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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

November 07, 2013

Shameless Self Indulgence

Happy Birthday!

Prepare to party! This week, celebrate the birthday of EpicDuel's resident artist/assassin: Nightwraith. New missions, new weapons, and revamped skills await for your celebratory needs! As if that weren't enough reason to celebrate: the winners of the Creative Carving Contest will be announced in-game at Elon Musk!

 

Back to Party Business

Visit me at my usual haunt in the Wasteland to investigate my stash of weapons and armors! Do you have your OneX6 Keys? No? We've got you covered -- you can either buy one directly or win one by completing a new mission. Be warned: I've been buffed to level 36 so I'm not the pushover I used to be!

New Zookas!

My Gear

My Duds!

The classic birthday missions are also returning, with a few new additions in case you've already completed the old ones. Complete them all for huge rewards!

 

Suggestion Shop

In addition to hunting bounties and weaving baskets, I (Nightwraith) am EpicDuel's lead artist, but I don't mind sharing the spotlight with aspiring artists. That's why we're combining my birthday celebration with the introduction of a new round of suggestion shop weapons, created from ideas submitted from our creative EpicDuel community!

Suggestion Shop

It's been way too long since we've done a shop like this so we're really going all out. We hope to have over 12 new weapons culled from the best of the best suggestions. Charfade and I are working as hard as possible to deliver more, but this is a thoroughly packed release. The weapons are still in progress so check back for a full list of items and their associated artist after we go live. If your suggestion was not selected, that does not mean it was terrible or we hate you -- it just means it may have to wait for the next suggestion shop. Hopefully it won't take a full year to do another one! I wouldn't be surprised if more items enter the game next week!

 

Arcadia

It wouldn't be a proper birthday without a new Arcade Game! 

A Nightmarish Visage

Horrifying! Give it a spin and be the first to claim the grand prize! As with other games, Nightwraith's Nightmare will introduce it's own new evolving achievment and leaderboard!

 

Cheevo Counter

Speaking of achievements -- we now have tracking for many of the daily achievements like the 1v1 and 2v2 automatch daily winners. Players who win the daily achievements multiple times will increment their number on the appropriate achievement.  

 

Active Update

To address balance this update, we will be tweaking a few energy numbers from last week's update, but we also have a far grander change in store: Converting all passive skills into active ones.

Skill Revamp

That means Blood Lust, Reroute, Deadly Aim, Shadow Arts, Adrenaline, and all the Armor skills will be converted into active skills. Blood Lust and Reroute will become Mark of Blood and Battery Backup respectively. The purpose of this change is to add strategy to battle. Currently, passives grant HUGE benefits with little sacrifice, especially for level cap players. Active skills require more sacrifice in terms of energy cost and turn cost. To compensate for these sacrifices, the effects of the skills will be modified. This change will affect all classes so we're really interested to see what new strategies emerge from this change. 

 

Adrenaline

Adrenaline

  • Adrenaline

    • Replaced with Adrenaline Rush. Adrenaline Rush instantly grants the target a percentage of their maximum Rage.

 

Hybrid Armor, Mineral Armor, and Plasma Armor

Armor

  • Hybrid Armor

    • Hybrid Armor now increases the target’s Defense and Resistance by a percentage of their base Defense and Resistance (the portion from your Dexterity and Technology) for 4 turns.

  • Mineral Armor

    • Mineral Armor now increases the target’s Defense by a percentage of their base Defense for 4 turns.

  • Plasma Armor

    • Plasma Armor now increases the target’s Resistance by a percentage of their base Resistance for 4 turns.

       

Reroute

Battery Backup

  • Reroute

    • Replaced with Battery Backup. Battery Backup grants the target an immediate boost to Energy, and doesn’t cost the user anything to cast.

 

Deadly Aim

Fire Scythe

Energy Parasite

  • Deadly Aim

    • Deadly Aim was replaced by two new skills: Fire Scythe for Tech Mages, and Energy Parasite for Blood Mages
    • Fire Scythe deals physical damage to the target, ignoring a percentage of their Defense.

    • Energy Parasite applies a debuff that steals a percentage of the target’s current Energy for 3 turns, granting 1.5x the amount stolen back to the caster.

 

Blood Lust

Mark of Blood

  • Bloodlust

    • Replaced with Mark of Blood. Mark of Blood leaves a mark on the target for 3 turns, granting lifesteal to anyone that attacks the marked target.

 

Shadow Arts

Shadow Arts

  • Shadow Arts

    • Shadow Arts now casts the target in shadow and reduces all damage they take by a percentage for 3 turns.

 

Contest Announcement

Big Money, Big Prizes, I Love It!

