As the beta players aren’t under NDA, guess there is no reason to not announce this. As we pre testing players can login to our accounts, there is some interesting information to be found there. There is a separate tab there which has “badges”, where things like your dye kits, promotional pets, alpha and beta status (whether you participated in it or not), lifetime offer and a few other things are displayed.
On top of this there is a subscription tab which lists the subscription features as well as this important bit on payment:
Monthly at US $9.99 per month
Quarterly at US $27.97 per 3 months
Semiannual at US $51.94 per 6 months
Lifetime subscription at US $149.99 one-time
You can not pay these until you have your retail, but at least we can see that there are quarterly and semiannual options.
On top of that the subscription features are listed:
Hardcore Mode
Guild Creation and Management
Larger Stash
Additional Character Slots
Themed Events and Quests
Unique Event Items
Special Event Pets
As well as ongoing content:
New Levels to Explore
New Monsters
New Weapons
New Skills and Spells
New Character Classes
Raid-Level Areas
Seasonal / Themed Events and Items
Additional Difficulty and Game Play Modes
Additional PvP Modes and Rewards
Achievement Rewards
Advanced Guild Management Tools
Web-based Rankings and Character Viewing
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Hellgate London Subscription Details - Pay For Longer: Pay Less
HellgateLondon.com - Announcement for Non-beta players
Kaiser just posted this on the official website:
For Non-Beta Players
We’re aware that some retailers have started selling Hellgate: London a day early. While the game had shipped to stores, they were not supposed to start selling copies until Wednesday, October 31st. This means that while some people have been able to get their hands on the game a day early, they aren’t able to get onto the multiplayer servers. This is because we are not starting service until Halloween. We apologize for any inconvenience and frustration that has been caused trigger-happy stores. When the servers go live, we’ll make sure to post a notice on www.hellgatelondon.com and www.flagshipstudios.com so that there is no confusion.
Thanks for your support of the game and we’ll see you online very soon!
Still a few hours to wait, pals !
Hellgate: London US, EU Servers Going Up NOW
The hellgates are opening! This just in from HellgateLondon.com:
Hey everyone. Sorry for the short notice, but in the next 15 minutes or so, you’ll be able to hop into the game and start creating characters. This goes for both the US and EU servers. Get to it!
More updates to follow…
Community Manager Kaiser also posted a similar heads-up on Guru a few minutes ago. Go, go, go!
UPDATE:
Bit of a delay.
Hey everyone. Sorry for the short notice, but in the next 15 minutes or so at 1:30PM PDT, you’ll be able to hop into the game and start creating characters. At 5:00PM PDT, the game will open up to everyone else. This goes for both the US and EU servers. Get to it!
Will update again when more information is available.
UPDATE 2: I managed to contact Ivan Sulic to ask if Flagship Studios had something to report to the community.
Scapes
We’ve got 238 members in our IRC chatroom all asking for updates about the servers. Is there something I can pass along to them?
Ivan Sulic
From Bill [Roper]…
We’re aware that some retailers have started selling Hellgate: London a day early. While the game had shipped to stores, they were not supposed to start selling copies until Wednesday, October 31st. This means that while some people have been able to get their hands on the game a day early, they aren’t able to get onto the multiplayer servers. This is because we are not officially starting service until Halloween. We apologize for any inconvenience and frustration that has been caused trigger-happy stores. When the servers go live, we’ll make sure to post a notice on www.hellgatelondon.com and www.flagshipstudios.com so that there is no confusion.
From me… We’re all working to get things up as soon as humanly possible.
Scapes
Will pass this along immediately. Thanks.
The US servers have since come up while the EU servers are still pending.
Hellgate London is Now Live!
Bill Roper has posted up on the Hellgate London website that the servers are officially live and he has thanked everyone who participated in the development of Hellgate London.
We want to say THANK YOU to all of the wives, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, families and significant others that have supported our crazy endeavor. Your understanding and encouragement over the past four years has been appreciated in ways we can’t properly express.
We also want to offer some special thanks to our publishing partners all across the world. You took a risk on us and our idea, and you’ve been supportive of our design philosophies and our development processes. In an atmosphere of, “ship at any cost” you encouraged us to take the time we needed to achieve our goals and make Hellgate: London the best game we could create.
And finally, I want to express my gratitude to all of the people at Flagship Studios and Ping0. What started out with a single, high-level idea has grown into a project and companies that are grander than anything we could have envisioned. The people that are here comprise the best teams I have ever had the honor to work with. And the passion and dedication and pure sweat they have poured into making this release a reality is second to none. Thank you all for your unwavering commitment.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Hellgate: London Review
When I had a run through the demo released recently I was firm in my opinion of the game being over-hyped, bland and non-engaging. Now, though, I have to make two things quite clear to anyone who reads this - A demo should never be used as a measure of a games quality and Hellgate: London is actually a lot better than the demo let on.
Hellgate takes place in 2038, nearly twenty years after the war that brought Hell on earth, quite literally. If you leave the story at that you'd think of Hellgate as a been-there done-that affair, fortunately Hellgate elaborates on the idea with a great story which though isn't completely original, is still very much enjoyable. It's told via text which can be overwhelming at times but it's interesting enough to stomach. It would've been great if there was a bit of voice acting to go with it, though.
Templars, for centuries, have held back the forces of Hell using their magic, and certain events in human history are cover-ups for the times evil emerge. Unfortunately, the Templars number and power has dwindled and Hell, being the sneaky folk they are, capitalise on this and lay fiery waste to the world.
There is hope for mankind, however, thanks to underground groups who've been preparing for the worst – they've even developed demon-resistant bases. These defenders are armed with a fusion weapons of our age and that of days long gone, swords and magic. Obviously, this is where you the player jump into the fray.
Here you'll get to choose from several different classes to play. It's likely your first few hours with the game will be testing out each to find that right one as these aren't the run of the mill classes you're so used to – their core elements are there, but with a Hellgate spin on them. You'll then need a decent amount of time developing the class before you get to see the real benefits of each.
Expectations are admittedly high towards the idea of being able to play the game in third and first person which is strange as this has been offered in other games for quite some time. There really isn't much difference in how you play the game, so if this is something you're getting excited about experiencing, prepare to be disappointed.
Hellgate is quite similar to Guild Wars in its design in that its focus is on solo PVE which can be played with others. As this is an pseudo-MMO there is a subscription side to the game whereby signing up offers you a range of exclusive opportunities whose true value is yet to be determined. Free-for-all PVP is just one of these. We got a taste of this side of things and didn't come away convinced. The core game still has plenty to offer with approximately 40 hours of gameplay in the solo campaign. Of course, the inherrent nature of an MMO is that the hours you can clock in outside of the main questlines is limitless.
Again, like Guild Wars, the world is split in Shards which is the game-word for servers. Playing through these instances is entirely solo-able, but as with any good MMO you'll get more fun out of grouping with real people, this too reaps the reward of gaining more experience and items. The instanced gameplay seems to have a profound effect on the latency issues seen in online games of this nature, here, there pretty much is none.
Another problem seen in similar games is the spikes in difficulty, you'll be glad to hear, then, that Hellgate scales this towards the player. The better you are, the harder the game, the worse you are the easier the experience is (relatively speaking).
Simply put, the core of the game isn't anything new, but it's done well enough.
A criticism Hellgate has suffered recently is for its graphics, and yes, they can be quite drab at times, but for every street of drab you'll get three streets of beautiful design. It may look dark and gloomy but it's put together in an artful way. The engine doesn't try to push the envelope at all but it pulls off everything it attempts with finesse and with no slowdown in frame-rate at all, the crux of any online game.
Hellgate: London presents a wonderful story set against an artfully designed world but never goes that extra mile to separate it from the masses. It's unlikely this game will appeal to everyone but it is sure to find a strong cult following. Sure, it's more enjoyable than the demo, but it's worth a try before you commit yourself to another time-sinking adventure.
Hellgate: London Front Page of Singapore’s Today Newspaper
If you live in Singapore, you may be shocked by the front page of Today, which opens up with the headline, “LONDON BURNING“. The news follows that “Tens of thousands are dead and countless more wounded after a calamity of the most unbelievable proportions befell London…” Yikes!
Hellgate: London is definitely making the headlines, so be sure to check out what the hype is all about in the following scans of Today, which is dated on October 30, 2007. Click the thumbnails below for larger versions.
Gamers Global Hellgate London Review
GamersGlobal has posted up a massive 12 page review that is full of Youtube videos, Screenshots, Character descriptions, quests and so on. They talk of the rendered book sequences, various special quests, and while I didn’t read all of it, it may contain some spoilers.
It is a great read and in the end they give Hellgate London 8.5/10.
