EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

November 30, 2023

Are you ready? Ready for Gifting? It's hard to believe the biggest EpicDuel event of 2023 is nearly here (I'm as surprised as some of you!), but on Monday December 4th the servers will shut down for an update to activate Gifting! This will happen as soon as possible, but it could be pushed later in the day if any last-minute problems emerge that need stamped out. When the Gifting update is live, the 50,000 Varium package along with the Legendary Epic Supporter 2023 achievement will leave the game. You still have a few more days to stock up, but once this unprecedented package is gone, it's gone!

UPDATE 12-1-2023

It was our intention to have the Gifting Bonus rewards (The Cyber Wolf Collection) ready to preview so everyone could make an informed choice before buying Varium to participate in Gifting, but I've sadly fallen behind my own deadlines. To allow more time to finish the previews and show off the potential rewards, the 50,000 Varium package along with the Legendary Epic Supporter 2023 achievement will remain in the game for another week, leaving the game on December 11th instead of December 4th. Gifting will still go online on December 4th as planned.

Gifting Rules Update

Since many have been asking about a particular aspect of this year's Gifting guidelines, I've decided to issue an amendment: If you are in the top 15 Gifters and you ask for the Physical (P) or Energy (E) version of a Legacy rare, you may also receive the corresponding version of the opposite damage type. For example, this means if you ask for the Bunnyzooka, you may also have the Energy Bunnyzooka.

An important restriction to this amendment is that if an opposite damage variant does not exist, another item will NOT be created to fulfill the request. If you request a Physical damage item with no corresponding Energy variant, you're limited to the Physical version. You also cannot request the Physical version of one item and the Energy version of a completely different item. Armors don't have P or E versions so if you ask for an armor, you only get one armor. You don't get an armor + and item.

It's also worth noting that these rares will not be customized as in previous years, aside from a name to distinguish it as your own such as Player X's Bunnyzooka. I was reluctant to make the above changes because of possible loopholes and confusion, but since the rares won't be customized, the workload shouldn't be increased substantially.

The Challenger Approaches

After being teased in a previous update many months ago, The Challenger is finally being added to EpicDuel. This new NPC will sell old Battlepass items about a year after the Battlepass was initially offered. When the game updates Monday, the NPC will be equipped with items from the Sanguine Showcase and the Frost Revenant Showcase. To maintain the exclusivity of the Battlepass items, the Enhanced Battlepass items will be Varium only, while the Basic items will be offered for Credits / Varium. Cores and Bots will be sold all year while the other Battlepass content will return around when the items were initially offered. Also, starting with the Frost Revenant Showcase items, cores will come pre-equipped with their corresponding items. Since we did not do this with the Sanguine Showcase, we will not pre-equip cores to items to be fair to those who already purchased cores with Varium.

Additionally, for those craving Battlepass styles, the hairs and helms of the Sanguine and Frost Revenant Showcases will be sold in the Style Change interface. As with the items, Basic Battlepass styles will be sold for Credits while Enhanced styles will be Varium only. Battlepass home items and achievements will remain rare.

This approach should be a fair way to acquire Battlepass items for players who were not able to play while the Battlepass was initially offered or discovered the game after the Battlepass expired. If this approach is unpopular, we can adjust our release strategy in future updates.

Seasonal Rares Return

As in past Gifting seasons, seasonal rares will return to shops until the conclusion of Gifting. If you've been away from the game for awhile, Gifting is a great time to stock up and boost your rarity score!

Tags: Nightwraith