Dark Days Are Coming - New Funcom Project

[tmp]

Hmm i guess i'm just not seeing it. This is the guy on the left in native resolution:


the only sharp angles i can see on that mesh is near the bottom of his sweater and if that's enough to call the entire thing "not remotely looking good" when the textures and mesh overall seem more than decent and human looking... i dunno, that borders on "knees too sharp" to me, sorry.

[Draegan]

I duno, something about it.  Probably an uncanny valley thing.

[WayAbvPar]

I duno, something about it.  Probably an uncanny valley thing.

Definitely. The creepiness actually adds to the overall vibe of the game, which helps!

[Falconeer]

Uncanny Valley much?

[trias_e]

I find the guy on the left to look pretty damn good actually.  I really like that design.  The guy on the right (I assume the player character?) looks kind of bad to me though.  Kind of like a soulless ken doll.  Might be ok in motion/not from that angle though.

I thought the game definitely had issues with animation/character design when I played, but it's the kind of thing that I easily get used to and ignore after playing for a few hours.

[palmer_eldritch]

Wait, I have the perfect head for Draegan!


Just needs a nice bowler hat to finish it off.

[Amaron]

That one guy looks like some sort of weight lifting college professor.

[Draegan]

Wait, I have the perfect head for Draegan!


Just needs a nice bowler hat to finish it off.

haha nice!

[HaemishM]

The elbows and joints of the models are where they really fall down. It makes the animations looks jerky and old school. It's caught between 2008 models with 2012 textures.

[Minvaren]

Only thing that bugged me about the models was the ability to see inside their heads when they opened their mouths.

Though it made me feel old when I flashed back to Peter Gabriel's "Steam" video as one of the first places I saw it...

[Draegan]

Last two posts are things i thought as well.

[tmp]

The guy on the right (I assume the player character?) looks kind of bad to me though.  Kind of like a soulless ken doll.  Might be ok in motion/not from that angle though.

The guy on the right was supposed to be some stereotypical american boy for the illuminati, so the 'souless ken doll' look was actually kind of intended for him  But to be honest i didn't experiment much with the male character options, so don't know how much (if any) better they can be, quality-wise. The male NPCs can look pretty decent, though.

[Falconeer]

So apparently they turned a switch on overnight and "activated" the main storyline quest which has been off the whole time in closed beta too to prevent spoilers, so no one has any idea what it's like. Ragnar Tornqvist went as far as announcing it tonight on the closed forum and while presenting it as an awesome surprise (I might agree) he specifically asked everybody not to spoiler it. Cute.

Launch is in two days. No servers announced yet. But no NA/EU separation.

[Falconeer]

So, first partial serverlist:

Hi all,

A lot of you are planning ahead to Friday's early access launch, and have asked for dimension (server) names in order to decide where to play together.

To make that job a bit easier, I've put together an exclusive list of the first batch of dimension names we've got lined up for launch. There will be more, of course, but I'm sure you guys can find a permanent home on one of these dimensions -- as long as you show up early for early access!

Dimensions are global and you can play anywhere you want without any regional restrictions. We've marked some dimensions as French- and German-speaking, and though you can still play the English language version of the game on those dimensions, people will probably be chatting and communicating in French or German.

Here is the list of the first five English dimensions, along with the first four French-and-German dimensions:

* Cerberus
* Daemon
* Faerie (RP dimension)
* Grim
* Huldra
* Drac (French dimension)
* Mandrake (French dimension)
* Kobold (German dimension)
* Poltergeist (German dimension)

Again, this is by no means a complete list, and we'll be announcing more dimensions as soon as these fill up.

Now all that remains is for me to figure out where to create my primary character. I think I know which one to go with and, bonus!, I get to start playing before any of you guys. Head start! I'm going to need it.
__________________
Ragnar Tørnquist
Senior Producer & Creative Director

Any of the two or three others from f13 who pre-ordered it would like to at least pick the same dimension? It's true that the server-less architecture makes it almost unnecessary, but for open PvP purposes might still be a factor (whether as an enemy or an ally).
What about Grim?

[tmp]

So apparently they turned a switch on overnight and "activated" the main storyline quest which has been off the whole time in closed beta too to prevent spoilers, so no one has any idea what it's like.

 

[Falconeer]

What's wrong with that? Isn't wiping beta character absolutely the norm? Also, they offer automatic leveling up to make up for that, and that's not the norm.
What am I missing?

