Ot: Hellgate London

Hellgate misses two very important aspects the Diablo II had.

Hellgate isn't fun out of the box. It's not simple enough at the early levels to suck you in. Most of the "reviewers" have never enen completed the game... and that's not their fault. The game has a horrible first impression. Diablo II didn't. You're confronted with meaningful objectives almost immediately. The first quest in DII is an "explore this area" quest. HGL has "go kill X of Y" as your first quest... and your second... and third. The really need to rework that, and they can. HGL is modular and highly adaptable. It can really be completely rewritten remotely.

The second is overspecialization. There are no useful items that can be used by all the classes. Each class has it's own armor and weaponry which means about 75% of the loot that you get is just going to be trashed or sold. In D2, specialization occurs much later in the progress of your character and character specific items are the exception rather than the rule.

I agree that HGL has the potential to be a great game. I wish though that they had learned from GWs mistakes. The "instanced" feel of a game is a turn off. Here's hoping they really work on the game.
 
I read a lot of negative comments here... I don't have the game yet, and I wonder: are these comments biased by expecting a Diablo 3 of sorts? A lot of people compare D2 and HG:L, and of course there are similarities. But for sure there are also intended differences, and these design decisions are leading away from the Diablo world.

I for my part don't expect a modern D2, but try to be open for new concepts. The possibility of regular unique online 'events' is something for sure... IF they can keep hacks under control. It drags people towards online play, but that's just how game companies earn money these days (keep in mind that CD copies will be around in file sharing networks pretty soon, although it is illegal).

I very much appreciate that there is a basic online play you DON'T have to pay for (except buying the game itself). We'll see how much subscriptions add to the game, and if it is worth paying for this stuff. There is a SP option for situations where you don't have access to the net, good thing. It doesn't have all the contents, yes ... but when HG:L focuses on events, how could that be? Most people here have some sort of internet flatrate I guess (yes, there are exceptions of course), costs just for connecting won't matter for these people. And mobile internet access (WLAN or other types) is becoming cheaper and more widely available every month.
 
Hellgate actually got me back to Diablo2 :laugh:


Hah, me too. First post here in years and years.

Reinstalling d2 right now and going to put the Eastern Sun mod on top of that and go find some items and play for fun until they fix HGL.

I'm level 17 in HGL Right now I'm worried about hitting some of the "showstopper" bugs that have appeared, so putting it on ice until they optimize their game a bit better. It's fun, but I don't want to waste all that time because I was impatient.



 
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