Roughly one week ago, the battle lines were drawn and war was declared between the Knights of Aenok and the Daemonic Acolytes. Phyrrans that are active in the Revolution cause were told to pick a side and swear their allegiance to one of these two warring factions: the strict-ordered Aenok who will stop at nothing to bring order to our world, or the chaotic Daemons whose wickedness is outweighed only by their propensity for anarchy and mutiny.

As  the initial war cries were heard, the ‘field advantage’ has gone back and forth between the two sides. Initially, the Aenoks held a slight lead over the Aenok, mainly contributed to their ability to quickly assimilate and fall in to an ordered squad. With the mission to ‘cleanse or kill all heretics’ in their path, the Aenoks worked efficiently and effectively. When the first stage of the battle completed on Monday, September 14th, the Aenoks held a minor lead and the Revolution’s overall Top Killer for the stage (Busterbros) was of the Aenok faction.

The tides always turn though, and the Daemons came back with a vengeance. Though lacking the precision and order that the Aenok pride themselves on, the Daemons used their brute force and lack of conscience to slaughter their way through both Aenok and innocents alike. Without planning or foresight, their attacks come as an ambush on Aenok forces, leaving the angelic warriors confused and disoriented. At the time of this writing, the Daemons and Aenoks are neck-and-neck (both on the scoreboard and on the war field).

As was mentioned earlier, at the end of Stage 1 of the PvP battle (held on Monday, September 14th), the Aenoks were in a slight lead. Busterbros took the spot for Top Killer for the Aenoks, and The Muffin scooped up the win for the Daemons. Both Busterbros and The Muffin received their coveted prizes for being the Top Killers; picking and receiving one of our brand new Revolution Gear Sets for free.

Stage 2 of the PvP event continues until Monday, September 21st and will finish at 12:00pm EDT. At that time,  the Top Killers will be recorded again and notified of their win. Once the Top Killers are recorded, the personal scoreboards are wiped and everyone is set back to zero. Everyone is encouraged to start fighting to reach the top of the Killers list for their side! This way, players can fight through the entire event, or just pick a certain stage, and can enjoy having a fresh chance every few days to try their hand at being a Leader. The overall score for the Aenoks and Daemons will continue to record, and will be used in tallying the winning side for the end of the event. At that point, Stage 3 of the PvP event will continue.

You can join in this legendary battle too! Players who have completed all released chapters in the Revolution Quest Series will be prompted to pick their favorite faction. If you have yet to begin your Revolution quest series, visit your Quest Journal and click on the Revolution image. Get Started with the Prologue, and work your way through the chapters. Not only will you get to take part in the PvP of the season, but you will also rack up some really great rewards for your avatar!

If you are caught up on your Revolution quests, visit the Revolution PvP Battle page and get to hunting players on the opposite side of the war! If you look at your faction’s scoreboard, you will see a link to help you Hunt the other faction. For more instructions and information about the event, visit the official Revolution PvP schedule and information page. We’ll see you in the Arena!

Get your fight on! http://www.duels.com

This fall, Duelists must face the ultimate decision: align themselves with the Aenok Knights, or venture forth with the Daemon faction. Beginning with the Revolution in the Shadowlands prologue, all roads have led to this choice.  As the newest chapters in this saga unlock on Thursday, you will be given the task to fight for one of these sides. Whichever side wins the PvP will decide Duels’ future expansion.

For those who are unfamiliar with this quest series, you can begin your own Revolution by logging in to Duels and visiting the Revolution quest page (http://www.duels.com/quests/shadowlands ).  Click the first Get Started button and catch up through Chapter 12 (The latest chapter to be unlocked thus far).

For players who have kept up with the quest series, you have already been introduced to the two new NPCs that represent each faction. Below is a closer inspection of these foreign creatures.

The battle of good versus evil will be decided this fall.  The fate of Phyrra rests on your shoulders. The Revolution is upon us.

