Hellgate London catch all

Just a heads up Patch 2.0 is coming to TC today (finger crossed)

Rumor has it that it is over a Gig in size.... So better grab the patch early!!! (and gimme a copy too please )

I picked this up again and played it on my non-subscribing account. It's pretty much the exact game it was when I left it, which was pretty good but rather repetitive. It just doesn't grab you like Diablo did, no matter how much I want it to. I played for about a half hour and was done with it.

It's worth noting that the shared storage is for subscribing players only. Plebs still pick up tons of gear that is a pita to transfer to their other characters. In fact, almost all of the improvements to the game that came post launch are for subscribers only. Not that I have a problem with that, I'm just pointing it out.

I really regret paying that 150 for a lifetime subscription to this game.

I try and try to go back to it often, just can not get into this one no matter how hard I try.

I go back to this game every once and a while but I never realized how much I like different environments until I played this game. Everything is too repetitive and the skill trees aren't that exciting.

WiredAsylum wrote:

I really regret paying that 150 for a lifetime subscription to this game.

I try and try to go back to it often, just can not get into this one no matter how hard I try.

Same. I'm wondering if I could get away with selling it on eBay.

http://hellgate.incgamers.com/n/6097...

It's kind of a sad read, but not really surprising at all.

It's a blog entry from Guy Somberg, an FSS programer. Full text here:

Work is depressing right now. Never mind the fact that Hellgate isn’t as popular as anybody had hoped. Never mind the fact that there exists a term “Flagshipped,” meaning where a company basically overpromises and then screws you. Never mind the fact that the forums are totally populated by people who do nothing but complain and talk about how much the game sucks. Never mind the fact that people do the same thing in the game itself.

Yes, Hellgate is not a big success. That sucks, and it’s depressing. I’m keeping a positive attitude about it because of Korea and China. The Koreans really love the game, and the Chinese have yet to see it. I don’t know how any of these deals are structured, but I’m hinging my hopes for Hellgate’s future on the Asian market.

So why is work depressing? (Other than all of those other depressing things, that is.) The reason is that people are leaving. In droves, they’re leaving. We’ve had programmers, accountants, HR people, and artists leave. The founders are all still around, but they’ve been floating away from Hellgate to work on various other projects. The only one still actively on Hellgate is Tyler, but Tyler’s not programming anymore; he spends all of his time on management activities.

Today was our programming intern’s last day; he’s leaving the company for the world of academia to get his PhD in computer science. I also learned today that another of our programmers is leaving in a couple of months (he gave lots of notice, which is very nice of him). With him leaving, I am basically the senior developer on Hellgate. Tyler, Dave, and Peter (the founders) are the only other programmers who were around beforehand, and I was the first programming hire after that. With Dave and Peter on other projects, and Tyler basically no longer a programmer, I’m what’s left after he leaves.

Thing is, the way things are going I’m likely to be the only programmer still working on Hellgate left from the original crew. I’ve heard rumours that other programmers and artists are thinking of leaving.

I was so disturbed to learn that all of these people are leaving that I couldn’t concentrate, and I left work early, claiming illness. I don’t want to leave Flagship. I’m happy here. I like the people, I like the environment, I like the pay, I like the location... There’s so much good about it. I’m not considering leaving. It’s just overwhelming and depressing having all of these people go. Every time a programmer leaves, it’s more work for me. Every time an artist leaves, it’s less content that we can create for Hellgate in the future.

Tyler is talking about replacing our programming intern with a designer. I’m fighting against that, because we need more programmers! We can’t just put it all on me.

Bah. Listen to me whine. It could be much worse, of course. At this point, though, what I need is some fresh projects; I’m getting burned out on Hellgate.

LobsterMobster wrote:
WiredAsylum wrote:

I really regret paying that 150 for a lifetime subscription to this game.

I try and try to go back to it often, just can not get into this one no matter how hard I try.

Same. I'm wondering if I could get away with selling it on eBay.

I tried a month ago. Not 1 bid.
Not 1

Maybe if they do an expansion there would be renewed interest in buying an old lifetime sub.

polypusher wrote:

Maybe if they do an expansion there would be renewed interest in buying an old lifetime sub.

2.0 is supposed to be the second "expansion." So far the expansions have just been more of the same which doesn't really help make that "same" any better.

I don't think Hellgate is a BAD game. I think its a good game. Everyone wanted it to be a GREAT game. I played it long past the point where I was still thinking that, and didn't even realize it. I must admit I too regret becoming a lifetime subscriber, given that I doubt the online game will be around 5 years from now.
I just don't think it deserves the hate its gotten. Delivering another Diablo is a pretty Herculean task; is it fair to expect that? Marketing decisions aside, I think Hellgate is a fine game. It'd probably be pretty killer if you could play it with 20 of your closest friends. Or a few guildmates who managed to show up. Unfortunately, all the distaste garnered by the marketing seems to have driven away some folks who otherwise might have stuck around a little longer. Not forever, just a little longer.
It certainly doesn't sound promising that Hellgate's going to have a lot of new content after 2.0 comes out.

Jakobedlam wrote:

I don't think Hellgate is a BAD game. I think its a good game. Everyone wanted it to be a GREAT game.

Dunno about that. I mean you're entitled to your opinion of course, but I think if it was a good game (not a great game) I wouldn't have to force myself to play it now and then in a vain attempt to feel like my $200 wasn't wasted.

It sucks to see that some of you didn't like the game so much But since you already got Founder's why not give it a shot now that Patch 2.0 is on the Test Center?

Patch Note

GENERAL

  • All characters made prior to the launch of The Abyss Chronicles (Patch 2) will receive a Skill Retrainer, Attribute Retrainer, and Expertise Retrainer upon logging in. Attribute Retrainers also unlearn an Engineer's drone's attributes. Players must make inventory space for the three 1x1-sized (single cell) items to receive them. The items will be given to the character when there is sufficient inventory space. Players in Test Center will get all three items with each log-on.
  • NPC Erich, the Attribute Retrainer, now stands in Holborn Station. All players may pay him to redistribute their stat points. The cost for redistributing points goes up with level with big jumps at level 16 and 31.


