EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

August 14, 2012

Open Wide!

The final vault door has fallen to the Exile forces!  John St. Alban, the man known as The Lawman has commanded the Exiles to victory over Silas and his Legion army and now has control over Baelius' most horrifying experiment - a cybernetic army harvested from the civilian population of Delta V.  Now all he has to do is figure out how to turn all of them on!

Fortunately for the players, Ulysses has been able to activate a few and the Lawman has seen fit to sell them to Legion and Exile forces alike to finance his next project.  Whoever figures out how to activate them all will have an army of millions of cyborgs at his or her disposal.

But what of the Legion?  How will they fare in the aftermath of this war?  The Lawman seems content to let the soldiers go free, but you can bet Alydriah won't let this insult go unanswered!

Also, this Thursday we will be removing most of the War content including Missions, War Battles, and War Achievements.  War weapons will be reallocated to the Light Mechachillid at the front of the Mines and the Exile Soldier in the Delta Vault.  Players will also be able to sell back grenades for 15-25 Credits.  You may be disappointed if you were hoping for a high sellback, but we warned players repeatedly that it would be better to throw them than keep them.

What Was THAT?!

Those of you who saw the end cutscene know what I'm talking about.  EpicDuel is indeed planning a crossover event with MechQuest to coincide with DragonCon.  We have never confirmed or denied whether or not EpicDuel takes place in the Lore Universe, but space is a big place, and there are monsters out there that transcend time and reality!  How did this creature arrive at Delta V?  Is it friend or foe?  I guess you'll have to wait and see!

Infernal Accommodations

Before we say goodbye to the Infernal Mines, we will be adding a new credit-only Infernal Apartment!  Be sure to decorate your new digs with a selection of Infernal items ranging from Stalagmites to Mechachillid statues!

Bot Balance

After much player discussion on the matter, this week we will be addressing bot balance.  Some bot skills are wildly better than others so we will be tweaking them to encourage a better variety of effective bot strategies. 

• Infernal Android
  • Old system: Starts at 70% regular damage, +15% damage per round, 160% cap (unblockable, 3 turn cooldown)
  • New System: Starts at 80% damage, +5% damage per round, 150% cap (deflectable, 4 turn cooldown)
• Assault Bot and Rusted Assault Bot - Lowered debuff reduction from 80% to 65%
• Azrael’s Borg - Lowered buff reduction from 80% to 65%, no longer affects Bioborg thorns
• Bioborg - Thorns is no longer affected by Azrael’s Borg special
• Pyro Fly - Increased damage on special attack
• Baby Yeti - Special is now unblockable
• Gamma Bot - Special is now deflectable instead of blockable

Call for Spanish Translators

Hey EpicDuelists! 

I'm here to deliver some news to you guys that you might just be interested in!  EpicDuel is currently looking for a Spanish translator to help translate the growing parts of the game from English to Spanish! 

There are a few requirements however, so you must remember to follow these rules. 

One thing that needs to be stressed - you MUST be over 18 years old.  If you are under 18, if you don't include your age, or if you start with "I'm not 18 yet, but..." the application will not be considered! 

What they need you to include in your email is: 

1. Your real name, age, and country of residence. 

2. EpicDuel Game account name and email address 

3. Forum account name and email address (not required to have one) 

4. The following 10 sentences/paragraphs translated into Spanish: 

1) Ally With Exiles 

2) More keys can unlock bigger bonuses! 

3) Deals bonus damage on Critical Strikes 

4) Battles are disabled prior to a server shutdown! 

5) Are you sure you want to remove Titan from the faction?  Your highest Flag will lose up to 100 Tokens.  This won't apply to players that are inactive for 30+ days. 

6) Are you sure you want to exit battle early? You will receive a Loss and earn no Credits, Experience, or Battle Tokens. 

7) Look, I’m not your friend, kid.  My employer is a very powerful man - he’s got to be, to keep me in line. I’m not the only one who needs kept in line - the two big scary guys who live under the Minetower don’t seem to have any loyalty.  And really, kid, where are we without loyalty?  I got my own stuff to do, so why don’t you teach them some manners?  Get 7 wins off of those weasels Caden and Snork, and I’ll share the bounty with you. 

