Hellgate: London Interview

Hellgate Guru has conducted an interview with Flagship Studios’ Bill Roper, in which the former Diablo developer talks about their upcoming action RPG, Hellgate: London. Here’s a snip:

Q: Are you using a skill tree system like Diablo II or something similar? If so, about how many different specializations will there be for each class?

A: We are currently working on more of a Skill Menu as our model. Just like when you go to a restaurant, you can get anything you can afford, so players should be able to build exactly the character they want in regards to the skills they choose. This means that really there are as many specializations as players can create within the available skills.

An important note is that just like the rest of the game, we’re looking to bring the randomization and rarity elements to skills in Hellgate: London.

This means you may randomly find a skill during your adventuring (as opposed to training it up in the usual way) and there is also a chance it will have some random, rare property about it. For example, instead of just having a Fireball, you might find an Exploding Fireball, or a Homing Fireball, or perhaps a Toxic Fireball. This will mean that characters that have followed the same skill path may still be quite different and unique.