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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

May 25, 2023

An Epic Dual: 2 Eyes are Better than 1

AE Team rallies as Nightwraith recovers from surgery

Hi players! Beleen here, and I just want to start off by reassuring you all: Nightwraith, your beloved Epic Dual game lead, artist, and all-around great guy, will be just fine. 


In order to deliver full transparency to our gaming community, we want to inform you all of what suddenly happened: Nightwraith’s retina – that super important part of your eyeball – started to detach; it’s a literal 🙈 moment. Emergency surgery had to be performed and the healing process is going to take at least 1 month for this type of procedure.


Good news: Nightwraith is out of surgery!

We got word last night from Nightwraith’s wife that the several hour surgery went very well, and he is currently recovering alongside his family and friends. Pheew! What a relief!

Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, being a game lead and artist does require both eyeballs to operate, so Nightwraith will not be able to carry out his normal duties until he is fully recovered. But! We are like family here at Artix Entertainment, and the team has stepped up to take care of our wounded comrade. 

Nightwraith reluctantly went through with his surgery, only because he cares so much about you all and did not want to distance himself from the community whatsoever. Of course, the AE team assured him that his ONLY responsibility was to take care of himself, and we would make sure that all players and the game were covered. And that’s what we’re doing right now.


It's all hands on deck!

Lodrian is stepping up into the spotlight and taking things forward with Alina vigilantly at their side (because no one should begin an adventure like this alone)! Captain Rhubarb is going to be programming, managing the database, and doing any admin/coding work for the EpicDuel releases. The rest of the AE team will be working with these warriors, giving them all guidance and support and writing Design Notes, much like yours truly. 

We all need to show that we’ve got Nightwraith’s back while the front of his eye is recovering! We are certain our gaming community understands that we must scale back the size of ED releases while he is recovering, since the AE team is already small and most of us haven’t worked on ED before.

However, we are still planning 2 new weapons packs over the next month (instead of the larger updates Nightwraith had planned, so we don’t accidently break something!). And, of course...

Double Varium bonuses!

The 2x Varium bonus started Tuesday, so now is a great time to score double Varium payouts with your support of the game – and Nightwraith, too! We should also send 2x healing thoughts to Nightwraith while he is recovering, since he will be out of commission for at least a month ❤️‍🩹

On behalf of everyone at Artix Entertainment, we hope you get well soon, Nightwraith – but don’t you DARE read this DN post since your eye needs time to fully heal :p We are making sure the ED team and players are covered while you recover! Healing wishes and positive vibes heading your way, Nightwraith!! 

Hugs from us all,

Lodrian, Beleen, and the Artix Entertainment team 

Tags: Alina


Nightwraith

May 18, 2023

May the Fourth Forever

EpicDuel Star Sabers Part 2

Performance improvements, bug fixes, and enough star sabers to stop an imperial army arrive with this latest update!


May the Fourth Forever

Well, maybe not forever. We do have many more rare social media prize code drops to last throughout the month of May! Can you collect them all?

 

Animation Optimization

Optimization is rarely exciting but often a net positive and sometime necessary for sustained development. With so many custom skills and variants for different weapon types, our character timeline ballooned to nearly 10,000 frames. Over time, we've been able to trim this down to about 7,000 frames with this latest update. The biggest change was consolidating the alternative animations for the class-specific weapons when using sidearms and auxiliaries. Now, the weapons will quickly fade out and back in at the end of the animation. This streamlines the animations while drawing focus to the weapons being used. After all, what's the point of upgrading a fancy new sidearm if it's going to be hidden behind your other weapons?

Optimization is an ongoing process, but this update was a major push forward in our battle against performance issues and file size!

 

Bug Fixes / Changes

There has been a persistent bug impacting AOE cores such as Ultra Obliteration that would cause the client to freeze if used against 2 targets without enough energy. We tried for awhile to resolve this issue, but to keep this issue from remaining in game and freezing battles, a stopgap solution was introduced in the most recent update: All AOE skills have the same energy require when used against 2 targets as 1 target. This will affect cores and regular class skills. In a way, it makes sense to unify the cost for 1 and 2 targets since players do not have a choice weather to target 1 or 2 players with an AOE, it's an automatic increase is energy cost. This may perhaps make AOE skills more viable in 2v2 and Juggernaut battles.

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

May 06, 2023

Ultra Corsair Now Live

Ultra Corsair Gear

EpicDuel is live with its latest limited-time promotion: Ultra Corsair Gear!

