Anybody trying Secret World?

[Infovore]

I pre-ordered The Secret World (the new modern-day MMO from FunCom) last week, and I must say I am enjoying it much more than I thought. I didn't have high expectations from the company that produced Age of Conan, but so far I am liking SW so much that I sprung for the "Grandmaster Pack" which gives me a lifetime subscription.

Can't say much about specifics since they make you sign an NDA for the beta (which you can get into for preordering the game) but the world is really cool--creepy and very detailed.

Anybody else playing?

[John DiFool]

Summary of game content and gameplay please?

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by John DiFool

Summary of game content and gameplay please?

Since I'm not sure what I can say without breaking the NDA, I'll direct you to the Wikipedia page, which has a nice summary of the game.

Basically you're a member of one of three cabals vying for world domination (the Illuminati, the Dragons, or the Templars). I haven't gotten too much of a handle on the gameplay yet so I'll leave that for the Wiki page, but the atmosphere is cool...kind of urban fantasy/horror (no nonhuman characters, but lots of Lovecraftian-type monsters, zombies, creepy locations, etc.) You can be a magic user, you can hit things with a big hammer, use a big gun...lots of different ways to customize your character.

There's going to be a store with microtransactions for things like clothing and stuff like that...not sure to what extent it will go. I know the game was criticized for being too micro-transactiony, but I don't mind that.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by John DiFool

Summary of game content and gameplay please?

It's a World-of-Darkness-style urban fantasy MMO. Gameplay is similar to Guild Wars in that you have access to a vast number of abilities but can only use 7 at a time. It doesn't look like it'll be following the typical WoW model of tank/heal/DPS for grouping.

Everything I've heard about it is good so far. I've got it preordered and will be playing in beta this weekend.

[Crowbar of Irony +3]

The biggest thing going for them is the ultra-customizable skill tree. Other than that, it feels a little like a WoW-clone.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Crowbar of Irony +3

The biggest thing going for them is the ultra-customizable skill tree. Other than that, it feels a little like a WoW-clone.

It's no more a WoW clone than any other MMO--I mean, they all are similar in a lot of ways by necessity. But the gameplay of TSW doesn't really feel that much like WoW to me. And I quite like the graphics. These new MMOs like SWTOR, Tera and TSW are really making me realize how old WoW's graphics are looking these days.

[Illuminatiprimus]

I've got a pass for this weekend's beta test to have a go at the game, it's one of the few MMOs to come out in the last few years that I'm actually planning on playing. I'm also playing the browser game that is being used as a marketing vehicle and I'm not far off the top rank which gives me access to all the beta weekends. If I enjoy myself enough I'll pre-order so I can keep playing

I really like the abandonment of classes and the idea of builds of skills. Apparently part of the game is to discover what combination of the 1500 skills work best together and create your own builds for them, which you can then trade with friends so they can use them if they have the right skills. The fact that you can switch builds in game on the fly is great too, so if you're partying and it's clear you need some extra healing capacity one of your team can swap for a healer build, or everyone can draw on some healer skills to help each other. Cool idea.

[HookerChemical]

I'll be playing the open beta this weekend. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time, while my friends were all looking forward to TOR. I like TOR. It's by far the best solo MMORPG I've played, but I don't find the group dynamics great so I'm likely to jump ship.

This summary is based on the publicly available information rather than actual play, so if I get something wrong, please forgive me.

Rather than a class based system like WoW and it's descendants (Rift, TOR), TSW will offer all skills to all players. You get to have 7 active and 7 passive abilities that essentially make up your build. There are templates available, so you don't have to start from scratch. I think you gain proficiency in the skills, but that's a little unclear. Illuminatiprimus overstates the number of available skills, but 500 seems to be the final number. That should offer lots of customization, but we'll have to see if there are some skills that just aren't worth taking.

Crafting is all about breaking down items into their component parts and rebuilding them how you want.

There isn't armor as most games know it. Your character's clothing is customizable and doesn't impact gameplay.

I'm not sure how fundamental the roles of tank, healer, and DPS are going to be, but it sounds like they'll be a fair part of the big boss fights. It's also unclear when you can switch your build (i.e. Can you DPS most of the trash then convert to tank for the boss fight?).

[Balance]

Originally Posted by HookerChemical

There isn't armor as most games know it. Your character's clothing is customizable and doesn't impact gameplay.

