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 | November 07, 2014 Birthday Bio War Rumble
The time has come...FOR WAR...and cake. Cake? That's right. Today, we're excited to launch a new war region, the Biological Preserve, in addition to Nightwraith's birthday stash of rare loot.
The Biological Preserve is the last bastion for all that is green and growing on Delta V, and it is being used as a weapon by those occupying the region. By using Davarril's research on mind-controlling Spores, Exiles have engineered a massive tree to become a spore-launching factory, spreading spores throughout the region.
The Legion, under the watch of Cinderella, are attempting to stop this threat with Purifiers. These devices launch spores to counteract the Corruption Spores launched by the Corrupted Tree.
Exiles will attempt to use this to their advantage by planting Corruption Spore on the Purifiers, infesting them and turning them into Corruption Spore factories.
The only way to stop the spread of the spores is to cleanse the Corrupted Tree. When it is fully cleansed, the Legion will take control of the Biological Preserve. If the Exiles prevail and infest the Purifiers, the region will fall fully under Exile control.
Davarril has been moved one screen to the left of the Corrupted Tree. You'll find him next to the Ammunition Depot stocked with war drops. Davarril's mind still isn't right from the Arborgeddon event so he won't be much help to you.
This war's prize is a mighty one indeed! Claws and teeth and hardened-bone armor await the conquerers of the Biological Preserve!
We've also added some small changes to the War balancing mechanics, specifically to prevent War Rallies from occuring when both alignments are within 1% of each other. Also, rallies will not happen when the war is nearly over. This should provide clarity to those confused by the outcome of the last war. Now, go forth my Legion and Exile warriors! Claim the Biological Preserve for glory! But first...
Nightwraith's Birthday Bash
Happy Birthday to me! Well, it's still a bit early, but why not? Everyone loves cake!
Also, everyone loves new stuff! Remember, you'll need the OneX6 Key to access my stash in the ArmoryBot. You can either claim it from me by completing the OneX6 4 mission or just buy it from me if you're the impatient type. This year, I've stolen NegaWraith's (that IMPOSTER) armor to sell at my own shop. Haha! I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees my minions clad in his precious power armor!
Be sure to kick him in the shin if you find him in Fortune City skulking around the Battle Arena. Also, there are new and returning missions ready to play! The Party Business mission chain has returned with a new mission, and Titan has a new chain Caffeine Crash to complement the Coffee Crusader chain. This chain will allow you to redeem Titan's Mug for a rare Achievement!
Titan's Trinket
Some have been asking about the Titan's Mug item from the Artix Entertainment 12th anniversary event. Here's what will happen:
Got it? You've got until the end of November to complete these missions and claim your prize!
Have a safe and happy weekend everyone! Duel On! Tags: Nightwraith RPG Browser MMORPG Flash War Legion exile Battle Duel Strategy Holiday Achievement Titan Missions Rare Collector Rares Armor |
| February 21, 2014 War Two Point OhWhen will the Dread War End?
We've heard your feedback about the Dread War and many players have made it clear they're ready for it to end. Well good news! We’ve been working hard planning exciting improvements to the current system. When we first conceived the Dread War, our goal was to implement an event that could provide perpetual engagement, but over time, a few weaknesses in the system’s design have become apparent and the war has become a bit stale. The current war is complicated, it never ends, it doesn't offer enough rewards, and there is no focal point. This post will explain how we intend to overhaul the current system, and offer up the key points of the proposed new war system. The details are subject to change so please give us your feedback so we can build the best system possible. We believe by borrowing the best ideas from previous phases and prior wars, we can craft a system that is simple to understand, extremely engaging, perpetually rewarding and really, really fun!
As you can see, our dry-erase board breeding program is progressing nicely.
A Sense of Urgency Currently, The Dread War is a global conflict without end. The lack of focus and lack of duration means there’s never any urgency. In past events like The Frysteland War and The Infernal War, there was a clear set of victory conditions. With War 2.0, we hope to recreate this sense of urgency by limiting the scope of the War to one region at a time and structuring it as a race. The War will last until a specific set of conditions are met by either alignments’ forces (we expect these regional conflicts to last roughly 1-3 weeks). When the War in a particular region ends, the environment will visually reflect the winners, and the region will remain in control of the winning alignment until it comes up for contention again in the future. Prizes will unlock for the winners, and the top participating players and factions will be made famous (in a similar fashion to the Infernal War). After a small cooldown period, the next region will activate and the war will continue. The victory conditions in each region will vary to keep the conflicts interesting.
