I honestly haven't been this addicted to a MMORPG in a long time.  I'm having a blast with everything. 

If you avoid reading General Chat, the experience is even better.  I keep the Looking For Group channel and my faction channel open, and I have run into a lot of cool people.  Had a speed run group for AP last night, and we had a lot of fun doing it.  Unlocked all kinds of fun skills.

The game has some flaws, but it seems that they take it all pretty seriously.  During Early Access, they were taking the servers down almost every night for maintenance to the client.  If they keep this up, the game's going to be in great shape for a long time to come.

I was incredibly skeptical about this game seeing that EA was the publisher, and FunCom had tarnished their image with a sloppy launch for AoC, but all in all, I've been extremely happy with The Secret World so far.  Many sleepless nights for me, and I find myself looking forward to logging in when I can.

Originally posted by Dakirn

Honestly this game was more Ole's baby than the former CEO's.  Ole (the COO during development) spent a lot of time reading the Beta forums, answering questions and even getting his own hands dirty researching bugs and account issues.

 

He's been with the company a long time and deserves the position.  The old CEO left because the project launch.  There's no conspiracy to it at all.  Companies do this all the time with CEOs.. most large companies don't retain a CEO more than 3-4 years.

You are on the eve of a major product launch and you stand down from a position you have held for nine years as the leader of a company.  That isn't normal, that is down right bizarre.  That is like launching a ship with no captain. 

Who in the right mind thinks that is the time to change around management structure. You have a  major product launch,  so you decide that is the perfect time to step down and transition to a new leadership of the company ... odd, very odd. There is more to that story than the CEO is off to pursue a role as a strategy advisor, he has been binned.  Now the more important question is why? Why does someone bin a CEO on the eve of a launch?   Pre-order sales not as expected or perhaps the ship is sinking and the 'former' captain is already in the lifeboat.  Who knows...But its odd, not what has happened. But the timing of what has happened.

I am estatic to hear that it was overall a successful launch! I did the AO one and I didn't have the heart to reattempt fate with AoC's.

What is leveling speed like? Is it like AO's or is it a lot faster?

Originally posted by MurlockDance

I am estatic to hear that it was overall a successful launch! I did the AO one and I didn't have the heart to reattempt fate with AoC's.

What is leveling speed like? Is it like AO's or is it a lot faster?

I think there are 8 zones in the game (not 100% sure so someone can clarify) and the first zone Kingsmouth just took me 19 hours /played to clear completely. Dunno if that suits your pace, but for me it's about perfect, playing around 20 hours a week on average it means that playing through just this quest content will take up to 2 months. That is not including PvP, dungeons, exploring and idling in hub areas interacting with other players.

If you are the type of player that will blast through content as fast as possible I would probably say this game is still worth the box price to play through in the first month anyway.

Originally posted by fallenlords

 

You are on the eve of a major product launch and you stand down from a position you have held for nine years as the leader of a company.  That isn't normal, that is down right bizarre.  That is like launching a ship with no captain. 

 

Who in the right mind thinks that is the time to change around management structure. You have a  major product launch,  so you decide that is the perfect time to step down and transition to a new leadership of the company ... odd, very odd. There is more to that story than the CEO is off to pursue a role as a strategy advisor, he has been binned.  Now the more important question is why? Why does someone bin a CEO on the eve of a launch?   Pre-order sales not as expected or perhaps the ship is sinking and the 'former' captain is already in the lifeboat.  Who knows...But its odd, not what has happened. But the timing of what has happened.

I believe he stepped down so he could get involved with that new leggo game they are starting work on... I guess the guy loves leggo..

Originally posted by SlickShoes

Originally posted by MurlockDance

I am estatic to hear that it was overall a successful launch! I did the AO one and I didn't have the heart to reattempt fate with AoC's.

What is leveling speed like? Is it like AO's or is it a lot faster?

I think there are 8 zones in the game (not 100% sure so someone can clarify) and the first zone Kingsmouth just took me 19 hours /played to clear completely. Dunno if that suits your pace, but for me it's about perfect, playing around 20 hours a week on average it means that playing through just this quest content will take up to 2 months. That is not including PvP, dungeons, exploring and idling in hub areas interacting with other players.

If you are the type of player that will blast through content as fast as possible I would probably say this game is still worth the box price to play through in the first month anyway.

Not to mention the time spent experimenting with an infinite amount of setups, customizing gear and exploring for tidbits of lore, which, are fairly interesting in and of themselves. I would also suggest that there is a replayability factor as well, to see what the other faction storylines are like. 

I think I've explored 8 open world zones thus far, and 3 pvp zones as well. There are dozens of other zones as well that are either solo or team instanced (dungeons, mission areas etc...).

as long as funcom doesn't pull another "Shadowlands" expansion, like in anarchy online, then I think the game will continue to be successful. considering how badly the economy around the globe is doing, and that only those with relatively new gaming pc's can visually enjoy the game, I think funcom shouldn't be worried at all, at this point.

