MMOABC: Can you tell us a little bit about Warrior Epic?

Brice Lucas: Sure, we are developing a Free to Play Online Action RPG that is setting out to do something different in a world overrun with clones and gimmicks.  Warrior Epic has several innovative features including Warrior Spirits, the concept of a Hall, portability rarely seen in a PC title, a robust and customizable class system, a unique digital distribution system, and an in house graphics engine that relies on hand crafted art instead of 3D accelerated effects to deliver a beautiful game.

MMOABC: How does Warrior Epic differentiate itself from other MMORPG games?

Brice Lucas: First, the obvious… Warrior Epic is truly free to play. This means that players will not be forced into subscriptions, there will be no progress locks, and players will not be able to purchase power. Convenience and vanity items will be available via in-game cash shop and will be incredibly inexpensive (pennies in some cases).

Long or short play sessions, you choose. Warrior Epic is designed to appeal to both hardcore and casual gamers alike.  The campaign quests are broken up into 15-20 minute chunks, which will deliver a meaningful experience to players on the go and to players who love the Bawlz fueled marathons.

Every warrior has its own spirit. When a warrior perishes, you will actually have access to their spirit, enabling you to equip it on a different warrior for use in battle as an all-encompassing “uber-attack”. Another aspect of the spirit system (which, prior to this interview, has not been disclosed), will be the equipment augmentation system.  You will have the ability to infuse spirits into your equipment, increasing the gear’s attributes and effectiveness in the field.

You need somewhere to keep your warriors. When they are not on the job, they need to keep their blades and their minds sharp. This is where your role as a “Hall Lord” comes into play. Your hall is a castle (or at least it will be once you upgrade it beyond its initial mud hovel level) where you house your many warriors.  This hall is fully customizable and will grow with you. It will be a direct reflection of your strength in the game. 

Warrior Epic is incredibly portable. It does not require any registry entries to run on a PC.  In fact, it is possible to copy your Warrior Epic folder onto a portable media device (flash drive, memory stick) and take it with you wherever you go.  You could even run the game from the media itself without having to “install” it on the computer you are using.

The class system in Warrior Epic is extremely robust. There are currently 8 classes available, each with at least 3 sub-classes.  The differences in sub-classes include appearances, and varying skill trees. We are developing each of the classes and sub-classes so that they are extremely specialized. This puts an emphasis on team-work and party diversity when players group, quest in parties, or participate in PvP.

MMOABC: Online hacking and spamming are widely evident in the MMORPG realm, how does Warrior Epic handle these disruptions?

Brice Lucas: We are using a closed economy with no player-to-player item trading which renders farming completely pointless.  Our item drop system works independently for every player in a group.  This means that players “loot” monsters separately and each have independent chances of getting rare items from bosses or beasts.  Independent looting will nullify any potential ninja activity in the game. Since Warrior Epic is instance based and groups are made prior to embarking on a quest, bots will not work either unless someone writes some incredibly ingenious human A.I. script.

No relevant account information is stored locally on a player’s machine either and file checks are done every time a player enters a quest, which inhibits the success of localized hacking. 

MMOABC: Many MMORPG operators/publishers are currently hosting many games in different geographic regions. Some are "free to play" while others are "pay to play." What is your take on this?

Brice Lucas: Unfortunately this term “free to play” has, up to this point, been little more than a gimmick to reel players into subscription fees or progress purchasing.  The antiquated times of the “retail box” business models will soon be a thing of the past and digital distribution will be the purchasing method of choice for gamers.  Taking that a step further, when a company has virtually no distribution overhead it is entirely feasible to offer a legitimately free game and still turn a solid profit.  We are approaching the “free to play” market with a truly free to play title with production values that rival that of AAA “pay to play” retail box titles. Warrior Epic will be the first free to play game to do this, and when other companies see that this model will work in the western market, they will follow our lead.

MMOABC: Are you guys planning to do any Warrior Epic contest events in the next coming weeks or months?

Brice Lucas: Of course.  With the conclusion of the closed beta, we will be preparing for the Open Beta phase of our game.  Our community is incredibly active right now and there is still quite a bit of fun to be had between now and Open Beta.

Be sure to register on our site (www.warriorepic.com) with a valid email and check back frequently for events, media updates, and news pertaining to the release of the Open Beta.

MMOABC: Will the Warrior Epic development team be attending any Video/MMORPG gaming events for 2008?

Brice Lucas: No commitments have been made, but we are hoping to attend all of the major gaming events in 2008/2009.

MMOABC: Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to talk with us. We wish the best of luck to Warrior Epic!

You can check out Warrior Epic here:

http://www.warriorepic.com/