This alone makes it an improvement over most MMOs, and is one of the long-term strong points of City of Heroes. I don't know why it's taken so long for someone else to try it.

Secret World hasn't previously been on my radar, but based on this thread, I may try to get a look at the beta. It sounds good conceptually, but I've been disappointed before.

[Illuminatiprimus]

Been playing the beta weekend and OH MY GOD this game is so much fun! I love how you're completely free to start getting whatever abilities you want, and have reached the stage where I'm now having to balance going further into the skill wheel for more expensive abilities or spreading them out a bit.

The quests and locations are interesting and I don't for a moment feel bored whilst hunting around, which I really can't say is the case for a lot of MMOs I've played. Some of the features are missing because it's the beta, and it's a bit rough around the edges, but if the later weekends are as good I'll definitely keep playing this one

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by Balance

This alone makes it an improvement over most MMOs, and is one of the long-term strong points of City of Heroes. I don't know why it's taken so long for someone else to try it.

TOR kinda-sorta does this by giving you certain armor and letting you fill it with whatever stats you want. However, that makes it cumbersome when you want to change your appearance without changing stats or vice versa.

I really like TSW's skill model from an RP/character standpoint. As long as you have reasonably synergistic skills, it doesn't matter where on the wheel they came from. So you can have a character that starts out entirely focused on Pistols, then gradually learn some Elemental magic and begin weaving that into your build, adding in an ability or two from Hammers to blend. It's lateral growth rather than vertical +1 growth, and I'm really looking forward to it.

[DigitalC]

I keep hearing combat is really really bad, but the rest of the game is fairly decent.

[Illuminatiprimus]

Combat isn't bad at all, my only concern at the moment is that you're stuck in a limited area trying low level skills. The mechanic is fine, as far as I can see.

[HookerChemical]

I played plenty of the beta this weekend and I liked it. As Illuminatiprimus mentioned, it was limited to a low level area. Only the first tier of abilities was available (of three tiers), so it’s hard to judge where late game aspects will fall.
I like the ability/combat system. It’s flexible, and you can change more or less on the fly (not in combat, for obvious reasons). As already mentioned, you get 7 active and 7 passive abilities. Active abilities can generally be broken down into builders, consumers, and other.
Builders give you a “point” in for each weapon you have equipped, either on the enemy or for yourself. Think of a rogue’s combo points or a warrior’s rage. They can work a little differently (i.e. regenerating over time, decaying over time, being on the enemy, being on the player), and you can have up to 5 for each of two equipped weapons. Builders build each equipped weapon, not just the weapon that ability uses.
Consumers require one or more points in that weapon to use. These are the more powerful abilities and can be finishers, bigger heals, and other types. They don’t necessarily have to have full combo points to work, though some benefit from it. For this reason, I could use build, finisher, build, finisher as part of my rotation.
Other includes buffs like increased evasion or unavoidable attacks.
Passives do things like have your attacks give a buff or debuff, increase buff durations, award extra combo points. Like the name suggests, they’re passive and you don’t have to activate them, only put them on your passive ability bar.
Each weapon type has a DPS ability and another branch, either survivability (tank), healing, or support. I played chaos/fists, which have survivability and healing abilities. I figured the DPS and healing parts would be good for leveling, the protection would give me the ability to tank. I found combat fairly dynamic, though I had a regular rotation if there weren’t adds, and my health wasn’t falling too fast. Early fight was all about building my hit buff and my opponent’s armor debuff, then settling into a build, claw finisher, build, claw finisher rotation, hitting my finisher when I had full chaos.
It appears that you can go deep into two trees fairly quickly, so I expect equipment will play a major role in separating power levels. Skill points play a part in the ability to equip high end gear. By the end of the beta, I was mostly in tier 3 gear, which may have been the best available at the time.
The crafting system has potential, but it’s cumbersome as it currently exists. To craft, you arrange the materials in a pattern based on what you’re trying to craft, select the pattern you want to use, and make the new item. You can then add prefixes and suffixes to get the stats you want. This sounds well and good, but creating the pattern meant splitting stacks of materials into seven or more individual items, then arranging them in a formation that you can only find by breaking up an item of the type you’re trying to craft (i.e. all shotguns have the same pattern, so breaking a tier 1 shotgun will provide the configuration that can be used for all shotguns).
The atmosphere is great. Kingsmouth, one of two areas available the first weekend, felt like a small village from a Lovecraft story. The developers aren’t shy about hiding the Lovecraft influence on their sleeves, even naming a street after him. The investigation quests only serve to add to the atmosphere, and are probably the most compelling quest type. Sure, slaughtering zombies is fun, but it’s much more interesting to unravel the Illuminati influence in town by following the clues. A couple of these turned out to be frustratingly challenging, but they’re overall very entertaining.
I’d love to know what the endgame will hold, because that’s where most otherwise good MMORPGs lose my interest, but TSW made a good first impression. It’s certainly not without bugs (e.g. I was completely incapable of communicating in game with a group member for a while), but it’s beta for another month.

