Tsw State of the Game update

[Zavon]

http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=42532

Supposedly, they will have monthly content updates from here on out. I'm a bit skeptical about their ability to do that. Yet, I think that is exactly what it will take for them to keep charging a monthly fee in light of the gigantic shadow that GW 2 will cast. After playing both games, I suspect that logging into tsw will be harder to do with GW 2 live.

[VKhaun]

That's a very promising post. Not just because of what they say they'll do, but because it's saying they CAN do all those things. You often hear 'we don't have the tech for that' or 'that would take too much time' from game developers after launch and their timetables exclude things they consider as 'needs to be in an expansion'. This guy just listed every system in the game I can think of as getting regular updates including things that obviously need UI work, dialog written, new art, etc.

[Zavon]

And especially combat, which lets face it, needs a lot of work in this game.

[Marou]

I think what you're seeing here is the difference between doing everything in house versus using a preset engine and middleware for everything.

[Zoobi]

I'm glad they really want this MMO to work and not just sit on the backburner making money for their next project. Definitely keeping a close eye on this.

[Sillywilly]

I'm glad they really want this MMO to work and not just sit on the backburner making money for their next project. Definitely keeping a close eye on this.

Yeah I'll have to check in on it from time to time. I was really pumped about the premise of the game. I would really love for it to do well.

[Alex Mars]

http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=42532

Supposedly, they will have monthly content updates from here on out. I'm a bit skeptical about their ability to do that. Yet, I think that is exactly what it will take for them to keep charging a monthly fee in light of the gigantic shadow that GW 2 will cast. After playing both games, I suspect that logging into tsw will be harder to do with GW 2 live.

Do you really thing that there is that much overlap between the people who want to play a conspiracy MMO for intellectuals and the people who want to play a PvP centric fantasy MMO?

[Zavon]

Do you really thing that there is that much overlap between the people who want to play a conspiracy MMO for intellectuals and the people who want to play a PvP centric fantasy MMO?

I think that is an interesting question. Short answer: Yes. Long answer: MMO players want to play MMO's. TSW forums, all through the beta weekends were constantly covered in talk about GW2. Every feature of the game was constantly compared to that of GW2-- even though we all know they seek to provide completely different services.

[Sillywilly]

I think that is an interesting question. Short answer: Yes. Long answer: MMO players want to play MMO's. TSW forums, all through the beta weekends were constantly covered in talk about GW2. Every feature of the game was constantly compared to that of GW2-- even though we all know they seek to provide completely different services.

Honestly I think we're all a bunch of nerds who like to project. We like the idea of being an Aragorn equivalent, or the hero from an apoc, a space hot shot or just a plain old superhero. (that should cover most of the MMO plots lol). I'm not so sure people will pick an MMO based entirely on it's plot as they will the other characteristics of the game like plain old fun or "it" factor, PvsP, how well done the combat is, etc.

If I chose an MMO based on it's plot alone I'd still be hitting LotRO hard and heavy. If I chose it for PvsP and alot of other characteristics I'd still be playing DAoC. The fantasy plots are my favorite although I've worn them down to the point that the novelty of a non-fantasy plots such as Fallen Earth or TSW are attractive to me but in the end the game play and other features weren't where I needed them to be in order to buy/subscribe.

Right now I'm still playing Star Wars simply because I like the feel of the combat (except the GCD could be a little shorter), the voice overs are still entertaining for me, it's fun to explore the worlds you heard about in the movies and I'm finding it fascinating to play a couple of the non-Jedi heroes in the Star Wars universe.

So even if you made a top 5 list of reasons why people might play an MMO I don't think the setting will be what keeps them around. Thus GW2 might have the potential to put the squeeze on everything from TSW to TOR. I don't think there are so many MMO players who are die hard into any one kind of setting or plot, I think the generalist who just want to be a badass in SOME fictional universe, no matter which universe, make up the majority of players.

[VKhaun]

I think most people see these games as MMO's first and all the fluff second. Maybe there's a significant demographic that want specifically a real world, vs fantasy, vs high tech setting... but I doubt very seriously that any significant number of people are picking their MMO based on story or details like quest types. That's why I'm very pessimistic about TSW. It doesn't stand up as a good enough game for people to stay for the fluff that people think makes it good.

If Darkfall had investigation quests would you be playing that? If EVE had skill decks would you go try it? These things don't dictate the feel of a game. Movement, customization, how buggy it is, how hard it is to find your friends, ease of progression, animation/cast times vs combat speed. Every MMO that comes out has a decent launch then flops hard because people are always willing to try a new game on it's fluffy promises and have their arguments about the fluffy promises, but no one stays or goes over fluffy promises. No one walked away from SWTOR because the voice acting was bad. No one walked away from EVE because it was too big. No one left Rift because it had rifts. No one left LOTRO because it had PvMP. They leave over not liking the basic feel and style or they leave because of population/friends leaving.

[Sillywilly]

Did you just say the voice acting in SWTOR was bad?

[VKhaun]

Did you just say the voice acting in SWTOR was bad?

Heh... that's how I wrote it isn't it?
No I meant no one left it because of their opinion of the voice acting or production values that the fans think it sells on.

[Alex Mars]

I think that is an interesting question. Short answer: Yes. Long answer: MMO players want to play MMO's. TSW forums, all through the beta weekends were constantly covered in talk about GW2. Every feature of the game was constantly compared to that of GW2-- even though we all know they seek to provide completely different services.

I understand that, but on the other hand I saw a metric shit ton of posts over the last few years by people who were tired of fantasy, swords, spells, elves, dragons, etc and wanted sci-fi or high tech MMOs.

[Zavon]

There have been no shortage of those: Anarchy online, Eve, champions online, DC universe, city of heroes, fallen earth, global agenda, neocron... Just off the top of my head.