[The Secret World] - Cthulhu is all over this

Nihuacatelco

I had not noticed but now that you mention it, yeah it's interesting that some of the NPCs will call you hero, while other's will act like you are no big deal. Overall these details add to the atmosphere that this game has. I have some issues with the overall MMO design decisions (eg. no cross faction guilds) but the feel of the game for both gameplay and environment is very appealing. I tried the Tera trial last week, and while the combat was excellent, I did not feel very immersed in the game like I have playing both TSW and GW2 betas. The Biker at the police station was specially good, I really liked that the quest next to him was a reference to the book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

Fiaryn

Got a last minute crack at this game and enjoyed the heck out of it. For the most part it felt just like GW2, except with worse animations and PvP, but a more interesting setting and story. Definitely going to give it a whirl.

Though I am sad the Dragon is so unpopular

Nihuacatelco

I heard that in the first beta weekend the only faction open was Templars, and there was no character wipe between BWs. Supposedly that was why the other two factions were underplayed. I played Dragon as well and enjoyed the hell out of their faction

Fiaryn

That doesn't line up with what I'm seeing in other communities. Illuminati are getting the shit played out of them. Templars and Illuminati are both pretty healthy.

Axen

Fiaryn wrote: »

Got a last minute crack at this game and enjoyed the heck out of it. For the most part it felt just like GW2, except with worse animations and PvP, but a more interesting setting and story. Definitely going to give it a whirl.

Though I am sad the Dragon is so unpopular

Maybe it comes down to name recognition?

They're not my personal favorite since their whole theme seems to be chaos or something, I don't really know.

Still while I played, in PvP at least, they didn't seem to be all that under populated. Illuminati were usually around 40%, Templars 30%, and The Dragons were also 30%.

I'm siding with the Templars since I got a pretty good feeling a lot of people will go Illuminati.

edit- When people get to the Faction Select screen and they see this:

Illuminati: "Sex, Drugs, Rockefeller + free blowjobs and a monkey"

Templars: "Duty, Honor, Loyalty, and piss for beer"

Dragons: "Chaos, balance-wait uh, something about the Force? I dunno dude, it's whatevs."

Which do you think they will pick.

Fiaryn

Sounds like most people aren't really getting what the Dragon is about. Order through chaos. All seemingly random events, behaviors, can be modelled and mapped. Predicted and controlled. Chaos is nothing more than a subtler form of order. Control the context, the chaos, and by extension control everything.

Axen

Fiaryn wrote: »

Sounds like most people aren't really getting what the Dragon is about. Order through chaos. All seemingly random events, behaviors, can be modelled and mapped. Predicted and controlled. Chaos is nothing more than a subtler form of order. Control the context, the chaos, and control everything.

Heh, I honestly had zero idea.

Hell, it is even reflected in game. Talk to various NPCs from other factions about the Dragons. Especially Gladstone (Templars). The dude is supposed to be the leading expert on Occult mysteries, lore, and history. If you ask him about the different factions he will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the Illuminati and the Templars, but when asked about the Dragons he basically says, "I dunno."

Fiaryn

It's fairly clearly explained in the Dragon intro and the Dragon lore entries you find in Seoul. But the Templars and the Illuminati having trouble understanding the Dragon is by design.

Peff

Already a card carrying member of the Dragon. I have the dog tags to prove it, really. Love PAX

Axen

On a side note, Gladstone is my absolute favorite NPC.

The dude once started a cult as part of an experiment. Then when he had well over 100k members ready to kill themselves at his command he told them all that it was just an experiment. He had to live in exile for two years. "I figured they would have been happy to learn they didn't have to commit suicide."

Quetzatcoatl

I found this quote browsing around reddit, not sure where it's from, but it's a cool little story. It gives a bit more insight into what the Dragon cabal is about, taking subtle actions that have magnified consequences.

