WarpForce Elite

Where victory ends... a whole universe begins!

The Devourer Saga was truly epic, and began in the first months of AdventureQuest's launch and the first appearance of the Drakel.

The Drakel were a race that hid from the world-ravaging Devourer in domed cities hidden across the world of Lore, and remained there for 1000 years. They developed their "magiscience" (technology crossbred with magic) to a high degree while locked away, hoping that when they emerged they would be able to find a way to stop the Devourer if he returned to Lore.

Trouble was, the Devourer is basically a god... a god in our universe, anyway. The husband of the Creator, Lorithia, he was hired by her to be her opposite, to test worlds for signs of unity, and if a world was found wanting - to complete his duty ... a duty to travel through space to space and feed on the elemental and life forces of a world that qualifies for his attention. If ever a world is found to be beyond redemption, it is his duty to uncreate it, erasing the world from both space and time.

The Devourer left Lore 1000 years ago as an unfinished meal-- it had much potential to become more satisfying. And then, just 2 years ago, the Devourer returned.

For all of the Drakel's technological might and occult knowledge, defeating a god was not one of their powers. With the Drakel reemergence from the domes came a new era of war and chaos on Lore. The Humans, Elves, Dwarves and others who had also managed to survive the Devourer's first coming had built kingdoms in the plains, forests and mountains that continually fought against outside forces. The Drakel became yet one more enemy, and a dangerous one at that.

But even while Lore's civilizations adapted to the Drakel's return, dark and sinister forces were at work in the name of the Devourer...

These forces were part of the Network, a vast, loosely-connected group of alien races from the many worlds he had previously visited; many of which were culled from the worst of the universe. The Devourer took them into service in hopes of their redemption. Many, however, did whatever it took at some time or another to preserve themselves from the Devourer's appetite - some, by ensuring that his appetite was directed elsewhere. They became his servants, his followers, his assistants ... spreading across the galaxy, they were charged with testing the universe for the signs of unity and salvation that might grant worlds a reprieve.

Only a select few remained true to this goal. Instead, many sought to leverage his journeys to their own advancement and seed worlds with chaos, war, fear, and corruption... all the better to increase a world's "taste" for the Devourer.

Despite the godlike power of the Devourer, and the billions of those in his Network, what saved Lore was YOU, the people of Lore, uniting against all odds. Human, Drakel, Elf, Orc.... Vampire, Werewolf.... Dragonslayer, Paladin, Necromancer and Wizard....In your unity came a strength that even the Devourer could not deny.

For you were able to summon forth the Avatar of Lorithia herself to attest to your courage and strength. The Devourer was made to see the treachery of those who sought to manipulate him, and he cast them away. He was moved by your determination. And so he left, returning to his neverending journey through the universe.

A time of victory is only well-spent if it is spent preparing for the next threat...

Unity will leave us nowhere unless we do what must be done to preserve it, to expand it, and to ensure that those who would always be a threat -- the Network -- are stopped.

To do that, there is only one option...

ATTACK!

The WarpForce is coming. July 2009.

Source: http://forums2.battleon.com/f/tm.asp?m=16020236

BASICS: Built on the AQ engine, WarpForce will feature a large-scale console-game type of storyline that unfolds as you level up. It is a separate story which holds the Devourer Saga from AQ as prologue.

WarpForce is being built in such a way that direct game crossovers can occur between it and AdventureQuest, expanding the "massively single player" style of AE game to a new level.

SETTING: Current AdventureQuest time, but travelling across the galaxy. Think AQ + Star Trek.

CHARACTER CREATION: Choose from Human, Drakel or Elf races. Features new faces, new body styles and new animations.

WILL ANY AQ NPCs APPEAR?: A few, with Celestra (The Huntress) playing a major role.

STORY: WarpForce is fully plotted out with a giant coherent storyline that expands in scope to a shattering climax, afterward unlocking high level content.

RELEASES: New releases will occur once every month, but will be of a larger scope than current weekly releases in AE's other games.

UPGRADES: Upgrades will be a one-time fee just like AE's other single player games.

Question: Will this be a minigame or a full game?

Answer: While the regular release schedule is slower than the other games, this is very definitely a full game of its own. The slower development cycle allows us more time, both to more fully develop each release and on our other projects.

Question: Isn’t AE overextending itself? AQW is very young. Won’t AQW, MQ, DF, and AQ suffer because we are developing WF? Will AQ be ignored or have smaller releases because of WF? Does WF have its own development team?

