6941 Players Online 64190 Players during last 24 Hours

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.

	April 26, 2024 Azrael's Guardian Unleashed Azrael's Guardian Unleashed For the first time in a LONG time, a new boss has emerged from the Time Fortress to challenge EpicDuel's most elite players. Borne from the blood of Azrael, this Guardian seeks vengeance on those who tormented the solitude of his master. This boss hungers for blood so challenging him will be a constant battle to prevent him from stealing your own life essence for his own. The following are the new boss drop items + their drop rates. Remember that boss drop percentages are on a per battle basis, meaning if you defeat the boss 4 times to get an item with a 25% drop rate, you aren't guaranteed to receive that drop. This always creates confusion with people writing bugs reports about NPC drops so I feel I need to clarify it again here. Azrael's Guardian (Normal) Azrael's Cavalier Executioner P (25%) Azrael's Cavalier Executioner E (25%) Azrael's Cavalier Executioner CC P (15%) Azrael's Cavalier Executioner CC E (15%) Nightmare Azrael's Guardian Azrael's Cavalier Exsanguinator P (35%) Azrael's Cavalier Exsanguinator E (35%) Azrael's Cavalier Exsanguinator CC P (25%) Azrael's Cavalier Exsanguinator CC E (25%) Since this is the first new superboss in a long while, if you are among the first to defeat Azrael's Guardian or his Nightmare variant, you will be manually awarded a special achievement upon the next update! Balance Changes / Fixes Skills: Nanotech Shield: +2% to all levels (12% max) Static Charge: Removed Technology requirement Fireball: +20 energy cost to all levels (max 240) Reactive Armor: Requires Dexterity —> Technology Necrotek Bot Special: Correctly calculates health gain vs. Rage. Was previously rounding to either 0 or 100% Rage when calculating how much HP to restore. Rounding may cause max HP restore to exceed 300 slightly when used on NPCs because they have 0 Rage by default. Cores: Salvage: 110% --> 100% damage Sea King's Spirit: 100 —> 150 initial energy gain Darkeater’s Adjudication/Pacify/Convergent Exsanguination: 100% —> 50% Rage drain; 5 —> 3 turn duration Arcade Token drop rates: 100% for 1v1/2v2; 50% for jugg Arcade Token cost: 100 --> 50 for x10; 15 --> 7 for single Cyber Wolf Morphs Everyone who achieved over a 150,000 Gifting score in the most recent Gifting season has now received the Cyber Wolf Morph and the Cyber Wolf Morph CC. Tags: Nightwraith

	April 12, 2024 EpicDuel Arcade Upgrade 2024 EpicDuel is live with new balance changes plus a great opportunity to max out your Rating with new achievement tiers for the Arcades and Legendary ranks! Arcade Achievement Update All arcade achievements have been updated with 7 more tiers, maxing out at 20, giving everyone a good reason to spend those excess Arcade Tokens. NOTE: If your score already exceeds the current maximum achievement tier, your achievement should update automatically after incrementing your score. Legendary Achievement Update Since so many have reached the max tier, we've raised the cap with 8 new tiers of of the Legendary achievement, maxing out at 20. NOTE: If your rank already exceeds 200, your achievement should update automatically after attaining a new rank. Balance Changes Encumbrance: Updated tiers and include Support in debuffs. 1500-1699 HP: -5% all stats 1700-1799 HP: -10% all stats 1800-1899 HP: -15% all stats 1900-1999 HP: -20% all stats 2000+ HP: -25% all stats Agility: Same HP tiers as before, but Support is now be included in the buffs. Agility I Unencumbered by HP; no stat penalty. Agility II Unencumbered by HP; +3% all stats. Agility III Unencumbered by HP; +5% all stats. Paralysis Coating: Blockable --> Unblockable Necrotek Siphon P/E: 350 --> 300 max heal; heal strength is inverse of Rage amount drained. (i.e. heal is at max strength (300) when draining no Rage, at minimum strength (0) when draining all Rage); deal's 50% damage Skill balance Tactical Mercenary Crippling Strike: Reduces Resistance as well as Defense; base values: 12% min, +2% per level; +1% per 6 → 7 Strength Field Commander: Removed Rage gain aura; grants +25% Rage on initial use Barbed Grenade: 15% → 10% defense ignore; 25% → 15% crit chance; 130 base energy cost, +20 per level Reroute: -5% to all values Tactical Grenade: Grants same amount of Energy drained → Grants 150 energy Toxic Grenade: Improves with Support → Strength; 100% → 85% damage Bounty Hunter Shadow Arts: Removed additional grenade stun chance; New values: 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 4%, 5%, 5%, 6%, 6%, 7%; added increased sidearm and increased auxiliary damage; reduced increased robot damage to match other percentages with value based on total robot damage. Cyber Hunter Neural Scythe: Removed Support scaling; improves 1% for every 4 levels over 20; damage is based on primary damage, plus a % of primary damage bonus; damage bonus values: 18%, 20%, 22%, 24%, 26%, 28%, 30%, 32%, 34%, 35%; removed energy drain Plasma Grenade: 15% → 10% Resistance ignore; removed lifesteal; +1 damage per 0.35 → 0.3 Technology Nanotech Shield: Removed defense/resistance buff; Removed stat boosts; added lifesteal equal to damage reduction values; new values: 1% min, 10% max Tech Mage Overload:95 → 105 base energy cost; +10 → +15 energy cost per level Plasma Rain: +1 damage per 0.5 → 0.25 levels above 20; Added 20% Resistance ignore Assimilation: 85% → 100% damage Blood Mage Terrify: +1 Strength reduced per 4 → 5 Technology OMG Mode Removal You may notice the OMG mode button missing from the main interface. It was removed intentionally until a better implementation can be devised with true rewards while not siphoning players from the other battle modes. A fun meme while it lasted, but not enough substance to make it stick as a feature (even if it was there for over 2 years). Tags: Nightwraith

	April 06, 2024 EpicDuel Patch 1.8.859 Class Skill Balance Last week we made a major class balance update, but one skill was left out of the overall plan due to challenges of implementation. We intended for Shadow Arts to increase robot damage, which isn't something that any cores or skills have been able to do up until now. This is due to the complexity of the caculations for robot damage versus other gear categories. However, after a week of struggle, it appears to finally be working. This change should be an interesting benefit, especially focus Bounty Hunters. It also opens the possibilty of adding new cores that can debuff or buff robot damage in the future. Bounty Hunter Shadow Arts: Removed increased block chance, increased sidearm damage, and increased auxiliary damage; added effect that increases robot damage. The robot's base damage will increase by twice the skill value %. So a robot that has a base 175 damage will increaes by 20%, granting a bonus 35 damage at max level. Core Fixes Frost Revenants Retribution P/E: Can no longer be removed by buff-removing skills like Azrael's Torment. Cyber Wolf Distribution This week we were able to distribute another batch of Cyber Wolf items and styles! The collection is nearly complete, but there are a few items that are still being refined, specifically the travel forms. We certainly hope you enjoy the items you've received so far and find them worth the wait! The following is a list of the distributed items plus the minimum Gifting scores for receiving each item. 200,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Armor Cyber Wolf Armor CC Helm 741 Helm 742 225,000 Gifting Score and Up Savage Cyber Wolf Armor Savage Cyber Wolf Armor CC Helm 743 Helm 744 New Cyber Wolf Styles If you're browsing the style shop, you'll notice that styles 745-762 are available for purchase! These are based on the Cyber Wolf armors but they looked so cool, we wanted to share them with everyone, while still retaining a few exclusives for the Gifting tiers. Tags: Nightwraith