 

Ultra Corsair Package

This new 4,000 Artix Point package includes over 20 items! A great value on par with some of the 10,000 AP packages of the past. This limited-time promo includes the following items:

  • Ultra Corsair Armor A
  • Ultra Corsair Armor B
  • Ultra Corsair Armor A CC
  • Ultra Corsair Armor B CC
  • Ultra Corsair Bike
  • Ultra Corsair Bike CC
  • Ultra Corsair Sword P
  • Ultra Corsair Sword E
  • Ultra Corsair Sword CC P
  • Ultra Corsair Sword CC E
  • Ultra Corsair Carnage
  • Ultra Corsair Cataclysm
  • Ultra Corsair Revolver P
  • Ultra Corsair Revolver E
  • Ultra Corsair Revolver CC P
  • Ultra Corsair Revolver CC E
  • Ultra Corsair Rifle P
  • Ultra Corsair Rifle E
  • Ultra Corsair Rifle CC P
  • Ultra Corsair Rifle CC E
  • Ultra Corsair Bot P
    • Ultra Corsair Uppercut P: Piston-powered uppercut with 20% crit chance.
    • Ultra Corsair Crusher: Unleash a mini-Rage of 45% dmg on target's Energy; 15% Stun.
  • Ultra Corsair Bot E
    • Ultra Corsair Uppercut E Piston-powered uppercut with 20% crit chance.
    • Ultra Corsair Crusher Unleash a mini-Rage of 45% dmg on target's Energy; 15% Stun.

Cores (pre-equipped to the sidearms and auxiliary items in the package)

  • Revolver Retribution (sidearm): Summon a rapid-fire revolver to deal 115% damage. Can be used against 2 targets.
  • Ultra Obliteration (auxiliary): Summon a rapid-fire shotgun to deal 115% damage. Can be used against 2 targets.

This package also comes with an exclusive achievement, the Ultra Corsair Crest!

*Please note that this package does not include additional Varium.

 

Ultimate Stat Boost Pack

Though there are many passive cores available in EpicDuel, it can be difficult to know what to buy and where to buy it when crafting a build. Since stat-boosting cores are great for providing noticeable improvements in damage output, defense, healing, and more, we assembled many of the most common permanent stat cores into one convenient package. This new 10,000 Artix Point package contains over 40 passive stat-boosting cores to cover all the main gear categories. To provide added value, the package also includes 10,000 Varium to give players everything they need to create a highly competitive build. 

  • Prime Strength Boost
  • Prime Dexterity Boost
  • Prime Technology Boost
  • Prime Support Boost
  • Strength Boost (Sidearm)
  • Strength Boost (Armor)
  • Strength Boost (Auxiliary)
  • Dexterity Boost (Primary)
  • Dexterity Boost (Armor)
  • Dexterity Boost (Auxiliary)
  • Technology Boost (Primary)
  • Technology Boost (Sidearm)
  • Technology Boost (Auxiliary)
  • Support Boost (Primary)
  • Support Boost (Sidearm)
  • Support Boost (Armor)
  • Domination (Armor)
  • Domination (Primary)
  • Domination (Sidearm)
  • Domination (Auxiliary)
  • Infinity (Armor)
  • Infinity (Primary)
  • Infinity (Sidearm)
  • Infinity (Auxiliary)
  • Destruction (Armor)
  • Destruction (Primary)
  • Destruction (Sidearm)
  • Destruction (Auxiliary)
  • Fortitude (Armor)
  • Fortitude (Primary)
  • Fortitude (Sidearm)
  • Fortitude (Auxiliary)
  • Vigor (Armor)
  • Vigor (Primary)
  • Vigor (Sidearm)
  • Vigor (Auxiliary)
  • Absolution (Armor)
  • Absolution (Primary)
  • Absolution (Sidearm)
  • Absolution (Auxiliary)
  • Supremacy (Armor)
  • Supremacy (Primary)
  • Supremacy (Sidearm)
  • Supremacy (Auxiliary)
  • War Commander
  • Health Reserve
  • Energy Reserve

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

April 28, 2023

May the Fourth 2023

May the Fourth 2023

EpicDuel is live with 2 new 4,000 AP promo packs, new PvP drops, new styles, and new prize code star sabers for the entire month of May!

 

New Promos

EpicDuel can be very intimidating for new players. After 15 years of development, there are so many weapons and cores that it can be difficult to know how to best spend your hard-earned credits and Varium. To provide a boost to new and returning players, we've introduced two new promotional packs for 4,000 Artix Points each:

Stat Boost Pack

Stat Boost Pack

A quick way to optimize your build is to equip potent passive cores to boost key stats like Strength, Dexterity, Technology, and Support. Many new players don't even know such cores exist! This package includes many of the most common Passive boosts to provide tangible boosts to struggling builds.

