Games The Secret World

[Aada]

Bitter bastard lol

 

[svartalf]

Some good links on here...

MMO Week in Review: Secret agenda
by Brianna Royce on Jul 8th 2012 8:00PMMassively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous0


At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post.

So there's this new game in town called The Secret World -- maybe you've heard of it? This week, while you've been busily solving puzzles in the game, we've been following the news, covering Funcom's CEO's resignation from TSW, the game's early patches, developers' claims that the title's combat is "radically different," and concern over the company's business model and falling stock values.

We also debuted our brand-new The Secret World column, posted a roundup of our launch coverage, and published a detailed guide to the game's skill system.

 

[BloodOmen]

Bitter bastard lol

Eh? they basically suspended me for telling a leeching cunt to FO as polite as humanely possible lol, nothing bitter about me not giving them a sub over it.

 

[Xandax]

Patch tomorrow which supposedly fixes a lot of the mission issues.

 

[svartalf]

We're under heavy guffage!

Chaos Theory: Tornquist on The Secret World's launch, future
by Jef Reahard on Jul 10th 2012 5:00PMFantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Opinion, The Secret World, Chaos Theory0


You know, this is probably obvious if you've read my coverage of The Secret World thus far, but I'll just go ahead and fess up: I dig the game, and watching Funcom knock the cover off the ball is gratifying in a strange sort of way.

That's why I didn't get too upset when my opportunity to interview creative director Ragnar Tornquist was upstaged by the firm's huge news dump this afternoon. The company shocked gamers and industry watchers by promising monthly content updates and a whole bunch of other stuff, some of which I had asked about in a series of questions we sent Funcom earlier in the week.

The resulting answers are still worth a read, though, particularly if you're pinching yourself over TSW's successful launch and its rosy future.


Massively: What do you guys think about the faction balance in Fusang? Do you feel like one or two factions are over/under-represented on average, or is it about what you expected, working as intended?

Ragnar Tornquist: It varies from dimension to dimension, of course, but right now, things are pretty much working as intended. When you're dealing with a feature as complicated and ambitious as the warzone, there are always surprises, but so far it's been a lot of fun to see how passionate players are about Fusang Projects and how busy things are there, 24-7.

It's super easy to get into Fusang, but the Stonehenge and El Dorado battlefields don't seem to be very popular (at least when I'm playing in EDT prime time, it takes me upwards of 20 minutes to get a pop on those two). Is that common, and if so, is there any solution in the works?

I think players are still coming to grips with the PvE content, and most PvPers are probably focusing on Fusang -- it's definitely the shiny new feature that everyone wants to try out! -- but as more players join the game and more players realise the advantages given by winning the battlefields, I think we'll see more traffic in El Dorado and Stonehenge as well.

Your CEO's resignation announcement was curiously timed. Some of our readers took that and the recent share price news as a sign that the game might be in trouble despite all the positive word-of-mouth. Can you put their minds at ease, or comment on how those two things affect TSW, if at all?

It won't affect TSW at all. Trond Aas wanted to stay on as CEO until the game had launched, and he did so. It's still too early for us to tell how big a success TSW is, so his departure has absolutely nothing to do with that. Also, Trond is staying with the company in a different role, so it's not like anyone was fired or demoted. It has absolutely nothing to do with The Secret World, although Trond was an active participant in all discussions regarding the game before launch and played an instrumental role in ensuring that we shipped a great game on time.

Are there any plans to add in guild/cabal renown? If so will it be similar to Age of Conan's setup?

For the time being, there are no plans to add cabal renown. We are working on updates and upgrades to our cabal functionality, however. We'll have more information about that after the summer!

Any plans to allow for customizable UI elements? We're big fans of the minimal setup, but we'd love to be able to drag the group window.

I'm already seeing some GUI mods out there, so it's definitely possible. We're actually planning on talking a bit more about that this week. I'm also certain that we'll see updated GUI elements and skins from the team itself -- that's something we've been talking about, and as soon as we have time to do so, we'll look into it.

