tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post6900833499241301377..comments2024-03-28T10:18:05.213+00:00Comments on Inventory Full: Secret World Legends: First ImpressionsBhagpusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-75803703559007001802017-06-30T06:28:01.950+01:002017-06-30T06:28:01.950+01:00Don't skip it..... not by taking one persons w...Don't skip it..... not by taking one persons word for it. I've played both now and some points made here I agree with and some not. This is the thing, as good as the orig game was, it was losing profit recently, so they came up with "Legends" and to be very honest, it's NOT SUPPOSE to be 'better' than the other one.... this is free, and we should not expect what we paid for in the other one, they need to make money, it's a business, so they have basically said... ok, here it is, play it how YOU want. Of course we'd LOVE for you to spend money, at least occasionally but we've also made it so you don't HAVE to. I've never understood why gamers dog games. I mean, what's the point? The devs and companies aren't obligated to us and we aren't obligated to play their games - so if you should choose to play one and you aren't happy with that choice, don't play it any more, but don't ACT like they've wronged you. YOU made the choice to play, YOU are the only one to blame if you're not happy with said choice. If you go to a restaurant, order a meal and eat the whole thing, are you gonna then ask for a refund based on the fact that you ate it even tho it wasn't good? No... i would hope not. So.... try the game, you've nothing to lose, it's FREE... you CAN buy things if you want to, but you're not obligated to, you CAN buy patron, but you're not obligated to. There aren't that many perks in going patron, a few, but none to write home about. Give it a try! Unimpressed? Uninstall! Make up your own mind about it. Just a thought. Happy Gaming!!! :-) Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18405159850817070855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-59967299044033419342017-06-28T08:23:06.210+01:002017-06-28T08:23:06.210+01:00As far as I'm aware it remained B2P until the ...As far as I'm aware it remained B2P until the end. It was ridiculously cheap at times, but just having to pay at all remained a barrier if you were feeling reluctant about it in any way (which I was).Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-8771053870414088652017-06-27T17:19:35.907+01:002017-06-27T17:19:35.907+01:00I think you're the first longtime player I'...I think you're the first longtime player I've seen to be that clearly positive about the reboot. There was a two-hour rolling discussion in General Chat while I was playing today with a good mix of newcomers and Vets and the general opinion of all of them seemed to be mixed.<br /><br />It all does hang on how well Funcom can monetize the players they do get, though, as you say. It's certainly strong enough to attract and hold an audience but then so was TSW - they just couldn't get anyone to pay for it!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-76917104887163796252017-06-27T17:16:04.523+01:002017-06-27T17:16:04.523+01:00That sound thing is really annoying. It's at i...That sound thing is really annoying. It's at it's worst in the tutorial and it doesn't improve much all the way through to The Argartha. Once in Kingsmouth it settles down but it's still sporadically muffled, and that even after i've fiddled with all the settings and given voiceovers a much higher setting than anything else.<br /><br />The Secret World never had any of these problems so I have no idea what they've done.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-81137246371146843882017-06-27T13:39:17.794+01:002017-06-27T13:39:17.794+01:00I couldn't get my character quite the way I wa...I couldn't get my character quite the way I wanted her either. She's ok though.<br />One thing you mention I forgot about, the npc voices were terribly muffled, I had to read the text to see what they were saying. I'm always very attuned to how tutorials present information, and I liked what they did here. Tutorials are always written with the utter newbie in mind. I'm ok with them covering the basics, because even something like opening your inventory varies game to game. I agree with another commenter that skipping the tutorial should be an option once you've done it. I personally never skip them because there's xp to be gained before you hit the larger world, and in the case of ESO, lots of lockpicks and other loot to be had.Atherenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04773969634802702992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-20856932666976264362017-06-27T12:58:48.982+01:002017-06-27T12:58:48.982+01:00I liked pretty much everything you hated about the...I liked pretty much everything you hated about the reboot. I mean, a complete 180. The only thing I don't like about the new tutorial is that it's not skippable.