Games The Secret World

[LordjOX]

http://secretwar.thesecretworld.com/

Facebook marketing game to get ingame items

 

[Raven]

Would still force me to rely on the internet for "answers". It's bad enough in TOR so i'm not doing that crap again..

Not sure I ever used the internet for clues in TOR... Listening to the quests and using the map was more than enough hand holding.

 

[svartalf]

Not sure I ever used the internet for clues in TOR... Listening to the quests and using the map was more than enough hand holding.

I wonder if you got the red rakghoul pet.

 

[Mabs]

I wonder if you got the red rakghoul pet.

ive used google for that ^ and the "what minion likes what present", apart from that, didnt need to

whereas with TSW i think some people will have it open on another screen 24/7, thats the difference

 

[svartalf]

Apparently some tie-in has launched. Aaand unlaunched/landed/crash-landed.

Funcom temporarily takes The Secret World Facebook tie-in offline
by Jef Reahard on Apr 19th 2012 2:00PMBetas, Fantasy, Horror, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Browser, The Secret World, Casual0


Earlier today Funcom pulled its new Secret War game from Facebook. The minigame launched yesterday in an attempt to drum up interest in the upcoming The Secret World MMO.

We've received a few news tips and heard a few rumors as to why the game was taken offline, so we decided to contact Funcom directly for the full scoop. Director of communications Erling Ellingen gave us the low-down:
What's happened is that the activity levels on sharing to Facebook has been significantly higher than expected, and we have been asked by Facebook to make certain adjustments. So we are taking down the experience now and will be bringing it up again once the necessary adjustments have been made.

Even shortly after launch yesterday we had tens of thousands of people playing and sharing actively, so the interest for the experience has been very high.And there you have it. We'll update the story as Funcom brings The Secret War back online or if there are any further developments.

[Thanks to Adam for the tip!]

• More coverage: Secret War site
  , TSW official site

Tags: erling-ellingsen, faction, fantasy, funcom, funcom-secret-war, horror, mythology, sci-fantasy, secret-war, secret-war-facebook, secret-world, skill-based, the-secret-war, the-secret-world, the-secret-world-facebook, tsw

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[LordjOX]

Probably because everyone spams friends to get the +points needed for the achievement rewards. This happens all the time through facebook

I'll be done when I hit the max points needed to get all the ingame stuff

 

[Mabs]

slightly odd, very cool, definately worth keeping an eye on

 

[svartalf]

ONE MILLLION DOLLAR$!

The Secret World reaches one million beta signups
by Justin Olivetti on May 10th 2012 9:00AMBetas, Horror, Sci-fi, MMO industry, The Secret World0


It's hard to fathom how you can have "secret" societies when over a million new people know about them, but somehow we don't think Funcom's sweating the security breach. In fact, the studio seems quite proud of the fact that a million players have signed up to test The Secret World. The Facebook tie-in is also getting record views, with almost two million visits over the past few weeks.

Senior Vice President Morten Larssen sees this as a shining omen for a dark world: "Shattering our previous beta records gives us great hope for The Secret World's launch and its future. Combining this positive number with the excellent feedback we have received from both beta testers and the press that have played the game, make us very optimistic for a successful launch of The Secret World."

Anyone who's pre-ordered The Secret World can get in on tomorrow's beta weekend, the first of several that Funcom's planning as it leads up to release. This beta weekend will be focused on the Templar starting experience and the area of Solomon Island.

• Source: The Secret World
• More coverage: The Secret World official site

Tags: beta, beta-signups, beta-weekend, facebook, faction, fantasy, funcom, horror, Morten-Larssen, mythology, one-million, pre-order, public-beta, sci-fantasy, secret-world, skill-based, solomon-island, templar, the-secret-world, tsw

 

[LordjOX]

You can download the client now, if you have access there is a link in your account page

 

[svartalf]

Ooh, look at that... a... THING! (not read it yet, myself).

