First fansite admin roundtable chat with the developers Bill Roper and Bob Moseley from Flagship Studios
compiled by Akuyazi for Hellgate Guru

Legend
Flagship Devs
Fansite Admins

[Kokeeno] Alright, we'll be opening it back up after we do the main part of the event.
[Kokeeno] Welcome to the First Flagship Studios Chat Event. This event's topic is Multiplayer in Hellgate: Londond, so we'll be having a round table discussion about this topic.
[Kokeeno] Any comments or questions for the Fansite Administrators can be directed to any of the Operators of the channel
[Kokeeno] We'll start off with each administrator introducing him/herself
[Kokeeno] So, we'll start with Cronus and his crew
[Cronus] THanks
[northrop] thank you Kokeeno
[Cronus] I have two other members on the team TK421 and Northrop
[Cronus] as well as a new PHP coder
[Cronus] site is : www.projecthellgate.com
[northrop] i'm more of a spiritual support of the team
[northrop] let's start with quests, and how they should work in multiplayer
[Kokeeno] First let's get to the other admins
[Kokeeno] JayD?
[JayD] Thanks Kokeeno.
[JayD] Well, I'm the website manager of Hellgate Azzor - http://hellgate.azzor.com, although we're not official, we shall hopefully be soon as we work out some final bugs.
[JayD] Theres currently 3 other members on the team: Dalgar(owner), Metziel and Volon both PHP coders.
[JayD] We hope to join the wonderful flagship community officially soon.
[JayD] Thanks.
[Kokeeno] I am the administrator and the only worker at The Flagship Follower (www.flagshipfollower.com)
[Kokeeno] That's all I've got...
[Kokeeno] Go ahead Sol
[Sol Invictus] Alrighty.
[Sol Invictus] I'm the Site Director, designer and administrator of Hellgate Guru - http://www.hellgateguru.com
[Sol Invictus] We've got a lot of great members in our community, and quite possibly (hehe), the most active forum to date, so don't hesitate to sign up.
[Sol Invictus] We'll be glad to embrace you into our community, but don't forget flagshipforums.com, either. :P
[Sol Invictus] Akuyazi will be helping me log the chat.
[Sol Invictus] Done.
[Kokeeno] Jeff?
[Jeff321] Hey, I'm Jeff, founder of FlagshipStudios.org. The site is a part of the large ORG Network of Blizzard fans, including Starcraft.org and Warcraft.org, and our forums WarBoards.org. Feel free to stop by any time, thanks!
[Kokeeno] JELL go ahead
[JELL] Well, I´m JELL from puertadelinfierno.com
[JELL] A site for spanish speaking users
[JELL] Hope to soon have some good news for spanish and Latin people about Hellgate
[JELL] That´s all for now :)
[Kokeeno] Alright, and the reason most of you are here... Bill and Bob let us know who you are
[Cronus] and what you've been up to post-E3

[Bob Moseley] I'm Bob Moseley, I work for Flagship Studios as the IT Manager, Webmaster for http://flagshipstudios.com and http://www.hellgatelondon.com and I am part of the community relations team, just like everyone in the company.

[Bob Moseley] Of course, my business cards read "Court Jester."

[Bill Roper] And I am Bill Roper. My official title is CEO, but I am most honored to be a member of the Hellgate: London development team. Since E3, I've been working (game wise) primarily on story and tossing in ideas, as we all do.

[Bill Roper] Also, I get to talk with a lot of folks all over the world, so being here tonight is great for us, and hopefully you all, as well.

