Erkki

The Secret World

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Day one: Bought the basic el cheapo pack and started the download.

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This game is terrible. There is a lot of great stuff, like maybe the most original setting in a MMORPG, and the combat system could maybe work, but everything is rendered shit because there is no tutorial or introductory phase. Instead of saying "okay, we expect the player to spend a lot of time with the game; let's take our time and introduce each concept and mechanism gradually" it just throws everything at you during the first half-hour. Weapons and skills and abilities and levels and QC0 and assault rifle resources and ten thousand other words I don't understand. There's so much GUI and game jargon, and no guidance, and the quest system is a mess. Jesus.

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Yup! Their tutorials are teeerrible. I also had to figure out on my own how the crafting system works, which is anything but straight forward. They don't explain it anywhere. The advice I can give you is, focus on 1 weapon first and aim for a deck character. They're sort of like pre-made templates, where all you gotta do is put points in the right thing. If you complete a deck you also get a thing.

Everything about this makes me wish it was a singleplayer game. Also, I wish that Ragnar Tørnquist would start work on the next Longest Journey, because it's been 6+ years and dammit. I want to know what happens after Dreamfall!

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You'd think after 3 or 4 mmos they'd know how to start the player off right.

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Everything about this makes me wish it was a singleplayer game. Also, I wish that Ragnar Tørnquist would start work on the next Longest Journey, because it's been 6+ years and dammit. I want to know what happens after Dreamfall!

Yes.

Also, I haven't played this game (and won't, thanks to internet impressions and lack of friends playing it), but I wish MMOs would stop trying to make MMOs so... personal. That sounds weird. Basically, I don't see the point in creating an MMO that encourages the player the treat it like a single-player game. WoW has turned into this (until endgame, at which point it's actually a good game again, even if it's not a good MMO), TOR basically has nothing unique outside of this, and I guess TSW at least strive for it a little bit, too? I could be wrong. Either way, MMOs are not and should not be single-player games. Hnnngh. I'm once again left feeling like EVE is the only MMO for me, but I can't play it because it takes too long to really get into it. That, and the core gameplay mechanics are boring.

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You'd think after 3 or 4 mmos they'd know how to start the player off right.

You'd think. They're currently completely rebooting the new player experience for Anarchy Online for the third time, to launch with the engine overhaul they trailered 4 years ago which is somehow still in development. #Funcom

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FWIW, I really enjoyed Age of Conan despite its flaws. If my friends had continued playing it, I probably would have, too. I didn't find the new player experience to be subpar. In fact, that was probably the most polished part of the game. It fell apart around level 50 when suddenly there were no quests and you were forced to grind. They've since fixed it, or so I've heard.

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I'm about 40 hours in, taking it slowly and doing all the side quests I can find, so I can solo the harder parts, and I'm finding the combat is getting better - which may be partly just that I am dying less now I have a couple of elite abilities. It's still a little spammy, but wilth seven attack slots, a couple of which are going to go on active buffs, you're always going to feel like you are going knockdown, small attack, small attack, rage bar (or in this case weapon resource on target) filled, big attack to some degree. I'm playing with a modified Crusader build, and it's interesting that some monsters I can just burn through, now I have some high-damage attacks, but others I have to work to debuff...

And pretty much the whole thing outside the combat and the crafting (the basics of which are laid out in two starter quests, but does need some more explanation, definitely) I'm impressed by. I think it's a game you'll need to go outside the game itself to fully get, though - whether that's finding out how to craft or researching builds in the forums or looking for puzzle answers on the fake websites they've put up...

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FWIW, I really enjoyed Age of Conan despite its flaws. If my friends had continued playing it, I probably would have, too. I didn't find the new player experience to be subpar. In fact, that was probably the most polished part of the game. It fell apart around level 50 when suddenly there were no quests and you were forced to grind. They've since fixed it, or so I've heard.

I actually played AoC for more than a year and a half with a hilarious mostly romanian/serbian guild. We had a lot of fun. I found the common L50 quest gap complaint only really applied if you were playing the game as an endless stream of quests; you didn't have to do much mucking about or help many people through tough spots to never notice it.

The purpose of AoC's overblown tutorial section was to sell the game to people who don't and won't ever like MMOs in the hope that they will forget to cancel their sub a month or two after quitting because the voice acting stopped. A popular MMO tactic.

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The purpose of AoC's overblown tutorial section was to sell the game to people who don't and won't ever like MMOs in the hope that they will forget to cancel their sub a month or two after quitting because the voice acting stopped. A popular MMO tactic.

Oh, yeah, definitely. When I say it was the most polished, I really mean it was the part I hated most. Although I did have some good times in that one open-PvP area. :3

I didn't have a problem with the quest gap, either, to be honest, but it is a valid complaint. I can certainly understand people being frustrated by it.

