More Than A Number: Secret World Legends

I take it back. I was wrong. It is not helpful to have the game tell me I'm not ready to continue with the main quest.

It is, in fact, annoying. Irritating. Frustrating. It might, I suppose, be something I could grudgingly come to accept, despite it's grating paternalism, if it was at least an accurate assessment of my abilities. But, no...

Tier 5 (of 22) of the main quest sequence, Dawning of an Endless Night (hang on...isn't it days that "dawn"?) requires you to be Level 12. It's not a suggestion. It's an actual quest step, right there in your journal: "Reach Level 12".

I was Level 9 when I hit that roadblock yesterday. I spent a couple of hours this morning getting to Level 11. At first I was cautious, taking quests around my level, but as my options shrank I found myself at the Orochi camp by the New Colony Span Bridge, accepting quests with a suggested level of twelve; in one case, thirteen.

The Orochi camp - a rare chance to see one still breathing.

While I was completing these, which I did without any difficulty at all, killing scores of mobs two or three levels above me, I ran into a couple of rare spawns. One was a very big bear I don't remember seeing in The Secret World. I don't remember seeing any bears before, come to think of it.

I'd upgraded my gear as far as I'd been able so my main weapon was Level 8, my secondary Level 6. My two accessories were Level 6 and Level 4. I was under-geared, under-leveled and my "rotation" consisted of mashing LMB and RMB without knowing or much caring what either of them did.

I was woefully ill-prepared and yet the missions were easy. The named mobs were easy. Everything was easy.

I was having fun but not nearly as much fun as I had been having when I was still following the main quest. Now I felt as though I was marking time, rehearsing for the real performance.

He looks bigger sideways on.

I didn't feel in the least as though I was following my own guiding star, expressing my individuality, becoming a free spirit or doing my own thing. I didn't feel like an adventurer or an explorer. I felt like someone stuck with a not especially unpleasant chore that nevertheless had to be gotten out of the way before I was at liberty to do the thing I really wanted to do.

At Level 11 I mentally told The Man to Stick His Job. I sprinted over to the tunnel to Savage Coast, reasoning that if I had to do quests I didn't much want to do, at least I might as well do quests that gave more XP or better rewards. And look at some different scenery while I was doing it.

I did have some trepidation. If the game thought I wouldn't be able to handle the main quest for another level yet, would I be able to survive in Savage Coast, let alone get any xp there? It was going to be interesting to find out, or so I thought.

Never look directly at the sun.

And perhaps it would have been. We'll never know. Because Savage Coast is also Level Locked. Or maybe it's tied to a stage in the main quest, which would seem to amount to the same thing. Either way, when I tried to go there, the game told me I didn't "meet the requirements" and refused to let me in.

I don't remember zones being level-locked in The Secret World but then again TSW doesn't have levels. If this is part of the deal that comes with having a number next to my name then I'm going to have to side with Patrick McGoohan.

Seriously, why is this supposed to be a good idea? If I want to get my butt kicked then let me get my butt kicked! I understand the intention is to avoid disgruntled customers trundling off to more forgiving MMOs, when they hit the brick wall of repeated death, but is it really less frustrating to be told to go away and grind out levels and come back in a day or two? I don't think so.

I wish I'd thought of calling myself Jane "Nickname" Doe. How we would have laughed.

The most infuriating part is that I'll never know whether I needed those levels or not. Well, I suppose if I get in there at Level 12 and get my backside handed to me in a sling I'll be able to take a guess but I doubt that's going to happen. I'll be sure to come here and eat crow if it does.

In my world there's a vast difference between trying something, finding it's too much for me, making an informed decision to go away and train or skill or gear up, then going back for another go, as compared to being told to go and level up because the game "knows" I'm not ready.

The difference has a name. It's called "Agency".

By all means put a warning sticker on the door. "Recommended Level 12" is helpful. I can calibrate with that. Locking the door and handing out the key only when I can produce the correct identity card? That's not helpful at all. That's wasting my time and trying my patience.

And my patience is wearing thin.