Ragnar Tornquis Talks About Future Content In The Secret World

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | July 10, 2012 5:15 pm

56 Comments

Now that The Secret World has launched and players have been hard at work solving the mysteries of the world, Funcom has decided to allow the game’s Senior Producer — Ragnar Tornquist to talk about what the team has planned for the future.

According to Ragnar’s first ever State of the Game post, the team is already working on quite a bit of new content including everything from new weapons and character customization, to raids and dungeons. However, the most exciting thing may be the fact that Tornquist promises new content on a monthly basis starting on July 31st.

Players can expect new missions complete with fully voiced cut-scenes and media pop-ups. The first few updates will contain new investigation missions, however, there are more action and sabotage missions in the works.

Honestly, I can’t wait to see what the team produces over the next few months.

Ragnar Tornquis Talks About Future Content In The Secret World

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Old Ben

> and like everything else in our monthly updates,
> these packs are FREE for our subscribers!

It’s a great thing that paying a monthly fee entitles you to get the monthly updates for FREE.

If he hadn’t said that, we might have thought that we’d have to make some sort of monthly payment for those monthly updates. Oh, wait…
- H S
  
  Isn’t it amazing what the human mind comes to accept as the norm?
  
  You would think that paying $15 a month means at least every three to four months I would expect the equivalent to a whole new game’s worth of content, but that’s just me. I need to accept that paying $15 a month, should leave me happy if they just patch bugs that the original product had when shipped. A service my old B2P games have done for decades now for free.
  - Old Ben
    
    > You would think that paying $15 a month means at least
    > every three to four months I would expect the equivalent
    > to a whole new game’s worth of content, but that’s just me.
    
    You might be suffering from a rare condition known as “the ability to multiply”.
Cody Moody

Ragnar has a fucking epic name, and an epic plan. I’m loving the game so far!
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  Ragnar is a very epic viking name. And yet. He looks much more cuddly than his name would indicate.
http://twitter.com/Crimendorsement Jeffrey Eisenberg

I hope it doesn’t go F2P for a LONG time. I don’t want broke scrubs playing my game. I work…hard…for the ability and PRIVILEGE to play this game. I don’t need to be exposed to the whining and crying from those who don’t.
- Old Ben
  
  Yeah! In fact, they should make the subscription significantly higher, to keep the scum away. $500 a month, minimum. I’d much rather play with civilized people like Donald Trump and Paris Hilton than with scrubs like Jesus or Gandhi.
  - ChristopherRuscoe
    
    you seam to be under the grossly mistaken idea that Scum =
    not much money, this Idea is so wrong.
    
    CWR
    - Old Ben
      
      Either you replied to the wrong person or your sarcasm detector seems to be broken.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506728308 Julian F’n Mugnieco

this is like refusing to pull the plug on your comatose mother because her index finger twitches every now and then.
- Old Ben
  
  Why pull the plug when you can just rent her out to some WoW guild as an arcane mage?
http://profile.yahoo.com/YSVAPKVBUPTX6YS3W2DLPOBNN4 AlokP

I think he has to stress the word “free” because with the model they’ve gone with (monthly sub + cash shop), there’s a huge distrust factor there, and I think they want to set the tone for what people can expect to be free (new content, zones, quests, raids, etc) for subscribers, vs. what’ll be in the cash shop.
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  Yep. Ad a lot of people have misunderstood it. I linked the forum post to a friend and she couldn’t figure out why he’d be stressing “free” so much and it made her suspicious. I did point out the cash shop and that cleared it up for her a bit.
Eric Nelson

The game has been phenomenal so far. It’s a moderate change from the last Beta weekend. The questing has been great, the PVP quite challenging, and the dungeons are some of the best I’ve played in years.

Q – try not to create drama where drama isn’t. If you read what Ragnar stated, it’s pretty clear he is trying to prove that a sub means something such as monthly content.

I’ll repost Ragnar’s entire post. In this day and age of subs, it’s refreshing to see companies such as Trion and Funcom offering new content monthly.

Ragnar

Producer/Director

State of the Game, July 10th 2012

Hi all,

Welcome to the inaugural The Secret World State of the Game update!