NEW FEATURES

  • New Abyss Quest Line with Four New Boss Fights:
    • Travel to the all new Parliament Square and help Titus of the Cabal fend off the rapid spread of the Abyss, a new Demonic underground that grows in size as Demonkind consumes more of our world. The only way to halt the Abyss is to seek out and destroy those who control it. Lure the four Abyss Lords from their cursed realm by collapsing their Hellrifts (a new Rift for each of the boss types), then confront the masters as they emerge to investigate the problem. Four repeatable boss runs with four new bosses! Features three new environments and some reworked environments.
  • New Shared Stash System:
    • The Shared Stash will now feature separate panes for each gameplay mode: Normal, Elite, Hardcore, and Hardcore Elite. Items currently in your Shared Stash will be placed in the correct pane.
  • Major Rebalance of the Blademaster Class:
    • The Blademaster class has been significantly rebalanced with changes to almost every skill. Overall, they should do more damage and have many more options than before. Some of the highlights include Strength now stacking on top of the skill percent bonuses – a huge boost – and Blademasters can now gain a Surge with any melee attack or with any melee skill (rather than just when killing something with a Surge skill).
  • Improved, Configurable Guild Controls:
    • Guilds will now have five titles they can assign to members. The titles can be renamed. There can only be one Guild Leader. Non-subscribers can only have the lowest two titles. The Guild Leader can configure what the middle three titles are allowed to do including invite new members, promote and demote existing members, kick members, and send all-guild e-mail. The lowest title is not allowed to invite, promote, demote, kick, or send guild e-mails.
      • Guild Leader (Only one character is the Guild Leader. They can do anything including change the rules for the guild and rename the guild ranks.)
      • Officer (Subscriber-only. The Guild Leader can allow them to Invite, Promote, Demote, Kick, or Guild E-mail.)
      • Member (Subscriber-only. The Guild Leader can allow them to Invite, Promote, Demote, Kick, or Guild E-mail.)
      • Agent (Any player. The Guild Leader can allow them to Invite.)
      • Recruit (Any player. This rank can't have any privileges.)
  • Consignment House:
    • Players can place items into the Consignment House to offer them for sale at a set price. All players in the same gameplay mode can see and purchase that item. The Consignment House currently only offers a “buy out” price, there is no bidding.
    • The Consignment House is accessed in Stonehenge and Templar Base.
    • The default duration for listed items is seven days.
    • Listed items are mailed back upon expiration, as is payment for successful listings.
    • Listed items can be withdrawn.
    • While players cannot place items up for auction (bidding) yet, this feature is planned for the future.
    • The Consignment House can be searched using type, quality, and item level filters.
    • Search queries can be sorted by price.
    • All uniques in Hellgate: London can be viewed using the Consignment House.
  • Three New Skills for all Classes:
    • Skill Scrolls are new items which unlock the new skills and allow skill points to be put into them. For example, the Spider Mine Schematic unlocks the Spider Mine skill for Engineers. The Skill Scrolls will be tradable and can be used by all players; however, they drop off of boss monsters in the subscriber-only Abyss levels. Only a few of the skills will be enabled in the first Patch 2 build that goes to Test Center.
  • Trinket Inventory Slots:
    • There will be two new Trinket inventory slots. The first trinkets will drop as cursed rings which can be cleaned up through the Transmogrifier. These cursed rings will mostly drop in the Abyss levels, but they can be found elsewhere too. These items are tradable and can be used by all players.
  • Attribute Retrainer NPC:
    • Erich, the Attribute Retrainer, will allow you to spend palladium to remove points one at a time from an Attribute and add them to your unassigned Attribute Points pool. The cost to remove each point goes up with character level.
  • Stack Splitting:
    • You will be able to right-click on a stack of items and select to split it into smaller stacks using a new radial menu option. A dialog will pop up and let you type in how many items to place in the new stack.
  • Item Linking:
    • Players will be able to enter a clickable “link” to an item’s details into the chat pane by right-clicking on the item and selecting the Link Item option on the radial menu.
  • Achievement Rewards:
    • Rewards have been added for completing achievements. Some achievements unlock special character emotes or grant selectable titles while others give access to gameplay bonuses that can be equipped in the achievement interface.
  • Mythic and Double-Edged Items:
    • Two new rarity types have been added, Mythic and Double-Edged. A new "mythic" version of the most popular affixes have been included. These affixes grant bonuses 1.5-1.75 times their legendary counterparts.
    • Mythic items are more rare than unique items and have one very strong "mythic" affix plus a random number of legendary affixes. They can be gambled for and are not sold by merchants.
    • The much more common Double-Edged rarity grants mythic-quality properties as well, but at a cost. To equip these, players will have take a penalty to a different statistic/property. Double-Edged items are more common than uniques and less common than Legendary. They cannot be gambled for and are not sold by merchants.
  • New Weapons for all Factions:
    • Templar Weapons:
      • Gleamcarver Sword, Dissector Sword, Dissector Shield.
    • Cabalist Focus Items:
      • Ripshard, Glyphshard, Bloodshard.
    • Hunter Weapons:
      • F-S Force Magnum, XM909 Thunderclash, Thumper.
    • All of these new items can be found only in the Abyss.
  • New Armor for all Factions:
    • A new armor line is available for each faction at levels 47 and above, found only in the Abyss.
  • New Monster Types
  • New Chat Color Scheme


ITEMS

The Abyss Chronicles (Patch 2) introduces a new inventory slot for Trinkets. The first type of trinket available are rings.



Rings

There are seven types of rings available.

  • Opal:
    • These rings can drop from champion monsters anywhere in Hellgate: London.
  • Runic:
    • These rings can drop from any monster in the Abyss.
  • Stone:
    • These rings can drop from any monster in the Abyss.
  • Ruby:
    • These rings are a specific Talox boss drop.
  • Scale:
    • These rings are a specific Fulcrum boss drop.
  • Prism:
    • These rings are a specific Squadro boss drop.
  • Ring:
    • These rings are a specific Dreadnaught boss drop.


PVP

  • Capture the Flag:
    • We’re including a preview of CTF, with a basic set of features. Capture the Flag is available only in this Test Center version of Patch 2 and will not be available on the live servers until a future build, after Patch 2.
    • In the new CTF level, players team up to battle over flags. To join a CTF game, press P to bring up the party and matchmaking screen. Select the Match tab, and join a game from the list. If there isn’t a game, press the Create button to make a new one. Many of the features in this matchmaking dialog are disabled for the Test Venter version.



NEW SKILLS

Each class may now gain access to three new unique skills! However, these skills can only be learned through the acquisition of mysterious items…



Summoner

  • Darkform (Level 10): Using this skill transforms the Summoner into a demonic being, exchanging the use of weapons for vicious claws. This skill also passively allows the use of dual focus items.
  • Dark Lord (Level 15): This skill passively grants a chance on successful attacks to summon up to 3 Shadow Minions to aid the Summoner.
  • Dark Offering (Level 20): Using this skill sacrifices a Shadow Minion to unleash a powerful attack against all enemies within range.

