EpicDuel Home

EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

Behind the scenes information about EpicDuel's development and releases, a real-time PVP MMO that you can play online in your web browser.
Nightwraith

February 28, 2013

The Tournament Continues

We are already on the cusp of the second week of the Golden Yeti Tournament and the competition is extremely fierce! There is still one more week to go so don't give up yet! Any breaks the leaders take is a chance for latecomers to swoop in a snatch one of the top 100 spots!

Leaderboard

Do you see your name up there? Congratulations! But be afraid! Those top positions may be difficult to secure as the tournament continues!

 

New Cores!

Need some diversity in your build? Gear up with 3 new cores this Friday!

Nanosteel

Nanosteel Armor: Critical hits getting you down? This passive armor core effectively reduces the damage reduction of all critical hits inflicted on your character!

Dead Battery

*Dead Battery: Applies a curse to an enemy that causes that target's remaining energy to go to you if the enemy is defeated while the curse is active. This means that if you apply the curse to an enemy, and they still have 20 energy after dying, that energy is added to your own pool!* This works even if your ally is the one to defeat the target.

*Dead Battery still requires some more testing, but we do not wish to push the release any later. We will continue testing this core after the release and hopefully make it available next week!

Plasma Meteor: Meteor shower just got an energy damage based equivalent!

 

Sneaky, Sneaky Azrael

Azrael Scythes

For those that missed it last week, we introduced two new Azrael Scythes last week on the Alydroid. These were limited quantity, so of course they sold out very quickly. This Friday, we will restock twice (depending on demand). Once at 10 AM EST, and again at 5 PM EST. We will also restock the Dage rares at these times. We will only restock if the quantities are depleted.

 

EpicDuel Turns Four!

Alpha Shot

It’s hard to believe that four years ago EpicDuel had just launched it’s first public Alpha. It’s even harder to comprehend how the game has changed since this momentous event. In that time, we’ve joined with Artix Entertainment, gone through four development phases, released thousands of weapons, developed countless features, and hosted over 100 million battles. Now we are in the midst of the most exciting evolution in EpicDuel’s history: Omega!

 

Mod Application Deadline

The application deadline is almost upon us, but it's not too late to submit! Please send your COMPLETE application before 12 P.M. E.S.T. this Friday (March 1st) to: EDCallForMods@artix.com

Lycus and Cinderella are still hard at work narrowing down the list of qualified applicants, but unfortunately, due to the volume of mail, we will not be able to respond to all of you to explain why you were not selected. 


Balance and Bugs

To round out the release, we're making some adjustments to balance, targeting the rise in power of Support builds and some more tweaks to help classes that are underperforming. We have some larger changes in mind to help with balance, but we don't want to do anything too drastic while the Tournament is still live.

There will also be a number of crucial bug fixes. For a complete, detailed list of the fixes and changes, check Rabble's patch notes shortly after the release goes live!

 

Coming Soon!

The Endless is coming

This guy.

Tags: Nightwraith Azrael Tournament Yeti Leaderboard Cores Omega LQS balance Bug Fixes Endless Moderators


Nightwraith

January 25, 2013

Omega Progress

AI Online

We made huge progress today on NPC AI. NPCs were completely rewritten for Omega and we were initially a bit concerned that they would need to be cut or severely limited for delaying Omega, but things just kind of came together -- as they sometimes do. Actually, they're even better than they were before since they can now use auxiliary weapons, like our friendly neighborhood Overlord Guard is using on me here: 

Zooka to the face!

With this major hurdle out of the way, this weekend should be smooth sailing. Well, smooth-ish. At this point, we're not taking anything for granted. The to-do now quite small, but we don't want to get overconfident. Another full weekend of working is ahead for us!

 

More Character Previews!

Check out these new screens form the Dev server showcasing the new character customizer with the new Bounty Hunter styles in-game! We're still working on color separations, so look for more previews on our Twitter feeds as the weekend rolls on!

New customizer

Hopefully you'll enjoy these new armors as much as I enjoyed making them. EpicDuel has come a long way since it's creation and we are confident Omega will be the best phase yet!

