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More thoughts on "The Secret World"
I shall first digress into some of the setting of the game. While it is set in a modern-day environment (cars, guns, computers, etc.), your character can perform acts of magic. Or blow things all to hell with shotguns. Your choice. What makes you different from the vast majority of people is that your anima has been unlocked (via a glowing bee... no, not a firefly, a glowing bee crawling in your mouth while you slept).
Because of this, you can do things no one else can do, and see things no one else can see. (What? You thought I wasn't going to do a "Big Trouble in Little China" reference? Shame on you.) While any asshole NPC in the game can and will use, say... guns, you can get nifty abilities when using those same guns. Like being able to heal over time from every attack you make, or causing dead creatures to explode just because you were wielding a shotgun. Or, if you want to be crass, hurling motherfucking lightning bolts.
Your anima being unlocked is also the justification for how come you can come back from the dead, if and when 20 zombies jump you all at once and rip you a new one. One NPC actually notes that despite this, he could permanently kill you, he just doesn't have the time and inclination to grind you into dust that apparently being what it would take. (There are also apparently some missions that you can only start or do when you're dead.)
Far and away, you get more experience from missions then from killing things. Yes, there are some kill quests, but there's just as many "explore and figure shit out" quests. So while you could grind lowbie monsters (in the starter zone, that would be zombies), you're going to get ability and skill points much faster by doing missions.
Some missions are "do once and done" and some are repeatable. And the mission text will tell you whether it's a normal, hard, or very hard mission. Now... that difficulty is based on "well, you're supposed to do this missions at roughly this time", so if you've fucked around on other stuff, it might be classed as a very hard mission, but you walk through it like your enemies are made out of paper bags.
So... the question is... what's going on? Well, it's a modern-day MMO... and yet, there are zombies of various types, ghosts, and all sorts of weird shit. The premise of the game is that all myths and legends are true. For a given value of true. The various pantheons of gods? They existed. Or may still exist. They're probably not all sweetness and light. Even the gods that were supposedly charitably inclined to humanity. Magic? It's real. Every single bit of folklore and legend has some truth in it. And you're dropped in the middle and told to start dealing with it. Because things are crawling out of the dark places of the world... and they're about to start fucking things up for humanity. You actually have to think your way through things for some missions. You just can't run in and cut things to pieces. Well, okay, sometimes you can.
It should be noted that the game has a built in web-browser. (I personally find it easier to alt-tab back to Firefox, ehhh...) The intent is that you're going to need to look shit up. Or maybe just look at porn while you're waiting for your group to get ready.
Because of this, you can do things no one else can do, and see things no one else can see. (What? You thought I wasn't going to do a "Big Trouble in Little China" reference? Shame on you.) While any asshole NPC in the game can and will use, say... guns, you can get nifty abilities when using those same guns. Like being able to heal over time from every attack you make, or causing dead creatures to explode just because you were wielding a shotgun. Or, if you want to be crass, hurling motherfucking lightning bolts.
Your anima being unlocked is also the justification for how come you can come back from the dead, if and when 20 zombies jump you all at once and rip you a new one. One NPC actually notes that despite this, he could permanently kill you, he just doesn't have the time and inclination to grind you into dust that apparently being what it would take. (There are also apparently some missions that you can only start or do when you're dead.)
Far and away, you get more experience from missions then from killing things. Yes, there are some kill quests, but there's just as many "explore and figure shit out" quests. So while you could grind lowbie monsters (in the starter zone, that would be zombies), you're going to get ability and skill points much faster by doing missions.
Some missions are "do once and done" and some are repeatable. And the mission text will tell you whether it's a normal, hard, or very hard mission. Now... that difficulty is based on "well, you're supposed to do this missions at roughly this time", so if you've fucked around on other stuff, it might be classed as a very hard mission, but you walk through it like your enemies are made out of paper bags.
So... the question is... what's going on? Well, it's a modern-day MMO... and yet, there are zombies of various types, ghosts, and all sorts of weird shit. The premise of the game is that all myths and legends are true. For a given value of true. The various pantheons of gods? They existed. Or may still exist. They're probably not all sweetness and light. Even the gods that were supposedly charitably inclined to humanity. Magic? It's real. Every single bit of folklore and legend has some truth in it. And you're dropped in the middle and told to start dealing with it. Because things are crawling out of the dark places of the world... and they're about to start fucking things up for humanity. You actually have to think your way through things for some missions. You just can't run in and cut things to pieces. Well, okay, sometimes you can.
It should be noted that the game has a built in web-browser. (I personally find it easier to alt-tab back to Firefox, ehhh...) The intent is that you're going to need to look shit up. Or maybe just look at porn while you're waiting for your group to get ready.
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