Currently, uh, level 9 or something, playing as Zeroth.
Okay, I played Illuminati far enough to meet Kirsten and listen to all her available dialog. She might be one of the best scripted and voice acted characters I’ve ever heard. ‘Ninja tax’, Napster reference, just… wow.
But I’m still a Templar guy. Not digging the NY hedge-fund manager theme. Give me my capes and armor. I’m more with it than those Venetians, right?
They all seem to be kinda goofy for folks trying to take over the world and stuff.
Madame Roget in Kingsmouth is my vote for best voice acting in a character in an MMO. She’s amazing.
I’m highly disappointed in how my middle-aged Gordon Freeman looking character holds his pistol though. I’m not some gang-banger. It annoys me enough that I might reroll to change classes. Punisher was fairly cool, but dual-tank weapons didn’t seem like the right choice for soloing. Wondering if it really matters though.
Finally got a chance to try this out, despite having installed the beta a couple of weeks before. Actually I spent some hours finishing issue 11 on the original that I never got around to, and going on a shopping spree.
- Legends looks vaguely better, though I’m not sure what was improved exactly. Engine is still a dog, with all sorts of stutters on a fairly beefy machine.
- Reticle combat is a big improvement from the original. Not as interesting or responsive as ESO, but kind of fun for a few hours at least.
- Disappointed with the new skills and abilities though. With just 6 skill slots and 2 weapons, you’re pretty much pigeonholed into having a consumer for each weapon, an elite skill and maybe a basic attack . You probably want at least one single target and one AOE. Not much room for creativity. The weapon gimmicks are … ok, but generally you need to slot another skill to take advantage of them (which makes hammer and chaos the standout secondary weapons, since you can get the full effect of the gimmicks without extra skill slots.)
- The pay-to-win is strong with this game, and there is much gnashing of teeth on the TSWL subreddit. Hopefully they can turn it around in time for the steam launch. The story and setting content deserves better.
- Kingsmouth really is fantastic, and I enjoyed walking around revisiting the sites. I’ll probably get bored with the simplified systems long before the pay gates sets in. Kind of glad I finished the main Tokyo storyline before I uninstalled TSW OG.
(To clarify, not real pay gates to content, but I understand that you need Aurums to reach the highest endgame loot.)
I dont like the changes to the skill system at all after playing more. I feel like they removed basically all of the synergy between skill trees and replaced it with “you have a limited resource for each weapon so you need to switch!” which i feel is dumb.
The weapon gimmicks are hit and miss,mostly miss.
I might play it slowly over time because i didn’t get far in the original game and i do find the story generally good/unique, but i can’t see myself putting much money or time in to the game.
The loot system is also super boring.
The loot is extremely boring in this game yes. Even dungeon loot, which is supposed to be good, usually consists of just weapon or talisman upgrade material, and not the items themselves. There is no doubt that the developers have borrowed heavily from Nevewinter in their F2P model, but the power increase purchase option is ridiculous, and destroys any interest I have in PVP.
One of the facets of the old game, was the classless structure, and the ability to, through grinding though, learn every single weapon and ability in the game. That is out the window now. Its a shame Funcom doesn’t trust in its own USP’s, and try so hard to copy Neverwinters and others instead.
The weapons are a hit and miss - and mostly because you have to have 3 hands to control it well. The assault rifle with its auto grenade that hits yourself is the worst idea I ever saw, and the sword is impossible to use as well - once you get enough energy to activate it so it actually deals some damage, the fight is usually over.
They also are still floaty, but thats to be expected, since it would be hard to change the games DNA.
While it was fun to be back, I’m out - The systems are just to punishing to any but one style of gameplay.(PAY)
Yeah, the skill system is boring. Several of the slots are locked for all intents, and are also of minor value, so I wind up only using 4 of my 6 powers, and really mainly just 2 of them depending on the opponents(s). So in regular leveling I have 2 kinds of fight, group fights vs. pods of 4 and one-on-one fights.
Meanwhile at the free-to-play level I keep getting these caches I can’t open, and the quest rewards are all incremental improvements of my base equipment through the upgrade system. All the frippery surround the gameplay that’s supposed to keep your interest is quite dull so far, while the core gameplay is also highly repetitive.
Now that people have had time with the new version, would you recommend the original or Legends if:
- I played through most of Kingsmouth prior to Legends, but I don’t care about carrying anything over
- I play purely solo
- I only really liked the setting / writing / some quests - couldn’t care less about the combat.
The only problem is that I don’t know if I’d want to redo the story parts I already did.
I think I agree with others that fiddly though it may be, the original is a better game.
Sounds like they’ll be making a few changes to soothe the angry masses (easing progression cliff after lvl50, guaranteed weapon drop once a day for dungeons etc.) But combat will remain dumb without some drastic changes. I don’t see how things like nightmare scenarios will be possible with the current skills available unless they tone the difficulty way down.
As a bonus, the original was pretty much deserted last time I checked, so you’re less likely to run into a “fellow agent” with a horse mask and hotpants.
What you will be missing out on are the dungeons, which are terrific.
Right now, I’d keep playing the original if it were just a straight choice based on existing content. The problem is they’re not updating that version ever again, so if they ever do anything past Tokyo, you’ll need to play Legends to see it, and since progress from classic doesn’t carry over, you’d have to redo everything in between.
Big patch coming July 5th, and it fixes a whole lot of problems. There are no official notes, just posts on the subreddit summarizing what FC said in a livestream. Here’s a link to one of them:
Highlights include improvements to dungeon loot and significantly better dungeon loot.
Cool. That’ll hook me back in if it works.
Thanks!
Are the dungeons solo content? What makes them terrific?
I’ll be lucky to get through Tokyo. If I make it that far it will be a big win! :-)
No, which is why you’d be missing out on them due to lack of people to group with. As far as what makes them terrific - lots of cool story bits, neat boss fights, and hidden lore all over.
The dungeons are the best small-group content I have seen in any MMO. They are a terrific combination of interesting boss fights, great locations and interesting stories. They’re fantastic.
You don’t see the full picture in SWL yet, as the dungeons are all in super-easy romp-through mode until 50.
Ok the let’s try to be clear: The new secret world legends is NOT good? Stick with the old version? And combat isn’t improved? So what exactly did the improve in the improved version? I was just about to load it until I read this.
Installed. Rolled up a beautiful brunette Gunslinger with mesmerizing green eyes…and pistols akimbo. I’m a patron, apparently. Don’t remember backing but I’m getting 10% XP bonus. Played through the Tokyo subway part. It’s all going pretty fast and it feels like I’m just pressing buttons without really understanding what my guns/bullets/abilities are actually doing. Looks pretty, though. Voice acting is cool. So just running along these rails, enjoying the ride, until I’m able to sit quietly and RTFM.
Any advice for Gunslinger? I’ll be soloing 99% of the time unless I can convince a buddy to join me…