History YMMV / TheSecretWorld

** Additionally Nasir's accent shifts so much it is hard to tell where he/his family are supposed to be from, Egyptian, Russian, American, Italian, but being overblown and nonsensical is sort of Nasir's thing, so it all sort of washes together despite performance intent.

* GeniusBonus: Good luck catching all the references in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYHJ-Od5WrM "Everything Is True" trailer]].
** The Horse Show at the "''Authentic'' Wabanaki Village" is cancelled. Horses weren't a part of Northeastern Forest tribe culture, because they weren't even native to the continent.

** The above are nothing, however, compared to virtually ''all'' of the enemies in Kaidan, thanks to the AEGIS system you need to fight them. Anything tougher than the most basic zombie mobs ''will'' issue a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to new arrivals in Kaidan, even the mid-range mooks that are the next step up. And even Kaidan has its own Demonic Spiders: namely, those enemies that have ''two'' AEGIS shields, requiring you to switch in the middle of the fight (which takes several valuable seconds), or the rare mobs of multiple enemies with different types of shields.

** The AEGIS system used for combat in Tokyo. An attempt to make the combat system more in-depth without falling victim to the PowerCreep that comes from constantly leveling up and acquiring new weapons, it instead proved to be a clunky grind for upgrades to the AEGIS modules and a pain in the ass to use in the heat of combat. Upon the announcement of the ''Secret World Legends'' relaunch with its redesigned combat system, some players were happy just because they knew that this meant that AEGIS would be, at the very least, redesigned to be more user-friendly when they reintroduced Tokyo.

** The Ak'ab on Solomon Island are this for early-level players, at least in the original game. They're giant moth-monsters that do little damage on their own, but have lots of health, move around a lot during the fight (increasing the odds you bump into more of 'em), spawn thick on the ground, patrol over wide areas, and have both a powerful knockdown attack and an inhibiting attack that greatly reduces mobility. Their hives are also thick with "broodmarks" that further inhibit movement and make it hard to escape. They generally combine all the worst parts of every MMO enemy into one. One of the joys of revisiting Solomon Island later on is kicking their asses with your new, upgraded abilities. ''Legends'', fortunately, reduces them to mere GoddamnedBats thanks to the redesigned combat system, which makes it much easier to avoid their Dash attacks, as well as shrinking the range of the broodmarks' immobilizing effects.

* ScrappyMechanic: The AEGIS system used for combat in Tokyo. An attempt to make the combat system more in-depth without falling victim to the PowerCreep that comes from constantly leveling up and acquiring new weapons, it instead proved to be a clunky grind for upgrades to the AEGIS modules and a pain in the ass to use in the heat of combat. Upon the announcement of the ''Secret World Legends'' relaunch with its redesigned combat system, some players were happy just because they knew that this meant that AEGIS would be, at the very least, redesigned to be more user-friendly when they reintroduced Tokyo.

** The mission 'The Cost of Magic' was one of the first missions given this distinction, with incongruous FloatingPlatforms [[UnexpectedGameplayChange that had only appeared in then-late game]]. The dodgy JumpPhysics did not help.

* GameplayDerailment: The '/reset' command was intended to allow players to by-pass bugged missions and instances by respawning them. Instead, it's been commandeered for 'suicide teleportation': fast-travelling across the area by dying in one place, and respawning at the Anima Well closest to where they intend to go. This was later replaced with a fast travel system, and changing the /reset command to automatically revive at the nearest anima well.

* BrokenBase: The ''Secret World Legends'' relaunch proved controversial, to say the least. Since ''Legends'' is a completely new game, with ''The Secret World'' continuing only as a legacy server, some veteran players weren't too pleased that they would have to start from square one to access future content, even if they were able to carry over all cosmetic items purchased in the original game. The adoption of classes and a more conventional leveling system also didn't sit well with fans of the old open-ended power wheel, but thankfully, classes only affect initial unlocks and it is still possible to unlock every ability for every weapon. Others were more curious to see what the new game would offer, particularly the promised improvements to the game's combat system. Post-release, the base remains divided. Are the new simplified skill trees dumbing the game down and removing interesting choices or making the game more accessible and increasing diversity of viable builds? Are the FreeToPlay elements reasonable, with everything being available without paying real money, or is the game overly-aggressive and in-your-face about trying to sell loot and progression? Even player-requested fixes can break the base. When an early patch sped up post-L50 progression, there were fierce debates about whether this sufficiently fixed the issue or whether it effectively forced players to restart with a new character in order to be viable in PVP.

