Goodbye to Hellgate: London … MMORPG on 56K dialup! (Part 2 of a series)
STONEHENGE EXPANSION
Stonehenge is an ancient site of unknown powers, and one of the few locations that has been untouched by the Demon Burn. Yet this special and sacred location has been changed since I last visited it in England – from green hills dominating the landscape, to great clefts and rifts now revealing some of the secrets Stonehenge has guarded for many centuries.
You used to need to be a subscriber in order to reach Stonehenge. Not anymore – just go for it! You can gain access to Stonehenge from a portal in Templar Base. There is still fresh green grass here, nature has clearly been protected by some power against the demon corruption. Stonehenge is the first ever released subscriber-only area of Hellgate: London. It features non-linear quests and areas, as well as 4-8 man “raid” areas in one place called “The Wild”, where it is very difficult to hunt demons without a good team up for the challenge. Many times you will be backed into the entrance and just die, time-after-time, at the hands of the massed enemies there – including rare demons and mini-bosses. There are several other difficult areas also, including Wake Hollow and Moloch’s Step.
A new area to unlock and explore
Everything familiar is in Stonehenge including traders and upgrades
Sadly, the Stonehenge Expansion is almost as buggy as the original Hellgate: London was .., and if you have supreme patience, you can finish it. You can see that my non-subscriber avatar now has formerly “subscriber only” items and some of the all-important “essences” to enter the special areas of Stonehenge that are being collected by Max now.
Formerly "subscriber-only" all important essences are available to all
The entrance to Stonehenge is in Templar Base
A great outdoor area .. too rare in Hg:L
A new place to explore - Wake Hollow
Inside Wake Hollow .. great new items to be found
The Wild. No Single player does it alone
The Wild. All the rare and difficult enemies in one place
Well, we have got a month. I fully intend to finish Hellgate: London’s Stonehenge. After that, I will look forward to exploring Age of Conan further as I have decided to continue on for 30 more days as I purchased the full game for $10; the 7-day trial whetted my appetite for it and I am anxious to level past my current Level 7. Age of Conan has more content and variety than Hellgate ever did, but the similar complaint is that there is not enough for high-level players to do; a big complaint that plagued Hellgate: London. Of course, it will depend on the support and speed with which the devs respond, that will help make any game successful. Hellgate was a good game that just fell short of being a great game, in my opinion. The bugs and issues took way too long to address, and players just moved on to other MMORPG games. If you still have Hellgate and have not played the subscriber content – now free – I urge you to fire it up again and give it a chance. The DX10 visuals are often breath-taking and the performance is better than with DX9c – with everything fully maxed out on a modern PC.
I will miss Hellgate: London and, of course, I am really looking forward to Diablo III.
Goodbye Hellgate: London
Beginning February, 2009 - only in the Far East
I hope to see you online. I am the 56K player that is mostly playing single-player and in small groups. Having fun. I’ll catch you on my next installment of MMORPG on dial-up 56K.
– Until then, I may see you in Hell. Happy holidays from all of us at AlienBabelTech! Happy gaming!!
Mark Poppin
ABT editor
