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[Editorial] The Secret World: Musing on Funcom

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  • DakirnDakirn Member UncommonPosts: 372
    Originally posted by Alalala
    Wanted this game to succeed, if only because they were trying some new things.

    Pre-ordered. Got screwed on Day 1 on pre-order bonuses. Still have no resolution from Funcom Customer Service.

    Fun com screwed me once on Age of Conan's launch. I gave them another chance. They messed it up again.

    Stay away from Funcom and their games.

    Thanks for reading.

    Frankly if you got "screwed" it was probably something you did because Funcom support in TSW is stellar.  I've had them do everything from restore lost items to advance broken quests.  Not once could they not help me with a legitimate problem with the game.

     

    To the poster mentioning Beta weekends I totally agree.  The game wasn't the same at release as it was even during the last Beta Weekend.  Too many people used the beta as a preview/trial instead of a BETA.  I blame the industry on this.. using their BETA tests as "previews" instead of what a BETA actually IS.. a TEST of the game.

     

    Any game that comes along and tries to use BETA tests for TESTING are going to be screwed in the current climate because everyone expect Beta to be a finished product (which isn't even the definition of BETA in the first place).

     

    TSW deserved better.  It doesn't deserve trolls who hate Funcom and make it their daily mission to rip apart the game.  Yes they do exist, no it isn't fair.  Hate AoC if you want but it was done 5 years ago with a different team in a different time.

     

    This rabid hate is an absolutely silly.  I have friends who won't go near MMOs because of the reputation that MMO players have of being elitist asses, trolls and jerks because that's what they see on forums.

     

    The real problem with MMOs today is turning out to be the players.. the ones who are so jaded they make it a personal mission to destroy a company and the actual ability of other humans to feed their families.

  • SinkaelSinkael Member UncommonPosts: 68

    For me it was lack of content mostly, I have finished every mission in the game in just over a month and thats not playing hardcore.  There were days I didn't even play!  Not to mention I did Solomon Island like 3 times twice on one character (ran my wifes char through and then she rerolled templays and we did it again) and a 4th time on a second character.

    I have been playing MMO's since UO came out and ever since the quest/mission system became popular in EQ I have never "finished" an MMO, I just don't play enough.  So when I finished TSW it was like, huh, ok now what?

    They were not ready for release, 6 months more would have been good gave them a chance for more content .

  • KuppaKuppa Member UncommonPosts: 3,292
    Originally posted by Dakirn
    Originally posted by Alalala
    Wanted this game to succeed, if only because they were trying some new things.

    Pre-ordered. Got screwed on Day 1 on pre-order bonuses. Still have no resolution from Funcom Customer Service.

    Fun com screwed me once on Age of Conan's launch. I gave them another chance. They messed it up again.

    Stay away from Funcom and their games.

    Thanks for reading.

    Frankly if you got "screwed" it was probably something you did because Funcom support in TSW is stellar.  I've had them do everything from restore lost items to advance broken quests.  Not once could they not help me with a legitimate problem with the game.

     

    To the poster mentioning Beta weekends I totally agree.  The game wasn't the same at release as it was even during the last Beta Weekend.  Too many people used the beta as a preview/trial instead of a BETA.  I blame the industry on this.. using their BETA tests as "previews" instead of what a BETA actually IS.. a TEST of the game.

     

    Any game that comes along and tries to use BETA tests for TESTING are going to be screwed in the current climate because everyone expect Beta to be a finished product (which isn't even the definition of BETA in the first place).

     

    TSW deserved better.  It doesn't deserve trolls who hate Funcom and make it their daily mission to rip apart the game.  Yes they do exist, no it isn't fair.  Hate AoC if you want but it was done 5 years ago with a different team in a different time.

     

    This rabid hate is an absolutely silly.  I have friends who won't go near MMOs because of the reputation that MMO players have of being elitist asses, trolls and jerks because that's what they see on forums.

