Secret World End of Days Situation Room ARG

Funcom is at it again, running a Secret World ARG that follows the standard Secret World mission structure. For existing players, it's easy to dive right in, but this ARG is open to all players -- and given Secret World's new No Subscription Fee model, new players are very well welcome to fight against the coming end of the world.


      Tying into the Mayan Apocalypse frenzy, players fight the end of the world by completing investigation missions. Mission 1 and 2 are basic introductions to the concept -- in the first, you're provided with enough documentation that you're expected to be able to figure out how to "hack" a corporate web site; in the second, you have the option to do some sleuthing in order to identify common conspiracies.  Funcom has put a surprising amount of thought into the puzzles -- as one poster on their forums pointed out, the coder responsible inserted clues into the source code, as well as a comment acknowledging that players were meant to be able to cheat by hacking the actual web site.  The rewards are nice, as well -- a cultist robe tying in with the Mayan Apocalypse, a few titles, and XP potions.  More are expected to be released as time passes, indicating that people that complete the chain have something to look forward to.
      This appears to be the event that also marks the full transition to a subscription-free model.  I do want to take the time to mention Funcom's adjustment.  Where Bioware has crippled The Old Republic by allowing players only a tease at the full gameplay, Funcom appears to be taking the opposite position.  Funcom, an early proponent of a successful FTP model with Age of Conan, has decided to give players the full experience of the game without a subscription fee, and instead focus on an item store.  The item store grants both in-game experience boosts and custom appearances, but does not give gear.  This means that TSW will be a wonderful game for casual players to pick up and pick away at the often-complicated puzzles, with an introduction that works similar to a "demo" via the ARG.
      The ARG is available now 'til the end of the week, and Episode 4 of the ARG is released today, 12/19.

Given the amount of people still searching for the ARG, I put up a post here with links to solutions.