When this update goes live, be sure to visit Elon Musk for a list of the winning entries! The effort so far has been stellar with such short notice. We are currently in the process of judging entries and narrowing down the list of finalists!

Tags: Titan Nightwraith Suggestion Shop Elon Musk contest Arcade Missions balance Skills Weapons Birthday


Nightwraith

August 16, 2013

Shields Up!

Shields Up!

Shields Activated!

Defend your hard-fought War Objectives with Shield Generators! These critical structures allow you to reinforce the influence of other structures you own in a certain region. Like Turrets, Shield Generators can only be used on another structure within the same region. 

Use Shield Generator

Like Turrets, Shield Generators have 3 levels of improvement depending on the amount of your Alignment's Influence.

 

New War Objectives!

Building upon the Turret release last week, we have added Turrets and Shield Generators to all contested regions. Here's a quick look at the new Objectives and their locations. Better hurry if you want a foothold in a heavily disputed region!

Wasteland Missile Turret'

Wasteland Missile Turret

Barrens Shield Generator

Barrens Shield Generator

Central Cannon

Central Station Cannon

Central Shield Generator

Central Station Shield Generator

Overlord Shield Generator

Overlord Shield Generator

Bio Cannon

Bio Cannon

Naval Yard Shield Generator

Naval Yard Shield Generator (formerly Propaganda Tower)

 

 

New Titan Cores!

Titan's birthday may be over, but he's not done giving just yet. Visit him in his frosty Frysteland lair to try three new Charge Cores!

 

Bacon Breath 

Unleashes the powerful scent of bacon on your target, dealing 114% weapon damage.

Blaaaaargh!

Titan's Toxic Breath

 

Titan Chomp

 Summon Titan to chomp your target for 114% weapon damage.

Titan Am Angry!

Omnomnom

 

Bacon Rain

 Rains down delicious bacon, dealing 114% weapon damage to the target.

The Best Rain

Extra Crispy

 

Matchmaking

Rabblefroth is also making some fine adjustments to the Alignment matching. It should allow for better quality matches, especially in 2v2.

Tags: Nightwraith Shields Factions War Objectives Turrets Cannons Destruction Cores Charged Titan Birthday


Nightwraith

August 08, 2013

Fire Ze Missiles!

Missiles Incoming

Covering Fire!

EpicDuel is finally rolling out the heavy artillery for the Dread War. Capture and upgrade turrets to fire upon opposition War Objectives within the various regions of Delta V. Turrets can be upgraded by filling the control bar. The more heavily an alignment dominates a turret, the further it will upgrade.

To fire a turret, simply click on it as you would an NPC. You can then select an option to fire the turret, select your target, then fire. The turret will fire in real time and those on the target screen will see the impact! Remember, you can only fire turrets that your alignment controls so it is imperative to capture and hold turrets to maintain a tactical advantage in any region in which they are present.

 

Titan's Triumph

Soon we will be celebrating the birthday of everyone's favorite Delta V demi-god: Titan. This mighty being uses technology so advanced, it is indistinguishable from magic. Some believe he created Delta V through sheer force of will. These people are quickly dismissed as fanatics, but there is no denying his awesome power.

Visit Titan in his Frysteland lair to collect new mutating weapons and a mighty new sword: Titan's Triumph. These will be limited in quantity so you had better be quick!

Titan Always Triumphs!

Hmmmm...seems a bit sketchy.

Energy Titan

Energy Titan

Also returning will be Titan's Burger Bike! 

 Omnomnomnom

Omnomnomnom.

The image speaks for itself.

 

Core Continuum

We are adding additional Active Cores to the roster of Charge Cores. Each use in battle will deplete a Core charge. We're hoping to have enough time to implement some completely new Charge Cores for your battling enjoyment. Could they be Titan-themed? Perhaps...

 

VendBot Upgrade

One of the oldest and most prolific NPCs in EpicDuel is the humble VendBot. These little guys have seen the evolution of EpicDuel from the earliest Alpha days to the modern Omega phase. In that time, they've traded their inventories of obsolete boosters to Cores. Their old technology can barely contain the demand so they've been refitted for extra capacity to provide you with the latest and greatest hardware upgrades, serving as a one-stop core shop.

VendBot Facelift

Someone's been working out!

Miss the old design? Don't worry, the original will still be around in a few remote places of Delta V. 

Tags: War Nightwraith Titan Birthday Rares Bike Mutating Weapons Turrets Objectives Cores


Nightwraith

November 08, 2012

Wear Your Birthday Best

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to m...OK, that's a little over-indulgent, I admit. Even though I'm leveling up in real life, what I'm really excited about is what I get to offer you!

It's Nightwraith's Birfdeeee!