Hands-on with The Secret World's Templar experience
by Jef Reahard on May 11th 2012 8:00AMBetas, Fantasy, Horror, Galleries, Screenshots, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, Opinion, Hands-on, The Secret World, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions0


Believing in The Secret World takes a certain of amount of... faith. And I'm not just talking about Funcom's less-than-stellar reputation when it comes to bug-free MMO launches. No, the very foundation of this particular title rests on a narrative about things unseen, and that cryptic, otherworldly esoterica informed every moment of my time spent in the press beta over the last couple of days.

The basic premise, of course, is that everything is true. Every myth, legend, and spook story that our rational minds scoff at has a place in this particular riff on reality.

The Secret World is also quite heretical when it comes to gameplay. It eschews the tried and true class-based approach for a complex grimoire of a skill system featuring an ability wheel made of hieroglyphs and higher math (or so it first appears). To come right to the point, though, I bought into the game almost immediately.

The Secret World - Press Beta (Templars)

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  There are some goofy moments. How, for example, do London's crowds of NPC muggles fail to notice a sparkly hollow earth portal perched conveniently at the bottom of a subway staircase? Suspension of disbelief is everything in The Secret World, I guess, and if you give yourself over to both the narrative and the game's labyrinthine advancement system, you'll enjoy yourself a lot more.
  
  For this particular article, I played through the Templar starting experience and dipped a toe into the game's daunting skill system pool before moving on to Kingsmouth. It's worth noting that this press beta is ongoing through TSW's June 19th launch, so in addition to this initial impressions piece, you can look forward to several more in-depth articles from the Massively crew.
  
  First things first, though.
  
  
  Logging into The Secret World is an exercise in haunting piano music, modern and minimal design aesthetics, and an immediate faction choice. Funcom presents you with a hex-based map of the world, on which are superimposed three buttons: one each for the Illuminati, Templar, and Dragon factions (the Dragon faction is unavailable in this build, though we did get to see it at this year's GDC).
  
  Below each faction is another button showing a brief intro video with the barest amount of backstory and some rah-rah-pick-me voiceover. After that, there's character creation, which is solid if unspectacular. There are seven to 10 head choices, hairstyles, and eye, lip, nose, and jaw types (no sliders, though). After a few minutes, I unintentionally ended up with Dante from Clerks.
  
  Starting clothing is pretty limited, though there is a leather trenchcoat, some spiffy boots, and some sort of pimpish open shirt waistcoat thing that I hurriedly swapped out. After you pick your threads, it's time to choose a character name. The process is slightly outside the MMO norm, as there are spaces for both a first and last name as well as a nickname. Once you get in game, though, the nickname is what other players will see, and I'm assuming this is akin to Cryptic's system that allows for duplicate names in some regard (more on that as I find out for sure).
  
  
  The opening Templar cutscene was longish and not terribly interesting. My Dante doppelganger lounged about his flat in various states of undress, alternatively looking moody and juggling little balls of blue magic fire from hand to hand. Eventually a large-chested Templar lass came calling, and she proceeded to dump a metric ton of exposition on him (and me) before presenting us with some sort of faction-flavored hall pass designed to clear the way to our next objective.
  
  I'm not sure whether the cutscenes were one of the things that Funcom was referring to in its press kit that highlighted a lot of known beta issues, but the overall quality of the vignettes pales in comparison to those from Age of Conan, which is also powered by the in-house Dreamworld engine. Load times weren't bad, and they were helped along by some beautiful concept art, initially presented in black and white, which slowly faded to color as the progress bar did its thing.
  
  The UI is minimalistic and not terribly customizable. It owes a debt to Age of Conan in terms of the chat boxes and option screen menus, and I'd like to see some more resizing and dragging functionality as we get closer to launch. It's pretty and usable, though, and quite immersive in a modern, touch-screen inspired sense.
  
  
  The initial London zone is somewhat linear, but Funcom has left room for players who like to run off the beaten path. You can blow through the Templar starting experience in an hour if you like, but I ran around snapping shots and soaking in the considerable old-world atmosphere for much longer.
  
  The streets seemed pleasantly alive, with NPCs milling about, though the /say dialogue is sparser than I'd like and voiceovers are few and far between. I made my way past a barber shop called Ockham's Razor ("shaving heads since 1321!" the sign said) and over to the tube station that was my first quest objective.
  