	March 29, 2024 EpicDuel Skill Balance 2024 Class Skill Balance After rebalancing dozens of cores weeks ago, it was time to move onto class balance. This week's update will hit all six classes with a range of changes from minor tweaks to more substantial overhauls derived from community suggestions. Tactical Mercenary Field Medic: 3 → 4 turn cooldown Frenzy: Remove energy drain effect Tactical Grenade: Grants 180 energy → Grants same amount of Energy drained; +1 energy drained per 2 → 1.25 Support Cyber Hunter Field Medic: 3 → 4 turn cooldown Nanotech Shield: Removed defense/resistance buff Static Charge: Drains 100 energy → Drains 90% of energy gained; 3 → 4 turn cooldown Memory Leak: Replaced with Venom Strike Bounty Hunter Field Medic: 3 → 4 turn cooldown Cheap Shot: Removing healing reduction; 70 → 120 base energy cost Static Grenade: Improves with Support → Dexterity Reflex Boost: Remove Energy gain Venom Strike: 80 → 110 base energy cost; 100% → 85% damage Mercenary Field Medic: 3 → 4 turn cooldown Maul: 65% → 35% heal debuff Tech Mage Field Medic: 3 → 4 turn cooldown Plasma Bolt: +1 damage per 0.28 → 0.32 Technology Bludgeon: Removed damage increase; Added defense ignore (same values as current) Concentration: New energy regeneration values: 10%, 12%, 14%, 16%, 18%, 20%, 22%, 23%, 24%, 25% Assimilation: Improve with Support → Strength Deadly Aim: Requires 24 → 16 Dexterity, 42 → 34 at max Blood Mage Field Medic: 3 → 4 turn cooldown Fireball: Added 20% stun chance; removed defense reduction Blood Shield: Sacrifice 90 HP → 40 HP Blood Instinct: Sacrifice 90 HP → 40 HP Terrify: Improves with Support → Technology Core Balance/Fixes Astral Projection: Fixed bug that was doubling Energy steal. Revitalization: Def/Res reduction increased to 25% from 10%. Health Reserve: Max heal increased to 450 and affected by Medical Mastery specifically. Tranquility: Affected by Medical Mastery. Cyber Wolf Distribution This week we were able to distribute a large batch of Cyber Wolf Weapons! The collection is nearly complete, but there are a few items that are still being refined, specifically the travel forms, armors, and helms. We certainly hope you enjoy the items you've received so far and find them worth the wait! The following is a list of the distributed items plus the minimum Gifting scores for receiving each item. 10,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Dagger P Cyber Wolf Dagger E 15,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Greatsword P Cyber Wolf Greatsword E 20,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf SMG P Cyber Wolf SMG E 25,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Shotgun P Cyber Wolf Shotgun E 75,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Bow P Cyber Wolf Bow E 100,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Arsenal P Cyber Wolf Arsenal E 125,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Bazooka P Cyber Wolf Bazooka E 200,000 Gifting Score and Up Cyber Wolf Scythe P Cyber Wolf Scythe E Infernal Slayer 2024 Preview It's been ages since we offered a new promotional package. For the last few years, we wanted to pivot from promotional packages to battlepasses which we thought would allow everyone to earn a collection of weapons and cores. It turns out that there's still a high demand for new promotional packages! Soon, a new promotional package will emerge with a new Infernal theme! The Infernal Weapons have always been some of the best-looking weapons in EpicDuel and I have high hopes for this set exceeding those expectations. April Fools PvP Drops April Fool's PvP drops have returned! Collection them all while you can! Tags: Nightwraith

	March 22, 2024 Azrael's Cavalier Showcase NOW LIVE The Azrael's Cavalier Showcase Battlepass is NOW LIVE! Login now to earn the latest collection of Azrael-themed weapons, armors, vehicles, morphs, bots, and more crafted with care by Acatriel and Bido! Good luck and happy dueling to reach level 60 of EpicDuel's latest Battlepass season! So more of you know what you're getting into with the new bots available in this season, the skill descriptions are listed below: Azrael's Cavalier Bot P Azrael's Cavalier Slash P: Slash through 15% of target's defenses. Azrael's Cavalier Fury P: Unleash Azrael's fury, gaining 30% Rage, 25% lifesteal. 100% damage, 95% damage against 2 targets. Azrael's Cavalier Bot E Azrael's Cavalier Slash E: Slash through 15% of target's defenses. Azrael's Cavalier Fury E: Unleash Azrael's fury, gaining 30% Rage, 25% lifesteal. 100% damage, 95% damage against 2 targets. Balance Changes Deflection Shield: +30% --> +20% deflection chance Dualism / Revolver Retribution: 70 --> 0 energy cost Ultra Obliteration: 70 --> 0 energy cost Necrotek Assault P/E: 25% --> 15% defense ignore Battlebot Buzzsaw P/E: 20% --> 15% defense ignore Bio Claw: 20% --> 15% defense ignore Squirrel Smash P/E: 25% --> 15% defense ignore Minotaur's Charge P/E: 25% --> 15% defense ignore Infernal Impale P/E: 100% --> 105% damage Techstalker Beam P/E: 20% --> 25% crit chance Ultra Corsair Uppercut: 20% --> 25% crit chance Tags: Nightwraith

	March 08, 2024 EpicDuel Heavy Health EpicDuel is back with the addition of a new balance feature resurrected from the game's past: Agility. What Is Agility? High HP builds have been troublesome to balance throughout EpicDuel's history. Sometime in the game's early days, we attempted to combat these builds with a new stat tied to HP called Agility that would inflict a defense penalty if health exceeded certain thresholds. This stat ultimately failed to address the initial problem since high HP builds already suffered from low defense so the penalty wasn't much of a deterrent. Now, utilizing EpicDuel's modern core system, we've brought Agility back. This time, the stat is split into two different core types: Agility for HP below a certain threshold, and Encumbrance for HP above a certain threshold. The tiers and buffs/debuffs, also visible in the HP rollover on the character stats page, are listed below: Agility III: 0-899 HP +5% Str/Dex/Tech Bonus. Agility II: 900-999 HP +3% Str/Dex/Tech Bonus. Agility I: 1000-1099 HP No Stat Penalty Encumbrance I: 1100-1199 HP; -3% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance II: 1200-1299 HP; -5% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance III: 1300-1399 HP; -7% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance IV: 1400-1499 HP; -10% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance V:1500-1599 HP; -13% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance VI: 1600-1699 HP; -15% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance VII: 1700-1799 HP; -17% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance VIII: 1800-1899 HP; -20% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance IX: 1900-1999 HP; -23% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. Encumbrance X: +2000 HP; -25% Str/Dex/Tech Penalty. This new system gives us much better control over the tiers so we can add a robust range of debuffs and buffs to better control extreme HP builds. We went with a percentage debuff because a flat debuff felt too restrictive, but this can be changed if the current Encumbrance debuffs are ineffective. These buffs and debuffs will only be visible in battle. NPCs are unaffected by this change. Azrael Cavalier Battlepass The tentative release date for the new, long-awaited Battlepass is Friday March 15th TBA, barring any technical complications. We're sorry the Olympus Battlepass has lingered as long as it has, but we will plan our Battlepass releases more strategically after gifting next time so we won't be stuck with the same showcase for too long. Scheduled Maintenance EpicDuel will be down for scheduled maintenance at around 11:00 AM on Tuesday March 12th. We will be finishing the process we started earlier this year with database migration and copying the entire EpicDuel database to it's new home. This transfer is expected to take at least 2 hours, but could take more, especially if we run into any unexpected problems. Hopefully, we'll turn the servers back on and all will be well! Tags: Nightwraith