[Illuminatiprimus]

I had the same communication issue - turned out I'd reassigned the reply button (which I thought was enter!). I agree with your assessment; positives starting out but let's see the end game. I don't have any idea of how many zones there are at launch, but I loved playing Kingsmouth and if that is representative of every zone in the game I can see it being of way more interest to me than the standard WOW clones full of their "kills 10 rats/take this package here/gather 10 rat tails" that we've seen recycled to the point of it almost now being a parody.

The exploration/examination quest searching for clues about the Illuminati was great! I loved having to really think about things, and use the web to do research to come up with the answer. I actually fist pumped the air when I found a location that had been evading me for ages, it's the kind of intelligent alternative to the standard quest faire that we've been asking for in MMORPGs for so long.

It's hard to pass any real judgement on the combat only seeing a limited amount of two parts of the wheel. I only played one character so don't know how the other disciplines play, but I do like the fact that you can buy any skill you want and create your own builds. The decks (where you acquire specific sets of skills to form a named role, like thaumaturge) look interesting too, even though they are essentially taking it back to a more traditional character class in the process. Of course, even if you do unlock and use a deck, you're not stuck in it, which is the most important part of the game.

So for me two thumbs WAY up based on my experience, and I'll definitely be playing the other beta weekends as they come up. I'm on the fence about whether I'll buy the game, but to be honest I can't see why not unless the later beta weekends turn out to be terrible (which I doubt).

Besides, how can I resist joining the Illuminati?

[Bosstone]

The provided decks are just suggested templates for people who feel overwhelmed by the amount of choice provided; you don't get locked into anything. You can also create your own decks for changing builds on the fly.

Kingsmouth Code (the Illuminati puzzle) was absolutely amazing. I love Myst-style games, but I usually get horrendously stuck on them, but with the Kingsmouth Code I was intent on breaking through. There's some issues with the mission, but nothing terrible, and although I spent a couple hours on a relatively simple puzzle, even when talking it over with a friend, I felt enormous satisfaction when I beat it.

Combat is definitely fun and dynamic, and the skills interact with each other in interesting ways. I started off with Hammer skills, and while questing I picked up a decent shotgun, so I branched off into Shotgun skills. When I saw that swinging the hammer built up both Melee and Ranged resources, I immediately pulled a Shotgun finisher into my build, which enhanced my power considerably. Build up 5 with the Hammer, then use the Hammer finisher immediately followed by the Shotgun finisher. Major damage.

Then I picked up Buckshot, which does extra damage if you have 5 Ranged resources but doesn't consume them. So I swapped out the Shotgun finisher, and now I just build up to 5, Hammer finisher, Buckshot, then just start using Buckshot whenever it's up while I run through the Hammer pattern, which provides even more damage.

It can get complex juggling all the skills, but the game just feels right to me. It's fun and engaging and makes sense to me. I don't know how the endgame will be either, but it's going to keep my attention for a while regardless.

(Ironically, I'm not going to play in Beta any more. I've played enough to know I like the game, and I really don't want to play through so much in Beta that playing on Live is just retreading a bunch of ground.)

[Headrush042]

On that whole retreading thing, I really agree with that. I loved taking one character through Kingsmouth, but the investigation (puzzle) quests have no replayability at all aside from a quick boost of AP/SP/cash/loot on alts.

The voice acting and writing are terrific. The atmosphere is top notch, as is the soundtrack.

I took my toon down the swords AE tanking tree and as a secondary I used blood's shield/healing and was virtually unkillable unless I got really reckless. Grouped with a friend though, and we barely made it through some incredibly tight spots with quick respawns and unintended aggroing of zombie swarms, and it was incredibly fun.

Crafting was entirely too cumbersome. I really hope they revisit that system, particularly the stacking and stack-splitting headache.

