Hellgate first impressions?

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: pontifex

While I'm liking it more than I did previously, there's no way this game can be called GotY. I don't even know how its getting such good reviews. its pretty mediocre compared to other games.

the way you are playing it, i have to agree

Originally posted by: techgamer
does hellgate have a demo to download?

Unfortunately it does
... it is awful ... there is no comparison to the retail game

http://www.hellgatelondon.com/...lgate-london-demo-live

what way am i playing it?


as for the demo, as someone who played it and live version, i totally disagree with that. the demo is a very good representation of how the game plays.

You're supposed to play it while drunk. Then you shall see the light!

 

[apoppin]

You're supposed to play it while drunk. Then you shall see the light!

nope .. on pain meds with no sleep is how i seem to be playing it.


.. i just deleted my Spectral Cleanser - accidentally


i can't proceed without it .. let's see what they built-in - if anything - for this screw-up of mine

 

[techgamer]

so i downloaded the demo and started playing...how many games are going to include wirt's leg from diablo? it was in diablo 1 and 2, its in WoW and now hellgate... lol why?

 

[coloumb]

Demo gives you a basic understanding of pretty much how the rest of the game works. Unfortunately, the demo is a bit short - so you won't be able to witness a mob drop a gazillion loot items - nor harness the increased power/skills your player gets at higher levels - nor get to play the other classes as well [demo is limited to 2 if I remember correctly].

I really wasn't impressed with the demo, but I saw the game on sale and figured I'd give it a try. After running through a few areas and leveling up to 7 on my engineer - I'm having a lot of fun.

The ONLY thing I don't like about the game - you can't re-allocate your skills once they are chosen. Hopefully the devs wil re-evaluate this decision and change it -or- people will start to post skill guides... because starting over just plain sucks.

 

[boatillo]

Just wanted to pop in again and say:

1) This game runs extremely well on my system with almost every graphical setting maxed (no AA) in 1680x1050 res! I can't believe it, gogo 6800GT

2) Very fun! First toon is an evoker and it is very enjoyable and FPS-like, however like others I really hope they offer easy to obtain respecs because I am not rerolling after nerfs or because I spent 5 points in some later worthless skill.

Think I am going to spec for the spectural lash + mastery for long attacks...then maybe some fire or bone aoe for when baddies get too close.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: coloumb
Demo gives you a basic understanding of pretty much how the rest of the game works. Unfortunately, the demo is a bit short - so you won't be able to witness a mob drop a gazillion loot items - nor harness the increased power/skills your player gets at higher levels - nor get to play the other classes as well [demo is limited to 2 if I remember correctly].

I really wasn't impressed with the demo, but I saw the game on sale and figured I'd give it a try. After running through a few areas and leveling up to 7 on my engineer - I'm having a lot of fun.

The ONLY thing I don't like about the game - you can't re-allocate your skills once they are chosen. Hopefully the devs wil re-evaluate this decision and change it -or- people will start to post skill guides... because starting over just plain sucks.

first, i LIKE starting over; i expect to do it again as a Summoner or Marksman ... it is SO different to play a Blademaster and then a Engineer, it is almost like playing a different game. Almost everything changes except the goals and the bosses.

And, agreed, they made it hard for the FPSer
-i guess Blademaster would be OK for them. But you do get "warning" if your Char gets unbalanced .. you start to notice that higher equipped items can't be equipped until that is rectified in a level up [IF you are paying attention]

They also don't give you much money or resources [which is logical for the end of humanity] and *choice* IS a big deal ... you can't really mix it up very much. Choose wisely and you breeze thru the mobs. Misjudge and you are screwed.