  Framerates in this initial zone were fantastic, and happily the world looks considerably more impressive than the cutscenes. Say what you will about Funcom, but the company knows how to make gorgeous environments. Everything is pretty realistic, from the NPC outfits to the quaint little econobox cars that look slightly familiar (but not familiar enough to merit a licensing fee). Crucially, there's a sense of dread that permeates the whole enterprise and infuses London's cobblestone streets and dark alcoves with a palpable sense of foreboding.
  
  I ESC'd my way through some more cutscenes (it's not that they sucked; I'd just rather save them for my permanent character). It wasn't long before I was thrown into the midst of combat, with three or four shotgun abilities on my hotbar that I spammed with gusto as wave after wave of disgusting ooze-covered zombie things came at me in the depths of a subway station.
  
  
  I also met the trio of NPCs that serve as Funcom's factional mascots (you've seen them all in the game's various cinematic trailers). Each is fully voiced, and the actors do fine. We cut our way through something called the filth, an X-Files-ish black oil goo thing that makes really gnarly tentacles and has a tendency to zombify nearby civilians before turning them against you. After I recovered from this initial story mission interlude, I was free to roam around the London starter zone again.
  
  I ducked into a record shop and found a Templar lore collectible, which opened a nifty journal with a ton of closed-off entries (presumably waiting on me to unlock some more). I also ducked into a swanky retail outlet called Pangaea. The six NPCs clustered around the desk were clothing and accessory vendors (three each for men and women). Unfortunately I couldn't afford any of the items, but it was nice to see a good selection of sunglasses, jackets, pants, and plenty of individualizing items that mitigated the limited selection at character creation. It was even nicer to see that appearance slot functionality isn't something that has to be added after launch.
  
  Eventually I meandered over to my next objective at the Templar Hall, which is architecturally intimidating, all crosses and cavernous space.
  
  Now, I'll be honest: I'm not the biggest fan of cutscenes and MMO story. That said, when I stepped into the Templar training hall known as the Crucible, I had a bit of a geek moment. See, there's a crusty old master-at-arms named Lethe waiting inside, and he verbally assaults you with a voice that sounds quite like David Hemmings'. Design-wise, the zone is a familiar weapons tutorial instance, but the kick-ass atmosphere drips from the walls, and it's helped along with dialogue gems from Lethe like "we do martial magic, none of that faerie stuff" and "you're not the only one, and you're not the chosen one."
  
  
  Oh, and did I mention the grisly (live) practice demons hanging from the ceiling and waiting to provide you with as much hands-on weapon training as you need? They're chained down, "but they bleed the same," Lethe says.
  
  Picking up one of the weapons scattered about the room granted me some basic skills and hotbar abilities specific to each weapon, as well as a quest to practice on the nearby demons. I equipped each in turn and then drew them (with the tilde key). There was an assault rifle, a shotgun, dual pistols, a katana, a warhammer, and knuckle spikes.
  
  There were also three magical choices: blood magic (which was disabled), chaos magic, and elemental magic. After some experimentation, I settled on elemental magic and equipped my focus item. I spent a few minutes shocking the nearest demon and giving him a taste of my newbie fireballs. As I exited the Crucible, I received a system prompt letting me know that I was about to confirm my starting weapon.
  
  After a few more skipped cutscenes, I was off to the aforementioned hollow earth portal and a trip across the pond to the Kingsmouth zone in New England. That will have to wait for another article, though, as will further details on the game's skills, abilities, and its curious questing and mission setup.
  
  
  In terms of overall performance, I crashed to desktop once but otherwise encountered nothing but smooth sailing on 64-bit Windows 7 supported by an Intel i5 3.30Ghz CPU, eight gigs of RAM, and dual GTX 460 cards running at 2560x1600.
  
  To sum up my initial impressions, I'd say that I have several minor and one very major concern about The Secret World. I'll touch on the minor ones in a followup article. The major one has to do with the game's launch window (and said window's proximity to the MMO black hole that is Guild Wars 2). Funcom is a small, independent studio, and as such I don't see it being able to compete with the dollars behind GW2's development and what is likely to be a sustained marketing blitz.
  
