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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

November 07, 2013

Shameless Self Indulgence

Happy Birthday!

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!

New Zookas!

My Gear

My Duds!

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!

Suggestion Shop

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! 

A Nightmarish Visage

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.

Skill Revamp

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

  • Adrenaline

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

 

Hybrid Armor, Mineral Armor, and Plasma Armor

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

Battery Backup

  • 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

Fire Scythe

Energy Parasite

  • 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

Mark of Blood

  • 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

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

 

Contest Announcement

Big Money, Big Prizes, I Love It!

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


Nightwraith

October 31, 2013

Musk Mania Continues

Musk Mania!

You've done it! The forces of Ebil have been vanquished from Delta V with the help of Elon Musk. This week, enjoy even more spoils of war with new weapons, new home items, balance improvements, new missions, and a new arcade game!

 

Musk and Ebil Gear!

Try your luck at the new Musk Mania arcade game for Musk-tech and Ebil-tech loot not available anywhere else in-game!

Weapons!

Can you win the grand prize?

 

Pumpkin Hunt!

Visit Musk to embark on an epic hunt spanning all of Delta V! Musk is preparing something special for you if you can complete all of his scavenger hunt missions and retrieve all the weird, wild pumpkins from the far corners of the planet!

Scavenge!

Be vigilant! Some pumpkins will be harder to find than others!

 

Home Decor

Some of those pumpkins mentioned above, as well as several new Musk and Ebilcorp-themed items will be available as home items for your decorating pleasure!

Who you callin' short!

Not so intimidating now, are you, Chairman?

 

Balance

Another change coming to this Friday's release is a balance update that will specifically address cores. For many builds, it is more useful to use a series of cores than to invest in particular skills and stats. For this reason, we are adding energy costs to many cores. This change will require you to think strategically about reserving enough energy to use all of your cores and necessary skills, adding variety and tactical choice to battle.

This is not the last balance change we have in mind, but because it is quite a big change, we could not fit in any other adjustments this week. Look for more farther reaching changes in the coming weeks. 

 

Storefront Cleaning

Next week, to refresh the Varium store, we are clearing out the following Varium packages:

  • Exile package

  • Legion Package

  • Dread Package

  • Omega Packages

If you have not already picked up one of these exclusive and powerful packages, now is the time to do so. Next week, they will no longer be available in the Varium store or in-game. Also, the items featured in the packages will be available for resale if you need the extra loot. 

Again, this change is not happening until NEXT WEEK so you still have another week to pick them up before they're gone! We wanted to announce this a week in advance so it didn't take anyone by surprise!

Tags: balance Arcade Weapons Elon Musk SolarCity SpaceX Tesla Nightwraith


Titan

October 29, 2013

Creative Carving Contest

 

Carving pumpkins with a plasma torch!

How To Enter

  • The contest will end on Wednesday, November 6, 2013, at 5pm ET.  
Contest Prizes
  • You may submit multiple entries, but prizes are limited to one per person.

  • Varium prizes will be awarded when we roll the release live on Friday, November 8, 2013.

  • 10 Grand Prizes - 10,000 Varium  
    • 10 players that submit the most relevant and creative pumpkins will be selected by hand by the EpicDuel staff.  
    • Each Grand Prize winner will be awarded 10,000 Varium!
  • The Epic Prize - 50,000 Varium 
    • Any player that submits a picture or video that manages to get a Facebook share or Twitter retweet from Elon Musk, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, or SpaceX will be awarded 50,000 Varium!  

 

Contest Rules
  • You are welcome to think outside the box and submit other non-pumpkin creative entries for our consideration.  Just remember that all entries should be fall themed with a focus on the Elon Musk event taking place in EpicDuel.

  • You can enter as many pumpkins as you like, but remember, please don’t spam your entry or you will be disqualified! You can only win once per person!

  • Get Carving!  We look forward to seeing your submissions!  

