EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

November 07, 2013

Prepare to party! This week, celebrate the birthday of EpicDuel's resident artist/assassin: Nightwraith. New missions, new weapons, and revamped skills await for your celebratory needs! As if that weren't enough reason to celebrate: the winners of the Creative Carving Contest will be announced in-game at Elon Musk!

Back to Party Business

Visit me at my usual haunt in the Wasteland to investigate my stash of weapons and armors! Do you have your OneX6 Keys? No? We've got you covered -- you can either buy one directly or win one by completing a new mission. Be warned: I've been buffed to level 36 so I'm not the pushover I used to be!

The classic birthday missions are also returning, with a few new additions in case you've already completed the old ones. Complete them all for huge rewards!

Suggestion Shop

In addition to hunting bounties and weaving baskets, I (Nightwraith) am EpicDuel's lead artist, but I don't mind sharing the spotlight with aspiring artists. That's why we're combining my birthday celebration with the introduction of a new round of suggestion shop weapons, created from ideas submitted from our creative EpicDuel community!

It's been way too long since we've done a shop like this so we're really going all out. We hope to have over 12 new weapons culled from the best of the best suggestions. Charfade and I are working as hard as possible to deliver more, but this is a thoroughly packed release. The weapons are still in progress so check back for a full list of items and their associated artist after we go live. If your suggestion was not selected, that does not mean it was terrible or we hate you -- it just means it may have to wait for the next suggestion shop. Hopefully it won't take a full year to do another one! I wouldn't be surprised if more items enter the game next week!

Arcadia

It wouldn't be a proper birthday without a new Arcade Game! 

Horrifying! Give it a spin and be the first to claim the grand prize! As with other games, Nightwraith's Nightmare will introduce it's own new evolving achievment and leaderboard!

Cheevo Counter

Speaking of achievements -- we now have tracking for many of the daily achievements like the 1v1 and 2v2 automatch daily winners. Players who win the daily achievements multiple times will increment their number on the appropriate achievement.  

Active Update

To address balance this update, we will be tweaking a few energy numbers from last week's update, but we also have a far grander change in store: Converting all passive skills into active ones.

That means Blood Lust, Reroute, Deadly Aim, Shadow Arts, Adrenaline, and all the Armor skills will be converted into active skills. Blood Lust and Reroute will become Mark of Blood and Battery Backup respectively. The purpose of this change is to add strategy to battle. Currently, passives grant HUGE benefits with little sacrifice, especially for level cap players. Active skills require more sacrifice in terms of energy cost and turn cost. To compensate for these sacrifices, the effects of the skills will be modified. This change will affect all classes so we're really interested to see what new strategies emerge from this change. 

Adrenaline

• Adrenaline

  • Replaced with Adrenaline Rush. Adrenaline Rush instantly grants the target a percentage of their maximum Rage.

Hybrid Armor, Mineral Armor, and Plasma Armor

• Hybrid Armor

  • Hybrid Armor now increases the target’s Defense and Resistance by a percentage of their base Defense and Resistance (the portion from your Dexterity and Technology) for 4 turns.

• Mineral Armor

  • Mineral Armor now increases the target’s Defense by a percentage of their base Defense for 4 turns.

• Plasma Armor

  • Plasma Armor now increases the target’s Resistance by a percentage of their base Resistance for 4 turns.

     

Reroute

• Reroute

  • Replaced with Battery Backup. Battery Backup grants the target an immediate boost to Energy, and doesn’t cost the user anything to cast.

Deadly Aim

• Deadly Aim

  • Deadly Aim was replaced by two new skills: Fire Scythe for Tech Mages, and Energy Parasite for Blood Mages

  • Fire Scythe deals physical damage to the target, ignoring a percentage of their Defense.

  • Energy Parasite applies a debuff that steals a percentage of the target’s current Energy for 3 turns, granting 1.5x the amount stolen back to the caster.