* BrokenBase: The ''Secret World Legends'' relaunch proved controversial, to say the least. Since ''Legends'' is a completely new game, with ''The Secret World'' continuing only as a legacy server, some veteran players weren't too pleased that they would have to start from square one to access future content, even if they were able to carry over all cosmetic items purchased in the original game. The adoption of classes and a more conventional leveling system also didn't sit well with fans of the old open-ended power wheel, but thankfully, your choice of class won't prevent you from eventually unlocking all weapons. Others are more cautious in their expectations and are waiting to see what the new game will offer, particularly the improvements to the game's combat system, which was often cited as one of its weakest points.

* BrokenBase: The ''Secret World Legends'' relaunch proved controversial, to say the least. Since ''Legends'' will be a completely new game, with ''The Secret World'' continuing only as a legacy server, some veteran players aren't too pleased that they have to start from square one to access future content, even if they are able to carry over all cosmetic items purchased in the original game. The adoption of classes and a more conventional leveling system also didn't sit well with fans of the old open-ended power wheel, but thankfully, your choice of class won't prevent you from eventually unlocking all weapons. Others are more cautious in their expectations and are waiting to see what the new game will offer, particularly the improvements to the game's combat system, which was often cited as one of its weakest points.

* StoicWoobie: Hayden Montag. As a child, his studies in magic accidentally killed his mother and eleven other innocent bystanders- crimes for which Hayden turned himself in. As an adult, he's headmaster of Innsmouth Academy... and by the time you meet him, most of his faculty and students have been murdered by the monsters that have invaded Solomon Island, leaving him and two others to keep vigil over a school overrun with monsters. And, beyond a few absent-minded mutterings, he weathers the storm calmly and analytically.

* BrokenBase: The announcement of the ''Secret World Legends'' relaunch has proved controversial to say the least. Since Legends will be a completely new game, with ''The Secret World'' continuing only as a legacy server, some veteran players aren't too pleased that they have to start from square one to access future content. The adoption of classes and a more conventional leveling system, doesn't sit well with fans of the old open ended power wheel, but thankfully your choice of class won't prevent you from eventually unlocking all weapons. Others are more cautious in their expectations and are waiting to see what the new game will offer, like the improvements to the game's combat system which was often cited as one of its weakest points.
* CompleteMonster: The Bogeyman is one of the few monsters who has managed to retain his intelligence and lacks any sympathetic traits or backstory. As a human, [[spoiler: Nathaniel Winter]] [[IJustWantToBeSpecial wanted to attain magical power]] and {{immortality|Immorality}} by any means necessary, and was willing to use Atlantic Island Park as the perfect method of achieving it. Utilizing an ancient artifact, he allowed homicidal rampages, deadly accidents and disappearances to fuel the park until he harnessed the energy for himself, becoming the Bogeyman. A creature who [[EmotionEater feeds off fear]], the Bogeyman [[WouldHurtAChild preys on children]], abducting and terrifying them to gain the energy before inevitably killing them in the process. In ''The Park'' we see his cruelty firsthand when he uses his dark powers to [[MindRape drive Lorraine, a mother looking for her lost child, insane for two hours straight]], relishing her fear and despair, while twisting her care for her child into hate and rage. Upon the discovery of her son, Callum, the Bogeyman forces her to [[spoiler:stab her son to death]].

** The Ak'ab on Solomon Island are this for early-level players. They're giant moth-monsters that, while they do little damage, have lots of health, move around a lot during the fight (increasing the odds you bump into more of 'em), spawn thick on the ground, patrol over wide areas, and have a powerful knockdown attack, and their hives are also thick with "broodmarks" that greatly inhibit movement and make it hard to escape. They generally combine all the worst parts of every MMO enemy into one. One of the joys of revisiting Solomon Island later on is kicking their asses with your new, upgraded abilities.

** The above are nothing, however, compared to virtually ''all'' of the enemies in Kaidan, thanks to the AEGIS system you need to fight them. Anything tougher than the most basic zombie mobs ''will'' issue a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to new arrivals in Kaidan, even the mid-range mooks that are the next step up. And even Kaidan has its own Demonic Spiders: namely, those enemies that have ''two'' AEGIS shields, requiring you to switch in the middle of the fight, or the rare mobs of multiple enemies with different types of shields.

