The Secret World’s open beta has begun, and as I pre-ordered I’m able to get in and take a poke around for the weekend. I’ll be reporting back on what I encounter. It will be my usual stream of conciousness nonsense, as I make my way through. We’re still in Beta, so expect things to change, but I can only talk about what’s in front of me, so that’s what I’ll do.
For this weekend, we are limited to team Templar. As they’re the chaps based in London, and marginally less crazy sounding than the Dragons and Illuminati, it’s almost a certainty that I shall be joining them when the game launches. Were it up to me, I wouldn’t join any of ’em, as they all seem far more interested in being spooky and fighting silly wars than protecting humanity, but you have to work with the choices before you.
So, with all that said, please allow me to introduce the TSW version of Arkenor:
He should really take that taxi.
When is The Secret World set? I had assumed it was modern day, but the choices of starting clothes suggest that either it is set in the 70s, or that the Templars equip their new members from out the back of a nostalgia clothing store. Actually, I’m fine with that, as the 70s kind of rocked.
At any rate, that’s about as civilised as I can get TSW Ark to look. I shall make finding some academic spectacles and a shirt which buttons up all the way a priority once I get ingame. As it stands, the poor chap looks as if he’s staggering home at 5 am after a long night on the disco floor. He should probably take that taxi.
It would be fair for me to point out that the launcher notes state:
Character Creation will be improved and expanded for launch, with more customisation options added for both appearance and clothing.
That’s good to know, as it does feel a bit limited right now, though there’s enough to work with, and it allows you a decent range of skin-tones and ethnicities. There’s no body or age sliders, which I hope get added, as I do like to break the mould of everyone being super-skinny, and my “Real World Supernatural” fighting characters tend to be academics, journalists and doctors, rather than action-men.
Naming ought to be simple, and it most likely will be for you! You can choose a first name, surname, and a nickname. However, I had forgotten something very special about Funcom. They consider the character string “Ark” to be inappropriate in a name, because the “Advisors of Rubi-Ka” or ARKs are what they call GMs over in Anarchy Online. This could be a bit of a problem, as I’ve already used my one Character Name Reservation slot on Arkenor, which is probably not going to be allowed by their naming filter. Harrumph.
Never mind, for now. I have plenty of perfectly good Call of Cthulhu and Mage characters I can work with, not to mention a couple from my own fictional scrawlings, and was planning on using them for my alts anyway!
Onwards to Part 2!!
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