The Secret World Unveils The Content For It's First Update

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | July 13, 2012 6:08 pm

52 Comments

Earlier in the week Ragnar Tornquist made a lengthy post talking about future content for The Secret World. One of the more impressive things that he brought up was the fact that the TSW team intends to do rather sizeable montly updates.

And while he listed off some of the things that would be coming, he promised more details in the future.

Welcome to the future.

This morning — while Ragnar and Joel were busy with that Twitch.TV stream business — Funcom released the details on the first update. As with all things The Secret World, the team apparently can’t just throw a list up and let us look over it.

Nope! Apparently they intend to be pretty elaborate with their updates which they have chosen to call “issues”.

It makes sense. These issues are to appear monthly, so why not? Also… Did I mention the issue cover art?

Issue #1: Unleased is jam packed with new things for players. There are seven new missions including the following:

Carter Unleashed
Crime and Punishment
Hell & Bach
Funeral Crasher
The 3rd Age
Red Handed

Add to this an un-named mission that players will have to stay on the lookout for if they want to do it. Just a warning… Someone may not be who she appears to be.

Funcom will also be adding two Nightmare mode dungeons: The Ankh and Hell Fallen. These will feature increased challenges and rewards as well as a chance to test out new builds.

Unleashed will also feature a shiny, new, cross-dimensional Marketplace that will allow players to sell, trade and ship items to other players no matter their location. Funcom intends for the marketplace to be integral to TSW’s economy, as well as give players more options about how to acquire and spend PAX.

While these are the major highlights of Issue #1, the team does want you to know there is quite a bit more on the way this month in the form of additions to the society hubs.

All-in-all this is a pretty impressive first round of content, and Funcom says the team is hard at work on Issue #2 already. Here’s hoping we see a steady stream for a good while to come.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Secret World Unveils The Content For It's First Update

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German Lopez

The possessive form of “it” is “its.” “It’s” means “it is.”
Brosaxon

My first reaction to seeing the cover was: “Wait, Hell & Bach? Is that a typo or is Johan Sebastian Bach involved in this?”

Then I remembered how quests in TSW tend to go and I realized it’s highly probable that it will indeed involve something about him or his music.
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  Hahaha.. Yeah it took me a minute to realize “Hell and Bach” should probably be read as “Hell and Back”
- AnonymousComments
  
  There’s a NPC at the Overlook Motel named Daniel Bach. He’s a war correspondent/photographer. I assume the new mission will involve him.
  - Old Ben
    
    Didn’t he already give players a mission to go into the Hell instance (in the last beta, at least – I don’t know if it’s in the game)? What was it called?
    - AnonymousComments
      
      Yes, Daniel Bach gives out another mission and the Hell Raised (aka Inferno) instance in the game already.
1970Hendrix1970

This Game is awsome deserves it’s own show….makes me kind of regret prepurchasing guildwars 2 when I will be spending all my time on this anyway for the forseeable future.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/3JO75BNS43WDETCNCO7F7XS6Q4 jo
  
  meaning for the next 4 weeks.
- Odeezee
  
  if you pre-purchased from buy.guildwars2.com then you can get a refund before the game launches if you did not enjoy it. otherwise it looks like you are just using your dislike for a more popular game, GW2, as a way to prop up TSW which is kinda sad as all it brings is needless confrontation and would do TSW a disservice.
  
  OT: if you guys decide to do a show please make it entertaining. i found the game enjoyable (engrossing investigation quests, crafting and atmosphere) far less than i found it annoying (trinity based combat, their implementation of PvP, XP grinding for skills that has nothing to do with actual skillful play, combat mechanics, animations, no fast travel/mounts, fed-ex quests, character creation, character models, “dead” feeling to the world, solo instances even when in a party, etc). so this game was definitely not made with me in mind. i was in the beta for ~3 months so i like to check-in to see if any of the feedback we gave actually made it into the game.
  
  the biggest and most glaring issues with the game that i can see, if you want to garner interest in it, will be your B-Roll selection. try to show as little combat or movement or animations as possible. instead try to build up the atmosphere/ambiance of the game more and the mystery/intrigue factor and try not to highlight that many of your story elements will be done in solo instances as you cannot share quests experiences ala SWTOR/GW2.
http://profile.yahoo.com/YSVAPKVBUPTX6YS3W2DLPOBNN4 AlokP

The Ankh is also a sacred feminine symbol, might be a Holy Grail conspiracy quest. Also, all of Kingsmouth and much of Savage Coast is a Stephen King reference, if you’re familiar with his work. Hell, there’s a place called Black House (a book SK wrote with Peter Straub) whose former inhabitant was a woman named Carrie (obviously SK’s first book).
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  Actually. It’s part Stephen King part HP Lovecraft. But yeah… I was more or less pointing out that they were being pretty obvious doing it there again.
  - Old Ben
    
    > It’s part Stephen King part HP Lovecraft
    
    …and a lot of Sam Raimi. H. P. Lovecraft never wrote wrote about zombie invasions, AFAIK, and although King has a book that is sort of about zombies (“Cell”), most of his stories focus on a single bad guy, or at least a small group of bad guys.
    