8) The Refinery is kept under careful guard - and with good reason. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called to administer first aid to some poor caverns-worker. But it is those guards we must muscle through.  If each of us defeats 10 heavy or normal Mine Guards, we should be able to reduce their presence long enough to get into that evil place. 

9) The worst thing has happened.  Hank left a batch of candy out, and now we have an infestation of ants.  I refuse to deal with critters myself; I prefer to take a more “hands-off” approach.  By which I mean I’m gonna explode ‘em.  Bring me 3 Gunpowder Kegs so I can explode the colony, and I’ll give you your next assignment. 

10) Perfect!  Just the thing to make the deep-fried battered nutritive meat substitute nice and crispy!  It’s sodalicious! 

A few rules/reminders on the translations: 
A lot of the space in the interface is limited, so keeping the character length of the translation close to or below the English version makes it easier for us to fit everything in.  As long as too much of the meaning isn't lost, it should be alright to abbreviate, reword, or sidestep perfect grammar to make things fit.  If the translation is shorter than the English, then all the better! 

Do not translate the following for the purpose of consistency: 

• Currency (Credits, Battle Tokens, etc) 
• Experience 
• NPC names 
• Faction names (Exile / Legion) 
• Place names (Central Station, Fortune City, etc) 

Please send your COMPLETE application with the subject line entitled "Spanish Translator" to edtranslator@battleon.com.  If the application is not complete, we will toss it out.  And please - one application per person. 

*NOTE* This does not mean you become a moderator/tester. 

Account Recovery and Security

It seems like we've been getting a lot of players lately emailing us directly about account and payment issues.  If you are unable to access your account because you have been hacked, or you made a payment and have not received any points, please contact the Artix Help Team as soon as possible http://portal.battleon.com/help/mailer.asp?c=10

We have a hardworking staff of support professionals (real, human people last I checked) who are 100% dedicated to helping you fix your account.  Contacting us on social networks through email will not help you get your account back any faster, and because we spend most of our time building EpicDuel, any time we might spend fixing accounts is less time we would spend building features, fixing bugs, and drawing content.

That said, here are some simple yet helpful tips for helping you protect your account from hackers and scammers:

• NEVER give your account information to anyone!  We can implement filters and automated ways to protect players having their accounts compromised in EpicDuel, but we cannot prevent players from opening giving out account information outside of the game.  All the Help Team needs to access your account is your Character Name, so if anyone asks for any other information, chances are they cannot really help you.  If someone promises you free varium in exchange for your account information, report them immediately!
• NEVER share your account.  This goes along with the last post, but 99% of all hacking situations are the result of a "friend" being given access to an account.  The longer an account is shared, the harder it is to determine who originally owns the account and can make an account very difficult to recover.
• NEVER leave your account unattended.  We receive so many emails from players who allegedly left their laptop for a minute to get a drink of water and returned to find all their items sold by a sibling.
• NEVER download hacking tools.  Not only are these illegal, but they can infect your computer with malicious code like viruses and keyloggers designed to harvest your valuable personal information -- anything from credit card numbers to your grandmother's middle name!  Be sure your virus protection is up to date and you scan your system regularly to make sure your information is safe.
• DO use a complicated password.  If your password is easy to guess, then change it immediately! http://portal.battleon.com/  It also doesn't hurt to change your password on a fairly regular basis.
• Mods and Devs of Artix Entertainment exercise these practices regularly, and, to date, our accounts have never been hacked and we have no additional security above and beyond regular players. 

Tags: Nightwraith Spanish Translator Infernal Infiltration War Lawman Exiles Account Security

July 17, 2012

Go, Exiles, Go...#RandyNewman

Congratulations, Exiles, for felling the second Vault door. With things as they stand right now, it’s anyone’s game and the Exiles and Legion will both have to work hard to punch through the remaining doors.

Before going on, I want to clear up some rumors that have been floating around. No, the Administration is not playing favorites with alignment. Both Exiles and Legion had equal chance to get the Vault Breaker II Achievement, and yes, Legion had to wait 2 extra hours to unlock level 35. There was also no help from the Administration for the Exiles- we did not orchestrate the Exiles winning one Vault.  We want this war to be fun and fair and we will not do anything, nor have we done anything, to artificially alter the course of the War. This is all you, guys!