Can you comment on your post-launch update plans with regard to scheduling/timing? RIFT seems to be the only AAA sub-based game that has managed consistent and significant content updates in recent years. Is that something Funcom is aiming for?

Yes, we just announced that we're committing to a monthly release schedule for our updates -- probably the most ambitious plan of any MMO so far. We'll be announcing more details about that this week!


Can you comment on specific content updates in the pipeline? Perhaps new warzones or battlefields?

Again, we're revealing some of our upcoming content and features this week, and we'll be talking in more detail about the next few updates -- our monthly issues -- in the weeks to come.

The Chronicle has been well-received. Any additional secret projects like that that you can hint at?

If they are secret, how can I hint at them? But yeah, we have lots of stuff in the pipeline -- maybe not something as unexpected as Chronicle, but definitely things that no one knows about yet. We'll be announcing stuff very soon, though some surprises will have to wait until August.

Launch has been pretty smooth, especially relative to Age of Conan and Anarchy Online. Did Funcom learn anything specific from those two titles and their various launch challenges, or is it just a matter of being older/wiser/more experienced?

All of the above! Of course we learned a lot from launching Conan -- and the expansion pack -- but we're also older (oh god, are we older!), probably a tiny bit wiser, and definitely more experienced.

Do you have any concerns about replayability? Aside from factional flavor text, there's basically the single narrative and a lot of repeatable quests that folks will do quite often (even if they don't roll multiple characters). Once someone has learned all the skills and completed the story missions, what then?

Our monthly content updates will provide PvE players with plenty to dig into, and we hope the PvP will also be engaging and exciting enough to keep people playing for a long time. Add crafting to that, achievements and lore, the ability wheel, of course... There is plenty to do for all types of players, and there will be much more to do in the weeks and months ahead.

Are there any Kingsmouth easter eggs or noteworthy asides that folks might've missed during the launch-week rush?

I haven't been able to stay on top of everything going on in Kingsmouth, but I do know that we're adding some more content very soon, and not all of it will be announced. As for easter eggs: It pays to explore, investigate, talk to everyone, and dig into all the mysteries of Solomon Island and beyond. Who knows, there might still be secrets undiscovered, and we'll definitely be adding more surprises in the future!

Excellent news, thanks for sharing with us!

Yes, Jef Reahard is paid to play The Secret World. But he's not paid by Funcom; Massively leaves the bribes and the bad grammar to its imitators (it's a conspiracy!). Chaos Theory comes your way every Thursday (really, promise!), bringing you Gaia's latest news, guides, and commentary.



Tags: 3-faction, 3-factions, chaos-theory, conspiracy, conspiracy-thriiller, dark-days-are-coming, dragon, faction, faction-pvp, fantasy, featured, funcom, horror, illuminati, mythology, opinion, ragnar-tornquist, ragnar-tornquist-interview, sci-fantasy, secret-world, secret-world-chaos-theory, secret-world-interview, secret-world-monthly-content, secret-world-new-content, skill-based, templars, the-secret-world, the-secret-world-chaos-theory, the-secret-world-monthly-content, three-faction, three-faction-pvp, three-factions, tsw, tsw-chaos-theory, tsw-dragon, tsw-monthly-content

 

[Aada]

I actually gave the game a fresh go on Monday and actually really enjoying it now I am listening to all the dialogue and stuff and just taking my time.

Skill system had me confused at first but seem to be ok now, i got a few more quests in Kings to do then im gonna see the next zone.

 

[LordjOX]

I think what confuses people is that it breaks the mold with the ability wheel and "be whatever you want to be" mentality

 

[Shagrat]

How many dead people are buried around Kingsmouth?! Theres bloody mass graves everywhere. Dodgy place.

 

[Xandax]

I think what confuses people is that it breaks the mold with the ability wheel and "be whatever you want to be" mentality

Can't see why it would confuse people?
It's just a skill tree made into a circle to go 'see, we're different'

The get all skills you wan't approach isn't all that new either.