There is a summary of the end with a lot of good vs bad, this one stood out for me:
GOOD: There is plenty of variety in terms of special missions, special opponents and little secrets to find. It’s not as if all special missions were perfectly balanced or masterpieces in themselves, but simply having them is fun — and we’re sure at least subscribers will see many more of them in the coming months and years.
BAD: Graphics aside, we really miss the strict act structure of Diablo 2: Whenever an act was finished, you would see a long render movie, and then the whole graphical setting, the sounds, and all the monsters would change. Hellgate just doesn’t give you the same feeling of accomplishment.
Shacknews does a Roperview about Hellgate: London’s Future
This afternoon, Shacknews.com posted a big two-pages interview with Flagship Studios’ CEO Bill Roper. The game is not even out, and this interview already lifts the veil on Patch 1, which will go live in December. Many details of this patch are exposed, as well as important MMO features to be added in HGL(Auction houses and in-game mail), FSS’ reaction to the players’ feedback, possible expansions and the upcoming events (Guy Fox Day and All Hallow’s eve).
December’s “Patch 1″The first major set of new subscriber content will come in Patch 1, an ambitious package set to release this December. For some context, the tweak-heavy Patch 0 that will go live when the game launches weighs in at around 30MB, while Patch 1 is closer to 300MB. In general, Flagship plans to release that level of new material approximately every three months, meaning Patch 1 is coming earlier than it would have. Roper said Flagship felt a December release made sense for the first new content expansion, slotting into the holiday season and providing an initial example of what players can expect long-term.
Patch 1 will add a new hub, the first to be located outside the city of London. It deals with Stonehenge which, unlike the city of London itself, has proven to be impervious to demon attacks. Roper showed me some artwork of the Stonehenge locale, which has the iconic standing stones remaining untouched despite the surrounding earth being utterly destroyed. The henges themselves will serve as transportation portals for players among the various new areas, as humanity attempts to figure out how to harness the power contained within them to push the demonic incursion back.
Along with the new hub and surrounding areas will of course be new monsters, items, quests, and even potentially new classes; the latter has been promised to come to subscribers in content patches, though it is not clear if Patch 1 will include new classes. Unsurprisingly, Flagship isn’t providing many further details just yet, with the main game not even yet on store shelves.
[…]
Without actually touching on the question of whether Hellgate is an MMO, the game will be getting some more traditionally MMO-like features, such as item auction houses and in-game mail. Such features will be available for all users, both subscribers and non-subscribers.
[…]
I pressed him further regarding the team’s willingness to modify basic game systems such as the way Hellgate displays damage. “If someone comes up with a better way to do it, we’ll look at it,” he said. In general, he noted, Flagship is open to hearing and implementing fan feedback if appropriate.
HellgateLondon.com - Prepare for Blastoff !
Kaiser is back, and once again, with a teaser ^_^ The servers are being checked thoroughly, and just for people who did not know yet, Hellgate is being released tomorrow.Huh ? Tomorrow ? Oh, the IRC folks just told me what that means : the server will be up tomorrow, the release date has not changed and is still the 31st, two long days away.
Launch Approaches
As we’re in the final hours before Hellgate: London ships off to all of you, we’re doing a few more final tests to re-re–RE-check that our online systems will be as happy as you are. Expect to seem some sporadic downtime throughout the course of the day.Also, just so you all know for sure, Hellgate IS coming out tomorrow. In fact, we just got some boxed copies in the office. Check the pic below.
Hellgate London WETA Statues and Game Contest
Bloodhowl has just pointed out that his UK PCGamer came with a set of postcards that contain information of a Hellgate London contest being held by CVG website.
The gates of hell have opened, and sadly they’ve opened right in the middle of London. In the near-future, heroic freedom fighters (that’s you, that is) battle Satan’s hordes in the streets, sewers and tunnels of fair London town.
Hellgate London, out on PC on 2nd November, is a frenetic action-RPG reminiscent of the high-speed evil-slaying of Diablo. Wield swords, magic or customisable guns, gather loot and try to save our dear capital, alone in the singleplayer game or co-operatively with a bunch of mates in the game’s multiplayer mode.
To celebrate its release, publishers EA have commissioned two sets of incredibly rare statues of characters from the game (see the pictures to the right) to be awarded to two lucky winners; ten runners-up will receive a copy of the game.
To enter, just head over to the CVG website, registers and answer the simple question (Hint: The answer is Flagship ;))
The gates of hell have opened, and sadly they’ve opened right in the middle of London. In the near-future, heroic freedom fighters (that’s you, that is) battle Satan’s hordes in the streets, sewers and tunnels of fair London town.
Hellgate London, out on PC on 2nd November, is a frenetic action-RPG reminiscent of the high-speed evil-slaying of Diablo. Wield swords, magic or customisable guns, gather loot and try to save our dear capital, alone in the singleplayer game or co-operatively with a bunch of mates in the game’s multiplayer mode.
To celebrate its release, publishers EA have commissioned two sets of incredibly rare statues of characters from the game (see the pictures to the right) to be awarded to two lucky winners; ten runners-up will receive a copy of the game.
To enter, just head over to the CVG website, registers and answer the simple question (Hint: The answer is Flagship ;))
Monday, October 29, 2007
Hellgate London all Acts Map
Shayera has just pointed out that the recent German Magazine from the German EA website, which incidently includes a free Wasp Dye Kit for the first 5000 people to take up the offer, also includes the entire Game Map for Hellgate London.
Click the link below, as the map contains some spoilers
Sunday, October 28, 2007
HellgateLondon.com - Ongoing Content
“Admin” (It seems the official website is not yet fully operational) just posted a summary of Hellgate: London’s ongoing content. Nothing we did not know already, except “New Skills and Spells” for subscribers.
Ongoing Content
We’re always making TONS of new content for our subscribers that extends and changes the way Hellgate: London can be played.
This includes:
- New Levels to Explore
- New Monsters
- New Weapons
- New Skills and Spells
- New Quests and Storyline
- New Character Classes
Themed Events and Items
These are events, areas, monsters, quests, pets and rewards that are available for limited periods of time throughout the year. Some are recurring while others may only happen once, so keep a sharp watch for announcements on upcoming events!Hardcore Mode
Characters have one life, and ONLY one life, to give for the cause. There is no resurrecting your downed hero in Hardcore mode, so different tactics, skills and items rule the day. For the gamer that wants the ultimate test, try playing an Elite Hardcore character!Guild Creation and Management
Buy purchasing a Guild Herald, a character can form a new guild. Characters can only be part of one guild at a time and should a Guild leader decide to abandon their post, they can pass leadership of the Guild to another subscribing guild member.Achievement Rewards
You’re earning big points for completing long-term goals and insane tasks. Along with the notoriety and sense of accomplishment, there are also rewards to spend those points on!PvP Modes and Rewards
New ways to fight against other players, both alone and in teams. Your reputation in this arena of combat will also net you special commendations and rewards!Larger Stash
Each character gets an extra 6×8 section in their storage locker, making the hording of all sorts of goodies that much easier. Pack rats rejoice !
The subscription (9.99 dollars a month or a one-time payment of 149.99 dollars) sure looks appealing !
HellgateLondon.com : Getting Close !
Last Push
It’s coming… Hellgate: London is but days away from retail. In preparation for the imminent launch, Flagship and Ping0 have disabled the official website login, forums, and beta servers. Such downtime is necessary to ensure a smooth, explosion free day one.
We know, we know… Downtime sucks. But what must be, simply must be. So, as we tinker to the last minute, tightening bolts and working to minimize sporadic employee electrocutions, you might be able to occupy yourself with various Hellgate previews and reviews.
Try checking out aggregate sites for the latest compiled details:Game Rankings.com Game Stats.com
The live servers will be up early next week in preparation for launch. Of course, when that happens the website and forums will once again be operable. Remember, if you’re a beta player, you’ll be able to login then and reserve your character names.
Cheers!
Hellgate London: What’s to Come in the Future
IGN has just posted up an article on Hellgate London which details what is to come in the near future for Hellgate London, as detailed by Bill Roper. While it talks of the Halloween event that is known to us all, there are two bits of information that are new.
Immediately following the Halloween event ending on the 4th of November is a Guy Fox Day event starting on the 5th of November since it’s a British holiday and the game takes place in London. The event will focus around explosives and some events designed around the Gunpowder Conspiracy Plot and some special gear like the Fox Flame Guards which will add some more flaming gloves to your character if you’re lucky enough to find them.
Some of the new areas planned into the future include areas a little outside of London. These “wilderness areas” are all about open air to get people away from the cities. One of the zones shown in concept art was Stonehenge, which in the world of Hellgate has turned out to be a pretty mighty place of power. While Hell has done a pretty decent job trying to destroy it, the structures still stand and the triptychs actually serve as portals to other areas.
