I can't tell you why TSW is less popular, only why I got bored with it quite fast (to my surprise) :
I got bored with TSW in the second part of Egypt. I hate that map and the combat finally got to me. I love the skillsystem, but the combat execution is quite boring. And the further you go, the longer each fight seems to take (or it just felt like it because I got bored.).
Positive :
- No classes, so you have a lot of choice in builds
- Challenging missions (investigate, sabotage etc), also fun missions
- Dress how you like, which makes sense in a modern setting.
- Some maps together with their lore/missions are awesome.
- No levels.
Negative :
- Combat looks boring and lacks impact. Repetition sets in quite fast too imo.
- Crafting system is bland and like so many other MMO's mostly useless before endgame.
- At some point you are just spending AP without really knowing why. My build seemed efficient and other weapon's skills look quite similar, so I didn't really have incentive to unlock other builds. I did not play PVP, so maybe it makes more sense there.
- Open world group play. I always play MMO's with a couple of friends and the mission system is very awkward for group play. It is always a surprise if some mission part will update for everyone or just yourself. Not being able to cancel missions adds to this problem. This was really annoying.
Combat is arguably the most important thing and what you spend most of your time doing in an mmo. They made a combat system that is one of the worst ive ever played. The animations are garbage its just horrible and sad really.
Worst part is i loved the rest of the game (mostly) but I cant look past combat that plays and looks so bad when that is what im doing most of the time.
Should be a lesson to future AAA mmos make your combat the most fun part of the game make it great then worry about the rest of the game.
Loved the game and completed my entire skill wheel when I played. Unfortunately I felt like I just ran out of content and wasn't left with much to do. I wasn't about to grind 10,000 zombies for an achievement. The lack of things to do outside of questing or lore collecting brought an end to the game for me. The ugly character models also didn't help.
I was one of the suckers who bought a lifetime. I return to the game for new editions or holiday events.
People are used to combat animations and particle effects of the various fantasy based games where you jump and flip and do such things in combat in a more anime style, whereas Secret World has more like FPS style of combat without all the flashy effects, flips and such.
I really don't why people expected it to have those kind of animations in a modern Setting game where they only fantastic elements are that the myths and legends are truish and the only magic we wield is channeled through modern weapons. Only the pure magic skills get flashy and not that much so.
I wonder if I should ask this question in a new thread?
The questions directed at people who dislike the combat in TSW. Do you like the combat in games like Elder Scrolls Online and FFXIV A Realm Reborn? If you do like the combat in those games can you please explain to me why and the differences from the combat in TSW?
Because to me the combat in the TSW is similar but better than the combat in both of the games.
I wonder if I should ask this question in a new thread?
The questions directed at people who dislike the combat in TSW. Do you like the combat in games like Elder Scrolls Online and FFXIV A Realm Reborn? If you do like the combat in those games can you please explain to me why and the differences from the combat in TSW?
Because to me the combat in the TSW is similar but better than the combat in both of the games.
I like the combat in both of those games, although for different reasons. Why don't I like it in TSW? A lot of the animations have no weight to them, and combat just feels floaty. In ESO when I swing my sword and connect with a mob, I "feel" the hit, not so much in TSW. Also TSW while it has mutliple classes so to speak, they all play like a WoW rogue. Build up combo points with a builder move, and use them with a finisher move. I mean there is obviously a little more to it than that, but that's the gist of it.
What's hard about Google? Considering the entire game is built around Google. Surprised they don't have "GOOGLE" splattered on the tanks of all the new bikes and an entire wardrobe ensemble.
See OP, too hard. Easier to run to Google than making attempt(s) and die figuring out the puzzles(s).
My initial post stands.
We'll just overlook the fact the game itself tells you to use Google, right? lol
Talking to that guy seems pointless. He just wants to insult everyone and is obviously craving an argument.
The game did in fact make you to use google to finish quests. The game world extending outside of the game was one of the main things that made it unique.