Streamlined Gameplay To a new player, the current War system is baffling. Control points, cooldowns, and other obscure systems are extremely challenging to convey at a glance. As we develop War 2.0, we’ll be streamlining many of the old systems. Mechanics like Influence, Flag Captures and World Dominations will remain, but behave differently from the current system. The gameplay mechanic will evolve from a constant grind for control, to a more focused system where both alignments are racing toward very specific goals. Each regional War will be a race to complete the given objective and whichever alignment fills their global war bar first will win the battle and take control of the region! PvP battles will remain the main driver of conflict, however, Influence will no longer be earned at the end of battle. Instead players will earn Influence by depositing new "War Drops" on War Objectives within the region. These drops will be similar to the grenades in the Infernal War in that they will drop after winning a PvP battle. War Drops will be thematically tied to the currently contented region and can be anything from missiles to computer chips, ammo crates, bricks, cakes, plants, metal, bullets, etc. Players of all levels can obtain and use these items, maintaining a very low barrier of entry for War participation.
Showoff If you fight hard to be the greatest champion EpicDuel has ever know, you deserve a place of honor. With War 2.0 we hope to give greater exposure to exceptional players who make the greatest contribution to the war effort. Interactive leaderboards will display the leading players and Factions for each alignment. At the end of each regional War, the bravest, most dedicated soldier will be displayed prominently until the region is contested once again.
War Prizes By defining a clear beginning and end for each regional War, we can offer real rewards for the victor. At the end of each War, players on the winning alignment will gain access to exclusive prizes. To add variety to this experience, players can select a prize from a list. These prizes could be never-before-seen weapons or currency prizes like Credits and Arcade Tokens. Each region will draw a new set of prizes to choose from, and the prize pool will continue to expand as the regional wars progress. These rewards will only be available to those who participate on the winning alignment, and they will only be available until the next regional War begins. We will also be adding additional levels to each regional War achievements. If you’re at level 10 or close in any of the regions, you’ll be able to battle your way to an even higher Rating Point score! Also, the highest scoring player at the end of each day will receive a War Hero achievement. This achievement will have a tracker to record each time you qualify for this prestigious distinction.
EpicDuel Evolution War 2.0 will herald a new phase of EpicDuel development: EpicDuel Evolution. This new phase will be unlike any before it – over the last few months we have been gradually building tools and tutorials to allow EpicDuel’s future to be directed by a force more powerful that the mighty Titan himself: our Community.
Over the years we’ve attracted some amazingly talented and ambitious players. Our player base may be much smaller than AdventureQuest Worlds, but the level of talent is no less. Our intention for EpicDuel Evolution is to allow more input and direct involvement from our players to influence things like content creation and balance. If you were shy about contributing content or ideas to EpicDuel, now is a better time than ever to express because soon we’ll be offering the resources to make them a reality!
We're aiming to activate the first region on Friday, March 7, but as usual this is just an estimate and could be delayed if development demands it. Stay tuned for more details as this exciting new feature evolves! Tags: Nightwraith War Dread War Factions Legion exile Alignment Planning |
| September 12, 2013 Going Up!
Are You Ready for a Challenge? After weeks of controlling events from behind the scenes, Administrator 10 and the mysterious Exile Leader are ready to step into the spotlight, and they’re taking matters into their own hands! Team up with a friend to challenge these foes and claim their achievements for your own! These bosses will be some of the most challenging in game, but we’re not without mercy. To make it easier to triumph over these foes, we’re raising the level cap!
Level Up! At long last, we have increased the level cap to 36. It won’t be quick or easy to reach so we’re sure there will be a mad dueling dash to be the first to reach it. The first players to reach this goal will be able to upgrade their gear and skills to become the most powerful duelists on Delta V! Will you be strong enough to defeat Administrator 10 and the Exile Leader?
Daily Missions In between duels, Administrator 10 and the Exile Leader will have some new tasks for you. Check back with them daily for missions and rewards. The missions will be part of a chain so players will need to complete all of them in order to receive the best reward! To keep missions from becoming monotonous, we’ll be cycling in new chains each day to guarantee that there’s always something exciting to do on Delta V!
Arcade Returns!
Remember the Arcade? We haven’t forgotten, and we’re working on implementing a new and improved version next week. Under the new system players will be able to deposit Arcade Tokens for a chance to win anything from a pile of credits, to never-before-seen weapons, to previously retired rares (gasp)! Tags: Nightwraith Missions Daily Level Cap Arcade Prizes Legion exile War Challenge Achievements |
| July 17, 2013 Dread DominationPrepare for Dread Domination!
