The Secret World – Am I in front of the decaying mummy for a long time?
The Initial Situation
The Secret World I had played intensively for a while in 2014. I was in the first areas for a long time and had problems. My character was too weak, the enemies were getting stronger, and I didn’t quite know where to go.
Then I stopped. However, I couldn’t let that sit with me, so I read a bit about the game and “understood” it – at least for my own use. It’s not so easy with the skill trees until you get the hang of it.
In hindsight, I managed to get through the first act relatively easily with the bonus knowledge. I also ran through a few instances to get better items and was in the mid-game until I ultimately logged out in front of a mummy in an Amani suit (the gentleman in the top right).
The Secret World I probably last played about three-quarters of a year ago.
The Technical Re-entry
No problems. A bit of patching, not taking long. In the loading screen, I tab out and the program then crashes. I have to restart it. This was probably my fault. No hard feelings between us, TSW. It’s also too dangerous for me to get involved with a game that constantly throws tentacle gods, zombies, or other monsters at me.
How does it feel?
Much better than I expected. The great advantage of The Secret World is that you want to listen to the quest givers. During my one and a half hour journey, I will complete tasks for two people:
- A mummy in an Amani suit tells me that things were much worse in ancient Egypt than we think. He wants a demon or ancient god who doesn’t realize that his time is over to be dealt with.
- And the rebel Nassir, who has seen too many US action movies and constantly quotes “Die Hard.” Yippie-kay-yay, Motherf***er.
The individual missions in The Secret World are longer and much more intense than in other MMORPGs. I complete 3 and a few side missions and am thoroughly entertained. The Secret World is an MMORPG where I like to read the quest texts, and where the actual gameplay takes a backseat.
It’s usually the other way around.
How’s the inventory?
My inventory in The Secret World is chaotic. The Secret World wants to do things a little differently, and while I’ve forced myself to get used to the skill system, the crafting system is a real nightmare for me, and I’ve long since stopped trying to deal with it and organize the inventory.
Somehow there are 90 out of 110 items – I buy an additional 10 slots just in case, roughly review whether I have better items in my inventory than equipped (I swap three items) and then cautiously close the window.
In the cash shop, I find a QL-10 “veteran weapon” for 10 veteran points that I somehow have – much better than the thing I have equipped. I buy it, equip it, and then log out for the time being.
What about earned skill points?
In The Secret World, I had selected a preset before deciding where I wanted to go with my character. In the quests, there were some new points that I invested further into this path, hoping to eventually receive the next skill intended for my build. But that is still far away – not much has changed there. With the 20 intermediate skills I bought, I can’t do anything.
With all the skill stuff in The Secret World, I dealt with it about a year ago; I have to trust my past self that it didn’t mess anything up.
Conclusion: Interface pfui, Story-Telling hui
Getting back into The Secret World was easy, even though I hadn’t played it for a while. The episodic story pulls you right in. It’s like catching an episode of Supernatural or The X-Files on TV. You don’t necessarily have to know what happened last week or what will happen in the next episode: The episodes can stand on their own.
However, compared to Guild Wars 2, there are some weaknesses. The map tells you where quest givers are but not whether you’ve already completed them. Although I didn’t have any problems with this during the 90 minutes yesterday, I know from the past that The Secret World can turn you into a “Google on the second screen” player.
The 90 minutes yesterday were overall enjoyable and cool. The story-telling is extremely strong. As long as I don’t open the inventory, everything is fine.
What experiences have you had with re-entry into MMORPGs?
