Torchlight 2

[Bleekill]

Haven't seen an official Torghlight 2 thread so here it is. I'm looking forward to this game a lot and pretty confident it'll be the best hack n slash on the market. Here's some of the features from the site (http://www.torchlight2game.com/about).


Multiplayer Play co-op with your friends via LAN or over the Internet for free. No subscriptions, no item sales. Our new matchmaking service lets you find friends, start new games, and join existing games. And, as always, you can play single-player offline as well.


Customizable Characters Players will create and customize a character from one of four brand new classes. Each class can be played as either male or female, with customized cosmetic features and looks to make each individual character stand out. All new skills and loot give loads of opportunity for unique character builds.

Moddability TorchED, the Torchlight II editor, will give players the ability to create their own mods, adding even more content to the world. Have your friends download the same mod and play together.

New User Interface Torchlight II boasts a new and improved user interface, designed to be easier than ever for new players to pick up and play. This intuitive interface ensures you can focus on playing the game the way you want to.

Open World We're not only in the town of Torchlight anymore! Explore vast overland areas and multiple hub towns, fight through rain, snow, day and night. Our level randomization ensures new layouts, paths, loot, and monsters every time you play.

New Game Plus In New Game Plus, the game's not over until you say it is. Once you've beaten Torchlight II's primary campaign, you can start again with the same character for a significantly greater challenge. You'll keep all of the skills, gold, and gear you worked so hard for!

Pets & Fishing These popular features make their return in Torchlight II in improved form. More choices, better effects, and your pet will still make the run to town to sell your loot so you don’t have to.


It'll be crazy to see what mods come out of this game. I'll definitely be playing Beserker but all of the classes sound awesome.

[R-F]

inb4 something along these lines gets posted:
I didn't like Torchlight, it sucked! Therefore, this sucks!
Torchlight was boring with no character customisation!
I fucking hate pets!
Diablo 3 is better!
Who wants to be able to play offline anyway?!

Now we've got that out of the way, I am personally eagerly awaiting this.

[Davkaus]

Also looking forward to this,

Gratutious mention of the thread for arranging 4 pack sales for cheaper games. Link. (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?4457-Torchlight-2-preorder-on-Steam-Anyone-up-for-a-shared-4-pack)

[Bleekill]

Hell yeah, there is a huge amount of features that Torchlight II has over D3 but I was going to try to steer clear of arguments. Probably impossible since they are so closely related though.

Torchlight 2 has: An open world, MODS, skill trees/attribute distribution(instead of "Everybody gets the same shit" like d3), Offline/LAN play, 6-8 player instead of just 4, no pay 2 win. There's probably more stuff... $20 price tag comes to mind.

[SirKicksalot]

Not sure about the interface, especially about the health and mana globes being five kilometers apart at the edges of the screen. Interface was a problem with the first game for me, mods were vital there lol

I'm sure it's going to be a better game than the first. I could only finish that one when I bought my 3D monitor, it looked bloody amazing, like action figures came to life.
But I'll buy it later, Diablo and Path of Exile are enough for this summer.

[Bleekill]

How can it not be better than the first one? It has multiplayer.

Also the mana/hp is closer in some screens. I'm sure it's pretty customizable, even without mods.

[R-F]

Hell yeah, there is a huge amount of features that Torchlight II has over D3 but I was going to try to steer clear of arguments. Probably impossible since they are so closely related though.

Torchlight 2 has: An open world, MODS, skill trees/attribute distribution(instead of "Everybody gets the same shit" like d3), Offline/LAN play, 6-8 player instead of just 4, no pay 2 win. There's probably more stuff... $20 price tag comes to mind.

As someone pointed out, 4 people play Torchlight for 1 person playing Diablo 3.

Come the fuck on.

[Davkaus]

Looking forward to this too, there was a thread that I can no longer find that has people joining up to buy a 4 pack to get the game cheaper.

I've still not played the first one, but as I have nothing on this weekend I'll probably preorder it on steam to get the first game free and play through it.

[Flint]

Multiplayer is probably at the very bottom of my interest list for the game. I prefer my click/kill/loot/level-a-thon solo.

Other than that, massively looking forward to this. Really enjoyed the first one, can't see how this could be a disappointment in any way.

[Smashbox]

Overworld has piqued my interest, definitely. Interested to see how it turns out.

[Battle Programmer Spike]

Looking forward to this too, there was a thread that I can no longer find that has people joining up to buy a 4 pack to get the game cheaper.

I've still not played the first one, but as I have nothing on this weekend I'll probably preorder it on steam to get the first game free and play through it.


This is the thread you are looking for: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?4457-Torchlight-2-preorder-on-Steam-Anyone-up-for-a-shared-4-pack

We are in the mid of sorting out the remaining groups, so don't mind posting or PMing me or Squareking to organize things.

[SirKicksalot]

How can it not be better than the first one? It has multiplayer.


I really don't give a shit. I like to siege dungeons alone.
As for how many features a games has - why should I care? Bulletpoints alone don't make a game good. I'll have to play it first.

[Moraven]

Will pick it up on a steam sale, if not playing that other game anymore. Never took the time to get into mods since Dungeon Siege. Choosing my attributes is nice... but in Titan Quest I always felt like I was gimping myself. I got through playing the game with 2 people, but could I have been more powerful than I was if I used my points differently? If I went to read some guide, that really defeats the purpose of having that customization since why wouldn't you do the 1-2 optimized distribution.
Both systems can work. There really is not any perfect customization system. As long as it is clear and you can not gimp yourself to hard it can work fine. I can enjoy both. Some people can't which for some reason means you need to bring out the pitchforks and bash a game you will never play because it isn't for them.

[Bleekill]

Yeah...knowing anything about a game before playing it is completely pointless...

Anyways. Other than multiplayer, their funds have increased since Torchlight 1, so I expect a much better game overall. The team is bigger. OH yeah just remembered, the guy who composed D1 and 2's soundtrack is doing TL2's soundtrack which is cool.

[The JG Man]

Well the game is supposedly 3-4 larger, has New Game+ and a pretty decent MP offering, which I imagine will generate its own thread. That and mods...it's a big game and one I'm happy to already have sitting in my Steam library.

[SirKicksalot]

OH yeah just remembered, the guy who composed D1 and 2's soundtrack is doing TL2's soundtrack which is cool.

Over 90 minutes of his music are featured in Diablo 3, including this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy31Kwd0gxI). It's going to be fun comparing the soundtracks...

[R-F]

I really don't give a shit. I like to siege dungeons alone.
As for how many features a games has - why should I care? Bulletpoints alone don't make a game good. I'll have to play it first.

> I like to siege dungeons alone.
> Says he is going to play Diablo 3 instead of this.

What the fuck even.

[SirKicksalot]

I also said I'll play Path of Exile, how's that for a mindfuck?

[Bleekill]

I was just saying..."look they have a renowned composer doing their soundtrack, they have some money after torchlight 1."

Not trying to compare it to d3, no shit blizzard can get whoever they want. But while on that topic, fuck blizzard, I've hated them since Burning Crusade and hoped D3 would be redemption but they catered to the casual WoW players even more than I imagined possible.

[SirKicksalot]

What happened to Mythos anyway? I remember it had very cool skills - visually, at least. Not boring fireballs, but lava torrents at early levels and stuff like that.
IIRC Torchlight was basically Fate with some rebuilt Mythos ideas.

That game was resurrected but I don't know anything about it. Is it alive? Any good? Any Torchlight DNA in there?

[CrinnyCow]

I'm thinking about getting Torchlight 2. I I enjoyed Torchlight 1 well enough but never really got sucked into it. I might buy it if I had a couple of friends to play with but all my friends are jumping on the D3 hype train. I just can't be bother to spend $60 on a game in this genre. I like them for time killing purposes but don't see them for anything past that.

[plivesey]

I'm not quite sure what to think about Torchlight 2. I played Torchlight a bit, but found the lack of multiplayer to be a bit of a let down. Solo play got pretty boring for me, and I didn't really enjoy the linear feel of the game - going downwards in one dungeon. Torchlight 2 fixes those issues by adding multiplayer and an open world, so I may give it a go. If there's a demo I'll definitely give it a try, otherwise I'll probably wait for a Steam sale in a couple of years time.

[flagoon]

D3 or Torchligh 2? It's a tough choice. Few days before I was sure D3 will own Torchlight 2, but then, waiting for D3, I installed Torchlight and damn this game is fun. There is plenty to do (well it's monster slashing mainly, but still), graphic style is awesome. Then I search for some mods and I have to say, it's getting better. Firstly I didn't care about this shit at all, but when I see what people did with this game, it's amazing. It came to this, that watching some gameplay of D3 on youtube, I thought it looks terribly dull compared to Torchlight (and Torchlight 2). I'm not a D3 hater like some of people here, check my other posts in D3 threads, but now I understand why Torchlight devs are not affraid of D3 competition.

But there are few problems for me:
- I'm too casual player, to play Torchlight online. I won't find anyone to play with.
- I really like Diablo's replayability. New difficulty levels with new playthroughts, new items, monster skills etc.
- And as for items, I always felt more happy with unique drops in Diablo than in Torchligh. Maybe because there's too many unique drops in Torchligh, or maybe because those uniques are not so unique.

If I had to choose one of this game, I'd be probably puzzled. But I'll buy both.

[Subatomic]

I think it's ironic that the two people who rail the most against D3/Blizzard in other threads bring the topic up themselves in a thread totally not about D3/Blizzard within the first two posts.

Anyway, Torchlight 2: Really enjoyed Torchlight 1, though it got somewhat dull and generic a bit too fast (especially the randomly generated dungeons after the last "story-level"). From what I've seen of Torchlight 2 though, they seem to have a lot more varied environments and monsters this time around.

[pkt-zer0]

So, I found the skill design pretty boring in Torchlight 1. Did they improve this in TL2?

[Reinhardt]

I'm cautiously optimistic that Torchlight 2 will resonate with me more than the first one did. I thought the skill system was an outright failure the first time around, with the only viable option being to stick to one or two combat skills and a handful of one-point passives.

On top of that, there weren't any particularly unique or fun skills on any skilltree. They all seemed to be some variant of small midrange projectile, slightly-higher-damage melee, or summon-a-monster-to-play-the-game-for-me.

I'm sorry to be so negative, because in general I'm glad that developers like the ones at Runic are putting out such high quality material at a more reasonable price point...

But I just don't see the appeal of Torchlight 1. The only enjoyment I ever got out of it was when I simultaneously listened to the radio and just wanted something mindless to click.

[Vexing Vision]

I bought two copies of Torchlight 2 - we'll probably play around 10 hours then get bored of it, but any game that is featuring LAN multiplayer in this time and year will automatically generate at least two sales from me.

This needs to be supported!

[goatmonkey]

So it looks like there is a stress test/open beta this weekend http://www.torchlight2game.com/news/2012/05/17/beta-update-upcoming-weekend-stress-test/, you just need to sign up for a runic account.

No idea if there is a limit on spaces but I got a key though and I signed up yesterday. Feel free to add me on steam if anyone fancys some coop username cjone2

[Rauten]

So it looks like there is a stress test/open beta this weekend

Well frsk. I need to buy more time. I just downloaded ArmA2:CO to be able to dip into DayZ, it's also a beta weekend for The Secret World... and now this.

WTB more time, PST.

[byteCrunch]

I am still on the fence with Torchlight 2, I enjoyed 1 for the most part, but it did get a bit repetitive towards the end, without a huge amount in enemy and environment variation.


Well frsk. I need to buy more time. I just downloaded ArmA2:CO to be able to dip into DayZ, it's also a beta weekend for The Secret World... and now this.

WTB more time, PST.

I have some very reasonable rates on time purchases.

Disclaimer: Time may not actually work, may result in loss of time, experience may vary.

[b0rsuk]

One of pets is a ferret. The ferret wears goggles.