Are you ready? After weeks of fighting in the Dread Plains, plans for a powerful new weapon have been captured by both sides of the War. Now, Legion and Exile forces are prepared to unleash their power upon Delta V in the form of the Dread Domination Varium Package! This package includes 4 unique weapons and is not available in game!
We've equipped the Dread Desolators (auxiliaries) with technology of unknown origin in the form of the Improbability Gate Core. This exclusive core uses technology derived from an undisclosed research facility in the Dread Plains to open holes in the fabric of the universe. These tears in reality have been weaponized to allow players to summon creatures and objects from other worlds to come to their aid and help vanquish their foes! Be warned, however, this technology is quite unstable: you never know what will come through!
War Objective Leaderboards
Can you rule them all? New leaderboards on each War Objective will display the top Influence contributors in addition to showing your own contribution. With 34 War Objectives to dominate, you have 34 chances to get your name and face out there, showing Legion and Exile forces that you’re a force to be reckoned with and that either alignment should feel honored to hold your favor. Can you dominate them all? We think it’s impossible, but we also know never to underestimate a dedicated EpicDuel player with unlimited access to energy drinks!
Alignment Switching
Where do your loyalties really lie? This week we are introducing the heavily requested feature of alignment switching. Our primary concern with this change is that it could irrevocably tip the balance of the alignments, as players with weak loyalties rush to whichever alignment has the upper hand.
Delicate negotiations. To ensure that alignment switching is treated with the gravity it deserves, we are limiting the feature to Varium only. Players will only be able to switch alignments once per month. Players currently in a Faction will need to first leave the Faction in order to switch. There is still no way for Factions to switch alignments with disbanding and recreating themselves.
Bug Squashin’ Inevitably, when new features are released, new bugs will pop up, sometimes in old features. We try to make each release as bug free and polished as possible within a week of development time, but often bugs slip by. This update will fix several issues that have arisen since the last update (for specifics check out Rabble’s patch notes leading up to the release). To track down and fix bugs as quickly as possible, we need your help. Posting bugs on Twitter, while appreciated, isn’t always helpful since reports quickly get lost in our feeds. The best way to help us fight bugs is to post them to the official EpicDuel Bugs Forum. Please be as descriptive as possible when reporting bugs, explaining exactly what you were doing when the bug occurred. Giving us those details helps us to reproduce bugs more easily. A reproducible bug is usually an easily fixable bug. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Tags: Nightwraith Factions Dread War Alignment Legion Exiles Weapons Varium Leaderboards Bugs Reports Cores Forums |
| July 11, 2013 A New Level of WarfareAnother 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 |
| July 03, 2013 War Shops
War Hiccup Those of you who played over the weekend may have noticed some wonkiness on the Control bars for each War Objective. This bug tipped the balance overwhelmingly in favor of the Legion. Obviously, this was not intentional and Titan spent all day Sunday repairing this bug. Unfortunately, since the scores for irreparably skewed, they all had to be reset. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused.
Independence Day Rares Return This Friday, you can celebrate freedom with the returning Independence Day rares. You can find them equipped to Naomi in Central Station. Also, the Independence Day achievement will also be available at all the VendBot Achievement shops throughout Delta V.
Thanks to some help from Trizzzcentrino, we've managed 2 new seasonal rare bikes (to be found on Naomi)! Flavoured in Legion or Exile designs, you can show alignment pride while tearing up the battlefield. These are also the first bikes to attempt a new chrome color that's not color custom (the shiny, silvery bits on the bikes). I think it creates a neat effect that's lost on most color custom parts, but we'll see how you like it.
New War Objectives
To flesh out some of the less populous regions of Delta V, we have added 7 new War Objectives! You can find the in the West Naval Yard, the Barrens Outpost, and Central Station. Can you help capture them all and dominate Delta V?
Regional War Shops
By controlling key points in each region (i.e. the Battle Arena in Fortune City, the Overlord AI in the Overlord Facility, etc...), Alignments can unlock War Shops. Since supplies are scarce during wartime, these shops only supply limited quantities of items. To allow as many players to collect these items as possible, alignments are encouraged to hold regions for as long as possible since the War Shops will restock automatically over time. These War Shops will offer distinct advantages to those who control them in the form of War Cores. These Cores come either attached to a weapon or separately.
