Thread: The Secret World

Is anyone playing or tried the secret world? If so what do you think and what server you on?

I'm loving my time in TSW (Arcadia RP server). This quite seriously is the PvE MMO that I've been waiting to play for the longest time. One of the quest types, Investigation Quests, require you to actually do research via the ingame browser and look up historical facts, decrypt Morse Code, translate languages, to lead on to the next portion of the quest. This might sound a bit daunting at first, but thankfully the actual quests are really simple to figure out with just a little bit of patience. The rewarding feeling of completing one of those "seems hard but it's easy if you put some research into it" quests is just the greatest thing ever. I've never played an MMO ever where I look forward to questing again.

Sure there's still a lot of post launch bugs, but like every MMO dev, they're patching often. Also, the PvP is great! Fast paced, very much like SWTOR, very little induction time for more Magic based abilities.

I am running a Templar cabal (aka kinship in LOTRO) called The Lone Gunmen. If anyone's planning on joining the "Might Makes Right" faction, then send me a tell in game and we'll trade Vent info and have a fun time killing zombies and monstrous horrors!

I've quit already and won't resub. Too clunky, mechanics wise. No offense to any who like it.

I am loving it,...it's a very fun game, imho, despite the bugs that are, of course, being worked on.


Been sporadically Fraps'ing TSW since I started playing. Soon my hardrive was screaming at me so I took it all and put together a music video.

I wanted to show off the game and all the little things that I had fun with. Showing some investigation missions in action, skill wheel, crafting, active dodging, and boss fights.

I hope people can see this and get a rounded feel for what it has to offer, because I am having some good times here.



youTube link to TSW video by Welby



Of course, I will come back to Rohan,..but in the meantime,.it's nice to not be an elf or dwarf,.and there's something to be said for the sheer joy of shotgunning a Zombie in the face. : )

Downloaded it yesterday and really enjoying it. Brilliant concept, great atmosphere (sound & graphics spot on), quests that demand thought & attention and an interesting skill system. For one combat is actually dangerous and it's easy to overpull and die. Overall it makes a nice change from the WoW / Lotro / SWTOR etc stable of MMOs.

However... I had my fingers burnt with AoC and Funcom have it all to prove if they are going to stick by this game and keep the updates coming, otherwise I can see subscriber numbers falling off which would be shame as this game deserves success for being outside the box.

Playin it and absolutely loving it. Not going to go into the details, but pretty much any review you read on the game will tell you the same thing I would.

Well worth $50 to try it out for a month; you'll have more fun in it than you will in Rohan.

Originally Posted by site400

Playin it and absolutely loving it. Not going to go into the details, but pretty much any review you read on the game will tell you the same thing I would.

Well worth $50 to try it out for a month; you'll have more fun in it than you will in Rohan.

I didn't. I was with this game through 2 beta cycles and it never. got. better.

Buggy. Clanky combat. Oversimplified skill system.

Don't get me wrong, it might be the perfect game for some people, but asserting it's worth $50 and better than Rohan (which hasn't even come out) is dishonest.

1. TSW is a niche game
2. It's not a fantasy game, so some people would have ZERO fun playing it.
3. It needs a lot of work to be even on par with LOTRO.

Like I said, you may think it's more fun than Rohan (which you haven't even played yet), but it's waaayyyy too presumptuous to say others will when TSW is such a fringe game. And this is coming from someone who put in long hours for a year before release believing the promises of what was to come.

Ah, boo, hiss! I'm still waiting for AoC to get the overhaul it deserves. If any WoW formula game can beat Lotro, AoC would be it, in my opinion.

Originally Posted by hex2323

I didn't. I was with this game through 2 beta cycles and it never. got. better.

Buggy. Clanky combat. Oversimplified skill system.

Don't get me wrong, it might be the perfect game for some people, but asserting it's worth $50 and better than Rohan (which hasn't even come out) is dishonest.

1. TSW is a niche game
2. It's not a fantasy game, so some people would have ZERO fun playing it.
3. It needs a lot of work to be even on par with LOTRO.

Like I said, you may think it's more fun than Rohan (which you haven't even played yet), but it's waaayyyy too presumptuous to say others will when TSW is such a fringe game. And this is coming from someone who put in long hours for a year before release believing the promises of what was to come.

