EpicDuel Home

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

June 28, 2024

Classy Achievements

Classy Update

New Class Win Tracker Achievements

New achievements have been added to track wins for each class in each PvP battle mode (1v1, 2v2, and Juggernaut). These achievements are not retroactive so everyone will start at 0 for all Classes and battle modes. They will start tracking as soon as you win any PvP battle mode with any class.

 

Balance Changes

  • Skills:
    • Multi-shot: +1 damage per 0.3 --> 0.34 dex; 85% --> 90% damage against multiple targets
    • Reflex Boost: Scales with dex --> supp
    • Massacre: Removed 50% lifesteal; 30% --> 15% defense ignore
    • Maul: 75 --> 100 base energy cost; 20% --> 15% stun chance
    • Artillery Strike: Requires dex --> tech
    • Barbed Grenade: Add 15% stun chance
    • Assimilation: +15 to all base values; +1 energy per 1.25 --> 1 str
  • Cores:
    • Necrosis: 100% --> 85% damage
    • Botanical Wrath: 85 --> 100 energy cost
    • Salvage: 0 --> 90 energy cost
    • Thorn Assault, Meteor Shower, Plasma Meteor, Shattering Star, Jack-O-Fire: 90 --> 100 energy cost
    • Icy Overkill (Aux): 1-turn warmup
    • Revitalization: 1000 --> 1300 heal; 0 --> 100 energy cost
    • Medusa's Gaze: 70% --> 85% damage
    • Piston Punch: 85% --> 100% damage
    • Captain's Charge: Update description to include lifesteal effect
    • Ninja Reflexes: 20% --> 13% additional block chance
    • Deflection Shield, Ballistic Shield: 20% --> 13% additional deflection chance
  • Robots:
    • Gamma Bot and Variants: 111% --> 109% damage
    • Shadowlord's Severance P/E: 40% --> 35% defense ignore
    • Infernal Overload P/E: 100% --> 95% initial damage; 135% --> 130% max damage
    • Dino Fire P/E and Variants: Removed warmup
    • Necrotek Assault P/E: 15% --> 20% defense ignore
    • Yeti Claw (includes Baby/Omega Yeti Variants): 100% --> 105% damage
  • Other:
    • Brace: Remove additional block/deflection chance

 

BuyBack Boost

New items will be added for people who have the following promotional items:

  • Infernal Interdictor E
  • Bionic Battlegear E

Owners of these items will receive the corresponding P (physical damage) variants. If you already sold your original promotional weapon, you can find the new items in the BuyBack shop.

 

Botters' Bane

Every only game suffers from bots, hackers, cheaters, and jerks of all degrees, but that doesn't mean we can just rest on our hands while exploits are used. Most players play the game legitimately, but some are clearly using sophisticated bots to take advantage of blind spots in our bot flagging system, particularly in Juggernaut mode. I've never understood why someone would put so much effort into *not* playing a game, but clearly, as revealed by the popularity of generative AI, there's a market for pathetic people who want to reap rewards in exchange for minimal effort. With this update, we've modified the bot flag parameters to throttle rewards for those who accumulate more wins than would be possible for a human player. Some players are hardcore and can play for hours, but no human can play 24/7 without rest.

The ultimate reward for botters is an empty game with all human players driven out with numbers going up perpetually to the acclaim of nobody. Maybe that's what they want? Maybe I'm too old-fashioned, but that doesn't seem fun to me.

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

June 21, 2024

Epic Legendary Arsenal

Epic Legendary Arsenal

New Legendary Gear

The Legendary Shops of Titan's Peak have been stocked with loads of luxurious new items! User your excess Credits to boost your rating score and show off your stylish new swords!

For new-ish players: These shops are only accessible if you have achieved level 40+. If you're under level 40, you'll need to level up before you can access the shops.