New Cores With this release, we will be introducing new core technology: consumable cores! By equipping them to a primary weapon, these cores will confer a regional Influence bonus that will last a certain amount of battles. After the core expires, a new one will need to be purchased. We have coded them to only count victories as a “use”.
War Chests Revealed
Now it can be revealed! Each Legion and Exile War chest contains regional War Cores! That means eight free cores (one for each active region)! Players with War Chests will start out with an automatic advantage in the War with the flexibility to gain a bonus in whichever region they choose. Since this bonus is alignment neutral, players who purchased the Legion pack, but decided to fight for the Exiles (and vice versa) will not be penalized.
Consumables Gone For those who have been following EpicDuel since before Omega, you are probably aware that Consumables like Health Packs and Boosters no longer serve a purpose in battle. Rather than try to wedge consumables back into the game, we have decided to move toward consumable cores and, as of this release, we will be removing all consumables from the game. All players with consumables in their inventories will receive the appropriate amount of resale currency for the items removed. Going forward, it will be possible for us to recreate Boosters, Grenades and Bombs as cores, which ultimately has more flexibility and does require the database to store excessive items entries for each player. Initially, we thought we could simply recode all the consumables back into the game, but the game has changed dramatically both code-wise and balance-wise since Omega launched so we determined that this would be the best decision for the overall health of the game. Tags: Titan War Factions Dread War Weapons Consumables Cores Legion Exiles |
 | June 28, 2013 Dread War ContinuesHey there Epic Duelists! First off, I want to thank all of you who wished me or Charfade a Happy Birthday on Twitter or Facebook (for those not in the know, we both leveled up this week). Nightwraith has already posted a step-by-step guide on how to participate in the Dread War (the post right before this), but we'll also be introducing some much needed clarifications in-game to help those who may not check the Forums or Design Notes.
War Clarity
Although participating in the war is actually pretty simple, the intricacies are complex and not thoroughly explained in-game. To address this we will be adding in-game clarifications to make more obvious certain aspects of the War such as how much Influence your alignment is earning per region and globally.
Battle Token Bye-Bye
We didn't have time last week, so we needed to cut this feature. This week we're doing it for real. The following is a quick rundown of what that means for you:
War Balance One major concern for we have for this War feature is one Alignment building an insurmountable lead. To prevent one Alignment from indefinitely dominating, we will be introducing Objective Reinforcements – the longer one side holds an Objective, the more control the other side will receive per win. Reinforcements will decay over time once the Objective has been taken. Other measures have been take to improve the overall feel of the War and alleviate the “see-saw” effect we witnessed during the War’s first week. The balance adjustments are as follows:
More Objectives
To broaden the scope of the War and add more weight to the various regions of Delta V, we will be adding more War Objectives -- Minetower in Wastelands, Archives in Biodome, the Battle Arena in Fortune City (formerly Legion Arena), and the AI core in Overlord Facility. A few more auxiliary War Objectives have also been added for a total of 6.
Achievements To add incentive to seizing all of these fancy new War Ojectives, we will be introducing evolving regional Achievements. As you gain influence in a particular region (i.e. Fortune City), your Achievement will change in appearance, similar to the War Achievements of the Infernal and Frysteland Wars.
Arbor-gone-don
Since Summer is well underway, we're Spring cleaning by removing many of the seasonal-rare Botanical and Bunny items. Since there are so many items involved, I will list them here.
Still to Come! The War has just begun! All of the features are coming together, but there are still more yet to be implemented.
Juggernaut We don’t want to leave Juggernauts, the toughest warriors Delta V has to offer, out of this fight! Soon anyone with a Skull card will be able to access Juggernaut mode from anywhere on the map, allowing full participation in the War.
War Shops Unlock the latest and greatest arsenals for your Alignment! Soon, we will introduce War Objectives with shops that are only accessible for the Alignment that controls them. Can you keep these rare weapons out of enemy hands?
War Buffs: Controlling certain War Objectives will allow you to activate influence buffs to help you capture other Objectives. For example, if you capture the turret in the Dread Plains, you can activate a buff that increases your influence earned against the Control Array.
Dynamic Environments When the Legion or Exile forces claim an area, we want it the entire region to reflect that conquest. We plan to do so with dynamic elements on each map screen that change based on which alignment is controlling a given War Objective. Imagine Exile banners draped over Alydriah’s Spire or Legion soldiers invading the Exile hideout in Old Fortune City. Such changes will go a long way toward making the War an immersive experience as Delta V is transformed into a living, breathing world.
