The Secret World - Lairs to receive some tweaks with patch 1.2

Lairs in The Secret World are getting a makeover, according to a new developer post from Funcom.

For those who aren't aware of what Lairs are, they are adventure zones where powerful creatures lurk. Each zone has been designed with three-player groups in mind layers sporting QL10 gear.

With patch 1.2, some significant changes will be made, and Funcom hopes this will attract more players into the Lairs. The intention going forward, according to Funcom, is that Lairs "should offer a full endgame progression for casual players of The Secret World."

Here's a list of what's changing with the next update:

• Lairs are now for groups of 5 players. The new Looking for Groups (LFG) tool in patch 1.2 should make finding those groups of 5 a little easier than before.
• Each Lair's distance from nearby Anima Wells has been evaluated. Lairs deemed too far have had a new Anima Well added. This should ease the punishment of wipes, and players can also use this Anima Well to „meet up“ and get started with their Lair more quickly.
• Each Lair is launching with a new item mission in it, and we will expand to three missions total. Each of these missions will reward you with Ritual Fragments to help you summon the Playfield Bosses in the Lair.
• Lairs now provide loot progression; everything you need for your next stage of the Lair can be found at your current stage. To be specific:
• Standard Lair mobs are balanced for a full set of greens and signets. They have a chance of dropping BoP blues, as well as green signets and Playfield Boss ritual fragments.
• Playfield Bosses (3 in each Lair) are balanced for mostly greens, with a few blue talismans. They are guaranteed to drop a few Bind on Pick-up (BoP) blues, a blue signet, and Regional Boss ritual fragments.
• Regional Bosses (1 each in New England, Egypt, and Transylvania) are balanced for a full set of blue gear. They are guaranteed to drop a few BoP quality level 10 purples, a purple signet, and few ritual fragments to make these bosses easier to resummon.
• Regional Bosses also drop strange and powerful ritual fragments- even though the magic of this ritual doesn't yet function, who knows when their latent power might activate again.

The revamp of the Lairs should make things more attractive to players who aren't geared well enough for Nightmare dungeons, but not to worry: Elite and Nightmare dungeons will still be available for those who like a challenge.

Lairs will remain open-world areas and players will still be able to "search for missing Ritual Fragments and summon an ever more powerful string of opponents."

Issue #2: Digging Deeper will release on September 11, after originally being slated for August 28.