EpicDuel PVP Game Design Notes

May 24, 2024

This update covers some miscellaneous categories, mainly focusing on war drop balance with some additional information on the next Battlepass!

War Drops Rebalancing

Last week we introduced some substantial changes to war drop rates, including increased drop rates for super war drops. One major downside of this change is it tilted the incentive to bot heavily, especially in Juggernaut mode. To address this, the following changes have been made and will be in effect for the next War.

• All modes now have a flat 60% base chance to receive a war drop without a War Commander core.
• If you receive a war drop, there is a 20% chance that drop will be a super drop for all modes. 
• War Commander no longer drops super items for any mode.

Drop rates are always difficulty to evaluate as sometimes an item drop might "feel" like it's dropping more or less than it should based on a limited data set. Generally, we'd prefer to be more generous than stingy so we're open to reevaluating the percentages when the next War is underway.

Cyber Wolf Collection Complete

With this update the final Cyber Wolf Collection items have been distributed. I'm sorry this obligation took so long to fulfill, but I wanted to make sure all the items were as high quality as we could make them.

Over 175,000 score

• Cyber Dragon Morph 
• Cyber Dragon Morph CC

Over 250,000 score

• Nightbot 3000 Morph
• Nightbot 3000 Morph

This collection was a collaboration between myself, Tomcat, Acatriel, and Charfade, with a bit of inspiration from Dage thrown in for good measure. I hope you all enjoy the rewards as much as we did crafting them!

Balance Changes

This small round of balance changes mainly address the new promo cores, but fortunately, they're mostly buffs! 

• Infernal Prism: Description corrected to 3 turns instead of 2.
• Infernal Blessing: 100 --> 125 HP per tick (including initial use)
• Infernal Offering: 120 --> 150 energy per tick
• Infernal Curse: 25% --> 15% effectiveness; reduces defense/resistance as well as base weapon damages

• Terrify: Removed defense reduction effect.
• Plasma Cannon: -40 base damage at all levels.

Bug Fixes

• "You already own this item." message now works as intended.

Eldritch Onslaught Battlepass

The final item on this post is a preview for the upcoming Eldritch Onslaught Battlepass! This will replace the current Azrael-themed Battlepass soon so your time to collect the last few levels of rewards is running out!

Tags: Nightwraith

May 18, 2024

New Infernal Guardian Gear Promo Pack

For the first time in too long, we're introducing a new promotional package featuring new, exclusive armors, weapons, and cores! 

• Armors
  • Infernal Guardian
  • Infernal Guardian CC
  • Infernal Guardian Knight
  • Infernal Guardian Knight CC
  • Infernal Refracting Guardian
• Swords
  • Infernal Guardian Slayer P
  • Infernal Guardian Slayer E
  • Infernal Guardian Greatsword P
  • Infernal Guardian Greatsword E
• Sidearms
  • Infernal Guardian Gun P
  • Infernal Guardian Gun E
• Auxiliaries
  • Infernal Guardian Bow P
  • Infernal Guardian Bow E
• Mutating Weapons
  • Infernal Guardian Arsenal P
  • Infernal Guardian Arsenal E
• Cores
  • Infernal Prism (armor): The slow blade penetrates the shield. Reduces projectile dmg. 85% for 2 rounds.
  • Infernal Blessing (armor): Heal over time for 125 HP each round for 2 rounds, including the initial use.
  • Infernal Curse (primary): Reduce base Primary, Sidearm, Auxiliary dmg. and Defense/Resistance 15% for 2 rounds.
  • Infernal Offering (primary): Offer 80 HP for 150 MP each round for 2 rounds, including initial use.
• Achievement
  • Infernal Guardian Crest: Award for supporters of ED who got the Infernal Guardian package.

For this latest promotional package, we're doing something experimental. We'll be offering a 10,000 AP and a 4,000 AP version of the package. The 10,000 AP version will include 15,000 Varium and addition spare cores. The 4,000 AP package will be gear-only and not offer Varium or spare cores. It will still include cores pre-equipped to the items. Both packages will award the Infernal Guardian Crest Achievement, but only the 10,000 AP package will reward the Epic Supporter Achievement. Please review the package descriptions carefully in the in-game Varium shop to avoid accidentally purchasing the wrong package.

New Infernal Guardian Styles

Styles 763-772 have been added to the Style Change shop!

