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Free To Play ‘Secret World: Legends’ Launches on June 26th


Posted on May 9, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Funcom’s revamped version of 2012’s The Secret World, called The Secret World: Legends, will re-launch on Steam on June 26th.  Originally released as a traditional ‘WOW like’ MMORPG in 2012, The Secret World: Legends tells the tale of a conspiracy spanning the globe involving the supernatural. Players are able to join one of three factions – Dragon, Templar and the Illuminati as they awaken to their powers and abilities.

Secret World: Legends takes a substantial chunk of the content found in the 2012 original and reimagines it as a player-centric story driven experience with shared world elements. Rather than running around the world with hundreds of other awakened co-conspirators, Legends will be similar to a console action RPG with a tightly controlled population of just a couple of players. That isn’t to say that socializing isn’t available – the social hub known as Agartha will allow hundreds of players to come together and explore this nightmarish supernatural world together in the new smaller instances.

Here is how Funcom’s official press release summarized Legends’  plot:

“Secret World Legends plunges players into a shadowy war against the supernatural in an adventure that crosses our world with the realms of ancient myth and legend. As players traverse the globe unraveling complex investigations into the unknown, they’ll need to uncover clues and use their own wits as much as their characters’ abilities.”

With the transition from the previous ‘buy to play’ model to the new free-to-play model, Secret Worlds Legends does bring a number of further improvements beyond the tightened narrative focus.  Combat has been redesigned to be more streamlined and action focused, previously players would have a row of numbered hotkeys like in other MMORPGs. Legends’ combat system reduces the number of active abilities and focuses on the use of an in-game reticule to give the game a more action-orientated feel. Graphics have also been improved when compared to the original game.

Funcom released a brief overview video that explains what The Secret World Legends is and how it differs from the original version of the game. After Legends’ launch on Steam this year the developers will be able to continue the story past Tokyo – which is where the previously paid story DLC ‘issues’ for the 2012 originals left off.

 


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The Secret World Ditches MMO Genre & Resets Servers, Community Rages


Posted on March 30, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Funcom has been in the news recently thanks to the success of Conan Exhiles and how that titles literally saved them from bankruptcy but the developer / publisher isn’t busy enjoying “what’s best in life” because they’ve massively upset the hardcore player base of The Secret World by announcing a complete server wipe & genre change for the 5 year old MMO.

Early yesterday morning Funcom released a press release, teaser trailer and a series of developer blogs outlining that the MMO version of The Secret World (herein referred to as The Secret World Classic to avoid confusion between versions) would be no longer supported or sold as they moved the game in a different direction.

Here is how Funcom’s press release described the upcoming reluanch:

“The Secret World will be relaunched this spring as Secret World Legends, a shared-world action RPG with completely revamped combat, a newly designed progression system, and updated visuals. The game’s full collection of missions and mysteries will be free to play, with over 100 hours of mature storytelling and surprises.”

Rebranded as The Secret World Legends, this new title will use the existing assets and plot line of the 2012 title but will be more focused on Action RPG elements rather than the traditional World of Warcraft-esque MMO trappings that That Secret World Classic embraced. Players who login into The Secret World Legacy upon its release will notice less of a social emphasis with less players in the game world when compared to The Secret World Classic. Funcom also stated

This shift in direction means that also The Secret World Classic is no longer available for sale & will receive no further updates – although servers will remain online – so whomever owns the game and plays now can continue to do so but TSW Classic literally will never have a new player set foot in its world. Also TWS Classic’s official Steam Discussions group has been wiped clean and existing player characters will not transfer over to Legends when it launches sometime this quarter.

Reaction to the shift to Free to Play Action RPG from the model of Buy Once Play Forever MMORPG and the accompany character erasure has predictably left the community fuming. Here is just a small taste of the fan reaction from folks who are about to lose 100s of hours of commitment:

 

PicklyVin from Reddit:

“Started playing again a few weeks ago after a year and a half or so of not playing, and was loving the game again (redid a bunch of builds, tried out PvP for the first time, spent a bit of funcom points, adjusted some gear), was looking forward to new players/new mechanics to do dungeons/more PvP/etc. Very, very frustrating to hear today that the whole thing is out the window.”

Planktonic_Larvas from Reddit:

“That name is %&$#* terrible..

As others have said fragmenting the already small userbase really isn’t good, I’ll be downloading it and playing but I think it’s gonna have to have something really special for me to give up all the work and money I’ve put into my characters through achievements and clothing..”

LemonWarlord from Reddit:

“Other games like Anarchy Online are still on 15+ years later. The old game is officially put on life support. You can’t buy the old game anymore, so the only direction the population can go is down.

The other thing is when a significant portion of the population believes that the things you are doing now are leading to your ability to do new content in the future, its frustrating to hear that all your efforts are thrown out the window. Yes, I had fun getting stronger and getting better and getting better gear, but at some point I didn’t need it unless I anticipated new content that might need better gear.

A big part about MMOs is what I do today, affects how well I perform tomorrow. To see thousands of hours just thrown out the window for a “remastered” version of the same game with the same story is absurd.”

The Secret World Legends will be released sometime before the end of June if Funcom’s estimation of a Quarter 2 2017 release date is realistic. Interested players can find more information about the trasition to Free to Play via Funcom’s official FAQ, where they can also sign up for the game’s upcoming closed Beta.


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THE PARK by FUNCOM TO LAUNCH ON PLAYSTATION 4 AND XBOX ONE


Posted on November 17, 2015 by Fionna Schweit

Funcom, from Oslo Norway, is excited to announce today that ‘The Park‘, the company’s brand new single-player psychological horror experience, will be unleashing its scares on PlayStation® 4 and on Xbox One consoles via the ID@Xbox self-publishing program in Q1 2016. After a successful launch for Windows PC during Halloween this year, Funcom is looking forward to once again opening the gates to its horror theme park in what will be the company’s first console release in almost ten years.

Take a look at the launch trailer on their  YouTube

“Encouraged by the positive reactions we have received on the Windows PC version, we are very excited about bringing it to consoles,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “Exploring a dark, sinister and frankly terrifying location from the comfort of your sofa, with the lights turned off and controller in hand, is sure to be a very rewarding experience.”Read More


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My First Two Hours of The Secret World


Posted on June 16, 2012 by Andrew Minott

The Secret World is currently doing closed beta weekends, and somehow I got invited. Actually, the email doesn’t even say what I did to get sent a code, but hey, here we are.

What follows is my liveblog of what I did this afternoon.

WARNING! IT CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS. That’s the only time I’m telling you. But I guess if I had to warn you about that, there are probably a lot of words you’ve already passed that probably gave you trouble…

Anyway, as they say when they’re moving on with the show, ON WITH THE SHOW!Read More


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Pre-Order The Secret World And Gain Access To Beta & Headstart


Posted on April 3, 2012 by Rae Michelle Richards

Funcom’s long in development MMORPG The Secret World hopes to spook a whole new audience with the announcement of pre-order Beta access and early access to the final game. Pre-orders will be able to gain access to the game 4 days early on June 15th.

If you pre-order The Secret World you’ll also be given preferential access to the game’s Beta Test weekends next month. Considering over 700,000 people have registered to Beta Test the game, this is a considerable advantage for all of you want-to-be paranormals out there.

For more details on Funcom’s pre-order program or The Secret World head on over to their official website.


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