MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh was present at Funcom's recent Penny Arcade Expo information reveal for their upcoming MMO, The Secret World. Today, she files this report.

Funcom's reveal of The Secret World at PAX 2009 is only the third time they have released information about the game, but according to them, it is the most important as they provided the media more in depth information on the Secret Societies - which are the player factions in the game. Secret Societies and the game play associated with them play an integral role in The Secret World. Set in 2023, an imagined future where magic co-exists with science, where monsters and demons are real and Secret Societies have grown to recruit man to combat the very real evil that seeps in unseen, players will fight the darkness and save the world!

Read the PAX Faction Reveal

This game has the potential to kick some serious butt.

If people can get over the Funcom part of things, I think the game will do very well.

That's 'Ragnar', not "Ragnarr', btw...

Super exciting and great screenshots...

Really great! I can't wait for this game!

The mystical side of things, the reality of our existence...it's all in there.

Can't wait.

You said Funcom?

Thats all I need to know.

foul me once, bad on you. foul me twice, bad on me. 

Interesting setting, has some potential.

Not sure how the PVE / PVP mix will be to me, seems like it might just be a PVP guild wars playground at endgame. That could work of course, but PVE is more my thing.

Having someone at the helm though that has never really worked on an MMO worries me though (yeah, he was there around AO and wrote that book, but 'ol Gaute was behind AO then, Ragnar just did story). I loved TLJ back in the day, but Ragnar has said several times he wasn't really an MMO person, even when he worked on AO, so seems an odd choice to lead an MMO team. Kinda like being skeptical about TOR until we see how the MMO parts are gonna work. I am sure the story elements here will be awesome too, might work but I think I'll deploy a 'wait and see' Will probably wait till after the game has been out a while and the gameplay is known before I let another title fool me with hype.

This game looks very promising,they must take their time and make sure it is polished when released.This game can be a winner and for once we gonna have a real MMORPG.

 The only bad thing about this game is Funcom is making it. That alone turns many people off. 

The idea for the game though is completely solid and I hope Failcom learned from its AoC failure. 

Originally posted by Hepisodic

 The only bad thing about this game is Funcom is making it. That alone turns many people off. 

 

The idea for the game though is completely solid and I hope Failcom learned from its AoC failure. 

I'm right there with you.  I learned my lesson about the funcom hype machine.  I've played a lot of games that were rocky at launch, but Conan just felt like bait and switch.  Most of the things that were interesting to me weren't in at launch and several of them will never be.  A year later, Conan still doesn't look like the game it was advertised as.  That game is a colossal waste of the graphics capabilities.  Environments look great, character models are excellent.. all the gear looks like ass.  Maybe getting outside the strict confines of an established IP will correct that problem.  I certainly won't get my hopes up about this game... but I'll keep a close eye on user reviews after it launches and I might look in to it if I hear enough good things.

Been following the game for a bit over a year now.  Definately shows some promise in the concept and story.  Will have to see how it is implemented before making any serious comments on it.

There has been some fun on their forumns which may hint at the detail in their story lines but, it was few and far in between.  Like the trailers, they are definately awesome but, like the SWTOR trailer need to have the disclaimer

"Images in KICKASS Trailer do not reflect the reality of ANY game that you can play at the moment".

 This new released info keeps me more and more interested. Of course, only when the final game is released we will know if this game lives up to its promise. I'll be following this one closely.

Originally posted by Salvatoris

Originally posted by Hepisodic

 The only bad thing about this game is Funcom is making it. That alone turns many people off. 

 

The idea for the game though is completely solid and I hope Failcom learned from its AoC failure. 

 

I'm right there with you.  I learned my lesson about the funcom hype machine.  I've played a lot of games that were rocky at launch, but Conan just felt like bait and switch.  Most of the things that were interesting to me weren't in at launch and several of them will never be.  A year later, Conan still doesn't look like the game it was advertised as.  That game is a colossal waste of the graphics capabilities.  Environments look great, character models are excellent.. all the gear looks like ass.  Maybe getting outside the strict confines of an established IP will correct that problem.  I certainly won't get my hopes up about this game... but I'll keep a close eye on user reviews after it launches and I might look in to it if I hear enough good things.

