Funcom's modern-day MMO launched this week and we take a look at both its gold farming environment and gold selling market.

Game Background
But first, a quick primer: The Secret World spent more than half a decade in development and is one of the few AAA online games to launch in 2012, which has helped it earn positive reviews and make it the fifth most played MMO game in Xfire.

This all suggests that the game is not doomed to fall into obscurity after a few months. On the contrary, there seems to be a dedicated community willing to stick it out in the long run, and when there's a thriving player base, there's also a ready market for RMT sales.

Gold Farming Environment
The Secret World's main in-game currency is called Pax Romana, and it can be earned as a reward for killing mobs and completing story quests via the mission system. Both should be explored for possible farming methods - either by spotting killing fields with fast re-spawns or grinding a chain of repeatable quests. There's no reason not to combine the two, since Funcom has installed features to make it harder to powerfarm, like having only a single mission active at a given time.

Gold Selling Market
RMT companies looking to sell their farmed Pax Romana will have customers buying in their early levels for clothes and other character customization services like plastic surgery. This is because The Secret World does not offer the traditional character progression path; there are no classes or levels in the game. A character's power is tied into the powers he or she chooses, instead of power gear.

Another popular Pax Romana gold sink is the speed upgrade, which is The Secret World's version of mounts. Doubling a character's sprint speed can cost upwards of a million Pax Romana, according to recent vendor rates, so it's safe to say some casual gamers will want to buy the currency rather than save for it.

In terms of marketing Pax Romana, in-game spamming could pay off in the short-term, since the game chat is not yet as vigilantly guarded as most established MMOs. There is no quick /report feature and no spam filters installed as of yet. But we expect these to be added sooner than later, so RMT sellers should expect these avenues to be closed down at any moment. Official forums are also being vigilantly guarded.

Developer Competition
Finally, there is the matter of The Secret World launching its own cash shop on top of charging a monthly subscription. RMT sellers should factor these in when considering whether players will shell out cash for Pax Romana, or would rather spend it to renew their subscription or purchase a cash shop item.

And as always, be sure to check out our TSW price checking in the coming weeks to keep an eye out on any sudden price dips and spikes.