This is going to be a short column this week… because there’s honestly not much to say. It’s as though Funcom, EA, and The Secret World have purposefully gone black in order to let SWTOR hog the spotlight through the end of the year. Sure you could say we got a taste of something new when the guys at FC released a big smattering of info about the Scorched Desert zone. I loved it. Hell, we ran a story here from them on just that. But come on fellas… give us more. You’ve got us wanting it, why not satiate our hunger?
The Secret World is due out in about four months, and maybe they just want to hang out and act cool while people get their jollies in SWTOR for a while. I can dig that. I’m really enjoying my Bounty Hunter too. But there’s a game on the horizon I’m really even more eager about, because it sounds like something so different and yet I feel like I only know the bare essentials on it. I’ve signed up for the Secret War, I’m getting the newsletters, and I still want more. But maybe it’s better this way.
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Maybe this is all part of their larger conspiratorial plan… to keep is bated and eager about what lies beyond the veil of logging in that first time. We saw press (our own Suzie even!) get her hands on the game not long ago, and yet we wait. We hear it plays well, that the setting is superb, the skill system stellar and deep, and that the quests are a ton of fun and the PVP hectic and grand in scope. And as I write this, I realize… we’re hearing exactly what Funcom wants us to. The nuggets of info we’re given are primed for our digestion, while keeping the larger deeper secrets of the world hidden behind the beta process.
I like this. This I can approve of.
Perhaps if there’s ever been any MMO I don’t want ruined by the beta leaks and/or experience, it’s TSW. The game is entirely based around the sense of discovery, and that will be lost if one spends too much time in beta. Sure you could argue that all you have to do is not play the faction you will at launch, but it still wouldn’t be the same come release day. Like it or not the wonder of discovery will be gone, and you’ll likely already know the sorts of tricks FC has up their sleeves for puzzles. Then when the day comes, after having spent weeks in the beta, and months reading up, will it really be all that intriguing?
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So I started this column about set to whine and complain about how little real info we’re getting, and how I’m still waiting for that beta key like the rest of you, but as I wrap up… I’m ready to trash the whole thing. Forget beta, forget the info. I know enough to know that I want to play the game. Just get it done, make it done well, and give it to me in April. The Illuminati need me.
