Our latest patch for iDuel Online is monumental. So monumental that we’re rebranding the game as World of iDuelcraft Online.

The latest update includes a fully 3D world to explore. Battle it out in 40 man raid dungeons. Challenge other duelists in whole new ways.

Some other new features such as chat, buddy lists, and character animation are still in the pipeline, but rest assured they’ll be available soon.

[Note: This was our April Fool's joke. --Sam]

The first time you log in with the Special Edition, you’ll get at least one free Christmas  item gift. As you level up, you’ll earn more free items! Make sure you log in and play often to collect all 35! The first time you sign in you’ll also get a free gift of 30 Spectral Credits!

But remember, you must be playing through the Holiday 2010 Special Edition app to earn the awards, and they will only be available for a limited time! Get it now!

The iDuel Online Holiday 2010 Special Edition also includes a new Winter duel background and more new Christmas themed art.

All the latest updates to the normal version of the game (iDuel Online 1.1.1968) also apply to this special edition.

Celebrate with us all month long!

This update includes 19 new items. You’ll also notice a brand new Equip Screen background. We’ve also fixed many bugs and made several optimizations to improve performance.

Keep your eyes open for our upcoming Christmas update, the iDuel Online Holiday 2010 special edition!

Potions of Specialness will now be worth far more Spectral Credits. Before, losing a battle earned you only 2 SC from a potion, while now it will earn you 15. Winning earns you 17. We’ve also adjusted the in-app purchase cost of the Potions.

In addition, players will now earn more Credits from duels. Credit earnings were based just on player Charisma, but now earnings will scale up based on your level.

Finally, we’ve restructured the cost of items. The higher the level of the item, the more that the Spectral Credits will be worth, so higher level items will cost less Spectral Credits than before. Also, the overall cost of items above level 60 won’t rise quite as sharply.

These changes will go live as soon as the next app update hits. We’ve already submitted it to the App Store, so it should be soon!

All users must update if they wish to continue playing, since server updates are also going into effect with this app update. You must also be running iOS 4 to play. You can read about all the changes on our previous blog post.

As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated. If you have any comments or suggestions please be sure to send them our way, and if you enjoy the game please take a moment to rate it on the App Store!

Update:

Our apologies for the slight hiccup some of you may have experienced as our servers switched over to the latest version. Everything should be running smoothly now!

Here’s a brief rundown of the changes in this version:

• Removed the Unranked Duel Lobby.
• Listen to iTunes music while you play or make a playlist for iDuel Online from within the game!
• Added the option to turn off battle animations.
• Apprentice classes with a lower level requirement give players access to classes earlier in the game!
• 21 new items!
• Overhauled the game’s server to improve performance and stability.
• Bug fixes to take care of crashes and other issues.
• Game balance changes: There is now a Match Point penalty for fighting sleepwalkers or players that are too far below your level.
• The game now requires iOS 4 to run.

I’ll post again as soon as the update is actually live.

Features added to the new release:

• Added “Sleepwalker” mode.  When a player has disconnected or logged off, opponents may challenge them and the server will play in their place.  If the server population is low there is always somebody to fight, even if that person is just a bot.  Winning a “Sleepwalker” match reduces your match point earnings, however, so it’s always best to fight live players when possible!
• Added auto-refresh to the lobby.  This will keep you up to date with the players entering and leaving the lobby in real time.
• If a player disconnects during game play (ie you see them “Do Nothing”), the player will automatically forfeit on the next turn if he/she does not take action.  The winner is awarded full match points and credits if an opponent disconnects.  The loser will receive zero credits and zero match points.

Major Bug fixes/Improvements:

• If you have multiple challenges pending, the server will automatically decline all other challenges when you enter a game.  This prevents many situations where you issue a challenge and wait forever for somebody to accept or decline and never get a response.
• Made the lobby more efficient.  We greatly reduce the rate at which games fail to connect.
• Found and fixed a number of crash problems.
• Fixed the major issue where the duel screen simply waits forever on the opponent.
• iDuel Online now requires iPhone OS 3.0 or greater.

On the table for the future:

• Performance enhancements in the Gear Shop.
• Performance enhancements in game.
• AI Learning for sleepwalkers.  Your sleepwalker will fight matches based on how normally fight.
• Other great stuff!

I would also like to thank the players who have provided the constructive criticism regarding these issues and have waited patiently while we fix them.  For any questions or comments, please feel free to follow up on this post or contact me directly via email.

Patrick “Invictvs” Twohig <invictvs@namazustudios.com> (A.K.A. “The Server Guy”)

We’ll also be adding a “Sleepwalker” bot mode. This will allow players to choose to duel a bot version of a character if they can’t successfully challenge another live player to a match or if other players are unavailable.

I’ll post updates here (as well as on Twitter, Facebook, and our thread on the TouchArcade Forums) as the changes go live.

iDuel Online is now available on the App Store! Be sure to get it for your iPhone or iPod Touch!