I'm wondering what the "end game" and PvP will be like. As much as I enjoyed the beta, I don't see myself making more than maybe one alt to fool around with different skill combinations, but I do see myself grinding a ton of cash just to buy a bunch of clothing

[Balance]

Sounds like the crafting is "inspired" by Minecraft. That's...interesting. I like what I'm hearing about the setting, and I definitely like the idea of a real puzzle element to the game.

I haven't gotten anything about the beta, and probably won't, but I signed up, just on the off-chance. The "Whaddya mean, you don't use Facebook?" vibe from the promotional thing annoyed me a bit, but not quite enough to declare blood vengeance on the company.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by Balance

I haven't gotten anything about the beta, and probably won't, but I signed up, just on the off-chance. The "Whaddya mean, you don't use Facebook?" vibe from the promotional thing annoyed me a bit, but not quite enough to declare blood vengeance on the company.

I don't use Facebook, and the promotional stuff has been barely a blip. Definitely hasn't affected my enjoyment of the game.

There's one thing that seems to be getting a lot of heat and is probably worth mentioning here because it's so different: the mission limits. You're only allowed something like 5 missions at once: 1 main storyline, 1 action mission (combat, sabotage, I think investigation, etc.), and 3 item missions (tiny little sidequests). If you have an action mission and accept another, the one you had is paused; you can't make any progress on it until you pause the active mission and reactive the paused one.

This is getting some heat because, well, it's a lot different from the WoW and TOR-style games. A lot of people are used to collecting a bunch of quests at once and going off to a particular area in the zone to finish them all at once. The nature of the low mission limit requires you to backtrack and run around quite a lot. This is upsetting a lot of people, I think partially because Funcom hasn't made the pausing mechanism very clear.

However, I choose to look at it this way: the way WoW streamlines its quests, you do 5-10 quests in a small section of a zone, then never go back there again. It's a theme park. You get your stuff, go on the ride, get off and go to the next ride. It can be fun, sure, but that's what makes WoW and TOR theme parks.

By having you work on only a few tasks at once, TSW asks that you focus on them. Each mission is as deep as 4-5 quests in WoW (in WoW, one quest might be to kill X things, one quest might be to retrieve Y items, another quest might be to escort someone, whereas these might be all steps in a single TSW mission), and they're generally more interesting than 'kill X things'. You get more deeply involved in the story, rather than clicking Accept without reading the text and just seeing what the quest log tells you to do.

In this way, Kingsmouth becomes a place instead of a theme park, and it's small enough that running around is not especially tiresome. Revisiting a location becomes interesting because you get to find out more secrets about that location, rather than being annoyed at having to go back through an area you've already been in. There's depth to the zone and the story around it, and the completion of each mission triggers a sense of satisfaction at a job well done, whereas in WoW, with a few exceptions, my general sense at finishing a quest was "Great, got that over with." I keep playing because I want to see what happens next, not because I want to reach the next level. I can't wait to see what's beyond Kingsmouth.

It feels more alive than most MMOs I play, and it's just...like I said, it feels right. People looking for another WoW/Rift/TOR are going to be heavily disappointed, though.

[Illuminatiprimus]

I agree with your assessment of the quest system Bosstone, both the positives and negatives. Again, the only issue is that this kind of set up reduces replayability, as what draws you in and makes something interesting isn't something that you're going to want to do repeatedly (whereas the WOW theme park model makes it easy to kill those ten gnolls over and over and not mind it too much because it's simple and you don't need to get invested in the reason for it).

I hadn't actually considered not playing in later betas so that I could be fresh for launch, but now that it has been mentioned I think that's probably what I'll do too. I absolutely want to play an Illuminati character, and it would be a bit sad to play the truncated version in a beta weekend and then have to re-roll a month or two later.

[Headrush042]

Second Beta this weekend, and they've unlocked the rest of the Kingsmouth missions (about 5 more action missions, and about 5 more misc ones). All in all, doesn't take that long to finish, and the newest characters you meet are just as fun and interesting as before. No investigation missions to spoil, so if you want to hop in and just do some more zombie and golem bashing, it's a bit more challenging than what you experienced last week. If you had a character last week you'll find 10 mil has been added to your pocket so you can go do some clothes shopping. The outer wheels of skills are still locked, there's still no PvP, no new options in character creation, and it appears the dungeon at the end of Kingsmouth is locked as well.

I started out clothes shopping, finished up Kingsmouth, and then rolled a new toon to check out different weapon combinations. Still having a blast.