  Hopefully there's room enough for both games this summer, though, because as much as the gaming community is head over heels in love with all things ArenaNet, The Secret World and the unique experiences it offers are just as worthy of everyone's attention.
  
  Look for more of our TSW impressions throughout the day today as we cover the Illuminati experience, character creation, and more!
  
  
  
  Massively's not big on scored reviews -- what use are those to ever-changing MMOs? That's why we bring you first impressions, previews, hands-on experiences, and even follow-up impressions for nearly every game we stumble across. First impressions count for a lot, but games evolve, so why shouldn't our opinions?
  
  
  
  Tags: faction, fantasy, featured, funcom, game-mechanics, horror, mythology, sci-fantasy, secret-world, secret-world-hands-on, secret-world-preview, secret-world-templars, skill-based, skill-system, templar-starter-experience, templar-starting-experience, templars, the-secret-world, the-secret-world-press-beta, tsw, tsw-skills, tsw-templars
  

 

[Vasconcelos]

So, any experiences in beta?

 

[LordjOX]

Played Beta weekend #1 and some #2. I liked it alot, even though it has many flaws. The setting is amazing, plus good voice acting and some very good investigation missions. Combat is abit awkward and very "samey" at the lower tier abilities. Crafting has a nice spin to it, but it suffers from clunky inventory management. There are also some awkward animations

Not recommended if you don't instantly fall in love with the setting

 

[pito]

ive used google for that ^ and the "what minion likes what present", apart from that, didnt need to

whereas with TSW i think some people will have it open on another screen 24/7, thats the difference

TSW have integrated web browser so is no big deal really

 

[LordjOX]

Illuminati community unlockable is unlocked. Another ARG: http://www.thesecretworld.com/ac33/

Do not complete if you are Templar/Dragon and want their goodies instead, as they mutually exclude each other.

 

[Vasconcelos]

Played Beta weekend #1 and some #2. I liked it alot, even though it has many flaws. The setting is amazing, plus good voice acting and some very good investigation missions. Combat is abit awkward and very "samey" at the lower tier abilities. Crafting has a nice spin to it, but it suffers from clunky inventory management. There are also some awkward animations

Not recommended if you don't instantly fall in love with the setting

Regardings PvP / RvR Uncron?

 

[LordjOX]

Regardings PvP / RvR Uncron?

PvP has not been unlocked in Beta Weekends so far. But I would not have high hopes for it. For that kind of gameplay I'd look to GW2 tbh.

 

[svartalf]

Massively did this enormous guide:

Everything you need to know about The Secret World
by Jef Reahard on May 25th 2012 11:30AMBetas, Fantasy, Horror, Classes, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, News items, Opinion, The Secret World, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions, Guides, Crafting0


So what's all this hullabaloo about The Secret World? Let's start with the basics.

The Secret World is a new MMORPG by Funcom, the studio that brought you Age of Conan, and way back when, Anarchy Online. It's also the brainchild of one Ragnar Tornquist, familiar to adventure gamers the world over thanks to Dreamfall and The Longest Journey. Like those seminal titles, The Secret World seeks to conjure an immersive, fantastical realm of myth, magic, and in some cases, horror. Unlike the adventures of April Ryan, though, The Secret World is your story, and it takes place in the video game equivalent of the real world (not to mention Hell, portions of a hollow Earth, and many other mythological settings).

There's an undeniable Lovecraftian influence, there are zombies and assault rifles, and there's a three-faction setup that asks players to join forces with noted secret societies like the Templars and the Illuminati (as well as the less-familiar Dragons). Did we mention battleground PvP, a Minecraft-inspired crafting system, and skill-based progression mechanics that depart from traditional MMORPG classes and levels in favor of player-made builds (drawn from a pool of nearly 600 distinct abilities)?

As you can see, Funcom is throwing everything at the wall, and luckily for you, Massively has been keeping tabs on the game's development for a number of years now. We've also managed to spend quite a bit of time in the beta of late. Click past the cut for a roundup of our best coverage, including guides, impressions, interviews, and basically everything you want to know about The Secret World.

