Hellgate: London – London 2038 Development Update #27

While the team behind the London 2038 multiplayer mod for Hellgate: London is busy working on a new patch, we get this here development update that describes some upcoming endgame balance adjustments, and then mentions a possible Easter event. Check it out:

Hello, hello!

Hell may be breaking loose, or not, depending on your perspective, but I’d still not want to miss our bi-weekly appointment. So, here’s a quick rundown of these peaceful times.

Chilling, not freezing

First, as highlighted last time, we’ve finally caught a breath. Most of the team has been chilling about, so there’s not much to expect.

Or is there?

The feedback part

Starting here, as this I feel concerns a few of you. Remember last time, when I said this?

“Now, the part that will likely disappoint at least some of our dear readers. The following are recurring points that, unless convinced otherwise, we will most likely not be acting on in the near future:

[…]

Event subboss availability. This point is combining the subboss sources being Hidden Passageways and Catacombs no longer spawning Passageways 100% of the time – these we also still stand by. The former intends to make HPs uniquely valuable, and the latter to prevent “double dips” as players would farm Abyss bosses, gold, and subbosses all at once. We do understand the convenience, but that doesn’t align with the event’s intended form.

Event fees. This one too we’re fairly confident in, as the event is meant to be strictly party content. The requirement of 100 fragments both promotes party play and pooling resources, and keeps them valuable for solo-minded players to sell them.”

Well, I then followed up with this:

“That’s not to say those are set in stone forever, of course, but only that this is where we currently stand. If you strongly disagree, please continue to bring up your arguments and data; your feedback is always valuable, even if not all wishes are granted.”

So yes; we’ve taken some good hard looks into player perceptions, and will indeed be making some adjustments to this new endgame encounter.

We still believe that this encounter should be a long-term goal, and we still like the rotation it introduces. Still, an unfortunate part of its perception was that new players could very much see this as our own BD, but for old players who have done it all this was… all that was there to do.

We do believe much of the early feedback came from a place of burnout, and understandably so as I just went through, and of course we can’t just flip this thing on its head. Low server populations do call for some concessions, but there’s a line to be drawn for an MMO.

Still, all that said, we’ve kept our ears on the ground. We’ve monitored how this event shaped up after its first rotation and the subsequent fixes, and now believe we’ve found a few reasonable compromises we can make. In short, you can expect the next patch to revisit admission fees and sources – hence the quotes above.

To everyone who has helped us reach this conclusion, you have our heartfelt thanks. Sharing your feedback has always been this project’s lifeblood, and this time again it has been most helpful.

An Easter event?

Then, an egg-citing part.

…sorry.

Remember when I mentioned a possible Christmas event? Well that sleigh has sailed. But Easter we might just manage, and for that I’ve returned to work. There’s new stuff, old stuff with a twist, and festivities all around.

Mind you, the clock is already ticking, and so far it’s still looking rocky. So no promises yet, but fingers and toes crossed we’ll make it in time.

Misc

Finally, 1.5.9 is also getting some misc stuff already. Gil will become less stingy with non-Templars, for one, and a few other quests will likely make some more sense too. There’s also talks of balance and whatnot, so who knows what surprises this egg may end up hiding.

…sorry.

FIN

And there we go, short and sweet. Hopefully this offered some peace of mind, especially to our endgame-minded players. For everyone else, here’s hop(p)ing for a fun Easter ahead.

Until next time, all the best.