Evoker

  • Arcane Resilience (Level 15): This skill passively decreases the Shield Recharge Delay.
  • Bone Wall (Level 20): Using this skill creates a temporary, destructible Wall of Bone at the targeted location.
  • Spectral Serpents (Level 30): Using this skill temporarily summons 3 Spectral Serpents to fight for the Evoker at the targeted location.

Engineer

  • Drone Aggressive Mode (Level 5): Using this skill toggles the Engineer’s Drone into an aggressive mode, increasing its awareness as well as its movement speed.
  • Ghostly Strike (Level 30): Using this skill commands the Engineer’s Bomber Bot to detonate on the targeted enemy, phasing the enemy for a long period of time in addition to causing severe damage.
  • Spider Mines (Level 10): Using this skill creates an autonomous Spider Mine that seeks out nearby enemies and detonates.

Marksman

  • White-Out Grenade (Level 15): Using this skill throws a grenade that explodes with a blinding light, disorienting all enemies caught within it.
  • EMP Blast (Level 30): Using this skill creates a controlled electromagnetic pulse, removing all Shields from nearby enemies and temporarily preventing their natural Shield Recharge.
  • Camouflage (Level 15): Using this skill requires there to be no enemies near the Marksman, but camouflages him while in Sniper Mode, preventing enemies from detecting him as long as he does not perform any actions. Camouflage also remains for a short duration after the Marksman attacks.

Blademaster

  • Templar Restoration (Level 5): Using this skill expends active Surges of Restoration to heal the Blademaster and all nearby friendly targets.
  • Balance of Power (Level 30): This skill passively causes all successful Hamper attacks to steal power from the target.
  • Crusader Wrath (Level 15): Using this skill requires and expends three active Surges of Wrath to temporarily empower the Blademaster with wrathful energy, greatly increasing Damage at the cost of Armor.

Guardian

  • Aura Stability (Level 30): This skill passively allows the simultaneous use of up to three auras, as well as increases the effectiveness of the Guardian’s auras.
  • Prayer of Smiting (Level 30): Using this skill calls upon the power of the heavens to strike down all nearby enemies.
  • Shield Throw (Level 15): Using this skill throws the Guardian’s Shield, bouncing between enemies to deal extra damage.


SKILL ORGANIZATION

We’ve reorganized each class’s skill page into 3 named tabs! Since these new skill tabs are more compact, the skills page now fits within the middle panel area of the UI. The reorganization of the skills into separate tabs is both much more intuitive and visually pleasing. To stay consistent with the new arrangement, some skills now belong to different skill groups. The new skill tabs are named:



Summoner

  • Elementals, Demons, Necromancy

Evoker

  • Nature, Spirit, Arcana

Engineer

  • Bots, Drone, Spec Ops

Marksman

  • Assault, Recon, Demolitions

Blademaster

  • Duelist, Knight, Flying Blade

Guardian

  • Shield, Devotions, Retribution


GAME BALANCE

With The Abyss Chronicle (Patch 2), we are taking the opportunity to change a number of global balance issues based off of player feedback and trends that we've noticed through the Evil Eye.



Shields

  • The Shield Recharge Delay (time after getting hit and before Shields begin to recharge) has been reduced to 2.5 seconds from 4 seconds.
  • The base Shield Recharge rate has been doubled to 10% per second, from 5%. This is a static value, remaining constant regardless of level or amount of shields.
  • The Shields curve (amount provided by items and skills) has been improved dramatically. This change has been retroactively applied to old items.
  • Templar Armor lines have been given a substantial boost in Shields, retroactively
  • Related Properties:
    • Base (inherent) Shield Overload properties have been removed from all Swords. These are the inherent Shield Overload amounts that were previously on all Swords. This change is retroactive.

Armor & Health

  • The Armor curve has been rescaled to use much larger values to allow for greater accuracy when applying percent bonuses. 5400 Armor is now required to achieve 50% absorption against level 50 opponents. All old armor pieces have been retroactively updated.
  • Relative Armor values provided by Cabalist and Hunter armor lines have been increased, such that they provide higher absorption than previously. This change is retroactive.
  • Relative Armor values provided by Blademaster armor lines have been slightly decreased, such that they provide slightly less absorption than previously. This change is retroactive.
  • Relative Armor values provided by Guardian armor lines have been substantially decreased, such that they provide much less absorption than previously. This change is retroactive.
  • Relative Armor values provided by Shield items (Templar) have been substantially decreased, such that they provide much less absorption than previously. This change is retroactive.
  • Related Properties:
    • Standard Armor bonus properties now operate under a new mechanic: they increase the armor of the base item by a percent.
    • The Total Armor Value properties’ bonuses have been lowered to 3/4/5%. This change is retroactive.
    • Inherent Total Armor Value properties found on some Templar armor lines have been changed to use the standard Armor bonus properties, retroactively.
    • Pet Armor bonus properties’ bonuses have been scaled down, retroactively.
    • Pet Health bonus properties’ bonuses have been scaled down, retroactively.

Feed Requirements

  • Many armor lines have had their feed requirements changed (all retroactively) to require feeds that make more sense for the classes they were made for (and all armor lines now have Stamina as the primary feed requirement):
    • Summoner armor lines now require Stamina and Willpower feeds instead of Strength and Willpower.
    • Low level general Cabalist armor lines now require Stamina and Willpower feeds instead of Strength and Willpower.
    • Engineer armor lines now require Stamina and Accuracy feeds instead of Strength and Willpower.
    • Low and high level general Hunter armor lines now require Stamina and Accuracy feeds instead of Strength and Stamina.
    • Blademaster armor lines now require Stamina and Strength feeds instead of just Strength.
    • Guardian armor lines now require Stamina (primary) and Strength (secondary) feeds instead of Strength (primary) and Stamina (secondary).
    • Low level general Templar armor now requires Stamina and Strength feeds instead of just Strength.
    • High level general Templar armor now requires Stamina feed instead of Strength.
  • Many Sword varieties have had their feed requirements changed (all retroactively) in order to promote a variety of builds:
    • Quick, primarily single-target Swords with inherent bonuses to critical chance now require Strength and Accuracy feeds.
    • Slower, primarily single-target Swords require Strength feed only.
    • Splash damage Swords now require Strength and Willpower feeds.
  • All mod properties can now be found requiring any one out of the four Feed types, rather than usually just Willpower. This is to allow for better optimization and customization when spending Attribute Points.

Elemental Effects

  • Poison effects now prevent the afflicted character or monster from receiving any benefits from health regeneration and abilities that grant health regeneration; however, some abilities which grant health regeneration (such as health injectors) are no longer prevented from being used.
  • The cooldown on Elemental Effects Removal and Defense consumables has been decreased to 15 seconds.
  • The group cooldown on Elemental Effects Removal and Defense consumables has been decreased to 5 seconds.
  • Effects Removal and Defense consumables no longer share a group cooldown with Adrenaline Pills and Shield Boosters.
  • Related Properties:
    • The bonuses provided by standard Elemental Defense properties have been improved, and they now also provide an Elemental Defense to a secondary Elemental Effect.
    • The All Elemental Defenses property has been improved.

