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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

January 27, 2011

A Heartwarming Update!

EpicDuel is finally defrosting today as the powerful winter-themed weapons disappear for another year.  However, those looking for rares to collect need to look no further than the Slayer, who will be carrying the brutal Heartbreaker weapons!  Rumor has it that something big and lethal is coming to Delta V in the next few weeks, and you'll need the best gear you can find to survive what's on the horizon!

Heartbreaker Weapons!

You can still grab the last of the frost gear until we go live with the new update.  However, to make room for the new gear, we are removing ALL of our current seasonal items including:

  • Seasonal rare weapons including Frostbane and the Frostbane promotion
  • Seasonal rare home items
  • Frost Warrior Achievement
  • Year of the Dragon Achievement

With the reintroduction of Heartbreaker gear, we are pleased to introduce a newcomer to the set: the nightmarish Azrael's Bane!

Azrael's Bane!

Developed by the most demented weapon smiths from across Delta V, this devastating sword will prepare all duelists who possess it for the terrors ahead with an added 5% chance to inflict critical strikes! Azrael's Bane with be available from Slayer at the Barren's Outpost, or free with the purchase of the 10,000 Varium package!  As an added bonus, I will share with you the creation of this beastly blade in a time-lapsed YouTube video!

The Forging of Azrael's Bane!

Charfade, the limited rare vendor, is also preparing for this exciting new event restocking with new offerings: Charfade's Launcher, an ingenious bazooka/catapult and Charfade's Blaster, a copy of her personal sidearm!  Will any or her previous rares be returning?  That's up to her!

Charfade's New Inventory!

Don't forget that HeroMart is now fully stocked with EpicDuel shirts!  Each shirt comes with a code that unlocks the EpicThreads achievement in EpicDuel and the Cyber Hunter armor in AdventureQuest Worlds!  While wearing the shirt you may feel an increased urge to duel and battle indigenous wildlife, but be advised: health packs do not exist IRL!

Epic Shirt!


New features in this update:

  • New promotional sword: Azrael's Bane, featuring a %5 critical strike chance!
  • Heartbreaker rares reintroduced!  Visit the Slayer to grab them!
  • Charfade's Launcher and Blaster introduced as limited-time rares!
  • Improved account creation process!
  • Guest conversion!  Easily convert guest accounts to a REAL account to save progress!
  • Interface improvements including a Logout button and in-game Server Select!

LOGOUT! 

Features coming over in the next several weeks:

  • Event quests!
  • New Battle Modes including 2vs1 Boss Battles, and Survival mode!
  • Tournaments for rare prizes!
  • Much more!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

January 25, 2011

EpicDuel Is Defrosting!

The holiday season on Delta V is once again coming to a close.  The citizens are shelving their festive holiday garb, and the powerful Frost Weapons are beginning to thaw and melt away for another year.  This means you will only have until this Friday to grab Frostbane or any of the other seasonal rares to destroy your enemies, boost your rarity score, and cut through George Lowe's defenses!

I'm meltttttiiiiinnnnnggg!

In other news we just received the first batch of our EpicDuel shirts!  We did a big photo shoot yesterday to get shots of Titan, myself, and other AE staff wearing the shirts in EpicDuel poses...but we realized we had a bunch of logos from other companies and our business address in some of the shots! 0_o

 

Epic Shirt!

However, YOU will have a chance to look as cool as us, if not cooler (hopefully cooler), because the shirts are on sale NOW at HeroMart!  As a bonus with your purchase, by entering a promotional code in EpicDuel you will receive the EpicThreads achievement, and in AQWorlds you'll receive the awesome Cyber Hunter Armor!

Promo code!

Stay tuned for more news on the release this week.  We're going to try something we have never done before, so I hope you enjoy it!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

January 20, 2011

Gamma Evolution 1.1.3c Release Notes

Enter: Charfade Part Duex

Last week we introduced you to the space-faring engineer Charfade and her limited quantity shop.  In a very short amount of time, she sold out of her entire inventory, much to the surprise of all of use.  This week her shop will be restocked with new limited quantity weapons and a sweet new ride, the Charfade Cruiser!

Small But Tough!

Although she's still new to Delta V, Charfade has learned quickly that it is essential to always be prepared for battle.  Over the past week, she has enhanced her armor to withstand combat and enhance her own fighting skills.  She may be small, but she sure packs a punch!  Knock her out and receive her helmet as a prize!

Charfade Cruiser VRRRRROOOOOM!

Yarrrr! Thar Be Treasure!

One thing EpicDuel has always been lacking compared to other RPGs is a way to designate an item's rarity.  Some people play to socialize, some play win, and others play to collect the shinies!  Last week we introduced a rarity scale, and this week we have expanded it to include ULTRA-RARE items.  Do you have one?  

If you're curious as to the value of your rares, talk to Charfade in Fortune City, who can now tell you your inventory's Rarity Score.  This score makes you eligible for a new Treasure Hunter achievement, and potentially a place on our new Rare Hunter Leaderboard!

Treasure YARRRRR!

We know that staff accounts tend to have some crazy rare weapons as a reward for helping us moderate and build the game, so to be fair, we have restricted the leaderboard to exclude staff accounts, Titan and myself included.  Staff can still receive their Rarity Score, but will not be posted on the leaderboard.

 

In-game Master Account Creation!

