Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Feb 2008
- Posts
- 11,108
OK, so... those who have bought it: Worth picking up?
**The Secret World**
- Thread starter DampCat
- Start date
Definitely, game is far better than I ever thought it would be.
Definitely, just don't expect your usual hub-based hoover up the quests mmo. I've played nothing else since I got it though - the acting, piecing together the story and atmosphere just keep pulling you along.
Please give us an update once people start to cap out skills, my main worry was that once you've done all the quests in the zones, seen the instances once and got most of your skills there really would'nt be anything left to do.
Found this on server hopping, wish I'd found it earlier, I've been recreating toons on new servers while the clan argued about where to play :
Hi guys!
It's time for another blog post, where I'd like to focus on some of the awesome things you might not know about The Secret World. This post is the first one in a series of three, and today I'll talk about what it actually means for you, as a player, that The Secret World is based on a single server technology. The next posts will be about GUI modding (yeah, that's right!) and the last one about the mind blowing rendering features we've put into the game.
So what does it mean that The Secret World is based on a single server. It boils down to that there are no boundaries between you and anyone else playing the game. You can play with anyone you want! Before we go deeper into details, I'd like to clarify a couple of definitions to make explaining this a bit easier.
The Secret World exists on one server, and on that server there are multiple dimensions.
One server, many dimensions. That’s important to remember.
FRIENDS AND GROUP PLAY
OK, so how often has this happened to you? You meet someone and you start talking about games. You say that you play MMO X, and they light up and say that so do they. The first question to always follow is what server they play on, and quite often you play on different servers. The thought of ever playing together is unfortunately discarded, because you can't be bothered to roll another alt. Well, in The Secret World you don't need to worry about that at all. You can play with anyone, with just the click of a button! You can finally play with your friends overseas, and all your cabal members can finally play on the same server!
When you start the game, you will create a character on a dimension, and that dimension will be referred to as your home dimension. Even though your home dimension might be, say, the Kobold dimension, it does not prevent from playing on other dimensions like Faerie or Huldra.
Next to each of your friend's names in your friends list, there will be a button that says "Meet Up". Click it, and you will be teleported to your friend’s location, in his dimension. You will get the same prompt if you get invited to a team. As long as you guys stay teamed, you will stay in his dimension and will always end up in the same zone. You can also freely trade with each other. After you disband the team, the next time you teleport (for instance going back to the hub) you will automatically be placed in your home dimension's hub.
CABALS
You can finally play with your buddies in the US, or your family in Europe, without worrying about creating a new account bound to that region. Certain dimensions will have language flags, but you can still move to and from them freely. The text and cinematic will still be in your home dimension’s language, so your gameplay experience will stay the same. You can play with anyone, no matter where they are! It also means that the cabals (our take on guilds) that exist on multiple continents can finally create characters on the same dimension and play together.
But wait, there's more! Let's say you create a cabal with your friends in the Kobold dimension but you would like to invite your friend that made a character on the Huldra dimension, you can invite him and he will be a fully fledged member of your cabal. He will be in the same cabal chat, and have access to the same cabal bank. You can team with him, do dungeons with him and trade with him.
PLAYER VS. PLAYER
In addition to the free for all fight-club, The Secret World offers two main forms of PvP; Battlefields and Warzones.
Battlefields
Battlefields are fast paced and quick action, where you battle against the two other secret societies to control legendary locations all around the world. Controlling these locations will provide you whole secret society a very nice buff. Being on a single server means you, with your home dimension which may be Kobold, can team up with your buddy in the Huldra dimension and sign up for a match, and fight side by side. It also means that all matchmaking will be between all dimensions, so queues will be very short.
Warzones
Warzones are the huge areas where the secret societies fight over to control over different facilities. These are persistent zones, and are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, this is where we set our first limitation: you can only fight for your home dimension’s warzones. There are a few reasons why we're doing it like this, and I'll talk about a couple of them. First of all, in order to ensure that players have a good time and aren't locked down by lag, we have a player cap in these zones. The cap is currently set to 225, reserving 75 slots for each secret society. If we only had one warzone for all the dimensions, very few would be able to enjoy this form of PvP. Keep in mind that this is not an instanced mini-game, but a persistent area. There is only one of these per dimension.
Secondly, we want to create a really good PvP community in each dimension, and we believe the meta-game around PvP is more interesting if you get to know the other players around you. We're hoping that you will learn who you can trust, which cabals that always backstabs, who you can ask for help, which cabals are known for being fantastic in PvP, etc. Think back to the earlier MMOs, where there were maybe only one or two servers. You knew the people around you and it made for a great community! Does that make me sound old...?