[Kokeeno] Alright, what we are doing tonight is a round table discussion of various topics having to do with Multiplayer in Hellgate: London. Any questions or comments can be directed to me or any of the Operators in the channel
[Kokeeno] Our first topic is going to be quests and how they will work in the multiplayer setting.
[Cronus] I'm very curious to see just how players will be obtaining the group quests and missions..
[Cronus] Will it be something like a mission select menu.. e.g. Counter Strike....
[northrop] i guess we have to determine what type of quests/missions we want
[northrop] we can have story missions
[northrop] side quests
[northrop] each can be picked up differently
[Sol Invictus] Personally, I'd like to see a lot of randomized side quests, where the objectives are simple: to kill a monster, retrieve an object, or do something that isn't directly related to the storyline.
[Cronus] agreed
[Cronus] great for the 'pop-in' times when you only have 30 minutes to play
[Sol Invictus] One of the biggest issues with Diablo 2 was that the quests were limited in number, they were always the same, and it didn't give the player much variety.
[JayD] It would add some difficulty to the game if we had to obtain the object, to complete the quest.
[JELL] That timed quests can play a big role too.
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, challenge is always nice. There's really no challenge in rushing your way to Stony Field and entering the Portal to Tristram to rescue Cain every single time.
[JayD] Yeah.
[Cronus] I'm hoping the map randomization will help to cure that
[Kokeeno] Alright, so side-quests are a big plus. Something that can make the game so it can be several different ways.
[Sol Invictus] The randomized quest factor would add a lot to the game, and it would remove a lot of the tedium we've seen in games like Diablo 2 and Sacred.
[Kokeeno] Yeah, randomized quests are something that would give the game endless replayability
[northrop] what if the outcome of the side quest will result in primary missions
[Sol Invictus] Diablo 2's replayability was more or less killed by the 'sameness' of the missions and areas, that players could easily bypass a lot of the game to get to where they wanted - e.g. rushing.
[northrop] rushing is a big problem in diablo 2
[JELL] Yes, the game was resumed to very few missions when people rush.
[Sol Invictus] There was no incentive to do anything anything. Adding random quests, like putting some within the wilderness, would give players incentive to explore and do things at their own pace.
[JayD] If there was a quest "shrine", that would activate the quest and the quest would allow to pass the level, that would allow for a cut in rushing.
[Sol Invictus] How do you mean, JayD?
[JELL] Rushing and "power players" don´t HAVE to explore. Just go to common places.
[Sol Invictus] yeah, that was the problem with Diablo 2. It killed replayability.
[JayD] Well, say you find a special "shrine", and for you to pass onto say the cold plains from the blood moor, you would have to find the shrine and complete the quest.
[Sol Invictus] What I'd like to see in Hellgate: London are randomized common areas. I don't mean maze-like maps (durance of hate sucked!), but rather the progression of the story itself could be somewhat randomized.
[JayD] Or for Andariel to be killed, you'd have to find this special shrine in catacombs level 4, or perhaps another location, and you'd have to complete that quest, and then kill Andy to pass act 1
[Sol Invictus] Ah, I see your meaning Jay.
[JELL] So, some kind of exploration incentive
[JayD] Yeah.
[Sol Invictus] But wouldn't that empower maphacks?
[Sol Invictus] I think that instead of having a purely linear progression (e.g. from the Jail, to the Dungeon, to Andariel), it'd be better to have the progression itself done in a non-linear fashion.
[JayD] That would work well to.
[Kokeeno] Alright, so randomized and non-storyline quests are strongly desired to give the game infinite replayability.
[Sol Invictus] Indeed.
[Kokeeno] Now, we had a good question: [DocFrog] "how will people meet others for grouping? Will it be an ingame server browser or a city like in Guildwars?"
[JayD] Well, if somehow (me being no programming expert), the code was randomized where the location would change every time, or perhaps be hidden someway.
[Cronus] that's a good topic...
[Cronus] From what we know
[Cronus] the online world will be somewhat persistant
[JayD] Yeah, which would have excellent replayability.
[JELL] An ingame grouping can be very interesting. Wouldn´t that make the game a little have for internet play? at last it´s not a MMORPG, HELLGATE have much complex graphics
[JELL] have*--> heavy
[Sol Invictus] I'd like to be able to join games that have already been created, like intrude on them.
[Sol Invictus] That's one of the biggest problems with Guild Wars.
[Sol Invictus] You can't join games that have already been made, and the whole 'LFG, looking for group!' stuff is a complete bother for the casual gamer.
[Cronus] indeed
[JayD] agreed
[Sol Invictus] Diablo and Diablo 2's greatest strength was being able to join a preexisting game.
[Kokeeno] Alright, so that topics pretty beat to death, do any FS representatives have anything to add?
[JELL] Yes, if your friends are in a game you haven´t to start a new one to make them join.
[JayD] That also sometimes caused problems if you wanted to just quest, but having the increased difficulty with more people in the game made it more fun.

[Bill Roper] Unfortunately there will always be min/max players who find the fastest way to "just level" and for them, that is the fun in it. We are going to be working on a lot of things for players to do that is much more fun, and potentially more rewarding, than mere rushing.

[Bill Roper] Exploration is something that a certain type of player enjoys the most, and for those people, we’ll make sure they are rewarded. We are looking at doing things with our layouts that we haven’t done before, such as adding the rarity element into the dynamic level generation.

[Bill Roper] This means that players will be encouraged to explore all of an area because there may be something there – and by that we mean links to an additional area, or finding small gameplay elements that don’t appear every time. Hopefully having these types of things will allow people who enjoy exploration to get something special for their interest.

[Cronus] sounds great
[Sol Invictus] Beoulve had this to say about the multiplayer, and frankly I agree with him: "I didnt like it how you would start a game in Diablo 2 and someone comes in, kills andy/mephy/who ever else and leaves"
[JELL] That´s a really the point, if explorations rewards as much as rushing, the explorers and rushers can be happy.
[Sol Invictus] Yeah.
[Sol Invictus] The game has to be fun for everyone. As it is in Diablo 2, it's only fun for rushers and the explorers have no real incentive to explore.
[JayD] Every ones happy then :)
[Sol Invictus] In Sacred it's the other way around, and that's not much fun either.
[JELL] The important thing is that in not only one way to play (at last for me)
[Kokeeno] Excellent. The next topic: FS has mentioned Content Over Time, where the world will change depending on certain things.
[Cronus] as in players effect it directly ?
[Sol Invictus] Players affect their own version of the game, I think - it's instanced.
[JayD] Like, players can blow up buildings and stuff like that?
[Sol Invictus] It's something that the Guild Wars Developers (ArenaNet) discussed at length prior to the game's release, but they did not fulfill it - the game is completely linear.
[JELL] I can see people changing their local time to get some special stuff.
[Sol Invictus] It'd be nice to see your actions actually changing your 'instanced version of the world', so to speak.
[Sol Invictus] Well, if people want to change their local time to access the special stuff in single player, that's fine.

