EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

February 26, 2021

Celtic Hunter Weapons Return

The coveted Celtic Hunter Weapons and cores have returned to Charfade! Visit her at Mirv's Shop in the Barrens to browse her inventory for new and returning gear!

• Blazing Celtic Hunter
• Mystic Celtic Hunter
• Blazing Celtic Destroyer
• Mystic Celtic Destroyer
• Blazing Celtic Pistol
• Mystic Celtic Pistol
• Blazing Celtic War Bow
• Mystic Celtic War Bow
• Blazing Celtic Hunter CC
•  Mystic Celtic Hunter CC
• Hunter's Mark
• Skull Cracker
• TrueShot (Auxiliary)

War Prize Update

For those of you who claimed the prize for the Barrens Outpost War, the Barrens Battlegear Blueprints will change to the Barrens Battlegear P, a mutating companion to the Barrens Buster sword.

New Achievement

In anticipation of EpicDuel's 12th anniversary, we're adding the Twelve Year Alpha achievement to the shops. It will be available for a limited time, so grab it while you can!

Item Stat Update

To increase build variety and give a power boost to lower levels, we've increased the amount of available stat points that can be added to Guns, Auxiliaries, and Armors.

Gun and Auxiliary Stats
Lvl 1 - 1
Lvl 2 - 2
Lvl 3 - 3
Lvl 4 - 3
Lvl 5 - 4
Lvl 6 - 4
Lvl 7 - 5
Lvl 8 - 5
Lvl 9 - 5
Lvl 10 - 6
Lvl 11 - 6
Lvl 12 - 7
Lvl 13 - 7
Lvl 14 - 8
Lvl 15 - 8
Lvl 16 - 9
Lvl 17 - 9
Lvl 18 -10
Lvl 19 -10
Lvl 20 -11
Lvl 21 -11
Lvl 22 -12
Lvl 23 -12
Lvl 24 -13
Lvl 25 -13
Lvl 26 -14
Lvl 27 -14
Lvl 28 -15
Lvl 29 - 15
Lvl 30 - 16
Lvl 31 - 16
Lvl 32 - 17
Lvl 33 - 17
Lvl 34 - 18
Lvl 35 - 18
Lvl 36 - 19
Lvl 37 - 19
Lvl 38 - 20
Lvl 39 - 20
Lvl 40 - 21

Armor Stats
Lvl 1 - 1
Lvl 2 - 2
Lvl 3 - 3
Lvl 4 - 4
Lvl 5 - 5
Lvl 6 - 6
Lvl 7 - 6
Lvl 8 - 7
Lvl 9 - 8
Lvl 10 - 9
Lvl 11 - 9
Lvl 12 - 10
Lvl 13 - 10
Lvl 14 - 11
Lvl 15 - 11
Lvl 16 - 12
Lvl 17 - 12
Lvl 18 - 13
Lvl 19 - 13
Lvl 20 - 14
Lvl 21 - 14
Lvl 22 - 15
Lvl 23 - 15
Lvl 24 - 16
Lvl 25 - 16
Lvl 26 - 17
Lvl 27 - 17
Lvl 28 - 18
Lvl 29 - 18
Lvl 30 - 19
Lvl 31 - 19
Lvl 32 - 20
Lvl 33 - 20
Lvl 34 - 21
Lvl 35 - 21
Lvl 36 - 22
Lvl 37 - 22
Lvl 38 - 23
Lvl 39 - 23
Lvl 40 - 24

Tags: Nightwraith

February 19, 2021

Poseidon's Wrath

As of this update, the top prize from the 2020 Gifting season has been complete: Poseidon's Bot. This custom creation will be awarded to Poseidon and the custom codes for the replica "Neptune" will be distributed shortly after servers reboot.

If you're still waiting on your prize, don't worry! Your gift is in progress! If you're a winner who wishes to sell replicas of your prize, please be patient as the top priority is finishing outstanding gifts before adding replica items in-game.

Draconic Frost King Variety

Some folks were not satisfied with some small parts of the final design for the Secret Package armor, so several new variants will be distributed to match your particular aesthetic tastes. You want non-CC flames? Covered. You want no flames at all? Covered. If your inventory is already filled beyond the brim and you're perfectly satisfied the current look of your armor, these new variants can be sold. 

