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

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:00 pm

Finished the Dwarf King Engineer at Level 54 on Veteran. Did not die too many times. Spider mines get ridiculously good at killing everything except the main bosses.

Working on a NG+ playthrough with the Normal Ember Mage (lvl 69).

And started a Berzerker playthrough on Elite. Focusing on the first tree for the Berzerker with the exception of the passive Frenzy Master.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:02 pm

theohall wrote: Spider mines get ridiculously good at killing everything except the main bosses.

Did that get boring after a while, or just awesome?

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:44 pm

I had really planned on finishing this, but I think I'm going to put it aside for now. I just can't get into these TL games at all, despite being a huge hack-n-slash fan. They simply have no personality at all, and I get bored no matter what class or difficulty level I play at. Oh well...

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 8:42 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote:
theohall wrote: Spider mines get ridiculously good at killing everything except the main bosses.
Did that get boring after a while, or just awesome?

It was boring mid-way through, then it got awesome.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 3:05 am

On to NG++ with the Embermage after hitting the "Nest Egg" achievement sans cheats. Working on hitting lvl 100 now. Follow on goal is getting the Embermage to level 100. After that, work on Hard Core achievements - which are a true challenge.

/resetskills is an awesome console command, since it does not "cheat" flag and makes the game much more enjoyable than relying on initial skills which are not necessarily as effective at the higher levels.

Embermage at level 85 with the all 3 passive fire skills at 14, Firestorm at 13, Hailstorm at 14, Frostwave at 13, Frozen Fate at 14, Wand Chaos at 14 (with dual wands), and the remaining additional points going into Ice Brand - death rarely happens. Also have my pet converted into a War Beast which has 41772 hit points and has base damage of 2542-3368, I usually cast one or two area effect spells (Firestorm followed by Hailstorm) and wait for my pet to finish things off. Only time Frost wave and actual wand attacks get used is in preparation to face end of quest bosses to build up charge.

Tried using this on Elite in a "LAN" game to test it's effectiveness in that mode and it needs serious tweaking. Veteran and below, this build almost makes things too easy. The difference between Elite and Veteran is staggering.

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:31 am

Patch Notes 1.17.x.14

Pets
•Owl pet added
•Badger pet added

Languages
•Russian language now available
•Polish language now available

General
•Several spelling errors fixed
•Dimensions fixed on one texture
•A lot of internal fixes to support translations better, and copy-pasting of cyrillic characters and use of IME
•Characters with certain special characters in their names won't fail to save
•Attacks that deal weapon% no longer give bonus crit for values over 100%
•Missiles with an AoE were not properly taking into account some untargetable states
•Run speed bonuses were sometimes added twice
•Fixed Trillbot achievement quest

Skills
•Engineer
◦Rank 8 and 9 or Seismic Slam scale soak values properly on direct damage
◦Flame Hammer, Ember Hammer and Emberquake correctly list staves in requirements

•Berserker
◦Storm hatchet now targets better on slopes
◦Storm hatchet should be less likely to collide with walls and more likely to collide with units
◦Ravage knockback/slow resistance fixed
◦Ravage falls back to autoattack when mana is low
◦Battle rage properly refreshes now
◦Shadowbind procs now level properly

•Embermage
◦Rank 4 of Firestorm now has correct max damage
◦Issues w/ Prismatic Bolt duration effects resolved
◦Fixed mana cost for rank 10 of Infernal Collapse

Spells
•Made requirement reduction spells work properly

Items
•Rifle and Cannons now use weapon damage instead of DPS - fast weapons were stronger than intended, slow weapons were weaker than intended
•A non functioning proc on the Tundra set was converted to a functioning Lifesteal
•Tomes of Weapon Expertise (spells) now correctly state that they improve Claw use, amongst the other weapons
•New ring for Emberweave set
•New pants for Embercraft set
•Legendary wand Earth Dies Screaming can no longer crash the game
•Fixed some issues with item-based proximity effects getting doubled

Maps
•Various pathing and collision fixes
•Various new boss rooms added for maproom maps
•Several new Phase Beast rooms added
•Can't be knocked behind fence in Arena of Slaughter

Monsters
•Exploding zombies now strike only once per explosion
•King gels have champion resistances and minion gels cannot be charmed

Recipes
•Transmutation recipe for sockets can't eat gems with no return.