    The game does have some very obvious references to both authors (in terms of names and places), but the story isn’t really in either one’s style.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/YSVAPKVBUPTX6YS3W2DLPOBNN4 AlokP
      
      I dunno, King wrote a short story (more of a novella) called “The Mist” which was very much like the overarching storyline of the Fog in Kingsmouth, down to the tentacles.
      - Old Ben
        
        Well, the point of “The Mist” is that they can’t really see what’s out there (and when they do see the monsters, they look more like dinosaurs and crabs). Kingsmouth has perfect visibility and is full of zombies.
      - zippo27
        
        Yea It’s more like a inspired by story
      - Old Ben
        
        BTW, Stephen King’s “The Mist” was listed by Half-Life’s authors as the main inspiration for the first game (the idea that a military experiment went wrong and opened an inter-dimensional breach through which a lot of creatures came into our world).
- http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul
  
  also a tiny bit of Robert Bloch.
http://profile.yahoo.com/3JO75BNS43WDETCNCO7F7XS6Q4 jo

yay. a bunch of quests and some features that were in the game’s beta but too buggy to launch.
http://www.facebook.com/simppi90 Simon Sunabacka

nightmare is a difficulty setting, the ankh and hell fallen already excist in the game, they just added them to the dungeons where nightmare is available
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  That I did not know having not gotten that far. I’m being veeeeeeeery relaxed and trying to find every little thing and not going anywhere in particular too quickly. It’s very nice.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz
    
    Savor it!
    - http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
      
      I am… And it should be known that I’m very deliberately not researching too far ahead as far as what goes on IN game. I want the entire thing to be an adventure, and if I’m reading about all the material before I play it that just kills it.
Sharuko

This is the type of content and constant content you will not see in F2P and B2P games. Keep it up Funcom, you are impressing people like me who were previously Funcom haters.
- Jay
  
  GW1 was well supported… That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
  
  It’s nice to see TSW being supported for those people paying subs though. The marketplace is a good idea as well, since economy is so important in MMOs.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/3JO75BNS43WDETCNCO7F7XS6Q4 jo
  
  or TERA.
- InWaves257
  
  to be honest first they need to sort out the damn chat, secondly the market place should have been sorted before release
- Spammerbam
  
  Very true what Jay said. GW1 was B2P and there was a lot of constant contents that was being added that kept it alive, competitive, and entertaining; it was very well supported.
  
  It’s funny to see a P2P game, like Tera, having no new constant contents whatsoever; it’s embarrassing so to speak.
  But that’s probably why no one bothers to mention about it anymore. TSW definitely replaced Tera in innovation and contents, and I can see why you’re talking about it so much. Nothing wrong, I think this is a great game, also.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/YSVAPKVBUPTX6YS3W2DLPOBNN4 AlokP
    
    TERA came out at the beginning of May. Is this the expectation of sub games now, that they have to provide monthly content or they’re not worth it? That seems silly, and, to some extent, kind of greedy.
    - Spammerbam
      
      Of course, that was also taken into consideration. But as of now, there’s no future contents that is going to improve/fix the dull grindy fetch quests.
      
      Just poking fun at people who thinks B2P games have no constant contents. I’m not the only one trying to be ignorant, don’t you think?
    - Old Ben
      
      Considering 4 months of subscription add up to the cost of a whole new game (in fact, you can get Skyrim for $25), I think subscribers have the right to expect pretty frequent updates, yes.
      
      What’s “greedy” is expecting people to keep paying $15 a month just to rent their own characters and repeat recycled content 200 times, like some games do.
- Odeezee
  
  could you be more hypocritical? can’t really praise them as they have done nothing as of yet and before it can become a trend they have to have been doing it month to month over a 6 to one year period. it is not enough to just say they will, we actually have to see it first hand. it’s funny you are giving them such credit given your overblown critique of other games with a proven track record and given Funcom’s history.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Robbert-de-Wilde/1806039882 Robbert de Wilde
  
  No update has come out yet, so don’t be so fast on judging. Also on the F2P and B2P games, I would have agreed with you a couple of years ago. But I have loads of faith in Guild Wars 2.
- MMO_Doubter
  
  You won’t see it in TSW, either. You will only hear about it.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/Z36GPOU3Q2QIQYBIDVNQAVGNGE Raul
  
  Wondering if “Update” and “New Content” are the same thing.
  
  Imho, Update means fixing issues,
  and New content means new quests, dungeons, and features that are actually new,
  (not features that should already be in a game’s primary release)
  
  I am hoping for this game to grow and flourish, fwiw.
  
  The reason I have issues with the animations have to do with
  our Animation Teachers telling us what not to do,
  and then seeing them making those same mistakes in this game.
  
