So my wife was kind enough to pick this game up for me as a gift, even tho I had no real intention of playing it due to not being "swept up" in the betas.  It was, in my opinion, a decent enough game, but nothing I wanted to pay a sub for, especially considering the whole sub + CS thing.  Atop of that the combat always felt disconnected to me, can't really explain it any better.

Anyhow, I got the game now, created a toon I love the way the game is set up, the decks / skill wheel is a pretty interesting twist on the standard leveling mechanic.  The story..so far, seems alright, like..I duno, like the first few episodes of a new drama series on AMC, it makes me want to know more.  However, I find that actually playing the game to find out vs just googling the story and shrugging the rest off is in high competition for me at the moment.

The game itself for whatever reason, just doesn't grab my attention like others.  Heck even SWTOR totally engrossed me for a few weeks & GW2 defnitely makes me love it everytime I get in on it.  I can't figure out what the malfunction is here.  It's not the game, Funcom has done a marvelous job so far as I can tell and I have no solid complaints that I can vocalize, it's like this wierd feeling at the back of my mind.

The game just doesn't "do it for me".  I've been thinking over the last few days as to why this is the case, I tend to believe there's a logical reason for just about everything and when it comes to games it's usually something about the game itself that makes me either hate or love it.  I just can't get my finger on the pulse of either one, I've never experienced a meh, take it or leave it attitude with a MMO before.

Anyone else having this happen, or was able to get past it?  I want to like it, I want to..want to play it.  Right now I just don't.

Like I and others explained in other threads, this game grows on you. That is the weird feeling you are having. The game starts out with a lot of unexplained mechanics. For instance, crafting, a tool that would help just about anyone have an easier time in the game, hardly gets used by people in the early game. Get used to clicking the "?" button in the top right corner of things you don't understand (hit "Y" to open assembly)

The second is a good build and the right stats. Most of those I've helped out in game who struggled with the game had completely dysfunctional builds and stats. They just assumed you need a bit of every stat and went on cruise control.

Above all, The Secret World is a game of specialization. There is no way you will ever have one deck and gear set that will do everything for you in the game. the game does not allow it, it is the core, alpha and omega about the game. So you need to think "how can I specialize to THIS particular extreme that I need right NOW?"

After you get more and more small "eureka!" moments in the game, the game will become better to you. Trust me on this.

So since you have the game, make it a point to get to Scorched Desert and learn how every mechanic works. Then you can judge if it is for you or not!

Good luck!

do an internet search for tSW 60 point builds.  that will help you get started.

although coming up with your own build is more fun of course.

also as cant says, you want several builds.  trying to shoehorn everything into one build is a mistake.

for maximum fun i recommend taking a tanking weapon and a healing weapon.  e.g. sword / blood, chaos / fists, sword / AR.  or a tank support like hammer / pistol or hammer / shotgun.  That way you can get several builds out of the points you spend by swaping skills around.

I use fist / chaos.

I have solo single target deck with survivability

dungeon dps deck

dungeon heal deck

pvp healing deck

pvp CC deck

Aoe grinding / pvp dps deck.

at some stage i will maybe start on a tank deck too, but I couldnt be bothered keeping 3 sets of gear.

Bought it just to see what the fuss is about, 

http://chronicle.thesecretworld.com/character/dlld

Completed main quest while pretty short actually made me want to get to the next steps, most "open world" ones, I have no desire to go gear grinding and beyond finishing up the various missions i got left and lore/achievement hunt there isn't all that much to do, fusang is horrible and arena/bg type pvp doesn't interest me.

I've lost the urge to login on yet another mmo but it was solid fun while it lasted.

Originally posted by Cantorage

 

So since you have the game, make it a point to get to Scorched Desert and learn how every mechanic works. Then you can judge if it is for you or not!

 

Good luck!

Sorry, but telling me to just keep playing and some-day I will enjoy it just doesn't work...

I gave it about 40 hours of play time, and then quit...

If I am not having fun after 20 hours and I am not having fun after 40 hours, I am not going to try for 160 hours just in case I might start having fun...

Yeah your initial plung into the game feels akward.  Combat is noticably bad untill you get a good working build going.

All i can recommend is having a bread and butter resource builder attack one that builds on both weapons you carry.  Get one finisher for each weapon.  Get one spammy AOE and one not spammy mabey with a CC effect.  Then fill in the rest with buffs or other skills.

Also, having a mouse with additional keys is a huge advantage to enjoying the games mobile combat.

On the bright side, if you just cant get into the game luckily theres no shortage of games that will feel familair out there.  The game aimes right at a niche crowd so dont feel bad if you just dont get it ..so to speak.

Also people have put up with far worse combat than in this game, only difference is you didnt have a choice in combat so you were at least shoe-horned into a working and enjoable combination of skills.  This game will let you choose a boring and lame set of skills.

Maybe the game is just not for you, no need for a logical explanation for it.

Just to put a few examples, no matter how many times I've tried, I've never really managed to get into Final Fantasy 7, which is considered one of the highest praised games ever, while there are games that were usually reviewed as average at best (Ghost Master, for example) that I just love to play.