	February 29, 2024 EpicDuel Cores Reforged 2024 Core ReBalance 2024 Finally, the long awaited core rebalance of 2024 is here! There are a lot of changes here so bear with us as we make additional tweaks over time. The goal of these changes was to perform a bit of a "reset" on the power levels of the cores and robots to stop some extreme builds and encourage more build versatility. If you're mad that your favorite core was nerfed, take this as an opportunity to change up your build and experiment. No core or robot or build was meant to stay on top forever. With all these changes, some bugs and unintended interactions are inevitable so we'll do our best to stay on top of any issues as they emerge! Cores 9 Lives / Butterfly Blessing / CactusChan’s Health Reserve / Health Reserve x25 / UrMenace’s Health Reserve / Health Reserve: 500 → 400 HP cap. Formula changed to Health Restored = (Armor's Defense x 2.92) + 50 Minor Health Reserve: Formula changed to Health Restored = (Armor's Defense x 2.50) + 50 Absolution (Armor): Added x30 Credits version for 10,000 Credits or 195 Varium; +7 → +6 tech/supp Absolution (Auxiliary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Absolution (Primary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core Absolution (Sidearm) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core Accomplishment’s Curse / CactusChan’s Curse Aura / Curse Aura: Removed healing debuff; -50 supp → -10 all stats Curse: Removed healing debuff; -50 supp → -15 all stats; 70 → 90 energy cost Minor Curse: Removed healing debuff; -50 supp → -7 all stats; 70 → 90 energy cost Minor Curse Aura: Removed healing debuff; -50 supp → -5 all stats Mega Curse x25: 80% supp debuff → -40 supp; Add 15% healing reduction; 110 → 90 energy cost; Added permanent Varium version Minor Mega Curse x25: 80% supp debuff → -30 supp; Added 10% healing reduction; 110 → 90 energy cost Mega Stun Blast x25: Deflectable → Undeflectable; 31% → 25% stun chance; Added permanent Varium version Achilles’ Phalanx / Consecrated Ground: 3 → 2 turn duration; 100% → 85% damage Amplifier / Butterfly Boost / Eternal Enhance: +4 → +3 to all stats Apocryphal Champion’s Roar / Apocryphal Demigod’s Roar: 50% Rage drain → 35% Rage steal; Blockable → Unblockable; 70 → 90 energy cost Apocryphal Champion’s Wrath / Apocryphal Demigod’s Wrath / Yeti Fury: Usable at 40% → 30% HP Ares’ Vengeance: 12% → 10% max HP as damage bonus Astral Projection: 75% → 40% energy drain; Changed effect from energy drain to energy steal, i.e. user gains Energy drained Bacon Breath P/E x25 / Bacon Rain P/E x25 / Titan Chomp P/E x25: 125% → 115% damage Blood Bullet: 125 → 120% damage; 80 → 90 HP cost Blood Shot: 25% → 20% crit chance; 40% → 35% lifesteal Bloodseeker Blast / Bloodseeker Blast x25: 25% → 20% crit chance; 40% → 35% lifesteal; 125 → 90 energy cost Botanical Entrapment: 2 → 1 turn duration; 15% → 25% healing reduction Botanical Infection: Removed healing reduction effect; Multi-use → Single-use; Effect cannot be removed and lasts 99 turns (essentially unlimited until triggered); Bug fix:Stack with Deadly Aim/Red Vision Deep Plague: Effect cannot be removed and lasts 99 turns (essentially unlimited until triggered); Multi-use → Single-use; 175% → 150% max. Damage Hunters’ Retribution: Effect cannot be removed and lasts 99 turns (essentially unlimited until triggered); Multi-use → Single-use; 175% → 150% max. Damage Molten Bullet: Effect cannot be removed and lasts 99 turns (essentially unlimited until triggered); Multi-use → Single-use; 175% → 150% max. Damage; Stacks with Deadly Aim/Red Vision Molten Shrapnel: Effect cannot be removed and lasts 99 turns (essentially unlimited until triggered); Multi-use → Single-use; 175% → 150% max. Damage Botanical Infestation: Removed defense ignore; Blockable → Unblockable; 35% → 25% lifesteal; 0 → 90 energy cost Botanical Wrath: 2 → 1 turn armor removal; Poison maintains 2 turn duration, but as 50% → 40% primary damage Captain’s Charge: Usable at 40% → 30% HP; -40 → -30 to str/supp; 35% → 25% def/res debuff Chained Blood: Multi-use → Single-use; +50% → +40% lifesteal / crit chance / highest stat Chairman’s Fury P/E: 120% → 110% damage; 50% → 35% Rage steal Minor Chairman’s Fury P/E: 110% → 105% damage; 35% → 25% Rage steal Chronopact: Multi-use → Single-use; +100 → +70 Strength; 4 → 3 turn duration Cold Ignition / Frost Shards / Frost Shards x25: Multi-use → Single-use; 120 → 100 energy Concussive Shot / Concussive Shot x25: Multi-use → Single-use Core Corruption: -30 → -20 dex/tech; 70 → 80 energy cost Corrosive Shot: 3 → 2 turn duration; 15% → 20% defense ignore/reduction Consecrated Fire: Multi-use → Single-use; 60 → 90 energy cost Crimson Offering: 300 → 350 energy Crow Frenzy P/E: 25% → 20% crit chance; 50% → 35% lifesteal; 85 → 90 energy cost Crystal Grenade x25: 50% → 40% strike damage as energy drain; 50 → 80 energy cost; Add 85% melee damage Minor Crystal Grenade x25: 40% → 30% strike damage as energy drain; 50 → 80 energy cost; Add 80% melee damage Dark Omen: 20% → 15% healing reduction; -40 supp → -30 str Darkeater’s Defiance: Multi-use → Single-use; 50% → 85% damage to energy drained from attacker; Effect only applies to ranged damage Darkeater’s Edge: 95% → 90% min. damage; 135% → 125% max. damage; 85 → 110 energy cost Darkeater’s Impaler / Screaming Soul Spears: 60 → 50 HP/MP drain per turn; 60 → 80 energy cost; 100% → 85% initial damage Darkeater’s Insanity: -40 → -25 str/supp; 70 → 80 energy cost Darkeater’s Overcharge: 2 → 1 turn armor removal; 90 → 110 HP cost Darkeater’s Stun Blast: 10% → 6% stun chance Destruction (Armor): Added x30 Credits version for 10,000 Credits or 195 Varium; +7 → +6 str/supp Destruction (Auxiliary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Destruction (Primary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Destruction (Sidearm) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Domination (Armor): Added x30 Credits version for 10,000 Credits or 195 Varium; +7 → +6 str/dex Domination (Auxiliary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Domination (Primary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Domination (Sidearm) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Draconic Frost King’s Might / Romulus’ Frost King’s Might: 105% → 90% min. Damage; 140% → 125% max. Damage; 100 → 110 energy cost Draconic Frost King’s Will: Multi-use → Single-use; 40% → 30% to all stats Dualism / Revolver Retribution: 115% → 110% to all targets; 0 → 70 energy cost Energy Booster / Energy Booster x25: 450 → 400 energy Energy Pack / Energy Pack x25: Removed from shop Energy Harvest: 2 → 1 turn duration Energy Reserve / Energy Reserve x25: 560 → 500 max. energy Minor Energy Reserve: 470 → 400 max. energy Energy Shot / Energy Shot x25: Multi-use → Single-use; 2 → 0 turn warmup Energy Storm / Energy Storm x25: Multi-use → Single-use; 20% → 25% energy drain Exile Strike / Legion Strike: 115% → 110% damage Minor Exile Strike / Minor Legion Strike: 110% → 105% damage Exsanguinating Shield: Multi-use → Single-use; 4 → 3 turns Exsanguinating Stomp: 25% → 15% healing reduction; 20% → 10% def/res reduction; Removed lifesteal effect; 2 → 3 turn duration Feast of Flesh: 4 → 3 turn duration; +50% → +40% highest stat Flagellation: Multi-use → Single-use; +50% → +40% highest stat Focused Fury / Hunters’ Judgement: 12% → 10% max HP as damage bonus Forbidden Pact / Saevussax Heart: Multi-use → Single-use; 40 → 100 energy cost Force’s Shroud / Titan’s Shroud: Multi-use → Single-use; 4 → 3 turn duration; Removable → Un-removable by buff removal cores Frost Aura: 50 → 30 energy drained per turn when effect is triggered Minor Frost Aura: 35 → 20 energy drained per turn when effect is triggered Frostbite / Lycan’s Bite / Saggy’s Frostbite: Multi-use → Single-use; 100 → 80 energy cost Minor Frostbite: Multi-use → Single-use; 100 → 80 energy cost TrueShot (Aux) / TrueShot (Gun): 95% min. damage; 140% → 130% max. Damage; 120 → 110 energy cost Frozen Fist / Frozen Bonebreaker: 105% → 95% min. damage; 140% → 130% max. Damage; 85 → 110 energy cost Generator / Generator x25: 440 → 330 max. HP gain; 410 → 400 max. energy gain Fortitude (Armor): Added x30 Credits version for 10,000 Credits or 195 Varium; +7 → +6 dex/tech Fortitude (Auxiliary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Fortitude (Primary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Fortitude (Sidearm) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Growth Serum: Multi-use → Single-use; +100 → +70 support; 4 → 3 turn duration Minor Growth Serum: Multi-use → Single-use; +60 → +50 support; 4 → 3 turn duration Hair Trigger / Infernal Fury / Titan’s Trigger: 110% → 100% damage Hammer Grenade P/E x25: 3 → 2 turn duration; 100% → 85% damage; 50 → 80 energy cost Minor Hammer Grenade P/E x25: 85% → 80% damage; 50 → 80 energy cost Hardened Armor: Multi-use → Single-use; 4 → 3 turn duration Hatchling Rush P/E: 45% → 25% healing reduction Minor Hatchling Rush P/E: 30% → 15% healing reduction Hawk Guardian P/E: Usable at 40% → 30% HP; 130% → 125% damage Health Booster / Health Booster x25: 450 → 350 HP Health Pack / Health Pack x25: Removed from shop Hunter’s Mark: 3 → 2 turn duration; Initial attack ignores 20% defense; Removed block chance reduction; 85 → 90 energy cost Hunters’ Eradication / Saevussax Annihilation / Sea King’s Curse: Removed armor removal Hunters’ Evocation / Permafrost / Tentacle Prison: 100% → 85% damage Icy Overkill / Icy Overkill (Aux): 80 → 100 energy cost Incensory: Multi-use → Single-use; 90 → 120 energy cost Indominus Spear: 85 → 50 energy cost; Removed defense ignore Inexpiabilis: 90 → 50 energy cost; Removed extra crit chance Infernal Surge: 35% → 25% to all stats; Removed HP gain; 25% → 40% Rage boost Infinity (Armor): Added x30 Credits version for 10,000 Credits or 195 Varium; +7 → +6 str/tech Infinity (Auxiliary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Infinity (Primary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Infinity (Sidearm) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Infinity Mind Spears / Infinity Mind Spears x25 / Saw Strike P/E: 40% → 25% defense ignore Minor Infinity Mind Spears: 30% → 20% defense ignore Infinity Power Strike / Infinity Power Strike x25 / Saevussax Slash: 125% → 120% damage; 95 → 90 HP cost Minor Infinity Power Strike: 95 → 90 HP cost Lifeline: Usable below 40% → 30% HP Lycan’s Curse / Titan’s Curse: 4 → 3 turn duration Magma Grenade P/E x25: 3.5 → 1.5 defense reduction per level; 50 → 80 energy cost Minor Magma Grenade P/E x25: 2.5 → 1.2 defense reduction per level; 50 → 80 energy cost Mana Burst: 35% → 25% energy drain; 2 → 0 turn warmup Minor Mana Burst: 25% → 15% energy drain; 2 → 0 turn warmup Medusa’s Gaze: 2 → 1 turn duration Gladiator’s Omega Override / Katie’s Omega Override / Omega Override / Pro’s Omega Override / Roman’s Omega Override: 60% highest stat reduction → -50 to target’s highest stat Minor Omega Override: 50% highest stat reduction → -40 to target’s highest stat Om Nom Bomb P/E x25: 75% → 60% lifesteal; 50 → 80 energy cost Minor Om Nom Bomb P/E x25: 60% → 50% lifesteal; 50 → 80 energy cost Paralysis Coating / Paralysis Coating x25: Add 25% crit chance; 125 → 90 energy cost Phase Shift / Phase Shift (Aux) / Phase Shift (Gun): 110% → 100% damage Piercing Shot: 20% → 15% healing reduction Piston Punch / Piston Punch x25: 110% → 85% damage; +20 → +15 energy per armor level Poison Barbs / Sea King’s Venom: 60 → 80 energy cost; Incurable → Curable Prime Dexterity Boost: +4 → +6 Dexterity Prime Strength Boost: +4 → +6 Strength Prime Support Boost:+4 → +6 Support Prime Technology Boost: +4 → +7 Technology Dexterity Boost x30: +8 → +6 Dexterity Strength Boost x30: +8 → +6 Strength Support Boost x30:+8 → +6 Support Technology Boost x30: +8 → +7 Technology Radiation Burn / UrMenace’s Radiation Burn: 25% → 15% defense/resistance reduction Resonant Armor: 10% → 5% damage to energy drained from attacker; Effect applies to all attacks Revenant’s Plague: 25% → 35% chance to trigger; 2 → 3 turn duration; Incurable → Curable Revenant’s Ward: 10% → 5% damage reflection Revitalization: Usable at 40% → 30% HP; 1300 → 1000 HP cap; 25% → 10% additional defense reduction; 100 → 0 energy cost Minor Revitalization: Usable at 40% → 30% HP; 25% → 10% additional defense reduction; 100 → 0 energy cost Saevussax Evisceration: 4 → 2 turn duration; Deflectable → Undeflectable; Removed stun chance Sanguinomancy: 85 → 90 energy cost Sea King’s Corruption: 30% → 25% healing reduction; 4 → 3 turn duration Shell Shocker: 25% → 15% healing reduction; 15% → 10% def/res debuff; 2 → 0 turn warmup Skull Cracker / Skull Smasher: 125% → 120% damage; Multi-use → Single-use; 120 → 90 energy cost Short Circuit Grenade P/E x25: 115% → 105% damage; 50 → 80 energy cost Minor Short Circuit Grenade P/E x25: 115% → 105% damage; 50 → 80 energy cost Soldier’s Grenade P/E x25: 120 → 115% damage; 50 → 90 energy cost Soul Siphon / Spirit Well: 25% → 20% energy steal Stalagrenade P/E x25: 50% → 35% defense ignore; 50 → 80 energy cost Minor Stalagrenade P/E x25: 35% → 25% defense ignore; 50 → 80 energy cost Supremacy (Armor): Added x30 Credits version for 10,000 Credits or 195 Varium; +3 → +2 str/dex/supp; +6 → +5 tech Supremacy (Auxiliary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Supremacy (Primary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Supremacy (Sidearm) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Tactical Reload (Gun): 40 → 70 energy cost; 2 → 0 turn warmup; Puts regular sidearm in cooldown Tactical Reload (Aux): 3 → 0 turn warmup; Puts regular auxiliary in cooldown Telekinesis: 4 → 2 turn duration; 0 → 90 energy cost; Deflectable → Undeflectable; target much more likely to be blocked and deflected Thorn Assault P/E: 115% → 110% damage Minor Thorn Assault P/E: 110% → 105% damage; 25% crit → 15% crit Titan’s Barrage: 125% → 120% damage Tranquility: Multi-use → Single-use; 500 → 450 max. HP; 150 → 0 energy cost Tremor Blast: 4 → 2 turn duration; Deflectable → Undeflectable; target much more likely to be blocked and deflected Ultra Obliteration: 115% → 110% to both targets; 0 → 70 energy cost Vigor (Armor): Added x30 Credits version for 10,000 Credits or 195 Varium; +7 → +6 dex/supp Vigor (Auxiliary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Vigor (Primary) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Vigor (Sidearm) x30: Adjusted permanent Varium version to align with x30 core; increased price to 295 Varium Unbreakable Heart: Buffed to x25 Version of +45 Defense; Credit price increased to 20,000 Unbreakable Spirit:Buffed to x25 Version of +45 Resistance; Credit price increased to 20,000 Vampirism: 125 → 100 energy Whiteout x30: 110% → 100% damage Wolf’s Fury: Usable at 40% → 30% HP; 100% → 60% energy conversion Wrath of Callisto: 125% → 115% damage; 125 → 90 energy cost Zeus’ Might: Removed 10% stun chance Aim Assist: Calculated multiplicatively; 30% —> 70% deflection chance reduction Laser Sights: Calculated multiplicatively; 20% —> 80% decreased deflection effectiveness Super Scope: Calculated multiplicatively; 10% —> 40% deflection chance reduction, 20% —> 50% decreased deflection effectiveness Lucky Strike: Calculated multiplicatively; 13% —> 50% block chance reduction Deflection Shield: Calculated additively; 15% —> 30% deflection chance addition (will necessitate raising maximum deflection chance) Overshield: Calculated additively; 20% —> 25% increased deflection damage reduction Ballistic Shield: Calculated additively; 10% —> 20% increased deflection chance and 20% —> 15% increased deflection damage reduction Ninja Reflexes: Calculated additively; 6 —> 20% block chance addition Robot Regular and Special Attacks Azrael Claw: Removed extra crit chance Azrael’s Chimera Curse P/E: 75% → 50% healing reduction Breath of Kartherax: 100% → 105% damage Color Blast: 4 → 3 turn duration Dragon Bite P/E: Removed extra crit chance Dragonblade Familiar Drill P/E: 25% → 20% damage to user’s HP / Energy Grenade Storm P/E: 25% Rage drain → 30% Rage steal Incineration P/E: Removed armor removal effect, Add 60% lifesteal, 100% → 90% damage, Usable below 30% HP Minotaur’s Charge P/E: Remove Mini-Rage effect; Add 25% defense ignore Minotaur’s Rage P/E: Multi-use → Single-use; 2 → 3 turn duration Naval Bombardment: 80% → 85% damage to 2 targets Necrosis: 3.5 → 2.5 defense reduction per level (i.e. 170 → 130 max. defense reduction) Phantasm Blast P/E: 50% flat value of robot damage as energy drain Phantasm Slash P/E: Removed energy drain effect; Since the special drains plenty of energy, it seems fair to leave this attack as pure damage output Shadowlord’s Severance P/E: 5 → 4 turn cooldown Techstalker Tremor P/E: 4 → 2 turn duration, eliminates blocks, deflections, and crits entirely; Single-use → Multi-use; 4 turn cooldown; target much more likely to be blocked and deflected Ultra Corsair Crusher P/E: 75% → 70% damage; 75% → 35% of base robot damage as energy drain; Removed stun chance Other Changes 50,000 Varium achievement, Legendary Epic Supporter updated to 2024 Epic Supporter achievement updated to 2024 Fourteen Year Alpha achievement and weapons removed Alpha and Beta Remembrance weapons removed Fifteen Year Alpha achievement added Big Game LVII removed Big Game LVIII added Seasonal rares set to normal release cycle Void Trial mission removed Many rares removed from Acatriel Apocryphal Demigod Bow P/E Cathedral Knight Magnum P/E Celtic Wendigo Staff P/E Cosmic Eviscerator Worldeater P/E Necro Energy Burst Claymore P/E Sanguinomancer Cruelty Blades P/E Celestial Bane P/E Chaos Amalgam Sword P/E Darkeater Annihilator P/E Flesh Demigod Axe P/E Frost Revenant Vindictae P/E Infernal Samurai Evocator Blades P/E Scorn Advitalis Destroyer P/E Tags: Nightwraith