I would not expect it to be on a par with Lotro given that it's had 5 years of live operations and continuous development. The same argument was levelled at SWTOR when it came out by the WoW brigade who expected similar levels of scope, content and finish.

Anyway, I am pleased that it is a niche & not like wow / lotro / everquest etc. I am fed up with games that are just the same under a different skin, where everything is planned out, where progression is linear, where one's choices are fixed around classes with cookie-cutter builds that "have" to be followed unless one risks being branded a nub. Refreshing to see something new for a change.

Originally Posted by BangoTwinkletoes

I would not expect it to be on a par with Lotro given that it's had 5 years of live operations and continuous development. The same argument was levelled at SWTOR when it came out by the WoW brigade who expected similar levels of scope, content and finish.

Anyway, I am pleased that it is a niche & not like wow / lotro / everquest etc. I am fed up with games that are just the same under a different skin, where everything is planned out, where progression is linear, where one's choices are fixed around classes with cookie-cutter builds that "have" to be followed unless one risks being branded a nub. Refreshing to see something new for a change.

In beta, there were already min/max builds and must haves and the story line is very very linear. The only little thing I found different was you've got a 'dodge' on a cooldown.

I tried every weapon combination, played with each skill segment, but it was clearly a stacked deck. Tons of useless skills except in ONE skill area. Hopefully they will balance it out a little better later.

My only thing was when a poster said it would be more fun than RoR and it was worth $50 and a sub. That's very misleading. They'd benefit from a free trial weekend and so would the consumer. This game is not what it was billed as and I ducked out shortly after it went live. If you enjoy it, I'm glad because at least someone is enjoying a game I play tested.

I've never even heard of The Secret World.
When I saw the title, I immediately thought of the Secret Cow Level from Diablo II and Blizzard denying it existed.
I may need to look into this...

Originally Posted by hex2323

In beta, there were already min/max builds and must haves and the story line is very very linear. The only little thing I found different was you've got a 'dodge' on a cooldown.

I tried every weapon combination, played with each skill segment, but it was clearly a stacked deck. Tons of useless skills except in ONE skill area. Hopefully they will balance it out a little better later.

My only thing was when a poster said it would be more fun than RoR and it was worth $50 and a sub. That's very misleading. They'd benefit from a free trial weekend and so would the consumer. This game is not what it was billed as and I ducked out shortly after it went live. If you enjoy it, I'm glad because at least someone is enjoying a game I play tested.

Min/Maxing is the reason I stay away from classless games.

They're sold on "freedom" to play your character how you want, but it always ends up with only one way to spec it.

Originally Posted by Fledermaus

Min/Maxing is the reason I stay away from classless games.

They're sold on "freedom" to play your character how you want, but it always ends up with only one way to spec it.

DING DING DING DING.

And it's happening to GW2 even though it's not even out yet. Some of the guides are amazingly thorough. Unfortunately, there will be a 'right way' and a 'wrong way' to play every profession in that game and not as much variance as I'd hoped.

I'll give you the combat mechanic in the game absolutely sucks. However, the atmosphere, the lore, the quest mechanics; you know, all the stuff that makes a game what it is, are superb. Its the first game since LOTRO that grabbed me from the beginning and kept my interest.

I still stand by my statement that anyone would have more fun in it than in Rohan. Here is what Rohan is going to be: Enter new zone, find first village, do meaningless kill 10 rats and collect 10 mushrooms quests over and over again as we try to increase our reputation to kindred in whatever faction they dream up next. Move on to the next village, rinse, repeat. Find new legendary level 85 weapon, commence LI grind. Grind repeatable quests to finish off reaching kindred with said faction so we can get shiny stuff. Grind, grind, grind. (Note: you can speed up the grind with TP, available on the website, on the login screen, on the character select screen, on the UI, in my email, etc.)

I love LOTRO, but only what LOTRO used to be. Nowadays, its become one money grabbing grind after another.

Originally Posted by site400

I'll give you the combat mechanic in the game absolutely sucks. However, the atmosphere, the lore, the quest mechanics; you know, all the stuff that makes a game what it is, are superb. Its the first game since LOTRO that grabbed me from the beginning and kept my interest.

