In this week's The List, we're taking a look at five things that surprised us about The Secret World.

While character creation is poor, and this is almost painfully ironic, the breadth and quality of outfits to dress your ugly bastard up in are almost unmatched. There are simply tons of clothing options to pick and choose from in The Secret World, both in and out of the in-game cash shop.

Once Funcom expands on their character creation options (currently targeted for the end of August), The Secret World could possibly have some of the coolest looking characters on the MMO scene.

Read more of Michael Bitton's The List: Five Surprising Things About The Secret World.

I played in the closed beta and didn't like the intro to the game. Starting up the launch client, I didn't have big hopes, but it was actually very good now, really highlighting what the Dragons are about and giving them some depth.

What surprised me the most about TSW is that I actually sit and listen to the NPC's instead of skipping. It's partly because you get vital information for some quests and also because I think it's actually really well written, the NPC's ranging from a bit depressive, to amusing to outright funny.

TSW uses some really great art/assests for it's quest items. When you have to pick up a map or check someone's notes, the item you see looks like a map or someone's notes. Infinitley better than some text in a quest window which sadly is the norm.

Originally posted by Elethon

TSW uses some really great art/assests for it's quest items. When you have to pick up a map or check someone's notes, the item you see looks like a map or someone's notes. Infinitley better than some text in a quest window which sadly is the norm.

Yes! This too! It really helps sell the quests. Should have added it in to the article. :)

I played the first closed beta but just couldn't get into it admittedly because the game was just so different it was a bit of a shock.

Early access started and I thought what the hell (already purchased the game) and as you mention the game has improved a lot from beta. I've been pleasantly surprised by just how well the launch went and secondly how polished the graphics are. If you have a DX11 card your're in for a real treat, the tessellation on surfaces is amazing and TXAA will be implemented soon.

Really the only issues I'm having is a few bugged quests which is a pain but I can live with them as Funcom has been fast to patch the initial bugged ones. 

It's early days yet but it's a breath of fresh air in the crowded MMO space that's for sure and I'm starting to wonder if this may be a sleeper hit because it's so different. 

Really enjoying the game. I'm not going to lie. I didn't have the highest of hopes for this game for several reasons when I first heard about it but overall I think it is a great game.

Character creation is definitely the biggest downfall though. It is simply awful how little you have available.

On a good note, best story themed content I have seen in an mmo. They really hit the mark in this area and the lore of the game.

Not sure if it is a long term venue but definitely worth checking out and playing least for a couple months. Glad to see they didn't pull a massive launch failure like they did with AOC.

The whole game surprises me.  Especially when I come across challenging quests or a tough fight and I have to really dig in and "think" about what I'm doing.  It changes the playing field in so many ways when that happens.  Granted, this probably pushes certain people away, but for me, it's delivered so well I just HAVE to keep trying that investigation quest or finding the right build to mow down mobs in certain areas.  

When people mention "depth" in an MMO this game is the epitome of it.  The crafting, combat and quests are very deep.  I truly hope this game leaves it's mark on the industry and starts changing the WoW status quo(great game but it's time to move on and add more DEPTH) gametype we've seen in the past 8 years.

Game has been great so far..

Awesome launch with only a few little bugs..

I'm really enjoying the game! My two cents...Story and missions are intresting and occasionally challenging. Some are a little buggy which is annoying as your never sure if its a bug or you've missed a clue. While facial features and height weight are limited i found the creation tool acceptable. The choice of outfits are good, although a lack of good mens trousers (for the look i'm going for). Client is fairly stable, odd crash here or there. Combat is fairly enjoyable although can get a little repeatative, which i'm sure will change as i get more skills to swap in and out. The lack of speech for your character in dialog scenes is a little frustraighting but funcom do make some amuzing references to this fact in the npc dialog. 

Keep up the good work funcom.

If you start an article in a negative manner, you're automatically creating the reader's mood for the rest of it. Think about that next time you write about what are supposed to be "5 Surprising" aka "5 PLEASENT" things about an MMO.

