Hellgate: London Demo, Diablo 2's spritual successor. Options

[Crushinator]

Hellgate: London demo goes live tomorrow, you can download it already from certain sites.

http://hellgatelondon.com/

This is the next game from the members of Blizzard responsible for Diablo 2 who split off to form their own company, Flagship. The gameplay is a combination of third and first-person combat (sorta like PSU), melee, guns and magic, and its instanced combat with you "team" like Diablo and PSU. Actually... its a lot like PSU but set in the near future and you fight vampires I guess. Swell DX10 graphics, and probably has more content and substance too, not to slight PSU.

[Oddies da Nerfed]

Alright, finally enough slackin I finished single player, toyed with a few classes some and have some ideas of how this game goes.

It is not quite Diablo, and just because you liked those games you are not guaranteed to like this one. There are a number of similarities between HGL and D/D2, the most obvious being demons.
Other such likes are the way stats are handled, gear requiring certain stats to equip (with a twist). You get 6 classes, 2 melee one sword and board tank that gets boosts to actually being surrounded and not moving. The blade master which is dual sword melee machine. Evoker is your 'wizard, sorcerer, pick your name' and summoner can control demons. For ranged you have marksman, your typical shooty shooty type class with focus on sniping, mid to short range automatic or grenade/air strike support stuff, and finally engy which shoots stuff some and builds bots that heal team members or improve atk speed by like 30%.

The story: First we get a solid intro vid, really the only overly good vid in game with the ending being decent and a twist. But yeah, the intro owns, seriously. You find the world in ruins, demons control nearly everything, and although hell and other such words are used in this game like Diablo. These demons are not really form hell, these demons are from a far greater horror, that most simply can be described as the antithesis of everything living. They have burned thousands of worlds before, and intend to continue to put planets to the flame. The story is handled well enough to maintain interest while taking time to progress through, and as you progress you enter most areas just completing story objectives. Side quests finish the rest of the areas off.

Gameplay n stuff: Max level is 50, start with normal mode, unlock nightmare which is 30+, hardcore mode is for paying peeps and there is an 'elite' mode which I know little of, however it sounds like hell mode from lvl 1 up possibly online only. Play styles change between classes, as far as I am aware only the 2 ranged classes get fps mode, however I have not tested casters yet. Weapon choices depend what you want to do, you will find weps that do toxic damage, physical, electrical, fire and phase damages. Beyond physical the damage types do certain things, toxic diseases targets halting healing, fire ignites them doing 5%hp/s, lightning stuns, and phase is the nasty one reducing targets dmg by 50% and increasing dmg they take by 50%. There are no 2h melee weps, just 1h for dw or sword and board. Ranged weps come in a variety like pistols, automatic rifles, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and plasma beam thingies. The evokers use items that channel the specific type of damage they wish to use. Gear comes in grey(standard), green(enhanced), blue(epic), orangish(legendary), yellow(unique). At least that I found. Weapons can come with augment slots, from 0-8. These can be fit with matching mods. These mods can do things from +stats, +crit dmg to certain mob types, or even add additional dmg types to your weapons. These mods are designed for weapon level ranges, so sadly you cannot keep reusing em for the entire game, you can however remove them to put them in other weapons so long as they are of appropriate level. You can then 'upgrade' weapons and armor (post patch 4 times max) which increases the item level by 2-4 and accordingly the max level you have to be to equip. In doing so it ups baseline damage/armor/shields on appropriate gear. Last option is the augmentation device, which with money )and a lot) you can add bonuses to your items, sadly they are random and there is a limit of how many you can place. Three levels of buffs can be added, legendary can be added twice and on single cost between 15-35k per.

Crafting: not much crafting in game, rarely will you find a 1 use blueprint for an item, there are also npc which will make a small list of items that changes after so long. To make items you need components, components which you get by 'deconstructing' armor and weapons. Depending what you are making or upgrading you need the proper items in proper amounts. I would also imagine on MP these will be sought after items due to players wanting to make very good gear last as long as they can and so using the item upgrade station.

Mobs: I am unsure if nightmare offers more variety, however there isnt a massive amount of demons total. Most are just reskins(although nice looking) of lower level demons. They come in varieties of types and methods of attacks, some cast spells, which a few home in on you around corners and all, others use guns and attempt to keep range, while many run up to you and try to rip your face off. There are a few types of purely flying enemies, a few of which rarely if ever actually get near ground level, so an air attack skill is usually good atleast 1 point worth in it. The mobs use the same damage types you have access to, and they debuffs work just as well against you. In addition many mobs when killed leave toxic blood or an aura of the element they use when they die, doing some damage if you linger. A few pack shields you have to burn through, others are designed to buff and even raise dead enemies near them. During your travels you can run in to rare, elite, and legendary versions of mobs. The chances increase if you use gear with +luck. These mobs are much tougher and drop nicer loot.

Bugs: This game sadly seems to have been released a bit early, there are quite a few nasty lil bugs. Getting stuck in things, mobs stuck in things, mem leak, poor performance, although ive seen worse and its certainly still playable.


I am sure I am missing a load more, got questions just ask. The demo sucks ass btw, seriously it does not do the real game justice.

My chars are on Shulgoth server, Oddrey the engy and remaking Oddies atm, dunno what to.


edit: other infos i forgot. NO RESPECS OF SKILLS PERIOD. Make sure you do skills right or reroll.
there is a 'firing cone' for guns that obviously gets worse as you fire, also stances for the ranged classes that improve it accuracy and reduces cone decay. ofcourse sniper stance to for giggles.
http://hellgate.ingame.de/skilltree/marksm...00070001a000000 is an example build for my marksman