Originally posted by SpottyGekko

There's a significant difference between being immersed and being engrossed. Many posters in this thread are confusing the two terms.

When I played games like Space Invaders, PacMan, Asteroids or Missile Command in the penny arcades decades ago, the real world ceased to exist for awhile as my senses were 100% focused on the game. 

But I wasn't immersed in those games, I was engrossed. I didn't imagine myself as a little yellow disc flying down a corridor munching little powerups floating in mid-air. That was not relevant, the mechanics of the game were the important things.

This.

Nassir from TSW.

Those are the major content releases, or "Issues," and yes there have been 6.  Issue 7 is coming, and I do believe it has something of a James Bond theme going: http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/game_directors_letter_april_2013

There have also been a number of patches for bugs, PvP and other fixes and enhancements.  Item of the month and clothes appear in the store more frequently.

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus
So what has been changed and added to the game over the first year?

Here you go:

http://unfair.co/tsw-guides/monthly-updates/

Originally posted by Deadlobster

what builds are needed? I mean are there loads of DPS/healers and no tanks or anything along those lines?

This thread may help you get oriented:

http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=66643

Originally posted by Icewhite

Originally posted by Ortwig

Originally posted by Axehilt

Chess is dumbed-down because the moves are simple and you see the entire map.

I mean you can explain the rules on a single sheet of paper.  A small child can learn to play!

If Chess was a deep game, the rules would be fifty pages long, fog of war would exist, when you lost a piece you'd be punched in the face, and when you lost a game you'd be kicked in the groin until you blacked out, and be unable to play another Chess match until you walked back on foot from the hospital!

This thread was worth reading for this post alone.  :D

"Because people with low self-esteem boost it by seeing other people more miserable than themselves, since that gives them the idea they are better than them. They accomplish that by putting people down"

I wonder if players from [game gen x] feeling this need to constantly denigrate [any/all] later players is a indication of poor gamer self-esteem in general, or just uphill-both-ways-through-the-snow (old guys waving canes).

Regardless, it's a perfect trolling topic, and always will be.

 

But your first-gen MMO was also sneered at for being 'too easy' by previous tiers of players, too. Standard hardcore pose, for as long as people been posin'.

Er, I just thought it was funny for the snow-both-ways argument.  ;)  That said, "complexity" and "simplicity" can both be done well, depending on execution.

Originally posted by Axehilt

Chess is dumbed-down because the moves are simple and you see the entire map.

I mean you can explain the rules on a single sheet of paper.  A small child can learn to play!

If Chess was a deep game, the rules would be fifty pages long, fog of war would exist, when you lost a piece you'd be punched in the face, and when you lost a game you'd be kicked in the groin until you blacked out, and be unable to play another Chess match until you walked back on foot from the hospital!

This thread was worth reading for this post alone.  :D

Originally posted by logan400k

Levels were not the only way to do things from the early days of role playing games. Runequest used a skill based system. In many ways it was totally different from D&D and Chaosium still uses its BRP (Basic Role Playing) system to this day for games.

 

I am not sure how it would translate into an MMO where players demand instant gratification from the system to compel them forward. MMO's are a competitive sport now and we mine them like gold or drill them like oil until the precious substance is gone and then move on. So a system where skills moved up incrementally from use and a player had REAL choices about how to make their character and what path to follow might not be desirable by the game paying public. Right there is the crux of the issue: convincing the current slate of game payers i.e. those who spend the money on MMOs OR convincing different people to spend money on a non-traditional MMO.

RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu did it right.  BRP was skill-based, so you gradually "leveled-up" your individual skills as you used them -- the more you used them, the better you became.  There was still a sense of progression without the big character level thing; you could even argue that you got more "dings" since you were always using a variety of skills and they were all increasing gradually -- Skyrim does this nicely.  

The great thing about it was that your health never really increased (maybe thru magic), but that your Dodge and Parry skills become much better so you were much harder to hit as you progressed.  You picked up better armor, but that health meter stayed the same; you just got better at protecting yourself.  There still was also the chance (albeit low) that a lower level creature could hurt you with a lucky blow.  There certainly was a greater sense of danger in RuneQuest.

