The Secret World MMO

[Visions of Khas]

I've been interested in this game since the first few videos and magazine articles. It seems to be a delightfully sinister commixture of science fiction, urban fantasy, and mythology all wrapped up in a conspiratorial creme eclair.

But I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about this game. Some say the Beta was buggy as hell and the core game mechanics of the finished product were poor. Others seem to applaud the atmosphere and story, and game play is decent, if unoriginal.

Can anyone shed some light on this game? It's the first MMO I've ever had some interest in.

[Sarov]

I haven't kept as close an eye on TSW as I have Guild Wars 2 but I'll share with you what I know.

The general consensus seems to be that the atmosphere and story are amazing, the combat is horrible and the voice acting is hit-or-miss.

Common complaints seem to be:
- The combat is nowhere near as polished or responsive as WoW
- Some weapons lack impact/kick while others have more than they should.
- Some weapons are similar to others (similar abilities, different flavor). I've yet to see higher level characters with these weapons so it might be a lower level issue.
- PvP makes WoW's PvP look balanced. Horrible.
- Funcom having a horrible record and EA being the publisher.
- A subscription fee ($15/month) plus micro-transactions.
- Character customization is horrendous and there seems to be the expectation to use the cash shop for more options.

As for game mechanics:

Characters / Leveling
There are no levels in TSW, not in the traditional sense. As you 'level', you gain 'anima' points that can be placed in various ability trees, pictured here. You also gain character points much like a traditional RPG.

Talents
There are three major trees: ranged, melee, and magic. There are general traits as well as ones specific to certain weapons and schools of magic. These trees have passive and activated skills although you can only seven of each on your action bar. There are also elites, which are very powerful with a high cost.

While there are no classes, I heard that there were things called templates/decks. These are presets similar to classes in that they pick talents for you. IIRC, the main difference is that they give bonuses for choosing them.

Quests
Also called 'investigations'. Many, if not most, of them require the use of Google (and Wikipedia) which is why there is an in-game browser. Just don't visit the official forums.

I don't know of any videos but I do know that TotalBiscuit did a live stream of TSW, split into five YouTube videos. Here's the first part.