The Secret World developer blog has been updated with a new article by Lead Designer Martin Bruusgaard. In it, he details how characters will develop throughout a player's time in game. Bruusgaard covers a number of topics in this very comprehensive look.

The article focuses on these areas:

1. Abilities
2. Skills
3. Gear
4. Progression
5. Crafting

Very informative read.  Still looking forward to this game.

Finally a real MMORPG to look forward to! Can't wait!

looks like a gorgeous system.

It looks damn nice but i share the same doubts and anger as this guy, and i'm letting my AoC sub running out (til dec 2012) without logging because paying to play a non working, non fun game makes me feel even more stupid the having paid for not playing at all. 

http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=1970575&postcount=42

This crafting is sandbox and epic. I'm quite ready to dive into this game. Looking forward to see more vids of it while waiting for launch.

Minecraft like crafting (puting materials into item's shape) is the new thing =P I know ANet said they were a little bit inspired by minecraft too =P I bet more mmos will follow =P

Originally posted by JeroKane

Finally a real MMORPG to look forward to! Can't wait!

My thoughts exactly!

I wonder how long this skill system will last before the devs start simplifying it because of mass complaints that it is too complex?

Seems to happen in many games.

Take my money Funcom!

On a serious note, Funcom never nerfed AoC dungeons even though those are insanly difficult in hard  mode compared to more mainstream MMOs. I'm quite sure they'll stick to the complexity and difficulty in TSW, making it a unique/successful game for gamers. We already have WoW/Rift/Swtor as faceroll MMOs, there's no room on the market for another one of these.

The talent system does seem a bit complicated....but in actual play it might not be too bad.  So far as them making it easier...well, it may need some tweeks....but hopefully wil survive (unless they hire Ghostcrawler away from Blizzard...then you will have 1 talent per 15 levels.....yeah...that's it)

Originally posted by Hawkster

The talent system does seem a bit complicated....but in actual play it might not be too bad.  So far as them making it easier...well, it may need some tweeks....

 

 

"A bit complicated" is exactly how I  want this game to be, even though I believe the system will likely need a fair amount of  balancing.

It will also mean that the game community will hopefully be a bit better as it will put off some of the hyperactive kids who want an easy gamming fix.

Players who want something simple have loads of options for games - unlike those of us that  enjoy having to do a little reading and thinking whilst we game.

After the bitter taste left in my mouth from SWTOR, I seriously have my fingers crossed with this game. With everything I am reading about this game, I get a refreshing feeling about all the content. The skills and progression system seems original and intuitive, the crafting system sounds great...almost minecraftish lol. The gear customization I'm worried about though. SWTOR failed horribly with their attempt by making 99% of the gear customization items obtainable for pretty much free just by doing quests pretty much making crafting worthless for making any money. I have pretty high hopes about TSW, I think they have learned a lot from their mistakes with the AoC launch and the fact that they stuck with AoC and fixed the issues. Even though the playerbase wasn't large shows they stand by their product and won't abandon it.

How does this wheel work, I played SWG where you had a limited amount of points to allocate in a similar type arrangement. Because the points were limited it meant picking specific roles and speccing up in those to the higher skills, effectively specialising.

Here difference being that you can only have 7 active and 7 passive skills and they have done away with the points limitation, so eventually you can have all 500 skills on a single character.

What I'd like to know is how are these skills disributed amongst the wheel itself? Do the skills advance in power as you progress through the wheel's tiers? If so are we talking about a fully specced character with the choice of all 500 skills really only picking from the outer wheel of skills? Or are the first skills you get on the inner rings just as powerful and useful as the later ones?

Not expecting a lot from this title but at least it is not the same old mish mash of crap filled features, at least some things will stray away from the cookie cutter mold of MMO's.

OMG OMG OMG cant wait april is 5 days away.