ECONOMY
When players travel from dimension to dimension, they are free to trade whatever they want. Maybe your buddy is low on a material needed to craft that legendary item? Either send it to him through the mail system or just go to him and give it to him. It also means that when you put an item up for sale in the marketplace, every single person, across all dimensions, in The Secret World will be able to see it. More buyers and more sellers create a nice and healthy economy. The economy is more robust against inflation, as a large amount of players will prevent the massive swings, one way or the other, in item prices. It's also a lot easier for us to track gold-farmers...
DIMENSION SETUP
Our dimensions are huge, so you will have less dimensions to choose from than what you might be used to in other games. We want as many people as possible to be able to play with each other. Since EU and US have their player peaks (when the most players are online) at different times, we can allow more people on to a dimension since the load on the dimension will be evened out.
Another awesome feature is that before you choose your dimension, you can connect with your Facebook account and it allows you see what friends you have on the different dimensions. You can then choose the dimension you have the most friends on… or avoid playing on the same dimension as your mother...
Also, since The Secret World is on a single server, every nickname is unique. If you at launch create "Sephiroth1337" then you will be the only "Sephiroth1337" in the The Secret World universe! This also means that your cabal name is unique and that you can create "The Mercenaries" which stretches across every single dimension… and you sell your l33t skills in PvP for a hefty price!
FINAL NOTE
We are very excited about being able to present a system like this to you guys. However I do expect that for some this may all sound a little bit confusing. You might be concerned about how to keep track of where you are, multiple dimensions, going to your home dimension after teleporting etc. Let me just make it very clear that you will not experience any of these transfers unless you actively do it yourself. If you just want to play the game with the players around you, you can and you will. This only happens if the player reaches out and decides to travel to other dimensions, and when that happens, it's implemented in what we think is a very seamless way.
See you soon in The Secret World… no matter what dimension you choose to start on!
Hi guys!
It's time for another blog post, where I'd like to focus on some of the awesome things you might not know about The Secret World. This post is the first one in a series of three, and today I'll talk about what it actually means for you, as a player, that The Secret World is based on a single server technology. The next posts will be about GUI modding (yeah, that's right!) and the last one about the mind blowing rendering features we've put into the game.
So what does it mean that The Secret World is based on a single server. It boils down to that there are no boundaries between you and anyone else playing the game. You can play with anyone you want! Before we go deeper into details, I'd like to clarify a couple of definitions to make explaining this a bit easier.
The Secret World exists on one server, and on that server there are multiple dimensions.
One server, many dimensions. That’s important to remember.
FRIENDS AND GROUP PLAY
OK, so how often has this happened to you? You meet someone and you start talking about games. You say that you play MMO X, and they light up and say that so do they. The first question to always follow is what server they play on, and quite often you play on different servers. The thought of ever playing together is unfortunately discarded, because you can't be bothered to roll another alt. Well, in The Secret World you don't need to worry about that at all. You can play with anyone, with just the click of a button! You can finally play with your friends overseas, and all your cabal members can finally play on the same server!
When you start the game, you will create a character on a dimension, and that dimension will be referred to as your home dimension. Even though your home dimension might be, say, the Kobold dimension, it does not prevent from playing on other dimensions like Faerie or Huldra.
Next to each of your friend's names in your friends list, there will be a button that says "Meet Up". Click it, and you will be teleported to your friend’s location, in his dimension. You will get the same prompt if you get invited to a team. As long as you guys stay teamed, you will stay in his dimension and will always end up in the same zone. You can also freely trade with each other. After you disband the team, the next time you teleport (for instance going back to the hub) you will automatically be placed in your home dimension's hub.
CABALS
You can finally play with your buddies in the US, or your family in Europe, without worrying about creating a new account bound to that region. Certain dimensions will have language flags, but you can still move to and from them freely. The text and cinematic will still be in your home dimension’s language, so your gameplay experience will stay the same. You can play with anyone, no matter where they are! It also means that the cabals (our take on guilds) that exist on multiple continents can finally create characters on the same dimension and play together.
But wait, there's more! Let's say you create a cabal with your friends in the Kobold dimension but you would like to invite your friend that made a character on the Huldra dimension, you can invite him and he will be a fully fledged member of your cabal. He will be in the same cabal chat, and have access to the same cabal bank. You can team with him, do dungeons with him and trade with him.
PLAYER VS. PLAYER
In addition to the free for all fight-club, The Secret World offers two main forms of PvP; Battlefields and Warzones.