Properties

  • All available properties are now weighted consistently throughout the game by the general group of properties they belong to. This means that the frequency of any Skill bonus property appearing at any level will remain constant, as will a Damage bonus property, etc.
  • The rarities of the different types of properties have been rebalanced.
  • All Attributes bonus properties have been scaled down, retroactively, to a maximum of 10 to All Attributes. The feed requirements of these properties have also been retroactively scaled down according to their new attribute bonus values.
  • The special properties from the Guy Fawkes event will no longer spawn.
  • A bug which caused skill group damage bonus properties to not apply their bonus correctly has been fixed. These damage bonuses stack (multiply) with regular damage bonuses, and add to damage bonuses provided by skills.
  • A new set of skill group damage bonus properties has been added, which increase the damage of the Guardian’s Shield skills.
  • The common version of the stun strength bonus property has been renamed, “Intense”.

Items

  • Adrenaline Pills and Shield Boosters now share a 5-second cooldown with Health Injectors and Powerpacks.
  • The maximum stack sizes for consumables, PRDs, analyzers, essences, and boss heads have been increased to 100.
  • The maximum stack size for scraps has been increased to 10000.

PvP

  • Elemental Attack Strengths are now reduced by 75% instead of 25%.
  • Fixed an issue causing players to increasingly do more and more damage than expected to other players at higher levels.
  • Health Injectors may no longer be used.

Monsters & Quests

  • The battle with Wurm for the “Hooked” quest has been rebalanced.
  • The event for the “The Wall” quest has been rebalanced, and now scales with the player’s level.
  • The battle with the infected Exospector for the “Gundown” quest has been rebalanced, and now scales with the player’s level.
  • Shield Overload abilities on monsters have been significantly toned down. Now, a monster can at most deal 100% extra damage to Shields, compared to 300%.
  • Monsters’ Shield Recharge Delay (time after getting hit and before Shields begin to recharge) has been reduced to 2.5 seconds from 4 seconds.
  • Monsters’ base Shield Recharge rate has been doubled to 10% per second, from 5%. This is a static value, remaining constant regardless of level or amount of shields.

Skills

  • Every skill can now be trained at each level after the skill’s base level and skill prerequisites are met. For example, Sword of Reckoning can now be trained up to rank 9 when the character is level 9.
  • The update speed for Auras has increased to once every second, up from once every 3 seconds. This means that Auras will more quickly evaluate how many enemies are within their radius, as well as increase the frequency that Aura of Deflection and Aura of Vengeance will attempt to destroy or reflect projectiles.
  • Many errors and inconsistencies in skill descriptions have been fixed.

Templar

We have corrected an error in the way that damage bonuses provided by Templar skills were being applied. Previously, most of the damage bonuses were being added directly to the damage bonuses gained from other sources, which meant that the damage increase from using one of these skills was effectively much less than the listed value. Now, the damage bonuses for these skills multiply the total damage of the Templar’s attack, so the listed damage bonus will always be the exact increase in damage gained from using the skill. One side effect of this fix is that we have had to generally adjust the damage bonuses of Templar skills downwards; however, the actual damage provided by these skills has been increased tremendously.

  • Opposing players in PvP are now counted toward the enemy count for Templar auras.

Blademaster

  • Surge of Restoration
    • This skill is now a passive skill with a 12% chance to proc on successful melee hits. The proc does not cost power, but cannot occur more than once every quarter-second.
    • The per-rank bonus of this skill has been doubled.
  • Surge of Wrath
    • This skill is now a passive skill with a 12% chance to proc on successful melee hits. The proc does not cost power, but cannot occur more than once every quarter-second.
    • The rank progression of this skill has been adjusted down slightly, beginning at a 2/4/6% increase to Critical Chance at rank 1 and reaching a 5/10/15% increase to Critical Chance at rank 10.
    • The skill prerequisites for Surge of Wrath have been removed.
  • Surge of Speed
    • This skill is now a passive skill with a 12% chance to proc on successful melee hits. The proc does not cost power, but cannot occur more than once every quarter-second.
    • The rank progression of this skill has been adjusted down slightly, beginning at a 10/20/30% increase to Movement Speed at rank 1 and reaching a 28/56/84% increase to Movement Speed at rank 10.
    • The skill prerequisites for Surge of Speed have been removed.
    • Sprint can now be used while Surge of Speed is active.
  • Surge Mastery
    • The effect of this skill has been changed to increase the chance that any of the Surge skills will proc by an additional 3% per rank.
    • The skill prerequisites for Surge Mastery have been removed.
  • Sword of Reckoning
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 60% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 8% per rank.
    • The power cost has been decreased slightly.
  • Sword of Authority
    • The effect of this skill has been changed to increase the Elemental Attack Strengths of this attack by 30% per rank.
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 200%.
    • The power cost has been decreased by approximately 37%.
    • The duration of this skill and the delay afterwards have been decreased substantially.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Sword of Reckoning rank 3.
  • Hamper
    • Using this skill no longer forces the Blademaster to stop moving.
    • The duration of Hamper’s effect has been increased to 6 seconds.
    • The movement speed penalty of Hamper’s effect has been decreased to 15% at rank 1.
    • The armor penalty of Hamper’s effect has been decreased to 6% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 2% per rank.
    • This skill now has a cooldown of 3 seconds.
    • The skill prerequisite has been increased to Sword of Authority rank 2.
  • Sword of Justice
    • This skill now provides a total damage multiplier bonus of 40% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 7% per rank.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 30%.
    • This skill is now properly modified by its attack speed coefficient, such that the Elemental Attack Strength of this attack is now equivalent to that of a normal swing.
  • Sweeping Strike
    • The effect of additional ranks in this skill has been changed to increase the Elemental Attack Strengths of this attack by 25% per rank.
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 75%.
    • The power cost has been increased by 10%.
  • Whirlwind
    • The mechanics of this skill have changed: Whirlwind is no longer based on a set duration – instead, it does 8 spinning attacks at twice the Blademaster’s normal melee speed hitting all targets within melee range, each attack having 50% of the Damage and Elemental Attack Strengths of a normal attack.
    • The effect of additional ranks in this skill has been changed to increase the rate of use by 20% per rank.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 12.5%.
    • The initial cooldown has been increased to 25 seconds.
    • The Movement Speed bonus is now fixed at 50%.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Sweeping Strike rank 3.
    • Players can no longer jump while in Whirlwind.
  • Charge
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 25%.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 50%.
    • The base range has been decreased to 12 meters.
    • The skill prerequisites for Charge have been removed.
  • Onslaught
    • The effect of this skill has been changed to increase the maximum range of Charge and Path of Righteousness by 10% per rank.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Charge rank 2.
  • Path of Righteousness
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 10%.
    • The effect of additional ranks in this skill has been changed to increase the damage multiplier bonus by an additional 10% per rank.
    • The cooldown is now fixed at 8 seconds.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 29%.
    • This skill now teleports the Blademaster in the direction of movement at the time it is used, or forwards if there is no current movement.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Onslaught rank 2.
    • Path of Righteousness now applies damage bonuses correctly.
  • Crosscutter
    • This skill now receives a damage bonus from Strength, like other melee skills.
    • This skill no longer requires a target and no longer homes.
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 15%.
    • The effect of additional ranks in this skill has been changed to increase the damage multiplier bonus by an additional 15% per rank.
    • The cooldown is now fixed at 2 seconds.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 60%.
  • Sword Master
    • The effect of this skill has been changed to increase the Critical Chance of Crosscutter and Sword Typhoon attacks by 5% per rank.
    • The skill prerequisite has been increased to Crosscutter rank 2.
  • Sword Typhoon
    • This skill now receives a damage bonus from Strength, like other melee skills.
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 50% for each shard.
    • The cooldown has been decreased to 15 seconds.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 25%.
    • The display for this skill now shows the correct number of shards thrown for each rank.
    • The skill prerequisite has been increased to Sword Master rank 2.
  • Heaven’s Arc
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 50% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 10% per rank.
  • Matched Blades
    • The effect of additional ranks in this skill has been changed to increase Strength by 8 per rank.
  • Call of the Chosen
    • The display for this skill now shows the correct values for Fear duration, Taunt duration, and Fear Radius.
  • Angelic Orator
    • The damage reduction effect of this skill has increased to a 5% damage reduction per rank.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Call of the Chosen rank 2.
  • Aura of Power
    • The display for this skill now shows the correct value for its Power Regeneration bonus.
  • Aura of Zeal
    • The effect of this skill has been changed to provide a passive Critical Damage bonus of 25% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 25% per rank. The Critical Chance bonus provided by this skill is now a constant 2% per enemy within the Holy Aura.
  • Aura of Deflection
    • This skill now provides a 27% chance to destroy projectiles at rank 1, increasing by an additional 9% per rank.
    • The rank cap of this skill has been increased to 5.
  • Aura of Vengeance
    • This skill now provides a 15% chance to reflect projectiles at rank 1, increasing by an additional 5% per rank.
    • The rank cap of this skill has been increased to 5.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Aura of Deflection rank 1.