I still stand by my statement that anyone would have more fun in it than in Rohan. Here is what Rohan is going to be: Enter new zone, find first village, do meaningless kill 10 rats and collect 10 mushrooms quests over and over again as we try to increase our reputation to kindred in whatever faction they dream up next. Move on to the next village, rinse, repeat. Find new legendary level 85 weapon, commence LI grind. Grind repeatable quests to finish off reaching kindred with said faction so we can get shiny stuff. Grind, grind, grind. (Note: you can speed up the grind with TP, available on the website, on the login screen, on the character select screen, on the UI, in my email, etc.)

I love LOTRO, but only what LOTRO used to be. Nowadays, its become one money grabbing grind after another.

Your just parroting the complain bots on this forum. Have you done Saruman yet? ANY of Isengard? Plus, there's going to be war bands, mounted combat, talking pies, pizzabusses... the works.

Here's my compromise. Why don't you WAIT until it comes out before you bash it. This whole psychic game review and revisionist hate (where the good parts are never mentioned and the bad parts are overblown) that some of you guys are putting out there is really really stretching an argument in order to keep up that grudge y'all have from when they went Free to Play.

Originally Posted by hex2323

Your just parroting the complain bots on this forum. Have you done Saruman yet? ANY of Isengard? Plus, there's going to be war bands, mounted combat, talking pies, pizzabusses... the works.

Here's my compromise. Why don't you WAIT until it comes out before you bash it. This whole psychic game review and revisionist hate (where the good parts are never mentioned and the bad parts are overblown) that some of you guys are putting out there is really really stretching an argument in order to keep up that grudge y'all have from when they went Free to Play.

I agree with you hex, but site's second paragraph you quoted will prolly be what RoR amounts to, though, regardless. You both should resign to remain neutral, as one's supporting and one's bashing, which doesn't really get you two anywhere, as the game isn't out yet.

That's just my two cents, anyways.

I like TSW but surely my sub won't last after 5th september.

Originally Posted by hisoka-thorongil

I agree with you hex, but site's second paragraph you quoted will prolly be what RoR amounts to, though, regardless. You both should resign to remain neutral, as one's supporting and one's bashing, which doesn't really get you two anywhere, as the game isn't out yet.

That's just my two cents, anyways.

Fair enough, HT. No need for me to bash TSW. Just upset that I spent money on it.

And no reason for him to bash RoR until release.

Originally Posted by hex2323

DING DING DING DING.

And it's happening to GW2 even though it's not even out yet. Some of the guides are amazingly thorough. Unfortunately, there will be a 'right way' and a 'wrong way' to play every profession in that game and not as much variance as I'd hoped.

lol

In your opinion that is.

This is a free weekend in the Secret World. I played the beta, and I'm downloading the game again now to look at it using the same account. I can't find any mention anywhere though if free characters made this weekend will be deleted, or if you can keep them and play them later if/when you buy the game.

-edit Nevermind...I was not able to log in. Apparently I was misinformed by a game site, and you are forced to create a brand new account to participate. I don't want to do this. Overall including beta and AoC, I don't think I've ever been more annoyed by another game company's account hoops to jump through. Sony and Square Enix are only mildly annoying, and the LotRO account pages also can be frustrating, but at least they let you in easily to do your business and don't confuse you too much. The Secret World site overall is kind of a mess. Not impressed.

How good is TSW? How much fun can this niche game probably be? Well, I'll tell you what ... after playing for 3 days, I went to my account page and changed my sub from one month at a time to 3. I'll probably be back for Rohan, depending on whether Funcom (yes, Funcom) keeps up with the monthly updates ... and whether it keeps being fun. Which it is. Come on, how many of you would you like to pop a frag grenade into a band of marauding zombies?

Originally Posted by SkoomaAddict

How good is TSW? How much fun can this niche game probably be? Well, I'll tell you what ... after playing for 3 days, I went to my account page and changed my sub from one month at a time to 3. I'll probably be back for Rohan, depending on whether Funcom (yes, Funcom) keeps up with the monthly updates ... and whether it keeps being fun. Which it is. Come on, how many of you would you like to pop a frag grenade into a band of marauding zombies?

I have L4D2 for that. I'd rather hack a brigand with a sword than blow up a zombie in an MMO.

Originally Posted by SkoomaAddict

How good is TSW? How much fun can this niche game probably be? Well, I'll tell you what ... after playing for 3 days, I went to my account page and changed my sub from one month at a time to 3. I'll probably be back for Rohan, depending on whether Funcom (yes, Funcom) keeps up with the monthly updates ... and whether it keeps being fun. Which it is. Come on, how many of you would you like to pop a frag grenade into a band of marauding zombies?

