[Megathread] Secret World Legends

[Sj]

The atmosphere is great in those zones, but it wears you down. I had to stop playing it for a couple of days because everything is so dark and evil and mopey. Something in my brain needed bright, happy colors. Don't want a game leading to irl depression...that would be awful.

I'm picking it back up this weekend, when it will be warm and sunny (supposedly) so I can walk outside to rest my eyes from the doom and gloom lol.

I understand this completely.

Kingsmouth - dark & dreary
Savage Coast - a bit lighter
Blue Mountain - a bit lighter but the zone is terrible
Scorched Desert - bright & sunny (loved it)
City of the Sun God - darker but not terrible
Besieged Farmlands - eternal nighttime
Shadowy Forest - darker than eternal nighttime
Carpathian Fangs - thank god for snow!

You can build a dark atmosphere without it actually being dark. Scorched Desert and Carpathian Fangs were a good example of this.

[Kelimbror]

You can build a dark atmosphere without it actually being dark. Scorched Desert and Carpathian Fangs were a good example of this.

Yeah I was really looking forward to Egyptian stuff, saw some footage from a livestream maybe?, where they were running around in temples and stuff. Reminded me of old school Tomb Raider in a good way.

I mean as much as I love the dark supernatural stuff, it did start to grow old fast. Moving on to savage coast was different, since now there were demons instead of fish zombies, but it still seems to be painted with the same brush, but now with some fire effects. Good part is that I am free to walk away and come back whenever I want to play, since it's B2P. Can't reiterate enough how awesome that is to keep me playing a game like that. I am more likely and willing to keep spending money since I don't 'owe' them anything else.

[Kelimbror]

Ok....it seems that this game is slightly difficult to kill monsters, but sometimes it just feels a little too intense. I have current gear and what seems like the best couple of damaging abilities, but I'm currently using fists. Did I just pick the worst skill to use? I started with pistols/swords, but really liked the wolverine style and healing capabilities.

If I pull more than one normal mob, or two aoe groups I'm basically dead. I feel like it may just be fists, but I don't want to play something else as I would have to go back and relevel on 'old' content. This is probably the largest flaw I've found with this game so far. Because I'm not crazy...you can't 'respec' right?

[philefluxx]

Ok....it seems that this game is slightly difficult to kill monsters, but sometimes it just feels a little too intense. I have current gear and what seems like the best couple of damaging abilities, but I'm currently using fists. Did I just pick the worst skill to use? I started with pistols/swords, but really liked the wolverine style and healing capabilities.

If I pull more than one normal mob, or two aoe groups I'm basically dead. I feel like it may just be fists, but I don't want to play something else as I would have to go back and relevel on 'old' content. This is probably the largest flaw I've found with this game so far. Because I'm not crazy...you can't 'respec' right?

I actually ran into this issue too which sorta fizzed out my interest in playing. I basically have been going assault rifle/sword and even though I have tons of AoE abilities I feel like they hit as hard as a wet noodle. So I thought I might change up my skills but I have to go all the way back through old content to get them leveled up.

I made the mistake once of not checking my gear and thought the instance gear I got was going to be better. Realized after I equipped and sold all my old greens for the blues I got only to find out they were actually a little lower level and I could no longer progress. Ive already had to go back and do old content once, wasnt interested in doing that again.

Totally my fault, but Im probably going to reroll a toon when I feel like picking up the game again so I can see something a little different.

[Kelimbror]

Totally my fault, but Im probably going to reroll a toon when I feel like picking up the game again so I can see something a little different.

Yeah, I feel that the intial trial of abilities before you start the game for real isn't enough of a taste to make smart decisions and can drive people away from the game. Not having some sort of respec system seems a little strange in a game where continued play is the objective. I can understand permanent decisions in an ARPG like TL2, but even then you can use respec potions from mods.

I already feel like I wasted points by trying out something other than fists before I used fists. I like that eventually you will be able to play anything you want, but when your choices literally limit your ability to progress through the areas and story that's just bad design. It would be like if I decided I didn't like playing a resto druid because all I managed to unlock was moonfire and a heal, but I had no way to learn feral spells unless I played westfall quests 3 times in a row.