Random Maps
•Some random map affixes better tuned

Quest Related
•You must talk to the guardian of mana before you can enter the dungeon from Act 4 hub
•Some players stuck in a state where their quests will not advance, or the final quest will not complete, allowing access to the mapworks, should be resolved.

System
•Fix for crash in certain circumstances when wearing gear that requires a requirement reduction spell
•Fixed crash when quitting the game from the options menu while the shared stash is open.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Fri Nov 16, 2012 12:09 pm

Awuh, two new pets? Now I have to make more characters.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:03 pm

picked this up a few days ago for $9.99. I'm playing on normal. It's too easy so far (lvl 14) I'm one shotting just about everything with my engineer. Does it get more challenging, or should I stop and switch to veteran? Can I change difficulty mid campaign?

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:09 pm

You can't change difficulty mid-game, and engineer is a really durable class. I find the challenge of every game has stepped up in the tundra-like environment, so see how it is once you reach there, then decide if you want to keep going or not.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:55 pm

silverjon wrote:You can't change difficulty mid-game, and engineer is a really durable class. I find the challenge of every game has stepped up in the tundra-like environment, so see how it is once you reach there, then decide if you want to keep going or not.

I found the challenge *really* ramped up when I tried to get out of the Tundra like environment around level 25. But I was playing on elite level. I was most definitely not one shotting everything there.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:04 pm

LordMortis wrote:
silverjon wrote:You can't change difficulty mid-game, and engineer is a really durable class. I find the challenge of every game has stepped up in the tundra-like environment, so see how it is once you reach there, then decide if you want to keep going or not.
I found the challenge *really* ramped up when I tried to get out of the Tundra like environment around level 25. But I was playing on elite level. I was most definitely not one shotting everything there.

Same here. My Elite Engineer is having to work quite hard to move on. I agree that Normal is on the easy side. I haven't tried Veteran yet, but I bet it's pretty close to the ideal difficulty.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:58 pm

Thanks, guess I'll reroll. It's just clicking buttons for the fun of it at this point. So Elite is easier than Veteran?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:01 pm

naednek wrote:Thanks, guess I'll reroll. It's just clicking buttons for the fun of it at this point. So Elite is easier than Veteran?

No, Elite is harder than Veteran.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:03 pm

By many accounts, Elite is maybe kinda a little too hard really (for just playing for funsies).

Thus, Veteran is optimal for anyone looking to be more challenged than Easy, without dying every five minutes.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:48 am

Elite does things like spawning 2-3 more champions immediately after killing one of them and killing one of them is difficult even before getting out of Act One. Trying to do the challenge of Elite Hardcore with a Pure Focus Outlander build. Not sure how that is going to work out when facing certain end of level bosses with limited running room.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:49 am

theohall wrote:Elite does things like spawning 2-3 more champions immediately after killing one of them and killing one of them is difficult even before getting out of Act One. Trying to do the challenge of Elite Hardcore with a Pure Focus Outlander build. Not sure how that is going to work out when facing certain end of level bosses with limited running room.

I never got an elite hardcore character out of the Tundra area but I'd play for long stretches and find myself getting sloppy by the time I got to Clovenhoof and/or the final boss with the tentacles.

