Hellgate: London

Patch 1.3d Live Today & Patch Notes

Zyuu — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:27:03 GMT

The latest patch for Hellgate: London 1.3d should be availible on Shulgoth (US) and Sydonai (EU) today.

Shulgoth (US) was updated earlier today already.
Sydonai (EU) will have the patch deployed at 03.00am GMT, July 10th

Multiplayer: Patch 1.3d - July 9th, 2008

Patch 1.3d introduces a few significant adjustments to gameplay, character creation, and one vendor NPC in particular. Players can now create Elite Mode characters (and subscribers can create Hardcore Mode characters) if their account has a character that reaches level 20 or above. The update also fixes a PRD bug and a character options issue.

Good hunting, Hellgaters!

The Hellgate: London Team

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General

All accounts can now access Elite Mode when one of its characters reaches level 20 or above. (Accounts that already have a level 20 character or above will have to gain a level or rank for this to apply.)
Subscriber accounts can now access Hardcore Mode when one of its characters reaches level 20 or above. (Accounts that already have a level 20 character or above will have to gain a level or rank for this to apply.)
The rate at which Rank experience is gained has been rebalanced. Experience required for ranks increases at higher rank levels.
Our favorite Premium Item Merchant, Ko, just got a new shipment of items from a new supplier. Unfortunately, they aren't quite the quality that he is used to getting. In fact, they are all mostly Enhanced items. Sure, he's still got the Rare, Legendary and Unique stuff that he always had, but you are pretty likely to get an Enhanced item from him now. He's got to do something with this new shipment after all.

Fixes

Fixed a bug which could cause a player's PRD to function incorrectly if they were kicked from their party while warping through the PRD.
Corrected foreign language translations for PRD messaging.
Fixed a bug where character options would change as a result of minimizing the character options tab.

Patch 1.3 Video Trailer

Zyuu — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:55:08 GMT

Flagship Studios today released a video to coincide with the recent launch of patch 1.3 for its action RPG Hellgate: London. Patch 1.3 offers no less than eight new features including Shared Stash, a Premium Item Merchant, Donation Collectors and Global Buffs, Ranks and the Expertise system.

Interacting with your fellow players has been enhanced with the introduction of optional chat bubbles that appear when players talk and performable emotes that characters now have at their disposal. In Patch 1.3, players can also easily browse lists of chat and emote commands using the two according buttons in the chat panel.

Hellgate London Patch 1.3 Trailer

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Patch 1.3 Live

Zyuu — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:54:10 GMT

Hellgate: London Patch 1.3 is now live. It's a huge update and many many things have been added that should make players happy.

Patch 1.3 is a beast of a update, offering no less than eight new features to the game including Shared Stash, a Premium Item Merchant, Donation Collectors and Global Buffs, Ranks and the Expertise system, and lots more. This content update also fixes a number of pesky item, skill, and interface bugs and makes a few tweaks to partying and monster scaling in Stonehenge.

Interacting with your fellow players has been enhanced with the introduction of optional chat bubbles that appear when players talk and performable emotes that your characters now have at their disposal. In Patch 1.3, players can also easily browse lists of chat and emote commands using the two according buttons in the chat pane.

A very sincere thank you to the many players who tested the many builds of Patch 1.3 uploaded to our Test Center server and helped report on the new patch's balance, performance, and stability.

Check out the full patch notes.

The Most Successful Online Korean Launch In Three Years

Zyuu — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:33:04 GMT

San Francisco, CA (April 11th, 2008) - Flagship Studios today announced that its action role-playing game Hellgate: London has become the most successful online video game launch in Korea of the past three years with over 1 million accounts registered within the first two weeks of its open beta test. Hellgate: London is the first online game in over three years to use a monthly subscription business model.

After launching the open beta on January 15th, Hellgate: London quickly rose to the ninth most played online game, fifth most popular RPG and most popular online beta game in PC Cafes*, with over 1 million accounts. Hellgate: London was released commercially on February 22nd, and achieved record sales in its first week of presales.

