Hellgate: London – London 2038 Development Update #18

This new development update for Hellgate: London’s London 2038 multiplayer mod lets us know what the team is currently working on (balance tweaks and new content), what they plan on working on in the future (in-game events and two expansions), and shares a quick personal message from the project’s community manager.

Check it out:

Hello folks. This marks a special diary entry, so I’d like to keep humor and fluff to a minimum. To those who prefer my quirkier entries, my apologies in advance – you’ll hopefully understand this change in tone by the end of this one.

The past

First, should any players have missed the announcement 4 on our Discord server, I’d like to briefly note that the Retrainer replacements have started. Anyone who has lost a tutorial questline Retrainer prior to hotfix patch 1.5.6 may now DM me on Discord (or here) to schedule a replacement. I will need some time to collect the information and confirm the losses before reaching out, but rest assured your replacements are on the way.

The present

Next, I’d like to cover what the patch currently in development is shaping up to include, as there have been questions about it. In brief, its highlights are:

• Drop rate tweaks. Australia will become far less generous, as you suggested. In contrast, all Champions and bosses across the game will regain some of their former generosity, in line with your feedback.
• Nerfs. Our data and tests, as well as your feedback, highlighted some overperformers that should be reigned in. But fear not, none of these nerfs will leave any class broken or underperforming.
• New content. Finally, we’ll be adding some unique new content, as well as a select few items with some unique mechanics of their own. As of writing this entry, most of them are finished.

As regards the nerfs in particular, please remember that no changes in resource gains or class performance are any one individual’s choice. We discuss and test both nerfs and buffs as a team, and have our Shady testers confirm their effects prior to each release. Should any change, positive or negative, miss the intended mark, it’s your civil, constructive feedback that we rely on to revise it and get it right.

The future

Finally, let me discuss some of what the future holds. Here I may go into some more detail, as a prelude of sorts for this section’s conclusion.

Events

As the last Halloween event was received very warmly, we’ve come to refocus our efforts toward events. This is why my last diary entry 2 included a mention of Christmas events – which I cannot promise we will get working in time. In either case, the future will certainly hold more events, and certainly more than the ones Flagship had created.

The endgame expansion

Next, the oft-mentioned endgame expansion is in the pipeline. This you may remember me teasing in April, and the only reason for its delay is our very limited time and workforce.

This expansion intends to provide a serious endgame challenge, as this descriptive dub suggests. Challenge won’t come through inflated stats, Regen, and cheap tricks, but through brand new mechanics that challenge each class differently. In turn, however, this means that it requires tremendous work – and many among the additions require effort, creativity, and plain patience as the game refuses to behave in specific ways. Couple this with Alternalo’s schedule and his work on his own game, let alone his and my work on all the patches since, and delays may become more understandable.

For what it’s worth, this won’t just be a storyless new frontier. Within Alternalo’s initial creative vision, I’ve crafted a plot for this expansion that should hopefully keep the more story-minded interested in-between epic fights.

The other expansion

Finally, the “other” expansion is still on the drawing board. This is because it intends to be an entire new campaign, with a new story, mechanics, and gameplay significance. This you may see dubbed as “my” expansion, as it has indeed been my brainchild since the project began, but it’s by no means just a personal project.

This one’s delays I can explain in more depth as well. Story-wise, this always intended to provide some continuation to the main story – and it is here where I’ve concluded I can use the remnants of Flagship’s Stonehenge that never was 5. But plain texts aside, there is only so much of Flagship’s material left to use. We will need new assets, new voice actors, perhaps new cutscenes, and more, so as to frame this bold endeavor properly. Development-wise, then, this cannot simply be a rehash of what players have seen and done before. This cannot be a Second Attack; it was always meant to be a love letter to the game and Flagship’s vision, and our tools and assets will need to improve to get this right.

My step back

Now, with all this covered, I may finally conclude with a personal note. With no fluff and daft puns, here I’d like to announce I will be taking a step back for a while. After patch 1.5.7 is finished and released, of course.

This is not due to interactions with players, rest assured. Yes, recently there have been some rather unpleasant ones across various platforms, as I’ve mentioned before 2 and as some of you are aware. However, those come with the job, and are to be expected. We have been doing this for 5 years now, and I would not let those few bad apples discourage me into delaying the content I wish to produce. I also know the majority of the player base is not those few people, and that’s who we ultimately work for.

It is simply exhaustion. I became a grunt-level content developer in May 2, and have not stopped exercising my newfound abilities since. However, these endless hours of work come with a toll. These duties piled up on top of my regular ones, as a CM, GM, and tester, across the forums, Discord, and internal platforms, and on top of my professional obligations across 2 jobs in real life.

This does not mean I’m quitting, by any means. I will still be around, and I’ll still be available. I will still do the diaries to keep you informed on what we do. I will even continue working on “my” expansion, as it fulfills me creatively, so as to have a solid blueprint to work on when the time comes. I will just need to rest, and this will require a step back.

For just a bit.

Cheers!

And with this I may leave you, kind reader. Should 1.5.7 be released before next time, I hope you will enjoy it. In either case, I hope you continue to enjoy your journeys into the dark corners of what was once proud London. All the best.