From all I can tell is that HGL is developing into a pretty good game. Yes, it had a bad start. The gaming industry is becoming notorious for releasing unfinished games and HGL was a prime example for that. But each patch is addressing some major stuff and improves things in the right direction. I have good fun with HGL now.

Yeah, all very odd. I was wondering why they even have two different versions for multiplayer and singleplayer? Couldn't they just make them both work in the same client? I've heard it's easy enough to hack the game anyway, if anyone wanted to, so it doesn't make much difference.

It doesn't even have that, it has less because it hasn't been patched yet. It has no Elite mode, broken Nightmare mode, and a long list of game-breaking bugs. Nevermind content, the core game itself isn't even playable.

And after advertising the singleplayer component in pre-release interviews, selling a game that includes a singleplayer component and is not advertised as an online-only game, and having the bugs reported numerous times, they leave most of the issues unpatched for 5 months. Not to mention the the mulitplayer equivalent of one of these bugs was fixed in 6 days, so they clearly understand that these are things that need to be fixed quickly. It's just that they only do for the multiplayer half of the game.

They also can't claim they lack the resources to support singleplayer, because they were QA'ing a Japanese singleplayer patch a few weeks back. So yes, they can make patches for versions of the game that haven't even been released yet, but not for people who have had a broken product for several months.

These are some of the "perceived slights" I referenced. And when asked about them, Bill Roper chose not to answer. I think his silence is an answer in itself.

I am one of those who watched FFS ever since it was formed. When the game got Alpha/Beta I played which kinda broke my love for this game. I still haven't seen enough for me to give this game a second try to be honest.

As for single player: it seems to be hard to take this serious in relation to the rest because it still features the kinda boring content of the 1.0 version as far as I understand.

It's just unfortunate that he dodged that question about singleplayer. After all his perceived slights to SP customers, that would have been a good chance to start turning things around.

You do need a sub to see most of the new content, but one of the big gripes was the unacceptably large number of bugs and general poor performance of the game engine. Don't need a sub to see if that's improved!
And when they finally implement certain required systems (Auctions and Respec, for example) those are things you can just read about to find out if they're worth the $10/month. Seeing if it runs properly or if the lag has improved is the sort of thing you can only tell by playing it.

Well I think the main thing hellgate had going for them in the beginning was their reputation, being the creators of diablo and all. But with all the money grabbing that went on I dont think they'll be getting that first chance back again.

And people will have to pay a monthly sub to see whats been introduced, unless people bought a lifetime sub that is.

Good stuff. Just gotta find an effective way to make the single player players happy once and for all. (I'm surprised there are any left, and don't care personally.)

You can't change first impressions but what you can do is get a second chance. (Or third, fourth and fifth chances.)
And that's one area where Hellgate has an advantage over a lot of other MMOs - the hurdle to getting back into the game is so much smaller, since all you need to do is reinstall the game or get the latest patch and you're back in and playing. So if I go in and see something I like or notice that certain bugs are fixed, I can tell people and they can log back in and check it out, too.
With other MMOs you're either ponying up a month's fees, or you're hoping for a free trial/free weekend.

Previously I was thinking Hellgate might pay Mythos' bills, but now it looks like it might be the other way around, at least until Hellgate hits its stride. Though I hope it happens before Mythos starts bringing in money...

With all the bad press associated with HGL's initial release, I fervently hope that Flagship doesn't give up the "ship." Roper and crew just might put a new spin on the term "flagshipped" with their attention to righting the wrongs. FSS, in my opinion, is doing the right thing by its fans in patching and introducing new areas and capabilities. With the latest Patch 1.2, HGL still isn't perfect with the lagginess in some areas -- including the few seconds it takes chars in stations to fully appear, and the instability of some areas (Covent Garden Market comes to mind) with visual shredding of the environment. [To be completely fair, these problems may stem from my PC or my HGL settings -- don't know yet. I've been having too much fun playing HGL to completely investigate this. :P] However, Roper and crew have come a long way in appeasing us by paying attention to detail and listening to our complaints and suggestions. The FSS developers don't have to abide by our suggestions, but by golly, they do listen and they do incorporate a lot of fixes based on what we see and complain about. Major kudus to FSS for this, and I sincerely hope FSS keeps up the good work! I still believe that HGL will someday, in the near future, rival Diablo II (FSS, don't make me eat my words -- thanks!). Show the world how a new independent company can overcome seemingly devastating adversity. If any company can do this, it's FSS with its fine crew!