EDIT: I just made a new char to see these new storyline bits. I will just say this: I think, after all, The Secret World is pretty much a single player adventure in a shared world. That's great news for so many reasons (mean: I REALLY liked the story addition. Great stuff. Hints to a really cool, epic adventure), but I have to say the same thing I said for SWTOR: How does this justify a monthly fee? Also, how will they keep up when we are done with the story? We know how it went for Bioware...

[tmp]

What's wrong with that? Isn't wiping beta character absolutely the norm? Also, they offer automatic leveling up to make up for that, and that's not the norm.
What am I missing?

Not wrong, just struck me funny. "New quests are in, yay! Btw, we deleted all your characters, sorry didn't mention it in advance." Character wipes generally do merit mention -- not doing so sucks a bit if someone wanted maybe take some extra screenshots of their character before they're erased, or check the late parts of 20 quests long chain before they're sent back to square one, something the automatic level up don't cover.

Re: new storyline bits, when does it start? I redid the Illuminati intro but aside for small extra sequence in first cutscene it's all the same all way to early Kingsmouth. (the only change seems to be lack of clothing peddlers in a back street, which isn't what i'd consider change for the better; but that's another story)

[Falconeer]

The small extra sequence is what I mean. Apparently there's much more all across the game, but that little bit is really cool in my opinion as it hints to an aspect of the story that was totally missing so far, and that at this point I wasn't expecting at all, being already more than happy with everything else.

Anyway, I was bored so I put up a short video with the first few cutscenes from the Dragon introduction, for those who are not in the beta. Skip to 1:40 if you can't read the text in the first part.

And here's a clip that I think it's pretty funny from the Illuminati one.

These video are not really spoilers, it's just things you'll see in the first 5 minutes of playing, but it's up to you.

[palmer_eldritch]

Any of the two or three others from f13 who pre-ordered it would like to at least pick the same dimension? It's true that the server-less architecture makes it almost unnecessary, but for open PvP purposes might still be a factor (whether as an enemy or an ally).
What about Grim?

Love to but I'm teaming up with a roleplaying buddy who wants to go to the roleplaying server. Anyone who enjoys the roleplaying thing is very welcome to join us on Faerie.

[Falconeer]

Apparently, and this is awesome, you can join a guild regardless of the server you picked. Basically there really is just one server (which is awesome cause there will never be empty servers and virtually never a need for mergers), except for the Open PvP area of Fusang.

I might create the char on the Faerie server, but what faction are you going with anyway?

[palmer_eldritch]

Apparently, and this is awesome, you can join a guild regardless of the server you picked. Basically there really is just one server (which is awesome cause there will never be empty servers and virtually never a need for mergers), except for the Open PvP area of Fusang.

I might create the char on the Faerie server, but what faction are you going with anyway?

We are going Illuminati. My character nickname will be Palmer (but the character's not called Palmer Eldritch). I'm trying to decide what weapons to use - I'm thinking of a hammer/shotgun build but I may try something which uses chaos magic.

[Falconeer]

Hammer shotgunn will probably be my first deck, as I like the style of both weapons and as a Templar I get a nice reward outfit, The Purist Puritan. Is there an Illuminati Funcom Deck for Hammer/Shotgun?

[Miasma]

"Bodyguard"  Suit with a bulletproof vest.

http://www.darkdemonscrygaia.com/showthread.php?t=33770

[palmer_eldritch]

"Bodyguard"  Suit with a bulletproof vest.

http://www.darkdemonscrygaia.com/showthread.php?t=33770

Mm, I'm not impressed by that. The Templar one looks nice though. I like the gunslinger costume.

[Riggswolfe]

Any of the two or three others from f13 who pre-ordered it would like to at least pick the same dimension? It's true that the server-less architecture makes it almost unnecessary, but for open PvP purposes might still be a factor (whether as an enemy or an ally).
What about Grim?

Love to but I'm teaming up with a roleplaying buddy who wants to go to the roleplaying server. Anyone who enjoys the roleplaying thing is very welcome to join us on Faerie.

I'm also going to be playing on Faerie.

[Tyrnan]

Not any more you're not  

Hi guys! We'll change the name. It was never intended to upset or offend anyone -- Faerie is, after all, a familiar and beloved word in mythology and modern fantasy -- but we also want everyone to feel comfortable playing on the RP dimension without feeding the trolls and the homophobes and the bigots.

