Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

TTH : Moving away from PvP, let’s talk story.  We’ve known you’re going to be hiding little fragments of it all over the internet.  No doubt the in-game browser you guys are integrating will be great for that.  But just how integral are these storyline bits going to be to the game?  Just how much can we expect to search outside of the game as opposed to inside?

RT: I don’t want to downplay these cool little bits you’ll find online, but you really don’t have to if you’re not interested in that.  With all of the different mission types, you’ll find enough to engross you from gameplay or story.    We’ve created an amazing world though, and these optional side things will help you explore it.

A lot of you might be confused and think this is a different MMO from the screenshot on page 1.  Rest assured, they are one and the same.

TTH : So how deep are these investigations?

RT : Some will have an answer you can just look up like most players would these days.  Others will be more dynamic.  All of them will have experience rewards as an incentive.  We also have the capability of changing the answer to these, which means make things fresh whenever we want.   We can also put the answer on one of these websites to keep providing incentive to diving into the story of The Secret World.

Don’t worry, we’re working on some that will be near impossible to crack.

TTH : Some really cool locations were on display today – Stonehenge, el dorado…. How exactly are we traveling to these places.

RT : There are these persistent rifts that link each culture, we call them Agartha.  The idea of a second earth -a spirit world that exists in the hollow of the earth we know about- is very pervasive in myth; the Buddhist idea of Shambhala, for example.  The portals to Agartha link cultures together, and in the story, hint at a more evolved being or beings watching over us.  When people enter Agartha via any of the entrance ways in the play fields, there will be a place where time and space change considerably. 

Agartha will play an increasingly bigger role in the game as we expand the game.  You’ll be exploring Agartha itself.  You’ll ask yourself questions such as who built this city, why is it here… those won’t be answered at launch, but we will reveal the answers soon enough.

TTH : As far as content at launch goes, how long do you think people are going to be able to sit down and play nonstop? 

RT : It’s hard to put a number on that, but in terms of pure PvE content, we have several hundred hours.  The experience differs between the factions as well, and then you add dungeons and PvP and you’ve got a complete game.  New content will be added after launch, and most missions will be repeatable so you can check out your favorite missions after a patch change.

TTH : How close are we to actually getting our hands on this?

RT : We started our first beta phase in May, and we just started our second one.  We’re adding more players all the time.  We’ll let you know when it’s ready!

Remember that we are making this first and foremost for our role-players.  When the story and the respective events are ready to show off, we are going to blow your minds.