The tool manages mods and syncs with the latest versions, mod browsing tools and also resources to help make your own mods. I am not sure how important TL2 support would be due to Steamworks but if you want to find out more head the Kickstarter site.

Patch Notes 2.142 – includes fixes for some of the added content and some drop rates.

Patch Notes 2.136 – includes removal of pet transformations for now for further testing, Tier-0 boss stat and hero monster affix changes, updates to Necromancer stat based skills, Act 5 changes oh and Skull loot drops (how cool is that!).

Future updates involve completing developments for the Warlock and Paladin classes. Stay tuned! If you have a mod that you’d like a spotlight on, especially now that GUTs editor is finally released, let us know!

Skills

• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in a particular phase beast level
• Fix for the final dungeon in the Ice Labs
• Fix for exiting the Ice Labs to Frosted Hills
• Fixes for minimap puzzle representations on some maps

UI

• Fixed issues with display of modded game groups in dropdown

ModLauncher

• Fix for visual issues on Windows XP machines.
• Added “Waiting for response from Steam” message to ModLauncher start-up.
• Added notification that time may be required before ModLauncher can be started when mods require updates.

GUTS

• Unit editors (monster, items, players props) now have a “folder” column in the unit list.
• Added “find:” operator for expression filtering (i.e. “find:SuperAxe” will list all the files which contain “SuperAxe” anywhere in their data)
• Editor no longer crashes when investing skill points wish push a skill to the next tier.
• Modded skills no longer show twice in the skiles editor.
• Fixed the “view folder” button in the rule set editor when viewing mod level sets.
• Modded rule sets should no longer show twice in the rule set editor.
• Stat lines no longer show twice when modding stat lines.
• Fixed Progress bar UI object setting the wrong index when selecting STAT ONE and STAT TWO.
• Fixed a number of various places were we weren’t also looking for mod files when listing files in a directory.
• Texture sheet png files are not included in the pak. So the image selector and unit editors now show valid images.
• fixed skill UI layout browse/open buttons in the Player editor when modding.
• fixed catagory filtering in the affix editor after modding an affix.
• Can no longer attempt to add static unittypes in the unittypes editor.

]]> http://torchlight.incgamers.com/2013/04/torchlight-2-patch-1-23-x-5-deployed/feed/ 0 http://torchlight.incgamers.com/2013/04/patch-1-22-x-40-arrives-with-steam-workshop-support/ http://torchlight.incgamers.com/2013/04/patch-1-22-x-40-arrives-with-steam-workshop-support/#comments Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:27:59 +0000 Rushster http://torchlight.incgamers.com/?p=923 It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here, Steam Workshop support is now live and Runic has also kicked open a  Torchlight II GUTS wiki for all budding modders. Check the official Steam Group and you can find the Workshop.

Youcan find out how to use the GUTS editor by checking out the getting started guide in the new wiki which also includes docs and info on how to download the tools.

The game has also been patched today with the following notes.

Runic also sent over a few Q&As with the development team about the GUTS Editor and you can read then after the break…

Q&A with Tools Engineer Greg Brown

Tools Engineer Greg Brown created GUTS, and he’s the best man to tell you more about it.

Tell us about GUTS! Does it stand for anything? How did that name come about?

GUTS is the new version of our content editor we used to create all the content for Torchlight II. We use it to make most things in the game – Levels, skills, classes, monsters, items, spawn classes, balance curves, UI, etc. Pretty much the only things we don’t use it for are model, animation,  2D art/texture, and music/sound creation. We use 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, and whatever Matt uses down in California for those. We started this project with “TorchED” which was used for Torchlight I, but we’ve made a large number of improvements and additions for GUTS.

GUTS doesn’t really stand for anything. The dry and boring story is that we compile the game source as a DLL for the editor which was originally called “core.dll” but that was confusing because we had another class called “core” so I changed the name to “editorguts.dll” at some point. Although later I think I was playing Shao-Lin’s Road on the cocktail cabinet in the office and was amused by the protagonist saying “GUTS!” at the end of each level while flexing. I also enjoyed the Nickelodeon show and dream of owning a piece of the Aggro Crag. I mostly wanted to differentiate the new version from the last and I like the mental image of being elbows-deep in the guts of the game when you use the editor. Also, my Mom tells me Grandma wouldn’t let her say “guts” as a kid, which I’ve always found amusing.