Get started today- www.duels.com

This month’s forum contest is a nod to the games of yore, our 8-bit ancestors that let us spelunk, jump, and eat our way to glory. Though a few of us may not have been old enough to enjoy the simpler times of gaming, we can all take part in our 8-Bit Duels image contest. Using any images or tools at your disposal, create an image that mixes Duels or Challenge Games with the 8-Bit era of gaming and then post your creation in our official Contest Thread ( http://www.duels.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=960698 ).

The contest is free to enter, open to players of all levels, and hands out great prizes for winners every week. There will be an overall grand prize at the end of the month too, so be sure to enter for your chance to win!

Some tips on posting images in the Forums:

1) You need to have the image hosted on an image-hosting site, like Image Shack. There are a lot of free sites out there, what you’re looking for is a place where you can load your images and can share a link to particular photos without the viewer having an account with that service.
2) When you image is loaded on the image-hosting site, it should have a URL that you can use to view the image publicly.
3) Once you have a URL for your image, paste it into a forum post with “[img]” before the URL and “[/img]” after.
4) Click the ‘Preview’ button for your forum post to make sure the image shows up
5) Press ‘Submit’ and watch as your photo magically appears in all its splendor and glory!
Ex: Here’s a quick breakdown on how to do this with one such service, ImageShack.

ImageShack ( http://imageshack.us/ )

1) Create and log in to your account, then use the list to the left to find Upload Image
2) Once the image is loaded, click on it. A box should appear around the image.
3) Click the tiny ‘i’ icon to the right of the image. A box pops up with a bunch of handy stuff. Copy the ‘Direct’ URL.
4) Paste it into a forum post with “[img]” before the URL and “[/img]”

Who’s ready for another Shadowlands taste test?

Same as before, this is part of a future Shadowlands item.

Can you guess what item type it is?

(Click here to see the first item art sneak peek from our upcoming Expansion, the Shadowlands)

A big thanks to everyone who joined us for today’s Summer Loot Off! We hope you had as much fun as we did. Players racked up great discounted bundles, packs, unique items, special Treasure Chests… practically everything but the kitchen sink.

From crazy-cheap packs to the lovably-vicious Moo Cow, our Loot Off was a great way to kick back, hang out with fellow Duelists, and get some great goodies for avatars of all shapes and sizes. The Loot Off festivities have wound down, though, drawing our attention back to… the Shadowlands.

The Shadowlands expansion is arriving soon, and an evil presence is already settling on Phyrra. With new art, quests, races, items and more, Duelists around the world are waiting to see what will happen to our beloved Phyrra. We couldn’t be more scared… and thrilled. This expansion is sure to rock Duels. Are you ready for the darkness?

Loot Offs always put Starry in a happy, giving mood, and I feel like giving you a teeny, tiny taste of what’s to come in the Shadowlands.

Just a little sip to get your taste buds going… are you ready for this?

The suspense!

A tiny piece of what is sure to leave a lasting impression on the Arena.

This is part of a future Shadowlands item.

Can you guess what item type it’s from?

(Stay tuned as we release more information about the upcoming expansion, including its launch date, in the next week)

-Starry

It’s  been a busy day in Phyrra!

Master Smith Voldur wandered the universe for centuries gaining wisdom and knowledge pertaining to item enchantment. Accompanied by his apprentices, Molov the Destroyer and Estaron the Enchanter, Voldur arrived in Phyrra and introduced a new system of energy extraction and enchantment with out latest set release, Noble Set VI.

Duelists can destroy items and have their essence transformed in to special Crystals. These Crystals are fused with specially-designed items, allowing the Duelist to enhance the item’s core set of attributes- be it Speed, Strength, Perception, Intelligence, Resist, or Stamina, it’s the Duelist’s choice in how to further develop the item.

Learn more about Noble Set VI, and the rest of today’s update, by visiting our Update Notes.

That’s not all the juicy news for today. After a gruesome showdown for the World Duels Championship title, Exponential and OJ Simpson were given the opportunity to create one-of-a-kind artifact items. Today marked the world premiere of their cutting-edge custom pieces! Exponential’s Antithesis of Thought is electrifying and sure to spark a following among the Mage scene, while OJ’s Gloves of Acquittal are brutally effective for Assassins in the Arena.