War Missions Complete tasks for the various War NPCs around Delta V for big rewards. This feature is planned to come with a major overhaul of the existing mission system. We would rather hold onto our missions until the system is designed the way we want it rather than release a bunch of missions we might have to remove or change later.
More Wow! Isn’t that enough? Stay tuned! This War is just getting started, and we hope you’re enjoying playing it as much as we are making it! Tags: Cinderella Exiles Legion Dread War |
| June 25, 2013 How Do I War?Step 0: Register an Account This should be obvious, but you cannot participate in this war if you do not have an EpicDuel character!
Step 1: Choose an Alignment
If you are not already in a Faction, then you will be prompted to select an alignment. Choose carefully, because although alignment change will be offered later, it will come at a price.
Step 2: Open the World Map
Once you are in Delta V, war is all around you, and getting to the conflict zones has never been easier. Use the interface button on the lower part of your screen to open the redesigned World Map.
This map shows the various regions of Delta V (i.e. Fortune City, Barrens Outpost, Biodome, etc...) and the Alignment in control of each region. Click a region to zoom in and see the individual War Objectives.
Most regions feature War Objectives that can be captured by your alignment. A rollover shows the War Point value of each War Objective. If your alignment captures enough War Objectives to have the Point majority in a region, your alignment will control that region. It is not necessary to control all the War Objectives in a region to get War Points. Even if you only control one War Objective, you will still earn Points toward the daily War Point total. Different War Objectives can be worth different amounts of Points.
If you zoom out, you can see the daily War Score. Each War Objective earns the controlling alignment War Point every 15 minutes. The score resets at the end of the day.
Step 2: How to War Once you have determined where you want to fight, controlling a War Objective is fairly simple. While zoomed into a region, you can click on any War Objective to jump directly to it.
While you're on the screen with the War Objective, you will notice a bar at the top of the screen with a banner displaying the controlling alignment and leading Faction.
You can see that on this screen the Legion controls this War Objective. A Legion player can fight to defend this Objective and reinforce the position while an Exile player can fight from this screen attempt to take it for his or her alignment. Let's try to take it for the Exiles.
Automatch 1v1 or 2v2 victories earn Influence which allows you to control or reinforce a War Objective. Support for Juggernaut battles is coming soon. Challenge matches do not earn Influence. You can only earn Influence if you battle from a screen that contains a War Objective.
At the end of battle screen you will see how much Influence you earned. 1v1 battles earn 5 Influence while 2v2 battles earn 15. Influence is a versatile number that goes into a number of different places. Personal Influence
Your personal Influence, viewable from your Character Stats page, is earned through victories on War Objectives. It is not capped or taxed. Faction Influence
Faction Influence is earned through battles by all of a Faction's members. It is not capped or taxed. Banner Influence
If you belong to a Faction, your Influence accumulates on a War Objective. The Faction with the most Influence accumulated on a War Objective will have its banner displayed over it. All Influence on a War Objective is taxed so inactive Factions can be passed by more active Factions. Banner Influence is not capped. Control
Control is a number that is driven by Influence earned in victories for a War Objective. This number is capped to prevent one Alignment from building an insurmountable lead. Once an Alignment has earned a certain amount of Influence on an Objective, it is considered to be captured and goes into cooldown.
During cooldown, no Alignment can earn Influence while battling for this War Objective. Once the cooldown period is over, the controlling Alignment can reinforce its position and the attacking Alignment can battle to seize control, putting the Objective into cooldown again. This is to encourage players to move to different regions and keep the war from bogging down in one region.
Step 3: Victory As we have seen in the past, the Alignments truly succeed in Wars through active recruitment and organization. Although it's not necessary to join a Faction to participate, Factions have the tools and organization to rally forces to take down heavily fortified War Objectives.
We are currently adding more clarification and balance elements streamline the War and minimize ambiguity. Stay tuned for another DN post with more update details! |
| June 21, 2013 War Begins!
Legion and Exile forces, the time has come to man your battle stations! The Dread War officially begins today, June 21! Choose your alignment carefully, as you will not only be supporting that alignment for the Dread War, but the remainder of your time on Delta V.* This is a time of conflict- there can be no room for neutral parties. *You will be able to change alignment later, but at a steep cost with time-based limitations.
You are somewhere...around here. I also want to mention that the war system coming todayis a major change to the overall gameplay experience of EpicDuel, not just a temporary event for the next month or so. We will change the dynamics periodically and add features to keep the war fresh, but the system itself is going to be part of the core gameplay. We don't want to keep ANYONE from the clash!