[Bill Roper] Our plans for meeting people is much more like Guild Wars than Battle.net, but using Guild Wars as the basis and not the best case, end-all to how it would work. In the world of Hellgate: London the Underground stations act as our “towns”, meaning that they are safe zones where characters can interact in social and economic ways. Basically, buying, selling, forming up groups and guilds and so forth.

[Bill Roper] We want players to find each other easily and to get right into adventuring with their friends, while still allowing people to not get jumped by PKers and the like. We intend to have a very clean and easy, yet robust way for players to hook up.

[Kokeeno] This is the last topic, we accidently cut him off
[Sol Invictus] Yeah.

[Bill Roper] We will have instanced game play, but within a persistent economy and community - hoping for the best of both worlds.

[Bill Roper] Sorry - I type a lot!

[Kokeeno] Not a problem, was my fault
[Sol Invictus] It'd be versatile if players could password their games, so that players can join even as the game is underway, and not get ganked by PKers, Bill.
[Sol Invictus] Perhaps have a setting, to allow people to 'join in'.
[northrop] you can also set an option, "open"/"close" game, so that people can search "open" games and join if they wish
[Sol Invictus] The way Guild Wars does it limits a lot of the play.
[Cronus] agreed
[Sol Invictus] Indeed northtrop.
[Cronus] it is devastaing when you lose a player or two in GuildWars
[JELL] The undesired and unfair PK´s are the real problem for some people.
[Kokeeno] For anyone that doesn't know, can someone explain how the Guildwar meeting points?
[Kokeeno] work..
[northrop] not to mention mission hunters who go AFK...
[Cronus] sure

[Bill Roper] And those are exactly the kinds of things we'll be looking at as our online model matures through the development process. We want to empower player's ability to make and keep groups.

[Sol Invictus] Sure. In Guild Wars, there are outposts and towns. You have to spam LFG for 20 minutes until you find a group.
[northrop] will there be an option to kick someone off, if they were AFK for say 5 min?
[Sol Invictus] And if someone leaves mid-game, you're screwed.
[Cronus] yup
[Cronus] no way to get anyone else
[Cronus] and some of the missions are rather long
[Sol Invictus] Diablo on the other hand allows you to join open games, so if your friend logs on 10 minutes late, that's fine, he can still adventure with you, and that's great for casual play.
[Sol Invictus] Also, Guild Wars is completely linear, so the missions are no fun.

[Bill Roper] As for all the details, we'll be working on those - I don't have all the minutiae, but the overall concept is to allow players choice and ability to do what they want in a fun and cooperative environment

[Sol Invictus] That's excellent.
[JELL] We are going to talk about competitive gameplay? It doesn´t have to be PvP.
[Kokeeno] Ok back to Content Over Time element we mentioned briefly.
[Sol Invictus] It'd be cool to play at a cybercafe (popular over here), and join in a preexisting game whenever you want, so you don't feel out of place or have to wait for other players to party up with. (end)
[Sol Invictus] Let's talk about Content Over Time first.
[Kokeeno] One example that was given were NPCs that would be announced to arrive in certain locations at certain times.

[Bill Roper] Let me clarify what we mean by Content Over Time

[Kokeeno] Sounds good

[Bill Roper] This idea is all about bringing game play to the player and not always requiring they go out to find it, The example that Kokeeno just sighted is spot on.

[Cronus] so perhaps a message when they log on ?
[Sol Invictus] So, basically, Time-Based Content?

[Bill Roper] Basically the needs, desires and interests of NPCs can change every day.

[Kokeeno] That sounds great

[Bill Roper] Also, NPCs can come and visit places (just some examples of the concept, here).

[Sol Invictus] Is it going to be randomized, or will there be a linear progression of their wants and needs?

[Bill Roper] It would/could be both.

[Bill Roper] And as for getting the information on this type of content, there will be multiple ways.

[Sol Invictus] That's good. So some NPCs will be easier to find, as they have a schedule, while other are more random and erratic.
[Sol Invictus] Do tell.
[Kokeeno] One of the things that I was thinking about was maybe controlling the economy by having prices maybe change dynamically, depending on how much currency is currently in the world.

[Bill Roper] Anything from talking to NPCs (such as "shopkeepers") to see what they are looking for that day, to coming across chance encounters with someone you've never seen before in an Underground station.