     

    The real problem with MMOs today is turning out to be the players.. the ones who are so jaded they make it a personal mission to destroy a company and the actual ability of other humans to feed their families.

    So, the blame is on this guy for his problem with preorder stuff. The blame is on the industry for beta testing impressions. The blame is on the players for destroying the genre, driving away other prospective players and TSWs bad start......

    I think you should look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSuiK2QnQlg&list=UUUzj5q3v-6umt_NOCR709Ng&index=1&feature=plcp

    image


    image

  • DaezAsterDaezAster Member UncommonPosts: 788
    Well I thought the game was pretty good but not at first. i gave it a chance and found some jewels there but also alot of not so good as well. I think the idea the game is niche only really applies to the investigation missions, don't think most people want to do research and homework when they sit down to play a game but I enjoyed it. Last time I checked zombies and vampires were all the rage. The skill wheel and bad character creator killed any need or want for an alt therefor taking away one avenue of replayabillity, as did the story based gameplay that is pretty much the same for all factions. The big problems though were the bugs, I have never dealt with so many bugs and issues in all my gaming life. Stuck on rocks, bugged missions, over demanding graphics for the amount of payoff from said graphics. And the big killer clunky uninspired combat. Your moves/skills have no pizzazz or style and lack impact, for me this was by far my biggest gripe. Overall i feel the game is at best a 7.5 but am a big sucker for the genre they chose to set the game in. Just my oppinion though so please take with a grain of salt it will taste better.....
  • GravargGravarg Member UncommonPosts: 3,424

    I liked Age of Conan once they got it fixed up and things worked.  I always liked the realm of Hyboria.  I'm somewhat of a Conan nut.  I have almost every 275 Conan the Barbarian Comics and I'll probably never sell them, even if they are worth a ton.  I grew up reading Conan, and my parents never knew what it was (thankfully lol).  I was extremely upset with the state that Age of Conan was when it launched, and I don't know how they could even think of launching something so unprepared.  I stuck with it for a couple of years, and I even Rise of the Godslayer, but the lore wasn't Conanish enough.  I expected to die a thousand deaths everywhere I went in the brutal world of "wild west" law.  You hacked off thier heads, then asked questions later (literally).  I left when Free to play was announced.  I didn't want a bunch of tweens coming in and ruining the Conanic Atmosphere, and bear witness to it.

     TSW, I have to be honest, I never really liked.  Really the only thing I liked about the game was it had 3 factions and there's lots of zombie killing.  After you get over those two, it's kind of bland for my tastes.  As mentioned before, I think most people want in thier MMO something they can't get in the real world.  Albeit dragons, magical swords, magic, demons, etc. are too common place in MMOs, but that's what people flock to.

     
    Edit: I can't fault Funcom for at least trying something new though.
  • danh2osdanh2os Member UncommonPosts: 24
    To BadSpock: Not a word of what you said sounds anything like TSW. Have you even played it?
  • RobbgobbRobbgobb Member UncommonPosts: 674
    I hate zombies. I hate things to do with the occult most times. Just don't enjoy. The Secret World offered me something different and I jumped at it. I am glad to have bought the lifetime. I will never feel I did bad. It offers me something that I greatly enjoy and isn't every other game out there. I agree that I think most of it is that people want it easy and if requires more investment then is bland or boring or sucks or whatever else they want to say. Some just don't like the game that try it and that is fair. It is how it should work. Just wish it had intrigued more people.
  • thinktank001thinktank001 Member UncommonPosts: 2,144
    Failcom is getting their just desserts.  AoC burned a lot of players.  
  • GrumpyMel2GrumpyMel2 Member Posts: 1,832

    I said it in another article on TSW, but I'll repeat it here. TSW was a game I very much WANTED to like...and I was very excited about it...right up until I tried out Beta. After that I KNEW I wouldn't be playing it. Here are the 3 main reasons...