As per the OP's question about what was poor about the combat, it felt very barebones. I like systems where you have to select a few abilities from a large pool to have equipped, that was not the issue for me. The combat felt very simple, slow, and weak. Where as some games can go overboard with how complicated abilities get, TSW felt like it did the opposite. Give me more abilities that move me and the enemy around. Make me run at faster than a crawl. Make it so both the enemy and myself do more damage. Every single fight felt like a battle of attrition. The biggest danger was that I would get bored during the fight and wander into a respawned enemy while not paying attention. The combat did not even look nice. There were no abilities to be used that were at all impressive visually. They all had stiff, crappy animations, and terrible visual effects. My character looked like he was halfheartedly posing for an amateur photo shoot, not battling demons for his life. The combat just had nothing good to say about it - unless you count boss designs which I thought were great.
Really though, the combat system is something they could easily fix. Make it faster, up damage/healing, redo the visuals, add effects to complicate/mix up the spells. Make it feel dangerous because of how intense it is, not dangerous because you may fall asleep on the keyboard and stand in the clearly marked AoE.
All that said, I still recommend the game to people. The combat may be poor but it is functional, and the real star are the quests. To get the most out of TSW you have to be at a point where you are looking to experience a game, not play it.
I agree with the statements that say that it is not popular because it is difficult. People these days are used to instant gratification via facebook, whatsapp and youtube. Views, likes and responses show immediate results and the brain gets used to that. SO now we have 2/3 of an entire consumer industry that demands the exact thing the other 1/3 despises. Profit dictates which group developers will pander to.
Give me more abilities that move me and the enemy around. Make me run at faster than a crawl. Make it so both the enemy and myself do more damage.
Just an fyi, those are all in the game except the run if you ment in-combat, that's fixed. But out-of-combat run just got Sprint VI with the vehicles / mounts, that's pretty fast.
Doing more damage on both sides, for example Reckless in the Fist circle. Moving around fast, also Fist is the best candidate, plenty of dashes. Move the enemy around too, then pair the Fist with Chaos, because Fist is more like for lockdown, but Chaos can also push and pull (even AoE pull, for those pesky ranged mobs or ranged players). If that's your desired gameplay, why don't build a deck around it? The building blocks are all there...
Give me more abilities that move me and the enemy around. Make me run at faster than a crawl. Make it so both the enemy and myself do more damage.
Just an fyi, those are all in the game except the run if you ment in-combat, that's fixed. But out-of-combat run just got Sprint VI with the vehicles / mounts, that's pretty fast.
Doing more damage on both sides, for example Reckless in the Fist circle. Moving around fast, also Fist is the best candidate, plenty of dashes. Move the enemy around too, then pair the Fist with Chaos, because Fist is more like for lockdown, but Chaos can also push and pull (even AoE pull, for those pesky ranged mobs or ranged players). If that's your desired gameplay, why don't build a deck around it? The building blocks are all there...
I was using fist weapons actually but I felt very weak with them, and I would still like the combat to be more mobile. I appreciate your pointing me in the right direction. I was talking about in combat speed, and I did not know that was fixed.
Thanks for the tips. You do not need to convince me to play again, as I already intend to at some point. Right now I am poking around SWTOR while playing ESO, but TSW and Aion are next to revisit.
Originally posted by bonzoso21 I liked The Secret World, too. I only played for a few months about 3 years back, but the Lovecraftian world and awesome Investigation quests really do set it apart from the rest of the stuff on the market. Unfortunately, there is so much great entertainment nowadays competing for our free time, and the MMO genre is flooded with a ton of other games to choose from that have smoother and more satisfying gameplay. The setting and quest design may be really cool, but my first impression of the game was that it felt and looked clunky, and that never really went away.
I would agree i had the same issue its sad really because its such a good game but the devs lost passion I think.