(Right, so that’s a mouthful. In the future, I think I’ll shorten it to TSWSotG, because that’s a LOT easier to remember.)

We’ve had an exciting first week, and we’re thrilled to see that
everything has gone incredibly smooth so far. There have been some bugs
and issues, of course, and we’re fixing those as quickly as we can, but
things are really stable and our players — you guys! — are very, very
happy with the game. And that makes us very happy, too!

Now that players are progressing further and further into the game,
uncovering all those things we’ve managed to keep secret for years and
years, we’re starting to see a lot of questions about what’s next. What
does the future hold for The Secret World, for our players and
subscribers?

Well, I’m finally allowed to reveal a FEW of the things we’re working
on, and I’m really excited to be talking about what’s ahead for The
Secret World.

We’re going to be releasing fresh and tasty new content FREE to our
subscribers on a regular, monthly basis. The first update is due on
Tuesday, July 31st, and we will be releasing more details about that
particular update later this week — including a couple of fun
surprises. (You’re going to love it.)

So what will these updates contain? I’m glad you asked! I won’t spoil
too much, but here’s an overview of some of the things we have in the
pipelines:

* Mission packs on a monthly basis! The first few packs will contain new
investigations for every adventure zone in the game — but we also have
more action and sabotage missions planned for the near future. These
missions will feature fully voiced cut-scenes and new media pop-ups, and
will match the quality of the missions currently in the game. Oh, and
like everything else in our monthly updates, these packs are FREE for
our subscribers!

* New weapons! We will be announcing our first auxiliary weapon soon
(one clue: bigger, slower, more explosions) and new auxiliary weapons
will be released on a regular basis. Combat in The Secret World will
continue to evolve, and it will pay to expand your character in multiple
directions!

* Raids! We’re well into production on our first raid, and there will be
more information about that in August! But as a teaser: The Big Apple
will never be the same

* We’ve already announced our plans for expanding and improving
character customisation: The Modern Prometheus and Ockham’s Razor are
opening in New York and London respectively in August, Execution later
this year in Seoul. Pangaea in London will receive new stock, and we
will add more accessories and clothing as rewards for both achievements
and missions

* Chronicle has entered public beta, and we’ll keep enhancing and
growing that service according to player needs and wishes! Our intent is
for Chronicle to become a living, breathing community in itself, and a
place where players will go to measure and compare themselves against
others, to check out the profiles of their co-players and rivals, and –
in the long run — to become a living chronicle (zing!) of their player
characters

* We have a player-versus-player dungeon in the early stages of planning
— in a brand new geographical area. More on this later this year!

* And speaking of dungeons, we’re also working on a dungeon finder tool,
allowing players to more easily put together a team to handle the
instanced content

* Seasonal events won’t go unnoticed in the secret world, and both
Halloween and the Winter Solstice are important milestones for those who
dabble (and dive deep into) the occult. Expect plenty of content to tie
into both events — including new missions, new characters, new
monsters and some twists and turns that will keep players on their toes

* We’re in production on two large, new and incredibly exciting
adventure zones — both of which will be announced in August. New
geographical regions, new characters, new missions, new drops, new
challenges, new monsters, new lore that will carry the story past its
first act and into its thrilling and shocking second act!

* Improved cabal functionality is on the drawing board and will be seeing improvements later this year

* And we’re not forgetting about our social players! We have some cool
functionality tied to the Albion in London coming up very soon, allowing
role-players and would-be thespians to spread their wings

* Pets will be updated and upgraded as we go along! More pets, better pets, and some cool surprises in store for pet owners!

* And last but certainly not least: Combat will receive constant polish
and tweaks to make things look and feel better. Keep an eye out for more
revisions to our effects and animations this autumn — and the
inclusion of auxiliary weapons will make combat even more exciting!

This isn’t all. In fact, it’s just the beginning, so stay tuned! The
Secret World will keep growing, and there will always be a reason to go
back to your favourite places, to dig deeper into the mysteries of
Solomon Island, Egypt, Transylvania, New York, London and Seoul…and
beyond.