     

    1) Same old boring vanilla MMO fantasy combat dressed up in a modern skin. Vanilla MMO combat mechanics are servicable for a fantasy MMO (if unexciting) but they just don't translate well into modern/sci-fi based MMO's. I'm holding a freakin assault rifle....let me feel like I'm actualy using one...not just a bow or wand of magic missles with the graphics replaced. Combat in TSW was pretty much like playing any fantasy based MMO with the graphics replaced. When you are dealing with fire-arms and other modern weapons you need a combat system that actualy reflects those dynamics. TSW would have been much better off trying to go with something like the combat system in Fallen Earth. I want to deal with recoil and steadying my aim...supression fire, cover, flanking fire...gun jams, reloading, limited ammo, overwatch, flash-bangs, etc....Not hit hotbar key 3 to initiate the "Shotgun Mega-Blast of Doom" combat manuver when it comes off global cool-down. IMO, combat has absolutely no style or substance in TSW and it doesn't fit the subject matter.

    2) The Horror/Sci-Fi factor SHOULD have been a big draw in TSW. Instead it was more like "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes meets Freddy Kruger." If you look at any of the great works of horror, it's all about building up a sense of suspense and mystery...it's about subtlety...and the odd little thing out of place here that doesn't quite fit. It's more about the things you are NEVER SHOWN that lurk just out of sight, beyond visual range. It's all fog and shadows. It's most definately NOT hitting you with pyrotechnics and inky black tenticals all over the place in the opening scenes and subway stations floating off into space. Quite frankly they took what should have been a real strength for the concept and completely blew it in execution. They took Frodo and the Ring to Mt Doom in chapter one.  Furthermore they should have gone with a 1st person perspective. The immediacy of the experience and the limited periphrial vision of that are perfect for this sort of subject....players should be feeling creeped out not knowing or being able to see what's just behind them. If they had given us Stoker or Shelly or Lovecraft, I would have been thrilled.... Instead we got something that would have made Ed Wood cringe...and been spotlighted on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Thanks Prof Bobo.

    3) Where's the grouping? This game/genre screams out as the perfect venue for a social experience. It SHOULD have been one of the game's strengths. What we got instead fealt mostly like a solo experience. The game should have been driving us together and trying to get us to coordinate from the getgo. It should have been the bunch of random travelers thrown stranded in the creepy castle, needing to work together to survive the night. The game completely neglected to even give a nod to that concept. Again, something that should have been a strength of the game completey missed.

    For me TSW was a disappointment....not because of the timing of release...or level of advertisement or anything silly like that. It was the game itself. I LOVED the concept, it was brilliant.  I wanted to be excited about the game. As far as I was concerned, they completely astro-turfed the execution.

  • UNH0LYEV1LUNH0LYEV1L Member UncommonPosts: 571
    This is seriously a shame.  The Secret World is one of the best MMORPG's in the last five years.  The story telling and emersion are the absolute pinacle in MMORPG's at the moment and its a crying shame this game isn't getting more attention like the hype machine GW2.
  • Heatsink00Heatsink00 Member UncommonPosts: 60
    Funcom really did it to themselves with this one.  They got the product out just ahead of their competitors, but failed to move beyond the dated mechanics such as mob tapping, the horrifically idiotic trinity system, clunky combat mechanics, etc etc.  They brought good atmosphere and story, and a much needed improvement of having to think about puzzles.  The technical problems were pretty bad, such as chat not working, and puzzle mechanics seemingly not able to handle multiple players(how do you miss this during MMO design?).  Add in PVP being an absolute shallow joke, and you have a recipe for disaster.
  • OtheKOtheK Member UncommonPosts: 33

    "releasing TSW less than two months before the much more familiar and touted Guild Wars 2 and less than three months before WoW: Mists of Pandaria was a big mistake"
    maybe it is but, people who buys every artificially hyped game and touts for ordinary&boring softwares can never understand how deep and how special TSW is. they may buy boxes but will quit after 2-3 days. appreciators of goodness already bought and play TSW with pleasure, it's sure there are more around who didn't realize there's a jewel in mmo world. Funcom has to be patient for a while and keep on working hard(er). aion died, tera disappeared, diablo for chinese farmers, maybe only rift goes so so, there won't be gw2 next month and who cares panda lovers? /hype

