Black Weekend Event starting this Friday!



This weekend everyone will be able to enjoy great bonuses in The Secret World.

The special Black Weekend Event begins Friday the 14^th at 15:00 CET (9 am EST) and lasts until Monday the 17^th of June at 15:00 CET (9 am EST). These are the special event bonuses for the Black Weekend:

Double XP!
Every day you log into the Secret World during the event you can claim a potion in the Item Store which doubles the XP you earn from killing monsters. Each potion lasts 8 hours. The potions can be claimed once per account every 24 hours.

Bonus Black Bullion
Every time you would get Black Bullion in The Secret World, such as from defeating a Nightmare Dungeon boss or using the Condenser of Quintessence, you will get one extra bonus Black Bullion during the event!

Free Black Boots
Log in during the event and claim a pair of free Black Heavy Buckled Boots from the Item Store. Remember, monster hunters look awesome in black!

Free Membership Months for Recruiting!
For every new player you recruit from today and until the end of the Black Weekend Event you get a free month of Membership in addition to the Veteran Points you get normally (if you are a Grandmaster customer you receive $15 worth of Bonus Points instead). (To receive the month of Membership or Bonus Points you must invite between now and the end of the Black Weekend and the recruit must purchase The Secret World within 30 days.) Your recruitment page is available on your account page here.

Hi, everyone!

I'm going to open with the stunning cover of Issue #7 - A Dream to Kill.

I've spoken a lot about Issue #7 in the past, so I'll just say that we expect to release the Issue in the coming weeks and that you have tons of great content and a crucial part of the TSW story to look forward to. Check out my previous Game Director’s letter here, if you missed what I’ve written about the upcoming Issue earlier.

After the climactic ending of Issue #7, a new threat enters the picture - a threat against Agartha itself!

The battle for Agartha will begin, as filth spreads from the newly revealed entrance to Tokyo and threatens to corrupt the world tree.

Over the coming months as we ramp up towards Tokyo, players will be fighting to contain, and drive back the filth which is tainting the world tree. With every patch, this event will move to a new phase until eventually, if players have done enough, they will gain access to Tokyo itself.

This event will consist of both solo and group elements and will begin not long after Issue #7 is released, coinciding closely with the first Secret World anniversary, which we are planning several cool things for, and running right up until the release of Issue #9.

But for now let's take a closer look at Issue #8, which will introduce a completely new type of content and a new Augmentation System which allows customization of the already deep ability system in The Secret World.

Issue #8 comes with two major components - the Virtual Training Scenarios and the Augment System.

Firstly, the content: Issue #8 begins when the players are instructed to complete training with the Council of Venice in order to certify them as prepared to face the chaos in Tokyo. This is achieved by completing Scenarios.

Scenarios are virtual worlds created for the sole purpose of training the player to deal with situations that arise daily in The Secret World. Because this feature can be expanded in many ways, we will add additional Scenarios at a later date. Scenarios will be available for both group and solo play, and they will have different levels of difficulty.
These scenarios are designed to be repeatable through the use of certain highly random elements. This means that a scenario will play out differently every time and that players will need to adapt to circumstances on the fly.

We've heard this word random thrown around before, so let me provide a concrete example: Imagine a Scenario in Kingsmouth Church, where the player has been tasked with helping a group of survivors get through the night (12hrs). Every hour or so (in game time 5 minutes), huge numbers of zombies spawn around the church and move to attack the survivors. The player has multiple options to defend against these waves, including traps and tricks they find lying around.

Where the random element comes into play is the chance of something else occurring on the waves: Special bosses spawning, survivors panicking and fleeing the church, an infected survivor turning and attacking the others, a helicopter dropping additional supplies or lightning striking randomly in the spaces around the church.

While some of these elements might seem advantageous, there are tactical decisions which need to be made. Does a player foray out to retrieve dropped supplies and leave the survivors vulnerable?

We hope that the randomness of such elements will bring tactical decision making to the fore and create challenge in these scenarios every time that they are played.

All the features of Scenarios are not set in stone yet, but what we wish to achieve with them is clear: To offer a new type of dynamic, engaging, entertaining and rewarding content which ties in closely with both the new Augment System, the story of The Secret World and makes the players ready for the great challenges which await them in Tokyo.

All of this will be delivered together with a new advancement system, called the Augment system.
The Augment system allows the players to directly improve their existing abilities by providing customization towards certain roles in the game. All active abilities in the game can get augmented.  The types of Augments will be Damage, Support, Healing or Survivability.

Based on the level of the Augment and the type, there are a wide variety of effects that players can use to customize their current ability set up.

The Augment System will make use of Ability Points, Skill Points and the crafting system and its progression will be tied to the Scenario System.

We will provide a more detailed explanation of the Augment System as we bring it closer to release, but I can say that it will definitely bring even more choice, depth and opportunities for progression to the already rich character development system in The Secret World!

Thanks for listening

Sincerely,
Joel Bylos
Creative Director
Funcom


From: http://www.thesecret...letter_may_2013

Look who's in the top five

GOLDEN WEEKEND IN THE SECRET WORLD

This coming weekend (from Friday the 3rd at 3pm CET/6am PDT through Sunday the 5th of May) everyone can enjoy tons of bonuses in The Secret World! Make sure you don’t miss this great opportunity to reap some very valuable rewards.
The Golden Weekend contains:
Double Ability Points!

• Every time you earn an Ability Point during the event you also get an additional one as a bonus. This stacks with the bonus from Timed Ability Point boosts from the Item Store.

Free Membership Months for Recruiting!

• For every new player you recruit this weekend you get a free month of Membership in addition to the Veteran Rewards you get normally (if you are a Grandmaster customer you receive $15 worth of Funcom Points instead). (To receive this bonus you must invite between now and the end of the Golden Weekend and the recruit must purchase The Secret World within 30 days.) Your recruitment page is available here.

Great Deal on Funcom Points!

• During the Golden Weekend you get 30% extra Bonus Points every time you purchase Funcom Points! Bonus Points are valid for 6 months towards any in-game purchase.

The launch of Skill Point Potions!

• We now introduce new boosts to the Item Store which double the amount of Skill Points you earn for a set amount of time. These items are exclusively available to accounts such as yours which have defeated the Gatekeeper, and are available for all your characters!

Your account is open and ready for play! If you need the client again, download it here.

Releases on the 13th. Good or bad it's an Alien game so I have to try it. They say mp will be similiar to L4D so we will see.

If you've bought the game already but haven't played it in a awhile you can now play without any additional monthly fees.

We of course have our Dark Omen cabel (dragon) and would be glad to have you back active.

Go here for all of the info and JOIN US!

https://www.facebook...v/4231299105695