[cosmicolor]

I got into the stress test beta so I am going to play it then I guess I will post a trip report here or something later.

edit: I'm done for now, here is my initial impressions that I am gonna copy/paste from a Skype chat I'm in because I'm lazy:


my thoughts are: it is a big improvement over torchlight 1 and has some cool things in it but there are things that i think d3 does better. there is one thing in particular that they haven't quite learned from torchlight 1 which actually kind of sucks, though, and kills my vibe a little. it is still worth a buy though and i will be on it too

The one thing I mentioned there is the skill trees. There is a slightly bigger active skill selection this time but there are still a lot of boring passives that you kind of have to have at least one point in which sucks a bit to be honest. I feel like I can't grab the funner skills as much as I'd like because the passive will benefit me so much more, same as in Torchlight 1.

But aside from that it is an improvement, imo, and worth getting, particularly if you're alienated by D3.

[Tei]

I like this game.

Can't wait to kill hordes with a embermague with people of RPS :D

[cosmicolor]

If any of you are in the beta too, add me as cosmicolor ingame, or on my character Uncle Porkstar if you need that name and we shall play.

[goatmonkey]

I have to agree with Cosmicolor after coming from a bit of Path of Exile, while I feel Torchlight 2 is more fun what PoE does with mana/health potion (loot items that recharge on kills) and active skills (socketable gems that level up) those aspects feel a bit lacking. I guess that is the problem with so many ARPGs you may prefer one overall but each has a worthy feature you wish was in another.

[cosmicolor]

I feel Diablo 3 does skills a little... funner, at least for me. There are more active skills at early levels, it doesn't feel like you have passives forced on you immediately. To get more nitpicky, the control isn't as smooth either, enemy hitboxes seem harder to click on, I occasionally click on an enemy only to have my guy just run past, which is a little annoying. What skills I have got so far in TL2 feel meaty which is good, except the rubbish shield charge thing the engineer has.

Loot has also improved in TL2, at least from what I'm seeing. I'm not flooded with dud drops anyone like I was in TL1, which is very good indeed, and it looks good too. Runic did a good job of an overworld too, it feels so much more open now and rewards exploration too.

Despite my reservations I feel it is overall a big improvement on TL1.

[Drinking with Skeletons]

All the talk about active-versus-passive skills is interesting to me. In theory, more active skills sounds like the more entertaining option, but in practice I consistently find that route to be less useful for a few reasons.

1. Active skills often become outdated by later skills, and it's not obvious (without extensive out-of-game research) how many points, if any, you should invest in them to achieve a workable build. This was a problem in Diablo II.

2. Setting aside point 1, it's difficult to know whether an active skill is useful or not. Unlike (most) passive skills, active skills are frequently situational. Sometimes more skill points and/or upgrades will turn a skill from a seeming waste to an outrageously powerful weapon, and other times will just make it even more of a waste. This was a problem in Titan Quest.

3. Too many choices can be overwhelming, in terms of making an initial choice, remembering that the abilities are available to you, and making a useful UI and/or control scheme. This was a problem in Dungeon Siege III.

Any thoughts on these points?

[SMiD]

Downloading the beta now. I'm pretty damn stoked for this. Pets!!!

[Moraven]

All the talk about active-versus-passive skills is interesting to me. In theory, more active skills sounds like the more entertaining option, but in practice I consistently find that route to be less useful for a few reasons.

1. Active skills often become outdated by later skills, and it's not obvious (without extensive out-of-game research) how many points, if any, you should invest in them to achieve a workable build. This was a problem in Diablo II.

2. Setting aside point 1, it's difficult to know whether an active skill is useful or not. Unlike (most) passive skills, active skills are frequently situational. Sometimes more skill points and/or upgrades will turn a skill from a seeming waste to an outrageously powerful weapon, and other times will just make it even more of a waste. This was a problem in Titan Quest.

3. Too many choices can be overwhelming, in terms of making an initial choice, remembering that the abilities are available to you, and making a useful UI and/or control scheme. This was a problem in Dungeon Siege III.

Any thoughts on these points?

I like TQ system since you can create a lot of different class combinations. The one thing I like with D3 is throwing that customization out. Sure its nice to have that freedom, but really you were either gimping yourself or picking 1 of 3 builds. Skill combos are fun to play with.

Hope to see Grim Dawn refine the TQ system.

[shaydeeadi]

Just finished playing through with the Bezerker, the skill involving transforming into a wolf and rampaging over everyone until the mana runs out is hilarious and amazing at the same time, lots of mobs died. It seems they hand out waaay too many health potions on Veteran though as I had about 70 large ones when I killed the end boss of the beta.
Lots of fun though, still looks lovely and there was plenty of interesting loot floating about, I was repeatedly changing up my loadouts for superior gear that kept dropping. The variety of mobs and variants are quite good too and I didn't get tired of seeing any one in particular.

Negatives: The pathfinding for the pets is terrible in the later areas and at one point I glitched through a wall onto a platform I had to portal to back town to get off of. But it is still beta so I'll let them off, for now. I also couldn't join ANY co-op games and if anyone has some tips for port forwarding please let me know.

[Ravelle]

Played a while with the berzerker as well, the way you punch people and explode is so satisfying, satisfying combat in general as well.

Pets can now also buy items, genius!

[Tei]

Played today a few hours.

One word: Satisfying.

The game is fun to play. Surprising after T1, that was repetitive. But on this one something has "clicked".

[cosmicolor]

All the talk about active-versus-passive skills is interesting to me. In theory, more active skills sounds like the more entertaining option, but in practice I consistently find that route to be less useful for a few reasons.

1. Active skills often become outdated by later skills, and it's not obvious (without extensive out-of-game research) how many points, if any, you should invest in them to achieve a workable build. This was a problem in Diablo II.

2. Setting aside point 1, it's difficult to know whether an active skill is useful or not. Unlike (most) passive skills, active skills are frequently situational. Sometimes more skill points and/or upgrades will turn a skill from a seeming waste to an outrageously powerful weapon, and other times will just make it even more of a waste. This was a problem in Titan Quest.

3. Too many choices can be overwhelming, in terms of making an initial choice, remembering that the abilities are available to you, and making a useful UI and/or control scheme. This was a problem in Dungeon Siege III.

Any thoughts on these points?

1)Yeah, I agree you have a point, active skills can become outdated through time, but perhaps you could argue that respecs are there to (partially) solve that issue, although I recognise that not all these games have such a feature. I feel that Blizzard are making an attempt to avoid the issue of skills becoming outdated with D3, but time will tell how well it ends up working.

2)You find that out through trying it. That or reading the description of the skill, which would usually be detailed enough to let you know if it would be something really specific. Even if it's not so useful, it's a lesson learned for the next runthrough or respec, and still another thing you can do in combat. Besides, unless you're playing on a really hard difficulty, there probably won't be much reason to have to worry about a point misspent.

3)Perhaps the solution is to trickle skills gradually, but giving more active skills than passives, such as, again, what D3 does, although I would argue that D3 should give things a little faster than it seems to do, but that's just my personal preference.

[shaydeeadi]

In relation to TL2 though, the active skills are tied to weapon DPS and they increase with character level too. So I can see the skills in this being much more viable at later levels. You can always focus and have one ability as godlike if you want but could also spread them about and have a bit of fun with all of them.

[Rauten]

Just played for a while, until I died in a god forsaken tomb on the way to the water temple to an undead ambush. So far, so very good!

[byteCrunch]

Been playing for the last few hours as an Engineer on veteran, very much enjoying it so far.

[cosmicolor]

So who is currently playing and what are your account names? Mine is cosmicolor if anyone wants to add me, what about the rest of you?

[Bankrotas]

I can't imagine my luck picking first time berserker and finding it so much fun. If first Torchlight felt like it was a bit on weed, this one feels like it's on amphetamine (note, I don't use drugs).
So feel urge to play through with other classes too, but turning into giant spectral purple wolf and running like there's no tomorrow was too fun. Comparing D3 and TL2 beta's, D3 didn't give me the satisfactory factor and all round feeling was "meh" this reminded me of my first play through of Diablo 2, I had no idea what I was doing, I had that "I wonder what this skill will do" feeling and then you right click become a purple spectral wolf dashing in one direction damaging all in your path while you glee.
I love, that you can't take time with bosses as more and more adds spawn and on veteran level you can be overwhelmed as melee class. And even if you take out big bosses, doesn't mean purple guys won't give you hard time. Minotaurs aka slashers are so hard to deal in mass :/


Edit: I just want them to add turn in character creation screen !

So who is currently playing and what are your account names? Mine is cosmicolor if anyone wants to add me, what about the rest of you?
Bankrotas.

[cosmicolor]

I added you and I see you playing, how do I join you?

[shaydeeadi]

You can filter servers by friends only, probably easiest way

[Bankrotas]

Here's second issue with creating games, I've played so much, it autocreates a world with crappy random "asfsdgtwrq32rwas" name I put in. Ok, it goes away when you relog. Created game named Bankrotas

[shaydeeadi]

Nooo, left to make a level 1 and it filled up :(

[cosmicolor]

I just caught that post and see it's filled up too :P I'm gonna make a game called cosmicolor, come join it if you can.

edit: It's up now.

[shaydeeadi]

won't show up in browser for me, I'll refresh for a bit.

[cosmicolor]

Guuh, I wonder what's up? Does it need port forwarding? If so, what ports do I need to forward?

[Bankrotas]

Hmm, if you leave host and people are still in, game doesn't close and you can still rejoin.
If there are people still not in, created new game Bankrotas RPS with password: RPS

[shaydeeadi]

Got in and once we were playing it was pretty dang smooth, even with Bankrotas hosting from Lithuania. Pleased with that. Also, the host migration or whatever it does is seamless.

[pakoito]

It works in my netbook. That's instant prepuerchase. Celeron 1.2GHz, Intel 64MB. Fucksake and it still looks better that lots of games that just won't run.

Anyway I specced incorrectly but that happens your first time. I am playing engineer and after summoning the turrets my only active skill is the cannon overload. It is just too good to be missed. Cannon feels godlike in this game.

[b0rsuk]

I can't put my finger on it, but... Both Diablo III and Torchlight 2 are very cartoony in style. Yet where Diablo III is pompous and pretentious, TL2 seems playful and whimsical. D3 gives me that American superhero comic vibe I find obnoxious.

[Bankrotas]

Got in and once we were playing it was pretty dang smooth, even with Bankrotas hosting from Lithuania. Pleased with that. Also, the host migration or whatever it does is seamless.
I do think they use their own servers to hold games.

[psyk]

2)You find that out through trying it. That or reading the description of the skill, which would usually be detailed enough to let you know if it would be something really specific. Even if it's not so useful, it's a lesson learned for the next runthrough or respec, and still another thing you can do in combat. Besides, unless you're playing on a really hard difficulty, there probably won't be much reason to have to worry about a point misspent.

And people are complaining about having to play D3 more than once HAHAHAHAHAHA

[cosmicolor]

Huh? What do you mean by that? Is there something you disagree with?

[shaydeeadi]

I do think they use their own servers to hold games.

Is it? Well that's excellent and actually makes sense now I think about it. Derp

[psyk]

Huh? What do you mean by that? Is there something you disagree with?

LMAO I will leave you to work that one out it's not hard.

[Bankrotas]

This game should be great with voice communications.

[byteCrunch]

Is it? Well that's excellent and actually makes sense now I think about it. Derp

Actually I think their servers are purely for matchmaking, it is hosted locally from what I can tell. I had to forward some ports to get it working earlier.

[trjp]

Actually I think their servers are purely for matchmaking, it is hosted locally from what I can tell. I had to forward some ports to get it working earlier.

Player/pier hosted gaming is actually worse than dedicated server hosting because it's not just your Internet which you need to stay-up to keep playing, it's some other random persons's...

One of the things which puts me off a game I don't have a huge group of friends playing is player-hosting because I know I'll end-up playing with randoms who all appear to be using 56K modems (and always blame 'their brother' for the problems for some reason).

[byteCrunch]

Player/pier hosted gaming is actually worse than dedicated server hosting because it's not just your Internet which you need to stay-up to keep playing, it's some other random persons's...

One of the things which puts me off a game I don't have a huge group of friends playing is player-hosting because I know I'll end-up playing with randoms who all appear to be using 56K modems (and always blame 'their brother' for the problems for some reason).

I know it's worse but makes more sense for games that do not require a server to handle 50+ players or something. Torchlight 2 goes to 6 players max, so it is not really an issue, it was pretty seemless whilst I was playing, whether I was hosting or another.