  • RaysheRayshe Member UncommonPosts: 1,279
    Reading this over when people say they dont care for the game. that the game itself has something wrong with it (this usually means something along the lines of gameplay or Story) however i keep hearing constantly about Money related things. Sorry to tell you this, but thats not part of the game. its part of the games buisness model. Anyone who says that the end game is Holy trinity based hasnt played the endgame. Sorry but saying you played the endgame based of Elites is wrong. Play a nightmare where if you try to simply Holy trinity your way through a boss, you will die horribly.

    Because i can.
    I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
    Logic every gamers worst enemy.

  • HerXHerX Member Posts: 22
    Originally posted by HeroEvermore
    Yeah have to agree. I never thought the game would only have 200k right now. I think this proves that players prefer high fantasy settings for thier mmorpgs. Im not saying YOU do (mr follow up poster). I am saying in general. Swords and Magic are things we don't get in our real life. I kill zombies every day. Welcome to Oregon. :P
     
    My main issue with TSW was...everything. Different is cool. Sure. Just don't expect to get a large majority of mmorpg gamers playing because let's face it. Boobs looks better in high fantasy. Fact. (It's a fact cause i said fact. fact.) Ok bye bye.

    Yeah, we all got our many lovely gaming years in high fantasy, we grew up on it, some on mmos some on single player games. I do enjoy TSW and will continue to play it, but I also need my fantasy fix, and now that GW is out I even don't have to pay monthly for it. For me those 2 games are in perfect balance :)

  • el_furiosoel_furioso Member Posts: 23
    Well said, you two. I'm enjoying TSW, I'm happy to pay the monthly sub, and I'm looking forward to more great content and gameplay.
  • hkharpsterhkharpster Member Posts: 11
    For TSW to get more people playing it above 200,000, it needs a better combat system, and better more flouid animations to go along with it. Everything else in the game is great, but when it is an MMO and fighting is what you do for 97% of the time you are in the game and that is very lacking, players just aren't going to spend the money and sub for 15$ a month. Maybe with the change in the combat they dropped the sub to 7$ or even 5$ with the cash shop maybe players wouldn't feel like Funcom is just being greedy. 
  • NethermancerNethermancer Member Posts: 520
    200k is pretty dissapointing. I thought there was enough interest for 500k tbh. I really like TSW but i also really like GW2 and GW2 doesnt cost me 15 a month so........

    Playing: PO, EVE
    Waiting for: WoD
    Favourite MMOs: VG, EVE, FE and DDO
    Any person who expresses rage and loathing for an MMO is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.

  • eddieg50eddieg50 Member UncommonPosts: 1,809
    Yea the game really ran awful in beta, I had a dual core e8500, 4870 ati card 4 gigs ram on win xp and had to run it on low settings.  That and peope were saving for guild wars 2 cut down the subs, although 200k is not bad
  • EllieAnneEllieAnne Member Posts: 23

    I played with a friend during beta and I can tell you why I never got the game.

     

    1)  Graphics.  Had the faint hint of unreality and looked 2-3 years out of date.  All of the characters looked like they were zonked out on prozac.  Unfocused stare.  Weaving side-to-side.  Think uncanny valley.  Made it really hard to watch the cutscenes.

     

    2)  Gameplay.  Seemed like a lot of grinding of mobs and IMO some mobs were beyond the reasonable level of the grinder.

     

    3)  Story.  Seemed really good.  I can't say I really got into it but I think that was more of playing the beta rather than a bad story.  Definately not a reason I didn't play the game.