Hands-on with TSW's Hell Raised dungeon
Welcome to The Secret World's Overlook Motel, where the sheets are clean, the service is friendly, and there's an ominous doorway to Hell in every room. Such is the beginning of the second instanced dungeon of Funcom's upcoming horror-fantasy MMO, which sees players descending deep into the bowels of the underworld to put an end to a raging demonic war that's causing Hell to leak through to the real world.

Hands-on with TSW's mission system
So The Secret World's mission system treads well off the beaten MMO path. It's pretty cool, actually, though portions of it may irritate quest-grinders who just want to blow through zones on their way to the game's equivalent of a max-level toon.

Hands-on with TSW's combat system
TSW isn't really a game where you want to go into combat half-cocked and spam-happy, either. It's a fairly complex system, both build-wise and execution-wise, even though at its core it is the familiar tab-target hotbar approach.

Massively Speaking talks TSW
Massively Speaking Episode 201 gets into all of your dirty little secrets -- not to mention Funcom's, as well! We're joined by Jef, who gives us the full scoop on The Secret World now that the NDA's come tumbling down. Will this be another Failcom or possibly a Fabulouscom? Only Jef knows, and he's highly resistant to torture and bribery.

TSW's skill system detailed in new video
The ability wheel breaks everything down into one of three categories: melee, magic, or ranged. Each is subdivided a further three times into different types of weapons (blood magic, blades, rifles, etc.). Technically you can learn every ability in the game, but you can only equip 14 at a time (seven active and seven passive), and you're also limited to equipping two weapons simultaneously.

Hands-on with TSW's character creator
The creation of our character says so much about us, so it is extremely important that western RPGs and especially MMORPGs allow us to express ourselves. The Secret World's character creator has its good elements and its bad, but the most important part is how much Funcom's version allows us to express our personalities.

Hands-on with TSW's press beta Illuminati
Dark days are upon us, and I, for one, couldn't be more pleased. For the past few days I've had the pleasure of exploring the dark corners of the press beta for Funcom's upcoming horror-fantasy MMO, The Secret World, and now the embargo is up and I'm finally able to share my impressions with all of you.

Hands-on with TSW's press beta Templars
The Secret World is also quite heretical when it comes to gameplay. It eschews the tried and true class-based approach for a complex grimoire of a skill system featuring an ability wheel made of hieroglyphs and higher math (or so it first appears).

Another PAX 2012 point of view
Of course, I'd be lying if I said I'm not at least a bit cautious myself, regardless of my enthusiasm for the game. So how is the game shaping up? Well, sit down, grab yourself a drink, and let me tell you what I think.

Massively plays TSW at PAX 2012
My ears tend to perk up when the game gets mentioned, so of course I was all but falling over myself to hop into the playable demo this weekend. Walking away from that experience, though, I'm unconvinced.

Massively goes to Hell to play TSW
Remember the movie Constantine with Keanu Reeves? Remember what Hell looked like there, when he stared into the cat eyes and moved to that realm? Well, this version of Hell is just like that -- with you in the middle.

TSW skills and abilities explained
You'll probably want a couple of caffeinated beverages for this one because Bruusgaard has a lot to say about The Secret World's abilities, skills, gear, progression, and crafting systems.

Free-form progression video
Regardless of what your character has unlocked, you'll be limited to seven active abilities and seven passive abilities at any given time, thereby ensuring that more experienced characters will have more options rather than more raw power.

Watch Funcom's full GDC presentation
Senior Producer Ragnar Tørnquist, Lead Designer Martin Bruusgaard, and Lead Content Designer Joel Bylos take turns showing off in-game footage and discussing the game mechanics at play.

Is TSW a sandbox?
I'm more excited than I thought I would be for The Secret World. After playing it at last week's Game Developer's Conference and getting a preview of the game's crafting system, I think it's safe to say my anticipation went up a few notches.

Our TSW impressions from GDC 2012
The Secret World creative director Ragnar Tornquist kicked things off with a brief introduction, which was followed by a look at the game's character creation as experienced by a female Dragon-faction avatar.