<br /><br />The only things I dislike so far is the lack of convenience perks for Subs/Patrons and TSW GMs. As a lifetime sub I expected a larger inventory, cheaper sprint upgrades and a small tipend of Aurum to make life a little easier. So basically the game elements themselves seem absolutely fine, but the business plan could use a little work. I'm guessing that they don't want to end up with a playerbase that is almost exclusively on a Lifetime membership that has no need to ever spend a penny ever again.Tithianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17567723372347346654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-17306546318431380842017-06-27T12:58:21.850+01:002017-06-27T12:58:21.850+01:00Yea. I remember something from the lifestream on S...Yea. I remember something from the lifestream on SWL on the MMOGrinder yesterday. It was along the lines that TSW had several good game directors. But as soon as one of them started to be really good, started to shine, he immediately was moved over to one of the Conan projects. <br /><br />Thinking back, there's some truth to that. And that's nothing against the current team by itself. Tilty was an awesome community manager. Among the best community managers i saw throughout many MMOs i played. But he was moved to the position of game director instead, and apparently then had to hurry on SWL. And it shows. :(Sylownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-32728038689871517872017-06-27T12:28:33.988+01:002017-06-27T12:28:33.988+01:00I agree with all of that. If a developer really fe...I agree with all of that. If a developer really feels they need to include a "how to use WASD, Press I for Inventory, equip your weapon" level tutorial I would suggest they a) make it optional and b) completely separate it from the rest of the game. Then they can build the necessary tutorial that's specific to the game itself and integrate it meaningfully and seamlessly into the narrative. <br /><br />What Funcom did was plonk a stonking great "NEW TO MMOs?" tutorial half-way into the existing "Weird stuff happened to your character last week" narrative intro. And then they included information in it that was actively misleading, while omitting almost everything that a player new to this specific game might need to know.<br /><br />It does not work and it was never going to work. The disturbing part is that anyone at Funcom ever thought it *would* work. It says everything about how the people currently in charge feel about the game itself. Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-30224961353393940902017-06-27T11:38:41.122+01:002017-06-27T11:38:41.122+01:00On this topic i thought i might've been the on...On this topic i thought i might've been the only one. Apparently i am not.<br /><br />I also tried to re-create my old character. Unfortunately he's older, bald and with grey beard. During all the beta, i couldn't take a look at that, as we were told that character customisation was still in work, it would come later and it would be awesome. (And the Mexicans would pay for it, i think... )<br /><br />Now i took a look there. At least bald by now is possible, but while my old characters bald head had the necessary texture, the new games bald looks like my character shaved, waxed and polished his head. On the older face, now alas, that's a matter of taste. I didn't like any of the "old" faces, but that can be seen as personal face. On the beard though... the style of my old characters beard is available, but while the old game had a color selector, the new one allows me to pick black, brown or blonde, but no grey beard. <br /><br />That being said, i guess this is really a problem only the older players see. Somebody new to the game will just pick something which is available (and looks good, so skipping the bald option) and not notice how much options were even lost at character creation.<br />Sylownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-43146792132058482017-06-27T10:46:42.473+01:002017-06-27T10:46:42.473+01:00"I didn't bother with the SWL beta but I ..."I didn't bother with the SWL beta but I got the impression it was one of those "we're going to do what we're going to do and we don't want any arguments" kind of betas. Been in a few."<br /><br />Very true. A few small things which were reported were corrected. Usually the most obvious bugs. But everything which went outside the scope of being a painful bug was disregarded. <br /><br />I also wrote pages of text explaining how the user interface could improved with just a few small changes. Because just like you, i also noticed a number of inconsistencies and useability problems there.