The Secret World

[Data4]

Methinks Matt may have missed Rift. They've been pretty generous about adding regular content at no additional charge. Or maybe he's confusing monthly adds for expansion packs?

 

[Angthoron]

Methinks Matt may have missed Rift. They've been pretty generous about adding regular content at no additional charge. Or maybe he's confusing monthly adds for expansion packs?

Rift is very generous with expansions though they don't come "monthly". LotRO pre-derp was also pretty damn proper in that respect.

I do wonder what kind of monthly content will TSW deliver.

 

[Nael]

Methinks Matt may have missed Rift. They've been pretty generous about adding regular content at no additional charge. Or maybe he's confusing monthly adds for expansion packs?

Rift is very generous with expansions though they don't come "monthly". LotRO pre-derp was also pretty damn proper in that respect.

I do wonder what kind of monthly content will TSW deliver.

http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/the_secret_world_issue_1_july_2012_unleashed

 

[Mortmal]

Been playing it since a few days, and its truly excellent, intellectually challenging sometimes even indeed . If only , if only they took one or two month to fix the bugs, i really encounter a lot of them , specially ,without surprise in the most sophisticated type of missions , and some instance encounters too.Really many quest bugged in egypt and some impossible to finish instance in transylvania.
I guess its EA to blame , they had a deadline to publish or something. Anyway if its not EA fault for this , they deserves blame for ton of other things.

 

[Angthoron]

Methinks Matt may have missed Rift. They've been pretty generous about adding regular content at no additional charge. Or maybe he's confusing monthly adds for expansion packs?

Rift is very generous with expansions though they don't come "monthly". LotRO pre-derp was also pretty damn proper in that respect.

I do wonder what kind of monthly content will TSW deliver.

http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/the_secret_world_issue_1_july_2012_unleashed

That sounds fairly cool actually. If I can persuade my GF to play it, might give it a spin.

Only question is, what, AH wasn't there at launch? Damn, NCSoft and EA sure rushed the release then.

 

[Nael]

As far as I know EA was only involved as a distributor. I agree that the game is riddled with bugs. If they aren't fixed in a month or so I would consider that an abject failure. But I usually expect a lot of bugs inn an mmo upon release. Especially one as ambitious and detailed as TSW. Hell, SWTOR which likely had a much bigger budget and was hyped more than Jesus had bugs that kept players from completing their class quests which is the very definition of game-breaking. TSW doesn't have anything quite that bad AFAIK. The quests that are broken are some of the smaller side quests and all of those can be worked around by having someone group you out of your dimension.

The lack of an AH is glaring as is the broken build organizer. Supposedly these will be addressed by the end of the month. If they are I think all will be forgiven.

JMO.

 

[Nael]

Btw to any that are playing: What decision did you make in regards to The Voice's offer? Gotta love some choice and consequence in an mmo.

 

[J_C]

If anyone has a bugged quest, filing a petition in the game might solve your problem pretty fast. My brother did this today, and a GM came to his help very quickly.

 

[lightbane]

C&C in a MMORPG?? Curious, how does it work?

 

[Nael]

C&C in a MMORPG?? Curious, how does it work?

I'm not sure yet. I've only made the decision and the way it impacts the story was not evident. Just describing the way it came about would be too spoilerish.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

Hmmm, yeah what can I say. AoC was a special kettle of fish. I worked my ass off on that game and poured my heart and soul into a lot of it. But it died the death of a thousand cuts - there were so many small decisions which were just...well stupid at the end of the day.
All I can say is that we are trying to avoid many of the mistakes we made on Conan.

The company structure is as any publicly traded company - a board of directors e.t.c. However I think it is safe to say that they are probably more risk averse to early releases since the AoC release.
Honestly, I can't really say I am involved in such high level decisions, so I have no idea how the board feels. I guess if the company reaches a point where it is release or sink...they will probably make the choice to release. But with EA partnering up to publish the game and the new Montreal office being a significant cost reduction on development then I can't see that happening.

TSW is more of an open world than AoC, but with a storyline backbone thread that leads players through content in a linear manner.
But due to the flat system (no levels, classes e.t.c) you can decide to go wherever you like at any point. The challenge differs between monster types and races - but monsters are often regional which means that you can expect the native population of a region to require abilities that you may not have acquired.



Well, as mentioned - no levels. Which means all content is accessible (within reason) at any time. So to run with the Kheshatta example - Kesh was the only 80 zone in Conan at launch. In TSW all zones are available (and missions) both at beginning and endgame. All zones are being developed concurrently so there is not a lack of focus on any areas.

