To answer the spoiler
Thank you! Damn I knew I should have taken my time ...
To answer the spoiler
My only two real problems so far with The Secret World is that after Kingsmouth, the game declines in terms of tangability, coherent plot, and mission quality. It doesn't fall off a cliff or anything drastic like that, and it does have peaks here and there, but it doesn't really reach the giddy heights of the first real area again.
My other issue is that while it's approach to questing is fantastic, heck the whole game is fantastic; I've already cancelled my subscription (so I can play out the first month and then be done). There just isn't the content. While admittedly I'm one of those no life basement dwelling content consumers, I'm also fairly sure that even a casual player will only get a couple of months tops out of it, maybe stretch that to three.
With only 6-10 main quest npc's per area with at most 3 quests per giver, it's just too little content, even though that contents fabulous.
Still, I firmly believe that all that aside, within the games zombified, putrid, rotting body, there lies a heart pumping fresh blood into a stagnant genre. I hope it catches on.
There are 60 quests in Kingsmouth alone - have you completed them all? Have you done the same in every other zone? Have you participated in PvP? Have you tried healing and tanking roles? Have you ventured into the dungeons? Have you collected the puzzle pieces to unlock the world bosses that require dozens of players to kill? Have you tried the harder dungeon difficulty modes?
There is a ton to do in this game, far more than just the main quests and those of the marked quest givers.
Males really get the shaft in the character creator. Wife's character looks WAAAAY better than mine. >_>
Just need to decide on a name (that isn't taken) and I'm in!
Am I suppose to be in the coast enviroment already? I only have about 3-4 hours put into the game and have a quest that has like 18 tiers and I am already in the coast region. I think I am on tier 12 or so, but it seems like I am progressing too fast or something. I am still coming to terms with the game being that I am noobish mmo player. I cannot remember the name of the quest, but involved venturing to the coast enviroment (South Coast) or something it is called.
Am I suppose to be in the coast enviroment already? I only have about 3-4 hours put into the game and have a quest that has like 18 tiers and I am already in the coast region. I think I am on tier 12 or so, but it seems like I am progressing too fast or something. I am still coming to terms with the game being that I am noobish mmo player. I cannot remember the name of the quest, but involved venturing to the coast enviroment (South Coast) or something it is called.
That's the storyline quest that winds thru the first 3 zones. If that's all you're doing you'll run into a brick wall in a heck of a hurry without the gear to go on. You need to take the other quests you run into along the way. For example, did you take the kill zombie quest from the guy near the tent when you first zone into Kingsmouth?
Got it. I played some of the side quests in Kingsmouth and then I guess it was the main story line that took me the Coast area. I will go back to Kingsmouth because I know there were a lot of quests that were labled as hard that I did not do. Like I said I am fairly noobish to MMO's, but played a little bit of WoW, SWTOR, Rift etc. and so far I am liking this game a lot more than those. It just seems a little complicated. For all the quests I have done, I have yet to find a vendor or something similar to buy and/or upgrade my weopons etc. Maybe I am missing something?
You do NOT want to go do just the story quests all in one go.Got it. I played some of the side quests in Kingsmouth and then I guess it was the main story line that took me the Coast area. I will go back to Kingsmouth because I know there were a lot of quests that were labled as hard that I did not do. Like I said I am fairly noobish to MMO's, but played a little bit of WoW, SWTOR, Rift etc. and so far I am liking this game a lot more than those. It just seems a little complicated. For all the quests I have done, I have yet to find a vendor or something similar to buy and/or upgrade my weopons etc. Maybe I am missing something?
Total nerd question here. I am not in this beta, but have any of you tried the TXAA yet? Only game out right now that supports TXAA is this one, so I just was wondering how good it looks.
(If it's out of beta excuse my ignorance)
Anyone listened to the Bombcast? I suspect Jeff not really liking the game but who knows.
Can I get an invite into the GAF Templar Cabal? Character name is Kazehaya. Wife's character is Loreza. She has a GAF account but doesn't post much. Do we need to be online to accept? If so, we'll be on around 6 or 7 PM EST.
Time for some early impressions. Going to get the bad out of the way first...
The naming system is an exercise in frustration and not the best way to motivate people to play your game.
