the graffix are ps2 quality the gameplay was to me clunky at best when i first played i found that the npc's face movements are akin to a blowup doll trying to talk. poor graffix poor gameplay are your culprits to me eyecandy+engaging gameplay is king.
I do enjoy these masturbatory comments to the effect of; the game is too difficult and only the poster and a select few others have the requisite intelligence to play. It is somewhat amusing watching these inflated and misplaced egos hammering out self eggrandizing claptrap with all the subtlety of a shire horse using a smart phone.
I never found The Secret World to be a game that needed any kind of intelligence. Patience would be the word I would have picked.
If you're a new player and wanted easy mode you would pick up a Sword (a few low AP passives + another weapon along the way) and create a macro with your Logitech or Razer MMO mouse like this 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 and you could do the majority of solo content if you knew how to navigate with the WASD keys to move out of white line circles and rectangles.
Sure the investigative missions needed a bit of patience and maybe even looking up a few things (unless you had the mind of Kim Peeks or Daniel Tammet).
I think the people that complained about difficulty simply lacked patience and wanted things to be handed to them.
I played until second area in Egypt and then became too bored to continue for several reasons :
- Combat looks and feels very repetitive. I barely saw a reason to even dodge big attacks. (I get a bit fed up about this with the so called action based combat in MMO's, it always turns out to be a lame hybrid, where the action part is more flavour then necessary). - Skill wheel looked promising at first, but when I found a build that worked nice, I only unlocked more builds for the outfits I noticed. I never had a reason to change my build. Unlocking for the point of unlocking has never been my thing. - Egypt was a let down after the starting areas. Especially the second area wore me down with its generic design that made it feel like a 13 in a dozen quest hub MMO. The starting zone had awesome areas on the other hand with stories and atmosphere. - World feels disconnected because of the portals and bits of big city main hubs. It lacks personal connection to the world. - Crafting is useless until the very end where it can be useful.
Anyway, I was hoping to find a new Anarchy Online. I loved the atmosphere in that game and how you could create crazy builds. But TSW mechanics and world feel too arbitrary and like patchwork to me. There are good things too, especially with how playable it is without sub. But even that was not enough to keep playing.
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.
Some puzzles are great. But the ones that require you to look up obscure latin phrases are kind of missing the point imo. Everyone knows that guides pop up not long after a MMO release. Why bother then to look up the translation yourself, instead of using the same ingame browser to look up the guides? Because those are also what you usually find with the ingame browser lol.
That's pretty much it. That coupled with the lack of a trial. In a world where most MMO's can be played for free, a game that you can't even check out for free is a large enough barrier for most people. Even WoW lets you play for free up to level 20.
That coupled with the lack of a trial. In a world where most MMO's can be played for free, a game that you can't even check out for free is a large enough barrier for most people.
What do you mean, lack of a trial? Maybe you didn't notice one of the longest threads of the site? (this one http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/356621/please-post-all-tsw-buddy-key-requests-here/p86 ) In a sense it's even more than a trial, since it gives you an xp-boost ring (if you play Polaris) and $10 worths of bonus points (if you finish 30 missions) with which you can get one DLC for free, so when you later buy the game you'll already have a headstart.
[..] Why bother then to look up the translation yourself,
instead of using the same ingame browser to look up the guides? Because
those are also what you usually find with the ingame browser lol.
Different mindsets. I think that's what Gamer71 tried to point out... and that's why many of us foretelled that it will be a niche title. Sure, there are folks who just search for a walkthrough, who don't read / listen missions, who just grab some "best of the week" deck, etc. Heck, I'm sure they're the majority among the overall playerbase out there. TSW is not really targets them.
