I don’t know about you but I was pretty letdown with the recently released Hellgate: London demo. There’s something about trying to represent an online game through a single-player demo that completely fails because the demo and its gameplay can be pretty mediocre and unrepresentative of the actual game.
Thankfully, the ongoing Hellgate: London beta completely blows away the demo and definitely showcases what the game is all about.
Today, Flagship Studios announced that the ongoing beta would close this Friday at 10AM PST. While all the beta characters will be wiped, the final game will be released a few days later on October 31st.
But if you haven’t gotten your complete fill of the game, the beta will actually re-open during the week of the game’s release. Flagship’s rationalization is that folks who ordered the game can still enjoy the game by continuing to participate in the beta while waiting for their copy to arrive.
In addition, whomever you make during the "new" beta will carry over to your retail account, cool, eh?
In related news, Flagship released the list of perks for all players and subscribers if you decide to fork over $9.99 per month for Hellgate: London. They’re listed as followed:
"Multiplayer Updates – All Players
Buddy Lists
Much better and easier ways to organize your friends!
Guilds
While only subscribers can start one, anyone can join a guild. Special name colors and tags on characters show their affiliation.
Buddy and Guild Chat
Special chat channels so you can keep your conversations clear.
Bigger Levels in Nightmare Mode
These increase the time players get to spend in each area, giving the game a more expansive feel at higher difficulty levels.
PVP
Players can both duel and elect to enter free-for-all PvP Mode. To duel, a player invites the person they wish to duel into a group and heads into an adventuring area. Duelers then right-click on the portrait of the person they wish to battle and select the Duel option from the displayed list. Dueling can only take place outside of Underground hubs.
Players can also choose to enter into PvP mode which means they can be attacked and harmed outside of Underground hubs by anyone else that has chosen to enter PvP mode. That is, those in PvP mode, must always be ready for PvP. This is a way to have wide-ranging free-for-alls, or create your own "friendly-fire" way of playing the game.
Tuned Game Progression
Level and monster progression is more thematic in nature. While this does not affect the overarching layout of the world map, it does make each act feel more defined and focused.
Gossip
We’ve added loads of additional details on the people and places in the game through various NPCs in the world. This definitely helps make the stations feel more alive and provides players with more of the back-story.
More Quest Information
Quest NPCs do a better job of getting you prepared to know what you’re fighting and why. The overall story flows much better, the named demons that are encountered are given more story weight, and players gain a much better sense of overall direction.
NPC Tweaks
The vocal responses given by NPCs have been tuned so that they tend more towards the serious and "normal", reserving the twisted commentary for specific player characters or in rare moments for the general populace.
Achievements
These are long-term goals for players. The player starts with a few new goals in an Achievement Log. These can be as simple as slaying a certain amount of specific demons to something as difficult as completing quests without the benefit of armor! Players uncover new goals as they start to meet the requirements of that achievement.
For example, after 50 zombies have been slain, an "Achievement Unlocked" message displays on the screen. Checking the Achievement Log shows how many zombies must be eradicated to complete the achievement. Rewards for completing achievements can be anything from reputation to tags on the player to special particle effects to items to special skills to – well, anything is possible!
Subscriber Features:
Elite Mode
This is for those players that always feel a game is too easy. The demons are tougher, deal out more damage, move faster, travel in larger groups, and have more champions at the ready. Numerous tweaks to the overall balance and progression of the game make this an extremely challenging mode.
Hardcore
Hardcore mode takes away the various resurrection options. For the gamer that wants the ultimate test, try playing an Elite Hardcore character!
Themed Events and Items
Halloween (October 31 – November 4)
Guild Creation
Buy purchasing a Guild Herald, a character can form a new guild. Characters can only be part of one guild at a time and should a Guild leader decide to abandon their post, they can pass leadership of the Guild to another subscribing guild member.
Extra Character Slots
While everyone gets 3 character slots, subscribers can have a maximum of 24 characters.
Larger Stash
Each character’s storage locker is doubled in size with an extra 6×8 section, making the hoarding of all sorts of goodies that much easier. Packrats rejoice!"
