Hellgate Global Interview
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Following our Q&A with HanbitSoft's Namo Kang about Hellgate Global last month, we were curious how their T3Fun division would respond to a set of similar questions. So, with a little extra keyboard magic, we whipped up another set and forwarded them over to T3Fun operations manager David Song. Here's what he had to say about their plans for the resurrected action RPG:GB: Unless they were willing to jump through several hoops and use a VPN client, North American fans have been without their Hellgate: London fix for two-and-a-half years now. Why should they return to the game? What efforts have been made to ensure that the game still retains its original charm and has more to offer for players who are completely new to it?
David: With the recent Hellgate Tokyo patch we feel there is plenty of new content to warrant a 2nd look from fans of Hellgate London and to bring in new players to the game.
GB: As of the time of this interview, the original Hellgate: London is still being sold at Amazon and other online stores. Are you worried that this might cause some confusion? Are there any plans to pull those original Hellgate: London copies and maybe even re-release the game at retail?
David: We know that Hellgate:London is still being sold due to previous overseas distribution contracts. However, we are sorry to say that we cannot make a request to stop the sale of products that were already sold.
GB: Many of us had an absurd amount of time invested into our characters on the original servers. Have you considered bringing over those accounts and characters to the new servers, or is that data long gone by now?
David: As much as we would want to, we could not get the account data due to contracts between the companies. We are very sorry for this too.
GB: Flagship was preparing The Abyss Chronicles update prior to their closure, so that's the newest content any former Hellgate players would remember. What can you tell us about Hellgate: Tokyo and any other content that's been added to the game since?
David: As for the Tokyo update, it's actually a combination of Cow room, new skills, new set items, and other features.
However, in the case of Hellgate: Global, we initially opened with skills and items that were supposed to be included in the Tokyo update. Therefore, our global users will be able to get a new experience in Cow room, Base defense, etc.
GB: Microtransactions in Hellgate: London are completely new for us here in North America, and it's a bit surprising to see T3Fun charging such steep prices for things like skill points, pets, mod slot unlocks, and even nano upgrade safety items. Are you worried that this might put off some players once the game is out of beta? What other content do you plan to add to the premium store, and would you consider adding some of these cash store-exclusive items as drops in the game to give players with more time/less money a chance to obtain them?
David: We'll have to confirm plans for update schedules and get back to you on this.
GB: Overall, how have the closed and open beta tests for Hellgate gone since they originally started on June 3rd? What sort of server and other unforseen issues have you run into?
David: As you all know, Hellgate was reproduced into an online game, based on a CD game. Hellgate required a lot of time and efforts to make it into an online game.
Generally, PC specs and internet speeds are important for online games. Sometimes lags and delays are occurring.
Due to great support from users at the game's opening there were some wait times experienced in order to get into the game as we had reached server capacity. However, we are continuously addressing these problems by monitoring and reinforcing the servers.
Main game servers are in the United States since it is a global service. We know that players from countries far from the game server are experiencing difficulties. We are trying our best to solve this problem.
