I read a lot of bad impressions about HGL during the day as I browse the forums of the beta. By and large a lot of people like it despite its faults (mainly the ones I mentioned in my review seem to be the concensus). But there are people complaining about the OPTIONAL paid content, thinking they should get all content that is made for the game after release for free... has that ever been the case for any game? Do people honestly think that box sales alone enable a company to run and continue to add to an online game? For Jeebus' sake, people...
Anyway, despite the vocal few who are displeased, I can't seem to pull myself away from the game, even as we head towards Beta shutdown this Friday. Awesomely enough, Kaiser, one of the devs at Flagship recently stated on the boards that the beta server will come back up close to the October 31st launch date and that beta players will be able to play to their hearts' content until they can upgrade their account to retail status, and that these beta server characters will stay on your account... for retail. Headstart = awesome. :)
The only catch is that the game is limited to the 1st three acts (about level 22) until you get your retail code entered. I can live with that.
Last night was pretty relaxed at home. My wife was playing World of Warcraft from about 530pm until 2am... yeah. She now knows the pull that online games have. Especially when everything's fresh and exciting. Hell, even nearly 3 years in I am still finding fun in WoW. For 15 bucks a month and the 90 bucks spent on boxes... I've had more hours of enjoyment than I've ever gotten out of any game. Money well spent, for the joy of unwinding.
Anyway, I played a class in Hellgate I haven't tried too much. I re-rolled myself a Guardian. And I think I might be enjoying it more than the Blademaster. Other commenters and bloggers have stated that they don't quite feel the connection with melee combat between your sword and the mobs, but I have to disagree. Maybe I'm easier pleased, but when I got a skill that allowed my Guardian to hunker down unmoving behind his shield to do an additional 60% damage, I sure got the feeling I was kicking the crap out of demons. I was wearing a helmet that often had a side-effect of letting off an AOE explosive effect. Combine that with about 10 demons around me, an aura that regens more health for each demon close to me... yeah, I was killing HARD and not taking much punishment for it.
The build will likely be garbage in PvP, because it requires me to remain stationary, but for PvE... it's a dream. Bosses that I have to kite around I just sit down behind my shield and go nuts on. They fear me. :)
Cheers all, and more to come later if I find something interesting to chat about.
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7 comments:
The beta head start is awesome news. I've been chomping at the bit... I want to play my engineer badly but I don't want him to be wiped. At least I won't have to wait all the way till the 31st now.
I played a Blademaster for a while and I'd agree that melee can be a lot of fun, and it's not nearly as clunky as I originally thought, but the problem with it is that when you swing, there's a lapse between the swing the guys dying... iirc, they die at the end of the swing arc instead of in the middle. It's a very slight timing issue, but it's noticeable.
Just real quick about the 'box sales only' thing, Diablo 2 got updated how many times for free on b.net? And not just balance fixes, but actual content. I can see why people might not be too keen on the whole HGL pay model. The key will be for them to release 'must have' content, not just side fluff.
think ill sub for a month or so just to see how it plays out, in the interst of blogging etc. and to be $10.00 a month for the amount of enjoyment i get is more than worth it.
Good news on the beta head start ... have to restart my summoner, I was playing hardcore mode and died rather miserably at lvl 16, heart broken yes but the challenge is addictive ...
Maybe I will start up a small guild and test out the guild stuff when goes retail as well ...
Anyway back into the breach for me ...
I've gone back to my Guardian lately, too. Honestly, I have trouble putting my finger on why melee in Hellgate doesn't feel as visceral to me as melee in Diablo 2, but it does.
But this time (I've tried the Guardian class a couple times before), I'm going to stick with it at least long enough to try out those non-shield off-hand items that release AoE spells. I'm thinking about re-trying the Blademaster class... but I really, really need to stop my obsessive alt-making in this game, lol. Flagship actually unlocked the final acts for me, but I'm only going to get to help test those areas if I start forcing myself to stick with a character.
@Syncaine: That's a good point. Though I do believe content planned for HGL is far more than what was ever offered for D2. I expect we'll just have to wait and see what comes of it.
@Aaron: Dude, you must push onward into acts 4 and 5, I don't want too many spoilers, but I'd love to hear how it looks and feels at later levels. FOCUS!
@Pixie: Totally game for a Blogger Guild, Pix. Email me and we'll see what we can do. You be playing in the US, no?
yepeprs play us, will get email out tommorow, work to do tonight
as for new content, I'm willing to pay for substantial additions. I noticed in a comment on the Gamers With Jobs forum thread about Hellgate that a new class is already planned. That's something worthy of pay-for-content, I think.
I'm really digging the game too, though I've only tried the Engineer and Blademaster. The Engineer has really caught my fancy. Still up in the air about paying for the lifetime offer, but I'll have a little time to decide. Word has it that there's more content in the actual game than in the beta.
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