------------------------------------------

Imo, TSW definitely was a successful launch. There will always be folks who want to see a franchise crash and burn, and will focus solely on the mechanics of a game that they don't like, or that it is co-published by EA (recent memories of swtor i guess), or that pvp is too team oriented instead of open world gank-fests.

Using the recent Mass Effect 3 ending failure as an example, I think a lot of people love pessimism-porn. where reading, hearing about or talking about the failure of something is exciting and satisfies some primal desire.  In the case of TSW, if you're a fan of the genre and lore and setting; then a few bugs, or EA having its pee-fingers near it would not be enough to keep you away.  

But, if CCP gets World of Darkness out, then maybe there can be some comparisons made, and funcom will have some direct competition for the horror/modern fantasy genre. otherwise, Im not seeing how TSW can be compared to other recent MMO's, unless its about something purely mechical. As far as I can tell from actually playing TSW, the similarities stop there.

Are we about ready to stop  praising every mmo that actually functions on launch day?   This is at least the fifth, possibly in a row, that I've witnessed.  It's not a major feat anymore, give it a rest.

Originally posted by adam_nox

Are we about ready to stop  praising every mmo that actually functions on launch day?   This is at least the fifth, possibly in a row, that I've witnessed.  It's not a major feat anymore, give it a rest.

But.. But... it was Funcom that made a decent launch, it most be the greatest game ever!

Originally posted by adam_nox

Are we about ready to stop  praising every mmo that actually functions on launch day?   This is at least the fifth, possibly in a row, that I've witnessed.  It's not a major feat anymore, give it a rest.

5 is your limit, huh?  someone give this kid a hug please.

The launch was pretty smooth as far as MMO launches go. I think the best thing about TSW so far is that even though there's bugs, people seem to be enjoying the game enough to overlook them for now. I personally hope they get the buggy quests fixed up soon as there are quite a few. The GM's have been pretty responsive to help players past most bugged quests. 

I'm impressed and enjoying the game more than I thought I would - enough that I've been pretty tired at work a couple days due to just one more quest syndrome.

Originally posted by adam_nox

Are we about ready to stop  praising every mmo that actually functions on launch day?   This is at least the fifth, possibly in a row, that I've witnessed.  It's not a major feat anymore, give it a rest.

There is a missunderstanding here, sure people are talking about smooth and adequate launches BUT people arent praising a company for a good launch, they are just having fun , a smooth launch just helps in that department.. alot.

You are right though, games SHOULD be released smooth and functional , we arent asking the world and we definately can understand there being some issues, that will require attention after release. Although ironic enough smooth launches dont garantee success, heck bad launches dont even garantee a fail, some of the worst releases managed to become very successfull. Heck THE worst release because THE most successfull of all.

But back on topic, yes IMO its a good launch of TSW, overall my experiance has been good, Ive ran into little to no issues , just a few broken quests, which I was able to complete anyway, with the exception of 1, Ive found nothing worth mentioning. All I can say is Im having a blast.

Originally posted by Dakirn

Originally posted by heartless

 

The build in question is Striker, from the shotgun line. It does no damage if you use an attack which sets a hinder state. It still applies resources but do no damage.

 

As far as that bugged story quest, it was tier 15 of the "Dawning of an Endless Night." The part where you have to defend the ward stones against waves of zombies and such. I got kicked off the server during the Blue Mountain portion of the quest, in the middle of defending the ward stone. When I clicked the "switch server" option, I was not able to continue the quest. The mobs didn't spawn and the stone was not clickable. I was finally able to finish it today, when I saw another player doing to same quest.

The Striker bug sucks but I didn't notice it tonight (Striker + passive + close quarters) on my run in Inferno.  I wonder what's up with that.

 

As far as the Dawning step I think that's been fixed on TestLive for the next patch.  Honestly though, if you run across something like that again, Petition a GM about it they will advance the quest for you.  The GMs (despite what some trolls may say) are super helpful.. the most helpful in any launch I've seen.  I haven't seen a single launch game where a GM will take the time to advance a broken quest for you.

 

I had one bend over backwards to replace a lost item for me the first day of headstart.  Give them a try when you run across a problem you'll probably get to move past it in a timely manner.

I have placed 2 petitions so far, both regarding broken quests. One for "Men in Black Vans," which was fixed by the developers, and the other regarding the "Dawning of  an Endless Night." I have yet to be contacted by a GM regarding either of those quests, about 5 days later.

The only reason I was able to advance and finally beat "Dawning of an Endless Night" was because I saw another player doing it and I jumped in to help, which gave me credit for it. If I had to rely on a GM to fix it, I'd still be waiting.

Im curious to see how many people are actualy playing,but yes it was a smooth launch.

kudos to Funcom for finally getting one.

aside from a few bugged quests its been smooth.

Originally posted by heartless

Originally posted by Dakirn

Originally posted by heartless

 

The build in question is Striker, from the shotgun line. It does no damage if you use an attack which sets a hinder state. It still applies resources but do no damage.

