(MMO) The Secret World | Launch Week + Tips

[TheWombat]

Well, chat has been problematic, so I sure hope it has been fixed.

In fact, for all the good stuff this game has going for it, there are so many niggling little rough spots and bugs that it starts to be a bit annoying. Everything from M not always toggling the map on and off to a rather fiddly and unintuitive abilities interface, to really awful plastic hair (ok, the last one is neither unique to this game nor that important, but still), there's always just one little thing that takes the bloom off the rose. Still, it's got a lot of cool stuff for sure.

I think though that I took the wrong build for my first character though. I went Shotgun and Elemental Magic, working towards a Templar Magus deck, but as I grind towards that I'm finding a few weaknesses. One is no heals. As far as I can tell, neither ability line has any heals, certainly not before the top. Another is that I haven't really found a good single-target DPS build, and the AoE stuff, while great in most respects, is useless against single bad ass mobs. I looked around online but everything is endgame-ish levels for suggested builds.

Weapons are also a bit problematic. I have level 4 in Elemental and Shotgun, but QL3 weapon/focus. It will take eons to get enough proper level crafting materials, and I haven't seen any better weapons for sale, though there may be some for tokens which I don't have. I haven't done any dungeons, though, as without chat it's been impossible to talk, and really as neither a tank nor a healer, it seems no one was interested in me anyhow.

I ventured into Savage Coast, then came back to Kingsmouth to finish up loose ends--I think everything but the Polaris thing and whatever is in the parts of the airport full of really nasty nasty things that I can't solo--but I have little taste for roaming around the town grinding. OTOH, Savage Coast has some good stuff but a lot of it is really hard.

I guess I'm doing something wrong, but I can't really figure out what. I think I'd be better off with another build, but I don't want to start another line before I finish this deck, and while I did start another character (Illuminati, Assault Rifle/Blood Magic Necromancer deck), I shudder to think of redoing right away everything I've just done....

[triggercut]

The hump from Kingsmouth to Savage Coast is difficult. The Overlook Hotel is tough. I actually found the quests at Innsmouth Academy to be far more solo-friendly for new arrivals from Kingsmouth.

That being said, do what I did: group the heck up. Make sure the person you're grouped with will be ok with you wanting to watch the quest giver cutscenes and stuff, and then go knock those quests out! You'll end up with a fairly solid set of QL 4-5 gear from that and can build skills much faster and get over the hump.

[mystery]

Also, port in to Savage Coast through the world tree portal rather than coming through, like the story quest makes you, on the opposite side of the map.

The reason is that if you've got at least 40 solomon emblems, you can buy yourself a QL5 weapon from the vendor up near Red's. I just started up Blade DPS for the hell of it, picked up a fantastic looking sword from there, and Savage Coast isn't so scary any more.

[malkav11]

FWIW, I go by WhiteWhale and I'll cheerfully group with people on whatever as long as I don't have it on cooldown and it's not mostly solo instanced. (So I won't do Carnival of Souls with you, because you can't actually do Carnival of Souls -with- someone, unfortunately.) At this point Kingsmouth might be a little unrewarding, but I've still got plenty of Savage Coast stuff to do and retreading the stuff I've already done still gives beaucoup exp, so I hardly mind. (I also really need to do Polaris before I completely outlevel it.)

[Sean Tudor]

I think though that I took the wrong build for my first character though.

Don't be shy about changing builds for different types of mobs. Also think about running different gear sets to boost up your defense and health. I run three sets depending on the type of mobs I am up against (pure dps, health/dps, tank/dps). The game makes it easy to save sets and reload them as needed.

[mystery]

The game makes it easy to save sets and reload them as needed.

When the game supplies me with the opportunity to hotkey this action, then I'll qualify it as "easy". Until then, no.

[TheWombat]

Thanks for the info. The gear switching is glitched, as it unequips one of my weapons every time I use it. And no hotkeys, which is annoying. But yeah, I need to do that more.

I have not grouped with anyone because nearly every time I've been in since my first day chat has been borked, so I can't talk to anyone or see any chat. Also, there seems to be very little social interaction at all in this game--I've been around people clearly doing the same quest I am but usually no one is grouped. I'm not terribly social in these things--too many years of playing only with a set guild or friends--and I'm sure that's a handicap.