I think the realistic armor is one of the best parts of AoC,  You can usually tell if a person has their MMO roots in PnP or in Streetfighter by how they like their visuals.

I have been playing the associated ARG all the way back to when the viral campaign started online with a planted story in a European gaming mag.

I have seen the HUGE depth of research and connections they have found not just for the ARG but from the things they were finding while researching the making of this game.

I am dismayed that you are forced to join one of the Secret Societies right off the bat, as it probably would have been alot more compelling if you had to earn or be invited to join, and furthermore had the choice to buck the system and go independant.

You may have noticed that the first two Societies you have heard of from conspiracies and history, but the third one looks made up. Actually, this is not the case.  Its full name is The Green Dragon Society and it is legendary in the far east and reaches from the far past all the way through Hitler's Germany and beyond. Search for Green Dragon Society, The man in the Green Gloves, Tibet, Shambala,  and superhuman.

Also I would like to quash the rumours that there is actually a fourth faction you can join Clockwork or The Clockwork Society.  This was just created by a bunch of trolls who thought that the game had so many conspiracies in it that nobody would notice a joke one, and no one would just let it die.  It doesn't exist, There is no conspiracy... just move along.

Don't pay attention to the Sherpas an the Smothies, and for gods sake DONT FEED THE TROLLS! 

Originally posted by grimfall

Originally posted by Salvatoris

Originally posted by Hepisodic

 The only bad thing about this game is Funcom is making it. That alone turns many people off. 

 

The idea for the game though is completely solid and I hope Failcom learned from its AoC failure. 

 

I'm right there with you.  I learned my lesson about the funcom hype machine.  I've played a lot of games that were rocky at launch, but Conan just felt like bait and switch.  Most of the things that were interesting to me weren't in at launch and several of them will never be.  A year later, Conan still doesn't look like the game it was advertised as.  That game is a colossal waste of the graphics capabilities.  Environments look great, character models are excellent.. all the gear looks like ass.  Maybe getting outside the strict confines of an established IP will correct that problem.  I certainly won't get my hopes up about this game... but I'll keep a close eye on user reviews after it launches and I might look in to it if I hear enough good things.

 

I think the realistic armor is one of the best parts of AoC,  You can usually tell if a person has their MMO roots in PnP or in Streetfighter by how they like their visuals.

I think many agree that AoC had a lot of things it brought to the MMO table, it just managed them very....very.... VERY poorly.

It had all the potential of being a pretty F'in good game. One that might not have ...as everyone likes to bitch about...."killed WoW" but could have at least stood side-by-side WoW as another game people could play for some entertainment. 

But oh well...

Quote from Article

 

The Illuminati are the most secretive of the Secret Societies, yet they believe that power is the cornerstone in the fight against the darkness. The entrance to their underground headquarters is in an old abandoned warehouse somewhere in New York City. They are ruthless, ambitions and their organization runs like a Corporation. "Sex, Drugs and Rockefellar," is their motto and they believe in survival of the fittest. "Do or get done," is a favorite quote. They are the bad boys of the occult world and they make sure everyone knows it. Their signature weapon is the automatic assault rifle.

Why pick Illuminati, when the designers anyway chose to ignore pretty much everything about the historical counterpart. Just stealing the name is quite lame. Yeah, you can make them an occultist corporation, since they were seen somewhat as enemies of the church and yeah, there are some conspiracy theories which connect them somehow with the USA but overall the whole idea here sounds like a lost opportunity to make something cool.

Illuminati originate in Bavaria, Germany. They are based on the idea of enlightenment (hence the name, see illuminate) and their known members were anything but low-life criminals. In fact, one of the reasons why this secret order gathered this attention was because their members were part of the elite of the German society of that time (most famous poets, composers etc.). The idea of an occult elitist organisation pulling the strings behind the scenes is what makes them interesting, not that they are a gang of punks, drug dealers and pimps.

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Originally posted by Stormwatch

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Quote from Article

 

 
The Illuminati are the most secretive of the Secret Societies, yet they believe that power is the cornerstone in the fight against the darkness. The entrance to their underground headquarters is in an old abandoned warehouse somewhere in New York City. They are ruthless, ambitions and their organization runs like a Corporation. "Sex, Drugs and Rockefellar," is their motto and they believe in survival of the fittest. "Do or get done," is a favorite quote. They are the bad boys of the occult world and they make sure everyone knows it. Their signature weapon is the automatic assault rifle.