What are some of the challenges you face when creating the tool set? What did you enjoy about it?

The original “TorchED” project was done in the same amount of time as Torchlight I. We hit the ground running and were making the tools as we were engineering the game. We were laying track as the train was running across them, more or less. For Torchlight II, we already had a that work done, so I was able to go back and refine a lot of the rough spots and improve the tools in many ways without worrying as much about the train.

A significant challenge when making these tools has always been engineering with modding in mind. It does take quite a bit of time to design game and tool features around making them easily and flexibly moddable through editing game data, but it ends up being really fun to see what people come up with in the end and it adds a lot of longevity to the game.

As far as enjoyment, I very much enjoy working with so many different part of the team and game. I enjoy having the freedom to work on little utilities I think up in the shower or as I’m riding the bus home (some of which end up being very useful, others… not so useful). I really enjoy taking a little time to make long and difficult processes easier and automated.

How do you hope players will respond to the tools?

I hope people find them useful. People are already modding Torchlight II without GUTS and doing really cool things. I can only hope to help them do more, faster, and with less headache. I do worry at times that some people will be let down when they realize GUTS isn’t a “Runic Games General Game Development Kit.” GUTS is very much a Torchlight II content development tool. You can do lots of neat things as long as you want to make them for Torchlight II or a Torchlight II-like game. If someone is looking to make a different sort of game, they should probably look elsewhere.

I hope people keep doing what they’ve already been doing. I love seeing people work as a community to learn, teach, and create mods together. We’re releasing our tools and we engineered our game this way because we enjoy giving people a fun platform for creativity and insight into the, uh, guts of the game. (Get it? Guts?!) I spent many hours in high school creating many terrible levels with the the Duke Nukem 3d Build engine and it makes me happy to be able to pass that experience on to others.

Q&A with Art Director Jason Beck

Tell us about the NetherRealm tileset – what’s the inspiration?

Well, we had a very small taste of it in TL2, and certainly hints of what that realm might look like, but we never crossed over, so to speak.  So, the main idea was to go “into the portal” and visit the Netherrealm.  We wanted it to feel as organic as possible and as dissimilar as we could make it to the other tilesets.  Everything is built on a grid, and in some tilesets it’s very apparent (as much as we tried to disguise it).  This tileset had to look chaotic, organic, and make you forget about the grid.  Along with that, we really wanted it to look barren, harsh, and completely alien. 

What kind of new monsters should players be on the look out for?

All of the new monsters are from the Netherrealm.  The Netherim have gained a few units and there’s some very interesting (un)natural inhabitants.  We went a little bit darker and grosser, but still very much TL2 designs.

How did the headcrab end up being a pet?

We were working on Workshop integration and we love the folks at Valve/Steam — they’ve been really supportive of our team and games — so, we approached them with a completed headcrab pet and they loved it.  It was mostly a matter of timing and trying to unleash it at a point where it made the most sense.  We have other things in the works as well.

What are you most excited about in this update?

Along with the new tileset and monsters we also created new wardrobe and weaponry. Each class has a brand new top-tier armor set and each weapon type has additional items.  And, of course, we have new pets.  I never would have imagined an alpaca would be my choice of pet for a game like this, but it is incredible. Mostly I’m just excited to bring more content to the players and help them extend their adventures.

Q&A with Lead Level Designer Patrick Blank

Tell us about the NetherRealm tileset – what’s the inspiration?

We wanted to do something completely different than players had already seen in the game.  Further exploring where the Nether came from was brought up as an idea by our art director Jason Beck. After discussing what we could do with that, everybody became excited about how different it was, and seemed like a good fit, so we ran with it.

Besides just being visually different, gameplay wise, we wanted the terrain to offer something different. Originally, due to time constraints, we weren’t planning on doing bridges. However, a few pieces were made, and after level design started experimenting with them, we quickly realized that using the bridges in a weird, winding way, and changing elevations with them was what really gave the tileset character, and drastically altered the overall vibe in a very cool way. The result is great. A lot of people here agree that it’s one of the coolest tilesets for the game now.