This one's for Vypie

Keep following our Twitters and DN posts for further updates! Here's hoping we'll be completely feature-locked by Sunday!

Tags: Omega Progress Cores AI NPCs Characters Nightwraith


Titan

January 22, 2013

Omega Video Update

Did you know EpicDuel has it's own Official Youtube channel? If not, you probably didn't know that EpicDuel Mod and tester Practel just released a new video showing footage from the developer server testing Cores and the new stat editing system. Practel also answers some frequently asked questions about Omega. 

What are you waiting for? Check out the video now! Be sure to watch the video until the very end!

Tags: Titan Omega Video Practel Cores Youtube


Titan

January 18, 2013

Core Concerns

Hey there, quick post. I was working on a big DN post elaborating on Core and some other key Omega features, but I relized some of these items are too difficult to explain even in the simplest terms. Our testers are hard at work on Omega videos to demonstrate Cores and other Omega features. These should be much clearer than a paragraph or even a series of screenshots. Next week, we will be posting a series of detailed Design Notes about Omega and it's features, including compensation for players with enhancements, a detailed breakdown of cores and how they work, EpicDuel beyond Omega, and a specific release date (for real this time!)

Stay tuned as development continues!

Tags: Titan Omega Cores


Nightwraith

January 17, 2013

Character Building

Hey there, EpicDuelists, we're having another late night at the lab and I though I'd take a breather to share the progress of the character creator and new base class armors. I could drone on and on about the process, but I'll let the work speak for itself.

Class Select

Class Details

Revamped Tech Mage

To answer a question about the new base armor designs -- these new designs will work like the current default armors in that they're not technically armors that you can equip / unequip. They will not be a mutating armor and it will not take up any space in your inventory. They can be hidden by equipping an actual armor.

Tags: classes Characters Omega Nightwraith


Titan

January 15, 2013

At Its Core

When Omega launches, every single action you can issue in battle, including Strike, gun, bazooka, all of your skills, all of your item special abilities, and well, everything is now handled by a 100% new "core-based" battle engine. Sound fancy? That's partly because it is. If you haven't heard, the 9500-lines-of-code-long battle engine that is the heart of EpicDuel has been rewritten for this release.   

Gamma Cores

Why would we do such a crazy thing?  The primary reason is for future expansion.  For all of you loyal duelers out there, you know that it takes us a good while to create new skills and abilities in game, and we all know it's these new abilities and custom builds that are the most exciting. Omega will dramatically increase the rate at which we can generate new, well-balanced, exciting abilities.

The largest code change in Omega is the overhaul of the battle engine.  So what's different about it?  First, every battle action we create now has over 100 different variables available to manipulate in the database!  This is an increase from only about 30 values previously. This means skills can have more unique effects, and we can recycle effects and functionality more easily than ever.  

Think of this example, say we wanted to have 3 similarly functional, yet visually different abilities... maybe three skills that rain down damage on your enemy.  Let's say we want one with a fire animation, one with water animation, and one that rains down a bunch of rabid monkeys.  In the old engine we would need to write 3 completely separate skills.  The fact that the skills were similar was previously irrelevant. 

In the new engine, Omega allows us to define "rule sets" that can be applied to any action.  These rules can now very easily be recycled and tweaked. So if Rule Set A defines an action that rains down damage, we can pair Rule Set A with Animation Set A, B, and C to create three different effects without creating loads of extra work. 

This flexibility will mean more exciting battles every time!

Gamma Cores

This core functionality will also be applied to bots, meaning bots can be created more frequently. In fact, it will be possible to create bots with two active skills or two passive skills. Hopefully this could become a more modular system and allow you to add alternative cores to bots for different battle configurations!

Tags: Titan Cores Omega bots code


Nightwraith

January 07, 2013

Resolutions

It's 2013! Already? When did that happen? How does it feel to have survived yet another apocalypse? I think if you survive 12, you get a free cold cut combo with a drink and chips. That might not be accurate. In any case, we had a busy, bittersweet end to 2012. Our goal was to release Omega before 2012 at all costs, but after a serious dose of reality, we decided our goal in 2013 should be to make the wait for Omega worth it.