 

As far as that bugged story quest, it was tier 15 of the "Dawning of an Endless Night." The part where you have to defend the ward stones against waves of zombies and such. I got kicked off the server during the Blue Mountain portion of the quest, in the middle of defending the ward stone. When I clicked the "switch server" option, I was not able to continue the quest. The mobs didn't spawn and the stone was not clickable. I was finally able to finish it today, when I saw another player doing to same quest.

The Striker bug sucks but I didn't notice it tonight (Striker + passive + close quarters) on my run in Inferno.  I wonder what's up with that.

 

As far as the Dawning step I think that's been fixed on TestLive for the next patch.  Honestly though, if you run across something like that again, Petition a GM about it they will advance the quest for you.  The GMs (despite what some trolls may say) are super helpful.. the most helpful in any launch I've seen.  I haven't seen a single launch game where a GM will take the time to advance a broken quest for you.

 

I had one bend over backwards to replace a lost item for me the first day of headstart.  Give them a try when you run across a problem you'll probably get to move past it in a timely manner.

I have placed 2 petitions so far, both regarding broken quests. One for "Men in Black Vans," which was fixed by the developers, and the other regarding the "Dawning of  an Endless Night." I have yet to be contacted by a GM regarding either of those quests, about 5 days later.

The only reason I was able to advance and finally beat "Dawning of an Endless Night" was because I saw another player doing it and I jumped in to help, which gave me credit for it. If I had to rely on a GM to fix it, I'd still be waiting.

Im curious what part of Dawning of endless night was an issue? The only part that was somewhat rough was the protection of the ward stone but I didnt have an issue doing that solo at all.

Originally posted by Panthien

Originally posted by heartless

Originally posted by Dakirn

Originally posted by heartless

 

The build in question is Striker, from the shotgun line. It does no damage if you use an attack which sets a hinder state. It still applies resources but do no damage.

 

As far as that bugged story quest, it was tier 15 of the "Dawning of an Endless Night." The part where you have to defend the ward stones against waves of zombies and such. I got kicked off the server during the Blue Mountain portion of the quest, in the middle of defending the ward stone. When I clicked the "switch server" option, I was not able to continue the quest. The mobs didn't spawn and the stone was not clickable. I was finally able to finish it today, when I saw another player doing to same quest.

The Striker bug sucks but I didn't notice it tonight (Striker + passive + close quarters) on my run in Inferno.  I wonder what's up with that.

 

As far as the Dawning step I think that's been fixed on TestLive for the next patch.  Honestly though, if you run across something like that again, Petition a GM about it they will advance the quest for you.  The GMs (despite what some trolls may say) are super helpful.. the most helpful in any launch I've seen.  I haven't seen a single launch game where a GM will take the time to advance a broken quest for you.

 

I had one bend over backwards to replace a lost item for me the first day of headstart.  Give them a try when you run across a problem you'll probably get to move past it in a timely manner.

I have placed 2 petitions so far, both regarding broken quests. One for "Men in Black Vans," which was fixed by the developers, and the other regarding the "Dawning of  an Endless Night." I have yet to be contacted by a GM regarding either of those quests, about 5 days later.

The only reason I was able to advance and finally beat "Dawning of an Endless Night" was because I saw another player doing it and I jumped in to help, which gave me credit for it. If I had to rely on a GM to fix it, I'd still be waiting.

Im curious what part of Dawning of endless night was an issue? The only part that was somewhat rough was the protection of the ward stone but I didnt have an issue doing that solo at all.

I've already explained this earlier in this topic, in that very post that is quoted in this conversation.

Here, I'll highlight it for you.

It depens, simply, on what you call '' successful ''. TSW is a great game and fully worth ur time, however, it is really hard to deice if the launch was good or not. It depens on different aspects.

1. The servers: No crash or lag doesn´t explain anything. It depens on how many people are playing the game. As reports comes from different reviewing sites, the game is kinda '' empty '' late night, so we can´t consider the stress on the servers as high as on other hyped games. You can´t basically say that TSW´s servers are better than Blizzard´s via launch, just because Diablo 3 crashed nd this not because D3 had +1 million trying to login so it is '' usual '' the servers will crash. However, the servers ( TSW) have worked well anyway which is great.

2. The content: Well, TSW is  great via launch nd better than many others but there is still lack in some content there the devs have already explained that they will '' add  this later ''. Bugs are also there. So, in my opinion, they could have worked on the game for more time to make it more '' complete ''. 

3. Impressions: Well, this maybe TSW´s best aspect. The impressions are pretty important when it comes to launch and fans, around the globe, have been pretty possitive when it comes to this aspect. The game simply offer a really great experience, so yeah great impressions. On the other hand, more experienced MMO-gamers/ppl working in MMO-industry/ Reviewing sites have actually noticed that, well, TSW is great, but it is stil kinda '' traditional '' and a revolution is something far away. Things like kill X number Y quests are more than wanted in some cases and some combat/graphic aspects are a bit low.

Overall, TSW is a great game that made a well launch. However, considering this as one of the most successful launches ever is kinda of '' being hyped urself ''. Having a smooth game via launch maybe a great + but on the other hand it doesn´t say much in this case because the population isn´t that big anyway. However, Funcorn have done a very great job that I, personally, love ;)