That said, let’s get into the meat of it!

Vaulting Vaults

This Vault Door will be the final Vault Door before the Big One. The Alignment that breaks down this door will have exclusive access to the Vault Breaker III achievement, as well as the powerful Magma Grenade, which weakens the Vault’s shields and makes subsequent attacks more damaging!

Both sides will have access to new Auxiliary weapons in both credit-only and varium flavors: The Mecha Disintegrator and Mecha Launcher, Super Mecha Destroyer and Super Mecha Launcher. These weapons will have the special ability Infernal Spirit, combining with the sidearms and Mechachillid armors for maximum damage and defense against the Vault!

In addition, you’ll have access to the Mechachillid Cruiser! Vroom Vroom!

We will also be adding TWO additional tier to the Vault Cracker achievement to reward players who are really, REALLY punishing those Vault doors!

New Missions

Having trouble getting bombs to drop? Well, Players should report to their Lieutenants (Valestra for the Legion and Ulysses for the Exiles) for mission chains that will award all kinds of grenades, as well as some insights into some of the characters’ motivations. I had great fun thinking about Habuki and his character, his past, etc. This chain will unlock another short arc about the St. Alban family and their issues, including some answers about why Cinderella supports the Legion, while her father and sister support the Exiles. This chain will also award more war grenades.

Security Awareness Art Contest Winners!

Thank you to each and every one of you who entered the Art Contest! We’ve gone through every submission; we saw a lot of great art, and a lot of... interesting art and finally narrowed it down to the winners! So, without any further ado, congratulations to the following players!

First, the Honorable Mentions. These players will be awarded an achievement reflecting their excellence!

Wind: “EpicDuel Moderator Squidlings, Working Hard to protect you”

Ddog 81: “The BAN-HAMMER!”

Shadow2221: “Free Varium... are you kidding me?”

Blocky Bounty: “Nothing in life is free”

luminitos: “EpicDuel’s Ten Most Wanted List”

The First Place Winners will be awarded an achievement plus an exclusive home item and 1500 Varium!

2046808: “Authority!”

mieteor: “My Precious”

Battle Elf: “Don’t let evil trick you!”

And finally, the Grand Prize Winner, who gets the cheevo, home item, and 10K varium package is...

..trizzzcentrino.. for the entry “be smart, play safe”!

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks again to all who participated. Also, if you didn’t win, don’t get discouraged- it doesn’t mean that your artwork was bad or sub-par, only that it wasn’t what we were looking for at this time. Thank you for participating!

*Achievements and in-game home items won't be awarded until the release on Friday.

Tags: Cinderella Grenades Infernal Infiltration War Auxiliary Bike Exiles Legion

July 11, 2012

F13

Hey there EpicDuelists- we’re coming up to another Friday the 13th (along with the return of the F13 cheevo) and the continuation of the Infernal Infiltration War!

Legion may have felled the first Vault door, but there’s still time for the Exiles to catch up, with the 2nd Vault battle already underway!

Master of Unlocking

The Second Vault Door is already feeling the pain (metaphorically speaking- the Vault Door is a Door, and cannot feel pain) of thousands of both Legion and Exile soldiers. And players will have something valuable to fight for- upon the collapse of the Second Vault Door, Level 35 will be available for your grinding pleasure!

Along with unlocking Level 35, behind the door is a shop featuring Level 35 Sidearms (in both credit and varium flavors) that include the new special Infernal Spirit! This allows you to inflict +2 damage against the Vault and +2 Defense against its attacks. For a player wearing the Mechachillid armor, and wielding the Infernal Interdictor, this means that that Vault door doesn’t stand a chance!

When life gives you gren, make grenades!

We’ll be introducing four NEW grenades to make the battle against the Vault even more epic: The Stagrenade, Crystal Grenade, Hammer Grenade, and the Short Circuit Grenade. While all four will be available for purchase, anyone can get one of these grenades via a drop.