 

For the New Year

The future of EpicDuel post Omega will hinge on gameplay. When all the items in game suddenly become viable options, the dynamics of battle will shift to your build and what skills are equipped to your items.  We will work hard to make the battle engine, the core of EpicDuel, as dynamic and robust as possible to offer interesting experiences in every battle. Tournaments, new battle modes, and new skills will ensure that battles always offer interesting choices.

 

Omega Progress

Omega Progress...

Our Twitter pages have been quiet lately, but not for lack of working. The holidays offered a brief interruption in the development routine, and getting back in synch proved to be challenging. For this reason, we've been hesitant to drop more details. However, after today's intense Monday meeting, we decided that it would be best to keep everyone as informed as possible by posting Design Note updates every day until Omega goes live! It may be a tiny blurb or a massive, multi-paragraph summary of a feature. Many of you already know what's releasing in Omega, but I will try to be as informative and interesting as possible!

Although we do not have a formal deadline for Omega, we will inform you as soon as we do! Some have speculated that we will "surprise" you with Omega. This is a profoundly bad idea for such a massive release. We will absolutely inform you of the date as soon as we are confident in our timeline, but also understand that we will not and cannot release Omega until it is in a ready state. We may be able to find features to cut, but the largest part of Omega is the battle engine, and we cannot release a broken battle engine no matter badly we want to release Omega.

We thank you again for your patience, and we hope we can make Omega release to remember!

 

Golden Yeti Tournament*

Mention of the Golden Yeti Tournament in previous Design Notes may have grabbed your attention. We discussed it further. and we are making a few adjustments / clarifications. First, it will be a 2-week competition instead of a 30-day competition. 30 days is a long time to expect someone to constantly battle at 100% capacity, and seeing someone at the top of the leaderboard with thousands of wins might be discouraging to someone unable to participate at that level.

Second, we will not be offering the Omega Ticket with a promotional package after Omega is live. We are doing this because seriously participating will be more challenging the longer the tournament progresses and entering midway through the event would place a participant at a huge disadvantage. All those who preorder will be able to participate in this tournament as soon as the tournament goes live.

Participation will be simple --  if you preordered you have the ticket. Each PvP victory will automatically earn you points. These points will position you on a leaderboard with other ticket holders. At the end of the competition, the top 100 players in terms of point total will be awarded the Ultra-Rare Golden Yeti as well as a tiered achievement based their standing on the leaderboard. It's more of a competition than a tournament, but if it succeeds, it will be an important stepping stone to a fully realized tournament system!

Some have mentioned that it's not fair to the non-Varium players to restrict this tournament, but the tournament is a special reward for the preorder offer and making it available to everyone would defeat the purpose. Keep in mind that this will not be the last competition of this type -- future contests will be open to a much wider range of players!  

*As of January 9ths DN post, we decided will be adding a buffer of a few days between the launch of Omega and the start of the tournament. This will give everyone a chance to explore all Omega has to offer.

Wiki Recruitment

When we go live with Omega, the EpicDuel Wiki is going to need major help updating all the entries for items.  Stats and requirements as you know them are going out the window, so much of the existing information will be obsolete the second Omega goes live. We are constantly impressed by how quickly the Wiki updates with each EpicDuel release, but they are definitely going to need help for this one.

Please contact a member of the EpicDuel Wiki Staff to find out how you can join the cause and help to keep this great resource as accurate as possible while lessening the burden on the small but dedicated staff. Please do not contact the Devs about being a member of the Wiki Staff as we are not directly involved in it.

To encourage more participation on the Wiki, we will be increasing the value of the coveted Lore Master Achievement by 1000 Rating Points, as well as offering the extremely rare Rabble's Attack Tome sidearm for contributors deemed worthy by the current staff.

Please do not confuse Wiki Staff with Moderators or Developers.  They should not be contacted concerning bugs, account issues, or player reports. Also, please don't send them your passwords. They don't want or need your account information.

 

Become a Bug Hunter!