“To become the most successful launch in Korea for over three years is an incredible achievement,” said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. “This milestone wouldn’t have been possible for us to achieve without the incredible support of our publishing partner, Hanbitsoft, and our dedicated community in Korea. We look forward to expanding the Hellgate universe and building upon this success in the future.”

“Flagship Studios are well aware of how the Asian market operates very differently to the Western territories” said Alex Kim, CEO of HanbitSoft, “By listening to players’ feedback and through constant updates to the game, Hellgate: London will continue to be an incredible success throughout Asia.”

Hellgate: London combines the depth of role-playing games and the action of first-person shooter titles, while offering infinite playability with dynamically generated levels, items, enemies, and events. Whether online or off, a player creates a heroic character, completes quests, and battles through innumerable hordes of demons to advance through experience levels and branching skill paths. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly customizable appearances, and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow players to create their own unique hero.

For more information please visit the official Hellgate: London site at http://www.hellgatelondon.com

According to Gametrics and Game Report

About Flagship Studios

Flagship Studios is a creator of innovative entertainment software, designing games that focus on ease of play, replayability, and fun. The studio was formed in 2003 by former executives and developers from Blizzard North® and represents the creators of the worldwide, best-selling Diablo® franchise. With members that are renowned within the gaming industry, Flagship Studios and its Flagship Seattle division embody a team that has worked together for over a decade and have numerous #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards to their credit. For more information about Flagship Studios log onto http://www.flagshipstudios.com

About Hanbitsoft

HanbitSoft, established in 1999, is one of the largest online game publishers in Korea as well as in Asia. After establishing itself as the No. 1 publisher in Korean PC game market, HanbitSoft has continuously invested in developing and publishing excellent and promising online games. HanbitSoft has broad portfolio of online games ranging from casual games to high-end MMORPG’s, either developed in-house or by external development studios such as Studio Mars (Neo Steam) IMC Games (Granado Espada), Flagship Studios (Hellgate: London, Mythos), etc. Most of its games already have been introduced in the Asian market as well as in the North and South American market. For example, PangYa, a fantasy-themed online golf game, is now in commercial service in more than 12 countries including Japan, USA and Brazil. Now, HanbitSoft is focusing on pioneering overseas online game markets in an effort to be a global leading publisher.

Test Center Updated To Patch 1.3

Zyuu — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:10:48 GMT

You can now check out the new shiny (and still in development) Patch 1.3 to Hellgate: London on the Test Center.

The patch offers an impressive selection of new features including Ranks and the Perk Points system, numerous emotes, character inspection, gambling, shared stash, and then some.

Test Center Patch 1.3 Notes

April 4, 2008

New Features

Ranks and Perks:
- After characters hit Level 50, they can start earning experience towards gaining Ranks.
- There are 50 Ranks, each of which will take a long time to earn.
- Rank is displayed under the character’s level and is visible to other players.
- Each Rank grants you one Perk Point. Perk Points can be spent on Perks.
- There will be 15 different kinds of Perks with four levels each.
- Perks will be displayed in a skill-tree-like fashion – with icons and popup text describing what the benefits are of the Perk. Hit U to view the Perks screen.
- The first level for each Perk will cost one Perk Point. Another Perk Point will be needed to increase each level after the first, much like with upgrading an item using Nanoshards.

Shared Stash:
- Now all characters on your subscriber account can share their items! Current trade conventions do apply: items will not be able to be traded across play modes. Also, “no trade” items can not be placed in Shared Stash.

Hide Helmet:
- Players can elect to hide their headgear and show their characters’ faces without removing it. This toggle can be found at the bottom of the character screen.

Emotes:
- A host of emotes are now at your disposal including beg, bow, cheer, cry, flex, kiss, laugh, point, stop, taunt, and wave. While others are also available on Test Center, these are being reserved as rewards. Type “/” and the word, then hit enter to perform it.