[JELL] But every week will not have the same schedule
[Cronus] that sounds awsome Bill
[Sol Invictus] That's great.
[Kokeeno] definitely

[Bill Roper] These won't neccessarily be quests - we think of them more as tasks and missions.

[JELL] Sounds like HEAVENGATE ;)
[Sol Invictus] Haha.
[Cronus] I think many players don't log in because they're just not sure what to do next
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, that's the big problem with Guild Wars and a lot of MMORPGs.
[Cronus] having the content come to them would be great incentive to at least log in and check it out...

[Bill Roper] Little things that give the player some directed play, and some varied and changing reward without having to go out and do tons of exploration. A nice jump start to playing, as it were, in case you don't have 5 hours to sit and play.

[Sol Invictus] They have to look for the quests, specifically, and if they can't find it, they give up, out of frustration and laziness.
[JELL] That can make the world a real living place
[Cronus] exactly...
[JayD] Sorry everyone, but I have to go. Bye. Enjoy the chat!

[Bill Roper] See ya JayD

[Cronus] I know that WoW was very frustrating for me. I could either tromp around doing FedEx quests that took me around the world

[Bob Moseley] Are you asking about having external sources (email, IM, etc.) send messages about in-game goings on?

[Cronus] or skill up on picking weeds
[Sol Invictus] He means that in a lot of games, you have to search for things to do, and that's no fun if you don't know where to go.
[JELL] I loved how Charsi admired your armor when you come back from the second act. More random comments over time are really nice for inmersion.

[Bob Moseley] Ah.

[Sol Invictus] It'd be nice if there was an intercom of PDA in Hellgate: London.

[Bill Roper] We are not big fans of running you all around the world, so we'll be thinking up wayts to limit your travel time. Basically, we have short attention spans and want to start killing demons fast, too.

[Sol Invictus] So NPCs could send you tidbits of information, stuff to do.
[Sol Invictus] Without you having to search for them.
[Cronus] then we are on the same page Bill
[Sol Invictus] The game is set in the modern age, after all - so it'd make sense for some NPC to relay an 'interesting bit of info you should check out' every now and then, to keep you rolling.

[Bill Roper] Actually, Sol, we already have a rudimentary PDA in the game where our Minimap runs. We have a lot of ideas for it.

[Sol Invictus] Sweet.
[Cronus] nice..
[Sol Invictus] What about a mailing system in game?
[Sol Invictus] So players can send notes to each other.

[Bill Roper] A good example of this would City of Heroes (calling your contacts) or even Snake's PDA in Metal Gear Solid. Nothing set in stone yet, but it is a great and powerful tool for us to play with as develoeprs.

[northrop] in-game IM?
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, like World of Warcraft, or a direct-to-PDA thing.

[Bill Roper] All ideas we're throwing around to empower the community and communication. Again, still too early to say exactly what, but we've talked about all these kind of things, too.

[Sol Invictus] I see.
[Sol Invictus] How will trades be conducted in the game? I'd be interested in seeing a global auction system where players can auction their wares without having to meet face to face. That's by far the biggest problem in the way trades are conducted (or lack thereof) in Guild Wars.
[JELL] Would be nice to communicate with people IN your game and friends in the "lobby"
[Sol Invictus] Since we're still on the topic of communication, I believe that's covered...
[Cronus] agreed Sol
[Cronus] I really like how EVE ONLINE has thier auctions system set up
[Cronus] thought the downfall is that you have to travel to the location of the seller as well
[Cronus] *though
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, and that's no fun.
[Sol Invictus] Travelling is horrible.

[Bill Roper] We haven't really done more than sketch out some ideas for exactly how trading and so forth will work, especially in terms of final scope and scale. We do know this is something players love to do, and with the amount and variety of items we have in Hellgate: London, we'll need to make sure we find the best ways to allow players to do so.

[Sol Invictus] I mean, exploration's great, but travelling to a specific location is no fun.
[Sol Invictus] Great to hear it, Bill.
[JELL] Yes, a 10 minutes run to get a quest or item is just boring.
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] unless we could teleport to the AH
[Sol Invictus] a 10 minute run to another player at a specific meet up point to trade with him is horrible, too. That's Guild Wars.
[JELL] Some kind of fast travel or instant trade system could be nice.
[Sol Invictus] in GW, you can meet instantly, but it's still a total hassle, if he's offline, or whatever. Auctions far superior.

[Bill Roper] Heya, Medieval - welcome to the the round table.

[Sol Invictus] I'd like to be able to just auction whatever I want to auction in under 2 minutes, and go off and play the game.
[Sol Invictus] It's no fun sitting in town, typing "Want to sell: BIG SWORD +2. GODLY." every couple of seconds for 20 minutes until you find a buyer.
[Cronus] One thing that I did find interesting was a system in RYL : Path to the Emporere
[Cronus] players can have online stores of sorts
[northrop] a trade-window where we can see all the auctions, and trade with everyone, no matter the location
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] I think since it is set in the future, we could have our own computer portable devices where we could do Auctions online -- in short portable AH like a Hand-held device
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, agreed.
[Sol Invictus] An instant mailing system, or an auction, or even both, would be best.