Artix.com just unveiled this snazzy new system for reporting bugs! No more tweeting at Devs hoping they'll see your report! No more trying to find the right place to post on the forums! This is your one-stop reporting zone. The bugs will never know what squashed them!

 

Charity Is Child's Play

One more item before I wrap up this DN post: Child's Play Charity, the charity that raises money year round for toys and money for hospitals around the world! This year gamers showed astonishing generosity and raised a grand total of $5,085,761! That's a lot of happy sick kids! I feel it's an incredible feat and definitely worth sharing.

Can this record be shattered in 2013? Given the track record for boundless gamer generosity, even in times when others are tightening their belts, I have no doubt that record will be obliterated!

Tags: Nightwraith Resolutions Omega Tournament contest Progress Report New Year Child's Play Charity Bug Artix


Cinderella

December 18, 2012

Omega Mission

Omega is almost here! Can you feeeeeel it? We've been working tirelessly to bring you the highly anticipated Omega update and everything is really coming together. As I type this, Titan and Rabblefroth are working furiously along with our equally hard-working testers to troubleshoot the newly reconstructed battle engine. The statting system is looking really promising, and allows for extraordinary flexibility with your gear loadout.

Statting

Be sure to view our development on The Official EpicDuel Youtube Channel:

Titan Fuel

 

Pricing Reshuffle

One new feature you may notice in Omega is that many items have credit OR Varium options, both to purchase and to upgrade. In order to emphasize credits as an effort currency and Varium as a convenience currency, some credit prices will be increasing. However, this is balanced by the fact that you can still upgrade your existing weapons for a credit fee that would be less than purchasing and unlocking a new set of level-cap gear. Also, with unlimited NPC battles, farming for credits will be a much less painful endeavor.

 

Mission Guide

Hi there, EpicDuelists - there's a ton of new missions for your playing pleasure. Alydriah has returned to Frysteland and her capture of the Krampus Shaman Aldhagrimm has forced the Krampus and sympathetic Legion forces in Frysteland to join together to drive her out. The main story quest starts with Commander Edgar Boothe (Legion)

Edgar Boothe

and King Alaric (Exile).

Alaric

Players should report to them to complete the mission “A Frosty Reception” for a Legion Token or Exile Token. This token is your ticket into a class-specific chain. Exiles will turn the Exile Token in to Raymus if they're Bounty Hunters or Cyber Hunters, the Krampus Technician if they're Tech Mages or Blood Mages, and Hank if they're Mercenaries or Tactical Mercenaries. Legion Bounty Hunters and Cyber Hunters should visit Valestra, Tech Mages and Blood Mages should visit Talia, and Mercenaries and Tactical Mercenaries should visit Negawraith to turn in their tokens. For those who want the well-rounded story experience by changing class, Alaric and Boothe have two additional missions that award this token! These all culminate in a single turn-in mission on Rabblefroth, with the same reward for both Legion and Exiles that will conclude part one of this Frysteland saga.

Rabblefroth

This means that, should you complete this chain 3 times, you'll have extra Misc. items, but fortunately they don't take up space in your inventory.

In addition, there are missions that allow you to train up your Baby Yetis and/or Dark Yetis by giving them a Yeti Growth Serum.

Yeti Trainers

Hulnas the Beast Tamer can train your Baby Yetis into Warrior Yetis, and Ylwa the Beast Rider can train your Warrior Yetis into Omega Yetis. Would you rather have a Dark Baby Yeti? The Arctic Trainer can train your Dark Yetis into Dark Warrior Yetis, and the hard-as-ice Captain Murdoc can train your Dark Warrior Yetis into Dark Omega Yetis. Both can be “convinced” to give you some Omega Yeti Serum as well, if you don't want to go through all the trouble of training them.

I'm very excited about the Omega update! For the first time, there are missions requiring you to turn in multiple disparate objects; that is, turning in different kinds of objects. So, if Hank had a mission asking you to help him out with a mirepoix, you would be required to turn in 2 onions, 1 carrot, and 1 celery in the same mission!