Inspect Players:
- Players can now inspect other players’ equipment. Right click on a nearby character and select the “Inspect” option to bring up a ragdoll interface showing the character and its equipment.
- Players can prevent their characters from being inspected by toggling the Inspect option at the bottom of their character screen.

Gambling Merchant:
- Presently located in Stonehenge, Gambling Merchant Ko has items for sale which are unidentified and do not reveal their actual rarity level. Players can risk their hard-earned Palladium for the chance to gamble on these items.

Optional Chat Bubbles:
- Chat bubbles are now an optional chat feature and can be toggled in the Game Options menu. Different chat channels will appear as different text colors.

General

The maximum Palladium a player may carry has been increased to 100,000,000.
Fixed a bug which caused Xfire to disconnect when the player switches instances.
The in-game mail database system has been rewritten, please provide feedback on it!

User Interface

Party members’ names now show up on the automap when the Alt key is held down.
The name of the recipient of a trade request is now displayed in the trade window.
Players may now choose to abbreviate the names of other players in the chat window down to a maximum of nine letters. This option can be toggled under Game Options.
Fixed a bug causing items to register as not equippable if they give enough of an attribute to make up for the amount of feed they will cost.
Fixed a bug causing some items to unequip when the player enters the game or zones.
Improved the accuracy of attribute and feed changes in the character panel when hovering over an item.
The “Hardcore” indicator icon now shows up to the left of the player’s name.
Fixed a bug causing clicks in the server list dropdown menu to sometimes click through to buttons underneath it.
Buttons have been added to the chat interface allowing for quick access to chat commands and emotes. They can be found in the lower right corner of the chat panel.

World Movement

Players can now warp to any friend or guildmate who is in a town by right-clicking on the person’s name. The buddy list and guild list will have the player’s current location noted.

Combat

Fixed a bug which sometimes caused shields and/or power to decrease in larger chunks than they should when getting hit or using a skill.
Fixed a bug which caused proc effects to not be properly normalized based on the weapon’s speed.
Fixed a bug which caused proc-on-attack effects to never trigger.
Fixed a bug which would sometimes cause skill cooldowns to not trigger.
Fixed a bug which caused fields to often not damage monsters in indoor areas.
Fixed a bug which caused Armor Percent bonuses to be applied twice during damage reduction calculations.

PvP

Players with PvP enabled may no longer open party portals.
Consumable items other than Medpacks are no longer usable in PvP.

Skills

If a player removes an item that grants them the only point in a summoning skill, or otherwise forgets a summoning skill, all pets summoned by that skill will now be dismissed.

Items

Gyro Stabilizers may now be used while stunned.
Fixed a bug which sometimes caused a crash when the player attempts to drop a quest item.

Known Issues

Using the Skill or Attribute Retrainers does not reset the attributes for the Engineer's drone.
Gambling Vendor Ko sells items with an exceedingly wide range of level requirements.
Monsters do not receive damage from Rebounder Rounds when they are aimed at ground.
Text goes beyond the boundaries of Chat Bubbles.
The instance-switching box is cut off in non-widescreen resolutions and disappears when changing resolutions.
The “Surgical” Perk does not grant the character its increased Critical Chance.
After inspecting a player, the inspector can see the inspected in the User Interface.
Characters cannot assign Perk Points when they have spent all of their Skill Points before earning a Rank.
The Perks button has caused other buttons to overlap the Alt Menu.
The “Lung Capacity” Perk is listed as an Active Perk in its tooltip.
The “Arcane Resolve” Perk is missing its percentage in its tooltip.
Switching instances may cause a network error.
If there are more than six people in an instance, all vendors’ inventories will be empty. Players can try to change instances using the instance switcher at the top right corner above the mini-map.
Gambling Vendor Ko's weapons and armor can be analyzed before buying, revealing their "unknown" affixes.
Gambling Vendor Ko only sells rare items.

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Patch Notes Disclaimer: While we make every effort to include all upcoming changes in our patch notes, please be aware that occasionally some changes are unintentionally omitted.