Just makes no sense. Now I'm kinda stuck as to how I want to go forward with the game.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I feel that the intial trial of abilities before you start the game for real isn't enough of a taste to make smart decisions and can drive people away from the game. Not having some sort of respec system seems a little strange in a game where continued play is the objective. I can understand permanent decisions in an ARPG like TL2, but even then you can use respec potions from mods.

I already feel like I wasted points by trying out something other than fists before I used fists. I like that eventually you will be able to play anything you want, but when your choices literally limit your ability to progress through the areas and story that's just bad design. It would be like if I decided I didn't like playing a resto druid because all I managed to unlock was moonfire and a heal, but I had no way to learn feral spells unless I played westfall quests 3 times in a row.

Just makes no sense. Now I'm kinda stuck as to how I want to go forward with the game.

Well, the thing is, the first inner wheel of abilities is dirt cheap to get for each weapon, and they can be more than enough to get something working.

I've been a fan of the "no-backsies" system from the start myself, because it encourages planning and smart choices over whims (not that I mean anything by it, don't take it the wrong way).

Try and have a look on this site: http://wordpress.tswguides.com/tsw-build-page/ It has a bunch of leveling decks you can try out and I think at least one-two of them has fists in it. I'm surprised really, I leveled with shotgun/fist for the latter half of the game without too much issue. Just be careful how many blues you equip. Remember that while their primary stat is higher than on greens, they will have less or no health on them, which you need a bit of to level comfortably. Also, make sure your weapons are always up to date to your skills, craft some if you need to.

[WarpedAcorn]

I started playing this over the weekend and am absolutely loving it. Kingsmouth scratches right where I itch as I am HUGE fan of cosmic horror (AKA Lovecraft). The level of immersion I feel playing this is something I didn't even feel playing GW2. My only complaint thus far is that I have no clue what to take as a 2nd weapon. For now I am loving tossing lightning like it ain't no thang.

[Kelimbror]

I've been a fan of the "no-backsies" system from the start myself, because it encourages planning and smart choices over whims (not that I mean anything by it, don't take it the wrong way).

It really doesn't though. All it does is discourage people who don't have a more advanced knowledge of the game. And this is coming from someone who has played pretty much every MMO under the sun. It's one thing in an ARPG, like I said, where you don't have to slog through very involved quests and tedium to get a character back to where you restarted. All of the content is meant for mind numbing grinding, but MMOS don't work that way.

Smart play is not looking on the internet for what build does the most damage for questing. Smart play is not reading tool tips, knowing what synergizes well, obtaining that, then finding that no content in the game works for what you chose. That's just bad design. Fists seem inherently weaker than other things because if I went pure damage I wouldn't be able to live through one encounter, but adding the healing just gimps me even more. I just think that the mobs are slightly overtuned, which is fine, but not if it causes you to have to redo content.

Try and have a look on this site: http://wordpress.tswguides.com/tsw-build-page/ It has a bunch of leveling decks you can try out and I think at least one-two of them has fists in it. I'm surprised really, I leveled with shotgun/fist for the latter half of the game without too much issue. Just be careful how many blues you equip. Remember that while their primary stat is higher than on greens, they will have less or no health on them, which you need a bit of to level comfortably. Also, make sure your weapons are always up to date to your skills, craft some if you need to.

I don't have any blues equipped. I realized that HP was king in this game pretty quickly, as the mobs were scaling much faster than my own health and damage isn't high enough. I've either crafted or purchased everything and I have level 6 in all gear skills, including fists. Even with that I'm just not able to kill anything in a normal amount of time.

I don't expect anything to be faceroll, but when I can't even survive two mobs without running in circles while spamming my heal and dying if I spend more than one resource trying to actually do damage to them is not fun. I'll check out those builds, but at this point I would have to go back and redo old content or start from scratch. Neither of those options sounds very fun to me.

Edit:

I just hit Blue Mountain and a lot of people are saying it's god awful and very hard...maybe my issue is with the zone, but I was having a little trouble before I got to that zone as well.

