We’re halfway through the third season of Eternal Paradox, and the fate of Elysium hangs in the balance. Captains are valiantly fighting off The Doombringer and gathering their forces, but most eyes are fixed squarely on this Saturday’s Conquest event!
Will you be ready for the battle?
Alex: Oh, I assure you that I was born ready!
Torsten: Oh no… not here again!
Alex: What’s the matter friend? I personally cherish our little chats. Really clears the palate after destroying all your armies! BWUAHAHAHAHHA!
Torsten: Why you little… I’ll show you what destroy means. Wait – what’s hissing under my chair…
BOOOOOOOOOOOM
Alex: MWUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Always a pleasure Torsten!
The Coming Conquest
The second Conquest event is right around the corner. With the Spring Event serving up big rewards and discounted specials in the shop, everyone is posturing their armies to take on the competition at the end of the week.
[XII]SQUAREXII won the first round, but [DUB]Deadly is hot on their trail. [EPx]Eternals likewise glided into a third place finish, but [GFX]GFGROUPX is keeping the pressure on them close behind in fourth.
S12 is firmly in control after the first Conquest. Can they hold it?
As Captains are starting to farm up the best prisoners and just getting into T9 and T10 soldiers, Conquest 2 is when everything really starts to heat up. Make sure you’re ready for it – this Saturday, April 13th at 5pm-6:30pm UTC (That’s 10am-11:30am PT)
The Season of Wang
Each season in Eternal Paradox, a new Mercenary rises to battle for the destiny of Elysium.
Beware the judgment of Wang… his most powerful attack also revives a fallen ally if it strikes down an opponent.
The arrival of Wang this season had a major effect on strategies, both in the arena and the field. The addition of another Light Mercenary alone created new ways to create an endgame War Synergy team, but Wang also features the Command Skill, Strategy Guide. This allows Light soldiers extra crit chance… up to 5% at max level!
Light soldier CRIT is a massive boost during conquest, when Dark and Light troops are the premier fighting force of a clever Captain
With the role of Captain Gear so important in how quickly you can progress and grow, Wang’s Internal Affairs Skill is also now sought after by all Captains. Eloquent Speaker will reduce the cost of enhancing Captain Gear up to 10% at max level.
Wang isn’t just here for field support though. A first glance at his Battle Skills may make you think that Wang plays a more passive role in campaign and arena combat… that would be a recklessly incorrect assumption though. Don’t underestimate the pure power Wang can deliver.
Worn out for Conquest? Use Wang’s Reflux skill to get your energy back up for the battle!
Battle Looms
Alex: Even if Torsten couldn’t quite handle the heat, I’m very excited for this next Conquest. You may even say it’ll be… explosive. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Well said Alex. Join us on April 13th at 10am PT for all the conquest mayhem, and we’ll see you after to recap all of the glorious battle!
The team at Ndream are thrilled to be into Season 3 of Eternal Paradox, and invited the community to bring all their questions for a Q&A with the developers!
The Discord community had a week to submit questions (and we threw in some of our own), and they brought tons of insightful questions. We’ve included much of the translated interview transcript in here, though we took out some of the repeated questions.
Community members that provided names on the form have been credited for their questions. Thank you all for your amazing questions!
Hello! Tell us a little about yourself!
Hello! This is Jaejun Song, Game Producer of EPX!
I am a 4X fan and developer. I have enjoyed playing dozens of 4X games for the past decade, and based on that experience, I have participated in developing three 4X games.
Like any other game producers, I get involved in overall game development, and my main roles include the following:
1. Meeting with lead developers to plan new content;
2. Identify and correct issues related to the live operations;
3. Manage the schedules to ensure smooth progress of development; and
4. Work with Gala Games in making decisions in various tasks, including the above tasks.
How many people currently make up your development team for EPX?
We have 10+ dedicated members in the Planning Team, Program Team and Art Team each. If we add the sound and video guys, who also work on other projects, I’d say about 40 people are involved with EPX.
