EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

February 24, 2023

The Flesh Demigod Gear has returned to Azrael! Jump to his haunting lair to browse his loot and complete your collection of Seasonal gear and potent cores! 

Fourteen Year Alpha

A new achievement representing EpicDuel's 14th anniversary is available from the Ultra-Rare section of the Achievement shop. There is also a limited wall home item available to mount the achievement within your home(s).

More anniversary gear will be available next week, including new gear celebrating EpicDuel's earlier development phases!

Anniversary Bonus

For next week's update, as a reward for loyal EpicDuel players, we will be rewarding all characters who have been active since 2020 1,400 Varium! This will be a great opportunity to revisit the game if you've been away for awhile or just want to try the game for the first time with a nice boost of currency! 

Balance Changes

• Chained Blood: 3 turns → 4 turns; buffs highest stat by 50%.
• Exsanguinating Shield: Reusable; 5 turn cooldown.
• Chronopact: Increases Strength by 100% → flat 100 Strength point increase; grants 100% initial Rage gain; 15% damage reduction.

Fixes / Changes

The following achievements have moved from the Ultra-Rare category into the Events category:

• Daily Gift Champion
• Legend
• Supreme Legend 

Additionally, war-themed General and Ultra-Rare achievements have been moved into the War category:

• World Domination
• Artillery Master
• Warlord (most daily war kills)
• Flag Captured
• Token Contributor
• Overlord Operative Order

The Epic Supporter 2022 achievement has been removed from the 10,000 AP Varium packages.

In-Progress

So far over 150 screens have been adjusted for the upcoming resolution update! Progress is rapid, but there is still much to do. In addition to modernizing the aspect ratio and appearance of the game, this massive update will add much needed-breathing room for the many crowded and complex interfaces. The last time something like this was done, EpicDuel had only recently joined the AE family (2009-2010-ish) so it's a change that was long overdue!

Tags: Nightwraith

February 17, 2023

Azrael's Scorn is here! So far 14 diligent duelists have achieved level 50 and beyond! If you're far from that benchmark, you have plenty of time to earn EXP and claim the numerous rewards! This update, we're focusing on balance changes, QoL, and rating point increases while we prepare for larger updates later.

Balance Changes

We've made the following balance changes to tweak the current duel dynamics, with Tech Mages and Mercenaries receiving substantial buffs to improve their performance.

• Mercenary
  • Hybrid Armor: 10% highest stat buff → 20%.
  • Double Strike: Increased base values by 8 per level.

• Blood Mage
  • Fire Scythe: 110% damage → 105%.
  • Terrify: 20% Defense / Resistance reduction → 15%.
  • Plasma Cannon: 25% damage to energy → 20%.

• Bounty Hunter
  • Cheapshot: Increased energy cost by 20; 20% heal reduction → 15%.
  • Venom Strike: Increased energy cost by 20.

• Tech Mage
  • Malfunction: Updated values to 10, 13, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28; lowered energy cost by 20.
  • Concentration: Increased energy conversion by 5% per level.

Achievement Boosts

As a precursor to EpicDuel's 14th Anniversary, we're boosting the rating points of the following phase-based achievements!

• Alpha Tester: 7000 increased to 8000
• Founder: 7500 increased to 8500
• Beta Tester: 5500 increased to 6500
• Elite: 7500 increased to 8500
• Gamma Tester: 4500 increased to 5500
• Delta Knight: 3500 increased to 4500
• Omega Overlord: 2000 increased to 3000
• Omega Endures: 1000 increased to 2000
• Golden Omega Ticket: 2000 increased to 3000

*"Omega Founder" was listed as being changed but this achievement was a placeholder and never actually offered in-game.

Inventory Cleanup

The following gear is now able to be sold to free up inventory space. Please be careful to not accidentally sell any of these items as they are rare. Notable exceptions are the cores included in these packages and passes which are still unsellable as they do not take up inventory space.

• Techstalker promotional gear
• Sanguine Showcase Battlepass gear
• Frost Revenant Battlepass gear

Power Weekend

Since this is a relatively light update, we've activated Power Weekend until Monday evening!

Bug Fix

We fixed a bug that was causing Frost Slayer to display the graphics for one of the new Battlepass weapons.

Ongoing Development

Our main ongoing task is expanding, revamping, and optimization of all of EpicDuel's world screens and UI for a new resolution. We're making good progress, and we thank you for your patience as we complete and implement this task which should make EpicDuel more visually appealing and easier to port to other platforms in the future.

Tags: Nightwraith

February 11, 2023

Azrael's Scorn Battlepass is LIVE! Login now to collect the latest collection of Azrael-themed weapons, armors, vehicles, morphs, bots, cores, and more crafted with care by Bido and Acatriel!

This latest Battlepass is scheduled to last from today to March 19th!

This new season introduces some changes to ease the rate of progression through the Battlepass' prize levels:

• 10 daily and weekly challenges, up from 7.
• Slightly increased BXP earned from many PvP challenges.
• To prevent PvP overload, slightly increased chance of NPC challenges. 

Good luck and happy dueling to reach level 60 of EpicDuel's latest Battlepass season!

Golden Omega Ticket

For consistency, we've awarded a Golden Omega Ticket achievement to all qualifying players. Since the original ticket was a sellable item, we can't track strictly by the item. We've had to broaden the criteria to include anyone who purchased a 10,000 AP package between 12/20/2012 and 2/5/2013. These criteria may include characters attached to accounts that made the purchase, but wouldn't normally qualify for the ticket since Varium purchases are character based. In this case, it was the only option to award the achievement based on the data available.

Achievement Expansion

To declutter the achievement interface a bit, we added a new category of Achievements: Events. This will include limited-time events such as Battlepasses, Tournaments, and Gifting.

While you're browsing the new Achievement interface, you might want to note that the Big Game LVII achievement is available from the Seasonal section!

In Progress

Since the Battlepass is now live, we are moving full speed ahead on converting ED's interface and myriad backgrounds to the new expanded resolution!

Going Soon!

This Tuesday we will reset all seasonal rares to their normal restock times. Additionally, we will be removing the Bido, Dage, and Nulgath drops from the PvP and NPC drop pools.

Tags: Nightwraith