EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

July 30, 2021

Robot Requisition

This week Charfade and Kraggor retreated into their workshops and emerged with new designs for popular bots that should provide more build options for those who prefer alternative damage types.

New Bots added to Charfade:

• Rusted Mini Rex PxE: Physical regular attack and energy special attack.
• Rusted Mini Rex ExP: Energy regular attack and physical special attack.

New Bots added to Kraggor:

• Magma Fly
  • Magma Beam: Physical damage beam attack.
  • Electro Swarm: Summon a swarm to deal energy damage and randomly disable one of your target's 3 highest level skills for the rest of the battle.
• Infernal Fly
  • Infernal Super Beam: Deal 90% base physical damage, increasing by 3% each round in battle (111% max).
  • Infernal Sting: Powerful sting that inflicts physical damage and places one random skill into cooldown.
• Plasma Fly (Skill name change):
  • Infernal Sting name changed to Plasma Sting

Balance Changes:

This week's balance update focuses primarily Cyber Hunters, a class that has struggled statistically to thrive. These changes should provide better recovery, energy management, and damage potential. 

• Field Medic:
  • Updated to match Tech Mage's Field medic
  • Improves with every 2.2 support over 3.5
  • Base value progression by level: 180 205 230 265 300 335 370 405 440 480
• Plasma Grenade:
  • Removed resistance debuff
  • Inflicts energy damage with a 25% base chance to crit
  • Ignores 15% defenses
  • +1 Energy Damage every 0.35 Technology instead of 0.4
  • Cost changed to start at 120 for level 1, increasing by 15 per level
• Neurotoxin:
  • Strike and reduce an enemy’s Technology and Dexterity for three turns
  • Improves +1 technology and dexterity point with every 5.5 Support
  • Removed health debuff
  • Requires 24 Dexterity at level 1, increasing by 2 per level
  • Costs 100 energy at level 1, increasing by 20 per level
  • Technology and Dexterity debuff per level: 3 5 7 9 11 12 13 14 15 16
• Proton Cannon:
  • Summon a nanotech cannon ignoring 30% of the target's Defense
  • Reduces energy by 26% of damage
  • Costs 310 energy, increasing by 30 per level increase
  • Rage does not apply
  • 3 Turn cooldown
  • Improves with Tech
  • Improves with every 0.4 Tech
  • Improves with ever 0.4 level over 20, weakens with every 0.4 levels below 20
  • Base damage progression by level: 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510 540 570
• Memory Leak replaced with EMP Grenade:
  • +1 damage every 0.8 Technology
  • Improves by 1 energy point every 2 levels above 20
  • 4 turn cooldown
  • Base energy progression by level: 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140

Core Changes:

• Chairman's Fury (Minor and Regular): Damage type mapped to Primary damage type
• Revitalization (Minor and Regular): Usable at 40% health for 100 energy
• Whiteout: 1 turn warmup; 2 turn duration
• Shell Shocker: Now available at Brachylagus

Seasonal Extension!

To allow more players to earn enough credits to collect their favorite gear, the seasonal rares will remain in the shops for another month! 

Last Call for Heroic Housing! 

It's still not too late to enter EpicDuel's Heroic Housing Contest!

The contest will officially end Sunday, August 1st at 11:59 PM EST. The winners will be announced via Twitter and Design Notes posts after judging concludes!

There are three (3) themes to choose from to decorate your house. Though there is room for flexibility when adhering to a theme, you may lose favor with the judges for straying too far! 

• Holidays (4th of July, Halloween, Christmas, Carnival, etc...)
• Bizarre (Let your imagination run wild!)
• Cozy and Comfortable (Nothing's more welcoming than a cozy home!)

*Please note your chosen theme when you submit your entry!

For more details, including prizes and instructions for how to enter, view the Design Notes!

Tags: Nightwraith

July 23, 2021

Cores Reforged

Bot Core Changes:

There are a lot of robots in EpicDuel that haven't seen much use since their introduction. We've set out to turn the spotlight on some severely underutilized robots while gently nerfing the most power. We'll be curious to see if any of these changes can bring dusty old bots back into the spotlight. Monkakazi meta? We'll see!

