What happened

The duel server's main thread stopped, but the server process kept running. From the outside it still looked online: it accepted the connection, then never answered. Because it never fully crashed, nothing restarted it and nothing warned us.

What we changed

• The duel server was restarted cleanly on 18 October. Joining works again.
• A watch on the server now checks the proxy, the lobby, the duel server and the FFA servers every minute. If one stops answering or freezes, staff get an alert within two minutes, and another when it is back.
• The same checks feed a public status page, so you can see for yourself whether a server is up, with 90 days of history.

If you still cannot join, tell us in the Discord with the time it happened, and check the status page first.

What changed

• A new top bar. Live player count, the server address one click from your clipboard, and a full-screen menu on phones.
• The front page. Live cards over a real fight, a ticker of the latest results, the top three on a podium next to the top ten, every kit ladder with its number one, and the tier staircase with how many players hold each tier.
• The leaderboard. Kit tabs, search, a tier filter and an "active in the last 7 days" switch. Every row shows movement against a week ago, your last five results and a trend line, and opens into a mini profile.
• 3D players. The podium and profiles show your own skin in a pose, with the right arm model for your skin.
• The next event. Ranked Night (Fridays 19:00) and the weekly tournament (Saturdays 18:00) are shown in your own time zone with a countdown.

Every number on the site comes from the server. When there is no data yet, a part is hidden instead of filled in.

Faster, not heavier

The site does no work while you scroll or read: no scroll handlers, no endless animations, and the 3D players only draw while they move. On a weak machine or with reduced motion, the site switches to still pictures by itself.

Added on 18 October

• Live matches: every duel on the server right now, updated every few seconds.
• Server status: whether each server is up, checked every minute, with 90 days of history.
• News: patch notes like this one, also as an RSS feed.

Something broken or hard to read on your phone? Tell us in the Discord.

One card at the end of every duel

When a duel is decided, both players (and anyone watching) get one card in chat instead of a pile of lines:

• the winner and the loser, the ZP each of them moved, and how long it took
• per player: hits, longest combo, damage dealt and taken
• what was used: potions, pearls, totems and golden apples
• for ranked matches, a link to the match page on the website with the full head to head and both final inventories

Want more? /lastmatch breaks your last 1v1 down round by round: damage, hits, combos and health.

Tier-ups

Reaching a new tier on a kit now gets its own moment: a fanfare and a particle burst only you see, a line to everyone in the lobby, and a post in the Discord. Linked your account with /sync? Your tier role follows on its own.

Watch the best fights

• /spectate top lists every duel running right now, best first.
• /spectate <player> watches someone directly, /spectate leave takes you back.

The weekly tournament

• When: every Saturday at 18:00, Berlin time. The site shows it in your own time zone.
• Sign up: from 24 hours before, with /tournament weekly join.
• Format: single elimination, one kit per week on a rotation.
• Prizes: 500, 250 and 100 coins for the top three, and a champion title for the winner.

/tournament weekly shows the kit, the start time and, once it runs, the bracket.

See you in the queue.