That is when i exploit the game's mechanics - i resurrect right near the entrance to a tunnel and drop back into the safe one to power up and reemerge ready to kick demon ass. The further you go you see the intricate inter-working of the game - and i like it - a lot of thought went into it and mostly you don't feel like you have a "shopping list".

i just deleted my Spectral Cleanser - accidentally

when i went back into a tunnel, the game crashed ... when i reloaded, about halfway thru a bruising battle that Spectral Cleanser suddenly appeared in my hands and i had to F1 back to my dual pistols - i thought i lost them for a moment.
:Q

nice

 

[DangerAardvark]

At first I was all like "Meh" about the game, but the more I learn about it, the more I'm all like "Hoo". I'll probably pick it up tomorrow and see if the thing will even run with my 8300GS while I'm waiting for my 8800GT.

 

[IEC]

My workload is telling me that even considering buying this game now would be a foolish thing :laugh:

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: coloumb
The ONLY thing I don't like about the game - you can't re-allocate your skills once they are chosen. Hopefully the devs wil re-evaluate this decision and change it -or- people will start to post skill guides... because starting over just plain sucks.

Flagship loves this concept... it's annoying Mythos too.

 

[pontifex]

yeah, no respec sucks.

and whats weird, if you look at the hellgate forums about this, most people there think its a great idea that you can't. wtf??

I have my marksman at lvl 8 and an engineer at lvl 6 or 7.
I've been going back through the levels to get money and items, but you really don't get much, which is annoying. I want to upgrade my stuff but its hard because it either costs money or parts and its expensive.

I'm still annoyed by most of the skills. I guess I'm used to other games like Diablo 2 and Titan Quest. the skills in those games just seemed really useful and you really saw the effect of them.

The bosses are really tough! takes awhile to take them down.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: pontifex
yeah, no respec sucks.

and whats weird, if you look at the hellgate forums about this, most people there think its a great idea that you can't. wtf??

I have my marksman at lvl 8 and an engineer at lvl 6 or 7.
I've been going back through the levels to get money and items, but you really don't get much, which is annoying. I want to upgrade my stuff but its hard because it either costs money or parts and its expensive.

I'm still annoyed by most of the skills. I guess I'm used to other games like Diablo 2 and Titan Quest. the skills in those games just seemed really useful and you really saw the effect of them.

The bosses are really tough! takes awhile to take them down.

i think you are just used to the other games; i really agree with most of the HGL forum posters [although i refuse to read other persons suggestions like i also refused to do with Oblivion; i want to blaze my own path] ... limiting the skills makes it much more of a challenge - it is the End of the World [and it isn't Stalker].

Which one do you like better, the Engineer or the Marksman?
-i like the Engineer's Drone upgrade ability and the fact that when he has a full-party it is unstoppable. Make *sure* to attack the same NPC your drone is attacking - two-on-one or three-on-one kill the strongest enemy easily. And don't forget to *remove* the mods and replace them with higher level ones [sell or reuse the mods]

Level 21 and it keeps getting better ... i am about to finally play PvP



when you meet the Bosses, make sure you *claim* an area and keep enlarging it ... whittle down the Bosses" protectors and *run away* when health is low ... don't forget your personal relocator - to exit the battle in the middle and heal and return; also use strategy when you die - move closer to a tunnel exit so you can resurrect and immediately go thru the tunnel to fully recharge and get your 'party' ready reemerging at 100%

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: pontifex
yeah, no respec sucks.

and whats weird, if you look at the hellgate forums about this, most people there think its a great idea that you can't. wtf??

I have my marksman at lvl 8 and an engineer at lvl 6 or 7.
I've been going back through the levels to get money and items, but you really don't get much, which is annoying. I want to upgrade my stuff but its hard because it either costs money or parts and its expensive.

I'm still annoyed by most of the skills. I guess I'm used to other games like Diablo 2 and Titan Quest. the skills in those games just seemed really useful and you really saw the effect of them.

The bosses are really tough! takes awhile to take them down.

i think you are just used to the other games; i really agree with most of the HGL forum posters [although i refuse to read other persons suggestions like i also refused to do with Oblivion; i want to blaze my own path] ... limiting the skills makes it much more of a challenge - it is the End of the World [and it isn't Stalker].