• Draconic Frost King non CC
• Winged Frost King non CC
• Draconic Frost King no Flame
• Winged Frost King no Flame

Balance

A much-needed balance update has been implemented this week with some substantial changes to primary damage scaling and class skills. 

• Tech Mage:
  • Malfunction: +1 technology point every 4.3 support (was 3.8)
    Level 2: 8
    Level 3: 11
    Level 4: 13
    Level 5: 15
    Level 6: 17
    Level 7: 18
    Level 8: 19
    Level 9: 20
    Level 10: 21
• Tactical Mercenary:
  • Barbed Grenade: Improves with Technology .37 (was .40); Removed warm-up
  • Suppressing Fire: Level changes improve by .5 levels (was .25) above 20 and weakens by .5 (was 1) level below 20.
• Mercenary:
  • Berzerker: Level 1 30% increase by 10% to level 5, then increase by 5% to level 10 max 95%
  • Artillery Strike: Level changes improve by .5 levels (was .25) above 20 and weakens by .5 (was 1) level below 20.
• Cyber Hunter:
  • Precision Strike: Removed and replaced with Neural Scythe, mechanically the same, but unblockable; Increased energy cost 10 per level 

• Primary Weapon Damage Strength Divisors:
  • 0-55: 0.46
  • 56- 85: 0.58
  • 86-100: 0.60
  • 100+: 0.75

• Legendary Points:
  • Auxiliary and Robot changed to plus 3 instead of 4
  • NPC Crusher and Armor changed to plus 4 instead of 2

Tags: Nightwraith

February 12, 2021

Secret Package Unlocked!

Finally! Either time is going faster or I'm getting slower (maybe both?), but the coveted Secret Packages are finally ready to open. As with the Silver Secret Package, please allow some time for these weapons to be distributed after the update. Since there are only 36 packages, they should be completed much more quickly. The Secret Packages will open to reveal:

• Draconic Frost Kingslayer P
• Draconic Frost Kingslayer E
• Draconic Frost King Blaster P
• Draconic Frost King Blaster E
• Draconic Frost King Bow P
• Draconic Frost King Bow E
• Draconic Frost King Armor
• Winged Draconic Frost King (Armor)

The 2 armors, crafted with care by Bido, will come pre-equipped with a new core:

• Draconic Frost King's Will: Increase Strength, Dexterity, Technology, and Support by 30% for 4 turns.

Brutal Heartbreaker Items

Visit the Alydroid in Fortune City for the returning Heartbreaker / Azrael Gear and latest batch of new items from Deuce!

• Brutal Heartbreaker Saber P
• Brutal Heartbreaker Saber E
• Brutal Heartbreaker Slicers P
• Brutal Heartbreaker Slicers E
• Brutal Heartbreaker Hatchet P
• Brutal Heartbreaker Hatchet E
• Brutal Heartbreaker Staff P
• Brutal Heartbreaker Staff E
• Brutal Heartbreaker Pistol P
• Brutal Heartbreaker Pistol E
• Brutal Heartbreaker Cannon P
• Brutal Heartbreaker Cannon E

This set looks incredible and purchasing just one of the items will earn you the Brutal Heartbreaker Collector achievement!

Roman's Restock and Gifter's Gifts

There was a small, but impactful goof when offering Roman's replica gear last week. It seems unlimited purchases were enable when the weapons were offered last week, allowing players rich in Credits or Varium to clear out the stock within minutes. This was not intended. Because of this mistake, I've allowed ONE restock for this update. This time the price has increased substantially, and only one of each can be purchased. If you were lucky enough to get one or two or ten last week, you cannot purchase more this time. After the quantity is depleted, the items will be marked as RARE and sellback will be enabled. If you sunk a king's bounty worth of Credits into these items.

It seems this release was very popular, as it opened the floodgates for winners from 2020 and past years to make similar requests. Though this generosity it admiration, please allow time for me to complete the remaining requests for the very, very patient winners!

