The Secret World

The Secret World launch is fast approaching (though it may not be exactly when we some are reporting), and plenty of things of things about the game remain, well, secret.

GamesRadar recently cornered lead designer Martin Bruusgaard and sussed out a few details regarding the game's skill deck mechanics. Bruusgaard says the system was designed to offer players a way to get their heads around the game's 500-plus abilities. While there are some recommended decks and combos for newer players, Bruusgaard says the intent behind the The Secret World's classless progression system lies is adaptability and plenty of customization options.

"Some of the beauty of the system is allowing the players to come up with cool stuff themselves. We want to reward the players who dive into this and take their time to tinker with this, and there are lots of cool combinations we will save for these players," he explains.

Could we finally have a specific launch date for The Secret World? Yes, but more accurately, no.

While hopeful fans clung to possible news that Funcom had confirmed an April 24th launch date, the studio has issued a statement saying that this was "an internal production date" that was mentioned at a recent press event, and doesn't necessarily reflect the actual release date for the title:

Funcom has become aware of postings in various media stating that commercial launch of the online game The Secret World has been set to 24 April 2012. This date was communicated at a press event in the Funcom offices in Oslo today -- as an internal production date.

Funcom has previously announced the launch month for the game to be April 2012 and wants to stress that there is currently no change or update on the expected time for commercial launch of The Secret World. The company will announce the release date at a later stage through a stock notice and a formal press release when the date has been set.

The studio recently wrapped up a week dedicated to the Illuminati faction and revealed one of the game's spooky settings, Blue Mountain.

Casey Schreiner returns with this week's MMO Report, G4TV's weekly newscast about all things massively multiplayer. First up is a shout-out to the newly free-to-play EverQuest, though Ultima Online, Meridian 59, and The Realm players might dispute Casey's notion that EQ "started it all."

Funcom's new Blue Mountain trailer for The Secret World also gets a mention, as does the Family Research Council's facepalm-inducing reaction to the prospect of same-sex snogging in Star Wars: The Old Republic. TERA's legal troubles are next, and Uncle Casey's mailbag rounds out this week's show. Head past the break to watch it in full.

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It's time for This Week in MMO, kids, and no, you don't need to adjust your televisions monitors. That is not Gary Gannon behind the mic this week, but it is Mike Schaffnit, and he's joined by Mike B. and Jason Winter for the customary MMO news roundtable.

Tops on the agenda is TERA, which went from announcing its launch date to having a potentially launch-affecting lawsuit leveled at it by NCsoft. As the week wore on things got a bit better thanks to pre-order announcements (and the associated closed beta invites), but there's still a bit of a cloud hanging over En Masse's maiden title that our trio discusses at length.

Other newsy bits include The Secret World's new trailer, World of Planes namechange, and the overbearing nanny-state that is South Korea. Check out the full show after the break.

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Funcom has taken the wraps off another locale for The Secret World, and this time the focus is on an area called Blue Mountain (no, not those Blue Mountains, Tolkien fans). The location is just west of Kingsmouth, and it boasts a deep, dark history that includes some sort of "desperate battle fought [...] long ago."

Presently, the mountain is home to the Wabanaki native American tribe, which has fallen on hard times due to the greed and machinations of the modern age. Funcom says that an ancient evil is sleeping beneath the rock, and draugs, wendigo, and golems are overrunning the surrounding areas as a result.

There's also a substantial government/military presence in the area, and players will be tasked with helping various agencies as well as reliving the mountain's dark past through the powerful magic of the Wabanaki tribe.

[Update]: Funcom released an accompanying video late yesterday evening, and you can view it after the cut.

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Do you have questions about the Illuminati? Of course you do -- that's sort of their whole method of operation. But when it comes to The Secret World, some of those questions got answered via yesterday's community question-and-answer session on Facebook. While you'll have to Like the page in order to view all of the answers, you're rewarded for doing so with a breadth of facts about the secretive power-mongers and hoarders of secrets.

Among the first questions was the simple one of how the Illuminati aren't in control of everything in the game world if their operatives have infiltrated the highest level of government; as it happens, with the world exploding and lighting up with the supernatural, the Illuminati are too concerned with working overtime to keep things under wraps to try to take total control. The answers also reinforce the idea that the Illuminati crave power and competence above all, up to the organization's willingness to discard lesser members for valuable information. You can take a peek at the full set of answer on Facebook, but keep in mind that you're going to need to Like the page first.