A lot has happened over the first seasons. Are there any particularly memorable moments?
For me, the most memorable moment would be the Season 1 Conquest.
All users were excited and joined the Conquest, having about x 2.5 times concurrent users than usual. The server went down more than a dozen times due to an unexpected error.
We responded quickly although it was early morning in Korea, and we managed to fix the error and finished the Conquest without having to cancel it.
Many users were understanding and supportive instead of criticizing the dev team for the server downtime, and we were thankful. But I still remember how the sweat was pouring down my back, making phone calls to different developers.
What content would you say had a better response than the development team expected?
Also the Conquest.
We have so far had multiple Conquests, but regardless of the time, we always see the highest number of concurrent users, and all guilds are battling fiercely. Much more than we anticipated.
We definitely felt the passion of the players. They would verbally argue with others, hold in check rally leaders with arrows, or deploy guerilla tactics with a few players.
Conversely, what content was worse than expected?
The Auto Rally system.
The auto rally feature is commonly used in 4X games because it allows you to join rallies even when you are offline. That is why we implemented this feature in EPX.
However, due to the nature of our game, many find it more efficient to collect resources from Resource Sites, and the proportion of individual hunting was high. So, it seems this feature was not as active as we had expected.
We will review the feature, possibly increasing the participation rewards.
Many people have lots of questions and opinions about the new updates for Season 3…
Seasons 3 and 4 would require a greater collaboration between guild members as a guild.
In the first two seasons, we felt that we needed to further strengthen cooperative content within each guild, like requiring guild members to come together at a specific time to play together or communicate for better cooperation.
So this content was our highest development priority. The following content will be introduced as the main content in Seasons 3 and 4.
Season 3: Guild Boss Raid (Doombringer)
– You will summon a boss once every three days and farm it by rallying. Rewards are given based on the kill stage and personal score.
Season 4: Guild Arena
– Same arena battles, but you will compete with another guild for points. You can select one of the other guild’s players to battle against, and when you win, you earn VPs.
Then it was the community’s turn to ask the dev’s their questions, and they covered a lot of ground. We’ve abbreviated the translations of some of the questions and responses to the most relevant bits so that we can cover more here!
We’ll highlight the most impactful, wide-reaching and poignant questions below:
Abendego: When will the team look to do user acquisition through advertising?
We have been trying different marketing campaigns on various platforms. We will find efficient methods to attract new users.
Chachess#8417: Will there be “NFT” fortress/Mercenary Skins for Season 3?
We currently do not have any plan to make NFT Fortress Skin. But it is something worth considering, so we may be able to discuss it after our current plans are put in place.
As for new NFT Mercenaries, our goal is to introduce one new NFT Mercenary per season.
Hongchan1999: Will future seasons have 2 servers, a competitive server with higher rewards and a static server that does not reset?
EPX was born only with the Season system in mind, so it is not easy to introduce a non-seasonal server. This applies to both technical implementation and balancing aspects. Rather than introducing a non-seasonal server, the more realistic approach would be to increase the rewards enough to motivate players each season. We will work hard to come up with satisfactory rewards.
Hongchan1999: Can you replace Guild Festival mission (promote merc)? It is hard to complete it.
The development team is also aware that it is difficult to promote Mercenaries. It will be made reasonably easier in Season 3.
Hongchan1999: Guild Festival Ranking Rewards need to boosts more, players need more rewards.
Guild Festival Stage Rewards will be partially increased in Season 3. Many say that the Ranking Rewards should be Gems because it is hard to get them elsewhere. We will listen to more feedback from the community and review it.
Mihailendwill: Will there be a rebalancing of the characters both among themselves and in relation to nft/non-nft
Since there are many users who have already purchased NFTs with their balances in mind, our goal is to minimize balancing modifications. Please let us know, though, if there is anything that seems to need adjustment.
Mihailendwill: Will there be a change in the % of post-season token distribution?
We don’t have any plan to implement major changes in our Tokenomics.