Edit: I would also add Torchlight 2 is able to do alot of stuff client side, for example loot is unique to each player which helps keep down data requirements.

[trjp]

I know it's worse but makes more sense for games that do not require a server to handle 50+ players or something. Torchlight 2 goes to 6 players max, so it is not really an issue, it was pretty seemless whilst I was playing, whether I was hosting or another.
The test will be how well it deals with issues - too many games will throw their dummy if the host does something like change graphic options or even alt-tab out of the game!!

Being able to gracefully swap the game onto other players is a neat trick but more work than most developers seem willing to undertake...

[byteCrunch]

The test will be how well it deals with issues - too many games will throw their dummy if the host does something like change graphic options or even alt-tab out of the game!!

Being able to gracefully swap the game onto other players is a neat trick but more work than most developers seem willing to undertake...

Actually I found when the host dropped out the game had no issue switching, I didn't even notice in the couple of times it happened to me. Though it did crash once when the host dropped (though it could have been another issue since I was loading at the time), but this is a beta.

And from what I could tell adjusting graphics options (though most require a restart) and alt-tabbing didn't cause any issue. Torchlight 2 is really stable after all it is being built off the Torchlight 1 codebase which helps alot.

[Bankrotas]

I found out, that playing in internet and then losing it, does not cause you to stop playing. Had shitty internet at parents today, something kept going wrong in the evening but was too lazy to correct.
Going to beat beta second time and now with outlander. In plans to try engineer on elite difficulty as well as embermage later or if I have enough time.

[pakoito]

I don't know about the rest of the classes, but engineer + handcannon on Normal mode is a cake walk. Cannonfire + machine gun turret + lvl 1 healing turret, boss in less than 45 seconds, 2 lesser mana potions.

[Serenegoose]

I don't know about the rest of the classes, but engineer + handcannon on Normal mode is a cake walk. Cannonfire + machine gun turret + lvl 1 healing turret, boss in less than 45 seconds, 2 lesser mana potions.

Yeah, either the engie is overpowered or the other classes are a bit nerfed. Try the outlander and let me know how you get on - I'd love to know a good early stat spread for them - also, is it just me or do shotguns never fumble? I can't tell, because, you know, beta...

[R-F]

I don't know about the rest of the classes, but engineer + handcannon on Normal mode is a cake walk. Cannonfire + machine gun turret + lvl 1 healing turret, boss in less than 45 seconds, 2 lesser mana potions.

Normal mode is piss easy in general. :p

However, yeah, it's still really strong on Elite.

[goatmonkey]

I found out, that playing in internet and then losing it, does not cause you to stop playing. Had shitty internet at parents today, something kept going wrong in the evening but was too lazy to correct.
Going to beat beta second time and now with outlander. In plans to try engineer on elite difficulty as well as embermage later or if I have enough time.

It was very odd I could join your game and managed to get some decent time in but one area (frosted hills) would take ages to load and whenever it did I was disconnected.

[Bankrotas]

It was very odd I could join your game and managed to get some decent time in but one area (frosted hills) would take ages to load and whenever it did I was disconnected.
Sorry, router was shitting on me half of the evening, thus those disconnects.

[goatmonkey]

Sorry, router was shitting on me half of the evening, thus those disconnects.

I wondered if it was a issue with the game seeing as it always happened when trying to enter the same area, thanks anyway.

[Bankrotas]

Continuing on Elite difficulty. If anyone want's to join, all are welcome. Bankrotas RPS no password

[XisLoose]

Finally got the key! =]
I don't know about you guys, but I had a vivid flashback to Diablo 2...
From the ambient music (that guitar part), to the sound effects of picking up items/moving rocks etc...

But so far I like it :)

[Ravelle]

I'm engineer but I have no idea what build I want.

[DickSocrates]

I think I'm looking forward to this. The last game I played that resembled this genre in any way was PSO on the Dreamcast (and a bit of Blue Burst on PC). I got addicted, seriously, as seems to be common for these types of games. I'm not worried about that now, but still miss the positives of these types of games.

I *was* hyped for Diablo III... about 2 years ago, but then everything they announced in the last year put me off. I'm at the point in my life where I can take or leave games, so I decided to leave Diablo III as I can't support Blizzard/Activision's business practices or give them my money (for anything, honestly don't think I've ever bought an Activision product). I actually don't care if it's brilliant underneath all the layers of bs, it makes no difference to me at all.

So I am putting my Diablo-like eggs into Torchlight 2's basket, which from what I've read is a better game anyway. The mod stuff sounds interesting too. Another reason to not touch Diablo III's completely locked down game. In an era where mods are becoming official thanks to Steam, what an ignorant step backwards (for purely commericial reasons. Where's the love, man?). Hopefully texture modding is an option in Torchlight 2... not that it looks bad, just a bit, well, y'know.

[squirrelfanatic]

Played through the beta once in a single player game on normal with an Embermage, which was really fun. Not sure I am interested enough to play through the whole game, Diablo 2 burned me out a bit and I have a hard time getting excited over ARPGs these days. What is lacking at the moment is an inventory sorting button, or maybe I just missed it. And there is a ton of useless junk dropping, at least on normal difficulty. The skill system seems alright, although there were few skills that seemed to bring anything new to the table - I can only speak for the Embermage though.

[Bankrotas]

Played through the beta once in a single player game on normal with an Embermage, which was really fun. Not sure I am interested enough to play through the whole game, Diablo 2 burned me out a bit and I have a hard time getting excited over ARPGs these days. What is lacking at the moment is an inventory sorting button, or maybe I just missed it. And there is a ton of useless junk dropping, at least on normal difficulty. The skill system seems alright, although there were few skills that seemed to bring anything new to the table - I can only speak for the Embermage though.
Useless junk is good, selling it while not even going to town is best part that was implemented since Tl1

[Veracity]

I think I'm looking forward to this. The last game I played that resembled this genre in any way was PSO on the Dreamcast (and a bit of Blue Burst on PC). I got addicted, seriously, as seems to be common for these types of games. I'm not worried about that now, but still miss the positives of these types of games.If you've disappeared down that hole before and are wary of doing it again, and have been out of the clickfest loop that long, you might be better off with Torchlight, depending how much having the company of other humans while you drool at a screen matters. I don't really like the time investment these games tend to want, and Torchlight did better in that respect than any I've tried since Diablo. NOT Diablo 2, of which Torchlight 2 looks very much like a rerun - more expansive, more varied, more everything but focused and mercifully brief.

[squirrelfanatic]

Useless junk is good, selling it while not even going to town is best part that was implemented since Tl1True that, I don't really mind picking it up and sending my pet selling it in town (btw, this (http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/04) is a funny comic on the implications of this system) but most of the time I know that I won't be using the items if they haven't dropped from a boss or golden chest. Guess this is a core element of hack & slash ARPGs, so there.

[pakoito]

You can disable them showing up in the menues. It's useful from level 10+ to completely disable Commons and Magics.

IMPORTANT! Gems cannot be combined so use them whenever you feel like. No more you will be saving them all game to combine into a superduper gem.

[mrki]

Played through the beta once in a single player game on normal with an Embermage, which was really fun. Not sure I am interested enough to play through the whole game, Diablo 2 burned me out a bit and I have a hard time getting excited over ARPGs these days. What is lacking at the moment is an inventory sorting button, or maybe I just missed it. And there is a ton of useless junk dropping, at least on normal difficulty. The skill system seems alright, although there were few skills that seemed to bring anything new to the table - I can only speak for the Embermage though.

After the first half an hour, I made the basic items invisible so I only see green drops and better. That way a lot of the screen clutter is removed.

I would also like a sorting function, the best I could think of was double clicking on the tab of a particular inventory/stash screen sorts the items. Don't know if it's worth it to post on their forum, do they read it at all?

An irritating point for me is that when I shift-click on something in the inventory, the item is moved to the pet inventory. But I don't want the pet tab to show, just move the item and that's it. Maybe there's an option I skipped.

As for the game itself, I found it quite fun, really like all the classes except for the barbarian so far. The thing is that I expected the barbarian to be wielding a huge hammer and smashing faces, but the engineer actually fills that role. Still 3 out of 4 is good, and maybe I can just learn to play and then I'll like the barbarian as well. :)

P. S. Now that I see pakoito posted about the gems. It's a change I approveof because before I was always saving all the tiny gems, improving them and almost never actually using them because I "had" to max it first. This way it's one worry less.

edit: And another thing, an option to turn on auto pickup of healing/mana potions would be nice.

[Bankrotas]

Berserker, dude, berserker!

[Serenegoose]

Berserker is sort of fun but I found a nigh unwinnable fight very early on. All of the champions seem a bit like unfair fights. They seem to be immune to any sort of stun/knockback/slowdown/debuff/whatever, move fast as fuck, and hit like trucks. Since the berserker needs to get close to hurt them, and isn't hugely resilient herself... Add to that the aura the champion emits that empowers all nearby mooks, and I got absolutely fried 3 seconds into a dungeon. Not fun.

[cosmicolor]

My Engie's at level 19 now, decided I wanted some variety so I rolled an Outlander just now. I made a game called cosmicolor if any of you want to join in.

[Rauten]

I'm really loving my 2h-wielding engineer. Really, really loving it. Does anyone have any idea if beta saves carry over to the final game?

[Serenegoose]

I'm really loving my 2h-wielding engineer. Really, really loving it. Does anyone have any idea if beta saves carry over to the final game?

It would be very odd if they did. That isn't standard practice amongst any beta I've ever heard of.

[elfbarf]

Got into the beta a few days ago and leveled up an Engineer to 18, the game is pretty much exactly what I expected. The core gameplay feels a lot like the original Torchlight and not much has changed aside from the addition of an overworld as opposed to the repetitive dungeons of the original. Though there is an overworld now, it feels more like a dungeon due to how it's randomly generated (seems to be more closed in than most ARPGs).

Overall I'm just not very impressed by it, there isn't really anything new about the game. The combat feels very similar to the original, though it's definitely a bit more difficult (though I didn't die a single time despite playing on Veteran). Personally I think the combat feels a bit off, Titan Quest and Diablo 3 feel much smoother. Normal enemies aren't too much of a threat and if you're low on HP you can run around in circles (you run much faster than most enemies) while popping health potions. The only enemies that felt like an actual threat were the uniques/bosses, though that was mostly due to their insanely high health pools. None of them did all that much damage but you're basically required to burn through potions solely because of how long the fights last.

The character customization is about as generic as you can get, you have 4 stats you can spend points in (Dexterity seems to be the least useful as even ranged damage is increased by Strength) and a basic skill tree. Each skill has 15 ranks which encourages you to stick to using the same few as opposed to experimenting/trying out other skills (and respeccing is only available until level 10). The abilities themselves were OK, some were more interesting than others but overall it seemed like they were pretty poorly balanced (hopefully fixed by release unlike in TL1), for example the Engineer's gun turret seemed to do more damage than my actual character.

I'm hoping that the current graphics aren't at max due to beta as they're currently worse than TL1's. I'm normally a fan of cartoony graphics but these are very low res/poly. Despite how bad it looks, I've been struggling with FPS in bigger fights and I'm practically always under 60 (Phenom II 965 @3.8ghz + 5850). I'm also having some issues with being able to see where my character is in bigger fights, you're pretty tiny and most enemies are considerably larger than you.

-----------------

I really don't think this would be getting as much hype if it wasn't for Diablo 3's issues. Personally I've been really enjoying the game itself, it's a shame that Blizzard chose to implement strict DRM and reject mods.

[R-F]

Got into the beta a few days ago and leveled up an Engineer to 18, the game is pretty much exactly what I expected. The core gameplay feels a lot like the original Torchlight and not much has changed aside from the addition of an overworld as opposed to the repetitive dungeons of the original. Though there is an overworld now, it feels more like a dungeon due to how it's randomly generated (seems to be more closed in than most ARPGs).

How does that even. "It feels like a dungeon due to how it's randomly generated." What.


