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TSW State of the Game Announcement for August
Rohn
Member UncommonPosts: 3,730
Funcom published their monthly State of the Game for August, which can be found here:
http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/state_of_the_game_august_2012
Some of the more interesting information:
"So what's ahead in upcoming issues? There's a ten-person raid in New York scheduled for October, and it's not like any raid you've ever played before. We have a bunch of auxiliary weapons on the way, and more character customisation improvements. We have a huge and exciting new feature pencilled in for Christmas, which ties into the achievement system and gives a lot more meaning to the usual 'Kill 1,000 Vampires' goals. (After all, who hasn't wondered what it would be like to have some vampiric abilities to play around with?) We're creating intermediary decks with brand new clothing rewards; we have a ton of new missions and storylines in development; and we have a huge new adventure zone scheduled for next spring, bringing players back to Tokyo's Ground Zero, to face brand new threats, meet new characters, play new missions and explore an intriguing urban environment unlike anything you've ever seen in an MMO."
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Comments
Great to hear that an urban zone is being developed to adventure in. That's the one thing the game really needs more of. I think we have enough forests.
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.
Hmm isn't every cliche raid something like 2 groups of players these days? Sounds like every raid I've played since the bliss of 40 man WoW raids. Just the wallpaper changes... turn it up to 11 players to be different, or go back to 40 man raids?
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
I do believe the difference is that you cant just Run your rotation and hope you do enough DPS to kill the boss.
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.
Well.. the definition of a "raid" is that it has 2 or more groups of players. The number of players involved doesn't really define whether a raid is unique or not. The single-group instances in TSW are pretty intense and have very well-designed encounters, so i can't wait to see what they'll do with a raid.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
What do you consider an "efficient endgame model" for PvE? In my experience, people who raid tend to form close social bonds and stick around for years - both for raiding and for the social aspect developed via the raiding experience.
No other PvE endgame model I've seen has been nearly as effective. But, i'd be curious to hear what model you've seen that has resulted in better longterm retention than games like EQ, EQ2, WoW, LoTRO, etc.
P.S. By "Raiding" i actually just mean "challenging cooperative" PvE, but call it "raiding" if you like.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Didn't you have some bet with someone about having raids by the end of this month???
On Topic: Its nice to see they will keep going, but I really believe they should go f2p. Especially since it seems that content will be rolling out slower than originally intended so subbers will have less reason to pay subs.
What is your basis for this? Ragnar specifically states that they plan to keep their monthly update schedule.
"First off, we're going to stick with our monthly release schedule. Like we've said before, we feel it's important to give our paying customers new content and features every single month. Our second issue -- Digging Deeper -- has unfortunately been delayed by two weeks, due to the restructuring of the team, but issue #3 (title to be announced, but there are cats and it ties in with our Halloween event) will be released on time."
On another note... Issue 3 explains the recent increase in cat gatherings around lately..
They don't have the same staff. I don't think you can expect they will have the same amount of work done with less people.
Your probably right int he long run Kuppa but chances are they got enough done before the layoffs tob e able to keep to a monthly schedule for a few months at least fromt here we'll see.
Funcom had a huge team on TSW. Of course they have a lot of finished and unfinished content yet to release.
The problem is, what is TSW going to do 6 months from now, when no new development can be started, let alone polished off? My hunch is that there will be an emphasis on half-completed content, to mask the lack of new content, but in 6-9 months there will be absolutely nothing new.
Remember, Funcom is the king of not telling the truth. They do not care.
Well, we'll have to see what TSW looks like in 6 months. Speculation is just that - speculation. It's possible that Funcom might pull the plug on TSW in 6 months, regardless of the assurances we're being given now. It's also possible that Funcom might continue the game's development, but with no additional resources so Ragnar & Co. will have to make do with what they have. It's also possible that Funcom might devote more available resources to TSW. It's also possible that in 6 months, the game has gained enough subscribers for Funcom to begin hiring new employees/developers to accelerate their development/production schedule.
/shrug
At this point, we simply do not know.
I wish there were a video detail the new character customization options more.
My account expires on the 1st and I don't have the spare cash to keep it going. So the delay of Issue 2 was a big let down for me.
Seconded, they will say anything at this point in time. The first indication will be if they deliver the new content in a couple of week or if is gets pushed further back.
What do you consider an "efficient endgame model" for PvE? In my experience, people who raid tend to form close social bonds and stick around for years - both for raiding and for the social aspect developed via the raiding experience.
No other PvE endgame model I've seen has been nearly as effective. But, i'd be curious to hear what model you've seen that has resulted in better longterm retention than games like EQ, EQ2, WoW, LoTRO, etc.
P.S. By "Raiding" i actually just mean "challenging cooperative" PvE, but call it "raiding" if you like.
An efficient endgame model is one that's self-sustaining so that further development can go into expanding the breadth of what people can do, not having to replace content that was already completed.Examples of this sort of thing would be a capless system like some older mmos had or a player driven endgame system based around pvp.
Given that not everyone wants to pvp, and modern day casuals dont like the idea of perma-grinding forever, i would recommend some sort of endless randomly generated dungeon, that focuses not on scripted bosses, but just normal mobs, that get hard and harder the deeper you go in.
The endgame is in experimenting and finding the best group configuration. The goal is just to go as far as you can. Rewards will increase per time spent the deeper you go, so those who can build better parties and play better get more reward. This could also bring back crowd control as an important factor in grouping to make pve combat a bit more dynamic than its become lately.
It would be better than raiding because with a raid once someone figures out how to do it everyone can do it. But in a randomly generated situation where the mobs you encounter may vary there wont ever be a best specialized formula, instead it will come down to players have to work out how to be generalists and keep all their bases covered and just build the most solid party they can.
Each level can be a mix of either normal mobs, mobs and mini bosses, or just a boss. All random.
The most successful party/guild/whatever is the one that can go the deepest before they wipe, so there is competition.
People who suck can just do the first few levels over and over again and get the same rewards, just at a slower rate.
This will encourage people to get back into the mindset of always looking for new ways to do things and exploring new synergies or strategies. Is there a way we can keep a high killing speed in the easy parts while still having the tools we need deeper in? Are there efficient combos we can come up with for handing certain spawns that do not hurt our ability to handle everything else?
You can even throw in environmental effects or buffs/debuffs/conditions to each encounter.
Basically, design a system that is intended to kill the players, and let them try to figure out how to survive.
Not a video, but here are screenshots of all new hairsyles and new faces:
http://dulfy.net/2012/08/15/tsw-barbershop-and-plastic-surgery-feature-in-1-2/#2