The Secret World

People enjoy levelling – it's not like that's outdated. It's a great mechanic for making you feel like you're progressing. But it does set you on a very defined course... It's like being on a train and having a beautiful view out the window.

We're definitely more open; we're definitely more free-form. It means you start the game as a blank canvas. We give you direction but we don't lock you into any one choice.

You can build different decks with your powers; all these cards can be put together for a certain encounter. You can't go through all the content with one deck, direction. Different encounters, different dungeons, different experiences are going to require different approaches, so diversity in your character is incredibly important.

Being just one thing, the magic DPS guy, will get you through a little bit of the content and then you'll figure out that no, it's not going to work on these guys over here – you need to build something else, go in a different direction.

That free-form gameplay is something that MMOs have lacked. To me it feels fresh to do be able to do that, and it fits our modern setting.

Having levels also puts the focus on levelling, and we don't want to do that. We want to put focus on the content; enjoy the content, really enjoy the missions as you play them. Enjoy pursuing these new powers that you don't have to be a certain level to use. It's liberating.

We're going to have all of it. We have said we'll have crafting but not talked about what it entails. Crafting is a huge part of a game and it's really interesting.

Our hubs; we have three hubs in the game: New York, Seoul and London, and those are also the secret society headquarters. London is the main social hub, to socialise with people, go to shops or hang out at the pub. It's designed to include all players from all secret societies. It works like it would in any other MMO except with our unique twist.

Players can form guilds called cabals, and together with people in those cabals they can do dungeons or team up or socialise or do PVP, which is a huge part of the game.

Yep. There will be things to support a living, thriving economy - that's really important for us. The economy in this game is going to be really healthy because of the crafting mechanics. That is a significant part of the game.

It's not something you have to do. There are players like myself; the very thought of crafting is disturbing to me! I just want to get in there and get my loot!

We haven't announced a decision on that. It ties it into PVP as well. We hope to do so in connection with more PVP announcements, because what we've shown so far of PVP has just been the mini-games. We haven't talked about other PVP mechanics in the game.

We haven't talked about raids yet. It's an open game, it's a free-form game – it doesn't mean it's an entirely linear game. Your character will grow in power and encounter harder content, even if you don't have levels. You do need a sense of progression and completion.

On the PVE side, we have a defined endgame where players complete the first part of the story mission that continues after launch. When they go beyond that there are pockets of content that are much harder and require people to get a better selection of powers.

There are dungeons that we haven't talked about that are really going to challenge people. The PVP is of course something that's going to keep people going. As for raids, we haven't really announced anything yet.

But on the mission side we are going to keep investigations going after launch and make sure there are things to keep the community bustling and keep them going. But most importantly what I think will keep people going will just be getting more variety in their powers.

To cover all the content in the game you are probably going to have to get most of those 500 powers and find the best ways to use them.

We haven't really talked about it but no one has really asked about it!

We're conscious that these don't come across as levels. People are rising within the ladders within a secret society, and part of that is gaining access to new secrets. You gain rank through missions, and you say in order to progress to the next step on the ladder you have to do something for us - and that usually involves something to do with the other secret societies.

It does have a direct impact on some gameplay mechanics, giving you more choices. It definitely has an impact on your character.

Not at launch! We need to keep some stuff for the future. You won't even see the top in The Secret World at launch.

These societies go deeper and further than anything you can ever imagine, so you'll barely be able to scratch the surface in the beginning. But as the game progresses...

These hub cities where the secret societies are headquartered – that goes pretty deep there; there are layers that are invisible at first but then you get a hint of it. When it comes to the endgame and the launch version, that may open a door and reveal what's beyond it. But it's a long path from there to ruling the world.

You know, 10-15 years of a live game before we get to the bottom of it, so it'll take a while!