The Secret World Preview

[TitanAtlas]

It's not going to be Free-to-play. It's going to combine a subscription and microtransactions.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/26/the-secret-worlds-business-model-to-feature-subs-and-cash-shop/

But later could adopt a F2P model. It has proven to be great even with micro-transactions. Look at Guild wars or more recently the DC Universe game that went f2p (but with certain restrictions that do not step on your gameplay in any way).

So hoping for it to become f2p like 5 months or so after it's launch is a valid wish xD

 

[Steve Dark]

Kingsmouth... Innsmouth... Iseewhatyoudidthar.

 

[Thyunda]

Much as I could not STAND Funcom's previous MMO, Anarchy Online, I had faith in this when it was first announced, so much so I signed up for the Templars when their first teaser went out.
I am so glad I was not disappointed.

 

[nyysjan]

Been following TSW progress on and of for bit over a year now, and from all i've read and seen, it has potential to be a kickass mmo.
While i am more excited about SW:TOR atm, i will be giving this a go wether or not i am actively playing SW:TOR, it might make a nice second mmo for when the main one gets boring or is under maintenance or there simply is nothing to do in it.

The character building style especially shows promise for casual playstyle, the ability to pick some basic skills and jump almost straight into action, but with greater complexity coming over time (assuming you don't hit your absolute favorite skill combo in first hit).
Anyone up to date on how much gear impacts your power level? It was at one time stated that it would be somewhere between none and little, but haven't been actively following for few months now.

 

[SyphonX]

I am very, very interested in this. I've been following it for a couple years now, and really.. don't know anything about it aside from little details.

It seems so utterly unique, with a style all it's own. Apparently it's going to be a very social meta-game, inside and out. I love the 'fashion' aspect, as silly as that sounds, but the lack of 'uniqueness' in MMOs has been one of their biggest weaknesses for a decade now. So I think you're absolutely right that people will start defining themselves based off what region they habit the most, or what their attitude/behavior is, and it will become a part of the game itself. Like, "Oh, those guys, yea I'm not really into their style of play." or "I recognize those people from when I was in Egypt." etc.

Color me intrigued with The Secret World, as usual.

 

[Puddleknock]

Good to see more news on TSW, been feeding to scraps for whats seems like months. Very much looking forward to it modern day setting MMORPG is a huge plus for me.

Oh and I'll be playing as a templar for sure, though I remember when lurking the TSW forums some time ago that the vast majority of people wanted to play as dragon. I hope the balance between the factions evens out when the game actually launches.

 

[messy]

It's not going to be Free-to-play. It's going to combine a subscription and microtransactions.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/26/the-secret-worlds-business-model-to-feature-subs-and-cash-shop/

Thanks for that. Very well, fingers crossed it goes free to play. Not that I wish the company ill I just won't be able to play it otherwise.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Gah.. now that they're actually promoting it as a story and character based game instead of essentislly the MMO lite action game it was looking to be for a while I must admit I'm interested again. The real world connections to the story and quests are one of the things that appealed to me when I first heard about it. Not to mention the modern day setting and cosmetic clothing options.

Still giving it a wide berth until we really here what the actually long term game play is like, especially given that it will have a sub fee. LOTRO is able to sate pretty much all of my MMO desires without having a sub fee and without having an obscene amount of grinding or even any real world money spending if you so choose. A new game would have to give me a hell of a lot to make paying a sub fee feel worth it to me again.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

I never saw the problem with subscriptions, they basically boil down to being $0.3 a day. You won't even notice that if someone took that out of your wallet. And you certainly wouldn't be able to get anything for that price, so hey, on a day to day basis it seems fair to me. Developing post-launch content and server maintenance doesn't come cheap.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

This is very very intriguing. Monthly fees annoy me, but I don't play MMOs as MMOs, I play them as long singleplayer games that I have to beat quickly or pay additional money, so I could probably swing a couple months of it. If it as as impressive as it sounds, of course.

