The Secret World

[skyst]

I wonder if the people who constantly hype GW2 have even played it. I have purchased the game already and have played some during all of the BWE/Stress Tests but I'm just not seeing why everyone thinks it is so revolutionary. All of the PVP was still just a couple of popular 'forum builds' running in circles around one another; I found WoW BGs more appealing (though it has been years). I really want it to be great because good MMOs are awesome time sinks, but the Beta isn't making me fall in love.

How have you guys been progressing in TSW? I have been farming the Nightmare dungeons daily with the exception of the end bosses, they're really, really hard. Still in Egypt with regards to main story and it is certainly far less entertaining than Solomon Island. I have high hopes for the final zone.

Also, Mangoose, the combat in TSW is very "samey" in the beginning (stack 5, blow your load) but what I am enjoying the most is playing with the same group of five people every day and going through our available talents to customize our group for maximum effectiveness. It's a lot more interesting than playing with the same people in most other MMOs where you have a Warrior, Paladin, Cleric, Ranger and Wizard and know exactly what each one can do. As people further develop their skill wheels, ability combinations between party members start to come out. If you could get over the sub and enjoy the genre, you could get some good fun out of it.

 

[Mangoose]

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.

Agreed except for the bold.

"Good missions" are in both, but in different ways. SW I don't really have to describe the investigation ones, since you know. To make my point loud and clear, I am agreeing with you that SW missions (well, at least the investigation missions, and about 1/3 of the story missions) are good. Still, at least based on the beta, the amount of combat you have to slog through is tedious and annoying. Does that get better past the entry areas?

GW2 ALSO has "good missions," though, but in a different way. Public quests are good. They were good in WAR, just under-emphasized and under-developed. Here, they are not just quests that are static, but are random and mobile and varied, and allows people to work together.

There are also "regular" quests, too, but they are better than the standard quests in MMOs in that you have multiple options in how to finish the quest. Basically, you have a situation (e.g., centaurs attacking an area). The thing is that you don't have to kill x/x centaurs. Instead, you have a bar to fill up, and you have usually 3-4 things you can do in the area to fill that bar up. Such as (examples) killing the centaurs directly, destroying their siege weapons, or healing friendly NPC warriors. And you can do any combination of these to fill up the bar and get your experience.

I agree that the setting is very interesting in SW. Don't think there's anything more to say about that. GW2 setting is not terrible, but I can't disagree that it is more generic than SW's.

I also liked the story in the SW beta. But in general, story, well, that's something we can only conclude in a few months. Because you never know how stories end up. And atmosphere doesn't always make a story better or worse.

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

Not really. My main two points were the following:

(A) Based on playing the two betas, I liked GW2 moderately more than SW. But the BREAKING point is that SW has a sub. GW2 doesn't. Edit: I think it is my cheap Chinese genes kicking in here. If I were non-Chinese/non-Jew I'd probably play both games.

(B) The other things about adding new features instead of one new feature is about the design of MMOs in general, not just SW. It was off-topic, but it was a mini-rant about general things.

Actually (B) might be the main thing. I was mini-ranting about MMOs in general rather than SW. Maybe I should've posted in another thread. I think the main reason I posted in this thread is that SECRET WORLD SHOULD NOT BE SUBSCRIPTION BASED so that I can allow myself to play it without guilt.

I'm just not seeing why everyone thinks it is so revolutionary.

I thought I talked about how it is not revolutionary. It just takes the good aspects of existing games and puts them together into one game. (Incidentally.... Isn't that what WoW did?) Again I'm not hyping GW2 as much as just the general idea that, if GW2 did it, why the fuck are other games not doing the same thing? It's not a very complex or unique idea. Lazy devs are lazy?

Also, Mangoose, the combat in TSW is very "samey" in the beginning (stack 5, blow your load) but what I am enjoying the most is playing with the same group of five people every day and going through our available talents to customize our group for maximum effectiveness.

Ah. I can imagine and understand that is good. I guess for me is that it's been a long time since I've been able to get a group of 5 people to play the same game every day. Playing WoW on a PVP server in 2006 hunting down Alliance was the last time I did that, lol.

Can't get over the sub. I'm have cheap Chinese genes. Edit: Actually, no sub is a big deal, again, in that you can play forever and forever. You can play the game a few times a month every month and not worry about paying more money. Okay that still may have something to do with being cheap.

Also I am kinda busy today, so if anyone wants to play my GW2 account for a day, send nudes.

 

[Mangoose]

You know, I think I'm slowly becoming AzraeltheCat and just posting wallsoftext that only slightly relate to the topic at hand.

Please, enjoy Secret World if you do. I am interested in seeing how long you will like it. If you guys keep playing and enjoying for a long time, that is good indication for me to try it. Not trying to get anyone away from this game and into another game. Promise. Scout's honor.

 

[J_C]

You have good points, so I don't mind the wall of text.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

All's well. Only worry is the Derpish test, like, "DO YOU WANT TO RULE THE WORLD!!!"

Illuminati.

Depth > Pop culture

Don't treat players like they're dumb, and they won't act insulted that you degraded their integrity. Nobody likes to be Hand-held. Implication is enough!

 

[Mangoose]

Apparently this is available for everyone to play just for next weekend: http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/0...l-open-to-everyone-during-one-month-celebrat/

Desperate much?

Actually I'm somewhat interested to play the investigation missions that were locked during beta. But I dunno if that's enough to drive me to download 20 gigs again (on current crappy DSL).

 

[ArcturusXIV]

I'd be interested, but right as I traded in my decent PC for an oldish Netbook so I could focus on prehistoric RPG's without pretty 32 bit graphix distracting my eyes, suddenly a bunch of decent independent-ish games hit the market I want to play! *COUGH* Amnesia. *COUGH* 'Nuff said!