Although the actual event is Guy Fawkes Night, maybe it’s Hellgate’s play on the name.
Enjoy
Friday, October 26, 2007
Hellgate London - Beta Impressions
After 10+ hours wandering around in demonic-hell infested
Hellgate:
Let me break it further down though:
Featuring the Item Management System from Diablo 2
Rather than calling this game a Diablo 2 killer – let’s just call it Diablo 2. If anything the system might be a bit rougher around the edges than the purely streamlined Diablo 2. The item system in this game is like casino- you kill bad guys and hope they drop good stuff- more notably green stuff (uncommon) and gold-yellow stuff (rares) items. In the beginning you’ll pick up everything to pawn at the shop, with items taking up grid space (so you’ll occasionally have to rearrange stuff to fit your 733t stash). The shop owners are ever intent on selling you useless junk, so the real goodies you’ll end up finding from the carcasses of bosses mostly and the occasional rare item chest.
To further add to item micro-management and this one is kind of annoying- scrolls of identify are relabeled analyzers- and you’ll pick up mysterious ? items that you’ll have to analyze to figure out what they are. It’d be nicer if your character had the brains to figure out what stuff was minus this tedious chore (and there isn’t a button to quick analyze stuff, which further adds to the casino feeling- am I finally going to get a decent item?).
There’s more though. Like the rune system, weapons can be fused to components to make stronger and cooler weapons and the only way to get truly great gear is to go through this hellishly complicated system of weapon modification. There are various weapon types with differing expansion slots (i.e. battery, tech, ammo, etc.) so you’ll have to collect and choose carefully.
Finally, you should expect skills and items to be assigned to numerical hot keys like a certain other game, and mana potions and health potions can be triggered likewise. Don’t forget there are also town portal scrolls, or personal transporters, but hell they look like town portals to me.
FPS-style action is unusually like Serious Sam (+ Diablo of course).
I used a marksman for my main character so I definitely was on the gun-toting side. There are other classes that make use of swords, summons and so forth, but as far as my guy was concerned, I was basically Serious Sam with unlimited ammo. This means holding down the fire key and running around like a lunatic (usually pressing back a whole freaking lot).
The bigger comparison to Serious Sam though comes from the fact the game has loads of enemy spawn at the cost of hi-def graphics. It's not comparable to Half Life 2 or even Doom 3- this game looks a notch below that, but a notch above in terms of fast-paced action. You can sprint in the game (but you can’t fire) so you can run past enemy hordes or away from them if you really need to. When you sprint, you totally go turbo speed- and the game lets you run like a crazed monkey injected with Red Bulls.
However, fighting enemies ends up to be tedious CRAMP of death, and like Diablo, you’ll be gripping your mouse1 button so hard that your finger will start to dislocate after the next hour or so. Especially on bosses where apparently 1 minute of auto-fire ammunition is nothing more than a pinprick to their lifeblood it’s almost agony to watch the teeny bit of HP sap from their full bar as you plug them with shrapnel.
Still, nothing beats the fact that the enemy-areas are loaded with bad guys, and this does make the game more exciting than it actually is. Too bad though enemy types are fairly limited. You’ve got charging dudes that rush you like football tacklers. Flying birds that shoot sonic waves, and crazed Alien like beast spawn that hop around like insects on crack. It gives you some variety in how you aim your mouse, but rest assured the game turns into shooting gallery 101.
Skill-Tree, Quest System, MMORPG?
Stepping back into the Diablo platform- you’ll notice NPCs with the all too freaking familiar ! floating over their heads and them nodding grimly or praising you like over-active cheerleaders as they reward you with big fat prizes for turning enemies into bloody stool.
The typical quest motifs are all there. Collect me 9 BITS of BRAIN and I’ll give you this plasma rifle with +25 damage against beasts. After you collect those BITS of BRAIN you should also go run over to the next station and talk to LUCIUS (cuz all cool hell-games have guys named Lucius) and then he’ll give you more instructions to kill GIANT OVERSIZED BAD GUY WITH 10000% HEALTH. Ah yes, of course I shall do that.
The skill system is JUST like any other MMORPG, you get points and you spend them. Don’t balance them out enough and you’ll find your character wearing Level 1 armor but having the ability to equip BFGs that can mow down enemies at the expense a stray fireball will blow you up to ashes. The skill tree looks JUST like the one you see in Diablo- spend a point here, get a skill- equip the sucker and go down one PATH (and only one path) because that is what your character will be forever. The choice can be agonizing at times, but that’s how video games are.
Finally- the MMORPG aspect of it. You get to chill and see other players running around (mostly sprinting like lunatics). In enemy-areas though, like Guild Wars, it becomes your zone and so no one, and I mean no one bugs you there.
Sweet mercy yes.
Conclusion
If Hellgate:
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Hellgate FAQ
Table Of Contents:
1.0.0 Introduction
1.1.0 What is Hellgate: London?
1.2.0 Who is Flagship Studios?
1.3.0 When will this game be released?
1.4.0 Where will this game be released?
1.5.0 What systems will this game be released for?
2.0.0 Gameplay
2.1.0 Basics
2.1.1 How will dungeons be handled?
2.1.2 How will towns be handled?
2.1.3 Won’t that split up parties?
2.1.4 Are there any persistent areas (areas that don’t change)?
2.1.5 Can I use melee attacks in first person?
2.1.6 What is the aiming system like in first person?
2.2.0 Storyline
2.2.1 What is the story of Hellgate: London?
2.2.2 Will real London sites be featured in Hellgate: London? If so, which?
2.2.3 Will Hellgate: London be divided into acts?
2.2.4 Do we ever get to go to hell?
2.3.0 Characters
2.3.1 What type of playable characters will be in Hellgate: London?
2.3.2 What are factions?
2.3.3 So, then, what are classes?
2.3.4 What stats will be featured on characters?
2.3.5 So wait, what are the non-item shields then?
2.3.6 What is the level cap going to be?
2.3.7 Is there a priest class or faction? What about a support-style class?
2.3.8 How many characters will there be per account?
2.3.9 What kind of physical features are customizable on new characters?
2.3.10 What kinds of colors are available for skin color?
2.3.11 What about facial hair?
2.3.12 Can my character undertake a profession (like blacksmithing)?
2.4.0 Templar Questions
2.4.1 What are Templars?
2.4.2 What are the Templar classes?
2.4.3 Can Templars use guns?
2.5.0 Cabalist Questions
2.5.1 What are Cabalists?
2.5.2 What are the Cabalist classes?
2.5.3 Can Cabalists use guns?
2.5.4 What are “focus items”?
2.5.5 Can Cabalists use melee weapons?
2.6.0 Hunter Questions
2.6.1 What are Hunters?
2.6.2 What are the Hunter classes?
2.6.3 Can Hunters use melee weapons?
2.7.0 Skills
2.7.1 Do we know anything about what skills and how many will be in the game yet?
2.7.2 How will skills be learned in the game?
2.7.3 Will a character be able to learn skills from a different class or faction?
2.8.0 Items and Equipment
2.8.1 What can you tell us about items?
2.8.2 Okay, what about armor, though?
2.8.3 What is the currency of Hellgate: London?
2.8.4 How will Palladium be used in Hellgate: London?
2.8.5 Where (or how) are items found in the game?
2.8.6 How are item drops handled in multiplayer?
2.8.7 Will there be potions like in Diablo 2?
2.8.8 What kind of item storage system is planned?
2.8.9 How will trading be handled?
2.8.10 Will there be a crafting system?
2.8.11 What about armor styles (matching armor)?
2.8.12 Are there two-handed swords or two-handed melee weapons at all?
2.8.13 Why are there two numbers for every attribute in the screenshots of the character sheet stat page?
2.8.14 What will the economy be like in Hellgate: London?
2.8.15 Are there town portals like in Diablo 2?
2.8.16 Are there any class-specific items?
2.8.17 Is it possible for characters to equip items reserved for other factions?
2.8.18 Are there any melee weapons other than swords?
2.8.19 Are there items only available to subscribers? (ADDED: 05/09/2007)
2.9.0 Enemies
2.9.1 What kinds of monsters are in the game?
2.9.2 What else is known about the demons?
2.9.3 What kind of AI can be expected in this game?
2.9.4 What about unique monsters?
2.9.5 Will I be able to kill bosses more than once and farm them for items?
2.10.2 Single Player Questions
2.10.1 Will Hellgate: London be able to be played in single player mode?
2.10.2 How long is the single player campaign?
2.10.3 Will single player get content updates?
2.11.0 Multiplayer Questions
2.11.1 Will Hellgate: London be able to be played online?
2.11.2 For free?
2.11.3 Then what’s all this P2P junk?
2.11.4 So they’re offering a gimped mode for those that don’t pay them?
2.11.5 So how will they take our money, via monthly fee?
2.11.6 Will subscribers and non-subscribers be able to play together?
2.11.7 Is Hellgate: London an MMO?
2.11.8 Can I use my single player mode characters online?
2.11.9 Can I join an instance a friend of mine is already in?
2.11.10 Is LAN play available on Hellgate: London?
2.11.11 Will Hellgate: London feature raids?
2.11.12 What are the raids like?
2.11.13 What is the difference between single player and multiplayer?
2.11.14 Will there be PvP battles?
2.11.15 Will I be able to play Hellgate: London with my friends overseas?
2.11.16 How will parties be created and joined? (ADDED: 4/10/07)
2.12.0 Guilds
2.12.1 Will Hellgate: London have clans or guilds?
2.12.2 How will guilds be organized?
2.12.3 Will there be guild-based storage?
2.12.4 Will guilds be account- or character-based?
2.12.5 Will there be guild halls?
2.13.0 Hardcore Mode
2.13.1 Will there be a hardcore mode in Hellgate: London like there was in Diablo 2?
2.13.2 Will hardcore characters be able to interact with softcore characters?
2.13.3 Will there be any other benefits to being a hardcore character?
2.14.0 Music and Sound
2.14.1 What about music?
2.14.2 And sounds?
2.14.3 Will the demons talk?
2.14.4 Will NPCs talk?
2.15.0 System Specifications
2.15.1 What are the required system specifications for Hellgate: London?
2.15.2 Is Windows Vista required for Hellgate: London?
2.15.3 What about DirectX10 compatibility?
2.15.4 Does Hellgate: London support dual monitors?
2.16.0 Miscellaneous
2.16.1 Is Hellgate: London an FPS?
2.16.2 Will Hellgate: London be moddable at release?
2.16.3 Will there be beta testing for Hellgate: London?
2.16.4 Will there be vehicles in-game?
2.16.5 What about mounts?
2.16.6 So there’s a waypoint system?
2.16.7 Are there headshots or any kinds of area-based damage?
2.16.8 Will there be player housing? (ADDED: 05/09/2007)
1.0.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1.0 What is Hellgate: London?
Hellgate: London is an Action/RPG being made by Flagship Studios. It features both third- and first-person playing perspectives and a blend of arcane and futuristic styles. Further detail will follow in the rest of my FAQ. It will also feature both single player and multiplayer modes.
1.2.0 Who is Flagship Studios?
Flagship Studios is a company founded in October 2003 by former executives of Blizzard Entertainment and Blizzard North. Such names as Bill Roper (Producer and Voice Actor in many Blizzard/Blizzard North titles), Max and Erich Schaefer (Lead Designers of Diablo and Diablo 2), David Brevik (Lead Design, Diablo and Diablo 2) among others brought this company into being.
1.3.0 When will this game be released?
UPDATED 8/25/07
The current release date is set for October 31, 2007 for America and November 2, 2007 for Europe. This is subject to change.
1.4.0 Where will this game be released?
Worldwide. Flagship Studios will be working closely with its publishers to release the game worldwide by the aforementioned dates.
1.5.0 What systems will this game be released for?
Short answer: For PC. Long answer: For PC and perhaps possibly maychance nothing confirmed for consoles in the distant future.
2.0.0 GAMEPLAY
2.1.0 BASICS:
2.1.1 How will dungeons be handled?
Dungeons in Hellgate: London are instanced. Beyond that, they are randomized anew each time the player enters them. (However, a player can go to town after generating an instance without the instance being rerolled.) Each non-town level is randomly generated, from monsters to treasures to the different pathways to get to the end of the instance.
2.1.2 How will towns be handled?
Updated 4-10-07: (Minor edit, based on information in MMO Magazine)
Towns or “stations” will be littered throughout London. Some stations can hold hundreds of players at a time. Smaller stations can only hold about 30-40. After that limit, a new town will be created on top of the other, and new players trying to enter the town will be forced into the less full one. When that town is filled, a third will be generated and so on and so forth.
2.1.3 Won’t that split up parties?
No. The splitting system is designed with parties in mind so that parties will always be kept together when they go to the same town. (Note: The answers to 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 are based on dated information that may or may not be accurate anymore.)
2.1.4 Are there any persistent areas (areas that never change)?
We do not currently know of any, other than towns.
2.1.5 Can I use melee attacks in first person?
Scaper-X:
First person view is only available while using ranged weaponry. The game defaults to third person when a melee weapon is equipped.
2.1.6 What is the aiming system like in first person?
Scaper-X:
Hunters feature a targeting reticle in first person view while the other two factions do not.
2.2.0 STORYLINE:
2.2.1 What is the story of Hellgate: London?
I’ll just quote the official site for this.
London, 2038. According to legend, when the ravens depart the Tower of London, it will crumble to rubble and disaster will befall England. As man became more dependent on science, believing only in what he could define or create, ancient knowledge and rituals were lost to the antiquity of time. Prophecies that had stood as warning for untold generations were seen as archaic folly or ignorant superstition; so when the harbingers of evil began to manifest, few saw and fewer believed. When the demons finally came, there was little that stood in their way. Emerging from the swirling chaotic Hellgate, they overwhelmed humanity’s defenses quickly and systematically. Even the nuclear and biological weaponry employed by a few desperate nations did little more than slow the apocalypse. The nature of the demons’ attack presented little in the way of strategic military targets to the generals of mankind’s armies. With no obvious headquarters to bombard, visible supply lines to cut, or known leaders to assassinate, the usual tactics of war were useless. Only those that still practiced the holy, ancient, and arcane rights could stand against the dark invaders, using weapons and spells forged in the traditions of their forefathers. Their successes were scattered, and the leaders of the great military forces could neither understand nor accept their strange ways. This mystical resistance drew the immediate attention of the immensely powerful creatures, seemingly immune to the weapons of mankind. Soon, those that had preserved the knowledge of how to combat the demons shifted their focus from driving them back into the twisting nether to saving as many of their fellow humans as they could. They retreated to the relative sanctuary of the London Underground, a haven whose construction they had orchestrated decades before.
Now, the once great city lies in ruins. A massive, sinister gash in the fabric of our reality swirls and churns, dominating the horizon as it blends into a permanently darkened sky. The Invasion, the unspeakable cataclysm that befell London, eventually engulfed humanity. The powerful nations of man were eradicated, and the decades-long process called The Burn – the transformation of our world into theirs – had begun.
But mankind is a race of survivors. Men and women hide in the shadows of their former dominance, struggling to survive, yearning to strike back at their conquerors. These survivors banded together, and they are learning.
Learning how to travel undetected.
Learning how to forge weapons capable of piercing unfathomable defenses.
Learning how to harness the forgotten and arcane powers of magic.
Learning how to kill demons and close the Hellgate…
2.2.2 Will real London sites be featured in Hellgate: London? If so, which?
Yes. Some of the main areas include Covent Garden Market, Bloomsbury, the British Museum, the Tubes (Covent Garden Service Line, Northern Line, Leicester Square Line), the Sewers, and Covent Garden Station.
2.2.3 Will Hellgate: London be divided into acts?
The last we heard, yes. However, the acts will be somewhat invisible to the end-user, meaning there will be no conscious act changing, just a boss at the end of the act. Please note that this information is quite old and may not be accurate.
UPDATE: 04-10-07:
Hellgate: London has at least five acts, as mentioned by Story Writer Ivan Sulic.
2.2.4 Do we ever get to go to hell?
There are hellrift portals in instances. When entering a hellrift, a breath meter appears. The breath meter serves as a sort of timer, though it is unknown whether the breath meter reaching zero means death, or the beginning of a steady loss of health. There are also breathing apparatuses for these extra instances. (Note: These may not actually be breath-related. The term was used for comparison and may not be the actual term used in-game.)
2.3.0 CHARACTERS:
2.3.1 What type of playable characters will there be in Hellgate: London?
Right now, playable characters are divided up into three factions, with two classes each. These will be explained later in the FAQ. Each faction has its own section.
2.3.2 What are factions?
Think of factions as the “races” of Hellgate: London. Sure, everyone is human, but in Hellgate: London, there are three different divisions of humans able to fight. Each faction is divided into classes.
2.3.3 So then, what are classes?
Classes are just that, the standard RPG classes. Each faction currently has two classes, and will only have two at release. Classes are decided at the same time as determining faction. Character skills and stats will reflect the class chosen.
UPDATED: 6/21/07
Fixing some outdated info here:
Additional classes for each faction will be available as part of the ongoing content.