My only question: the Test on the front page to tell if you are Templar, Dragon, or Illuminati was so pop culture and lurid, I found it a complete turn-off to the rest of the game. Can we expect the game dialogue/writing/pop-take on the Illuminatus! Or are we getting into a whole new game... Something with dimensions and actual depth.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

Keep in mind that the effect is greatly exaggerated in that video - I doubt people will swap entire builds in a real dungeon run. Mostly to find counters to specific effects e.t.c.

The encounter design is generally based around formulas such as "the group needs to do X damage" and "the group needs to heal x damage over time" e.t.c. in addition to general mechanics shown such as bringing specific effects (like purging the white boss shield) and movement.

The advantage of designing encounters for a "group sized" setting is that it means if a group needs to be able to heal, say 500pts every second you can either have a dedicated healer who brings 7 healing skills that equal that total OR you can have every person in the group bring one healing skill each and focus on themselves e.t.c.
Or any combination between those two extremes.

Would be good if you had to Swap builds at certain locations before going into an Instance.

 

[Mangoose]

Usually I'd blame EA for everything, but if bugs in a Funcom game scream Funcom's fault.

(That's my only real complaint about Funcom btw. Not a Funcom hater.)

 

[Nael]

Hmmm, yeah what can I say. AoC was a special kettle of fish. I worked my ass off on that game and poured my heart and soul into a lot of it. But it died the death of a thousand cuts - there were so many small decisions which were just...well stupid at the end of the day.
All I can say is that we are trying to avoid many of the mistakes we made on Conan.

The company structure is as any publicly traded company - a board of directors e.t.c. However I think it is safe to say that they are probably more risk averse to early releases since the AoC release.
Honestly, I can't really say I am involved in such high level decisions, so I have no idea how the board feels. I guess if the company reaches a point where it is release or sink...they will probably make the choice to release. But with EA partnering up to publish the game and the new Montreal office being a significant cost reduction on development then I can't see that happening.

TSW is more of an open world than AoC, but with a storyline backbone thread that leads players through content in a linear manner.
But due to the flat system (no levels, classes e.t.c) you can decide to go wherever you like at any point. The challenge differs between monster types and races - but monsters are often regional which means that you can expect the native population of a region to require abilities that you may not have acquired.



Well, as mentioned - no levels. Which means all content is accessible (within reason) at any time. So to run with the Kheshatta example - Kesh was the only 80 zone in Conan at launch. In TSW all zones are available (and missions) both at beginning and endgame. All zones are being developed concurrently so there is not a lack of focus on any areas.

My only question: the Test on the front page to tell if you are Templar, Dragon, or Illuminati was so pop culture and lurid, I found it a complete turn-off to the rest of the game. Can we expect the game dialogue/writing/pop-take on the Illuminatus! Or are we getting into a whole new game... Something with dimensions and actual depth.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean but the game has plenty of depth in it's quests and storyline. The societies are there more as a way of setting up conflict for PVP. Even then I think the factions are well done, believable, and not eye-rolling ly cheesy.

 

[Mortmal]

C&C in a MMORPG?? Curious, how does it work?

I'm not sure yet. I've only made the decision and the way it impacts the story was not evident. Just describing the way it came about would be too spoilerish.

Indeed i prefer to not spoil it either, but well a pact with the old ones for power riches and pretty much everything you may dream of (as they advertise it but can you trust ?), or staying a corporate cog.. tough choice tough choice
Ah well i really advise people to try it, of course when you have done the content, this is the end ,except farming instances in elite and nightmare but whats the point really exept getting better loot and gettting more AP and skill points to make better builds. Its as satisfying as lets say playing vampire bloodlines, maybe more as theres much more character development and tactics . A really well crafted solo rpg where you can team up with people occasionaly if you want to, not forced to, the icing of the cake being you acutally have to use your brain, adapt your build and really use tactics. It shows everywhere they put though into it and care ,lot of details , its not one of those korean grind/ wow clone i fear it would become .A truly exceptional game i mean it.

I wont even compare it to swtor, 100millions for that ? TSW is superior in every aspect.

 

[made]

The beta was awful. Did the game make a 180 or are you guys just fanboying really hard?

 

[Stabwound]

Man, this game is going nowhere. I'm honestly amazed its gotten this much Codex attention at all.

 

[J_C]

It doesn't get as much attention as it deserves to be honest.

 

[Mortmal]

The beta was awful. Did the game make a 180 or are you guys just fanboying really hard?

How far you went int he beta ? Tactics and build starts to shine after polaris in my opinion. Somewhat refreshing ? I dont remember anything more original since years, when was the last time i played something that wasnt heroic fantasy ? new vegas, thats it.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

They'd make tits money with this game if they followed a freemium model. it seems the quality is there...it's just sub that's holding them back.

 

[Mystary!]

Where and what are you guys playing? Is there a kodex kool krew somewhere?

 

[Mangoose]

The beta was awful. Did the game make a 180 or are you guys just fanboying really hard?