Massively's second TSW hands-on
I'll say that this second visit managed to convince me that this game is on the right track to impress gamers with fresh gameplay, vicious puzzles, an ability wheel full of synergies, and new elite abilities at the top tiers of weapon specializations.

Skill deck templates released
It's The Secret World's answer to the how-do-you-make-a-level-free-MMORPG question, and it allows players to select from 500 abilities to create "exactly the type of character they want."

TSW skill deck interview
Bruusgaard says the system was designed to offer players a way to get their heads around the game's 500-plus abilities. While there are some recommended decks and combos for newer players, Bruusgaard says the intent behind the The Secret World's classless progression system lies is adaptability and plenty of customization options.

Blue Mountain location reveal
Presently, the mountain is home to the Wabanaki native American tribe, which has fallen on hard times due to the greed and machinations of the modern age. Funcom says that an ancient evil is sleeping beneath the rock, and draugs, wendigo, and golems are overrunning the surrounding areas as a result.

Illuminati trailer released
The video serves as a pretty effective recruitment ad for the faction, as the narrator opines that the Illuminati may not have all the answers, just "most of them." He goes on to talk about how knowledge is not only power, but currency, and if that doesn't make you want to roll an Illuminati, well, you're probably one of those silly Templars.

TSW uses Age of Conan's Dreamworld engine
A recent interview with lead programmer Øystein Eftevaag discusses the way that the engine interacts with the newer game, how the unified engine helps both games, and what special features the game is using in a technical sense.

TSW designer talks deck, outfit customization
One of the aspects of The Secret World that sets it apart from your typical MMORPG is the huge amount of character customization available through the game's clothing items. Bruusgaard says that some of these items are purchased from in-game vendors, some from the cash shop, and some of them are reward-based.

Scorched Desert video revealed
The Secret World is expanding its territory today with a new video revealing the Scorched Desert. The new zone is set in -- where else -- the sands of Egypt, where a dark corruption is taking over the land.


TSW designers talk progression, hand-holding
Those of you wondering how the game's classless skill-based advancement system is going to work will definitely want to read through the piece, as there is a lot of information in terms of both how the The Secret World feels and how it directs players in comparison to more traditional themepark titles.

Templar trailer released
Rose is also the star of Funcom's Templar trailer, which gives us a brief overview of the faction's philosophy and focus. Loyalty, tradition, brotherhood, and discipline are the cornerstones of what makes the Templars so effective in combating the evil that we fail to see all around us.

Templar Week sketches revealed
The rest of the concept art focuses on Templar-related areas, such as a "Camelot" castle in a park, a fighting pit, and a lounge where off-duty Templars can knock back a drink or unload a few dozen rounds at the adjacent firing range.

Tornquist interviewed, Milkshake Girl video released
Dragon Week is in full swing over at The Secret World, and today players get a double dose of Dragon with a new video and an interview with Ragnar Tørnquist. The video highlights a previous trailer's character -- referred to hereafter as Milkshake Girl -- and her initiation into the Dragon.

Dragon Week gallery revealed
As part of the focus on The Secret World's least-understood faction, Funcom's released a quartet of artwork pieces to help give us an insight into the organization.

Tokyo flashback revealed
This introductory instance is known as Tokyo Flashback, and not only does it serve to introduce players to the mechanics of combat within The Secret World, but it also sets up the game's conspiracy-laden storyline by introducing players to four key characters of The Secret World's universe.



Tags: faction, fantasy, funcom, horror, mythology, preview, previews, roundup, sci-fantasy, secret-world, skill-based, the-secret-world, the-secret-world-roundup, tsw, tsw-roundup

 

[LordjOX]

In other news TSW has been pushed back two weeks to a July 3 launch, in typical Funcom fashion

 

[Ctuchik]

And it will despite that still be a bug ridden content starved pool of puss because Funcom can not do a MMO launch even remotely painless....

 

[svartalf]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/06/01/funcom-kicks-off-new-secret-world-arg-with-strange-video/

 

[svartalf]

If you're doing it, it's 33 on the keypad, then just the rune from the video and the middle of the ring...

 

[svartalf]

Lots of beta footage with TotalBiscuit. Needless to say, lots of spoilers for early PvE:

4fH1HC1DOJo


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[svartalf]

Did I see the phrase, "Lifetime account"?