Three hundred years ago, a monk placed a pebble on the side of that hill. That pebble was kicked by a passing horse years later and landed nearby with some other rocks. Two decades passed. A storm one night came, and the driving rains softened the ground, and weight of that pebble added to the other rocks caused them all to slide into the nearby creek. Over the years, debris washed along the creek and accumulated on those rocks, changing the course of that creek ever so slightly. A century later, a warlord built his mansion on this side of the hill instead of the other to enjoy the lovely view of this pastoral creek winding through his lands. The path on which we fought wound along this hill, at this angle, to accommodate the placement of that mansion, and at this angle, your foot landed just slightly wrong as you made that turn, and you were off balance, and I took the advantage. You came here today to fight the Dragon, but the Dragon had the initiative. The battle began when the Dragon placed that pebble. You made your first move three centuries after the battle began. By the time you started, the Dragon had already won.

Nihuacatelco

Fiaryn wrote: »

That doesn't line up with what I'm seeing in other communities. Illuminati are getting the shit played out of them. Templars and Illuminati are both pretty healthy.

I might be wrong then I read that somewhere on the internet and on my server it was pretty much all templar so I believed it lol. Regardless, hopefully it will balance out. Dragon is awesome, mathematical models ftw.

Adda

Just_Bri_Thanks wrote: »

Make three.

The Six Mouths for a dragon group, The Last Christmas for Templar, and the ever popular We Are Nice Guys for the Illuminati.

Yeah this is a possibility as the private channel chat mods should make their way over from AC so we can have alliance channels.

vamen

Holy crap this is out next week? I haven't been really following this, but I do love that new MMO scent. I might have to grab it despite knowing basically nothing about it! A present day setting with the horror-type lore does sound pretty refreshing.

steejee

vamen wrote: »

Holy crap this is out next week? I haven't been really following this, but I do love that new MMO scent. I might have to grab it despite knowing basically nothing about it! A present day setting with the horror-type lore does sound pretty refreshing.

It may not keep you for long term, but I definitely think the game will be worth the box price.

Decomposey

From what I've seen in PvP, at least on the non-weekend beta servers, it looks like Templar was the ever present large group in Fusang, with 15-30 in there at any given time. Illuminati presence shifts, with 0-5 or 5-10 some times and 15-30 others. When Illuminati presence is large, they and the Templars duke it out in the center for control of the Center Facility and the Anima Wells in there. Dragon presence seems to hold steady at 5-10 at all times, with rare spikes above that. When Illuminati population is low, Dragons spend their time harassing Templars, stealing their Anima wells, and occasionally taking the Center Facility out from under the nose of whoever holds it.

What's hilarious is the Dragon tends to capture the most objectives when both Illuminati and Templar are both heavily populated. They're all busy deathmatching in the center, and the Dragon runs around the edge captureing all Anima wells and the outlying facilities unopposed. So outnumbered 2/3 to 1 by just one opposeing faction, much less both of them, yet still controlling 75% of the map.

vamen

steejee wrote: »

vamen wrote: »

Holy crap this is out next week? I haven't been really following this, but I do love that new MMO scent. I might have to grab it despite knowing basically nothing about it! A present day setting with the horror-type lore does sound pretty refreshing.

It may not keep you for long term, but I definitely think the game will be worth the box price.

I'm weak, I went ahead and preordered =p

Adda

I am spending work today listening to the game soundtrack on spotify.

Axen

Adda wrote: »

I am spending work today listening to the game soundtrack on spotify.

It is pretty darn good isn't it?

I'm not sure I'll be playing this after going through it once (maybe twice) or when PS2 comes out (whichever happens first I guess), but I agree with steejee and think that I will most certainly get my money's worth from this.

Louie

Axen wrote: »

Adda wrote: »

I am spending work today listening to the game soundtrack on spotify.

It is pretty darn good isn't it?

I'm not sure I'll be playing this after going through it once (maybe twice) or when PS2 comes out (whichever happens first I guess), but I agree with steejee and think that I will most certainly get my money's worth from this.

He's talking to us from the past!

I caved and bought this.

steejee

If there's one thing I can always be sure Funcom will get right it's soundtracks...