Blood Lust

• Bloodlust

  • Replaced with Mark of Blood. Mark of Blood leaves a mark on the target for 3 turns, granting lifesteal to anyone that attacks the marked target.

Shadow Arts

• Shadow Arts

  • Shadow Arts now casts the target in shadow and reduces all damage they take by a percentage for 3 turns.

Contest Announcement

When this update goes live, be sure to visit Elon Musk for a list of the winning entries! The effort so far has been stellar with such short notice. We are currently in the process of judging entries and narrowing down the list of finalists!

Tags: Titan Nightwraith Suggestion Shop Elon Musk contest Arcade Missions balance Skills Weapons Birthday

October 29, 2013

Tags: Titan Elon Musk Tesla Model S SpaceX SolarCity Blastar contest pumpkin Halloween

July 02, 2013

Contest now live at Artix.com!

It's that time again -- time to sharpen your pencils and test your creative mettle against the best the AE community has to offer. Since Beleen already nailed the contest details in her post over at Artix.com and AQ.com, I'll repost it here for your enjoyement rather than force you to slog through my mangled prose.

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It’s a good day for bad monsters! Instead of using weapons and magic, pit your creative talent and artistic skills against all the existing monsters and villains from your favorite Artix Entertainment games. And have a chance at winning awesome loot in the Bad Guys & Good Battles Contest!

Your Quest

Help Loremaster Maya! Create artwork or write histories for Artix Entertainment’s monsters and villains! Winning entries will help us build the AE Encyclopedia Lorepedia (currently on AQ.com, but probably not there forever)!

How to Start Your Adventure

Take a look at one of Loremaster Maya’s first Bestiary pages, then get out and hunt up a monster or villain of your own to observe! http://www.aq.com/lore/monsters/Frogdrake

Ideas for artwork submissions include:

• Draw
• Paint
• Illustrate
• Photoshop
• Sculpt
• Craft
• Bake
• Sew and Stitch
• Carve
• Balloon Animals!

Ideas for writing submissions include:

• Details about where the monster/villain lives
• Any unique behavior or identifying appearance details
• What they’re good for after defeat
• Any lore we already know about them (like the Bloodtusk Troll/Horc cultures)
• Anything we DON’T know about them that doesn’t contradict what is already in-game

So long as your submission is a monster and/or a villain from your favorite Artix Entertainment game, then you’re one step closer to winning the contest! Make sure you post your submission in the contest thread at Artix.com!

Quest Requirements

1. Read ALL THESE rules before submitting!
2. This is not a suggestion contest, all of the entries must be based on monsters/villains that already exist in our games.
3. All artwork must be original—absolutely NO tracing and NO stealing someone else’s artwork.
4. Pictures must be at least 500px wide and in either .jpg or .png format.
5. All writing must be original. If you use any existing in-game lore in an entry, you must add original ideas onto it.
6. Written entries must be no longer than 500 words long.
7. Entry must be inspired by a monster and/or a villain from an Artix Entertainment Game (AdventureQuest, MechQuest, DragonFable, AQW, EpicDuel, HeroSmash, OverSoul).
8. You may use any form of media for your design (Pencil, Flash, MS Word, Notepad, cake mix, etc).
9. You can include other Artix Entertainment characters alongside your monster, be it your player or a popular NPC like Warlic or Cysero.
10. Post a valid link to your picture in the Comments section below in the Image URL field.
11. Include the text of your writing entry in the Comments section text field.
12. Only ONE Bad Guys & Good Battles contest submission will be judged per game account (although you CAN post more entries under each AE game account you own, so you can post one entry for your AQW hero, then another for your EpicDuel account, another picture for your DragonFable player, etc).
13. You can enter artwork, OR writing, OR both. But only one entry total per game account.
14. Your entry MUST include your Character Name AND which game your character belongs to. How else are we gonna award you if you win?
15. Your entry MUST include the name of the monster/villain you created.
16. Please please PLEASE only post once—it will take some time to approve your submission, so please don’t spam the Submit button!
17. You will be automatically disqualified if you do not follow all the rules.
18. We have the right to remove any entry that is unacceptable or inappropriate—so keep your entry safe for everyone to enjoy!
19. And, most importantly, have FUN!