	February 23, 2024 Balance Progress and Azrael Battlepass Preview Balance Progress Progress has been steady but slower than I'd like for the massive core and robot balance update. Nearly every core in-game received some changes. Many were small tweaks like Energy cost or damage adjustments, but many others received much larger overhauls. The goal of this update will be to combat the power creep that has been building for cores and robots as more have been added over the years. These changes should encourage more experimentation and build variety. It's likely that we will need additional balance updates for the balance updates as new overpowered or underpowered cores emerge from battle data, but this is a major step towards better balance for EpicDuel. If all goes well, this update will be ready for next Thursday. Battlepass Preview While I've been occupied with updating nearly every core in the game, Acatriel and Bido have been building items for a new Battlepass that should release soon. Because we've been so occupied with updating existing cores, this Battlepass will not feature new cores. The slots formerly occupied by cores will be filled by additional rewards of currency. Pre-Spring Cleanup Next Thursday, we will be doing a bit of cleanup to update of all the seasonal rares to be set to stock at their appropriate time. We will also be removing some Rare items from Azrael that were added in June of 2023. Also, the Fourteen Year Alpha weapons and Achievement will go Rare and leave the shops. As another part of the cleanup process, we're going to be purging orphaned factions. Since faction founder step down was introduced, whenever a faction was deleted after the founder changed down at any point, the faction would fail to delete properly and remain, despite having 0 characters in it. Currently, there are over 1,000 factions in this state so purging them should free up some coveted names for new factions. This will not affect any faction that currently has at least one member, but factions that are on the leaderboards will 0 members will fall off. The bug that caused this problem in the first place will also be fixed. As one additional change, on Thursday we will also be updating the evolving Epic Supporter and Legendary Epic Supporter Achievements to 2024. Do to it's overwhelming popularity, the 50,000 Varium package will remain in-game for the foreseeable future. Tags: Nightwraith