Tadius and I are also putting together the next volume in Duels Podcasts. This podcast will focus on the lore and stories throughout Phyrra, and special characters in our community.  We’re taking questions, feel free to ask away! Did you miss the first podcast? Check it out here!

Now, get back to fighting!

-Starry

 This is being sent on the wire as I type, reaching websites, journalists and readers around the world. We’ll keep the blog updated with more news. Enjoy!

DUELS.COM® HOSTS 200,000,000^TH BATTLE, SHATTERS RECORDS AND CROWNS NEW WORLD CHAMPION

Exponential One-Ups O.J. Simpson in 2009 World Duels Championship
May 28, 2009 (AUSTIN, TX) – It was a record-breaking week for Duels.com®, the massively multiplayer online player vs. player (PVP) game developed by Austin game studio Challenge Online Games, Inc. (Challenge Games®). Not only did the game host its 200,000,000^th (yes, that’s two hundred millionth) battle, but a new World Duels Champion was crowned after a tournament that shattered year over year records.

The championship ladder opened Tuesday, May 12 at 1pm EDT and nearly 3,000 competitors from 70 countries battled it out for two weeks. With double the participants from last year and nearly four times the amount of matches, it was a fierce, record-breaking competition to be last man standing. In the end, Duelist David Johnson (a.k.a. “Exponential”) was crowned 2009 World Duels Champion and took home $2000 in cash and prizes. Runner-up Duelist Andy Foote (a.k.a. O.J. Simpson) took home $1000 in cash and prizes. Each finalist will also have the opportunity to design a new item to be included in Duels®.

“Reaching the 200-millionth milestone during the 2009 World Duels Championship added an exclamation point to an already phenomenal event,” says Christian Primozich, Executive Producer of Duels. “From me and the entire Duels team, two hundred million thanks to all of the Duelists who brought their A-game and participated in the 2009 WDC. Duels continues to have the most amazing community of gamers on the Internet, and the bar has been set very high for 2010!”
With half a million players worldwide, Duels is an online strategy game where players build powerful characters based on physical attributes, battle experience, special abilities and collectible items. Unlike many online strategy games which require hours of grinding play to achieve player power and status, Duels is designed to provide compelling in-depth PVP, head-to-head game play in 10 to 30 minute increments, attracting both hardcore and casual gamers for quick-fix gaming.

Register to play Duels today and receive free items packs at www.duels.com.

About Challenge Games, Inc.

Challenge Games creates online games that are fun and easy to play whether you’re a serious or casual gamer. The company was founded by veteran entrepreneur and gamer Andrew Busey, author of Secrets of the MUD Wizards and creator of one of the first instant messaging applications. Challenge Games currently produces Planetstorm, Warstom, Duels and Baseball Boss – multiplayer web-based games that combine the best features of collectible card games (CCGs) and online roleplaying games, with the convenience of the short-form gaming experience. The company also holds a multi-year licensing agreement with MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. Challenge Games is based in Austin, TX and is privately held with funding from Sequoia Capitol and Globespan Capital Partners. For more information on Challenge games, visit www.challengegames.com

*Correction- Exponential’s name is actually David Johnston, and not David Johnson as originally written. We apologize for the error.*

The World Duels Championship 2009 Semi Finals have concluded, and ‘intense’ doesn’t even begin to describe the day’s event. Five rounds, 256 participants, all battling for the top 16 spots. As each challenge commenced, players around the world watched to see who their next opponent could be. The Duels Chat room was a hot spot, as people shared agonizing losses, miraculous wins, and quick advice about their next match ups.

After each round, the list of top players changed dramatically, and some seasoned favorites found themselves in trouble due to a few under-the-radar players. By round five, it was all heart for many of our participants as each fight of the final round held their WDC fate.

Congratulations to all 256 participants that made it thus far in the WDC battle, and a bigger congratulations to our sweet 16, who are moving on to tomorrow’s Finals tournament!