Well, I got only a little further than Resident Evil Island and gave up.

I am a big fan of Conspiracy junk, and I totally love the ideas in the game, but the mechanics themselves just don't work for me and the actual animation is not on par with games from 5 years ago. The story wasn't bad, but there's this disturbing trend to include voice acted cut scenes to every darn game these days that I can't stand.

Especially when they narrate MY voice and tell me what I said. TOR does all right with it, but TSW and The Game that Shall Not Be Named.... not so much.

My main gripe was that I put a ton of effort into their full beta, and I didn't even get half of the items I was promissed and didn't get half of the GAME they promised. This game needed another year's worth of work and it would have been spectacular had they spent more time on it...

Yeah, I'm bitter about it so, don't let me spoil the fun for you. And if people are considering buying it, hey, why not? There does seem to be a rather ardent but small following that loves the game. That always makes for a good community.

Originally Posted by hex2323

Especially when they narrate MY voice and tell me what I said. TOR does all right with it, but TSW and The Game that Shall Not Be Named.... not so much.

Your character is completely silent in The Secret World though? (Which some people have complained about 'oh we look like mutes').

I've been playing since early access (and a lifetimer) and I genuinely don't get the comments about the combat being clunky; it's got the same amount of movement as TERA (which was lauded for the whole 'OMG we have to move in combat' malarkey - yes, all very fun, except when you're playing a ranged class and barely have to move...) with regards to dodging. Admittedly I don't actually use a weapon, I have a pure elemental build, but still, the animations are fine, and things get hit when they're meant to get hit (as in visually not just the scrolling numbers).

It's a brilliant game for roleplaying, and although the story may be 'linear' inasmuch as you get sent to sort out Solomon Island, and then Egypt (and then onto the next area eventually) it's very good (the Sentinels stories in the City of the Sun God are genuinely very sad and touching, and many of the 'sub quests' make you stop and think).

It's also hands down the most difficult MMO I've ever played in terms of making you stop and think - the investigation quests make you scratch your head more often than they don't! I play alongside my husband, and it's quite interesting to see how we approach the puzzles in different ways, and how some I'll get instantly and how others I have severe dumb moments over (usually things as simple as 'oh I'm supposed to PICK UP the xyz'.)

It is a niche game,..I mean if modern times stuff is not your thing then yeah,.you won't like it.

It's hard to describe,..but the game is just funky in how they do things. It makes me stop and pause as opposed to clicking, head tilted, drool coming out. I am speaking mostly about the Investigation missions.

I recently found a gps in an abandoned car, and had to listen to the onStar voice to try to work my way back to where it started. That's funky cool, imho.


That said, half the fun is unlocking and tooling with the skill wheel, playing with different builds.

and of course, I made another video,


HD



also this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pw7...2&feature=plcp

which shows off more of the UI and is more about gameplay.

They just announced a 3 day free trial too,..


PS: I , too, will be back for Rohan. Been thinking about another Lotro vid

My comment about Voice Overs was about them in general, not just TSW. The mighty Game Whatever 2 does a horrible job at it, TSW is about average (the voices, not the story. the story is decent) and TOR is above average, but I still don't like it as a mechanic. You can't 'skim' voice dialogue like you can text. Just my feeling on voice overs as a whole.

Like I said, plenty of people like it. The community is loyal and small, and that makes for a good game no matter the flaws.

Everything just hit a sour note for me. Maybe I spent too much time in beta and got overly critical. But the combat is clunky. Exactly how clunky is open to interpretation and many many many online games are MUCH worse.

Cerberus, Dragon, character name Hilla.

If you want to play atypical mmo with great story and athmosphere and try various roles without rerolling alts you should give TSW a go.

I haven't been this excited about a mmo since the early days of lotro. I hope RoR will deliver, but at least I have something to do until then.

Originally Posted by hex2323

My comment about Voice Overs was about them in general, not just TSW. The mighty Game Whatever 2 does a horrible job at it, TSW is about average (the voices, not the story. the story is decent) and TOR is above average, but I still don't like it as a mechanic. You can't 'skim' voice dialogue like you can text.

I-have-to-agree-that-voice-over-work-is-less-than-stellar-in-most-games.