How can players find it?

Players can enter the NetherRealm via random portals that have a chance to show up in the Overworld areas. These portals will start showing up in Act 2, and Act 3 in normal game mode. In any NG+ mode, they will show up in all Acts, including Act 1. The portals are pretty distinct, and will be hard to miss.

Anything players should be on the lookout for?

There are new monsters in the NetherRealm, and some entirely new variants on existing monsters as well. No big easter eggs, although I’m sure a particular level designer wrote his name out of vines or something in at least one of the levels…

We also have added several new “NG+ only” dungeons throughout the game. These will show up in any NG+ mode. We wanted to give players who have already completed the game incentive to go back through and explore new areas. These dungeons will always roll 100%, and are located in passes and Overworld areas.

There are also a few new NG+ Random Events that can spawn in in various parts of the game to add some new variety, as well as a few new phase beast rooms.

Oh! Happy birthday Falcor from all of us at IncGamers!

Until next time, ossu!

Theolentist class from OedipusTex

Incgamers: How did you first come across the Torchlight series, anything in particular that attracted you to Torchlight 2?

OedipusTex: I was always a fan of the Diablo series. TL2 is just such a high quality product it was difficult to pass up. It’s even somewhat popular among my non-gamer friends. Beyond that, the promise of being able to create your own classes was a big draw.

Incgamers: Good points :). What inspired you to think I’m going to build a Theolenlist class for Torchlight II?

OedipusTex: Building things is always fun!

TL2 happened to come on the scene at an opportune time for me. My “main” game, City of Heroes, had just announced it was closing its doors. The Theolentist began as an experiment to see how difficult it would be to bring in some of the City of Heroes archetypes into Torchlight. Along the way, the class shaped itself into something unique. But I think old City of Heroes players will be able to see the stamp of where that game heavily influenced the design of the Theolentist.

Incgamers: What are you currently working on right now?

OedipusTex: The Theolentist is still in it’s alpha stage, meaning large updates are happening pretty regularly, including the occasional total rewrite of a power. The Biology tree is the next to get some major work done to it. As I am writing you, I am editing the particle effects for a few spells using a Layout editor tool. The tool was created by a very helpful community member who wanted to give us the ability to edit files prior to the release of GUTS.

Theolentist root blast skill.

Incgamers: I’m sure they know who they are :). What is the is Theolentist class? Can you tell us what you’re trying to achieve etc?

OedipusTex: The “Theolentist” is a blend of a scientist and a Priest style character. It is a caster-class that uses the powers of Biology, Physics, and Astronomy to battle enemies. The main thing I’m trying to achieve with it is adding more excitement to an already great game. What I’m specifically aiming for is fun more than balance. But I’m also providing the Theolentist class to other modders who want to bring it in to their own mod environments.

Incgamers: Sounds cool, I like the sound of the physics and astronomy trees, what’s your favourite feature about your class?

OedipusTex: Probably the class and skill icons! I was very lucky to recruit a talented icon artist, who I think really gave the class a unique look and feel. They are designed by a community member named TwinkleToes. Beyond that, I’m a big fan of the spells in Astronomy that cause a lot of knockback though. Like, Heaven’s Gate. It’s a teleport and a control power. Something about the way it pops between locations and sends everything flying backwards makes me laugh. I lose a lot of productivity because I sometimes just pass time running around watching enemies go flying.

Theolentist Physics tree.

Incgamers: Might have to make a build based around that lol. Balancing can take a large portion of a modder’s time, how did you all go about balancing the class’s skills and passives compared the vanilla ones?

OedipusTex: Balance is one of the most difficult goals to achieve I think. I like what Erich Schaefer, one of the minds behind the Torchlight series, said about balance: that he basically doesn’t aim for it. I’m somewhat in agreement with him.

Here’s a funny anecdote. In a very early version of the Theolentist class, the Locust Swarm spell used “standard” damage values for a power of its tier and mana cost. But when I tested it, it began doing 100,000 damage per second! I found out quickly that the reason was that the Locust Clouds created by the power homed in on enemies. When I turned that off, the spell became extremely underpowered. So what it goes to show is that formulas don’t work that great for ARPG balance. There’s a significant “can the player even realistically hit the enemy with this?” element that defies all formulas. You really have to be comfortable with a grey area.