 

[sleeky01]

I was really hoping that TSW would eventually turn out that, since there were 3 factions that your success or failure in PvE missions against the other 2 factions somehow had an effect other than well to gather XP and cash.

Is there any evidence my hopes might come to pass?

 

[Tarkand]

Hmm, I maybe out of the loop here, but didn't funcom have the right to the World of Darkness MMO nailed down? This sounds an awful lot like the world of darkness (where you're essentially playing a Hunter...) with different terminology for stuff.

 

[Peace Frog]

wut? You can fight Cthulhu? Seems pretty canon breaking.

 

[ASnogarD]

I dont mind Subscriptions or Cash shops, but not both in one game... not intrested.

I hate how subscriptions went from being a the evil required to play a everchanging game with a lot of other gamers in the same persistant world, to a entry fee that doesnt cover the extra content or all the items in the game.

The item shops ruined it all, the old free to play got revenue from adverts where you could pay a fee to remove the ads, now its you can play the game for free but the best stuff cant be earned in game but for just a few £££ you too can own this ultra powered sword of axing the shotgun of miniguns.

I was hooked into AoC by the marketing and hype and Funcom failed soooooo hard with that title, despite the intresting start of the game... it was when you first left Tortuga it went to hell quickly, buggy , laggy with bad PvP and a really stupid resource and crafting system... the much vaunted and hyped active combat system was flawed as hell, in such a obvious and basic manner... hitting your fancy combos and finally executing that powerfull finisher only to note that your opponent wasnt brain dead and had...stepped out of range of your whirling axes of doom, and set all thier 300 monsters, zombies and various horrors to attack you.
Sure its all fixed now ( maybe ) but it doesnt sort out the fact my cash was wasted on yet another mmo box ( along with Vangaurd:Saga of Heroes, LotrO (collectors ed. ), Aion and WoW )... bad reputation is bad.

Personally I gave up on MMO's for the most part and satisfy my occasional MMO twitch with the basic free2play asian style MMO's out there, and LoL ( looking at DOTA2, Tribes and Firefall as well ).

 

[Dastardly]

It finally occurred to me why this game gave me such ridiculous deja-vu:

1. Interchangeable, buffet-style skill system
2. Three secretive factions vying for control through indirect conflict
3. Aesthetics-only clothing, with stats kept separate
4. Separate story missions / side missions / main missions
5. Phone-it-in quest completion
6. Puzzles requiring out-of-game research
7. Inclusion of in-game browser to facilitate that research

It's The Matrix Online. Underappreciated after the SOE takeover and removal of the Live Events Team, but it was an interesting and very different type of MMO. It had a lot going for it, and it seems that most of that is being borrowed by The Secret World. I wonder if any former employees from Monolith are working at FunCom...

 

[catalyst8]

Subscription fees AND microtransactions?
No thank you. The game looks awesome though.

I assumed WoW would be the only game to continue doing this.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is launching next month as a subscription game. Rift is subscription, as are Eve, Aion, & numerous others. Many more like Age of Conan & Global Agenda make the pretence of being free to play, but require additional payment to allow access to the full game or particular contents.

I've been following The Secret World's development for four or five years, & look forward to its April release; it promises to deliver some ground-breaking features, particularly the meta-game. EA's recent arrival as publisher meant that this game will receive good publicity prior to its launch, & that's certainly been the case so far.

 

[Fearzone]

Even for free, I couldn't get very far in Age of Conan. There is a problem with mixing linear story-based gameplay with an MMO. It is wierd knowing everybody there has experienced the same turn of events I have. Good MMOs, from the beginning, let the actions within the world be unique to the player. 

 

[Clockwork Scarecrow.]

This looks quite good, I might actually get in on this.

 

[Halceon]

Well, at least there's something to look forward to, if TOR turns out as flawed as the beta players are suggesting.