Ragnar Tørnquist on what sets The Secret World apart
by James Egan 
Oct 23rd 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: Horror, Game mechanics, Interviews, Lore, New titles, The Secret World
One of the games we've seen a lot of reader interest in at Massively is The Secret World, in development at Funcom. One of the key people behind the upcoming horror MMO is Ragnar Tørnquist, Producer and Director of The Secret World. Tørnquist recently sat down for an interview with Vladimir "Evoker" Georgiev from UGDB.com to discuss what will set The Secret World apart from other MMOs we've played.
One of the refreshing aspects of the game is there are no levels or classes in TSW. Tørnquist tells UGDB, "Our goal is to make sure that players can sit down and play this game and enjoy themselves from the very beginning. You don't start out fighting rats with a rusty sword. You get cool firearms, black magic, occult weapons from the outset -- and you're fighting demons and the undead, not wild boar or petty criminals."
Grinding isn't requisite in this open world game. There are numerous achievements and weapon upgrades to attain, and players can grind their way through The Secret World if they so choose, but Tørnquist stresses "[...] you don't have to -- and that's the point. You get to create your own experience, and you get to have fun with it. This game isn't a full time job. It's entertainment, first and foremost." The interview also details more about the game's PvP system and the struggle between the Illuminati, Dragon, and Templar societies to control Agartha, the Hollow Earth.
If you're looking for more info about The Secret World, the UGDB.com interview with Ragnar Tørnquist is worth a read.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
phobic99 said on 11:05AM 10-23-2009
It "sounds" great and all but I can't help but cringe when I see "Funcom" and "MMO" together.
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noamraz05 said on 11:13AM 10-23-2009
And why is that? AoC is pretty good, yes, the launch was teribble but they might learn from the past, like every humen being.
It sounds really great, if Swotor wont come out before it, I will play it.
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phobic99 said on 12:30PM 10-23-2009
So basically, don't play this at launch (like I did with AO and AoC).
Got ya. ;)
Aganazer said on 11:32AM 10-23-2009
That is an interesting quote. Is fighting a newbie zone mutant beast with a rusty 22 caliber rifle really any different than fighting a rat with a rusty sword? Its like he is advertising that they don't have any form of character advancement.
For one, I'm pretty sure they do have character advancement, but instead of it being levels it will be determined by your gear and your rank in whatever faction you choose.
For two, if they didn't have any form of character advancement then they will quickly learn how strong of a motivator character advancement is to the vast majority of game players. Without some new ability, power, strength, or toughness type of progression then most people will feel quite a bit less motivated to continue playing.
Its one of those ideas that might sound good in an interview, but falls flat in practice.
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Super Healer said on 11:42AM 10-23-2009
Maybe since all the redundancies at Funcom they have shifted focus and are planning to make a more casual light-weight game like Call of Duty Multiplayer where you just login and play with no real advancement, persistent world or consequence-based combat.
I hope not as I was really looking forward to this game, and have no pre-judgements based on Funcoms previous work.
Ivasen said on 3:59PM 10-23-2009
Alright, here is how it is going to work.
Your gear has nothing to do with character advancement as no stats are on clothing.
You are completely free to choose how you wish to make your character look with clothing, a little group of staff memebers are specifically tasked with developing armor of all types - ranging from Gothic/Emo to Library Lady to Buisness attire, it is really up to you on how you want to look.
Advancement is going to be skill based, The more you use Magic, the stronger it will get and more things you will be able to unlock.
The same thing goes for Guns, Swords or anything else they have shown.
Nothing else has been released on how many different types of Weapons you will be able to use, you might even be able to play Gambit from X-men with a deck of cards or voodoo dolls.
bulletsster said on 11:42AM 10-23-2009
this looks funn!
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Bluefunk said on 12:12PM 10-23-2009
TSW looks great and slightly different from other mmo's. I have to agree that the FC haters need to go F themselves now as AOC is absolutely rocking now!!!! :)
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craylon said on 12:35PM 10-23-2009
somewhere i hope they make it an mo instead of an mmo
everything looks really cool and I'm looking forward to the game but seeing 300players ks each other over tons of mobs in the streets would absolutely ruin the "secret" atmosphere for me.
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Jess said on 12:56PM 10-23-2009
All I'd like to say is that if AoC was released in the condition it is now, it would have been the WoW killer.
Yes, I just said that.
But Funcom rushed (in all probablilty because they were afraid of WAR's success...now THAT is a misplaced fear in hindsight!) AoC out the door and botched their solid chance to dominate the MMO world. TSW will at best keep the company afloat, which is a good thing.
All my opinion, of course.
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Faryon said on 2:17PM 10-23-2009
Funcom said some of the same things about AoC before that was launched too... Not the stuff about no classes and levels ofc, but they made a lot of pretty promises about their "heroic" combat system and massive amount of quests.....
Since they have said the zones in this game will be various places from all over the world I'm going to assume they are going for instanced zones with limited amounts of players like in AoC and thats fine if it's well implemented.. but the zones really need to have some sort of in-zone travel system.. having to run from one end of a zone to another in AoC was one of the reasons I quit. It simply took too long.
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TyDeL said on 3:22PM 10-23-2009
Hunh, I'll admit after playing AoC on release, when I first heard of Funcom making another MMO, I glazed over it, but some interesting concepts are mentioned here.
Personally, as much as I love character advancement in MMO's, the one thing that ALWAYS turns me off is the level grind. I love the end game in MMO's, I love PvP, I love building my character how I want to, I love finding new gear, but most MMO's, WAR, AoC, The Burning Crusade, I burn out long before I ever reach the end game. I never understand the necessity to draw out the process of players reaching the end game, it's just some archaic hold over that is kept in place to appease the hardcore player base that like to work to reach the end.
Personally, in every MMO I have burned out on, and left, if I could of just had 3 maxed out level players out the gate, with more emphasis on the end game, with a relatively brief leveling process, I don't think I would have ever left WoW, or WAR.
I hope this game is finally a step towards breaking that mold.
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Archebus said on 3:04PM 10-23-2009
Ah, 'classless,' the new must-have feature of every MMO. This game does look good, though, and I for one think FunCom must have learned from their abysmal launch.
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Wjowski said on 7:29PM 10-23-2009
Give 'em credit for not churning out yet another cookie-cutter fantasy MMO, at least.
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Urban Monkey said on 4:04AM 10-24-2009
Right. Funcom learned from their mistakes and AoC is now a good game.
What does that have to do with the fact that Funcom LIED and CHEATED players in order to get them to buy their product? DirectX 10 videos showing how AoC graphics are superior to anything else in the market? People drooling over screenshots, buying new machines in anticipation of the game only to find out the game didn't support DirectX at all even though it was printed on the box. Then Funcom lied again telling the players that DirectX 10 will be available within a month. Guess what, it took them 11 months to implement it.
The whole fiasco with DirectX 10 taught me one thing: Funcom will say and do anything in order to sell their game.
The Secret World? Maybe it will be the best thing since sliced bread, maybe it will be the flop that will finally closed down Funcom forever. But I can tell you I am not paying a dime before I experience it myself.
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