Overall I'm just not very impressed by it, there isn't really anything new about the game. The combat feels very similar to the original, though it's definitely a bit more difficult (though I didn't die a single time despite playing on Veteran). Personally I think the combat feels a bit off, Titan Quest and Diablo 3 feel much smoother. Normal enemies aren't too much of a threat and if you're low on HP you can run around in circles (you run much faster than most enemies) while popping health potions. The only enemies that felt like an actual threat were the uniques/bosses, though that was mostly due to their insanely high health pools. None of them did all that much damage but you're basically required to burn through potions solely because of how long the fights last.

Except an entirely new combat system, smoother animations, much quicker fights (even on Elite, which I play on 99% of the time), overworlds etc. Did you actually progress at all in the game? Or did you just complete up to the first hub?


The character customization is about as generic as you can get, you have 4 stats you can spend points in (Dexterity seems to be the least useful as even ranged damage is increased by Strength) and a basic skill tree. Each skill has 15 ranks which encourages you to stick to using the same few as opposed to experimenting/trying out other skills (and respeccing is only available until level 10). The abilities themselves were OK, some were more interesting than others but overall it seemed like they were pretty poorly balanced (hopefully fixed by release unlike in TL1), for example the Engineer's gun turret seemed to do more damage than my actual character.

To say the stats are generic is downright insulting, misleading and wrong. Whilst strength increases damage output, dexterity increases crit chance and ability to wield ranged weaponry. Constant crits will undoubtedly make up for lack of strength etc.


I'm hoping that the current graphics aren't at max due to beta as they're currently worse than TL1's. I'm normally a fan of cartoony graphics but these are very low res/poly. Despite how low-tech it looks, I've been struggling with FPS in bigger fights and I'm practically always under 60 (Phenom II 965 @3.8ghz + 5850). I'm also having some issues with being able to see where my character is in bigger fights, you're pretty tiny and most enemies are considerably larger than you.

I think it's pretty, personally, but I can agree with you on the character size thing.


As for the game itself, I found it quite fun, really like all the classes except for the barbarian so far. The thing is that I expected the barbarian to be wielding a huge hammer and smashing faces, but the engineer actually fills that role. Still 3 out of 4 is good, and maybe I can just learn to play and then I'll like the barbarian as well. :)

It's really simple to play Barbarian as a two hander class. Just get a decent two hander and make an Arctic build. You want abilities that add +% weapon damage that don't apply both hands.

[elfbarf]

How does that even. "It feels like a dungeon due to how it's randomly generated." What.

Compared to other games, Torchlight 2's overworld feels very closed in. it just seems like their the world generator tries to fill in a bit too much and you end up with a bunch of closed-in areas/tight pathways which makes it feel more like a dungeon as opposed to outdoors.


Except an entirely new combat system, smoother animations, much quicker fights (even on Elite, which I play on 99% of the time), overworlds etc. Did you actually progress at all in the game? Or did you just complete up to the first hub?


Regardless of the "entirely new combat system", the game feels very similar. I don't remember the original being slower-paced, I basically ran around the entire game spamming Explosive shot which destroyed everything quite easily. If anything I found TL2 to be slower, you definitely need to kite enemies around as they tend to form huge packs which will instantly kill you if try to take them all at once.

If you read my post, you'd see that I got to level 18. I'll probably end up completing the rest of it later.


To say the stats are generic is downright insulting, misleading and wrong. Whilst strength increases damage output, dexterity increases crit chance and ability to wield ranged weaponry. Constant crits will undoubtedly make up for lack of strength etc.

I don't see how it's insulting at all, the stat system is pretty generic. Strength increases physical damage, Dexterity increases crit/dodge (though in most games it also increases ranged damage), Focus increases elemental damage/mana, and Vitality increases health/defense. There's nothing wrong with it at all, just the way it's set up isn't very interesting. PoE's passive skill tree is an example of a more interesting system, though it has its own fair share of flaws.


I think it's pretty, personally, but I can agree with you on the character size thing.

I don't think it's terrible by any means, I was just expecting the game to look better than the first. The art style is a bit brighter (which is nice) but the textures/models seem worse than TL1's.

[Anthile]

Yes, my main complaint currently is that larger fights tend to look like this:

http://i.imgur.com/swrNi.jpg

[Bankrotas]

Compared to other games, Torchlight 2's overworld feels very closed in. it just seems like their the world generator tries to fill in a bit too much and you end up with a bunch of closed-in areas/tight pathways which makes it feel more like a dungeon as opposed to outdoors.
Seriously?

[Patrick Swayze]

I actually died of cute overload when I saw the Ferret with goggles on which has now turned my purchasing decision from not bothered because of PoE and D3 into GIMME GIMME GIMME

[R-F]

Compared to other games, Torchlight 2's overworld feels very closed in. it just seems like their the world generator tries to fill in a bit too much and you end up with a bunch of closed-in areas/tight pathways which makes it feel more like a dungeon as opposed to outdoors.

What other games? Skyrim, maybe? I've yet to come across any part of the overworld I could say was closed in. I've only came across like four tight pathways and they're more valleys to open up into the bigger overworld.


Regardless of the "entirely new combat system", the game feels very similar. I don't remember the original being slower-paced, I basically ran around the entire game spamming Explosive shot which destroyed everything quite easily. If anything I found TL2 to be slower, you definitely need to kite enemies around as they tend to form huge packs which will instantly kill you if try to take them all at once.

If you read my post, you'd see that I got to level 18. I'll probably end up completing the rest of it later.

Go play the original again.


I don't see how it's insulting at all, the stat system is pretty generic. Strength increases physical damage, Dexterity increases crit/dodge (though in most games it also increases ranged damage), Focus increases elemental damage/mana, and Vitality increases health/defense. There's nothing wrong with it at all, just the way it's set up isn't very interesting. PoE's passive skill tree is an example of a more interesting system, though it has its own fair share of flaws.

Saying that its generic because they improve logical things doesn't make any sense. The stat system is significantly more complex than most hack'n'slash games.

You have to think that every stat is useful for (pretty much) every class. THAT'S why it's a good system.


I don't think it's terrible by any means, I was just expecting the game to look better than the first. The art style is a bit brighter (which is nice) but the textures/models seem worse than TL1's.

You seriously have nostalgia goggles on.

[Rauten]

It would be very odd if they did. That isn't standard practice amongst any beta I've ever heard of.
Thing is, the saves are local, so it could very well be possible to load up the save in the final version... if runic decides to do so.

[Bankrotas]

It would be very odd if they did. That isn't standard practice amongst any beta I've ever heard of.
Tribes Ascend beta files went over to full release. But I don't think it's a good idea to do that. I don't think skills would be the same anyways.

[Winged Nazgul]

It would be very odd if they did. That isn't standard practice amongst any beta I've ever heard of.

It's pretty standard practice for F2P open betas as they are usually eager to get people using their cash shops. For non-F2P games, not so much.

[elfbarf]

What other games? Skyrim, maybe? I've yet to come across any part of the overworld I could say was closed in. I've only came across like four tight pathways and they're more valleys to open up into the bigger overworld.

Diablo 2/3 immediately come to mind as having more open areas. It isn't a major issue at all, just something I noticed while playing.


Go play the original again.

No thanks.


Saying that its generic because they improve logical things doesn't make any sense. The stat system is significantly more complex than most hack'n'slash games.

You have to think that every stat is useful for (pretty much) every class. THAT'S why it's a good system.

I said it's generic because it's a fairly generic system unlike PoE's. You level up, you get 5 stat points to distribute to 4 different stats. There's nothing wrong with it though I was hoping for something a bit more creative.


You seriously have nostalgia goggles on.

Not at all, actually. I'm looking at TL1 screenshots and a lot of them look pretty similar (if not better) than TL2. Even if the graphics aren't worse, they certainly aren't any better.



-----------

TL2 is far from being a bad game, I just don't think it's deserving of all of the hype it's getting. For a game that many people are claiming is better than Diablo 3 (which is now my favorite ARPG) I was expecting something a bit more unique. If there are a ton of new features in TL2 then apparently they aren't big enough for me to notice them.

[b0rsuk]

TL2 is far from being a bad game, I just don't think it's deserving of all of the hype it's getting. For a game that many people are claiming is better than Diablo 3 (which is now my favorite ARPG) I was expecting something a bit more unique. If there are a ton of new features in TL2 then apparently they aren't big enough for me to notice them.

Torchlight 2 is a game of similar quality (visual style in both helps comparisons) produced by a smaller studio in a fraction of time. It has little marketing, so whatever hype it gets comes mostly from word of mouth. People like TL2 for what it is. TL2 doesn't need D3 to be bad, it's good enough by itself.

Diablo 3 has huge marketing, cinematics, and a very hyped developer. It is hyped largely because of huge marketing and because of what Blizzard/Diablo was. Popularity of D3 is based on past reputation of Blizzard and inertia.

If you told me Diablo 3 was made in the same time as TL2, or even one year more, I would have believed. The gap in quality is rapidly getting smaller. I can imagine next game of Runic having better production values than next Blizzard game.

[shaydeeadi]

Played a decent chunk with the engineer now, he is pretty godlike with that medic bot. Easy to crowd control which is obviously his niche. The turret made the bosses super easy and using a massive cannon all the time is a lot of fun. Would enjoy using him for co-op and being the tank that heals everyone with massive knockback.

I was unsure/unimpressed with the stat points and still am a little bit, it almost feels like you want to raise most of them with most of the classes barring the embermage. A bit more definition of the roles of each stat would be nice. The other consideration is that specializing in certain stats grants you access to certain armors earlier, but there is still some refining they could do to them. On skills though I quite like the setup and looking at the half list they have can see some nice ideas for solo and co-op builds to try out. I hope they have a respec man in each hub with a midpoint level cap on resetting your skills, so you can keep mixing it up and tailor to the happenings.

Another thing I didn't get was limiting the akimbo skill to much higher levels for the outlander when you rock 2 pistols from the get go, hopefully they introduce it earlier and put a restriction on maxing it early so you can reap a couple of those rewards a bit quicker. I was going 30-40 shots without a 2-handed attack with pretty high focus and dex. Generally had a hard time later on solo with the outlander too, the final boss wound up baseraping me to the point I was just spawning and opening fire until he landed an attack, pretty cheeky he made it onto the other platform tbh.

[Smashbox]

Why does every conversation involving a new game in this genre have to turn so staunchly partisan? Is it really interesting to keep having the same (actually pointless) arguments?

[Bankrotas]

Diablo 2/3 immediately come to mind as having more open areas. It isn't a major issue at all, just something I noticed while playing.

Diablo 2 was as to me was D3 beta barren enemy wise and not in my opinion was way bigger if not equal size zones like TL2 hub zones. Tl2 seems to have a passage zone with mini quest dungeon, then hub zone with with few quests and dungeons in that bigger zone. Least Beta wise.





I said it's generic because it's a fairly generic system unlike PoE's. You level up, you get 5 stat points to distribute to 4 different stats. There's nothing wrong with it though I was hoping for something a bit more creative.
Why do you need to create something, that can be fixed and perfected more to customize easier. PoE has interesting mastery tree, but I wouldn't say it's very creative, but it's wrong to say by me, it's not creative, just I'm not appealed with mastery web due to it's intimidating size. Also being bigger visual variability doesn't mean it has practical variability.



Not at all, actually. I'm looking at TL1 screenshots and a lot of them look pretty similar (if not better) than TL2. Even if the graphics aren't worse, they certainly aren't any better.

Did you play TL2 at all to see graphics? With recent experience reading bashing of Guild Wars 2 graphics, I lost faith of common folk to understand what's graphics all about and can't see difference if a game is cartooney, it dismissed as bad graphic, "nice" artstyle sometimes.



TL2 is far from being a bad game, I just don't think it's deserving of all of the hype it's getting. For a game that many people are claiming is better than Diablo 3 (which is now my favorite ARPG) I was expecting something a bit more unique. If there are a ton of new features in TL2 then apparently they aren't big enough for me to notice them.
Well I don't think D3 deserves much praise it gets either, since for me it lacks feeling of massacre I got from D2. I don't care about skill system, always online stuff, I just think game is in all case slower. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just too different pace of combat for different people. It also may be fault of me not playing original D2:LoD in last year and half, but instead playing it with MedianXL mod, which is absolutely nuts.
Now I'm not able to play after beta stuff, to evaluate better, but paying to try demo is not my thing and I can't say, whether they fixed that issue, that I had in beta, but I'm also on even grounds where I didn't play full released D3 and compare it to TL2 BETA. To me, TL2 unlike D3 doesn't go on superficial polishing and looks of the game, but it works on the entirely on feeling of the game. If I might go with car comparison from Top Gear view: TL2 is Dodge Viper and D3 is Mercedes (any fast and comfortable). Second one is fast, comfotable and good looking giving you sense of speed and safety, while Dogde tries to kill you on each second in high speeds (speed=difficulty, to me) but also gives you a ride of your life.