Plus, there's a secret mission. What is it? If I told you that, it wouldn't be a secret! /mysterious

Tags: Omega Cinderella Update NPCs Skills Stats Testing Credits Varium


Nightwraith

December 11, 2012

Not Quite Yeti

Not Quite Yeti

Greetings EpicDuelists! This morning we had a mega meeting and discussed our progress on Omega. Everything is looking really good and once it's done, I'm 1000% confident it will be the greatest EpicDuel phase ever. However, we were also faced with the realities of being corporeal organisms bound to the laws of physics and biology. Basically, we realized that even working 16-20 hour days every day we would not be able to release Omega in a finished state by Friday. I regret to inform you that the official date for Omega is being pushed back to Thursday December 20th. This was not a decision we arrived at lightly, but a Friday goal simply was not possible. We figured it was better to tell you now rather than at 3 AM Saturday morning. At the very least, this means you'll have a bit longer to complete the mission and collect the items that are going rare when Omega launches.

 

Return to Frysteland

Recently, on the developer server, we revamped the Frysteland screens. The artillery shells and craters have been swept away but the punishment of the Krampus people and their innocent Yetis endures. For Omega, you'll be able to travel to Alydriah's new Winter palace, built upon the remains of the old Exile fortress, and Titan's Peak, a mysterious addition to the Frysteland skyline that suddenly became visible this year. Could this signal the end of the world? Have the gods finally descended up the cursed world of Delta V to pass final judgment? Find out when Omega goes live December 20th!

 Return to Frysteland

You will also be able to meet a Yeti Trainer. These beast maters can help you evolve your Yeti to the next level, but it won't be easy! A strong Yeti requires a strong master, so you'll need to hone your battle skills before these trainers deem you worthy of a more powerful Yeti. Rumor has it that there's a shortcut to this process. Maybe Titan knows something about it?

Train your yeti!

For the latest Omega updates, be sure to check out our Twitter pages, available from the sidebar on the left side of this page. If you have some Omega suggestions or questions, join the discussion in the EpicDuel forums! 

Tags: Omega Titan


Titan

December 06, 2012

Omega Marathon

Now it can be told: the official release date for Omega is December 14th early February! Of course, we can't confirm what time exactly, but we will do our absolute best to get this epic release to you in a stable, tested condition! To satisfy your curiousity on some of Omega's amazing features, enjoy this new Design Notes as we continue the Omega marathon!

Changes to NPCs

Today we wanted to go over some changes to how NPC fights will work in Omega. We want NPCs to fill the purposes of:

                1) training or testing builds

                2) gaining credits

                3) furthering missions and the storyline

They currently fill some other purposes that we want to move away from, including padding battle records, faction farming, and leveling.

Some of the changes are as follows:

  • NPC fights no longer count towards your battle record. We want the Leaderboards and your battle record to clearly reflect your PvP accomplishments instead of forcing players to farm NPCs to pad their win rates.
  • You can now fight NPCs an unlimited number of times.
  • NPCs will not give experience after level 5. This will allow new players to be eased into the battle system, but afterwards we want the focus to be on PvP. This also allows leveling players to get credits without continuing to level if they feel like they are falling behind.
  • NPCs will no longer give Battle Tokens or Influence. Since you can fight them without limit, we don’t want factions or players to farm them for Tokens or Influence. Again, we want the focus here to be on PvP.
  • NPCs will not give rewards if you lose. We don’t want people to purposely lose to NPCs over and over, so you will need to win to get Credits or other rewards.
  • Brainwashing is removed since it is no longer necessary.

 

Enhancements

We know there are still many questions about what we’re doing with Enhancements, but we’re not quite ready to talk about this in-depth yet. We will say now that the new system will allow for much greater customization than before, and will involve equipping passive effects and active abilities to your weapons.

 Skill Cores

Additionally, we will be providing compensation for those that have enhanced weapons in the current system. We’ll provide more specifics soon.

 

Omega Obliteration! 

We would like to kick off our new development phase with not one, but TWO promotional packages. These designs were inspired by devoted EpicDuel player and aspiring artist TrizzzCentrino! You can choose from the Omega Obliteror set, which features an energy sword plus a mutating weapon! 

