Torchlight 2, pre- and post-release discussion & impressions

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:49 pm

I thought Normal was too easy and started my other characters in Veteran. Even the difficulty in Normal ramps up though, with progress.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:30 am

I bragged about not dying and I died. Typical.

Chesspieceface · Post by **Chesspieceface** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:42 am

Current loadout on my Veteran NG+ 'Zerker. I used the console to reset my skills once. I switched from a DW Blood Hunger Build into a More defensive Northern Rage / Shatterstorm build to see the difference. I'm more durable this way, and the AoE is rocking, but the single target dps of my auto-attack went way down.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:19 am

Beat Chillhoof last night! Then I was ascared to take on the final guy in frozen hill area. It's literally further than I had ever been before and I have no idea what I'm in for. This weekend, I'll either finish this area or scream and quit hardcore until I beat the game on regular mode. Good times.

Oh and force field has been uber helpful. Good call. The gun bot cost me 2500 gold to get rid of. At level 1 he was pretty much worthless and it made for too many keys pay attention to. I accidentally lost my perma warsnout fumbling to bring him up.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:50 am

I finished the campaign a few days ago on my 2-hand, hammer wielding engineer and it was a blast. I think this game is so much better than TL1. The loot is much, much better balanced. The game pacing and level design are very good. I did think that the Broken Mines did perhaps run on for a level or 2 more than it should have but overall level design was excellent. The one with the moving spotlight was genius.

The outdoor areas, overall increase in the size of the world and greatly increased number of tilesets and mobs in the game all add so much. The skill trees and their balance are pretty well done as well although I expect them to make some balance tweaks to some of them. Still, that part of it is lightyears ahead of TL1.

I was disappointed to hear that the modding tools won't be out until a month or more after release but that's something to look forward to. Overall, I fail to see how this game is not just a great value at 20 bucks. Anyone that likes these kinds of games should get it without a second thought.

And oh yeah, the music is just incredible.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:59 am

ColdSteel wrote:I think this game is so much better than TL1.

That makes me feel much better about not quite finishing TL1, and instead going directly into 2.

Not even sure how close I came to finishing, but couldn't have been much left - felt like I played forever!

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:05 pm

My first Cannon Engineer made it to I think level 29 (Veteran) without any deaths then from level 29 to 35 I racked up a whole bunch, mostly in the same dungeon, Luminous Arena.

I've restarted a new Cannon Engineer with a much much tighter build and I've re-leveled to 25 again (Veteran), no deaths so far. I had dropped the Force Field skill with my first Engineer as I felt it was lacking, turns out I was just doing it wrong.

My new Engineer has force field maxed for level (think about 7 points) and with 5 charges (this is criticial) I am getting just shy of 1700 pts of absorb from it. I am also running Charge Dominion which gives a 3% chance to completely fill your charge bar for every creature you kill. With this combo I can often hit 5 chages pop force field, kill with impunity and before FF drops I've got 5 charges again from Charge Dominion proc. One downside to Charge dominion is each skill point only adds .5% to the chance so not really a good skill investment early game but highly worth 1 pt.

LordMortis, obviously use what works for you but I must say I'm a bit baffled by your dislike of gunbot. The skill definitely has some shortcomings but in a boss fight (purples/oranges) this little guy can dish incredible amounts of damage and once you summon it's fire and forget for 60secs. I know the coolddown is pretty long but with more skill pts you can get it down to 30sec difference between up and down time. Personally I think this is one of those skills you just have to bite the bullet on early game and keep sticking points in to so you have it ready and beefed up later.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:25 pm

Tao wrote:LordMortis, obviously use what works for you but I must say I'm a bit baffled by your dislike of gunbot. The skill definitely has some shortcomings but in a boss fight (purples/oranges) this little guy can dish incredible amounts of damage and once you summon it's fire and forget for 60secs. I know the coolddown is pretty long but with more skill pts you can get it down to 30sec difference between up and down time. Personally I think this is one of those skills you just have to bite the bullet on early game and keep sticking points in to so you have it ready and beefed up later.