You can enter a First Name, Last Name, and Nickname but Funcom chose to use players' Nicknames as the unique identifier. I'm also guessing that due to the game's cross-dimensional mechanics that this unique identifier spans multiple dimensions which results in an even lower chance of getting the name that you want. I am already seeing a lot of unique and interesting variations of names and a lot of ridiculous names like you see on Xbox Live (e.g. DarkPrincessX). I guess it's fine for some people to just pop in a random generated name but things like character name and appearance are important to a lot of other people, especially since they are going to be spending a lot of time with that character. I really sympathized with my wife as she sat there for about 2 or more hours plugging names into the character creator until she finally claimed one that she could live with.
The combat still feels clunky, primarily the movement, but pretty much any standard MMO combat system is going to feel this way after TERA. I think that if you're used to tab target, hot key MMOs, you will be pretty happy. I can't imagine the Guild Wars 2 combat system being much better. I do wish the weapons had a little more impact and feedback. The current weapon sound design and effects are a little underwhelming. This may improve as you progress but I haven't unlocked many of the advanced abilities yet.
I like the dodge mechanic quite a bit but wish it had a shorter cooldown. It's nice to be able to evade in any direction by double tapping the corresponding W, A, S, or D key. This wasn't in the first beta that I played and it helps make the combat feel less stationary. The combat is more satisfying than something like WOW, Rift, or SWTOR but nowhere near the level of action oriented combat in TERA. After completing a few quests I can say that the combat is really starting to grow on me though.
I haven't looked at the options yet but I'm hoping I can increase my camera movement speed or mouse sensitivity. That should help.
The weapon system and ability wheel is really interesting. There are a lot of different combinations and potential builds you can come up with. I'm still learning the ropes but currently attempting a build using Pistols and Elementalism. My wife is aiming for the Preacher deck and using Sword with Blood magic. I thought about going for the Executioner deck since it has a cool outfit but not sure I really like the fist weapon and wasn't a big fan of the Tai Chi based Chaos magic. The other deck outfits were kind of unappealing to me. Are there any benefits to using decks other than fast ability swapping and the outfits?
I'm currently working on quests in Kingsmouth and really enjoying myself. I love the dialog and storytelling. This is definitely a breath of fresh air from the standard MMO questing system and leveling experience.
On the performance side of things, I'm running Direct X 11 and using the SMAA injector and everything has been really smooth. I haven't seen much yet but I think the game looks fantastic so far.
So I'm working towards the Preacher deck on the Templar side (Blood Magic and Blade) and I'm experimenting with some of the Blood Magic Healing skills and am having a tough time. I'm not sure I'm using the shields/healing spells properly. I don't seem to get much in the way of benefit from them during combat. Should I be engaging multiple shields prior to combat? Any direction/tips you can give me on this GAF?
Ok, so it's not just me then. I have some decent +healing items equipped but it sounds like I may be better off concentrating on damage skills and foregoing the healing line until I get to the next tier of skills.TheYanger said:The initial heals for most of the healing trees are quite weak, also, if you're not wearing at least a few pieces of healing gear (+heal instead of +power) they are basically garbage.
Ok, so it's not just me then. I have some decent +healing items equipped but it sounds like I may be better off concentrating on damage skills and foregoing the healing line until I get to the next tier of skills.
Ok, so it's not just me then. I have some decent +healing items equipped but it sounds like I may be better off concentrating on damage skills and foregoing the healing line until I get to the next tier of skills.
"If I want to know the truth about humanity, I need only to read the comments section on youtube"
That's kind of where I'm confused. If I try to pull up a barrier prior to starting combat, I get a blood letting prompt and start losing health. So it seems like I have to build up resources to be able to activate the barrier/heal without penalty. That sound right?Also keep in mind that some healing skills need resources to pull off a larger heal.
The Operator dude in the Illuminati faction missions is embarrassingly bad, though. "I am disappoint." "just look at all these fucks I give" "I don't know, therefore aliens."If I would get a penny everytime a Lumie pulls off an quasi internet meme, I would be rich in 10 hours!
I really appreciate how communicative they are being and are acknowledging and addressing issues in a public manner instead of just not commenting on them.Hi guys!
I just thought it was time to give you a bit of an update on the issues with the chat system that some of you are experiencing; what exactly is happening, and what we're doing to solve it.
First, some background. Before we did the Single Server upgrade of the Dreamworld engine, the dimensions were completely separate on the server-side. Each dimension had their own set of server processes "driving" it, including one chatserver each.
