Hellgate London - Subscription Details @ Hellgate Guru

Well, Flagship's exact plans for Hellgate: London's multiplayer have finally been released. As promised, multiplayer will be free to play but there will be an optional Elite subscription for $9.95 / month offering support, no server queues, special items, housing, transport options and all sorts of other typical MMO stuff.
Thanks to Hellgate Guru for the info, which they in turn came from Games for Windows magazine. Head here for their detailed summary and here for a discussion on their forums with responses from Flagship community manager Kaiser Hwang.
More information.

Anticlimax.

Well, well, isn't it funny? A lame game that they want to charge a monthly extra for. No frikkin' way.

It's probably the perfect game for everyone wanting a new Diablo. Personally I don't, but that's a matter of taste.. doesn't mean the game is lame.

Wtf first no lan modus and now this unfair
extra features only for paying subscribers shit ? no thanks hellgate london is done for me and every future flagship shit also!

Originally Posted by Maylander
It's probably the perfect game for everyone wanting a new Diablo. Personally I don't, but that's a matter of taste.. doesn't mean the game is lame.

Very true - though some criticize it quite a bit (and I personally don't like Diablo though I like many of the 'clones' and offspring), it is extremely popular and Hellgate is looking to be very popular as well.

I actually don't think this is bad - they have a structured price setup, with one level for more casual MP gamers like me getting it for free, but for more hardcore MP players, they get MMO style service at a MMO price.

Agree it's not so bad. And of course I adored Diablo II, despite having quite self-righteously denounced Diablo again and again before I tried it. What an amazing piece of work DII was; the mere idea of having rares and uniques with varying quality levels such that two of the exact same item still had different stats… genius. To this day, there's no match for the sheer variety of equipment in DII, and that stands true even discounting the quality facet I just mentioned.

But the days of a free secure server like b.net that could handle hundreds of thousands of people online at once, those are gone. Who wants to build that sort of infrastructure for free, when all the other big guys are charging for it? If it works out, this dual scheme could be a way to have the best of both worlds. It just depends on how playable the free side is.

An 'Elite' access/version, to me, suggests that those who pay extra will receive something that cost the developers extra to offer, as well. Artificially limiting features for non-Elite customers (similar to what M$' Live! promises to 'offer' non-Gold members, BTW) sounds a lot like shareware trial versions. I'm not used to pay for those, and I don't think I will start now. Maybe once someone mods the game to offer 'Elite' content on inofficial private servers?

Originally Posted by txa1265
I actually don't think this is bad - they have a structured price setup, with one level for more casual MP gamers like me getting it for free, but for more hardcore MP players, they get MMO style service at a MMO price.

This has nothing to do with "MMO style service at a MMO price" in my opinion. For $ 9.95 you would expect to get more than just a few lame extra features. I think these guys are trying to tap into the pot that so far was only accessible to big MMOs like WoW, etc. Guess everyone can spend his/her money on whatever he/she wants, but to me this looks like one of the biggest player rip offs ever.

Since if I play the game at all, it will be in single player mode, it doesn't have a lot of impact unless I have to pay to download all the extra cool stuff that the paying subscribers get I guess.
Not being a MMO player, I am confused as to why 10 bucks a month is considered a ripoff—don't people routinely pay this level of fee to play things like Everquest and WoW?

Originally Posted by magerette
Since if I play the game at all, it will be in single player mode, it doesn't have a lot of impact unless I have to pay to download all the extra cool stuff that the paying subscribers get I guess.
Not being a MMO player, I am confused as to why 10 bucks a month is considered a ripoff—don't people routinely pay this level of fee to play things like Everquest and WoW?

That is sort of where I'm at, heck I barely played Guild Wars beyond the single player elements - so I defer to MMO folks like ISS for that expertise.

Originally Posted by magerette
Since if I play the game at all, it will be in single player mode, it doesn't have a lot of impact unless I have to pay to download all the extra cool stuff that the paying subscribers get I guess.
Not being a MMO player, I am confused as to why 10 bucks a month is considered a ripoff—don't people routinely pay this level of fee to play things like Everquest and WoW?

I think there is quite a difference. First of all I will be very suprised if Hellgate London will even come close to the complexity of a true MMO - right now (according to what is known) I cannot see how HL could be compared to a MMO like WoW or Everquest. You might compare it to Guildwars, but big surprise - Guildwars is free…
You also do not only pay to play WoW or Everquest, you also pay for further developments - that is how these games are advertised. And in fact if you look at most MMOs then you'll see that "free" content is added once in a while (it's of course not really free because you indirectly pay for it through your monthly subscription).
So the main problem that I can see is: If these guy will reinvest the money to develop HL further and add new content why does not everyone have to pay? After all, everyone will profit from it - not just the elite subscribers. If they don't plan to reinvest the money then why the hell should I pay? Just to play the same old stuff over and over again?

Also if you'll look at the extra features for subscribers you'll realize that it mostly stuff that is implemented anyway… you'll just get more of it (like more bank slots, etc.) - the rest is service. But the additional content (and to a certain extent even the additional service - think about the "no qeues" feature for example) does not produce additonal costs for the developers. Non-subscribers will just get limited functionality.

