This is the last week the Grand Master Pack (aka lifetime subscription) will be available for The Secret World. It’s also on sale right now for 150$/€. Ironweakness, who started … Continue reading TSW’s Grand Master pack: still worth it?
Tag: The Secret World
What to play and going buy-to-play
The recent weeks didn’t see much of MMORPG playtime. I was sick, playing singleplayer games, sick again and on vacation. I briefly considered taking an MMORPG sabbatical for some time, because right now i just feel i’m not in the mood of playing regularly. Gaming, and especially MMORPG-related gaming, tends to become so much of a focus in the private life that launching a game becomes the standard option of things to do in free time- and i don’t want that to be the case anymore. I don’t want to “automatically” sit in front of the PC as soon as i have some room to breathe, because in these last weeks, i found that to be suffocating. I don’t know if you can relate to this, but that’s where i’m coming from right now.
So now i’m going to give gaming a lesser focus in my free time. It won’t be the standard option anymore- see, raising a child for the last two years saw me getting out of touch with some other hobbies of mine- reading and watching tv-series or movies, for instance.
Anyways, this is still my gaming-related blog here, so let’s take a look at what i’m planning right now.
Final Fantasy XIV
As it happens, each and every time i play this game, somehow when i lose focus and momentum, interest goes full on zero. There are reasons for that, of course, the main one being that this game, despite its mechanics, also doesn’t appeal to me on many levels- the relatively small zones, the kind-of-grindy gathering/crafting, the cuteness and the fact that it is- well, i don’t know how to put that in words, but i find it cumbersome, sometimes- it’s almost as if everything in FF14 needs to be done in a deliberate manner.
Another reason is, of course, that i don’t have social ties in the game. Right now, i’m kind of waiting for my current guild to kick me for inactivity (they will, despite me being in the community) and i will look out for other groups when i return to the game next month.
Now, having already bought the expansion (it’s quite cheap on greenmangaming VIP, by the way), i plan a return somewhere around may to make an effort and see where i will be when the expansion hits. Having done that is one of the reasons i didn’t make the titular deliberate choice of going buy-to-play yet, but i kind of expect to do so come the end of the year. Or maybe not. Deliberate choices in MMOland don’t go particularly well for me.
EVE online
Now that’s funny, considering the above paragraphs and the contemplation to go buy-to-play (i’ll muse on that later), but as of today, i returned (if you can call it that) to EVE online. See, EVE is the only MMO out there that provides the features i’m looking for in an MMO- the local/regional markets, the player driven economy, distance being a part of gameplay. They had an offer to reactivate for some discount, and this time i took it- after being three years absent from the game.
Most everyone will tell you that EVE is not a game to play casually and/or solo, but to be honest, i don’t really believe that. EVE is a game where you set your own goals, so when i set my goals accordingly, i don’t see why one couldn’t play it casually and/or solo. Of course, i don’t know the game very good, the learning cliff is still waiting for me, and i fully expect to fall off of it again, but i’ll give it a try nonetheless.
Here are my loosely drawn-up goals:
- get some capital by doing the tutorial(s) and maybe some mission running to get a feel of the game
- start mining
- at some point, i’ll do station trading- when i feel i have some money to play around with (the mining should help with that)
- way further down the line i want to become a manufacturer- as far as i understand it right now, miner – refiner – industrialist is my preferred “progression path”, if you can call it that- the goal is to become an industrialist and trader. The path should help me getting an understanding of the process involved as well as capital. I also don’t know if being an industrialist really is soloable.
- maybe i’ll take a look at exploration
I’m at the beginning of this process, my current capital is 8 million ISK (haha! :D) and i’ll need to learn a lot. It’s going to be slow, as well, but this time i didn’t want to miss the offer- i missed it two or three times already and every time i wanted to get back into the game it wasn’t valid anymore. We’ll see how it goes.
Elder Scrolls Online
Some project also “requires” me to play ESO, and i’m glad for it. I’ll not talk too much about it now, but i’ll start a Templar (continue my level 7 Templar) in an attempt to re-explore the game and try to be a combination of healer and dps, as i always try to be in MMOs.