2.3.4 What stats will be featured on characters?
According to the latest screenshots from GDC ’07, Accuracy, Concentration, Stamina, and Willpower are the base attributes. Other stats include damage, health, power, speed, critical hit chance and critical hit bonus, faction standings, shields (not the item), armor, and defenses (think resists from Diablo 2).
There are also individually listed stats for health regeneration rate, power regeneration rate, and shield regeneration rate.
2.3.5 So wait, what are the non-item shields then?
Shields are extra barriers that take damage before your health does. They slowly regenerate over time, so long as you have them. If you need a way to picture them, think either the Protoss units from StarCraft or the Energy Shield from Halo 2.
Shields are based on one’s equipped items. Chest and back items can add more durability to one’s shields or raise the regeneration rate.
2.3.6 What is the level cap going to be?
UPDATED 06/21/07:
50.
2.3.7 Is there a priest class or faction? What about a support-style class?
No. Flagship Studios has expressed its intention to make all factions and classes offense-oriented. There are no buffslaves or healbot players in Hellgate: London. There will be supplementary healing abilities, such as perhaps a healing aura for one of the Templar classes, and maybe a medic drone for one of the Hunter classes, however, it will be unlikely that a player can build his or her character for the sole purpose of healing.
2.3.8 How many characters will there be per account?
UPDATE 05/09/2007:
3 for Non-Subscribing Multiplayer Characters.
12 for Subscribers.
No news of Single Player, which is most likely “as many as your computer can store”
2.3.9 What kind of physical features are customizable on new characters?
Scaper-X:
There are six variables you can tweak when creating your character: face, hair style, skin color, hair color, height, and girth. There were about six options for the face and hair style (a guesstimate) and ten options for the colors (also a guesstimate). These numbers will probably change come beta.
The character creation screen shows off your character-to-be wearing sample garb they might find in their travels based on their faction.
2.3.10 What kinds of colors are available for skin color?
Scaper-X:
Just preset hues, most of them natural. The stranger ones were the pale snow-like tones, presumably for the cabbies.
2.3.11 What about facial hair?
Yes, you can get your Chuck Norris on.
2.3.12 Can my character undertake a profession (like blacksmithing)?
According to the last we were told, no. This information may have changed, as it has been several months. Don’t hold your breath, though.
2.4.0 TEMPLAR QUESTIONS:
2.4.1 What are Templars?
The Templar faction was the first announced faction in the game. They are the holy warriors. They do not necessarily serve the Christian god as their mythology has been somewhat rewritten by Flagship in order to serve the purpose of the game. The Templars have been awaiting the demon’s invasion for centuries.
2.4.2 What are the Templar classes?
Blademaster: This class is all about dealing as much damage as one can as fast as one can. It is the only class known to be able to dual-wield swords. The Blademaster also gets a nifty skill called Throw Sword Mastery for hitting those pesky out-of-reach demons.
Guardian: This class is the stereotypical tank, built around the use of offhand shields. The Guardian makes for great crowd control, especially since it comes coupled with a handful of AoE skills made to keep the demon mobs on their knees.
2.4.3 Can Templars use guns?
Templars can use pistols, but two-handed guns are off-limits to the Templar. One such pistol is the Grappler, which fires a Palladium tether to pull the enemy up close, only to watch it be chopped in half by the Templar’s sword.
2.5.0 CABALIST QUESTIONS:
2.5.1 What are Cabalists?
The Cabalist faction was the second faction announced. They walk the line between humanity and…uh, demonity? Demonicness? Well, these are the spellcasters of the game. They use the demon’s own power against them, walking the line of corruption.
2.5.2 What are the Cabalist classes?
UPDATED (3/26/07):
The Cabalist classes were announced in the May 2007 issue of PC Gamer:
Evoker: Ranged damage class that carries mystical Focus items (instead of guns) that grant special skill and attack bonuses. If he/she has two Focus devices, an Evoker can double the damage and attack bonuses of his/her skills.
Summoner: Can summon two categories of pet: major and minor. Major pets are tanks, healers, and high damage dealers. Minor pets, such as Elementals, exist for blasting, short-lived tanking, and doing damage over time. Summoners also focus their base Cabalist skills on regenerating health, which they can then feed to their various pets to keep them in the fight.
2.5.3 Can Cabalists use guns?
Cabalists get their own special guns, such as the Electric Eel Gun. One gun mentioned in an official FSS podcast mentioned a gun that shoots africanized killer bees. There’s even a Plague Of Locusts Gun. Expect the creativity of the designers and developers to shine through on Cabalist-only weapons. (Note that the names of these weapons are temporary.)
2.5.4 What are “focus items”?
Focus items are Cabalist weapons. They are made to focus the Cabalist’s arcane powers into an energy they can use.
2.5.5 Can Cabalists use melee weapons?
I do not believe Cabalists can use melee weapons, however videos have shown that Cabalist shapeshifting skills can allow the Cabalist to melee in battle. (Note: I will add a link to one such video when I find one. Thanks or blames go to Pyke and SolInvictus for this note.)
2.6.0 HUNTER QUESTIONS:
2.6.1 What are Hunters?
The Hunter faction was the final faction announced. These are your bad-ass “speak softly and carry a big fucking gun” kind of guys. Black Ops, Wetworks, the Agency…these guys are the dark side of government, trained with technology way beyond what the common man could dream of. Trained to be almost modern-day ninjas, they don’t trust magic, or the “holy” approach to demons, valuing their own skill over such superstition. (Let’s just hope they don’t like to yell out “BOOM, HEADSHOT!”)
2.6.2 What are the Hunter classes?
UPDATED (3/26/07):
The Hunter classes were announced in the May 2007 issue of PC Gamer:
Marksman: Ranged damage. Focuses on weapons and damage delivery rather than skills and effects. A Marksman changes the type of damage he’s dealing by changing guns, not by changing skills like an Evoker.
Engineer: Gadget guy. Engineers excel at tricking out their high-tech pets, which they can equip with items and control on the battlefield. Can make other devices that follow you around and do small amounts of damage to enemies or buff party members. Unlike the Summoner, who is always summoning different creations, the Engineer gets only one pet out there and then focuses on improving it with skills and equipment.
Update: 3/28/07:
Information from previous Community Manager Ivan Sulic has confirmed a post-launch class for the Hunter, the Recon class. Details of how this class will play are still sketchy, but it is likely to focus on the Hunter’s stealthier side.
2.6.3 Can Hunters use melee weapons?
Most likely, they cannot.
2.7.0 SKILLS:
2.7.1 Do we know anything about what skills and how many will be in the game yet?
UPDATED 06/21/07
Each class will have 26 skills. Some skills will be shared between classes of the same faction, and all classes will have a basic skillset (Fire Left Weapon, Fire Right Weapon, Fire Both Weapons, and Sprint…you cannot put points in these, but you can bind them to left or right click)
UPDATED (3/26/07):
The May 2007 PCGamer article announced three skills per class along with its announcement of the six classes.
Templar Guardian:
Aura of Defense-for every enemy within the Guardians’ Holy Aura radius (up to five), your armor rating increases by one percent. In short, the greater number of enemies attacking you, the less damage you take.
Shield Turn-This shield bash spins your character around to deliver two blows to all nearby monsters, stunning them and knocking them back. They might block one hit, but two? Not a chance.
Armor Mastery-Decreases armor requirementss, so a Guardian can wear armor that would otherwise be out of his league-heavier, cooler, better armor than a Blademaster ever could.
Templar Blademaster:
Whirlwind-This turns a player into a Tasmanian devil with swords for arms. You’ll tear through your enemy like a walking meat grinder–just watch out for crossdressing rabbits.
Matched Blade-With this skill, a Blademaster can wield two swords at once, doubling his or her melee damage.
Crosscutter-As long as you’re carrying two swords, wh y not throw one at an enemy? This does a full sword strike’s worth of damage on impact, making it a highly punishing ranged attack.
Cabalist Evoker:
Swarm-Throws out a swarm of bugs that do toxic damage and cause fear. The toxic swarm is a self-targeting homing projectile that chases baddies pretty much anywhere they go. If successfully poisoned by the attack, monsters cannot heal and will lose health continually.
Arc Legion-Causes forks of electricity to erupt from an Evoker’s Focus device(s) and has a very “Dark Side of the Force” feel to it. When triggered, the Arc Legion shoots 10 arcs of electricity over one or two Focus items. Each individual arc can shock an enemy, interrupting its actions. Focusing all 10 arcs on a single monster results in a greater chance a shock will be effective and also inflicts 10x damage multipliers on that character.
Tempest-Summons a cloud above the player that acts like a stationary turret and zaps monsters within range with bolts of lightning. The tempest cloud will attack more often if you pump skill points into it, but it only works for a limited duration. All electrical-based attacks coming out of the Tempest also carry the chance of shock or interrupt.
