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.
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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.
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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.