Age of Conan
The guild project will move to AoC tomorrow. As it looks right now, we’ll be almost two groups of people who play and i’m really looking forward to it.
The Secret World and Guild Wars 2
TSW brought itself back into my MMORPG diet with its New Player Experience. I like what Funcom did there and plan on playing TSW on an irregular basis.
Guild Wars 2 fits into my “going buy to play” plan and would be a good addition to the other two b2p games out there- Elder Scrolls Online, Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World would be a great combination of games to play- if one was in the mood to play, i think these three games combined provide almost everything an MMO player needs, if paying a subscription fee is not what this player is looking for.
Going buy-to-play
Yeah, the title is misleading in this way. I’m not. But remember when i wrote about priorities in the first paragraphs? Subscriptions really don’t fit into this- for me, at least. When i’m paying a sub, it’s not that i want “as many hours as possible” out of the games, but there’s still the nagging feeling of “i’m paying a sub. I should play that game (if i’m playing at all)”. It seems a waste to pay a sub for FF14 but launch Guild Wars 2, for example.
Most free-to-play games are hybrids with an optional subscription. When i play, say, SWTOR, i will sub up because i find the experience to play it without subbing severely lacking. The same would go for ArcheAge, if i were to play that game.
So that’s when i thought about going buy-to-play, and if my EVExperiment doesn’t work out, i might still do just that. The b2p games out there are of a high quality, they don’t have intrusive cash shops, they don’t try too hard to make you subscribe. Buy-to-play is the business model that fits best with my priorization of gaming in my free time.
If i were to make the deliberate choice of only playing b2p games and it would make my (gaming) life so much easier- first, i might not always be tempted to take offers the f2p/p2p games put out, there would also be a very much smaller selection of titles that i’d consider to play on a given night when i want to play and there would be no pressure at all- imagined, self-imposed or otherwise- to play more often than i’d really like to. It would be a good choice for me.
For now, though, there’s still the EVExperiment and Heavensward in my plans.
Funcom – the new good guys?
I don’t know about you, but for me, i’ll always support the “good guys” in the genre. Last year, i thought SOE might shape up to be the new good guy on the block, but since SOE went Daybreak, the news we got were more in line with what happened to Trion after Scott Hartsman returned to the company as CEO. Remember Trion? They are the company behind Rift, and they were- i think- the most popular developer of MMOs up until Rift went free-to-play, although Defiance had put a stain on their white vest already. When it was announced that Trion would be publishing ArcheAge, it was met with great positivity.
Nowadays, Trion isn’t so popular anymore. And even pressed hard, i don’t think i could come up with any studio that’s regarded in a similar way. City state entertainment (Camelot Unchained) seems to be quite popular, but in reality, this is easy for people who haven’t released a game yet.
If we’re looking for a good guy in MMORPG development space, for me, there’d need to be some qualities i’d like to see:
- quite open communication
- an honest, straight-forward business model in their game(s)
- a noticeable will to do what’s best for their games and players
- not outright abandoning any games that don’t perform so well
With all that in mind, my current favourite would be Funcom. Yes, they messed up launches in the past- Age of Conan and Anarchy Online are famous for that. And maybe there were “misunderstandings” when you played through Tortage and realized that the game was quite different later on. Also, they seem to be unable to create a compelling crafting system/economy. But i have the feeling, they’re doing the best they can.
Doing what’s best for their games and players
We know their financials aren’t looking too good, and it seems The Secret World is carrying the weight of the other games in Funcoms portfolio- so it is understandable that their main focus in development would be in TSW. But they haven’t forgotten Age of Conan. New content has been released, the achievement system, while not content in a strict sense, is a system where you can play around even if you are a dedicated long-time veteran of the game.
With the focus of the guild project turning to AoC, i also found that the atmosphere in AoC is interesting, very unique (i thought about another MMORPG with that kind of mood, but i don’t know any) and very well done. Funcom were able to deliver on that even before TSW.
Also, their games feel different. The Secret World moreso than Age of Conan, but to call any of them a “WoW clone” would be quite wrong. You won’t find a game similar to TSW (yet), with the huge focus on story, a brave attempt at cutting down on quest log entries which in effect makes quests more noticeable and important as well as easier to follow and pick up again after some absence.