[Sj]

It really doesn't though. All it does is discourage people who don't have a more advanced knowledge of the game. And this is coming from someone who has played pretty much every MMO under the sun. It's one thing in an ARPG, like I said, where you don't have to slog through very involved quests and tedium to get a character back to where you restarted. All of the content is meant for mind numbing grinding, but MMOS don't work that way.

Smart play is not looking on the internet for what build does the most damage for questing. Smart play is not reading tool tips, knowing what synergizes well, obtaining that, then finding that no content in the game works for what you chose. That's just bad design. Fists seem inherently weaker than other things because if I went pure damage I wouldn't be able to live through one encounter, but adding the healing just gimps me even more. I just think that the mobs are slightly overtuned, which is fine, but not if it causes you to have to redo content.


I don't have any blues equipped. I realized that HP was king in this game pretty quickly, as the mobs were scaling much faster than my own health and damage isn't high enough. I've either crafted or purchased everything and I have level 6 in all gear skills, including fists. Even with that I'm just not able to kill anything in a normal amount of time.

I don't expect anything to be faceroll, but when I can't even survive two mobs without running in circles while spamming my heal and dying if I spend more than one resource trying to actually do damage to them is not fun. I'll check out those builds, but at this point I would have to go back and redo old content or start from scratch. Neither of those options sounds very fun to me.

Edit:

I just hit Blue Mountain and a lot of people are saying it's god awful and very hard...maybe my issue is with the zone, but I was having a little trouble before I got to that zone as well.

HP isn't king, though. You'll notice that on a lot of blue and purple gear, there's not a lot (if any) of health on them. Have you tried putting together one of the starter decks? Blue Mountain is hell if you're playing alone; try asking in chat channels (faction and zone) if anyone wants to group up for missions. Having that second person there makes a huge difference.

[Kelimbror]

HP isn't king, though.

I just meant that at a certain point I realized I needed to make sure I had HP on just about everything and that stacking just offensive stats wasn't going to cut it. I was getting taken down way too quickly.

Have you tried putting together one of the starter decks? Blue Mountain is hell if you're playing alone; try asking in chat channels (faction and zone) if anyone wants to group up for missions. Having that second person there makes a huge difference.

I was using a starter deck until it became woefully inadequate. Then I started trying to 'play smart' and it hasn't made a difference. Having to group up just to do standard questing is a huge turn off for me. Yes, MMO, there are people...I shouldn't need them just to level my own character. This really felt like an immersive world where I could be on my own like some secret operative of an organization, don't really want to play with others.

I'm sure I'll slog through it, but this is a really negative thing in my opinion. Something I'll just have to work through since a large part of the game is the way progressing your abilities is designed...which I still like.

[Deleted]

Just finished all the story quests, and got 2 kickass outfits as a reward. This game is definitely the best 30€ investment beside charity.

This game is like the complete opposite of what world of warcraft has become, tough questing, no hand-holding, deep and rich story, intense heroic 5 mans etc.

[WarpedAcorn]

Here is a technical question for anyone who purchased it recently. Allegedly I should have gotten 1200 complimentary "Secret World Bucks" when I bought the game, but I haven't gotten any code for it. I submitted a ticket over 24 hours ago with no response. Any ideas where I'm supposed to get it?

If it helps, I purchased it from Amazon.com and they only provided the actual game code. I tried entering that code as a bonus code, but that didn't work. I did contact Amazon, and they said I should have received the code from the manufacturer.

Any ideas?

[philefluxx]

I've been a fan of the "no-backsies" system from the start myself, because it encourages planning and smart choices over whims (not that I mean anything by it, don't take it the wrong way).

I agree to an extent, but for a game like this I dont want to spend hours reading about min/max just to get my toon leveled to cap. Sure once Ive hit the cap and Im looking to take on the more challenging endgame content Ill spend the research time. But its not fun having to worry about my choices at such a low level in a MMORPG that is supposed to be about providing tons of options.

[Kelimbror]

Any ideas?

You get the points after completing 30 missions.

---------- Post added 2013-04-02 at 04:44 PM ----------

I agree to an extent, but for a game like this I dont want to spend hours reading about min/max just to get my toon leveled to cap. Sure once Ive hit the cap and Im looking to take on the more challenging endgame content Ill spend the research time. But its not fun having to worry about my choices at such a low level in a MMORPG that is supposed to be about providing tons of options.

