Hellgate: London - London 2038 Development Updates

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Written by ValH on April 1st, 2021

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London 2038, a fan-driven multiplayer revival mod for Hellgate: London, launched into open beta last year. And it looks like the mod’s developers are pretty serious about this project of theirs, as over the last few months, they’ve been posting regular updates outlining their plans and highlighting their progress.

The very first update is of special note here, as it talks about the new content London 2038 will be getting at some point in the future. This includes new quests, boss encounters, endgame areas, and improved tutorials, as well as at least a couple of proper expansions.

The following updates are a bit less ambitious, talking about shields and gear, minor patches, player feedback, and item design. You can check them out at your own leisure, while here’s the main one:

Hello everyone!

This will be the first in a series of update posts, where we go through what’s being planned and what’s being worked on internally. We understand that sparse communication can be demotivating, so these updates intend to keep you posted on what’s under the microscope or in the pipeline.

A few quick notes, then, before we dive in.

• These won’t be roadmaps or otherwise concrete promises for future content. We do have our roadmaps, of course, but that’s not what these posts intend to do; they just aim to provide a heads-up that we’re here, and present some of our short-term goals.
• These posts won’t be hyper-focused or extremely specific; they only intend to inform you that work is being done in specific areas. Too much detail can spoil surprises, which we absolutely don’t want.
• A missing subject from one post to the next will never mean we’ve given up on it, unless we admit we had to. Issues and areas of interest arise constantly, ideas are frequently presented, and solutions don’t always work out. That means we’ll need to adapt to necessities and feedback, pause specific projects, or address emerging issues – and these posts will reflect that.

Now then.

New content

This is likely the most pressing concern, so let’s begin here. We’re fully aware that the current content needs expansions, so we’ve been drafting up new content to keep new and endgame-minded players alike busy. These drafts include:

• Stonehenge daily/repeatable quests
• A streamlined tutorial in a playable form, as opposed to plain instructions on the screen
• New endgame boss encounters, equivalent to Dawn of the Dead (but not necro…)
• Other new endgame areas, with their own quests and purpose
• More interesting, optional early-game areas

Finally, we’ve been working on our very own expansions. While our tools and schedules don’t allow for rapid progress, we have 2 distinct expansions in the works; one that’s very combat-oriented, and one that’s more solo-friendly and story-driven. How exactly those will be incorporated, or when they’ll be completed, is TBD, but they’re both in our roadmap.

Class changes

Next, we’ve taken great care with your feedback on existing classes. Our data on player numbers across classes and levels has also been very illuminating, so we’ve been working to ensure that no class is underpowered and without purpose, or overpowered and all-purpose. The findings we’re actively working on at the moment include:

• Guardians: the shield tree underperforms; shields are too similar; the class has a steep damage curve. Guardians are currently the least popular early-game class, and the 5th endgame-represented class.
• Evokers: some damage options are lacking; tree-wide synergies can be expanded to reflect other classes and promote dedicated builds; sfx builds aren’t reliable. Evokers are in a decent place endgame-wise, but are still among the least popular classes in the early game.
• Blademasters: gameplay is seemingly bland; build options are relatively limited and some skills are completely unskippable; the class struggles to maintain the players’ interest by the endgame. Blademasters are the most popular class to create, but the least popular in the endgame.

There are other issues on the table, of course, but these are the ones we’ve given priority to at the moment. Our primary goal will always be to have all classes have their unique merits, and are keeping a close eye on the numbers and your feedback as we work toward it.

Items, bugfixes, and other fronts

Finally, we’re actively working on other fronts that range from bugfixes to items for specific builds and purposes. Those include:

• Skill descriptions; accuracy, consistency
• Skill behaviors; persistent skill bugs
• Quest tags; normal and daily/repeatable quests
• Champion enemy affixes; sfx on death, ineffective affixes
• Enemy bugs; ignite tick damage amounts, enemy types in Rifts
• Items; global drop rates, tradeable status, new items to facilitate builds

And the list goes on. However, to avoid creating extreme expectations, I’d rather limit it to what’s in our sights… like Holloway.

So that should be all. Future posts won’t be as lengthy, of course, as they will just be summarizing what we’ve been focusing on or working toward. Finally, since not all weeks are equally productive or busy, I can’t promise that these posts will consistently be weekly. But they will be regular, as an early heads-up and a reassurance that London 2038 continues – with your feedback at heart.

All the best, and happy hunting.

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