Cabalist Summoner:
Summon Ember-This skill summons a Fire Elemental, a handy ranged-assault pet. The more points a Summoner has invested into this skill, the more Fire Elementals he or she can summon (between five and eight, depending on the final balance, says Flagship).
Enrage-Casting Enrage on an enemy causes your pet to go into a frenzy and attack that enemy with increased speed and damage power for a few seconds. It also enlarges the pet.
Dominate-This skill allowes a Summoner to instruct his healer pet to control the will of a lesser demon, with success depending on how powerful the demon is. Zombies, for instance, are much easier to convert than higher-level demons; just look at the decomposing beast, trigger the skill, and your pet will initiate Operation: Zombie Mind-Rape!
Hunter Marksman:
Pinpoint-This skill switches players into first person and zooms in through a sniper scope. It greatly reduces a player’s rate of fire, but overcompensates by dramatically increasing damage and range benefits. Players are still capable of looking around quickly when zoomed, and the skill doesn’t unsteady your sight. Pinpoint also groups the shots of weapons that would otherwise spread out into tighter bundles. Thus, it’s good for use not just with a rifle but also with shotgun-style weapons that shoot all over the place like the Char Buster.
Rapid Fire-For a few seconds players become immobile while spraying ammuntion with a low accuracy and range but a huuge increase in rate of fire. Ideally, you’d want to use this against a large monster that’s in your face (note: your survival not guaranteed) or a pack of weaker monsters that are closing in on you.
Tactical Stance-Increases critical chance and range, but renders you temporarily immobile. May also include some form of hit point regen.
Hunter Engineer:
Construct Drone-By default, t his mobile pet does enough electrical shock damage to take down weaker enemies, and can sustain a bit of damage itself. The Drone can also heal you and your party members within range. As you level up, so does the Drone. This means it can get armor, hit points, and damage bonuses and exotic damage types.
Drone Attachment/Encasement-This is what makes the Drone so badass; it can wield guns and swords and wear armor. Even if the Drone blows up, players can respawn it with the weapons and items it last had equipped.
Rocket Bots-When the Drone’s firepower just won’t get it done, call in a Rocket Bot. As its name suggests, t his bot shoots rockets at enemies. It also comes standard with a fuse that causes the bot to self-destruct after it has expended its ammunition.
2.7.2 How will skills be learned in the game?
Currently it is the same system as Diablo 2, where skill points are gained upon leveling up. These skill points can be distributed mostly as the user pleases.
2.7.3 Will a character be able to learn skills from a different class or faction?
This is currently unknown. Also, it is unknown if items will be able to grant bonuses to skills from other factions/classes (Like Diablo 2 Procs and OSkills).
06/21/07
Some skills are shared between classes of the same faction. An example of skills like this are Summon Ember, which is available to both the Evoker and Summoner and Tactical Stance which is available to both the Engineer and Marksman.
2.8.0 ITEMS AND EQUIPMENT:
2.8.1 What can you tell us about items?
Well, Weapons and Armor will follow a similar style to Diablo II. Randomization, randomization, randomization.
Weapons have things called “mod slots”, built for specific items called “mods”. Think of mod slots and mods like Diablo 2’s sockets. But better. Why better? Because, as far as we currently know, mods can be inserted and taken out as the player pleases.
Expect uniques and possibly even set items, just like in Diablo 2. While they haven’t been outright verified, former Community Manager Ivan Sulic has suggested in some of his previous interviews that yes, uniques and sets will be in the game.
Most of all, expect hundreds upon thousands of possibilities with stats and affixes able to be attached to weapons. With random prefixes, suffixes, and the moddability of weapons, no two snowflakes– er, weapons, may be alike.
2.8.2 Okay, what about armor, though?
Hmm. Not much is known about armor. Judging from the most recent screenshot of the Guardian Templar, there are equipment slots for main hand and offhand (two weapons or weapon/shield), torso (shirt), hands (gloves), shoulders (pauldrons), chest (armor), waist (belt), legs, feet (boots), head (helmet), and eyes (goggles), as well as two other sets of weapon/shield or weapon/weapon slots.
On that topic, there are three equippable sets of hand-held items (guns, swords, and shields). You can toggle through these sets by F1, F2, and F3 (possibly remappable, don’t know yet). It’s like the W button in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, but with one more choice. Along with these sets, you can set skills for both the left-click and right-click of the mouse to be set when you press F1, F2, or F3. This could be used to set up a sword/shield that are better against a lightning-based enemy when your standard equipment is based on fire.
2.8.3 What is the currency of Hellgate: London?
The currency of Hellgate: London is called Palladium. User-coined nicknames include Pd, Pal, and just simply P.
2.8.4 How will Palladium be used in Hellgate: London?
The full details of this are not fully known, though Palladium will be accepted as legal tender to all vendors. It is likely that the auction house (mentioned in Item Trading) will accept Palladium, though this cannot be said for certain as of yet.
UPDATED 06/21/07
Palladium will also be used for several “machines” around town such as the Augmentrix 3000.
2.8.5 Where (or how) are items found in the game?
From merchants and monsters. Kill monsters for “phat lewt” (a term used by Bill Roper himself). Items may also be traded between players in the multiplayer portion of the game. Some items are also available as quest rewards.
2.8.6 How are item drops handled in multiplayer?
Presently, when a group kills a monster, drops are randomly generated for each player (or not generated, if you’re unlucky). What appears on one’s own screen belongs to that player. Items will stick around even for a while after the player has left the instance, according to Scaper-X:
In the build that I played at Flagship in February, items would remain on the ground in instances you’d already traversed through, even after town visits.
This system avoids arguments over “ZOMG THAT WAS MY DROP” and prevents programs like “Pick-It” from grabbing all the good items before a player can even see the items hit the ground. Presently, this system is NOT based on who killed the monster, the drops are still random, but with a method to its madness.
2.8.7 Will there be potions like in Diablo 2?
Not potions, per sé. There will be healing items. The current item may not be finalized, but the current healing item is an injection of sorts. The life-based healing does not currently work while poisoned, and the player must use an antidote before he or she may inject himself in order to restore his or her health.
2.8.8 What kind of item storage system is planned?
Once again, this is something of which the full details are not fully known. As mentioned in the above crafting question, some items can be broken down into stackable components for easier storage. However, the “stash” system is still something not fully detailed. It is currently known that an account-based stash is being pushed for, however.
UPDATE 06/21/07
All characters have a stash. According to the GFW article that contained information about the subscription, non-subscribers have a stash that holds about 20 items, for each character…and subscribers have a stash that holds about 40 items per character.
2.8.9 How will trading be handled?
The full details are not yet known, however there will be an auction house available in the multiplayer portion of the game.
2.8.10 Will there be a crafting system?
Yes! Not much is currently known, however. Former Community Manager Ivan Sulic has revealed that items can be broken down into stackable junk for inventory space.
In an article from MPOGD.com from CES2007, it was revealed that:
Creation of mods by players will use some form of in-game crafting, but details are not available yet, beyond the fact that when collecting junky loot in game, items can be broken down (salvaged) into useful components.
More details will be able to be found here when we find them out.
2.8.11 What about armor styles? It seems a lot of the characters are wearing one matching suit of armor, despite none of their equipment matching.
Armor in Hellgate: London is made to match, both in color, and in style. Armor is set by default to match the chest armor, however, a player can choose to match his suit to a specific piece of equipment. Unfortunately, there will be no Clown College Templars, as all armor is made to match.
2.8.12 Are there two-handed swords? Two-handed melee weapons at all?
Not at the moment. It is possible down the road, but there are none currently in the game.
2.8.13 Why are there two numbers for every attribute in the screenshots of the stat menu?
Ah, good question. Hellgate: London has a new way of stat requirements for items. Say you have 84 stamina. You have a plate mail that requires 55 stamina, a full helm that requires 10 stamina, greaves that require 10 stamina, and plated leggings that require 10 stamina, adding up to 85). Because you only have 84 stamina, you cannot equip all of these items. One of the numbers on the stat menu is your current stat, and the other number is either the amount of the stat spent, or the amount of the stat left. I do not currently know which. I will update when this information is more clear.
2.8.14 What will the economy be like in Hellgate: London?
It is too early to tell, as this is something determined more by the players than by the developers.
2.8.15 Are there town portals like in Diablo 2?
Yes. In Hellgate: London there are two methods of going back to town (aside from walking). The first is a Personal Relocation Device, which will allow the player to go back to town, then re-enter the instance where he or she was when he returned to town. The other item’s name is not currently named, but it allows the player to return to town without marking the place he or she was when the trip to town was made.
