Hello, hello! Today we're bringing you our latest Feature Highlight video and this time we're showing you Hellgates! You can check out the trailer by going to its thread located HERE. If you stay in this thread then I will be going over the Hellgate feature in more detail to answer any questions you might have after seeing the trailer. Any comments on this feature can be posted in the main Hellgate thread that I linked just above. I won't be creating a community discussion thread for this news post as the main thread for this feature posted by nogare can be used instead Let’s begin by looking at the feature first though: A hell cluster is a dungeon which holds a total of 10 players. However, only a group of five players can enter the hell cluster together which means that there can be two groups of 5 players in each group inside a hell cluster. So how do you enter? To be able to enter the hell cluster you first need to travel around the world until you find a Gatekeeper. A vast majority of the Gatekeepers will be found in the Yellow & Red Skull PvP clusters but may on occasion appear in the safe clusters as well. However, this is on very rare occasions and is subject to change. Hellgate creation detailed:Currently, if you enter a cluster with a Gatekeeper present you will be notified in two ways. The first way is through the chat window notifying you that: By looking at the mini-map you will also be able to see the location of the Gatekeeper if there is one in the current cluster: The gatekeeper himself! Ideally you would want to engage this demon with a group of five but if you are strong enough there is nothing keeping you from trying it with a smaller group either. Upon slaying the demon a portal will open up leading you into hell: When this happens the system rolls the chance for this Hellgate to be connected to a matching hell cluster. If the result is to connect it to an existing hell cluster the system will then check if there are any matches and connect it to one. If no match is found or if the system rolls for this portal to open up a new hell cluster then that is precisely what will happen. Hellgate loot rules: The Hellgate is locked to the group which dealt the most amount of damage to the Gatekeeper Only players that are a part of that group is allowed to interact with it Any other player who tries to interact with the Hellgate will get an overhead message saying "Hellgate protected" Hell cluster matching rules: Hell clusters have exit slots for Hellgates to connect to The maximum amount of Hellgates allowed to connect to a hell cluster is a variable we set up in the Game Data (example: HellgateLimit="2") Hellgates can connect to these exit slots unless:It is occupied by another Hellgate The distance between the Hellgates are not long enough (Read "distance rule explained" below) The dungeon boss has been killed The Hellgate limit has been reached in the hell cluster The hell cluster join time limit has been reached (A value definied in minutes that we set up in the Game Data) Distance rule explained: Hell cluster gets created from a Hellgate in cluster A. (The HellgateMininmumDistance is set to 2) Hell clusters created in B & C are not matchable since cluster A only has 1 cluster gate between them Hell cluster created in D & F are matchable with the Hellgate in cluster A since there are at least 2 cluster gates separating cluster A from D & F Any Hellgates created even further out would also be a valid Hellgate to connect to When players click the Hellgate to enter it if there is still room available (if it is full they are notified that “Hellgate is not stable and you are unable to enter”) they will begin a timer that once completed transports them into the hell cluster. Upon entering hell they will be force flagged to red as this is a PvP/PvE dungeon. Upon exiting a hell cluster the players will have a Hellgate Exit Buff which will give them increased run speed and invisibility for a while. This is too combat “gate camping”. Once inside both groups will start progressing through the dungeon, fighting against the demons that dwell there. At the end of the dungeon is the Demon Lord boss that holds valuable loot and is also the key to exiting hell. Only by killing him can you open up the portal to the surface. However, even before you reach the boss there is a possibility to engage the enemy group and fight to the death. This is the current layout of the Dungeon: Hell cluster time limit: All hell clusters have a time limit If the time limit is reached the players are teleported back out to the Hellgate that the players used to enter the hell cluster The timer is visible in the UI for all players inside the hell cluster In the chat there's a chat notification every 5 minutes and at the last minute. FAQ: Q: How often do the Gatekeepers spawn in the world? A: The Gatekeepers will spawn in waves for example every 30-120 minutes. The exact time is as of yet not decided but it will be in rapid intervals. Q: Won’t Hellgate camping be a problem? A: Right now we are not so worried about the Hellgates being camped too much. There is a high probability that no one will come back at all since they could have been killed by the enemy group. This means you could stand for 25-30 minutes in an area waiting in complete vain. Also upon exiting as previously mentioned the players will be invisible with faster run speed than normal for a while so hunting them down could prove very tricky.If the group inside the Hell cluster has the possibility to they could also send a scout to the exit and see if the coast is clear and if it is not they could send greater numbers to attack the gate campers. Don’t forget either that the Hellgate portal is only open for a very brief period of time so it’s not so easy for groups to roam around just in search of already opened portals.If it ends up being a problem there’s always solutions to this so for now we want to see how things play out in-game in the current iteration. Q: What exactly happens if I get killed by a player or a mob in the hell cluster? A: Unless someone in your group has the resurrection spell you will die and be teleported out and your remaining (if any) party members will have to pick up your stuff. If the Hellgate has closed by the time you died then there is no way back! Q: What if several ungrouped players are killing a gatekeeper. Who gets to enter the portal? A: In this case it will work the same as mob loot and the player who did the most damage will get to enter the portal. Q: What tier are the hell mobs at? A: As of right now they are tier IV and tuned for groups of 5 but this is possibly subject to change. The ultimate goal that we want to achieve with the Hellgate Feature is to bring in more incentive for the smaller groups in the game to get out there and roam around. Previously there hasn't been a reason for larger groups to split up into smaller ones but we hope that with the introduction of Hellgates we will see more small scale activity in the PvP areas where smaller groups will roam around demon hunting. I hope this has cleared things up for you guys at least a little and that you found this feature explanation readable. I’m still completely new to bringing you guys news so please let me know how I did and how I can improve. I will keep working hard on making the News Room better and better! Below you can find a short video that I made showcasing the different steps to take if you want to find and complete the Hell Dungeon.