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Happy testing, Hellgaters!

Patch 1.2 soon available for Single Player

Zyuu — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:42:00 GMT

Soloist Hellgaters will be excited to learn that a "beta" version of Patch 1.2 for Single Player Mode will be made available for players to try out next week. This is similar to how our Multiplayer patches are "road-tested" on our Test Center server before being released.

This Single Player patch will match the content, balance changes, and bug fixes found in the Multiplayer version of Patch 1.2. Our QA team has reported no show-stoppers in the course of testing it thus far.

A solid ETA for the publishing of this "1.2 Beta" Single Player patch will be made available early next week.

Patch 1.3 soon at the Test Center

Zyuu — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:17:05 GMT

Recently they announced that the upcoming patch 1.3 for Hellgate: London will soon hit the Test Center. This patch is at least as big as its predecessor. There's mention of it hitting the Test Center 'next week' (which is this week!).

Hot on the heels of Patch 1.2 comes Patch 1.3 which offers a host of new features and improvements to your Hellgate: London experience. This update is just as beefy as its predecessor and then some. Taken from the searing forge of development, it has been hammered and honed on the fiery anvil of in-house testing and will soon be fortified upon being thrust into the cold water that is Test Center.

Metaphors aside, Patch 1.3 has been crafted with an abundance of hotly desired features, the patch notes for which are presently being compiled. The latest addition to Patch 1.3 is Shared Stash, originally slated for the Abyss Chronicles (Patch 2). This feature will allow all of an account's characters to have a space to keep weapons, equipment, and other items in a location where any other characters on the account can access them. Two other new additions to the patch include gambling vendors and an increase to the current Palladium cap per character. Gambling vendors will offer unidentified items for sale which appear as "Normal" rarity and may or may not be worth far more than their purchase price. For more information on the estimated "content schedule" for Patch 1.3, be sure to check the "Lowdown On Upcoming Updates" news post made shortly before Patch 1.2 launched.

Patch 1.3 is estimated to be ready for Test Center next week. A more absolute date will be announced in the coming days along with the update's patch notes.

New Hellgate-Flavored Literature

Zyuu — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:57:05 GMT

We've got a double dose of paperback goodness aimed to please those Hellgaters who like to read and those who like to read...less. Let's hit the books!

Recently slated for a release date of April 8th, Tokyopop's Hellgate: London manga, simply titled Hellgate: London, will bit hitting shelves in just two short weeks. This graphic novel is a prequel to the actual game, taking place 18 years before you begin your adventure in Russel Square. Here is the plot synopsis from Tokyopop's website:

In the year 2020, a demon invasion strikes several cities around the globe...including London, home to college Rugby champ John Fowler and his family. But before the climatic Battle of All Hallow's Eve, John and his sister Lindsey attempted to discover the story behind what seemed to be a series of bizarre portents: an exhumed skeleton, a haunting apparition, and a powerful sword that they find in their attic. Solving the mystery, though, reveals something about their family that changes their lives forever...In the prequel to the hit video game, explore the world of Hellgate just 48 hours before the world becomes a demon-ridden, war-torn hell--and discover just what might have started it all./

"Will they survive the invasion?" "Who is the figure in red at the top?" "Are Molten Edge swords really that huge?" If these are the questions you find yourself asking, you'll be glad to know there's more information to be had on the Tokyopop website including character profiles and a word from the manga's senior editor.

Now, something for the Hellgater who's more of a traditional reader. Mel Odom has completed the second in a trilogy of novels based on the Hellgate: London universe, fourteen years before the time Hellgate: London video game takes place in. Titled Hellgate: London: Goetia, it continues where Hellgate: London: Exodus, the first book, left off:

2024: Four years after the Demons opened the planar rift known as the Hellgate, mankind's desperate struggle to survive continues. Simon Cross, expatriate of the secret Templar order, works to find and transport survivors out of the ruined city. Hiding within London's Underground system, Simon is raising an army to fight against the encroaching Darkness. Now, he battles the monsters that roam the city and fends off a jealous Knight who plans to take Simon down...all while striving to reunite the divided Templar forces.