Quest Rewards

Here’s your chance at wining awesome stuff in your favorite online game! The Bad Guys & Good Battles Contest prizes will be broken down by game, but since the Lorepedia encompasses ALL our games, we will award prizes in Artix Points!

Additional prizes may be awarded to those who go above and beyond!

Quest Turn-In

In the Comments field below, please include:           

• Your Character Name
• What game your Character is in
• What monster(s) and/or villain(s) you’re basing the entry on
• A short biography and/or picture of the monster or villain
• A valid URL link in the Image URL field or the text of your biography

Please make sure your URL link works online! Use a free online photo uploader like Tinypic, Photobucket, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Quest Time Frame

The Bad Guys & Good Battles Contest begins today, July 2, 2013. Submissions will be accepted until July 10, 2013, at 11:59pm EST. Judging will ensue the following week, and prizes will be announced and delivered around that time too! 

Good luck everyone, and may the best Bad Guy & Good Battles entry win!

--Beleen

Tags: Nightwraith Artix contest Design Monsters AE Beleen Lore LorePedia Good Evil Art

January 07, 2013

It's 2013! Already? When did that happen? How does it feel to have survived yet another apocalypse? I think if you survive 12, you get a free cold cut combo with a drink and chips. That might not be accurate. In any case, we had a busy, bittersweet end to 2012. Our goal was to release Omega before 2012 at all costs, but after a serious dose of reality, we decided our goal in 2013 should be to make the wait for Omega worth it.

For the New Year

The future of EpicDuel post Omega will hinge on gameplay. When all the items in game suddenly become viable options, the dynamics of battle will shift to your build and what skills are equipped to your items.  We will work hard to make the battle engine, the core of EpicDuel, as dynamic and robust as possible to offer interesting experiences in every battle. Tournaments, new battle modes, and new skills will ensure that battles always offer interesting choices.

Omega Progress

Our Twitter pages have been quiet lately, but not for lack of working. The holidays offered a brief interruption in the development routine, and getting back in synch proved to be challenging. For this reason, we've been hesitant to drop more details. However, after today's intense Monday meeting, we decided that it would be best to keep everyone as informed as possible by posting Design Note updates every day until Omega goes live! It may be a tiny blurb or a massive, multi-paragraph summary of a feature. Many of you already know what's releasing in Omega, but I will try to be as informative and interesting as possible!

Although we do not have a formal deadline for Omega, we will inform you as soon as we do! Some have speculated that we will "surprise" you with Omega. This is a profoundly bad idea for such a massive release. We will absolutely inform you of the date as soon as we are confident in our timeline, but also understand that we will not and cannot release Omega until it is in a ready state. We may be able to find features to cut, but the largest part of Omega is the battle engine, and we cannot release a broken battle engine no matter badly we want to release Omega.

We thank you again for your patience, and we hope we can make Omega release to remember!

Golden Yeti Tournament*

Mention of the Golden Yeti Tournament in previous Design Notes may have grabbed your attention. We discussed it further. and we are making a few adjustments / clarifications. First, it will be a 2-week competition instead of a 30-day competition. 30 days is a long time to expect someone to constantly battle at 100% capacity, and seeing someone at the top of the leaderboard with thousands of wins might be discouraging to someone unable to participate at that level.

Second, we will not be offering the Omega Ticket with a promotional package after Omega is live. We are doing this because seriously participating will be more challenging the longer the tournament progresses and entering midway through the event would place a participant at a huge disadvantage. All those who preorder will be able to participate in this tournament as soon as the tournament goes live.

