In this week's continuing "Review in Progress" series on Funcom's The Secret World, our own Suzie Ford dishes her opinions so far on the game's combat, community, and social play aspects.  Read on!

Combat has been a sticky subject for Funcom and fans of The Secret World. Many beta testers complained long and loud about the “clunky” animations as well as finding two or three great synergistic skills and spending too much time mashing buttons. I’ll admit that I was one of the naysayers on the issue of combat based on my experiences on the press server.

Read the rest of Suzie Ford's The Secret World: Review in Progress - Part Three.

None of the problems mentioned bothered me at all, except the ability wheel. Yes, you definitely get penalized by a poor choice or combo. You really do have to read about your choices carefully. While they boast of so many possible combinations for skills and abilities, it's a little misleading. There really are many combinations. But, not all of those combinations are necessarily optimal / valid.

If Funcom was smart, they'd make a respec a RMT. 

Charge $2-5 for it in the cash shop and make it have a 2-week cooldown.

A good way for them to get more money from lifers like me. :)

I am having no issues with the ability wheel, I spent some time early on looking through the decks and chose my path according to my best rule of thumb, which outfit was going to look the best, while I am sure that one day I'll be able to make better builds I still need to start somewhere and working to a deck will be as good a way as any to begin my bank of abilities.  In the long run I'll move on to a second deck that overlaps with one of my original ability sets meaning I only have to invest in one more ability option, then on to another deck with overlap by which point I should have 3 wonderful outfits and enough abilities to satisfy my choice to modify.  Clunky combat?  well if I had time to worry about that I would be overpowered :) the mobs in The Secret World are DANGEROUS honestly I don't worry about how combat looks I want to survive and put those creatures down.

As a final comment I must just say that Solomon Island is for me one of the finest adventuring areas I have yet encountered in an MMO.  Creepy, funny, dangeous, jump-out-of-my-seaty all by turns and tapping into the sensibilites of cultural references that are known to so many of us.  Wonderful and well done Funcom, after the Age of Conan launch for which I was a founder and a bit disapointed I promised never to pre-order again, so very pleased that I am weak-willed when it comes to my gaming hobby, this has been superb.  I just hope that it will continue into the future zones.

I dont see any reason why a casual player cant paly this.. Im lucky if i get a few hours a couple of nigths a week with all the other things i do but I still enjoy TSW and dont feel gimped or anything because i dont have that much time to put into it..

To me, the ability wheel decisions make it more lifelike --  I didn't get the tuition money I spent back when I changed majors so I don't expect to get my points money back when I decide to do something different.

I am casual player and  i enjoing in game without feel I am slow in progress

If  funcom listen baby cry & lazy players who ask respect it ll be game killer

, ask for respect is most stupid idea  what I hear

Valid arguments. There are players that will have finished the current ability wheel by the end of the month. I worry about long term viability with Secret World. A signifigant portion of the population rushed through all the content already and even monthly updates won't be enough for them... and yet this is a problem facing every single MMO past, present, and future.

i reckon your respec idea is viable and a once a month timer would be spot on. Even a "you have 3 respecs and thats it" kind of thing would work. The combat system takes some getting used to, i threw my points in haphazardly and regret it now. Now im following a premade deck from the list which seems to be working best for me. The res thing doesnt bother me, plus the anima give me a fantastic fast travel when coupled with /reset, which has little to no downside.

Originally posted by Segun777

Valid arguments. There are players that will have finished the current ability wheel by the end of the month. I worry about long term viability with Secret World. A signifigant portion of the population rushed through all the content already and even monthly updates won't be enough for them... and yet this is a problem facing every single MMO past, present, and future.

Not to get off topic.  I agree with the fact that 99.8% of these game dead end.  I had an idea for an mmo similar to WURM Online (but with much better graphics).  Take a game similar to this and add invention/timelines.  x time to discover the wheel, and so on.  You would start out with huts/tent and at some point, end up in space.  The game would have no "End Game" because evolution has no end.  Jus need to find a AAA Dev team to build it but the good news is they would only have to build the building blocks.  The players would do the rest.

I'm still enjoying TSW, it's a pretty good game and I think the story presentation has been excellent.

I don't see a need for a wheel respec, points are easy to get and if you play long enough casual or hardcore you'll soon fill it up. 

ONe of the better new games in a long time. It is not as easy as some of the newer games, but that is why I like it.

I like TSW alot the lore is great and the atmostphere is superb. My problem is also with being stuck in the role you've taken. Not due to bad choice but i am leveling a tank deck and given how difficult combat gets later in the game it becomes very tedious. Not that i die alot actually i very rarely die it just takes me fooooooooorever to kill things. a side mission with only 1 stage kill 2 types of mobs 4 of 1 and 10 of another took me over an hour to complete due to how slow my character kills.

I think the game is built FOR casual players.  I'm at the endgame, story and quest wise and it only took 2 weeks.  For casual players this will take much longer and be worth the monthly fee.  For me, it's not.  I don't raid and I don't repeat dungeon runs ad nauseum in my MMOs.  Usually I reroll or do the alternative stuff like fishing, cooking, alternate achievements, housing, collections and so forth and sadly, this game does not have any of those currently to keep me playing.  Hopefully they add them, but until then I'm not resubbing. 

On the issue of the skill wheel.  I'm torn between liking making builds and aiming to complete decks and not having a steady role to fill or steady dps build to use when soloing.  For me, I like having a class choice or just using one type of weapon for the entirety of my game.  I prefer the way FFXI does it, you level up jobs and mix and match, but you are basically set to that role for that job until you level them up.  This game makes me feel like I can't focus basically.  For those who like that great, for those like me who just want to RELAX and have fun, the way mobs react to certain builds...is just too frustrating for me to enjoy.  Again, that's just me. 

Community is ok.  I find Cabals are pointless right now and are overglorified extra chat rooms.  There is no real incentive for joining any.  Again, I have to wonder why no one copies EQ2s guild system.  It is phenomenal.  I think Rift is the only one that comes close to copying it.  TSW could do with a nice Cabal upgrade to Cabal housing, stats, leveling, perks, whatever.  Something more than what it currently is.

I disagree, this game is perfect for casual players. I find myself logging in for 1-2 hours a night only in the late nights after the day is done and I don't feel I'm behind at all or can't follow the game.

The no rez in game is bothersome. It should be a token or item of some sort you can accumulate and use when needed.

I have no issue with not being able to respec.  If you make a bad choice then just earn some more points to buy more abilities.  Adds a bit of difficulty to the game and I hope they never change it.