Fixes and Changes:

• Titan's Battlegear E removed from shop
• Legendary Titan no longer drops battlegear
• Exoskeleton and Infernal Spirit should now work on the regular Delta Vault. They do not work on the Legendary Variant
• Infernal Surge was incorrected listed as a primary core when it was originally an armor core. This has been corrected.

Tags: Nightwraith

February 05, 2021

Silver Secret Package

What time is it? Silver Secret Packages time! Within a few hours of updating, all the Silver Secret Package will be converted the awesome and powerful Draconic Frost King mutating weapon sets! Remember, the conversion is a is a manual process, so it could take up to a few hours to convert all the packages (there are over 180 unique recipients). Your patience is appreciated! The Silver Secret Packages contain:

• Draconic Frost King P
• Draconic Frost King E

Both mutating weapons include the new Draconic Frost King's Might core:

• Draconic Frost King's Might: 105% dmg, increasing by 5% per round, (140% max); Inflicts 2 round Frostbite.

Even if you don't have a space for it in your build, you'll want to at least give it a try before swapping it.

You may notice that there's no travel form in this package. There is a morph in-progress, the Draconic Frost King's Avatar, that will be added to the inventory of Silver Secret Package holders as soon as it's complete.

Like last year, the prizes will be unsellable and all excess prizes will automatically be converted into credits. If you have more than one Silver Secret Package, one will turn into the prizes while the others turn into 100,000 credits for each excess package. The Secret Packages are on schedule to open next Friday! Charfade really outdid herself with this set, and it will really come together next week went the rest of the items are revealed!

Wishes for Sale

This year, one of the Gifting winners, Roman, offered to allow the sale of his items in-game. I thought this was a generous request, and it couldn't hurt to try something new. Roman's customized weapons will be available in CC and non-CC favors from Titan. Their quantities are very limited so you'll need to hurry if you want grab one! Their resale is temporarily limited in case someone with J. Bezos credits tries to scoop them all up for laughs.

• Roman's Delta Replica P
• Roman's Delta Replica E
• Roman's Delta Replica P CC
• Roman's Delta Replica E CC

If this concept is well-received, we'll be happy to include more wishes on a limited basis, with explicit permission from the wish recipient, of course. 

Legendary Titan

Because there were wasn't enough warning before removing Legendary Titan's rare drop, we've decided to return Titan's Battlegear E as a drop for a limited time. It will also be available for purchase for a steep credit price. The gear will be removed from the shop and from Legendary Titan permanently as early as Monday.

Prize Progress:

The 2020 Gifter prizes are still underway. Another prize was checked off the list this with some further progress on the remaining prizes.

Completed!

• Poseidon
• GodOfSanta
• Dillbrazd
• John
• D Fense
• HALO HALOS
• Ivan
• Clown
• Kuappo
• Lycan
• Roman

In Progress:

• Poseidon (Custom)
• Leo
• Taiso

Pending:

• Machaon
• runeknight4

Thank you for your patience as these projects are completed! These prizes are fun, unique challenges to design, and I hope to have them all delivered very soon! 

Tags: Nightwraith

January 29, 2021

Arcade Upgrade:

If you participated in the 2020 Gifting Event you probably have an Arcade Token or 2 in your pocket. Or 2,000. To help you spend those tokens and boost your Rating Score, all 26 Arcades have been upgraded with 3 new achievement tiers each. Do you have enough spare tokens to obtain them all?

Achievement Update:

In the Seasonal section of the Achievement shop, you'll find the Australia Day 2021 and Big Game LV achievements, available for a limited time!

Prize Progress:

The 2020 Gifter prizes are still underway. You may have seen some of them running around Delta V or encountered them in battle. It's always a joy to work with the winners each year to design a unique creation for the winner to cherish.

Completed!

• Poseidon
• GodOfSanta
• Dillbrazd
• John
• D Fense
• HALO HALOS
• Ivan
• Clown
• Kuappo
• Lycan

In Progress:

• Poseidon (Custom)
• Roman
• Leo
• Taiso

Pending:

• Machaon
• runeknight4

Thank you for your patience as these projects are completed! These prizes are fun, unique challenges to design, and I hope to have them all delivered very soon! 