2.8.16 Are there any class-specific items?
Some of the gear is faction-specific. Shields MAY be class-specific to Guardians (This is unverified, though supported by an image of a shield red’d out to the Blademaster class.)
2.8.17 Is it possible for characters to gain the ability to wield the faction-specific items of other factions?
This is currently unknown.
2.8.18 Are there any melee weapons other than swords?
Not fully known. This is something still under consideration or development. There is a gimmick weapon called the Cricket Bat, however. (Shaun of the Dead fans, unite.)
2.8.19 Are there items only available to subscribers? (ADDED: 05/09/2007)
Yes. However, according to Ivan, Kaiser, and Lee Dotson, these items are not “stronger” than items available to regular players. Their differences are either purely cosmetic, or still fit into the grand scheme of balance. Most are purely cosmetic in their differences, however.
2.9.0 ENEMIES:
2.9.1 What kinds of monsters are in this game?
A fairly large bestiary can be found at the official site:
http://www.hellgatelondon.com/demons/
2.9.2 What else is currently known about the demons?
Little. A good collection of data can be found at the following locations:
http://www.hellgateguru.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10248&postcount=4
http://www.hellgateguru.com/db/Category:Demons
2.9.3 What can be expected from AI in this game?
Expect vastly different AI based on monster type. Early in the game, a player fighting swarms of zombies may not find much intelligence…but, as shown in an excerpt from a recent IGN Article:
The second new level, called Chocolate Park, is apparently tied to the story a bit more heavily, but offered a different look from what we’ve seen at this point. The entire area is covered in a brown haze. More importantly, there’s a Chocolate Fog rolling around the area that causes damage and disorientation but can’t be destroyed itself. Players will have to keep moving around the area to avoid the fog while dealing with any enemies. Inside the Chocolate Park we were able to see Apocalypse Walkers that teleport around the area at different intervals, Zombie Summoners that can heal zombies and generate armies of smaller zombies on the fly, and Imp Shamans that can throw shield bubbles around the smaller imps that we’ve seen before. Also seen floating around the area are some of the large Exospectors that are more for atmosphere than any real combat though, as with everything else in Hellgate, could change at a moment’s notice.
Source
2.9.4 What about unique monsters?
There are mini-bosses that appear randomly, that have a slightly better chance to drop good items.
2.9.5 Okay, what about bosses, then? Will I be able to kill them more than once and farm them for items?
Scaper-X:
I didn’t have a quest and killed a quest mob, then I got the quest and killed it again. It didn’t drop anything without the quest, though.
So, the way it is right now, one will be able to kill bosses more than once, but will not be able to kill them over and over for items.
2.10.0 SINGLE PLAYER QUESTIONS:
2.10.1 Will Hellgate: London be able to be played in single player mode?
Yes.
2.10.2 How long is the single player campaign?
The developers have estimated it to be 30-40 hours.
2.10.3 Will single player get content updates?
According to a recent post by Community Manager Brennan Ieyoub, yes!
2.11.0 MULTIPLAYER QUESTIONS:
2.11.1 Will Hellgate: London be able to be played online?
Yes.
2.11.2 For free?
Yes.
2.11.3 Then what’s all this P2P junk?
To fund their continued support (via both servers, and content) Flagship Studios will be featuring some sort of paid-for service to acquire additional content. However, there will still be free multiplayer form. It’s just…paying to play gets you more.
UPDATE (05/09/2007):
Games for Windows magazine has finally released information about the P2P scheme for Hellgate: London. The game will still be playable for free, as mentioned above. However, for those who subscribe:
* Elite subscribers pay $9.95 a month
* 24/7 phone- and internet-support
* No (server) queues for elite subscribers, with preference over non-paying customers
* 3 chars per account for non-elites, 12 for elite-customers
* Elite subscribers can store up to 40 items (instead of 20 for non-subscribers), which can be accessed from any char in an account-wide item vault.
* Visible distinction from other players. Elite subscribers are recognisable from their equipment and may trade subscriber-only equipment to other elite subscribers.
* VIP-Shuttles to remote areas
* Housing and founding of guilds are enabled for subscribers. Elite subscribers may attain officer/leader priviledges within their guild.
* Elite subscribers have access to additional game modes, including Hardcore mode.
* Elite subscribers and non-subscribers can play with each other.
* Costs actually depend on where you live. Subscription fees in the Asian market will cost considerably less, in accordance to the market conditions and expectations of the players and local publishers within the region.
2.11.4 So they’re offering a gimped mode for people who don’t pay them?
No. The full, completed single-player version will be able to be played online, for free. Everything in the box at the store will be available to the free players. The P2P mode is to buy ADDITIONAL content produced further down the road. Because they can’t do this without constant revenue, they are looking for ways to fund this. And the money is going to come from the player.
UPDATE! 05/09/2007
- Free Play-
- Does have customer support but it isn’t 24/7 premium customer support. Being ‘just an artist’ I don’t know all the specifics here.
- Can join guilds but can’t found a guild or use guild officer functions.
- Can play with elite players in all areas of the game that come with the shipped game but not in new areas added post launch.
- Can not use ‘elite’ items. It should be noted that elite items are not more powerful/unbalanced items but rather have flashier appearances or simply new items that still fit in the overall balance scheme.
- Includes patching/balance updates. (in case that’s not obvious)
- On the same secure servers as ‘elite’ players.
2.11.5 So how will they take our money, via monthly fee?
(This question is no longer relevant…since it’s answered above.) Yes, via monthly fee. The fee will however, depend somewhat on the region in which it is being collected. The fee in Asia has not been announced.
2.11.6 Will subscribers and non-subscribers be able to play together?
UPDATE: 05/09/2007
(This question is also answered above.) Yes.
2.11.7 Is Hellgate: London an MMO?
This is a subject of debate. It will feature massive amounts of players interacting on the same servers, but because of the layered towns and instanced dungeons, some may consider it, like Guild Wars, not an MMO. To all intents and purposes, however, CEO of Flagship Studios, Bill Roper calls Hellgate: London an MMO.
UPDATE 05/09/2007: For some reason, the June GFW article in which the monthly fees were announced states Bill Roper as saying Hellgate: London is not an MMO. This contradicts everything he’s said up to this point, so I believe this is a misquote.
2.11.8 Can I use my single player characters online?
UPDATED: 4-10-07:
No.
2.11.9 Can I join an instance a friend of mine is already in?
At the moment, you can only join someone’s instance if you are in his or her party. You can join his or her party at any time, as well as the instance. (Once again, this is based on dated information and may have changed.)
2.11.10 Is LAN play available in Hellgate: London?
No. LAN play is not implemented because of piracy concerns. However, for those who still want LAN play, there is a slim, SLIM chance of hope that it may make its appearance. It does have its supporters within FSS. But due to the piracy concerns, LAN play is not currently featured in Hellgate: London.
Sources:
http://www.flagshipforums.com/index.php?showtopic=2163
http://www.hellgateguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3124
2.11.11 Will HGL feature raids?
Yes.
2.11.12 What are the raids like?
This information is not currently known. This section will be updated when more information is known.
2.11.13 What is the difference between single player and multiplayer?
To quote a recent interview with Bill Roper conducted by Jörg Langer:
It really is much more, it really is an MMO experience. It’s client-server-based, it 24/7 customer service, you’re buying and selling items, you go to auction houses, you’re forming guilds. All those things you would expect from an MMO environment.
2.11.14 Will there be PvP battles?
There will be some form of PvP in the game, though it is unknown how it will be handled. PvP is not a focus of Hellgate: London. I will update as new information about the PvP methods arise.
UPDATE: 05/09/2007
According to Flagship employee Lee Dotson, PvP is a Subscriber-Only game mode, along with both Hardcore and an RP mode.
2.11.15 Will I be able to play Hellgate: London online with my friends overseas?
Flagship is doing all they can to make it possible for everyone around the world to be able to play with one another.
2.11.16 How will parties be created and joined? (ADDED: 4-10-07)
According to an Interview with Bill Roper in MMO Magazine, Hellgate London utilizes a unique Terminal Matchmaking system. The terminal can display players by
game mode, party name, party description, maximum number of players (up to the group size limit), and even level ranges so you don’t have someone to under- or over-powered trying to join your group.
The Terminal can look through potential groups, and find groups whose requirements the player meets, and show the player how many players, what classes, and what levels the other players in the group are.
If a player knows the name of another player, he can invite that player to join him at any time. This also applies to any character currently onscreen for the current player.
Players in Guilds see parties formed by their guilds at the top of the Terminal list. (Roper goes on to mention that there MAY be incentives for encouraging Guild play, such as special bonuses for Guild-only parties venturing together. He gives no further detail or explanation.)
