[Megathread] Secret World Legends

[Fkiolaris]

Does it mater what other games have done? The Ability Wheel was unique and even experienced MMO vets had trouble grasping all the nuances at first. Maybe having legit pre-built Decks would have helped instead of the junk they shipped with.

It does matter when you complain that it does not explain its systems well enough and it turns away people. Games don't exist in isolation, if someone complains about something, it's in relation to what can be found elsewhere. Or are you saying that all these people tried TSW, gave up and never played a game again?

Also, what is wrong with not grasping all the nuances from the beginning? Isn't that a sign of a potentially good system? Easy to start, difficult to master? For me at least it is, but each to their own

And the system did screw up players. No one liked having to redo previous content because they messed up their first Deck and couldn't progress. That alone pushed away a lot of players.

I truly don't get this statement. How can you get screwed when nothing prevents you from building any deck you like with some time investment? It's like people saw the wheel that offers more possibilities to build your character than any MMO that I am aware of, decided that there must be "The One" built that does everything and when they rolled the dice once and missed this imaginary deck they just quit the game. I don't believe the Wheel was the problem, gearing up was and it was a problem that Funcom straggled with for a very long time. I don't know what they are doing in the new game, but if it's as imbalanced as it was in the original then this time don't expect the Ability Wheel to come and hide the real issue.

In the end TSW (for me) is about the story and atmosphere. It's about the Investigation Missions and the great VO. I enjoyed making Decks but in the end most of us were running similar Builds because of how much filler was in the Wheel. I just wanted a Deck that let me continue the Story TBH.

And this subjective opinion is perfectly fine. Mine, which is also subjective, is about what you enjoy plus the ability to make new decks to try and tackle content in different ways. As an old school RPG player, for me that is paramount to my enjoyment of any RPG game. The wheel might not have been perfect in many ways, but it had more good things about it than negatives and it added tremendously to the game (IMO).

Anyway, as Funcom has decided that there will no similar system in the new game, this discussion is pointless. I hope you enjoy the new game along with all the people that gave up on the original because of the Ability Wheel. Personally, I will probably be checking other games a bit more seriously. All the best

[Witchblade77]

hmm... guess I'll be trying it out. I really enjoyed the story in originally, but even with returned zones and getting a little boost of points to use in my wheel, there was just something about combat that didn't quite work for me. reserved my name. so guess we shall see (edited, games like secret world is something I first and foremost play for the story.. so making it more about story and soloable, is a plus for me at least, I do feel bad for people who enjoy the original game. at least I bought all the extra chapters I have on deep DEEP sale)

[mkultra55]

It does matter when you complain that it does not explain its systems well enough and it turns away people. Games don't exist in isolation, if someone complains about something, it's in relation to what can be found elsewhere. Or are you saying that all these people tried TSW, gave up and never played a game again?

You seem fixated on a binary answer when it's more nuanced. Other games at the time could get away with paltry in game explanations of design mechanics because said mechanics were very simple. In general most other MMO's were WOW clones and most players came to new MMO's of that era with some experience in WOW and could grasp the concepts of a new game with a few hours of gameplay.

The Wheel and the way Skills Synergized with all the various Debuffs was a totally new and cool concept but it's ludicrous to think Funcom could get away with minimal in game help compared to other MMO's. It's great to appreciate the intelligence of your audience but in this case it obviously backfired.

That's why I say it doesn't matter what other games did.

Also, what is wrong with not grasping all the nuances from the beginning? Isn't that a sign of a potentially good system? Easy to start, difficult to master? For me at least it is, but each to their own

Because one of the biggest sins in MMO's is making players feel like they've wasted time. If a player is 2/3 through New England when they fully grasp the system they may feel like a lot of the AP they've earned has been wasted on the "wrong" skills. Even if it's just psychological that feeling makes many players want to quit.

I truly don't get this statement. How can you get screwed when nothing prevents you from building any deck you like with some time investment? It's like people saw the wheel that offers more possibilities to build your character than any MMO that I am aware of, decided that there must be "The One" built that does everything and when they rolled the dice once and missed this imaginary deck they just quit the game. I don't believe the Wheel was the problem, gearing up was and it was a problem that Funcom straggled with for a very long time. I don't know what they are doing in the new game, but if it's as imbalanced as it was in the original then this time don't expect the Ability Wheel to come and hide the real issue.

You keep saying things like Blue Mountain was just gear and had nothing to do with the Wheel and I disagree. Any player who wasn't running some sort of self-healing build was in for a very tough time once they got to Blue Mountain. Many player found themselves struggling, gear or no gear and many wound up going back to the previous zones in order to farm AP so they could get a viable Build.

This goes back to what I said earlier about making players feel like they've wasted time. Blue Mountain was where TSW lost a lot of players and one of the big reasons was they picked the "wrong" build. Yes, with time it was easily remedied (I'm an example of a player who stuck with the game) but your average player doesn't want to hear that.