[Bill Roper] Auctioning is a complex system with a lot of needs and desires by both the buyer and the seller, so we're going to be spending quite a bit of time looking at many different examples before making any hard and fast decisions. The goal is to allow people to make these transactions quickly and easily - and securely.

[JELL] That if all classes have something to do with technology.
[Sol Invictus] It doesn't have to necessarily 'fit' into the game world, either. It's just useful for the players, and there's really absolutely no immersiveness in seeing a bunch of lines like "WTS" and "WTB" scrolling down.
[Cronus] My fellow site admin ( TK421 - could not attend ) had an interesting thought..
[JELL] More an interface thing than a inmersion thing if i understand.
[Sol Invictus] Go ahead Cronus.
[Kokeeno] Please.
[Cronus] He was curious if FS is looking towards allowing players to interact with the trading in the game....externally
[Cronus] so from the internet
[Cronus] the idea being to bypass all the ingame trading time
[Cronus] I know it's a bit drastic
[Sol Invictus] So like an E-Bay for Hellgate London?
[Cronus] but it does seem like a logical next step
[Kokeeno] This is something that I believe is implemented in EQII
[Cronus] to a degree ..exactly
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, EQ2 has that
[Cronus] ah...neverplayed
[JELL] An e-bay with in-game currency?
[Sol Invictus] in-game currency, yes.
[Cronus] It seems that it would be a great way for working guys like myself
[Sol Invictus] It'd be great to do it from work, for instance.
[Cronus] full time job..family.. blah blah
[Cronus] I could do all my trading from work
[Cronus] that keeps me involved in the game that much more...and allows me to just play
[JELL] Been there Cr0Nus ;)

[Bill Roper] Obviously something else we're going to be looking at. We're all interested to see how well received SOE's Station Online interface is received. There are a lot of models emerging right now, and we have enough time to see what shakes out to be the best fit for our game.

[Cronus] sounds great....at least it's an option that you're willing to look at
[Cronus] couldn't ask for much more at this point
[Sol Invictus] Speaking of ... money, what is the ingame money called?
[Sol Invictus] Credits, or something else? Is there some kind of history behind it?
[Sol Invictus] as DocFrog messaged me, surely it can't be "gold" ;)
[Cronus] ya.. money...in an apocalyptic world is an intersting concept
[Cronus] seems there wouldn't be alot of value
[JELL] Nice question, what´s the money in a destroyed world

[Bill Roper] Right now, I think we're calling it Gold - haha. Obviously we'll find something that fits the world. Game design is all about starting with common shorthand to get ideas across and then moving it into what you're creating.

[Sol Invictus] Yeah, which is why there'd need to be a history behind it. Like, the need for order and society promoted the use of money, no matter how invalid. Perhaps it could be something valuable to the world?
[Cronus] it kind of reminds me of the WATERWORLD...where paper of all things is quite valuable

[Bill Roper] Although the argument has been made here that precious metals always retain an intrinsic value.

[Cronus] sounds very human...
[Sol Invictus] Gold itself wouldn't be a bad idea, especially since it's used in making electronics.

[Bill Roper] And gold does have magical conductive properties...

[Sol Invictus] Not to mention the 'magical properties' of gold.
[Cronus] demons all around you...still greedy
[Sol Invictus] We're on the same page, I think.
[Sol Invictus] So the demons collect gold, too, as do you.

[Bill Roper] Hey - it's shiny!

[Sol Invictus] Shiny is good.
[JELL] Spiritual demons carring gold.
[Kokeeno] Alright, on to the next topic, assuming no one has anything else: The open and closed models of online play
[Cronus] can you elaborate on just what those are ?
[Kokeeno] We know they plan on employing a Battle.net like server for playing, which will likely be much like the closed version
[Sol Invictus] Like Open and Closed Realms on Diablo 2.
[Sol Invictus] You can play your single player character in Open/LAN.
[Sol Invictus] Whereas Closed is exclusive, no cheats, no single player characters.
[Cronus] I see.. thanks
[Sol Invictus] I know a lot of people who would be interested in playing the game on Open, with their single player characters, even though it leaves them bereft of whatever features the Closed server offers (auctions, if there are any).
[Kokeeno] Right
[Cronus] so would online play just be the next level then ?
[Sol Invictus] it'd be a stripped down version of the full multiplayer mode, of course. No tournaments on that. But it'd be fun for people who play with a tight group of friends online, and like their single player characters.
[Sol Invictus] At least, that's my proposal for an Open based mode.
[Sol Invictus] open server, I mean
[JELL] Yes, open is great when you want to play with your Lan friends... without having to do a LAN
[Cronus] definatly
[Kokeeno] They said in the last interview that online, most things would be handled server side, like item drops

[Bob Moseley] It's necessary for us to have an open model in that folks are encouraged to play together easily, but allowing folks to host their own characters? That's leaving the game wide open for hacking, which lessens everyone's gameplay experience.