I think my problem is that the one I had was level 1 and did very little damage even with his machine gun and he doesn't last that long. I don't play a large mana (nor suck the mana potion) game. I think I have like 90 mana that is mostly used for the blast cannon skill. I found that extra point to be much more helpful bumping my force field which I was already using. For one extra mana is gave me an extra 70 hps I think. (I don't worry about the charges although I probably should learn to)

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:01 pm

Chesspieceface wrote:I used the console to reset my skills once.

Instructions? I would really like to get back the skill points I put into shield bash.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:55 pm

Yeah, I'd be tempted to reset skills too... also tempted not to, and try to maybe make through a run-through with the character as is. Hmmmm.....

I died twice just in the last play session I had (about 20 mins). Beat the boss without dying, but I think I died to purple/elite/whatever two times. The penalties seem about right to me. Usually too far to go back to town... but the gold penalty doesn't seem excessive. Just enough to hurt a bit.

For that matter, same with the enchanting cost. Came across one in the mines, and was able to add a couple enchants to equip, but then, the costs gave me pause. Had to consider and weigh my options... I like that in a game.

The finish of TL1 was a bit of a grind for me. Enjoying TL2 so far, but still very early. Only up to lvl 15? 17? so far.

Chesspieceface · Post by **Chesspieceface** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:35 pm

Bakhtosh wrote:
Chesspieceface wrote:I used the console to reset my skills once.
Instructions? I would really like to get back the skill points I put into shield bash.

Enable the console in the settings.ini (Documents\My Games\Runic Games\Torchlight 2\Save\*) by changing Console = 0 to Console = 1

Then in game its INSERT and then type RESETSKILLS it should not cheat flag you. (http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewt ... 4#p1919514" target="_blank)

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:57 pm

Chesspieceface wrote:Enable the console in the settings.ini by changing Console = 0 to Console = 1

Then in game its tilde (`) and then type /resetskills it should not cheat flag you.

Any idea if TL2 is one of those games that disables achievements if you use the console?

Chesspieceface · Post by **Chesspieceface** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:30 pm

Sepiche wrote:
Chesspieceface wrote:Enable the console in the settings.ini by changing Console = 0 to Console = 1

Then in game its tilde (`) and then type /resetskills it should not cheat flag you.
Any idea if TL2 is one of those games that disables achievements if you use the console?

It is, thus the comment about cheat flagging. Skill resets should not do it.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:44 pm

Chesspieceface wrote:It is, thus the comment about cheat flagging. Skill resets should not do it.

haha Sorry, missed that part.

Thanks for the info!

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:20 am

Ugh. Lost to the grand regent. At least I will now know how to better spec my skills. Ugh!!!

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:33 am

Baroquen wrote:Yeah, I'd be tempted to reset skills too... also tempted not to, and try to maybe make through a run-through with the character as is. Hmmmm.....

I died twice just in the last play session I had (about 20 mins). Beat the boss without dying, but I think I died to purple/elite/whatever two times. The penalties seem about right to me. Usually too far to go back to town... but the gold penalty doesn't seem excessive. Just enough to hurt a bit.

For that matter, same with the enchanting cost. Came across one in the mines, and was able to add a couple enchants to equip, but then, the costs gave me pause. Had to consider and weigh my options... I like that in a game.

The finish of TL1 was a bit of a grind for me. Enjoying TL2 so far, but still very early. Only up to lvl 15? 17? so far.

I have been placing Waypoint Portals at the start of areas when I expect to see Boss battles to minimize the travel times if I die. Only place this has not worked - inside Phase Portals and doing the Djinni's 2nd and 3rd tasks for the Djinni.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:41 am

If anyone plays an Ice-focused Embermage, Frost Wave is a must when it becomes available. Throwing points into Frozen Fate is also worth it for mob control since it has a pretty good chance of freezing foes whenever any opponent is killed.

Most combat now with a Level 37 Emberbage: 1) Cast Hail storm to slow down the mob. 2) Hit them with multiple Frost Waves. 3) Clean up with dual wand attacks.

Killing stuff with Frost Wave once it reaches Tier I is very effective for taking out multiple foes and it counts towards the Charge ability, which makes it very easy to stay "Charged" most of the time.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:58 pm

LordMortis wrote:Ugh. Lost to the grand regent. At least I will now know how to better spec my skills. Ugh!!!

