Sundance
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Good evening my fellow EpicDuel colleagues,
I would like to begin by expressing how this article is written based upon my own opinions and the experience I personally have acquired while playing the game we all enjoy so much. I have written on the forums a few times before, about builds, and articles with a holistic view of the EpicDuel gaming engine. I ended one of my previous articles discussing my thoughts about the game pre-Omega. I thought it would now be fitting to post some of my thoughts now that Omega has been established. I would like to remind everyone that this is only my opinion, that doesn’t mean that it’s right or wrong –or better than anyone else’s opinions. As I’ve said previously, an opinion is only worth the amount of effort you put into getting it; since this written sentiment has required little to no work for you to attain, please regard what I have to say with a grain of salt.
I broke this article down into sections, so any discussions afterwards can be easy to find and referenced later.
• Omega and its vision
• Omega, battles and percentages
• Omega, builds and balance
• Omega current cores and RNG
• Omega, attitudes and arguments
• Omega’s results and accomplishments
• Closing statements
Omega and its vision:
The creators of EpicDuel have been trying to create a system from the beginning in which people can enjoy a player versus player atmosphere in an unceasing battle for dominance. According to the written lore, it’s like our characters are in the midst of battle, fighting people throughout Delta V in a turn by turn fashion. Its concept was intended to be pretty intense. This sort of game attracts competitive people that ultimately like to win. Each person is different and they approach their idea of EpicDuel success and competition, in different ways.
Since the implementation of EpicDuel, people have always tried to cheat the system. It’s just human nature to try to find the easiest path to the top. Time and time again people would figure out different ways to appear more successful than they perhaps really were. So many things were done to try to inflate wins percentages or magnitude of wins since the game’s launch in 2009.
In Omega, the developers tried to re-establish the essence of EpicDuel. By eliminating the option of having NPCs count for your win record, they made the game much more intense, and mature. In addition, they are trying to restore a system of relative balance to the game, and by that I mean making it possible for individuals to gain relative success without having to directly purchase varium.
I think they are trying to make a game that will suite a broader demographic, more than just the average high school teenager with their parent’s credit card. There is a social class that would enjoy playing this game if there were larger rewards for hard work. With the new implementation of rares being available for purchase with credits, now hard working people can get a relative shot at success. As the game gains in popularity, more and more people, even the hard working ones, will want to get a little edge over their opponent. With this gaming rubric, EpicDuel has an opportunity to grow a larger, more mature player base.
That being said, there is also no excuse for not having credits for in game purchases. With infinite NPC battles, hardworking people can now gain large sums of credits if they are willing to spend their time attaining them. This return’s to the Artix idea of making purchases largely a time saver and only slightly an edge-giver. We will discuss how much of an edge later on in this article.
Ultimately, Omega is trying to attract a more mature audience, while some dislike the changes in difficulty; others accept it with open arms. Simply stated, EpicDuel’s goal has been attained, they wanted to completely revolutionize the game and create a more dynamic atmosphere.
Omega, battles and percentages:
As we all know, NPCs no longer count for your win record. This was regarded by some to be an unpopular, unwise and ill-conceived idea that would turn off a portion of the player base. To a certain extent, this argument is sound. Gaming certainly got much harder and win percentages certainly took a heavy blow for most players out there. Down the line, EpicDuel increased in difficulty.
But is increase an in difficulty really a bad thing? As previously established, EpicDuel is a work in progress. We could consider the game to be analogous to any living thing. There are always periods where “growing pains” are felt. The EpicDuel staff is trying to mature the game. By eliminating NPCs it may be unpopular for certain players, but for the gaming community on the whole, it will attract more mature, competitive people that are there for the win, not for the bragging rights.
Many people like to be considered good at something, whether or not they have actually done the work to earn that respect. With this implementation, players who work hard can finally be noticed. Players, who just wanted the glory without having to do the work to rightfully attain it, get nothing.
I subscribe to the idea that whatever I do, is shall in some way help my life. EpicDuel certainly provides me with entertainment and fun, two things that are very much needed to have a good life. But what’s more, EpicDuel can be an outlet for creativity, competition, and communal activities. However, if creativity is nerfed, competition is exploited, and these activities are trolled, reaching this level of gaming success is almost impossible.
Years ago, Wiseman108, moderator, “father-merc” and long-time EpicDuel enthusiast said that most players average a percent of somewhere around 80. Although this is high for some, low for others, the point I think he was trying to make is that to a certain extent, battles were inflated by NPCs. The low 60s and other percentages are for the most part gone, not every single one, but on the whole, percentages have been on the rise since the Omega release.
For the first time since EpicDuel’s implementation, we now have a 100% accurate picture of a build’s ability.