[Sol Invictus] I see.

[Bill Roper] We are going to be addressing people's desires for a secrue system of play, though, through some forms of server security. In that set-up, you wouldn't be able to use your single-player character since we don't know what you've done to your character or how "legitimate" your items or statistcs are.

[Bob Moseley] ...that would be "secure"...

[Cronus] So is it the current plan for the player to fully develop the character online?
[Kokeeno] Are there plans for the open system as well?
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] i think he means if we can play solo offline

[Bill Roper] We do want people to be able to play in a secure environment as well as play with their friends in a less stringent, "open" manner.

[Sol Invictus] He won't be able to play the offline characters on the internet.
[Cronus] got ya
[Sol Invictus] Also, it would be nice if character vaults are stored globally - so a player from say Singapore, using HanbitSoft's version of the game, can play with his friends in the United States.
[Sol Invictus] I tend not to like the way Battle.net splits the game into 4 distinct character vaults.
[Kokeeno] Ah, that's a good point.
[northrop] what if we be able to download our Myltiplayer Character and play it in single player mode/LAN, but not the other way arround?
[Kokeeno] Now that would be pretty cool, northrop
[Sol Invictus] I'd like to be able to play with my friends at a cybercafe using my character to play on a local (e.g. asian) server, and log on later at home onto the US servers.
[Sol Invictus] That would be fun, North.
[JELL] That would bring the unique online items to solo play... if there are any.
[Cronus] excellent thought
[Kokeeno] I personally am on a laptop, and have occasions where I go on trips without internet and am forced to start from the beginning in D2
[Sol Invictus] That should be fine. what you do in solo is your own business.
[Cronus] it would encourage online play for sure
[Jeff321] So, then there will be dedicated game servers that will be hack and cheat free, as with D2 closed? I would imagine there are some serious technical hurdles there. We all know what happened with the launch of D2, it was so bogged down with players from day 1... they didn't expect the numbers that would go straight to online play.

[Bill Roper] Hopefully we will have learned a lot since then in managing player and information flow.

[Sol Invictus] Yeah. The way Guild Wars does it, is have a global character server, so you can log in no matter where you are.
[Cronus] Speaking of player and info flow ....
[Cronus] I understand that there will not be any 'shards' per say..
[Cronus] but will there be layers of a persistant area..
[Cronus] much like Guildwars has it ?
[Sol Invictus] How's that?
[Sol Invictus] I think that's like GW, yeah.
[Sol Invictus] That's the best system.

[Bill Roper] That is the basic concept - not "shards", but "layers".

[Cronus] great
[Sol Invictus] It means I'll be able to play with my friends in local cybercafes, on a local server with little lag, and play with my European and American friends as well. Right?
[Cronus] it seems to really help the stability
[JELL] By the way, there are plans to support modem play? Persistent areas sound a little heavy
[Sol Invictus] I hope it doesn't come with a silly "number of times you can switch servers" limit like GW, though.
[Cronus] Well I think the layering ( if that's the plan ) would help the dialup players
[Sol Invictus] Yeah.
[Sol Invictus] Did I say servers? I meant regions, sorry.
[Cronus] and considering the missions will be instanced
[JELL] Latin america have still a lot of modem users. Crapy ISP´s That´s why I ask.
[Cronus] I think the game will be very dial up friendly
[Sol Invictus] I certainly hope so.

[Bill Roper] Obviously we want to create the best game play experience possible between players via the Internet, and geography has a lot to do with that. We are still working on all the details (sorry to be so vague at times) but we all play online games and know what kind of experience we're hoping for.

[Sol Invictus] Okay.
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] got a question
[Sol Invictus] Go ahead.
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] Hi, Im Medievaldragon from Blizzplanet / HellgateRPG.com -- I wish to know more about the on-going new content that will be added to Hellgate: London every few months, sorta like MMORPGs constantly grow by adding new content. Do we have to download patches for this content or is it server-dynamic?
[Cronus] I'm hoping they find a balance between patches...and streaming content like GuildWars.
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] I think i read about often content added in Gamestar Italia
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, it'd be fantastic to stream new content offline, but I don't think you have to worry about that.

[Bill Roper] We don't know yet, but it will obviously depend on the kind of new content. A new playable area, for example, would require a patch. A change in the database to intoruce new item properties could be done in a much less onerous fashion.

[Sol Invictus] Because the game's going to be heavily randomized, as I understand it.
[Cronus] the streaming content of GW is great... but not so great if you've been offline for a while
[JELL] The random of the world can help with this diversity a lot.

[Bill Roper] It will really depend on how our networking model matures during development, as well.

