As some of you may know or not know, Flagship Studios released a new patch for Hellgate: London. This patch is somewhat of a major patch as it is changing the class Marksmen vastly and some major changes to the game itself. Coming in with the addition of the in game mail system as well as an auction house. Sounds pretty similar to World of Warcraft, but then again, there is some games like Wow, and not to mention the team who designed Hellgate: London helped design the Diablo series in which WoW took much basis from.
But I can't help but notice that is Hellgate: London going to slowly turn into what WoW has? Constant character/class changes to help "Balance" the issues/game out do to them not getting it right the first. Also take into consideration that WoW was originally designed to be a PvE game, not a PvP or both at the same time. Hellgate: London started out as a PvE game as well but having the "Duel" System for a start as PvP just as WoW did. Not to mention that WoW is now really focusing on bringing out the PvP system to its fullest as they realize that its what attracts the casual player and they want more people to play the game, pretty much just as Hellgate is.
It is very much apparent that Hellgate is taking the same steps as WoW has to "improve" the game. Who knows what could happen in the future, we could see Hellgate adding in new character levels and an already announced "New classes to paid subscribers." We also have already seen a new PvE content patch. Only time will tell to see what happens to Hellgate.
I like these features because I can't find a downside to them. Other big features (big PvP zones, for instance) have some big negatives that are worth thinking about (will I play this game if all my friends are doing this when I want to PvE with them?), but the mailbox ... nah. Balancing classes is a pretty normal MMO thing, too -- it just gets way more important when players are fighting against other players.
As long as HGL retains it's instance based dungeon progression it will be nothing like WoW and that is a very very good thing.
This is a normal pattern in game development (product development, really): an original game becomes a smash hit (see WoW/Halo 1), everyone makes derivative works to capitalize on general success, stagnation..., new original work becomes a smash hit....
I hear that.