Blue mountain: 

Investigation missions : 1

sad panda :(

That satellite 1 was bad because the binary just seems like graphics of the hack running. I liked those missions a lot though and would suggest to just look up enough to get the ball rolling if your having difficulty so you don't spoil the whole thing. So far I havent found not 1 in transylvania and have been through all three zones pretty thoroughly. 

Originally posted by wyldmagik

Blue mountain: 

Investigation missions : 1

 

sad panda :(

There are three in the first region of Egypt, but then that's it for the game right now (apparently).

Plus Signal Effect which is a one-off mission that isn't labeled as investigative for some reason.

Well im man enough to admit im an idiot when it comes to these missions. There was one, I read the spoiler online 3 times still picked the wrong one and finaly had to ask in general.... no way i could figure out the morse code.

But im watiing for the hebrew one ive heard about, I can somewhat read ancient hebrew so itll be my time to shine.

Even some of the non investigation missions give me pause.  About the main story quest line in kingsmouth

Heighlight to read :

When your in the illuminati vault and you have to put the items in order to open the door.  Was there any clues or a trick to knowing how to do it... I just kept at it trying every combination till it worked.

Originally posted by EvolvedMonky

Well im man enough to admit im an idiot when it comes to these missions. There was one, I read the spoiler online 3 times still picked the wrong one and finaly had to ask in general.... no way i could figure out the morse code.

 

But im watiing for the hebrew one ive heard about, I can somewhat read ancient hebrew so itll be my time to shine.

 

Even some of the non investigation missions give me pause.  About the main story quest line in kingsmouth

Heighlight to read :

When your in the illuminati vault and you have to put the items in order to open the door.  Was there any clues or a trick to knowing how to do it... I just kept at it trying every combination till it worked.

 

 

There was a book on the table that gave a short clue about the order.  It was more or less obvious if you read, but if you didn't see the book, then I guess trial and error would work as well.

No, keep them hard, make more, make some harder. I love these things, I honestly wish each zone was full of them. I have yet to look up a single one, several of them my girlfriend and I worked on for a couple hours. The binary/hex one was a challenge, but don't forget to use every tool at your disposal to solve the problems. 

Funcom knows that people tend to love or hate them.. fortunately most people seem to love them :)

I remember Joel (lead Designer) writing he had to fight really hard to keep them in the game because most people didn't think anyone would like them.

Boy I'm sure everyone is glad he stuck to his guns on that.

Fortunately there will be a few more added in each of the Monthly updates (up to 7 more coming on the 31st).

They're hard to make and hard to solve but boy is it an awesome time at least for me :)

I was writing those posts in work, which is why they seem a bit lacking or spoilerish. I kept getting interrupted by customers! The investigation missions are a great idea and I go down the right path with them, even before the spoilers. Like the Gold-Bug one I mentioned, I knew it was to do with Poe after a bit of net searching, but then the common surname and the whole point of the short story sort of threw me.

The problem I have with the investigation missions are the fact that they don't really hint at what sort of answer you're looking for. I remember looking up a spoiler for one in.. Kingsmouth I think it was.. where I read the spoiler and even then had no idea how they came to the conclusion. It just seemed like a bunch of information thrown together, then picking out random parts of that information and throwing it at the game until something stuck.

I think I'd enjoy the investigation missions a lot more if the answer was.. hmm.. not more obvious as that would spoil the point.. if the answer was more.. understandable? I don't know. I just find there to be jumps in logic in a few of those quests where you go from finding information to reaching the answer and - to me at least - there doesn't seem to be any middle point between the two.

I've completed a couple of these missions without spoilers so I'm not a complete dullard, but some of them, as I said, seem to defy logic.

Originally posted by asmkm22

Originally posted by EvolvedMonky

Well im man enough to admit im an idiot when it comes to these missions. There was one, I read the spoiler online 3 times still picked the wrong one and finaly had to ask in general.... no way i could figure out the morse code.

 

But im watiing for the hebrew one ive heard about, I can somewhat read ancient hebrew so itll be my time to shine.

 

Even some of the non investigation missions give me pause.  About the main story quest line in kingsmouth

Heighlight to read :

When your in the illuminati vault and you have to put the items in order to open the door.  Was there any clues or a trick to knowing how to do it... I just kept at it trying every combination till it worked.

 

 

There was a book on the table that gave a short clue about the order.  It was more or less obvious if you read, but if you didn't see the book, then I guess trial and error would work as well.

I think the biggest problem here is that clicking the book does not read it, but instead picks it up and you have to right-click it in your inventory to actually read it.