I felt like I should stop reading in the beginning because it was so negative at first. You did turn it around nicely but still...the beginning is a turn off.

A builder and a finisher with 5 other situational skills that have overly long cool downs. Yeah that's deep.

Combat that is not just boring to play but even to watch. If you close your eyes you wouldn't be able to tell from the sounds if you were facing the mod and hitting it or turned away and missing. The animations of the skills and how they interact with the mods is bad.

I don't care for "we all dress the same" in pvp. That's not deep.

The skill wheel which is made up of many useless and similar skills isn't deep.

The game has levels. It has gear levels. A level 0 ap is not taking out a level 10.

Funcon did some things right, but they shouldn't be let off the hook for what they failed at.

Originally posted by Ryowulf

A builder and a finisher with 5 other situational skills that have overly long cool downs. Yeah that's deep.

That's not deep.  The deep part is that while you have that, I have:  ST Builder, ST Weap 1 Finisher, AE Builder, AE Weap 1 Finisher, AE Weap 2 finisher and 2 skills with short but complementary cooldowns that result in one of them always being up.

If you can do the last boss in Inferno blind, you seriously need to buy yourself a cape and start saving the world in your spare time.  The same applies for most of the challenging fights.

One thing that has probably allowed me to enjoy this game more than any other factor: I didn't follow the game hardly at all during its development. I knew about the general atmosphere and something called an "ability wheel", but that was about it. I hadn't overhyped it to myself, so I had no expectations. I pre-ordered to get a "free trial" of sorts through the Early Access period and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. 

The investigation quests alone make this game stand out among other MMOs. Sure, you could follow a walkthrough or otherwise look up the answers... but solving them yourself is really quite rewarding.

My biggest concern is the replayability. Once you've gone through all the missions, there aren't really any more surprises.... as far as I can tell, it's all about repeating missions running dungeons to make out your xp/skills, and participating in PVP, which wasn't overly impressive at lower levels.

Overall, I think it warrants a purchase. I wouldn't spring for the lifetime membership, but it's a unique experience and there's definitely enough here to last a few months.

Originally posted by Ryowulf

I don't care for "we all dress the same" in pvp. That's not deep.
 

What do uniforms have to do with depth in any way? I love the idea actually. It gives a far greater connection to your faction, but a greater variety of uniforms would be nice too.

I enjoyed what little time in beta i had, but saying that the perfomance was good.. sorry, no, it wasn't. A top of the line rig doesn't qualify for judging good perfomance anyways. A game should run good on medium to good computers, seeing that most aim for the widest audience possible (reducing visuals more would shy people away again). So, a reasonable priced (€500) rig bought a year or two ago.

Only if it runs fine (most stuff at high, at least 1680, by now more like full HD right away, maybe with AA and AF toned down though) on a cheaper and/or older rig, then a game has good perfomance.

And TSW did not run fine, not even on newer rigs, especially not with DX11, but even DX9 waasn't that good.

Maybe it all changed now, if they had stuff like SLI support deactived that means they were still tuning graphics related stuff, and i had fun despite the choppy perfomance, but that doesn't change that it had said choppy perfomance in the late beta.

I was surprised by not really getting into the game. The ideas and descriptions of the goals sounded really cool, but playing in the beta didn't really 'grab' me. I don't have a specific complaint, I just wasn't getting into the game too much. I will say that there was a difference between beta 1 and beta 3, and it was an improvement. I also don't see any glaring flaws. I might pick the game up in a month or two.

I was also surprised by the reaction, or lack of one here on MMORPG(dot)com. Sure, there were a couple people complaining about the skill system actually being levels and there are a couple now talking about the combat and combat animations, but it's nothing like what I expected. I'm not sure if this is good or not. It's certainly different.

1. Surprised it released with THAT combat system in place.

2. Surprised it released with THAT combat system in place.

3. Surprised it released with THAT combat system in place.

4. Surprised it released with THAT combat system in place.

5. Surprised it released with THAT combat system in place.