Funcom has made a big announcement yesterday - Ragnar Tørnquist, longtime Game Director for The Secret World, has stepped down to instead focus on creative direction for Funcom games. In his place, the Lead Content Designer Joel Bylos (pictured above) will be taking over. Funcom, Bylos, and Mr. Tørnquist were all very excited at the news.

The two have been very kind to each other about the change. Bylos said in the announcement, "Being given the opportunity to lead the game into a bold, new future is definitely a dream come true for me. I am very proud of what we as a team have created with ‘The Secret World’, and it is truly a brilliant canvas that will allow us to create more groundbreaking MMO experiences for many years to come."

Meanwhile, Tørnquist added, "Joel and I have worked together for many years, and I cannot think of anyone more suited to maintain the vision and lead the game going forward than him. I look forward to continue working with Joel on bringing the game forward through many, exciting post-launch updates, and I especially look forward to spending more time expanding on what I truly enjoy the most about ‘The Secret World’: the story, characters and the setting itself."

We wish great things for both Tørnquist and Bylos, like the hinted-at Issue #3 (The Cat God) and #4 (the New York City raid). 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

We talked before about the upcoming changes and additions to The Secret World's Issue 2, "Digging Deeper." Well now is your chance to take a shot at it, as the update is live, as confirmed on FunCom's official twitter account.

So you get it all outlined here; two new dungeons, cosmetic changes, new Kill Lair missions, bugfixes, gameplay overhauls, balances and item changes.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Ole Schreiner, the new CEO of Funcom, is anything but a foolish man. He's handling a company with a brand new MMO that (while being well received by players and quite enjoyable) is battling a small decline, layoffs at Funcom, a rough Metacritic score, and the inevitable anticipation of The Secret World going Free to Play. In a new interview at GamesIndustry.biz, Schreiner talks about these things and, most notably, TSW as a subscription or free-to-play based model.

If we had designed The Secret World as a free-to-play offering we would have made some different decisions along the way, for example in terms of how the in-game store works and how our post-launch content plan would play out. We tried leaving our options open during development so that we could launch with a different model should we have decided during development that's what we wanted, but eventually we did settle on the subscription model and that's what informed much of the game's design.

That said, we definitely have the tools to turn The Secret World into a free-to-play game - or even hybrid - should we decide to do that somewhere down the line. We did that with Age of Conan with significant success. 

Given that online games are becoming more focused as free-to-play, the change would be unsurprising and welcome for Funcom and gamers all over. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Tomorrow is a big patch day for The Secret World. The servers housing Funcom's modern-era MMO are due to be updated with Issue #2: Digging Deeper, bringing a whole range of new features and missions to the dark, mysterious world.

To herald the changes, Lead Content Designer Joel Bylos takes us through Issue #2 in this fresh video from Funcom. If you’re a fan of terrifying firepower, the close-up shots of the first new Auxiliary Weapon – the Rocket Launcher – are going to have you grinning with thoughts of chaos and destruction. There are also a number of different appearances you can give your new toy, allowing your portable death cannon to perfectly accessorize your outfit.

One of the bigger problems with The Secret World is finding decent players to join the game. Finally, FunCom has listened, and is adding a groupfinder to the next patch, Issue 2: Digging Deeper.

Toggled with Shift + C, you can browse for other teammates to pair up with on your quest, or flag yourself as looking for a team to join. Shown is which faction you're a member of, what role you can play, and what difficulty and region you're in. 

Issue 2: Digging Deeper will be out September 11-- this coming Tuesday.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

It’s never easy when an MMO developer runs into problems, which makes the recent ‘State of the Game’ from Funcom’s Creative Director and Senior Producer very welcome. In an open and frank statement, Ragnar Tørnquist acknowledged the recent difficulties the developer behind The Secret World had been through, in becoming a “cost-efficient live team”. He also nodded at the intense competition in the MMO genre, “from warring guilds to kung-fu-fighting pandas”.

Looking onward Tørnquist was eager to stress that, apart from the two week delay for Issue #2: Digging Deeper, monthly updates will continue as planned. Following from there will be a Halloween update, plus there’s the incredible New York raid that we went eyes-on with at Gamescom arriving in October. The new Tokyo playfield, Ground Zero, is set to sneak into a spring update.

If you haven’t yet tried the game, Funcom has recently launched a three day free trial. And if you're still on the fence, there are our one week and one month in reviews to help you decide.

Although many MMOs these days have troubled launches, it’s great to see The Secret World battle them head-on. With Tørnquist and his team showing no signs of slowing down in the months ahead, we can’t wait to see what else emerges from Funcom’s Wiki of Secrets. 

You can find Tørnquist’s full statement after the break.

Gareth “Gazimoff” Harmer, Staff Writer

I stand at a subway station, the grey tile and fluorescent lighting providing a pale backdrop for a small handful of commuters stranded at Hantell Street Station. A news report echoes around the entrance hall, streamed to a huddle of sorry faces crouched around an iPad. The reporter has no idea what’s going on. But then again, no one does. 

The ground shakes, dislodging streams of grit and dust from the ceiling. I decide to press on; ignoring the half-hearted pleas from one of NYPD’s finest, heading down the steps to the Seventh Avenue Line. There’s no service today, not any more. The loudest noise on the platform is coming from two German tourists arguing with each other. Something about Dusseldorf.

One of the subway trains has made a mess of the Downtown end of the platform, bursting through the roof and into the daylight above. Sensing an exit, I dash through the middle of the mangled train car. Emerging above ground, I’m just in time to see Air Force jets scream above. Sounds of the military are all around, with tanks rolling through the city streets and helicopter gunships circling nearby. Whatever’s going on, it’s big. It’s going to take a big team to take it down.

Let’s face it: as MMO gamers, we’re usually pretty poor at upgrading our PCs. Compared to our FPS playing brethren, we try to eke out as much life as possible from our components. When it is finally time to buy a new base unit or bundle of parts, we try to stretch our cash as far as possible. Considering our tendency to splash out on mice with more buttons than the average calculator, it’s surprising that we’re less inclined to think inside the box.

During Gamescom, I had the good fortune to meet up with NVIDIA representatives and check out their latest collection of hardware, from brand new desktop and laptop chips to the latest in mobile gaming. I also managed to get a close look at some of the latest games and MMOs running on this new kit, so that I could see for myself just what a difference it makes. From multiplayer Mech-fest Hawken to contemporary MMO The Secret World, the results are stunning.

Screenshots of The Secret World's upcoming new raid emerge along with new free play trial.

A number of welcome changes are coming to The Secret World with the Issue 2 update.