<br /><br />It always ended up like this: i write that i see a useability problem. A number of people agree, then the fanboys rush in and loudly declare that they can handle it, they learned to work around the problem and it doesn't affect them any more, so it's all fine. <br /><br />I mean, hey, that also worked great for TSW. When some people said that combat feels "odd" for them, the rest rushed in and told them that they had no issues, so the ones reporting problems obviously were wrong. Matter of fact from my experience i can say that both sides were right, but since one side was religiously declaring that there are no problems, the relevant people never went to investigate. Would they actually have done so, they would've found what even i figured out: TSWs combat was perfectly fine and absolute fun on the right hardware. But on the wrong hardware it felt "off", due to small delays and weak responsivity. Unfortunately it took me a little to figure out the pattern, as the problem was more likely to happen on newer (and thus generally better) hardware. It's connected to the fact that TSW insists on using the first processor core and the first processor core only.<br /><br />So hey... now they again ignored all the issues people found with useability and combat feeling wrong. What was the saying with doing the same and expecting different results?<br /><br /><br />And on the old version up and running: you have to jump through some hoops to get it running again. But as i couldn't bear the new game, i was in the old one again yesterday. And lo and behold, my cabal and my friend list had more people there yesterday than in the weeks before the Launch of SWL.<br /><br />So SWL really needs to attract new players. The old ones, who already spend a lot of time and money on TSW, seem to generally feel slapped in the face and dislike the new version. Sylownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-58820933084202385682017-06-27T10:24:36.338+01:002017-06-27T10:24:36.338+01:00There were a few tiny things in the new tutorial w...There were a few tiny things in the new tutorial which could be seen as an improvement, wouldn't they fail while doing that!<br /><br />A good example is that for the first time ever, they explain the dodge mechanics. In TSW that was not explained at all. <br /><br />Unfortunately the new tutorial fails by design. All telegraphed attacks in old TSW use the very same format, a white outline with an animation which clearly shows when the effect impacts. Not so in the new tutorial. This telegraphed attack is the very only one in the game which does not follow this principle. Instead it places the outline on the ground but the timer is an arbitrary animation on the NPC.<br /><br />Once you are outside of the tutorial, you find that all other NPCs still use their default telegraphed attacks. Even the new monster (completely new model, never seen before) in the Tokyo subway uses the old format. So from all i saw, the only time the games default way of telegraphing attacks was not displayed properly is: in the tutorial about them.<br /><br />This is just the most obvious example, there were some other things which actually were explained in a way which is more likely to lead the player on the wrong path, than to help them, and that's before taking a look at the many things (abilities and passives) which yet once again are not explained but left for the player to stumble over and figure out himself.<br /><br />Sure the list of passives is shorter and all passives you can choose are weapon or ablility specific. There's no synergies left to find and use. Only the passive-passives (those which you buy and they give permanent advantages) improve your character no matter which weapon and ability you use, but considering that you can't select anything, can't modify them in your builds, etc. they have no meaning at all and would better be hidden in your character level. They add nothing to the game but only clutter the skilltree.<br /><br />So my sarcastic voice even says: probably that's why they don't instruct people about that stuff. They know very well how worthless that part is, so why bother teaching people about it? <br /><br /><br />That being said, i also dislike how they implemented the tutorial. They rip you out of the intro video and removed the part where you are in the dreamworld and both Anima and Filth in parallel give you information. Yes, for a new player that sequence is very cryptic, but it adds a lot to the atmosphere to the game and matters a lot in the later story. Nevertheless, they removed it. All that remains are the voicelines of the video sequence, played in the background while you are in the graveyard. Of course, most of it gets muted out as your weapon sounds are louder than those voices and they get played while you are just killing stuff, but hey, they are there.<br /><br />Also it just doesn't add up. Why does the dream send you just yet another "kill zombies" tutorial, which comes cheaper in the dozen? Anybody who likes to is free to make a list of games where the tutorial is "kill zombies and be done for", but that list will be long. <br /><br />All of this could've been solved with a few tiny changes. Just don't put that tutorial into the dream sequence. Let the dream sequence play out as normal. Instead you place the combat simulator from the sunken library into each factions training area. For such a training unit the generic "kill zombies" tutorial suddenly makes perfect sense.