[Sol Invictus] Yeah. It would be nice if you could, say, add a new random area (graphics, architecture, some monsters) into the 'mix' every once in awhile.
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] for quests, its basically text based, so I guess new quests would be streamed onto the NPCs database, unless there are new models that need to be downloaded?
[Sol Invictus] I guess that would be it, Medieval. Adding a new quest into the 'random quest pool' every once in awhile.
[Sol Invictus] to keep the game fresh.
[Sol Invictus] Rather than, say, adding a specific NPC into the game at a specific location - that's linear, and that's no fun.
[Cronus] agreed
[JELL] A real incentive to go online
[Sol Invictus] Indeed.
[Sol Invictus] Alright, a quick question.
[Sol Invictus] <[SW]Akuyazi> any mention on account storage and if it will be global with all characters?
[Cronus] let's sure hope so
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, anything less is just a silly hassle of having a friend hold your stuff for you.
[northrop] an option, where you can view all items on all of the character, and swap everything you need without having to log in and out would be great
[Sol Invictus] And we all know what that's like. If your friend's not on, you have to ask someone you barely trust to hold your items, and there's a chance they get missing, or stolen. It'd be nice to streamline the whole thing and simply share your items and money on your characters via a vault.
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, that's even better northtrop.
[Kokeeno] Either a storage box that can be used by all of the characters or some kind of item mailing system would be great
[Sol Invictus] Agreed.

[Bill Roper] A great suggestion we'll be sure to take a look at.

[northrop] storage box, that is shared among all the characters is not a good idea. the space is sometimes too limited
[Kokeeno] Well, a global storage box as well as a personal one
[northrop] and if you make it too big, you get lost.. unless, you will devide the storage into categories: armor/weapons and so on
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, GW only has a global one... kind of a hassle when you run out of space.
[Sol Invictus] I think that, you could expand your storage account or vault or chest, by paying money.
[Sol Invictus] So it doubles as a gold sink in the game.
[Sol Invictus] Keeps the economy in line somewhat.
[Cronus] definatly
[Sol Invictus] The suggestion came from Akuyazi (who asked the question). It's a good one.
[Cronus] or perhaps a mission
[Sol Invictus] Yup.
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] Now that we are talking about mailbox, and interaction with other players, I wish to know if the Devs are designing ways to counter and track trancsactions of money and items -- we know wel IGE is taking over most MMORPGs and enriching themselves with the hard work of developers. We see often the Gold farmers on eBay too. What is Flagship Studios doing against this?
[JELL] Remind me some guild hall ideas.
[Kokeeno] Item sharing I think is something that everyone will benefit from. On to the next topic at hand: PvP
[Sol Invictus] Med: We answered that one earlier. Let's talk about PVP
[Kokeeno] When people see the screenshots I think it's something everyone expects
[Cronus] ( We'll try to get back to that one Medievaldragon )
[Cronus] Yes
[Sol Invictus] Jell gave a good suggestion earlier, about how competition in the game need not be PVP at all.

[Bill Roper] We are definitely aware of the issues behind farmers and how that can negatively impact game play. One of the nicer things about our game play model (randomization + instanced areas) means that 1. you're never impacted by someone farming your kill, and 2. you never know where the "best" item is.

[Sol Invictus] what I'm worried about in PVP is that it might be difficult to balance out all the skills.
[Sol Invictus] Some players might expect more from PVP than it can deliver, and that would lead to nerfing... that's never good.
[Kokeeno] It would also seem like itemization would be the leading factor in PvP success
[Sol Invictus] And itemization, speaking of which, should be assigned to players when they drop.
[Sol Invictus] So we don't have people running 'click macros'
[Sol Invictus] It always sucks when you play Diablo 2, and someone grabs all the items before you can.
[Kokeeno] One other concern is integrating it into the environment
[Kokeeno] Doesn't seem right for two templar to be duking it out when the world is on the verge of annihilation
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, like I said, PVP doesn't really fit... and balancing it might be hell.

[Bill Roper] We've been very focused on building a co-op game with competitive elements outside the scope of PVP. We do know that PVP play is popular with some people, and we'll be looking to address that in some way, but not as a core driving component of our design.

[Sol Invictus] Someone will complain that some skill is too powerful in PVP, or whatever.
[Sol Invictus] Good to hear it Bill. I'd rather not see the excellent Co-Op element ruined by the need for PVP balance.
[Kokeeno] I agree.
[JELL] Yes, allways some character or build ends being too powerfull in pvp and everybody got the same one to win.
[Sol Invictus] A PVP mode would perhaps just be a simple 'duel' where players can test their skills out on each other, but not kill each other.
[Sol Invictus] Like how World of warcraft does duels.
[Sol Invictus] on the PVE servers.
[Sol Invictus] Oh, and the PVP servers also. Mea aculpa.
[Sol Invictus] *culpa ;)
[JELL] "Co-op with competitive elements" sound really great.
[JELL] PVP is a problem when starts to ruin other people games.
[Sol Invictus] Oh yeah, about the itemization. It would be a grand idea to have items drop for each character, when a monster carrying items dies - so everyone has something.
[Sol Invictus] It's no fun killing 20 monsters only to have 1 item drop for a single player.

