[Elysium]

March 15, 2006
1.

Those are actually the "locusts" that get shot out of that particular hive gun. They're basically voracious insects that eat away at demons they're shot at. Right now that weapon is being called the Locust Hive or Assassin Bug Hive. Keep in mind the names change regularly.

2. Right now we do not have decals in Hellgate. Whether we will or not in the end is unknown. I've heard talk of how it would be cool and how it would most certainly not be cool (given most artists would rather not have their designs spoiled by "lighting skull atop field of blood"), though I don't believe it's a part of the current plan.

3. Weapons do have preset ranges. Right now our game displays when an opponent is in range by changing the color of a targeting indicator from red to green.

April 17, 2006
1. None of our weapons inflict damage on self...that I've seen of those that are in.

2. Right now there are three types of armor for each class and each armor type has multiple variants. How exactly they will be balanced is unknown to me at this point.

April 20, 2006
1. Right now the player inventory is obviously limited, but the team is considering creating additional locker space. I can't imagine the game wouldn't have something like that, even if it too were limited and came with a cost penalty of some sort.

2. Right now we do have stackable items, but only for certain things and even then the number that can be stacked is pretty limited -- health and battery packs stack, but I don't believe there are ever more than six or eight in a stack. This is all a very, very minor thing, though. It could change drastically in the next 12 seconds, as far as I know. Weapons, apparel and mods do not stack, BTW, though I always thought mods should.

There's also no weight or encumbrance in the game.

3. Currently it is possible to remove mods at any point after attaching them to a weapon. It's a very simple process and it works exactly like attaching a mod, actually. That is, the whole process involves pointing and clicking.

4. I actually don't know if there are any in traps in the game. No one's spoken about traps at all, as far as I know.

5. Q.How important are the items? I mean if someone has much better items then the other one. Will he kill him with one hit or will he just have little advantage?
A.You'll have a huge advantage with better items and items that are properly modded.

6. Though there aren't any working two-handed claymores in the game right now, you can indeed swing a sword and clip through multiple enemies at once. It happens quite often, actually. The Templar, in particular, has a lot of extra combat skills that almost always involve sticking multiple enemies simultaneously.

7. we don't call 'em mana and health potions. We have power packs and medic kits. You can buy them from NPCs, but I don't believe there's any sort of item creation in the game like that. Enemies also sometimes explode into absorbable chunks of health or "mana" God of War / Onimusha style.

8. Cabalist can use weapons. There are quite a few just for the Cabalist, actually.

9. I actually don't think you can mod orbs right now, but I'll certainly argue that players should be able to. Adding fire, poison, spectral and other damage types to attacks sounds too cool to pass up.

April 28, 2006
1. Q.whilst watching every gameplay video i could get my hands on, i got the impression that melee weapons pack more punch than their ranged counterparts. since it also looks like having to close in on every opponent will be a noticeable disadvantage, it seems higher damage is an apropiate solution to even out the balance. am i right?
A.Balancing is an ongoing process, […] but basically some weapons do more damage than others. I think it is safe to say that, as a general rule, when speaking in regards to weapons of comparable value, melee types will likely do more damage than ranged types. This gives players an incentive to game as a Templar, after all.

2. Our weapons have an unlimited supply of ammunition and you must never reload in the conventional sense. Weapons do have pause times between fires, though. Like, you shoot a rocket and then you can't shoot another rocket for a couple seconds after that.

May 22, 2006
1. We don't currently have a horadric cube or crafting of any kind in the game. Though, that could obviously change with time, depending on whatever the hell our leads feel like at any given moment.

2. The color voting system is not finalized. Right now each piece of armor contributes a vote(s) and the color with the most votes wins. That pretty much means the chest piece wins all the time since it has the most votes attached to it. It will not be this way in the final. Not, I says.

3. Nothing you wear takes up inventory space. Additionally, anything you put into your three weapon hotkey slots does not take up inventory space. That space can accommodate a total combination of up to six one-handed weapons and/or three two-handed weapons.