 

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


Nightwraith

October 25, 2013

Ebil's End

The Battle Continues

Thanks to you and your fellow duelists, Chairman Platinum and his vile sludge factory are all but defeated! When the life bar finally falls, get ready to access Elon Musk's SolarWorld factory, to be contructed on the ruins of Ebilcorp's sluge machine. Within, you'll find many awesome gadgets, including and exciting new power. What power you ask? How about the power of flight!

Weeeeee!

The new Flight Module equips in your vehicle slot just like bikes and hovercraft. The module is activated by typing /fly to takeoff and again to land.

This new flight ability looks great when combined with the new Musk Husk Armor, a mass-production version of Elon Musk's power suit.

Musk Husk

This elegant, yet efficient design is able to adapt to any class or gender. If you don't have the stomach for air travel, you can always try a more grounded method: the Model L hovercar!

Model L

This new vehicle allows the driver to travel in luxury and privacy while preserving the environment!

 

Core Contingency

The SolarWorld factory will also house two new cores for your dueling pleasure!

Piston Punch

Piston Punch

Deliver a solid, solar-powered punch that absorbs your opponent's energy with this new active armor core! The energy absorbtion is based on your armor's Defense and Resistance values.

Critical Heal

Critical Heal

Always have a backup...especially when your life is on the line! This armor core improves the effectiveness of Field Medic when you're in critical condition (less than 20% HP).

 

Rare Harvest

While you're in the Wasteland, you might want to visit Snork in his subterranean home beneath the Minetower to check out some of his awesome returning seasonal rares!

 

Harvest Husk

The Reapening

Don't get it wet!

Also, be sure to check out the Event-based Harvest missions and collect the Hallowarrior achievement! There's more holiday fun to be had next week -- we just need to boot that pesky Chairman off the planet for good!

Tags: Elon Musk Nightwraith Lotus James Bond Car Vehicle SolarCity SpaceX Chairman Platinum EbilCorp Armor Battle Green Energy Rares Solar Cores


Nightwraith

October 16, 2013

Meet Mr. Musk

Meet Mr. Musk

Ebilcorp is back with a vengeance as Chairman Platinum is attempting to suck Delta V dry of all its precious resources. Fortunately, a more benevolent businessman, Elon Musk, has arrived on Delta V and he's ready to help. Complete Musk's missions to defeat the Chairman and dismantle his life-sucking factory. To help you on your journey, Musk is selling 4 new passive cores to give your stats a much-needed boost!

INNOVATION!

Visit Musk in the middle of Fortune City for a complete list of your tasks. If you complete them all, you'll be rewarded with material treasures, but you can also gain a wealth of knowledge about this real-life innovator.

Transmissions from space

In addition to a full character bio, you can also watch intensely cool videos. You haven't seen anything until you you've seen machines turn 20,000 lb spools of metal into working vehicles. You can see firsthand how Musk is bringing the technology of the future to the present!

Can you spot Dummy?

Are they assembing the next generation of powered armors? Only one way to find out!

 

Challenge the Chairman!

You thought Chairman Platinum would learn his lesson after the beating Delta V's dilligent duelists gave him and his cronies last year, but I guess if at first you don't succeed...

Ebilcorp's Red Energy Initiative

...build a giant, resource-sucking factory on your enemy's homeworld? Classic Chairman!

The only way to shut down his Ebil Factory of Doom in the Wasteland is to defeat the Chairman, but he's too tough to take on in a 1v1 duel. Fortunately, Musk has volunteered to help you and your fellow duelists crush the Chairman and send him packing. However, you'll need to gather a few supplies for Mr. Musk to help him devise the technology necessary for blasting the sinister CEO.

The Factory's strength is measured by a War Bar at the top of your screen. By defeating the Chairman, you can help take the bar down and bring Delta V one step closer to ridding itsself from Chairman Platinum for good! According to Musk, he can re-engineer the factory to be a source of renewable, clean energy. There may also be some other amazing prizes inside once the Ebilcorp Factory's defense are eliminated.

Titans of Industry

If you defeat him, you'll be rewarded with an achievement. Why fight him again, you may ask? Good question!

