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The Secret World: Make or Break Features
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
There are things that players want to see or need to see when first entering any MMO and The Secret World is no exception, particularly given its ostensible title as the thinking man's MMO. See what things we believe Funcom must deliver on in order to make it big when it launches next week. Have thoughts? Leave them in the comments.
The popular gamer notion is that developers have about a half hour to make the case for their games before players will either love or hate it. That’s not to say that this is a fair assumption, just that it simply is what many of us are like in these days of instant gratification. So taking this notion and applying it to next week’s release of Funcom’s The Secret World, there are several key areas that players will be looking at right from the start that will either make or break the game.
Read more of Suzie Ford's The Secret World: Make or Break Features.
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Comments
I've been incredibly happy with the game the last two beta weekends. I'm excited for this weekend!
You have to take any of FCs promises to 'fix' or change things with a grain of salt; their track record argues that while they might eventually get that change in, it is likely to be 6-12months later than you think it should have been. If you aren't happy with how a feature is now, don't expect change any time soon.
I believe people can change. I know corporations change. I have no doubt that the financial heads of the company are well aware of what hurt their(and all MMORPG) and have applied pressure to avoid a similar fate.
+1 for this.
The stamina issue has been going on sice day 1 in AoC, their working on finalising the way it should of been now.
The character creator surely has to be a resounding negative!? It is sorely lacking for a game released in 2012.
I do like the game but that is an inescapable fact, the game also will not make it BIG, as alluded to in the title, it will be a niche game. Ofcourse at launch I am sure we will see huge numbers of the usual "play every mmo at release and then moan about it on forums and general chat" crowd.
A whole lot of promises and soon statements. Given their past record I wouldnt be placing any bets on a short time frame for even the small things.
Also if you think that the skill wheel is too complex for certain players then that is worrying, it is pretty simple to workout how to use it, anyone with two braincells to rub together should be able to do this.
I really hope Funcom has and is considering TSW a niche game that will not ever gain a wide audience. It simply requires way too much thinking yourself to appeal to the great masses. Let them spend their time in their Sims, CoDs and CityVilles. Do not try to cater to them, because they do not and never will understand TSW.
Very excited to get into the game. This is an MMO that challenges my thinking. Let's hope that'll never change.
This article is madness.
It just lays out a few problems that she has a specific issue with and then prays that things will get better because Funcom (one of the least trustworthy developers ever) said they would - 5 days before release.
It IS a make or break features article, but it is worded in a way to make it seem like they have "made it" instead of broken it. When really, understanding this companies particular history with MMOs, they are far more likely to not deliver their promises, (or devlier at such an extreme date as not to matter) that it should be taken as a warning.
Someone dare say something nice about TSW?
*grumbles*
Nice writeup..
After the last weekend on beta testing and the improvements from the other weekends I am glad i stuck with this. TSW wil be my themepark MMORPG for this years thats for sure.. nothing comes close to the fun I had playing this..
I am starting to ignore all the negative posters really as i know i like the game.. but its fine we all like different things..
The skill wheel is not too overwhelming. It seems to be unbalanced. This goes hand in hand with the bad combat (I am not talking about the animations, just the combat). It seems to me, that this needs a complete overhaul, but there will be not enough time till release. So I am very concerned about PvP. PvE, however, is ok, since the zones, the questing and the cut-scenes are all very good, one can have a lot of fun in this game without being bothered by the combat-mechanics.
Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.
I didn't find the skill wheel daunting...but I could see how some people would. In most MMORPG you don't pick and choose your character's skills, you pick a class and then your skills are presented to you. There are no worries that a skill you're training isn't actually a dps skill, or a tank skill. This is a legitimate worry, because even without classes, the standard roles still exist. In the beta people were asking for tanks and healers.
There are also people who are perfectly capable of using the skill wheel, but aren't that worried about it (like me). For those people, decks would be a convenient way to get started without having to focus on something that initially isn't that interesting. After one of the skill sets is maxed out, then it gets interesting and a player could start messing around with the skills and abilities.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
And making threads about how you can't go back to other mmorpgs because GW2 is so awesome and superior fanboy? Ironic.
I usually don't bother responding to your posts, but it's one dude in this thread that said that. I guess that makes all the 'fanbois' that say it? Lol ok. Have fun with whatever game you play since you wont be playing this one (I am guessing it's GW2?)
Anyways.....the game is fun atm for me, but I am with the other posters, based on Funcom's track record I do not expect them to improve some of the features I found lacking anytime soon. The character creator was pretty bad with everyone being the same height and weight and I am little worried about the speed at which they will be adding more stuff to do. Eh like I said, it's fun for right now, only time will tell if Funcom can properly support the game, or at least the way I like games to be supported (which is a lot!).
I've heard through the grapevine that TSW has a nasty little memory leak, is that true?
Because it's De ja vu, TSW launch is reminding me of AoC launch just a bit better. I get the feeling that in 6 months Funcom will be talking to MMORPG.com about their "new project".
I remember playing AoC one day and my guild mate mentioned TSW, people were basically saying "That's ****ed up! This game is still borked with a memory leak and they're developing another game with our ****ing sub fee!"
I still say Funcom have a slash and burn policy when it comes to developing and releasing MMO's, in 6 months TSW will be discarded for the next project. I hope not but I've been burnt by these guys once already and it's made me rather cynical.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
The combat animations and character creation are deal breakers for me in what otherwise seems like a very promising title. Due to previous experience with Funcom I have very little confidence in them fixing these at a reasonable rate, so I will hold off until these are changed before investing myself in TSW. While I find the puzzles fun, combat and exploration is my primary source of entertainment in a MMO and having poor animations and character design just ruins this for me. Fingers crossed that they fix those two things because the game really is a breath of fresh air in the genre.
I also have no doubt in my mind that this game will go F2P sooner rather than later.
If TSW is giving you deja vu feeling of AOC launch i can say with 100% certanity that you don't know much about TSW and its current state in which it is releasing. AOC fell apart after Tortage and TSW is a complete game all the way till the end.
Not in my experience. I played the crap out of the game the past two BWE, never had any issues with crashing, which is typical of memory leaks. I did monitor the performance with task manager the last bwe as much as I could, never saw anyhing abnormal in regards to memory usage.
That's not to say I didn't experience bugs. If the game was in DX11 mode I still could not get it to launch full screen. Not a big issue, I just change it at the login screen, but noticeable nonetheless. Sometimes I had issues with alt-tabbing, not every time though. In BWE3 when I died sometimes the screen became completely back and I could not navigate to my body, but they fixed that in the last weekend event.
There were other random bugs here and there, but all minor stuff for me personally.
there was one earlier in CB but pretty sure it was fixed as I haven't experienced it recently
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
OK, was asking because I saw some evidence in a beta review but if it's been cleared up by now then that's great and my apologies
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
The list covers mostly everything but the one thing that is the focus in The Secret World and makes it stand out from other MMO's, that being the puzzles which can be as small as a quest to as large as to cover multiple ARG clues and puzzles (they come some will last months, but we will see.) In my opinion if they can't pull this off then it's just like every other MMO but with better atmosphere.
Because flying a Minmatar ship is like going down a flight of stairs on an office chair while firing an Uzi.
Game ran sweet for me last 2 betas. This game is a refreshing change. I enjoyed it more than I expected.
After 3 weeks in closed beta im in no doubt, this is the best mmo I ever played, and I played for quite a while aswell;)
Is this game free-roam open world (Asheron's Call 1999!)? Or theme-park open world (wow)? Or theme-park with loading screens?