Participation will be simple --  if you preordered you have the ticket. Each PvP victory will automatically earn you points. These points will position you on a leaderboard with other ticket holders. At the end of the competition, the top 100 players in terms of point total will be awarded the Ultra-Rare Golden Yeti as well as a tiered achievement based their standing on the leaderboard. It's more of a competition than a tournament, but if it succeeds, it will be an important stepping stone to a fully realized tournament system!

Some have mentioned that it's not fair to the non-Varium players to restrict this tournament, but the tournament is a special reward for the preorder offer and making it available to everyone would defeat the purpose. Keep in mind that this will not be the last competition of this type -- future contests will be open to a much wider range of players!  

*As of January 9ths DN post, we decided will be adding a buffer of a few days between the launch of Omega and the start of the tournament. This will give everyone a chance to explore all Omega has to offer.

Wiki Recruitment

When we go live with Omega, the EpicDuel Wiki is going to need major help updating all the entries for items.  Stats and requirements as you know them are going out the window, so much of the existing information will be obsolete the second Omega goes live. We are constantly impressed by how quickly the Wiki updates with each EpicDuel release, but they are definitely going to need help for this one.

Please contact a member of the EpicDuel Wiki Staff to find out how you can join the cause and help to keep this great resource as accurate as possible while lessening the burden on the small but dedicated staff. Please do not contact the Devs about being a member of the Wiki Staff as we are not directly involved in it.

To encourage more participation on the Wiki, we will be increasing the value of the coveted Lore Master Achievement by 1000 Rating Points, as well as offering the extremely rare Rabble's Attack Tome sidearm for contributors deemed worthy by the current staff.

Please do not confuse Wiki Staff with Moderators or Developers.  They should not be contacted concerning bugs, account issues, or player reports. Also, please don't send them your passwords. They don't want or need your account information.

Become a Bug Hunter!

Artix.com just unveiled this snazzy new system for reporting bugs! No more tweeting at Devs hoping they'll see your report! No more trying to find the right place to post on the forums! This is your one-stop reporting zone. The bugs will never know what squashed them!

Charity Is Child's Play

One more item before I wrap up this DN post: Child's Play Charity, the charity that raises money year round for toys and money for hospitals around the world! This year gamers showed astonishing generosity and raised a grand total of $5,085,761! That's a lot of happy sick kids! I feel it's an incredible feat and definitely worth sharing.

Can this record be shattered in 2013? Given the track record for boundless gamer generosity, even in times when others are tightening their belts, I have no doubt that record will be obliterated!

Tags: Nightwraith Resolutions Omega Tournament contest Progress Report New Year Child's Play Charity Bug Artix

November 08, 2012

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to m...OK, that's a little over-indulgent, I admit. Even though I'm leveling up in real life, what I'm really excited about is what I get to offer you!

All your favorite items will be returning from my personal stash of weapons. I'm generous, but I don't want to make it too easy to access them. Like last time, you can either buy the OneX6 Key from me directly or win it from me by besting me in combat!

Check out these new level 35 bazookas suggested by ..TRizZzCENTRINO..!

All your old favorites are returning as well!

The missions will also be returning. Visit my friends and associates around Delta V to see what Birthday trickery they're cooking up!

The one key absense is the 11-11-11 achievement. 11-11-11 is only happening once in my lifetime so it's RARE. 11-11-12 doesn't really have the same ring to it.

Dress Your Best!

It wouldn't be a real party without outrageous costumes! Suit up in one of 42 NEW STYLES (7 groups with one style for each gender and class). These artisan styles were crafted with great care based on the winning designs from our Spooky Head Design Contest. Join us Friday to see the designs come to life in-game!

On Friday, the winners will also receive their achievements and their in-game styles free of charge! Congratulations, you earned it!

A Cold Front Approaches!

As Fall comes to a close, a cold wind blows from the north. Last year, Frystland fell to the Legion and Alydriah has commanded the occupying forces to do...something. We don't know, and that's terrifying. We have a feeling that she'll unveil her schemes soon, though.