	February 09, 2024 EpicDuel Rare Refresh Gifting Progress As of this update, only one set of top Gifter prizes remains. I hate making anyone wait for their prizes, but progress is progress and I can think of a Gifting season when we were this far along this early. Thank you Gifters for your patience and I hope you're thrilled with your prizes so far. New Rarity Type Last week some noticed fluctuations in their rarity scores. This was due to Battlepass items being recategorized as seasonal rares when they were added to the Challenger's shop. This felt bad, especially if you went through the trouble of collecting the rares in the original seasons. To correct this, we added a new, more descriptive rarity type: Battlepass. This should adjust the rarity scores back to what they were before the recategorization. If you've collect all the Battlepass items so and don't know what to collect next, the next Battlepass will be here soon enough. Soon enough doesn't mean next week, but hopefully by the end of the month. Jack Frost Arrives Jack Frost bots have awarded to those with Gifting scores higher than 50,000. Jack Frost P Jack Frost Smash P: 100% damage, 25% crit chance. Jack Frost's Fury P: 100% damage. Initial attack does 25% damage to energy and applies an MP poison for 25% Robot damage for 2 turns. The initial energy drain may be different from the amount of poison applied. Jack Frost E Jack Frost Smash E: 100% damage, 25% crit chance. Jack Frost's Fury E: 100% damage. Initial attack does 25% damage to energy and applies an MP poison for 25% Robot damage for 2 turns. The initial energy drain may be different from the amount of poison applied. Corrupted Core Correction Some were able to purchase a core that was literally corrupted. It appeared as Consecrated Ground for primary weapons, but it was unable to be equipped to anything. To correct this, we've updated the these cores to the correct auxiliary version of Consecrated Ground. Server Migration Part One This Wednesday we experience some downtime to start the move to a shiny new server box. It's similar enough to the old one, but just different enough that it still throws me off when navigating it. This was only the first step, but so far so good. The next step will be a full data transfer to EpicDuel's new home. This will occur later this month and take several hours. Tags: Nightwraith