** Of the Egypt [=NPCs=], there is Säid, an Ancient Egyptian mummy who's reinvented himself as a yuppie, and Nassir, the Marya demolitions expert with a fondness for American action films. Both of these characters have gotten [[CharacterBlog Funcom-sponsored Facebook pages and twitter accounts]], and both got more screentime during the "Last Train to Cairo" Issue - complete with the two interacting with each other ([[HilarityEnsues quite hilariously]]) in several scenes during the final mission.

* GuideDangIt: The 2016 Samhain event is causing a fair bit of consternation from the community for being so opaque. In each of the four main zones (New England, Egypt, Transylvania and Tokyo), a special mob called a "Rider" will appear under the right circumstances. These circumstances involve a player beginning the summoning and sacrifices being made to them in the form of killing mobs spawned when the Rider approaches. Seems simple enough, right? Except that, unless a certain number of people worship (actually do the /worship emote) at three specific locations in that particular map, the spawn will be unempowered and give worse loot. And then there's the issue of the lore-- in previous Halloween events, the lore's spawned in locations specific to the quests given for the event. This time, it's a random drop from the Riders, seemingly in only the empowered instances. On top of all ''that'', the event can glitch out, especially on Solomon Island, where the objective is to close hell portals, which have a habit of not spawning. And then there's the puzzle elements...

** The Innsmouth equivalent of a group of kids playing at being monster hunters [[FlatWhat hunt down and kill real monsters because there are so many of them.]] FridgeHorror kicks in big-time when you get to their hideout and take a look at their book of monsters. You might think these were just kids having a fun club, since Solomon Island was only recently overrun. Then you find out they have notes on most of the monsters you've faced and a few you haven't, meaning they've been fighting the same stuff you have, in limited numbers, and survived.

* MostAnnoyingSound: The citizenry of Harababureşti and their excessive greetings as you walk past. Salut!

** There are two Investigation missions that require the player to transcribe Morse code. The first one is in audio form, and is played at normal speed, making it almost impossible for someone not educated in it to follow.[[note]]There is accompanying video, but it plays too fast to be useful as a visual aid.[[/note]] The second one is in blinking light form, and while slower than the first one, still takes quite a bit of trial and error to transcribe correctly, and you also have to figure out for yourself that you're looking at a Morse Code sequence in the first place.
** "That’ll Leave a Mark" is an EscortMission located not very far from the entrance of the first area of the game (minus the hubs and Agartha). It requires to free a man from a BearTrap, then escort him to the sheriff's office (about 200 meters away). Though the man himself is decently resilient and armed, he moves slowly (justified by his wounds), and likes better shooting the zombies rather than following the player character. When he is following, there are regular spawns of a specific kind of zombie which is way stronger and tougher than the standard mooks of the area. But the biggest issue of the quest is that it's a timed mission, and the escortee goes back to his bear trap if the timer expires. Even if it happens inside the barricade surrounding the sheriff's office.

** Third tier (out of four) of the Egypt main mission "A Modest Proposal" should have been quite tame, but turns very frustrating thanks to flawed mechaniscs which makes the sequence impossible to complete unless performing a specific series of counter-intuitive actions. In theory, you must reach an Orochi tent inside a canyon, then blow its content with explosives found right there, and run to safety; the tent is protected by a turret that you must blow with an EMP grenade looted on one of the mutated Orochi wandering not far. What actually happens:
*** The grenade has a shorter range than what the target colour code seems to indicate, and trying to toss it from too far removes it form the inventory without any other effect.

** The mission 'Hell and Bach' involves clicking on runes in a particular order within a 'wheel'. There are three problems with this. First, you're not given the full alphabet, making it necessary to use TrialAndErrorGameplay to resolve which ones are which. Second, the runes themselves are very touchy, and clicking on the wrong one by mistake is practically guaranteed for the first couple times. Third, the runes are for whatever reason on a timer, and if you're too slow figuring out which of the runes to click next, it resets. And as if all that wasn't bad enough, woe to the low end gamer-at lower resolutions, the runes are so similar that it becomes impossible to tell some of them apart.