Wow!  More Master Account stuff!  I know this may not seem exciting to some, but the process of simply registering a Master Account is something we have worked tirelessly to improve since we first merged with AE.  Now, thanks to some epic sorcery from Titan and Captain Rhubarb, players can finally create a Master Account without leaving EpicDuel!  Convenient ++

Master Account

Legendary Duelist!!!

I would like to take a moment here to congratulate our hardest-fight duelist, and first and second EpicDuel players to achieve the rank of LEGEND!

Legend

Congratulation to Fay Beee (1st) and BLUEBIRD NO 1 (2nd) for climbing their way to over 100,000 victories!  This status is so rare, that it won't even be visible until we go live which is why I want to congratulate them here and wish them many more successful duels!

 

Balance Update!

In this latest update, we have made the following balance adjustments:

Deadly Aim: 20 Support at lvl 1, +2 per level 
Shadow Arts: 20 Support at lvl 1, +2 per level 
Blood Lust: 20 Technology at lvl 1, +2 per level 

 

HeroMart Update!

EpicDuel shirts are on their way!  Soon you will be able to order a shirt featuring the logo of your favorite browser-based PvP Flash MMO (it's not a big list, but we'll take it!).  In addition to receiving an awesome shirt to give yourself a major coolness buff, by entering the included promo code you'll also receive the EpicThreads achievement in EpicDuel and unlock the Cyber Hunter armor in AQW.  

EpicThreads
We were thinking about doing a t-shirt armor in EpicDuel, but we concluded that it might not offer the best stats for climbing the leaderboards!  As the disclaimer says:
 
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTICE:  While wearing the EpicDuel shirt you may feel a sudden urge for battle.  Please note the EpicDuel t-shirt will not withstand bullets, knifes, bazookas, robots, plasma, aliens, space lasers, or artillery rounds.

Please stay tuned to these DNs and HeroMart's Twitter for further updates!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

January 13, 2011

Gamma Evolution 1.1.3b Release Notes

Enter: Charfade

EpicDuel is proud to welcome the mysterious, talented, space-faring engineer from a distant world (also the newest member of the team), Charfade!  Stranded on Delta V, she has decided to spend most of her time tinkering with the planet's unusual technology.  She will be appearing in the heart of Fortune City offering her latest creations to lucky players who manage to grab them before they're gone.  

Introducing Charfade

George Lowe's Space Warrior Armor!

Even with her limited supplies, Charfade was still able to create a limited number of copies of George Lowe's Space Warrior Armor!  She even fixed the vulnerability to frost weapons!  This unique armor is "one size fits all", meaning it can be equipped to any gender or class!  Act fast, because once they're gone, only Charfade knows whether or not more will be created.

Space Warrior Armor!

Legion Arena!

Another change you'll notice is that George Lowe has moved to his rightful place in Legion Arena, now completely constructed in the middle of Fortune City.  George Lowe is still challenging players to take him down, but who knows what other powerful characters will enter the arena to give players an even greater challenge?

Legion Arena

Guest Login!

One of our focuses for the new year is making it easier for new players to get into EpicDuel.  One major step towards that is a new Guest Login feature.  Plays can now instantly create a character and join the fray without creating an account!  However, no progress (experience, wins, credits, items, etc...) will be saved on Guest accounts, so to take advantage of all of EpicDuels features, we still encourage players to create a real Master Account once they decide EpicDuel is sufficiently awesome.

Guest Login

HeroMart Update!

Speaking of limited quantity shops, I have just received news that our EpicDuel shirts will arrive next week and go on sale as soon as next weekend.  In the meantime, the existing inventory in HeroMart is rapidly depleting.  Here is a list of the current items still in stock:

150 Calendars

30 Twillies

10 Sm ChickenCow

10 Med ChickenCow

5 XL Shirts

20 2XL Shirts

20 3XL

Stay tuned for further update on the first run of EpicDuel merch!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

January 05, 2011

Gamma Evolution 1.1.3a Release Notes

Did everyone have a pleasant holiday?  I went back up to the Frozen Northrealm, my homeland, and brought back a lovely cold.  Just what I wanted!  Now, you're probably wondering when the next update will be...well...Surprise!  Update!  Today EpicDuel just went live with it's latest, highly requested feature: Multiple Characters!

Players can now add up to SIX characters to a Master Account!  At the moment, this only works with creating new characters, but in the next phase we will add the ability to merge characters created on other Master Accounts into one Master Account, fulfilling it's role as "ONE LOGIN TO RULE THEM ALL."  

Players with multiple characters on a Master Account who purchase Varium will notice that they now have the option to select which character will receive the Varium.

Multiple Character Select!

This is one of those "Big Scary Features" that could break the game wide open and leave a lot of angry players with broken characters, so please please please, if you find any bugs, report them immediately in the BattleOn Forums!

Since we introduced new skills a few weeks ago, we've seen some powerful new builds emerge, many taking advantage of the new skills.  As often happens, the balance got a bit wonky, so we have also made the following balance adjustments:

Shadow Arts: Removed effect on Deflections.

Blood Shield: Extended duration to 5 turns.

Finally, you may notice that the NPCs have become a bit...chatty?  Over the past few days we have been adding clever and intimidating NPC chat.  Some pulled right from player suggestions!

Multiple Character Select!

I think this gives the various characters in the EpicDuel universe a bit more personality, don't you agree?  Stay tuned for news on EpicDuel Gamma 1.1.3b!

Duel On!

Nightwraith

Tags: Nightwraith

 

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