A Litany of Comparison: GW and Hellgate

Funnily enough, that's exactly what the OP does. And she succeeds.

Indeed she does. Hellgate is just too buggy for me though.

Nice comparison. It was objective, and showed why the games could be compared this way.

The problem for the devs is, by the time Hellgate:London gets the bugs worked out and is able to reset their game reputation, TR will be offering that much more from all the updates, and other MMOs will be coming out(Warhammer, Age of Conan) which are already building good reviews in beta. MMORPG just about had a net-gasm about Conan. I think GW did a good job of showing you need to come out with a solid game out of the gate, and others are following suit by making sure their games are tight.

When some reviewers are calling your game a "beta released as a finished game", you did something big wrong. Sure, most of the bugs will be shored in a month or less, but that is time lost to build a good rep, especially in a genre so packed with options. They could have...maybe...not have had a hard-on for a Halloween release date and instead made it a great, TIGHT Christmas present.

CoD 4 > Halo 3

It was EA, the publisher, that forced the Halloween release date--Flagship wanted to leave it in beta for a while longer, and I really think it would have helped. Once the bugs get fixed, it's going to be a very enjoyable game, but first impressions are -very- powerful in the gaming community, and most won't give it another chance, unfortunately.

They will give it another chance when an expansion comes out, if they don't release it early and buggy. A good expansion, that gets good reviews will peak peoples interest again to help sales. (Also, by then, more people will have computers powerful enough to run it. It doesn't require a beefy system, but you definitely need some muscle to run it.)

Hell, I was lucky enough to recieve a free copy for review from Flagship... I'll not be reviewing it until they release a finished product and i don;t see that happening anytime soon

Sorry but I think the comparison is pointless. Even though item-centric, randomized, solo-oriented, horde-mowing, respec-less gaming is very different from GW, it's still entertaining to a huge population when its done well. (Diablo) Hellgate just happens to be Diablo done badly.

Odd so many people say you can't compare the games....but if you play GW and then buy Hellgate, how do you keep from comparing them? I can say there are things I like better about GW than Hellgate and use GW as a basis for setting the standard I come to expect from an online RPG.

I can say emphatically, and without hesitation: Hellgate is crap...boring, repetative, buggy...I lost a character slot (I only have 2....should have 3) and have gotten no response from their service department. All the maps are rehashed versions of the same thing...randomly generated, sure, but so are the chances of getting heads/tails on a coin (not alot of variety there). The skill tree system seems interesting enough, but there are very few real options to choose from and you can really gimp your character if you don't choose wisely (no refunds).

The online community seems nearly nonexistant at times...you can play a long time without every seeing a single soul in outposts. Chat is virtually dead...except the farmer/spammers.

The mission design is repetative in the extreme: go kill Boss A or 6-10 of Mob B, retrieve item and talk to NPC C. Pretty much it...over and over...no story.

Personally, I can't see how Hellgate got such rave reviews. I bought into the hype, bought the game and played up to level 20. Keep telling myself that I should at least finish with one character, but I find it so VERY painful. I keep hoping it will get better, but it's just more of the same and not very challenging.

Compare away! All you who have played both know that there is a great number of basic similarities....you also know how superior GW is. You can absolutely compare them: online RPG, instanced areas, free to play (kinda), melee-caster-ranged combat styles including Minion Master, relatively low level cap, pretty graphics. The similarities are superficial, but there none-the-less. It's the differences that kill Hellgate...

I will add to Twinraven's point toward the dungeon randomization: It's not too hawt. A lot of areas feel like they're generated from four sections, so it doesn't feel terribly "random." At least it's still a hella cool place to explore.

better to have a little bit of randomness that the same thing over and over and over and over and, for a change of pace, the same thing over again.

You'll tend to compare stupid things though. You'll complain about how Hellgate has no story, makes you grind for items, doesn't offer respecs, random areas are bad, etc. etc. but this all works just fine for Diablo because it's a good game. You miss the completely monotonous and non-threatening enemies, slow gameplay that doesn't require any reflexes, weak sound effects, uninteresting skills, buggy multiplayer, etc. etc. etc. which is really all that is holding it back. You can't judge the core concepts behind an action RPG from a piss-poor implementation of them like HG:L.