• Assault Bot
  • Cleanse: Increased cleanse effect from 75% to 90%
• Yetis (all)
  • Chomp: 100% damage for all
• Pink Yeti:
  • Base damage lowered to 160
• Azrael’s Borg
  • Heart Attack: Description matches 85% effect.
• Bio Borg:
  • Thorns: Damage reflected raised to 85%
• Monkakazi
  • Detonation : Reusable with a 3-turn cooldown; extra damage is uncapped; damage is based on 2x the difference between opponent’s highest and lowest stats
• Cyber Yeti
  • Ice Shield: Removed damage reduction effect; Can be applied to allies; does not work properly when applied to NPC allies
• Gamma Bot
  • Gamma Fire & Punch : To help it compete with other powerful bots, the physical attack buffed to %110
• Black Abyss
  • Necrosis: Buffed to 2.4 from 2.0
• Tactical Shark Drone:
  • Bloodletting Bite: Reduced to 25% lifesteal
  • Grenade Storm: Drain all targets’ Rage by 25%
• Cyber Shark
  • Feeding Frenzy : 100% initial damage
• Botanical Borg
  • Spore Bombardment : Defense raised from 10% to 25%.
• Infernal Android
  • Infernal Overload : To make it competitive against the Mini-Rex I want to try an alterative to buffing the raw power. The bot is now multi-use with a 4-turn cooldown; Max lowered to 115%.
• Mini Rex
  • Dino Fire : 2-turn warmup
• Rusted Mini Rex
  • Dino Fire: 2-turn warmup 

Skill Core Changes:

This update will also introduce a host of changes to underutilized cores. The Molten/Plague cores in particular could introduce some interesting synergies.

• Spreadfire (sidearm): 95% damage against 2 targets.
• Spreadfire (aux): 90% damage against 2 targets.
• Nanosteel Armor: Decreases the ignored defense of incoming critical strikes by 85% instead of 35%
• Azrael's Torment: Increased initial damage from 85% to 100% initial damage; Energy cost reduced from 125 to 90; fixed description to match 85% debuff reduction
• Phase Shift: Cooldown reduced to 1
• Molten Bullet: Embed a super-heated bullet into target. Use sidearm to detonate, adding 10% damage per turn the target was hit (max 3 turns). *Max 30% extra damage ( Field Medic no longer removes Molten Bullet.)
• Deep Plague: Plague target. Strike target to detonate plague, adding 10% damage per turn the target was plagued (max 3 turns).* Max 30% extra damage( Field Medic no longer removes plague.)
• Molten Shrapnel: Embed super-heated shrapnel into target. Use auxiliary to detonate, adding 10% damage per turn the target was hit (max 3 turns). * Max 30% extra damage (Field Medic no longer removes Molten Shrapnel)
• Saw Strike E &. P: Rip through 25% of your target's defense with a 20% crit chance!
• Pacify: Lower target's Rage gain by 85% for 5 turns.
• Hair Trigger: Energy cost 0; No longer consumes Rage; Using skill with full Rage still consumes Rage.
• Infernal Fury: Mini-Rage no longer consumes Rage. Using skill with full Rage still consumes Rage.
• Primary Mastery: Damage added now stacks with other Mastery Cores*
• Gun Mastery: Adds +40 damage to basic sidearm attacks; Now stacks with other Mastery Cores*
• Auxiliary Mastery: Adds +40 damage to basic auxiliary attacks; Now stacks with other Mastery Cores*

*Mastery Core Addendum 9-21-2021:
I chose poorly when I used the word "stack". I meant that they could be used without negating the effects of the other Mastery Cores if equipped. In a previous update, I tried implementing a damage bonus for the cores, but found that if you equipped Primary Mastery and Gun Mastery or Aux Mastery, only the bonus from one core would apply. By "stacking" I meant that you could equip all 3 and receive the corresponding bonus on the corresponding attack type. Currently, if you equip the Primary core, you get the bonus for primary, Aux gets a bonus for aux, and so on. They don't stack like 35+40+40 as that would probably be too extreme a bonus for regular attacks. Sorry for the confusion.

That's all for now, but there is still plenty of room to adjust more underused cores and introduce new Credit versions of powerful Varium cores in the coming weeks.