In the meantime, check out these new concepts for revamped EpicDuel classes: Bounty Hunter and Tech Mage!

^Thyton

^Nightwraith

Tags: Nightwraith Titan contest styles Cake Birthday Missions Weapons Armory Omega

October 03, 2012

The Chairman has been on Delta V for nearly a week and already he grows impatient with his hosts.  His diabolical offerings have kept the citizens from expelling him thus far, but Baelius is still a no-show.  Shuttles are now approaching with a hoards of EbilCorp goons, and the Chairman's promises of wealth and power have swayed some locals to his cause.

Events are escalating quickly as local authorities seem unable to make a move against the EbilCorp incursion.  Will Delta V be under new management permanently?  What are the Chairman's true intentions?  Who taught the Bio Hazard how to tie a tie?  All will be revealed soon!  

Epic Stylin'

'Tis the season to unveil new styles -- 18 to be precise (3 for each base class and gender).  These styles will have an EbilCorp flavor to them.  Visit any style change bot around Delta V to check out these sinister new styles.

Rabblefroth has been hard at work expanding the functionality of our style purchasing system.  After this release, unlocking a single style will unlock all similar styles across all classes (i.e. wolf style, bio hazard, dragon slayer).  We will apply this retroactively to those who have already purchased styles, so you should notice way more styles unlocked when you change classes! 

To further satisfy your hunger for style, we will be offering a new bonus package that includes a jumbo pack of styles!  This promotion will includes new EbilCorp styles.  This does not mean that we will be removing any current promotions, just that we will be adding a new one.

If you play as a Male Mage or Hunter, you may have noticed that you have fewer basic styles than Mercenaries.  Maybe you haven't.  In any case, we're correcting that oversight by adding 1 new default style to Mages and 2 new default styles for Hunters.  Huzzah!

Contest Reminder!

Existing styles not your...uh...style?  Remember, we're hosting a hairstyle design contest in the forums RIGHT NOW!  Submit your creations for a chance to win ALL THE STYLES available in game at the time of contest's end as well as seeing your own design used in game!  You have until the 26 of October, so sharpen those pencils and do your best!

Secure Decor

In case you missed it last week, the seasonal Harvest Festival home items are now available for purchase.  You will also have the opportunity to acquire the beautiful winning posters created for our account safety awareness art contest!  Hang them proudly in your homes to show that you know how to keep your account secure, and encourage others to do the same!

Suggestion Shop

The weapons are not ready for this week, but we are currently culling the forums for the best item suggestions for vectorization.  I would like to remind all of those participating that plagarism will not be tolerated.  Furthermore, a comment from a mod or dev like "nice sword" should not be taken as a guarantee that the suggestion will be used.   Art posted on Twitter and FB will not be considered unless it is posted in the forums as well.

Also, be sure to follow our assistant artist, Disturbed's, Twitter for his progress as he vectorizes the best suggestions!  

Suggestion shops are always a breath of fresh air into the game's expansive inventory and I wish we could do them more frequently.  That said, I have a feeling this shop will be the best one yet!  Thank you and good luck!

Tags: Nightwraith hairstyles contest suggestions promotions Chairman EbilCorp War

September 27, 2012

Hey there! Just to let you know, there a totally rad contest we're hosting in the AE forums!  Dust off those pencils and grab that printer paper because it's time to DRAW!

As many of you know, Halloween (or Mogloween) is celebrated widely among every single game Artix Entertainment makes! Delta V celebrates a Harvest Festival, but the spirit of dressing up in cool, scary and twisted ways is still a major part of the holiday. For this reason, the team and I thought it would be a great idea to kick it off this Harvest season with a contest. This contest is all about “Player Head Designs!” Since it is the time of year that Halloween rolls about, we are looking for some very awesome Scary, Funny, or Creative head designs. However, it is not required that it is related to Halloween. To be clear, all head designs must be drawn, either traditionally or digitally, but in-game screenshots are NOT allowed at all. To make life easier for you, I've uploaded head templates for all the classes and genders. You can deviate from the template, but it's a good place to start if you're running short on inspiration. I recommend printing them out and drawing over them using a lightbox to perfect your design. You can also import them into your drawing program of choice!

