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The Secret World Review

Intro
The Secret World is a new modern day mmorpg by Funcom, and will be released to the public on July 3rd. Funcom has had a lot of criticism for their former mmo Age of Conan, and it has generally been my understanding that people didn't really trust them with a new project. Let me start out by saying that I have played in every beta that TSW has had, and am now on my headstart part of the game. After all that time, I now feel that I am ready to write a review of the game, and how I feel Funcom has done their job.

Customer Service
Im gonna cover this as the very first part of the review, because I feel it's important to give Funcom a massive cudos to the job they have been doing. The first beta was a bit broken in places, but the devs have been paying close attention to the forums and feedback provided by the players and a lot has happened since then. I deffinetly think that Funcom has learned from their mistakes, and I havent seen any other mmo yet, where the devs are taking so much time on the forums, talking to players and helping them out. Very good job indeed.

Character Creation

Now, the character creation has gotten a lot of beef. People were very unhappy with it. During the beta period, it had its flaws. Character models lacked personality and the clothes were scarce. It has gotten better and the character changes made since then has been a big improvement. There are more clothes to choose from and Funcom are even planning on adding a "shop" ingame where players can change looks, hair and even get tatoos and scars.

Gameplay, Atmosphere & Combat

The gameplay in TSW is very basic of what you are probably used to from other mmos (Like wow, Rift etc). Combat is the same as in wow, but different. TSW is still a hotkey based mmo, but the monsters in the game has been equipped with special attacks that will randomly "charge" during the encounter, and will need to be dodged, either by moving out of the mark, or using the backflip/dodge ability you have. Every spell and skill in the game can be cast while moving, so the fights encourage you to be on the move quite often, and you will often find yourself panicking because of low health. A lot of the enemies in the game dosn't go easy on you, which is why you can choose from a huge variety of different skills in order to be victorious. The atmosphere in the game are incredible. While you make your way into the dark town of Kingsmouth, you can feel the eerieness of the place and you can hear zombies growl and moan around you. I have to say that TSW is one of the mmos I played that has really done atmosphere to the max.

The Ability Wheel

The skill wheel is the whole source to TSW's function regarding xp. In TSW, you dont level up and get some random stats forced down your throat. Instead, you get either Skill Points, or Ability Points. Skill Points are used to upgrade current weapons to pack a better punch, or to upgrade talismans, making you able to equip stronger gear, with a higher quality. Ability Points are the points you use to purchase new skills from the wheel. You just go to the category you want, and then you get a variety of different skills you can buy. Skills will however unlock as you buy your way down the ladder as seen on the left side of the picture. Dont know how to make a good build? Dont worry, at the very left side of the picture, you get to choose a premade build that will suit you just fine as you make your way through the zones. The wheel has over 500 abilites you can unlock, and you can choose whatever you want. If you are tired of playing dps, you can easily switch over to playing a tank or healer instead. (Required you have unlocked those skills ofc.)

Dungeons

So far there are a total of 9 dungeons in the game. Each with 3 different difficulties. (Normal, Elite and Nightmare). So far I have only tried 2 of them. Polaris and Hell.
Polaris is a typical starter dungeon. The first 4 bosses are pretty straight forward. The last 2 bosses however, can be pretty difficult. They have some brilliant mechanics to them, and a lot of them requires focus and determination.
Hell is harder. Every single boss in here has some kind of mechanic to them and you need to be good geared to be in here, where Polaris can be accessed pretty early.

So now you covered the basics in the mmo, what can I do on the side?

TheSecret World is a game based on real world myths and legends. So of course you will be able to collect these little icons seen on the pictures throughout the world. They are called Lore Icons, and they do exactly what the name suggests. Each icon is part of a lore set that adds more text to the story behind the place, people, or monster the Lore Icon covers.

Mostly, the Lore Icon you pick up covers the story behind something in the area you are in.
Every quest in the game is repeatable, and will be unlocked again within a time limit from completion. So if you find yourself struggling in a harder zone, you can easily go back and redo some quests and hereby earn extra AP that you can buy some new skills with.

Conclusion

A lot of people find TSW a bit confusing at first, and sadly even give up on it to early. I have to be honest here and say that it is a game that you have to let grow on you. I have met a lot of people that didn't care for it at all, but are now hardcore fans of it. Including myself. I am so amazed how awesome this game is, and I think it's a shame that it dosn't have more publicity, because people who are on the fence about it, are really missing out. I can really recommend this mmo to anyone who loves myths and legends and wants to try something new. I am sure you wont regret it.
P.s. There are crafting and PvP in this game, but I dont know much about neither. So I wouldn't comment on that.