I ended up with three extra beta keys for this weekend. PM me if you want one! First come first served. There's also plenty of giveaways still happening out on the internets, but you may have to look to foreign gaming sites for it.

[Illuminatiprimus]

Was tempted to jump in but have decided to wait until the game is out now, given that I have decided I want to play it at launch. Might preorder though

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Headrush042

If you had a character last week you'll find 10 mil has been added to your pocket so you can go do some clothes shopping.

Really? I just logged in (I've been playing for a couple of weeks now) and I don't have any extra money. You got me all excited about being able to buy new clothes! :P

[Headrush042]

Originally Posted by Infovore

Really? I just logged in (I've been playing for a couple of weeks now) and I don't have any extra money. You got me all excited about being able to buy new clothes! :P

On the public beta client? Both toons I rolled last week had 10 mil added. There's several different beta builds going on right now.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Headrush042

On the public beta client? Both toons I rolled last week had 10 mil added. There's several different beta builds going on right now.

Hmm, maybe not. I'm not on one of the weekend betas--I preordered so I've been playing a version that's always available. That would suck, though, if the weekend people get extra money and the preorders don't.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by Infovore

That would suck, though, if the weekend people get extra money and the preorders don't.

You're confusing two things: the closed beta and the preorder beta weekends.

The closed beta is the real beta where the players help the devs find holes in the game and hammer out issues. I believe preordering in the past helped you get in, but I'm not sure that it was necessary to get in. That has been going on for at least a month now.

The beta weekends are the hype-generators. Anyone who preordered, including those preordering this month, are automatically able to access the weekends. They're almost solely for showing off the game and getting people revved up to play. So of course they'll give everyone 10 mil, that way they can show off the clothing options available.

You may not have gotten 10 mil in closed beta, but you have had the chance to play the game for several weeks and had the capability to help shape the game's development. And when the game actually launches, nothing from either beta will carry over. You'll be starting fresh. It doesn't really seem worth complaining about.

[Balance]

Thanks to Headrush, I was able to give it a try this weekend, and played quite a few hours. There's definitely a lot to like about the game. Here are my impressions in a huge wall o' text.

One thing that stands out is the variety of gameplay available. You have your standard fetch-quests and "Go kill ten X" missions; those are a given, though they're better justified than most. You also have:

• Defend point X (fairly common, but not as much as killing ten rats).
• Follow environmental clues to target.
• Solve riddle/obscure information puzzles.
• Guard dodging. (Avoiding being seen by mobs that can't be fought; being spotted automatically triggers a penalty.)
• Escort missions. (Personally, I generally hate escort missions, so I didn't take the one I was offered. As a result, I don't know how they play.)
• Security puzzles. (Finding a way through a minor maze while avoiding traps and detection)

That's a lot of different mechanics for an MMO, and they were integrated pretty seamlessly into the gameplay. I liked that. I also liked the fact that a lot of missions are acquired from things you find and decide to investigate, rather than being assigned by a person; it feels much more proactive and dynamic that way.

The map and waypoint system is excellent, possibly even better than City of Heroes, which is my gold standard for such things. I like the fact that mission waypoints lead you to a search locus, rather than an exact location; it adds a little more immersion. It falls short in not allowing you to set your own waypoints--map locations, contacts, or arbitrary coordinates on the map. (At least, I didn't manage to do so.)

The atmosphere of the town was pretty good--an interesting mix of gloom and gallows humor, for the most part, but with occasional very silly bits. I was probably excessively tickled with one particular side mission, in which an abomination from the abyss apparently had a craving, and sent its minions to pick up some take-out. The rather dysfunctional townsfolk are good for an occasional laugh, too.

The graphics are decent, I think, but far from spectacular. The PC character models are good; I felt very constrained in character creation compared to City, but I can't argue with the final look. NPCs, on the other hand, are often rather ghastly, especially in cutscenes--and I'm talking about people, not mobs. Architecture and terrain are generally pretty good, but trees and plant life may be a bit lacking. (Mind you, this is after I upgraded my drivers; prior to that, a lot of the environment was in black and white, and everyone had an ashy pallor and pitch-black eyes with vividly colored irises. It was kind of cool, actually.)