The Outlander I tried what poison centric is all I remember. The two best characters I had a defensive engineer and a generic sorcerer with a smattering of elemental damage boost skills everywhere. The worst was the barbarian. Nothing I could come up with gave her any survivability in the Tundra. There were just too many ways for here to get one hit killed hand to hand even beefing here cold protection to obscene (for level 25ish) levels and she couldn't do enough damage ranged.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:10 am

LordMortis wrote:
theohall wrote:Elite does things like spawning 2-3 more champions immediately after killing one of them and killing one of them is difficult even before getting out of Act One. Trying to do the challenge of Elite Hardcore with a Pure Focus Outlander build. Not sure how that is going to work out when facing certain end of level bosses with limited running room.
I never got an elite hardcore character out of the Tundra area but I'd play for long stretches and find myself getting sloppy by the time I got to Clovenhoof and/or the final boss with the tentacles.

The Outlander I tried what poison centric is all I remember. The two best characters I had a defensive engineer and a generic sorcerer with a smattering of elemental damage boost skills everywhere. The worst was the barbarian. Nothing I could come up with gave her any survivability in the Tundra. There were just too many ways for here to get one hit killed hand to hand even beefing here cold protection to obscene (for level 25ish) levels and she couldn't do enough damage ranged.

Was just playing hardcore Barbarian (or what ever his name is mellee class) I got to end of second area desert on Veteran hardcore. Was level 26 and just got sloppy, took a split second and died, not even boss or anything serious. I noticed that final dungeon of second area was ultra hard, i felt under leveled and under equipped. I didnt die prior to my relapse just purely by luck, since all the dmg i do didnt matter if most mobs can 2-3 shot me. Biggest strengh of his was boss killing, Barbarian rapes bosses. Biggest problem was the fluff, without range attack of any kind, armor level has to be ultra high but at lev 26 even that wasnt doing it. I had to chug health potions vs normal mobs like it was water. It was sad since i just relaxed for a second, was about to log off any way, and bam. Dead in a split.
I will try engineer next, i dont think i will play on elite since i find Veteran tough enough but still enjoyable, just grinding is not fun. I already played enginer on Veteran not hardcore to level 20 or so, i have a good idea what i will build him into. With barbarian it was my first play, so i was just figuring him out. I was able to keep shared stash full, so my engineer will have more room to play as far as items go.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:41 am

Engineer is way better for survival then berserker, Bosses are harder with engineer but it simply takes longer, but mobs are pretty good so far. The big plus he has survivability and ranged damage. I mainly going into the shiled, spider mines and cannon blast. I am doing pure range build. Have some passive skills and healing bot with few points.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:30 am

This is making me want to come back Torchlight 2. It's weird how much I actually want to play computer games again. It seems like I was burnt out on them for a decade or longer and now I want back in and can't find the time. Steam is killing me.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:45 am

Damn, it was going really well, and enginer was way stronger then berserker in most situations.... except i died at level 25 (exact same level as berseker) and on the first level of the catacombs, while with berserker i made it to second level.... Just died because i got slightly sloppy. This time i was fighting small boss and ran into electric producing things, i dont even know how i died... just bam, and dead. I think few of those electric things got to me. Sad part, i wasn't even having hard time on this level, unlike with berserker with whom i was surviving by slightest of margins. Maybe thats why i got sloppy, it was way easier but the damage was still same. Hardcore is so unforgiving.

On bright side, i have collected a lot cool equipment for my ember mage, who will be doing this run next. And hopefully my next run, i will be slightly do better in those levels.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:09 am

Matrix wrote:Damn, it was going really well, and enginer was way stronger then berserker in most situations.... except i died at level 25 (exact same level as berseker) and on the first level of the catacombs, while with berserker i made it to second level.... Just died because i got slightly sloppy. This time i was fighting small boss and ran into electric producing things, i dont even know how i died... just bam, and dead. I think few of those electric things got to me. Sad part, i wasn't even having hard time on this level, unlike with berserker with whom i was surviving by slightest of margins. Maybe thats why i got sloppy, it was way easier but the damage was still same. Hardcore is so unforgiving.