Which one do you like better, the Engineer or the Marksman?
-i like the Engineer's Drone upgrade ability and the fact that when he has a full-party it is unstoppable. And don't forget to *remove* the mods and replace them with higher level ones [sell or reuse the mods]

Level 21 and it keeps getting better ... i am about to finally play PvP



when you meet the Bosses, make sure you *claim* an area and keep enlarging it ... whittle down the Bosses" protectors and *run away* when health is low ... don't forget your personal relocator - to exit the battle in the middle and heal and return; also use strategy when you die - move closer to a tunnel exit so you can resurrect and immediately go thru the tunnel to fully recharge and get your 'party' ready reemerging at 100%

As the engineer, I like having "pets" to help fight, but I wish you could control them better. they seem to really have a mind of their own. They go off attacking stuff while i'm trying to rest up or look at items. Combat is kind of boring though because the pets fight and all I can do is shoot. I don't have any skills other than pet skills to use.

I think I like the marksman better though. He seems to be able to kill stuff faster. I also found some neat stuff with him though. I got this rare chest piece that adds +4 to all stats and a few other bonuses. has nice armor and shields also. i just wish the napalm strike and grenades worked a little better. they get thrown so far away and bounce like crazy. i use them on groups of enemies that are far away as an initial attack but they should work close up as well.

 

[Engraver]

The game is ok, but it isn't a freaking masterpiece like so many people are claiming. It is like they've been in the desert and this is the first drink of water they've had in days.



The graphics aren't very impressive but that's not a huge issue. The issue with appearance is how drab everything looks. The world can be apocalyptic and still have a little color in it.




Some skills are fairly useless (which is to be expected in a game like this), but some don't function well at all.

Example: The Marksman grenades
Other than the one that detonates on impact, these grenades are pretty useless due to the game's physics. They bounce like superballs, which makes them fun for getting them in odd places, but ultimately useless in any real encounter.




No respec or skill buyback. With as scarce as resources are in this game, having to pay to get a skill point back would probably be deterrent enough to prevent abuse.




I don't know if it is just me, but I found Multiplayer rather laggy. I figured I'd start my second character in MP but I was getting ~1-2 seconds of lag with actions on Shulwhateverthatserver is called. I was trying to use a grappler and the enemies would stay put and then appear near me a second later. I'll try the other server tonight, but if it is always like this I guess I'll only be playing single.




Maybe they'll fix this stuff, maybe they won't, but as it stands I give this game a 75/100.


Edit: Something interesting I've noticed while playing Marksman. Laser pistols/rifles in sniper mode don't seem to suffer from the rate of fire decrease since they are constant.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Drift3r

1.) Fix the glaring bugs and memory leak in this game.

2.) Add a respec ability with a price and cool down timer.

3.) Allow players to farm bosses without the diminishing returns BS.

4.) Ability to reset a instance without having to exit out of the game !

5.) Fix the monster scaling with groups. Right now if two people group up they will end up getting 1 or 2 shotted by mobs because group scaling is way off.

6.) Add in the ability to split items in the game !!

7.) Include the AH feature that was promised.

8.) Shared bank slots - Put them in ASAP. GW and TQ had them.

9.) More character slots would be nice too.

10.) Fix your broken subscription servers. What a freaking sad example of not having your act together. The subscriptions servers have been broken and shut down since this game launched !

I am in favor of all of these. I feel it would greatly improve how much fun the game is capable of being. I am new to Hellgate. I have only put in about 8 hours but I love it all the same.

One question in regards to, "3.) Allow players to farm bosses without the diminishing returns BS." I did notice that when I reentered instances that the original bosses were missing. I assume based on responses that this is permanent for all instances in SP? I only get to kill the bosses once? If someone could explain this I would appreciate it.

Also, is anyone having issues with the character model not loading or getting messed up when equipping certain items? I also notice that the graphics for the items in my inventory and vendor's inventory do not completely load all of the details. Anyone else having this problem?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: Drift3r

1.) Fix the glaring bugs and memory leak in this game.

2.) Add a respec ability with a price and cool down timer.

3.) Allow players to farm bosses without the diminishing returns BS.