Translation Expansion

Thanks to the help of our diligent translation team, we've added Portuguese translations for several of the more recent mission chains.  A good start, but there are still hundreds of missions awaiting translation so expect more each week until we're fully caught up. We'll also follow up with Spanish translations on an ongoing basis.

Quality of Life

Give your mouse button a break when changing your hairstyle or helmet because now styles can be cycled 10 at a time while holding the Shift key.

Also, to help duelists that are low on cash but want to try all the cores and stock up on seasonals, we're increasing the Omega Wolf Shard sellback price once again!

E'ry Day Skills 'r' Shufflin'

It's not secret that some loathsome souls resort to using special programs to play EpicDuel automatically. Why do people do that? I don't know. I do know that it's frustrating and unfair to folks who play the game legitimately so we've implemented some measure to counter their efforts (or lack thereof). 

First of all, Skill shuffling is back, baby! Now skill-tree skills can randomly shuffle in the first 5 rounds of a duel! Weapon/Armor cores and bots do not shuffle. This was a measure introduced several phases ago to combat bots. It's not a perfect solution, but if it makes even one botter cry, it will have been worth it.

Another measure to combat botting is a random placement for the Close button after reach battle. Sometimes it can be challenging to find against certain backgrounds, but, again, worth it ruin a botter's weekend.

I debated mentioning these changes, but since they'll be noticed and reported as bugs otherwise, I'll make a note here that these effects are intentional and not bugs. Speaking of bugs...

Bug Fixes

• Updated descriptions for skills that trigger at Critical Health (40% instead of 35%):
  • Hawk Guardian E
  • Hawk Guardian P
  • Wolf's Fury
  • Yeti Fury
  • Lifeline

Happy 11 Years Alley Cat!

Happy 11 Year Anniversary to the best cat in all of Delta V and beyond. Thank you for all that you've done and continue to do every day for the EpicDuel community.

If any of you happen to be around the train hub, you may have a chance to thank Alley's newly introduced avatar in person!

Tags: Nightwraith

July 16, 2021

A Taste of Delta

EpicDuel is about to go live with a major balance change that should be familiar to players who played and loved EpicDuel's Delta phase. Back then, weapons had stats that were inherent to the weapons. Each weapon also had enhancement slots that allowed for the equipping of extra stats on top of the inherent stats. This led to some creative and overpowered combinations that many still remember fondly.

In Omega, we allow players to add stats in whatever configuration they wish with one key limitation: the total stats in Strength, Dexterity, etc... are capped at a percentage of the total stats available for the weapon's level. We decided to take a bold swing and REMOVE that cap entirely! This means you can pour all available stats into one category! Want +28 Strength in your favorite level 40 sword? Now you can have it! 

Is this crazy? Will this lead to some wild combinations we never could have predicted? Will it completely change the current balance meta? Probably!

We know this a wild change, but EpicDuel is at a point in it's development where we need to take some big swings to keep duels exciting and a builds diverse. Although this change has been tested thoroughly, there will be follow up updates to make inevitable adjustments. For now, explore and enjoy a taste of EpicDuel Delta!

Cores Galore

Following up with a previous update in which we introduced new Credit versions of Varium cores, we're introducing a new batch at a VendBot near you for your consumption! We've also tweaked the original versions of some of these cores to help make them viable again. Expect more core updates and new Credit cores in future updates!

• Minor Absorption: When attacked by a bot, increase your energy by 25% of damage taken.
• Azrael's Will x25: Same as Varium version, but limited.
• Azrael's Torment x25: Same as Varium version, but limited.
• Minor Mark of Azrael: Adds a 15% Critical chance on a regular strike.
• Minor Improbability Gate: Deals Aux damage plus 7% of your target's max Health (Max 400).
• Minor Armored Roots: Root yourself in place, increasing Defense and Resistance 30% for 3 turns. Cannot use melee attacks.
• Minor Growth Serum: Increase target's base Support by 40% for 3 turns
• Minor Hatchling Rush: Attack your enemy, lowering all healing effects by 30% for 3 turns.
• Minor Jack-O-Fire:  "Squashes" your foes, dealing 110% weapon damage.
• Minor Thorn Assault: Attack with thorns, dealing 110% Primary weapon damage.
• Minor Curse: Shrink the target, reducing base Support by 35% for 3 turns.
• Minor Curse Aura: 25% chance to inflict Minor Curse.
• Minor FrostBite: Freeze the enemy, reducing their energy by 35 points each turn for 3 turns; 5 turn cooldown; reusable
• Minor Frost Aura: 25% chance to inflict Minor FrostBite
• Minor Massive Strike: Your critical strikes ignore an extra 10% of your target's defense.
• Legion Strike: Summons a Legion Soldier to attack your enemies for 10% additional damage. Deals 50 extra damage to Exiles.
• Exile Strike: Summons an Exile Soldier to attack your enemies for 10% additional damage. Deals 50 extra damage to the Legion.
• Minor Chairman's Fury: Uppercut enemy for 110% damage and steal 35% of their current Rage.