All your favorite items will be returning from my personal stash of weapons. I'm generous, but I don't want to make it too easy to access them. Like last time, you can either buy the OneX6 Key from me directly or win it from me by besting me in combat!

Check out these new level 35 bazookas suggested by ..TRizZzCENTRINO..!

New Zookas!

All your old favorites are returning as well!

My Gear

My Duds!

The missions will also be returning. Visit my friends and associates around Delta V to see what Birthday trickery they're cooking up!

The one key absense is the 11-11-11 achievement. 11-11-11 is only happening once in my lifetime so it's RARE. 11-11-12 doesn't really have the same ring to it.

Dress Your Best!

It wouldn't be a real party without outrageous costumes! Suit up in one of 42 NEW STYLES (7 groups with one style for each gender and class). These artisan styles were crafted with great care based on the winning designs from our Spooky Head Design Contest. Join us Friday to see the designs come to life in-game!

New Contest Styles 1

Contest Styles 2

On Friday, the winners will also receive their achievements and their in-game styles free of charge! Congratulations, you earned it!

 

A Cold Front Approaches!

As Fall comes to a close, a cold wind blows from the north. Last year, Frystland fell to the Legion and Alydriah has commanded the occupying forces to do...something. We don't know, and that's terrifying. We have a feeling that she'll unveil her schemes soon, though.

In the meantime, check out these new concepts for revamped EpicDuel classes: Bounty Hunter and Tech Mage!

Revamped BH

^Thyton

Revamped TM

^Nightwraith

Tags: Nightwraith Titan contest styles Cake Birthday Missions Weapons Armory Omega


Cinderella

August 07, 2012

This Is The End, Beautiful Friend

War is Ending

The Infernal Infiltration War is winding down, and while the Exiles have a significant lead, the Legion can’t be ruled out just yet!  Remember to use those grenades -- you can resell them for credits after the War is over, but it isn’t worth stockpiling them, and grenades are happiest when thrown.

When the War ends, the bombs will no longer be available, nor will the missions to get bombs.

In addition, the Alignment-specific cruisers will go rare.  However, neutral mechachillid cruisers will still be available.

 

Winner Takes All

As mentioned before, the alignment to power through this final Vault door first will win the Infernal War, as well as control over the Infernal Mines.  Not enough for you? How about a new bot?

The Infernal Android will be available first to the winning alignment, and its special attack is related to its origin in the Vaults; the longer a battle lasts, the more damage the special attack does!  As mentioned just up there, the winning alignment will have first stab at using it, and the Infernal Android comes in both varium and credit-only flavors.

Secret Imperial Transmission

Also, the first alignment to breach the Delta Vault will receive the Infernal Conqueror achievement worth 2500 rating points!  The other alignment will still receive the Break On Through achievement worth 950 rating points!  I would show the artwork for the achievements, but they're a bit...spoilery.

 

New Boost System

As we wrap up the war we are turning our attention to systems that could be improved, such as boosting.  The revamped boost system will allow you to boost based on duration or number of rounds, and we will be introducing a new credit boost, which many of you may have figured out from the new end battle screens.  

There is a lot of build with this new system so it may not go live this week, but it will definitely be available next week. 

 

Did You Know?

Did you know that following battles, you now see a new screen that includes facts about EpicDuel? This new screen should be more helpful and informative than previous. Do you have an idea for an EpicDuel tip? Then post it here: http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=20164694

Why didn’t I announce this in the last design notes? Well, I’m remote staff, so I find out for sure what’s going to be in the update on Monday or Tuesday, and write the design notes based on that. Occasionally, Titan and Rabble look at each other and decide yes... we can fit more into this update. They then add a feature that I don’t find out about until testing.

 

Happy Birthday Titan!

Our favorite cheeseburger-loving Physical God is turning another year older this week! He hasn’t asked for any missions, but it’s possible that Titan has forged in his mighty foundry an item of such power and inanity that it cannot be comprehended.

OM NOM NOM!

 

Where u go? ;-;

I’m likely not going to be writing the DNs or have much to do with the game or development next week, as I will be doing field work at another university across the country from where I live. Maybe I’ll post pictures on my Twitter!

 

Thrippy Thrips

Have you ever seen scars on fruit or flowers? Or seen a tiny insect crawling inside your LCD screen? Then chances are, you have encountered a thrips. Thrips are tiny insects (as small as 1/25 of an inch) with fringed wings belonging to the order Thysanoptera. They typically feed on plants by puncturing the plant with their mouthparts and sucking out the delicious juices. Because they serve as a vector for several plant viruses including Tobacco mosaic virus, thrips are considered pests by farmers.

Tags: Cinderella Infernal Infiltration Droid Bot Missions Grenades Legion exile Boost Did You Know? Titan Birthday

 

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