On bright side, i have collected a lot cool equipment for my ember mage, who will be doing this run next. And hopefully my next run, i will be slightly do better in those levels.

Same thing has happened to me when playing Hardcore. Get to Act II. Get around 25ish in Level. Then forget to pay attention for half a second and you are dead, regardless of class. One thing can be done to get above the recommended level for each area. Load a LAN game and re-roll the area, then replay it to build up levels. This is only efficient for gaining about 3 levels and it is time to move on.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:36 am

theohall wrote:Load a LAN game and re-roll the area, then replay it to build up levels. This is only efficient for gaining about 3 levels and it is time to move on.

That's what I did. I found myself playing the whole tundra area about three times before trying to take on the two big bosses. Still didn't get through but such is life. I might head back to this over the Christmas break but I am beginning to feel the Steam Game Overload curse.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:12 pm

I keep seeing people all concerned about dying. I've died several times and thought nothing of it.... Is there some kind of reward if you don't die?

ska5fe · Post by **ska5fe** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:32 pm

I believe they're (well, at least Theohall is) discussing Hardcore mode, which is similar to Diablo's - you die, that character is dead forever.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 1:32 pm

naednek wrote:I keep seeing people all concerned about dying. I've died several times and thought nothing of it.... Is there some kind of reward if you don't die?

In hardcore? Yeah, I get to keep playing.

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 2:09 pm

Yup, the people who fear death are playing hardcore. If one of my dudes dies, it's just inconvenient.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:21 pm

Working on achievements and finishing the game in Hardcore mode is an achievement. I am being a glutton for punishment, though, and trying it on Elite, because that will provide all 4 achievements.

Already finished the game on each level non-hardcore (Engineer on Casual, Embermage on Normal and Elite, Outlander on Veteran). Yes, still need to finish with the Barbarian and will probably go back and do so in non-hardcore mode, since it appears the Barbarian is by far the hardest class to keep alive.

Yes, I have spent way too many hours playing TL2.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:20 pm

theohall wrote:Working on achievements and finishing the game in Hardcore mode is an achievement. I am being a glutton for punishment, though, and trying it on Elite, because that will provide all 4 achievements.

Already finished the game on each level non-hardcore (Engineer on Casual, Embermage on Normal and Elite, Outlander on Veteran). Yes, still need to finish with the Barbarian and will probably go back and do so in non-hardcore mode, since it appears the Barbarian is by far the hardest class to keep alive.

Yes, I have spent way too many hours playing TL2.

Let me know the secret for making it past tundra on elite. (though I almost did it with an engineer once and with a embermage once apiece. I got too sloppy with both.

)

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 12:16 am

LordMortis wrote:
theohall wrote:Working on achievements and finishing the game in Hardcore mode is an achievement. I am being a glutton for punishment, though, and trying it on Elite, because that will provide all 4 achievements.

Already finished the game on each level non-hardcore (Engineer on Casual, Embermage on Normal and Elite, Outlander on Veteran). Yes, still need to finish with the Barbarian and will probably go back and do so in non-hardcore mode, since it appears the Barbarian is by far the hardest class to keep alive.

Yes, I have spent way too many hours playing TL2.
Let me know the secret for making it past tundra on elite. (though I almost did it with an engineer once and with a embermage once apiece. I got too sloppy with both. )

I have only gotten to the end with the Embermage on elite. The trick is to respec to ice, ice, and more ice along with the elemental passives and the recharge passive. Ice freezes foes, including champions, but not the major bosses. The trick is to have your re-charge maxed when taking on any boss, so you can spam hail storm with Frost Wave. Elemental Boon is nice, but not necessary. The passives work as well as the active Elemental Boon, but if you find yourself struggling, add Elemental Boon to the mix along with the others mentioned.