[Bill Roper] As for Sol's itemization question, we will be looking at different ways to make sure players know there are items to grab (a problem we saw at E3 from people who fell into the FPS camp) as well as how that loot is divvied out.

[northrop] NOT - if a copy of an item will drop for each and every player, what will be there left to trade?
[MEDIEVALDRAGON] Yea to get the whole devout set I had to play over 70 runs of Scholomance in Wow

[Bill Roper] And yes, having 20 people fight for a single item is not fun.

[Sol Invictus] Good stuff Bill.
[Sol Invictus] Glad you see things the way we do, :D
[Sol Invictus] One final suggestion, for PVP. From DocFrog (and personally I think it's great): [DocFrog] PVP doesnt have to mean that they fight each other, it could also mean that they both compete in one thing, like a survival mode where creeps keep running in and the last man standing wins, while players cant hurt each others. could also be played in teams.
[Sol Invictus] Kind of like humm... one of those old arcade games where two players compete at Tetris.
[Kokeeno] cool suggestion
[Sol Invictus] So they both kill monsters that spawn faster and faster, and try to outdo each other.
[Sol Invictus] It'd be a fantastic test of skill.
[Kokeeno] Zombie Zergs
[JELL] Must acount some characters beeing able to kill at a faster or slower pace. See Necromancers in Diablo.
[Sol Invictus] Exactly!

[Bill Roper] That is the kind of competitve, yet non Player vs. Player ideas we've been dicussing. I think he's got it!

[Sol Invictus] Good stuff.
[Kokeeno] Alright, with that said. Let's get some final thoughts.
[Sol Invictus] Alrighty.
[JayD] Sounds good.
[Kokeeno] I personally feel like the type of multiplayer they intend to bring will give everyone what they want, hopefully.
[Kokeeno] Hopefully some of the ideas that were brought up they'll consider, which I know they will
[Kokeeno] Cuz they're awesome...
[JayD] agreed
[Kokeeno] Anyone have anything to say?

[Bob Moseley] I'd like to close by saying that monkeys are exceptionally fun and I will continue pushing for more in-game monkeys, multiplayer monkeys most especially. I fully expect that I will continue to be ignored though.

[Kokeeno] I think it's time to start a petition, Bob
[JELL] The monkey level
[Sol Invictus] I am extremely hopeful about Hellgate: London, and I believe that the team that created Diablo and Diablo 2 is capable of something that surpasses even the greatest gem in the Action RPG genre.
[JayD] The hellgate equivalent of the cow level

[Bill Roper] It is certainly our goal to make a fun and compelling multiplayer experience that player's will enjoy regardless of their level of ability. We have both core and casual players here (well, ok, we know some casual players) and are putting a lot of focus on providing different options that are based out of the core design of the game, leveraging randomization and customization.

[JELL] :D
[Sol Invictus] No cow levels please.
[JayD] no,monkey level :P

[Bill Roper] Bob also knows i have a soft spot for simians, so he'll probably start hitting me up about this. Again...

[Sol Invictus] Killer monkeys from hell.
[Sol Invictus] Like those things in 28 Days Later.

[Bob Moseley] You bet your mandrill-like hindquarters I will.

[JELL] See no evil, hear no evil, say no evil
[Kokeeno] Good stuff.
[Sol Invictus] Yeah.

[Bob Moseley] Thanks everyone for giving us this forum to interact with you. It's great to have this opportunity to chat.

[Bill Roper] Thanks all for such a wonderful innaugural chat session. We're looking forward to doing this again!

[Kokeeno] Well, I'd like to thank Bill Roper and Bob Moseley for coming and having a talk with us. Hopefully everyone will know more about Hellgate: London now than they did when the joined the channel.
[Sol Invictus] I really liked the atmosphere of this chat.
[Kokeeno] And like Bill said, we do plan on doing this again in the near future, so keep a lookout.
[Sol Invictus] It wasn't stuffy.
[JayD] Thanks for showing up and providing some insight for us. :) Now we're even more anxious for the Hellgate to open.
[Sol Invictus] Yeah, the new information is pretty fantastic.
[Sol Invictus] Cleared a lot of things up for us.
[northrop] It sure did, thank you guys
[Kokeeno] Alright, so what we're going to do, is end the session and open the channel back up to everyone.
[JELL] Thanks a lot Bill, and Bob. Really nice chat, a very interesting one.
[Kokeeno] Thanks again Bill and Bob!

[Bill Roper] Thank you!

[Sol Invictus] There should be an interview with Bill Roper coming up at the Hellgate Guru sometime in the future.

[Bob Moseley] Thanks all! Talk to you later!

[Bill Roper] Have a great night and a great weekend!

[northrop] You too
[Sol Invictus] Great fun. Good night.