So feel free to keep the suggestions coming, and we'll pick an alternate name tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

And some clarification a few posts later

You have to pick your battles -- and some people might mistakenly believe the team is intentionally picking on and making fun of RP'ers...which is false, since, y'know, INCREDIBLY IDIOTIC. But hey, it's the name of a single dimension, it's not important to the lore or the story or the game in any way, shape or form, so it's better to find a name everyone is comfortable with, and move on.

We would never compromise on our creative choices in the game, and we never have. Some of the stuff we get away with... Trust me when I tell you I've fought a thousand battles, and we've won most of them.

This one just isn't worth fighting, to be honest. Let's just pick a better name and get rolling with launch and actually PLAYING AND ENJOYING THE GAME!

[Falconeer]

Damn, that's sad stuff.
Especially considering Ragnar chose the name of that server himself, and announced before this mess even started that he was going to play on it.

Fuckin gamers.

[Tyrnan]

Agreed 

Although there's now a second petition thread to leave the fucking thing as it is. Maybe sanity will win out in the end.

[patience]

Not any more you're not  

We have along way to go before some people become mature. Should've told them to deal with it.

[Furiously]

They should just call it "olde English bundle of sticks".

[Ghambit]

Apparently, and this is awesome, you can join a guild regardless of the server you picked. Basically there really is just one server (which is awesome cause there will never be empty servers and virtually never a need for mergers), except for the Open PvP area of Fusang.

I might create the char on the Faerie server, but what faction are you going with anyway?

Hmmm... the merged servers may swing me to purchasing this game if at least for a month.  I was on the fence before and D3 is starting to stink of rot.
As for the Faerie server.  They should've named it Fhaerie or F'aerie.  That'd keep it RP. 

And Falconeer, am I gonna be following your excited posts into another shitpile of a game?    

[Falconeer]

Gee.. uhm, well. No! Don't buy it.

[Falconeer]

Explanation of the single server technology. Official Dev blog from Lead Designer Martin Bruusgaard.

BLOG: SINGLE SERVER TECHNOLOGY IN THE SECRET WORLD

Hi guys!
 
It's time for another blog post, where I'd like to focus on some of the awesome things you might not know about The Secret World. This post is the first one in a series of three, and today I'll talk about what it actually means for you, as a player, that The Secret World is based on a single server technology. The next posts will be about GUI modding (yeah, that's right!) and the last one about the mind blowing rendering features we've put into the game.
 
So what does it mean that The Secret World is based on a single server. It boils down to that there are no boundaries between you and anyone else playing the game. You can play with anyone you want! Before we go deeper into details, I'd like to clarify a couple of definitions to make explaining this a bit easier.
 
The Secret World exists on one server, and on that server there are multiple dimensions.
 
One server, many dimensions. That’s important to remember.
 
FRIENDS AND GROUP PLAY

 
OK, so how often has this happened to you? You meet someone and you start talking about games. You say that you play MMO X, and they light up and say that so do they. The first question to always follow is what server they play on, and quite often you play on different servers. The thought of ever playing together is unfortunately discarded, because you can't be bothered to roll another alt. Well, in The Secret World you don't need to worry about that at all. You can play with anyone, with just the click of a button! You can finally play with your friends overseas, and all your cabal members can finally play on the same server!
 

 
When you start the game, you will create a character on a dimension, and that dimension will be referred to as your home dimension. Even though your home dimension might be, say, the Kobold dimension, it does not prevent from playing on other dimensions like Faerie or Huldra.
 
Next to each of your friend's names in your friends list, there will be a button that says "Meet Up". Click it, and you will be teleported to your friend’s location, in his dimension. You will get the same prompt if you get invited to a team. As long as you guys stay teamed, you will stay in his dimension and will always end up in the same zone. You can also freely trade with each other. After you disband the team, the next time you teleport (for instance going back to the hub) you will automatically be placed in your home dimension's hub.
 
CABALS

 
You can finally play with your buddies in the US, or your family in Europe, without worrying about creating a new account bound to that region. Certain dimensions will have language flags, but you can still move to and from them freely. The text and cinematic will still be in your home dimension’s language, so your gameplay experience will stay the same. You can play with anyone, no matter where they are! It also means that the cabals (our take on guilds) that exist on multiple continents can finally create characters on the same dimension and play together.
 