EpicDuel Male Template

EpicDuel Female Template

To award the wonderful artists of the community, we have the following awards to give out: 

1 Grand Prize Winner will receive 1,500 Varium, a very special 1,000 rating points achievement, all the hairstyles in-game up to the point the winner is declared, and the style they created added into the game permanently!

5 Winners will receive 1,500 Varium, an achievement, and their style featured permanently in-game!

The contest will run from Thursday, September 27th till Wednesday, October 26th at 11:59pm.  You have plenty of time to work on these entries to make thems as polished as possible so please use your time wisely!

The rules and guidelines are short and to the point, but we advise you to follow them otherwise your entry will be disqualified.

• Design must be inspired by EpicDuel
• Your entry must be entirely made by you, and must be original work.
• You must include your EpicDuel Character Name with your entry.
• You may use any form of media for your entry. (Pencil, Flash, etc)
• No Screenshots.
• Do not change your entry or edit your forum post until the winners are selected.
• Only ONE entry can be submitted per person.  An entire set of styles for all classes and genders can count as one entry.
• The head design must be made in the theme of Scary, Funny, or Creative
• Make sure that you provide a VALID URL to your photo. Try using a reliable photo uploader like Photobucket, TinyPic or Twitpic.  Entries without working links or entries requiring a login to access will not be considered.
• You have until 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, October 26th to submit your entry.

The team and I look forward to seeing all these awesome head designs, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Stay safe and good luck to everyone!
Nightwraith

Contest Entry Format (Can adjust for the contest)

EpicDuel Name:
Title of Entry:
Image:

Well, what are you waiting for?  Head to the official forum topic right now and get drawing!

Tags: Nightwraith contest Halloween styles Drawing Art Forums

May 30, 2012

Summer Fun

Hi there, EpicDuelists! As we wrap up Spring (is there a Pony song for that?) we have some pretty great things to keep you entertained while we’re preparing for the Infernal Infiltration War!

Gently Down the Livestream

Thank you to all of you who participated in the latest EpicDuel Developer Livestream. We want to publicly apologize to all of you for allowing Practel to sing- it’ll just be me singing from now on. The stream is still up, so you’ll be able to watch the creation of one of the NEW War NPCs!

New Missions!

Many players were upset by the fact that the latest round of missions were geared toward higher level players. Lower-level players will be able to play some permanent chains for some nice rewards this week!

While war is brewing deep in the mines, not everyone is focused on the conflict at hand. Brunson’s Mama is preparing a very special feast, and she needs help from players of all levels (including the very lowest level players) to prepare her scrumptious morsels.

Midlevel players will be able to start a chain from Mirv. Both of these chains give credit and battle token rewards, along with another special surprise for players.

CONTEST!

We are running a special contest for all EpicDuel players to raise awareness of account security. Nightwraith already wrote up a great description of the contest, so I’m just going to quote the whole thing:

Greetings EpicDuelists! 

Summer is drawing closer and closer every day, and what could possibly be better than kicking off summer with a new contest? We want you guys to have tons of fun this summer, but we also want you to be safe. To help remind members of the EpicDuel community how keep their accounts secure, we are requesting your assistance to spread the word through artwork! The objective of this contest is to create a poster like this one based on “The EpicDuel Moderation Team and the importance of account safety.” To reward your creativity, we will be issuing the following prizes: 

• 1 Grand Prize Winner will receive the 10,000 Varium Package, an achievement, and a home item. 
  
  
• 3 Runner Ups will receive 1,500 Varium, an achievement, and a home item. 
  