You know, there are still peeps from the long-gone adventure genre, who love to solve puzzles and riddles, who love to seek and explore lore pieces and not just using a coordinate checklist, and then (hold onto something) then read them Who love to theory-craft and experiment with the Wheel, both efficiency-wise (those will be the decks the majority snoops from different sites) and for pure fun (less powerful, but more fun decks, gameplay-wise). Ragnar is one of the best authors of this genre, TSW is aimed for those folks. If you don't care the details, the lore, the puzzles and to build your character (in short, when all's left is the combat with some cookie-cutter deck from a site), it's easy to understand why it seems just an another mmo with some odd quest design
Btw. there's an optional toggle for the ingame browser, and then it filters out the guides, walkthroughs, etc. It was a must, since those lame-a.s search engines (page rank, lol) sniffed up the searches pretty soon, during beta it wasn't a big deal, but after launch... oh boy. Imagine a poor art student who searched those days for Frans Hals, and on the first page every hit was about TSW :awesome:
So, in short: why bother, because for some that's the fun part. And no, if you use the toggle you won't find guides, exactly how your character wouldn't find anything either about TSW.
What do you mean, lack of a trial? Maybe you didn't notice one of the longest threads of the site?
That's not a trial. Well, it is in a way, but it's a "let's see how much work you're willing to do to discover this and get a key" kind of trial. Even then it's just 72 hours.
That might work for dedicated hardcore gamers, and perhaps that's what Funcom is looking for, but it's certainly a message that the company doesn't want a lot of players.
What do you mean, lack of a trial? Maybe you didn't notice one of the longest threads of the site?
That's not a trial. Well, it is in a way, but it's a "let's see how much work you're willing to do to discover this and get a key" kind of trial. Even then it's just 72 hours.
That might work for dedicated hardcore gamers, and perhaps that's what Funcom is looking for, but it's certainly a message that the company doesn't want a lot of players.
"just 72 hours" 2-3 days trial weekends used to be standard back in the days... No need to be hardcore to find a buddy key I think FC just use the "invite your friends" mechanic which also was the standard before the f2p era, when you got 1-3 invite keys in the box for handing out to friends.
It's a b2p game, often with a very low price (in the 8-10 $ region), and without any restrictions besides some parts of the DLCs (mainly the story part in them). Sure, it doesn't have a free for all, "drop a mail address on page and starts playing" kinda trial, but I guess it's because of the whole "invite" mindset - plus the benefits tied to the buddy key (the $10 worth bonus points and the leveling ring for the newcomer's side, and the vet reward for the inviter. Not to mention the grace periods where the inviter gets a monthly sub if his/her invited buddy buys the game after the trial - not a coincidence during these periods the buddy key threads are filled with keys, everyone's pouring out their 10 keys on the web for free taking... which kinda defies the whole point of inviting friends )
What do you mean, lack of a trial? Maybe you didn't notice one of the longest threads of the site?
That's not a trial. Well, it is in a way, but it's a "let's see how much work you're willing to do to discover this and get a key" kind of trial. Even then it's just 72 hours.
That might work for dedicated hardcore gamers, and perhaps that's what Funcom is looking for, but it's certainly a message that the company doesn't want a lot of players.
"just 72 hours" 2-3 days trial weekends used to be standard back in the days... No need to be hardcore to find a buddy key I think FC just use the "invite your friends" mechanic which also was the standard before the f2p era, when you got 1-3 invite keys in the box for handing out to friends.
It's a b2p game, often with a very low price (in the 8-10 $ region), and without any restrictions besides some parts of the DLCs (mainly the story part in them). Sure, it doesn't have a free for all, "drop a mail address on page and starts playing" kinda trial, but I guess it's because of the whole "invite" mindset - plus the benefits tied to the buddy key (the $10 worth bonus points and the leveling ring for the newcomer's side, and the vet reward for the inviter. Not to mention the grace periods where the inviter gets a monthly sub if his/her invited buddy buys the game after the trial - not a coincidence during these periods the buddy key threads are filled with keys, everyone's pouring out their 10 keys on the web for free taking... which kinda defies the whole point of inviting friends )
Agree there. I'd even go so far as to bet Funcom would rather have a smaller number of paying customers than a zillion players who never pay a dime.