** Marianne Chen; last surviving member of a CDC team sent to investigate the emergence of the Filth in Solomon Island, she's had to watch the rest of the team die horribly- either from the arrival of the Fog or direct exposure to the Filth. Effectively abandoned by her superiors and left all alone in a badly-defended base camp overlooking the swamp where her teammates died, she now lives in daily terror of ''something'' crawling up the hill and murdering her in her sleep- or being infected, hence the reason why she hasn't taken off her Hazmat suit since the Fog first swept in. [[spoiler: On top of that, her Halloween story reveals that her colleagues forced her to become part of an organ-smuggling ring, meaning she didn't have friends even among them.]] The player is literally the ''only'' human contact she's had in the last few weeks, [[https://youtu.be/Uwgs7Ojwf7g?t=5s and it really shows in her dialogue]].

** Poor, poor Lorraine Maillard. Her father abused her throughout her childhood, and her one attempt to escape with her mother ended with her father kidnapping her back and making it look as though she ran away. As an adult, she spent her days being sexually harassed by customers at a barely-minimum wage job; the one bright spot in her life was her lover Don - and he died in the construction of Atlantic Island Park, leaving her pregnant and unsupported in a small town not known for its open-mindedness. Giving birth to Callum left her with postpartum depression[[note]]treated with electroshock therapy and a ton of antidepressants[[/note]], her own mother refused to support her, her attempts at getting money out of Don's family failed, her job paid so little that paying the power bills became almost impossible, and her attempts at raising her son might have actually been interrupted by real ghosts. And then the events of the ''The Park'' take place, in which she spends almost the entirety of the game getting her mind violated by the Bogeyman and being forced to hate her own son while being given an unadulterated view of her own deteriorating psyche. And just when you think it can't get any worse [[spoiler: the Bogeyman forces her to stab Callum to death]]. And that's not even the end of it! [[spoiler: Then she gets the blame for the crime, the Council of Venice press-gang her into their ranks, she's forcibly implanted with a Bee and made to endure even more MindRape while being made an immortal - meaning she'll never be able to recover from the tragedy and she can't kill herself without coming back to life. After thirty years of torment, she finally finds a way to kill herself... and that might just be the nearest thing to a happy ending Lorraine can ever get. But guess what? The ending to "The Seven Silences" implies that she gets brought back to life when you reassemble her destroyed Bee, so she doesn't even get the luxury of resting in peace - ever.]] Holy ''shit.''

* CompleteMonster: The Bogeyman is one of the few monsters who has managed to retain his intelligence and lacks any sympathetic traits or backstory. As a human, Nathaniel Winter [[IJustWantToBeSpecial wanted to attain magical power]] and {{immortality|Immorality}} by any means necessary, and was willing to use Atlantic Island Park as the perfect method of achieving it. Utilizing an ancient artifact, Winter allowed homicidal rampages, deadly accidents and disappearances to fuel the park until he harnessed the energy for himself, becoming the Bogeyman. A creature who [[EmotionEater feeds off fear]], the Bogeyman [[WouldHurtAChild preys on children]], abducting and terrifying them to gain the energy before inevitably killing them in the process. In ''The Park'' we see his cruelty firsthand when he uses his dark powers to [[MindRape drive Lorraine, a mother looking for her lost child, insane for two hours straight]], relishing her fear and despair, while twisting her care for her child into hate and rage. Upon the discovery of her son, Callum, the Bogeyman forces her to [[spoiler:stab her son to death]].

** Marianne Chen; last surviving member of a CDC team sent to investigate the emergence of the Filth in Solomon Island, she's had to watch the rest of the team die horribly- either from the arrival of the Fog or direct exposure to the Filth. Effectively abandoned by her superiors and left all alone in a badly-defended base camp overlooking the swamp where her teammates died, she now lives in daily terror of ''something'' crawling up the hill and murdering her in her sleep- or being infected, hence the reason why she hasn't taken off her Hazmat suit since the Fog first swept in. [[spoiler: On top of that, her Halloween story reveals that she her colleagues forced her to become part of an organ-smuggling ring, meaning she didn't have friends even among them.]] The player is literally the ''only'' human contact she's had in the last few weeks, [[https://youtu.be/Uwgs7Ojwf7g?t=5s and it really shows in her dialogue]].

