Story time:
I'm talking with this one guy, and he asks me if I play video games.
- "Yes"
- "What do you think of the new Call of Duty?"
- "I don't play it"
- "Oh, so you're one of those casual gamers, huh?"
Well, if you want casual to mean "I do it as a hobby and not for pay," I guess I would call myself casual. But yeah, NO...
In other news, I just got my hands on a closed beta key for Secret World. Since I didn't get a chance to play a Dragon or Illuminati last weekend, and the servers are different so I didn't have access to my Templar, I rolled up a Dragon. I had read that the quests were all the same, regardless of faction, but thought they just meant "everyone goes to the same areas, so the general quests are the same, but faction quests are different." (The way it in in every MMO.) No, even the faction quest is the same.
This makes me wonder about the longevity of the game. There are no classes and you can swap builds easily, so replayability based on classes is gone. (Technically, you do have to specialize to a certain extent to have enough skill points, but with enough grinding, you can overcome that.) Since the faction stories are the same, there is little draw to replay to see all the story. (You do get different reward messages when you complete a quest, but that's the only difference.) You are limited to 3 characters, making it harder to keep multiple builds (if you want a tank, a DPS, and a healer, you can do that. Although role switching isn't very hard. You can do it without even changing weapons. "OK, with this gear, my Fists/Pistols Templar is a tank. Put on this gear, switch a few abilities, and he heals.")
I do enjoy the game, and will most likely pick it up once I have money. But I can't help but think FunCom shot themselves in the foot with this one. Niche gameplay that will drive away a lot of players. Little replay value.