  • Legendary Arsenal
    • Silver Royal Dagger P
    • Silver Royal Dagger E
    • Silver Royal Claymore P
    • Silver Royal Claymore E
    • Silver Royal Scythe P
    • Silver Royal Scythe E
    • Silver Royal Spear P
    • Silver Royal Spear E
    • Silver Royal War Axe P
    • Silver Royal War Axe E
  • Exquisite Legendary Arsenal
    • Golden Royal Dagger P
    • Golden Royal Dagger E
    • Golden Royal Claymore P
    • Golden Royal Claymore E
    • Golden Royal Kingmaker P
    • Golden Royal Kingmaker E
    • Golden Royal Impaler P
    • Golden Royal Impaler E
    • Golden Royal Cleaver P
    • Golden Royal Cleaver E
    • Golden Royal War Axe P
    • Golden Royal War Axe E
    • Golden Royal Halberd P
    • Golden Royal Halberd E
    • Golden Royal Spear P
    • Golden Royal Spear E
    • Golden Royal Scythe P
    • Golden Royal Scythe E
    • Golden Royal Wrist Blades P
    • Golden Royal Wrist Blades E
    • Golden Royal Reaper P
    • Golden Royal Reaper E
    • Golden Royal Great Hammer P
    • Golden Royal Great Hammer E
    • Golden Royal Greataxe P
    • Golden Royal Greataxe E
    • Golden Royal Staff P
    • Golden Royal Staff E
    • Golden Royal War Staff P
    • Golden Royal War Staff E
    • Gilded War Scythe P
    • Gilded War Scythe E
  • Epic Legendary Arsenal
    • Epic Blade of Honor P
    • Epic Blade of Honor E
    • Epic Blade of Awe P
    • Epic Blade of Awe E
    • Legendary Royal Claymore P
    • Legendary Royal Claymore E

 

Balance Addendum

As per the last Design Notes, there was supposed to be balance changes for this update, but those have been delayed, unfortunately. I didn't want to hold onto the content for any longer so I decided it was better to update with the new items than nothing at all for another week! Balance changes are still being considered and will be pushed to live as soon as they are ready.

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

June 14, 2024

Optimization Odyssey

EpicDuel Update Pending

Optimization Odyssey 

This week was a challenging one as a great deal of time was spent on optimizing the file that contains all the skill icons in the game. Every icon is stored in one FLA (the raw file format used by Flash) and compiled at runtime. The problem was that the file had become to large and would take 15 minutes or more to publish if it did at all. This can happen when FLAs become too large. This can sometimes be addressed by splitting the one massive file into several, but in this case, the only way forward was to make the file smaller by merging duplicate assets and removing unused ones. The end result was a file ten megabytes leaner (20% reduction) that could reliable publish! There was still more optimization work to be done, but it is good enough for the time being. This will not be the last time optimization work will be needed as EpicDuel is ancient by game standards -- that long lifespan means plenty of time for redundant assets to accumulate that bloat files and hinder development.

The rest of the time this week was spent making dozens of new weapons for release in the Legendary shops. I ended up making progress, but not nearly enough weapons for a substantial update so I'll continue work into next week to make sure all weapons are thoroughly polished and tested.

Since there will be no update this week, I've included some previews of content to expect for next week and the weeks to come.

 

Golden Regal Armory

For those who have been itching for something use their accumulated Credits on, we'll soon be introducing new weapons with to the Legendary Shops.

Gold Regal Armory

To make sure the update is substantial, we're also planning to include several balance changes with the next update!

 

New Battlepass Already?

The Eldritch Battlepass just launched last week, but Lodrian has been one and a half steps ahead of our schedule by delivering the next Battlepass: Nanotech Nightmare! Here's a small preview of the new gear that will be available with the next showcase! 

Nanotech Nightmare

If you just started leveling Eldritch Onslaught, don't worry! This will not release for a few weeks so you'll have plenty of time to complete the current Battlepass.

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

June 07, 2024

Eldritch Onslaught Battlepass NOW LIVE

Eldritch Onslaught NOW LIVE

The Eldritch Onslaught Showcase Battlepass is NOW LIVE! Login now to earn the latest collection of Lovecraftian-themed weapons, armors, vehicles, morphs, bots, and more crafted with care by Acatriel and Bido!

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

So you all know what you're getting into with the new bots available in this season, the skill descriptions are listed below:

  • Eldritch Proto Beast P
    • Eldritch Proto Beast Cyclone P: Spinning physical attack cutting through 15% of target's defenses.
    • Eldritch Proto Beast Rampage P: Brutal beatdown, reducing all stats by 25% for #DUR rounds.
  • Eldritch Proto Beast E
    • Eldritch Proto Beast Cyclone E: Spinning energy attack cutting through 15% of target's defenses.
    • Eldritch Proto Beast Rampage E: Brutal beatdown, reducing all stats by 25% for #DUR rounds.

 

Balance Changes

  • Frenzy: 4 --> 3 turn cooldown; flat 70 energy cost
  • Mineral Armor: +10% Support --> +20% highest stat
  • Toxic Grenade: Scales with Strength --> Support
  • Cleanse: Removed HP gain
  • Absorption: 40% --> 35% Conversion
  • Thrown Shot x25: 120 --> 135 Energy cost; 450 --> 400 HP Gain
  • Infernal Prism, Infernal Blessing, Infernal Offering: Unaffected by debuff removers
  • Captain's Charge: Removed HP threshold; removed lifesteal; added 2-turn warmup

Tags: Nightwraith

 

 EpicDuel Game Design Notes Archive