So stick around, folks — there’s tons more to come, both this week and
in the very near future. Thanks for reading, and have fun playing the
game!

Ragnar Tornquist

Senior Producer & Creative Director,

The Secret World
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  You misunderstand what I’m saying here if you feel it’s drama. Personally, I have no problem either way, if they have F2P in their plans for the future or not. In all honesty I think it’s smart and has nothing to do with the game which I am obviously paying to play currently but has everything to do with general MMO market trends.
  
  Also, I’m bringing up points that were brought up to me and on the forums. These are things that people are asking about. I’m not going to not talk about them.
  - http://twitter.com/BreakingPT Joe D
    
    It is drama your site and overlords have been stirring. Sorry, but if GW2 came out with a post like this it would be the BIGGEST NEWS EVAR!!!!1111!!1 I mean you and hater extreme Mike S. only focused on the word FREE in all caps. What about talking about what was ACTUALLY coming? I mean isn’t that the point of the news? No, instead you fabricated something else entirely to fit this sites narrative. It’s disgusting.
    
    BTW- Those FREE comments were added later to his original post because many people were like – do I have to pay real money for this? People were looking for shady practces from Funcom and Ragnar was trying to let people know that wasn’t the case. The company is trying to show justification for their monthly sub. How about looking at the content they’ll be bringing and then ask the question if it’s worth it?
    - http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
      
      Well… To be fair. It wouldn’t be the biggest news as GW2 is already B2P. And… This isn’t the biggest news either, but it is interesting.
      
      I’ve felt since they first announced the shop that Funcom may plan on going F2P in the future. But it’s not a big deal. It’s good business. The MMO sub landscape is changing and if they’ve already worked in a plan to compensate for that, GOOD FOR THEM. IT’S SMART.
      
      In my opinion there is nothing negative about thinking a company may plan to go F2P or some hybrid version. Which from Ragnar’s replies to people “free for all subscribing members” (this doesn’t need to be said if everyone will always be subbing BUT, if they have plans to change it down the road so it’s a mix B2P sub setup it may indicate that) makes me think it’s extremely possible this is something they are considering.
      
      As for the “FREE” comments. I read the post when it first appeared and linked it to some friends to show off the cool stuff we’d be getting and their response was “Why does he keep emphasizing free? Shouldn’t it be free anyway? Is there something weird they’re going to charge for?” So yes. That is confusing to a lot of people.
      
      The drama you’re feeling is only perceived in that you’ve automatically switched to “OMG.. She said F2P… OMG… They hate the game.”
      
      Nope… Never said that. I’ll happily continue to pay my sub as long as they ask for it and if they go hybrid, I’ll continue to pay it then. But! The one thing I do want Funcom to do is be able to keep the game alive, and if that means reworking the subscription model somewhere down the line, I’m ALL FOR IT.
      
      Not once have I accused Funcom of being shady. I don’t believe they are. Not once have I said this is a bad thing. IT’S BUSINESS. And any company that wants to stay in business has to look to the future and be prepared.
      
      As for what we talk about, GAMEBREAKER is a commentary site. Not a dry news site. I have linked the information in the post above. But often, we’re going to talk about the things we find to be interesting.
      - http://twitter.com/BreakingPT Joe D
        
        I guess a PvP dungeon, two new zones, new weapons, monthly missions added, etc. isn’t that interesting then is it? If GW2 said they were giving the community monthly content updates, you don’t think that would be big news here? Yeah right.
        
        Nope let’s focus on whether a sub game that just launched will go F2P ASAP. Sorry, but you are creating drama without acknowledging that Ragnar replied multiple times to the community saying that the content is FREE to subscribers. Why? because people refused to believe him. Why do people refuse to believe him? because of sites like the one you work for.
      - http://twitter.com/Thaguf Thaguf
        
        It would be big news if had not been done before. She did acknowledge that he said it was free to subscribers in the video. Did you even watch it all???? Don’t be so dramatic.
      - http://twitter.com/BreakingPT Joe D
        
        My issue is taking a non-story and trying to make it into a story. They could of reached out to Ragnar and ask him to comment – then do their video. That’s called journalism. If they’re not journalist, then they shouldn’t get press badges to events – now should they? But they do. It’s called irresponsible journalism. Instead of conjecture, how about they reach out to the actual source before guessing what his intent was. The guy would obviously respond to the question I’m sure. I mean he posted on Massively’s comment section for pete’s sake.
      - http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
        
        The thing here is. At this point people expect that kind of stuff. Whether that expectation is valid or not is a different matter. But like I said. I linked the post around and everyone just gave me a befuddled… “Why is he emphasizing free? Shouldn’t they be doing that anyway?”
        