You have twenty-four. You only see one empty slot at a time, but keep creating new characters, and you'll see.

Respecs are coming, and soon. Yes, they should have been implemented at launch, but that's one of the major flaws of the game--a lot of things should have been at launch that they simply didn't have time for.

Why, this doesn't sound anything like Guild Wars at all. Or any other MMO, for that matter.

It didn't. A lot of people slammed it for being incredibly buggy, which it was at release--and still is, though the amount of bugs are decreasing rapidly. It's a shitty game right now, but the potential is there--it just needs time, which is something most gamers aren't willing to give.

OK...then: Hellgate's core concept is nearly as awesome as that of Guild Wars. However, due to lousy implementation, the game is almost as fun as Space Invaders with a broken "<--" key. And hellzya I'll complain...

I can't help but compare Guild Wars to any other game I'm playing...

and so far, Guild Wars wins everytime.

Yeah, I'm having the same problem, having played all the top end MMOs, and hybrid MMOs, I've been spoiled rotten by GW. GW not only plays beautifully, the programing just feels solid, clean, problem free.

I'll give Age of Conan a try, and give HGL a revisit in 6 months, hopefully they'll help tide us over till GW2. Call of Duty 4 is amazing if you dig that sort of thing, but has very steep system requirements and will get you motion sick if your comp system ain't up to snuff.

The thing I did like about HGL: very unique non-targeting combat system, very forward thinking of FS, Age of Conan is supposed to have something very similar. Context Attack system, ala Jedi Knight 2, Heretic 2 (a Ravensoft design). Very unique for an MMO Hybrid, and very player-skill dependent, a lot like GW actually, but instead of 8 skills, you have 8+ attacks, blocks etc. that are executed simply by the direction your moving/jumping/ducking when you hit your attack mouse button.

I believe A Net has hinted that GW2 will have some form of Context Sensitive attacks, it will be intresting to see how they handle it.

GW's needs to add a LOT more LOOT content. The kind that only a FEW hard core players can get to so that some people can stand out amongst others as having something you ain't got and not likely to get in your GW lifetime. This Zashien chest thing has practically done the opposite and made so many things that used to be rare and hard to get now just a lucky click of the button. No experienced required. If you just stand in FA or AB you'll get factions points for nothing (leechig of course, but, they do it). This is wrong deadly wrong for the game. Put more things out there not everyone can get. And there needs to be more types as well. This 15^50 20/20 is getting kind of old. I want more +5 energy type gear out there with fire, cold, lightning and ebon on them. I like to run conjure builds, but, there aren't that many elite green items for use that way. Sure I can make gold crap into what I want, but, it would be nice if there were unique greens that were out there to get as well. Something I can get nobody else can. <smile,grin>

Most people like to get candy. But, I don't know many that like to get the SAME candy over n over day n night, day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. I myself like a mounds bar, but, sometimes I feel like a nut and want an almond joy. That is what GW's doesn't give to it's players. It gives them the same ole candy bars all the time.

lol12charssup?

Maybe I'm wrong, here, but I'm guessing we're both relatively new to GW based on our respective registration dates. I will, however, state that you simply don't get GW. I've read post after post by you that basically amounts to, "please make GW like every other grind fest slot machine game that's out there so I can grow my ePenis".

If you want a game where allegedly intelligent human beings neglect their real lives so they can have something no one else has for the 15 minutes it takes for another no-life to also win the lottery, there are plenty of games out there for you. I'd wager that most people who play and keep playing GW do so because the game itself is fun and you don't have to sacrifice your entire life to getting some neat gear, and you don't have to worry that the guy who does have the elite hero armor and weapon skin can actually do much more than you with your merely standard max stat gear. There's already quite enough grind in GW as it is to please the people who want to earn something, it doesn't need more, and it certainly doesn't need the sort of garbage I keep seeing you request.

This is rather true for me, as well--I've been terribly spoiled by this game.

Especially the interface. Why can't other games have a UI as clean, responsive, and intuitive as this one?

I actually agree with part of this--the variety of mods in GW is somewhat lacking. I wouldn't at all mind seeing new mods.