In the end, no game is for everyone.  Even the best games have people that don't enjoy or like them, so being "good" is not the same as being good for everyobody, nor that everybody has to like it.

EvE is a good game, and i enjoyed it for a while, but it's not for me, i can't enjoy it for real anymore, for instance.

A game should have good selling points within the first few hours of play, most of you that say "oh it gets better later" sound like you just "settled" for subpar gameplay.....

It seems like a " hell you invested so much time in it already, why would you quit now! " type mindset....

However, the OP could just not like the game....and truthfully it may not be for everyone, but  most games sell themselves within the first part of gameplay, and ramp it up.....if they can't do that, they will lose casual players fastly.

The game isn't going to appeal to everyone.  No game does.  For me, it is the story and setting that grabs and holds me.  I have far more respect for the combat system now than when I started but it took me until Blue Mountain to really start to appreciate the subtlties of it.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's innovative, but I do like the flexibility and appreciate the strategy that is needed for effective deck building. 

Originally posted by Mors-Subita

Originally posted by Cantorage

 

So since you have the game, make it a point to get to Scorched Desert and learn how every mechanic works. Then you can judge if it is for you or not!

 

Good luck!

Sorry, but telling me to just keep playing and some-day I will enjoy it just doesn't work...

I gave it about 40 hours of play time, and then quit...

If I am not having fun after 20 hours and I am not having fun after 40 hours, I am not going to try for 160 hours just in case I might start having fun...

I agree with both of you to a point, imo the gameplay wise the game starts dull to me, which is fairly common to me.. though most mmo's come with flashy combat fx which really DO help making the earlier stages more.. exciting. And yes.. the game does grow on you. However, just like everything in life if you just dont get that.. click, it just wont happen. If you have to force yourself to play or do ANYTHING at all in life you wont enjoy it.

To me the game was more then worth it, IM having a blast but Im realistic each his/her own. Some will love, some will hate, some dont care.

Originally posted by dlld

Bought it just to see what the fuss is about, 

http://chronicle.thesecretworld.com/character/dlld

Completed main quest while pretty short actually made me want to get to the next steps, most "open world" ones, I have no desire to go gear grinding and beyond finishing up the various missions i got left and lore/achievement hunt there isn't all that much to do, fusang is horrible and arena/bg type pvp doesn't interest me.

I've lost the urge to login on yet another mmo but it was solid fun while it lasted.

http://chronicle.thesecretworld.com/character/OCI

Same here.  Truly nothing else to do but redo old missions that become easy once you been through it before, (I've completed Solomon Island around 3 hours before) grinding dungeons, or pvp, which is not that good.  The game is missing side activities, exploration, etc.  

One of the reason's I didn't like it is the horribly disfigured NPCs. I know it's armageddon, but do they all have to be so ugly? It's the uncanny valley issue that Oblivion had.

op:  me too...just can't get into what appears to be a solid game...not sure why...

Originally posted by L0C0Man

Maybe the game is just not for you, no need for a logical explanation for it.

Just to put a few examples, no matter how many times I've tried, I've never really managed to get into Final Fantasy 7, which is considered one of the highest praised games ever, while there are games that were usually reviewed as average at best (Ghost Master, for example) that I just love to play.

Thank the lord! I thought I was only person that couldn't get in to FF7 all my friends think I am weird when I say I don't really like FF games at all.

Although the game is different, i didn't get sucked in the way i hoped so.

The questing is nice, it's not your typical "kill ten rats", but on the other had it often does tells you were to go, so it's basicly abit more reading in many cases.

What i didn't like was the limited option of allowed quests at one time, so in a way you are forced in some linear progression.  The game would have been more appealing if it had a different setting. I just don't like this "sci-fi horror" theme much.

The combat and animations weren't top notch and it just didn't feel like much fun.  After a day (gotten a buddy key) i did a review for myself if i would buy and would be willing to pay monthly fees for this.

- Didn't enjoy the limited pvp, didn't feel immersive enough.

- Was worried about the end-game since the questing system is different (time and costly dev develpment)

- Is there a reason to explore the game from a different angle when rolling an Alt? (think aside from the cosmetic look there is no need for alting whatsoever)

- It didn't feel enough of a mmo (yeah you see some other people running around but you didn't need to group up with them, maybe later on in the game when you have your classical instance you might).

- if the game B2P i would have played it just to explore all the questing content once the initial price dropped, but having me pay a montly fee then it i am much more demanding.

Perhaps i have been spoiled by GW2 BWE's and it changed my way in terms of money vs play hours.

I look forward to these mmos because I want to play in a virtual world. But what I usually end up with is an online console port from 1997. They are fun games for what they are, but they last about as long as youd expect a console game to last. Month or two, then back to looking for something new.

Originally posted by Usinger

op:  me too...just can't get into what appears to be a solid game...not sure why...

Its might be because its rather bland.

Once you'e done the main story and dungeons there isn't much left to do if you don't like grinding.  I suppose you could just keep an active sub to play the new quests they give out each month.

The puzzle quests are rather easy after doing them a few times.

There is no reason to make an alt.

pvp is sort of like playing gunz. ie it gets old fast.

Crafting as a full time thing isn't happening.

i'd say the game is just not for you. anyway, this will get ugly fast.