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Originally posted by Mahavishnu

 

1. The personal story is bad and boring.

It fully branches depending on your choices - your answers during character creation, your class, your decisions while playing your story (the game even warns you, that they are irreversible). There has never been an MMO with such stuff. I can understand, that some players prefer the voice-acting and dialouges of SWOTR. But to say this is bad content is a sign of ignorance.

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Not looking to start an argument, but I'd strongly disagree that saying it's bad is a sign of ignorance. I think it's simply a difference of taste, and your description of it, is pretty much taste.

It's a valid complaint, someone can say it's bad and it's boring, and more power to 'em, it isnt for 'em. It's like saying that Tolkien is boring, believe it or not, there are people out there who feel he is. That doesnt mean they are ignorant, just means that isnt to their taste for whatever reason.

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Originally posted by gaeanprayer

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Originally posted by Baikal *snip* Oh? When did they change that, or is it that way in the CB? I'mn not saying it isnt the case, but it would be a welcome change. *snip*

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Check the leaked patch notes, they're on the forum in here somewhere and if not (might have gotten taken down) they're on google. They mentioned it was now possible to join people on the overflow servers from the menu. Anet had already said they were going to address the problem, just didn't say how officially.

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You are a prince and a good man for telling me that!

See, I should have waited 2 minutes before I replied! Thank you!

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Originally posted by gaeanprayer
#1 was already taken care of as per the most recent patch notes, now you can join friends in overflow servers from the menu.

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That's good news, makes my last post asking the question answered!

Those internal notes, they did not detail changes in the last BWE or stress test though did they?

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Originally posted by evilastro
You can zone to the same instance as people you group with.

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Oh?

When did they change that, or is it that way in the CB? I'mn not saying it isnt the case, but it would be a welcome change.

The first BWE it was definitely not that way, I was in several groups where we started in Divinity's Reach and when we'd go out to Queensdale, we'd all, and I mean ALL of us end up in seperate instances, errr "overflow servers."

To the OP, tying into the group thing, a vastly improve chat system would be nice as well, so your local chat would be heard in the entire zone as opposed to the narrow area you are in, much like a /yell in another MMO. It would make grouping far easier.

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Originally posted by Aerowyn
Are people really that shallow that they cannot enjoy multiple styles of games? am i just THAT strange? I dunno

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Honestly? I dont think it's that people are shallow, but that it's a herd mentality. You could get a large group of people to jump off a bridge if the person in front of the herd did it.

I'm like you, I enjoy both titles so far, and odds are I pick them both up. I've never thought a game was "scary", but TSW has some ability to mess with the mind. GW2 I like for other reasons, they both have some strong suits, and I have no illusions that more people are going to drink the GW2 Kool-Aid (hey, it IS a DAMN good game, but it isnt perfect) and I realize that TSW is going to be rougher and have less fans.

Either or, I dont really give a damn what other people think is good, or bad, I'm perfectly content to play a game I enjoy, and those reasons may vary.

As a side note, to the OP, I do know what you mean. When I posted my impressions from last week, I had the same issue, I just did not "feel it" for awhile. When I came back later and tried it again with someone else, I was suddenly sucked into the game. In a way that's how I felt with GW2. Nobody should tell you to stick with a game for a long period of time, either you'll like it, or you wont. Sorry TSW did not click for ya!

Pre-Order it from Amazon and judge for yourself. Amazon doesnt bill until the game ships, they'll send you a code, and you'll be able to participate in the next beta weekend event (next weekend) and you can form your own opinion.

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Originally posted by Talonsin

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Originally posted by jdnyc
The game is cheaper than any other MMO to come out in the last five years that was made by a major studio.
 

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What?  How is this game cheaper than other MMO's?  They set the same price as EA did for SWTOR and it cost a heck of a lot more to make TOR than it did TSW.  I'm also pretty sure that no other MMO has come out with a standard version that cost more than $60 so again I ask you, how is this game cheaper than any other MMO? 
 
to the OP
I'm ok with the $60 box price but I think $50 is more inline with the quality of this game.  I can live with the sub fee but to also add a cash shop on top of that is really pushing it especially when you see the mixed reviews that TSW is getting.  Personally, I wont be paying that kind of money.  I'll wait for the end of summer and get the game for $30 or less after it has had a bit of time to be tweaked.  I dont see any value in jumping in at launch and paying full-price and dealing with launch bugs and server load issues myself but to each his own. 