	February 02, 2024 EpicDuel Battlepass Restock This week we say, "Goodbye!" to the Darkeater package and say, "Hello again!" to returning Battlepass items and cores. If you took 2023 off of EpicDuel, or just didn't feel like completing the Battlepass seasons, this will be a massive update for you! Darkeater Retired Available since 2022, the Darkeater promotional package has officially been retired. You will still be able to purchase the cores and bots from Acatriel. To allow players who don't have Varium a chance to use the cores, we've brought back new versions of select Darkeater items (tagged 2024). We did this to preserve the rarity of the promo items for those who already purchased the promotional package. Epic Battlepass Restock Originally, our intention was to bring back the Battlepass items from previous seasons gradually, but because of a major upcoming core rebalance, we brought back Azrael's Scorn, Botanical Knight, Cathedral Knight, and Draconic Warlord all at once. We wanted as many people to have access to as many cores as possible to test the efficacy of any balance update. Even if you don't have Varium to purchase the cores outright, you can still get many of the cores by purchasing the Battlepass items from The Challenger who resides in the Time Fortress zone of the Afterlife. Since cores are crucial to balance and the health of PvP, we plan to offer cores in a shop alongside Battlepasses in the future, starting with the next Azrael Battlepass. This may provide less incentive to grind out the Battlepass for some, but wide availability of the cores will be useful for determining any imbalances more quickly. New Cores A permanent version of the Thrown Shot core as well as sidearm and auxiliary versions of the permanent War Commander core are available at Vendbots across Delta V. Minor Cores Retired Because they don't adequately serve the purpose they were meant to fulfill; the minor cores have been retired. It is still possible to equip and use them, but they are no longer for sale. Widescreen Expansion Last year one of our major goals was to expand EpicDuel to a widescreen resolution. Acatriel managed to expand all the current screens in game, and I planned to implement them over the Summer, but my surgery shattered those plans. I will resume the expansion process after Gifting obligations are wrapped. The widescreen expansion also includes adjusting every interface in game so it's not quite a simple matter of just replacing the old map screens with new ones. This change will require a lot of testing and make the game difficult to update while all the screens and interfaces are expanded so we want to be sure we have plenty to occupy players while the work is underway. Server Migration Next week we will be migrating EpicDuel's database to a new physical server. This will result in several hours of downtime while all the data is transferred. We will update you when we've determined the exact time we plan to do the migration so you can plan accordingly. I've been told the new server won't offer much of a performance boost aside from using SSDs instead of HDDs. Hopefully there are no hiccups and EpicDuel arrives at its new digital home safe and sound. In the coming weeks, we will wrap up the last of our Gifter items and undertake a massive core rebalance. While this is happening, we will also be working to complete the Gifting Bonus Tier items as well as the 2024 Azrael Battlepass. Thank you for your patience! We usually have a lull in substantial updates after Gifting as we work to complete all the post-Gifting tasks, but we're moving at a much faster pace this year than ever before! Tags: Nightwraith

	January 26, 2024 EpicDuel Gifting 2023 Aftermath Gifting is over, but the progress continues on the prizes for the top Gifters. Our progress this year has been swift, but we still have a few outstanding prizes to complete. Thank you for bearing with us as we work to wrap up Gifting prizes and fulfill all of our final obligations for Gifting. In the past, this process could extend into months and sometimes over a year, but it looks like we could be finished or very nearly finished with the top Gifters prizes by February! With this update, several new top 15 Gifter prizes were added. I hope the Gifters enjoy wielding these amazing items as much as we enjoyed creating them (if not more). To keep you all up to speed with our current plans for the near to mid-term, here's a summary of pending or in-progress topics to tackle for EpicDuel. War Resumes With this update, the regional faction war will resume as scheduled as the main Gifting leaderboard is retired for another year. This is the step of resetting Gifting that feels the most like putting the holiday decorations into storage for the next season. Quality of Life This year we will strive to implement frequently requested quality of life features to EpicDuel. The most requested feature right now is the ability to sell multiple items at once. You can already do this with mission items and cores, but so far we haven't been able to find a way to stack them. Other items are more complicated to stack because of all the variables since they can be upgraded. You wouldn't want to sell your fully-upgraded, coveted rare item along with a pile of duplicates, so we need to cover as many scenarios as possible. Spider has some solutions he's working on that will hopefully enable bulk selling for regular items as well as home items. These steps will be crucial for clearing out massive amounts of inventory space, especially after Gifting when some are stuck with over 10,000 items in their inventories! Obviously, this is not ideal, since you can't even buy anything with a full inventory, making the game frustrating to play and collecting new rares impossible. These features are challenging, but necessary, and we'll do everything we can to get them to you ASAP. Cyber Wolf The Cyber Wolf collection is still pending, but I haven't forgotten about it! Balance It's been awhile (too long) since our last comprehensive balance update so we're planning a major one with a focus on cores. These changes will probably roll out in phases since the list of cores has expanded over the years and dominate builds have shifted around them. We hope these changes, many player recommended, will revitalize duels and shake up a stagnating meta. Azrael's Scorn In early February, the Azrael's Scorn Battlepass items will be equipped to The Challenger. If you missed that Battlepass completely or couldn't grab the last few items, this will be a great opportunity to complete your collection. Darkeater Leaving The Darkeater package that has been available since 2022 will finally leave the shop next Friday February 2nd. If you missed our for some reason, this will be your last chance to collect these items all in one package. After the pack leaves, a few select items will be equipped to an in-game shop, allowing purchases of the cores, bots, and select items. New Battlepass Our next Battlepass is planned to drop sometime in February. In hindsight, it would have been a better idea to hold the Olympus' Wrath package until immediately after Gifting, but it's a lesson we'll take to heart next time. That's a lot. Is there anything we forgot? Probably. This list wasn't all-inclusive but includes some of the biggest topics that came to mind as I was writing this post. I really should get some more sleep. Tags: Nightwraith

