I have two concerns about the game. First, it's Funcom, but you touched on that. You give them more credit for learning growth in the past four years than I do. Yes, they may have 'fixed' AoC to a degree, but the most telling part of that whole AoC fiasco was the amount of polish they put into Tortage and then to make that the beta preview before launch, knowing full well that rest of the game wasn't nearly as polished and outright unfinished. It was essentially a bait and switch.
Second, now we come to TSW, and I'm a huge fan of world PvP. After they scrapped their world PvP idea and their emphasis on instanced PvP for the benefit of story, I feel that they're a little flaky on their direction. As far as instanced PvP and story goes, it may be a fun game, and that may be enough to warrant getting it. I'm not going to conclude one way or another until after it's released. With WvW in GW2 I won't necessarily need world PvP in TSW, but I don't know if the rest of the game will be appealing enough to draw me in.
you know theres no world pvp in gw2 right? and you know TSW has a 24/7 persistant 3 faction warzone, right?
GW2 has 24/7 world vs world warzones 4 diff map and battle grounds.
"The Secret World is being billed as the “thinking man’s MMO”"
This is good and bad for me. On the one hand, this is a welcome change from the lack of depth and the mindlessness seen in so many other games. And I think the overall community in TSW is going to be a helpful and mature one, and that's a good thing. On the other hand, sometimes I want nothing more than eye-kandy infused mindless MMO kick-butt action without having to problem solve. So bleh. If either TERA or this was launching F2P then I'd sub to the other and probably play both for a while, but I'm not doing two subs at the same time.
When you want to kick back and just kill stuff, you can just go and do that. There are different parts of the game. For instance, the quests that require thinking are labeled as such. If you just want to kick some butt, choose a regular quest.
The skill system allows for endless tinkering, but you can probably use one of the prebuilt templates as well, or just get somebody to share a cool build with you.
I think TSW is going to be quite free-form when it comes to how you want to play the game, although you will have to use your brain to defeat the harder dungeons. For me, that's laid back.
Really like what i have read from the previews after the press embergo was lifted. I was already sold on the game because of the setting and the ability system, but the adventure feel of it surprised me a little, in a very good way. I actually think it might pull a lot of new players to the genre, players that has been put off because of how bad the story/questing has been done in past mmos, and now finally has a mmorpg that has story/adventure like their favorite single player game.
On cash shop, I don't mind having other players spend money to improve my favorite game to get fluff stuff i can get on my own. Even if i couldn't get it on my own i would know they payed money to get it so who cares. If a fluff-only cash shop is what is keeping you from playing this game, then you really aren't into it in the first place.
And thank you Funcom for no more elves, gnomes, cows and generic dragons.
2 out of these 3 is fine. People are used to that and usually find it acceptable. 3/3 is not acceptable. Especially with GW2 coming along. Aside from theme/setting and classless charachter desighn, there isnt much else setting this game apart from GW2 in terms of what it has to offer while GW2 has other inovations. And im sorry to say it but Arenanet has an impressive track record while Funcom well, doesnt.
Don't get me wrong. Im actually very interested in TSW. But the inclusion of a cash shop from the start does strike me as overreaching for money. And given how there last release was quickly followed up by funcom stock cash out and bail shenanigans by higher ups within there company during the first month of games release. And that isnt even taking EA into account.
What does GW2 have to do with this release? And the yellowed part said exactly what was different. SETTING. Setting by far makes or breaks a game more many people. If the setting for the MMO is just not your cup of tea, you won't play it regardless of how good the game may or might not be. This is one of the settings a lot of people have been waiting for that has yet to be released and with the classless system, change on the fly(Look how successful Trion has been with that and Rift, not saying its the best, but its a solid system)
I could go into pricing structure, but really: it is what it is. Their product, their choice. When we have more options for this type of setting then we can complain, right now its a first and a much wanted first.
i have two concerns, which are about direction the game is moving in since original concept.
one: the game is starting to look more linear, you go one zone, then you go the next and so on - such a great success in SWTOR ;( Originally it was billed as themepark where you can take any ride, that doesnt look the case anymore
two: cutting back on PVP, when you have 3 sides and the skill system seems made for great PVP. Originally they had the PVE above ground / PVP below ground setup. Then they moved to multiple persistent PVP zones of the world. Now it is just one PVP zone - again works so well in swtor ;( - and 2 battlegrounds having ditched the ranked arena also. Was looking like a nice 50/50 game for people who like both playstyles, like GW2, now its starting to look more "wowesque" in the pvp department unfortunately.
as a plus, the questing systems, the build system and the crafting look good.