"just 72 hours" 2-3 days trial weekends used to be standard back in the days...
Apart from the fact that they weren't (1 or 2 weeks were more standard IIRC), these are not "the old days". These days a game has to compete with lots of games with no entry barrier. So pretending as if it's the old days is rather counterproductive.
As for the need to be "hardcore", I guess I may be using the term in a different way than you think about it. What I mean is that first of all by going to the site you get asked to pay $30 and you're not offered a trial. To know that you can buy the game for less and that you can get a buddy key you need to already be someone who follows MMO games quite well or you need to put some work into searching for it. The second aspect is that people who don't spend several hours gaming a day will likely feel that a 72 hours won't be representative, and that might put them off.
Agree there. I'd even go so far as to bet Funcom would rather have a smaller number of paying customers than a zillion players who never pay a dime.
Thanks for agreeing with me. Funcom has set up barriers, which makes the number of players smaller. That's the simple answer to the question of why there aren't many players. Remove the barriers and there will be more players.
"just 72 hours" 2-3 days trial weekends used to be standard back in the days...
Apart from the fact that they weren't (1 or 2 weeks were more standard IIRC), these are not "the old days". These days a game has to compete with lots of games with no entry barrier. So pretending as if it's the old days is rather counterproductive.
As for the need to be "hardcore", I guess I may be using the term in a different way than you think about it. What I mean is that first of all by going to the site you get asked to pay $30 and you're not offered a trial. To know that you can buy the game for less and that you can get a buddy key you need to already be someone who follows MMO games quite well or you need to put some work into searching for it. The second aspect is that people who don't spend several hours gaming a day will likely feel that a 72 hours won't be representative, and that might put them off.
Agree there. I'd even go so far as to bet Funcom would rather have a smaller number of paying customers than a zillion players who never pay a dime.
Thanks for agreeing with me. Funcom has set up barriers, which makes the number of players smaller. That's the simple answer to the question of why there aren't many players. Remove the barriers and there will be more players.
No no need to let in the masses to turn the game toxic.
Any graphical, audio, or gameplay restrictions not seen in other mmos but found in FFXIV can be blamed on one thing. PS3
I played until second area in Egypt and then became too bored to continue for several reasons :
- Skill wheel looked promising at first, but when I found a build that worked nice, I only unlocked more builds for the outfits I noticed. I never had a reason to change my build. Unlocking for the point of unlocking has never been my thing.
I think it was Egypt where I first became aware that a nice build does not work in all situations. Transylvania reinforced the point: a lot of the mobs there have a nasty blow-back when you hit them with the states that you might have become accustomed to using to soften them up.
Lots of movies shoot for PG and PG13 rated movies because on average they make more money. Why? A larger audience of people can go see it. Make an M rated horror game and you are pulling from a smaller circle of players. I am sure there is other reasons but I feel this is part of it.
I like-ish the game but can't connect with love for my char because every character looks either native American or Asian... it's annoying.
The storyline is fantastic, the quests are well written and voice acted but for me it's always about the avatar I create and if I cant connect with it then there's little chance I'll stick around.
I recently returned to this game after playing at launch and purchased the Ultimate Pack.
When I played at launch I primarily did PVP. If you remember you could level very quickly when PVPing at launch. I stopped playing after launch because I finished the main story.
So now returning I have leveled the traditional way with questing.
The game really is one of the best MMORPG's I've ever played. The quests are A++ and the world is engaging. The graphics are excellent compared to other MMORPG's.
My biggest complaints with the game are the crafting (which is terrible) and the animations are sometimes stiff/awkward.
But neither of these issues imo ruin the game..
So why isn't this game more popular???
