Issue #8:
The Venetian Agenda is nearing completion. This
update contains two brand new and important game features – the Scenario
and Augment Systems. Today we are going into detail about the Augment
System and talk in depth on how everything works.
At the bottom of this article you can also enjoy the all new cover for Issue #8!
The Secret World's game system has one core principle:
You can learn everything and choose exactly what you bring to each fight yourself. Giving the players freedom and choice is always most prominently on our mind.
The new Augment System coming with Issue #8:
The Venetian Agenda follows this principle to the letter.
The Secret World already has an immensely deep character development
system, with more than five hundred Abilities to learn and choose from.
The continuous expansion of the Auxiliary Weapons System has added even
more choice and depth to the game since launch, and now yet another
layer gets added to this rich cake of game systems.
This new layer is made for experienced players who have already
acquired most Skills and enough Abilities to be effective in many
situations. It gives them a new opportunity to customize their
characters, try out more tactics and acquire more power!
As the players learn more and more about wielding Anima powers they
also learn new ways to fine tune these Abilities. The better the
resonance with the Anima they can create, the more powerful their
Abilities can become. This is what Augments are – tuning forks which
lets the players channel the power of Gaia better than ever.
The basics of Augments
The Augment System offers four brand new Skill lines and a total of
forty Augments which each has five different Quality Levels. Any player
can learn any, and potentially all, of these Augments if he is diligent
enough.
There are four main groups of Augments: Damage, Support, Healing and
Survivability. Each group consists of ten unique Augments. These ten are
divided into different degrees of rarity: One Green, four Blue, four
Purple and the rarest is the one Yellow.
The new Augments have gotten their very own Augment Wheel, where all of them can be studied and progress monitored.
You use Augments by attaching them to the active Abilities on your
Abilities bar. Each Augment group has a color and each active Ability
uses this color coding to show which types of Augments can be attached
to it.
For example: The Assault Rifle builder Ability Suppressing Fire is a
pure damage ability and therefore can only have damage Augments attached
to it, while the Blade builder Blade Torrent can have both Damage and
Survivability Augments.
The bonuses you get
The power of each Augment depends on several factors, such as its rarity, what QL it has and what Ability it is attached to.
Damage Augments do things like increase the chance of Critical and
Penetrating hits, increase Attack Rating and Hit Rating or in their
rarest form give a significant damage increase. Survivability Augments
can boost Health and protections or Block, Defense and Evade Rating, and
also increase Hate generation or give a handy self heal based on total
Health.
Support Augments can increase team healing or damage and even reduce
the amount of damage taken for the whole team. The most helpful Support
Augments may still be those which reduce the recharge cooldown on either
your own Abilities or those of the entire team!
Healing Augments give you a higher Heal rating, buff Heal over Time
effects, Barriers or Leeching Abilities. They also increase the chance
to do Critical Heals or Critical Power. The rarest Healing Augment gives
the Ability it is attached to a big boost in the amount it heals per
use.
The tactical choices
Most Augments only augment the Ability they are attached to, and
since the diligent player quite quickly will have many Augments to
choose from, which Augment he attaches to which Ability is critical.
These are the choices which add another layer of depth to The Secret
World's character development system. Knowing which Augments to use on
which Ability and for which situation is the key. Perhaps some added
self healing might be the way to go for soloing and PvP? Perhaps going
all out with Damage Augments will be the way to go in Dungeons or
perhaps buffing the entire team with Support Augments is even smarter?
The process
Augments are acquired as loot in the game, but not in their finished
state. What you get from defeating bosses in Scenarios are unattuned
Augments. Only the least rare (green) Augments can be used straight away
when you loot them.
The rest of the Augments must be crafted together with both Pure
resources and Runes to attune them. When you have a finished Augment you
must also posses enough Ability Points to learn it and have the
appropriate Augment Skill.
As you learn the new Augment power the Augment is removed from your
inventory as an item and instead becomes active in the new Augment
Wheel. The required number of Ability Points is consumed by this
process.
To increase the QL of your Augments you just repeat this process. The
only difference is that you need to combine two finished Augments to
get to QL 2, three to get to QL 3 and so on. The number of Ability
Points required increases for each QL of the Augment and you of course
need to have invested more in your Augment Skills to use them.
To learn more and more Augments you need to get your hands on the
right loot, gather crafting resources and save up both Ability Points
and Skill Points. Then you can build the Augments you want, consume them
in your inventory with a right click and finally choose them in the
Augment Wheel and attach them to an active Ability.
So look forward to Issue #8 people! Soon you will get the chance to
fine tune your Abilities with Augments, get tons of new tactical choices
and increase the power of your characters to new heights!