  Crappy lip sync is understandable, as they have to cover alot of different languages,
  But the combat animations and some of the cut scene movement looks like it was done
  a decade ago.
  
  seriously.
http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

Monthly updates are nice PR… But thats all it is. No SUB based mmo game is managing to make regulare updates atm. WOW is 8 months and counting, SWTOR is… dead and games like Warhammer online havn’t had content updates for years. All these games promised regulare and frequent contet added.

In other words.. Dont trust what is said in week 1-2 after release. Its just PR.
- http://www.facebook.com/TheOneKilner Jamie Kilner
  
  games are a product if you make a brand of soup and in the first week sales are high then after that the numbers drop would you invest more money into this product to buy more stock NO so why do people think a game developer is goin to invest tons of money into new content wen ther is no support from the community with monthly fees ? and people bashing the monthly sub i realy duno how people can complain if you carnt afford $15 a month then you should probably get a job and stop asking for free to play wen free to play is relesedd it ruins the game for the peopel taht rly like it and costs a hell of a lot more than a monthly sub
- Old Ben
  
  TSW probably will have updates for the next 3 or 6 months at least, simply because a lot of things that should have been in the game at launch weren’t. They don’t have a single raid yet, for example.
  
  Might have been a deliberate strategy (hold things back and release them as updates to create the impression that that’s the way it’s going to be forever) but I suspect EA just forced them to release too early.
  
  But hey, at least they _are_ finishing the bits that weren’t ready for launch, instead of saving them for some future (paid) expansion.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Robbert-de-Wilde/1806039882 Robbert de Wilde

if people are still positive about this game in half a year I’ll come join. Im too skeptical to commit to another pay to play MMORPG. Besides GW2 next month, will suck up all my MMO needs for a while.
- http://twitter.com/Agimat08 Solo Miranda
  
  Fair enough
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Smith/100000531128393 Ian Smith

So……..anyone else find this pic to look more like an abuse victim who finally stood up for their self and then mentally broke down? No? Okay, never mind.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle
  
  thx for that image … -.-
  Now it makes me sad every time i look at it
AnonymousComments

With regards to fast travel, there are some tricks in the game that you might not have discovered. First, there are permanent speed upgrades that you can purchase with in game money at your faction HQ. These are awesome fun as you run around at high speed. Also, you can type /reset in the command window which will instantly kill your character and give you the respawn dialog window that allows you to choose an anima well to respawn at.
- Odeezee
  
  yeah i did purchase the first of the three versions available, but the cost is rather prohibitive and will take most gamers a long time to gain the funds to purchase them assuming they even find out they are available to begin with. when i first discovered them i thought they added to your run speed, but instead they just replace your current run speed with their slight increase /shrug and the run speed is only permanent out of combat and you have to avoid all damage.
  
  about the reset i kinda knew about it during closed beta, but never bothered to use it as i liked to save my buffs.
http://twitter.com/Crimendorsement Jeffrey Eisenberg

I find it fascinating that people who have no interest in this game…constantly take every opportunity to bash it. Yet the people who like this game say nothing about other people’s games.

Really. Do we have to play some six year old’s game of “my toy is better than your toy?” Grow up.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz
  
  I see people bashing on both sides, then again, I check out these forums quite frequently. I LOOOVE this game, I just can’t stand the combat and the animations. If they work on fixing the combat and animations I’ll be all over it.
- http://twitter.com/Tippocalypse Tippocalypse
  
  It’s hard to shout “TSW is a good game!” from the rooftops without the hype machine of certain games, or the existing subscribing base of others coming down on you.
  
  I myself just enjoy my game and ignore the locusts and MMO-hoppers that tend to populate the internet and general chat. I’m sick of hearing comparisons from armchair game developers and people who think playing a game for 8 years means they have unique insight and a modicum of intelligence. (For clarification, this comment is directed at fans, and not the hosts of GBTV…love them )
- Spammerbam
  
  You should say that to Sharuko.
Old Ben

> if you want to garner interest in it, will be your B-Roll selection,
> try to show as little combat or movement or animations as possible.

“If you make a show about this game, don’t actually show the game.”

While that’s excellent (and pretty standard, regardless of the product) marketing advice, I don’t think GBTV’s role is to _sell_ copies of the game. If they do make a show about the game, it will be aimed at people who like the game, and so (presumably) like the game as it actually exists.
- Odeezee
  
  GBTV are not directly “selling” copies of the game true, but they will be trying to make an entertaining show based on the game to try and garner ad revenue, so by extension they will be “selling” the game as well. many people purchase games because of the shows on GBTV.
German Lopez

Ankh and Hell Fallen are already in the game. They’re just adding the nightmare difficulties to them. Do research before doing a hit.
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  Or… You could have looked at the comments and have seen my response as to why I did not know this off the bat.
Nick Ratcliffe

Ahhhh grammar.

Come on, guys.

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