Battlefields
Battlefields are fast paced and quick action, where you battle against the two other secret societies to control legendary locations all around the world. Controlling these locations will provide you whole secret society a very nice buff. Being on a single server means you, with your home dimension which may be Kobold, can team up with your buddy in the Huldra dimension and sign up for a match, and fight side by side. It also means that all matchmaking will be between all dimensions, so queues will be very short.
Warzones
Warzones are the huge areas where the secret societies fight over to control over different facilities. These are persistent zones, and are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, this is where we set our first limitation: you can only fight for your home dimension’s warzones. There are a few reasons why we're doing it like this, and I'll talk about a couple of them. First of all, in order to ensure that players have a good time and aren't locked down by lag, we have a player cap in these zones. The cap is currently set to 225, reserving 75 slots for each secret society. If we only had one warzone for all the dimensions, very few would be able to enjoy this form of PvP. Keep in mind that this is not an instanced mini-game, but a persistent area. There is only one of these per dimension.
Secondly, we want to create a really good PvP community in each dimension, and we believe the meta-game around PvP is more interesting if you get to know the other players around you. We're hoping that you will learn who you can trust, which cabals that always backstabs, who you can ask for help, which cabals are known for being fantastic in PvP, etc. Think back to the earlier MMOs, where there were maybe only one or two servers. You knew the people around you and it made for a great community! Does that make me sound old...?
ECONOMY
When players travel from dimension to dimension, they are free to trade whatever they want. Maybe your buddy is low on a material needed to craft that legendary item? Either send it to him through the mail system or just go to him and give it to him. It also means that when you put an item up for sale in the marketplace, every single person, across all dimensions, in The Secret World will be able to see it. More buyers and more sellers create a nice and healthy economy. The economy is more robust against inflation, as a large amount of players will prevent the massive swings, one way or the other, in item prices. It's also a lot easier for us to track gold-farmers...
DIMENSION SETUP
Our dimensions are huge, so you will have less dimensions to choose from than what you might be used to in other games. We want as many people as possible to be able to play with each other. Since EU and US have their player peaks (when the most players are online) at different times, we can allow more people on to a dimension since the load on the dimension will be evened out.
Another awesome feature is that before you choose your dimension, you can connect with your Facebook account and it allows you see what friends you have on the different dimensions. You can then choose the dimension you have the most friends on… or avoid playing on the same dimension as your mother...
Also, since The Secret World is on a single server, every nickname is unique. If you at launch create "Sephiroth1337" then you will be the only "Sephiroth1337" in the The Secret World universe! This also means that your cabal name is unique and that you can create "The Mercenaries" which stretches across every single dimension… and you sell your l33t skills in PvP for a hefty price!
FINAL NOTE
We are very excited about being able to present a system like this to you guys. However I do expect that for some this may all sound a little bit confusing. You might be concerned about how to keep track of where you are, multiple dimensions, going to your home dimension after teleporting etc. Let me just make it very clear that you will not experience any of these transfers unless you actively do it yourself. If you just want to play the game with the players around you, you can and you will. This only happens if the player reaches out and decides to travel to other dimensions, and when that happens, it's implemented in what we think is a very seamless way.
See you soon in The Secret World… no matter what dimension you choose to start on!
Funcom are exceeding expectations with this game - nice to see. That dimension system is essentially a free, instant character transfer whenever you want it. That approach is a genuine customer-focussed innovation and will hopefully set the standard for future games.
Looks like I'll be picking this up when my PC gets back from ocuk's repair table. Living 5 minutes away from a GAME store can be handy
The sub price is still way too high though. FC have pulled the classic trick of offering an outrageous price and then "listening to our customers" and reducing it to mere rip-off levels, <sarcasm>how generous and understanding of them.</sarcasm>
In other words I'll only be subbing if the daily content is outstanding.
Looks like I'll be picking this up when my PC gets back from ocuk's repair table. Living 5 minutes away from a GAME store can be handy
The sub price is still way too high though. FC have pulled the classic trick of offering an outrageous price and then "listening to our customers" and reducing it to mere rip-off levels, <sarcasm>how generous and understanding of them.</sarcasm>
In other words I'll only be subbing if the daily content is outstanding.
Associate
- Joined
- 27 May 2010
- Posts
- 1,051
- Location
- Kent
I'm more inclined to think it's because they didn't think Europe, and Britain in particular were going to be big markets for them, and priced it trying to maximise their revenue.
If that is the case, I don't like it but I understand why they've done it. As it is, I don't mind paying a slightly higher than normal sub fee, because I've not genuinely enjoyed an MMO as much as this since EQ2 launched.