P.s. I hate writing so much, cause it only causes more confusion. In short from what I played and heard about D3, it doesn't promise me what I would want or enjoy. From what I played and didn't hear about TL2 (I'm really bad at being interested in stuff) I believe this game will deliver me hours of joy.
P.p.s. I all ready like main villain in TL2 more than Diablo. Diablo to me became so generic, whereas delusional scientist with fucked up vision how to save not only himself from disease is way more interesting, though I bet, that Odrok will be main evil boss again and all will finish in Torchlight again.

[cosmicolor]

Outlander seems pretty cool so far from what I am playing of it. Maybe will try out Berserker, but a friend of mine who tried that class wasn't very impressed with it. Hmm. Also this game's random generation is actually pretty good, I'm still seeing things throughout my tryings of classes that I hadn't seen before, like random quests for instance.

[Serenegoose]

Outlander seems pretty cool so far from what I am playing of it. Maybe will try out Berserker, but a friend of mine who tried that class wasn't very impressed with it. Hmm. Also this game's random generation is actually pretty good, I'm still seeing things throughout my tryings of classes that I hadn't seen before, like random quests for instance.

Yeah I've yet to find a class that feels as overall overpowered as the engineer, but the berserker is as far from that as you get. Squishy as hell, but with no choice but to enter into melee, fumbling means you've got a good chance that an entire flurry of blows will do a colossal no damage whatsoever, bosses absolutely annihilate you... Sometimes the berserker just -works- and it feels great. Most of the time it's just potion spam and death, imo. Outlander at least kites damage well and I found a few points invested into a decent knockback ability really evens the odds. Engineer is just without flaw though. Not squishy, great AoE damage, summons, support abilities... really just so good that it's not actually fun.

[Bankrotas]

Jeez, ppl, put a point in Savage rush, pop health and mana potion, run around like crazy putting dots and healing yourself at the same time...

[cosmicolor]

Beta extended until Thursday.

https://twitter.com/#!/RunicGames/status/204660220515979264

[R-F]

Diablo 2/3 immediately come to mind as having more open areas. It isn't a major issue at all, just something I noticed while playing.

In D2/3, those areas are open and completely and utterly barren. Diablo 3 has a very linear progression through the zones, there's little paths off the beaten track, but they're nothing major or worthwhile, and it's a bad idea to do side dungeons because they're boring as fuck and make you outlevel the content.

I wouldn't even say that Torchlight 2's zones are more enclosed, but if you think they are, whatever. You can't deny that TL2's side dungeons are 1000% better than D3's, though.


No thanks.

Trust me, combat in TL2 is much faster paced.


I said it's generic because it's a fairly generic system unlike PoE's. You level up, you get 5 stat points to distribute to 4 different stats. There's nothing wrong with it though I was hoping for something a bit more creative.

99% of Path of Exile's character customisation is it's passive tree.


Not at all, actually. I'm looking at TL1 screenshots and a lot of them look pretty similar (if not better) than TL2. Even if the graphics aren't worse, they certainly aren't any better.

Torchlight 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mNrn9C6oOP4)
Torchlight 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6exWP9632k)

Just no.

[CrazyEthan]

Torchlight was released during the long-time absence of Diablo 3, so people just call it a Diablo clone and the comparison is inevitable. It's really hard to tell which one is better, but just enjoy the games. Also, Torchlight 2 is still at its beta stage, I will wait for its full release.

[Benny]

Well so far i'd say it's a rather successful beta, at least on making me pre-order it. At £15 or £45 for 4 copies i can't really see any reason not to get hold of it, whatever your prior disposition.

You are a bit unkillable on normal difficulty but stepping up to veteran i found the perfect balance in risk/reward for the combat. As for classes/specs, the Outlander seems to be rather strong and a lot of fun once i got hold of a good pair of pistols. The Embermage quickly became stupidly powerful, even on vet, speced to fire, but on frost struggled later (possibly because there's a fair bit of frost resist in the 2nd hub area). Berserker was an odd one. Possibly the way i was building him but i was either an unstoppable killing machine or a wimpy run-away wimp. Still to try Engineer but grouping with some has been quite fun.

Anyway, loving it so far. The beta teased just the right amount of content to make it very re-playable (the randomised world zones helped massively) to the point i'm starting a 5th character and still not bored of it yet.

[cosmicolor]

I tried out berserker and thought it was rad, might be the most fun class next to engi yet. I also am really liking how quest items don't take up a spot in your inventory anymore.

[dog]

is there any confirmation of the number of players in co-op?
i guess with selling a 4 -pack there's the presumption that it will be at least 4...
i've read somewhere its between 2 and 8 but nothing has been confirmed.... i'll be mightily disappointed if its less than 4 players... i'm anticipating some nice lan sessions with this and already pre-ordered the 4 pack :)

[Rauten]

is there any confirmation of the number of players in co-op?
i guess with selling a 4 -pack there's the presumption that it will be at least 4...
i've read somewhere its between 2 and 8 but nothing has been confirmed.... i'll be mightily disappointed if its less than 4 players... i'm anticipating some nice lan sessions with this and already pre-ordered the 4 pack :)

Dunno about LAN sessions, but the beta allows online play for up to 6 players in the same game.

[Benny]

I remember reading 6-8 for the standard release, but they have said there's no technical cap, so mods will be able to add up however many the engine/network infrastructure can take.

Is there any word on late game respecing? Cos if there's one thing that can be annoying it's that one wrong point in an ability which you never use.

[Bankrotas]

I guess first 2 mods will be, potions of repsecing and even higher difficulty level.

[Skalpadda]

Played through the beta with all 4 classes now, all good fun and the improvements from TL1 as well as the fact that there's just more of everything makes me really look forward to the full release.


Berserker is sort of fun but I found a nigh unwinnable fight very early on. All of the champions seem a bit like unfair fights. They seem to be immune to any sort of stun/knockback/slowdown/debuff/whatever, move fast as fuck, and hit like trucks. Since the berserker needs to get close to hurt them, and isn't hugely resilient herself... Add to that the aura the champion emits that empowers all nearby mooks, and I got absolutely fried 3 seconds into a dungeon. Not fun.

I found the berserker very squishy early on (veteran mode), but once I put some points into the skill that heals you on crits and got the leap skill (sorry, can't remember the names) that also heals you it got a lot better. At higher levels and with better equipment you'll build up your rage bar so fast that you'll almost constantly get crit streaks and heal yourself faster than enemies can damage you. Combined with the ability to quickly leap away and drink a potion if things get hairy it really isn't bad at all.

The engineer seems nearly invincible though, especially if you put some points into the damage shields. Perhaps the other classes get better defensive skills later on, but in the beta it seems the engineer is by far the most powerful class.

[Skalpadda]

A question for those who've played the beta: Did anyone try any unorthodox class/skill/gear combinations? The only one I got around to was making a melee Outlander weilding a 2-hander, which wasn't very interesting until she got to level 21 and could sink some of her saved-up points into the fiery glaive skills and the area healing/buff skill. As a mobile class with buffs and debuffs and the almost constant attack speed and crit bonus I could see it working quite well at higher levels, but you only just get access to the more interesting skills that don't require a ranged weapon before the beta content ends.

Also, any good ideas for setups in 2-player co-op? We haven't seen the full skill trees yet of course, and any combination of classes could work quite well, but Engineer and Outlander seem like they could form a powerhouse setup with both having strong buffs, one being very tough and the other being able to kite and debuff enemies.

[Maurish]

It seems that you can pre-load the game from Steam now. Additionally, you can link your Steam account to your Runic account if you have any intention to play online.
Not sure about those who pre-ordered it from Second World but the pre-load is only ~1,4 GB at this moment and shouldn't take too long to download even on slower connections.

[The JG Man]

And on Googling that, you can link your accounts through here (https://secure.runicgames.com/).

[Flint]

Do you need the Runic account for all online gaming or is it just for if you want to be able to play with everyone (rather than just people on your Steam friends list)?

[Bankrotas]

As I remember, to play online non LAN in beta, that's what you needed the runic account. So probably, yes, you should be bound to that account.

[b0rsuk]

One thing that worries me a little is that classes don't seem very flexible, so there may not be many incentives for odd builds. For example while Embermage has skills that could work well in melee, Outlander doesn't. Outlander seems a 100% ranged class and it would be difficult to make something weird with it.

[Bankrotas]

4 melee, 4 ranged, 4 summoner, 4 support, etc? The more classes the bigger chance of specialization anyways.

[pakoito]

One thing that worries me a little is that classes don't seem very flexible, so there may not be many incentives for odd builds. For example while Embermage has skills that could work well in melee, Outlander doesn't. Outlander seems a 100% ranged class and it would be difficult to make something weird with it.

Wait for class mods. TL1 has hundreds of them.

[Oshada]

It seems cruel to allow pre-loading this early. It's only 1.4GB after all, it would've made much more sense if it were Max Payne 3 or something similarly huge.

[Serenegoose]

One thing that worries me a little is that classes don't seem very flexible, so there may not be many incentives for odd builds. For example while Embermage has skills that could work well in melee, Outlander doesn't. Outlander seems a 100% ranged class and it would be difficult to make something weird with it.

From what I recall in the beta, that just didn't turn out to be true. I can't speak for a melee outlander (didn't try to make one) but it was generally accepted that a wand-wielding berserker was strong enough to break the game, and the berserker was about as melee/physical oriented as it gets. At any rate, it definitely seemed to be their intent to give people balanced alternative choices than just their class archetype, so I wouldn't worry about it too much!

(with the usual disclaimer that beta isn't final and shit changes, obviously.)

[b0rsuk]

The animation of Embermage thwacking something with a staff looks very satisfying !

[Bankrotas]

TB's PAX video of act II in Torchlight 2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80hGtgsl9d4&feature=g-all-u

[squareking]

Preloaded last night. 2 days until I disappear from society for a bit!

[mrki]

Preloaded. Waiting. :(

edit: Watching that video now. Dynamic hitboxes, sorting of the inventory, queuing skills. It all sounds polished and great.

[Finicky]

inb4 something along these lines gets posted:

Diablo 3 is better!

This is extremely unlikely to happen.

TL1 was entertaining for a while, the mod support gave it some replay value too.

Not exactly much gameplay to be had in these games but they are nice to kill some time.

[KauhuK]

Hnngh that pre-loaded torchlight 2 is taunting me. Friday can't come soon enough.

[Rauten]

Hnngh that pre-loaded torchlight 2 is taunting me. Friday can't come soon enough.

Wat.
I thought it comes out this thursday, not friday? What kind of sorcery is this?

P.S. The Steam store still has it marked for a thursday release.

[Bankrotas]

Wat.
I thought it comes out this thursday, not friday? What kind of sorcery is this?

P.S. The Steam store still has it marked for a thursday release.
Time zones?

[Rauten]

Finland should be at most 1-2 hours later than Spain, and Spain gets releases/dailies/sales at 7PM.

[Bankrotas]

So Finland get's at 9pm, almost friday, and that's if the release is on usual time. I would be more in liking getting it at 6AM GMT, but won't really care, if I won't.

[gravity_spoon]

Twice my fully pre-loaded game went back to less than 100% and started downloading again. I have it on pause since they are still pushing changes. Press got a review build which was not final either. So expect that until the 11th hour.

[pakoito]

Finland should be at most 1-2 hours later than Spain, and Spain gets releases/dailies/sales at 7PM.
Finland is in the same time zone! Euro! Derp!

From other preloads game will be available around 7-8pm on Thursday, yet be unplayable online until way into Saturday due to mass connections.