Incgamers: Haha, I can only imagine the math and variables involved. Can you give some examples of hybrid builds and the benefits of mixing your class’s skill trees?

OedipusTex: I think that a lot of players will be interested in the spell in the Biology tree that causes their pet to double in size! I owe the discovery of that special effect to a fellow modder named Epoch, the mind behind the Ninja Class mod that is currently in development. He pointed it out one day and it was too cool to not put into the class.

Double the size, double the pawr.

I’ve also tried really hard to leave the class open to weird builds. My own Theolentist Astronomer/Physicist mix, for example, uses a Staff as her main weapon. She uses Holy Vector to teleport to the enemy and siphon attack and cast speed, then launches into Lucent Beam, which chips away quickly at everything’s health. There are a handful of powers that require a specific weapon–like one of my favorite spells, Kinetic Flurry, which whacks everything nearby with your staff while launching tornado projectiles–but many of them are open. And players are always surprising me with their ingenuity.

Blasting away with the Theolentist

Incgamers: I like the sound of that. Are there any design concepts you left out due to time/tool constraints etc that you can share with us?

OedipusTex: Absolutely. The Theolentist class has a total of 30 core skills, but I have written closer to 40 spells total. Some were dropped after play testing them, others were blended together with each other or existing skills, a few were turned into pet skills. The spell Heaven’s Gate, for example, takes the place of an old spell called Celestial Revelation which only caused controlling effects in an AoE. Blending the idea of the teleport with the idea of the AoE control power I think increased the pizzazz of both concepts.

Incgamers: How did you go about getting your class integrated with the SynergiesMOD?

OedipusTex: One thing about TL2 modding in the pre-GUTs environment is that all of the “hooks” necessary to create a class mod are currently centralized in a few core files. To make a mod work, modders need a level of control over those files. With so many people playing Synergies, it made sense to make a mod that would be compatible with it. The Synergies team have been helpful by placing “hooks” for my class in their core files, but the process of keeping it all updated is challenging. The Theolentist appeared in a few Synergies releases before we made the decision to stop putting it in there until the game is more stable (when the Theolentist would be available for all mods). There’s some hope that after GUTS that process will be a bit easier. It’s what we get for jumping the gun!

Incgamers: I wonder if there will be a more easier standardised process when GUTs is released. Have you used any custom tools when developing your mod(s)? Did these help make you more productive?

OedipusTex: There is a set of fan-made tools developed as pre-GUTS resources for all TL2 modders. The specific tools are a PAK extractor, a Layout editor, and a DAT file decoder/encoder. Those tools are the foundation of the communities’ ability to make mods prior to the release of GUTS. I would be nowhere without them.

Incgamers: What are your thoughts about Kickstarter if it could become a place to get funding for large mods if legal issues could be worked out with dev’s or even partnered with? I’m sure there are more hurdles though.

OedipusTex: It’s an interesting idea. I am not that familiar with Kickstarters, though I have funded a few campaigns. My own class has been funded so far by myself. I’ve sunk a hundred dollars or so into the project.

Incgamers: That’s interesting, spending not only your own time but also your money as well. Where do you see the TL II modding community now and in a few years time?

OedipusTex: Hopefully making the game legendary :).

Incgamers: What have you learned from working with the SynergiesMOD team and contributing to the TL II community?

OedipusTex: I’ve learned that time and effort often pay off.

Incgamers: Any advice for wannabe modders out there?

OedipusTex: My main advice would be to take it one step at a time and not to get discouraged and to remember that this can be a practical activity; learning the ropes with modding can help you gain an understanding of how software works in general. TL2 code isn’t a programming language–more like a data structure, really–but it helps you understand how all the parts come together. I actually have some background in C++ and C#, but its been in modifying the data structures of games that a lot of the programming concepts I’ve used in my daytime job have really come together. I think it’s easy to teach concepts like If statements and While loops, but difficult to demonstrate how all of that would come together and result in something as complex as a video game. TL2 offers a new unique chance to peer right into the data, and see how all those spells, special effects, and menus fuse together.