        Notice the “Shouldn’t they be doing that anyway? Shouldn’t it be free anyway?” Yes… The amount of stuff they’re talking about doing is impressive. And yes, if they can keep it up, that will be great.
        
        However, Trion started out dumping tons of content on players from the start and then went somewhat quiet for a while. So, while I hope Funcom can carry through with this — and I’m sure they can for as it seems they already have content ready to blow out the door — how long they will be able to do it remains to be seen.
        
        Now, this is not me putting Funcom down. I can not reiterate enough how much I love what they’ve done here so far. But I am super-realistic about things like this.
        
        Will I get bent out of shape if at some point the things they are promising now will change? NOPE. I’ll still be there playing as long as the game is fun.
        
        And as for why people refuse to believe him? Have you read the TSW forums over the past 5 years? Have you read MMO forums in general? People don’t believe him because in some way they feel they’ve been burned by Funcom before.
        
        I can’t help that.
        
        Add to it that they see EA on the game and they leap to conclusions.
        
        I can’t help that either.
        
        The difference between me and those people. I don’t feel burned by game companies. I’m not emotionally invested in what the company is doing. I either like their game or I don’t.
        
        That said, I have been waiting on this game since they first started the ARG announcing it — when everyone else told me the game would never come out “It’s vaporware.”.
        
        I LOVE the game. I’m having fun in it. But I am also incredibly interested in their business choices, because this game is pretty niche.
      - http://twitter.com/BreakingPT Joe D
        
        Quintlyn, Here’s a direct link to a post by Ragnar today addressing exactly what I was talking about with him editing his post with the whole FREE thing.
        http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showpost.php?p=1231362&postcount=355
        
        I appreciate your effort in looking into the game and I don’t think you personally have an agenda against the company or the game. I do suspect some of your colleagues might. It at points borders on being unprofessional based on what they say imho.
      - Alphamax
        
        “Add to it that they see EA on the game and they leap to conclusions.
        
        I can’t help that either.”
        
        Yes you can, it’s your job. The next time someone throws this one out on air, instead of going with the script, you can tell them that EA was simply contracted to fill some publishing functions and that they were in no way involved in the actual design of the game.
        
        Furthermore, they have no input on future game design or business model decisions.
      - http://www.video-game.tv/ Jaxxy
        
        Very well said.
        
        I personally would love to see this game stick around. But it is going to also take more then Monthly Content to do that. If Funcom can not fix the tech side of the game then there will be no one left playing to see the monthly content.
        
        That aside I do think that at some point they are going to have to modify their current business plan. By making it a Hybrid F2P/Sub or B2P/Sub model just makes good business sense. It also would satisfy Funcom’s obligation to their “Lifetime” subs. This way they can go F2P/B2P and offer DLC in the cash shop while not alienating those who paid $200 for a lifetime subscription.
        
        I also do not understand why some still associate F2P and B2P with low quality. Even WOW and SWTOR are now implementing a small scale hybrid F2P model. They are just hiding it behind the title of “Free Trial”.
        
        Jaxxy
      - http://www.facebook.com/lord.ashar Lord Steve ‘Ashar’ Spain
        
        ”Why is he emphasizing free? Shouldn’t they be doing that anyway?” Because he is a businessman, and in business you promote your good points – and monthly free content is not a given, so of course you want to promote the facts that its free and monthly. It may be confusing to a lot of people you know, but it shouldn’t be to anyone with any business nouse.
        