The combat is generally fun and engaging. It's certainly dynamic. I played a pure sorceress type most of the way, focusing exclusively on Elementalism until I had maxed it out, then branching into support abilities from Blood Magic (healing/shields). The pure assault approach meant a lot of touch-and-go fighting, but it was definitely a workable approach, at least for the available content. Adding just one support ability though--the resource-consuming Blood heal/shield--made things substantially easier, though. Aside from the clusters of zombies in town, spawns scaled pretty organically, providing a variety of challenges.

At the very end, with a big pile of AP and everything I wanted from the Elemental and Blood paths, I switched my primary over to fist weapons. It made a very large difference in gameplay. For fists, at least, the game does seem to hang onto a bit of melee=durable that's common in other games, even though everyone is likely to spend most of their time in melee range in this game.

One thing I did not like about combat was the lack of auto-facing. Seriously, devs, this does not add challenge, it adds annoyance. If you require my character to be facing a target to attack it, then turn the character. Don't go "thud" and give me an error message. It's a nuisance, especially when your style of reticle isn't very visible in the middle of a scrum (which is to say, nearly every fight with multiple mobs). Leave this bit of clumsiness to WoW.

The game could definitely use more in the way of tutorials. The crafting system, in particular, needs more explanation than the Help window provides. A workshop in the starting area with an NPC who offers an optional tutorial would be good. They may be working on this--I know I got at least one placeholder that said "Tutorial Needed" when I tried something or other.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Balance

It falls short in not allowing you to set your own waypoints--map locations, contacts, or arbitrary coordinates on the map. (At least, I didn't manage to do so.)

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to do, you can definitely do this. You just open up the map, right-click to get the "Set Waypoint" button, then type in some text to remind you what the point is for. I was using it to mark locations of quests that were either too hard for me at the moment or that I didn't want to take because they'd force me to pause a quest I already have. Once I figured out I could do this, I liked the system a whole lot more.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by Infovore

Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to do, you can definitely do this. You just open up the map, right-click to get the "Set Waypoint" button, then type in some text to remind you what the point is for. I was using it to mark locations of quests that were either too hard for me at the moment or that I didn't want to take because they'd force me to pause a quest I already have. Once I figured out I could do this, I liked the system a whole lot more.

That's part of it, and pretty much resolves my complaint. I would like to be able to just click on an existing map marker to set it as a waypoint, but as long as you can do the same thing with the right-click, I'm satisfied. Being able to add a note to it is a nice bonus.

[BunnyTVS]

Quick bump. If anyones interested in the third beta weekend starting on the 15th, there are a number of sites giving out beta keys. MMORPG.com for example still had around 2000 keys when I got mine last night.

[Balance]

Launch is coming up soon; early access starts tomorrow for pre-orders, with full launch following on July 3rd, just in time for some holiday play. I, for one, will be there.

I continued playing in the weekend betas...playing rather obsessively, in fact. I still love the setting, and the quality of the missions continues to impress me. I've even played an escort mission now, and it was not nearly as bad as I feared; it used a City-like mechanic, with the escorted NPC actually following me and making herself useful. (I had feared it would be more in the LotRO style of "imbecilic NPC wanders slowly into numerous obvious ambushes, then cowers as you get your ass kicked".) Many of the NPCs are still ugly, and there are some weaknesses in the UI that bother me, but I'm very much looking forward to playing. (And I gather that the UI is designed with customization in mind--I suspect we'll quickly see some fan-made improvements there.)

So, who else is going to eat a bee? Which dimension and faction are you planning to join? Shall we form Doper cabals? I'm currently leaning toward starting with a Templar on Arcadia (the RP dimension).

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Balance

So, who else is going to eat a bee? Which dimension and faction are you planning to join? Shall we form Doper cabals? I'm currently leaning toward starting with a Templar on Arcadia (the RP dimension).

I will be there starting at the earliest early access (Grandmaster Pack woo!) I'll be on Arcadia as well, co-GMing a cabal called A scensio n. My toon name is W interhaw k--hit me up if anybody needs a home for their Illuminati.

(sorry about the spacings--I don't like search engines finding me. Just stick them together. :P)

[Headrush042]

I'll be starting play this afternoon as well. Probably on Arcadia. Not sure what toon names I'll be using but I'm sure I'll run into you guys at some point

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

I got seriously addicted during the most recent Beta weekend. The controls and the character rendering sure leave something to be desired, but last weekend they had you playing in "Kingsmouth," and let's face it, Lovecraft+zombies+Stephen King = crack for me. I really liked the setting and the story, and all the little touches they included.

