Hellgate London Alpha

[Calantus]

Ever seen the look on a cashier's face when you give them $89.95 in 50c, $1, and $2 dollar coins? It's awesome.

Actually it wasn't, I felt like such a dickhead but oh well.

Dang, what did you carry that in, a wheelbarrow?  Is the 50c piece still a half-kilo multi-sided blunt shuriken thing roughly the size of your palm?

Ziplock bag!

[sam, an eggplant]

If it makes you feel any better, they're totally fucking up the launch and nobody can even view the beta forums or download the client, much less play. So don't worry about it.

[Falwell]

I pre-ordered at about 1:00 EDT from ebgames.com.  I imagine they have a batch program that runs once in a while, hopefully at least once a day...

Gamestop always ships their beta codes / giveaway shit / other emails on Thursdays. I'd imagine after the buyout that EB now does this as well. I have heard that if you email them you will get your code earlier. Take that with a grain of salt as that's like 4th hand info at best.

NDA skirting here a bit but they did just push a major publish a few days before hand and also switched to an alternate method of client download. I doubt that is helping the mass influx of testers today.

[sam, an eggplant]

They changed the story to "we never meant to open the beta today in the first place, and you're lucky you made it on the forums or downloaded the client because you weren't supposed to". Anyone's guess as to when it opens now. Not an encouraging start.

Shrug.

[Falwell]

They changed the story to "we never meant to open the beta today in the first place, and you're lucky you made it on the forums or downloaded the client because you weren't supposed to". Anyone's guess as to when it opens now. Not an encouraging start.

Shrug.

Where'd you read this Sam?

[sam, an eggplant]

On the forums I'm not supposed to have access to. I can still read them, RDP'd to my work desktop.

[Jamiko]

For what it's worth, I pre-ordered from ebgames.com yesterday and just got the beta key via email today, roughly 24 hours later.

[Miasma]

Yeah mine was received at 2:43 EDT today, order was placed at 1:00 EDT yesterday.

Everything I read about it says that all aspects of the beta are broken right now.  I don't actually trust that the key will be consumed properly so I might wait a while, I have lots of betas to play anyways.

Edit:
The hellgate site says this right now:

***UPDATE: If you received a pre-order code from one our of partner retailers, you will NOT be able to redeem it at this time. If you do so, you will receive an error. Please check back soon for the proper time to redeem your code. Thanks!***

[Jamiko]

I went ahead and created my beta account with no trouble at all. They made it clear my account is not active until the beta begins, at which point I will be able to download the client.

[Ragnoros]

***UPDATE 2: If you received a pre-order code from one our of partner retailers, you WILL be able to redeem it at this time. This means that you will be able to create your account. You will then receive an email letting you know when you can join the Beta. Thanks!***

So go ahead and make your account. And keep your fingers crossed for beta.

[Threash]

I got my beta key also, but im not going to bother with it until things are working.  New version of mount and blade is keeping me busy.

[Morfiend]

New Update. Or Update2, as those fancy people like to call it.

***UPDATE 2: If you received a pre-order code from one our of partner retailers, you WILL be able to redeem it at this time. This means that you will be able to create your account. Afterwards, you will receive an email letting you know when you can join the Beta. Thanks!***

[Lt.Dan]

I happened to see a copy of the pre-order box at the local ebgames today.  The blurb on the back of the box sounds like it's selling more as a single-player game with multiplayer support.  I've been thinking it's a persistent world MMOG but am I wrong?

[lesion]

I had always assumed it was Diablo/Guild Wars style based solely on who the developers are and the mighty power of assumption.

[Trippy]

I happened to see a copy of the pre-order box at the local ebgames today.  The blurb on the back of the box sounds like it's selling more as a single-player game with multiplayer support.  I've been thinking it's a persistent world MMOG but am I wrong?

You are wrong.

[schild]

Flagship and EA have absolutely no clue how to play this game and their PR and CRM people have no fucking idea what they're doing. They need to keep marketing it as a KILL DEMONS game from BILL ROPER. That seems to be working thus far.

[eldaec]

I happened to see a copy of the pre-order box at the local ebgames today.  The blurb on the back of the box sounds like it's selling more as a single-player game with multiplayer support.  I've been thinking it's a persistent world MMOG but am I wrong?

You are wrong.

Surely it depends on where you draw the line between the two?

If you think of guild wars as a MMOG, surely so is this?

[Trippy]

I don't consider Guild Wars an MMORPG.

[Lt.Dan]

Yeah definitely chat rooms and instanced areas.

So how does that work then.  There are five acts which you progress through. What happens at the end?  Go through on a new difficulty? 

[eldaec]

Yeah definitely chat rooms and instanced areas.

So how does that work then.  There are five acts which you progress through. What happens at the end?  Go through on a new difficulty? 

To me it's massively multiplayer if I can interact with an 'large' number of players before the 'game' ends. That makes GW and HGL (and diablo 2 for that matter) MMOGs because my game carries over from instance to instance, developing the same character, plus presumably I can trade in the 'lobbies'. Taking it any other way and you start to conclude that even something like CoH with missions, or EQ2 with encounter locking isn't a MMOG.


Back to the point, your 5 acts are supposed to be different for each faction, so you can cover that, plus there's helping others with the 5 acts. And there's always grinding for potions.

[Kitsune]

Yeah definitely chat rooms and instanced areas.

So how does that work then.  There are five acts which you progress through. What happens at the end?  Go through on a new difficulty? 

It steals a page from Diablo with randomly-generated levels, so you fight through five acts... then you do it again.  And again.  And again.

[sam, an eggplant]

Or you can subscribe, and play through minor stuff added every 2 weeks and major content pushes every 3 months.

[tkinnun0]

You'll get a free bonus bridge with your subscription, too!

[lesion]

Dear Valued Customer.
 
Thank you for writing to us regarding your recent purchase of Hellgate:
London. Please be advised your Beta access code and instructions will be
emailed to you soon. The Beta program begins September 17, 2007 and ends
on October 7, 2007. We will email your code to you as soon as it is
available.
 
Production of the Beta Codes for in store delivery has been delayed but
the manufacturer has stated they should be available by Sept 24th.
Please check back with the store on this date.

snorf! maybe I'll get a code "early" after all, then a box, then the real box

[Nonentity]

I love this thread.

[schild]

I love this thread.

Yea, well, WELL, it hates your face.

[sam, an eggplant]

FINALLY my login was activated. I'm in, bitches!

What a horrible, horrible launch.

[Morfiend]

You can almost see people hopes and dreams being crushed.

 

[Morfiend]

Just friend just told me the servers are up, and he got an email saying its ok for him to log in.

*Update* He cant log in.

 

*Update 2* He can now log in. Go go go.

[Threash]

I can't login and i got no email :(

[sam, an eggplant]

They're sending out invites in waves; I'm in the second wave. The third will probably be 3PM ET tomorrow.

[schild]

So I should just preorder online now?

[Threash]

The sooner you do the sooner you get in i would imagine.

[Murgos]

Damn it Jim!!!  Where the hell are my impressions?!?

[Morfiend]

I just ordered it from Gogamer.com so that I can have the 4th armor dye kit. Wasp.