TSW - my thoughts

[Zed]

I have to say im really enjoying TSW. It definately feels different. Almost like what SWTOR should or Could have been like:

1. No classes or levels: Remember the old days in UO: pick a skill, use it and it goes up. Well here we have earn APs (action points) and then spend them to unlock a skill. you have to unlock each skill in a 'tree' to get the next one or unlock all of them to get to the next spoke.

The downside to this is its very easy to build a naff character. the decks give you a way to aim for specifics but these are not optimal. However if you get to the point of earning an achievement for a deck you should know what your doing.

2. Genre. Cthulhu, Van helsing, Occult, Men in black. classic modern horror and gothic horror all rolled into one. The lore is incredible and very well done. Hunting around for the lore is part of the fun. Each zone is fully explorable with missions appearing all over the place as you run around doing other missions.

3. Missions. Mixed. Make you think. I've seen a lot of complaints because simple people expect missions to be handed to you on a plate ALA WoW. using Google is part of the mission progression - assuming you can avoid searching for spoilers already.

Overall I find it a fun PvE experience. There is faction pvp but ive heard bad things (and seen the posts here about it) and so far have stayed clear. Some screenshots for you all. My PC is getting old so probably not the best quality you can get

 

[Sheleph]

I'm very much enjoying it, too. I think the genre and style (it's not just another fantasy MMO) makes it more interesting. Then the mission content, with sleuthing things out rather than just kill/find/protect missions. Then the interface, just 7 active skills so no quickbars all over the place.

I like the level-less system but progression through opening up skills you choose, and gaining better kit, so you become stronger. With infinite XP, you can (over time) get every skill in the game so even if you pick "the wrong" skill at some point it doesn't matter at all, you can explore/quest a bit more then get the skills you fancy. Even with more skills unlocked, you can only use 7 at any point, so there's no powergaming to get "better" skills than someone who games less.

It encourages players to just have a play and dabble in every way - which role you play (tank, healer, DPS, support, hybrid), with what mission style you enjoy (kill missions, investigation missions, action missions, stealth missions), PvE or PvP, what abilities/combinations of abilities you want to unlock and play with. On offering up such flexibility, the game necessarily is pretty forgiving, so you can experiment and just have a play at it all, without gimping your character/ever needing to start again.

All makes for an engaging and addictively playable game.

Pics of how the game looks in London, how there's a fairy working in the bar, how foes really are monstrous . . .

 

[Chick]

that UI reminds me of CoH.
Happy memories.
is it f2p? pay2win or standard subscription stuff?

 

[Zed]

Right now standard sub but i think everyone expects it to F2P eventually.

 

[Artanix]

It has a definate feel of CoX to it, I was even talking to one of my friends about it. The lore is very lovecraft-y, and from the dev blogs and stuff, they intend to build on it in great depth.

The only advice if you do play, is to NOT play it like a standard MMO, don't skip the cutscenes, take your time, and just explore. Theres very little to gain by rushing through zones as quickly as possible.

I find most of the complaints are from people who came at this with a WoW background, smashed their way through the quests as quickly as possible, and started grinding dungeons (or raids) which is just, a boring way to play a game. Oh and the dungeons are great too

 

[Artanix]

Oh and it has a tasty web thing too: (don't ask about the real name, is was literally a spur of the moment thing )

http://chronicle.thesecretworld.com/character/Artanix

 

[Zed]

you have regeneration in your passives which doesnt have a corresponding triggering active

otherwise your build aint too far from my build http://chronicle.thesecretworld.com/character/Zedanya

 

[Artanix]

Yeah, its a work in progress

Oh yeah, to let you know, Crimson Theatre is getting a nerf by 70%+ in patch 1.1, so might want to take it out once we're on the new patch.

 

[Zed]

Minding my own business i ran across what can only be described as a deep one

 

[Artanix]

So I've just got into the meat of whats going down in Egypt... I have to say, once you finish Dawning of an endless night, the game steps up a gear and truly gets epic.

the Egypt area's are really good, and the storyline is properly good, the acting on the NPC's is really good as well, and the investigation missions, argh, I've learnt a few new things recently lol I bet hieroglyphics websites are being spammed with new hits right now

 

[Zed]

Hehe either im playing too slow or too cautious. Ive almost finished Savage coast - about to rerun the missions there before moving to Blue mountains.

 

[Darakor]

No reason to hurry. I am still in savage coast, too. I may have bought the game a week after it was published, but I am taking my time, too. I read all the quests, watch all the cutscenes and generally try to do most storylines of an area before I move on.

In between, I tend to pvp, so I am on the same amount of skills as a friend that is one zone further than me. I do not care, because there is not that much to be won by advancing quicker.

 

[Darakor]

Does anybody else find that a number of quests are just plain spooky? I found that I cannot play the game too late in the evening, because I stumble across one of those quests, I have problems sleeping. But then, I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to horror.

 

[Artanix]

Does anybody else find that a number of quests are just plain spooky? I found that I cannot play the game too late in the evening, because I stumble across one of those quests, I have problems sleeping. But then, I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to horror.

Wait till you do the Asylum, its horrible, properly scarey stuff. You even get a sanity debuff (wont spoil it for you).



As for another one in Egypt, I just had an investigation quest that involved learning hebrew and arabic, that was "fun".

 

[Zed]

the whole genre is very well done in TSW. Having not got out of the Savage coast some of the quests there are just plain wrong! (in the sense of terror/horror) and the lore is just plain Woah!

So far the lore ive found : the lady Margaret, the 1812 fire, the Monster club and the academy could all be converted into classic Cthulhu RPG adventures without too much difficulty. a TSW RPG would be very interesting i reckon if you could capture the skill system and the feel of the game

 

[Darakor]

Does anybody have any ideas on how to get money in this game aside from doing quests?

I am alternating pvp and pve and it looks like my skill levels (SP and AP wise) have far outstripped both the gear I have and the side skills (like faster runspeed) that I could purchase. Also means that I am mostly too strong for the quests I am doing, but I don't really mind that. ;-) The game is scary enough as it is.

 

[Gottaa]

I'd just like to point out reading this thread over time and watching Guild Wars 2 video's is what's convincing me to buy a PC again

 

[Sheleph]

Best MMO I've played in years.

Love the freeform character development, but there's real development.

Love the varied missions where you investigate without any answers in game what so ever, you really have to Google and investigate.

Love the teaming up, which is easy and works.

Love the pace, with short but meaningful battles where your skills and choices really matter. But then there's no downtime. Yay!

Really love the genre, with a modern day spooky feel to it all that's utterly immersive somehow done without being cheesy or blood splatter horror. Feels very much like World of Darkness, playing Mage or Vampire or Changeling.

Dropped DDO, COV and SWTOR for this, it's really drawn me in!

Oh, and after (many) years, I get to bimble about with Zed again

 

[Zed]

Oh, and after (many) years, I get to bimble about with Zed again

You know you are doomed dont you.

i still remember the trip to the curry house. Oh yes i remember that well!