Use the regional map to jump to contested Objectives! With this release, we will be introducing 21 War Objectives to claim. Do you have what it takes to claim them all and shape the future of Delta V? War Objectives
As previously announced, Flags will be converted to War Objectives, which will require more active control over an area rather than simply dumping in tokens, which will be removed next week. Since I didn't have specifics last week about credit/token conversion, here is RabbleFroth's word on the subject: 1) Credits per battle will be increased. The base amount for 1v1 was 32 per win, it will increase to 37 per win, and about 2 more credits for a 1v1 loss. This bonus is appropriately increased for 2v2 and Juggernaut. The current flags will be converted to War Objectives with this release, with more areas under dispute released in the future! Next week we hope to upgrade Objectives to impart buffs to the controlling alignment in the area, and actually make it possible for the Objectives to upgrade and evolve with effort.
A new War Objective outside of Ulysses' workshop.
Coming Soon... This is going to be a gigantic update with a major change to EpicDuel's primary gameplay, but we are far from done. Other features which should (hopefully) be implemented next week include:
With so many features coming tomorrow, and even more on the horizon, this is going to be a Summer to remember for EpicDuel! |
| June 13, 2013 Daring Design Notes
The Dread War is coming! Tensions between Legion and Forces are at an all-time high, and Delta V is poised to explode into all-out war June 21st. Will you fight for Freedom with the Exiles or battle in the name of Order alongside the Legion? This Friday, we will be launching the complete Dread Plains area, along with a new map / navigation system. Travelling the entirety of Delta V has never been quicker or easier!
Choose Your Destiny! Starting this Friday, all EpicDuelists will be called upon to select an alignment to participate in the upcoming war. For those of you just joining us, this means you must choose to fight for the Exiles or Legion. I have taken the liberty of describing the corresponding alignments thusly:
Choosing an alignment is not as simple as “good” and “evil” – both alignments have similar goals, but drastically different means of achieving them. Choose carefully – you will be able to change alignment later, however, to encourage loyalty, the price will be steep!
Bye-Bye Battle Tokens* After much deliberation, as of next week’s update (June 21) Battle Tokens are being discontinued. Initially, Battle Tokens were intended as a currency based entirely on a player’s effort alone, since they could not be purchased with Varium packages and could only be earned through battle victories. However, since we no longer offer credits with packages, making credits an effort currency, it no longer makes sense to keep Tokens. They will be replaced by credits at a fixed rate, so you'll see a nice little windfall based on how many tokens you currently have. Token Boost will also be removed, and achievements will cost credits rather than Tokens. Missions awarding battle tokens will be altered to award credits rather than tokens at a fixed rate.
War Banners* As we phase out Battle Tokens, War Flags will be transitioned into War Objectives, which will be captured and controlled by Faction and alignment battles, not donations. For the time being, however, the top contributor of each War Flag will own the War Objective for that Faction's alignment. So, if the Legion Faction “The Sparkling Vampires” holds the War Flag in “The Land of Terrible Fiction,” then they would be the first to claim the War Objective for the Legion in that area. But we are making these Objectives more challenging than simply dumping Battle Tokens into a flag. Also, there will be a control cap on each Objective, meaning that an alignment cannot build and insurmountable lead on an Objective.
These new War Objectives will come in the form of radar stations, turrets, shield generators, propaganda towers, and many other tactically valuable assets. Many regions of Delta V will have one or more of these Objectives ripe for the capturing. Some Objectives will even grant you bonuses toward defending or attacking other objectives, creating an interesting hierarchy of Objectives and adding new strategies to the global war. *These features are still in development and the details may change by June 21st. We will keep you informed of any changes.
Delta V World Tour 2013
Travelling has never been easier. In order to allow players to jump quickly to each War Objective, we added multiple jump points on each region. You will be able to see at a glance which areas are contested, and which are firmly under Legion or Exile control.
Bike Night Our special guest artist, the great Nulgath, has been gracious enough to lend his skills to EpicDuel for the construction of an epic new bike! Strike fear in the hearts of your enemies as you tear across the battlefields in this demonic creation!
