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[Secret World Legends] - TTRPG Kickstarter huge success - Winter is coming

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  • PolaritiePolaritie Sleepy Registered User regular
    They probably have piles and piles of extremely profitable mundane divisions that bring home the bacon to fund all their exotic failures. But bees never poke their heads in around the boring profitable stuff.

    Doesn't the Orochi group basically have their fingers in every pie? I bet that the normal world is lining up out the doors on black friday to get the latest ultra high-def television from Orochi or the latest Orochi phone

    Pretty much, yeah. They're a giant conglomerate except every division also has an occult subdivision.

    Steam: Polaritie
    3DS: 0473-8507-2652
    Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
    PSN: AbEntropy
  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    I never did all the alternate routes in the tower. What was the occult division of the media company?

    steam_sig.png
  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Oh, they do brilliant things like
    screening "The Ring" video in the main conference room.

  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    I need to re-install this halloween and catch up on some of the stuff that I've missed out on. I've never gotten to tokyo. Are these tower segments that you're talking about something that I can take my time perusing in PvE, or is it a dungeon where the party will be making a beeline to the bosses while I want to take in the scenery?

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • PolaritiePolaritie Sleepy Registered User regular
    Yeah, this is tempting me again - I only got up to partway through Egypt in Legends and never finished Tokyo in TSW because of that Aegis grind crap.

    Steam: Polaritie
    3DS: 0473-8507-2652
    Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
    PSN: AbEntropy
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    I need to re-install this halloween and catch up on some of the stuff that I've missed out on. I've never gotten to tokyo. Are these tower segments that you're talking about something that I can take my time perusing in PvE, or is it a dungeon where the party will be making a beeline to the bosses while I want to take in the scenery?

    Orochi Tower is a single player experience that caps off the end of the Tokyo storyline (which is a biggun), so you can go your own pace.

    H9f4bVe.png
  • StragintStragint Do Not Gift Always DeclinesRegistered User regular
    I downloaded SWL through their client download the first time. Can I download it through steam and still login with my normal account?

    PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
    What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

    I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Spoit wrote: »
    I never did all the alternate routes in the tower. What was the occult division of the media company?

    The SWL version of the Tower requires you to play through all the levels of the tower in order. While having only 3 levels of the tower in TSW meant that casual players didn't see a lot of the available content, forcing players to do everything in SWL makes it feel like kind of a slog.

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    Fortunately, you don't have to climb the whole mountain tower in a single session.

  • SpoitSpoit *twitch twitch* Registered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Spoit wrote: »
    Whatever happened with the black watchmen mission?

    You mean the Nite Team 4 mission?

    Good question.

    Apparently it might not be 100% dead? The TBW/nite team guys are doing a ARG that name dropped orochi

    steam_sig.png
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Spoit wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Spoit wrote: »
    Whatever happened with the black watchmen mission?

    You mean the Nite Team 4 mission?

    Good question.

    Apparently it might not be 100% dead? The TBW/nite team guys are doing a ARG that name dropped orochi

    The ARG is for Moons of Madness, which comes out October 22nd.

    Which reminds me, among the numerous things we stopped hearing about... there was supposed to be a Nite Team 4/Secret World Legends cross-over mission that players would solve over both games...

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Oh, I didn't realize that there was an actual live event for Nite Team 4 involving Orochi called Operation Cyrano.

    However, since cyranostory.com is the web-based ARG that Alice & Smith is running for promoting Moons of Madness, I suppose the NT4 one is also tied into that... and obviously it's not a cross-game mission because otherwise we'd know about it in SWL...

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Moons of Madness is out, with a 20% discount right now so it's $19.99 instead of $24.99.

    You can also purchase a "Funcom Horror Bundle" which includes The Park and Moons of Madness. If you already own The Park, you can still enjoy the additional 10% savings on Moons of Madness, bringing the price down to $17.99.

    I'm not going to start playing Moons until tomorrow, probably, at which point I will post impressions.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Real life meant I had to take a while off from games, and Moons of Madness was a bit longer than I expected it to be.

    However, I did beat Moons of Madness today, and I thought it was quite good! It's got lots of juicy lore stuff in it for Secret World players to ruminate on. Honestly, I think it's probably spookier for Secret World players to play, because they'll get why the Proper Nouns being talked about are such bad news.

    (Also, good enemy design.)