Sorry to hear it. I think my Embermage managed to not die in this fight in Normal, but I've had at least a death or two with all the Veteran characters I've taken through it.

Chesspieceface · Post by **Chesspieceface** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:46 am

Correction to above, INSERT opens the console... Most will cheat flag you, resetskills does not, here is a list:

http://www.gamefront.com/torchlight-2-d ... -commands/" target="_blank

Butterknife · Post by **Butterknife** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 5:21 pm

I've got 14 different characters. I think I may have a problem.

Freddybear · Post by **Freddybear** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:08 pm

Butterknife wrote:I've got 14 different characters. I think I may have a problem.

Just use some of them as mules to hold set pieces and specials you want to keep but not clutter up the shared stash.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:29 pm

Butterknife wrote:I've got 14 different characters. I think I may have a problem.

Not enough characters?

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:17 pm

Took a break from ranged characters and decided to give a melee Engineer another go. Up to level 22 so far on Veteran and so far so good.

Using Force Field at max skill points (5 charges is about 1700 HP's I believe)
I dumped the Fire Hammer and took Ember Hammer instead (2 pts). Realy liking Ember hammer with 100% shield break plus good damage (85% weapon) and 270 arc
Put 1 point into onslaught which is a good mobility spell, allows me to jump out of bad situations or get to ranged mobs faster plus 3 debuffs at 50% each
Grabbed 1 point in Coup de Grace for the extra damage, getting about 200+ per hit on stunned creatures
Maxed Healbot...nough said
I dropped 1 point into spider mines and this has worked really well so far. Mines are great for lots of little critters, helps when getting swarmed, chance to stun which synergizes with CDG and works well from melee range
Put 1 point in Charge Domination as this is a must have 1 pointer for all Engineers IMHO
So far 5 points in shield bash. I tryed shield bash on an early character but didnt seem to like it but once again I think I was just using it wrong. Working great on this character. Low mana cost so spammable, generates extra charge to help keep my force field up and with the shield I just got Im doing about 300 damage per shot with it. Oh and it syngerizes with CDG as well and has a small arc of attack for multiple hits.
Also one point in Charge Reconstruction. Going to use alot of charges might as well get the heal effect although 1 point might not scale well late game.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:56 am

Defeated the Netherlord on Normal with the ice-based Embermage. Ended around Lvl 52. Did two maps and kept checking vendors. Combined finds and shopping netted a completed Dwarf King Armor Set.

Re-starting on Elite with an Engineer. Currently plan to focus on a "sword and board" type.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:30 pm

LordMortis wrote: Suggestion here is to install X-Mouse-Button-Control.

http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=37606" target="_blank

Finally got around to installing this. Will need to do some tweaking, but as of right now I've got 3 easily used skills mapped instead of just one, and that is HUGE. Up until now (level 19 outlander) I had been using 1 skill in combat. Maybe the occasional second, if I could find a safe moment to take my eyes off the screen and find the appropriate number key.

I'll probably overwrite the default behaviour of the scroll wheel, which should give me 3 more options (up/down/press), 1 of which will be drinking health potions.

I will be a LOT happier when I have this set up better. Pretty excited about it actually.

Chesspieceface · Post by **Chesspieceface** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:37 pm

Runic Games wrote:Patch notes for version 1.13.x.12

Misc

Fixed Engineer armor set that was showing up as white geometry

Performance

Additional UI performance improvements
Additional rendering performance improvements
Precacheing of skills, missiles, and particles to reduce the appearance of stutters the first time those assets are viewed on some machines

Stability

Fixed a crash that could occur with a dying pet that proc'ed on save restoration

Skills

Fixed some issues with Stormclaw bolt chaining
Blazing Pillar will no longer give enemies the ability to burn you!
Shockbolts and Shocking Orb can now build charge
Fixed several non-working augment affixes
On-Death Procs properly cool down if required (Fixes several issues where a proc ceases functioning after a period of time)
Blade Pact and Stone Pact last for listed time