2 out of these 3 is fine. People are used to that and usually find it acceptable. 3/3 is not acceptable. Especially with GW2 coming along. Aside from theme/setting and classless charachter desighn, there isnt much else setting this game apart from GW2 in terms of what it has to offer while GW2 has other inovations. And im sorry to say it but Arenanet has an impressive track record while Funcom well, doesnt.
Don't get me wrong. Im actually very interested in TSW. But the inclusion of a cash shop from the start does strike me as overreaching for money. And given how there last release was quickly followed up by funcom stock cash out and bail shenanigans by higher ups within there company during the first month of games release. And that isnt even taking EA into account.
Funcon has indeed learned over the years, they have learned more and better ways to con players into buying their box under false and sometimes even unethical pretenses...
I think TSW looks and sounds awesome but just because it is funcom, they always drop the ball and you cant trust them it warrants a complete and somewhat long post release investigation that includes but is not limited to bug fixes and an assessment by numerous honest templars before i will even consider buying it..
Due to past experiences with funcon this is my policy and it is pretty much exclusive to funcom...
"The Secret World is being billed as the “thinking man’s MMO”"
This is good and bad for me. On the one hand, this is a welcome change from the lack of depth and the mindlessness seen in so many other games. And I think the overall community in TSW is going to be a helpful and mature one, and that's a good thing. On the other hand, sometimes I want nothing more than eye-kandy infused mindless MMO kick-butt action without having to problem solve. So bleh. If either TERA or this was launching F2P then I'd sub to the other and probably play both for a while, but I'm not doing two subs at the same time.
When you want to kick back and just kill stuff, you can just go and do that. There are different parts of the game. For instance, the quests that require thinking are labeled as such. If you just want to kick some butt, choose a regular quest.
The skill system allows for endless tinkering, but you can probably use one of the prebuilt templates as well, or just get somebody to share a cool build with you.
I think TSW is going to be quite free-form when it comes to how you want to play the game, although you will have to use your brain to defeat the harder dungeons. For me, that's laid back.
Thanks for a cool response. If Funcom can pull it off, it sounds like there will be something for just about everyone who can get into the modern day setting in their MMO. Not a bad strategy at all, and I definitely plan to try TSW. Still, I've got this thing for Asian aesthetics in fantasy MMOs. Guess I should've mentioned that before too. ;x
EDIT: modern day setting *with a twist*, of course. ^.^
the game is starting to look more linear, you go one zone, then you go the next and so on - such a great success in SWTOR ;( Originally it was billed as themepark where you can take any ride, that doesnt look the case anymore
TSW doesn't have hard hit/miss ratings like you had in for instance AoC or games like WoW. This means that there is much less difference between the difficulty of taking on mobs than in those games. So, altough not a complete themepark, it doesn't have the big cutoff-points of those games either.
I have heard it mentioned that about 1/3 of the game is endgame where you can do whatever you like. This will probably expand quite a lot after launch. It's not quite as good as you and I both hoped, but I think it will be a lot better than SWTOR (which have something like 1/10 of it's content as endgame).
I'm still in the worrisome camp, mainly because while TSW sounds great on paper I'm really not convinced they have pulled it off in reality, or at least not the way I wanted them too.
Sure I expect there to be some issues, but after reading certain comments from the press event; 'kill 10 X quests', 'holy trinity needed for dungeons', 'our healer wasn't geared enough' and so on; there is a part of me thinking this isn't going to be much more than a typical MMO at heart and the press are still just dazzled by a few fancy systems (skills, investigation quests) and the fresh coat of paint. What little gameplay footage I have been able to find doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either.
I hope I am wrong, I hope TSW really is a truely invovative and fun MMO, and I hope it does well, as there is not only room, but an almost desperate need for both TSW and GW2 in the MMO void.