...

It-is-usually-stilt-ed-and-not-very-good-writ-ten.

...

On-top-of-that-the...

...

...pacing-is...

...

...terrible.

===

And yeah, GW2's voiceover work is pretty atrocious. Seriously some of the worst I've seen this side of the Repetitive Evil series.

Originally Posted by CWood

I-have-to-agree-that-voice-over-work-is-less-than-stellar-in-most-games.

And yeah, GW2's voiceover work is pretty atrocious. Seriously some of the worst I've seen this side of the Repetitive Evil series.

My exact thought was Resident Evil.

Originally Posted by hisoka-thorongil

Ah, boo, hiss! I'm still waiting for AoC to get the overhaul it deserves. If any WoW formula game can beat Lotro, AoC would be it, in my opinion.

Oh man, I really love the atmosphere in that game but the mechanics drove me away. It actually made me sad to leave it. I would love for that game to have a major over haul.

I tried the Secret World briefly during their 3 day free trial thing. The story impressed me. I love the originality of the game. However, the mechanics of it are still too clunky for me to play. Hopefully, things have improved since I played, but the way my character moved was just horrible. Combat was okay, but it wasn't as smooth as I am used to in other games. One day I will probably go back and give it another go once they have worked out some of these very basic flaws, which should be easy to fix...I hope. Otherwise, no matter how great the story is, I just can't play a game that bugs my senses to no end.

Originally Posted by CWood

I-have-to-agree-that-voice-over-work-is-less-than-stellar-in-most-games.

...

At least it's not as bad as LOTRO where every dwarf sounds exactly like every other dwarf, every male character sounds exactly like every other male character and every female character sounds exactly like every other female character. Oh, and the kids? Seriously...is there a law or something in Massachusetts where you can't used kids for voice-over work? I mean, all the kids are OBVIOUSLY women trying to do a kids voice, and horribly at that.

Furthermore, they ALL say the same things, over and over and over again. I think they should have saved the money they used for the new soundtrack (which is still broken and skips tracks right in the middle of songs) and done some REAL voice-over work. I've actually turned the VO volume all the way down because I grow tired of hearing the exact same sentence in the exact same voice from every single character I have to interact with.

Well, about TSW... I've been in the closed beta (the one you could play 24/7, not the week end stuff) for a long time, so I have a fairly good experience of that game.

The combat is really awful, and the animations some of the worse I've seen in an AAA MMORPG. The landscape graphics are quite nice though.

But the biggest problem is that the whole thing doesn't feel like a world at all. LOTRO feels like a persistent world that makes sense, WoW too, GW2 too... and before that UO, AC1, etc... but TSW is even worse than Conan (from the same developer), it just feels like a series of totally disconnected levels with no direct relation to each other, and not a virtual world. It's even worse than SW:TOR, at least in SW:TOR it made sense since it was planets. That's a big deal breaker for me. One of the major reason why I enjoy(ed) games like UO, AC1, WoW, LOTRO, GW2 and why they are on the top of my personal MMORPG list is because they immerse you in a coherent world, TSW, despite it's setting and name, doesn't even remotely achieve that.

Originally Posted by Korrigan

One of the major reason why I enjoy(ed) games like UO, AC1, WoW, LOTRO, GW2 and why they are on the top of my personal MMORPG list is because they immerse you in a coherent world, TSW, despite it's setting and name, doesn't even remotely achieve that.

Agree. Lack of immersion is why I'm not re-subbing TSW. It's a fun one-monther and is well worth checking out and having fun with, but I just can't get into my character. It's the game writing. I help people with the repeatable quests to fight all of the monsters running everywhere and nothing I do makes any difference, except for one survivor I rescued. Nothing is about my character. When I got the first faction quest call, I thought my character would finally develop in some way, or have a sit-down with the head honchos, but no, it was just another impersonal task "ok good job, bye."

There is no sense of faction pride either in the Illuminati. To develop and strengthen character you need conflict, and it needs to be personal. Bioware gets this. Conflict with the other factions should have been written into the story from the intro. The other faction broke into your home and stole your purse and your birth certificate for some reason, and your kitten is missing, and there is a trail of blood printed with paws, and all of your cookies are gone. Maybe the writing is better in the Templars and that's why more people are playing them. The combat is the new way of one skill bar spamming, but I knew that going in.