  • Primary Mastery
  • Gun Mastery
  • Auxiliary Mastery
  • Health Reserve
  • Energy Reserve
  • War Commander

This pack also includes 2 of each of the following limited-charge stat boost cores:

  • Strength Boost x30
  • Dexterity Boost x30
  • Technology Boost x30
  • Support Boost x30

Grenade Pack

Grenade Pack

Grenades are useful Primary Active cores that can offer a quick offensive advantage in battle. This pack includes two of each limited charge grenade core. 

  • Soldier's Grenade P x25
  • Soldier's Grenade E x25
  • Om Nom Bomb P x25
  • Om Nom Bomb E x25
  • Magma Grenade P x25
  • Magma Grenade E x25
  • Short Circuit Grenade P x25
  • Short Circuit Grenade E x25
  • Crystal Grenade x25
  • Stalagrenade P x25
  • Stalagrenade E x25
  • Hammer Grenade P x25
  • Hammer Grenade E x25

If these packs are successful, we hope to introduce more packages bundling other useful cores and items to improve shopping convenience for new and veteran players alike.

 

New PvP Drop

If you don't want to wait until Monday to start collecting saber swords, we've added 8 new weapons to the PvP drop pool!

  • Darkwraith Star Saber P
  • Darkwraith Star Saber E
  • Darkwraith Star Blades P
  • Darkwraith Star Blades E
  • Darkwraith Star Axe P
  • Darkwraith Star Axe E
  • Darkwraith Star Staff P
  • Darkwraith Star Staff E

As of this update the April Fools weapon drops have been removed from the PvP drop pool. 

 

May the Fourth

Starting May 1st at 12 PM (EST), a new prize code will be posted to Nightwraith's Twitter for a new rare saber sword. The next code will be posted at 5 PM (EST). This will be the schedule until all codes are depleted! There should be enough quantity of each prize item to last a while, but they won't last long and there will not be any reposting. Good luck, and May the Fourth be with you!

 

New Styles

As an appetizer for the upcoming Ultra Corsair promotional package, we've introduced eight new styles to complement the set once it's finally released!

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

April 14, 2023

Botanical Battlepass Now Live!

Botanical Knight Battlepass

The Botanical Knight Battlepass is LIVE! Login now to earn the latest collection of spring/knight-themed weapons, armors, vehicles, morphs, bots, cores, and more crafted with care by Bido and Acatriel! This Battlepass will last from today to June 6, 2023.

Good luck and happy dueling to reach level 60 of EpicDuel's latest Battlepass season!

 

Varium Sale End

As of this latest update, the Spring Varium sale is now over in EpicDuel after over a week extension. 

 

PvP Drop Adjustment

The overall drop rate for PvP items was somewhat overtuned over the last few weeks, so it has been adjusted to be lower in the latest update.

Tags: Nightwraith


Nightwraith

March 31, 2023

Botanical Knight Battlepass Preview

Botanical Knight Battlepass Preview

The Botanical Knight Battlepass is on schedule to be released next week with new cores, styles, weapons, armors, and more! The expected release date is Friday April 7 as soon as it's ready.

The release has been postponed until next week to allow enough time for thorough development and testing.

 

PvP Queue Time

To encourage faster matchmaking, the queue times for PvP matches have been reduced, especially in 2v2. This means that if a human match is not found, an AI opponent will be chosen faster. While priority is given to human matches, getting into battles to get rewards feels better than waiting at a loading screen. The level range of AI matches has also been increased from 36 to 38.

 

Drop Rate Update

Since the 2023 Dage drops are dropping less frequently than intended, we've updated the the drop weights to give preference to the new items while increasing the overall drop rate. 

In anticipation of April Fool's Day, we've added the following items back into the drop pools:

Weapon Drops

  • Fw0rsht B4n3
  • FluF B4n3
  • Inf3rn0l Sl4y4h
  • Impurrnal Slayer
  • Dorge's Decimalat0r
  • Borge's D3c1m4T0R
  • 4zr33l Bj0rn
  • Azreal Bean

Home Items

  • ChickenCalf Right
  • ChickenCalf Left
  • Armored ChickenCalf Right
  • Armored ChickenCalf Left
  • Chibi Ox Right
  • Chibi Ox Left
  • DF ChickenCow Right
  • DF ChickenCow Left
  • ChickenCow Right
  • ChickenCow Left
  • ChickenCow 2 Right
  • ChickenCow 2 Left
  • RoosterBull Right
  • RoosterBull Left
  • Spirit RoosterBull Right
  • Spirit RoosterBull Left
  • Sriracha RoosterBull Right
  • Sriracha RoosterBull Left

Tags: Nightwraith

 

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