Flagship finally clarifies Hellgate: London multiplayer situation
Posted by inpheaux on May 8th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Four months ago, we discussed the then incredibly confusing and contradictory state of announcements regarding how Hellgate: London's multiplayer would work. Would it be free? Would it be pay-only? Would it be sorta-pay like Guild Wars? Has it secretly been an MMORPG all this time?
It looks like we finally have an answer, or at the very least, the latest and most complete-sounding answer to date.
Apparently that answer is "both". Basic MP will be free, but for $9.95/mo you can get an "Elite" account that provides you with an assortment of perks. Here's a rundown:
Basic Multiplayer
- Cost: Included in the retail price of the game
- Character Slots: 3
- Cross-Character Stash Capacity: 20 items
- Guild Status: You can join a guild, but that's it.
Elite Multiplayer
- Cost: $9.95/mo (Pricing will vary between regions)
- Character Slots: 12
- Cross-Character Stash Capacity: 40 items
- Guild Status: You can start guilds or become an officer in an existing guild
- Extra Perks: Priority access to servers (skip lines!), VIP Shuttles (!!!), Additional Gameplay modes (Like one similar to Diablo II's 'Hardcore'), Special Elite-only items (what?), 24/7 Phone & Web-based support (what?)
There won't be any player segregation, you'll all be able to play together, but there will be things to distinguish between the two classes of players. If you just want to play with your buddies, normal will be fine, and that's perfectly cool. If you decide you want to be an internet superstar and run a guild and get a bunch of internet street cred for having a hardcore character, great, pony up your $9.95/mo. It seems like a perfectly fair tradeoff, normal multiplayer will be full-featured and great, and for $9.95/mo you get $9.95/mo of bonus stuff.
Hellgate: London is presently slated for a September-ish release, is expected to completely consume what remains of my life, and will likely result in me destroying one or more mice before I kick the habit (just like Titan Quest, Diablo II and Diablo).
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