The Secret World talks Founding Cabals and corrupt sun gods

by Elisabeth Cardy on Jun 14th 2012 8:00PMBetas, Horror, Sci-fi, Guilds, Lore, News items, The Secret World, Dev Diaries0


As part of the process of gearing up for launch, The Secret World's community team is setting a lure for cross-game guilds. Any existing guild leader can apply for a chance to have his or her guild to to be selected as a Founding Cabal. Cabals are TSW's super-secretive-sounding version of guilds. Founding Cabals come with a whole host of benefits including guild name reservation, beta keys for members, a lifetime account and 5,000 Funcom points for the leader, and the possibility to get five years of hosting via Guild Launch. Check out the forum post for application details, and prepare to marshal your forces to stake your claim in the world.

While we're speaking of marshaling forces, a lore post today shed some light on the dark powers stirring in the once-hidden city of the sun god. After the Black Pharaoh Akhenaten was driven mad by the beckons of the evil sun god Aten, the vizier Ptahmose and his seven children worked to end the pharaoh's reign and protect the world. To that end, the seven children turned themselves into statues infused with the powers of the Egyptian gods, the better to hide the dark city from the rest of the world. There's no such thing as a happy ending for this kind of story, though: The city has been found by cultists, ghouls, jinn, and other baddies. The living statue Sentinels are having a hard time holding back the dark corruption, which means it's time for a hero -- you. Players will help the Sentinels, retrieve relics, rally spirits, restore balance, hack mainframes, and come face-to-face with the Black Pharaoh himself.

[Thanks to Spartan for the tip!]

• Source: City of the Sun God
  , Founding Cabal forum post
• More coverage: The Secret World official site

Tags: cabal, dev-diary, faction, fantasy, found-cabal, funcom, guild, guilds, horror, lore, mythology, sci-fantasy, secret-world, skill-based, sun-god, the-secret-world, tsw

 

[Aada]

My first time with the game and so far im preordering Monday.

 

[LordjOX]

You have to apply to be a "Founding Cabal" i.e. among the 50 first Cabals approved by Funcom after TSW launches

I preordered ages ago, enjoy it alot

 

[svartalf]

ijweojwed

Hands-on with The Secret World's Darkness War dungeon
by Jef Reahard

on Jun 20th 2012 3:00PM
Betas, Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, News items, PvE, Opinion, Hands-on, The Secret World, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions, Dungeons



What do Vikings, Excalibur, native Americans, and Mayan hell-beasts have in common? They're all part of The Secret World's Darkness War dungeon, of course.

The instance's story setup is pretty slick, and I don't think we're treading too far into spoiler territory if I reveal that you'll be taking a peyote-fueled trip through time and memory to experience a traumatic event from the annals of the Wabanaki tribe that dwells in the game's Blue Mountain region.

Earlier this week I took my own trip through the dungeon -- as well as parts of Egypt, Transylvania, and New England -- with a trusty Funcom guide and a pair of similarly enthralled game journalists. While it wasn't necessarily mind-altering, it was bizarrely enjoyable in a uniquely Secret World sort of way.[/url]



Despite being an unabashed skeptic of MMO story, I'm intrigued by The Secret World's take on the mechanic. Or maybe it's just the real-world horror-fantasy setting mashup; I'm not entirely sure. It's still irksome that every player experiences the same narrative (and has a negligible effect on the game world or the play of others), but Funcom's decision to avoid the dead-horse "you are the One" trope, not to mention its nifty non-standard quest design, goes a long way toward making MMO story more palatable.

I found myself constantly asking our guide to avoid details about each new location, its inhabitants, and the strange goings-on in general. There was something about Dracula and how he's not all that legends have made... no, see, stop right there. It's not time yet.

I'd just as soon discover this stuff for myself in a couple of weeks (on a character that I can keep, no less), so much of the dev-journo banter between fights and loading screens focused on TSW's mechanics.



For instance, did you know that there's no player rezzing in The Secret World? This makes dungeon runs like The Darkness War pretty interesting. If you buy the farm during a boss fight, for example, you'll respawn outside the instance; you'll need to either wait for your surviving mates to down the boss or wait for the wipe and try again.

