HG:L- the consolidated thread

I) The Eye Candy
II) Prologue
III) Gameplay
-IIIA) Factions and Classes
--IIIA1) Templar
----IIIA1a) Blademaster
----IIIA1b) Guardian
--IIIA2) Cabalist
----IIIA2a) Evoker
----IIIA2b) Summoner
--IIIA3) Hunter
----IIIA3a) Marksman
----IIIA3b) Engineer
-IIIB) Game Mechanics
--IIIB1) Equipment
--IIIB2) World
--IIIB3) Dieing
--IIIB4) Weather
--IIIB5) Quests
IV) Subscription
V) Tech Specs
VI) Resources
VII) Miscellaneous Info

I) The Eye Candy
-E3 '05 cinematic trailer
-cinematic intro
-E3 '07 trailer

II) Prologue
-London, 2038.

According to legend, when the ravens depart the Tower of London, it will crumble to rubble and disaster will befall England. As man became more dependent on science, believing only in what he could define or create, ancient knowledge and rituals were lost to the antiquity of time. Prophecies that had stood as warning for untold generations were seen as archaic folly or ignorant superstition; so when the harbingers of evil began to manifest, few saw and fewer believed.

Emerging from the swirling chaotic Hellgate, they overwhelmed humanity's defenses quickly and systematically. Even the nuclear and biological weaponry employed by a few desperate nations did little more than slow the apocalypse. The nature of the demons’ attack presented little in the way of strategic military targets to the generals of mankind’s armies. With no obvious headquarters to bombard, visible supply lines to cut, or known leaders to assassinate, the usual tactics of war were useless.

Only those that still practiced the holy, ancient, and arcane rights could stand against the dark invaders, using weapons and spells forged in the traditions of their forefathers. Their successes were scattered, and the leaders of the great military forces could neither understand nor accept their strange ways. This mystical resistance drew the immediate attention of the immensely powerful creatures, seemingly immune to the weapons of mankind. Soon, those that had preserved the knowledge of how to combat the demons shifted their focus from driving them back into the twisting nether to saving as many of their fellow humans as they could. They retreated to the relative sanctuary of the London Underground, a haven whose construction they had orchestrated decades before.

Now, the once great city lies in ruins. A massive, sinister gash in the fabric of our reality swirls and churns, dominating the horizon as it blends into a permanently darkened sky. The Invasion, the unspeakable cataclysm that befell London, eventually engulfed humanity. The powerful nations of man were eradicated, and the decades-long process called The Burn – the transformation of our world into theirs – had begun.

But mankind is a race of survivors. Men and women hide in the shadows of their former dominance, struggling to survive, yearning to strike back at their conquerors. These survivors banded together, and they are learning.

Learning how to travel undetected.

Learning how to forge weapons capable of piercing unfathomable defenses.

Learning how to harness the forgotten and arcane powers of magic.

Learning how to kill demons and close the Hellgate...

III) Gameplay
-IIIA) Factions and Classes
--There are three factions (all human) each subdivded into classes. New factions and new classes for existing ones will be released post-launch.
--IIIA1) Templar
---These are the followers of the ancient rites and rituals of the Knights Templar whose writings and disciplines foresaw the demonic invasion centuries ago. Since the Dark Ages their order has been prepared for this apocalypse, training in the ways of holy magic and organizing their followers for the eventual war against the forces of Hell. Templar are the true believers, the keepers of the faith, and the destroyers of evil. They are extremely organized and regimented, their centuries of preparation giving them the best basic footing for waging war against the demons. They also control and defend the London Underground, which serves as mankind’s sanctuary.