2.12.0 GUILDS:
2.12.1 Will Hellgate: London feature clans or guilds?
Yes. They will be called guilds.
2.12.2 How will guilds be organized?
UPDATE: 05/09/2007
Guilds will be created and run by subscribers only. Only subscribers can hold the Officer positions.
However, all players can join guilds. Non-subscribers are just stuck in peon roles.
2.12.3 Will there be guild-based storage?
According to Brennan Ieyoub, current FSS Community Manager, there will not be Guild Storage at launch.
2.12.4 Will guilds be character- or account-based?
This is also unknown. More details will come as release approaches, and I will update when details arrive.
2.12.5 Will there be guild halls?
UPDATE: 05/09/2007
For subscribers, Guild Housing will be available. Only the subscribers have access to this content.
2.13.0 HARDCORE MODE:
2.13.1 Will there be a hardcore mode in Hellgate: London like there was in Diablo 2?
Yes. (For those unfamiliar with the definition of hardcore mode: It means there are no extra lives. Once you die, your character can no longer be played.)
UPDATE: 05/09/2007
According to both GFW and Lee Dotson, Hardcore mode will be subscriber-only content.
2.13.2 Will hardcore characters be able to interact with softcore characters?
While it is unknown whether or not they will be able to interact, it is known that hardcore characters can enter the same towns as softcore characters. This is from IGN’s Bill Roper Sneak Peek #8:
An example of a gameplay mode would be Hardcore, where a character gets a single life. This means that if you fall to the hordes of Demons, you stay down forever. Of course, Hardcore players get loads of recognition within the world for taking this risk… different armor and item looks, color themes, effects, titles, auras and so on. When a level 40 Hardcore player enters a station, other players will take notice.
Source
2.13.3 Are there any other benefits to being a hardcore character?
This is not known yet.
2.14.0 MUSIC AND SOUNDS:
2.14.1 What about the music?
The music of Hellgate: London is done by Sonic Mayhem of Quake fame. Expect very high-quality music.
2.14.2 And sounds?
Well, I would expect nothing short of the best. Hellgate: London won a Golden Reel for Best Sounds in a Video Game Cinematic for the Opening Cinematic. (News of this can be found here.)
2.14.3 Will the demons talk?
You bet. From the previous QuickFacts:
Feb 21, 2006
Demons have their own languages. Some of the chittering little freaks are a bit unnerving. I’m not sure if our more humanoid offshoots of higher level castes will eventually speak English, or at least opt to in certain situations. I honestly don’t know that yet. But the mightier demons far up in the hellish hierarchy are certainly capable of it.
2.14.4 Will the NPCs talk?
Yes. In fact, Bill Roper will be doing some of the voice acting!
2.15.0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
2.15.1 What are the required system specifications for Hellgate: London?
These are not currently finalized. However, it is known that HGL is planned to support lower-end machines, such as machines found in cyber cafes. How far low-end this goes is not currently known.
It is unlikely, however, that lower-end machines will be able to run the game in windowed mode on a 3200×2400 resolution while spamming Flaming Spirals O’ Doom in an area with 50 zombies on screen at a decent frame rate, so beware.
UPDATE 05/09/2007:
Still no updates here, but because of several people questioning about it, I thought I would add Mythos’ system requirements so you can gauge how powerful a system you will need.
At least 512 MB RAM, about a 2 GHz processor (but not a Piece of Shit Celeron), and a 64MB or more graphics card with PixelShader 2.0 (and 3.0?) capabilities. (FX5200 or Radeon 9250+ would most likely work)
Of course, a system of those specs will most likely only run Hellgate: London at the lowest settings.
2.15.2 Is Windows Vista required for Hellgate: London?
No, however Hellgate: London will be Vista-compatible.
2.15.3 What about DirectX10 compatibility?
Yes, Hellgate: London will have extra graphical features…Such as smoke (special DirectX10 smoke, that is), shadows (special DirectX10 shadows, that is), and rain (and yes, this too is special DirectX10 rain).
Source
(Scroll down to the image of a man in a hat, Tyler Thompson, in front of a green background. He speaks of DirectX10 effects in this video.)
2.15.4 Does Hellgate: London feature dual monitor support?
No. Hellgate: London does not feature Dual Monitor support. (Source: Ivan Sulic, FSS Developer/Community Manager)
2.16.0 MISCELLANEOUS:
2.16.1 Is Hellgate: London an FPS?
No. Hellgate: London is an Action RPG. Yes, it features a first-person mode and guns, but the gameplay focuses on Action RPG aspects. It does have FPS elements, but you should not buy this game expecting an FPS experience.
2.16.2 Will Hellgate: London be moddable at release?
Flagship Studios does not currently plan to support modding for Hellgate: London.
2.16.3 Will there be beta testing for Hellgate: London?
UPDATED 08/25/07
Hellgate: London is currently in Alpha testing. Please refer to the forums or http://alpha.hellgatelondon.com to find out how you can become a part of the testing.
2.16.4 Are there vehicles in-game?
From what we’ve been told, only in cinematics.
2.16.5 What about mounts?
Nope. If you need to get from place to place in a hurry, there are methods for that.
2.16.6 So there’s a waypoint system?
There are ways to travel between stations instantly. There are no waypoints in instances, however.
2.16.7 Are there headshots, or any kinds of area-based damage?
No, but there are critical hits, based on two specific stats on a player’s character page.
2.16.8 Will there be player housing? (ADDED: 05/09/2007)
Yes. This, however, is content for Subscribers only.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
What’s Hellgate Palladium?
The palladium is the single in-game currency for the upcoming game Hellgate. Palladium is an actual element on Earth.
You can earn palladium by killing enemies (the usual ‘drops’), selling items, and completing quests.
No doubt, there are lots of online currency sellers waiting for the chance to stockpile Hellgate palladium, haha!
About Hellgate
It’s 2038, and London lies in ruins...
From Flagship Studios – creators of the award-winning Diablo® series and the fathers of the action role playing genre – comes HellGate: London, the next benchmark in the evolution of the RPG genre.
Combining the depth of traditional RPGs with the frenetic, visceral feel of first-person shooters, HellGate: London offers infinite replayability with dynamically created levels, monsters, items and events that gives each player their own unique hack-and-slash experience.
A post-apocalyptic London has been overrun by hordes of terrifying demons, leaving the city desolate and scorched by hellfire. Those who were unlucky enough to survive now gather in the only sanctuary left, the Underground, banding together in order to gain a foothold against the minions of darkness and ultimately save the bloodline of humanity.
It is no surprise that these sole survivors come from three of society’s most elite factions, each of whom are masters of a robust number of skills and weapons essential to demon-thrashing.
The Templar, a secret society preserving the rites of the original Knights Templar, mix futuristic technology with ancient artifacts to create powerful weapons and armor perfect for short-ranged and melee attacks.
The Cabalists are students of the dark arts and edges of science which often leaves them standing right on the line between good and evil. Their mystifying spells make them suited for mid-range combat.
The Hunters are mysterious, highly trained ex-military operatives who lay waste to their foes with hyper-advanced weapons that blend theoretical science and the latest in technology – and their bullets can come from almost any distance.
HellGate: London delivers an amazing gaming experience to PC gamers of all types – delivering the eye-popping DX10 visuals demanded by the hardcore, and scaling to ensure the masses of casual RPG players can still get the best performance on older PCs.
Key Features
The RPG Authority – Flagship Studios was founded by the core creators of Diablo, one of the biggest PC gaming franchises in history with over 13 million units sold worldwide – they are the first, last and only voice in the world of action RPGs.
Beyond RPG – Experience new layers to the traditional hack-and-slash forumla by experiencing the action RPG from the first-person perspective and through nontraditional character classes and playstyles.
Have it your way - Three unique factions with their own visual and gameplay style, offering something for every type of gamer, whether they prefer the longer-range blasts of the Hunter or want to get up close and personal with the Templar.
Infinite Replayability – Dynamically generated levels, chance events and massive quantities of randomly created items makes for infinite replayability -- no two experiences will ever be the same and every game will be it’s own unique event.
Mad Skills – Each faction has two character classes that contain a wide variety of skills and spells that are fully customizable.
London Calling – Explore post-apocalyptic London, even darker and gloomier than usual. From shattered cathedrals and landmarks to the ancient ruins buried beneath the shell of a once-great city, players will need to scour all of London in search of the unknown.
Misery Loves Company – Don’t be a glory hog – fight online. Gather with friends or recruit strangers in Underground stations and venture out into mean streets of London together to erase the Demonic threat.
Hell Never Looked Better – HellGate: London features all of the latest next-generation technology to deliver a true, DX10 experience, while being fully scalable for optimal performance on older PCs.