     

     

  • VesaviusVesavius Member RarePosts: 7,908
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    I really don't understand all these "ahead of its time" comments - if anything TSW appeared to me as being a game stuck in the past.

    Linear, story-driven, grind quest-hub to max level, sandwich hit-point-swapping combat, whack a mole Trinity, and grind instanced end-game PvP and PvE.

    You know what would have happened if TSW had the IP recognition/popularity and marketing/hype of TOR? The exact same thing that has happened to TOR. Burn brightly, then burned out.

     

    Agreed Spock

  • LydarSynnLydarSynn Member UncommonPosts: 181
    I didn't find TSW all the refreshing. For all the changes that Funcom made from the skills to the story and world setting, it comes down to one simple fact. TSW is just another themepark in a MMO genre full of other themeparks. In the end, there is not that much different about it to make it standout.
  • ZylaxxZylaxx Member Posts: 2,574

    I also believe that we live in an age of what I call ADHD MMO roulette. By this I mean that, with so many offerings and seemingly five new ones every day, it’s very hard for companies to keep players’ attention. 

    I just want to say here this comment is misleading for me.  I think the reason why there are so many MMO game hoopers is firstly the games arent very good.  Secondly they offer little to no long term sustainment.  Thirdly, they are designed with the McMMO philosophy and lastly there is ZERO lasting appeal.  WHat I mean is the reason why MMOs became popualr is because they were designed with the explicit goal of creating a "Vrtual World"  Now a days MMO's are designed as a game .  TSW is no exception.  The game started out great for me.  It was original, fun and immersive but complete the main storyline and your treated to a WoW gear threadmill clone without any raiding or group finder support.

     

    Untill MMO's revert to their roots and create worlds instead of games this trend will continue.  We need MMO's designed that are hard, detailed and takes a minimum of 6+ months for even the most diehard hardcore gamer to get to max level.  We need real meaninful death and we need incentives for socializing, grouping, crafting, exploring and living in the world.  Remove all vestiges of vertical progression.

    Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online

    Playing: GW2
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    Next Flop: Planetside 2
    Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.

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  • armanth13armanth13 Member UncommonPosts: 36
    I play, pay the subscription fees, and can say 100% that my friends who game whether they are hardcore WoW heads or Rift people or whatever mmo of the day they are playing, they have tried TSW and find nothing wrong with combat or story or progression.  They find it to be refreshing and there are places that you find very dark with things that aren't really there moving in the shadows(or at least they might not be there).  The only things that need work are all the buggy quests and a better way to organize inventory.  And with the factions I have ran quite a few "faction" quest lines and can say that sure I wish there were more early on (but I'm barely into egypt)  and feel this is far superior to SWTOR and combat is way better than Tera.  my 2 cents, but a solid game if more people would give it a shot.
  • EllieAnneEllieAnne Member Posts: 23

    I gotta agree with Zylaxx.  I've had the most fun playing the MMOs where a lot of the time was spend on class and race quests.  Now-a-days it's almost a waste to play more than one character as 95+% of the game are the exact same quests.  It's like getting a PS3 game and playing it over and over with slightly different strategies.  Having a good guild with socializing and an offbeat sense of humor makes it fun to play, but it doesn't really change the gameplay at all.

     

    SWTOR is a great example, play as a Chiss Bounty Hunter and a Human Sith Warrior and how much of the gameplay itself is different?  Maybe 10% of the quests if that?  Now add PvP and the percentage of time playing a different game is small.  Guess what game I don't play anymore.

  • DreskestDreskest Member Posts: 69
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    I really don't understand all these "ahead of its time" comments - if anything TSW appeared to me as being a game stuck in the past.

    Linear, story-driven, grind quest-hub to max level, sandwich hit-point-swapping combat, whack a mole Trinity, and grind instanced end-game PvP and PvE.

    You know what would have happened if TSW had the IP recognition/popularity and marketing/hype of TOR? The exact same thing that has happened to TOR. Burn brightly, then burned out.

