[Column] The Secret World: A Year Later

SBFord

As Funcom's The Secret World nears its first birthday, we decided to take a look back at where the game was at launch and where it is today. See what we have to say before leaving your thoughts in the comments.

I threw myself into The Secret World heavily for the first month the game was out. I spent many hours streaming it on our MMORPG.com stream channel. While the PvP was lacking and turned into a Merry-go-round for control points, and everywhere you looked people seemed to complain about the combat animations (they never really bothered me), I thought the game was innovative enough to overlook these flaws. I still think the 5-man dungeons in the game are some of the best I have ever played. They contain very little trash, and the packs they do have prepare you for a mini-boss or boss fight. Also the boss encounters themselves feel like they are not constant rehashes of fights we have seen one hundred times before in other MMOs. Toss that in with a unique setting that offers an alternative to anything else that was out there and you have an instant winner. I was not alone in my praise for TSW, it even received a good review from this site. But as most of us know a good review doesn’t guarantee a huge commercial success. 

Read more of Rob Lashley's The Secret World A Year Later.

When it comes to making psychotic NPCs Funcom is in a league of their own.

marz.at.play

Amazing game that is not the norm. If any one needs a trial key to give this puppy a shot, pm me your email. It is B2P.

Livnthedream

Now if only the game was not so disappointing. So many issues with how the actual mechanics work and super slow response to numerous exploits ruined the experience.

KaiserPhoenix

awesome storyline and fun and challenging questing. The game was definitely worth double - triple the 25€ i paid.

That said, sadly there are many elitist pricks out there that require you to severely outgear the content before they consider taking you.

And the endgame rune-farming is a mess . you need 10green runes of the same type to upgrade them to blue, 10 blue ones to upgrade them to epic quality. There is a pool of like 40 different runes out there, of whom like 7 are truly viable.

I do like the game a lot, but i hardly play it anymore since i am only at 3.5k Ap, and many raid groups require you to have 4k +, and i really can't be bothered to spend countless hours grinding the runes.

 

I completed the main story quests and zones, got the best gear available from nightmare dungeons. To progress further, an enormous grind is required which i am not willing to do but it was definitely worth every cent.

QSatu

I tried the beta 1 year ago.

I purchased the game 1 week ago. Sadly I have to say most issues I had back then I still have. I don't really feel like the game improved a lot. Of course they added a lot of content but it seems like content was always the biggest strength of the game and people left b/c of other things.

Po_gg

wow, already closing onto the 1year checkpoint... time indeed seems going faster as we're getting old

To the store, I guess they make more money on costumes, that's why the DLC's are at the end of the splash screen rotation. In AoC the store page opens usually on the expansions, with the inventory cache and the buff potions following.

WillyMMORPG

I really like TSW, it's innovative and a lot of fun. After EQ1 (4 years) and WoW (6.5 years) and a few shorter dalliances (Star Wars Galaxies for a year at the tail end of EQ1, Star Trek Online 3 years concurrently with WoW, short look-sees with Star Wars: The Old Republic and Tera), Secret World is unlike any of the games I've played (a good thing).

 

Granted, there are warts and pimples along the way, but I'm having fun playing the game, something I couldn't say for the latter stages of most/all of the games I mentioned playing. If Funcom can get the home-office-transition problems solved and get back to regular issue releases, I'll hang around and see where the game takes me.

 

Yalexy

Things TSW has done right...

- skill-system
- 5-player dungeons
- puzzles

Things that pissed me off...

- gear-grind was abmyssal and it took like forever (never cheated a single boss and never duped tokens either) to get a full set of 10.4/10.4 and atleast blue runes.
- too little content as with all new games released
- too many sploits not being adressed instantly (farming bosses for tokens in the dungeons was around for two month!!!!)
- PvP was maybe some of the worst ever encountered in a MMO

Yes, I've got a lifetime-account, which I pre-ordered way ahead of release, as the game looked quiet solid. After some 4 month and grinding tokens every day in the same old dungeons to get a full set of 10.4/10.4 I lost interest however, left and never looked back.
If there would've been open world PvP added sometime after release, I might kept have playing, but Failcom simply didn't listen to their players and went F2P instead.

Having three factions basically was screaming for open world PvP and conquering areas, but apparently Failcom lacked imagination and the guts to do implement it.

flizzer

I bought this when it went b2p and played for about a week. I loved the story and atmosphere.  I felt like I was in a Stephen King Novel.  Unlike many other MMOs where you click through the quest , here I found myself listening to all the dialogue and reading everything. Unfortunately, the game fell flat with the combat and crafting for me.  It is so strong in the story and atmosphere I almost feel compelled to give it another go.  With new games coming out , just not sure. 

orbitxo

Ill say it again:

 

My one regret was-

I didn't start playing at the amazing games launch!=has been my fav mmo to date! ...and now that ive seen my huge request of a steam punk eyepatch up for vote!

 

 

Grats to the Past and present TSW funcom team for creating such an enjoyable game that stands on its own!

see you in issue #7!!!!!

 

xoxo

 

asmkm22

If the combat was more exciting, and didn't take so long to kill stuff, this would be one of the best MMO's out.

Asleep

This game was a blast, gear grind wasn't bad at all, to me it wasn't the gear grind it was that it launched with no reason to gear grind, and then they said they were putting out a 10 man a few months down the road, and I was out. And it was super quick, like I was HM ready in a couple weeks easy, but thats all there was.

And btw, the dungeons were some of the best I have ever played, so gud.

game is definitely worth a play through.

orbitxo

on a side note- where else can u say u went in an instance filled with mutated creatures along side a  player wearing a bath robe and pink bunny slippers?...