Incgamers: Lastly, anything you’d like to add or say to your fans etc?

OedipusTex: I’d like to say thank you for all of the support they’ve offered the class. The feedback has been invaluable. When I first started the Theolentist class, it was just a testbed and I thought I’d be lucky if as many as a dozen people ever played it. I’ve been seeing a few fan videos pop up lately to track the class’ progress, and it’s the most bizarre feeling. Like, someone out there is actually playing what I made? How did that happen? It’s just been a lot of fun and I’m very grateful to the fans for making it happen. And I’d also like to give a big thanks to all the members of the mod community who have helped make the Theolentist a reality–especially TwinkleToes for not stabbbing me for the billion revisions I made to spells back before the public got to see the first public test version of the class.

Incgamers:Haha, thank you for showing us your thoughts behind your work, we certainly look forward to more from you in the near future.

OedipusTex: Anytime! Thanks for everything, and I hope to see some new Theolentists rolled in the future.

So, an interesting peak into OedipusTex’s Theolentist class which you can try in the near future, I’m certainly going to make a build around astronomy and physics. If you got a mod you’d like to have featured in the Torchlight II mod spotlight series, simply contact us. Till then the stars aligned to tell me “loot my precious… loooooooot”.

So let’s kick off with some background info…

Incgamers: How did it all start? What inspired you to think, okay, this is what I’m going to make?

Salan: I loved Torchlight 1 even though I wasn’t very active with it, I’m not a fan of single player games and I love a good challenge in Action RPGS. When they announced Torchlight 2 and said it would be multiplayer I decided right then at that announcement that I would make a MOD for that game. I had no clue what type of mod, but something that took my favorite gaming experiences and put them into my favorite style of game, a complete conversion! My original plan was simply to have a creative outlet that my wife and myself could enjoy when our kids were sleeping at night. Anytime I can make something complicated enough to get an emotional screaming curse out of her, yet easy enough for her to actually understand and do, it was worth doing!

Kelintor: I wanted to have some specific monsters as pets, back in October many modders were starting their own custom pets and were taking request. I was replied that some of my requests weren’t possible and I found that strange, I was already modding Torchlight 1 back then so I knew somehow the limitations. I didn’t want to begin modding without GUTS so I decided to wait. Finally growing out of patience I began modding a sword for bran a player I meet in the Community Hub tool by RMUK as he wanted to do mods but wasn’t able to (it seems the tools doesn’t work well on WinXP). Then I began doing more and more things.

Epoch: I followed Torchlight 2 development for a long time due to the advertisement of being friendly to mods. I thoroughly enjoyed all the mods the community developed for Torchlight 1, and I expected the bar to be raised for Torchlight 2. I never expected that I would be the one modding the game, though. It wasn’t until I played Synergies in early January that I decided I would start development. Once I saw that Salan had created a custom class without the GUTS development tools, I told myself it was time to begin doing it myself. I picked Ninja because I saw it was one class I wanted to make that wasn’t on Salan’s list of classes to develop. I figured it would be a good place to begin since many people enjoy playing games with ninjas. It was one of roughly a dozen classes I had planned out in my mind.

Incgamers: Yeah beware of ye wife, worship thee wife, bestow loot to thee wife :). @All: How did you first come across the Torchlight Series, anything in particular that attracted you to the game?

Salan: I played a lot of Diablo and Diablo 2 and more recently Titan Quest before playing Torchlight. I was always interested in the Action RPGs. As a fan I followed parts of the Runic team through their transitional stages of starting and finishing Flagship Studios, I was in the Mythos Alpha, and watched as Runic came to be. So I have always been partial to Torchlight series, even if Torchlight 1 wasn’t as much of an interest for me.

Kelintor: Back then I purchased an indie game and was very satisfied so I took a look into the Steam Indie section for more awesomeness and stumble upon Torchlight 1, I hadn’t played this genre in ages and the pricing was quite low so why not? To my surprise a modding tool was released so I dig in. When TL2 was announced I knew I would buy it too.

