MMORPG.com's own Carolyn Koh was at the recent EA Summer Showcase out on the Left Coast, and during her time there she was treated to the first ever reveal of a dungeon in Funcom's The Secret World.  Find out what Carolyn thought of the hotly anticipated game's combat, classless system, and more.

The graphics are impressive, not only on the grand scale but on the intimate, personal scale as they made good use of the 3-D space. Unlike the gigantic architecture and towering landscapes of many fantasy games out there, Solomon Island seemed real, with levels that player characters could jump to or climb easily and foot bridges that weren’t scaled for tanks to trundle down side by side.

 

The game requires players to pay attention and learn. Situational analysis is required and in between encounters, players will be able to change out their skills. The earth is being invaded and Gaia is pushing back. Players will find anima wells at some point in a dungeon where they can change their skill sets, changing the seven active and seven passive skills that they brought into the encounter.

Read the rest of Carolyn Koh's Dungeon Running in The Secret World.

Very relieved to hear that combat is dice-roll, tab-targetting. And that you can move and "cast". I heard a worrying rumor that this was an action combat game. Now TSW is truly my dream MMO.

Im so psyched for this game, even though atm I'm waiting for SWTOR, the minute this is released, I'll leave the galaxy far far away for a place much closer to home. :)

Can't wait!!

since I know people are going to bitch about the holy trinity, I'm going to post here what the Lead Designer said in the official secret world foruns:

"Please keep in mind that not all journalists are familiar with the game when we show them the presentation. Going too deep into the details on every little mechanic and to the fullest complexity of the skill system tends to be too detailed for a 20 minute presentation. We like to keep it focused and to the point. 

Yes, we refer to some characters as tanks, healers, DPS, CC, support, you name it-characters. It's just easier for us to call them what role they take, instead of explaining the detail of the entire build (which can be quite complex  ). 

There will be characters in the game who are better at absorbing damage, there will be players who are able to make the HP bar go from red to green, and there will be players who can freeze a mob in place from afar. Just because these skills exist doesn't necessarily mean that you played like this before in other MMOs. There are similarities and differences. 

As I mentioned in another tread: When we design encounters we look at what the group should bring in total, rather than who the 5 individual players are. Having said that, we are fully aware that you guys are a lot smarter than us. When you learn how to play the game, I'm 100% certain that you will find ways of beating the encounters in ways we never thought of. But this is a part of the game! We present the challenge, and you guys figure out how to beat it in the way you want "

and Hallelujah... no elves, dwarves and strange looking human races.

Now I properly play as a real human being in game, which for me should lend a nice dose of immersion as a player for a change.

Over 500 skills I can actually get and learn them all? That peaked my interest quite a bit. I get tired of the games deciding which skills I need to have and all those useless and unneeded 'prep' skill you have to put on the mob 5x before you do a nuke or your main attack.

For something as specific as this, players would have to check a Funcom crafted site such as those previously mentioned, but searching for information with Google or checking Wikipedia may also be required as players stumble across mysteries in the game

Thats pretty worring. So your forced to alt tab, do that in AoC which uses the same engine is a sure fire way to get your comp to instacrash.

Demo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTwTXTNF-4s

Originally posted by karmath

For something as specific as this, players would have to check a Funcom crafted site such as those previously mentioned, but searching for information with Google or checking Wikipedia may also be required as players stumble across mysteries in the game

 

Thats pretty worring. So your forced to alt tab, do that in AoC which uses the same engine is a sure fire way to get your comp to instacrash.

they said that the game is going to have an ingame browser

yeah ...im in need of a  "today"  setting too. No more fantasy (elves ,dawarses , gnomes bla bla dari , ding don vari)

no more apocalypse either.....

im on a  mmo burnout for 1.2 years now ...i need somin...this gives me hope along with swotor

Originally posted by karmath

For something as specific as this, players would have to check a Funcom crafted site such as those previously mentioned, but searching for information with Google or checking Wikipedia may also be required as players stumble across mysteries in the game

 

Thats pretty worring. So your forced to alt tab, do that in AoC which uses the same engine is a sure fire way to get your comp to instacrash.

They said they are planning to include an in-game browser :)

Originally posted by revy66

Originally posted by karmath

For something as specific as this, players would have to check a Funcom crafted site such as those previously mentioned, but searching for information with Google or checking Wikipedia may also be required as players stumble across mysteries in the game

 

Thats pretty worring. So your forced to alt tab, do that in AoC which uses the same engine is a sure fire way to get your comp to instacrash.

They said they are planning to include an in-game browser :)

 

Not to mention that I have been alt-tabing for about a year already in AoC and I have yet to crash from it :)

They've stated that they're planning on voice-acting all their mission givers, which is a tall order, but adds another nice touch to the game. It was a surprise to hear Tim Russ (Tuvok from ST: Voyager) in the demo.

Originally posted by karmath

For something as specific as this, players would have to check a Funcom crafted site such as those previously mentioned, but searching for information with Google or checking Wikipedia may also be required as players stumble across mysteries in the game

 

Thats pretty worring. So your forced to alt tab, do that in AoC which uses the same engine is a sure fire way to get your comp to instacrash.

 

 I've alt-tabbed AoC since it came out without a problem... sounds more like your video card/drivers than the game engine.

The look of the space reminds me of Half-life 2.  (not a bad thing) I hope they do a little work on the character animations, though.

All in all, I'm more excited than ever about this game.  The dungeon looked fun.  The thing I'm looking forward to most is no more ladders, no more levels, classes or other things that contribute to 'MMO grind'.  From what it looks like, you'll get skill points from playing the game, regardless of what you're doing, so I can do whatever I feel like and not worry about the progression of my character.

I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT!!!!!

Anarchy Online was my favourit game in past .. and no game crushed me so far .. but now i got my hope back

Originally posted by Nerves

I hope they do a little work on the character animations, though.

It's only in Alpha, Nerves. Dun worry!

Originally posted by mokey91

Originally posted by Nerves

I hope they do a little work on the character animations, though.

It's only in Alpha, Nerves. Dun worry!

nah, they are in secret closed beta now

the normal closed beta probably starts soon...

anyway, I allready have my closed beta key =P

EDIT: but you are right, don't worry, animations are going to get better later on in development, expect at least something like age of conan animations.

Originally posted by rpgalon

Originally posted by mokey91

Originally posted by Nerves

I hope they do a little work on the character animations, though.

It's only in Alpha, Nerves. Dun worry!

nah, they are in secret closed beta now

the normal closed beta probably starts soon...

anyway, I allready have my closed beta key =P

EDIT: but you are right, don't worry, animations are going to get better later on in development, expect at least something like age of conan animations.

 

Yet you still don't know the correct time, correct place and correct way :)

Originally posted by Yuui

Originally posted by rpgalon

Originally posted by mokey91

Originally posted by Nerves

I hope they do a little work on the character animations, though.

It's only in Alpha, Nerves. Dun worry!

nah, they are in secret closed beta now

the normal closed beta probably starts soon...

anyway, I allready have my closed beta key =P

EDIT: but you are right, don't worry, animations are going to get better later on in development, expect at least something like age of conan animations.

 

Yet you still don't know the correct time, correct place and correct way :)

maybe I know but it's a secret ;D