Omega Obliterator

OR if physical damage is more your thing, you may select the Omega Onslaughter!

Omega Onslaughter

All of these weapons will offer 2 new weapon skills (one active, one passive) to give you an edge in Omega. We will explain what these skills are and what they do as soon as we finalize the details!

Speaking of promotions: Check out Heromart's Coming Soon page for details on the upcoming "Are You Yeti" shirt! This epic garment will come with not one, but TWO yetis for you to play with for the upcoming release!

Well? Are you?!

 

The Frozen North

Alydriah has been up to no good in her captured territory. However, there is one bastion of hope in this shattered land:

Titan's Magical Lair

Titan stands watch from his mountain lair in Frysteland. Many displaced Krampus have taken shelter at the foot of this mountain fortress, seeking some respite from constant harassment from Legion troops. Alydriah is smart enough to steer clear of this mysterious refuge, but not so fearful that she wouldn't taunt the gods of Delta V through more indirect means. What new cybernetic terrors has Alydriah created in during the Legion's occupation of this region? Would Alydriah burn Frysteland to the ground just to annoy Titan? How many cheeseburgers do you think Titan has hidden up there?

Elite Yeti

I guess you'll have to login to find out!

 

Easy on the Eyes

As we mentioned earlier, the early game experience is getting a drastic overhaul, starting with the login and class selection screens. We will also be refreshing the look of the base armors and styles to reflect this graphical overhaul. This might not be tremendously exciting to our veteran players, but it will make EpicDuel 1000% more appealing to new players, expanding the total number of active players, which means more opponents for you!  

Choose your destiny!

 

WHY NO UPDATE?!

With all the changes to the database structure and game code, we literally cannot release before it's ready.  Also, preparing a weekly release would divert time away from development on Omega, and we cannot spare a second at this point!

On that note -- Code Sorcerer, away!

Tags: Titan promotions Omega Frysteland Winter Obliterator Onslaughter Yeti HeroMart Shirt Enhancements Stats code TRizZzCENTRINO Update Holiday Seasons Epic Skills Weapons alydriah


Titan

November 29, 2012

Top-Secret Details Revealed!

Some of you may have seen on Twitter that BIG changes are coming to items. We wanted to take the time to explain some of these changes as we get ready for Omega. Today, we'll be talking about gear requirements and stats.

 

SO LONG, DELTA!

Before we dig into the meat of this post, I will tell you that as soon as Omega launches, the Delta Knight armor, Platinum's Pride armor, the Dragonoid Saga gear, and all the Harvest gear will be leaving the in-game shops and Varium store. Delta Knight we go ultra rare, never to return again, while the Dragon Buster II and Platinum's Pride will be going perma-rare. We're not yet comfortable posting an official date, but it WILL happen sometime in December before Christmas. If you've been holding off on picking up any of this superb gear, what are you waiting for? Grab it before it's GONE!

 

REQUIREMENTS

One major change we want to bring to the game is greater freedom of choice in gear. Currently your choices are severely limited by the level and stat requirements on gear. If your level is too low, you simply can't equip the item. If your level is too high, the item isn't useful enough. If the item has odd stat requirements, you either can't use it or you have to alter your build to equip it.

In Omega, these requirements are going away entirely. You can buy and equip any item at any level, and there will be no stat requirements to prevent you from equipping anything. The only requirements that will remain are gender and class for class-specific items.

 

STAT FREEDOM

One other limitation to picking your gear is the built-in nature of stats on your items. If you like a staff or gun, but the stats are bad for your build, then that weapon is no good to you. In Omega, you may now arrange your stats how YOU want on all of your items.

To maintain balance, you will not be able to put all of the item's points into one stat, but otherwise you can customize it as you wish. Similarly, you will be able to choose the allocation of Defense and Resistance on any armor.

 

UPGRADING ITEMS

Whaaaaaaaaaaat!

(Please note that the above graphic is still in the testing phase and not finalized. It's simply meant to illustrate this exciting new upgrade feature!) 