Guardian

  • Sword of Reckoning
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 60% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 8% per rank.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 25%.
  • Hamper
    • Using this skill no longer forces the Guardian to stop moving.
    • The duration of Hamper’s effect has been decreased to 6 seconds.
    • The movement speed penalty of Hamper’s effect has been decreased to 9% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 3% per rank.
    • The armor penalty of Hamper’s effect has been decreased to 12% at rank 1, but the bonus of ranks thereafter has been increased to an additional 4% per rank.
    • This skill now has a cooldown of 3 seconds.
    • Players can now move around while invoking Hamper as if it were a regular sword swing.
  • Heaven’s Arc
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 50% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 10% per rank.
  • Shield Turn
    • The initial bonus to Elemental Attack Strengths has been removed.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 27%.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Shield Bash rank 2.
  • Shield Charge
    • The power cost has been decreased by 50%.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Shield Turn rank 2.
  • Stampede
    • The Elemental Attack Strengths bonus has been increased to 50% per rank.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 29%.
    • The range has been decreased to 10 meters.
    • Stampede now applies damage bonuses correctly.
  • Shield Master
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 12% per rank to all Shield skills.
    • This skill no longer increases the duration of Elemental Attack Effects caused by Shield skills.
  • Anchor
    • This skill now provides a damage multiplier bonus of 30% at rank 1, increasing by an additional 10% per rank.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 25%.
  • Challenge
    • The cooldown has been increased to 5 seconds.
    • The power cost is no longer decreased with additional skill ranks.
  • Provoke
    • The display for this skill now shows the correct bonus to the Taunt Strength of Challenge.
    • Denounce is no longer a prerequisite for this skill.
    • The skill prerequisite is now Challenge rank 2.
  • Denounce
    • The skill tooltip has been updated to display the duration of the effect.
    • The base Armor reduction effect has been removed.
    • The cooldown has been decreased to 5 seconds.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 33%.
    • The power cost is no longer decreased with additional skill ranks.
    • The skill prerequisites for Denounce have been removed.
  • Spiritual Strength
    • This skill has been renamed “Spiritual Toughness”.
    • The effect of this skill has been changed to increase Stamina by 10 per rank.
    • The rank cap of this skill has been increased to 8.
  • Shield of Faith
    • The amounts of Shields provided by this skill have been rescaled based on the new Shields curve and bonuses to Templar armor lines.
    • The return on investment of this skill has been increased.
    • The duration is now fixed at 15 seconds.
    • The cooldown has been decreased to 30 seconds.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 22%.
  • Shield Wall
    • The amounts of Shields provided by this skill have been rescaled based on the new Shields curve and bonuses to Templar armor lines.
    • The return on investment of this skill has been increased.
    • The cooldown has increased to 30 seconds.
    • The power cost has been decreased by 38%.
    • Shield Wall is no longer castable while Shield Wall is already active.
  • Prayer of Healing
    • The power cost has been decreased by 13%.
  • Prayer of Retribution
    • The skill prerequisites for Prayer of Retribution have been removed.
  • Aura of Power
    • The display for this skill now shows the correct value for its Power Regeneration bonus.
  • Aura of Deflection
    • This skill now provides a 27% chance to destroy projectiles at rank 1, increasing by an additional 9% per rank.
    • The rank cap of this skill has been increased to 5.
  • Aura of Vengeance
    • This skill now provides a 15% chance to reflect projectiles at rank 1, increasing by an additional 5% per rank.
    • The rank cap of this skill has been increased to 5.
    • The skill prerequisite has been decreased to Aura of Deflection rank 1.

Hunter



Marksman

  • Sniper Stance:
    • You can no longer Sprint while in Sniper Stance.
    • Warping to another level will now take you out of Sniper Stance.
  • Escape
    • Fixed Escape skill not working when the player has points in Escape Artist.
  • Overshield
    • The amounts of Shields provided by this skill have been rescaled based on the new Shields curve and bonuses to Hunter armor lines.