After my initial Darkness War death, our GM summoned me back into the thick of the battle, and even that was no easy task, despite what amounted to godmode abilities. The Secret World's dungeon bosses are hard and about as far from traditional tank-and-spank baddies as its possible to get. Funcom has largely eliminated trash mobs and room-clearing too, so the instance encounters flow from boss fight to boss fight, with each baddie incorporating aspects of the previous boss' repertoire into attack and defense routines.



While the encounters are certainly challenging, The Secret World's skill system provides plenty of ways to deal with them. You may be familiar with the game's skill and ability decks from our previous coverage, but what you may not know is that you can swap out said decks on the fly as long as you're not in combat. So if you're having a tough time surviving a boss like Wayeb-Xul, you can take a moment to change from a ranged DPS to a tank build and see how the next round plays out.

Or you could fire up a mending spec and take some of the load off the group's primary healer. Traditionally, skill-based MMOs lead to cookie-cutter builds that enterprising players test and then share with the community, which ultimately reduces the design back down to the familiar class-based trinity mechanics in spite of a developer's best intentions.

With The Secret World, though, Funcom says this won't be a problem because there is no "one build to rule them all." There are hundreds of unique encounters and hundreds of ways to approach each of them, so running around with the same build all the time isn't going to get you very far.



I also asked the devs about mob difficulty, conning, and what happens when a low-skill player wanders into an area that features high-skill enemies (which is quite possible; travel isn't restricted in TSW). These challenges are no-brainers in your average level-based themepark, and the devs have managed to incorporate similar level-based mechanics under the hood despite the game's skill-based progression.

Each piece of your character's gear has a quality level, and each of The Secret World's zones is designed with certain gear ranges in mind. The Savage Coast, for example, is intended for folks wearing QL3 and QL4 equipment, so our uber-geared demo characters powered through mini-boss events at Atlantic Island amusement park with little difficulty (though again, we had the benefit of a GM with both powers and game experience). Transylvania, on the other hand, is a challenge even in QL10 gear -- doubly so if you try to make your way through its zones as a solo player.

We had a pretty tough time with a boss known as Deacon Claude despite the fact that we were rolling with endgame builds and equipment. I'm not complaining, though, as the occasional death-related time-out gave me a chance to soak in The Shadowy Forest's creeptastic horror movie atmosphere, not to mention spend some time looking at the zone maps, which are notable for their mish-mash of old-world-style and modern-day landmarks.

There was more to this particular dev tour, including a hallucinogenic roller coaster ride and an encounter with a world boss outside Egypt's City of the Sun God, but you'll just have to experience those things for yourself.

That's pretty easy to do, too, since Funcom is basically taking all comers for its final public beta weekend. Head to the official site to sign up if you're curious. Early release for pre-order customers kicks off on June 29th; launch day comes your way on July 3rd.





Tags: beta, blue-mountain, darkness-war, dungeons, faction, fantasy, funcom, hands-on, horror, mmo-story, mythology, peyote, preview, previews, rez, rez-mechanics, rezzing, savage-coast, sci-fantasy, secret-world, skill-based, story, the-savage-coast, the-secret-world, the-secret-world-beta, the-secret-world-press-beta, tsw, tsw-beta, tsw-darkness-war, Wii

 

[Xandax]

Tried the beta weekend and on the fence.
Many negative things IMO (clunky animations and combat, annoyingly poor UI, illogical investigation quests), some good things (setting and atmosphere mainly, some quality investigation quests).

But the thing that keeps me most on the fence is Funcom themselves and their overpricing of the subscription. Dunno why they think that a higher than average subscription cost is the way to go - especially when also putting a cash shop into the game (properly also overpriced).

Was thinking of buying it and just playing the free month, but well - can't decide.

 

[Aada]

I haven't preordered yet and i don't know if i'm going to bother, another launch MMO ? i don't know if i have the energy to bother.

 

[Aada]

NDA is lifted and the pvp looks like a disco.

 

[LordjOX]

Early access for pre-orders start June 29 at 16:00 GMT