2 out of these 3 is fine. People are used to that and usually find it acceptable. 3/3 is not acceptable. Especially with GW2 coming along. Aside from theme/setting and classless charachter desighn, there isnt much else setting this game apart from GW2 in terms of what it has to offer while GW2 has other inovations. And im sorry to say it but Arenanet has an impressive track record while Funcom well, doesnt.
Don't get me wrong. Im actually very interested in TSW. But the inclusion of a cash shop from the start does strike me as overreaching for money. And given how there last release was quickly followed up by funcom stock cash out and bail shenanigans by higher ups within there company during the first month of games release. And that isnt even taking EA into account.
The Secret World's expansions will be free. You were missing an important part of the info there.
same for me and I was following the game for like 3 years or so, preety even before most of people would even know, till they tell us how would be the bussiness model, P2P plus CS, so no thank you, i'm already annoyed with goverment stealing from me not gonna burn more money on stupid things like this, so for all I care TSW can crash and burn.
but too bad most of people are morons and will comply and give then all money they want for this.
later people complain why the world is like it is....
Lucky you not having other things to complain about. So looking forward for this game, and not be willing to pay for it, what kind of freerider are you? What would the gameindustry be like if they didn't earn money from their products? Funcom, and other companys take a huge risk in year long developement, then I understand the need to maximize the profits, and a guarenteed income for further developement.
Many of you say Funcom is the greedy one, but on the forums I see a lot of greedy people too..
Also, guess your Government has given you education, healthcare, pension, community services etc from your stolen money.
The cash shop, at least from all that I've both seen and read, is convenience only. For instance, players will be able to buy outfit items. Since there IS no armor class in TSW, the purchase is purely for cosmetic looks only. Why would anyone feel compelled to use a cash shop?
Really, this sort of revenue model is a good one. People kvetch about box prices with subs. People kvetch about F2P with item malls. This is a nice mix of both: A quality subscription game (which many say makes a better, higher quality game) with a convenience store if so desired.
Funcom isn't going to be twisting anyone's arm to buy stuff to "win".
You're perfectly fine to have an opinion like that.
I disagree though.
Biggest advantages of paying subscription for me are (or was more like) :
1. No cash shop, rmt ,rmah ,etc will ruin my immersion by reminding and connecting my game with real world.
2. I KNOW that I will have access to whole game paying this fixed amount.
Same model is with my internet my ISP provide me. I have unlimited download / upload capacity , well I guess If I started to use bandwidth in TB then my ISP would like to have talk with me ,but well there were months I was using hundreads of GB of bandwidtch and no extra costs, no slowing down of connectiojn nothing.
Now - TSW.
Cosmetic items ,outfits ,etc are also important to me. and to others as well I presume ,cause if not they would NOT BUY IT. That's kinda logical.
So anyway - just throwed my 2 cents.
---------
One more thing. For good game ,good community ,virtual world mmorpg I am ready to pay subscription. Heck even bit higher than 15$.
Still I will not pay subscription and tolerate any form of cash shop ,rmt in game I play.
Cosmetic or not.
Other people can have diffrent opinion than mine and they can decide to play a game with business model like that or any other nickle & diming model (most of freemium models are almost as bad as TSW) - more power to them.
Until I find mmorpg I like with gameplay AND business model (currently have my eyes on GW2 ,but highest hopes with ArcheAge) then I will continue to be mmo-free and use my leisure time for other activities that also obviously inlude lurking on this forum
The strongest point in TSW is the feel of the game, I can tell you, no other MMO is going to come close to the immersion TSW is bringing to the table.
The amount of detail, the music, the ambient, you have to play, so you can feel it... If you want to get immersed in a MMO world, TSW is going to be the game for you in 2012.
I just hope the community can enjoy it, but they look mature enough so far!
I really think this game will revive MMO ingenuity! People may not like funcom, just as people may not liks blizzard, or cryptic, etc.. a great product is one worth supporting. Too many mmo players just want the mash and bash brainless/thoughtless titles or pvp/gear centric worlds, this games gonna be hella fresh air
The game LOOKS awesome. But this is Funcom, of Anarchy Online and Age of Conan, so the odds of a complete game and smoothe launch are pretty astronomical. Le Sigh. Hope springs eternal.