I try to solve all these missions on my own but if after an hour or two i am not getting anywhere, iam not ashamed to look for help online.

But i always give it my best shot first.

I usually try my best with the investigations, if I get stuck I will do some other missions before trying it again. If I am still stuck, I ask for hints (not the solution).

The investigation quests are the most fun parts of TSW for me. I do them for the challenge and the satisfaction of having solved them myself. I don't care if it takes me 3 hours to do just one. I'd no them even if they awarded zero XP !

But I fear they will not last as a main feature in the game. FC have apparently been saving up designs for investigation quests during the development phase, but having the design on paper is very different to having a working quest in the game.

These quests are not trivial to implement, and the fact that they often involve object puzzles in the open world makes them prone to bugs (as we have seen). Perhaps the devs will learn from the intial problems and be able to avoid them in future quests, else the resulting bugfixing will eat up even more of the development time.

So I have to wonder for how long FC can dedicate a significant amount of their development budget to new investigation quests. It will take a sizeable chunk of time away from developing and testing other content for the game. Can they sustain it ?

Originally posted by UsualSuspect

I was writing those posts in work, which is why they seem a bit lacking or spoilerish. I kept getting interrupted by customers! The investigation missions are a great idea and I go down the right path with them, even before the spoilers. Like the Gold-Bug one I mentioned, I knew it was to do with Poe after a bit of net searching, but then the common surname and the whole point of the short story sort of threw me.

The problem I have with the investigation missions are the fact that they don't really hint at what sort of answer you're looking for. I remember looking up a spoiler for one in.. Kingsmouth I think it was.. where I read the spoiler and even then had no idea how they came to the conclusion. It just seemed like a bunch of information thrown together, then picking out random parts of that information and throwing it at the game until something stuck.

I think I'd enjoy the investigation missions a lot more if the answer was.. hmm.. not more obvious as that would spoil the point.. if the answer was more.. understandable? I don't know. I just find there to be jumps in logic in a few of those quests where you go from finding information to reaching the answer and - to me at least - there doesn't seem to be any middle point between the two.

I've completed a couple of these missions without spoilers so I'm not a complete dullard, but some of them, as I said, seem to defy logic.

*Spoiler Alert-Kingsmouth Quest*

Yeah, I know what you mean. When I was doing the investigation mission in Kingsmouth concerning the Ravens, I didn't even dawn on me I needed to be dead to see the ghost. People gave me hints and told me to think out of the box, but when I was told I needed to be dead, and people were like "how else are you supposed to see ghosts" I was thinking, "well, considering I see Revans, zombies, and god knows what else, why wouldn't I be able to see ghosts alive?" I did enjoy researching the message on the wall and learning the ryhme before I even encountered the white ravens.

The morse code one, I totatlly cheated on. First, I did look up how to do morse code, but I don't have the patience to learn a new language (morse code) and be proficient enough to decipher the very fast message just for a video game.

*End Spoiler*

Personally, I think the investigation missions are too hard. They're the reason why I was interested in the game, but seriously? Most of them are just as you said. I learned in college (I graduated), that there are 7 different kinds of intelligences. Mine is more logic than anything else, but some emotional. Anyways, the developers of these quests are assuming you'll think just like them and come to the same conclusions on how to even get started with the quest. If after you've researched for quite a while and have done your very best and you still draw nothing than a blank on step 1, then they're just too hard. That's coming from a guy who had a 3.5 GPS in college, so I'm no dumbass or anything.

Its for this reason that I'll probably end up playing GW2 over TSW. The main draw of TSW for me was the investigation missions, but if I can't figure them out on my own, then what's the point? The rest of the game is good, don't get me wrong, but I can play GW2, have more group content to do (which I prefer), and not have to pay a subscription fee. I'll miss the setting TSW has, but I'll get over it. Besides, I think the bugginess of the game is worse than average for a new release, at least in my experience in MMO releases the past few years. Maybe I've been lucky in the past to not of had many, if at all problems with WAR, AoC, and SWTOR's releases, but in TSW, the first two weeks were rough, and people are still reporting broken quests and etc.

Originally posted by Blackbrrd

I usually try my best with the investigations, if I get stuck I will do some other missions before trying it again. If I am still stuck, I ask for hints (not the solution).

I hear ya, I did that in the beginning, now I don't bother asking for help too often. People in chat are snobs and act like they figured it out all on their own. Instead, I just Google a guide to get me through parts I can't figure out myself, but I do give it my best shot first.