The Secret World

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Man, I'm hyped up. I promise to do another glorious Beta LP if I get into this one.

Aye, this looks succulent.
Anybody knows if the open beta has started?

http://www.betacake.net/2012/01/12/the-secret-world-15-mins-long-video/

And it's gone...shit, really wanted to see that.

HPL-influenced MMO? Color me (reluctantly) interested. Registered for beta.

All dem peoples...

All dem trenchcoats.

It's up for me.
The game doesn't seem too bad. Too bad it's Funcom + EA, probably the worst publishing combo imaginable.

Seems June 19th is the penciled in release date for this, along with a media blitz this Friday. I truly hope this game doesn't suck ass.

I ve been in the closed beta for a few months now.
Its good.
I like the character and combat system.
You pick 2 weapons to carry and then pick 7 active and 7 passive abilities total for these 2 weapons (you can have many different sets stored to switch between when out of combat).
The quests, up to 3rd area that i completed were very well done: interesting, and very VERY challenging.
The production value is very high. full voiced-over and cinematic like swtor.

I hope i find some time this week to check out the new area (Egypt) and the pvp(i have high hopes for it) and post some impressions.

Ugh, PvP.

Hows the PvE in the game ? Could you solo the game as far as you've played without other people ? Tell me more about your experiences in this virtual world.

I WANT IT NAO!!!!! I'm not into MMOs, but I'm excited for this game since they announced it.

Absolute fuckton of new infos out today at the link below:

http://www.darkdemonscrygaia.com/showthread.php?t=24892

I am doing my best not to get excited about this game due to being disappointed so often... but I'll be damned if it isn't difficult.

Gotta admit, this line gave me a semi: 'It felt to me a hearkening back to the RPGs of early PC gaming which sent you to the library to seek answers to a puzzle. Games like Myst and The Dagger of Amon Ra. Indeed, Joel mentioned Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as a touchstone.' The mantra 'Please don't suck' is being repeated ad infinitum while reading this...

I solo'd the whole content up to and including the third area.
The first area was easy enough.
Second was quite more difficult and third was a nightmare.
I believe that the devs nailed the "dark and gritty" as far as atmosphere, world design and gameplay are concerned but are a quite bit off in the difficulty curve (especially since its an mmo).
Imagine that even after a couple of weeks into the beta, most people stayed in the first area and only a few brave souls ventured into the second.
While i was questing on the third area i didnt see more than 5-6 other players...

I dont know what the Egypt area is like since it seems i missed the whole last phase.
I just patched up the client to spend some time on it this weekend but it turned out that the beta closed down last week until the next event :/

Could you comment a bit on the Ability Wheel and what build(s) you used? I'm really hoping there is actual depth there and not simply the illusion of depth. Also the loot system, did it feel rewarding?

The ability wheel is just a fancy and well-organized way to display the available skill trees for each weapon type (9 weapon types with 2 basic and 7 advanced skill trees each).
When playing, you gain ability points and skill points instead of levels.
Skill points are used to increase the level of equipment you can use: weapons and chakras(the equivalent of armor in other games).
Ability points are used to unlock abilities for the weapons in the wheel.
You create a build of 7 active and 7 passive abilities that you can use in game. You can have multiple such builds stored to switch builds easily.

I started playing with 2 magic weapons: elementalism focus (for dps) and blood magic focus(for heals)
Initially my build was elementalism-heavy since i had no problems in the first area.
When i moved on to the second area, i switched to a blood magic-heavy build because mobs where substantially harder to deal with and i needed the extra heals.
By the end of the third area, i had unlocked many hammer abilities too, but there was nothing challenging to try the new combinations on.

There really are loads of different builds and weapon combinations that you can try to mix-and-match and play around, since you will eventually unlock all of the abilities on the wheel.

I cant really comment on the loot system, since the gear i got in the first 3 areas was pretty basic and only provided the necessary stat upgrades(that should be seriously buffed to match the difficulty).
Although i did see some dungeon chakras that had better stats and secondary abilities (like extra block or even party bonuses).
This will make things interesting later i guess.

How much content is there in the beta?

This sounds a lot like the early impressions people had with AoC. Then the brutal truth hit them when they got to lvl cap and realized there's fuck all to do save complain about bugs and broken mechanics.

TSW would have been a total killer was it a Singleplayer RPG.

But as it is, it's likely the most interesting MMO out there at this point.

I didnt play AoC so i cant really compare them.
In the 4th cbt event that i played, there were only 2 city hubs(starting areas for Illuminati and Templars) and 3 questing areas. They seemed to me quite complete quest-wise and we only encountered 1 bugged sidequest.
I think it took me about 2-3 days per area to finish all the content (4-5 hour per day).
There were also 2 dungeons. I couldnt find a party to try them because of my weird playing hours.

In the 5th cbt event 2 new questing areas were added and 2 new dungeons. Didnt find time to play this event at all.

Totally agree.
Unfortunately, even though it is the most interesting, it also is the least anticipated (compared to guild wars 2 and even tera).

It's called having a bad reputation, due to the crappy Age of Conan launch. Yes, I am still pissed that they decided they decided they didn't need beta testers to test the siege battles.

Yeah the Conan launch (and AO launch for that matter) is going to haunt Funcom well into the future. Hopefully once it launches and it isn't a buggy mess, word of mouth will save it from obscurity.

Well if they launch well, they launch well, and I'll gladly re-evaluate the company. But count me skeptical beforehand. The state of AoC nowadays is a good mark for them - a lot better than WAR turned out.

The best decision they ever made was firing Gaute Godger. Worst LP in the history of gaming.

http://geek.pikimal.com/2011/08/26/the-secret-world-will-employ-both-a-subscription-fee-cash-shop/

THE FUCK, i have to pay for the game, monthly subscription and have a cash shop, are these guys for real.

If it is not a pay for win method, I'm ok with that.

Still If I buy the game and pay the subscription I want all content to be unlocked not to pay for extra missions or other shit.