The game didn't appeal to me. The world didn't seem open-world, the animations looked bad, the combat didn't look good, the character models looked bland, etc. I hear the story is great though, with challenging puzzles. Even if it went F2P though, i wouldn't try it. The story just didn't interest me enough.
Because people are two lazy and stupid to figure out the riddles and quests. They "say" they dont want kill X number of rats etc but when given a well thought out quest ppl find it "to hard". Love the Secret World but then I have an IQ over 80 and know how to chat with ppl in game.
ITT: People saying they stopped playing because of the combat, and people still playing saying the quitters are just stupid. Stay classy, guys. TSW community is better than that.
For me it was the animations, the skill system, the combat, the pvp, the crafting, the outfitting system (i prefer armor over social wear), the not speaking character in cutscenes, agartha
most impact combat, animations, pvp
i liked the quests, probably the best quests by far in the genre. The story. The sceneries.
1. it had one of the worst launch windows ever. Less than a month or so before GW2's launch, right in the middle of summer when many people are outside instead of gaming.
2. the combat animations were god awful, they still are not great to this day.
3. To put it simply it was hard, and for some gamers it was too mentally challenging for them. Yes this is sad..
4. It was heavily instanced, with a lot of zone walls, instead of being open world. This bothered some...
For me, the boring combat drove me away. I agree the quests, atmosphere and story telling are first rate, but it got to the point where I dreaded doing the combat during the questlines. Not because the combat was hard for me (it wasn't), but because it was so dull. If the combat had more an action feel like DCUO or Terra - or even GW2! - I'd be back in a heartbeat.
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
I was using fist weapons actually but I felt very weak with them, and I would still like the combat to be more mobile. I appreciate your pointing me in the right direction. I was talking about in combat speed, and I did not know that was fixed.
I think most games have that (probably because of pvp?), by default you have a fixed in-combat speed, and you can alter that for short periods for getting the advantage, either by slowing / stopping the opponent, or boosting yourself (Speed freak in the greens, nice for those "oh, sh*t, fleee!" moments).
Fist can be pretty deadly, but in the beginning it's better as a second weapon or for heals. For being mobile it's one of the best weapons, you can be like a jackrabbit on steroids jumping left and right almost all the time (I think one of the shorter-length dashes has a mere 2sec cooldown, with damage and it's also a builder on the side)
Originally posted by Pyuk For me, the boring combat drove me away. I agree the quests, atmosphere and story telling are first rate, but it got to the point where I dreaded doing the combat during the questlines. Not because the combat was hard for me (it wasn't), but because it was so dull. If the combat had more an action feel like DCUO or Terra - or even GW2! - I'd be back in a heartbeat.
Yeah, I'd have to say, combine Tera's models and combat with TSW's world / story / quests and you've got a home run in my opinion! Too bad devs generally have to cut corners somewhere to get a game out.
Very few MMOs grow after their launch (other than when going F2P, most do grow at that point but only few retain that growth, and TSW went B2P, not F2P), and unfortunately TSW had a dismal launch when it comes to amount of sales (when it comes to the technical side, it was one of the best and smoothest launches I've seen on an MMO). The way I see it, there were several reasons for it.
- Not enough advertising. I don't remember seeing many ads for TSW when it came out, might be my mind playing tricks, though.
- Lousy timeframe for the launch. TSW came out about a month or so before GW2. Think what you want of that game now (I still enjoy it), at the time of release it was a media, hype and commercial juggernaught, fewer people wanted to devote their time (and their wallet) to a subscription game that was being released so short before a non sub one with such a huge following at the time.
- Funcom's rep. The two MMOs funcom released before (Anarchy Online and Age of Conan) had catastrophic launches, to put it kindly. Lots of people I talked to about TSW told me that the game looked interesting, but since it was made by funcom they either won't get it at all, or wait few months after release (several of them were with me at the Age of Conan release).
Of course, the game does have its share of problems, which has made several people move on (combat system issues, heavy solo instancing), but I still believe it's a great game and those are, IMHO, the main reasons it didn't get as big of an opening as it deserved.
