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Patch 0.5 coming next week for Hellgate: London

Robin Torres
Updated ·5 min read


The people at Flagship Studios have announced that patch 0.5 for Hellgate: London is moving to the test servers and, if enough goes well, they will be releasing it sometime next week. They invite everyone with a U.S. account to help test the new patch this weekend. They've even copied all of our characters over for us.

(You're right, the picture has nothing to do with the post. But, seriously, isn't that a great pet name? Khaaaan!)

Some highlights for the new patch are:

Increased character slots: You no longer have to be a subscriber to get 24 character slots. I think this is a very good change. 3 character slots is embarrassingly few.

Chat interface improvements: Thank the gods! How did the current chat system ever get into the "final" build? It stinks in a way that only a trip to the dump can approximate. The chat window is no longer going to cover up other menus (this really should have been a showstopper) and will be open by default when logging into Multiplayer. You'll be able to see whispers in all tabs. Whispers and Admin announcements will automatically open the chat window. It looks like we'll finally have something we can use.

Many Quest fixes: My favorite will be the ability to complete an interrupted side quest. There is nothing like running around trying to figure out if I missed something or if it is just another bug. After going through a zone 4 times, I did discover that the rare and legendary/epic mobs have a higher chance of spawning and dropping fun gear. I guess they like to reward the stubbornly optimistic.

Full patch notes are after the jump.


General:

  • All players now have 24 character slots.

  • Fixed a known issue with the inventory user interface that caused the client to lock up.

  • Fixed a bug which caused the Mini-game to sometimes become stuck.

  • The Mini-game now resets every 15 minutes.

  • Added a /help command to provide assistance using available / commands.

  • Some new posters have been added to stations, so check them out!

Connection Issues:

  • Fixed known issues which sometimes caused players to be disconnected and receive an erroneous network error message.

  • Fixed an issue where some home routers would disconnect a user due to an inactive connection.

  • Fixed known bugs which sometimes disconnected players during multiplayer quests.

  • Fixed problems with NetLimiter 1.30 and some older versions of Norton Antivirus and McAfee Antivirus which would make the user entirely unable to connect to the game.

Chat:

  • Made several chat interface improvements and the text entry more intuitive:

  • Chat window is now open by default in multiplayer.

  • Fixed chat window closing when traveling between zones.

  • Fixed several cases where the chat window would obstruct other UI components.

  • Chat context (such as Party and Guild) is now more clearly defined in the text entry window, including a color-coded border.

  • Chat window is now more transparent.

  • Added /g command. This is equivalent to /gchat command (guild chat).

  • Whisper text now shows up on all chat tabs.

  • Whisper messages and admin announcements auto-open the chat panel.

  • Auto-switch to the appropriate tab (such as Party and Guild) if you type text to that channel and are not in a tab that shows the text.

  • PageUp/PageDown cycle through chat tabs when text entry is active.

  • Chat panel now auto-opens if you type text and press Enter while the panel is closed.

  • Chat text entry deactivates after entering text.

  • Chat panel no longer closes if you press Enter on a blank line.

  • Additional miscellaneous bug fixes.

Items:

  • Fixed known bugs that caused players to sometimes lose items.

  • Fixed a bug with the Nanoforge that caused it to inaccurately modify the stats of higher-quality items.

  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Unique items to drop without special properties.

Quests:

  • Fixed various known issues which prevented players from being able to continue interrupted side-quests.

  • Quest items should no longer remain in the player inventory after the associated quest has been completed. Players with old quest items (such as Train Parts) associated with quests they've already completed or no longer have should find these items removed upon logging in.

  • Fixed an issue that sometimes prevented players from receiving credit for killing the "5 Lies" in The Hellgate quest. Players should now be able to properly advance in this quest.

Engineers:

  • Fixed known bugs which prevented Engineer Drones from saving properly.

  • Fixed a bug which caused Engineers to receive an erroneous "unable to meet requirements" message when entering a new instance with a Drone that has a weapon equipped.

PvP:

  • Fixed an incorrect modifier causing Special Effect Attack Strengths in PvP situations to be much higher than intended.

World Movement:

  • Fixed known issues which occasionally prevented characters from being able to load or switch instances.

  • Fixed several issues with players getting stuck in the world.

  • Fixed a bug related to St. Paul's Nightmare mode progression.

  • Portals to party members should now automatically close if the associated party member leaves the game.

World Events:

  • The Guy Fawkes event has ended. Characters that have completed the NAME Quest that did not receive the Trinket reward should find this item in their inventory.

I'm not going to test this build for them. I know that my leet QA skillz would be helpful to making a better patch, but I'd rather not pay for the privilege of showing them off. Though, I do hope somebody does because they obviously need the help.

Have fun! I'll be killing off my demons until I can generate my favorite again. Khaaaan!