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EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes
 | April 18, 2019 Springtime Smash!
EpicDuel will be updating shortly to add part of an epic springtime release featuring new weapons, balance changes, and a new arcade game!
Balance Currently, many ideas for improving balance are being thrown around on the test server but there's not total confident in their viability. It's especially risky to push large balance changes over a holiday weekend when immediate corrective action wouldn't be possible. We're continuing to test and brainstorm ideas to revamp the skill trees to empower struggling classes and encourage build diversity.
Try your luck and spend some tokens at the Springtime Smash Arcade featuring some new weapons from Bido!
Visit Deuce for new seasonal gear! There's still more to come so don't feel too disappointed if some items from the previews, like the awesome Highlander armor, aren't present in the shop just yet!
This the first part of our springtime release, the second part of which should have even more balance changes and seasonal content. In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday weekend! Tags: Nightwraith |
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| April 12, 2019 Patch Notes - 1.7.17We just rolled a small patch with some small adjustments and preparations to make much larger changes to the skill trees next week, changes which will require some extemsive testing to evaluate their viability. We also have a glorious cache of weapons and items in the pipeline
New Features/Changes
Tags: Nightwraith |
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| April 05, 2019 Passive Skills Return!
The day has finally come! It's been nearly 6 years and after hundreds of constructive and not-so-constructive comments, emails, and forum posts later Passive Skills have returned to the skill trees of EpicDuel! Party like it's 2013 and experiment with build options not possible in years, if at all!
BalancePassive skills return to replace their former active skills! If you're new to EpicDuel, you're probably wondering why this is significant. Passive Skills haven't been a part of the game since 2013 and the game has changed a lot since then. At the time, we felt that Passive Skills didn't make the battles feel dynamic enough. On the surface, Passive Skills aren't as cool as summoning a lightning bolt or activating a space laser, but because they can impact almost every round for 0 cost, they're extremely powerful and essential for most builds. We replaced them with new active skills hoping that would make energy management more valuable and diversity builds. Sound theory, but the removal of Passive Skills left a large hole in EpicDuel that the new skills never quite replaced. This reversal could have happened much sooner, but many of the Passive Skills were completely shredded in the transition with the assumption that we would never go back. While some were simple to return (Blood Lust and Reroute are still equipped to many NPCs), others had to be rebuilt. This was a big, scary change with many unknown consequences, but hopefully it will all be worth it!
Since this is such a major change to battle dynamics, and the game has changed so much in 6 years, we'll definitely need some follow up updates to balance the returning skills. This'll be an ongoing process, but a major step towards returning something dearly missed by longtime players.
Core Changes
HairstylesSince enough people liked the April Fool's armor, I've separated the head from the armor and added as a hairstyle. Now you can have whatever helm or hair you wish with the armor!
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| March 23, 2019 Bunnyzooka Bunn-anza!
Spring is finally here! Can you believe it? Can you believe there's a brand new edition of the Bunnyzookas with pre-equipped cores? Can you believe HeroMart just restocked a truckload of EpicDuel merch? Believe!
Bunnyzooka Bunn-anza!To refresh the classic Bunnyzookas, we've introduced the shiny new 2019 editions available at Brachylagus in the Biological Preserve Archives, complete with a new active core!
New CoresAvailable at Dage the Evil, these new active primary cores can make a huge different to the outcome of your duels!
Robot ChangeThe Bunny Bot has a sneaky special attack that has been underused for ages. To improve this, we've expanded the triggers for the Egg Rain attack to include regular sidearm and auxiliary attacks. Core attacks and skills are still exempt.
Classic Core UnlocksTo encourage experimentation with some classic EpicDuel items, we've unlocked the cores on the Delta Gear. This was done as an experiment to see if it was something worth doing to other rare, locked gear.
BalanceTo increase the viability of Bounty Hunter Dexterity builds without making them overpowered, we've made the following changes:
HeromartAn incredible bounty of loot is finally available from HeroMart, including new designs to complement the return of old classics!
Coming SoonSpring is officially here and Easter is right around to corner, so Bido and Deuce are hard at work crafting some awesome new sets worthy of your extensive collections!
Cut ContentNot among the new cores were a handful of new passives that were designed to give players a big advantage if their health dropped below critical levels. However, there were some problems in the battle engine that kept them from triggering properly at the health threshold, meaning they would be active the entire fight! I fought my own battle against the code for a bit but had to cut them for this update. Hopefully we can get them working as intended and in game in an upcoming update!
