Hellgate London catch all

Ah, good. The dialogue seems to get back to 'normal' after you get through that gawdawful tutorial they slapped on to the front of the game. That's a relief.

* did the game always have that "kill x to summon a boss mob" mechanic or is that something they added to it? It's been a while so I don't remember if it was already in the game or not.

I think mini-boss spawn is new, I don’t remember that from the original game.

I remember thinking the CGI movie at the beginning was cool with amazing graphics back in the day. Man does it not live up to my memory. =)

For the Living!
In all honesty, I still get feels from it. The skin shaders have come a long way and the hair is um... yeah.
But the "acting" is good and the pacing and tension holds up for me.

Yeah, mini-bosses every so many kills is new. One of the reasons I decided against it.

Bah, that makes it fun. And it will definitely help mitigate having to do every side quest and grind out some areas before you are ready for the final boss. (So many times I have made it to the final boss at level 24-25 and it is just too hard for some classes with the boss at level 30)

The original used to have random named ones, so the mini-boss spawning is like that, just a little less random

I like the spanwed minibosses. So much loot (much of it I can't actually USE, but still...).

Also, I have a missile bot now. SO FUN.

yeah i've lost six hours to this already (not in one go) so...it can't be ALL bad

So yeah, there are definitely some issues due to age and bugs. (the equipment disappearing bug from launch is back. It only seems to happen on legendary items and can be fixed by logging out and in again)
But there are some refinements to the skill system and if my 15 engineer, 12 summoner, 9 marksman and 7 templar are any indication that the game is still fun and worth putting ~20+ hours into, then drop the $10 and go get it. The game definitely opens up at level 7-9 when you start to get many options for weapon types and the armor, shields or both strategies. There is also a %30 xp bonus which really helps you to not be under leveled for the areas you are in. (so much less grindy with just a couple more levels)
It definitely makes me hunger for Rage 2, Division 2, the next Borderlands, and Anthem. And there are some things it does that should have been staples of the genre going forward that have been overlooked.

Yeah, I've had boots and belts disappear.

There's also a guy in the first station keeps giving the same quest over and over.

Many times the spawned boss from kill counts will teleport stuck in the world. I mean there are many things that we can nitpick but there are also added things like Zombie form that are quite fun.

Oh even with its issues I'm still having a great time.

So, I am definitely having fun with this game still. It is my main time killer go to that was once held by Diablo 3.

They have made some tweaks that are nicer and the xp curve is much better balanced.
Some things of note:

1. They added some areas that enhance and/or replace some of the repetitive quests
2. There is a 30% XP bonus that along with the better paced areas, puts you in much better level differentials for the story (I'm level 31 at the last station that is the staging for killing the end boss vs. level 24-25 in launch HGL)
3. Respawn timers make collection and kill quests easier to complete. At launch in HGL you could easily bug yourself out of completing a quest because not enough mobs spawned to drop the quest item. This can still happen but the monster respawn is greatly increased so it doesn't take long for more quest mobs to re-appear
4. Gear is both better and more abundance of useless drops. It is easy to find gear that you really won't need to replace for 10-20 levels. If you get a good +armor roll on a shields heavy piece or vice versa, it can last you 20 levels.
5. Quest rewards are powerful elites with a catch. They aren't usable for 3 levels after you loot them. And quite often past level 15, the gear has too high stat reqs so you will need more levels to pump stats to wear them.
6. Weapon damage seems to taper off after level 15 where you don't need to upgrade your weapon unless you want to try a different type.
7. Because of 6, you don't really need to use the gear slots. Which is okay because the upgrades greatly increase the secondary stat requirements (easily making something unusable due to too high stat reqs)
8. Engineer pets are competent with little point investment (i.e. you don't have to figure out the best pet and max it)

I've been putting points to my primary bot, and it's worth it's wait in gold as that bot aggros the baddies all the time, and now can take a hell of a pounding, all while I'm shooting at said baddies. Love it.