Engineer

It is now possible to summon Engineer drones in town areas.

  • Construct Drone
    • Drone AI has been reworked to be more defensive, as a counterpart to its new Aggressive Mode.
    • The Drone’s base Armor has been rescaled with the new Armor values, and then relatively increased.
    • The effect of additional ranks in this skill has been decreased to a Health bonus of 15% per rank.
    • Fixed a bug causing the Drone to not attack when it should under certain conditions.
  • Master Engineer
    • This effect of this skill has been decreased to an Armor bonus of 15% per rank, to remain consistent with the Armor rebalance.
  • Sword Retrofit
    • The effect of this skill has been changed to increase the Drone’s Strength instead of Willpower, to fit the new feed requirement changes to Swords.
  • Armor Retrofit
    • This skill no longer increases the Drone’s Strength.
  • Bomber Bot
    • The skill prerequisites for Bomber Bot have been removed.
  • Molotov Assault
    • Fixed a bug causing the field component of Molotov Assault to not be modified by the field coefficient.
  • Beacon
    • The Engineer’s beacon can now be used on already-beaconed targets to refresh the duration.

Cabalists



Evoker

  • Arc Legion
    • Fixed a bug which caused a large performance drop when using Arc Legion.
    • Fixed a bug which caused this skill to not use the proper attack speed coefficient when modifying Elemental Attack Strengths.
    • Increased the base Shock Attack Strength to match previous values.
  • Tempest
    • Fixed a bug which caused this skill to not use the proper attack speed coefficient when modifying Elemental Attack Strengths.
    • Increased the base Shock Attack Strength to match previous values.
  • Arcane Shield
    • The amounts of Shields provided by this skill have been rescaled based on the new Shields curve and bonuses to Cabalist armor lines.
    • This skill has been improved dramatically as it now scales with the Shields curve rather than the Focus Damage curve, although it is still modified by Focus Damage.
  • Dual Focus
    • The effect of additional ranks in this skill has been changed to increase Willpower by 10 per rank.
    • The rank cap of this skill has been increased to 8.

Summoner

  • Summon Carnagor
    • The display of this skill now shows the correct Armor bonus provided by additional ranks: 15% per rank.
  • Blink
    • The skill prerequisite for this skill has been changed to Word of Fear rank 1.

Expertise

  • Cruelty
    • The bonus provided by this Expertise is now a damage multiplier bonus, meaning that it multiplies total damage.
  • Impunity
    • This expertise now increases the Shield Recharge rate by approximately 1/2/4/7% per second.
  • Toughness
    • This expertise has been rescaled to match the new Armor curve.
  • Fortuity
    • The display for this expertise was displaying 10 times the actual amount of Luck provided. The display issue has been fixed.


GRAPHICS/USER INTERFACE

  • Improved the efficiency of item graphics to reduce UI load times.
  • Champion carnagors, seraphs, and other monsters that hide no longer show Nova particles when hidden.
  • Party portals are now only seen by members of the party.
  • The Expertise UI has been rearranged to take up less screenspace.
  • Many NPCs had lost their colors in a previous patch. These NPCs now have the properly colored costumes.



FIXES

  • Fixed a bug in the ragdoll tech which prevented some bodies from falling all the way to the ground.
  • Allow tradable quest items (such as the Stonehenge boss heads) to be placed in the shared stash.
  • Fixed a bug where Boomerang-type champion monsters could interact badly with Hunter Tactical skills.
  • Fixed a bug where Carnagors and related monsters would sometimes not charge at players.
  • Fixed a bug which could prevent the troops in The Wall quest from entering the portal at the end.
  • The E-mail panel now closes with the 'Z' key.
  • Fixed some bugs where your items could disappear and only reappear when you switched weapons.
  • F-S Grizzly and other laser-based weapons that create ground fields now always create their fields at the correct locations.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause a player in a party to not receive quest credit for killing Moloch.
  • Fixed a bug which could cause items to lose their mods when placed in the shared stash under certain circumstances.
  • Player panel now displays velocity bonuses correctly.
  • Items should no longer spawn in inaccessible locations (such as inside of pillars).
  • Fixed Blightblasters with proc affixes never firing.
  • Backwards running speed is now affected by sprint and other speed modifiers.
  • Fixed a bug where some mods could be erroneously de-equipped on loading a character.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause some items in players' stashes or on merchants to seem to disappear temporarily.
  • Players can no longer see another players' stats when inspecting.
  • Made Buddy List font larger and a lighter color for easier readability.
  • Fixed a bug where shift-right-clicking on an item with the Shared Stash open would put it in the standard stash rather than the Shared Stash.
  • Fixed some keyboard commands not functioning properly when the guild panel was open.
  • The achievement for leveling up within a time limit has been removed.
  • One can no longer email quest rewards or items produced by a crafting vendor.

I got a big kick out of

Patch notes wrote:

We’ve reorganized each class’s skill page into 3 named tabs!

Ooooooo....

Don't get me wrong; that was one of the things that I found off-putting about the UI. To comment on it as if it were a thing, though, and not something that's been around for many, many years in other games and should have been included in HG:L about 2 years before release, is kinda funny to me.

I actually like the game quite a bit, but could never resolve my consistent CTDs after about 30 minutes of playing time.

Now I've uninstalled it, and because I bought the EA downloader version (without paying for their "extended download" scam) I guess I'm out of luck. I might give it another shot if I see it on sale somewhere.

Wow Wired, way to re-quote the entire patch notes.

My main problem with Hellgate is that it's a game about killing stuff but the combat is so very unsatisfying. Weapons lack any sort of punch. Aside from the guns feeling like peashooters with a sparkler glues to the muzzle, enemies act like you aren't even bothering them right up until they die. I was hoping for something a lot more visceral. I was hoping that as a Hunter I could keep an enemy at range just by pumping rounds into them. It gets even worse as you get further along and enemies become more difficult faster than your weapons improve, so it just takes more time to kill each enemy. As it is, fighting is basically just clicking on a monster and waiting for a progress bar to fill up (or tick down) until they die.

WiredAsylum wrote:

I really regret paying that 150 for a lifetime subscription to this game.

I try and try to go back to it often, just can not get into this one no matter how hard I try.

Regretting it too.

I actually think the pay-model is fine as such, a diablo game with ongoing content sounds awesome to me, and it is. Getting new items, bosses etc. is everything a a-rpg ever needs to live long and healthy.
(From a business perspective though, it had been a much better idea to use the Guild Wars price model).