Status ReportOne major project I've been planning to implement is the return of Passive skills to the skill trees. I'm very close to having the logistics ironed out for this project but I will need some programming advice to make sure nothing breaks. Changing Passive skills to Active skills was a major change that took a long time to implement so it shouldn't be surprising that reverting the change is taking longer than anticipated. Some of the Passives no longer exist so they must be recreated. Plus, modifying the skill trees is a complicated process that is very unforgiving. It's possible to break every character in the game with small mistake! No pressure, right? Next week, I will be traveling to visit family so I there are no updates planned for next week. I know that's a bummer, but I haven't taken a real break since... Hmmm... I don't remember. Anyway, I should return ready to tackle this major project to restore a bit of what you loved about the old battle engine. Hopefully, we don't prove the old saying true, "Be careful what you wish for..." Now where did I put that Gamma.exe? Another issue I'd like to address is the speculation of plans for EpicDuel's future. In the near term, I've been able to secure additional help with creating art assets to make meatier releases. The increased attention EpicDuel has received also motivated HeroMart to restock old merch and create new merch. I've noted people expressing fatigue with the weapon releases, but developing new or restoring old features is mostly beyond my capabilities alone. Many of the new features you've enjoyed have been due to snagging snippets of Titan's time for consultation or development. Larger features that require days or weeks are trickier as he has regular obligations to AQ3D. It's frustrating, but Titan's new role comes with less autonomy than he enjoyed as the EpicDuel lead. That's part of the tradeoff when you sign up to work for a company rather than running your own business. What about EpicDuel 2? ED2D? EDBR? I see people demanding these new projects enter the pipeline constantly, and I agree with you! You don't have to convince *me* that EpicDuel is awesome and deserves an awesome future. I don't need convincing, but I don't have the autonomy to greenlight a project. As I understand it, the plan is to use AQ2D as a basis for converting the Flash games to Unity. Why does AQ2D get preference? AQW is much, MUCH bigger than EpicDuel. Even at EpicDuel's peak, it was orders of magnitude larger by nearly every metric. For those of you clenching your fists like the Arthur meme, note I said bigger, not better. Big is big. If that weren't the case, why on earth would EpicDuel only have one dev? That said, EpicDuel's players are some of the most enthusiastic and devoted fans of all the games, and that doesn't go unnoticed. I love our humble little PvP game, but I understand the rationale, especially when working with limited resources. I can't build the game on my lonesome as I've tragically dumped all my stats into art and charisma (obviously). What I can do is continue building on EpicDuel, creating new releases, updating balance, and adding features whenever I can. It's in my interest, and AE's interest to see EpicDuel thrive, contrary to claims of sabotage I've seen. I've lashed myself to the mast of this project for over a decade and I really don't know what I'd do beyond it -- a scary thought that's kept me up many nights, but maybe that's a nudge toward better personal development. I'm 100%, full-time EpicDuel and plan to continue for as long as you'll allow it. That's what I know at this current moment. That knowledge is always subject to change based on news I hear from on high, and I'll certainly update you all when that happens. I won't tease a project before it's 100% official. Thank you for your patience. If you're frustrated, know that it's mutual, but I aim to make the best of the present situation. Duel On! Tags: Nightwraith |
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| March 15, 2019 Dage Overload!
This week EpicDuel is overloaded with new Dage the Evil weapons available in class-specific varieties to let you craft a truly killer build! Also, production is still underway for EpicDuel's HeroMart bounty. The proof is in the proofs (printing humor) as the new posters arrive hot off the presses!
Balance:To help Focus builds, some changes were made to the following skills:
Weapons -- Located on Dage the EvilDage wasn't done sharing his bounty with some glorious class-specific weapons for EpicDuel! Some of these are very low quantity, so the collectors will want to hurry to get them before they run out!
HeroMart
Coming SoonAs I write this Bido and Deuce are hard at work on more Spring/Celtic/Easter content that should be hitting the game soon! Be sure to follow them on Twitter for updates! Tags: Nightwraith |
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| March 08, 2019 Epic Merchandise!
Greetings! This week we have some very exciting news for those who have been hankering for a piece of EpicDuel merch, which have been out of stock for ages: HeroMart will soon be restocking sold out EpicDuel merchandise and selling brand new merch, which will include items in EpicDuel AND AQW! This should be great news for those of you who wanted another chance to get a piece of EpicDuel you can hold in your hand, hang on your wall, or cover your body! Be sure to follow HeroMart for the latest updates when these new products hit the shelves! We don't know how many they're producing, but we wouldn't sleep on it very long!
Balance
Bug Fixes/ Changes
Hairstyle
These achievements will be available with codes from the upcoming new Heromart items!
Weapons These weapons will be available with codes from the upcoming new Heromart items!
Home Items These items will be available with codes from the upcoming new Heromart items!
New Artist Arrives We'd like to formally welcome Junny Osan to the EpicDuel Team. He'll be working with us, joining Bido and Deuce for some much-needed art assistance! Tags: Nightwraith |