Insect Facts Yay! Most people while visiting the plant store would be outraged to find a late-instar caterpillar on one of the store's plants for sale. Most people however, are not me. Papilo polyxenes or the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly lays its eggs on members of the Apiaceae or carrot family. I discovered my new friend happily nomming on some curly parsley, but females will oviposit on carrots, dill, Queen Anne's Lace, and fennel but will also accept rue as a more novel host. The early instar caterpillars resemble bird droppings in shape and coloration, but after molting are characterized by black bands and yellow spots. Short-photoperiod (fall) caterpillars that will overwinter as pupae are brown and long-photoperiod (summer) caterpillars who do not pupate so long are green. One pretty cool thing about these guys is that the caterpillars have a gland held behind the head capsule called the osmenterium. It's an orange, forked gland that resembles horns or a snake's tongue (swallowtail caterpillars tend to have characteristics that are snakelike to fool predators) and smells pretty terrible. After the caterpillar has eaten all he or she can possibly eat, it will pupate within a suspended chrysalis, which can be either green or brown depending on the environment. Upon eclosion (emergence from the pupal casing) the butterfly's gender can be determined by wing markings. Wings of both sexes are mainly black with a conspicuous orange spot, but males have a yellow band at the bottom of the hindwing and females have an iridescent blue band. This species is common throughout the North American continent and is the state butterfly of Oklahoma. Tags: War Cinderella Legion exile PvP Flags Alignment Nulgath Bike |
| June 07, 2013 WorldbuildingGreetings 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 |
| May 30, 2013 Dread War DevelopmentsHey there, EpicDuelists! It's time once again for some delicious design notes from your friendly neighborhood Cinderella.
The Dread War itself is still in development, and will likely remain so for a bit more time. Our planned rollout for the War is in mid-June, but expect rapid-fire updates as development is underway. However, I can confirm that the War will coincide with improvements to the Faction system, and will involve territorial control on a much greater scale than the current flag system. This conflict is fairly large -- the biggest players have ever faced -- and could expand beyond the Dread Plains to consume all of Delta V!
MAIL TIME! The new mail system is getting some nice improvements. You'll be able to manually choose search criteria (eg. Subject, Sender, Message) instead of searching through all three simultaneously. In addition, you'll now get a confirmation message when deleting mail, so it's at least less likely that you'll delete something important...like a message from a Delta III prince who needs your bank account information.
Balancing Act The conversion of passive skills to active skills is still underway. Since this is a massive change and we want to cover all the classes in one release, we are allowing as much time for testing as possible. This means that the changes will probably go live next week, thoroughly tested. It's very important that class balance is in a good place for the War so we are taking these upcoming changes very seriously.
The Long Arm of the Law A special message from the Lawman:
With the new and improved reporting system, there is no reason to take screenshots and send them to the AEF Lawman account. Do not send messages to the Lawman -- he's not going to answer them. Having said that, we would like to thank all those who took the time to compose reports to the Lawman under the old system. However, that system required a great deal of time investment, both from the Moderator staff and the players making the reports, and it have been made almost entirely obsolete by the new system. If you need to report a player, please use the in-game report system!
Celtic and April Fools Weapons Leaving The April Fools and Celtic weapons have hung on long enough, being as it's nearly June. If you still need a giant spoon, now's your last chance! Also, the Bunny Weapons from last year are leaving as well. However, the 2013 Bunny weapons will stick around for another week because of a bug with Brachylagus' shop that has been fixed for the new release.
Calissa and Oz Many of you were curious about Calissa, and her relationship with Oz and the Exiles. I've actually read the story suggestions. Here's my own take on their story.
Tags: Cinderella Dread War Factions Legion exile Rares Reports Lawman Oz Caden |
| May 23, 2013 The Dread WarHey there, EpicDuelists! Ready for your heaping helping of Design Notes, served just the way mama likes 'em? Whose mama I'm not really sure. It's not my mama. But apparently she likes the way I write Design Notes. So, let's get started, shall we?
New Package
To commemorate the upcoming war, we'll be offering special packages with Legion and Exile goodies for your dueling pleasure. Each pack comes with a Physical Mutating weapon and an Energy Mutating Weapon, which come equipped with the Exile Strike Core (for Exiles), or the Legion Strike Core (for Legionnaires) that call in reinforcements against the opposing alignment.
Balance Changes To make battles a bit more engaging, passive skills are being converted into active skills. With so many points to distribute at the level cap, very little is sacrificed by investing in passives, to the point that they become requirements for most viable builds. Although not all passives will be converted to active skills this release, eventually we would like them all to become active. Another long-overlooked area has been energy regain for mercenaries, so that class will now be given an energy regain skill. Since many of the changes are still in the testing phase, look for more specific balance changes in tomorrow's patch notes!