  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    It was indeed very nice to see another game employ the excellent lore and setting of Secret World. And yeah, a lot of the Lovecraftian eldritch spookiness is sharpened when you more fully appreciate the elements they attach to in the greater story. I grinned like crazy when a certain business person's name showed up. Also loved the aspect of 'eldritch math.'
    The notion of civilization on Mars and the presence of a Gaia Engine are great additions to the mythos - presumably the ruins are human-made from an earlier Age, while the Engine is there from the time that predates the Ages like all the other engines.

    It was also interesting to have the Dreamers be physically entrapped somewhere in what you might call the 'material plane' of Secret World - they'd always struck me as being contained in some alternate dimension of pocket-universe rather than their prisons intersecting the material world in any way. Guess there's reason behind the physical locations of the Gaia Engines.

    I hope further games get to expand the setting further.

    H9f4bVe.png
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Golden Yak wrote: »
    It was indeed very nice to see another game employ the excellent lore and setting of Secret World. And yeah, a lot of the Lovecraftian eldritch spookiness is sharpened when you more fully appreciate the elements they attach to in the greater story. I grinned like crazy when a certain business person's name showed up. Also loved the aspect of 'eldritch math.'
    The notion of civilization on Mars and the presence of a Gaia Engine are great additions to the mythos - presumably the ruins are human-made from an earlier Age, while the Engine is there from the time that predates the Ages like all the other engines.

    It was also interesting to have the Dreamers be physically entrapped somewhere in what you might call the 'material plane' of Secret World - they'd always struck me as being contained in some alternate dimension of pocket-universe rather than their prisons intersecting the material world in any way. Guess there's reason behind the physical locations of the Gaia Engines.

    I hope further games get to expand the setting further.

    Regarding your Moons of Madness spoiler speculation:
    The presence of Gaia Engines certainly seems linked to Dreamers somehow, but which of them came first, I wonder? In either case, I feel that the moons weren't the physical locations of the Dreamers, but were somehow totemic beacons for them that operated as sort of doorways for them. Destroying the moons closes that avenue of entry to reality for those Dreamers. IMO, anyway.

    Also, there were a couple of contests for the community last month, a Spooky Screenshot for all the Funcom multiplayer games and an Agent Writing Contest for Secret World Legends specifically.



    My submission for the Agent Writing Contest was one of the selected Runner-Ups, which means that pretty soon a character I created is going to be in the game!

  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Golden Yak wrote: »
    It was indeed very nice to see another game employ the excellent lore and setting of Secret World. And yeah, a lot of the Lovecraftian eldritch spookiness is sharpened when you more fully appreciate the elements they attach to in the greater story. I grinned like crazy when a certain business person's name showed up. Also loved the aspect of 'eldritch math.'
    The notion of civilization on Mars and the presence of a Gaia Engine are great additions to the mythos - presumably the ruins are human-made from an earlier Age, while the Engine is there from the time that predates the Ages like all the other engines.

    It was also interesting to have the Dreamers be physically entrapped somewhere in what you might call the 'material plane' of Secret World - they'd always struck me as being contained in some alternate dimension of pocket-universe rather than their prisons intersecting the material world in any way. Guess there's reason behind the physical locations of the Gaia Engines.

    I hope further games get to expand the setting further.

    Regarding your Moons of Madness spoiler speculation:
    The presence of Gaia Engines certainly seems linked to Dreamers somehow, but which of them came first, I wonder? In either case, I feel that the moons weren't the physical locations of the Dreamers, but were somehow totemic beacons for them that operated as sort of doorways for them. Destroying the moons closes that avenue of entry to reality for those Dreamers. IMO, anyway.
    I could definitely see the 'totem' angle regarding the moons. That would make more sense as to how the destruction of the moons prevents the Dreamers' awakening, rather than simply releasing them (or actually harming them). The 'Dreaming Prison' realm in SWL might leak over into Earth's reality in various places, and the Gaia Engines on Earth act to seal them off. The regions in SWL with the Engines could also be similar 'totemic locations.'

    I'm pretty sure the Dreamers pre-date the Gaia Engines, and given that the Dreamers can alter reality itself, I think that they may actually be the source of reality. The tagline of Secret World is 'everything is true' - if the true nature of reality is that it is produced from the Dreamers, then dreams are real, and everything that can be dreamt is therefore true. Everything is created from their dreams in the same way the Filth is, the Filth is just the grossest and most corrosive expression of their reality-shaping power.