For instance, in TSW i relogged into my character in the Blue Mountains and it was an easy return- she only had one quest open (two if you count the main story quest) and only one hotbar with abilities- getting reacquainted was an easy task. I also found out how their EPE update made life better- the current quest took me to fight Ah’kabs…lots of them. See, i’m pretty sure they were the reason why i logged out the last time i tried to play TSW and haven’t really returned since. This time, they were still annoying, still not easy to fight mobs, especially when you pull more than one of them, but fighting them was enjoyable.
So they also do what’s in the best interest of their games and players- i’m including the current sales which seem to have brought a lot of new players to the game. In game, it almost feels like a relaunch similar to what happens after a business model change.
Business models in Funcom games
I find The Secret World and Age of Conan to be honest in their business models, as well. They are different- TSW is buy-to-play, Age of Conan basically is free-to-play for levelling and a subscription game at level cap. Both heavily rely on dedicated players to pay the bills which is a nice change to all those PLEX/REX/CREDD/WoW token games that monetize new players. With TSW’s sales, you can get all the currently available content (with the exception of the side-stories, maybe) for 50$.
In Age of Conan, i looked for a reason to subscribe, but there’s really no reason to if you aren’t at level cap. My main reason for looking is the ability to unlock a character with a level above 20, so i could create a guild for the guild project- the perks i’d have for subscribing would be menial, though. A little Alternate Advancement that only really starts at level-cap, anyway, more bag space and…that’s it, i think. Well, some Funcom points.
I can’t talk about Anarchy Online because i don’t know the game and business model, but these two, i find to be quite easy to understand, fair to the players and sensible in what they do.
Yes, it seems there is a little bit of complaining around as somehow deals for new players to join are seen as “screwing” their loyal customer base. I don’t agree- games always go into discount some time after release and, especially in MMOs, free-to-play, item shops and digital sales have stabilized prizes somewhat. I mean, Elder Scrolls Online, for instance, was sold for 20$ in january, when they announced the change to buy-to-play. Nowadays, it’s 60$ again, and still one of the best-selling games on Steam and Amazon.
Open communication
I don’t really know how it is nowadays, after Joel Bylos went to his new project, but when he was around, he communicated very open and honest in the official game forums.
So, for now, i declare Funcom my current favourite developer. I feel like they’re doing their best within their financial abilities, they treat their customers like adults and they aren’t afraid to try new things in their games or change their games in ways that ultimately benefit all their customers.
The Secret World: it had to be done
The Secret World just released its new player experience, which is a patch/update containing lots of quality-of-life improvements for players. Of special note are the ability to travel from anima node to anima node, reducing mob spawns and cutting on the time-to-kill of mobs. The latter causes some trouble for longtime players- you know, the usual “catering to the casuals” stuff. I kind of understand the problem; one of the things i liked about TSW was how it encourages group play instead of forcing it by simply making it a lot more convenient to do quest content in small groups instead of solo. So it seems this isn’t very valid anymore, but we’ll have to see about that.
But i think it is wrong to talk about “difficulty” here- the mobs in TSW weren’t difficult, they were annoying. How many comments are there in TSW-related articles on MMO websites that basically state “good game, great story and atmosphere. Couldn’t stand the combat”? I think it’ll go into hundreds if not thousands of individual players- but i don’t think the combat is necessarily the issue here. Yes, it is a simple “builder builder builder consumer” combat that makes you press one attack again and again and again sometimes, but honestly, combat in most MMORPGs isn’t great- generally, i’d say if you (can) use a macro, the combat is tedious, because either it should offer strategy and adaption (for non-action combat) or movement, positioning and ability (action combat). I haven’t seen an MMO that fit the bill, with the exception of perhaps Wildstar and/or Firefall. On the strategy side, there are a few- EQ2, Tera, Guild Wars 2, FF14 among others. TSW fits this bill, as well- the ability wheel is there to provide some strategical depth while the combat itself is somewhat action-oriented.