Core Changes

• Frost Shards: 5 turn cooldown; reusable.
• FrostBite: 5 turn cooldown; reusable.
• Captain's Charge: Critical Health 40% HP (this applies to other active skills that trigger at full health); Reduce Strength and Support by 40 and decrease Defense/Resistance 35% for 3 turns.
  
• Mark of Azrael: Adds a 25% Critical chance on a regular strike.
• Legion Strike: Summons a Legion Soldier to attack your enemies for 20% additional damage. Deals 100 extra damage to Exiles.
• Exile Strike: Summons an Exile Soldier to attack your enemies for 20% additional damage. Deals 100 extra damage to the Legion.
• Massive Strike: Your critical strikes ignore an extra 15% of your target's defense.
• Chairman's Fury: Uppercut enemy for 120% damage and steal 50% of their current Rage.

Ongoing Changes

All major balance changes (and most minor ones as well) tend to get tempers heated, but we'll be taking in feedback to help EpicDuel adapt to a new balance paradigm. We still have many levers to pull and knobs to turn to fine tune and mitigate the most excessive builds. In a worst case scenario, we can still reverse this change if all other options have been exhausted, so this change is worth giving a fair chance.

Tags: Nightwraith

July 09, 2021

Want to be an elite ninja? Fortune City's resident ninja master and professional trainer Habuki will guide you through a brutal training program that will help you smoke the competition!

New Replicas!

A new set of replica's have entered the game. Since quantities run out quickly, some have requested that the locations not be announced. You'll have to put in some fastidious footwork to determine the merchants offering these unique items!

Roman and Katie have released replicas of their elegant and epic Interdictor and Slayer weapons, this time with new CC flair, making them among the most beautiful in game. Where are they? It's a Mystery!

• Roman's Replica Interdictor CC
• Roman's Replica Interdictor
• Katie's Replica Slayer CC
• Katie's Replica Slayer

Smoking Shadow's custom GammaBot has entered the game. Can you complete the epic new mission chain in time to get one?

•  Smoking's Replica Bot

l.ZEUS.l is proud to present his shocking new replica. Where could it be?

• l.ZEUS.l's Replica Delta Armor

Some small restocks were also introduced with this update. To honor the wishes of the gifters, the exact locations and times are a secret.

New Missions

Habuki is once again offering his training services. This time, the rewards will blow your mind!

• Elite Ninja Training
  • Smoking Smith
  • Smoking Soul
  • Smoking Sorcerer
  • Smoking Survivor
  • Smoking Synergy
  • Smoking Segments

Quality of Life

Enjoy some small but impactful changes to EpicDuel to make the game a more pleasant experience.

• Cores no longer count towards Inventory limit
• Character Limit increased to 120
• Arcades are slightly faster with /spinfast
• Omega Wolf Shards now 100% drop​

Balance

• Mercenary:
  • Reactive Armor new values:
  • Level 1: 15% Reflected Damage
  • Level 2: 20% Reflected Damage
  • Level 3: 25% Reflected Damage
  • Level 4: 30% Reflected Damage
  • Level 5: 35% Reflected Damage
  • Level 6: 38% Reflected Damage
  • Level 7: 41% Reflected Damage
  • Level 8: 44% Reflected Damage
  • Level 9: 47% Reflected Damage
  • Level 10: 50% Reflected Damage

Bug Fix

• Overlord Overture achievement should now be in general and not tagged as seasonal.