The top 16 (in current ranking order as of Saturday, May 23rd)

1. HaVoCLaD

2. FreezemeUp

3. Duke

4. Almighty Argh

5. Alcoholic Champ

6. OJ Simpson

7. GigaPat

8. wetryu

9. NigerianWarlord

10. Exponential

11. Sora Elsa

12. Dark as Knight

13. The Quick

14. SteamRoller

15. Jowlstar

16. Princess Fluffy

Follow these top 16 players tomorrow, as the struggle to become the World Duels Champion heats up! You can stay up to date with the 2009 Finals by visiting the Finals page and by watching the Tournaments tomorrow afternoon- beginning at 2pm EDT.

From these top 16 will emerge the top 2 Finalists, who will go through a best-of-three match up later tomorrow afternoon beginning at 5:30 EDT. Only one will be crowned the World Duels Champion- who will it be?

The 2009 WDC Ladder housed tens of thousands of participants, varying in different Paths and levels of expertise, all fighting their way to the top. As the remaining hours slipped away, a countdown clock appeared on the WDC ladder page signifying the final hour approaching. Players scrambled to reach their minimum numbers of fights, trying to protect their spot or take another’s, and squeeze in as much as they could before the ladder officially closed.

At 1pm EDT this afternoon the WDC ladder drew to a halt, Duelists put down their weapons, and silence filled the Arena. Onlookers peered anxiously at the competitors unsure of who would make it. As the cloud of dust settled only 256 participants stood, proudly moving on to the next stage of the competition: the Semi Final tournaments. (link)

Though they managed to make it through the ladder process, the journey ahead of these chosen few is far from over. With a day to gather their breath and mend their wounds, all participants will gather again in the Arena on Saturday at 3pm EDT. Already placed in their respective tournament brackets, they will begin the most difficult experience of their Dueling careers- fighting to move on to the Finals. (link)

Who will succeed? Who will fail? Who will ultimately become our 2009 World Duels Champion and take home the grand prize? For now, let’s commend the fantastic event that will be remembered as the 2009 WDC Ladder and take a look at who made it: (the Top 256 list)

Congratulations to these top WDC participants, and we look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

This year’s World Duels Championship ladder has been amazing, to say the least. Everyone has brought their A-game and it shows. In terms of stats, we’ve already blown last year’s WDC event out of the water. Over 130,000 fights have been logged in the WDC ladder (no, that does not include forfeits) and more fights are happening every minute. The ladder is ending Thursday, at which point all players in the WDC ladder will be ranked. While it’s been fun watching the first couple pages of participants enjoy some fame, let us not forget where the big battleground currently lies: in the Bubble.

In sports, bubble teams involve the groups that are soooo close to making it in to the semi finals for an event. There’s always a group of teams competing to fill out the last couple spots, and their struggle to beat the odds is nothing short of spectacular. I myself am not a huge sports fan (I’m waiting on flip cup to be recognized as a professional sport) but when the end of a season grows near even I start yelling at innocent televisions, cheering on my favorite underdog of the moment (usually chosen by how cute their uniforms are). The WDC is certainly not without its own bubble and what’s a world championship event without drama?

Presenting the 2009 WDC Bubble Watch: the Duelists who are on the edge of making it in to the Semi Finals, or very close to losing their coveted spots. The Bubble Watch will run through the end of the event, if you see any of your friends on the page, let them know you’re cheering for (or against?) them. I have had fun watching the page throughout the day and seeing players rise and/or fall through the ranks. As the ladder begins its final countdown later tomorrow, expect that the battle within the Bubble to become very heated. Refresh the page and stay in the know with who’s on the go.

A quick ‘Thank You!’ to all the players who participated in the first-ever Duels contest on Twitter (previously announced here). We gave away Challenge Coins and presented players with concept art images from our upcoming Noble Set VI. Mccord, Etain Tur Mukan, and Street Sweeper Arias each racked up 20 free Challenge Coins. We’ll do similar events in the future, so stay tuned!
- StarryEyed