The other side benefit of skill based was that it removed preoccupation with "your level" and put the focus back where it belonged: the content and story of the game.  

A few years back, I was trying out a bunch of MMOs as well as a number of single player games, Skyrim being the most recent.   I kept asking, "why don't these MMOs have any intelligent puzzles or things to figure out in game?"   The fetch and kill X quests were killing me; even Skyrim had the occasional puzzle. The adventure game puzzle has been a staple since Ultima and Myst and Monkey Island -- why isn't this type of mission in an MMORPG?  I'm guessing this all goes back to the single player vs group thing, with puzzles not being something a group would have patience for (was patience a virtue we lost sometime around Y2K?)  

In any case, read about TSW during beta, signed up, and have been playing ever since.  The thing that makes this game unique is that it respects your intelligence and requires you use your brain.

Originally posted by Distopia

Sadly TSW doesn't have a trial, so it's hard to gauge for yourself. 

You can ask for a 72-hour trial key though -- many being handed out:

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/5722587/Please-Post-All-TSW-Buddy-Key-Requests-Here.html

Originally posted by user4852

Originally posted by Ortwig
Darkfall or Wizardy Online.

Wizardry punishes pking, so nty.

 

You sure Darkfall is free ?

 

Yeah, unfortunately I think DF is a sub.  Planetside 2 is another f2p option I believe.  EVE is another one to maybe check out (but a sub too).

Oh, a couple more f2p options are Age of Conan and Dragon Nest.

So much of this has to do with the wildly varying opinions about what constitutes the "massively" part of MMORPG (the war wages on here) -- some folks believe that only RvR full loot sandbox is an MMO, others feel that 40-man raids are what it's all about, and other feel that as long as thousands of other players are running around on their server, and that it is possible to chat and group with them, that the "massively" part has been taken care of.  There is no One True Definition, and probably won't ever be, since these games keep changing.

All the while themepark games like WoW lead a push to steadily add more soloable content for casual players.  It really comes down what opinions you are coming to the game with.  TSW has a smattering of solo instances, plenty of regular missions, and also has 5- and 10-man group content in the dungeons and raids.  You can group up with anyone across any server.  Also, large scale PvP in Fusang, and smaller scale battlegrounds in Eldorado and Stonehenge.  But f you are looking for 40-man raids or RvR, or full sandbox, then TSW isn't the game for you -- it's a themepark, along the lines of WoW, SWTOR, Rift, GW2, AoC, TERA, TESO or Neverwinter. 

Originally posted by Sacria

Originally posted by Tokenaru
 

 

Guild wars 2 I've never tried but people told me it was disapointing and that there was no difference in gear from the different max level dungeons outside cosmetic and as such I never really looked into it, would this be correct or?

Neither GW2 nor TSW have the gear progression of WoW  -- both tend to go horizontal toward endgame, but TSW probably has more of a progression grind than GW2.  GW2 combat feel is closer to TERA, but TSW has more freedom in weapon choices.  

TESO may have some of what you are looking for when it launches.  

I'd say look at GW2 or TSW for similar combat styles and weapon unlocks.  TSW has a reticle combat mode, GW2 has better PvP.  TSW has no classes at all, and you can equip all weapons and abilities in the game.  Crafting is better in GW2.  GW2 is closer to TERA in the fantasy genre, while TSW is modern day horror conspiracy.  AoC is another (free) option. 

In short, though, there is no one game currently that has everything you are looking for, but GW2 sounds closest.

My vote is for TSW, unless you are looking for old-school feel.  The community is great, and the setting is a nice change of pace.  Good article here:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/why-i-play-the-secret-world/

I recommend The Secret World, especially if you are looking for a change from standard fantasy -- some of the best questing and dungeons around, with the added bonus of investigation missions.  Here's a good write-up on it:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/12/13/why-i-play-the-secret-world/