Stunrunner

In sickness and in health, we'll be there for each other.

Having said that, no conjugal visits for you.

Posi, thank you for making the best game you could, for never stopping working on making the game better, and for finding the best possible people to work with you. The greatness of this game drew the best players to it, creating the best MMO community around. This game is truly greater than the sum of its parts, and when you have parts like these, you become greater than the gods...you become Incarnate. Thank you for giving us tools to reach such heights.

I wish I was better at saying these things. You all (devs, players, everyone who matters) deserve the best possible praise.

*raises glass* Endeavors.

Never fails. Mention hats, and Z shows up.

NOW you get 2K posts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avr7enrZuJQ

To give some more info about The Secret World (which I'm apparently going to have much more time to play after Nov 30)...

The character creator is somewhat limited. A few more options than WoW, nowhere near as many as CoH. No body sliders, so all toons have the same build. (We hear that may change in the future, but nothing definite yet.) Once you're in the game, there is a wide variety of clothing available, some for in-game money, some as achievement awards, and some for real dough in the game shop. You can eventually make a unique look for yourself through these methods.

The need for alts is limited. You can eventually get all skills/abilities on one toon, so the need for alts is minimal. If you want to see the story from a Templar's perspective instead of an Illuminati's, that may be a reason for an alt, but there are only a handful of society-only missions, most of the game will be the same regardless of faction.

There are no 'quest hubs.' In fact, you're limited in the number of active quests you can have at once. One 'main' quest (story, investigation, or sabotage), one 'zone' quest (like an arc), and three 'side' quests (usually given by found objects and such). So, you won't be grabbing five or six quests from conveniently-placed NPCs and turning them all in at once. This is designed to make you explore, find those out-of-the-way mission-granting objects (and lore pieces too), and take the time to enjoy the story created by the missions instead of rushing for XP.

'Main' and 'arc' quests (my terms, by the way) have voice-acted intro cut scenes , but your toon has no voice and never says anything. The designers manage to make this work with the scripts so it doesn't seem weird. I'd say it's for the best, so you can imagine whatever voice you like for yourself, while the acting for the NPCs makes them feel more alive.

Riley is correct, it's easy to get 30 missions done in 3 days (heck, even one). After 24 hrs, most missions are repeatable. I believe investigation missions are the only ones you can't repeat.

Some people have said the combat animations seem 'clunky.' This seems to stem from the fact that animations don't root you in TSW. While this is great for fast-paced combat, visually, it means your upper body is moving in combat animations while your lower body is running/jumping, and it winds up looking a bit odd, since most players are used to seeing bodies move a bit more realistically. If you can accept that, you'll be fine. It really does add a nice dimension to the combat, as moving is as much of your mitigation as any skill you've unlocked.

PvP is completely optional, but it does have its benefits. Aside from specific gear, success in the arena/battlefield creates buffs for your faction. When you log in, you'll see a buff icon above your ability bar, and mousing over it will tell you which battlefield zones your faction is currently controlling, and what buffs they give. So even if you never set foot in a PvP area, you'll get something from your factionmates PvPing.

Lastly for now, the thing I hate the most about TSW. By design, the items from the in-game shops and the cash shop are per-toon only. So, if you buy a really cool trench coat on, say, your Templar toon, you will not be able to use the same coat on your Dragon toon, unless you buy it again. Doesn't matter if it's in-game Pax or real money, items are per toon.

Well, after all that, what do I like about the game? A lot, actually. The writing is some of the best around. The NPCs are fully realized, and very memorable. Also, if you're a Star Trek fan, you may recognize a few voice actors. The investigation missions are some of the best puzzles I've had the pleasure of struggling through. There's a reason the game has a built-in web browser. The leveling experience is great; as you progress, you gain skill points faster, not slower. The diversity of the skill wheel, and the fact that you can eventually unlock all skills, means that you can fill any role necessary, and change on the fly. Need to tank? Switch out your claws and blood book for a hammer and a chaos totem. A monster resistant to your penetration attacks? Switch out to your affliction build and DoT it to death.

I guess I've scared people enough. If you're still interested, I can try to answer questions.

*raises cup*

Slainte.

Farewell and Godspeed to you, Zwill.

And to the rest of Paragon Studios.

One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard.

This was pretty much the only reason I did the recent Shark Week event. After all the hullabaloo in Talos Island, the afterparty in Pocket D would feature a redname passing out random Kirby Dot codes. I got lucky on Infinity about midweek and skipped the rest of the week. The Summer Movie Event was WAAAY more fun.

So, Pig Pen as a bad guy?

Bodysuit! That's the term I'd heard. Ah, well, not a part of I24 eh? Maybe for sale sooner?

Sorry Prem.

There was also a bit in the trailers, that didn't make it to the movie, where Alfred says "You are as precious to me as you were to your own mother and father. I swore to them that I would protect you...and I haven't."

So his apology seems to me to be towards Bruce's parents.

I know Snipehunt! He's a Heretic!

(No, really, we're in a chat channel called Heretics. Fun guy. I'll have to talk to him next time I see him about your team.)

New teaser poster:

The same thing's been happening with the Retro pack jetpacks.

On a bit of a side note, how is the game looking now that you solved the problem? I've been looking to upgrade to that card.

What can I say? These days everything has to be bigger and better than the original. Just be glad this isn't the 90s, or Mad Max would have a backwards cap, razors everywhere, and some sort of flying skateboard.

Check feistees.com to see when cool stuff like that is on sale. Ript.com had that shirt for $10 on June 6th. Ninjaink stuff is almost always an instabuy for me.

Teaser poster



And shot of Idris Elba in costume

I've always loved the radio bank mishes (not the safeguards) that send me to a sewer grate. What, is this where the hobos keep their grubby ones?

Any more news on this? Hoped it might be part of today's patch, but a scrapper on Virtue was reporting his Sweep combo is still not working right.