Another major change coming to items in Omega is the ability to upgrade any item. As you level up, you will gain the ability to put more stats, damage, and defense/resistance onto your items, up to their maximum potential for your level. This effectively means that any item can be used at any level and will not be stronger or weaker than any other item at that level.

Let me repeat that. You'll be able to upgrade any item to your current level and it will be useful in battle. Founder Armor, Beta Gear, last year's Autumn items, that weapon you loved using at level 6 -- all of these will be viable at your level.

And just to be perfectly clear, these features will be available with or without Varium. Upgrading your gear and rearranging your gear's stats will have both Credit and Varium options available.

 

ENHANCEMENTS

That covers everything we want to share today, but we have more still to talk about in the coming weeks before Omega's launch. Maybe next time we'll discuss our plans for enhancements.....Stay tuned! Feel free to discuss everything in the forums.

 

Other Progress

Here's a quick look at some of the projects the art team is working on for the Omega release!

Revamped Merc

 

Revamped Tech Mage

 

Alydriah's Winter Palace

 

Cuddly Wuddly Legion Yeti

Stay tuned for further updates as development on Omega progresses!

Tags: Titan Omega Update Weapons Armors RabbleFroth Forum Yeti Delta Rares


Nightwraith

November 20, 2012

Reason to Be Thankful

Rabble's Bounty

So you roughed up Rabblefroth pretty good last week, eh? Apparently, you knocked his massive backpack over and forced him to unload a bounty of new harvest-themed seasonal rares!

A harvest of weapons!

Since we were strapped for time, we asked the kind artists at AQW to lend a hand and we received enough assets to create a veritable cornucopia of new weapons! We tried to add enough EpicDuel flavoring to make them appear uniquely dangerous, while retaining that festive holiday feel that AQW artists do so well.

Visit Rabblefroth in the Wasteland to inspect his holiday wares before the Harvest ends and the cold winds of the North descend upon the citizens of Delta V.

 

Are You Yeti?

That's right! The cuddly-but-deadly creatures from Frysteland are alive and well and will be returning to EpicDuel this December. There's no better way to rub this oversight in Alydriah's face than by wearing it on a slick navy blue t-shirt. 

Well? Are you?

*Shirt logo colors are not finalized. We are still working with the printers to get the best possible quality.

Look for the "Are You Yeti?" shirts in HeroMart within the next few weeks.  Be sure to follow Faith's Twitter for ongoing developments!

 

Omega Marathon

Note: Today's update is not Omega. This section of the DNs is a preview of our current progress on Omega. 

As part of the Omega release, we will be returning to the frozen tundra of Frysteland to check in on Alydriah and her latest plans for the region. Check out some of the awesome concept art Charfade has been working on as we prepare to revisit this arctic wonderland.

Chilling concept art

Alydriah's new crib.

Revamped Female BH

I've seen a lot of questions on the Tweetbooks and Facespace about the purpose of these class designs, and I will clarify right now that they are not new classes, but revamped versions of the base classes (Hunters, Mercenaries, and Mages). This is to create a better experience for new players and make the game feel fresh again for veterans.

Balancing 6 classes is no simple task, and we would rather tighten that balance than add 3 new classes. Plus, we feel it would be much more interesting to increase the diversity of play styles for all the existing classes so a Tech Mage plays completely differently from a Bounty Hunter and so forth. One way we hope to achieve this is by eliminating or modifying overlapping skills. We hope to make several changes in the Omega update that will make this diversification easier to implement and balance which we will elaborate upon as more details are finalized.

That's all from me for now. Happy dueling and Happy Harvest! Be sure to take time and reflect upon all that your are thankful for and cherish those close to you!

Tags: Omega Nightwraith RabbleFroth Weapons harvest alydriah Frysteland Wasteland previews Yeti


Nightwraith

November 16, 2012

Rabble Duel

Birthday Wishes

Sorry for the delay in the DNs, but this has been an exceptionally busy week as we go headfirst into Omega development. Before I get to the meat, I would like to start off by thanking all of the EpicDuelists who made my birthday this past weekend extra special. I did not expect the outpouring of complements and birthday wishes. You guys rock!