    This next bit is almost pure speculation, but I think Gaia, Her Engines, and their builders (the Host) may possibly be born from the Dreamers' own dreams like everything else and are trying to force them to stay asleep, preventing the end of reality brought about by their awakening. A dream so real it has power over its dreamer, at least for a while...

    Seriously, this game has the best lore.

    H9f4bVe.png
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Golden Yak wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    Golden Yak wrote: »
    It was indeed very nice to see another game employ the excellent lore and setting of Secret World. And yeah, a lot of the Lovecraftian eldritch spookiness is sharpened when you more fully appreciate the elements they attach to in the greater story. I grinned like crazy when a certain business person's name showed up. Also loved the aspect of 'eldritch math.'
    The notion of civilization on Mars and the presence of a Gaia Engine are great additions to the mythos - presumably the ruins are human-made from an earlier Age, while the Engine is there from the time that predates the Ages like all the other engines.

    It was also interesting to have the Dreamers be physically entrapped somewhere in what you might call the 'material plane' of Secret World - they'd always struck me as being contained in some alternate dimension of pocket-universe rather than their prisons intersecting the material world in any way. Guess there's reason behind the physical locations of the Gaia Engines.

    I hope further games get to expand the setting further.

    Regarding your Moons of Madness spoiler speculation:
    The presence of Gaia Engines certainly seems linked to Dreamers somehow, but which of them came first, I wonder? In either case, I feel that the moons weren't the physical locations of the Dreamers, but were somehow totemic beacons for them that operated as sort of doorways for them. Destroying the moons closes that avenue of entry to reality for those Dreamers. IMO, anyway.
    I could definitely see the 'totem' angle regarding the moons. That would make more sense as to how the destruction of the moons prevents the Dreamers' awakening, rather than simply releasing them (or actually harming them). The 'Dreaming Prison' realm in SWL might leak over into Earth's reality in various places, and the Gaia Engines on Earth act to seal them off. The regions in SWL with the Engines could also be similar 'totemic locations.'

    I'm pretty sure the Dreamers pre-date the Gaia Engines, and given that the Dreamers can alter reality itself, I think that they may actually be the source of reality. The tagline of Secret World is 'everything is true' - if the true nature of reality is that it is produced from the Dreamers, then dreams are real, and everything that can be dreamt is therefore true. Everything is created from their dreams in the same way the Filth is, the Filth is just the grossest and most corrosive expression of their reality-shaping power.

    This next bit is almost pure speculation, but I think Gaia, Her Engines, and their builders (the Host) may possibly be born from the Dreamers' own dreams like everything else and are trying to force them to stay asleep, preventing the end of reality brought about by their awakening. A dream so real it has power over its dreamer, at least for a while...

    Seriously, this game has the best lore.
    Oh, when I said "which came first I wonder" I meant, were the Gaia Engines installed to prevent Dreamers from breaching into reality in those specific places, or were the Dreamers somehow attracted to the places where Gaia Engines were built?

  • StragintStragint Do Not Gift Always DeclinesRegistered User regular
    I'm trying to get my friend into SWL but he is really not into all the cut scenes. I'm hoping the next time we play something will hook him.

    We didn't get too far so there is still some cool beginning missions that might do it.

    PSN: Reaper_Stragint, Steam: DoublePitstoChesty
    What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak

    I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    The cutscenes and storytelling are, in my honest opinion, the best part of the game. If they aren't into that, I doubt this is the sort of game they will like.

  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    I had a friend like that.

    "skip skip skip skip. What am I supposed to do?"

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Hey folks. Guess what we're getting this Valentine's Day?

    Did you guess some new seasonal content? Because we're getting new seasonal content!



    The Rosenbrawl is being opened up to all players (previously, players could only access the PvP arena via invitation, which was a bit convoluted and hard to get), and there's a brand-new investigation mission that's going to be available!

    Also, they're adding the ability to preview emotes before you unlock them!

    Huzzah!

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    edited February 2020
    PvP is not content.
    Shame on you for getting my hopes up, and shame on Funcom for doing the most fractional-assed thing possible.

    Commander Zoom on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    PvP is not content.
    Shame on you for getting my hopes up, and shame on Funcom for doing the most fractional-assed thing possible.

    ...There's a new investigation mission, too.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Oh hey, they added Dark Agartha achievements!

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited March 2020
    DarkPrimus on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    So it's been a rather quiet year all things considered for SWL, but nevertheless the Third Anniversary event is in full swing.