Templar utilize the basic military model of the secular world. Their ability to achieve discipline and uniformity, however, is what sets them apart. They have a clear separation within their hierarchy when dealing with societal administration and battle, and their chain of command is clear and strictly adhered to, making them extremely effective when fighting in groups.
----IIIA1a) Blademaster
-----A melee damage class that dual wields swords for rapid attacks.
-----skills
-----video
----IIIA1b) Guardian
-----A melee tank class that gets special defensive buffs and shield attacks.
-----skills
-----video
--IIIA2) Cabalist
---Delvers of arcane knowledge, students of the dark arts, and explorers on the fringes of science, Cabalists use the powers of the demons against them. Cabalists are spell-casters, and more specifically, summoners and controllers of demons and the primal forces of the netherworld. They seek to study and dissect the essence of the demons to achieve the next evolution of mankind.

Cabalists wield sinister spells and arcane artifacts, turning the weapons and powers of the demons back against them. They use “black” magic and arcane weaponry as their primary means of battling the demonic hordes, fighting fire with fire and blood with blood. Some have been so touched by the dark forces they wield that they display the traits of their enemies from whom they steal their power, riding the razor’s edge between good and evil, control and corruption.
----IIIA2a) Evoker
-----The Cabalist Evoker plays like an action-RPG class. They use range spells to deal high damage to foes. Unlike other games, the damage these casters do is dependent on the focal drive(s) they have equipped.

The Evoker class is like the Templar in that it uses skill points more than player movements to determine hits and misses against foes.
-----video
----IIIA2b) Summoner
-----The Cabalist Summoner plays like an action-RPG class. They use range spells to deal high damage to foes. Summoners can choose to summon pets. Their pets can serve either tanking or utility functions, and they rely heavily on their wide variety of pets to boost their versatility in combat. They can have as many elementals as their energy can support, but they can only have one greater demon out that leaves after a specified time.

The Summoner class is like the Templar in that it uses skill points more than player movements to determine hits and misses against foes. It differs from other classes in that they seek to control the demons that come from the Hellgate rather than avoiding or vanquishing them.
-----skills
-----video
--IIIA3) Hunter
---The archetype of the Hunter is obscure, cloaked in mystery and subterfuge. In one way he is the Assassin, the Ninja, the Knife in the Dark. In other ways, he is the Ronin, a highly-trained warrior with no master. In yet more, he is the Destroyer, a force of blazing gunfire and deadly accuracy that lays waste to any that stand in his way. In all ways, The Hunter will not be staid.

The Hunter has learned how to use his natural skills and special technologies to effectively combat any adversary, regardless of number or strength. This is no mean feat, as Demons are largely invulnerable to mundane attack. That said, every foe has a weakness, and the Hunters have made it their purpose to find these soft spots and exploit them.

Although they acknowledge their apparent effectiveness, the Hunters are suspicious of magical or "holy" approaches to battling the Demons, and usually shun using them. They value skill over loopy beliefs, and as such don’t like to get caught up in arguments over the esoteric concepts of good and evil. Basically, Demons are very dangerous prey, and it takes a highly-skilled Hunter to bring one down.
----IIIA3a) Marksman
-----A ranged attack class that plays much like an fps and relies on the ability of the player to survive. They have skills that do things such as: increase accuracy from a distance, increase fire rate at close range, grenades, or even call down a napalm strike. Unlike the other factions, hunters do not auto-lock and must manually aim their guns with the cross-hairs. Though they play like an fps, there are no separate hit-boxes.
-----skills
-----video
----IIIA3b) Engineer
-----The Engineer uses guns like the Marksman, but to a lesser extent. His main tactic is to build robots to aid him. He can unleash a swarm of nano-bots that attach to a target and explode, he can also construct a number of bots that cannot be targeted by enemies and disappear after a predetermined time period. These bots can serve a number of purposes from healing his allies, poisoning the enemy, or even as an independent rocket launcher. His primary minion is his drone. Unlike the bots, the drone can be targeted by the enemy to tank for you and is not time restricted. As you grow more powerful, you can upgrade him with better armor and weapons.
-----skills
-----video
-IIIB) Game Mechanics
--IIIB1) Equipment
---All weapons and armor pieces have a stat cost. A particular helm might cost so much intelligence to wear, or a sword might cost endurance. If the armor you already have on takes up all your intelligence, you wont be able to use that helm without swapping something out. Keep this in mind as you distribute your stat points when you level.
--IIIB2) World
---The world will be instanced much like GW. Once you have been to an outpost, you'll be able to teleport back to it. There wont be any mounts since there is no need of them. The max size for a party right now is 5(though raids will have more). Again like GW, when one city gets too crowded, it will spawn districts as necessary (copies of the town to handle all the people). You can hop between districts and this allows them to have one big (regional) server rather than having to start over because your friend only has characters on a different server.
--IIIB3) Dieing
---When you die, you will have three options. You can: return to the last city you left, respawn at the entrance to your current zone and do a ghost run to your body, or pay a nominal fee to respawn where you died.
--IIIB4) Weather
---Weather can affect drops. That is to say, if you look up and the sky happens to be red; weapons with fire mods are more likely to drop.
--IIIB5) Quests
---Aside from the standard quests, there are random quests. You could've been through a particular zone 50 times, but on you 51st trip through; you get a message on your PDA(that's right, everyone gets a PDA). It tells you they want you to investigate a sewer. You can now access this new area and there may be a special rare drop at the end.

