Hellgate London catch all

necroyeti wrote:
Farscry wrote:
shihonage wrote:

All they need to do is to make sure that it is polished more than the other Diablo2 clones - there aren't many worth playing - and voila, instant success !

Very true for me. I dig Mythos a lot, and with more features (especially more classes) it'd make the best D2 clone yet. While I disagreed last fall with people who said this, I've since grown to be more entertained by Mythos and to me it's simply the better game. ;)

I think that HGL was mostly a victim of the Internet hype machine. I think with Mythos, they have proved that in the absence of unreasonable expectations they can produce a fun game, and I predict FSS has the ability to put out something in the next couple of years that will grant them some measure of redemption. I say this without having any idea what products they have in the pipeline of course. =P

I partially agree with you. I had very realistic expectations of the game, and it met most of them (tech/stability issues notwithstanding). But the number of little things about the game that served to overall keep it below the greatness it should've had kept the title as a fun, but not overwhelmingly awesome, game. I enjoy it, but not as much as Diablo 2 or Titan Quest or Mythos.

Yeah HGL definitely had (and still has) its share of technical issues. But patch 2.0 seem to have improved a lot of that.

On another note, patch 2.0 apparently also contain new tilesets and/or textures for existing areas that both sub and non-sub could get to:

link to HGL forum post

As an example, Turnip from the forum posted the following from covenant garden:

IMAGE(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/Ketrix/Hellgate_mp_dx9_x862008-06-1021-32-.jpg)

I got HGL a couple weeks ago. I think i'm on chapter 3 now, I like it alot. It's got it's issues, and I'm still foggy on alot of the game mechanics, but the story line is compelling, and the game play is enjoyable.

I don't pay for the subscription, which I think is a ripoff, i'd rather just pay for updates, than monthly.

Lobster - I used the past tense, because it seems to me that (SexyBeast notwithstanding) a multiplayer game either makes it in the first month or it never does. Who wants to buy a game that you know none of your friends are playing?

Has any game ever become a bigger hit after an overhaul than it was when it launched? I don't mean a hit game continuing to grow, I mean a game with lukewarm sales taking off months later.

I think this is a trend with multiplayer games, where the state of the game at release and its initial reception are so critical as to make or break the game for all time. Which I recognize is not a revolutionary insight.

They have the possibility of getting a pseudo relaunch if they make an expansion pack for the game.

It would be nice if they gave a hefty discount on an in-store expansion to those of us who foolishly bought the lifetime sub.

fangblackbone wrote:

They have the possibility of getting a pseudo relaunch if they make an expansion pack for the game.

It would be nice if they gave a hefty discount on an in-store expansion to those of us who foolishly bought the lifetime sub.

If you're talking a stand-alone expansion, as in "buy this" expansion, that'd be a really risky move. Yes, it MIGHT (low probability) bring new people to the game, but it would severely piss off people who already paid $200 for the game and haven't received what they were promised.

I know if they tried to sell me an expansion right now I'd tell them to go f*** themselves.

I don't have the lifetime sub, but I agree with Lobster. At this point, the best option would be a solid expansion that they pack in with the core game in a new retail release to "relaunch the game", but the expansion is provided in an online update free to all lifetime subscribers as well.

Can someone explain these news to me?

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/boa...

Does that mean HellGate London is closing down forever? What about those guys that bought the "Lifetime Subscription"?

edit: Ooh, ok, there's a whole thread about this. Basically, they're f*cked I guess.

That's what a lifetime subscription is, Mex. Lifetime of the game, not the user.

sigh, it was fun while it lasted

LobsterMobster wrote:

That's what a lifetime subscription is, Mex. Lifetime of the game, not the user.

It still blows for those of us who did sign up for the lifetime when they had it for a limited time and you were almost rushed into it, and at the time nobody ever thought it might come into jeopardy less than a year after release.

Yeah it sucks, but I am sure they didn't plan on doing this. I have two copies of the game and 1 lifetime sub too.

Darn it, HGL is a good game... It really deserved better, only if it wasn't hyped up so much and had the stupid free/sub version of the game... They should just have gone for sub based...

Did the lifetime sub every really offer any benefit anyways? The subscription had basically no real features at launch, some were converted to the subscriptionless service and the rest were based on future content, of which there was one real release. Did they let the free players have that too? It really seemed like a waste of money to throw money at developer promises at the time and well now...

stauf7 wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

That's what a lifetime subscription is, Mex. Lifetime of the game, not the user.

It still blows for those of us who did sign up for the lifetime when they had it for a limited time and you were almost rushed into it, and at the time nobody ever thought it might come into jeopardy less than a year after release.

Hey, I got the lifetime sub, too.

The benefit to the lifetime subscription was you could feel good about yourself for supporting a new and talented developer but also save money in the long run if the game turned out to be a success. It was always a risk. There's quite a lot of subscriber-only content (even if it's not even half as much as they'd promised would be available by this point...).

I started playing Hellgate London again. I wasn't ever a hater like lots of people out there, but mainly got distracted with other games. With the announcement of Diablo III I started playing Diablo II again, and decided to go back to Hellgate London too (I have been paying the monthly rate so I might as well use it eh).