 

[Darkforge]

Anyone got a buddy or trial key for this game? I'd like to try it out but cant justify spending all that money on another MMO which I might hate within 5 minutes.... PM me, I'll appreciate it.

 

[J_C]

Anyone got a buddy or trial key for this game? I'd like to try it out but cant justify spending all that money on another MMO which I might hate within 5 minutes.... PM me, I'll appreciate it.

No need for that. TSW will be free for the weekend.

We want to share the joy with as many people as possible! Any player, who has any type of The Secret World account, may join us over the weekend to celebrate our first month! Early Access, Inactive Accounts, and Beta Accounts may all join in! If you do not currently have an account for The Secret World, you may register to participate starting today, Friday, July 27th, to have open access to this special celebration weekend! You can find the celebration event registration on the right side of the official website! You may download the game here.

 

[Darkforge]

hmm.. I've never had an account for it. not sure if it work's for entirely new people. also have a couple of day's off so wouldn't mind having something to do before then, but thanks for the head's up.

 

[Kane]

shit game

 

[Kane]

mods are out editing your messages again. be vigilant, codexer!

 

[Whisper]

SW is MMO where you have actually to think how to build your character. So i can see why some casual players may become angry at game making them think over their combat tactics/skill selection.

 

[Zed]

F2P weekend has started.

Oh wow I really didn't like this.
I don't like the modern setting, mostly because of the Matrix-like bullshit characters.
Too many cinematics and interruptions.
Fugly and clunky interface (lol at inventory screen looking like a spaceship cargo in some spacesim).
Bad performance on my PC even though it looks like shit.
Didn't experience much combat but the fights I had were wave-after-wave.

Shit shit shit. I knew I should never have played another Funcom game again.

 

[Kane]

in this light funcom's announcement of backporting some improvements in TSW back to age of conan sounds like threat

 

[ArcturusXIV]

F2P weekend has started.

Oh wow I really didn't like this.
I don't like the modern setting, mostly because of the Matrix-like bullshit characters.
Too many cinematics and interruptions.
Fugly and clunky interface (lol at inventory screen looking like a spaceship cargo in some spacesim).
Bad performance on my PC even though it looks like shit.
Didn't experience much combat but the fights I had were wave-after-wave.

Shit shit shit. I knew I should never have played another Funcom game again.

Thanks for info, Zed! I don't have a PC that can run this game, yet. I'm operating on a smaller, older Netbook so I can play Good old Games.

Limiting myself has actually paid off, as I'm digging through the past catalogue of classic games I missed, and playing a few that are excellent! That said, the recent rise of Indie games has made me, more and more, want to invest in a new PC! I already own a copy of Amnesia, just can't play it on a Netbook. I won't even mention Dear Esther, potentially Secret World, or a slew of others that are gradually gaining my interesting, up to and including more mainstream titles like Diablo 3, and potentially Wasteland 2, if it turns out as expected!

 

[Mortmal]

I am not surprised of the free weekend, in a few months it will be probably free to play . Its excellent but you can do it all under one month. Theres nothing justifying paying a subscription, its a theme park mmo, once you've seen all the attractions its over.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Bad performance on my PC even though it looks like shit.

Strange, i was surprised how good it looked. Did you get to innsmouth or did you just say fuck it after the opening hour or so? (i felt the same way originally)

 

[Zed]

I said fuck it after about 40 minutes. I got tired of skipping cinematics.

It's a typical new MMORPG. They want to reduce grind and classic MMORPG tropes so instead you get an instanced linear piece of shit filled with cinematics and immurshun.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

It has no business being an MMO, a lobby based title (ie, guild wars) would have been far more compelling and a better way of telling their story.

 

[thesheeep]

Damn, I forgot they had the free weekend.

Some people don't seem impressed here, though

 

[skyst]

Damn, I forgot they had the free weekend.

Some people don't seem impressed here, though

Funny how people who don't like MMO shit were not impressed with an MMO.

 

[thesheeep]

And on the Codex, even!

 

[Cowboy Moment]

It's essentially a WoW clone with a cool setting and good writing. I guess it succeeds at what ToR failed to do, in that the narrative is quite compelling, and isn't spoon-fed to the player like in a grand majority of games. That said, the game is still a WoW clone mechanically, and I can't help but think it could've been done way better as a single player RPG. Kind of a pity, since Funcom obviously have some talented people on board, that they choose to produce MMOs, of all things.

 

[Mystary!]

Gotta love the adventure mini games thou. Im at the first group instance but its kinda hard finding a group since most people, inculding me, are building around soloing and haven't got a proper tank/healer/dps build.

 

[Whisper]

It's essentially a WoW clone

Its much deeper.

For example you can unlock every skill (525 of them!) so you can make your character tank or healer or dps just by changing skills/equipment. They are not set like in WoW.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

It's essentially a WoW clone

Its much deeper.

For example you can unlock every skill (525 of them!) so you can make your character tank or healer or dps just by changing skills/equipment. They are not set like in WoW.

Gameplay-wise, it's mostly a WoW clone. Aside from investigations, you run around following map markers and either clicking on stuff on the ground or killing monsters. The combat model is identical to WoW's. Character development does work differently, but whether it's actually deeper can only be seen much later in the game than where I've gotten. It's not hard to create tons of skills and passives. It's a lot harder to create a system where different builds actually play differently and are reasonably effective where it matters. Doesn't matter if there are 525 skills if you get the best dps by a large margin from, say. claw/blood. It took WoW like 2 expansions to get its classes and specs relatively balanced, and that system was way simpler.