What's hard about Google? Considering the entire game is built around Google. Surprised they don't have "GOOGLE" splattered on the tanks of all the new bikes and an entire wardrobe ensemble.
See OP, too hard. Easier to run to Google than making attempt(s) and die figuring out the puzzles(s).
My initial post stands.
I am guessing you were one of the ones who paid a lifetime sub.
You would be guessing wrong kid.
It is quite pathetic when you have to resort to calling someone "kid".
What's hard about Google? Considering the entire game is built around Google. Surprised they don't have "GOOGLE" splattered on the tanks of all the new bikes and an entire wardrobe ensemble.
See OP, too hard. Easier to run to Google than making attempt(s) and die figuring out the puzzles(s).
My initial post stands.
We'll just overlook the fact the game itself tells you to use Google, right? lol
Although the questing was interesting, being a completionist it drove me nuts not being able to complete some of them without having to reference google. Most of my friends did not have my patience and quit long before I did due to the overly challenging quests . Being encouraged to use google is not a good business model. There is no sense of accomplishment if a player has to be constantly referring to google to solve their quests, not to mention it breaks immersion. They probably went a bit too far with the quest difficulty level. Most people playing MMOs want to spend their time fighting or being active, not problem solving or researching quests on google.
Another area that would have helped would have been to introduced a few regions that were a bit more bright and lively in an effort to break up the gloom of the world and give the player more variety in scenery. Lastly, they should have replaced the person in charge of character customization at the first sight of their concept art. To say they were dreadful would be a huge understatement. Developers will eventually learn that character customization is an integral part of any MMO. Developing and outfitting your character is why the majority of PvEers play MMOs. No one likes ugly characters. A little more work on those three areas would have produced a much better game. Other than those three areas, the game is great
Comments
I can't tell you why TSW is less popular, only why I got bored with it quite fast (to my surprise) :
I got bored with TSW in the second part of Egypt. I hate that map and the combat finally got to me. I love the skillsystem, but the combat execution is quite boring. And the further you go, the longer each fight seems to take (or it just felt like it because I got bored.).
Positive :
- No classes, so you have a lot of choice in builds
- Challenging missions (investigate, sabotage etc), also fun missions
- Dress how you like, which makes sense in a modern setting.
- Some maps together with their lore/missions are awesome.
- No levels.
Negative :
- Combat looks boring and lacks impact. Repetition sets in quite fast too imo.
- Crafting system is bland and like so many other MMO's mostly useless before endgame.
- At some point you are just spending AP without really knowing why. My build seemed efficient and other weapon's skills look quite similar, so I didn't really have incentive to unlock other builds. I did not play PVP, so maybe it makes more sense there.
- Open world group play. I always play MMO's with a couple of friends and the mission system is very awkward for group play. It is always a surprise if some mission part will update for everyone or just yourself. Not being able to cancel missions adds to this problem. This was really annoying.
Its simple really.
Combat is arguably the most important thing and what you spend most of your time doing in an mmo. They made a combat system that is one of the worst ive ever played. The animations are garbage its just horrible and sad really.
Worst part is i loved the rest of the game (mostly) but I cant look past combat that plays and looks so bad when that is what im doing most of the time.
Should be a lesson to future AAA mmos make your combat the most fun part of the game make it great then worry about the rest of the game.
Loved the game and completed my entire skill wheel when I played. Unfortunately I felt like I just ran out of content and wasn't left with much to do. I wasn't about to grind 10,000 zombies for an achievement. The lack of things to do outside of questing or lore collecting brought an end to the game for me. The ugly character models also didn't help.
I was one of the suckers who bought a lifetime. I return to the game for new editions or holiday events.
People are used to combat animations and particle effects of the various fantasy based games where you jump and flip and do such things in combat in a more anime style, whereas Secret World has more like FPS style of combat without all the flashy effects, flips and such.