According to the Funcom website, they're just giving everyone who preordered access starting at noon today. Squee! I'm probably going to noodle around for a while, getting a feel for what type of deck I want, but I'm sure I'll join up with you guys soon.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Hey, can someone help a noob out? Explain what QL (color) means please. Is it just a reference to the badassedness of your weapons? Does the color have to do with faction?

Also, since there aren't classes, I'm having trouble figuring out if I'm what people are looking for for groups. I know I'm not a healer at least. I'm using pistols and elementalism - does that make me dps?

Also, do you have to start in Kingsmouth every time?

Thanks!

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by Unauthorized Cinnamon

Hey, can someone help a noob out? Explain what QL (color) means please. Is it just a reference to the badassedness of your weapons? Does the color have to do with faction?

Quality Level. It just means how good your gear is. A QL2 piece is better than a QL1 piece. Because of the amorphous nature of progression, that's the closest thing they have to power level and gear checks.

And yes, Kingsmouth is the only starter area right now.

[Headrush042]

As far as group roles go, yeah, it depends on how you structure your build.

Everything has a damage tree, so you can be a damage dealer no matter what.

Healing trees exist in:

Assault Rifle (leech effects + direct heals)
Fists (HoTs + direct heals)
Blood (Shields + direct heals)

Tanking trees exist in:
Swords (avoidance)
Hammer (block/mitigation)
Chaos (I forget!)

Group support exists in:
Shotguns
Pistols
Probably most everything else, I'd have to look again

Faction Decks are just recommended guides you can use to see how you can build synergies between different skill trees, plus they reward the outfit portrayed in the artwork when you buy all the specified skills. But they're just guidelines and completely optional -- you can go for a pre-made deck or just custom build your own and still be effective.

You can also use the gear manager to save different builds (solo, group damage, specialized healing, specialized tanking, etc) and instantly recall them instead of re-building every time you want to switch. Even while soloing, you may find different situations call for different builds.

[DigitalC]

I'm afraid of trying another story based MMO. SWTOR might as well have flashed a "Game Over" screen and rolled credits once i finished leveling.

[wonderlust]

I've been on the beta list forever, but in the meantime I have fallen head over heals in love with Guild Wars 2, a yardstick by which I compare every other game.

[DigitalC]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

I've been on the beta list forever, but in the meantime I have fallen head over heals in love with Guild Wars 2, a yardstick by which I compare every other game.

I hope you weren't still waiting for that beta invite because the game launched friday .

[wonderlust]

Originally Posted by DigitalC

I hope you weren't still waiting for that beta invite because the game launched friday .

Thanks, no. I'm still receiving notices from them, but decided against playing. Glad to hear so many of you are having fun with it!

[Headrush042]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

I've been on the beta list forever, but in the meantime I have fallen head over heals in love with Guild Wars 2, a yardstick by which I compare every other game.

I hear ya. However, since GW2 has no sub, I feel somehow OK playing TSW until GW2 comes out and maybe even continuing to pay for TSW beyond and switching between the two (though I know GW2 is going to suck me in and eat up 100% of my time)

[AndrewL]

How well does the game do as far as permitting and encouraging you to play with your friends? If I am on one quest/story line, and a friend of mine is on a completely different one, is there any point is us trying to team up? Is it even possible to drop what I'm doing and go somewhere else to play with friends? This is part of what killed TOR and several other MMORPGs for me - it takes a lot of coordination to ensure that I even can play with other friends due to having to coordinate where on which story arc people are.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by AndrewL

How well does the game do as far as permitting and encouraging you to play with your friends? If I am on one quest/story line, and a friend of mine is on a completely different one, is there any point is us trying to team up? Is it even possible to drop what I'm doing and go somewhere else to play with friends? This is part of what killed TOR and several other MMORPGs for me - it takes a lot of coordination to ensure that I even can play with other friends due to having to coordinate where on which story arc people are.

Well, you can help each other on a quest even if you're not on it. One thing I like (though occasionally it's a bit annoying when I want to do something myself) is that if you have to kill a mob for a quest and somebody else has already spawned it, you can wade right in and help and you'll get credit for it (even if you're not in a group with them).

Most quests have multiple stages to them so it would help if you and your friend were on the same stage, but that's true of things like WoW too. But two other cool things for playing with friends: you don't have to have both rolled on the same server (there's really only one big server with multiple "dimensions," and you can group up with friends in different factions except for PvP (obviously) and joining the same cabal (guild).