One thing I do, which some seem to disagree with. 1) Set my pet on aggressive. Use heals on that pet, while I sit back and use ranged attacks. The only time this is not as effective is with champions, especially on Elite. On Elite, every champion seems to re-spawn after death with three more of the same. So.... Runaway and try to take them out one at a time, if possible, which I know is not always possible. Elite requires Uber attention, so if you have any distractions and are playing hardcore elite, don't play. Wait until you have NO distractions. Non-hardcore Elite, same tactics work, but you get to restart where you die, so it is not as big a deal.

Edit: Ice Embermages are almost game imbalancing. The times they are not is on Elite when Champions re-spawn three times and dealing with end of area bosses in limited spaces.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:44 am

Ya, it seems bad planing on side of developers, where you almost have to power level to get a bit more of an edge. I will try elite/hardcore with Ranged and see how it goes.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 7:30 pm

Runic indicated yesterday that Torchlight 2 "sold over a million units in 2012" -- not bad for an indie game. I bump because it's currently on STEAM for $10. I was bored with the first one, but I finished this one without a problem. Definitely worth it for the sale price (and probably full price if you're a fan of the original).

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:01 pm

It was on flash sale on Steam 4-pack for $30.00. I picked that up, have 2 copies available ($7.50).

Jolor · Post by **Jolor** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:39 am

Finished the second witcher and am playing this now. Outlander Dalton Duelin and his best friend Pug McPug for Fame & Fortune. Looks like everyone else is playing anything but an Outlander

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:28 am

I've started two Outlanders: Molly McCool and Flip (papillon) using guns and Deadeye Drew and (probably a cat named after a significant cat in my life) using bows.

Jolor · Post by **Jolor** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:16 pm

Hmmm. I'm using pistols as my duel wield weapons and a bow as my two-handed. The way that the skills are spread out, I seem to be able to keep Rapid Fire, Akimbo and Long Range Mastery maxed out.
Sacrificing glave throw and the like, granted.

I may be overly focused on weapon damage, perhaps.

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:49 am

I have only played briefly - was tossing up between Outlander and Engineer - played them both through the first quest, like Outlander better so will be playing that most likely when I play w/ my wife. (Or on my own maybe too, but that would be later, playing Heroes of M&M 6 right now...).

PS: still have those 2 copies available on Steam ($7.50 each)

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:04 pm

Still working through on Hardcore with an Outlander. Primary weapon is Shotgonne with Rapid Fire, Shotgonne Mastery, and Long Range Mastery being the early skills. Once those max out, use the Poison passive skill in the 2nd tree. This build has worked through most of Veteran, but gets destroyed on Elite shortly into the 2nd Act. Reason it works is the knockback built into shotgonnes which improves every time you add points to Shotgonne Mastery.

Set pet to aggressive so he draws the enemies, then sit back and shoot them away from said pet who keep going after them. Shotgonne Mastery also builds up a Stun percentage. Knockback, Stun, Aggressive pet - makes taking on most enemies easy. It's the re-spawning Champions - especially on Elite - which tend to be a problem. As in the Champions who get killed then re-spawn three of the same time Champion the moment they die.

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:58 am

Other than appearances, is there any game play difference between the various pets?

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 4:44 am

Zenn7 wrote:Other than appearances, is there any game play difference between the various pets?

Damage should be the same, but the flying pets don't necessarily have to find a ramp or staircase to attack monsters up/down from where you're standing, and can reach treasure that (very rarely) lands somewhere inaccessible.

No differences significant enough to override your personal aesthetic preference, really.

theohall · Post by **theohall** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:50 am

silverjon wrote:
Zenn7 wrote:Other than appearances, is there any game play difference between the various pets?
Damage should be the same, but the flying pets don't necessarily have to find a ramp or staircase to attack monsters up/down from where you're standing, and can reach treasure that (very rarely) lands somewhere inaccessible.

No differences significant enough to override your personal aesthetic preference, really.

I do know if you find the fish that permanently changes your pet into a Warbeast, make the change. Warbeast's have a significantly larger number of hit points than the base pets and do more damage per attack.