Warren Schimmer, a Cabalist who is magically linked to a powerful demon, searches for Goetia. Also known as the Lesser Key of Solomon, this ancient artifact could provide the forces of good or evil with an edge in the ongoing war. Standing in his path is Simon Cross. Warren has made a bargain with his Demon lord for survival and the promise of vengeance against the persuasive

More information on Goetia can be found at Simon & Schuster's website including an excerpt from the novel.

Shiny new Patch 1.2 Video

Zyuu — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:50:24 GMT

Check out the latest Hellgate: London video below. This time featuring what 1.2 got in store for brave adventurers.

Patch 1.2 launched last week and Hellgaters have started discovering what lies in wait in the murky depths of The Deepest Wild. For those who have yet to make the journey, here is a brief glimpse at what horrors and treasures await you. Heed the lesson to be learned from this tale: The Desiccator has very sensitive feelings and doesn't take kindly to brash adventurers who left their manners behind in Stonehenge.

Shiny Hellgate: London Patch 1.2 Trailer

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Patch 1.2 have made it to the Live Servers

Zyuu — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:09:08 GMT

Today Patch 1.2 was released on the Live Servers of Hellgate: London. See below for details and the patch notes.

Patch 1.2 Notes

March 17, 2008

Hello everyone!

This patch is has some major skill changes, a few vital balance tweaks, some pesky bug fixes, and a highly-requested new feature.

First and foremost is the introduction of our in-game mail system. This is something that we know is of vital interest to our community, and is the foundation for our consignment / auction house system. Players can not only send and receive messages with anyone in the game, but they can also attach Palladium and items to their mail. This makes getting items from one character to another – even your own – much simpler and more convenient. And while you need to be in a Station to attach or receive items and Palladium, you can read your messages anywhere, anytime.

We’re also rolling out the second of our major character class balance passes. In this patch, we’ve done a comprehensive balance pass on the Marksman. We focused on addressing a number of issues that have made the class vastly over-powered in comparison to the rest of the classes and the desired difficulty of the game. There are also numerous areas where we have increased the effectiveness of, or altered skills to give Marksman players a wider variety of builds and tactics.

Chief amongst these changes is addressing the notorious skill/weapon combinations involving Ricochet, Reflecting Shot, Multishot, Rapid Fire, Heightened Senses, Beacon, Dead Eye, and Hollow Points, while using a high rate of fire weapon, such as an Arclight Rifle. While we realize that making choices on skill, item, and mod combinations which complement each other is a fundamental design element most emphasized with the Marksman in particular, there should never be one combination of skills which completely outshines the rest.

We didn’t want to entirely remove the most overpowered Marksman skill combinations altogether, however, and we also didn’t want to leave other Marksman skill issues unaddressed. This would have been largely unfair to the Marksman players. As a result, you’ll see a large number of changes to the skills - such as synergies to the Ballistics, Grenade, and Precision Strike skill groups - that should promote an increased variety of specialized builds and create a more diversified play experience overall. We’ve been doing a lot of balance and tweaking over the past few weeks in Test Center with these changes, and we’re excited to roll them out to all of our players. Big thanks to everyone for all the great feedback!

We’re also introducing our first “pets with abilities” in this patch. These pets can be found out in the Wild and offer more for brave adventurers than mere companionship. Keep an eye out for those Mysterious Eggs!

Finally, there are a MASSIVE amount of other fixes and additions in this patch, including adjusting the difficulty of the Nightmare end-game, making the big Moloch battle more interesting and challenging, adding a slew of new Unique items and challenges in the Wild, and much, MUCH more.

Thanks again to everyone for their great feedback and continued support of making Hellgate: London bigger and better.

See you online!

The Hellgate: London Team

Click here to read the full patch notes for Patch 1.2!

A new build of 1.2 hits the Test center.