I play once in a while, and imo the game isnt as bad as it was received at release. Its probably one of the better diablo clones by the time 2.0 comes out.
Sure its repetitive, but so was Diablo 2, thats not the issue tbh. Those who want complex Diablo's should or have already joined the MMO wagon. If A-rpg want to have any chance in gaming today, it has to carve out that niche of easy and fast loot grind gameplay where you can log in, farm a few bosses and log out again, without too much brain activity going on

Still, it feels sad to move in the wrong quality direction 8 years after D2. And D2 is still the better game, if one can ignore the graphics, outdated UI and game mechanics (which most people likely cant! at least D2 is dead for me, no matter how awesome it is)

Its still a game anyone who liked Diablo 2 should try out, it got some of the same addictive loot gathering, and the combat is really a matter of preferences. Who knows, the pvp proposed to arrive in 2.1 might even be fun :O
A decent UI, controlling of chars and overall 'fun-factor' in combat is still lacking though.
Overall the game probably cant be saved though, it received a way too harsh beginning, and its slightly amazing they are even still supporting it. 2.0 is pretty big, and those 'leaks' from whiny game devs doesnt exactly sound like they are in a good position for keeping it that way.

A shame greedy publishers cant realize they are much better off delaying games till they are polished. A 2.0 release for Hellgate wouldnt exactly have made it game of the year, but at least it wouldnt have failed as much.

2.0 seems to fundamentally rebalance everything in the game. making classes slightly more bland and the same, because Flagship want to bring pvp in. Good for the pvp'ers, slightly bad for everyone else. Will have to see hot that turns out. That strategy isn't very different from how a game like WoW is balancing classes for pvp though (beside WoW classes still being 100x as complex).

necroyeti wrote:

I actually like the game quite a bit, but could never resolve my consistent CTDs after about 30 minutes of playing time.

Now I've uninstalled it, and because I bought the EA downloader version (without paying for their "extended download" scam) I guess I'm out of luck. I might give it another shot if I see it on sale somewhere.

Do you still have they key/account? tbh, you should just get the game back through other means... EA's download politics are f*cked up. Wouldn't feel bad about that myself.

I've personally stayed far far away from Elite for that very reason. Elite is mostly harder in the way that you have to press the attack button for 10 seconds instead of 5 seconds... = just more tedious.
Normal mode too easy though, but the failure to balance the game decently for anyone is just yet another of the games problems. And one of those areas where Diablo 2 really got it right (which isnt entirely true, you could easily kill any boss in the game long before max lvl).

Combat is a difficult issue, shouldn't be too complex nor too easy. Diablo 2's combat wasnt exactly mindblowing. They keep adding weapon times though, maybe a gun which slowed enemies by pumping rounds into them could be proposed

lethial wrote:

It sucks to see that some of you didn't like the game so much But since you already got Founder's why not give it a shot now that Patch 2.0 is on the Test Center?

Patch Note

I may give this another crack some time this weekend.
The reason I was so disappointed is my fault I will admit. I hyped this game up so much in my head and it didn’t live up to "MY" unrealistic expectations.

Sorry lobster, at least I didn't quote the whole patch note, and it took me a while to get the formatting right!

But yeah I don't play on elite either, it is too much of a chore. But as for not being able to kill things fast as a MM, the problem is actually equipment. With the right guns and armor MM has insane DPS... (Let me know if you decide to try the game out again, Lobster, I have a stash of Unique guns that I can share )

I wish we have more discussion here about builds in HGL, since they can be pretty complex with the combination of skills, weapon, mods and armor (and now dye kits )

Hey Necro, what is your CTD problem, let me know. I am sure I can help somehow. And you are not out of luck. If you bought the EA online version of the game, the whole installer is actually stored on your system, unless you deleted it. Let me know if you have trouble finding it and I will find out exactly where it is stored once I get back home.

One thing I am really happy to see in Patch 2.0 is the Achievement Points Rewards!!!

The full list is not up yet but here is a sample:

They are pretty nice. Its like this:

In your achievement tab you have 5 free slots. Every achievement that is at 100% will give you a little benefit you can put into one of those 5 slots.

For example:
Dismantle 1000 items > +5 Strength
Kill 1000 Zombies > 20 HP
Craft 10 Items > +6 Accuracy
Upgrade 10 Items > +7 Stamina
Kill 3000 Beasts (also counts for demons, spectrals etc.) -> 5% dmg to that mobtype
Minigame 20 times > 20 luck
get any skill to lvl 10 > 2% dmg

lethial wrote:

Sorry lobster, at least I didn't quote the whole patch note, and it took me a while to get the formatting right!

Not your fault, I appreciated the post. Just Wired didn't need to quote it all.

get any skill to lvl 10 > 2% dmg

I wonder if you can get that, then respec it.

LobsterMobster wrote:
get any skill to lvl 10 > 2% dmg

I wonder if you can get that, then respec it.

It works exactly like the Achievement system in Mythos, so I am guessing that you will loose it once you respec, but I don't know. I will definitely check it out tonight.

In case anyone's interested in Patch 1.3 (which has been on live server for weeks now) the shared stash and Rank system has been added

Reddimus from HGL forum wrote:

It takes 10 Expertise points total to max out an Expertise: Rank 1 = 1 point, Rank 2 = 2 additional points, etc.

|--1-|--2-|--3-|--4-|-Rank _______________________________ | +5 | +13| +24| +38| Enhanced Accuracy _______________________________ | +5 | +13| +24| +38| Enhanced Stamina _______________________________ | +5 | +13| +24| +38| Enhanced Strength _______________________________ | +5 | +13| +24| +38| Enhanced Willpower _______________________________ | 4%| 10%| 18%| 28%| Affliction [+All Elemental Attack Strengths] _______________________________ | 216| 540| 972|1512| Arcane Resolve [+All Elemental Defenses] _______________________________ | 2%| 5%| 9%| 14%| Cruelty [+Damage] _______________________________ |+24 |+60 |+108|+168| Fortune [+Luck] _______________________________ | 16%| 40%| 72%|112%| Impunity [+Shield Recharge Per Minute] _______________________________ | 2%| 5%| 9%| 14%| Leadership [+Minion Damage] _______________________________ | 60| 180| 300| 480| Regeneration [+Health Per Minute] _______________________________ | 1%| 2%| 4%| 6%| Surgical Precision [+Critical Chance] _______________________________ | +20| +50| +90|+140| Toughness [+Armor] _______________________________ | 60| 180| 300| 480| Tranquility [+Power Per Minute] _______________________________ | 5%| 10%| 15%| 20%| Vigor [+Sprint Rate of Use]

Oh and look me up on either Sharingnin or Fulle if any of you are playing (these two characters aren't in the GWJ guild) I'd be happy to answer questions/help out etc.

OK, I loaded up my level 5 marksman to play again, get a feel for it before 2.0, and remembered that I'm still stuck on Shulgoth.