The idea behind the Single Server upgrade was that the pool of servers would be completely shared between all the different dimensions, meaning a dimension in the new system is much more of a virtual concept. This technology is what makes the cross-dimension PvP matches, joining your friends in other dimensions, and (most relevant here) chatting to everyone through tells to players on other dimensions, cross-dimension cabal channels, team chat channels, and so forth, possible.
To properly implement this chat functionality, the technology for the chat backend had to undergo a complete upgrade. While the frontend (what you see in the client) may look similar to previous Dreamworld engine games, the backend is now completely different. As there's too much traffic for a single server to handle, the load has to be distributed: We structured a network of chat servers that all talk to each other, to the clients (you), and to the game servers.
So, to the problem itself. At some point after we "went live" with the game, some of the servers would suddenly stop talking to the other servers for periods of time. Unfortunately, this means that any player that connects to a problematic server while it's not communicating won't be able to chat, as the chat servers need information from the game, which they can't get. Players already connected to the server can also only talk to each other during this. The server will eventually recover, but it takes some time before everything gets synced up.
We never saw this internally while testing the technology, or during the various betas. And while the first beta weekend had an issue with the chatserver being unavailable for a time, the cause wasn't the same, so there wasn't much we could do about this ahead of time.
Again, the problem with solving this is that it's very hard to reproduce the issue in a controlled environment where we can debug it. This means that everything takes a lot longer than we'd like in terms of pinpointing problems and testing out solutions. At this point, we are working on several fixes for this, and some backup plans, as fast as humanly possible. We can't thank you (our players) enough for your patience while we repair this, and hope that you won't have to wait too much longer!
I can assure you we have our top men working on it. Top men.
UPDATE:
We applied a hotfix to the chatservers a couple of hours ago, which so far seems to have resolved most of the issues.
The reason these are ‘issues’ rather than update is because, despite looking back so often, they all aim to move the game forward. Every month there will be more to do, more stories to discover and more of the bigger picture available for those willing to connect the plots. New stuff. Sure, seen it before, if not as regularly and widely as promised here. The most exciting prospect by far though, and don’t expect this in the immediate future, is the idea of subtraction. Eventually The Secret World will start to change forever. Imagine, instead of discovering more of Sam Krieg’s story, you were to find that he’d been killed off in the latest issue? What an investigation mission that could turn out to be. I expressed concern about latecomers to the game – wouldn’t they then miss out on that character’s missions and dialogue?
Yes they would and, indeed, yes they will. But that’s how a world creates a history for itself, in the conversations about what has been before but is no longer, and in the memories of those players whose experiences can no longer be replicated. The idea of a changing world, which evolves not through procedural wizardry or player action but rather through the guiding hand of a team of writers, goes a long way to explaining both why The Secret World isn’t simply a single player game with an MMO glued onto it and, if the changes are significant and the monthly plan is adhered to, justifying that subscription fee.
To answer the spoiler:I jumped off the cliff instead of clicking. All the way down the voice cursed at me, told me I'd be destroyed by the coming darkness, etc.
Bahh...I just finish that part. Didn't know you have to do that to.reject
To Illuminati brethren, please invite me to cabal. Name is the same as my nick.
An update on chat issues.I really appreciate how communicative they are being and are acknowledging and addressing issues in a public manner instead of just not commenting on them.
It's a really wild idea for a persistent world MMO with a revolving customer base. But I REALLY love it. I like the idea of the world gaining its own history with a real past, not just a past as in the quests you did earlier.Killing off existing characters is pretty radical, but I love the idea.
Eventually The Secret World will start to change forever. Imagine, instead of discovering more of Sam Kriegs story, you were to find that hed been killed off in the latest issue? What an investigation mission that could turn out to be. I expressed concern about latecomers to the game wouldnt they then miss out on that characters missions and dialogue?
Yes they would and, indeed, yes they will. But thats how a world creates a history for itself, in the conversations about what has been before but is no longer, and in the memories of those players whose experiences can no longer be replicated. The idea of a changing world, which evolves not through procedural wizardry or player action but rather through the guiding hand of a team of writers, goes a long way to explaining both why The Secret World isnt simply a single player game with an MMO glued onto it and, if the changes are significant and the monthly plan is adhered to, justifying that subscription fee.
One of their other dudes, Alex, had some strange things to say about it.
I don't know why Giant Bomb even bother to cover MMOs, it's pretty clear none of the guys enjoy them.