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This game seems interesting, but MMOs mechanisms terrify me, I'd be super grateful if some active player could answer the following:

1- does it have grinding ? i.e. progression through menial repetitive gameplay that reward time investment rather than system comprehension or meaningful activities. As a counter-example, EVE skill system which doesn't require me to spend half my life in front of the game.

2- is the fiction of the world interesting? does it impact the way players interact?

3- is there a strong focus on equipement obtained through random loot?

If no, yes and no the it might be the first MMO I'll get into.

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1: No more so than the usual quest chaining.

2: Very! The voice acting is great, the writing, from skill names to dialogue all is fantastic, you keep finding cool things every time you leave a hub. It is a static world however.

3: Not nearly as much as you might think, but loot is still a thing. You won't be barred from doing a dungeon by some sanctimonious prick for not having the perfect items though. Clothes are entirely cosmetic, talismans and weapons are the actual gear.

Addendum: It is still probably not worth the money.

Oh, yeah, definitely. When I say it was the most polished, I really mean it was the part I hated most. Although I did have some good times in that one open-PvP area. :3

I didn't have a problem with the quest gap, either, to be honest, but it is a valid complaint. I can certainly understand people being frustrated by it.

They removed the open PvP in White Sands Isle a while back. :violin: I retired my hunter that I kept specifically in White Sands for almost two years, a sad day. They also removed it in the area under the palace, but that wasn't the place for "cool kids" to PvP in Tortage anyway.

The quest gap has been wholly fixed by updates now, but I ran into it back at launch.

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Also, I haven't played this game (and won't, thanks to internet impressions and lack of friends playing it), but I wish MMOs would stop trying to make MMOs so... personal. That sounds weird. Basically, I don't see the point in creating an MMO that encourages the player the treat it like a single-player game. WoW has turned into this (until endgame, at which point it's actually a good game again, even if it's not a good MMO), TOR basically has nothing unique outside of this, and I guess TSW at least strive for it a little bit, too? I could be wrong. Either way, MMOs are not and should not be single-player games. Hnnngh. I'm once again left feeling like EVE is the only MMO for me, but I can't play it because it takes too long to really get into it. That, and the core gameplay mechanics are boring.

Bitter experience has taught MMO developers not to put their new player experience entirely in the hands of the community, and the single-player focus is a big part of that. The strong single-player focus has two goals: it allows for a guided intro into the world, and it gives players something to do when none of their friends are around. They're also taking the right lessons from WoW - most MMO developers looked at the DIKU gameplay and the colourful artstyle and decided that was what made WoW successful, when in reality it was that the strong questing path gave players direction and things to do that weren't purely grinding.

Frankly for most people just the idea that there are other people out there doing things is enough; they don't really intend to socialise much and they like the idea of being masters of their own destiny.

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Oh, I'm fully conscious of the reasoning and desire for this kind of "MMO". Don't mean I gotta like it! It runs completely counter to the true potential of an MMO. (In my opinion, of course.)

I mean... Obviously, leaving important things like Teaching the Game in the hands of the players is kind of the worst decision you can make as a game designer, allegedly. But, on the other hand, what's more awesome than booting up the game for the first time, getting your ass handed to you by some asshole, only to be saved by some anti-asshole who happens to be riding by, being taken under his wing, and going on to become this vigilante of righteous fury under the wing of your savior? Or, instead, being recruited by a group of bandits looking for fresh meatshields to handle the grunt work, proving yourself on the battlefield, and slowly working your way up in the ranks and getting bigger shares of the loot?

I know I'm talking ideals here, but I know that I, personally, would dig that kind of game. Let's step outside of MMOs for an actual, concrete example. Minecraft doesn't have a tutorial. Well, it sort of does, now, with the achievements, but it didn't used to, and people loved that, as far as I know? You learned by talking with other players. Minecraft isn't nearly as complicated as most MMOs, but it's still a significantly different experience from most games out there. I know there are other examples of games without extensive tutorials (if any at all) that succeed almost in part BECAUSE of that lack.

I guess one of the biggest problems with an MMO that follows this philosophy is that it also requires huge investment from the players. Role-playing becomes almost a requirement to ensure the best experience for all involved. Hrmmm.

They removed the open PvP in White Sands Isle a while back. :violin:

WHAT IS THIS LAMENESS??

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WHAT IS THIS LAMENESS??

Little baby men complained that they got ganked constantly. :(

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Maybe someone at Funcom should finally give all the resources to Ragnar Tornquist to finally go back to The Longest Journey universe and stop this MMORPG nonsense.

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Arg, I downloaded and installed the game before the free week-end, but I got caught up in other stuff and couldn't play any of it. Well, I might just subscribe for one month.

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