Items

Lore item set now has a tangle ability, instead of a nonfunctional acidrain proc
Several affixes that work based on unit proximity can work in parallel, when they could not before

Gameplay

Fixed several issues where procs could be precluded from activation
Set bonuses based on nearby monster count work properly
Some more multiplayer XP distribution fixes related to player/killer delta
Can't turn alignment on something that attaches to its master
When a left-click skill is bound, skills won't track a second mouse click if you click and click-away again (keeps you from pointing the wrong direction sometimes)
Player block cap set to 75 instead of 50
Elemental armor reduction can't reduce armor below zero
Champions all have 100% charm resistance
Siege Turrets have 100% charm resistance

Level Scripting

Can't prematurely activate Vyrax tower warp with teleportation
Various minor level fixes
Various visual updates to the Three Sisters' Lair
Some snow effects were not properly tagged as 'weather' so would not disable when weather was turned off
Tutaran trap fixes
Alchemist can no longer be 'started' on his third stage by rerolling, going to the next level waypoint, and back up.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:21 pm

I did a quick google search but came up blank. I understand the fumble mechanic (at least I think I do) but there are coloured damage text that I don't understand. More importantly, I will often do damage in the 2 to 10 range for no apparent reason (fumble damage is purple I think. This damage is pink or light green). I often have to wait until I crit to do any real damage at all. It is making my dual wielding outlander somewhat unfun to play.

Can someone explain or point me to an explanation of combat damage?

Thanks.

Edit: I've noticed low value pink numbers (possibly DoTs?) and low value orange numbers (I thought orange was just a standard hit, but why is it so low?).

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 12:40 am

GreenGoo wrote:I'll probably overwrite the default behaviour of the scroll wheel, which should give me 3 more options (up/down/press), 1 of which will be drinking health potions.

I will be a LOT happier when I have this set up better. Pretty excited about it actually.

I'm debating getting more than just a 2 button mouse for just this reason. If I could remap the scroll to scroll through selected skills on my right mouse button, that would rock.

How are you remapping the scroll?

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:13 am

Elemental damage is a different color, and there's the weapon effect (X damage over Y seconds). That damage is shown as small amounts. Try it out on the target dummy in town.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:35 am

Bakhtosh wrote:Elemental damage is a different color, and there's the weapon effect (X damage over Y seconds). That damage is shown as small amounts. Try it out on the target dummy in town.

I did, briefly, but I don't want to do a full empirical test. I assume someone more dedicated has already done that, or even better, runic has published a legend to the color codes.

LM, I don't think you're going to be able to scroll through skills on your right click button using your scroll wheel. What I plan on doing is what I do in D3, which is scroll up for a rarely used, long cooldown skill (aura, pet summon, "ultimate" etc), scroll down for a health pot and click for a medium use/medium cooldown skill. The game defaults to zoom in/out, plus click = max zoom out. I'm loathe to give that up but I probably will as I gain more skills and need to find some way to use them effectively.

After hours of playing D3, some of the buttons just "feel" like certain skill types. Right now, in T2, I have my RMB mapped to rapid fire (fast damage, knockback, armour reduction) and my thumb button (MB5) to an AoE short DoT breath attack. These skills "feel" right in their current configuration. If I were to switch the two, they would no longer feel right, if you understand me.

Since D3 only allows 6 available skills at the same time, I don't need more buttons than my mouse has. With T2, I might set up a modifier key (like alt, ctrl, or something) that remaps my mouse buttons to more skills, doubling the skills I can use with my mouse. We'll see. Right now I'm pretty happy with the 3 skills I have mapped, and can swap the right mouse button with the standard tab key if I decide I need a different RMB skill for a certain fight.

With Embermages, you can get away with remapping the LMB to a skill too (instead of the default attack). I'm not sure I will ever be able to do that with my outlander. Mana can run dry pretty fast.

There is still room for improvement, but right now, with 3 skills mapped to mouse buttons, my enjoyment of the game has gone up a good 5x to what it was. I just finished the Grand Regent with no deaths (but like 10 minutes of kiting) which would not have been the case prior to using X-Mouse-Button.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 2:25 am

Mapping up down and middle click is so much better than zoom in and zoom out. Now I can use 4 skills with simplicity and just leave my fingers hovering over the heal buttons. If only I did that with my dead engineer. Loving the game so much better now. I'm slowly working all four classes through together now and doing much better.