4.) Ability to reset a instance without having to exit out of the game !

5.) Fix the monster scaling with groups. Right now if two people group up they will end up getting 1 or 2 shotted by mobs because group scaling is way off.

6.) Add in the ability to split items in the game !!

7.) Include the AH feature that was promised.

8.) Shared bank slots - Put them in ASAP. GW and TQ had them.

9.) More character slots would be nice too.

10.) Fix your broken subscription servers. What a freaking sad example of not having your act together. The subscriptions servers have been broken and shut down since this game launched !

I am in favor of all of these. I feel it would greatly improve how much fun the game is capable of being. I am new to Hellgate. I have only put in about 8 hours but I love it all the same.

One question in regards to, "3.) Allow players to farm bosses without the diminishing returns BS." I did notice that when I reentered instances that the original bosses were missing. I assume based on responses that this is permanent for all instances in SP? I only get to kill the bosses once? If someone could explain this I would appreciate it.

Also, is anyone having issues with the character model not loading or getting messed up when equipping certain items? I also notice that the graphics for the items in my inventory and vendor's inventory do not completely load all of the details. Anyone else having this problem?

i keep going back to the 1st hellrift thing and fighting that Shulgoth boss or whatever he is. i've done that at least 3 times now and I haven't noticed any diminishing returns. Although, the first time I fought him there was another boss type creature there that hasn't been there in subsequent trips.

What does splitting items mean? remove mods from items or what? you can do that.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: pontifex

i keep going back to the 1st hellrift thing and fighting that Shulgoth boss or whatever he is. i've done that at least 3 times now and I haven't noticed any diminishing returns. Although, the first time I fought him there was another boss type creature there that hasn't been there in subsequent trips.

What does splitting items mean? remove mods from items or what? you can do that.

Maybe my issue is that only certain bosses that are quest related do not come back? Keep in mind that I am playing SP. Are you farming these bosses in MP or SP?

Also, the extra boss type you fought was probably a rare or legendary spawn which only sometimes appears. I have found those.

I believe that "splitting items" according to Drift3r means that during MP there is a system to split loot easier amongst the group? I honestly do not know for sure. If there is no system currently in place then there should be.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: pontifex
yeah, no respec sucks.

and whats weird, if you look at the hellgate forums about this, most people there think its a great idea that you can't. wtf??

I have my marksman at lvl 8 and an engineer at lvl 6 or 7.
I've been going back through the levels to get money and items, but you really don't get much, which is annoying. I want to upgrade my stuff but its hard because it either costs money or parts and its expensive.

I'm still annoyed by most of the skills. I guess I'm used to other games like Diablo 2 and Titan Quest. the skills in those games just seemed really useful and you really saw the effect of them.

The bosses are really tough! takes awhile to take them down.

i think you are just used to the other games; i really agree with most of the HGL forum posters [although i refuse to read other persons suggestions like i also refused to do with Oblivion; i want to blaze my own path] ... limiting the skills makes it much more of a challenge - it is the End of the World [and it isn't Stalker].

Which one do you like better, the Engineer or the Marksman?
-i like the Engineer's Drone upgrade ability and the fact that when he has a full-party it is unstoppable. And don't forget to *remove* the mods and replace them with higher level ones [sell or reuse the mods]

Level 21 and it keeps getting better ... i am about to finally play PvP



when you meet the Bosses, make sure you *claim* an area and keep enlarging it ... whittle down the Bosses" protectors and *run away* when health is low ... don't forget your personal relocator - to exit the battle in the middle and heal and return; also use strategy when you die - move closer to a tunnel exit so you can resurrect and immediately go thru the tunnel to fully recharge and get your 'party' ready reemerging at 100%

As the engineer, I like having "pets" to help fight, but I wish you could control them better. they seem to really have a mind of their own. They go off attacking stuff while i'm trying to rest up or look at items. Combat is kind of boring though because the pets fight and all I can do is shoot. I don't have any skills other than pet skills to use.