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Why pick Illuminati, when the designers anyway chose to ignore pretty much everything about the historical counterpart. Just stealing the name is quite lame. Yeah, you can make them an occultist corporation, since they were seen somewhat as enemies of the church and yeah, there are some conspiracy theories which connect them somehow with the USA but overall the whole idea here sounds like a lost opportunity to make something cool.
Illuminati originate in Bavaria, Germany. They are based on the idea of enlightenment (hence the name, see illuminate) and their known members were anything but low-life criminals. In fact, one of the reasons why this secret order gathered this attention was because their members were part of the elite of the German society of that time (most famous poets, composers etc.). The idea of an occult elitist organisation pulling the strings behind the scenes is what makes them interesting, not that they are a gang of punks, drug dealers and pimps.

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 First of all ALL of The Secret World is the Occult in the games eyes (as in fighting the occult, knowing about its secret existence, etc.) and to quote Ragnar Tormquist "there is no religion tied to any of the Secret Societies".

Secondly most of the histories about the Iluminatae were that they started off with good intentions, then got corrupted by power, greed, and wealth. At a certain point they supposedly shattered into subfactions.

Thirdly, while based on allot of history, some of it is fictional and rewritten as needed. Take Dragon for example. It was started in Japan, fought Russia and then China, and then allied with the Germans because of common beliefs involving Tibetan Supermen. That is if you believe they exist at all.

Before you trash it, wait and see if they make it work first, mmmkay?

Despite the terrible launches I have liked both of FunCom's MMOs a lot. I played AO a long time and had a really good time. I currently play AoC and am having a really good time with that game as well. That said I think that Erling guy is a nut and I have no faith that the games launch will be successful. Like I said I like FunCom's games and am not a FunCom hater at all. I think the game will be good, I just don't think they know how to get the launch part right. It’s like they just don’t know what to do.

 Oh I knew it was a mistake to read this with an actual release so far away. Curse you Ragnar, I want this game now )=

I keep my eye on any game that isn't  yet another fantasy rip off.

I'm pretty excited about this game despite it being developed by Funcom.

I haven't been antcipating a game like I am this one for quite awhile.

The idea is solid, the story seems pretty well put together so far, and the faction thing works.  AO is a perfect example of that in practice.  If they make the PvP similar to AO where there are zones that need to be held and not all out PvP I am totally on the bandwagon for this game.  I really like the way PvP was handled on AO with certain zones being free for alls, other zones were by choice, and yet other zones that were PvE.

Have I mentioned I'm stoked about this game?

I have a feeling this game is going to be instanced.  These bland intros without  indept feature info is very hard to even speculate if the game is going to be any good.  Some games have good features on paper but totally fail at making them fun. 

There is a thread about instancing.

"ZAM: Based on some of the gameplay footage, it looked like you could go into this modern day world. Since this is based on our Earth, you've got to have some game zones. Will there be zoning? Instancing? How big is the game world going to be, and how open is it going to be, versus how instanced?

Ragnar: I'm not a fan of instancing at all. That really sort of bugs me all the time, but some people don't care at all. We're going to avoid instances as much as possible. Instancing is something that you sometimes have to do to protect newbies - especially at launch. Our playfields are very large. We want to avoid loading screens. For example, going from London to New England isn't going to be like clicking a map and seeing a red dot go from one place to another, that's not what it's going to be like. It's going to be seamless. There's going to be very little loading, and hopefully it's going to be instantaneous. We want you to be able to move in a way that fits the mythology of the game, that actually makes sense. It's not going to be like "what the hell? Why am I in New England right now? I was just in London!" It's going to actually make sense. I can't explain why it's going to make sense, but it will make sense. There might be some instancing. We're going to have instances and places like dungeons, or something we'll call dungeons, and those will be more team based experiences. Those will be instanced. The open world stuff we're going to try to avoid instancing as much as possible. We want to make sure that you feel like you're in a living, open world, and you're traveling around that and exploring it. Like I said, our playing fields are large and they are epic and it's going to feel that way, yet you're going to be able to travel seamlessly. Lots of promises, but we'll see. I just don't like instancing, so we'll try to avoid those."