So I'm on the fence...

[Zero]

I've spent a lot of time developing my character in TSW, and I'm really debating on beginning again in SWL... I've got all the clothing transferred over, back when the switch first happened, so at least there's that, but, does the story play out the same as it did in TSW? The last mission I had was to await instructions from my, leader, or something, is there more after that?

I guess I just need more incentive to start all over again. I keep going back to TSW but it's all so barren, empty, nothing updated, no events, etc.

[Jaq]

- There is a new story zone after where TSW left off, but I'd compare it to a half-zone content-wise. If you were around when Tokyo was first introduced before more content was added later to fill it out, it's a bit like that. They had more ideas than they were able to follow through on with the initial zone release.

- The original story is largely the same, but has been re-ordered so that it flows a bit more logically (especially early), as well as incorporating the old endgame DLC issues in regional order. For example, instead of finishing the main quest Transylvania, going back to Egypt to do Issue 6, back to Transylvania for Issue 7, start Tokyo, then back to Egypt for Issue 14, you now do all the content in each zone before moving on.

Now for some good news/bad news.

The Good news: The story content is easier, and an experienced player will breeze through it without any grinding. I was able to finish the story by playing every mission available in order. I never played any mission twice. The AEGIS system no longer exists, so no grinding that either.

The Bad news: While there's been no official word, I'm pretty sure we've reached the end of the line for new Secret World MMO content. Everything was written with the intention of moving the story to the next region (no spoilers), but it's looking pretty unlikely that's ever going to happen. At least not in the MMO. I think the best we can hope for is more standalone games set in the Secret World universe (like Moons of Madness) to continue the lore.

TLDR: There is indeed new content, and it probably wouldn't take you very long to get to it, but it's not a lot of content, and it's probably the last story content the game is ever getting.

[Zero]

Thanks a lot for the detailed info JaQMarius!

As long as I can still mix and match my active and passive skills from different trees, I think it should be ok, are the skills exactly the same as they were in TSW?

I only really played the tutorial part up to the police station in Innsmouth, how is the economy on the market? I used to make a decent amount off of the ice golems in Transylvania, upgrading and selling the runes, are they still worth anything?

I'm glad they did away with that aegis system, I remember that being one of the last upgrades to the leveling system, but all I could think was "ugh something else to grind...", we still have the tertiary weapons? I was liking the quantum bracer a lot.

[Jaq]

Hmm, how to put this...
The skill system is simultaneously completely different and mostly the same. Mainly it's simplified.

You've probably already noticed the reticle targeting as opposed to tab targeting.

You open combat with full weapon energy points instead of building them up with weak attacks.

You can still learn all 9 main weapons, but it costs in-game currency to unlock each weapon starting with the third one. However, your third weapon is very inexpensive, just in case none of the starting classes had the 2 weapon combination you wanted.

Passive skills are weapon-specific in Legends. You can equip whichever you want, but they'll only work on the weapon from the weapon tree they were taken from. This is probably the most controversial change.

The Afflicted/Impaired/Hindered/etc system is gone.

The alternate weapon system that included the quantum bracer has been replaced with "gadgets." There's no skill tree for them, you just pick them up and that skill is added to your hotbar.

The augment system is gone. Glyphs and signets are still around, but the runes are simplified.

Instead of talismans having dps, tank and healer stats, they just have a raw anima value and you decide how to allocate your anima to those roles. However, many talismans and weapons have additional little perks that favor certain roles (e.g. a spiked wristband that harms the attacker on hit and draws aggro).

Upgrading gear is similar to how upgrading worked for the original Secret World's endgame gear, only in Legends it starts from Level 1 and there's a much larger upgrade range. It's extremely grindy towards the end of it, but you can complete all the story content with gear that's barely upgraded into purples (purple being the 3rd out of 5 rarity levels now).

That's the gist of it. It's different, but someone coming from the old game isn't going to struggle with it.

[Zero]

Aye, my entire build was on an afflicted/impaired base. I had a sword/fist build with passives from those and two other skill trees. It took awhile to put together but with every hit I was actually hitting 8-10 times; so you're saying that if I were to use sword/fist is SWL, I couldn't use passives from chaos/blood/assault etc?

I feel as though if I were just beginning to play, and had never touched TSW, I wouldn't mind these changes, but some aspects seem, lazier, crippled... The side effects like afflicted/impaired added more strategy, instead of what now seems like smack and damage

I never did like tab target combat, but TSW was an exception because of all the layers that went beyond that 'smack and damage' repetitive play.

You've given me a bit to think about, I'll probably give it another go, play a solid 4-6 hours and see if it meshes with me. Thank you again for your informative posts!

[Jaq]

Yeah, I'm not going to lie, if you were hardcore into TSW's passive synergies with respect to afficlted/impaired etc., SWL is going to be a letdown. It's much simpler than that. It's the classic Goldilocks problem. TSW was a pile of random skills that was much too disorganized, and in an effort to correct that, they made SWL much too simplified. I won't pretend to know what the ideal mix of simplicity and complexity would be for player retention, but I'm confident it's somewhere between TSW and SWL.