Surprise surprise, many people consider 80% the new 90%. Lol! The reason being is because NPCs have now eliminated that level of inflation. What’s even more, certain non varium players who went around relatively unnoticed can now show their true colors as logical, mature players that now have a fighting chance at winning and doing really well. I can think of more than a few non varium players that are now very competitive, and can now keep up with the best of us. Is it fair? Yes, I think it is—many varium players have no idea the level of difficulty some of these non varium players had to go through to acquire the some of the same weapons. Some people believe that Omega was a “sloppy wet kiss” to non varium players. I believe it’s better said that hard working people can now get what they deserved in the first place.
Omega, builds and balance:
With non varium player’s increasing in success, how then, can people be inspired to spend money to support the game? Well, the concept is pretty basic, varium is a timesaver, and a relative bonus for those who support the game. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, with no varium players, there would be no EpicDuel. These rare cores and weapons that are available through purchase now make it possible to still maintain a relative edge against nonpaying players, but don’t make it a downright victory with little to no thinking on the varium player’s part. This could be seen as a positive or negative thing, it just depends on who you ask.
So how about builds then? Are they better, or worse post Omega?
I think that hand’s down the Omega engine is a much more creative and exciting engine than any other phase of the game. Certain features bring back the best parts of Beta, and have eliminated some of the worse parts of the other phases.
Finally, after two years, stat inflation through modifiers has stopped. Now, just like in Beta, if a player wants to spam a stat they have absolute freedom to do so. However, there is always a negative or weak link in their chain. For example: if a mage want’s to spam technology and plasma bolt, so be it. If a mercenary wants to spam support or strength so be it. But energy for casters can be depleted, the auxiliaries for mercenaries can be removed, and the strength based skills can be blocked.
Some people want to see these types of stat spamming builds nerfed into to the ground. Other’s think that has already been done to them. Ultimately, I see EpicDuel returning to its relative circle, tanks can take out damage dependent bloodlust players, high damaging output players can eliminate tanks, and bloodlust players can outlast those high damage builds by just staying aggressive. Although this doesn’t work for every battle, on the whole, the game is returning to a relative circle. Like—versus—like the win is RNG or first strike based, like—versus—unlike results in stats, skill, and play styles.
However, just like anything in life, there are always those that would rather complain about not being on top, rather than to do the work to get there. They would rather complain about a build’s effectiveness against them, rather than looking at the build itself and realizing its pros and cons.
Just because a certain build can beat you 9 times out of 10, or even 10 times out of 10, doesn’t mean that the build is over powered. It simply means that you have found a build that is the “bane” of your own. Realize that just like how you get destroyed by that build, he or she also has a “bane” of their own. If you don’t like losing to that one type of build, it means you need to evolve, not demand for the build’s destruction.
Realize that Omega has given everyone a great gift, the gift of freedom and creativity. You can find a build that is successful, and that build will have its weak spots, every build does.
Omega, current cores and RNG:
Right now, as this is being written people are complaining about the luck factors within the game engine. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, people have always complained about RNG, always have and always will. But more importantly, people are concerned about how many of the cores are luck based. I think with more time, more and more cores will be implemented that are strategy based, and if this recent series of releases are of any merit, it shows us of the strategy based cores that are yet to come. Azreal’s Will and other such things are completely strategy based, although sometimes these cores are not used to the best of their ability. I think the future will bring an increasing amount of cores that get away from RNG manipulation. However, with the initial release of Omega and other time-consuming balance updates that the Spring of 2013 has for us, I think it’s safe to say that the EpicDuel staff has to catch up to the cores they have created, before they implement even more of them into the game engine.
The way I consider RNG (or as some players prefer, “luck”) is that what goes around, comes around. One round, my rage bot blocked after I smoked the opponent. The next battle I’ve stunned and then rage crit another player. These are just the quirks of the game. One minute RNG is with you, the next it’s against you. Frank Sinatra’s famous tune: “Luck be a Lady Tonight” certainly does come to mind.
Is EpicDuel luck based? No. Does it have very real luck factors? Yes! Some view this as a negative thing; others view it as entertaining. I see the luck factors as frustrating when I thought I had a win “in the bag”, and entertaining when the luck factors are on my side. I know I’m fickle, but I’m a human being and that’s the way I was created. RNG makes EpicDuel battles just like life, you can never really be certain of exactly what is going to happen, until it happens. In the end, I never attribute the majority of my losses to “just luck factors”. If a mercenary with support complains about getting deflected a lot, surprise surprise they have reasonably low technology, or at least, lower than the average. If a tank is complaining about getting criticaled on a lot, by the same token, they traditionally have lower that average support. These are very general statements but I hope to provide the image that what happens with RNG is purely mathematical statistics. When you experience bad luck, remember it isn’t a broken game engine, it was statistically improbable to happen, but it did happened anyway. If it seems like a consistent problem, then your build needs to be adjusted.