I think I like the marksman better though. He seems to be able to kill stuff faster. I also found some neat stuff with him though. I got this rare chest piece that adds +4 to all stats and a few other bonuses. has nice armor and shields also. i just wish the napalm strike and grenades worked a little better. they get thrown so far away and bounce like crazy. i use them on groups of enemies that are far away as an initial attack but they should work close up as well.

the Drone AI is really good ... head off in one direction and they immediately follow you. The Best strategy i found is to follow the Drone with the laser [whatever beam] and attack what it is attacking. When you pull back, it does also and you can minimize damage to it [i just gave my most powerful Drone "gun" another gun ] ... at the higher levels, they are pretty good ... just make sure you use the blue power ups to construct one-after-another

i don't care about the 'bots that slow the enemies ... they are indestructable

as to the strike, i only use it first - run in and toss it to soften up the bunch ... and then again in the middle of the fight; i got really used to it's bounces
i was thinking of a Marksman next or a Summoner ... but a Badass Blademaster would be cool

 

[KeithTalent]

Is anyone using a zombot pet? Does he actually do damage or is he just there for amusement? I have not been able to figure this out yet.

I'm still enjoying this game (level 11 Marksman) but the network errors are kind of driving me nuts. It always seems to happen right after a long journey, killing tonnes of bad guys and right before I get to the objective/boss, which makes things very frustrating. :frown:

KT

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Is anyone using a zombot pet? Does he actually do damage or is he just there for amusement? I have not been able to figure this out yet.

I'm still enjoying this game (level 11 Marksman) but the network errors are kind of driving me nuts. It always seems to happen right after a long journey, killing tonnes of bad guys and right before I get to the objective/boss, which makes things very frustrating. :frown:

KT

it's for show ... part of the pay-for hallooween content that we got to sample free - like the flaming-mask - useless
--i had to start a long journey over 3 times once - *each time* it was out of memory ... sucks :|

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: pontifex
yeah, no respec sucks.

and whats weird, if you look at the hellgate forums about this, most people there think its a great idea that you can't. wtf??

I think people see it as more "hardcore", yet all they're doing is forcing you to grind more and more. Messed up your build, uhoh, better restart and redo all those hours. Ever since I made a Necromancer in Diablo II and I had some shitty build that couldn't even solo Diablo, I absolutely loathed that system.

I can't imagine how absolutely lame WoW would be if you couldn't respec (ignoring free respecs given during changes, those would probably be there). You'd be stuck to one task the entire time... want to do something else? Sure! Go spend another 10 days leveling up again . I guess that's a nice forceful way to keep people playing your game to get the experience that they truly want. It's like playing a game with no save feature, you can't go back and do it again if you make a mistake. Truly frustrating.

Oh and question, is the beta still open? I have 3 keys for it and I might actually try it (as much as I loathe the stupid talent system). I think the European one is closed... don't ask me why, but I was invited to test the Euro servers .

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: pontifex

i keep going back to the 1st hellrift thing and fighting that Shulgoth boss or whatever he is. i've done that at least 3 times now and I haven't noticed any diminishing returns. Although, the first time I fought him there was another boss type creature there that hasn't been there in subsequent trips.

What does splitting items mean? remove mods from items or what? you can do that.

Maybe my issue is that only certain bosses that are quest related do not come back? Keep in mind that I am playing SP. Are you farming these bosses in MP or SP?

Also, the extra boss type you fought was probably a rare or legendary spawn which only sometimes appears. I have found those.

I believe that "splitting items" according to Drift3r means that during MP there is a system to split loot easier amongst the group? I honestly do not know for sure. If there is no system currently in place then there should be.

I'm playing Offline SP. although I wonder if I should play online, but I dunno. With all the bugs and crashes online, it doesn't seem worth it.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Xavier434

Originally posted by: pontifex

i keep going back to the 1st hellrift thing and fighting that Shulgoth boss or whatever he is. i've done that at least 3 times now and I haven't noticed any diminishing returns. Although, the first time I fought him there was another boss type creature there that hasn't been there in subsequent trips.