    The game has a number of bugs and issues, just like every other game, that's for sure, and it won't be appealing to everyone, but in my opinion, the good greatly outweighs the bad.

    Take GW2 for instance. In my opinion, a shallow game with a generic and horrible story, awful voice acting, repetitive and tedious "dynamic" events, worst generic pve content I've ever seen in the form of "hearts", questionable game design (auto pilot attack, dungeons only starting at level 30, people being able to level up and get rewards with little to no effort at all via mindless pve zergs, more mindless zergs in pvp, getting rid of the "trinity" is not exactly good design as many people still love playing predefined roles), and I could go on.

    People have different tastes and opinions, but I believe what is making a big difference in these times of economic hardship and f2p entitlement mentality is the subscription based model.

    Look at Tera. It doesn't get a lot of attention anywhere. It launched only 4 months ago in the west, and it is pretty decent, and still its playerbase is very small. I know because I play the game.

    What about Rift ? In spite of being labeled many times as a "wow clone" it gets a lot of praise for all the updates and polish it gets on a regular basis, and while it has a decent population, it is estimated to be in the 200k-300k range. Not exactly a huge success by 2012 standards (200-300k would have been huge back in 2002 for instance). But again, the game has a few good points.

    SWTOR ? In spite of all the hate it receives, it is one of the best story-driven games I've played, and it has plenty of content. People not enjoying said content is a totally different story, but it had an excellent playerbase at launch in terms of number of people playing. With the switch to f2p it will attract LOTS of people, just look at the freeloaders  on this site saying "I hate the game, but I'll go and finish my class story for free".  I don't know if the f2p conversion will be a success for EA/Bioware, but the change in business model will at least increase the playerbase.

    These are only a few examples of games, that along with TSW, have not seen the kind of financial success their developers were aiming for. The obvious exception here of course is World of Warcraft. And I believe the reason for this is that Blizzard built the vast majority of their playerbase a few years ago when sub based games were the norm, and not the exception.

    Players have spent so many many hours into their characters and have developed strong ties with their friends and guilds through the years  (Heck it took me 6 years of uninterrupted gameplay to finally say goodbye to WoW) that I don't see WoW changing their business model anytime soon, if ever. 

    But even Blizzard has experienced a slow but steady decline in population in recent years with the rising in popularity of new business models, something they have to keep an eye on and find ways to keep their sub based model attractive to their playerbase, or just see their player numbers slowly decrease every year.

     

    Now think for a moment about GW2 launch, and slap a $14.99 monthly fee instead of its current B2P  business model. It's not going to happen, but I'm pretty sure this game would not be selling nearly as well as it's doing right now with a P2P business model, especially with the technical issues that popped up during headstart. Just look at threads with people saying things like " Oh it's not like we're losing game time. The game doesn't have a sub. Give them time, they'll fix it". It seems people are way more forgiving if they don't have to pay any extra money after paying for a game box. These are usually the same kind of people who were outraged at SWTOR for the long queues and some technical issues at launch.

    Now in other threads you see the typical " This game is so good that yes, I'd pay a sub". While I don't doubt that many people would actually do this, again, I believe GW2 would not have sold half the boxes it's sold so far with a subscription attached to it.  

     

    My conclusion is that making a good game is just not enough to appeal to a large number of players in the MMO industry nowadays. Game studios need to really start looking into alternate business models to be profitable and competitive.

    I have no problems paying for entertainment. Right now I have 5 active subscriptions (Tera, SWTOR, Rift, AoC, and Station Access for EQ2 and DCUO) and I also purchased lifetime for TSW, and that's perfectly fine with me, but I think I'm not the average MMO gamer, and I hope that Funcom and other gaming companies make the necessary adjustments to stay in business and keep providing us gamers with this excellent form of entertainment.

     

    P.S I stand by all my comments about GW2, and still think it's a shallow and mediocre game at best, but to those playing it, hope you have a good time. I have plenty of entertainment at hand.

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