EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

July 11, 2013

Another week has passed in the Dread War as both alignments continually clash across Delta V. Every day, War Objectives change hands and entire regions fall as the war rages on. This week, we are expanding upon the existing War features while introducing some new ones.

Collect them all!

New Regional Weapons

This week, we will be introducing 6 new regional weapons. You can find them at the Dread Plains Control Array, Fortune City Battle Arena, and the Archive AI in the Biodome.

Dread Destroyers - Control Array

Fortune City Slayers - Battle Arena

Bio Busters - Archives AI

Some may be confused about how to acquire these devastating new weapons. Allow me to clarify: in order to unlock these regional weapons, your alignment must control a key War Objective in a region. For example, to unlock the Barrens Busters, your alignment must control the Bazaar in the Barrens Outpost region. This unlocks a supply of 5 of each weapon, BUT they will restock periodically. Holding the key War Objectives longer allows as many of your fellow soldiers to have a chance at the weapons as possible.

Barrens Busters - Bazaar Command Hub

Trainyard Terrors - Train Command Hub

Overlord Overkills - Overlord AI

Wasteland Wardens - Minetower Suite Door

Nautical Nightmares - Naval Yard Shack

Core Confusion

Last week we introduced limited-time influence buffs. By equipping these cores onto a weapon, the owner would be granted an influence buff for a certain number of victories. Currently, if a limited-charge core is exchanged/removed, it is destroyed, even if it has a remaining balance of charges left. In the future, we would like Cores to behave more like regular items that can be equipped and unequipped to items. However, this requires a greater discussion of intense interface and programming changes so it will need to wait for a later update.

War Chests

Last week, we finally "opened" the War Chests to all those who already owned them to reveal 8 regional influence buffs. Unfortunately, those who purchased War Chests after the release found their locks still intact. This week we will be fixing that by unlocking all the remaining War Chests. However, the War Chests will no longer be available with the Legion or Exile promotional packages once we go live. All of the marketing materials will be updated to reflect this change.

Last Chance for War Chests!

Achieve Greater

Have you collected all the regional War achievements yet? Really? Impressive. Now, can you level each achievement all the way to the max? It won't be easy, but each level earned represents a new tier of mastery and truly epic bragging rights. 

New Achievements!

Since we're adding so many new achievements, we thought it would be helpful to give you a way to easily track your progress through the war. Through the map screen, you will be able to easily see your battle contributions for each region and how close you are to reaching the next tier! (Sorry, but we had to cut this feature due to time. It will be coming next week though!)

Additionally, you can now determine at a glance which War Objectives are on the verge of switching alignments and need your immediate attention for defense or offense. Also, each War Objective will now show your personal Influence contribution! Can you dominate them all? 

Claim the Battlefield

With the update on Friday, the controlling alignment will be able to alter the appearance of many of the War Objective screens. Drape war banners over the Battle Arena, flood the Minetower with Legion guards, or move your troops to secure the Control Array. Now, when you capture a region, everyone will know it!

Under new Management.

These changes will persist in the battle backgrounds, allowing you to duel while your Faction's banner flies high in the background!

Wow! That's quite a few additions for a regularly scheduled release. Stay tuned for more updates!

Tags: Nightwraith exile Legion Weapons Alignments Achievements Control Objectives War

June 07, 2013

Greetings EpicDuelists! Unfortunately there is no release today, but I have emerged from the nest of dry erase boards to give you more details about the upcoming war and talk a little about the planning process. It's sometimes challenging to pick what to say and what to hold onto when certain points are still uncertain, but I shall do my best.

Before The Dread War officially begins, Delta V will be receiving a much-needed facelift. From the Barrens to the Bio Dome, Delta V will be reshaped with the most advanced satellite imaging technology (i.e. drawn better.) with the ability to zoom in on any known region. This will allow quick jumping to individual areas of interest within each region, making navigation much quicker. This quick jumping with be essential for reaching contested areas in the War.

The main focus of the Dread War will be this objective, as seen in the background of the first of many areas of the Dread Plains. This apparatus is the top of a massive control array. What does it control?

The Legion or Exile forces that gain and hold control of this structure will find out. Capturing this array will not be quite so simple, however. In order to have the best chance of taking it, you will need to capture surrounding support structures: turrets, shield generators, propaganda speakers, etc...  These structures will confer great benefits to those who hold them and will be essential for turning the tide of the Dread War.

How do you capture these objectives? Battle. You will need to visit the physical location of the objective and queue for battle. Battle victories will award influence, but this time the influence will apply toward the objective's capture bar. Unlike the old Flag system that allows Factions to collect, store, and dump a massive amount of Battle Tokens to secure a flag, these points can only be captured by the collective efforts of all Factions of an alignment. Top Factions will still be honored, but the emphasis will be more on the alignment vs. alignment struggle rather than Faction vs. Faction.

Similar to the Infernal War, everyone will soon be required to choose an alignment. To discourage people from piling on the "winning" team, switching alignment will not be easy so we recommend deciding in advance. 

Why Plan?

We want to be very careful with the upcoming Faction War. We have always believed that Factions would be the driving purpose for playing EpicDuel. We've added some features to cultivate conflict among Factions, but it never felt connected. Depositing tokens or firing a cannon at an arbitrary target, while novel at first, never really captured the feeling of all-out war that we wanted to convey. Wars are exciting, but require a tremendous amount of upkeep and preparation.

Our goal with the new war system is to provide ongoing entertainment and excitement for EpicDuelists of all levels and classes, Varium and non-Varium. We want to provide recognition and incentives at the personal, Faction, and alignment levels to motivate everyone to participate. These are lofty goals, but with enough planning, we can deliver a system that meets our criteria and surpasses expectations.

The boards are full and our heads or packed with ideas. Now all that remains is execution. This will be a War to remember -- Delta V will never be the same!

Tags: War The Dread War Factions Control Legion exile Planning Delta V Map Nightwraith