[jrodman]

Spain is in CET as we call it, or Central European Time (though currently on a summer offset). Helsinki is on EET or Eastern European Time (though also on a summer offset). These are current UTC+0200 and UTC+0300 respectively, though without offset they are UTC+0100 and UTC+0200.

So, they are in different time zones.

[StuntmanLT]

If you guys are interested here are some gameplay vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHs6aGk_x6c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xmPizW5Q8I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woby7yW-3js

There will be more in the evening.

[pakoito]

Spain is in CET as we call it, or Central European Time (though currently on a summer offset). Helsinki is on EET or Eastern European Time (though also on a summer offset). These are current UTC+0200 and UTC+0300 respectively, though without offset they are UTC+0100 and UTC+0200.

So, they are in different time zones.
I was there last year and I don't remember fiddling with my clock. Hmmmm. Derp me once...

[Drayk]

The soundtrack is out... and Free... and Amazing.


Camp dawn has a huge Tristram vibe, and is excellent.

[mrki]

Link (http://www.torchlight2game.com/news/2012/09/18/the-torchlight-ii-soundtrack/) for the Google impaired. 120Mb download.

[StuntmanLT]

You can read the Torchlight 2 review here - http://www.pixeljudge.com/en/reviews/torchlight-2/

[CrazyEthan]

Pre-ordered, gotta try its new co-op...

[aladinversuk]

This game will be out very very soon.

[zanchito]

Hey, is there any way to set up RPS co-op games? I have the game on Steam, account name is zanchito, feel free to add me and bug me, I'm often not working on the computer, but if I am, I'll be happy to play co-op.

[elephant god]

There will be some coordinating going on, almost definitely. It will be in the Game Clubs and General Sociability Forums, I think we agreed on "Ember, Parchment, Blunderbuss" as a name, and it will be starting in "approximately 11 hours" ;)

[zanchito]

Thank you, Elephantgod! Do we have a general idea of what characters are people going to choose? I played a bit with a berserker in the beta, but not wnough to get a real feel for the class. Kill speed was OK, bit squishy, though, I got to maybe level 10.

[jrodman]

OMG OMG, I have to wait 9 more hours. When I wake up, it might be a few minutes before it is released. This is terrible! :-D

I enjoyed playing engineer. I didn't like the .. shooty shooty. Outlander? very much during beta.

I may try the spellcasting jazz for the real game, as I usually prefer that kind of thing.

[StuntmanLT]

Hey, is there any way to set up RPS co-op games? I have the game on Steam, account name is zanchito, feel free to add me and bug me, I'm often not working on the computer, but if I am, I'll be happy to play co-op.

It uses Runic's own account for MP but you can create a "server" that anyone can join (or just your desired people)

[zanchito]

Yep, but I had an uneven experience with open multiplayer. People would often join and do their own thing. That's not co-op, tha'ts just 4 people on the same server. I'd rather play with people who actually do stuff together. :)

[StuntmanLT]

Yep, but I had an uneven experience with open multiplayer. People would often join and do their own thing. That's not co-op, tha'ts just 4 people on the same server. I'd rather play with people who actually do stuff together. :)

You'll have to play with friends then.

[zanchito]

That's why I'm asking here!

My RL friends only play F2P stuff. :/

[Serenegoose]

OMG OMG, I have to wait 9 more hours. When I wake up, it might be a few minutes before it is released. This is terrible! :-D

I enjoyed playing engineer. I didn't like the .. shooty shooty. Outlander? very much during beta.

I may try the spellcasting jazz for the real game, as I usually prefer that kind of thing.

If you want to get more out of the outlander, put points into backflip and your glaive. The backflip drops a smokebomb that blinds everything including bosses (but not 100% of the time) and the glaive attacks (especially the first one) do insane damage to multiple targets. You can still use your guns just fine if you feel that sort of sells out the point of making a firearms centric character, because rapid fire (another skill it's very advisable to level) penetrates all targets along its path and debuffs their armour at the same time. Soften them up with rapid fire, knock down with the glaive. Very potent.

At least it was in the beta, and they could have changed every aspects of those abilities - but considering how weak general perception of the outlander was during beta (as you're obviously aware) I'd expect them to be even more powerful, not less.

[StuntmanLT]

That's why I'm asking here!

My RL friends only play F2P stuff. :/

That sucks. You need new friends :)

You can PM me wit your Steam link and I can add you. Don't want to spam my acc here :P

[zanchito]

Heh, no worries. I fear I won't have much time to play these next 2 weeks, which kinda sucks, but I'll be happy to co-op as much as I can.

[Totally Biased]

Just finished preloading and now I find out that I have to work the rest of the evening. At least I have the soundtrack.

[pakoito]

I just wanted the game so badly that steam threw a io error and now i have to reinstall.

[Bleekill]

Yeah the pre-load messed it up for me I think. It wouldn't unlock, it would say it was 92% finished and never moved past that. So I am reinstalling now.

[Bankrotas]

Works fine to me. Need to learn anew, what I would really like. Since berserker feeling doesn't come, but Engi feels way better.

[Vandelay]

Game is working great, but looks like the Runic website is down, so I can't set up an account.

[pakoito]

Game is working great, but looks like the Runic website is down, so I can't set up an account.

You had literally weeks to do it :P

[Lazyjim]

Has anyone else got a problem where the launch update seems to have failed?

Mine is stuck paused at 92%, and every time I try to make it continue I get an ''Disk IO failure'' error.

I beginning to think I might need to delete local content and redownload, but that a bit of a troll.

[Bleekill]

Haha, did you read my post?

Yes, just uninstall and re-download the game.

[mrki]

Preloading finished without issues for me this evening, and the game works great. Playing single-player atm but I'll join in with RPS once I fiddle around a bit.

[Finicky]

Can someone suggest a class?
Looking for something that is satisfying to play with a good learning curve, I don't care for repetitive cookie cutter button mashing or just big numbers.

Not a fan of pet style classes either unless the minion mechanics are good and I'm not just mashing f1-f2 to control the pet.

[Serenegoose]

Can someone suggest a class?
Looking for something that is satisfying to play with a good learning curve, I don't care for repetitive cookie cutter button mashing or just big numbers.

Not a fan of pet style classes either unless the minion mechanics are good and I'm not just mashing f1-f2 to control the pet.

engineer is hugely satisfying to play. You tote around a cannon or hammer and your 'pets' are just automatic buff-bots or spider-mines.

[Finicky]

engineer is hugely satisfying to play. You tote around a cannon or hammer and your 'pets' are just automatic buff-bots or spider-mines.

thanks, I'll give it a go.

[SirKicksalot]

Played the demo. I like the speed and the pretty colours. The combat is unsatisfying, it completely lacks punch. I enjoy watching numbers grow so I guess I can get over the weak combat. Hopefully the loot won't be as bad as Kingdom of Amalur's, where everything is special so nothing actually is. I'm glad the plot can be ignored, all I paid attention to was the bold text in quest descriptions.
It made me crave some Diablo 3 action, where the combat is actually entertaining. Will buy during the winter sale.

[Finicky]

Beh, this doesn't compare well to borderlands 2...

You get the exact same things out of the latter (seriously) and the gameplay of that is actually worth bothering with.

I liked torchlight 1 at the time (it was servicable) but there is just no point dealing with archaic bad controls stemming from the top down perspective and mind numbingly shallow gameplay and clickclickclickclickclick nature of the game anymore.

Gameplay >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> chasing carrots and these days you can have both.

Everything about the genre feels so archaic now (in the worst possible way).
And this comes from someone who thinks almost all change in gaming in the past 10 years has been for the worse.

The game still compares really favorably to diablo 3 though, ahwell only 15 euros and they at least support LAN play, mod tools etc which earns them some money.

[pakoito]

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/900975196060225971/59932E5042BCB040E6DA4509C12C5DAE7E315C51/

Don't listen to Negative Nancys, the game is awesome. It's also 7am and I should go to bed with around 9h played.

[Vandelay]

Quite. Not sure what the negative commenters were expecting from this, but it very much is an ARPG refined to the very core.

Only played briefly last night, as I was hoping to play co-op with a bud, but neither of us had a Runic account and we couldn't get LAN mode to work over Himatchi. Not played D3, but the combat felt pretty great to me. There are umpteen enemies to squish and they pop on a satisfying shower of gibs. Level-ups come thick and fast, only out paced by the loot. In the 30-40 mins I've played, I have levelled to level 6 and already had many "this skill/weapon is awesome!" moments. They also seem to have made some really great passive skills, at least for the Embermage.

The only slight concern I have is that things seem a little easy, as it was in the original. This could just be because I am still very early on, but I have already found the charge mechanic to be quite op. As an Embermage at Veteran, it allows you to not consume mana whilst it is full and with so many enemies it is not hard to get it charged up. I was able to really spam my spells with zero penalty for a large amount of time, something that is only going to get more pronounced as the hordes increase in size further into the game.

As I say, this might just be because I am at the start of the game, but I can't see the charge mechanic getting less powerful, only moreso. The Wot I Think on here said it was quite a bit harder then the original though, so expect it will be fine.

[hshaidar]

Yes, I also have to say that this game is really awesome. I watched my friend play it on his PC and I was really envious.

[mrki]

engineer is hugely satisfying to play. You tote around a cannon or hammer and your 'pets' are just automatic buff-bots or spider-mines.

Seconded, big hammers are a joy with a side dish of cannons. :) Though, I certainly did enjoy the outlander during the beta, they have some really nice skills. I'm enjoying the game immensely so far. Saying that, I do have two rather small complaints.

1. I wish that when I shift-click on something in my inventory to transfer it to the pet, the pet inventory wouldn't open. Maybe that can be changed somewhere.

2. This is rather general, and applies to almost every game ever, but it also applies here. I wish the boss fights weren't there. bosses are just very large enemies with huge amounts of hp and a special attack or two. For me at least, the regular champions are more fun. But as I said, it's like that in every game.

edit: As I already started writing, might as well. One small thing that I like, aside from the polish that is visible in every aspect of the game, is the fact that set items are relatively common giving you an actual chance to complete a set during a playthrough.

[Davkaus]

I only managed to put in a few hours last night due to work, but i'm not enjoying it so much as the first. I've got to level 14, but I think it's the class more than the game. I'm trying out the embermage and everything seems so slow and weak.

I played the destroyer in the first game and had a great time charging in to combat and just cleaving everything, it felt so much more satisying than the embermage, so I guess it's time to give the berserker a try.

[Hypernetic]

I only managed to put in a few hours last night due to work, but i'm not enjoying it so much as the first. I've got to level 14, but I think it's the class more than the game. I'm trying out the embermage and everything seems so slow and weak.

I played the destroyer in the first game and had a great time charging in to combat and just cleaving everything, it felt so much more satisying than the embermage, so I guess it's time to give the berserker a try.


Traditionally, mages always start off slow and become really powerful down the road since they rely more on abilities than weapon damage. I don't know if this is the same in TL2 since I've only played berserker, but it's a general rule of thumb in any RPG.

[Oshada]

It is so good! I never finished the original Torchlight but this is the sort of thing I really, really like. Is there a chance the game might incorporate Steam Workshop?

[Bankrotas]

It is so good! I never finished the original Torchlight but this is the sort of thing I really, really like. Is there a chance the game might incorporate Steam Workshop?
yes. It will incorporate Steam workshop and there will be modding tools for this game released by Runic later on.

[Autopanda]

Has anyone else found the game more full-on than Diablo, PoE etc?

After about an hour playing the Berserker I was exhausted from the effort I was putting in trying to stay on top of everything going on in the game. Much more pleasantly challenging than I was expecting.

[pakoito]

Seconded, big hammers are a joy with a side dish of cannons. :) Though, I certainly did enjoy the outlander during the beta, they have some really nice skills. I'm enjoying the game immensely so far. Saying that, I do have two rather small complaints.

1. I wish that when I shift-click on something in my inventory to transfer it to the pet, the pet inventory wouldn't open. Maybe that can be changed somewhere.

2. This is rather general, and applies to almost every game ever, but it also applies here. I wish the boss fights weren't there. bosses are just very large enemies with huge amounts of hp and a special attack or two. For me at least, the regular champions are more fun. But as I said, it's like that in every game.

edit: As I already started writing, might as well. One small thing that I like, aside from the polish that is visible in every aspect of the game, is the fact that set items are relatively common giving you an actual chance to complete a set during a playthrough.