And this subjective opinion is perfectly fine. Mine, which is also subjective, is about what you enjoy plus the ability to make new decks to try and tackle content in different ways. As an old school RPG player, for me that is paramount to my enjoyment of any RPG game. The wheel might not have been perfect in many ways, but it had more good things about it than negatives and it added tremendously to the game (IMO)

You missed my point. I love the Wheel and I love that TSW wasn't a WOW clone. I'm sad to see the Wheel go but if I have to choose between the Wheel and getting new story content I'll pick the content.

Anyway, as Funcom has decided that there will no similar system in the new game, this discussion is pointless. I hope you enjoy the new game along with all the people that gave up on the original because of the Ability Wheel. Personally, I will probably be checking other games a bit more seriously. All the best

Bummer. I'd say you should at least check it out since it's free.

[Acidbaron]

Complicated games work but not as mmo's that's a lesson we learned a while ago, you can make complicated systems that will punish you for bad character choices and they will be popular enough.

I hope it picks up more attention since honestly it's worth playing for the quests and the scenery, it's a good world on its own.

[wombinator04]

Some news from the reddit ama.

The social hubs will have a player cap of 500. This is good news, the hubs will be active and lively(maybe....only Argatha was active in original TSW).
NDA dropping "really soon".
Roadmap/future updates announcements coming soon.
Also there will apparently be some special bonuses for everyone who owned TSW and a few more if you had the complete edition....info on those bonuses coming soon.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/commen...k_us_anything/

[Edge-]

I know folks who owned TSW will get all weapons unlocked right outta the gate, but I really want to know what this "more" is.

Also, they need to fucking detail sub/GM rewards already. We're 3 weeks out from launch, the flood gates should be open and we should not be asking a lot of these questions. Not terribly impressed with how Funcom has handled this whole process.

[schwy]

The perfect Secret World game for me would be a fleshed out single player experience that you could play offline, while having the option to play it online with other people. Sort of like Diablo or whatever. It's hard to put it in words other then that. I love the game, so on-line only means it will eventually be gone, which saddens me greatly. It's a game I could play every year around Halloween.

And the "MMO" aspect has always felt awkward, but there is a window to really have fun playing with a friend.

So glad I got around to playing it last year, it was my addiction for several months. I couldn't shut up about it, bought people a pass, watched the trailer a million times. But it was a melancholy experience as well, could tell the hammer was coming. I dunno man, hope the revamp succeeds.

[Coldkil]

I've really been looking forward to starting Secret World again, can't wait for SWL to come out.

Word of advice for anyone looking to enjoy the game: stay the fuck away from forums that discuss the game. Every place is filled to the brim with veteran players who are ass blasted about the changing mechanics and the negativity does get to you. Let the bitter neckbeards fellate each other over how much the sky is falling, and just play the game once it comes out. It is free to play after all, so there is nothing to lose even if you decided you don't like it once you try it.

So basically like any other online game where forums are usually full of people whining?

On topic, yes, i will avoid them like a plague - specifically because it's a re-release and there will be the "core playerbase" agains the "new players" where everyone will just say stuff which is partially true bfore going all the way into ranting.

The game has a so rich lore and story that people should just take it as a single player or occasional co-op and play it enjoying the content.

[Sixnalia]

I completely agree.

Some of the complaints are fairly given. The original iteration, and many of them thereafter, for the "action combat", giant reticle, and lack of camera distance control was causing a fair amount of motion sickness for some of the beta population. They fixed a lot of this, but the shitstorm necessary to get them to finally change it was something to behold.

As for the "neckbeard" insults. Some of us are pretty passionate about the game. I'll be playing it, because I love the story. But veterans are certainly worried about something else they've already experienced. If the content doesn't come out steadily, we will be lacking a lot of endgame content. TSW was pretty grindy, and some areas, such as Tokyo were incredibly overturned and never truly nerfed down. The way to deal with some boredom related to the grind, and fighting overtuned zones, was to make use of those highly synergistic builds.

It was a way for players to explore new builds and make their own content in a way. It also became a large reason why people stayed during large content droughts and grew to be a part of the game they loved. Of course they'll feel stung seeing that drastic change take place. Or the loss of one of their favorite abilities and animations that went with it.

Staggering the new content they made is a good idea, as it will give players some progression versus climbing a massive wall. And we can only hope that the developers will be attentive to tuning zones for endgame, as well as giving players a means to prepare for those zones.

Not a fan of the nda, so ugh. They did tuning for some zones already. I'm hopeful.

Edit: PS I really hope they bring Jeffrey Combs back for more voice acting when they release new content.

[Edge-]

Finally got my beta invite, but decided against diving in. It's so close to launch and while I do kinda want to get a deeper early look so I can jump right in at launch, I think I'll just leave myself open to being surprised.

All I really want to know is the god damn sub/GM benefits. We're 3 bloody weeks out from launch!

Edit: PS I really hope they bring Jeffrey Combs back for more voice acting when they release new content.

Please yes, also Peter Stormare and a few others! I quite dug Combs' character in the game, definitely looking forward to doing those missions in the school again. That was a great little story arc.