I am loving this game. It was everything I'd hoped it would be storywise, the quests are fun and creepy and they don't hold your hand like WoW does, and the look and feel is just generally amazing. I am not regretting buying the Grandmaster (lifetime) pack at all.

[Balance]

You can also team up even if you started characters on different shards; if you want to team up with a friend on Arcadia, say, you just group with them, then use the Meet Up function to teleport to Arcadia. The only limitation I know of to this is the PvP warzone--Fusang is deliberately restricted to the natives of the dimension, presumably to prevent people from abusing the reward system too badly.

On the other hand, there are solo-only instances. If you run into one while running an arc as part of a team, you'll have to each do your own (or hang out outside, I suppose). The group doesn't dissolve if you enter a solo instance, though; it just shows your teammates in another zone.

[Bosstone]

Originally Posted by Infovore

I am loving this game. It was everything I'd hoped it would be storywise, the quests are fun and creepy and they don't hold your hand like WoW does, and the look and feel is just generally amazing. I am not regretting buying the Grandmaster (lifetime) pack at all.

It's great, isn't it? Since you're only working on a few quests at a time, you become fully invested in the ones you are working on. And because the quests are designed such that you don't pick up a ton at a hub, but instead meet a contact, pick a mission, complete it, then find a new mission near where the last one was completed, very few players experience the game in the exact same order, which seriously cuts down on theme park lines.

No two missions are alike, and there are very few 'kill X' missions; there's plenty of combat, but mostly as a means to gain another objective. The Investigation missions are completely novel and neat for an MMO, although unfortunately they're also the most spoil-able, since they rely more on knowledge than performance. More than once I've googled the hints the game gave me and the first 3-4 hits were walkthrough pages for the mission.

I will say that one downside is that the clever mission scripting does sometimes break apart when you introduce other players who are used to the click-everything-and-don't-ask-questions school of gaming, which is what other MMOs train you to do. A lot of really cool missions get bugged easily when players on the same mission click your quest object, or three people are trying to click on quest objects in the same area and doing it in the wrong order and just. won't. stop. clicking.

I'm a little skeptical of the game's potential replay value, but at least for the first run through I'm absolutely loving it.

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Bosstone

I'm a little skeptical of the game's potential replay value, but at least for the first run through I'm absolutely loving it.

Yeah, I do hope they keep the content coming. But given the amount of time it's going to take to max out all the skills on the wheel, I consider that the money I spent for the Grandmaster Pack was worth it. Plus I'm sure they'll introduce endgame stuff at some point.

BTW, I've only done one instance so far (Polaris--looking forward to doing Inferno probably tomorrow) but I love the way they're nice and quick and don't have two tons of extraneous trash. There's some, sure, but I remember the developers saying that was a conscious decision--they figure most people don't like wading through acres of trash to get to a boss, so just give them enough to make it interesting but not enough to be tedious.

I think this game has learned a lot from previous MMOs about what to do and what not to do.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Thanks for the info! It's also helpful to know wtf is up with the servers and that there are virtual separate servers known as "instances," which makes more sense of a lot of chatter I've seen.

Bosstone, if you want to Google hints (well, you really have to, it's part of the game), and avoid spoilers, you could always try adding "-secret world" to try to filter out the walkthroughs.

Even though the games still buggy as hell, I'm having tons of fun with it. I just got called to NYC to investigate a meeting in a parking garage, and I hear it's a massively fun mission. I can't wait!

[Infovore]

Originally Posted by Unauthorized Cinnamon

Even though the games still buggy as hell, I'm having tons of fun with it. I just got called to NYC to investigate a meeting in a parking garage, and I hear it's a massively fun mission. I can't wait!

That mission is tons of fun. You'll love it.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by Unauthorized Cinnamon

Bosstone, if you want to Google hints (well, you really have to, it's part of the game), and avoid spoilers, you could always try adding "-secret world" to try to filter out the walkthroughs.

http://tswsearch.com/
It uses a customized Google search to filter out spoilers. Haven't tried it myself, but it seems like a handy page.

Originally Posted by Balance

On the other hand, there are solo-only instances. If you run into one while running an arc as part of a team, you'll have to each do your own (or hang out outside, I suppose). The group doesn't dissolve if you enter a solo instance, though; it just shows your teammates in another zone.

...and someone has already trotted out the hoary old "but the 'M' is for 'Multiplayer'!" routine to whine about solo instances. Sigh.