I like it enough to keep trying stuff though.

[mystery]

Loupana from Drop Bears (the Qt3 WoW guild) has been nice enough to set up a channel on his Ventrillo server for TSW folks that want to chat.

Just connect with your Vent client via this link.

Thanks, Loup!

[Madmarcus]

My lack of mmo time clearly shows. I never attempt to read the chat window so I have no real idea if the people around me are trying to be social. I'm also embarrassed to admit it but I have no idea about the mechanics or etiquette of groups for random pick up play (such as running the scrapyard mission).

[Harkonis]

When the game supplies me with the opportunity to hotkey this action, then I'll qualify it as "easy". Until then, no.

it takes three clicks, or one quick command typed. That is easy, you are lazy. :P

[TheWombat]

it takes three clicks, or one quick command typed. That is easy, you are lazy. :P

I'm more ticked at the tendency of the gear switcher to unequip weapons when I switch.

[None]

Regarding the "M" key not always toggling the map on or off, I found out that when it doesn't toggle off it's because I've inadvertently right clicked somewhere on the map, which bring ups the map notation function. Clearing that allows the "M" key to toggle the map off.

[malkav11]

Thanks for the info. The gear switching is glitched, as it unequips one of my weapons every time I use it. And no hotkeys, which is annoying. But yeah, I need to do that more.

I have not grouped with anyone because nearly every time I've been in since my first day chat has been borked, so I can't talk to anyone or see any chat. Also, there seems to be very little social interaction at all in this game--I've been around people clearly doing the same quest I am but usually no one is grouped. I'm not terribly social in these things--too many years of playing only with a set guild or friends--and I'm sure that's a handicap.

I like it enough to keep trying stuff though.

To be fair, people generally don't need to be grouped to casually complete the same goal together in The Secret World. It's not 100% reliable, but it seems like most of the time if you're at the appropriate step in the quest and you help someone complete it, you'll get credit whether you're in their group or not.

Also, item collection quest objectives seem to update for everyone in the group as long as they're in range, which is a huge improvement on such quests in most MMOs I've played.

[Wolff]

For initial builds or just some insight into deck synergy google tswguides

The first 60 builds are a great starting off point that will have you moving towards a combat role with solo ability .

[triggercut]

Patch incoming, game will go down from 5am to 8am Sunday morning.

Allow me to state for the record: woot.

[Marcus]

Patch incoming, game will go down from 5am to 8am Sunday morning.

Allow me to state for the record: woot.

Damn is that EST or PST? I wanna play early tomorrow!!

[triggercut]

Damn is that EST or PST? I wanna play early tomorrow!!

5am EDT down for patching. Expected downtime is 3 hours.

(And it's for the greater good and all...)

[Marcus]

I also just hit rank 8 and I am scrambling to get the 1 million I need for the final run speed upgrade. I think looking back on it I would be in a better position if I would have just sold everything to the vendor rather than breaking it down. Oh well no biggie I don't think it will take me that long to get there.

[Marcus]

5am EDT down for patching. Expected downtime is 3 hours.

(And it's for the greater good and all...)

Awesome so I can get up at 6 and be good to go. Have the patch notes been posted?

[triggercut]

Awesome so I can get up at 6 and be good to go. Have the patch notes been posted?

Some debate over what this is. A few of the louder and more obnoxious folks on the official forums angrily decrying losing 3 hours of playing time, and with no patch notes other than those on the test server the supposition is that it's just maintenance.

So we'll see.

[Swordchucks]

Ele/shotgun is funny because it seems to be a trap that a lot of folks fall into because of the Templar deck (I know I did). As a general rule, you will want a self heal of some sort by the time you hit late-SC or early BM, which that combo doesn't offer. I made it about 1/4 of the way into BM before I gave up and changed to ele/AR.

Still, points aren't really wasted because most passives can be used without the specific weapon equiped.

[Misguided]

Ele/shotgun is funny because it seems to be a trap that a lot of folks fall into because of the Templar deck (I know I did). As a general rule, you will want a self heal of some sort by the time you hit late-SC or early BM, which that combo doesn't offer. I made it about 1/4 of the way into BM before I gave up and changed to ele/AR.

Still, points aren't really wasted because most passives can be used without the specific weapon equiped.

