Hellgate: London – London 2038 Patch 1.5.0b Available

London 2038, Hellgate: London’s big multiplayer revival mod, will soon be launching into beta. And in order to prepare the mod for such a big milestone, its developers have put together a major patch that introduces a great deal of class and balance changes alongside some new content.

The complete patch notes go on for quite a while, so here’s a general summary of this update:

Patch summary

This patch introduces a number of fixes, class balance changes, quest changes, Quality of Life additions, new items, and new content. Being the largest patch in terms of changes and additions to date, patch 1.5.0b is our most ambitious and experimental patch yet. It also intends to pave the road towards the much-anticipated Beta phase, so your feedback will be invaluable.

As with previous patches, please note that most item changes are not retroactive. Existing copies of items that saw changes may not be updated.

With the scope of this patch in mind, let us note that we’re fully aware some of the changes will be unpleasant or otherwise objectionable for some players. In an effort to explain our choices, let us note that the vast majority of changes this patch brings intend to follow your feedback to our recent survey, which can be found here.

To be specific, our goals are the following:

• Increased overall difficulty and a gradual shift towards MP, in accord with 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6.
• A rebalance between SP and MP which remains closer to an ARPG landscape than an MMO one, in accord with 1.7 and 1.8.
• A stricter focus on class performance based on roles and skillsets, in accord with 1.9.
• A reduction of overall DPS values and maximum killspeeds, in accord with 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7.
• A shift towards support and party assets, as well as an expansion of secondary systems such as skill groups, in accord with 3.1, 3.2, 3.6, and 3.7.
• A reduction of the performance and maximum values of critical-based builds, in accord with 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4.
• A stricter focus on enemy challenge through special enemy properties, in accord with 2.4.

With the above in mind, kindly note the following as well:

• The shift towards MP will not be absolute. Your feedback throughout the survey (1.7 and 1.8, 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5, etc) made it clear that much content should remain solo-viable.
• Critical builds will be reevaluated in time. Your feedback in 4.3 and 4.4 made it clear you wish to see their efficiency lowered, as it was, but CC/CCM/CDB affixes remain valuable customization options. As such, we expect and welcome future feedback on this subject.
• The major boss that this patch introduces does not fit the favored boss type definition you provided in 2.3, but that is only due to the source material this boss pays homage to. This is not strictly indicative of our overall future direction.

Finally, let us repeat that this patch is a major milestone and our intended foundation for Beta, so your feedback will be immensely useful as we finalize the game on the way to the final wipe. As always, you should expect to see our continued efforts across all facets of the game. Lastly, you’re kindly asked to test all new changes thoroughly, report potential bugs accordingly, and share your honest feedback on this new direction.