But wait, there's more! Let's say you create a cabal with your friends in the Kobold dimension but you would like to invite your friend that made a character on the Huldra dimension, you can invite him and he will be a fully fledged member of your cabal. He will be in the same cabal chat, and have access to the same cabal bank. You can team with him, do dungeons with him and trade with him.
 
PLAYER VS. PLAYER

 
In addition to the free for all fight-club, The Secret World offers two main forms of PvP; Battlefields and Warzones.
 
Battlefields
 
Battlefields are fast paced and quick action, where you battle against the two other secret societies to control legendary locations all around the world. Controlling these locations will provide you whole secret society a very nice buff. Being on a single server means you, with your home dimension which may be Kobold, can team up with your buddy in the Huldra dimension and sign up for a match, and fight side by side. It also means that all matchmaking will be between all dimensions, so queues will be very short.
 
Warzones
 
Warzones are the huge areas where the secret societies fight over to control over different facilities. These are persistent zones, and are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, this is where we set our first limitation: you can only fight for your home dimension’s warzones. There are a few reasons why we're doing it like this, and I'll talk about a couple of them. First of all, in order to ensure that players have a good time and aren't locked down by lag, we have a player cap in these zones. The cap is currently set to 225, reserving 75 slots for each secret society. If we only had one warzone for all the dimensions, very few would be able to enjoy this form of PvP. Keep in mind that this is not an instanced mini-game, but a persistent area. There is only one of these per dimension.
 
Secondly, we want to create a really good PvP community in each dimension, and we believe the meta-game around PvP is more interesting if you get to know the other players around you. We're hoping that you will learn who you can trust, which cabals that always backstabs, who you can ask for help, which cabals are known for being fantastic in PvP, etc. Think back to the earlier MMOs, where there were maybe only one or two servers. You knew the people around you and it made for a great community! Does that make me sound old...? :)
 

 
ECONOMY

 
When players travel from dimension to dimension, they are free to trade whatever they want. Maybe your buddy is low on a material needed to craft that legendary item? Either send it to him through the mail system or just go to him and give it to him. It also means that when you put an item up for sale in the marketplace, every single person, across all dimensions, in The Secret World will be able to see it. More buyers and more sellers create a nice and healthy economy. The economy is more robust against inflation, as a large amount of players will prevent the massive swings, one way or the other, in item prices. It's also a lot easier for us to track gold-farmers... ;-)
 
DIMENSION SETUP

 
Our dimensions are huge, so you will have less dimensions to choose from than what you might be used to in other games. We want as many people as possible to be able to play with each other. Since EU and US have their player peaks (when the most players are online) at different times, we can allow more people on to a dimension since the load on the dimension will be evened out.
 

 
Another awesome feature is that before you choose your dimension, you can connect with your Facebook account and it allows you see what friends you have on the different dimensions. You can then choose the dimension you have the most friends on… or avoid playing on the same dimension as your mother... ;-)
 
Also, since The Secret World is on a single server, every nickname is unique. If you at launch create "Sephiroth1337" then you will be the only "Sephiroth1337" in the The Secret World universe! This also means that your cabal name is unique and that you can create "The Mercenaries" which stretches across every single dimension… and you sell your l33t skills in PvP for a hefty price!
 
FINAL NOTE

 
We are very excited about being able to present a system like this to you guys. However I do expect that for some this may all sound a little bit confusing. You might be concerned about how to keep track of where you are, multiple dimensions, going to your home dimension after teleporting etc. Let me just make it very clear that you will not experience any of these transfers unless you actively do it yourself. If you just want to play the game with the players around you, you can and you will. This only happens if the player reaches out and decides to travel to other dimensions, and when that happens, it's implemented in what we think is a very seamless way.
 
See you soon in The Secret World… no matter what dimension you choose to start on!
 
Martin Bruusgaard
Lead Designer

Excited post #2879535. One planet, one server, one auction house, one PvP queue, no timezones, no need for server mergers ever. I think this thing is really neat. Apparently they did it before in Champions Online and Star Trek Online. Well, yay.

[Lantyssa]

Bring back Faerie!

My will is wavering, and I rather like that name, since I like faeries.  Just make a second RP server if it bothers some idiots.

[Reborne]

Ok, a few questions.

Will there be an F13 cabal, or at least are a few of you planning on joining the same cabal?

Has anyone got confirmation on if cabals will be faction restricted?
I've heard that they will be and that they won't be, but haven't seen anything from the devs.

If they are faction restricted, which faction will the possible cabal be a part of?