Because Funcom produced it, and there are a WHOLE LOT of people that will never touch another game with Funcom's stink on it ever again - obviously including me.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
I do enjoy these masturbatory comments to the effect of; the game is too difficult and only the poster and a select few others have the requisite intelligence to play. It is somewhat amusing watching these inflated and misplaced egos hammering out self eggrandizing claptrap with all the subtlety of a shire horse using a smart phone.
I played the game, briefly, shortly after launch. I played about halfway through the tutorial and returned the game. (The way I bought it, I only had 2 hours of playtime to return and get my money back.) The tutorial was boring, it did not make me think that the game would be very fun. If there was a free trial offered, I probably would have played through the tutorial and found out that I love this game.
Recently, I have been in an MMO slump. ESO was the only game that wasn't in development that I found interesting. There was so much wrong in ESO that I could never stick to it. (Waiting on Dark Brotherhood, Thieves' guild, player housing, better looking armor.) I decided I would give TSW another go. It turned out to be a great game! I have been playing constantly for the past couple of weeks. I love the quests and story-lines. I wish they were personalized between the 3 factions, but not a big deal. It does affect replay-ability.
I believe that if they had made the game more accessible, it would have been more successful. A minor aspect is that the combat mechanics are not that great. I say that is a minor point, because there are other games with way worse mechanics that are successful (SW:TOR, WoW). I actually like the limited skill bar and build your own class parts of the game.
I probably won't be in the game for long. I would rather jump into, and explore a brand new game. Instead of running around as one of 10 people in the reject newb zones trying to catch up in a 4 year old game. I am enjoying myself for now. If I had made it through the tutorial years ago, I would have stuck around much longer.
i keep trying to get into the game my pc broke when i bought it at launch . but every timei go back the world is so empty and i like playing with other people.
Comments
If you're a new player and wanted easy mode you would pick up a Sword (a few low AP passives + another weapon along the way) and create a macro with your Logitech or Razer MMO mouse like this 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 and you could do the majority of solo content if you knew how to navigate with the WASD keys to move out of white line circles and rectangles.
Sure the investigative missions needed a bit of patience and maybe even looking up a few things (unless you had the mind of Kim Peeks or Daniel Tammet).
I think the people that complained about difficulty simply lacked patience and wanted things to be handed to them.
- Combat looks and feels very repetitive. I barely saw a reason to even dodge big attacks. (I get a bit fed up about this with the so called action based combat in MMO's, it always turns out to be a lame hybrid, where the action part is more flavour then necessary).
- Skill wheel looked promising at first, but when I found a build that worked nice, I only unlocked more builds for the outfits I noticed. I never had a reason to change my build. Unlocking for the point of unlocking has never been my thing.
- Egypt was a let down after the starting areas. Especially the second area wore me down with its generic design that made it feel like a 13 in a dozen quest hub MMO. The starting zone had awesome areas on the other hand with stories and atmosphere.
- World feels disconnected because of the portals and bits of big city main hubs. It lacks personal connection to the world.
- Crafting is useless until the very end where it can be useful.
Anyway, I was hoping to find a new Anarchy Online. I loved the atmosphere in that game and how you could create crazy builds. But TSW mechanics and world feel too arbitrary and like patchwork to me.
There are good things too, especially with how playable it is without sub. But even that was not enough to keep playing.
That's pretty much it. That coupled with the lack of a trial. In a world where most MMO's can be played for free, a game that you can't even check out for free is a large enough barrier for most people. Even WoW lets you play for free up to level 20.
Different mindsets. I think that's what Gamer71 tried to point out... and that's why many of us foretelled that it will be a niche title. Sure, there are folks who just search for a walkthrough, who don't read / listen missions, who just grab some "best of the week" deck, etc. Heck, I'm sure they're the majority among the overall playerbase out there. TSW is not really targets them.