Saw the new pre-order clarification/update, get to play on Friday guarenteed, yay. Since I'm gone for the rest of early access I thought I might not be able to play till a few days after release. Not that that's terrible, but it'd be nice to at least make a character and tool around a little.

Madpanda

So if I pre-order the physical copy on amazon (which comes with a $10 future purchase credit) it says I can get early access, i.e this friday. Will I just be able to download the client early?

Yea I know I said I was going to wait on this, i've been reading a lot about this since the hype train started up and it sounds really solid already.

Also i'm on vacation next week, so bicycling and spending time playing a new mmo sounds like a perfect 4th of july week. Oh and assuredly spending steambucks on the summer sale.

Triple B

So I bought this.

Are there going to be PA guilds? Because if so, I want in. Hell, I'll join all three if there's going to be one for each faction.

Speaking of factions, I love all three, to be honest. Illuminati are so far my favorite, but I really dig Dragon because they remind me a lot of the League of Assassins from Batman.

M-Vickers

I've pre-ordered too, based off the Beta Weekend 4. Really great writing, I'm loving the skill system. I also really liked the fact that some quests needed some thinking and observation - I'm really looking forward to the Investigation missions.

Templars FTW !

Edit : Just tried the launcher, just in case somethings gone wrong and Early Access has started a few days early, and was really excited when the patcher launched and some files were updated ! Couldn't actually play it, though, excitement over, dammit.

Esh

Pre-ordered with the "Master" pack.

I haven't played yet and my computer won't be built till tomorrow night, but I know I'm going to love this. I've been drooling over it since the initial "Girl with katana vs. Cthulhu" poster.

Is anyone hosting a Teamspeak/Ventrilo for this?

PMAvers

Depending on how many people are playing it, G&T Vent always has plenty of space. (It's a 150-slot server, and very rarely gets over 100 people on at once.)

And ugh, Seal 7. THE WALL RETURNS.

ringswraith

So are servers down at the moment? Tried to get on but keep getting authentication errors.

Shade

Great Scott wrote: »

Not explaining in the in-game help or tutorial that you can equip two weapons/skillsets simultaneously?

That last bit is especially bad, since there are early missions that explicitly tell you to equip special/storyline weapons in that second slot... that's what I thought it was meant for.

EDIT: I checked out all the Factions, and I agree the Templar seems the best one, although the Dragon has the best NPCs.

They told me twice in game and on every other loading screen that I could have two weapons.....

Louie

ringswraith wrote: »

So are servers down at the moment? Tried to get on but keep getting authentication errors.

Are you using te weekend client or the test live one?

Don't worry if you have the weekend one as you can use some config file to switch quickly. Details are on the closed beta forums.

Adda

PMAvers wrote: »

Depending on how many people are playing it, G&T Vent always has plenty of space. (It's a 150-slot server, and very rarely gets over 100 people on at once.)

And ugh, Seal 7. THE WALL RETURNS.

Tell me about it, I'm glad I just decided to go to bed as still nothing on it.

Hopefully they put up some clues today.

Adda

I really like the chaos/fist play style but I'm not keen on the deck outfit for Templar if I go that route. Can't believe I'm considering which build to focus on purely based on the outfits.

EDIT: All the deck outfits here

Illuminati

Dragon

Templar

steejee

Adda wrote: »

I really like the chaos/fist play style but I'm not keen on the deck outfit for Templar if I go that route. Can't believe I'm considering which build to focus on purely based on the outfits.

EDIT: All the deck outfits here

Illuminati

Dragon

Templar

Dragons: Thrift Store Chaos

Badwrong

Triple B wrote: »

So I bought this.

Are there going to be PA guilds? Because if so, I want in. Hell, I'll join all three if there's going to be one for each faction.

Speaking of factions, I love all three, to be honest. Illuminati are so far my favorite, but I really dig Dragon because they remind me a lot of the League of Assassins from Batman.

I checked the OP and a few of the lastest pages... so I too am wondering if we have a PA guild/clan thingie planned? And is there a server list out yet?

Axen

Badwrong wrote: »

Triple B wrote: »

So I bought this.