Answer: As a direct sequel, WarpForce is being developed by the same team that develops AdventureQuest. This team will be expanded as necessary on both sides. In fact, I have already added an additional storyline developer to my own team of StoryLine Developers to help, in the form of the remarkably talented Eukara, who many of you know from Legends and Lore and the Zardian.

While it is true that the same individuals who are developing AQ will be developing WF, WarpForce is placed in a manner that does not interfere with our ability to do both games. AQ’s development team has become very good at working well ahead. We have content and material ready at times months in advance. AQ has storyline development outlined and, in many cases, plotted well into 2011.

And as the Storyline Developers’ notes for AQ promise, what we have scheduled in AQ is MASSIVE. Far from suffering from WF, AQ in many cases will benefit from the work that we do in WarpForce. While the games quite definitely will have very distinct identities, and the styles will be likewise unique, AQ and WF are very must sister games.

For example, The Knights of the Order are very much involved in WF from the very beginning. Meaning it is being created with an eye toward balance right out the door. As an example of this, the initial level progression in WarpForce will be substantially slower than that of AdventureQuest.

This will give you much more time to play with equipment, earn funds to make purchases, test them, sell them and try them out. Purchase decisions won’t need to be nearly as selective as in AdventureQuest and you will have every reason to buy and try as much as possible and explore your own possibilities. This change will directly benefit the KoO’s efforts to balance AQ as well. How you ask? Once tested extensively, and evaluated by you the player, this system will be very easy to port to AQ as well. Meaning, more time in AQ to test weapons, to use tier 1 classes and skills and to truly develop and customize your character individually. In short, this will HELP AQ’s sweep and provide us with invaluable data on how to do it most effectively.

Question: Is this the Star Trek Mirror Universe parody Falerin mentioned in his Storyline Developers' notes?


Answer: No, absolutely not. The massive mirror universe arc for AQ is as I said in earlier AQ SDN’s entitled Bizzare Flecks. That said, WF will play a part in the Bizzare Flecks saga and the very first AQ and WF direct crossover war is slated for that cycle.

It won’t be the first crossover though. WarpForce’s launch will be playable in AQ as well as in WF and it will set the game going in grand style.

Though the two games will have crossovers, you need not worry about them being indistinguishable either. They both have very unique elements and storylines quite specific to both games. While playing both can only enhance your experience it will not be required, even when crossovers are occurring.

Question: Will this be walk around or like AQ?

Answer: As in AQ, we have the ability to use limited walk around and we may do so occasionally but the vast majority of content will be in the style of AQ itself.

Question: Will this game have the same server caps AQ has? Don't you know that players find them very annoying?

Answer: No. We do know that the players consider the server caps annoying. Many of us do not like them either but they are needed if AQ is going to continue. This game will have an entirely novel mechanism for addressing the balance between free-to-play and upgraded content and we believe this new mechanism will work very well. We will not be using the present AQ server caps on WarpForce at this point.

Question: Will this game be impossible to follow like the Devourer Saga, with its many disconnected and dangling plots and having to read hundreds of pages of content to keep current.

Answer: No. While this is a sequel and there are some thematic similarities, we learned with the Devourer Saga what worked and what did not. Many of you liked some of the puzzle-like aspects of the Devourer Saga, but the sprawling disconnected nature of much of it got out of hand. WarpForce will not have this problem because of the way content is designed and how it will be unlocked as time progresses. The storyline will progress with you as you level. To put it another way, if the Devourer Saga was inspired by J.J. Abrahms’ Lost with its many storylines and disconnected elements (and difficulty to follow it if you miss a few episodes), then WarpForce is inspired by J.J. Abrahm’s newer shows including Fringe, which while having similar elements, are far more self-contained, complete with recaps and flashbacks whenever necessary for the story. If it directly follows on a previous episode, you will receive the information needed, and if you miss a few weeks, you can pick right back up with no problems

We are still rapidly working on WarpForce and on some really exciting content for AQ lest you think we have forgotten you. We have some really exciting prospects growing as time passes and I can barely contain myself. I am actively relearning flash. Galanoth and I worked together on the WarpForce teaser you see in AQ presently, I think it is pretty hot myself. I am psyched all around. WarpForce has put me in a tremendously good mood. It has spread to all aspects of my life too. I spent this past Sunday a few hundred miles from home getting some ink done by a rather talented artist. I was inspired to grab life by the horns and WF played no small part in it.

What can be so tremendous about a game that it inspires this much excitement and hype even among its developers. Well, we cannot really tell you that can we? That would be spoiling the fun. However here are some last screenie's from the intro to WF that will be playable in AdventureQuest, in addition to some screenshots from the new game itself. As always these represent in progress works. They capture the feel of WF but things may change.