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alt="Killing It in Kingsmouth - The Secret World Starter Guide">

Regardless of your starting city and faction, in style="font-style: italic;">The Secret World,
all roads lead to Kingsmouth. Kingsmouth lies on Solomon Island, just
off the New England coast. But all is not well in Kingsmouth, as anyone
who enters there (and everyone who plays style="font-style: italic;">The Secret World
does) will soon learn. Ten Ton Hammer's editorial team kicked zombie
ass on the press and closed beta servers for months, and now we're here
to prepare you to rock Kingsmouth as you hit style="font-style: italic;">The Secret World
for early access and launch.

General

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alt="The Ten Ton Hammer team assesses The Polaris." width="300">
• When you create your character, you’ll be asked to provide
  a first name, nickname,
  and last name. Be aware that your nickname is the one that displays in
  group. In other words, if you name a character Guy “Effin”
  Smiley...you’ll appear in the group window with the rather uncool name
  Effin. (Yeah. One of us learned that by experience.)
• Rebuilding a character for some reason? You can style="font-weight: bold;">skip cut scenes by
  hitting ESC. (But don't do that if you've rolled a different faction;
  the opening cut scenes for each faction are unique.) You can also style="font-weight: bold;">skip the Tokyo flashback sequence.
  When you're taken into the sequence, simply run up the stairs and right
  click on the gate (it will be highlighted in yellow when you're close
  to it.).
• Each starting city, as well as various locations, has style="font-weight: bold;">lore pieces. They're
  floating golden boxes. Right click on them to earn a piece of the lore
  puzzle.
• Take some time to familiarize yourself with the style="font-weight: bold;">default key mapping
  when you first begin playing. The full list can be found in the main
  Options menu, and can save you a bit of frustration.
• Once you've reached Kingsmouth, you can style="font-weight: bold;">claim your pre-order items
  (if applicable.) Open the menu or hit the comma key [,] to open the
  stores. Click on "Claim Items." Your pre-order items will be in the
  store with a purchase price of $0. Go through the purchase process.
  Items will appear in your inventory. (Keep in mind that there might be
  a bit of lag between the purchase and your item appearing if server
  traffic is high.)
• Vendors can be found just outside (behind) the Sheriff's Station in Kingsmouth. You'll want to make frequent trips to sell loot you don't need. (Keep in mind that there are a lot of things you shouldn't sell--you'll need them for crafting. Check out our handy crafting guide for more.) You can also make repairs to damaged gear by clicking on the Repair tab in the vendor window.
• Not happy with the clothing items you selected during
  character creation? Once you've earned a little extra Pax Romana (the
  main currency in TSW) travel through Agartha and head to London where
  you'll find a store called Pangea. This store is full of sales clerks
  (read: vendors) selling gender-specific
  clothing items. Be warned that some options can be a
  little pricey for the new player. (Basically, the cooler the item is,
  and the more you want it, the more it costs, just like in real life.)
• When out of combat, pressing the X key will activate your style="font-weight: bold;">Sprint ability. This
  can greatly reduce the time it takes to traverse larger portions of the
  map. Sprint also holsters your weapon.
• The tilde key [~] will also style="font-weight: bold;">holster your weapon.
• The scenery in Kingsmouth is grisly but cool. If you want
  to take a screenshot,
  you’ll need to know that the F11 takes a screenshot and ALT + F11 takes
  a jpg screenshot. ALT + Z hides the UI. Screens are found in
  your program file folder under Funcom.
• Don't sell weapon drops and old weapons--you can style="font-weight: bold;">disassemble items for crafting.
  (More on that in a separate guide soon!)

Combat

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alt="The ring on the ground means this undead fireman is about to 'ax' a very serious question."
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• You can make
  a hot button of sorts for consumables. Open your
  inventory [I]. click the + sign on the upper left to open a new bag,
  drag consumable items to that bag, position the bag where you want it
  on your screen, then click the padlock icon on the upper left to lock
  it. You can now easily click on consumables to activate them.
• Holding down the right mouse button while moving with your
  directional keys allows you to strafe
  in whatever direction you’re moving, which is handy for avoiding
  monster attacks.
• Dashes are
  lifesavers! Double-click a directional key to dash in that
  direction to avoid monster attacks. (There is a brief cooldown
  associated with dashes.)
• Monsters have
  “tells,” letting you know when they’re going to launch a
  big attack. Early on, the game will point them out by putting markers
  on the ground showing you the radius of the attack and warning you to
  get out of the way. Pay attention! These markers are used as a learning
  tool, but later in the game you’ll only have visual cues to let you
  know when a monster is about to lay the smack down.
• During combat, the environment can be both your friend and
  your enemy. Sometimes you’ll find useful items to help you fight (such
  as gas cans--handy for igniting and blowing up hordes of zombies). But style="font-weight: bold;">monsters can create harmful
  environmental effects by doing things like laying down
  lingering fields of toxic gas or electrifying the water. You’ve been
  warned!
• Take
  advantage of “states” when you’re working in groups. Your
  partners can use abilities to put an enemy into a certain state
  (example: hindered) that your abilities may be able to exploit. Know
  what you can do, and figure out creative ways to work together.
• There are surprises around every corner. Expect to die as a
  result, and don’t take it too personally. Remember that style="font-weight: bold;">grouping is not only more fun,
  but also your friend. The Secret World is one MMO that
  seems to reward group play.