Are there going to be PA guilds? Because if so, I want in. Hell, I'll join all three if there's going to be one for each faction.

Speaking of factions, I love all three, to be honest. Illuminati are so far my favorite, but I really dig Dragon because they remind me a lot of the League of Assassins from Batman.

I checked the OP and a few of the lastest pages... so I too am wondering if we have a PA guild/clan thingie planned? And is there a server list out yet?

It looks like we might have one Cabal for each faction. Seems like we are pretty evenly(ish) split between the three factions. I know you can make a Cabal with just two members and it costs nothing so creating them wouldn't be a problem. I really wish they would just let cross faction Cabals be a thing, otherwise we just have to hope private chat channels are modded in or patched in I guess.


You know there are a lot of little details in the setting that I like. One of which is that there is an in-game reason why you rez when killed. It even comes up in the main story and is referenced numerous times by many NPCs (one NPC even tells you that you can die a final death). Hell, it is kind of the whole basis of the PvP. Speaking of, another little detail I like is that the whole existence and setup of the PvP warzones also has an in-game reason for being. Hell, because of the whole "not dying" thing one NPC described the warzones (with it's uniforms and rules) as a "Hyper-aggressive team sport".

Even "hearthing", or whatever you wish to call the mechanic, has an in-game explanation!

steejee

Axen wrote: »

You know there are a lot of little details in the setting that I like. One of which is that there is an in-game reason why you rez when killed. It even comes up in the main story and is referenced numerous times by many NPCs (one NPC even tells you that you can die a final death). Hell, it is kind of the whole basis of the PvP. Speaking of, another little detail I like is that the whole existence and setup of the PvP warzones also has an in-game reason for being. Hell, because of the whole "not dying" thing one NPC described the warzones (with it's uniforms and rules) as a "Hyper-aggressive team sport".

Even "hearthing", or whatever you wish to call the mechanic, has an in-game explanation!

Very minor spoiler for main storyline in Savage Coast:

Spoiler:

The vampire guy has a great line about 'the damn bees' for why he's not going to bother fighting and killing you and just traps you instead.

Funcom did a similar thing in Age of Conan where your ability to resurrect has an explanation and the reason why you can ressurrect actually changes during the main storyline, as you defeat/undo the original binding but retain the ability another way. Thought it was a nice touch.

Badwrong

Well this is all I found for server list, which is just the names from the beta weekend:

Asakku
Bakhtak
Cerberus
Chimaera
Fenris
Nephilim
Tarasque

Has PA picked one yet?

Handgimp

I threw down the $250 for a lifetime sub, because I have a sickness. Luckily I don't work this weekend.

Badwrong

Hmm, reddit has this as the realm list, which is different from the beta one:

Cerberus
Daemon
Faerie (RP dimension)
Grim
Huldra
Drac (French dimension)
Mandrake (French dimension)
Kobold (German dimension)
Poltergeist (German dimension)

Adda

Badwrong wrote: »

Hmm, reddit has this as the realm list, which is different from the beta one:

Cerberus
Daemon
Faerie (RP dimension)
Grim
Huldra
Drac (French dimension)
Mandrake (French dimension)
Kobold (German dimension)
Poltergeist (German dimension)

Ragnar threw up this list on the CB forums. Says there is more to come before launch.

The Six Mouths for a dragon group, The Last Christmas for Templar, and the ever popular We Are Nice Guys for the Illuminati.

These were thrown around earlier and I haven't seen any drive to go for something different. We can choose a server name when the full list comes out or whenever the first person gets online/in-game and posts up here.

ringswraith

Louie wrote: »

ringswraith wrote: »

So are servers down at the moment? Tried to get on but keep getting authentication errors.

Are you using te weekend client or the test live one?

Don't worry if you have the weekend one as you can use some config file to switch quickly. Details are on the closed beta forums.

I was trying to get onto the test live one. I'm assuming the servers weren't up at all but couldn't verify that.

EDIT: The Six Mouths sounds awesome for a Dragon group. Reminds me of Tiamat.