A couple of ideas. First, I think you could find a passive that applies a heal when you crit or whatever you are focussed on. Second, couldn't you grab a heal from the miscellaneous cells?

[Morberis]

I can see why some tanks/healers get frustrated, with the degree of movement required I see lots of people standing in the fire. Or entitled DPS people that want to stand still while I move the boss around for them. Yes I will turn him away from you, if you join me up front thats on you. If his AOE has a safe zone near him, why am I moving him so you're in the safe zone instead of you running into the safe zone? I've seen this a few times now, and people get right irrate with me when I don't. I just leave the group if they start yelling at me.

[gurugeorge]

To be fair, people generally don't need to be grouped to casually complete the same goal together in The Secret World. It's not 100% reliable, but it seems like most of the time if you're at the appropriate step in the quest and you help someone complete it, you'll get credit whether you're in their group or not.

Yeah I've noticed that, it's a refreshing change for quest completion not to be exclusive - e.g. with the captain on the lady margaret, I got my quest completion even though I was helping someone out who had already started shooting him first. It seems that so long as you apply some deeps, and the boss dies, it counts for completion.

Which is good, because it's sort of intuitive to help people out, and that's often been problematic in other MMOs because of the exclusiveness.

Odd that it should be like that in a game in which the 3 factions are supposed to be rivals though - you'd kind of expect a la la fantasy MMO to have a co-operative feel, and a paranoid conspiracy one to have the competitiveness re. quest completion, but it's the other way round :)

Also, item collection quest objectives seem to update for everyone in the group as long as they're in range, which is a huge improvement on such quests in most MMOs I've played.

Yeah, CoH had that. It was my first MMO and I remember being shocked when I found that didn't happen in other MMOs (I was even more nonplussed when it didn't happen out of the box in CO lol).

I've just got to say this game is really refreshing. The modern-day atmosphere, the cool conspiracy theory setting, the nicely intricate build system, the adventure-style investigation quests, etc., etc. Heck, I don't even mind that they're double dipping. I'll gladly chuck a bob or two their way for fluff, because I appreciate a game that's obviously had a lot of passion and attention to detail put into it.

Funcom done good.

[MrPerson]

I was standing in the fire in Polaris, but that's because I'm fairly sure nothing in Polaris can kill me anymore ;)

[TheWombat]

I chose Shotguns because I like shotguns, but Elemental might not have been the best pairing. Ah well, I'll experiment--I'm cool with being non-optimal, but I do have to find a heal somewhere.

[MsWidget]

I'm sorely missing the ability to hotkey things. I need to learn the typed commands, if they're out there. It's not so much that I'm lazy to click three times as that I just prefer typing to mousing, except for using the mouse to move.

I did make some changes to my bindings (adding alt- to the default commands like "b for browser" so I don't find myself fighting with google in my face) but they didn't stick when I logged back in. sad face.

[Wolff]

You don't "need a heal" all the time. First point in fists will give you a hot on hit passive. In the misc tree is a heal that doesn't use your heal rating. Those two are more than enough for soloing. I am QL 9 and have only occasionally slotted the hot on hit.

[malkav11]

Yeah I've noticed that, it's a refreshing change for quest completion not to be exclusive - e.g. with the captain on the lady margaret, I got my quest completion even though I was helping someone out who had already started shooting him first. It seems that so long as you apply some deeps, and the boss dies, it counts for completion.

Which is good, because it's sort of intuitive to help people out, and that's often been problematic in other MMOs because of the exclusiveness.

Odd that it should be like that in a game in which the 3 factions are supposed to be rivals though - you'd kind of expect a la la fantasy MMO to have a co-operative feel, and a paranoid conspiracy one to have the competitiveness re. quest completion, but it's the other way round :)

They're rivals, but all three of them have a vested interest in stopping eldritch things from beyond, which is why the questing is 100% cooperative and the PvP is confined to struggles over power centers elsewhere in the world.

[Harkonis]

I'm sorely missing the ability to hotkey things. I need to learn the typed commands, if they're out there. It's not so much that I'm lazy to click three times as that I just prefer typing to mousing, except for using the mouse to move.

I did make some changes to my bindings (adding alt- to the default commands like "b for browser" so I don't find myself fighting with google in my face) but they didn't stick when I logged back in. sad face.

type /help and most of the commands are listed included the gear related ones