        “In my opinion there is nothing negative about thinking a company may plan to go F2P or some hybrid version.” True there shouldn’t be anything strange or wrong about any companies plans around f2p – but your writing here is neither personal (I assume you want us to take GB’s writing as professional?) nor blind to community feelings. You know the community has had mixed feelings around f2p, so how you present info on this is really important, especially in a game that is a week old.
        
        “As for what we talk about, GAMEBREAKER is a commentary site. Not a dry
        news site. I have linked the information in the post above. But often,
        we’re going to talk about the things we find to be interesting.” Well this is one thing I think you peeps could do to review. Dry news sites hardly exist anymore, relatively speaking, with the rise of infotainment. What I am loosing interest in GB over is the lack of quality reporting – I think there are a still a number a community driven sites that are not dry but still have quality in their investigation, rather than regurgitation. I feel strongly that GB is a mass-regurgitation station, and that’s not something I would give money to support.
        
        I like the level of professionalism you give to video, audio – but what about the MMO news content? I find it ironic that the level of disdain for thoughtless commentary on forums etc (“It’s the internet” in derogatory tones) is brought up by your hosts time and time again (I think that is a counter-intuitive business policy btw), but what about the mindless-dribble that comes out of the hosts mouths? Where’s the plug to stop that?
        
        I feel since the format of GB changed that the mass-information has actually reduced the quality of the shows overall. I think your team could have a long-term successful business here (well as long as MMOs continue to grow), but is it the height of your ambitions to be mediocre at best?
    - http://twitter.com/Thaguf Thaguf
      
      Its called speculation which most gaming sites do.And if you took mike’s comment as being a hater you need to loosen up, its called a joke.
  - Eric Nelson
    
    Ragnar’s post explains what a sub means to Funcom, regarding future content. In short, he is outlining what he perceives as gaming value with the constant updates. I believe that’s all Ragnar is stating in his post on future content and the value of a sub. Now if Funcom is capable of doing this, it could be the most content created on a monthly basis by any current AAA MMO, which in turn may give players a reason to continue to sub so long as the monthly updates reflect what they constitute as fun.
    
    Forums will always have speculation by the general population who can post, but it is the job of the journalists to discern fact from fiction. It just wasn’t that clear in your explanation that was done.
http://twitter.com/loribinca Lori Brooks

Mike .. your T-shirt is awesome … oh, and so is The Secret World …
http://www.facebook.com/Stighw Stig Helge Westerheim

I have to applaud Funcom.

Already a great game and now, monthly updates with new content.
That is pretty slick and well worth my subscription fee.

Funcom and TSW is setting a new standard here for MMO`s that will be hard to keep up with.

Thank you!
http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

I don’t see the big deal about this game honestly.
- http://www.facebook.com/lord.ashar Lord Steve ‘Ashar’ Spain
  
  You wouldn’t if you watched GB’s coverage of it, because they’ve said hardly anything substantive, enough quantity, but little quality.
  
  It’s a really well made game imho, and this announcement from Ragnar should have been met with something a little less underwhelming than this. High points – immersion, story, different questing style, cross-faction co-operation, single-server tech, huge potential for diversity in character builds, the list off good things in this game is huge.
  
  The things people have found controversial are the initial aesthetics of character design, and the combat system. The former is being addressed, and the second is a matter of personal taste. I’m not a fps person, and I’m not frothing at the mouth to see fps and mmo come together. I appreciate those who are, and if it is a critical thing for them, then this game won’t be to their taste, but only because of the combat. For others the enjoyment of the combat will be the way in which they combine active and passives, and how they diversify their skills to meet the challenges ahead.
http://www.video-game.tv/ Jaxxy

> and like everything else in our monthly updates,
> these packs are FREE for our subscribers!

Honestly I think this really says it all. I am hoping I am wrong, though. However, what this says to me is that they are going to be breaking into the F2P model much sooner then most expected. If you look at AoC’s business model you have the F2P option that gives you the basic game and the base content. However, you also have the “Premium” option for “Full Access” to the game for only $15/month.