Boss Tracking

We've add boss defeat tracking to all "boss" achievents. That means every time you bring the pain to Titan, Nightwraith, Caden, or any other NPC that offers an achievement, your achievement will track the number of times you were victorious! Unfortunately, this change is not retroactive so if you want to rack up the wins on the other boss NPCs, you'll have some work to do!

 

Scavengers

Over the course of Elon Musk's epic mission chain, you'll have the opportunity to try a new mission type: scavenger hunt!

Look! A shiny!

NPCs can now direct you to search a specific region of the world to find a mission item. Look carefully -- some items may not be as easy to find as others!

 

Musks' Cores

Musk has come to Delta V packing some pretty amazing technology -- including these 4 passive cores that buff the stats Strength, Technology, Dexterity, and Support!

Cores

If you want an extra edge over your opponents, these cores will provide a great way of doing so!

This release is packed to the brim with content, but we're not done yet! Once the Chairman's factory falls, the real party can begin!

Tags: Nightwraith SolarCity Tesla Innovation Elon Musk Chairman Platinum EbilCorp Cores Missions SpaceX


Nightwraith

October 11, 2013

Ebil Returns

*There will be no release today as we prepare for a MEGA RELEASE next week. Thank you for your patience!

Ebil Returns

It's been nearly a year since Chairman Platinum last showed his face on Delta V -- the populace quickly gave him a proper EpicDuel beat-down and put an end to his plans for a hostile takeover. If there's one thing the Chairman is good at (aside from robbing grannies and punting kittens) it's holding a grudge. After a year of planning and healing, he's ready to end the fued -- along with all the inhabitants of Delta V.

Rather than bringing an army, the Chairman is taking a more subtle approach -- forcibly extracting all the Varium from Delta V to cause the entire planet to collapse! The Ebilcorp extraction device is protected by a nearly impervious shield and in order to breach it, you'll need to face the Chairman himself!

This time, there will be no deals, no negotiations. The Chairman wants to annihilate those who wronged him and make a tidy profit while doing it. If only there were someone who could help us stop him!

 

Enter Musk

Musk

To defeat this otherworldy threat, Delta V will need an otherworldy benefactor in the form of Elon Musk, engineering mastermind and visionary businessman (basically the closest the real-world has to Tony Stark). While testing his new Ultraloop interstellar transportation device on a routine visit to a Martian colony, Musk overshot his target and landed on Delta V.

Although his ship was not damaged, he'll need some time to adjust his calculations. Since he's always up for a challenge calling for ingenuity, he's prepared to offer the citizens of Delta V his expertise in expelling the Ebilcorp threat and reversing Platinum's damage, offering Delta V a means of generating efficient renewable energy in the process!

This task will not be easy, however, as Musk is lightyears away from his fabrication workshop. You'll need to scour Delta V to find the parts necessary to allow this benevolent genius to invent a permanent solution to your Platinum problem. 

 

Coming Soon

New Missions

As stated above, Musk will need your help securing various items from across Delta V to devise a means for you to defeat Platinum. Also, he's not letting you go it alone -- complete his mission chain and he'll join you in a battle of the business titans as you take on Platinum in an epic 2v1 duel!

New Achievement

Complete the mission chain by defeating Chairman Platinum and you'll receive a new achievement!

New Cores

Chairman's Ebilcorp extractor is bad news, but Musk has plans to reengineer it to be a source of limitless energy! As an added bonus, the power plant will be able to produce advanced cores capable to augmenting basic stats!

New Armor

Musk sees you admiring his armor -- don't worry, he brought extras! Power up with the Musk Husk and send Chairman Platinum packing!

More!

Since next week will be a MEGA release, there are bound to be aspects that we forget to mention here. Stay tuned on Twitter and the Design Notes for the latest and greatest updates!

Tags: Titan EbilCorp Elon Musk Tesla Space Travel Solar Power Energy Pollution Clear Green Chairman Platinum Armor NPC Missions Achievements War

 

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