Mihailendwill: Will there be an increase in guild research? The current one ends in half a season.
Guild Research will also expand to a higher level in Season 3. As you mentioned, we are aware that the top guilds have finished all the research in the middle of the season.
k._f._.c: Will Valentine, Ran, and Ava continue to be “limited” in the sense that they cannot be summoned, and are only available through season rewards, clovers, and contribution, respectively?
Yes, we plan to keep it that way.
The contribution points “retained til end of next season” is a little vague. If I am contribution level 13, does that mean at the beginning of season 3, I will get the rewards for level 13, or the rewards for levels 1-13? Or does it mean I won’t get the rewards again but keep the Group Attributes? Also, on season 4, will it reset to level 1?
The CPs you accumulated this season will be carried over to the next season. Since you accumulated CP to Level 13 in Season 2, you will be Level 13 in Season 3 and will get the rewards for Levels 1 through 13.
However, this data will not be carried over to Season 4. Only the CPs you accumulate in Season 3 will be carried over to Season 4.
k._f._.c: Do you think there are some progression issues with some of the buildings? For example, bringing mine from level 11 to 16 takes WEEKS to pay off, and level 16 to 21 is simply not worth it.
I agree with your opinion regarding the efficiency of Harvester/Farm/Mine/Extractor in the Fortress. We will find a way to improve it.
k._f._.c: Another example is barracks. Even spending hundreds of dollars on the temporary speedups over a season, it’s not really possible (without spending thousands) to get to T10 troops on all barracks, and dark/light is better anyways, so it makes sense to only get one of the dark/light to T9 and then focus on headquarters, forge, and the buildings needed for HQ
Our design had in mind that players will upgrade one or two Barracks based on your deck, rather than upgrading all Barracks. Buildings are subject to reset, so we thought it would be too much to upgrade all Barracks every season.
However, like you mentioned, we also understand players are “forced” to choose either Light or Dark, so we will make improvements to strengthen the merits of other options.
k._f._.c: Will you stop devaluing gems, land grants, and immortal emblems by releasing tomes that make buying things in the shop ineffective? For example, to get a rare mercenary using immortal emblems, it costs $250. I can buy second hand with $50 or less. This is because the tomes gave people many rare (and rarer) NFTs just for $ETIME.
Right now, it may be the most efficient way to purchase Tomes with $ETIME. However, $ETIME NFTs are random, meaning you are not guaranteed to get the Mercenary or the rarity you want. On the other hand, while Immortal Emblems are more expensive, you can get the Mercenary and rarity you want. So, I think different users make different choices based on their preference.
NFTs are one of the most important $ETIME sinks, so we plan to continue to increase these products. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen the benefits of owning this NFT.
If done so, the gap between users who own an NFT and do not own an NFT may widen considerably. While the dev team is aware of this issue, EPX is a Web3 game, so it needs to focus on NFTs and NFTs need to offer enough merits.
What are more $ETIME sinks planned for the future?
We will add $ETIME sinks, but one of the biggest ones to come is Gem products that can be bought with $ETIME. We believe $ETIME will become significantly more attractive because most products can be purchased with Gems.
When can we burn NFTs to get fragments
Burning NFTs to receive Immortal Emblems and Summon Pieces is being considered for Season 5 or 6.
Will guilds have more capacity?
The cap was set at 50 considering the number of users in the server and the season prize. We believe it is appropriate, but if many say it should be increased, we will review it.
When will more servers appear?
We will add new servers when a significant number of new users are recruited.
Will arrows be nerfed to be considered an aggressive action so people can’t use them with shield?
One of the reasons we have arrows is to give lower-level users to stand against higher-level users. Most 4X games tend to have a pay-to-win nature, and the weak often can’t do anything against the strong.
If the shield is removed when arrows are used, lower-level users won’t be able to use them freely for fear of being attacked. With this in mind, we designed it so that arrows can be used with a shield on but only for a limited number of times.
