The Secret World: What faction?

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I think this is really the problem. It is virtually impossible to create a game that compares favourably with the best examples in the genre in all aspects, while still doing something new and interesting. MMOs are just too complex and expensive to make. If you try to be good at everything, you end up average at everything and good at nothing.

Instead, The Secret World focusses on immersion, world-building, story and puzzle-solving, while PvP and social features have received only the bare minimum of attention (and then they dropped the ball with the chat bug, but they will fix that eventually).

Look at what TSW does well, instead of what it does badly. Its atmosphere and story are light years ahead of any other MMO, even Star Wars: The Old Republic, which was built entirely around story and had hundreds of millions of dollars thrown at it. It's not set in a Tolkein-wannabe fantasy world and not based on a hugely popular franchise, which they must have known would result in a niche audience. Think how much determination it must have taken to sell that idea to the guys in suits holding the money. Appreciate the game for what it is, because one like this doesn't come very often.

I maybe pointing out weaknesses but, over all I really do love much about this game. I just don't think it's fair to gloss over some of the bigger flaws to people that might want to give it a try. One of the things that disapointed me is that though the game says there are no classes so you can play any way you want. There are some spots where it's nearly impossible to progress without changing your playstyle. This can mean anything from just moving around a couple skill to having to rebuild you character. My character has over 100 abilities in her deck now and at one point I was force to pick up some cheap abilities and weapons to finish a certain story encounter that was not friendly to my playstyle (melee). I think this flys in the face of the "play any way you want" trope.