<.<

 

yah ats right TSW!

 

uuu001

Magnificent game! The game make me feel that I just wasted my money on Rift year subscription. 

Seza

Great game that is a breeze of fresh air in an otherwise quite stagnant genre. Granted it has had some birth defects, but most of them have been fixed. TSW has expanded and improved a lot lately, and will just continue to do so. 

If you are somehow intrigued by the game, I would recommend you buy the game and try it out for yourself as it is a game capable of pleasing both a singleplayer and a multiplayer gamer alike. + It's great bang for the buck!

Mimzel

The price of these DLC missions are pretty reasonable as well. Depending on what type of account you have the Issues cost in the neighborhood of $10 USD. While that may seem steep to some to put that in perspective a lot of games are starting to charge players anywhere from $20 USD for a mount to $40 as seen recently in Neverwinter. Comparatively these missions come at a bargain.

 

 

I really react negatively to this. You are basically saying that since highway robbery is so expensive, 10 bucks for missions is a relatively good deal! This isn't journalism. Its brainwashing!

Rayshe

Originally posted by Mimzel

The price of these DLC missions are pretty reasonable as well. Depending on what type of account you have the Issues cost in the neighborhood of $10 USD. While that may seem steep to some to put that in perspective a lot of games are starting to charge players anywhere from $20 USD for a mount to $40 as seen recently in Neverwinter. Comparatively these missions come at a bargain.

 

 

I really react negatively to this. You are basically saying that since highway robbery is so expensive, 10 bucks for missions is a relatively good deal! This isn't journalism. Its brainwashing!

They have to make money somehow. The DLC is priced low so that they can still make money without hitting you with outragous costs. 10 bucks for DLC is nothing, i would still be subbed if i could afford it. This game needs all the support it can get since it has much more Potential than the majority of the market.

Xthos

Originally posted by Mimzel

The price of these DLC missions are pretty reasonable as well. Depending on what type of account you have the Issues cost in the neighborhood of $10 USD. While that may seem steep to some to put that in perspective a lot of games are starting to charge players anywhere from $20 USD for a mount to $40 as seen recently in Neverwinter. Comparatively these missions come at a bargain.

 

 

I really react negatively to this. You are basically saying that since highway robbery is so expensive, 10 bucks for missions is a relatively good deal! This isn't journalism. Its brainwashing!

OH the horror!  Everything isn't free?  You can't leech everything off of the 10% that have to pay for the 90%?  People wonder why so many dislike f2p.

brandileigh

First off, the article is wrong/misleading.  The snowmobile is part of a quest and not a mount.

My opinion of the game after a year still remains the same -

This game is totally a breath of fresh air.  I love the investigation missions and the whole horror aspect of it.  If you like  ghosts, cthulu, spies, zombies, thinking about your quests, really strange ability wheels, clothing customization,  and conspiracy theories, this game is ( still ) for you.

My only real compliant is all the side eye I've had to give the cash shop outfits for female characters, as they tend to lean into a mildly offensive, feelin' sexist sort of direction. 

Outside of that, I can't think of a reason I wouldn't recommend this game to someone to try out.

Jaedor

TSW is an awesome game. So different from everything else out there, it really is a breath of fresh air. Very much worth a look and a play through to anyone considering it.

hehenep

Originally posted by Yalexy

If there would've been open world PvP added sometime after release, I might kept have playing, but Failcom simply didn't listen to their players and went F2P instead.

I don't recall the majority of players asking for open world PvP so I don't really know that you can say that they didn't listen to their players about not having it in the game.  To be fair there were some players asking for it, but not nearly so many that I'd consider them anything resembling a majority.

Although they have talked about adding an in-game open PvP system sort of like the rift events in RIFT.  It's not open world PvP but it's trying to put more of a focus on the faction conflict at least and it is in development so hopefully it'll pan out.

Mimzel

Excuse me, I am not after freebies. But if you didnt notice, he is comparing 10 bucks for a few missions to 40 bucks for a simple mount. 40 bucks isn't far off the cost of most games. Instead of saying how this is a money grab, he writes positively about it.

10 bucks isnt all much, but you shouldn't be all that positive to less value for your money!

sunshadow21

Originally posted by Mimzel

Excuse me, I am not after freebies. But if you didnt notice, he is comparing 10 bucks for a few missions to 40 bucks for a simple mount. 40 bucks isn't far off the cost of most games. Instead of saying how this is a money grab, he writes positively about it.

10 bucks isnt all much, but you shouldn't be all that positive to less value for your money!

I haven't seen what all comes with that $10, but it seems like a fair price to me.

Overall, when I tried it, I enjoyed the game, and if I were to pick up any recent MMO again, this would be one of a very few I would consider. It's not perfect, but it's still a good, solid fun experience.

Grakulen

It honestly was more of a backhanded slight against PWE for their overly aggresive price structure on items in their cash shop.

That being said I believe $10 is a fair price for a game that doesn't have a sub when they provide you a content update. Missions, new weapons = worth it.

Dahkoht

I enjoyed it decent amount at launch , but chat , I mean come on Funcom it's an mmorpg , chat being randomly broken for months after release just was a bit much to deal with.

Not being able to talk in group chat or to lose guild chat constantly and so on , just made it again something I don't have patience for any more , fighting the game instead of fighting in the game.

 

 

Tabloid42

And they make good cosPlays!  

 

 

seriously though,., I like the game.  as my friend did too, until we ran into too many non-duoable missions,..

I still have it though and return from time to time.