<br /><br />A small change, but it would leave the story intact. But apparently keeping the story together was not a priority in the development of this iteration. :(Sylownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-61781908403221078782017-06-27T09:54:32.129+01:002017-06-27T09:54:32.129+01:00You're the third or fourth person I've see...You're the third or fourth person I've seen mention that they might have tried TSW if it had been free (ok, you didn't exactly say that but I'm inferring it). I thought TSW had been F2P for a couple of years now. Was it still B2P up to the end? <br /><br />Too late now, sadly, since they aren't selling it any more. That's an odd decision, too. Why not leave the TSW client up as a download for a lowish fee - say $10 - so as to benefit from the additional publicity and interest. There might even be new SWL players who'd pick it up out of curiosity. Seems like turning down free money to me, at least as long as they keep the TSW servers up.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-67968807948327144802017-06-27T09:48:58.512+01:002017-06-27T09:48:58.512+01:00Well, if they'd added a tutorial that explaine...Well, if they'd added a tutorial that explained builds - or the new mechanics that have replaced them - maybe that would be true. That, sadly, is not what they've done. <br /><br />What they have added is a tutorial for people who have never played an MMO before - "press I to open your inventory", "right-click the weapon you were given to equip it" - that level of "help". Also, the instructions are on a timer - if you don't respond (because, for example, you're fiddling with the Options to try and get the audio to work) an obnoxious pop-up opens, reminding you in even simpler terms to do whatever it was you were supposed to be doing, in case you were too dim to understand the first set of instructions.<br /><br />Honestly, it's near the top of the worst tutorials I've ever seen and I've seen some very bad tutorials. As far as the actual new mechanics of how to use the weapons or develop whatever passes for builds these days, if there's any in-game help on that I must have missed it. I'm in Kingsmouth and I have absolutely no clue how the new stuff works - I'm going to have to go read the wiki if I plan on playing any more.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-15481516698432161432017-06-27T07:16:47.411+01:002017-06-27T07:16:47.411+01:00Oh, I do agree about the awkwardness of the charac...Oh, I do agree about the awkwardness of the character customisation screen though; never seen anything like it! The available options were fine, but those hexagons were a usability nightmare...Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-57731994643099984782017-06-27T02:10:42.384+01:002017-06-27T02:10:42.384+01:00I'm still too embittered by the loss of my cha...I'm still too embittered by the loss of my characters and the handling of this whole mess to play myself, but the overall impression as a secondhand observer has not been encouraging. It seems like pretty much what I expected: Exactly the same game, except heavily dumbed down and with much more aggressive monetization.<br /><br />That said, I do think the tutorial changes may be for the better. As frustrating as it may have been to veterans, an obnoxiously simple, hand-holding tutorial is what the first game desperately needed. TSW was not a game that was hard to play so much as it was a game that was hard to learn. There were countless ways to screw up and no clear way to know that you were screwing up. I've met intelligent, competent people who had spent significant time in the game and nonetheless had abjectly terrible builds because they simply didn't know any better.<br /><br />Really, the tutorial is the only thing they should have changed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-58050273874691647102017-06-27T00:22:57.322+01:002017-06-27T00:22:57.322+01:00Interesting that your first reaction was so negati...Interesting that your first reaction was so negative. I've never played the original Secret World but have been roped into giving the reboot a shot because it's hard to say no to "but it's free". So I have no point of comparison, but to me the tutorial seemed perfectly serviceable - though to be honest if many of the controls didn't happen to map to the same functions as in Neverwinter, I think I still would have struggled due to certain UI basics not being explained. Of course it remains to be seen where things go from here...Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-49350934979854819602017-06-26T23:59:23.009+01:002017-06-26T23:59:23.009+01:00There are concerns I've seen expressed about h...There are concerns I've seen expressed about how the gear progression works in SWL that make me think it may end up being as unpopular as TSW in the end. It does sound as though they've tuned it to make money - which, of course, was the entire point of the revamp.<br /><br />I'd say if you did decide to come back you might indeed be better off picking up your old character in Egypt. Transylvania is good!