Funcom has laid out the details for this weekend's final beta event before The Secret World goes live in early July. Players will be able to experience all of the content so far released as well as new locations such as Stonehenge and El Dorado.

‘The Secret World Beta Weekend #4: The Battle Begins’ starts at 9am PDT on June 22th and runs for almost three entire days until 11.59pm PDT on June 24th. During that time players will be able to experience all the content that has been included in the three previous Beta Weekends, such as all three secret society starter experiences, the town of Kingsmouth, the Savage Coast and the Polaris and Hell Raised dungeons. Brand new this weekend is the inclusion of player vs. player gameplay, where the secret societies must duke it out in legendary locations such as Stonehenge and Eldorado. Participants will also get to experience the persistent player vs. player war zone of Fusang Projects, where over two hundred players clash together in a massive struggle for server-wide power. The outcome of these battles affects all players belonging to the victorious secret society, across the server.

Find out more on The Secret World's site.

I'm glad I get to try the game a bit more but I seriously wonder...

Wouldn't it be better to invest this time into bugfixes for already known bugs? I know there must be plenty.

And testing new areas before the game goes live? Oh Funcom you got quite a nice game there - don't ruin it.

This is an open beta, there is also a closed beta that is testing everything.  Having an open beta weekend (that's on seperate servers) isn't a waste of time.

The open beta is a good time investment for their live crew to help train and get ready for the flood of people, test server architechture and get more feedback and bug reports.

I think its decent of Funcom to do this, let everyone try out the game before it launches to see if its something you'd want to buy.

You're not getting fooled into buying it, if you buy it now you've had your chance to try it out :D

Its got a sub and cash shop, so try it this weekend, and make up your mind :)

I bought the game on the strength of the idea but was disappointed by the first beta so never played the following ones.

I'll give it a go at launch but I'm really not holding out hope of it being the next mmo I'll sub to.  

Its pvp time!!!

Originally posted by highflying

I think its decent of Funcom to do this, let everyone try out the game before it launches to see if its something you'd want to buy.

You're not getting fooled into buying it, if you buy it now you've had your chance to try it out :D

 

Its got a sub and cash shop, so try it this weekend, and make up your mind :)

I disagree but won't post here what I think about 2 days old accounts praising certain companies.

The mods always delete such posts.

Can't wait to try the PvP. Hoping it's good enough to buy a lifetime subscription.

I'm not a big BG fan and don't expect amazing map design (never is actually) but, since it's skill based, teams and guilds and create all kinds of builds and synergies between them which leads to different strategies within the same map. That might help keeping them fresh.

Originally posted by Dakirn

This is an open beta, there is also a closed beta that is testing everything.  Having an open beta weekend (that's on seperate servers) isn't a waste of time.

The open beta is a good time investment for their live crew to help train and get ready for the flood of people, test server architechture and get more feedback and bug reports.

While that's true, I seriously have to wonder how many times people will fall for the 'oh ya, everything will be fixed by launch with a miracle patch' gag. Especially so close to launch. I seriously can't think of a single game that has done this successfully, and even the ones that did manage to produce a miracle patch didn't end up fixing the game, it was a huge letdown.

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by Dakirn

This is an open beta, there is also a closed beta that is testing everything.  Having an open beta weekend (that's on seperate servers) isn't a waste of time.

The open beta is a good time investment for their live crew to help train and get ready for the flood of people, test server architechture and get more feedback and bug reports.

While that's true, I seriously have to wonder how many times people will fall for the 'oh ya, everything will be fixed by launch with a miracle patch' gag. Especially so close to launch. I seriously can't think of a single game that has done this successfully, and even the ones that did manage to produce a miracle patch didn't end up fixing the game, it was a huge letdown.

I feel the same way.  I mean I believe that there are people doing extensive testing in closed beta, but all of those things being tested should really be tested in a public open beta before release.  If things are going better in the closed beta testing wouldnt they want to show us that to make us more comfortable with buying the game?  And if they don't think its ready to show that content to a wider audiene than maybe they oughta think about pushing the launch date back a couple months or so.

A try before you buy is always a win for everybody. There is definatley a lot of improvements that would be nice if they were implemented before launch, but It looks as though Funcom learned a few things since their last launch.

A tip of my hat Funcom for making an MMO that seems quite enjoyable and is quite different from the rest of the pack.

Originally posted by Dakeru

Originally posted by highflying

I think its decent of Funcom to do this, let everyone try out the game before it launches to see if its something you'd want to buy.

You're not getting fooled into buying it, if you buy it now you've had your chance to try it out :D

 

Its got a sub and cash shop, so try it this weekend, and make up your mind :)

I disagree but won't post here what I think about 2 days old accounts praising certain companies.

The mods always delete such posts.

So you think its un-decent of Funcom to let people try their game for free before purchasing it?

Well what would make you happy? Getting paid for playing it? :)

Originally posted by Dakeru

I'm glad I get to try the game a bit more but I seriously wonder...

Wouldn't it be better to invest this time into bugfixes for already known bugs? I know there must be plenty.

And testing new areas before the game goes live? Oh Funcom you got quite a nice game there - don't ruin it.

 The Areas are NOT new per se ..They are only NEW to the OPEN Beta crowd..

"....belonging to the victorious secret society...."

Anyone else read that and think of Lingerie Models in Angel Wings?  Is there a 4th Society?!  Is it a conspiracy?!  I think I will go research further.

It makes me laugh all these people who say "I am glad I can try it out a little more, before I decide to invest". Are you kidding? It costs about $.50 cents a day. Either shut up or get a better job that pays well. Tight is the word. Who really cares much about whether your sorts decide to invest in the game anyway. Those who have money will play it

Originally posted by thark

Originally posted by Dakeru

I'm glad I get to try the game a bit more but I seriously wonder...

Wouldn't it be better to invest this time into bugfixes for already known bugs? I know there must be plenty.

And testing new areas before the game goes live? Oh Funcom you got quite a nice game there - don't ruin it.

 The Areas are NOT new per se ..They are only NEW to the OPEN Beta crowd..

Ok I get that but I have seen so many bugs even in the open beta stage that I don't even want to imagine what it looks like in the closed beta areas.

@those fairly new accounts

Go ahead. Tell people how great Funcom is. Diss people who don't want to pay a monthly subscription and call them poor.

Anyone with a bit of sense will realize who you are.