In WoW, Everquest, etc. you pay for a mixture of playtime, service, and development whereas in HL you pay mostly for service, like the additional support. I'm not sure if that justifies 10 bucks. But I guess everyone has to decide that for him/her-self.

Here are some things:

* If there are queues to get on a server, Elite players go to the front
* Elite players can have 12 characters in total; plebs get 3
* Elite players can store around 40 items in "lockers" spread throughout the world; plebs can have 20. Elite players can also transfer these items to characters on other servers; plebs cannot
* Elite players get unique gear and can wield the most powerful weapons in the game. Said weapons can also be emailed by the Elite to others of their kind
* Elite players can board shuttles that transport them quickly to hard-to-reach corners of London
* Elite players can become officers of guilds and own, enter, or operate player housing and guild buildings; plebs can be members of guilds, but will not be allowed to enter said buildings, or purchase property for themselves
* Elite players get access to more gametypes; plebs not allowed into servers or areas where those gametypes are operating
* Elite players will get new content each month, such as new monsters, new gametypes, new items, and so on

So there are a few actual enticements there … but I don't see anything that would make me contemplate $10 a month.

I really don't know where the complaints are coming from. Hellgate: London is free to play online. Period.

If you want extra features that, for the most part only appeal to 'hardcore' gamers, then you pay extra. Otherwise, just play it for free. There's no harm in that. I don't see any of those features being truly appealing to casual gamers with only few hours to spend on a game each week, anyhow. Does a casual gamer really need 12 character slots to enjoy the game when he can't even find the time to play a single character?

Besides that, you get what you pay for - which is the content in the box. If you want the additional content that Flagship plans to release on a bi-weekly basis (e.g. every 2 weeks) then by all means, feel free to subscribe. It's only 10 dollars - the equivilent of a McDonalds Happy Meal. If you live in Asia, it wouldn't cost 10 US Dollars, either, as all costs are location-specific. It's not like the game's going to be a dent on your wallet.

Lee Dotson (one of Hellgate's developers) posted on the Hellgate Guru forum a point by point explanation of all of the "elite subscription" features versus non-paying subscriptions.

Most importantly, he's clarified that 'elite' items will not, in fact, be better than non-elite items. They will simply be flashier in appearance or new/different items that fit into the over all balance scheme.

He has made clear that server queues are a non-issue (hopefully), but if it comes to a point where there is a server queue, then subscribers will get preference at the front of the queue.

It should also be noted that if you subscribe 6 months down the line, you'll get all the subscriber-only features added up to that point. There are no back-fees.

The biggest draw to elite-subscriptions seem to be flashier/cooler looking items, more character slots, and regular content updates which include new monsters, locations and quests and so on. Patches and other balance-related stuff will of course be free for everyone.

Anyway, for the full details, you can check out Lee's post here:

http://www.hellgateguru.com/forum/sh…&postcount=301

I don't like the trend of integrating MMO parts to single player games or integrating single player parts to MMOs. It's almost impossible to succeed in both.

I really don't know where the complaints are coming from. Hellgate: London is free to play online. Period.

If you want extra features that, for the most part only appeal to 'hardcore' gamers, then you pay extra.

They do not. Anyone playing D2 will remember how precious container space was in this game. Flagship is essentially creating a priviledged class within their player community, with access to features that the regular players don't have: rank, more diversity in playing experience and items (which will CERTAINLY translate in direct gameplay advantages). They will forcibly be the leaders of any in-game society and will clearly be distingishable from anyone else.
And all of this because of their RL ability/readiness to pay 10$ a month for yet another game?! If this isn't rubbing RL in every regular player's face I don't know what is. Certainly this will advance immersion for everyone in this game world very much…

Originally Posted by Moorkh
Flagship is essentially creating a priviledged class within their player community, with access to features that the regular players don't have: rank, more diversity in playing experience and items (which will CERTAINLY translate in direct gameplay advantages).

I'm not sure I get the complaint - won't anyone with the resources to have a high-end computer to run the software and buy the original game be in a position to pay $10 a month if the game means that much to them? Again, I'm asking as someone with a very strong single-player bias who does little multiplayer gaming.

Personally, I'll play single player and then little bits of multiplayer here and there like I go most games. For those who want to invest hours upon hours, there is a for-pay option. Perhaps it will mean dropping WoW for a while or something.

Meh.

Sorry, that's all I have to say. If you don't think the $10 is worth it, play GW instead. HGL may not be as complex as WoW (I don't know) but it's also cheaper. Maybe the gameplay is better in some ways. Those can afford to pay have often had a better experience - arguably the guy that can afford to pay $30/month two-boxing in WoW is getting benefits over those with a single subscription.

Yeah, and Guild Wars is really pretty damn boring unless you're into the PvP circuit (which is what GW is really about). HGL is free to play online, anyhow. If you want the added features and you're really into the game hardcore, 10 dollars is a pretty small fee to pay for extra features and ongoing content.