How far you went int he beta ? Tactics and build starts to shine after polaris in my opinion. Somewhat refreshing ? I dont remember anything more original since years, when was the last time i played something that wasnt heroic fantasy ? new vegas, thats it.

It doesn't matter how far you get in beta, or tactics, or build. That's not the weak point. The weak point is that the micro combat itself is really really really boring. Every game has their macro level strategies and synergies and tactics and etc. Not that I'm saying SW doesn't. It probably does, as I have no reason to disbelieve you - But the micro-level basic combat implementation is boring, and I want both macro- and micro- level complexity. It's just press button and specific effect happens. Again I'm talking about the micro level, not the macro level. This is especially disappointing coming from Age of Conan combat.

The thing is that GW2 has kinda upped the ante. Not just because the the abilities you have more than just dmg/debuff/buff/heal, but because it's fucking free sub. If SW was sub-less, I'd seriously consider buying it. And to elaborate slightly on GW2 combat, the thing is that your abilities do more than damage - they can affect your own position or your enemies' position, they can combine with other abilities to create new effects and not just work synergistically, each ability usually has a specific use so that you don't have set rotations, etc. Note I'm not saying the combat is heads and shoulders over other games, but I believe it is different enough to be interesting on the micro level. And that in consideration with the subscription-less model (and there are a lot more fresh aspects in GW2 over other MMOs than SW has over other MMOs), I have no inclination to get SW. Even though yes, I really do love the investigation missions and atmosphere in SW.

TLDR dammit Funcom just make it a subscription-less game. Or freemium.

Edit: And yes, if GW2 was sub-based, I'd be carefully considering these two. Still leaning towards GW2 based on playing betas of both, of course. But beta gameplay is only early gameplay. And I like to spend my money wisely.

Sub-less has one huge advantage in that you can basically play forever, with no pressure to play for long sessions. I'm curious to see what happens to payment models after GW2. Though otoh freemium already has had a bit of a start.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean but the game has plenty of depth in it's quests and storyline. The societies are there more as a way of setting up conflict for PVP. Even then I think the factions are well done, believable, and not eye-rolling ly cheesy.

It was the test on the front page, where they asked you really dumb questions to see which faction you belonged in. Very pop culture, not very knowledgeable about the Historical of 'Conspiratorial' Illuminati! at all. Seemed a bit dumbed down.

Like third grade IQ.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

They'd make tits money with this game if they followed a freemium model. it seems the quality is there...it's just sub that's holding them back.

It will go fremium. They all do!

 

[Mangoose]

The other thing is that SW has basically one 'gimmick.' Okay, not gimmick, but new feature. I like the investigations. But. Everything else is standard MMO. Note I don't mean that in a bad way. It, by the impressions I read here, does the quests, dungeons, etc. well.

But GW2 doesn't do one new thing. GW2 is DAOC RvR + GW1 like easily accessible arena PVP + dynamic public quest PVE + the more position-oriented combat I mentioned above... and NO SUB! And honestly each is a different game in the fact that I can really ignore one or two aspects of the game and still enjoy myself. I mean in DAOC you would just RvR all day and the other features wouldn't even exist, and you would have no problem. In GW1 you could play arena PVP all day and just ignore the PVE, and the RVR didn't exist. I've talked to a friend about this, and it really feels like multiple games in one. If I'm unsatisfied with the PVE because it is dumbed down from GW1, then I'll just play RvR all day.

The main question is: Why the fuck isn't any other developer doing this? Why is everyone copying another game and then adding ONE new feature - when they could add multiple new aspects to a game and have something so fresh and so new? I mean GW2 isn't revolutionary. It just takes the best aspects of previous games: WvW from DAOC. Public quests from WAR. Arena PVP from GW1. And I don't even know how dungeons or endgames go because those aren't easy to get to at early game.

The thing is I'm not really trying to hype GW2, or even "convert" you guys to play GW2. I just kinda pity Secret World. If GW2 didn't exist, I think it would have a better chance of doing well. Note I say chance because there's always a chance it will do well. But honestly it is being outplayed.

On the other hand, I guess since GW2 is sub-less, it's possible that people can play both games? Possibly I will wait for reviews 1~2 months from now after the hype of SW has died down, then I will give it an honest chance.

Edit: I suppose I am ignoring Eve and DDO and a few other games that go against the norm. But yeah. Why is everyone else being so lazy?

 

[J_C]

OK, OK we get it. If you want great combat, in a generic world, go play. GW2. If you want good missions, story and setting but standard MMO combat, play TSW2.

The thing is I'm not really trying to hype GW2

Well, even if unintentionally, but you do. OMG GW2 IS SO GOOD, AND DOES EVERYTHING RIGHT AND TSW DOESN'T!!!!