I feel that the game is much more stable then at launch. I haven't gotten as far as to get to stonehenge but am almost there. I really think that when they come out with 2.0, the game will be what it should have been at launch. If they were to create an expansion pack (free for subscribers) and rerelease it in the store, it might get a second launch that will be more successful then the first.

Lotro beckons, and I hear Eve is nice this time of year too.

EBGames was selling this for 20$. A buddy of mine and I snatched it up. Beat the first Act tonight as a Guardian (myself) and an Evoker (friend). Lots of fun going at this as a tandem. We're only level 8 but the progression our characters have made is pretty cool.

We're a little nervous about picking skills since most seem near useless. Getting a new helmet that makes me look like some sort of super-hero was awesome and the driving force behind the fun.

Vector wrote:

EBGames was selling this for 20$. A buddy of mine and I snatched it up. Beat the first Act tonight as a Guardian (myself) and an Evoker (friend). Lots of fun going at this as a tandem. We're only level 8 but the progression our characters have made is pretty cool.

We're a little nervous about picking skills since most seem near useless. Getting a new helmet that makes me look like some sort of super-hero was awesome and the driving force behind the fun.

There are TONS of weapons that give one or two levels in random skills, so if you want to try before you buy you can find one with the skill you're interested in and take it for a test toast. In fact, later on in the game you'll probably become infuriated with how often you get a rare gold item only to find all of its mods are boosts to skills you never use.

In the next content push there was supposed to be some kind of skill retrainer thing, either a single one-time use item or an NPC who sold them, but I think that's subscriber-only and it's no longer certain that'll ever make it out of the test center.

Right now I wouldn't be so worried about wasting points. There's a decent chance that if you save them the game will shut down before you get to use them.

Vector wrote:

EBGames was selling this for 20$. A buddy of mine and I snatched it up. Beat the first Act tonight as a Guardian (myself) and an Evoker (friend). Lots of fun going at this as a tandem. We're only level 8 but the progression our characters have made is pretty cool.

We're a little nervous about picking skills since most seem near useless. Getting a new helmet that makes me look like some sort of super-hero was awesome and the driving force behind the fun.

Like Lobster mentioned, HGL is on shaky grounds right now. But that shouldn't stop you from having fun right now.

Guardian doesn't have much dmg output. Though, they "could" later on. So I guess the question would be if you prefer to fight with sword and shields or guns?

Couple pointers for Guadian builds.
- Invest point in Aura of Healing
- Get at least one rank in Anchor (for fighting things with lots of HP)
- Invest in "Spiritual Strength" ASAP.

I don't want to bias your play style, so I will just leave comments on skill points distribution at that for now. If you got questions, I will do my best to answer

Guardian, feels kinda boring pre level 30+. Since they have low dmg output, but they don't die. Be on the look out for "Grappler" guns since they will let you pull air units to you so you can smash them with your sword :).
Put it on its own separate weapon set though, since when you can't attack with both the sword and the grappler at the same time. You will have to use one mouse button for the grappler another for the sword. (If you use two swords (swordsmen) or dual wield guns, then you can bind the shortcut of using both swords/guns on just one mouse button)

Later on though, after you get decent equipments, and better Templar guns becomes available. Gundians (Guardians with guns) are very very powerful, esp. since their guns can have up to 7 mod slots! (and they have high RoF).

Guardian has a skill that lets you root yourself to the ground for a damage boost. Use that with a good shield and pistol combo and you can make a viable ranged Guardian (I'd recommend waiting until you get the physical damage automatic pistol since the earlier ones shoot too slow).

Gundians are very powerful and barely reliant on any skills. This has the tendency to make them easy to play and sometimes boring. (although completely bad ass looking!)

I'm going for a sword-shield combo since my friend is playing an Evoker. Basically going as a tank. Thanks for the tips.

Geoff Greens interview with Bill Roper (as mentioned on 1up):

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=31...

Edit: This article seems to have been linked in various threads.

Its officially dead. Servers to shut down in Feb 2009, from Shacknews

Namco Bandai, the North American publisher for the now-defunct Flagship Studios' Hellgate: London (PC), has announced that it will support the game's servers through January 31, 2009, after which they will be shut down.

For players of the action MMO, which Blizzard alum and Flagship founder Bill Roper admitted was "not great," Namco Bandai will continue to run those servers for free as a "further gesture of support."

Namco Bandai saved the game's servers back in July as the failure of the once-anticipated Hellgate predicated the collapse of Flagship. Much of the studio's staff has gone on to form Runic Games in order to continue making action RPGs.

I'm glad I bought that lifetime subscription..

O.o

I guess it'd be too much to ask for them to update the single player client patch to match the final multiplayer one, eh?

Too bad. Great in theory, but just no fun to play (in my opinion). Here's hoping some of their talent gets absorbed into something that will succeed.

TheGameguru wrote:

I'm glad I bought that lifetime subscription..

O.o

Yeah, me too. Could really use another $150 right about now...

Nice that they announce this almost one year exactly after the game was released.

t(^^t)

I just reinstalled this and have been playing single player. Man, is it every scratching an itch, much moreso than the first time around for me. Fun game; I do hope that the Stonehenge Chronicles comes out for non-subs.

(I mean, come on; they already pissed on everybody's face anyway; what more insult could that really inflict? :))