	January 12, 2024 EpicDuel Gifting 2023 Ends Another Gifting Season Ends… And what an end it was! EpicDuel ending 2023 with a bang as the volume of Gifts were double that of 2021. Congratulations to our winners and all who participated, whether you were #1 or #10001. Gifting only works if people show up, and you all showed up with an incredible level of dedication and passion for the game that means so much to all of us who continue to keep the game running after nearly 15 years. The top 15 winners this year are: Musashi Exempt I Am Mr. Nice Guy Lycan Impulse Ronald Mcdonald D Y S P O Enchant Smoking Shadow CactusChan Keosama F L O K I Thaddiemac X Lele Ahri Though all the top 15 winners this year had impressive scores, with all exceeding 1 million gifts and 6 Gifters crossing the coveted 2 million gift threshold, Musashi exceeded all previous records with an incredible score of 5,038,987 gifts! Will it ever be beaten? Every year I think I've seen the highest Gifting score possible and every year I'm proven wrong! We also want to celebrate the top 50, who put up some impressive gift scores themselves. The complete scoreboard will be added to Titan’s Peak as soon as we excavate a space big enough for this massive leaderboard of Gifters. Though we had some challenges this season, they were challenges borne out of something positive: People gifted enough to literally break the game! The number of gifts slowed the servers and created frequent instability by the end of the event. That brings me to the next topic. Where Did My Gifts Go? If you logged in sometime January 10th after 4:30 EST, you may have noticed your gifts are gone. You may have also noticed there were many server crashes with the game being inaccessible for minutes or hours at a time. This was because there were so many gifts given this year that EpicDuel was literally unable to handle it. Every time someone opened their mail or used the /open1000gifts command, it hit a database table with millions of entries. Rather than wait for people to open their gifts manually while dealing with instability, we decided the best solution was to open every gift all at once. Because at the end of gifting most players end up with 1000s of duplicate items, we decided it would be preferable to automatically convert them to 1000 credits a piece, rather than forcing everyone to sell everything one item at a time. Arcade Tokens would be automatically inserted into everyone’s inventory since they’re more valuable than common seasonal items. Captain Rhubarb and I worked on a query to open millions of gifts and finally had an opportunity to use it when the server crashed again. If you logged in after this update, your gift queue would be empty, but your inventory would be overflowing with Credits and Arcade Tokens! Long story short, you didn’t lose your gifts. We automatically opened them all at once to save you time and save the server from incessant downtime. If enough people missed out on the drop items, we could make them available for purchase from a shop to fill out your seasonal rare inventory. Arcade Prize Pruning One complaint we hear often is that many players’ home item inventories are clogged with too many home items. We want to fix that, but we can’t right at the moment, so we’ve removed home item prizes from the Bronze tier of Arcade Games, replacing them with Arcade Tokens or pure Credit prizes from 50 – 100 Credits. These slots will eventually be replaced with other items, but for now, you can spend excess Arcade Tokens without packing your home with more items that you could ever place in 100 lifetimes. Secret and Silver Secret Prizes After today’s update, we “opened” all the Secret and Silver Secret packages! By opened I mean inserted the prize items into everyone’s character inventory who owns one of the two or both packages. The packages themselves won’t be deleted until all are distributed (there are still a handful outstanding) and we are confident everyone got the items they should get. When we are prepared to delete them, we’ll turn extra packages into credits. We hope you enjoy them because I think Acatriel really outdid himself from the last Secret and Silver Secret packages he created. Winner Prize Progress As of right now we have been in contact will all this year’s Gifting winners and their prizes are underway. This should be a faster process than previous years thanks to Acatriel’s help and our stricter guidelines for requests. We still want each prize to be something the champion Gifters can be proud of and celebrate, but we also don’t want to drag the process out too long. It’s just as painful for us as it is the Gifters who are left waiting! That won’t happen this year. At least I don’t think it will. I have a habit of making positive statements only to be proven long later, but at this point, I’m optimistic! Cyber Wolf Collection The Cyber Wolf Collect has fallen behind due to the technical issues we’ve faced towards the end of Gifting and my own work piling up on me. However, we will still be able to release the items from the collection as they are completed without the need for a reboot. The ambitious projection is that all parts will be distributed by the end of January, but, again, I’m being very optimistic. We learned some valuable lessons when creating this year’s prize items that should help us develop content more efficiently for next year’s Gifting event to minimize waiting for prizes! Thank you again for everyone who participated in this year’s Gifting event, the biggest of EpicDuel’s nearly 15 year history! Duel on! Tags: Nightwraith