We believe this direction is still valid, but we will listen to more users’ feedback before making a decision.
What do you think of all these questions?
We did several AMAs prior to launching the game, and a lot of questions we had back then were somewhat expected questions. However, it shows these questions came from seasoned players who are very much engaged in the game.
Each and every question gave me a lot to think about. I will quickly discuss with the team and improve the ones I feel need to be addressed now.
Thanks to the EPX team for taking the time to answer so many community questions, and for working hard to make each season of EPX even better than the last!
Jaejun Song from Ndream had the following comments in conclusion to close out the AMA:
We sincerely thank you for your support in EPX Season 1 and 2. We know there is a lot to improve, and we are committed to making the game better with new updates every season.
As I mentioned earlier, the goal for Seasons 3 and 4 is to strengthen guild content: Doombringer (boss raid) in Season 3 and Guild Arena in Season 4. We will strive to make new and better content, focusing particularly on cooperation and competition, taking advantage of the 4X genre.
We will run a few events in Season 3, with coupon codes and separate occupation war rewards. We look forward to your continued support!
Season 3 is already up and rolling! Have you slayed the Doombringer yet?
Are you prepared to show your might in the first Conquest!?
Another battle for The Ring of Ruin has completed… yet we find ourselves back at the beginning of the battle.
The paradox continues, as the actions of Karls and Shakram echo through time itself in the never ending battle. That all ends in Elysium are also beginnings doesn’t have to be a curse… another chance to rise to the call of battle is here! Will you succeed this season where you failed before? Will you rise to the occasion and master time itself… along with the future of Elysium?
Welcome Mercenaries, to the conclusion of Season 2!
Alex: I, for one, welcome more battle. This cannon isn’t just for show, you know?
Torsten: Wha– how did I get here again?! I know I defeated you this time Alex… during the final battle for the ring!
Alex: No… not me. Probably just another impersonator. You see, I’m quite popular on account of how utterly gorgeous I am. Bwahahahahahah!
Torsten: …
Alex: At any rate, people aren’t here for just my chiseled good looks… let’s get to the results of Season 2!
Conquest: The Victorious
This season, the three different Conquest events were vicious. S12 took home the title this season, but with so many Captains catching their stride after the first season, strategy was cohesive and nuanced for many guilds. Competition was fierce, but the following players rose to the top repeatedly to dominate the leaderboards!
Firstblood
Nandoca
Win
KingNerd
Goodnight
Most Powerful Captains
Conquest is one thing, but a Captain’s overall power relies less on their allies and more on their long-term strategy and organization throughout the season. The following Captains built their empires up to staggering heights, inspiring fear in their enemies across Elysium!
PalafinHF
Firstblood
KingNerd
Win
Burgundy
Arena Victors
The Arena is not conquest. In Arena battles, your Mercenaries have no soldiers to hide behind. The raw power of your lineup and your strategy in battle reign supreme, and only the most diligent and dedicated Captains have what it takes to dominate the competition.
PalafinHF
Firstblood
Melio_das
Kazuto1995
Nandoca
Most Honorable Mentions
The following Captains were the only ones to finish in the top 10 in all season rankings!!!
PalafinHF
Firstblood
Win
Season 3 Is Live!
Season 3 is officially live. If you haven’t started building your empire yet, what are you waiting for!?
Behold! The Doombringer!
This season there’s tons of new features to look out for… new Mercenaries, new ways to rack up DPP, and the long anticipated Doom Bringer guild raids!
This season goes through April 30th. If you haven’t started rallying your forces yet, there’s still time to get a great start in your quest for glory!
Caption: Season 3 brings the all-new Mercenary Wang to the battle!
The Paradox Continues
Alex: So… big plans this season, Torsten?
Torsten: Yeah… I’m going to find the real you, and punch him repeatedly until–
Alex: Hey, that’s great buddy. I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of fun with that.
Torsten: How can you possibly be so annoyi –
Alex: And that’s all the time we have. Time to play us out, mysterious disembodied voice!