1.- This could just be because I am still very early on, but I have already found the charge mechanic to be quite op. As an Embermage at Veteran, it allows you to not consume mana whilst it is full and with so many enemies it is not hard to get it charged up. I was able to really spam my spells with zero penalty for a large amount of time, something that is only going to get more pronounced as the hordes increase in size further into the game.1.- agree.

2.- Depends on which boss, some are a reeeeeal pain. Crank the difficulty up to at least Veteral and by 2nd act every bossfight is "OHDUCKOHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCK"

3.- Early sets yeah, we'll see about lategame sets.

4.- It is because you are early on. Later there are a lot of enemy skills comboing and they start throwing huge packs of enemies at you so AoE is a must. Normal is a breeze, Veteran is what Normal would be in other games. I have died twice in 30 levels, which seems fair.

[Squirly]

I'm assuming that those of you talking about a 'challenge' are playing on Veteran. I only played for about 2 hours last night but my level 20 engineer has only ever died once on Normal and that was more of an 'oops' on my part. I'll probably start a new character today after work and turn up the difficulty a bit.

[Oshada]

Definitely, I'm just destroying stuff on Normal. Might bump it up once I finish the game properly.

[Bankrotas]

Was cocky enough to start playing on elite. It's harder elite than it was in beta, but veteran is pretty much the same as in beta difficulty. For fun I'm running around as Maul wielding berserker for the moment.

[NathanH]

Has anyone else found the game more full-on than Diablo, PoE etc?

After about an hour playing the Berserker I was exhausted from the effort I was putting in trying to stay on top of everything going on in the game. Much more pleasantly challenging than I was expecting.

Yeah, this game is more tiring than most diablolikes.

[Bankrotas]

My lightning hammer!

1953

On another topic: story so far is nice after finishing act 1. I would rate it higher than Diablo 1 story, which was the only good one in all 3 Diablo games and which is just a bit better than Hellgate: London story.

[Lone Gunman]

I *was* hyped for Diablo III... about 2 years ago, but then everything they announced in the last year put me off. I'm at the point in my life where I can take or leave games, so I decided to leave Diablo III as I can't support Blizzard/Activision's business practices or give them my money (for anything, honestly don't think I've ever bought an Activision product). I actually don't care if it's brilliant underneath all the layers of bs, it makes no difference to me at all.

So I am putting my Diablo-like eggs into Torchlight 2's basket, which from what I've read is a better game anyway.

My thoughts exactly.

I am playing a Beserker but can't decide whether to go str or dex. Str seems like the obvious choice since the beserker's rage meter provides critical hits. Any thoughts?

[Bankrotas]

Both? Dex, needed to reduce fumble and increase dodge. Bit to Focus to increase execute chance, if you plan to dualwield.

[fiddlesticks]

I finished Act 1 on Veteran and so far the difficulty feels just about right. Normal monsters die quickly enough but champions and bosses require some work. I do think the game is a bit too generous with health potions though. I currently have 50 of the things without ever buying one, which means I can tank almost anything a boss throws at me.

I originally went Berserker, but his skillset didn't really appeal to me so I restarted as Outsider. It's a lot of fun, Shotguns in particular feel great to use. My only real complaint about the class is that the starting skill seems almost too good. There's no real reason to invest into anything else so I put all my other points into passives and spend most of my time using the same tactic over and over again.

[db1331]

I finished Act 1 on Veteran and so far the difficulty feels just about right. Normal monsters die quickly enough but champions and bosses require some work. I do think the game is a bit too generous with health potions though. I currently have 50 of the things without ever buying one, which means I can tank almost anything a boss throws at me.

I originally went Berserker, but his skillset didn't really appeal to me so I restarted as Outsider. It's a lot of fun, Shotguns in particular feel great to use. My only real complaint about the class is that the starting skill seems almost too good. There's no real reason to invest into anything else so I put all my other points into passives and spend most of my time using the same tactic over and over again.

I did the opposite. I played the Outsider but it never really grasped me. Then I switched to Berserker and have been enjoying him. I plan on investing into lots of health regen skills so that I can cut through seas of foes with an endless supply of slowly regenerating health. Veteran difficulty is feeling just right for me so far as well.

[Shezo]

Has anyone figured out what to do in phase beast challenge, located in ossean wastes ? (second act, first big location)
There are 3 big blob thingies, that constantly spawning smaller ones.
I tried brute-force my way through it, but they have too much hp and hp regen.
Simply don't know what to do.

[xaphoo]

Is there any developing wisdom on good Embermage builds? Should I concentrate all on one element, or just mix and match? Should I load up only on a few skills, or spread them out?

I've put a bunch of points into the Prismatic Bolt, and one point into the short-range lightning skill next to it. I'm doing ok on Veteran (level 12 or so), but I don't "feel powerful". I want some fireworks...

[fiddlesticks]

Has anyone figured out what to do in phase beast challenge, located in ossean wastes ? (second act, first big location)
There are 3 big blob thingies, that constantly spawning smaller ones.
I tried brute-force my way through it, but they have too much hp and hp regen.
Simply don't know what to do.
I remember that part being a huge pain. I was fortunate because I have an ability that summones minions whenever I kill an enemy so it was manageable for me. I don't know if there's an actual trick to the encounter, though. Maybe you have to kill the Doctor Slime first?

Also wow, the Forsaken Vaults are a big step up in terms of difficulty. I died more times on the first floor of that dungeon than I did in the rest of the game combined and eburned through my entire stack of potions to boot. This game is definitely more demanding than the original ever was.

[trjp]

If anyone is still hovering over the 'buy' button for this, in the Bargains Forum, Celt has offered to buy a US Gamersgate 4pack (could be as low as $38-odd) and I'm in, but we're looking for 2 more folks to make the set.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?21-PC-Bargains&p=193050&viewfull=1#post193050

[TaroYamada]

If anyone is still hovering over the 'buy' button for this, in the Bargains Forum, Celt has offered to buy a US Gamersgate 4pack (could be as low as $38-odd) and I'm in, but we're looking for 2 more folks to make the set.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?21-PC-Bargains&p=193050&viewfull=1#post193050

I replied in the bargains forum :)

[XisLoose]

If anyone is still hovering over the 'buy' button for this, in the Bargains Forum, Celt has offered to buy a US Gamersgate 4pack (could be as low as $38-odd) and I'm in, but we're looking for 2 more folks to make the set.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?21-PC-Bargains&p=193050&viewfull=1#post193050

If you're interested I can buy it as well in USD and I got the IGN discount, so it'll be $50.99, or 12.75$ each.
PM me if you're interested :)

[pakoito]

Also wow, the Forsaken Vaults are a big step up in terms of difficulty. I died more times on the first floor of that dungeon than I did in the rest of the game combined and eburned through my entire stack of potions to boot. This game is definitely more demanding than the original ever was.Oh, yes, my first death in the game. I've died around 10 times now, but I only though of one single dungeon as "unfair". You'll know which one. Act II main quest.

And yeah, it gets worse. Better start spending those points in defensive skills.

[The JG Man]

Started off as an Embermage because...well, I'm not entirely sure why, but I did. Didn't like the starter skill, so swapped it out as soon as I could and now have mixed points in the prismatic bolt thing (the one that fires multiple missiles and homes in on targets whilst inflicting various elemental effects and damage) and the charge passive. The Embermage charge is fantastic - every time you use a wand or staff (maybe other items, didn't pay enough attention when I did) you gain a charge and moreso a spell. When it's full, having increased damage and free cost spells is sweet.

Current set-up is dual-wielding wands (because I can) and a back-up mace and shield. I was running on a wand and shield earlier and it seems to be pretty effective, so I may go to that later on. Here's a pic of my my dude, Jowen. The hat looks sweet if you ask me.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/542939298620805450/1F6E067A0EB47D1EC5175EB6E88F6B8CCEB02E3E/

Also, the random name generator for my pet came up with "Indy". Now, I was thinking of not taking it unless I had a dog, but I thought my Hawk could still be called that. Cool that they slipped in that reference too!

[Rauten]

I've an Embermage alt going on, also sporting dual wands, and let me tell you, Dual Wands + Wand Chaos talent = shenanigans. I don't have to spend a single mana point to see rains of fire and acid, meteors, black explosive birds, foes teleporting and a few other effects.

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/541813398693494422/D98C8D02CE3D7F12BB48C2E04BE5EEB75113550A/

[Bankrotas]

Act 3 2h Berserker with emphasis on Savage rush to do damage. Armor reduction is so good...

1955
Edit: also gambling is good stuff to get random good items for your all characters. Gold sink at it's best.

[Hypernetic]

I'm playing claw weapon berserker and these two claws I have are insane. I have 100% execute chance.

[xaphoo]

The mark of good game design here is how you can get all these "insane" and "OP" items and combos and still die a lot on veteran. The difficulty is well-scaled to the DPS minimaxing of the playerbase.

[frightlever]

I figured I was going to buy this anyway, but I was so entrenched in GW2 (with the Batman games and Saints Row the Third started but on hiatus) that I could wait for a sale. Tried the demo. Hot damn. I was worried about the "feel" after loving how D3 played, though I ended up hating just about everything else about it, but it's spot on. I'm happy to buy it full price to show my support for a game done right, though I really doubt I'll get round to playing for a while yet.

[TotalKitty]

As much as I like the game, I have sadly found a huge turn-off that kinda drags me in the other direction.

8 out of 10 times when I try to open TL2, I just get an error saying it has stopped working. Hours and hours of googling got me a fix, that sadly only worked once. Reinstalling, restarting computer, restarting Steam etc. Done eveything I could think of, and the sodding game simply wont work anymore - and I'm not alone about having this error. That has put me off a little. And here I was falling in love!

[Hypernetic]

The mark of good game design here is how you can get all these "insane" and "OP" items and combos and still die a lot on veteran. The difficulty is well-scaled to the DPS minimaxing of the playerbase.

Yeah it's pretty good. Dying isn't cheap like D3 inferno where some random little trash mob throws a spear from off screen and one shots you either, it feels right.

[Ravelle]

My Outlander of level 20-something. I only have have about 3 skills I use, the primary spray a hell of a a lot bullets around skill, the shadow split skill and the passive skill that converts dead dudes in to my shadowy minion bats.

http://i.imgur.com/Wdk4L.jpg

[karthink]

If you're interested I can buy it as well in USD and I got the IGN discount, so it'll be $50.99, or 12.75$ each.
PM me if you're interested :)

Definitely interested. (Sent a PM, let me know what you need)

[Gray Guardian]

Hello RPS forum
I registered to ask you this since it's really bothering me. Yesterday evening I explored most of the desert map in Torchlight 2. When I started the game today I discoverd that all the fog of war is back and enemies have respawned. This seriously pissed me off, cause I really don't feel like exploring the whole area again or having to fight through to the next bloody quest marker.
So what gives? Is it some sort of bug or the game just randomises everything again once you quit? Help me out, this frustrated me so much I nearly deleted the game.

[pakoito]

You started in a different server or chose to reroll world?

[Gray Guardian]

You started in a different server or chose to reroll world?

I just chose continue game in single player.

[Shenanigans]

Hello RPS forum
I registered to ask you this since it's really bothering me. Yesterday evening I explored most of the desert map in Torchlight 2. When I started the game today I discoverd that all the fog of war is back and enemies have respawned. This seriously pissed me off, cause I really don't feel like exploring the whole area again or having to fight through to the next bloody quest marker.
So what gives? Is it some sort of bug or the game just randomises everything again once you quit? Help me out, this frustrated me so much I nearly deleted the game.

I just logged into my SP game and the same thing happened to me. My save in MTG 2013 was also erased this morning, I think there is an issue with Steam cloud synchronization. ****ing Steam, get your shit together and backup your cloud data.

[Avish]

I just chose continue game in single player.

Maybe it's got something to do with Steam cloud (Synch. issues).

[Ravelle]

I just logged into my SP game and the same thing happened to me. My save in MTG 2013 was also erased this morning, I think there is an issue with Steam cloud synchronization. ****ing Steam, get your shit together and backup your cloud data.