I think the main problem was the time-to-kill. Everytime i tried to get back into the game, mainly for story and atmosphere, as so many others, i rolled my eyes every time i pulled one of the more sophisticated mobs- it wasn’t dangerous; it was tedious.
So here we are, with the new player experience, and by the looks of it, many players (who didn’t play the game regularly last week) like what they see. I’ve not been able to take a look myself, although a new character was born yesterday late in the evening- i brought her to the sheriff’s office in Kingsmouth and logged out there.
If Funcom is able to get some players back into the game, more power to them. They have to do it, we know financials aren’t looking stellar, and personally, i think it’s a pity- here’s a small developer who cares for their players and tries its best to provide unique experiences (say what you want, but AoC isn’t exactly a WoW clone, Anarchy Online is its own beast and TSW is three steps away from what usually gets released), aren’t easily shutting down games and do have some interesting business models without exploiting them.
The Secret World’s business model aims to sell content to players- which, in my opinion, is one of the fairest business model out there- because the “hardcore” player who powerlevels through the game pays the same as someone who takes his or her time to play. Sure, there are cosmetics and other stuff in the store, but i don’t think this makes the monetization worse. But once all your current players bought every DLC, you won’t be selling much, so getting back those former players who might then buy DLC is a good idea- not only for Funcom, but also for all who like TSW for what it is- after all, it’s the money that’ll get new content made.
AoC takes a different approach- you can play just fine as f2p player, until you go into expansion territory, then you’ll have to sub up. This might not be as fair, but at least it monetizes the dedicated players and not- like all those PLEX, CREDD, REX, WoW token games those who aren’t loyal customers.
So i’d like to see Funcom succeed, in my eyes, they deserve it. I know there have been some troubled launches and player experience hickups (Tortage vs. the rest of AoC), but this is a truly independent MMO dev.
I think TSW is one of the handful of great “second MMOs” out there- for me, it would lack something to play it regularly and often, but it has its very, very strong points, as well- story and atmosphere are about the best you can get in MMO land. And it is somewhat of a “play-to-finish” MMO, you don’t need to devote everything you have into TSW to “achieve” something. One quest is good enough.
The game caters to roleplayers in a way MMOs rarely do. First of all, your role isn’t exactly the super-hero that saves the world all by him-/herself, the setting allows to roleplay in a way that you have lesser things to work around (like whispering, death and so on), you can take the RP out into the real world, as well (to Twitter, for example) or take the real world into the game world. It’s quite “easy to do” in TSW, so i might take this angle (without the twitter stuff, i don’t have time for that), but i haven’t decided yet.
What i can say is, that at least for the zombies you fight early on, they’re taking me more time to kill with my current (blood focus and assault rifle) than with my usual weapons (sword & assault rifle), but i wanted to do something different this time around and so i’ll probably go and try some kind of leeching build.
Towards a bright future
I’m excited, again. This is a result of a few events since i last wrote.
Time is running
First of all, i haven’t had much time to play all through september until the middle of this month. What i do then is what i should always do: fire up the games i like to play in this moment. See, since i know i won’t be playing for longer than, let’s say, 1 hour , there’s not much of a point to “force” myself into those MMORPGs i decided to treat as “main MMO”- if i’m in the mood for some The Secret World atmosphere, so be it.
As a result, i’ve played that one in those weeks where my weekly average playtime was about 3-4 hours. Sometimes i started something else- like Lotro, for example, and even Star Wars: the old republic (which i still find surprisingly enjoyable, but more on that later). So these 6-8 weeks freed me up, as a result, my list of MMOs i play grew back again.
The other game
Now, there has been Syl’s NBI armchair game designer – or how that other MMO keeps ruining my gameplay experience and i wholeheartedly agree, as someone who falls into the same trap more often than not. I keep thinking about how nice it would be if MMO x borrowed feature a from MMO y with a twist of MMO z’s way of handling things. Or i bemoan missing stuff, thing the game developers have done wrong and so on. As a result, every MMO experience feels incomplete.