Let me provide an example: about a week ago when the Celtic Cleaver was brought back out of retirement, I created a strength mercenary build. I had 26-32 defense from stats I placed into dexterity, about average for that period of time. Did I still get blocked a lot? Yes! Was I frustrated? Yes! But instead of going onto the forums and saying, hey, shadow art’s is OP, I think we should nerf it; I took my lumps and moved on. I understood that there were simply too many players with Shadow Arts for that particular build to be viable; even with the Celtic Cleaver. Does this mean my build was a bad build? Heck no! It could be an awesome build, but not right now. Like what Winston Churchill said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Omega attitudes and arguments:
As aforementioned, people like to complain, and generally speaking, a lot of the player base that was feeding off their parent’s credit card and purchasing success, are now very unhappy with how EpicDuel has changed. This sort of attitude can be found just about wherever you go in EpicDuel. But as the player’s mature, they’ll do one of two things, stay and play, or pack up and go home. Eventually people will mature and realize how much time was wasted on complaining about a game they don’t happen to like anymore. We all have a very limited time on this planet, why on earth would you want to spend hours upon hours complaining and being unhappy? My point is, although the complaints about Omega are popular now, when the dust has settled, and Omega is finished, people will be clamoring about “how good it was”.
I have been around since 2009, people have always complained about a phase while they were in the phase. Even in Beta people were talking about “how broken the game engine is”, and now, three years later, Beta is considered “the good old days”.
Simply stated, people are fickle. When others complain, just smile and nod, and remember how much creativity and freedom you have. It’s totally up to you what build you want to use, or what you want to do in this game. That was not a choice other phases could provide to Omega’s extent. It’s not the game’s fault for making certain player’s unhappy. A person’s happiness is in their own control only.
For those that want to complain and openly tear apart the game itself, please realize that although you may or may not like the changes going on within the game, people are hard at work trying to make it a fun environment. If you have something that’s a problem, try to figure out a constructive way to say it—speak about the game’s faults as if one of your friends created the game for you. Ultimately, the creators want to see you happy, they want to see you enjoying the game, and they value your opinion. But how can they value your opinion when you don’t even value their hard work and effort?
Omega’s results and accomplishments:
I consider Omega “judgment day” for many of the major faults within previous phases of EpicDuel.
For leveling up, once you reached the high twenties and thirties gameplay got very discouraging. We all experienced this hardship; we all had to go through it at one time or another. It was even harder for those that couldn’t even get gear. Presently, has anyone noticed just how hard it is to find lower level players that aren’t fully equipped? I’ve noticed that on the whole, players are much better geared than ever before, and with that gear they have a fighting chance of making it to higher levels.
Also consider just how one sided most of these updates had been previously. We argue for equality, but what about the players that couldn’t equip those awesome new rares made for max level players? Previously back in Beta, you couldn’t even purchase the item if you were too low a level to equip it! Let alone use the weapon! Now with Omega, lower levels can have fun, get boosts and look cool as well. They can now enjoy to a certain extent the majority of the fun higher level players can experience. I’ve even seen some people mention how they like playing their lower level account, instead of their main. This is a one hundred and eighty degree turnaround from years previous. Great job EpicDuel staff!
For balance, have we forgotten so soon the some odd thirty or even forty stat modifiers we had as an advantage over some players of the exact same level? Omega made a massive cut to stat modifiers down the line, this alone created a much more creative and competitive atmosphere. For the first time since Beta, these infamous “stat spamming builds” are give and take. Some people argue about how Omega builds are “boring” or “one dimensional”. But is it really the fault of the Omega engine or the staff that produced it? How can you fault someone who gave us more creativity and freedom in our builds than ever before?
If you think the builds of Omega are boring and one dimensional, it’s the players who are creating and using those builds, not the game engine. It was the community’s decision to use those kinds of builds, you were not forced to put all your stats in strength or support, you chose to do so. You have complete freedom in how you create your build. Omega has given us what it was intended to give us, a more mature, dynamic, and interactive gaming engine. By standardizing stats, removing certain restrictions, and adding battle cores, they have accomplished their intent.
Closing Statements:
In closing, my intent of writing this was that for later on in EpicDuel history, people can be provided with a snapshot of what has been, and what is yet to come. Omega brought about a great many changes to EpicDuel and the community.
I think we will see, and have already seen some reduction in our player base. I also think this is short term. Many mature players simply just don’t find EpicDuel entertaining anymore. It isn’t a fault of EpicDuel, or the people leaving. It simply means that EpicDuel is changing, and some of those changes don’t suite the taste buds of certain people.
Mature people realize how the game has changed, and they don’t complain or tear anybody down because they’re not happy. They put their own happiness first and go find another place to have fun. Ultimately, for right now Omega may seem as a hard and harsh gaming environment in comparison to previous phases. But the players that are leveling up as we speak will not have been “coddled” in the same way other players had been previously. Whether some like it or not, the game is increasing in its dynamic nature. This atmosphere is attracting a different player base than those who previously subscribed to the game.
Simply stated: if you enjoy the game, stay and play, but if you’re not having fun here, you don’t need to stay here!
I’ll see you in Delta V! BATTLE ON!
Live for the lord,
Sundance
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