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-68447050990531637222017-06-26T23:54:52.795+01:002017-06-26T23:54:52.795+01:00The character creation is peculiar. I couldn't...The character creation is peculiar. I couldn't recreate my character either. I like the one I've made but it's irrelevant really because I don't suppose I'll play her much. I am going to press on for a while. This was only a "first impressions" piece after all and first impressions can often be misleading. I hope that's true in this case, although I doubt it.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-43012938634555631402017-06-26T23:51:41.394+01:002017-06-26T23:51:41.394+01:00I didn't bother with the SWL beta but I got th...I didn't bother with the SWL beta but I got the impression it was one of those "we're going to do what we're going to do and we don't want any arguments" kind of betas. Been in a few.<br /><br />As a mirror-image of what I said to Kemwer above, I think the people who are going to be most disappointed, or upset, about the revamp are those who really liked TSW. I can't see any way it's going to be any kind of improvement from the perspective of a committed fan (although Belghast did have some interesting points to make in that regard from the perspective of a high-end player).<br /><br />At least the old version is still up and running - for now.Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-75414360100578542272017-06-26T23:46:37.784+01:002017-06-26T23:46:37.784+01:00I tend to think that people who didn't enjoy t...I tend to think that people who didn't enjoy the "feel" of TSW are the ones most likely to find SWL an improvement, although it would depend why you didn't get on with the original. I note that a lot of the people who claimed to hate either the combat or the animations or both seem happier with the revamped versions.<br /><br />In the end, it's free to play, so if you have the slightest interest you might as well give it a shot - providing you don't mind a 50GB download. On the other hand, if you've managed without it since beta I'm sure you'll do fine without this version too!Bhagpusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499162165023939880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-8744397936545950362017-06-26T23:25:53.931+01:002017-06-26T23:25:53.931+01:00Wow, based on that I'm more likely to try the ...Wow, based on that I'm more likely to try the original again sometime than fire up this new game. I made it about halfway through Egypt near launch, always been on my back burner to get back to some day. The original intro is one of my favorite things about the game, sounds like they really abused the canine.Yeebohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08028940396189544294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-46250870900519438772017-06-26T22:55:25.333+01:002017-06-26T22:55:25.333+01:00I'm still trying to give it a shot. I want to ...I'm still trying to give it a shot. I want to love it because I loved TSW, but I can't say I've not been disappointed so far. There are 'more' options for somethings in the character creator but somehow they feel like less. I have not managed to recreate my characters to my satisfaction. I will give the questing more of a shot than I have. I'm determined to at least get through Kingsmouth and find out if it starts feeling any better. <br />There's probably a whole post on my feelings about the rest of it. We will see if I manage to write it.PlaidElfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15322405383723446243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-75443712672509492202017-06-26T20:40:11.920+01:002017-06-26T20:40:11.920+01:00You very much add up my feelings. I was there in t...You very much add up my feelings. I was there in the beta. I wrote "a few" suggestions on how to fix things. Among them something how the introduction could be done much better. (Short version: no graveyard in the dream sequence, put the Sunken Library World simulators into the faction HQ and start the tutorial from there. )<br /><br />I wrote essays on what i dislike on the UI and the combat. Every single word and every electron for that was wasted.<br /><br />I still tried the game over this weekend. I want to love it. Old TSW ment a lot to me. I spent a lot of time there, i met my girl there, we're going to marry this year and a number of cabal members are invited to the wedding. <br /><br />But despite all of this, i just can't get myself to play that new piece of garbage. :(Sylowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13058980886142617182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1510920011443550663.post-57446145653710686352017-06-26T19:49:58.262+01:002017-06-26T19:49:58.262+01:00That is good to know so I can skip it without much...That is good to know so I can skip it without much regret.<br /><br />TSW was one of those games that I always "wanted to like" but could never justify the price tag because it wasn't good enough based on my beta experience, so I was interested in giving it a shot now that it's F2P. Nevermind that idea then.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your impressions.Kemwerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13280486198879770727noreply@blogger.com