GSCyanBloodbane — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:23:07 GMT

A new build of the 1.2 patch hit the test center tonight. Lots of good things coming. among them is marksmen balancing.

here are a few other tidbits

In-Game Mail Characters can now send and receive mail from any other character, including characters within the same account. Mail consists of text messages, and one item of any size and any amount of Palladium can be attached for delivery.

Moloch has been further increased in difficulty, as well as being more resistant to Ignite and Ignite Damage. Be sure you’re well prepared before attempting to defeat him in Hardcore Elite Mode!
Moloch drops the following additional, extra-rare loot for “head-holders” only:

1% chance to drop a Respec Attribute Token. This item allows a character to “zero out” all points put into attributes (Accuracy, Strength, Stamina, and Willpower) and freely reassign them. These tokens are tradable.
5% chance to drop one of a new class of dye kits that have intrinsic properties. These properties scale with the level of the item, so one gained from Moloch at level 50 will be better than one gained from Moloch at level 30. These dye kits are tradable. In order of least rare to most rare:

         o Earth Core Dye Kit: Health regeneration
         o Dark Vengeance Dye Kit: + to luck
         o Indigo Fire Dye Kit: Electricity “thorns damage” effect
         o Copper Sky Dye Kit: + to all Elemental special effect defense
         o Ivory Haze Dye Kit: + to Shields
         o Vanquish Dye Kit: +1 level of Sprint skill (this does not scale)
         o Cold Steel Dye Kit: + to Armor
         o Black Knight Dye Kit: + to all attributes

A new boss monster, The Desiccator, has a 25% chance of appearing in The Deepest Wild zone. He should be extremely hard to kill, particularly solo or in small parties. As his health constantly regenerates, there is no guarantee a party will ever be able to kill him.
When defeated, The Desiccator has a 20% chance to drop a “Mysterious Egg.”
When placed in the Transmogrifying Cube, a Mysterious Egg will hatch into one of three new “pets with abilities”. These new pets and the Mysterious Egg are not tradable. These pets are:

Nautilus – occasionally heals all friends in range
Revenant – occasionally fires a spectral missile at enemies
Heap Raptor – breaks all those pesky crates for you

Plus a lot more things. check the patch notes for more details.

No word as to when it will go live but if past patches are any indication a week or so with no major bugs on the TC will see it going live.

Roper: We messed up.

Indelible — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:29:39 GMT

Bill Roper -- former Blizzard employee turned Flagship Studios head honcho -- has admitted that Flagship messed up when they released Hellgate: London.

Flagship wanted a spiritual successor to the Diablo franchise with lots of goodies and fans wanted the same. Roper did not shy away from pointing out that this, among other things, may have been slightly to high an expectation for the game studio.

I think that people had incredibly high expectations that we simply didn't meet[...]

Hellgate: London hasn't exactly had the greatest of times since launch. The game launched with major, game breaking bugs that turned a lot of people off. In one territory, a complete character wipe was undertaken. Things didn't look so shiny for the ex-Diablo devs and their new pals.

[...]we simply tried to do too much with the game. Vista, DirectX 10, being both a single-player boxed product and a multiplayer online game, a simultaneous launch in seven languages across Europe, the US and South East Asia, and creating our own fully-featured online destination on top of all that.

Roper has said that Flagship will take full blame for the rocky release but states that the problems weren't so much to do with the number of months the game spent in testing and more to do with the number of problems that came up right at the end.

Despite the admittance that things didn't go quite according to plan, Flagship won't be dropping their flagship title into the abyss just yet, with Roper stating that Flagship will continue to fight for Earth against the armies of Hell. Ok, maybe he didn't put it quite like that.

The challenges of an independent game studio are drastically different than those owned by a publisher. We're fortunate that the online nature of the game has allowed us to continue to fix bugs, add content, and respond directly to our players' wants and needs.

We'll keep pushing on all fronts with Hellgate: London.

The phrase, "stay a while and listen," come to mind...