Exactly.

[YouAreAllWrong]

Honestly, I really like that mobs are hard to kill. It feels so fresh after playing all these brain dead MMOs where you press two buttons and everything dies.
What needs fixing, in my opinion, is areas that have heavy density of mobs and there are awfully a lot of them in BM. Combat relies on moving a lot, but when you have areas that are packed with multiple monsters it just makes this type of gameplay useless and the overall experience frustrating. I mostly found that problem in BM though, all the other zones are just fine up until City of the Sun God where I currently play.

[Razael]

The game is not friendly to people used to regular MMO snoozefest. Its not your lack of skills. Its apparently hard like that.
Some mobs hit like trucks, certain decks are useless with some mobs, its just the way it is.
Once you taste death enough times (like i did in Blue Mountains), you learn to hate certain mobs (Personally those Ak'ab, seriously, fuck Ak'ab), by themselves, if you happen to pull a second i just run for my life. Im not kidding. Once i got to Egypt that feeling of me being a super hero was gone. I was starting to chose fights, if the location allows me to dodge telegraphs without pulling etc. Sometimes it feels like its a shortcoming of the game, they do throw you some stuff i barely get through by myself, and i found the help of my guildies invaluable in doing lots of missions. But sometimes when you switch tactics and pull it off, it feels great.

[Sj]

(Personally those Ak'ab, seriously, fuck Ak'ab)

God yes. Ak'ab can eat a bowl of dicks.

[paxen]

A couple of things about difficulty level...

Firstly, as xp increases almost exponentially it's never a good idea to go back to a previous zone unless you're completely stuck. If you can actually finish a mission in your current zone it should be more AP/SP per time to do that even if you struggle. That's partly why I don't mind the "no respec" thing - as you progress your earlier choices matters less and less, as it becomes cheaper and cheaper to just pick up replacements for bad abilities.

Secondly, soloing rewards a balance of damage abilities and survival abilities. I made it to egypt using only a dps focused pistol/ele build, but pulling more than one extra mob always meant run away. They did go down quickly in singles though. My best tip, when you manage to unlock outer wheel elites, is to grab the Hammer elite passive Forged in Fire. It makes nearly any build completely viable (even my otherwise pure dps build), and as a passive you can always slot it no matter what weapons you use. But this is a bit beyond Blue Mountain IIRC (I think I got Live Wire around the end of BM/beginning of Scorched Desert). Fists have some decent healing abilities available low in the trees, I like passive hots and consumer heals. But you need to have some +heal gear if you want them to be of any use.

Solo gear should have a little over 50% straight +attack and the rest should either be +hp or +heal. Remember that some pieces are worth more than others (I can post the breakdown if you want) and that blues changes the formula around as there's no longer +hp on all pieces.

(The most awesome solo builds IMO in the game use the fist passive elite Empowerment combined with two or three passives that proc hots with some +heal gear and a lot of +crit glyphs. So fist has huge potential for soloing.)

But it never gets easy or quick to kill mobs. When it does, finding something more difficult to kill is the right way.

[WarpedAcorn]

You get the points after completing 30 missions.

Ah ha! Thanks. I maybe should start doing the little sidequests on the ground. I've been sticking to doing story/main missions.


Unrelated note, I ran into the first mission I had to "investigate" using the ingame web browser. It was actually pretty cool and different.

[Kelimbror]

Ah ha! Thanks. I maybe should start doing the little sidequests on the ground. I've been sticking to doing story/main missions.

Oh yeah don't do that, you want to do a lot of side quests. Not only is that where the bulk of points/xp comes from, but it really fleshes out the lore in an area, achievements, etc. It's a completely different mode of thinking, but just take it one quest at a time through the finish, then pick up your story every now and then.

You can mark the map with the locations of all the extra quests so you can plan how to go back through them. You don't have to pick up every quest you see (and you can't obviously) but it's pretty good to do them as you come to them, otherwise you'll be running all over the place and miss a lot of story.