What does splitting items mean? remove mods from items or what? you can do that.

Maybe my issue is that only certain bosses that are quest related do not come back? Keep in mind that I am playing SP. Are you farming these bosses in MP or SP?

Also, the extra boss type you fought was probably a rare or legendary spawn which only sometimes appears. I have found those.

I believe that "splitting items" according to Drift3r means that during MP there is a system to split loot easier amongst the group? I honestly do not know for sure. If there is no system currently in place then there should be.

I'm playing Offline SP. although I wonder if I should play online, but I dunno. With all the bugs and crashes online, it doesn't seem worth it.

Ah! So there is hope of farming boss types. Good thing. I do hope that the diminishing returns rumor is false, but even if it isn't that's not way too bad. I have been getting a fair amount of rare and legendary loot so far from non-boss enemies to suffice. I just hope the patches are swift when it comes to the bug fixes and I really hope they add a respec option. If both of those happen then I will be golden. I can live without the rest.

 

[RS8]

Wasn't impressed with the game at all, I spent a good 10 hours, 8 of which I knew were a waste of time. Out of the box memory leaks didn't help, neither did the redundant gameplay.

 

[Xavier434]

I have been reading the forums on hellgateguru.com and the answer about farming bosses that you can farm Shulgoth, the final boss in the game, and maybe the final boss in Act III but that is it. Also, the final boss in the game will only drop a unique item the first time.

I just bought the game too. I really hope they do something about this because it completely kills the fun when it comes to repeating instances...

 

[Ephemeral]

I've been playing since early beta and I'm still having just as much fun with it now that I had when I first started. There is a ton of customization and variety when it comes to your character, and a little planning can go a long way.

Its the game I've been waiting for all year, the one that makes me look at the clock and do a double take because 6 hours have passed in the blink of an eye. Most of the releases this year have been somewhat of a let down for me, but this game has the potential to be one of the great time wasters .

I like the crafting and item recycling, sometimes I pop back into town just to see if they have a mod list up (I pump everything with electricity and toxic)...and its nice that the craftable items increase in power as your standing goes up. I've even made a couple of uniques that I traded for some mods that I needed, and/or sold for a tidy profit.

The hellrifts, bloodgates, and passageways are nice additions, and even if I don't get a rare spawn/chest I'll still get the increased XP for fighting inside of one.

The enemies are varied and interesting (love the design work on spectrals) and once you hit act 4 they really start to ramp up on density/danger level. The giant lumbering baddies are also always fun to kill, just don't let them hit you .


So far I've gotten my marksman up to 27, and it has been fun planning what build I want to go with, and discussing the various skills with other MM (I personally don't like the idea of respecs, but agree that there should be a penalty and the option to do so.) I think the tree was designed well, and has a decent amount of flexibility to customize without risk of being rendered useless (if you are careful and have a clear goal).

Also a couple tips for newcomers to the hunter clan: Pick a strike and plan to invest in it (I use smackdown), the damage scales based on character level and you will come to swear by it. If you're going to make a first strike, it may as well be one that drops all enemy shields and stuns, ignites, or silences targets in the strike radius.

If you want to use grenades, go for phase and invest in it, phase is one of the best debuffs (50% increase in damage taken, 50% decrease in damage dealt) you can apply and will save your life on occasion. Plus being able to drop a phase and beacon then whip out your sniper pistols and go into sniper stance for an instant kill on all but the toughest bosses never gets old.


Everyone has already listed the faults, but in my experience since early beta, the developers have been quick to fix major issues that have cropped up. And ping0 has been great at communicating what is going on (even announcing in game for important notices), and I really hope they get the support needed to continue creating/updating/fixing things. The only issues I have is the memory usage, and the speed of the interface, but hopefully that will be resolved with the patch that goes/went live today, anyone have it applied yet?

All in all I've had a lot of fun playing this game and I look forward to future content. If you're on the fence I would say check back in a month or two, if you liked D2 and don't mind a few annoying issues, you might just lose large chunks of time in the fight for the living.