 

[Aada]

How many dead people are buried around Kingsmouth?! Theres bloody mass graves everywhere. Dodgy place.

The town is fucked up lol bloody cults.

 

[LordjOX]

The town is fucked up lol bloody cults.

Here's the map of the second dungeon. Yeah.

Spoiler

 

[Aada]

PVP is so utterly shit tbh don't like it at all.

 

[LordjOX]

PVP is so utterly shit tbh don't like it at all.

Told you like a hundred times

 

[Aada]

Eh?

 

[Starman]

So has a Freddy's friendly cabal been formed?

 

[Aada]

I'm not subbing for another month the game just isn't worth the ridiculous £12 monthly fee. Thrown onto my 30mmo fail pile.

 

[Xandax]

Not gonna sub either - maybe when it goes F2P.

 

[svartalf]

The Secret World will open to everyone during one-month celebration next weekend
by MJ Guthrie on Jul 27th 2012 12:30PMFantasy, Horror, Events, in-game, New titles, News items, The Secret World0


Besides answering questions from viewers while hoofing it around London and Kingsmouth, the developers of The Secret World revealed this tasty tidbit during the official livestream that just wrapped up: TSW will be open for anyone to play next weekend.

To mark the one-month anniversary, Funcom will be hosting events, giving players fireworks to set off, and offering rewards for completing a set series of missions. But more than that, anyone interested in checking out the game will be able to log in for the weekend and experience it for themselves. Players will be able to use accounts created for beta even if they did not purchase the game; those who don't have an account can make one in order to participate. The devs promised that more details would be forthcoming.

If you've been waiting for a chance to delve into the conspiracies of The Secret World and see what all of the hullabaloo is about, mark your calendar. And we'll keep you informed as more details are released!

[Source: The Secret World official livestream]

• More coverage: The Secret World official site

Tags: anniversary-celebration, anniversary-events, faction, fantasy, free-play, funcom, horror, mythology, one-month-anniversary, open-weekend, sci-fantasy, secret-world, skill-based, the-secret-world, tsw

 

[LordjOX]

Good opportunity for anyone that didn't try yet to check it out.

Still having fun

 

[LordjOX]

http://thesecretworld.com/news/the_secret_world_issue_2_august_2012_digging_deeper

New auxiliary weapon, two new nightmares and a load of new missions. Oh my

 

[Ormorof]

so now that this has been out for a few weeks is it worth a try? im a very casual mmo player these days so dont really want to invest time + money in something that requires a huge amount of input to get anything out

 

[LordjOX]

No, not really in your case

 

[rynnor]

"Norwegian developer Funcom has also announced what it described as "temporary layoffs" blaming "mixed or average reviews" for its recent release The Secret World."

From this story - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19350856

 

[LordjOX]

Issue #2 finally got squeezed out a few days ago.
Patch notes: http://thesecretworld.com/news/update_notes_issue_2_digging_deeper_game_update_1.2

Game completely broken and unplayable on some areas sadly

 

[LordjOX]

Issue #3 got released yesterday in a very surprising move
http://thesecretworld.com/news/issue_3_the_cat_god_now_live

The gamebreaking things were fixed

 

[Poag]

F2P yet?

 

[LordjOX]

Tomorrow

 

[Ctuchik]

Somewhat surprised that they open it up for free to everyone.... I can understand how BW did it with SWTOR but this seems odd indeed. Either TSW is doing way better then what it looks like or FunCom is really really REALLY desperate to lure more people in. And as the pessimist i am i'm voting for the latter, GW2 probably bitch-slapped them so hard they haven't stopped spinning yet.

 

[Poag]

Sorry F2P tomorrow? Free weekend or something?

 

[Ctuchik]

Ah yeah, it's a free weekend. Which makes my previous post swkward as i read it as a free month... >.<