This Hybrid business model can also be seen with DDO and LotRO. But Turbine offers DLC in their Cash Shop. If you become a subscriber then you get access to all the DLC for FREE. Sounds exactly like what Ragnar is saying in his “State of the Game”. If you are a subscriber then you get the monthly DLC for free if you are a free member then you can buy it in the Cash Shop.

Jaxxy
Avaloner31

I see nothing wrong with the way he said FREE, he was probably worried people that don’t know much about the game (or the media) would think that it was stuff for the cash shop. Also I don’t know why people keep going on about the game going F2P, unlike say SWTOR, there is not a huge backlash against the game, atleast not yet, and the game seems to be doing ok for itself so far.
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  At this point F2P has less to do with backlash than what people are willing to pay in the current market. More and more players are becoming anti-sub and the MMO market is in transition because of it.
  
  Developers have been quoted as saying the subscription market is dying – although most of the ones saying that seem to think THEY’RE the end of the line.
  - http://www.facebook.com/lord.ashar Lord Steve ‘Ashar’ Spain
    
    “More and more players are becoming anti-sub…”
    
    Could you back that statement up with some facts, the next statement you make is more like opinion “Developers have been quoted as saying the subscription market is dying…” It’s just the inevitability of the statement which riles me.
    
    Business trends are exactly that, trends. Whether or not they actually play out that way is something altogether different. Bit dissapointed by GB’s coverage and commentary on TSW – ok so its not as bad as GB’s damnation of Tera (I really feel for Tera players who got a raw deal from you lot), but it still seems lacking.
    
    TWIMMO was by far the worst coverage, with an episode which spent a good part of a third of it’s time discussing TSW, yet said very, very little, with two of it’s commentators saying pretty much nothing.
Jack Pal

I just going to sit and listen to all the sweet whisper from Ragnar Tornquist.
Alphamax

Ragnar didn’t start out emphasizing the ‘free´part, it was in response to posters on the forum that suspected the mission packs might be purchasable content.

“It is, we are, and we can. We’ve been planning for this for a long time now. It’s why we feel confident about our business model — getting regular content for ‘free’ (with a subscription) makes it worth the investment. IMHO.”

“Our item store is for cosmetic items only — such as clothing, titles, pets, accessories. These content updates are FREE for subscribers.

There. Hopefully I won’t have to repeat this again!”

TSW will probably run with the subscription model for as long as possible in order to have a solid and predictable income for them to base their further development on. The monthly content is just one aspect of it, the big story arc has supposedly been written up to 7 years into the future.

Sure, they might go F2P, but probably only if the game fails completely.
http://profile.yahoo.com/FPXO267IVAHL3MK4HRRNRQPNDA Bush Swanson, The American Dre

First off, this game shouldn’t have a subscription because it doesn’t have anything in it. Why would I pay money each month for something that isn’t even anything.

Second, I am intrigued by the pet content. I would like to hear more about their plans to add pet oriented content into the secret world. If they had enough pet content, I MAY pay a subscription.
- http://twitter.com/Thaguf Thaguf
  
  Has nothing in it? Guess you haven’t even played it then.
- Old Ben
  
  You speak the truth. Pet-oriented content is the future.
Jediwolf

So why only pull from half of the article that your quoting from in order for the ” Hit” to be more juicy. look up the article and there is a whole paragraph which speaks to the free to play rumours and plans for future. He addresses the issue directly and points everything out in plain english to clear up any confusion about his FREE statements earlier. Its right there in the same article on funcom website. You seem to be focusing on something in this hit which isnt relevant. read the article and do ” Hits ” articles blogs whatever but at least be accurate in what you are reporting on. Disappointed Gamebreaker fanboy who thinks TSW needs a fairer spotlight like ya do with GW2
Jediwolf