• Stalagrenade: As you may have noticed, as the battle progresses, the Vault’s defenses and attacks increase. To counteract this, the Stagrenade sticks to the Vault door and detonates, resetting its defenses and damage to the start.
• Crystal Grenade: Locks the Vault’s defenses in place, effectively giving you a free attack!
• Hammer Grenade: Has a chance to do minimal or massive damage to the Vault- all beholden to the RNG gods.
• Short Circuit Grenade: Causes the Vault’s defenses to backfire, making it attack itself!

For more information, on how these Grenades work, check out this video on EpicDuel's Official Youtube Channel!

As stated above, all of these grenades are available as War Battle Drops (or as rewards for upcoming War missions), as well as for purchase.

Lucky You!

If you manage to get a chance between bashing down the Vault door, AQW’s Friday the 13th event featuring Voltaire, the Beast Maker, and the Sleezter Bunny will be going LIVE on Friday. And if you’re as much of an audiophile as I am, you’ll love hearing Voltaire’s dulcet tones accompanying you through a voyage of mirth, mayhem, and weird hellbeasts.

HeroSmash’s Cirque du Freak will also be making its regular F13 appearance. So, lots of fun to be had even if you aren’t fighting the Vault. But, really, you should be fighting the Vault. ;)

What? No Insect Facts?

Don’t want to keep you away from the War for TOO long ;) Also, I’ll be doing some field work later this summer, so maybe Night will let me talk a little tiny bit about what I do beyond writing for ED. Also, some of the academic reading I’ve been doing is going into the quests. >::3

Tags: War Infernal Infiltration Vault Grenades Exiles Legion Cinderella

July 06, 2012

Almost...

Baelius was no fool and whatever he buried in the mines, he didn't want it to be uncovered. The first door has fallen to the Legion, and Mechachillids are already hard at work removing the rubble to reveal the next door, moving the Legion forces one step closer to claiming the Vault's contents for their own!

But don't count the Exiles out just yet.  This is still The Lawman's turf, and he's not going to give up so easily, especially when the fighting just got interesting.  What tricks does he have stored up those dusty sleeves of his, anyway?

Credit Where Credit Is Due

The brave Legion warriors who aggressively smashed through the Vaults millions of hit points in under a week deserve a hearty round of applause.  The AI-based entity, M4tr1x will be waiting for you beyond the first door to offer you a Vault Breaker Achievement and rare Mechachillid Armor!

My Skeleton; Your Shield

Mechachillids reproduce by gathering scrap metal from derelict mining facilities and the surface to build new Mechachillids.  Sometimes, a Mechachillid will "outgrow" it's current shell and seek to replace it with newer metals and more efficient power supplies.  This process is known as molting, and the end result is tons of empty Mechachillid husks scattered throughout the mines.  The technology necessary to reanimate these husks is expensive and rare on Delta V in its current state, but it still makes an effective combat ready armor.  Mechachillid armors come with an inherent Exoskeleton skill.

Exoskeleton - The Mechachillids were designed to withstand conditions lethal to humans, especially those found in the Infernal Mines.  By wearing Mechachillid armor, players are granted increased resistance against the Vault's lethal security systems.

Remember to check the style change bots around Delta V!  Each gender and class is getting 3 new Mechachillid styles (a total of 18).

Infernal Interdictor

Forged from the same rare crystals as the Infernal Slayer, the Infernal Interdictor is a sight to be feared on any battlefield.  Help your alignment secure the Vault by acquiring this rare, impressive weapon, which comes with a devastating new skill, Massive Strike.  Visit the Light Mechachillid at the screen just beyond the Refinery Entrance to purchase it in game or get both level 25 and 35 variants for free with the 10K Varium package.

Massive Strike - The mysterious crystals powering the Infernal Interdictor grant its wielder superhuman strength.  The reinforced steel of the Vault doors yield to its power and critical strikes have the ability to knock even the strongest opponents to their knees, inflicting massive damage.

One Level Deeper

As players from both alignments descend deeper into the mines, be prepared for more exciting new content as this conflict continues to boil beneath the surface of Delta V!

Tags: Titan War Nightwraith Legion Exiles Faction Silas The Lawman Infernal Interdictor New Promotion Varium Achievements Mines Summer