You know, there are still peeps from the long-gone adventure genre, who love to solve puzzles and riddles, who love to seek and explore lore pieces and not just using a coordinate checklist, and then (hold onto something) then read them
Ragnar is one of the best authors of this genre, TSW is aimed for those folks. If you don't care the details, the lore, the puzzles and to build your character (in short, when all's left is the combat with some cookie-cutter deck from a site), it's easy to understand why it seems just an another mmo with some odd quest design
Btw. there's an optional toggle for the ingame browser, and then it filters out the guides, walkthroughs, etc. It was a must, since those lame-a.s search engines (page rank, lol) sniffed up the searches pretty soon, during beta it wasn't a big deal, but after launch... oh boy. Imagine a poor art student who searched those days for Frans Hals, and on the first page every hit was about TSW :awesome:
So, in short: why bother, because for some that's the fun part. And no, if you use the toggle you won't find guides, exactly how your character wouldn't find anything either about TSW.
That might work for dedicated hardcore gamers, and perhaps that's what Funcom is looking for, but it's certainly a message that the company doesn't want a lot of players.
Any graphical, audio, or gameplay restrictions not seen in other mmos but found in FFXIV can be blamed on one thing.
PS3
No need to be hardcore to find a buddy key
It's a b2p game, often with a very low price (in the 8-10 $ region), and without any restrictions besides some parts of the DLCs (mainly the story part in them). Sure, it doesn't have a free for all, "drop a mail address on page and starts playing" kinda trial, but I guess it's because of the whole "invite" mindset - plus the benefits tied to the buddy key
(the $10 worth bonus points and the leveling ring for the newcomer's side, and the vet reward for the inviter. Not to mention the grace periods where the inviter gets a monthly sub if his/her invited buddy buys the game after the trial - not a coincidence during these periods the buddy key threads are filled with keys, everyone's pouring out their 10 keys on the web for free taking... which kinda defies the whole point of inviting friends
As for the need to be "hardcore", I guess I may be using the term in a different way than you think about it. What I mean is that first of all by going to the site you get asked to pay $30 and you're not offered a trial. To know that you can buy the game for less and that you can get a buddy key you need to already be someone who follows MMO games quite well or you need to put some work into searching for it. The second aspect is that people who don't spend several hours gaming a day will likely feel that a 72 hours won't be representative, and that might put them off.
Thanks for agreeing with me. Funcom has set up barriers, which makes the number of players smaller. That's the simple answer to the question of why there aren't many players. Remove the barriers and there will be more players.
Any graphical, audio, or gameplay restrictions not seen in other mmos but found in FFXIV can be blamed on one thing.
PS3
I really liked the questing and the world design.
I despised progression, combat, and animations, so much so that I stopped playing in time to get a refund during launch week.
I like-ish the game but can't connect with love for my char because every character looks either native American or Asian... it's annoying.
The storyline is fantastic, the quests are well written and voice acted but for me it's always about the avatar I create and if I cant connect with it then there's little chance I'll stick around.
Because Funcom produced it, and there are a WHOLE LOT of people that will never touch another game with Funcom's stink on it ever again - obviously including me.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
Fantastic use of the word 'masturbatory'!
Recently, I have been in an MMO slump. ESO was the only game that wasn't in development that I found interesting. There was so much wrong in ESO that I could never stick to it. (Waiting on Dark Brotherhood, Thieves' guild, player housing, better looking armor.) I decided I would give TSW another go. It turned out to be a great game! I have been playing constantly for the past couple of weeks. I love the quests and story-lines. I wish they were personalized between the 3 factions, but not a big deal. It does affect replay-ability.
I believe that if they had made the game more accessible, it would have been more successful. A minor aspect is that the combat mechanics are not that great. I say that is a minor point, because there are other games with way worse mechanics that are successful (SW:TOR, WoW). I actually like the limited skill bar and build your own class parts of the game.
I probably won't be in the game for long. I would rather jump into, and explore a brand new game. Instead of running around as one of 10 people in the reject newb zones trying to catch up in a 4 year old game. I am enjoying myself for now. If I had made it through the tutorial years ago, I would have stuck around much longer.