First off, as a Marksman he's insanely hard. My best weapon burns through his shields in a few hits, then ticks down his life so slowly it'd take about 4 minutes of sustained fire to bring him down... except the game crashes whenever he does one specific move. I can't tell you what that move is because the game crashes as soon as he starts doing it.

With all my other characters I managed to beat this by partying with enough people that we can kill him before he uses that one move. Usually. Fortunately none of the other bosses I've encountered so far have this problem.

LobsterMobster wrote:

OK, I loaded up my level 5 marksman to play again, get a feel for it before 2.0, and remembered that I'm still stuck on Shulgoth.

First off, as a Marksman he's insanely hard. My best weapon burns through his shields in a few hits, then ticks down his life so slowly it'd take about 4 minutes of sustained fire to bring him down... except the game crashes whenever he does one specific move. I can't tell you what that move is because the game crashes as soon as he starts doing it.

With all my other characters I managed to beat this by partying with enough people that we can kill him before he uses that one move. Usually. Fortunately none of the other bosses I've encountered so far have this problem.

Not that I'm an expert on the game or anything, but my marksman didn't have much of a problem with him (it?). I don't remember doing anything in particular; mostly just a lot of shooting.

EDIT: Of course, it took something like 4 minutes of sustained fire, and I didn't crash, so I guess it's not so much a marksman issue...

Are you playing on the Test server? I bet that move that crashes your system is the "explosive" punch move that he does, either that or the flame breathe.

Shulgoth is hard for starting characters. But trust me, the NM version of him is a joke for MM, you can kill him in about 10 sec

Let me know what server you are playing on, TC right? (grab any of my char, I will help: fulle, corrane, shringnin, ronik, lethial, dulaung, I will definitely be online tonight) If so, you'll be happy to know that the xp gain is doubled on that server. In fact, a lot of people are playing on TC servers as their main server now.

lethial wrote:

Are you playing on the Test server? I bet that move that crashes your system is the "explosive" punch move that he does, either that or the flame breathe.

Shulgoth is hard for starting characters. But trust me, the NM version of him is a joke for MM, you can kill him in about 10 sec

Let me know what server you are playing on, TC right? (grab any of my char, I will help: fulle, corrane, shringnin, ronik, lethial, dulaung, I will definitely be online tonight) If so, you'll be happy to know that the xp gain is doubled on that server. In fact, a lot of people are playing on TC servers as their main server now.

I haven't been playing on TC and probably won't; the game is buggy enough as it is and I have enough trouble getting myself to play it without losing my progress. Y'know, great that they've got double XP gain... but you lose it all after a new version enters TC.

I've seen the flame breath but I don't think I've seen an explosive punch, so there you go.

Actually they changed the policy on TC:

Test Center is a crucial part of the Hellgate: London’s future. The players who use Test Center, report bugs and give us feedback are some of the most influential players in our community.

So, I’m asking those of you who want to help to have a character on Test Center that you regularly play.

To help with this, we are making some changes to how we run Test Center:

1.No more planned character wipes.
a. We will no longer wipe the characters on Test Center in order to copy characters over from Shulgoth. Copying these characters has had a negative impact on the population size in Test Center instead of a positive one.
b. I can’t absolutely guarantee against any character wipes in Test Center – after all, this is where we try things out before they go live and things can go wrong. I can say that we won’t wipe the characters there on purpose, and we are going to backup the characters there on a daily basis.
c. Personally, I am only going to work on my characters in Test Center – hopefully, that will be some assurance to you about my desire to prevent character wipes there. I don’t like losing my character progression any more that you do.

2. Double Exp on Test Center – That’s right: Double experience gain on Test Center.

3. A free Skill Retrainer every time that you log in – If you have room in your inventory, we will make sure that you have a Skill Retrainer when you log in with that character. This should help testers to try out various skill combinations.

4. Test Center Rewards – Occasionally, we will be looking at who is playing in Test Center and who is posting constructive feedback about what is going on there. These people will have their accounts marked as being “Super Testers.” We are going to cook up a couple little rewards for these people – which will be visible on Shulgoth as well as Test Center. It might be a few weeks until the rewards come, but we have a couple cool ideas planned.

And yeah that explosive punch thing definitely could be problematic. Anyway, I will be around to help out.

Hmm. That's interesting, but still they can't promise NO character wipes. If they occasionally dumped BACK to Shulgoth I'd be a lot more inclined so I'd know I wouldn't lose ALL my progress but I can see how that'd be impossible. Tell ya what, help me out with Shulgoth and then if you really want we can hit up TC. I've got an Engineer, Guardian and Summoner around level 30 so I can do mid-level stuff too.

Chumpy_McChump wrote:

Not that I'm an expert on the game or anything, but my marksman didn't have much of a problem with him (it?). I don't remember doing anything in particular; mostly just a lot of shooting.

EDIT: Of course, it took something like 4 minutes of sustained fire, and I didn't crash, so I guess it's not so much a marksman issue...

My WMI profiles are corrupted so I have a few problems with Flagship games and so far the easy ways to rebuild WMI have all failed. I'm going to try the harder, more intensive ways once I muster the time and energy. Until that's fixed my game is permanently set to the lowest settings too, so it looks like ass (and still doesn't run all that smoothly. During the Guy Fawkes event I couldn't even play in the burning cathedral tileset).

Ouch you need to rebuild that WMI repository:

To fix a corrupted WMI repository, you have to reinstall WMI. Follow these steps:

Click Start, Run and type cmd.exe (Since you are using Vista, right click on the Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator).

Type this command and press Enter:
net stop winmgmt

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to %systemroot%\system32\wbem directory and
delete the Repository directory.
By default, the repository folder is located in the C:\Windows\system32\wbem directory.

Switch to Command Prompt window, and type:
net start winmgmt

Re-registering the WMI components
The .DLL and .EXE files used by WMI are located in %windir%\system32\wbem.
You might need to re-register all the .DLL and .EXE files in this directory.
If you are running a 64-bit system you might also need to check for .DLLs and .EXE files in %windir%\sysWOW64\wbem.

To re-register the WMI components, run the following commands at the command prompt:

cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem
for %i in (*.dll) do RegSvr32 -s %i
for %i in (*.exe) do %i /RegServer


If you have Vista, this link has a better solution.

Yeah, I run XP and that was the first thing I tried. I got an error while recompiling so I've got to take it a step further. I tried running a checkdisk and that didn't work.

Also for anyone who ever has to do this, make sure your computer isn't connected to the internet before you begin. Shutting down the Windows Management stuff brings down your software firewall and if rebuilding the repository doesn't fix it you can have some trouble getting it back up.