I really don't why people expected it to have those kind of animations in a modern Setting game where they only fantastic elements are that the myths and legends are truish and the only magic we wield is channeled through modern weapons. Only the pure magic skills get flashy and not that much so.
I wonder if I should ask this question in a new thread?
The questions directed at people who dislike the combat in TSW. Do you like the combat in games like Elder Scrolls Online and FFXIV A Realm Reborn? If you do like the combat in those games can you please explain to me why and the differences from the combat in TSW?
Because to me the combat in the TSW is similar but better than the combat in both of the games.
I like the combat in both of those games, although for different reasons. Why don't I like it in TSW? A lot of the animations have no weight to them, and combat just feels floaty. In ESO when I swing my sword and connect with a mob, I "feel" the hit, not so much in TSW. Also TSW while it has mutliple classes so to speak, they all play like a WoW rogue. Build up combo points with a builder move, and use them with a finisher move. I mean there is obviously a little more to it than that, but that's the gist of it.
Talking to that guy seems pointless. He just wants to insult everyone and is obviously craving an argument.
The game did in fact make you to use google to finish quests. The game world extending outside of the game was one of the main things that made it unique.
As per the OP's question about what was poor about the combat, it felt very barebones. I like systems where you have to select a few abilities from a large pool to have equipped, that was not the issue for me. The combat felt very simple, slow, and weak. Where as some games can go overboard with how complicated abilities get, TSW felt like it did the opposite. Give me more abilities that move me and the enemy around. Make me run at faster than a crawl. Make it so both the enemy and myself do more damage. Every single fight felt like a battle of attrition. The biggest danger was that I would get bored during the fight and wander into a respawned enemy while not paying attention. The combat did not even look nice. There were no abilities to be used that were at all impressive visually. They all had stiff, crappy animations, and terrible visual effects. My character looked like he was halfheartedly posing for an amateur photo shoot, not battling demons for his life. The combat just had nothing good to say about it - unless you count boss designs which I thought were great.
Really though, the combat system is something they could easily fix. Make it faster, up damage/healing, redo the visuals, add effects to complicate/mix up the spells. Make it feel dangerous because of how intense it is, not dangerous because you may fall asleep on the keyboard and stand in the clearly marked AoE.
All that said, I still recommend the game to people. The combat may be poor but it is functional, and the real star are the quests. To get the most out of TSW you have to be at a point where you are looking to experience a game, not play it.
Just an fyi, those are all in the game
except the run if you ment in-combat, that's fixed. But out-of-combat run just got Sprint VI with the vehicles / mounts, that's pretty fast.
Doing more damage on both sides, for example Reckless in the Fist circle. Moving around fast, also Fist is the best candidate, plenty of dashes. Move the enemy around too, then pair the Fist with Chaos, because Fist is more like for lockdown, but Chaos can also push and pull (even AoE pull, for those pesky ranged mobs or ranged players). If that's your desired gameplay, why don't build a deck around it? The building blocks are all there...
I was using fist weapons actually but I felt very weak with them, and I would still like the combat to be more mobile. I appreciate your pointing me in the right direction. I was talking about in combat speed, and I did not know that was fixed.
Thanks for the tips. You do not need to convince me to play again, as I already intend to at some point. Right now I am poking around SWTOR while playing ESO, but TSW and Aion are next to revisit.
I would agree i had the same issue its sad really because its such a good game but the devs lost passion I think.
This.
With a better combat system and animations it could be one of the best mmorpg around.
It felt...kinda lame.
Maybe I needed to get past the stupid zombie things.
But, zombies just stood in one spot. Very rarely they had a linear WoW-like pathing system.
No MMO is like Ryzom (which IS an MMO) or Skyrim or Witcher 3 with a living breathing world.
Maybe older MMOs, like UO was a living breathing world and so was SWG...but not modern MMOs except Ryzom.
