This is the Hellgate Guru community interview, with questions presented by the community to Flagship Studios' Community Manager, Ivan Sulic. The original thread can be viewed here.

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31. Will there be same system as Guildwars got in map traveling? Do you need to walk all way to next city or like in Guildwars you push ''M'', city and ''Travel'' or will there be like in WoW, pay to get another place. Like in HellGate you could pay cash to get into a train that takes you to where ever you want to. So whats the travel system?

We have invisible transit lines that run between our equivalent of towns and safe hubs. To reach a haven for the first time, you must travel to it by foot through an instance(s). Once you have reached one of these safe hubs, you can then return to it instantaneously by accessing a simple transit marker at any another hub.

32. How much can we expect those Weta collectible figures to set us back? Will they be priced at like $20-50 or more?

I have no idea whatsoever. Some will be super rare, probably autographed and definitely very big. Others should be smaller and cheaper and more easily found. Prices will thus be all over the place. And, they're not even finished yet. So I really have no idea.

33. Will Hellgate:London feature detachable monster body limbs? Similiar to that of Soldier of Fortune? If so, will the limbs sever at point of impact, or have certain hitboxes?

Shoot of the arm, he stops swinging. Shoot of the leg, he starts crawling. ?

We do have dismemberment. You can't actually shoot off specific parts by aiming at them, however. It's just something that sort of happens to some monsters when you hit them sometimes. Right now arms, heads and torsos can be blown / cut off. And obviously if a creature loses its arm, it will not try and punch you.

34. Will it be possible to use special characters in naming a player?

Not right now. But our character creation system is so early it's not at all representative of the final version. Who knows what the final will be like? But frankly, I'm voting no. I don't know about you guys, but I hate people with names like:

--{{,,"""fr4nk~~###~~1nc3ns3""",,}}--

That shit is idiotic and totally annoying. So I say screw 'em. I'd just like to see foreign language characters and a select few English accent marks and extras.

35. What's the deal with the ranks you see on weapons, armor and other equipment (e.g. weapon mods) in the gameplay videos?

You mean like Superior, Inferior, Broken, etcetera? Those are just tentative titles to distinguish weapons by their effectiveness. Superior weapons often deal more damage and can accommodate more modifications, for instance.

36. I'd like to get the story straight on the subject of the 'skill tree', versus the 'skill menu'. As I understand it, you learn new skills simply by choosing them from a 'menu' of sorts, and you can get them should you have the necessary skill points that they cost. But what about a skill tree?

We've read from a Taiwanese preview that the Templar can choose to pursue several profession 'paths' (rather than a free-choice skill menu), or something like that. What's the deal with that?

This changes so often there's really no way to know how it will wind up right now. Basically everyone who ever said anything about the skill system in the past was probably right but is now probably wrong, though they could very well be right again in the next 20 minutes.

We don't have career paths, however. There are specific categories of skills into which we lump abilities, but players needn't funnel themselves into a specific category.

37. Would it be possible for a player in the United States to play with someone who owns a localized version in (for examples) Japan, Korea, or Europe?

The reason I ask is because it's not possible for a player in Europe to play their localized version of World of Warcraft (WOW-EU) with somebody who owns the US/Intl version, unless the player gets the Intl version. That's a major pain in the ass.

Probably not. There are fundamental technological limitations to consider, not to mention the very likely possibility that the game will be configured differently across different regions to accommodate the basic preferences of locals.

38. Will Champions and Unique monster be in Hellgate: London?

Yup.

39. Can you tell something about randomization of the skills with skills node (if they really are in the game)?

I don't believe skills are randomized, actually.

40. How many abilities will each class have?

This is to be determined.

41. how will the skill system work?

See question 36. But in general, and as of right now (as in this very second), when a player reaches a certain experience level a set of skills becomes available. Players can then freely choose which skills to effectively purchase with experience points or which skills they'd rather improve with those same experience points. There is no prerequisite beyond level to purchasing new skills. You can then assign active skills to hotkeys to initiate whenever you please in-game, whereas passive skills can just be turned permanently on or off in the inventory screen.

42. Will you be able to play any other race then human?

Not really.

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