IV) Subscription
-There will be an optional subscription. It's $10 a month, but you can still enjoy the game completely without the 'premium' stuff. What subscribing gets you:

* no waiting in queues to log in(there may never be queues, but if it's ever that busy, you go to the front)
* 12 character slots (non subscribers get 3)
* account storage that is twice the size of non subscribers (40 spaces)
* special 'elite' items that only subscribers can use (don't have better stats than normal items, but more skins and stuff)
* VIP shuttle to special areas (shrug*)
* can create guilds, can be officers in guilds, can have guild/personal housing (that last one might not be in at launch, but shortly after)
* ongoing content updates- a small one every month and a big one every three months that can include new
zones/outposts/factions/classes/quests/items (free players can play all the original content that comes in the box online but don't get updates beyond bug fixes)

V) Tech Specs
-The specific system requirements have not yet been released, but we do have a general idea. The game was designed to be highly scalable and should be playable on a three to four year old machine, but it'll look amazing with new hardware. It is DX10 compatible, but it wasn't designed specifically for it from the beginning. So weather effects and little details will look better under DX10, but the difference wont be night and day.

VI) Resources
-Official Site (mostly outdated info, to be updated with an official forum in the near future)
-HellgateGuru (largest fansite and best place for info)

VII) Miscellaneous Info

-HG:L will include integrated voice chat.

-If you stop subscribing: 9 of your characters are frozen (not deleted) and you get to pick which ones. All your elite items will no longe be equippable 'til you renew.

-They have been considering eventually releasing the content updates in expansion packs people that don't want to subscribe can buy.

-The entire game (out of the box) is playable offline(no LAN play).

-They once mentioned being able to download your online characters for play offline, though you would not be able to update their online counterparts with any progress made offline. They haven't commented on this feature in a while and it is unknown if it is still ingame.

-There are hellrifts, portals to a hellish reality will lots of demons where you can only survive a short while due to the noxious fumes.

-Instanced zones and weapons are randomly generated.

-Weapons can be disassembled to their key components which can be freely interchanged without risk of destroying anything.

-There are two ways to color your gear: you can set it to apply the color scheme of one of your items to all of them, or you can use a dye kit. A dye kit is a rare item you equip and it puts the color scheme corresponding to that specific kit on all your gear.

-Flagship does not believe in respecs, they want you to choose a path for your character and stick with it. So choose wisely.

-It has been confirmed that there will be a Collector's Edition. The only confirmed contents of which is a behind the scenes DVD.

-Much of the music for HG:L was done by Sonic Mayhem.

-The release date for HG:L is October 31 for North America and November 2 for EU.

-Members of the HG:L community have started to receive invites to the alpha test. One does not apply for it, rather they come to you.