I thought TSW had fail lame stupid WoW AI that is typical in MMOs.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
The game didn't appeal to me. The world didn't seem open-world, the animations looked bad, the combat didn't look good, the character models looked bland, etc. I hear the story is great though, with challenging puzzles. Even if it went F2P though, i wouldn't try it. The story just didn't interest me enough.
For me it was the animations, the skill system, the combat, the pvp, the crafting, the outfitting system (i prefer armor over social wear), the not speaking character in cutscenes, agartha
most impact combat, animations, pvp
i liked the quests, probably the best quests by far in the genre. The story. The sceneries.
1. it had one of the worst launch windows ever. Less than a month or so before GW2's launch, right in the middle of summer when many people are outside instead of gaming.
2. the combat animations were god awful, they still are not great to this day.
3. To put it simply it was hard, and for some gamers it was too mentally challenging for them. Yes this is sad..
4. It was heavily instanced, with a lot of zone walls, instead of being open world. This bothered some...
I make spreadsheets at work - I don't want to make them for the games I play.
I think most games have that (probably because of pvp?), by default you have a fixed in-combat speed, and you can alter that for short periods for getting the advantage, either by slowing / stopping the opponent, or boosting yourself (Speed freak in the greens, nice for those "oh, sh*t, fleee!" moments).
Fist can be pretty deadly, but in the beginning it's better as a second weapon or for heals. For being mobile it's one of the best weapons, you can be like a jackrabbit on steroids
jumping left and right almost all the time (I think one of the shorter-length dashes has a mere 2sec cooldown, with damage and it's also a builder on the side)
Yeah, I'd have to say, combine Tera's models and combat with TSW's world / story / quests and you've got a home run in my opinion! Too bad devs generally have to cut corners somewhere to get a game out.
Very few MMOs grow after their launch (other than when going F2P, most do grow at that point but only few retain that growth, and TSW went B2P, not F2P), and unfortunately TSW had a dismal launch when it comes to amount of sales (when it comes to the technical side, it was one of the best and smoothest launches I've seen on an MMO). The way I see it, there were several reasons for it.
- Not enough advertising. I don't remember seeing many ads for TSW when it came out, might be my mind playing tricks, though.
- Lousy timeframe for the launch. TSW came out about a month or so before GW2. Think what you want of that game now (I still enjoy it), at the time of release it was a media, hype and commercial juggernaught, fewer people wanted to devote their time (and their wallet) to a subscription game that was being released so short before a non sub one with such a huge following at the time.
- Funcom's rep. The two MMOs funcom released before (Anarchy Online and Age of Conan) had catastrophic launches, to put it kindly. Lots of people I talked to about TSW told me that the game looked interesting, but since it was made by funcom they either won't get it at all, or wait few months after release (several of them were with me at the Age of Conan release).
Of course, the game does have its share of problems, which has made several people move on (combat system issues, heavy solo instancing), but I still believe it's a great game and those are, IMHO, the main reasons it didn't get as big of an opening as it deserved.
What can men do against such reckless hate?
It is quite pathetic when you have to resort to calling someone "kid".
Although the questing was interesting, being a completionist it drove me nuts not being able to complete some of them without having to reference google. Most of my friends did not have my patience and quit long before I did due to the overly challenging quests . Being encouraged to use google is not a good business model. There is no sense of accomplishment if a player has to be constantly referring to google to solve their quests, not to mention it breaks immersion. They probably went a bit too far with the quest difficulty level. Most people playing MMOs want to spend their time fighting or being active, not problem solving or researching quests on google.
Another area that would have helped would have been to introduced a few regions that were a bit more bright and lively in an effort to break up the gloom of the world and give the player more variety in scenery. Lastly, they should have replaced the person in charge of character customization at the first sight of their concept art. To say they were dreadful would be a huge understatement. Developers will eventually learn that character customization is an integral part of any MMO. Developing and outfitting your character is why the majority of PvEers play MMOs. No one likes ugly characters. A little more work on those three areas would have produced a much better game. Other than those three areas, the game is great