievement removed
• 2018 Gifting Winners next to Endless M4tr1x
• Classic battle backgrounds are now in the battle rotation!

Balance

• Bounty Hunter and Cyber Hunter
  • Massacre: Stat requirement changed to Strength

War

You may have noticed that the War has returned under the radar in Central Station. The gifting banner will remain until next week when Titan will be available to swap the banners back. 

Reinforcements Have Arrived

EpicDuel is pleased to welcome Bido and Tomcat/Deuce back onto the art team! Prepare to be taunted by their Twitter accounts as they tease previews of their latest creations! The extra help is definitely appreciated!

Tags: Nightwraith

January 03, 2019

All good things must end, and that means EpicDuel latest Gifting event is finally coming to an epic conclusion! We'd like to extend a special thanks to all our gifters and giftees who helped this season shatter all previous records for generosity and excitement!

Gifting will end officially at the server reset at the end of the day on Friday January 4th. The reset happens at midnight EST. That means Friday will be the final day for gifting. After that, the leaderboards will be locked in place, celebrating the grand champions of this epic gifting season!

Gifting ended and I'm in the top 15! What now?

First of all: CONGRATULATIONS! You absolutely destroyed the totals of all previous gifting events! You should be extremely proud of your contributions to the EpicDuel community, and we am humbled and honored by your generosity. After gifting officially ends, you will then be contacted by Nightwraith through one of your account's valid email addresses with further details. Please keep in mind that some prizes will be more complicated than others, especially the #1 custom prize, and may take some time to deliver fully. If you need some time to think, don't sweat! You can take your time thinking of a suitable wish.

What do I do with my Secret/Silver Secret Package?

You don't have to do anything! When the time is right for them to open, they will automatically transform into the appropriate item. We want to leave a buffer between gifting and the prize reveal to make sure all the winners and package recipients are in good standing and to add a final polish pass on the prizes! We hope you like them, because they'll be some of the prettiest, most unique rewards in the game!

Endless Challenge

Wrap up a spectacular Gifting season with a battle against Legendary Endless M4tr1x and win the Legendary Endless M4tr1x achievement!

New Weapons

Before you challenge Legendary Endless M4tr1x to battle, check out her new items!

• Divinity Battlegear P
• Divinity Battlegear E
• Divine Conqueror P
• Divine Conqueror E 

Also check out the Epic Legendary Arsenal for a new armor for those with a mountain of credits to spare!

• Dage's Gold Paragon

Items Leaving

We'll be saying goodbye to the 2018 Omega Weapons, which will be leaving Nightwraith when when EpicDuel reboots for updates.

• Omega Obliterator 2018
• Omega Slayer 2018
• Omega Onslaughter 2018
• Omega Impaler 2018

Epic Supporter 2018

Since the other games have extended their currency bonuses, we're extending our 15K Varium Epic Supporter package to January 11th! After the update on that day, the 15K package will be replaced with the 12K package and the Epic Supporter achievement will no longer be available with purchases of Varium packages. The Omega Wolf Package will be available awhile longer.

2019

2018 ended with a huge victory for EpicDuel. The level of generosity and excitement from the community encouraging, surprising, and inspiring. We knew gifting would be a big deal, as it always is, but this year you knocked it out of the park and into the stratosphere. Where do we go from here, though? Lots of people want lots of different things in EpicDuel: New phases, new wars, new classes, new features, even a whole new game. More than a few want all of the above! Any one of those tasks would be extremely ambitious, but this year's resurgence was also ambitious. The passion in EpicDuel's community is undeniable and will usher in a new year of great possibilities for the game. 

This post is vague because while there are so many directions the game could go, including making real progress on EpicDuel's modest gameplan goals stating in a Design Notes post last summer, it's still difficult to see past the holiday haze and the work involved in the aftermath of gifting. That's why one immediate goal is acquiring an art assistant to help beef up EpicDuel's content and make it easier to focus on mid-long term development projects. However, that's only step one in the thousand step journey to an even greater 2019 for EpicDuel. The challenges facing Flash and the indie gaming industry from 2018 haven't vanished, but we know we'll have plenty of supporters willing to continue on the journey with us into an epic new year!

Stay tuned as more plans coalesce in the new year!

Bug Fix

• Battery Backup
  • Level 2 increased to 180 from 170

Tags: Nightwraith