Sorry my bad, The info you need is in a Rock paper shotgun interview

RPS: Currently your business model is subscription-based. In light of how many games are going free-to-play right now, why did you decide to go subscription-based with Secret World?Tornquist: No triple-A, big MMO has launched yet with a free-to-play model. I know that Guild Wars 2 is coming up and is free-to-play, but they’re also launching with a item store and I’m not exactly sure what they’ll be selling there. Our item store is cosmetic only – things that are nice, but not fundamental to gameplay. We wanted to go subscription-based because we think that players are happier paying a steady monthly fee to get new content, to get the service, to get all the benefits of a game that has a growing, living world, than to keep charging them for little things.That’s important to us. The subscription fee and our business model supports a big, ongoing team. We have content plans for a very long time. We have content that’s going to be coming on a regular, ongoing basis. We have content that’s going to come out pretty soon. It is the only business model that makes sense in terms of giving players this living, breathing world and this constantly upgraded, expanded experience.Whether or not that’s the business model that’s going to be around in five years, I can’t say. But it wasn’t right for us to come out and be a free-to-play game, because then we would have to find other ways to support the ongoing content. Whether it would be DLC and charging people for that, or an item store and charging people for that, [I can't say]. At any rate, people are going to have to pay more in order to support the ongoing development. I think that at least for me and at least for traditional MMO players, a subscription fee is something they understand. If you subscribe to this game, we’re going to provide you with entertainment – with an experience.But I mean of course [having Conan go free-to-play] has taught us a lot. Five years from now, ten years from now, will Secret World be free-to-play? I’m sure of it. But that’s a long time. For the time being, we’re committed to this business model, and as long as people are willing to pay us in order to provide them with expanded content and ongoing content, we’ll keep that business model.
- http://www.facebook.com/lord.ashar Lord Steve ‘Ashar’ Spain
  
  Amazing what a little bit of investigation does!
- http://www.video-game.tv/ Jaxxy
  
  What amazes me from this quote is that they are openly admiting to planing on taking TSW F2P!
  
  “Five years from now, ten years from now, will Secret World be free-to-play? I’m sure of it.”
  
  No where do I read him saying that it is even going to take that long for it to go F2P. In fact he clearly goes on to say “as long as people are willing to pay us in order to provide them with expanded content and ongoing content, we’ll keep that business model.”
  
  Sounds to me like they are ready to switch to F2P as soon as their subs drop below a certain number.
  
  Jaxxy
- jgelling
  
  That sounds realistic at least. I like the transactional nature of his comments: If you pay us a sub, we’ll use a lot of that money to put out regular new content.
  
  I’ve lost patience for lazy devs that release once, bug fix and wait till an expansion to give new content, and then demand a sub for access to their game. To hell with that, I say.
http://www.facebook.com/lord.ashar Lord Steve ‘Ashar’ Spain

One more request can you guys NEVER say stuff like this again “It might just be a kind of a weird use of english, because he is Norwegian…” I am tired of listening to ignorant generalisations about asian countries and the the like – Gary G is terrible at this. Norwegian (a scandinavian country and culture) people learn english, and the vast majority of people Ragnar’s age and younger speak and write wonderful english.

How about if I said people of the US were the hillbillies of the world – it wouldn’t go down well, for good reason. Please don’t do it to people outside your national awareness.
- http://quintlyn.com/ QuintLyn Bowers
  
  Yes… And I wasn’t indicating they didn’t. Ragnar’s English is very good. HOWEVER. Differences in cultures and countries can make some things you say or write come out oddly to people speaking the same language in a different location. Case in point. I live in the Southern US. The DEEP Southern US. There are quite a few things that I say that are pretty standard and easily understood by those around me that Gary other members of Gamebreaker have to ask me to rephrase.
  
  If you think me saying that something is oddly phrased because someone from a different country said it… Well… I don’t know what to tell you. Differences in language and even the same language are a fact of life. Me indicating that the difference might be there because of location is not an insult. It’s just something that may be a possibiltiy.
  - Alphamax
    
    That’s the part where researching the material comes in, so that you’re able to give the ‘interviewer’, in this case Mike S, an accurate picture of the information.
    
    Maybe you outline these ‘hits’ beforehand and decided that the F2P angle was the way to go or maybe you were just caught unaware by the direction he took with it, but it seems you two just ended up putting a lot of misinformation out there.
    
    And that should be something you try to avoid.
  - http://www.facebook.com/lord.ashar Lord Steve ‘Ashar’ Spain
    
    Really!?! You honestly think an multi-national corporation like Funcom and associates is that unprofessional? I admit people make mistakes, but this is the very first, post release, major announcement on the game’s direction by the senior Producer/Designer. Do you honestly think they are going to have comments off-task?
    