It's also pleasant to see that most of the word about the game is overwhelmingly positive; especially people who said they wouldn't **** on Funcom if they were on fire and have tried the game on a friends recommendation, and enjoyed it. It's much better to the life of the game if positive opinion grows, rather than the SWTOR way where everyone flees after the first month.
If that is the case, I don't like it but I understand why they've done it. As it is, I don't mind paying a slightly higher than normal sub fee, because I've not genuinely enjoyed an MMO as much as this since EQ2 launched.
It's also pleasant to see that most of the word about the game is overwhelmingly positive; especially people who said they wouldn't **** on Funcom if they were on fire and have tried the game on a friends recommendation, and enjoyed it. It's much better to the life of the game if positive opinion grows, rather than the SWTOR way where everyone flees after the first month.
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Feb 2011
- Posts
- 5,849
I bought it from Cjs keys, £26 and I certainly wouldnt have paid more for it.
The graphics are decent on ultra and runs good on my rig, but I find he game really boring but that's probably because I don't know anyone else on my server. I guess once I make a few friends to quest and chat with it will pickup.
The quests
involve a lot of running but are mostly all fun and some require a lot of thinkin which is good.
I'm not 100% convinced by it yet is all, intact I didn't play it at all yesterday and went back to diablo 3 lol. I will try it again tonight and see if I can find a cabal to hang out with even if it means restarting again.
The graphics are decent on ultra and runs good on my rig, but I find he game really boring but that's probably because I don't know anyone else on my server. I guess once I make a few friends to quest and chat with it will pickup.
The quests
involve a lot of running but are mostly all fun and some require a lot of thinkin which is good.
I'm not 100% convinced by it yet is all, intact I didn't play it at all yesterday and went back to diablo 3 lol. I will try it again tonight and see if I can find a cabal to hang out with even if it means restarting again.
Associate
- Joined
- 5 Oct 2008
- Posts
- 2,275
- Location
- West Sussex
I'm tempted by this, I was in the beta and although it was fun in places I had my niggling doubts about a few things and stopped playing. Anyway, will look more into nice to read some positive comments on the game here..
I don't usually plays MMO's much so I don't have any in-depth thoughts or comparisons but I do want to say I'm really enjoying it
I have found most of the quests to be interesting, even the "collect x amount of x" usually have an interesting twist to them. The leveling process and skill tree is fairly confusing to a novice like me but I'm slowly getting my head around it.
I've done two of the instances so far and I found them really fun, rather than being a full on dungeon run with a boss at the end there have been 2-3 mini bosses followed by a big boss. Each of them have their unique twist through the skill/effects they use or the environment around them. Good fun and very challenging
I have no idea what level I am but I still think I'm fairly early on with only lvl 4 on my weapon skill tree.
I have found most of the quests to be interesting, even the "collect x amount of x" usually have an interesting twist to them. The leveling process and skill tree is fairly confusing to a novice like me but I'm slowly getting my head around it.
I've done two of the instances so far and I found them really fun, rather than being a full on dungeon run with a boss at the end there have been 2-3 mini bosses followed by a big boss. Each of them have their unique twist through the skill/effects they use or the environment around them. Good fun and very challenging
I have no idea what level I am but I still think I'm fairly early on with only lvl 4 on my weapon skill tree.
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Feb 2011
- Posts
- 5,849
Right our Cabal is up and running I'm out for dinner but if you fancy joining us The Immortals send a tell to Durandal in game!
We on Cerberus server.
We are Templars!
Damn missus booking a table for dinner tonight!!
Wab im going to reroll on your server tonight as a Templar as ive barely touched the game so far i think Tier8 of the story quest thingy? Anyhow i'll come join you guys and see if playing with other people actually makes me like the game a bit better hahah
Read the long post by Sleepery above. Basically, you don't need to reroll. Everyone is on the same server. You can just lookup a friend in-game and join their dimension.
It's only when you're looking at general chat you realise just how braindead mmo's have become. There was a guy complaining bitterly that the quest just said "Follow the trail left by Beaumont" and that he had no idea where to go.
The first step of that quest is to examine his documents, which are right beside where the quest starts, and it splashes up a big full-screen colour brochure showing exactly where he was likely to go.
Things have gotten so bad that if there's not a big yellow indicator on your minimap, people's brains just seize up
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Feb 2011
- Posts
- 5,849
Ye i just fancy trying a Templar anyhow and they start in London, and ive not really invested much time into the game thus far so rerolling wont be much of an issue