Battlegrounds

Unlike many games that offer PVP (player-vs-player) arenas where players score points by defeating their opponent in duels/combat, the game designers for Devilian wanted to layer in concepts from other genres so that it was not strictly about bashing your foes in the face.

20v20 Battleground (aka Battlefields) PVP in Devilian was designed partly around a MOBA philosophy where it is not mainly about direct PVP engagement (unlike 3v3). It was designed to be more about strategy than muscle with its objectives based capture and control where capturing and occupying altars and watchers earned more points for example. Guild Wars and Tournament utilize the 20v20 format in Devilian mode.

Korea and Thai Devilian offered only 20v20 and 3v3 Devilian form Battlegrounds. In 20v20, the team that scored the most points in 20 minutes or scored 2000 points wins while in 3v3, the first team that reached 100 points within the 10 minute time limit wins (and earned ranking points). Trion Worlds had several changes made these after several patches included lowering the time to 15 minutes and points to 1500 in 20v20 and increasing the points to 150 in 3v3.

Trion's version of the Battlegrounds contained several enhancements: normal (class) form in both normalized and RAW. Normal form PVP was not a strongly requested feature for either the Korean or Thai version. Due to long queues associated with player de-population in both North America and Europe (Trion), changes were made to the level requirements for entry in patch 1.3.4 (April 14, 2016).

A 6v6 mode was also originally in the PVP request UI for the Trion version of Devilian. This 6v6 mode was actually designed as a PVE and PVP raid dungeon known as the Depraved Temple (aka Corrupted Temple) and was offered as a daily event that fired off at certain times in both Korea and Thai versions. The 6v6 mode was removed from the PVP matching UI in patch 1.3.4, and turned into a bi-weekly event.

Devilian form Battlegrounds were removed completely in patch 1.3.5 (May 5, 2016). The Trion side rationale for this (made by the associate producer at the time) was that there were far too many PVP modes which therefore had an effect on queues not popping. The solution they decided on was to reduce the number of options including the removal of Devilian form PVP. The root cause issue with problematic queues was actually due to the severe de-population the game experienced prior to the transition to the megaserver in each region.