4. You'll be able to select from a variety of tattoos and scars, but we do not have plans to let users create their own.

May 24, 2006
1. Right now it looks like there will be six types of armor sets with three major variants within each set. Further, each variant has an innumerable amount of randomized types. Any class may wear any piece of armor. And though they'll share names across classes, the armor will always look different. So, a Templar that picks up and wears our Tech-Heavy-Superior armor will look significantly different than a Cabalist who picks up and wears the same armor. Everything has been designed so that no matter what a player of a certain class picks up and uses, that player will always look like a member of that class.

2. Armor is still randomized. There's no telling what you'll get or what special properties it'll have.

3. Right now each piece of armor carries the equivalent of a color token with a value assigned to it. So like the helmet would be red, five. And the chest piece would be blue, six. And the gloves would be red, two. The total values of each piece are added each time a new piece of armor is equipped and the color with the highest value takes precedence and then applies to the player's entire body.

That's the way it works right now.

In the final, it should be that every piece of armor carries a color with it and players will have the option of applying that color to the rest of their set, thus making a more complete suit.

4. No to hand grenades and yes to cool finishing moves (those are planned, anyway). We do have a grenade launcher, FYI.

5. Right now The Holy Negotiator is one-handed. There are no two-handed weapons in the game right now, either. Hopefully that will change soon.

6. Players can certainly gain access to class-specific weapons. And while gaining access to class-specific skills isn't currently in the game, it is conceivable.

7. Each type of randomized weapon comes with its own set of unique attributes. Further, each randomized weapon comes with a randomly determined amount of mod slots based on the maximum preset limits we have imposed and listed on our website.

8. Absolutely there will be different damages and different sub-types of weapons like Flawed or whatever. And absolutely mods will be diverse in their abilities, too! You can get a piece of shit ammo clip that adds like 5% fire damage, or you can get a relic that does some goddamned crazy aura explosion thing.

9. If you have a weapon that supports 1 Tech, 2 Fuel and 2 Battery, the maximum number of mods it can support are 1 Tech, 2 Fuel and 2 Battery. Mod randomization comes from how many of that maximum it can support.

Further, it is not possible to [insert] a Relic into that combination. The weapon on-hand must first be able to support at least one Relic before it has a randomized chance of being dropped with the specific capability of supporting X number of Relics. The same applies for all mod types.

10. Right now only weapons are moddable. But some people around here want armor and focus items (like the Cabalist's Focus Drive) to eventually be moddable.

August 11, 2006
1. I don't know about extra bags, but medkits and syringes do stack up to a certain amount.

2. The gauntlets, or Focus Drives, are indeed class-specific items. They have replaced the orbs. And they work like tools. That is, they allow a Cabalist player to access specific class skills like the Life Drain, Power Drain, Spectral Lash, Spectral Bolt, and many more.

3. We do have long range weapons. Some are similar in concept to a sniper rifle, but using them currently plays off our soft-aim targeting system.

4. Shields, yes. Lances, spears and axes... Not right now. We have a variety of swords and some of the more outlandish ones resemble these weapons, but we do not classify them as such. We are hoping to get some actual weapons of that type put into the game as we near launch, however. We'd certainly like them in, anyway. We'll see what happens.

5. In our game, gloves and boots are actually arms and legs. There are not separations for gloves and arms and feet and legs. Like any armor piece, the arms and legs can offer a variety of randomized attributes and bonuses. Some can deflect certain attacks. Some can repel certain attacks. Some offer shield bonuses. Some even offer damage bonuses. Anything can happen.

6. Our force field-like shields provide a globe of defense applied to all incoming attacks. Their effectiveness depends on how they've been activated. Percentages are determined by a variety of things, skill not the least of which. The functionality of our traditional shields is currently being worked out.

Many thanks to HellgateGuru for all the info.