    There's a ton of community-organized events going on during all this, as well as the usual celebratory activities and hourly giant talos spawns and Hatekeeper raids.

    What's really intriguing is what's on the horizon. The lead designer on SWL has announced an open beta starting July 4th for testing further scaling (up to Elite 17) for group activities and scaled solo content, as well as rebalancing for tanks and healers, to make both roles both more engaging and necessary. Let me just quote their own TL;DR
    This is a beta - Not everything is finished. Some features are still being worked on, FX and Audio are lacking in a number of places, and some things are broken.

    Tanks rebalanced. Each tank weapon now has a unique identity, and proper defensive gear is now needed for your highest available Elite level
    Fear not, we have a plan to smooth the transition when this update reaches Live. Surely you have had a chance to play around with the Glyph Exchangers? We will be giving everyone a set of Glyph Exchangers for free when the rebalance reaches Live.
    Healers rebalanced. They are now needed for your highest available Elite level. Each heal weapon has its own flavor and playstyle
    Several outlier weapon items and weapon types have received attention to address balance issues, and bring the overall balance closer together. For example, Blood Magic’s issues with soloing content have been addressed.
    Loot Tables have been adjusted and updated with new items, including new Empowerment Catalysts, a rare new type of distillate, and a full new set of talismans
    Dungeon queues have merged down into 7 queues total: Elite 1-2, Elite 3-4, Elite 5-7, Elite 8-10, Elite 11-13, Elite 14-16, and Elite 17
    Manhattan Exclusion Zone: Elite 17 has been added, aimed at a skilled raid of endgame players, and with new mechanics to spice things up
    Please note: Development is still in progress on the Elite 17 raid, and its loot table has not been implemented yet
    The Penthouse mini-dungeon has made a return and can be accessed via Elite 10+ dungeon queues
    Seek & Preserve Scenarios, and scaling solo missions (such as Venetian Missile Crisis or Rogue Agent) now scale up to Elite 17
    The Dungeon/Scenario/Lair Key system is undergoing a rework, and opening Dungeon, Scenario, and Lair loot boxes will no longer cost a key.
    Please note that during this first phase, the rework has not been fully implemented - there will still be a use for keys, however we are not at a stage to share specifics.

    Obviously, nobody yet knows what the -re-balancing is going to look like, but it's been long-established that certain weapons were just way overpowered and others were severely under-performing. Even if there's going to be some transition pains as our previous builds need reworking, such a comprehensive overhaul seems like a good indication that there is in fact still serious development going into this game.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    So the enormous re-balance patch for Secret World Legends is coming September 29th.




    Full Patch notes available here, they are changing up a lot, mostly for the better from what I can tell. In addition to most weapons getting at least some tweaks, if not overhauls, they are adding on more difficulty levels with new mechanics, ironed out a lot of issues with various dungeon bosses, revamped the activity look system (no more limited dungeon keys!), and brought back the Penthouse raid they introduced in Issue 12 of The Secret World. It's only going to be available at extremely high difficulty levels, but it's exciting to hear that they reworked the whole thing to make it function without AEGIS, because it makes me still hold onto a spark of hope that we will get the Manufactory dungeons sometime!

    If you haven't been playing much lately it's going to be worth it to look at the patch notes and see if your playstyle and build might be changing up a bit, and maybe it'll be less intimidating to try out healing or tanking now.

    If you're curious about the game, I think jumping in after the re-balance patch is going to be a great time, as everyone will be eager to discuss builds and replaying content to see the tweaks.

  • Moridin889Moridin889 Registered User regular
    I loved TSW and forgot about this game. It is now installed but keeps crashing. I will get this to work. The gaia engines cant keep me out forever.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Moridin889 wrote: »
    I loved TSW and forgot about this game. It is now installed but keeps crashing. I will get this to work. The gaia engines cant keep me out forever.

    Do you have an NVIDIA graphics card? Unfortunately there is a stability issue with newer cards and certain driver versions. People have had different experiences trying out different driver versions depending on their card type. It's generally agreed that DX9 is much more stable than DX11. FWIW I am still using 436.15 with my 1070 and I still get the occasional crash during long play sessions but hopping on for an hour or so has always been stable.