I do get the Unable to sync with cloud window when I start the game and it asks me to store it locally or on cloud. Really strange.

[Gray Guardian]

I do get the Unable to sync with cloud window when I start the game and it asks me to store it locally or on cloud. Really strange.

Before I run the game I noticed that Steam was updating the game and I thought that's what caused the problem. Thankfully the character level was preserved. When I restarted again the state of the world was same as last time (but not fully explored as it was before).

Also when I try to start the game I get a message 'Unable to start error code 83'. Then I get the annoying Steam deals popup and the game starts normally the second time. I'm really thinking it's the last time I bought anything on Valve's crap platform...

[Kodeen]

Hello RPS forum
I registered to ask you this since it's really bothering me. Yesterday evening I explored most of the desert map in Torchlight 2. When I started the game today I discoverd that all the fog of war is back and enemies have respawned. This seriously pissed me off, cause I really don't feel like exploring the whole area again or having to fight through to the next bloody quest marker.
So what gives? Is it some sort of bug or the game just randomises everything again once you quit? Help me out, this frustrated me so much I nearly deleted the game.

Word on the Steam forums is that this is intended. If the world never reset, you couldn't grind, which people are want to do. I agree that the option to prevent it for SP games would be ideal, but after I had it happen to me it didn't end up being a big deal. The actual maps are the same, just the enemies reset.

[Gray Guardian]

Word on the Steam forums is that this is intended. If the world never reset, you couldn't grind, which people are want to do. I agree that the option to prevent it for SP games would be ideal, but after I had it happen to me it didn't end up being a big deal. The actual maps are the same, just the enemies reset.

I see... but why does your minimap dissapear then? Also, any word on how often that is intended to happen? IMO this seriously damages the game balance - I just discovered that you can 'free' the captives in the desert again and receive their quest rewards.

[NathanH]

I think it was just some update caused it to happen once, since I've been playing a few sessions since the update, nothing has ever respawned.

[Avish]

I think it was just some update caused it to happen once, since I've been playing a few sessions since the update, nothing has ever respawned.

Same here.

Old maps - Reset.
New maps - as ever.

[Gray Guardian]

I think it was just some update caused it to happen once, since I've been playing a few sessions since the update, nothing has ever respawned.

I really hope that is the case, man. I don't have much patience with Diablo-likes in the first place, and having to smash all those urns once again and sort through all the junk would drive me nuts.

[vinraith]

I really hope that is the case, man. I don't have much patience with Diablo-likes in the first place, and having to smash all those urns once again and sort through all the junk would drive me nuts.

"Having to?" Even if the level respawns it's not like you're forced at gunpoint to loot every nook and cranny.

[Gray Guardian]

"Having to?" Even if the level respawns it's not like you're forced at gunpoint to loot every nook and cranny.

Right, but rule no. 1 in playing any rpg game indeed is 'explore every nook an cranny'. Leaving stuff behind leaves that nagging feeling in the back of your head.

[Ravelle]

Word on the Steam forums is that this is intended. If the world never reset, you couldn't grind, which people are want to do. I agree that the option to prevent it for SP games would be ideal, but after I had it happen to me it didn't end up being a big deal. The actual maps are the same, just the enemies reset.

People grind in Torchlight? You already level super fast as it is.

My Torchlight 2 username is Ravelle by the way, if anyone body is interested in some co-op play. I'm around level 20.

[Hypernetic]

You can reset the maps anytime you want. Just create a LAN game (or online) and check the re-roll world box. You can then go back to your single player game with the new world (or just keep playing in the LAN/Online game).

[pakoito]

People grind in Torchlight? You already level super fast as it is. [...] I'm around level 20.Yeah, wait for it.

[Bankrotas]

Does Bloatfang to someone remind of Duriel from Diablo 2 Act 2?

Also love my Savage rush :)

1957

[vinraith]

Right, but rule no. 1 in playing any rpg game indeed is 'explore every nook an cranny'. Leaving stuff behind leaves that nagging feeling in the back of your head.

Even the second time you go through a zone? That doesn't compute for me. I'm thorough, but not to the point of making the game a chore.

[gundato]

Even the second time you go through a zone? That doesn't compute for me. I'm thorough, but not to the point of making the game a chore.
Anyone who thinks that needs to play A Valley Without Wind. I used to be one of those obsessive-compulsive "loot everything" people. Ever since playing a few hours of that, I find I enjoy loot-heavy games a LOT more these days since I learned to NOT check every inch of every map unless I have a reason.

[Gray Guardian]

Even the second time you go through a zone? That doesn't compute for me. I'm thorough, but not to the point of making the game a chore.

Thing is there were some dungeon entrances on that map that I decided to leave for later and now they are not marked and I have to go looking for them again!

[vinraith]

Thing is there were some dungeon entrances on that map that I decided to leave for later and now they are not marked and I have to go looking for them again!

OK that sucks.



Anyone who thinks that needs to play A Valley Without Wind. I used to be one of those obsessive-compulsive "loot everything" people. Ever since playing a few hours of that, I find I enjoy loot-heavy games a LOT more these days since I learned to NOT check every inch of every map unless I have a reason.

Yeah, AVWW definitely breaks you of any completionist leanings you may have. It's a damned interesting design, really, I'm surprised by how much I enjoy it.

[mnemnoch]

Anybody else seen this in-game? Im kinda curious if it has a dialogue,

Spoiler alert:

Borderlands easter egg in TL 2 (http://kotaku.com/5945667/for-a-change-heres-a-borderlands-2-easter-egg-in-another-game)

[Bankrotas]

What the, where? Well, wonder if it's random Scrapworks secret area of not.

Edit: also, screw Vyrax Tower. That's 5 floors of stupidity and no potion drop.

[Finicky]

Anyone who thinks that needs to play A Valley Without Wind. I used to be one of those obsessive-compulsive "loot everything" people. Ever since playing a few hours of that, I find I enjoy loot-heavy games a LOT more these days since I learned to NOT check every inch of every map unless I have a reason.

For me ff8 broke my ability to enjoy rpgs for a long time.
Misses the first guardian force due to not paying attention/stealing and found out during cd3...

Before that I was happy to miss entire sidestories, loot, easter eggs, chests in all rpgs and normal games.
Never cared about those and still don't, but the thought of possibly missing something major like shiva had never crossed my mind before...

After a few more rpgs the interest in loot and sidequests and sidestories wanes since you figure out it's generall all tripe (I was skipping sidequests in blands 2 till I found out the story was worth checking them out for).
FF8 turned me into a 'nook n cranny' ocd player for a few years though because I went into some 'beware stupid design' mode. If I lived in the US I probably could have sued them for emotional damages.

[The JG Man]

I'm level 28 and in the midst of Act 2, having just defeated the Manticore Duo boss. I've got a rather nice set-up going so far with my dual-wanded embermage. Firstly, my pet can summon skeletal archers, cast ice bolts, can do a repel and cast a local silence. It works well and means lots of clever things, such as silencing, I don't need to worry about. The repel is useful too, so long as it's not too far away. As for myself, I managed to pick up a couple of tomes that increase my armour whilst reducing requirements to wear some and another that boosts dual-wielding damage. I also have a spell that increases elemental resistance, but I barely use it.

My gears' improved quite some margin too, to the extent that I now have enough mana to spam prismatic bolts and get my Charge to full before I run out of mana, spam some more and almost by the time the Charge has worn off, have my mana back up to full. Also, found good use out of the prismatic...repel? It's the spell left of wand chaos and it gives a chance that whenever a mob hits you, it gets teleported away and may endure an elemental effect. It's currently at 50% chance, so it works rather often. A fun tactic I discovered though was to use the ice teleport (top right of ice) ability whilst Charged and spam it and fly around. Because of the movement, I'm hard to hit but am also able to deal out minor AoE.

Died a few times today, mostly due to stupid mistakes; not paying attention to mobs and one time I frantically hit Q to heal me, before guttingly realising that potion is not Q. It's not Q at all. Also, to round off this report, screw the phase beast portal to the one with the slimes. It took forever. I died twice and ended up going up a level and a half whilst I was in there.

[Skalpadda]

Also, to round off this report, screw the phase beast portal to the one with the slimes. It took forever. I died twice and ended up going up a level and a half whilst I was in there.

Yeah I gained two levels in that fight, and I think it took me 5 minutes of just running in and out of the fight trying to keep my engineer's shields up and the numbers of little slimes down so she wouldn't get swarmed and die. Got me some nice loot though.

Overall really loving the game, though I did some hardware upgrading yesterday which kept me from playing. Time to make up for the lost time this evening. :)

[CrazyEthan]

UI looks great in TL 2, even in Beta, I'm pretty impressive for the smooth control and cool abilities. Was Runic Games going to release some expansions?

[Kodeen]

UI looks great in TL 2, even in Beta, I'm pretty impressive for the smooth control and cool abilities. Was Runic Games going to release some expansions?

I know they aren't doing any paid DLC, but as far as full-out expansion packs, I haven't heard anything. Might be too early for them to have even made that decision.

[Hypernetic]

I know they aren't doing any paid DLC, but as far as full-out expansion packs, I haven't heard anything. Might be too early for them to have even made that decision.

They are releasing mod tools, which is all the expansions you ever need!

[CrazyEthan]

I know they aren't doing any paid DLC, but as far as full-out expansion packs, I haven't heard anything. Might be too early for them to have even made that decision.


They are releasing mod tools, which is all the expansions you ever need!

Hmmm, yeah, mods....that's what makes Skyrim that charming!!

[mrki]

My gears' improved quite some margin too, to the extent that I now have enough mana to spam prismatic bolts and get my Charge to full before I run out of mana, spam some more and almost by the time the Charge has worn off, have my mana back up to full. Also, found good use out of the prismatic...repel? It's the spell left of wand chaos and it gives a chance that whenever a mob hits you, it gets teleported away and may endure an elemental effect. It's currently at 50% chance, so it works rather often. A fun tactic I discovered though was to use the ice teleport (top right of ice) ability whilst Charged and spam it and fly around. Because of the movement, I'm hard to hit but am also able to deal out minor AoE.

I chose embermage for my second playthrough, and just got to Act 2. I also use prismatic bolts almost exclusively, and the best thing is it only requires a single skill point. Plus double wielding wands gives a high chance of executing as you're putting points in focus anyway.

[abigbat]

Overall very pleased with the title; feels like the sequel to Diablo 2 I'd been hoping for. Despite people clamouring to choose one over the other, I think Diablo 3 still holds up well and has some nice features, ultimately T2 is far more satisfying and enjoyable.

[Faldrath]

I started out with an engineer, got him to 22 or so but I kept feeling that something was off. Yesterday evening I rolled an outlander, played just the very first area on veteran, and it felt like a whole new, better, game. Guess I'm just a sucker for ranged/kiting characters (I do love my witch doctor in D3).

But yeah, the best, obvious thing about TL2 is that loot is meaningful - it's actually exciting checking what dropped to see if you can use it, instead of just sighing and saying "oh well, can't even AH this, vendor it is". Because the chance of actually being able to use what drops in D3 is very, very slim.

That being said, the lack of respec in TL2 is annoying.

[Ravelle]

That being said, the lack of respec in TL2 is annoying.

It really is, I want to switch between Bow and Gun specialization when I want to.


Also here's my Berserker, don't laugh! ;p
http://i.imgur.com/l6Ynj.jpg

His pants is actually a berserker specific pants.

[db1331]

Did anyone else chuckle at the "Apprentice Baiter" fishing achievement, or am I just really juvenile?

[vinraith]

Did anyone else chuckle at the "Apprentice Baiter" fishing achievement, or am I just really juvenile?

It wasn't just you. I must admit to at least mild disappointment that the upper level achievement for that is "Master Angler" as well.

[db1331]

It wasn't just you. I must admit to at least mild disappointment that the upper level achievement for that is "Master Angler" as well.

Haha, that's the first thing I checked after I stopped playing. What a letdown. I see what they did there, though.

[Gray Guardian]

A technical question guys, do you have an idea why the UI doesn't partally fit my screen it T2? the portrait of the pet is only partially visible and the buttons at the sides to bring up the panels are barely visible also. I have the game set in 1280x780 i think.