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:12 am

Developing a serious love/hate relationship with this game now. I have leveled several Veteran HC characters in to the 20's (havent lost any yet) and multiple (as in too many) characters in Veteran SC to level 36ish.
This seems to be the break point for me so far, or more accurately the Lunious Arena dungeon

Spoiler:

So far I can get to this point with no deaths and then this dungeon

Spoiler:

utterly destroys me.
This game does so much right and has so much potential (love) and yet some of the design decisions just boggle my mind. I look at some of the mechanics and think, this was not meant to challenge the player in any intelligent fashion this is simply a cheap cheezy and oft times annoying tactic (hate).
Running my level 26 level Tankish Engineer I did the Tower of Moon quest earlier tonight, after a few minutes of fighting the boss (maybe 3/4 health) I decided to time the fight. My best guess is about 12 minutes to kill the boss. Thats about 7 minutes too long for a mini boss fight. The length of the fight was due to 1)The boss had the ability to create, over and over, an impassable whirlind which my melee character could not bypass to land any blows 2)Constant and infinite summoning of more creatures into the fight. Compounded by the fact that the summoned creatures where then themselves summoning MORE creatures into the battle.
I can think of half a dozen fights like this and it completely breaks the flow of the game for me, after 10 minutes of runnign in circles and poking away at a creature I quite frankly get bored.

Too illustrate my point on infinite summons, here are two screenshots from a Phase portal where It took me a minute or two too long to figure out what I needed to do and things quickly got out of hand. This fight took me over 20 minutes and I will say is definitely a testament to the Tanking Engineers survivability....

If you look close there are about 18-20 active creatures in this shot and another 8 to 10 off screen.

This is the aftermath and as I said took me over 20 minutes so this doesnt show all the corpses that decayed during that time.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:12 am

Wanted to pop in and say I'm still enjoying this game immensely. My co-op partner and I are now up to level 61 or so on our Normal NG+ run-through. I'm running a Berzerker focused on extremely fast dual claws. Getting close to my first Tier 3 skill upgrade. My Elite difficulty Engineer is taking things much more slowly since some thought is required in all but the simplest encounters. The game feels completely different between the characters, which I think is a testament to the class design and balance.

Haven't done much with my Normal Embermage lately, largely because my co-op partner is also playing a fire-focused Embermage so I've gotten to get my fix in helping him design his character.

Has a release date for TorchEd been given yet? I'm looking forward to seeing what the modding community does with it.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:25 am

The game feels completely different between the characters

Aye. I'm running a generic embermage with a point in sparks, a canon engineer, a shotgunne outlander, and a claws berzerker and even the cannoneer and shotgunner feel different.

Still digging the game. Going very slowly. All my characters are around level 18. At different points different characters leap out as the stand out, having an easy time of it, character. Right now it's the embermage. However, she was such a stand out advantage, that I ran her forward prematurely and got killed by the Winter Spider mobs and mobs and mobs of spiderlings whom I couldn't mana and health up fast enough to defend against and had to start her over. The good news is that single point in spark embermage 2.0 has put 100% of her leveling into vitality and she's even better than she was before.

I will have to look up TorchEd to see what that is, though I'm not too concerned with modding at this point. I'm enjoying the purist in the game and still haven't even "beaten" it once yet.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:55 am

After not really warming to it the first time around, I gave Torchlight 2 another look over the weekend. Played a Berzerker up to level 18, and am enjoying it quite a bit now. Now that I'm actually done with GW2, I can actually focus on TL2 without feeling the pull of something else.

The biggest help was finding a build recommendation that I really liked, which makes me feel less like I'm simply guessing with my skill points. The crazy amount of loot can be a bit overwhelming at times, but it's cool to have so many options available.