  
• 5 Honorable Mentions will receive an achievement. 

The contest will run from Tuesday, May 29th till Sunday, July 1st. 

When submitting, please obey the following rules or your entry will be disqualified. 

• Design must be inspired by EpicDuel 
• Your entry must be entirely made from you, and must be original work. 
• You may use any form of media for your entry. (Pencil, Flash, etc) 
• Do not change your entry or edit your forum post until the winners are selected. 
• Only one entry can be submitted per person. 
• The poster must be made in the theme of “Importance of the Moderation Team and account security.” 
• Make sure that you provide a VALID URL to your photo. Try using a reliable photo uploader like Photobucket, TinyPic or Twitpic.
• Entries without working links or entries requiring a login to access will not be considered. 
• You have until 11:59pm EST on Sunday, July 1st to submit your entry. 

The team is looking forward to seeing your entries in a soon! 

Stay safe and good luck to everyone! 
Nightwraith 

Contest Entry Format 

EpicDuel Name: 
Title of Entry: 
Image link

You can submit entries on the ArtixEntertainment forum. Entries will ONLY be considered if posted here (http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20353961). Entries that are tweeted at us or posted on the Facebook fan page or emailed to us without being posted in the forum will NOT be considered. Entries containing a link to a file on your harddrive will not be considered. Entries that we must be your friend on Facebook or that we have to sign up for a site or service to see will not be considered.

As I’m sure this will come up: my advice to everyone who is designing a poster is to be direct and to the point. We want these to be something that could be placed in-game as a warning poster. We are accepting entries until July, so take your time.

Admirable Admirals

Currently in my area of the United States (the midwestern US), we are experiencing an outbreak of Red Admiral butterflies, who are invading during their migration season. The Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta is a cosmopolitan and charismatic member of the family Nymphalidae, and is recognizable by the red-orange median bands on the forewings and marginal bands on the hindwings. This species has a winter and summer morph, with the winter morph being smaller and duller colored. The adult migrates to the northern part of its range during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer months (ranging from April to October), expanding into Canada. They overwinter in Texas to Florida, and are single-brooded in the northern part of their range and triple-brooded in the southern part of their range.

Interesting among butterflies, the males of the genus Vanessa, which includes species such as the American Lady, Painted Lady, and West Coast Lady, are highly territorial. Territories are typically located in the area between a ring of trees open to light on the west side, or on west-facing walls and will contain several resting spots. Males will defend their territories by chasing an intruder to outmaneuver and confuse the intruder, creating a wind tunnel, and ultimately forcing it away. 

Tags: Infernal Infiltration War Cinderella Missions livestream contest Summer

January 04, 2012

An Epic New Year!

Welcome back, EpicDuelists. I hope you all had a great holiday and had a great time ringing in the New Year of 2012! The staff is back in the office, and are all grateful for the time spent with friends and family during this holiday season. Now that we’re refreshed, we’re ready to begin the Final Phase of the Frysteland War!

Frysteland Final Phase

EpicDuel’s first war is approaching the final stretch, and your allies will need everyone pulling together to assure victory! I know you guys have all been working diligently- as of the writing of these design notes, over 15,000 unique characters have competed in the Frysteland War! There have been real-life wars with fewer participants! You guys have all done a magnificent job, so regardless of which side prevails, you all deserve to be commended for your efforts!

However, the war is not quite over. To bring that final push, we’ll be releasing the long-promised missions, along with the War Bosses, Commander Edgar Boothe fighting for the Legion, and King Alaric fighting for the Krampus! Could this final phase turn the tide? Only one way to find out!

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King Alaric the Technologically Inept is a fair and just warrior-king. Known as the Child-King, Alaric rose to power during the Uprising at the age of 15, following his father Callan the Decent’s death during the Haze of Iwona. Under the tutelage of his great-aunt Aldhagrimm the Erudite, he’s grown to follow in the footsteps of his grandmother, the great King Andra the Merciful, who was murdered by Baelius.

