The Secret World beta weekend

[Miral]

So, this weekend The Secret World has its final open beta before launch; this one is PvP focused (but you can still play the PvE content if you like). And I happen to have five spare beta keys kicking around, so if anyone is interested in giving it a go, let me know.

Fair warning: it's a ~35GB download, and it requires a fairly high end PC at the moment to get good frame rates. The game is highly story focused and plays quite differently from traditional MMOs, although the trinity is still important for group dungeon content. Its main draw for me is that it actually has quests that you have to think about to actually solve -- it's not just killing 15 rats to get 5 tails.

 

[Najos]

I forgot this game was even coming out. I won't have any time to play it right now, but I'll have to keep an eye on it. I don't really trust Funcom anymore...

 

[sanquin]

I'm willing to try it out. As in really beta test the game. Last beta didn't look impressive to me at all, but I'm curious to see what they changed and such. See if the game will maybe be worth it to buy, and see if I can still find (m)any bugs.

 

[ischmalud]

yea got a spare key as well and i cant get rid of it for the live of me - might be related to the fact that i told all my friends how disappointed i am by the game - if you wanna try it anyway sent me a private message

 

[Miral]

I'm willing to try it out. As in really beta test the game. Last beta didn't look impressive to me at all, but I'm curious to see what they changed and such. See if the game will maybe be worth it to buy, and see if I can still find (m)any bugs.

They have improved things quite massively since BW#1 & 2, if those were the ones you'd seen previously. Though as I said above, the frame rate can still be a little sketchy if you don't have good hardware. (On my PC I was getting a steady 70FPS+ on Ultra DX11. Muhuhahaha!)

Anyway, check your PMs -- key sent. Anyone else?

yea got a spare key as well and i cant get rid of it for the live of me - might be related to the fact that i told all my friends how disappointed i am by the game - if you wanna try it anyway sent me a private message

Anyone who has ever registered a vague interest in beta testing the game got sent at least two keys (or activation on their account + 1 spare key). So it's not too surprising that they're hard to give away.

 

[sanquin]

They have improved things quite massively since BW#1 & 2, if those were the ones you'd seen previously. Though as I said above, the frame rate can still be a little sketchy if you don't have good hardware. (On my PC I was getting a steady 70FPS+ on Ultra DX11. Muhuhahaha!)

Anyway, check your PMs -- key sent. Anyone else?

Well, I checked the game out now and...I'm not impressed. A quick pros and cons list:

Pros:
-Good graphics, though it needs to be optimized a little more.
-Some quests are interesting, having to think a little and look stuff up on google and such.
-The story seems to be quite interesting.
-Some of the scenery is beautiful.

Cons:
-Most quests are still 'kill X' and 'gather X'. Or that's what it feels like.
-Combat doesn't feel as fluid as I expected it to be, animations are slightly lacking as well.
-Combat is pretty monotonous. I found myself spamming 1 skill 5 times, then use another skill 1 time. Basically 1-1-1-1-1-2-1-1-1-1-1-2-1-1-1-1-1-2... You get more skills later, but still.
-Voice acting is a bit meh. Also, I found it annoying how I could never talk, only listen with my character. And then be an obedient puppy following what was said even if it didn't make much sense to do so.


Basically, apart from the occasional fun quest mechanics and interesting setting/story, this mmorpg doesn't do anything that other mmorpg's don't do better. Innovation is severely lacking in a lot of places. So if it was free to play, I'd play it. But since it isn't, I'll stick to GW2 and possibly 1 other game. (Maybe if swtor goes ftp, or maybe I'll try DCUO.)

 

[UBERfionn]

I wouldn't mind a beta key if you've got a spare one.
I've been wanting to play this game since the first trailer ages ago!

 

[boyvirgo666]

the problems with the game arent voice acting of other NPC's but the lack of a player voice and the ability trees being kinda samey except for a few makes it feel abit clunky. It could have been ficked if they made certain trees substantially better than others in specialized areas but to keep balance the guns all generally feel the same and the magic comes down to being akward.

 

[Smertnik]

Also, I found it annoying how I could never talk, only listen with my character. And then be an obedient puppy following what was said even if it didn't make much sense to do so.

Yeah, I found that extremely irritating. The game kinda assumes that you talk but you don't, everybody comes up to you and starts ranting about whatever s/he feels like and you just stand there with an expressionless face like Mr Roboto.
At least offer some text based responses if you can't be bothered to record character voices but this way is just weird.

Also the combat is very boring and by far not visceral enough. Overall hardly a GW2 competitor for me.
Kinda sad, though, the lore seems to be rather interesting and I love games with fantasy elements set in modern times, there're far too few of those.

 

[sanquin]

snip

Not to mention the 'active dodge'. It's totally pointless to have it in there. Like...what, once every 5~10 sec? I can take traditional hotkey point and click combat, but not when it feels sluggish and you can't even auto attack. (disliked that about swtor after a while too) Most modern made mmorpg's make your attacks feel like they have some weight behind them. TSW doesn't. It's just your char doing an animation, and you seeing a small, unimpressive number above the enemies head. No 'feeling' of the hit connecting.

Anyway, like I said. It's not a bad game. Just not buy + subscription worthy. And even though it would come out soon, it still feels very much like a beta. Previous games where people said 'it's just a beta!' even a month before the game would come out, have turned out to still be like that in retail. Hence, TSW will probably be like that too. And I don't like paying full price + sub for a beta. =/