Comments
yes. you are right. high-five!
I've got the straight edge.
Then GW2 will rise on the third day.....
It boggles my mind that people would play a subscription whilst still not having access to everything in the game.
Nice balanced article, Suzie.
When you want to kick back and just kill stuff, you can just go and do that. There are different parts of the game. For instance, the quests that require thinking are labeled as such. If you just want to kick some butt, choose a regular quest.
The skill system allows for endless tinkering, but you can probably use one of the prebuilt templates as well, or just get somebody to share a cool build with you.
I think TSW is going to be quite free-form when it comes to how you want to play the game, although you will have to use your brain to defeat the harder dungeons. For me, that's laid back.
Btw, the offial TSW forums are prop full of information, you can check them out here: http://www.darkdemonscrygaia.com/
I also stumbled upon this interview, that actually brings new information about Crafting and PvP here: http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=29140
Really like what i have read from the previews after the press embergo was lifted. I was already sold on the game because of the setting and the ability system, but the adventure feel of it surprised me a little, in a very good way. I actually think it might pull a lot of new players to the genre, players that has been put off because of how bad the story/questing has been done in past mmos, and now finally has a mmorpg that has story/adventure like their favorite single player game.
On cash shop, I don't mind having other players spend money to improve my favorite game to get fluff stuff i can get on my own. Even if i couldn't get it on my own i would know they payed money to get it so who cares. If a fluff-only cash shop is what is keeping you from playing this game, then you really aren't into it in the first place.
And thank you Funcom for no more elves, gnomes, cows and generic dragons.
What does GW2 have to do with this release? And the yellowed part said exactly what was different. SETTING. Setting by far makes or breaks a game more many people. If the setting for the MMO is just not your cup of tea, you won't play it regardless of how good the game may or might not be. This is one of the settings a lot of people have been waiting for that has yet to be released and with the classless system, change on the fly(Look how successful Trion has been with that and Rift, not saying its the best, but its a solid system)
I could go into pricing structure, but really: it is what it is. Their product, their choice. When we have more options for this type of setting then we can complain, right now its a first and a much wanted first.
i have two concerns, which are about direction the game is moving in since original concept.
one: the game is starting to look more linear, you go one zone, then you go the next and so on - such a great success in SWTOR ;( Originally it was billed as themepark where you can take any ride, that doesnt look the case anymore
two: cutting back on PVP, when you have 3 sides and the skill system seems made for great PVP. Originally they had the PVE above ground / PVP below ground setup. Then they moved to multiple persistent PVP zones of the world. Now it is just one PVP zone - again works so well in swtor ;( - and 2 battlegrounds having ditched the ranked arena also. Was looking like a nice 50/50 game for people who like both playstyles, like GW2, now its starting to look more "wowesque" in the pvp department unfortunately.
as a plus, the questing systems, the build system and the crafting look good.
very worrisome from what i have seen so far.
most peopel are used to 3 out of 3
most people play wow
Funcon has indeed learned over the years, they have learned more and better ways to con players into buying their box under false and sometimes even unethical pretenses...
I think TSW looks and sounds awesome but just because it is funcom, they always drop the ball and you cant trust them it warrants a complete and somewhat long post release investigation that includes but is not limited to bug fixes and an assessment by numerous honest templars before i will even consider buying it..
Due to past experiences with funcon this is my policy and it is pretty much exclusive to funcom...
Playing GW2..
Thanks for a cool response.
If Funcom can pull it off, it sounds like there will be something for just about everyone who can get into the modern day setting in their MMO. Not a bad strategy at all, and I definitely plan to try TSW. Still, I've got this thing for Asian aesthetics in fantasy MMOs. Guess I should've mentioned that before too. ;x
EDIT: modern day setting *with a twist*, of course. ^.^
pie.
TSW doesn't have hard hit/miss ratings like you had in for instance AoC or games like WoW. This means that there is much less difference between the difficulty of taking on mobs than in those games. So, altough not a complete themepark, it doesn't have the big cutoff-points of those games either.