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Help me out here.....

The Old Republic at launch was $59.99 for the box, and TSW is 49.99

How is it not cheaper than TOR was at release? Maybe it's a good thing you feel that $50 is more inline for the quality, since that's exactly what you are paying, no?

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Originally posted by Kinchyle

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Originally posted by Lagoz
It's a disease called GW2.
Everyone who is waiting for GW2 is dooming TSW for not being GW2.
There's plenty of great elements in the game. Read the biased preview I wrote for example 8)

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For what reason? Games are NOTHING ALIKE!!
I so do not get this forum and the moronacy involved

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Here is a quick primer.

If you like game A, you dislike games B, C, D, & E, and anyone who likes them or prefers them is instantly of a lower intelligence.

Repeat with with any of the games switching places, then you'll have the forums here down!

Seriously though, there do seem to be plenty of folks who appreciate games for what they offer, not for what the wish them to be. At least the OP is honest, it wasnt what he was looking for.

I'm sure that within weeks of launch there will be spoiler sites or other sites that have quest walk-thru's, and despite Funcom's intention of changing things, they cant change the heart of the quests.

Personally though, those quests, and having an in-game browswer was one of the better features I found over the weekend.

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Originally posted by jdnyc

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Originally posted by Baikal

Is the PvP fun? Is it worthwile?

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It has PvP.  I have no idea if it's fun and worthwhile though.

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/wink

I know it has PvP. My point was that this weekend we were not able to experience it, so from a fan perspective, I have no idea if it'll be enjoyable. Since I put PvP near the top of my list on things I like to do in an MMO, it's definitely something I'm interested in.

I agree with folks saying niche.

The prevailing theme I've seen people saying is that the title lacks things to do other than PvE. Not being able to see or engage in PvP is a bit of a bummer for me. While I love the PvE aspect of the game, there is no way Funcom is going to be able to add content fast enough to satisfy people, so to my way of thinking, there have to be reasons and activities to engage in that arent PvE.

Is the PvP fun? Is it worthwile?

Dont get me wrong, I think this title is always going to be niche, but if it doesnt have some PvP or other activities I enjoy the experience is likely to be short. Enjoyable, but short, and I really hope that isnt the case.

I'm going to round down to a 6.

Dont get me wrong, enjoyed quite a bit of what I saw, but one of the big selling points of an MMO for me is the PvP. With this weekend being single faction and being unable to see it, I cant really go much higher. In addition there are a few other concerns, but on the whole, enjoyed it enough to start paying more attention to it, and I definitely want to be able to get a handle on the PvP system, as well as a few other aspects of the game.

Full Thoughts

I doubt that most folks are interested in the full story, and how and why I came to my conclusions and impressions, so I'll leave them here if anyone is interested. It is a long read however.

I'll just bring over my summary:

Summary:

The fact that I started with the bad, and listed more bad that good would usually be taken as a sign that either I did not care for the game, or that I'm not all that interested in the game. In this case, the good actually outweighs the bad, as I feel that strongly about it. If I was rating the game today, it would get a fairly strong 6 or 6.5 out of 10, but there are a few elements that I still dont have information about that will determine if I'd move that number up my chart.

With only one faction playable there was no access to either instanced PvP or the 3-faction world style PvP that Funcom has talked about. If you go back to an earlier blog I did, on what is important to me in an MMO you'll see that meaningful world PvP and instanced PvP top my list. With no experience in The Secret World, I have no way of knowing what to expect, and for a game to be a long term success for me, that's something pretty important.

There are no public quests, but as I alluded to earlier, I feel more desire to play this game with friends than alone so I dont miss the public quests quite as much as I'd expect. In addition, the zone wide chat system in TSW showed me that Funcom got chat right, especially compared to ArenaNet's inexplicable failure to include any kind of zone wide chat.

I have definite concerns about the amount of content available in TSW as well as replayability. It would appear there is a very linear path thru TSW, and I'm still not sure how much your faction will play a part of your story. If in fact your faction plays a middling part to your questing, then I dont see a reason to experience more than one faction. Perhaps it does play a bigger part, but again, not enough information to judge at this time.