* HellIsThatNoise: There's a MusicalSting that's meant to play when something darts across your line of view. [[JumpScare It's]] ''[[JumpScare very]]'' [[JumpScare jarring]], [[NothingIsScarier especially when you don't see anything that could have triggered it]]. There's a spot in the Blue Mountain area, around where you find the start of the Tyler Freeborn questline, where this noise plays ''constantly'' due to a roaming zombie repeatedly triggering it.

* BrokenBase: The announcement of the ''Secret World Legends'' relaunch has proved controversial to say the least. Since Legends will be a completely new game, with ''The Secret World'' continuing only as a legacy server, some veteran players aren't too pleased that they have to start from square one to access future content. The adoption of classes and a more conventional leveling system, doesn't sit well with fans of the old open ended power wheel, thankfully your choice of class won't prevent you from eventually unlocking all weapons. Others are more cautious in their expectations and are waiting to see what the new game will offer, like the improvements to the game's combat system which was often cited as one of its weakest points.

** Marianne Chen; last surviving member of a CDC team sent to investigate the emergence of the Filth in Solomon Island, she's had to watch the rest of the team die horribly- either from the arrival of the Fog or direct exposure to the Filth. Effectively abandoned by her superiors and left all alone in a badly-defended base camp overlooking the swamp where her teammates died, she now lives in daily terror of ''something'' crawling up the hill and murdering her in her sleep- or being infected, hence the reason why she hasn't taken off her Hazmat suit since the Fog first swept in. The player is literally the ''only'' human contact she's had in the last few weeks, [[https://youtu.be/Uwgs7Ojwf7g?t=5s and it really shows in her dialogue]].

** The above are nothing, however, compared to virtually ''all'' of the enemies in Kaidan, thanks to the AEGIS system you need to fight them. Anything tougher than the most basic zombie mobs ''will'' issue a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to new arrivals in Kaidan, even the mid-range mooks that are the next step up.

* DemonicSpiders: Ak'ab: Giant moth-monsters that, while they do little damage, have lots of health, move around a lot during the fight (increasing the odds you bump into more of 'em), spawn thick on the ground, patrol over wide areas, constantly knock you down and generally combine all the worst parts of every MMO enemy into one.

** The Innsmouth equivalent of a group of kids playing at being monster hunters [[FlatWhat hunt down and kill real monsters because there are so many of them.]]
*** FridgeHorror kicks in big-time when you get to their hideout and take a look at their book of monsters. You might think these were just kids having a fun club, since Solomon Island was only recently overrun. Then you find out they have notes on most of the monsters you've faced and a few you haven't, meaning they've been fighting the same stuff you have, in limited numbers, and survived.

* CompleteMonster: The Bogeyman. One of the more prominent monsters of Solomon Island, he's one of the few who's managed to maintain his intelligence, and one of the few who doesn't have some kind of sympathetic backstory: whereas entities like Jack O'Lantern and the Black House were victimized and tortured into becoming villains, the Bogeyman ''set out'' to become a monster almost from the very beginning. [[spoiler: As a human, Nathaniel Winter wanted to attain magical power and immortality by any means necessary, and was willing to use Atlantic Island Park as the perfect method of achieving it - even if it meant allowing dozens upon dozens of workers to die in accidents, or allowing others to be driven mad and twisted into murderers by the Park's influence. Plus, he abandoned his family in order to claim the harvested power, including his favourite son Nicholas.]] ''The Park'' expands on his villainy even further: one note found in the game reveals that once the most common source of power dried up, the Bogeyman was happy to harvest it directly from children he captured, killing them in the process; when Lorraine entered in search of Callum, he set out to MindRape her for the next two hours straight - [[spoiler: before manipulating her into stabbing Callum to death.]]

* UnderusedGameMechanic: The game has some players feel this about the investigation quests. The player base tends to remember these quests first when talking about the game, albeit sometimes for the GuideDangIt / GeniusBonus nature of some of them.

* UncannyValley: The intro for a Dragon character has been criticized for running right into this during the blowjob scene, though many still find it effective.
** What [[BlatantLies blowjob?]] I just got the [[BetterThanSex best]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything foot massage]] [[SexyDiscretionShot of my life!]]
** It's pretty obvious that Tibor and Luminita are both children, but based on their proportions, one could be forgiven for believing they are supposed to be midgets.