[Sixnalia]

Please yes, also Peter Stormare and a few others! I quite dug Combs' character in the game, definitely looking forward to doing those missions in the school again. That was a great little story arc.

He also voices the doctor that induces your dream scenario for illuminati starters.
He also voices Braniac in the new Injustice game (and he delivers.)


And yeah, more info on benefits for GMs and old players would be cool.

[Edge-]

Yeah, Combs does a bunch of voicework nowadays. I really enjoy him as an actor, he was great in DS9/Enterprise.

I know they've said there may be more benefits to owning the base game beyond just unlocking all the weapons (which was announced earlier), but they've been totally mum on subs/GM benefits -_-

[Elim Garak]

Wait what? Jeffrey Combs is in Secret World? He must be doing quite an awesome job if I didn't recognize his voice from multiple playthrus since the release...

[Edge-]

Wait what? Jeffrey Combs is in Secret World? He must be doing quite an awesome job if I didn't recognize his voice from multiple playthru since the release...

He's the guy with the blue gloves at Innsmouth Academy in Savage Coast.

[unfilteredJW]

Montag and the school were definitely one of the highlights of the game for me.

[Sixnalia]

Montag and the school were definitely one of the highlights of the game for me.

Montag dialogue was pretty great, the habit of going on tangents and combs brilliant mannerisms (which he's known for, but doesnt actually speak in that way) are a great combination.

His voice seems to always give a character something extra. The Question in Justice League stood out to me thanks to how well he delivered those lines. A lesser known, but iconic voice imo

Montag actually makes me think of Combs in The Frighteners. Especially the hair. I wouldn't be surprised to see he has battle armor under that suit.

[Coldkil]

Ok, since release is near, gameplay questions from me surge.

- what changes into choosing one of the three starting factions? It's only initial stuff + pov of the story or it's recommended to play a character for all three factions?
- how gear works? It's a standard RPG structure where you find "+3 ice cream" items or there's something to pay attenmtion to which isn't obvious?
- how is character progression? from what i know they added "levels" to make it more clear, but the actual one is increasing weapon proficiencies with their trees.
- weapons: can i choose any combination of two and work my way with them (assuming i have the whole arsenal unlocked)?

Don't need very deep dives, just an idea of what i'm supposed to look for.

[Sixnalia]

Ok, since release is near, gameplay questions from me surge.

- what changes into choosing one of the three starting factions? It's only initial stuff + pov of the story or it's recommended to play a character for all three factions?
- how gear works? It's a standard RPG structure where you find "+3 ice cream" items or there's something to pay attenmtion to which isn't obvious?
- how is character progression? from what i know they added "levels" to make it more clear, but the actual one is increasing weapon proficiencies with their trees.
- weapons: can i choose any combination of two and work my way with them (assuming i have the whole arsenal unlocked)?

Don't need very deep dives, just an idea of what i'm supposed to look for.

1) Factions are pretty much like they always have been, so pick what you like!

2) you'll find drops through out the game world. Your weappn will have a value of power, and an affix which gives a buff. (You leech when using spenders, as an example). Leveling gear is done by breaking down other items of the same slot and empowering them. So be sure to pick your main weapons early, you'll be investing heavily early on. The game explains the system fairly well before you go to Kingsmouth.

3) Yes, levels exist and they're a somewhat good measure of your beginning experience for how much AP/SP you have and the likely progression you've made in skill trees. At level cap though, you can keep earning AP/SP.

4) Not sure on how players with everything will handle weapons. You're given the first two based on class, and switching meant hoping for a drop or finding a vendor. I'm hoping they give players who played the game previously to get a weapon box to with everything so you can choose

[Coldkil]

-snip-

Thanks, pretty much all clear. So basically i choose my class with the weapons i like and use them. Then in game i can either "shard" a sword to improve my current sword or drop a pistol and use that instead (even if it wasn't part of the initial gearset)?

[Sixnalia]

Thanks, pretty much all clear. So basically i choose my class with the weapons i like and use them. Then in game i can either "shard" a sword to improve my current sword or drop a pistol and use that instead (even if it wasn't part of the initial gearset)?

Yep.

Say you start with hammer/blade as your class, Punisher.
You can find weapon drops, rewards, etc. In game and destroy them while giving experience to your weapon. Your weapons can level up, and at certain points can become a new quality. So green to blue.

If you were to find a new weapon you wanted to use, you'd have to level it and catch up.

If you found a hammer with an affix you like more than your current, you can upgrade the new hammer using the old one. But it will not become the same level. You get a fraction, then you must regrind to catch back up.

-------

They've added lockbox drops. It is a good idea, but their current drop rate feels annoying. Some people are reporting having more than 15 by the time they are lv 10. Subscribers get 1 cache key free per day. It's currently leading to some big boosts if you find gear in them. Some people had weapons outleveling them, leading to some serious power gains while leveling.

Hoping they tone down the drop rate, as it is killing inventory space while out questing. And new players may be turned off, seeing 10 boxes they can't open after 2 hours of play.

The rewards are pretty good for new players, but the value of each item diminishes as you outlevel it.