Thanks Alex. We hope every Captain out there – win or lose – had tons of fun in Season 2. Season 3 is going to have even more epic battles and more ways to play…
The battle for The Ring of Ruin has wrapped up, and what a battle it was! Check out the first hall of fame inductees and highlights from the S1!
Alex: Hello all you Mercenaries out there and welcome to RingWatch… your place to get caught up on the latest news in Elysium!
Torsten: Hi
Alex: Ehhh…don’t go overboard on the introduction or anything Torsten…
Torsten:…
Alex: Well at any rate friends, there’s been an awful lot going on for us to cover!
Torsten: nods
Alex: The Ring of Ruin has stopped, but I wouldn’t worry too much. In fact, I really never worry too much! Mwaeahahahaheehee!
Torsten: rolls eyes
Alex: Now the last 49-days of glorious battle, piracy and conquest in Elysium have been totally action-packed, and we hope every Mercenary out there had fun fighting for their lives.
Torsten: Speaking of… didn’t I defeat you in the battle for the Dimension Ruins? How are you even here?
Alex: Oh no, Torsten, surely not me. I only win battles. There are a great many Mercenaries who look like me I’m told. As you can see I have a very common face type.
Torsten: glares
Alex: And regardless– don’t ask me how – but I’m quite certain we’ll all be doing this exact same thing again very, very soon. dramatically Oh Pirate King… what have you done!?
Now let’s dive into some of the highlights from the battle for the Ring! Bwahahahahaheheheehee!!!
Conquest: The Victorious
There were many epic battles spread across all three conquest events throughout the season. We’d like to offer a special congratulations to the top five finishers overall from season 1:
Chuckz
Ewod
Goodnight
Nezumi
KingNerd
This footage is not sped up. That Laction is in a HURRY!!!
Most Powerful Captains
Captains build their might in many ways over the course of the season, but most all of that can be summed up in raw Battle Power. Through all the battle and chaos, the following Captains excelled above all others at raising their total power in Elysium:
PalafinHF
OoKoO
Kazuto1995
Lock-On
Firstblood
Arena Victors
The Arena is entirely unlike field battles. Here, there are no troops to hide behind and your mercenaries must fight to the bitter end. Over all Arena competitions this season, the following Captains amassed the most Arena Victory Points:
PalafinHF
Hebisakki
Win
Chuckz
Kazuto1995
Honorable Mentions
The following two players were the only Captains to finish in the top 10 in all three categories:
PalafinHF
Chuckz
Shoutout to this mysterious team that definitely isn’t S12 😉. This brilliant move made it incredibly hard to find rally leaders among their team to strike back against, helping lead them to a win in the 3rd Conquest!
Editor’s Choice: Most Feared Player🏴☠️
-OoKoO-
“OoKoO only hit me 37 times last night!”
Editor’s Choice: Farmer Supreme 🧑🌾
-Hebisakki-
“I dominated DPP today! In second with a full 15% Hebisakki’s score!!!”
Editor’s Choice: Benevolent Landlord 🏰
-Burgundy-
“(457,357) – get your DPP!”
The Eternal Fight
Another season of glorious battle is on its way in only a few hours. Will you take the lessons from this season and rise to greatness in the battle to come?
Alex: I’m sure they’ll try, but not if my cannon has anything to say about it.
Wait… your part is done. Where’d you come from?
Alex: I told you there was some weird stuff going on inside that ring. It would seem the fight is not yet done. BWUAHAHAAAHEEHEHE!!! See you on the battlefield!
Indeed, the battle continues! Elysium’s Mercenaries are trapped in the eternal battle for the Ring of Ruin, but perhaps this time it will end differently.
We’ll be back in the next few days to sum up everything exciting about season 2, but for right now, be prepared for the unexpected when the server opens in a few hours!
If you want to read more about Season 2, check out the full patch notes in #EPX_Announcements on the Gala Games Discord!