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February 01, 2012
Heartbreaker Preview
Hey Fellas, Have You Heard the News?

If you haven’t, that’s what the Design Notes are for! The Frysteland Arc is coming to a close- and I’ll thank all of you a billion times for making EpicDuel’s first in-game War a success! Now, though, we’re moving on to the next arc, the Heartbreaker Saga. This will be a month-long story arc, and arguably the darkest thing I have ever written for EpicDuel, so I’m excited. Are you excited?

Dream Maker

This week marks the release of another Player Suggestion Shop. Once Nightwraith has them all drawn, I’ll post the names of all the players whose dreams have come true by having a design in EpicDuel. Nightwraith promised to draw until his hands are withered claws, so we should have a hefty amount of items for all classes.

Remember, all players whose designs are implemented in game will receive their item (regardless of price, level, or item type), as well as the EpicArtist Achievement!

Epic Artists

The results are in! The following is a list of contributors to this suggestion shop. This was one of the best batches yet so keep up the good work!

Despair - VectosAE
Rust Runeblade - Shasonic1
Hero's Heart Broadsword - Reki
Hero's Heart Mutating weapon - Reki
Crysaliss - Reki
Dragon's Breath - Reki
Hazard Blaster - Reki
Caterpillar Bugzooka - vypie
Dark Varium Blaster - vypie
Surgical Slicer - vypie
Toxic Chompers -vypie
Energy Steering Device- vypie
Golden Draconic Axe - Ganzdemon
Spirit Scythe - theraplawyers
Spirit Pike - theraplawyers

If your suggestion didn't make it in this time, take this as an opportunity to improve and submit new designs for future suggestions shops. It's also possible that we really liked your idea, but didn't have time to include it in this release. Eithery way, the next suggestion shop can't come soon enough!

Lost and Found!

Ever wonder what’s the best weapon for your level, or wonder where your opponent got that cool item? Just ask the Finderbot! The Finderbot is programmed with statistics on all of the items in EpicDuel, and he’s sorted them by level and type, with numerous filter options, so you’ll be able to find the gear you need much faster!

Preview Missions

I’m still writing the first missions that will introduce the Heartbreaker Arc, but I can tell you that you’ll need to start out in Old Fortune City to receive your first orders from the Exile Soldier and Exile Leader. Watch my Twitter for more info about where to go for story missions this week!

Sweet Insect Facts

Recently, honeybee (Apis mellifera) colonies have been in decline worldwide. The odd syndrome (named Colony Collapse Disorder) causes the almost sudden disappearance of workers from the hive in a short amount of time- this is caused by the worker bees leaving the colony when they recognize that they are diseased.

The current hypothesis for the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder is that it it is caused by several simultaneous plagues afflicting the bees, and with international bee commerce (eg. purchase of royal jelly from hives in China, import and export of hives across continents) the plague has a much higher rate of infection. A good candidate for a viral plague is the Deformed Wing Virus, which is spread by parasitic mites, Varroa destructor, who prey upon apian pupae. The pesticides used to control mite populations may increase sensitivity to DWV, but treated hives are less likely to succumb to Colony Collapse Disorder.

Tags: Cinderella Finderbot Suggestion Shop Weapons Items Heartbreaker Missions

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Thanks to RabbleFroth, we managed to fit in a few balance changes in this weeks release. There's much more planned for next week, but here are the changes that are ready. The changes this week shifts focus on the Tech Mage class which has been underpowered at all levels.

Balance Changes

Battle rewards now always give the same ratio of credits to experience. The credit to XP ratio is set to 8:3.

Deflection chance now improves with Technology. Deflection chance improves by 1% per 3 Technology advantage. The base chance (10%), min chance (2%) and max chance (25%) are unchanged.

Strength requirement removed from Plasma Bolt.

Strength requirement added to Malfunction (19 +2/Lvl)

Plasma Bolt energy is cost reduced by 4 EP at each level.

Overload energy cost is reduced by 2 EP at each level.

Defense Matrix energy is reduced by 1 EP at each level.

Field Commander now scales by 1 Str every 2 levels (down from every 4.5 levels) and has had its base strength bonus increased by 2.



> Battle rewards now always give the same ratio of credits to experience. The credit to experience ratio is set to 8:3.

Battle rewards now have a fixed credit to experience ratio. Previously, losing battles or winning battles against higher level opponents left you with a smaller credit to experience ratio than winning a fair match in 1v1 or 2v2. It did not make sense to have a lower reward ratio for winning a tough battle, nor was it feasible to punish players who lost with a lower reward ratio. The credit to experience ratio for losing would leave many players in a downward spiral - losing meant less credits as you leveled, which translated to fewer item upgrades, and even more losing. This change makes losing purely a time penalty. It won't penalize your character in the long run anymore.

In addition, this change increased 2v2 battle rewards to match the 1v1 reward ratio.

> Deflection chance now improves with Technology. Deflection chance improves by 1% per 3 Technology advantage. The base chance (10%), min chance (2%) and max chance (25%) are unchanged.

Deflection has been removed from Support as we felt Support affected far too many battle mechanics. This created a jack-of-all trades stat that gave small improvements in many aspects of battle, but did not give a significant bonus in any of these mechanics. Technology is primarily a defensive stat, so we decided to pair it up with this defensive effect. Support will be several improvements in the coming week to offset the loss of Deflect.

> Plasma Bolt: Removed strength requirement. Energy cost reduced by 4 across all skill levels.
> Overload: Energy cost reduced by 2 across all skill levels.

Both Plasma Bolt and Overload are meant to be the bread-and-butter of Tech Mage's damage output. These skills proved too costly to be consistent damage dealers that could be used several times per battle, especially at the low to mid level range (10-25). The strength requirement of Plasma Bolt was removed to allow lower level Tech Mages to create caster build that rely primarily on skills for damage.

> Defense Matrix energy cost is reduced by 1 EP at each level.

Defense Matrix proved to be too costly at low skill levels for early levels. The defense boost gained at these levels did not justify a 10 EP energy cost.

> Malfunction now requires Strength (19 at skill level 1, +2 / level).

Since the Strength requirement was removed from Plasma Bolt, it was added to Malfunction where it would have less of an impact at low levels. The Strength requirement is primarily to prevent Tank and Support builds from completely neglecting the Strength stat. This should be far less restrictive than the Strength requirement on Plasma Bolt given Malfunction's tier 3 position and its effectiveness at mid skill levels.

> Field Commander now scales by 1 Str every 2 levels (down from every 4.5 levels) and has had its base strength bonus increased by 2.

The current Field Commander quickly loses its effectiveness in the high level range as weapon damage overshadows the bonus damage gained from this skill. This improvement in scaling is a small buff to make the skill more effective near the max level. The strength bonus at low levels will remain approximately the same.

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Ever wonder what’s the best weapon for your level, or wonder where your opponent got that cool item? Just ask the Finderbot! The Finderbot is programmed with statistics on all of the items in EpicDuel, and he’s sorted them by level and type, with numerous filter options, so you’ll be able to find the gear you need much faster!