The Dread Plains
East of the Barrens lays the plains of Kiirdosh. At least, that's what they were called long ago. After the Kiirdosh Mountains were leveled for Varium mining, the plains were not suitable for human life, and the mountain lizard-goats and dire wolves took over the abandoned mining outposts. However, below the rich volcanic soil and pure groundwater are lodes and lodes of precious gems, and fuel sources, so Legion and Exile forces alike venture into the Dread Plains for the economic resources it contains. The Plains are currently held by the Legion and overseen by the terrifying Administrator 10. There is a name he uses for official records, but like many coming from the Syndicate, it is not the name he was given at birth. During the Uprising, many of Delta V's criminal element aligned themselves with Oz and the Exiles, and seeing his opportunity to forge a new life for himself, he traded his criminal allies for a cushy spot in the Administration. However, excepting all of her bad qualities Alydriah values loyalty and trustworthiness. This dishonorable man could not be trusted with the health and welfare of Delta V's populace, so although he is technically the administrator of Fortune City's 10th District, his talent for underhanded tactics is much better suited for a post far, far away from the seat of the Administration. But his hold on the area is tenuous, and after feeling the sting of defeat at the hands of John St. Alban last year, Administrator Descarl isn't taking any chances and is personally supporting the Administrator in this endeavor.
Tags: Legion exile Varium Promotion War balance Cores balance Cinderella |
| August 07, 2012 This Is The End, Beautiful FriendWar is Ending The Infernal Infiltration War is winding down, and while the Exiles have a significant lead, the Legion can’t be ruled out just yet! Remember to use those grenades -- you can resell them for credits after the War is over, but it isn’t worth stockpiling them, and grenades are happiest when thrown. When the War ends, the bombs will no longer be available, nor will the missions to get bombs. In addition, the Alignment-specific cruisers will go rare. However, neutral mechachillid cruisers will still be available.
Winner Takes All As mentioned before, the alignment to power through this final Vault door first will win the Infernal War, as well as control over the Infernal Mines. Not enough for you? How about a new bot? The Infernal Android will be available first to the winning alignment, and its special attack is related to its origin in the Vaults; the longer a battle lasts, the more damage the special attack does! As mentioned just up there, the winning alignment will have first stab at using it, and the Infernal Android comes in both varium and credit-only flavors.
Also, the first alignment to breach the Delta Vault will receive the Infernal Conqueror achievement worth 2500 rating points! The other alignment will still receive the Break On Through achievement worth 950 rating points! I would show the artwork for the achievements, but they're a bit...spoilery.
New Boost System As we wrap up the war we are turning our attention to systems that could be improved, such as boosting. The revamped boost system will allow you to boost based on duration or number of rounds, and we will be introducing a new credit boost, which many of you may have figured out from the new end battle screens. There is a lot of build with this new system so it may not go live this week, but it will definitely be available next week.
Did You Know? Did you know that following battles, you now see a new screen that includes facts about EpicDuel? This new screen should be more helpful and informative than previous. Do you have an idea for an EpicDuel tip? Then post it here: http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20164694 Why didn’t I announce this in the last design notes? Well, I’m remote staff, so I find out for sure what’s going to be in the update on Monday or Tuesday, and write the design notes based on that. Occasionally, Titan and Rabble look at each other and decide yes... we can fit more into this update. They then add a feature that I don’t find out about until testing.
Happy Birthday Titan! Our favorite cheeseburger-loving Physical God is turning another year older this week! He hasn’t asked for any missions, but it’s possible that Titan has forged in his mighty foundry an item of such power and inanity that it cannot be comprehended.
Where u go? ;-; I’m likely not going to be writing the DNs or have much to do with the game or development next week, as I will be doing field work at another university across the country from where I live. Maybe I’ll post pictures on my Twitter!
Thrippy Thrips Have you ever seen scars on fruit or flowers? Or seen a tiny insect crawling inside your LCD screen? Then chances are, you have encountered a thrips. Thrips are tiny insects (as small as 1/25 of an inch) with fringed wings belonging to the order Thysanoptera. They typically feed on plants by puncturing the plant with their mouthparts and sucking out the delicious juices. Because they serve as a vector for several plant viruses including Tobacco mosaic virus, thrips are considered pests by farmers. Tags: Cinderella Infernal Infiltration Droid Bot Missions Grenades Legion exile Boost Did You Know? Titan Birthday |
| July 17, 2012 Break on Through to the Other SideGo, 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 |
