Funcom talks The Secret World at NYCC

two quotes that make me facepalm:

Next we were treated to some never before seen video of the game’s early moments. Called “Tokyo Flashback”

The basics are that all hell has broken loose in the subway of NYC and these characters are there to try and combat it.

"Tokyo flashback"... "NYC"? Come on MMORPG

* "Next, Ragnar was asked whether all powers and spells were able to be learned in the game. He answered by saying that the 500 plus skills can all be learned by one character. He said that while alt characters may be wanted to experience the other factions’ stories, by all means they intend for players to truly invest in their characters and not just “dump” them when they get to the max level. Especially since there are no “levels” and it will take a very long time to max out your characters’ skills."

I dunno about this, man. Some folks focus on one character and are not altaholics, but I can see folks with lots of free time skill-max-out a character and become, basically, UO "Tank-Mages". :P

* "Next someone asked if Ragnar could explain a bit more about character progression in a level-less system, and what the purpose of doing dungeons or whatnot would be if not to level. Ragnar responded by saying that while the game doesn’t have levels, it has tons of other progression systems. First, there’s all the skills you can learn (horizontal progression) and secondly there’s all the gear you’ll obtain which is how the player is gated between different sets of content. Basically, you’ll start with one crappy shotgun, but as you play and go through the content, you’ll get better and better items and your skills and spells are directly affected by your gear. You’ll need the gear to really grow your powers past their basic level of effectiveness, since you won’t be getting “Fireball 1 through 10” as it were."

Okay, I think I understand this. I'd like to cry out, "Gear-Grind!", but I am more thinking you get the gear naturally through missions and rewards (but just speculating here). It seems a bit like pre-NGE SWG, in that you can get weapons to help you gain points faster in particular skills. I *think* it was mentioned you also get certain points to spend at certain points in the game (Mission rewards?), sorta like "Level-up" bonus points you can spend, but without the "leveling up" mechanic.

I am wondering about the "gated mission" thing. At first, I was thinking you need a specific set of gear, but now I am thinking you need a certain level in certain skill(s), but all I can think of is "Fireball 1 through 10", at least loosely, because it seems there is at least some number/levels on skill use, even though they say there isn't.

you won't see UO tank mages as it uses a deck mechanic, you can only have up to 7 active and 7 passive skills at one time. While you can swap them out at certain places they won't all be active at the sametime, basically the flaw in UO's system.

There won't be spell or skill ranks, it is all just the gear you have on and the passive that might boost, alter its effect or give an additional effect to it.
It's more or less the idea that you build set of skills for situations. Let's say later on you need an aoe spell that also snares mobs, while you already have an AoE spell, you'll need to invest into the passive snare ability to give a simple example.

Then you got the state system that encourages people to tune their skill builds, then you got certain monsters being more effected by certain dmg types then others and so forth.