Missions

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alt="Edgar and his junkyard dogs, Tango and Cash, have some missions for you."
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• style="font-weight: bold;">Finding missions
  in The Secret World
  isn't as straightforward as it is in other MMOs. There really isn't a
  central quest hub. The game encourages exploration, so rather than
  gathering a bunch of missions and then setting out, you’re
  going to have to find things to do all around Kingsmouth. Not only will
  NPCs give you missions, but so will interactable objects. Look around!
• When attempting to solve
  puzzles, be sure to check your immediate surroundings for
  additional clues. Listen to what NPCs have to say, and remain
  observant. It really helps if you can get yourself into the mindset of
  an agent--stay sharp and keep your eyes and ears open.
• Many missions
  can be repeated after a certain amount of time passes so
  don’t hesitate to revisit some of your favorite NPCs. In fact, you may
  have to in order to gain enough AP/SP and obtain enough gear to move on.
• There are different mission
  types. There are action (red icon), sabotage (yellow) and
  investigation (green). Of these types you can only have one at a
  time--accepting a new mission of the same type will cancel whatever
  mission you have active. (You'll get an on-screen warning.)
   These missions are generally given by NPCs. Item missions
  (gray-green icon) are found on items placed around the
  environment--keep a sharp eye out. You can have up to three of these
  active at any given time. Your story mission is represented by a blue
  icon. Dungeon missions display a purple icon (you'll generally receive
  the mission from an NPC just outside the dungeon).
• Don't try to rush through your style="font-weight: bold;">story mission. Story
  missions are more complex and usually more challenging. Make sure
  you've gained enough Abilities and Skill Points, and that you've
  increased your gear Quality Level (QL) before you charge into the next
  phase.
• There's no need to run back to an NPC when you style="font-weight: bold;">complete a mission;
  simply click the button on the right of your screen that says "Send
  Report." 
• Find your
  next mission by scouting the location where you finished
  your last one. Chances are very good you'll find
  another nearby.
  

Character Development

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alt="Check out Decks (pre-made templates) to get a look at weapon combinations and builds."
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• You'll start the game with a single weapon, but can
  ultimately equip two. You
  don't actually have to buy your second weapon! One of your
  earliest missions will send you to a training area to choose a starter
  weapon. After you've chosen your weapon and completed the quest, zone
  out, and then immediately zone back in. The weapon crates containing
  various weapon types will now be unlocked and you can right-click them
  to choose another weapon and add it to your inventory...for free.
• To get a better feel for how you can style="font-weight: bold;">combine active and passive skills
  for two weapons, to better fit a character concept you're
  aiming for, be sure to open the Decks panel. This displays as a
  vertical tab option on the ability screen [N], and includes some
  premade deck examples that help illustrate various build concepts.
  These templates are a great learning resource.
• It's quite possible to make a bad, ineffective build in style="font-style: italic;">The Secret World. style="font-weight: bold;">Look for synergies--abilities
  that complement each other. See our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/tsw/guides/the-ability-wheel">Ability
  Wheel Guide for more information.
• Make sure you
  can use new gear. Early on, you'll want to carefully
  consider where you spend your skill points. For example, to equip
  higher grades of Talismans, you'll need to spend points in the Head,
  Major, or Minor Talisman lines. So, if you've spent all of your
  available points in your weapon lines, it will take a lot longer to
  start equipping new talismans that drop towards the end of Kingsmouth
  and heading into Savage Coast. Sometimes it's best to wait to
  spend skill points until after you've received a new drop or
  quest reward so you can ensure you're able to use it.
• Damage and Healing weapon skill lines are fairly
  straightforward, but if you're looking to style="font-weight: bold;">fulfill more of a traditional
  tanking role, select weapons and lines labeled as
  Survivability.

Have you discovered additional tips and tricks for new players
entering The Secret
World? Share them in the comments below!