 

Minor Tweaks

Nightwraith's Wraith Pikes will be returning since I forgot them last week. Sorry for the inconvenience, but at least you have an additional week to get them!

 

Meet Rabblefroth!

Mweeehehehehe!

The great and powerful numeromancer Rabblefroth has been sighted in the Wastelands of Delta V! Carrying his massive satchel of arcane tomes, he searches the planet tirelessly for answers to the secrets of the Universe like "Why are we here?" and "Can ghosts be used for fuel?"

Not usually prone to fighting, Rabblefroth is nonetheless not to be trifled with. His mastery of the arcane arts is so great he has been known to summon weapons from the ether and turn is ancient tomes into projectile weapons. If you defeat him, you will be rewarded with an achievement and perhaps some long division homework.

Be sure to check back with the mercurial mage from week to week as he will periodically ask the citizens of Delta V questions to help improve their livelihoods. Your participation will be greatly appreciated.  

 

Ongoing Omega

Omega Is Coming

Charfade and I have been working hard on improving one of the fundamental elements of EpicDuel -- the character model. This element is one of the oldest parts of EpicDuel and it doesn't wear it's age well. We've learned a great deal in our time working at Artix Entertainment, but we needed some fresh perspectives to breathe new life into our characters so we assembled Yergen, Samba, and Cysero to assist us.

Animation Tests

After an overwhelmingly informative session in which we acted out possible EpicDuel animations with Nerf weapons, we gathered the notes and set about tearing down basic character animations and poses to make the model more dynamic.  This is a change that everyone will notice. It will make the game look more appealing to new players, while making battle feel fresh and exciting for veterans.

Female Mercendary

Going forward, you will not see much content being released with each update until we have launched Omega. There are a lot of changes happening on the Dev database that make it very challenging to introduce a ton of new content until after Omega is live. We have a tentative release deadline planned for December, but there is more to do for this phase than any yet to date. This also coincides with our big Winter release, which will bring us back to Frysteland against new and familiar foes. 

Hello, Beastie!

Stay tuned for further Omega updates with a complete breakdown of the features we intend to introduce with this massive update.

Tags: Omega Bugs Animation Characters Samba Cysero RabbleFroth Nightwraith


Nightwraith

November 08, 2012

Wear Your Birthday Best

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to m...OK, that's a little over-indulgent, I admit. Even though I'm leveling up in real life, what I'm really excited about is what I get to offer you!

It's Nightwraith's Birfdeeee!

All your favorite items will be returning from my personal stash of weapons. I'm generous, but I don't want to make it too easy to access them. Like last time, you can either buy the OneX6 Key from me directly or win it from me by besting me in combat!

Check out these new level 35 bazookas suggested by ..TRizZzCENTRINO..!

New Zookas!

All your old favorites are returning as well!

My Gear

My Duds!

The missions will also be returning. Visit my friends and associates around Delta V to see what Birthday trickery they're cooking up!

The one key absense is the 11-11-11 achievement. 11-11-11 is only happening once in my lifetime so it's RARE. 11-11-12 doesn't really have the same ring to it.

Dress Your Best!

It wouldn't be a real party without outrageous costumes! Suit up in one of 42 NEW STYLES (7 groups with one style for each gender and class). These artisan styles were crafted with great care based on the winning designs from our Spooky Head Design Contest. Join us Friday to see the designs come to life in-game!

New Contest Styles 1

Contest Styles 2

On Friday, the winners will also receive their achievements and their in-game styles free of charge! Congratulations, you earned it!

 

A Cold Front Approaches!

As Fall comes to a close, a cold wind blows from the north. Last year, Frystland fell to the Legion and Alydriah has commanded the occupying forces to do...something. We don't know, and that's terrifying. We have a feeling that she'll unveil her schemes soon, though.

In the meantime, check out these new concepts for revamped EpicDuel classes: Bounty Hunter and Tech Mage!

Revamped BH

^Thyton

Revamped TM

^Nightwraith

Tags: Nightwraith Titan contest styles Cake Birthday Missions Weapons Armory Omega

 

 EpicDuel Game Design Notes Archive