Solution for Secret World Situation Room ARG

Given the amount of hits I'm still getting for my comments on the Secret World End of Days Situation Room ARG, I figured I'd throw up solutions for those who might be looking for them.

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.

The Secret World Has Petered Out

Guild Wars 2 launched at the ideal time.  The most recent MMO release was The Secret World, and Pandaria was a bit off.  The population of Secret World has steadily declined, and developers have commented that they are prepared for a Free-to-Play transition:

"...we definitely have the tools to turn The Secret World into a free-to-play game -- or even hybrid -- should we decide to do that somewhere down the line."

I love the depth in the Secret World, but I've been playing Guild Wars. What elements other than Guild Wars contributed to TSW's decline, and how can they right the ship?

MMO 2.0: Part 2

After my analysis of what defines a generation of MMO, the question still remains: are we on the cusp of a new generation? Have the first titles of a new generation been released, or have they yet to be conceptualized?

MMO 2.0

In passing conversation, a friend recently remarked that he felt we were on the cusp of a new generation of MMO, referring to this as the beginning of MMO 2.0, beginning with Secret World and following through with Guild Wars 2. I was a bit surprised, and then I thought about it -- was he right? To define this further, we need to look at the history of the MMO.

Secret World Skill Preview: Rockets

Funcom mentioned it was planning new "Auxiliary Weapons" for an upcoming content patch.  After a little delving, and a tip from a friend, I've come across the first of these weapons: Rockets.  Thanks to data that they left easily accessible by the client, I've gotten access to a preview.

SWA: Walk Like an Egyptian

After hitting a brick wall in Blue Mountain, my transition to Egypt was an easy one.  My build hardly changed, and I was left wondering how to spend my points.

SWA: ...Baby, I Got It

There comes a point where advancing a tree is so cost-prohibitive that small dips into another tree might provide a DPS benefit.  I already spoke briefly about this in my previous Secret World Academy article.  When grabbing the next beneficial ability takes your build more than 19AP, you might not immediately think to splash into another tree.  Today, I’m going to provide the second part in a 3-part series, where I discuss passives that might give you that extra edge to tackle Blue Ridge.

SWA: What You Want...

There comes a point where advancing a tree is so cost-prohibitive that small dips into another tree might provide a DPS benefit.  I already spoke briefly about this in my previous Secret World Academy article.  When grabbing the next beneficial ability takes your build more than 19AP, you might not immediately think to splash into another tree.  Today, I’m going to provide the first part in a 3-part series, where I discuss passives that might give you that extra edge to tackle Blue Ridge.

SWA: Blue Ridge Blues

Secret World Academy is a series of guides for beginning to intermediate players of The Secret World, focused on helping newer players become effective.

The first two zones in the Secret World play much like a traditional MMO, with additional depth.  You even coast through a dungeon with an Elder God that is supposed to be eating d3 investigators each round.  The third, though, is the Blue Ridge Mountains, and it feels like a brick to the face after coasting through completing quests with little struggle.  Suddenly, every mob fight is incredibly fatal, and the quests show little mercy -- if you think you'll have a chance to recover, think again.  So how are you supposed to make it through the Solomon Islands without losing your will to live playing an MMO version of Demon's Souls?

SWA: Seki's Weapon Synergy Quicklook

Just like the tanking guide, this thread has been "Archived" on the official Secret World Forums.  Whether or not archives will expire is anyone's guess, but while it's still up can be found here.  In the meantime, I've gone ahead and saved this here so that it doesn't particularly disappear.

SWA: MrBunnyMan's Tanking Guide

The Secret World Forums have been updated, and this very useful post has been "Archived."  How long it's going to be archived for on the forums is anyone's business, so I've kept a copy here.  The original thread can be found here, while it lasts.  Note that I've kept his original formatting, but if I get his permission, I might clean it up and throw in pictures.  Maybe.

Secret World Academy

On the heels of my review of Secret World, I'm offering a few tidbits of insight at a time to players that may have missed something.  I've spent a bit of time (power permitting) in this game since launch, and here are a few tips I hope all players would eventually figure out.

Review: The Secret World

 The Secret World is a game that's hard to define in a handful of words.  The closest I can come up with is "modern urban fantasy horror MMO", and say it's something refreshing to play after years of grinding in fantasy MMOs.

The Secret World: Quickstarter

I'll be publishing my review of The Secret World on Monday.  In the meantime, here are a few things that those of you who preordered should probably know to get you on your feet more quickly.  This pre-empted what I had posted for today, given the fact that these tips will be more useful now, and would not particularly be useful after a day or two.  Here you go.