As eager as I am to jump ingame and check out The Secret World’s new hoverboards, I promised to tell you folks the story of our very special TSW party last Thursday. So post first, hoverboard later!
Secret Worlders got a very special treat on Thursday night…
The Secret World had just introduced new RNG bags into the Item Store. These bags, planned to be the first of many, have a military theme and also introduce “Lucky Coins” with which you can purchase some of the bags’ content if you are unlucky with them. The items from the bags are all tradeable until used, and all cosmetic, so I’d say TSW has once again done Cash Shop options right. What matters to this story is a particular emote players can get through these bags or by saving up their Lucky Coins. Continue Reading
What a week! I’d like to apologize for the lack of content – it’s mostly due to two things:
1) I’ve been doing a lot of cleaning when I’m not working. While most people do Spring Cleaning, I sometimes get an overwhelming urge to clean, straighten, and rearrange in the fall. I have 17 grocery bags full of books to donate, if that gives you any idea.
2) My computer has been a bit wonky, most likely Windows 10 bugs since the computer itself is so new. I think I have them squashed for now, but it involved a clean install and all the time and hassle that entails.
I have another piece almost ready (We had an amazing Beyond the Veil show last week, with an NPC suddenly “coming to life” and interacting with us thanks to our awesome dev team), but in the meantime I have links to other projects!
The piece I wrote for the Extra Life gaming community went live last Friday! It’s been a long time since I wrote for someone I didn’t know and who was editing my work. I’m still so pleased to get the chance to write it, and look forward to possibly writing more for them in the future. If you missed my posts on social media, you can find the article at http://community.extra-life.org/articles.html/communitycontent/how-extra-life-helped-me-find-my-voice-r58/.
Jennet, of OtterDown and The Secret World fame, has put together a trailer for Extra Life 2015! She kindly let me in on the fun, and the filming this morning was full of glorious flailing. “Sorry, I fell into a me-sized hole and almost got eaten, what were you saying?”
It’s been a while since I’ve really played The Secret World. I mean, I’ve been playing it, but only paying surface attention. Kill the thing, oooo that’s pretty, let’s sort inventory.
The last few days I’ve been getting back into the headspace I prefer for TSW – headphones on, no distractions, less with the multitasking – and it’s well worth it even after all this time.
I’ve been focusing on rerunning the entire Tokyo storyline, taking my time and picking up side missions as I go. It started for the obvious reason that those missions award more bullion, but as soon as I spent some time plugged into the world I remembered how beautiful, if dark, the area is.
It’s going to be a short one today, folks! We had a call-in at work and no one was able to cover the shift, so it was just me and the groomers. The groomers are awesome, and we had a volunteer for part of the day, but I’m still super tired now.
In happier news, an 11 month old black lab I’ve been trying to work with (he’s scared of everything, sits in his cage and shakes) not only came up to me for pets today, but got halfway to sitting in my lap. *melted Gryph* This time, I am going to go ahead and show you what he looks like:
Manufactory
As some of you may know, I got a chance to romp through Manufactory Elite for the first time right after last week’s Beyond the Veil stream. OtterDown otternapped me after kindly waiting until the show was over. The picture at the top of this post is the best one I got, I was too busy trying not to die for most of it. ^^ Continue Reading
Even though I was working on a different post today, I want to get this up where people can read it. I’ll post the other one later.
Today has been super exciting for fans of The Secret World, as Funcom officially announced their new single-player horror game The Park. The announcement was made even more exciting when it was confirmed to take place in the world of TSW. As an extra bonus, we found out this game was the “secret project” our old Game Director, Joel Bylos, has been working on.
If there’s one thing TSW, and by extension Funcom, excels at, it’s story and atmosphere. (I think there’s even more they excel at, but that’s me. ^^) You only have to play a few missions in TSW to know that, or remember this is the company that once brought us The Longest Journey. Assuming the game takes place at the location it appears to be, that park has some very, very dark history that we’ve all been curious to learn more about. For those new to the world, this should be quite the introduction.
The teaser trailer and the first couple screenshots are up at http://www.theparkgame.com/. Joel has confirmed on Twitter that the teaser graphics are “in-engine, realtime.” The Park is planned to come out October of this year.
And if it needs to be said, I’m super psyched to play it! 🙂
More site update goodness, yay! I’d planned on a more regular post today, but wanted to make sure folks know about the changes. Plus, I’m pleased with what I’ve done. 🙂
TSW Help
I’ve noticed sometimes the search terms that link to my blog are more likely questions about actual gameplay in The Secret World than readers looking for opinion pieces. Since I’ve yet to write any player guides, I’ve added a TSW Help section to the main menu. This section has helpful links with descriptions for players who are looking for advice. I’ve also added links to some of the other social groups in the game. If readers think of one I’ve missed, let me know and I’ll be sure to add it! Continue Reading
I spent between five and six hours running dailies in The Secret World last night, and loved every minute of it. Seriously! And I can explain.
I remember running dalies in other MMO’s. Simple missions that reset every 24 hours. Eventually you can run them in your sleep, but the rewards are just enough that you feel silly if you don’t. I get tired of them very quickly. This is partly because I’m not always in the mood for dungeon running, so in many games dailies are eventually all I have left to do at endgame. Boring! Continue Reading
Going to be a short post today, I’m starting it while countless Secret Worlders wait with much enthusiasm for the servers to reopen with the Issue 12 update. Community Manager Sezmra shared the Issue 12 trailer early into the downtime, and as usual players have been romping haphazardly across social media. The endlessly creative group is passing time sharing videos, including one starring soundclips from our Lead Designer (who promises retaliation), but once the server opens it’ll be time to get off Twitter and into the new content. The second part of my post will come after I’ve had a chance to get in game and check it out myself!
With this being my first day (mostly) off in a bit, I think I’ll save the topic I’d planned for another day! I’m trying to get some things done and then spend some much needed time gaming instead of writing about gaming. That said, some thoughts of the day:
Counter Monkey
Every once in a while I get on a kick and watch every episode of Counter Monkey back to back. If you’ve never watched the show, it’s focused on Dungeons & Dragons and other pen and paper roleplaying games. Spoony sometimes gives advice, sometimes tell stories of old campaigns, and usually manages both at once. Fair warning that the show’s language is not safe for work, and I seem to remember some of his earlier jokes making me go, “Really?” In general though, I super recommend it if you’re a fan of pen and paper games or have ever had any interest in them. My old Pathfinder game was made extra hilarious when three of us and the GM were keeping up with the show during the campaign! Continue Reading
[Edit: If you’ve found this article by searching for how to get the Cat Ear Headphones, they have been confirmed as random drops from the new Elite Dungeon, the Manufactory. Check out one of my TSW Help links for more info!]
Bonus ferret!
While I was playing with a ferret at work today, other lucky Secret Worlders were tuning in to the 5th episode of The Streaming Ones devstream. I was sorry to miss it, as they were sharing some much appreciated news on Issue 12. Even though the TSW website has an announcement explaining which features will be released, the livestreams always show more details. I’ll be talking about it now that I’ve had a chance to watch, but definitely check it out in full at http://www.twitch.tv/funcomofficial/v/10912032! There’s a lot of information to digest, and I’m sure to miss something.
Tilty, the Lead Designer, and Andrew, the Lead Systems Designer, began the stream by showing us part of the new dungeon. Looks like there will be some new and interesting mechanics involving AEGIS shielding and a new type of giant AEGIS turret. Their play by play pointed out tasks that different members of the group will have to accomplish – it’s definitely a section better viewed than me trying to explain. 😛
LFGryph 