TSW appears to have a total of 9 PvE zones, and Funcom doesnt have a reputation for churning out content rapidly, so I do worry that once you complete the 9 zones, all you will be left with is PvP. While I dont have a huge issue with that, I am bothered that I'll be left with something I still havent seen. Solving the investigation quests is tremendously fun, but once solved they can easily be repeated, and lose a huge sense of satisfaction. This is one reason I asked myself if this game, and this story could have been better told as a single player RPG or a co-op style game? I'm not one to judge the path that Funcom has taken, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is a very heavily content driven game. There are hundreds of thousands of myths and legends that could be explored, and that might fit the title, but can Funcom address that in a timely manner?

Inevitably the question is going to be asked, about which I like better TSW or GW2. The honest answer is that I like GW2 right now, because I've had a chance to experience the PvP. I love the setting for TSW. Each game has some distinct positives and some things that I dont care for. GW2 is likely going to be the commercial success, and TSW is going to find an audience that wants different concepts, even if those concepts are trapped in a fairly traditional MMO formula. There is just enough of Funcom's particular take for me, but I know that wont be the case for everyone.

On the whole, I like what I see, I'd consider picking the title up, right now my hunch is that it might only be worth a few months of entertainment, and I'd like to be able to get more from an MMO, but this is a truly enjoyable world, with a great concept. I have definite concerns about the end-game, what it is, and how engaging it will be. This isnt going to garner millions of subscriptions, and Blizzard doesnt have to worry about it eroding Warcrafts sub base. This is definitely a niche MMO, and one where you will have to turn your brain on, and think if you want to solve quests on your own. Sure, within weeks there will be sites will all the answers, but if you enjoy figuring out puzzles on your own, and you want to excercise your brain instead of your coordination with a jumping puzzle, TSW is probably a game to keep on your radar. I know it's going to be on mine.

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Originally posted by Lucioon

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Originally posted by Baikal
 

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Originally posted by Lucioon

The main reason why so many in SWTOR was bitchin and moaning is because they weren't given the privilege of getting into the game prior to its release. There weren't even any Gameplay Videos by fans available on youtube. So everyone that went into the game only had Hype that it will be like TOR SP , and made by Bioware.
 
 

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I'll call shens on that.
Bioware ran Beta weekends about bi-weekly for nearly 2 months. Pretty much everyone who had signed up for beta testing was invited.
I'm not sure how you figure people werent allowed in.
 

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I was speaking from my own experience, althought I did pre-order the CE , I didn't get into the BETA until a few weeks prior to the launch date. And by that time I only got into the game and leveled to 15. I did watch footages from Taugrim on the PVP aspects of SWTOR. It looked fun, but didn't realize that the fun wears off after realizing that GEAR determines so much at later game and the balance was off to the darkside.
Mostly my own fault but still, prior to the NDA being lifted, there weren't that much information. And TSW i was only able to get the PAX footages to see whats even going on.

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Fair point, but since you used words like "why so many were bitching" you can easily see why someone would confuse your intentions of sharing your own experience. Why not just say that you bitched and moaned because you only got a brief chance?

Honestly, I dont know of that many people who did complain because Bioware did give just about everyone who had signed up for beta multiple chances to experience the game. Sure it was within 2 months of launch, but if you had questions or were unsure, why order ahead of time?

And yes, there was plenty of information out there that TOR was going to be a fairly gear-centric game in the WoW model. Dont get me wrong, I know folks dont like it for a variety of reasons, but when you say there wasnt info out there telling you that, I think it's just another confusion of phrasing because you mean "I just did not look or take time to find information," and that's cool too. You shouldnt have to be a 24/7 fan in order to know details.

Being honest, Funcom's rep is probably a reason for muted excitement among the existing MMO playing community, and I havent seen EA (the publisher, not the developer) taking a lot of ad's out in non-MMO oriented websites.

Personally, I love a lot of the concepts, but I didnt follow the game too closer post announcement because I had been thru AO beta and launch and AoC beta and launch, and I felt no reason to get excited or interest over things that were likely to change fairly significantly pre-release. Now though, 5 weeks out, I'm interested in seeing what the game is, but it's well past concept and idea time.

I'm not going to re-write it all but I did a blog on it the other day. Short version is having played some other Funcom games, I'm trying to approach this with reasonable expectations, and see if I like it.