I have heard it mentioned that about 1/3 of the game is endgame where you can do whatever you like. This will probably expand quite a lot after launch. It's not quite as good as you and I both hoped, but I think it will be a lot better than SWTOR (which have something like 1/10 of it's content as endgame).
I'm still in the worrisome camp, mainly because while TSW sounds great on paper I'm really not convinced they have pulled it off in reality, or at least not the way I wanted them too.
Sure I expect there to be some issues, but after reading certain comments from the press event; 'kill 10 X quests', 'holy trinity needed for dungeons', 'our healer wasn't geared enough' and so on; there is a part of me thinking this isn't going to be much more than a typical MMO at heart and the press are still just dazzled by a few fancy systems (skills, investigation quests) and the fresh coat of paint. What little gameplay footage I have been able to find doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either.
I hope I am wrong, I hope TSW really is a truely invovative and fun MMO, and I hope it does well, as there is not only room, but an almost desperate need for both TSW and GW2 in the MMO void.
The Secret World's expansions will be free. You were missing an important part of the info there.
Lucky you not having other things to complain about. So looking forward for this game, and not be willing to pay for it, what kind of freerider are you? What would the gameindustry be like if they didn't earn money from their products? Funcom, and other companys take a huge risk in year long developement, then I understand the need to maximize the profits, and a guarenteed income for further developement.
Many of you say Funcom is the greedy one, but on the forums I see a lot of greedy people too..
Also, guess your Government has given you education, healthcare, pension, community services etc from your stolen money.
You're perfectly fine to have an opinion like that.
I disagree though.
Biggest advantages of paying subscription for me are (or was more like) :
1. No cash shop, rmt ,rmah ,etc will ruin my immersion by reminding and connecting my game with real world.
2. I KNOW that I will have access to whole game paying this fixed amount.
Same model is with my internet my ISP provide me. I have unlimited download / upload capacity , well I guess If I started to use bandwidth in TB then my ISP would like to have talk with me ,but well there were months I was using hundreads of GB of bandwidtch and no extra costs, no slowing down of connectiojn nothing.
Now - TSW.
Cosmetic items ,outfits ,etc are also important to me. and to others as well I presume ,cause if not they would NOT BUY IT. That's kinda logical.
So anyway - just throwed my 2 cents.
---------
One more thing. For good game ,good community ,virtual world mmorpg I am ready to pay subscription. Heck even bit higher than 15$.
Still I will not pay subscription and tolerate any form of cash shop ,rmt in game I play.
Cosmetic or not.
Other people can have diffrent opinion than mine and they can decide to play a game with business model like that or any other nickle & diming model (most of freemium models are almost as bad as TSW) - more power to them.
Until I find mmorpg I like with gameplay AND business model (currently have my eyes on GW2 ,but highest hopes with ArcheAge) then I will continue to be mmo-free and use my leisure time for other activities that also obviously inlude lurking on this forum
The strongest point in TSW is the feel of the game, I can tell you, no other MMO is going to come close to the immersion TSW is bringing to the table.
The amount of detail, the music, the ambient, you have to play, so you can feel it... If you want to get immersed in a MMO world, TSW is going to be the game for you in 2012.
I just hope the community can enjoy it, but they look mature enough so far!
where the heck are gameplay footages?!?!
all i see are screenshots and very old unfinished gameplay from past conventions
with release in June, we should see more gameplay instead of this bs from press that says "trust us, its going to be awesome"
GW2 has 1000x more gameplay vids than this one, and it doesnt have any release dates yet
are we looking at another *paid beta* come June, just like AOC was?
Have fun storming the castle! - Miracle Max
It's secret!
Beta is still under NDA, and there are minimal leaks. There will be another beta soon, and the ARG is still goin on! It is superexciting times!
33!
The game LOOKS awesome. But this is Funcom, of Anarchy Online and Age of Conan, so the odds of a complete game and smoothe launch are pretty astronomical. Le Sigh. Hope springs eternal.
Normally, I'd be keen to be in on launch. But with Funcom's well-earned rep for launches, I'll have to sit this out and wait for a few reviews first.