My only real gripe is that there still really isn't any connection with the world and story at all...it's simply an excuse to run around and collect loot. Through 4+ hours, I literally have no idea what the overarching goal of the game is. I think there was something in there about defeating an evil wizard but really don't know for sure. I know that story doesn't matter for 99% of gamers (especially in the ARPG genre), but it makes the entire thing feel overly sterile to me.

At this point, I'm not sure I like it better than Diablo III, but it's still quite fun (has a very distinct D2 vibe).

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:37 am

Skinypupy wrote:After not really warming to it the first time around, I gave Torchlight 2 another look over the weekend. Played a Berzerker up to level 18, and am enjoying it quite a bit now. Now that I'm actually done with GW2, I can actually focus on TL2 without feeling the pull of something else. The biggest help was finding a build recommendation that I really liked, which makes me feel less like I'm simply guessing with my skill points. The crazy amount of loot can be a bit overwhelming at times, but it's cool to have so many options available.

My only real gripe is that there still really isn't any connection with the world and story at all...it's simply an excuse to run around and collect loot. Through 4+ hours, I literally have no idea what the overarching goal of the game is. I think there was something in there about defeating an evil wizard but really don't know for sure. I know that story doesn't matter for 99% of gamers (especially in the ARPG genre), but it makes the entire thing feel overly sterile to me.

At this point, I'm not sure I like it better than Diablo III, but it's still quite fun (has a very distinct D2 vibe).

Right now for me the ostensive goal is to press on until I find and save the big Elder Ember Dinosaur looking things. But really I'm just running around collecting loot, so one day I can make it out of tundra area.

I've found the HTH barbarian to be the hardest of the characters. Mainly because she moves along and everything is so easy, but in HTH one tough critter can go critical and kill you in one blow and there's nothing you can do about it. So now I'm building another barbarian and I'm going to have to get used to having a weak range fighting back up and a build that suits it.

My favorite is till the embermage with a single point in that level 1 spark. That spark is currently doing 22 points * 4 (one for each element) * 5 (one for each bolt) with a killer chance to burn burn/freeze/poison/elelctrocute for like 15 seconds with tons of damage enhancements.

McBa1n · Post by **McBa1n** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:43 pm

Alright, my brain just COMPLETELY popped after beating 'normal' in this game - and how 'endgame' is handled.
It's friggin genius. I didn't see any info on that (or tuned it out). VERY VERY cool. I wish I paid more attention and knew how it worked. But then again, Imma dumbarse.
This game just keeps getting more and more exciting - and I'm total fanboy of the genre. Dang. Strong work, for sure.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:47 am

Just reached Act III with an bot-focused Engineer (2nd play through). Spider mines are bad-ass against everything except end-of-quest bosses. Gun-bot has not been that good, IMO, because it seems to require me actively focusing on a target for it to keep shooting at a target - which is darn near useless against end-of-quest bosses due to the "near one-hit death" thing.

The Ice-focused Ember Mage play through was considerably easier outside of the Frozen Steppes.

Been debating a respec with a focus on melee, but the Spider mines are so good, it seems silly to do a melee based respec. Melee based points now are Seismic Slam (the stun effect really works) along with the two passives Coup de Grace and Heavy Lifting. Without Heal bot being maxed at the current level, my Engineer would have died LOTS more times.

Just trying to get to level 45 to put on all the Dwarf King gear (complete set) my Ember Mage acquired in the first play through and be a true melee-based Dwarf King.

Orgull · Post by **Orgull** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:08 am

Got a 59 Embermage and an 70 Engineer into NG+1 now and still enjoying the game. Incredibly this game is burning me out much more slowly than Diablo 3. (Given how much of a D3 fanboi I am)

Malificent · Post by **Malificent** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:22 pm

I just finished the game with a level 52 Outlander on Veteran. Ended up wielding shotgun in combo with rapid fire, combined with a bunch of the shadow summoning skills and skeleton summoning spells. I truly am a glass cannon that relies on heavy knockback to keep creatures away from me and heavy armor reduction to weaken creatures so my summons can devastate them.

It's actually quite fun, although I will also say that I despised the Luminous Arena and a couple of other areas that were brutal for a ranged character that relies on room to run.

I'm tempted to play a sword and board character now to give me a slow and steady feel.