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We’re coming down to the wire here, people! If you’re Exile, don’t let those yetis down! If you are Legion, do not disappoint your leader!

There, I fixed it!

We’ve received a few complaints about blue stars not showing up on character pages, and we’ll be fixing that as soon as possible! We’ll also be fixing the issues of duplicate achievements, and war achievements not updating correctly.

Balance Update!

The following is a brief rundown of the balance changes that will be implemented in the next release.  We're still in the process of testing them, so this list is subject to change!

• TLM - Replace Maul with Stun Grenade
  • Keeps stun skill; removes easy, low cost damage skill
• TLM - Replace Hybrid Armor with Mineral Armor (New skill - passively gives physical defense)
  • Reduces inherent tankiness of TLM
• TLM - Replace Technician with Blood Shield
  • Reduces ability to be more tanky + increase damage output + heal
• CH - Replace Technician with Plasma Armor (passively gives energy resistance)
  • Gives them a reliable passive with better defensive options
• Bunker Buster/Plasma Canno
  • Weaker at lower levels, stronger scaling for high levels
• BM - Replace Technician with Energy Shield
  • Gives BM higher energy resistance
• Artillery Strike - Remove stat requirement
  • Bring it in line with other multis
• Improve Fireball & Plasma bolt
  • Slightly weaker early levels, scales much better mid-high levels
• Slightly reduce passive Armor skills’ defense/resistance
  • Evens out scaling per skill level, make it slightly less powerful

A Winner is You!

Congratulations to all of you who entered the First Ever EpicDuel Holiday House Decorating Contest! The following characters’ houses have been judged by the staff and testing team (the judges are: Charfade, Practel, Ashari, Illuminator, Lycus, and ME!) Using a super-secret method that we are not allowed to discuss under penalty of noogie, the following in-game characters have been selected for the sweet prize of an achievement and home item!

In no particular order:

Elf Priest Jzaanu for “EpicRestaurante A la Duel”

Smackie El Frog for “Smackie goes BOOM!”

Buffy A. Summers for “Home For the Holidays”

Invicticus for “Santa’s Humble Abode”

Sparticus for “My ED FAMILY and HANDS ACROSS ED PROJECT”

VIX for “VIX’s BOMB for Christmas!”

ManThong for “Happy Holidays Legionnaires!!”

G00NY for “In Excess”

Sergei Petrovich for “Seasons Greetings”

Mokta 3 for “The Hope and Joys of Christmas”

Dr Jekyll for “Only One Shovel!”

BadWitch for “Is the season to be jolly :)”

Santa ClawZz for “A house full of wishes!”

AVA for “Happy Holidays”

Appleeno for “Christmas Morning”

African Warrior for “All Welcomed”

Basicball for “Basically Basicballs Barrens Base”

Battle Elf for “December 24th!”

Captain Notorious for “Santa Claus Apartment”

Azht3b.Bethza for “StreetWorrion Street for Eve”

Prizes will be visible on the next Server restart! If you see your name up here but did not receive your prizes, please let us know!

Tags: Cinderella Frysteland balance Bugs New Year contest Legion exile War

December 20, 2011

EpicDuel’s First Annual House Decorating Contest

In case you haven't heard (that the bird is the word?), it's not too late to enter the EpicDuel Holiday House Decorating Contest! Decorate your in-game home in its holiday finest and post a picture in the ArtixEntertainment Forums by Friday, December 30th at 12 PM (noon) Eastern Standard Time to be considered for the prize, which consists of a personal EpicDuel House Item and a special achievement!

As always, your entry must be your own in-game house (please include your EpicDuel character name), and above all, be creative! See the Forums post for official rules, and Decorate On!

Tags: charfade contest decorating Prizes

April 22, 2011

Tags: Nightwraith Netflix Offers Enhancements balance Central Station Naomi contest