Blademaster Video Tutorial

Zyuu — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:52:44 GMT

Flagship Studios have released a Blademaster Video Tutorial. This is a great video to watch if you're new to Hellgate: London. You can view the video below!

Today we’ve got another little tutorial video for you. Like before, this is intended for newer players who are still getting used to the game. (Really, you’d be surprised how many people find stuff like this helpful.) I mention in the video that this is only one way to go about playing the Blademaster class, and I really want to emphasize the “one way” part. There are so many ways to play the game – the video just shows how I personally like to level up to 10 when playing a Blademaster. Check it out in the video player below.

Blademaster Video Tutorial

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Preview of Upcoming Patches

Zyuu — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:48:56 GMT

Ever wanted to know what Flagship Studios have planned for the future of Hellgate: London? Well, look no further! (This information was released at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco).

Perhaps the most sought-after information that Hellgaters are most interested in on our forums is insight into the future of Hellgate: London. After a great first day at the Games Developer Conference, we'd like to offer a kingly scoop on this very topic. And so, without further ado, we lift the curtain and reveal our plans for the next three Hellgate: London updates. Note that while the bullets outline the contents of each patch, they are actively being worked on and will have more thorough patch notes upon release.

Patch 1.2

In-game mail with the ability to attach items.
Marksman skill adjustments.
Many bug fixes.

Previously known only for its sweeping changes to the Marksman class, Patch 1.2 will add in-game mail, a hotly desired feature. Additionally, a great many bugs are addressed in this build, many of them reported by the community.

Patch 1.3

New functional pets.
Warp to any player in buddy list.
Emotes.
Text bubbles over character heads.
Display party member level and class.
Inspect other player's equipment.
Link items into the chat.
Split stacked items.

This patch will introduce a host of features designed to enhance the Hellgate experience. Not only will you now be able to check out your teammates' armor and weapons, items will be able to be "linked" into the chat window, allowing other players to see their statistics with ease. Emotes will provide new depth to interacting with your fellow Hellgaters as will text bubbles. All in all, Patch 1.3 offers a bevy of new features.

"The Abyss Chronicles" (Patch 2)

Group PvP, PvP games, and PvP ranking.
The Abyss "endless" dungeon.
Big Ben/Parliament Square adventure area.
Three new base monster types.
Five new bosses.
New skills for all classes.
New high end armor for all factions.
New weapons for all factions.
Consignment house.
Shared stash.
Instance switching.

Our biggest major content update yet (well, until the next Chronicle). Sizable additions to the PvP department, seriously unique skills for all classes, new armor and weapons for all factions, new monster types, new bosses... Oh, and then there's the consignment house and shared stash. Big? This content update is HUGE. Now for some glimpses at the sights to be seen when you enter... The Abyss Chronicles!

Second Dev Chat - Transcript

Indelible — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:34:38 GMT

The transcript from the second IRC chat with the developers of Hellgate: London has been posted on the official Hellgate: London website.

Many thanks to all Hellgaters who attended this second Developer Chat Event! You can read the entire formatted transcript here:

[Scapes]: It is 4PM here at Flagship Studios and we would like to welcome you all to this Hellgate: London Developer Chat Event! This is the second DevChat we've had and it looks to be a big one!

[Scapes]: We have a host of developers ready to answer your burning questions about Hellgate: London. [Bill Roper]: Hey everyone! Welcome to the chat! [Tyler Thompson]: Hey everyone! [Taylor Balbi]: Hey all :) [Dave Glenn]: hello all [Alan Hu]: Hey everyone :]

[InnerVisions]: What happened to the random quests that were planned for the game? Is there any plans to add them in a future update?

[Tyler Thompson]: We've been talking about these more recently. I can't guarantee one way or another, but they definitely on our radar. [Bill Roper]: We've been looking at a lot of things to get into the game during the upcoming updates, and the re-introduction of random quests is currently in discussion. We know that players want more non-linear content, so we're looking into all sorts of ideas.

To read the full dev chat click here.