	January 05, 2024 EpicDuel Gifting 2023: The Final Stretch As we enter 2024, the 2023 season of Gifting nears its finale. Though almost over, there is still time to climb the leaderboard and secure your place in EpicDuel history! Gifting will officially end just after January 8th at 11:59 PM EST, and what a season it has been! I admit that the response to the return of Gifting this year was beyond my wildest expectations. I thought that maybe skipping a year plus the different prize structure would have reduced the excitement somewhat, but, once again, our most dedicated players delivered, smashing all-time records with unprecedented scores! What Happens When Gifting Ends? If this is your first time Gifting or you need a refresher, allow me to give you a brief rundown of what to expect once Gifting officially ends at the end of January 8th: 1. Gifting ends. After a brief delay, the leaderboard will change to a static leaderboard showcasing the winners of 2023's season. 2. I will gather information on all the top 15 winners, including contact information. Some of them have already won in previous years, but I still like to double-check to make sure everything in accurate. 3. I will count how many Secret and Silver Secret Prizes the winners received. This will be relevant for their distribution later. Secret and Silver Secret packages will open after they are all distributed. 4. I will email the top 15 winners offering congratulations and providing relevant information regarding their prizes. If you don't recall what the prizes can be this year, please refer back to this post from September. 5. Next, I will award the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Chest prizes. This will take some time since there are manual steps in the process, but I will reboot the server after I'm finished. If this process is taking too long or I'm too tired, I may delay this step until the morning. I don't want to execute numerous database queries on 50 characters if I'm sleep deprived. If you have no idea what that these prizes are, please refer to this post. 6. Next, I will award the completed Bonus Tier Prizes (Cyber Wolf Collection). Unfortunately, several of these are still pending, but I will award them as soon as they are completed on an ongoing basis. Bonus Tier Prize Previews The Bonus Tier Prizes are a new addition to the Gifting 2023 season, intended make Gifting more rewarding for those who don't have massive Varium stockpiles they can use to dominate the leaderboard. This year's theme was the Cyber Wolf Collection (with some noteworthy exceptions like the NightBot 3000). I intended to have previews over a month ago and all the items finished by now to enter 2024 with a clean slate as well as a personal challenge. However, it's clear that I don't have the speed or endurance I used to. Sure, my eye is healed, but it still strains and fatigues faster than it used to, preventing me from pulling the all-nighters I'm used to. While several of these are still in their concept-art form, they're coming together fast and will be distributed based on Gifting tiers from 10,000 to 250,000 as indicated by the Bonus Tier Prize post. Again, I apologize, but it seems like I forgot the game development truism that everything will take at least twice as long as you expect. Please note that these are concept art drawings and the final designs, though close, may differ somewhat, but still look better and cleaner overall thanks to the magic of vector art. Login Troubles If you logged in or tried to login to EpicDuel the last few days you may have spent some frustrating time stuck at the "Retrieving Client Data" screen. The past few days we've tried many solutions to try to remedy this error and pinpoint its cause. Time will tell if our fixes were successful, but I'd like to thank Captain Rhubarb and Spider for looking into it and helping resolve this frustrating and elusive error. The current leading theory is that login requests were piling up and not being processed properly, jamming the login queue almost indefinitely. This could possibly be caused by a malicious actor, BUT it could just as easily happen due to high traffic and increased stress on the server. We experienced a similar issue earlier in Gifting that seemed to resolve if given enough time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone trying to login to experience the final days of this Gifting season. Being stuck at a loading screen is as frustrating for you as it is for us to reboot a server at 2:00 AM while frantically troubleshooting. It's also clear that EpicDuel is in dire need of optimization and cleanup to better handle the kind of volume we experience every year for Gifting, and we intend to make that a priority for the short to mid term in 2024. Final 2023 Thoughts Last year took some bleak turns for me and EpicDuel. Emergency eye surgery shattered many of my plans for this year and the recovery set me back physically and professional. Honestly, at the time, I thought that might be the end of Nightwraith as you know him entirely. Luckily, Acatriel stepped up and delivered enough content to keep the game humming along while preparing content for future updates to make my transition back to work easier. Without him, I'm not sure EpicDuel would be what it is today. The game would technically still be accessible online, sure, but it would be considerably diminished without his tireless efforts and invigorating passion for the game. Artists Bido and Deuce also stepped up to offer more content support when needed, delivering some amazing items by the year's end. The 2023 Gifting season never would have happened without all their help. Even more surprising and heartwarming was the players showing up in a big way to deliver one of the best Gifting events of all time and definitively the best by raw scores alone. Once again, I'm eternally humbled by your generosity and devotion to this game, which has been a labor of love (love/hate at times) for me since 2007, which, as a gaze sleepily at my gnarled, liver-spotted hands, feels like several lifetimes ago by now. Whether you climbed to the top 15 on the leaderboard or simply stopped by to greet a few old in-game friends, I hope to honor your continued love and support for this humble PvP MMORPG by making 2024 an incredible year for EpicDuel! Let's Duel On into 2024! Tags: Nightwraith

	December 21, 2023 EpicDuel Gifting 2023 Update So far the 2023 season of Gifting has been truly extraordinary. Several players have crossed the 1 million gift threshold, while Exempt and Thaddeus have exceeded 2 million gifts. The #1 gifter so far, Musashi, has crushed the all-time record with over 5 million gifts! Even with this awesome performance, the leaderboard isn't set in stone so there's still time to secure a place in the top 15! Gifting Leaderboard Expansion Probably the first change you'll notice in this update is that the Gifting leaderboard has expanded to include the top 50 Gifters. This should make it much easier to tell where you stand in the ranks if you're trying for a Silver or Bronze prize package. Due to the phenomenal performance of the top Gifters this year, we've also updated the prize tiers for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze chest items to the following: Gold: 1st - 15th Silver: 16th - 30th Bronze: 31st - 50th Since we've updated the rules yet again and still haven't posted previews of the Cyber Wolf Collection, we're extending the 50,000 Varium package until the end of Gifting. Also, it would be weird to remove it right before major holidays. If you're within striking distance of the various tier collections, the overstuffed Varium package should provide a great opportunity to climb a few ranks to secure your spot! Omega Void Trials Return Early in 2022 the Omega Void Trials disappeared after what was intended to be the final Gifting event ever (it wasn't). Since we brought Gifting back, we thought it made sense to return the Omega Void Trial missions to the Daily Mission pool to give people a way to spend their extra Void and Omega Wolf Shards. Credit Sink A major Gifting session can leave most players with more credits than they could reasonably spend in a year. To help give newly Credit-rich players a place to spend their new wealth, we've introduced a new upgradeable Snowflake badge with 16 levels of upgrades. We've also added snowflake home item decorations. These won't be the last high-Credit value items introduced so expect more to come, especially after Gifting concludes. If we don't post another Design Note before December 25th, we hope you have a happy and safe holiday and continue to Duel On into an amazing 2024! Tags: Nightwraith

	December 13, 2023 EpicDuel Gifting 2023 Continues Gifting's 2023 season has now been live for about a week and the performance of this year's participants has been extraordinary! A special shout-out is deserved by the player Musashi, who ascended to the #1 spot on the 2023 leaderboard with a staggering 4,450,519 gifts! This unprecedented outpouring of generosity has led us to update the final prize criteria for the top 15 Gifters as well as extending the 50,000 Varium package a bit longer. Gifting Top 15 Prizes This year's Gifting season has been impressive beyond our wildest expectations. We never anticipated seeing so many Gifting clear or crush the 1 million gift threshold so quickly. To add incentive and reward for the most generous gifters, we've updated the final prize criteria with the following additions: Gifters who place in the top 15 at the end of Gifting AND meet or exceed two million gifts will have the ability to ask for 2 Legacy Rare items (P and E versions included, meaning you could get X RARE P/E and Y RARE P/E). Gifters who place in the top 15 at the end of Gifting AND meet or exceed three million gifts will have the ability to ask for 3 Legacy Rare items (P and E versions included). Gifters who place in the top 15 at the end of Gifting AND meet or exceed four million gifts will have the ability to ask for 4 Legacy Rare items (P and E versions included). Gifters who place in the top 15 at the end of Gifting AND meet or exceed five million gifts will have the ability to ask for 5 Legacy Rare items (P and E versions included). We hope these additions are sufficiently rewarding and enticing for those still contemplating participating in Gifting this year. Our original goal with prizes this year was to avoid the situations that occurred in previous years in which the prize creation workload piled and compounded, dragging prize fulfillment late into the year, sometimes even the next year! This modest addition increases the rewards without substantially increasing the workload, allowing the winners to receive all their rewards much more quickly than in previous seasons! 50,000 Varium Package Extension (Again) The 20,000 AP package for 50,000 Varium will stay in the shops a bit longer while we prepare the preview for the Cyber Wolf prizes. Additionally, since we updated the prizes, we wanted to offer people who want to secure a placement in the top 15 another opportunity to get this delux Varium package and boost their Gifting score. Tags: Nightwraith