Hey, as a previous TSW player, I don’t get it. I just hit level 15 and got the “Special Agent Recruit” item… I think it’s BoU… I don’t understand the point of Agents. The popup that came along with the item “explaining” didn’t do any good explaining.
… Is it like those cat collection games on cellphones where they go off and do something for you and it takes forever, and you might get 200 anima shards out of it?
I honestly don’t understand the point at all - however I did notice there are achievements (some with clothing/title rewards) associated with them. (Others with agent-related rewards?)
What the heck?
I’d be happy for someone to point me to a guide that says more than the in-game popup, because that really told me all of nothing.
When agents get to level 25/50 they can be equipped for extra stats, that’s their only practical relation to the rest of the game. You can only equip 1 agent at a time though until you have 10+ max level agents so don’t worry too much about collecting them.
For Funcom, they make players want to log in every 15 minutes or 1/4/8 hours. If you log in, you are that much more likely to play. If you’re playing, you are that much more likely to spend money. They’re an extra mean to build the addiction.
For us, they are a way to get distillates and shards passively, which is surprisingly welcome after the initial “interest peak” of unlocking the weapons you want and the skills for them.
I played a lot when I was building my two favorite weapons. Now I play quite a lot less because my character is not really progressing much anymore (gear gets better, but extra item levels does not mean nearly as much as new skills) so it is not as much fun. Therefore, getting stuff from my agents working for me is a very nice plus!
They do totally serve their Funcom purpose too: I log in more often to send them on missions and often stay on to participate in the event or do a few daily challenges.
Other purposes they serve is to help FC as either a MoF sink via the AH or Aurum sink until people realize the bags are a losing game. Obsessive collector types gotta get them all because, well obsessive collector. Min-Maxers need to gather up and level up all of them so they can look at them and determine “Well Agent A increases my DPS by this whereas Agent B increases my DPS by that”
I want to add another couple of things that can be some interesting draws for agents:
At the end of the whole thing there’s some really nice cosmetics on offer, and they’ve shown the inclination to add more. Takes a lot of investment to get to that point, but like you’ve seen, it’s mostly passive investment; you don’t have to do anything extra, and spending MoF or Aurum on it is totally optional.
The missions can include some really neat concepts and worldbuilding for the game and its setting. If you’re a nut for that like I am, it’s actually a lot of fun, and gives some great seeds for other things that could be done in it. And they aren’t just weird sideline errata stuff, either, they recently added a lengthy agent network questline that’s teasing and going to tie into some upcoming content (how exactly, we don’t know yet).
Basically some of the stronger individual buffs you can get in the game with a quaint minigame. One of the newer agent mission chains seems like it might have broader implications, though. There is a chance at getting some vanity items that sell for close to a million MoF, though.
Thanks! The story has always been something fun to read for me, and since I’m currently replaying things at the beginning which I mostly remember from TSW, it’s nice to have that added flavour. That, and the eventual end-game min-max-y bonuses are my main reason to bother with it, but I don’t intend to log in any extra. Just click them if I remember. XD (@newbieshoes)
Gating some character progression through a sidegame, pushing players to generally do more than the one/few things they most like to do
A sink for resources (particularly MoF)
For the Game/Players:
A way to tell story in meantime (references to past, details to present, hints for future), and build on that as we go
Alternate progression, to an extent, for those who can’t actively play much; technically it can mean some passive character progression for people who just like to RP and consider all else a chore.
More of a sense of reaching higher ranks of at least agents, even if not faction leadership. Also written to express your character reaching into their own non-faction agency.
Various rare rewards (you can sell!)
Special character upgrades
Agents are a mixed bag and cheapen the game in several ways. But I also think they enrich the game in a few, and would not have been seen so negatively if released alongside other more desired things.