Drop Adjustment:

Legendary Titan will no longer drop Titan's Battlegear E, and it will be tagged rare. Congratulations for those who were able to receive this mighty prize!

Slot Unlock:

The slots on Azrael's Curse have been unlocked.

Coming Attractions:

Next week, the plan is to open all the Silver Secret Packages! Finally, you will be able to enjoy the hard-earned gifts contained within! The Secret Package Prizes will unlock shortly thereafter!

New weapons and armors are also being created by Deuce and Bido for release in February!

There's a new NPC coming to Delta V. It's been ages since we added a new member to the cast of characters in our little post-apocalyptic world, and this will be one to remember. You may already know her!

Tags: Nightwraith

January 18, 2021

Farewell to Seasonal Arms

With today's update, EpicDuel's seasonal rares have been returned to their usual schedule. Also leaving are several seasonal missions such as 'A Bold Bounty' and 'Party Business'. The next seasonal rares on the horizon are Australia Day, Heartbreaker, and Azrael weapons!

Also leaving is the bonus Varium that was a part of the 10,000 AP packages. The Epic Supporter 2020 achievements will also no longer be available. Massive "Thank Yous" to all who took part in this incredible sale and supported EpicDuel through the holiday season! 

Million Gifter

To recognize the unprecedented level of gifting of the 2020 Gifting season, we're introducing new achievements to honor gifters who've surpassed the threshold of 1 million gifts giver in one season. So far 3, EpicDuel legends have attained this in the past 3 years.

Bandit J. (2018)
Poseidon (2020)
GodOfSanta (2020)

This achievement is only for those who've gifted over 1 million gifts in one Gifting season. It does not account for cumulative gifts over multiple years.

Because exceptional performance demands an exceptional reward, we decided that even though GodOfSanta didn't achieve the 1st place position, a special exception could be made to our Founder restriction. Alley Cat, our wise and powerful Lead Moderator, generously donated her Founder Armor to fulfill this prize. Going forward, anyone who exceeds the score of 1 million gifts per Gifting season may wish for Founder Armor. As we've said before, this Gifting event exceeded our wildest expectation, and we'll need reevaluate our rules more thoroughly before the next gifting season (it'll be here before you know it!).

I didn't think 2018 could ever be topped, and 2020 blew it away. I don't know if the records will be topped in 2021, but I've learned not to underestimate our most dedicated fans. 

Titan's Loot

Legendary Titan will, for the first time ever, now drop a special mutating version of his personal staff. Will you be among the first to claim this weapon?

Player Appreciation

Since we're quickly approaching EpicDuel's anniversary, we wanted to do something extra special to commemorate 12 years of duels. If you're an Alpha, Founder, Beta, Gamma, or Delta player with rare phase gear, you've probably thought at one point, "Hmmm this Delta sword is cool and all but I wish it did Energy damage." Maybe you feel similarly about other coveted phase weapons. Maybe you wondered what Gamma weapons could look like. If you're in any of these groups, then today's release may excite you. Starting with Delta Gear, we're going offer rewards to players who've stuck with us all these year, but relegated their rare gear to storage because it didn't fit their build.

Starting today, existing Delta Gear will "evolve" into 4 new weapons:

• Delta Destroyer P
• Delta Destroyer E
• Delta Devastator (mutating)
• Delta Desolator (mutating)

Our goal is to continue rolling out new variations of weapons to help "complete" sets of rare development phase gear for our most loyal players.

Balance:

• Reactive Armor:
  • Stat Requirement Dexterity - Base 24 increase by 2 max 42
• Berzerker:
  • Stat Requirement Support - Base 19 increase by 2 max 37
• Static Smash:
  • Stat Requirement Technology - Base 14 increase by 2 max 32
• Sea King's Spirit:
  • Cooldown raised to 6

Wish Fulfillment

Thus far, I'm in contact with all the 2020 Gifting winners and their prizes are underway. Progress has been slow but steady and a major batch should go out this Friday. Thank you for bearing with us during this post-gifting lull.

Tags: Nightwraith