    I never intended to say you were deliberately insulting Ragnar nor Norwegians, I was saying you were doing so out of ignorance. Clearly you fail to grasp that the use of the word “Free” was very deliberate, and “Working as intended.” Given the amount of attention that GB and many others have given to the speculation of the game going f2p before the game is even out of beta, then it is critical that the messages coming from Funcom et al, is that this is not true, and look “Content is free, and planned to be free for the next seven years.” Oddities of lingual dialects does not equal incompetence over use of languages learned.
    
    The reason that Jasmin etc find this use of the word “Free” bizarre is they are not including into the equation what the company is having to deal with – the negetive press, which includes the press and fanbase thinking this game is a)not worth a sub, &/or b)going free to play in the near future. That should be you guys job at GB, to help clarify. After over a decade on boards of directors, and over two decades of leading community organisations. Highlighting the “free” component within the future direction of the game is a sound business decision, and I (and clearly others in this response forum) am amazed it did not cross any of your minds! Perhaps rather than ringing friends to seek feedback, you can ring people more relevant, like the Funcom people, you are part of the press after all.
    
    I have supported this show for a a good few years, but your explanation is not a deductively reasoned excuse for what pops up on your company’s shows from time to time, broad generalisations around nationalism. It is just a bad idea in reporting. Your reports don’t loose anything from excluding these types of comments, but you gain the very tangible bonus of not upsetting your income stream by being unintentionally ignorant and unloading offensive comments.
    - http://www.facebook.com/lord.ashar Lord Steve ‘Ashar’ Spain
      
      Just to drive home a point even further from wikipedia “Tørnquist studied art, history and English at St Clare’s, Oxford from 1987 to 1989. From 1989 to 1990, he studied philosophy and English at the University of Oslo. After that, from 1990 to 1993 he attended the Undergraduate Film and Television department at the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
http://twitter.com/Ratbacon Andrew

All you needed to do was report what Ragnar said in a written thread. You failed utterly and managed to go off on one rambling on about free to play.

He stressed free because one of the first questions asked was over the use of the words “mission packs” which sounds like something that could go on sale in the shop, in a similar way to DDO. He was just making it clear that these updates will form part of the normal monthly update and not something you pay extra for, i.e. free.

How you got to where you did in this “report” god only knows.
jensea

I’ve been a fan and follower of GBTV for a long time, but you guys really need to start being a little more unbiased. There was so much in that State of the Game post that you could have discussed. Instead you pull out the tinfoil hat F2P garbage and ignore the real news. Seriously, it’s a decent game. Stop alienating your viewers who like it. How about you go back and read the post, THEN come on-air and talk about it.
Sharuko

One thing I wish is that you guys don’t keep bring up F2P every single time, it happens on almost every GBTV show and these videos. We need to deal in reality and not what might happen in the future. At the moment TSW is subscription based, so who cares if a lot of people want it to be F2P. There is definitely a time and a place for that discussion but it shouldn’t be every single time.
http://twitter.com/boomboomdotch anthony dotchin

I wish they would release the sub charges in pounds for longer times ie 3,6,9 and 12 month subs. I have never know a game that has been launch a week and still have not told there comunity the longer term prices for the game, players don’t know what they will be paying
- http://twitter.com/BreakingPT Joe D
  
  umm it’s in your account info under subscription membership.
jgelling

Wait, if they plan on charging a sub fee and then doing actual development work, how are they going to get rich quick off their MMO?

I’m so used to devs who think major content is only for paid expansion and subs that promise them money for nothing. This concept is so very alien.

That said, I’ll still wait and see if they actually deliver new content every month before I’m at all tempted to buy this game. There are enough games to mess with until 8/28 to invest time and money in this one.

Ragnar Tornquis Talks About Future Content In The Secret World

All Aboard The Last Train to Cairo in The Secret World

The Secret World Issue 6 Drops Tomorrow

Joel Bylos Takes Helm As Creative Director Of Funcom

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