I like them all in one way or the other- well all of those i covered here- from Fallen Earth to EVE, Vanguard, TSW, Rift, Lotro, FF14 and so on- they’re all great in some ways and lacking in some others. Being in one of them makes me miss some others. Or even think about that MMO that is sure to come out “soon” which will be a perfect fit for me. I used to think about ArcheAge in that way, and before i really liked GW2, but it turns out that none of those is perfect. And believe me, Black Desert won’t be perfect, as well.
I think this mentality has resulted in what i’d call the first deemed-failure-before-release MMORPG, ArcheAge. If Jef is thinking of jumping ship to another MMORPG that’s even further down the line (with no word on NA/EU release whatsoever), many others will be already done with ArcheAge.
So i’ve come to the conclusion (before reading Syl’s posting, but his words really fit perfectly) that one should enjoy those MMOs that are out there- there’s no point in always chasing the next release- which i think the community’s been doing since the release of Age of Conan.
The Secret World should be a hit
When playing TSW, i always think that this poor game is neglected because of…well, i don’t know. Maybe because it launched too close to GW2, maybe it is because it’s a bit rough around the edges or maybe it is because those who tried it found it to be “more of the same”, a mistake quite easily made when you give the game only an hour or so.
When you dive in, though, there are so many points where TSW innovates and tries new stuff that one would think all those players who scream for “something different” (myself included) should happily be playing The Secret World. The quest system might look like “more of the same”, but it isn’t. You’d have to give the game a little bit of your time to realize that, but the quests in TSW are very interesting story-wise and they offer a lot of variety.
Also, The Secret World is a game where it really is about the journey- i think one could run through everything in a quite short amount of time, but that wouldn’t be the point. I agree with Syp that story-wise, the Secret World is as good as it gets in MMO space.
But even if you’d play through the experience and were “finished”, with the releases of content (Issues) down the line, you could always expect to return to TSW for a short time- and i’ve heard those storylines are really great. The business model is a very good one, as well. You don’t need anything from the shop (except additional content) and you don’t suffer any restriction compared to subscribers. In a way, it’s quite like GW2’s business model- without the lockboxes and with stuff you’d like to buy in the item shop.
What i like very much about TSW, as well, is the balance in group/solo play. TSW doesn’t force you into grouping up (unfortunately it forces you to do some of the stuff solo) except for dungeons, but a group is really handy because the fights in this game take some time. If you can get a friend to join you, it’s more fun and easier.
I am glad i’ve “returned” to The Secret World, it’s a great experience that works very well with my gaming schedule and playstyle. Of course, if another game beckons me again, i’ll be there. And by now i already know when this is going to happen and with what game.
A good guild
I’ve always thought that guilds play a big part when it comes to longevity of an MMORPG- and right now, i’ve made a good choice. In the past, i’ve made no experiences with guilds despite almost always joining one in the games i play. Most of them were chat channels, the german guild i joined in Rift was a chat channel where tidbits of voice chat conversations would sometimes appear.
I think a guild should be more, though. And it’s not about going to dungeons or getting help, it’s about building community. At least if a guild is always recruiting it should always do community building. How much that can be, i learned in the TSW cabal i just joined.
There’s a cabal meeting every month- i can’t remember when i last was member of a guild that did guild meetings, possibly the ones i co-founded / co-lead. Guild meetings allow the members to meet up, see the characters of the other people even when they are at different stages in the game. Also, you can catch up to news about the guild, talk to the other members and stuff like that. It helps. Especially in a game like The Secret World that doesn’t really allow you to chat and play along simultaneously.
There’s also a newsletter/magazine published by quite a talented member of the community- it covers everything from news to articles provided by other members.
And the third reason i joined is a sub-group within that community that wanders different MMORPGs every few months. If interest is high enough, recruitment for the guild founded in that game will commence and it will become a part of the community. So Multigaming and game-hopping are built in.
What i like is that there is a vision, and there is an idea how to follow through on this vision. It’s neither a casual nor a “hardcore” setup in this guild. I feel great with these guys, and while probation is still ongoing for me, i’m already confident that i’ll stay with them in the long term. If they don’t kick me, that is 😉
Soon we’ll embark on a new adventure in a new game, and i’m pretty excited to start with this group of people.
Party Business 