To the topic, if this weekend is a hit, and the concepts they have talked about work for people, you'll see a pretty strong word of mouth campaign, and that's the best advertising for a game in the genre anyhow. Right now they have to show something, their rep natually has people apprehensive over claims. "Show us, dont tell us," is the mantra.

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Originally posted by Lucioon

The main reason why so many in SWTOR was bitchin and moaning is because they weren't given the privilege of getting into the game prior to its release. There weren't even any Gameplay Videos by fans available on youtube. So everyone that went into the game only had Hype that it will be like TOR SP , and made by Bioware.

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I'll call shens on that.

Bioware ran Beta weekends about bi-weekly for nearly 2 months. Pretty much everyone who had signed up for beta testing was invited.

I'm not sure how you figure people werent allowed in.

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Originally posted by GeezerGamer

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Originally posted by GamerFun

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Originally posted by GeezerGamer
The only thing that bothers me about all this is that the Closed Beta doesn't offer premade characters.
That's a red flag to me.

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No MMORPG's give premade chararacters when they are in closed beta, what are you smoking?.

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WoW did. So that leads me to ask......Why the hostility?

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So then most other MMO's give red flags I guess. I cant think of too many others that did. Closed beta maybe if they are looking for higher level content testing, but I cant think of too many marketing or open ones that have.

Frankly, and this is just me, I'd see it more as a red flag if a game did give high level premade characters as it is a reasonable indicator that they did not get enough data from exisiting testers. Was it too long a leveling curve, not enough testers, content added too late, any number of reasonable possibilities there.

Ragnar and the concepts that they talked about originally were what made me start to pay cursory interest in TSW. Having experienced both AO and AoC at launch I was hesitant to get too involved early on. Concepts are great early on, but with 5 weeks before launch, I'm definitely interested to give the game a whirl and see how they have brought things off.

Having done the other Funcom titles, I've got some basic expecations of some linear design, and instancing, but it comes back to the concept. I'm glad I havent focused on following the game, and am instead here, and now ready to see what it has in store.

Spent some time thinkin' about what has me interested and tossed it on a blog today.

Just an observation...

Would you be upset if you bought Madden football and it did not have enough shooting and CoD type maps?

Then if you buy a game that never advertises as having or featuring certain aspects, then why would you judge it as if you expected it to?

Dont get me wrong, I agree with some of what you say, and disagree with other parts, but I do always wonder why people dont judge games based on what they are and offer instead of what the "reviewer" thinks they should be.

Originally posted by ShakyMo

Originally posted by Hauvarn

Originally posted by punkrock

Originally posted by Ilaya

Originally posted by punkrock

Originally posted by Ilaya

Yeah.....

3 Faction PvP with Hero Engine.

Illum rings a Bell? *spit*

Can't be any good. 2013 will give proof of that. Until then, its the usual Marketing "blabla".

Northing of worth.

 

SWTOR was two faction with a fail model and nothing to do on there and no point

 So you`re comment /fail

Plz use Brain mate.

3 Factions would even mean MORE Players (if so) and not "just" 2. U know what i mean? And Illum, even with 2 Factions, was PvP wise "pain in the butt" for nearly every PC.

No Fail.

To the posting above me; Even if modificated Hero Engine, it will not handle that much Polys in RvR.

But as said, i would be happy as you if they proof that wrong. But until then, SWTOR PvP on Hero Engine is the measurement. And that was Crap, laggy as Hell and so forth.

 

You have no idea, i used my brain just fine lad, you`re the one that needs to know the basic of 3 faction pvp. Not my fault you grew up with wow and it`s 2 faction type crap or SWTOR. You will be ok just do some reading and research then come back TC.

 

Jesus, are you this dumb?  He's not saying 3 faction pvp is bad, He's saying that the hero engine can barely handle 2 factions in one area and when you throw in a whole more faction of people things will turn to shit.

yeah but hes wrong

BIOWARE cant handle lots of players in one area, because - they DONT CARE, they care about single player story, they wanted to make kotor3, EA forced them to make a MMO.

 

 I get that everyone wants to villify EA for everything, but how did EA force Bioware to make it an MMO? Bioware had writers working on it a year before EA even bought them. That kinda gives the impression that one of the reasons EA bought Bioware is because they had the project lined up.

EA may suck, but they did'nt force BIoware into TOR.