Nightmare Azrael's Guardian Slayer Achievement

This achievement will be awarded to those who were able to defeat Nightmare Azrael's Guardian in the time since the boss was first introduced! Congratulations on finding a successful strategy for taking down this fearsome foe! This achievement will be awarded manually so please allow some time before you see the achievement appear on your account if you qualify for it.

Quality of Life Changes

• War bar interface now enabled in homes.
• Super war drop chance increased.
• War drop capacity increased to 20 from 10.
• Juggernaut and Sim buttons swapped places.
• New items available at Vendbots:
  • Anti-1v1 Badge
  • Anti-2v2 Badge
  • Anti-Juggernaut Badge
  • Anti-Sim Badge
  • These items will allow you to disable the buttons for the corresponding battle modes. This solution has an advantage over a Settings toggle because, unlike Settings, your preference will not reset when you clear your cache. To re-enable the battle mode, simply sell the badge. NOTE: It's still possible to enter a Juggernaut match while queuing for 2v2 if you're of a certain level range even if you have the Anti-Juggernaut Badge.
• The merchant shop interface will now warn you with red text that you already own an item you have highlighted. If the item is not restricted, you will still be able to purchase duplicates.

Tags: Nightwraith

May 03, 2024

May the 4th Prize Code Star Sabers

It was around this time a year ago that I made a huge list of EpicDuel-themed star sabers I intended to offer as prize code rewards throughout the month of May and a little beyond. I got about halfway through the list before I needed emergency surgery to repair a detached retina which put a damper on the progress. The remaining star saber designs sat unfinished for a year, but they'll finally be released. Starting today, two codes will drop from my Nightwraith Twitter account every day until the list is exhausted. Interestingly, there are still a few codes from last year that were unclaimed fully so if you missed out, you can dig to find some that work. The following items being offered are, in no particular order:

• Infernal Slayer Star Saber P
• Infernal Slayer Star Saber E
• Ultra Corsair Star Saber CC P
• Ultra Corsair Star Saber CC E
• Sea King Star Saber P
• Sea King Star Saber E
• Celtic Hunter Star Saber P
• Celtic Hunter Star Saber E
• Infernal Fantasy Star Saber P
• Infernal Fantasy Star Saber E
• Black Abyss Star Saber P
• Black Abyss Star Saber E
• Abyss Acolyte Star Saber P
• Abyss Acolyte Star Saber E
• Dage's Desolation Star Saber P
• Dage's Desolation Star Saber E
• Infernal Overfiend Star Saber P
• Infernal Overfiend Star Saber E
• Fourteen Year Alpha Star Saber P
• Fourteen Year Alpha Star Saber E
• Titan's Triumph Star Saber P
• Titan's Triumph Star Saber E
• Tyrant Titan Star Saber P
• Tyrant Titan Star Saber E
• Nightwraith's Avatar Star Saber P
• Nightwraith's Avatar Star Saber E
• Legion Overfiend Star Saber P
• Legion Overfiend Star Saber E
• Ancient Legion Star Saber P
• Ancient Legion Star Saber E

PvP Drop Cleanup

 Over time EpicDuel has accumulated many PvP drops at many different drop tiers. In an effort to streamline and cleanup, we've adjusted the drop pool accordingly to keep the current drops from growing stale and giving people a better chance at collecting drops they were missing.

• Evolved Frostbane PvP Drops Leaving
• Ancient Legion/Doom PvP Drops Leaving
• Necrotek PvP Drops Leaving
• April Fools PvP Drops Leaving
• Nulgath PvP Drops Returned
• Darkwraith PvP Drops Returned

Nightmare Nerfs

Since nobody was able to defeat Nightmare Azrael's Guardian after a week, mainly due to a combination of a huge HP pool and impervious defenses, we're implementing the following nerfs based on player feedback:

• 50k --> 35k HP
• 150 --> 70 dex/tech
• 250 --> 0 armor bonus
• Removal Consecrated Fire
• Energy damage AOE removed.
• Physical AOE damage type changed to Energy.

Azrael's Guardian Slayer achievement awarded to those who defeated Azrael's Guardian in the first week of release! This achievement is awarded manually so please allow 30 minutes to an hour after the update to see the achievement. After that point you may need to relog to see it. Those who are able to defeat the Nightmare variant after this update will also receive an achievement in recognition of their skill for next week's update.

Tags: Nightwraith