Tags: Nightwraith

July 02, 2021

Tis the Season for EVERYTHING

As part of a summer celebration, we're bringing back all the seasonal rare items for a limited time! Not every gets to play during Gifting, the last time we unleashed the rares, so it's only fair to make this a semiannual event to give more EpicDuelists a chance to stock up on epic seasonal rares!

Overlord Overture

Short on Credits? The Overlord Guard at the Overlord Facility has a serious of bountiful missions to line your pockets to make it easier to stock up on your favorite seasonal items! The rewards will also come in handy for the 2021 Heroic Housing Contest!

• Overlord Initiation
• Recruit Training
• Clear the Field
• Intermediate Training
• Advanced Training
• Performance Review
• Elite Training
• Superior Training
• Opposition Research
• Excessive Training
• Overseer Override

Completing these challenges will net you a substantial boon of Credits and a new Overlord Overture Achievement!

Omega Wolf Shard

The Omega Wolf Shard has returned as a battle drop on Endless M4tr1x. These shards will not sell for as much as the old ones did, but they will still be worth the battle.

New Uncle Sam Styles

Visit the style change shop for jaunty new seasonally apt styles! They should pair well with the new /poppop emote!

New (Replica) Items

Gifting winners from this year and last year have even more replicas available today! They are limited stock and sell out VERY quickly. Restocks do sometimes happen but they are not guaranteed.

Lycan's ferocious lycanthropic travel form is available at Oz in Fortune City.

• Lycan Replica

NightAssault will make his custom bot available at Selena at a certain time.

• Night Assault's Gamma Replica

Tags: Nightwraith

July 02, 2021

Greetings, EpicDuelists! It's been ages since our last EpicDuel contest (2019, which seems at least 10 years ago) and with more home items available than ever, it's the perfect time for a new contest! Show off your creativity and innate talents for interior design with our 2021 Heroic Housing Contest!

Contest Time Frame

The contest will run from Friday, July 2nd to Sunday, August 1st at 11:59 PM EST. The winners will be announced via Twitter and Design Notes posts after judging concludes!

Themes

There will be three (3) themes to choose from to decorate your house. Though there is room for flexibility when adhering to a theme, you may lose favor with the judges for straying too far! 

• Holidays (4th of July, Halloween, Christmas, Carnival, etc...)
• Bizarre (Let your imagination run wild!)
• Cozy and Comfortable (Nothing's more welcoming than a cozy home!)

*Please note your chosen theme when you submit your entry!

How to Enter

Winners will get 5,000 ArtixPoints, a rare Achievement, and a rare Home Item!

Three (3) Grand Prize winners, one representing each main theme, will get a rare Achievement and home item, plus 10,000 ArtixPoints!

Contest Rules

To make sure your hard work gets judged: Read all of the rules before submitting your entry!

• Your entry must be YOUR own in game EpicDuel house and not someone else’s (We will check).
• If you don't play EpicDuel regularly, don't worry! All players can claim one free home and there are many low-cost home items available to get started decorating!
• Create the best looking house you can while sticking to one of the three (3) themes! We'll consider your creativity, attention to detail, coordination, adherence to the theme, and the overall quality of entry.
• Please limit your entry to one screenshot of the best room of your home! We appreciate the thought of coordinating your entire house but we want to have mercy on our judges! If you have multiple fabulous rooms in your house, choose the best and submit that as your entry.
• Include your EpicDuel character name and chosen theme with the entry!
• The screenshot of your entry should be of the Highest Quality, and as large as possible.  The more clear the picture, the better it will look.
• Don't edit or change your entry after the fact. You have nearly a month so take your time and create a truly epic entry!
• Post to the AE_Contests Twitter account using the #EpicDuelContest2021 . Uploading your photo to your Facebook and sending us a link does not allow us to see the photos. If you upload your photo to your locked image-sharing account, we cannot see it.
• One entry per person!
• Have fun!

Reminders

Please don’t spam your entry or you will be disqualified! You can only enter once per person!
We reserve the right to reward excellent examples of good sportsmanship or remove entries for abusive behavior towards staff or other contest participants!

Good Luck!

On behalf of the entire AE team, we are really looking forward to seeing your entries!

Tags: Nightwraith