Funcom promised a trailer when it kicked off Illuminati Week last Monday, and today the firm delivers with the latest footage from The Secret World. The clip is naturally all about the Illuminati faction, and it features a mixture of gameplay and cinematics (some of which we've seen before).

The video serves as a pretty effective recruitment ad for the faction, as the narrator opines that the Illuminati may not have all the answers, just "most of them." He goes on to talk about how knowledge is not only power, but currency, and if that doesn't make you want to roll an Illuminati, well, you're probably one of those silly Templars. Check out the clip after the cut.

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Don't tell the Illuminati, but someone's been whispering its secrets in a very public place. Funcom has revealed a bit of backstory on the secretive faction, which is only natural since it's Illuminati week at The Secret World website.

Funcom says that prospective Illuminati players will need to find the group's secret headquarters in New York City, as well as undergo "rigorous psychological tests." The group then molds its raw recruits into "focused and efficient Illuminati machinery," and the end goals are victory in the eternal war for influence, knowledge, and power.

The article also hints at an Illuminati ranking mission that involves a young United States senator not yet under the group's thumb. Read all about that and more at MMORPG.com.

Unified engines for MMOs have long been a rarity, simply due to the time needed to develop a game and the number of different companies developing separate products. The Secret World manages to buck this trend, using the same core Dreamworld Engine as Funcom's Age of Conan. A recent interview with lead programmer Øystein Eftevaag discusses the way that the engine interacts with the newer game, how the unified engine helps both games, and what special features the game is using in a technical sense.

Eftevaag explains that the Dreamworld Engine benefits chiefly from cross-pollination; improvements made in terms of optimization for Age of Conan can be imported to the engine on The Secret World with minimal extra legwork. The engine also uses a series of dynamic equations to determine what player characters should be able to see, subsequently leaving obscured areas blank to save on processor cycles. It's an interesting look under the hood at the technical side of Funcom's upcoming conspiracy and horror title, even if this particular dream world is tilted toward a nightmare.

Still having a hard time settling on a secret society when it comes to The Secret World? Fear not, as Funcom is bringing you another theme week detailing one of the game's three factions. This time around, it's the Illuminati in the spotlight, and over the next few days we'll be on the lookout for new artwork, screens, videos, a developer Q&A, and more.

Funcom's version of the (in)famous Illuminati group casts its members as "invisible puppet-masters and corporate manipulators" who seek "power and wealth by any means necessary." Head to the official Secret World website to check out the latest Illuminati-themed art, and don't forget to take the initiation test to see which faction is right for you.

[Source: Funcom press release]

A few Funcom elves were actually working on The Secret World over Christmas it seems, and designer Martin Bruusgaard has some interesting things to say about that -- as well as a couple of gameplay tidbits -- in a new interview at CryGaia.net.

One of the aspects of The Secret World that sets it apart from your typical MMORPG is the huge amount of character customization available through the game's clothing items. Bruusgaard says that some of these items are purchased from in-game vendors, some from the cash shop, and some of them are reward-based.

"One thing I'm particularly excited about is the template deck outfits. Template decks are a set of powers that enable the player to fulfill a certain role, and this is comparable to Magic the Gathering starter decks. On completion of any of these templates the player is given an outfit that reflects what that deck is. So for instance if a player completes the ninja deck, he or she is given a ninja costume," Bruusgaard explains.

He goes on to talk about cross-faction PvP team-ups (currently slated for post-launch) and The Secret World's sound and music suite. Read all about it at CryGaia.net.

Funcom's future is looking pretty bright according to a report at Views and News from Norway. The site says the development firm behind Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, and The Secret World topped the Oslo stock exchange last year and saw its share price rise by 227%.

AoC has "sold well and still generates income for Funcom," says the report, but the real cause for optimism is the positive buzz surrounding The Secret World. Funcom head honcho Trond Arne Aas says that the firm has received "very good feedback" from both testers and journalists, and it's a good thing since the company absorbed a third quarter loss despite its share price increase.

"We're investing heavily in The Secret World now, therefore the loss," Aas explained. "But we're hoping for major income after the launch in April."