    DarkPrimus on
  • Moridin889Moridin889 Registered User regular
    It is fixed and I'm pushing through the game. I both like and dislike the changes to combat from the MMO. I really liked the cross weapon applicable passives, but the new mechanics for each weapon are quite nice. I didn't do a lot of tanking so I think I'm going to do shotgun/chaos? I'm Shotgun/fist right now so I have plenty of sustain

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    My main character is shotgun/chaos. I don't know how it plays as far as tanking goes - will need to figure out what gear to get and level-up before I try that out - but it's a very fun combination for playing through the main story and solo missions!

    (I do Shotgun/Elemental for when I'm DPS in dungeons.)

  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    It's been too long since I've played. I want to play through the story, but I've just had a lot of things on my plate recently.

    IIRC I ran Rifle/Pistols most of the time for clearing the story content with the occasional swap over to Rifle/Blade or Rifle/Elemental magic if it felt prudent against the local enemies. However my experience in that matter is far out of date.

    General_Armchair on
    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Almost any combination of weapons is feasible for playing through the story content. Rifle was always very strong, both for solo play and group content, and even with the recent re-balance it's still going to be good for damage and healing.

  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited February 2021
    I've been a bad Illuminati, derelict in my duties of keeping this thread updated, but... Halloween and the Winter Holidays came and went without anything new to speak of.

    I am updating this to let folks know that the Valentine's Day event is going on right now, because that was only added last year so there's a chance people haven't seen any of it yet. The event grants access to all players to a PvP location that normally is only accessible after being invited to it (yes really, it's cool in concept but in practice how are you going to have PvP). There's also an investigation mission attached that raises some interesting lore questions!

    Fingers are still crossed that we're getting another update soonish - if I had to guess, after doing the big tanking/healing overhaul they might be working on getting more of the group content stuff from TSW polished up for SWL mechanics, along with a DPS rebalance.

    DarkPrimus on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    The Envoys of Avalon are back for the Spring Equinox, now until April 1st. There are some decent log-in bonuses for the event even if you don't care about working on more rounds of Occult Defense.

  • SimpsoniaSimpsonia Registered User regular
    edited March 2021
    I loved this game so dearly, but it has been so many years since I played. I think the last I played was when they dropped the first installment of Tokyo and there was all that Aegis stuff, but I was at the end-game at that point. Apparently they scrapped the original game and moved to some Legends mode or new game? How hard (or rather how many hours) would it be to get back into the game and get up to speed on the storyline? Is it super-grindy? I can't imagine having to slog through all the hundreds of hours of original quests for the original 3 questlines (Solomon Island, Egypt, Transylvania).

    Simpsonia on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited March 2021
    Simpsonia wrote: »
    I loved this game so dearly, but it has been so many years since I played. I think the last I played was when they dropped the first installment of Tokyo and there was all that Aegis stuff, but I was at the end-game at that point. Apparently they scrapped the original game and moved to some Legends mode or new game? How hard (or rather how many hours) would it be to get back into the game and get up to speed on the storyline? Is it super-grindy? I can't imagine having to slog through all the hundreds of hours of original quests for the original 3 questlines (Solomon Island, Egypt, Transylvania).

    You can still download and play the original Secret World client if you already had an account, but there are no more updates for that game. Secret World Legends is the relaunch. I think it's actually less grindy than the original if all you're doing is playing through the main story content - they've made plenty of grind to do if you're trying to get gear for the sake of gear, but that's all optional end-game content stuff.

    They did rework the Solomon Island and Egypt storylines slightly - some extra context added to both, encouraging you to seek out more NPCs, and the whole Issue 6 storyline folded into earlier into Egypt, Issue 7 being inserted as part of the main story after Transylvania, things of that nature.

    All of the Issues that were paid content in TSW are available for free in SWL, outside of a scant number of missions that haven't made the jump - like the missions where you earned auxiliary weapons, since those aren't a thing in SWL.

    I made a new character back in November to go through the story stuff again, and the only thing I've been repeating with them is some scenarios and Dark Agartha in order to get all the lore drops.

    I'm almost done with Tokyo with them and have [checks] 3 days 10 hours 39 minutes 12 seconds of playtime on them. Of course, after Tokyo there's still South Africa to play through. Still, it's been very enjoyable to go through the main story again.

    EDIT: Someone has made a very informative post breaking down a lot of the additions and changes for returning players, depending on when you last played the game.

    https://forums.funcom.com/t/what-changed-a-quick-rundown-of-swl-updates-for-returning-players/2001

    DarkPrimus on
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