Epoch: I spent a lot of my childhood playing Diablo and Diablo 2. It was an interest in the genre that propelled me into Torchlight and Torchlight 2. The only thing I miss is the open PVP of Diablo 1. In my opinion, game companies cater to care-bears way too much now.

Incgamers: Cool, what’s your favourite feature of about the SynergiesMOD far?

Salan: My absolute favourite feature (don’t mind my Canadian spelling) is a tuff one. The best way to answer that is to explain how I look at the mod. I see it in pieces, not as a whole. I jump between pieces when I do my work, so that I can concentrate on what I am doing. Levelling, end game dungeons, classes and all the extra additions that don’t fall into those categories. I’ll comment on two of them here.

For the levelling, I absolutely LOVE the reactions I get when people run into the world bosses randomly in the wilds. Imagine you are trucking along splatting normal monsters by the handful and out of nowhere something big and aggressive storms at you. Putting your mouse on it you notice it’s a Boss, you’re thinking bosses don’t spawn here! Your life starts to drop, you run around getting your bearings and then you start to fight back. The monster is usually slightly higher level then you are (hopefully) and demands up to date equipment to deal with. I have had more emotional feedback about how great it was to have something like this happen than any other part of this mod to date. For the record the world bosses have a chance to spawn with any phase beasts, but somewhere around a 25% chance with each.

For end game Dungeons, the difference in each encounter. I really tried to nail down a different play style as the means in which to best deal with each of the main dungeon encounters. In a ARPG all classes can usually do all things. It’s just flair and style in how they truly achieve it. So building encounters to be the same routine gets boring.

I had timing fights, gear check fights, dps fights, aoe centric burst damage fights, and of course ones where if you just aren’t good at everything, your done for. I think the first 6 raid bosses in the Darkness chain achieved what I wanted perfectly. The addition of different tiered levels of these dungeons works very well with how legendary armor was introduced. At some point you over gear the level 105 content, so progressing into the 150 content is doable, and then the 200 content. Doing them under geared, is beyond challenging.

Kelintor: The Necromancer class is one of my favourite feature, it adds a great re-playability. The Paladin actually a WIP may take his place though.

Epoch: Constant development and releases.

Incgamers @Kelintor/Epoch: Can you tell us about your contributions to the SynergiesMOD?

Kelintor: My KelinTor’s Merchant mod is integrated into Synergies but it is a mod which contains many ad-hoc systems. As such I devised the portal scroll system, before this you were obliged to go into Mapworks to use a custom map, the scrolls send you directly into the dungeons now.

• I made a gold transferring mechanism, usually gold in Torchlight 2 doesn’t allow you to transfer your gold to another one, it’s still not perfect but with Guts I’ll complete it.
• I added 7 more stashes which can be summoned anywhere anytime, this was able thanks to Lyravega who helped me out on this.
• 4 maps were made so you can fight Champions and Bosses either in a wave format or in continuous battle.
• I made summonable mercenaries.
• I made new quests which Salan could use as a base for his own. Before that nobody was able to add quests. More recently pets can equip armors and some custom pets can wear weapons.

In general Salan used many of those mechanisms as a base and developed on it to make his own additions and skills. Other contribution I do is help Salan on the technical side like being able to open a portal where it should not be possible or bug fixes. Sometimes he encounters a roadblock and we work together to bypass it. I try to find new mechanisms and if Salan find it useful he integrate it, some of them requires alteration to fit into Synergies’ vision.

Epoch: Unfortunately, outside of class creation I can’t say I’ve provided much to Synergies Mod. I’ve tried to provide feedback on topics to help drive ingenuity, but nowhere near as much as the Synergies community has.

In regards to class creation, I’ve invested an enormous amount of time trying to learn what is possible to code for classes within our current limitations. I’ve tried to develop new ways of handling skills and the way classes work. My ultimate goal is to help create each class as unique as possible to help avoid monotony. I’ve also recently catalogued almost every particle animation available, hoping to streamline future class developments — a task that took roughly 24 hours of loading the game, taking a screenshot, changing a file, and then repeating the process.

SynegiesMOD is like being smacked around the face with Torchlight II’s expansion pack. – Incgamers

Incgamers: Cool, sounds awesome with the boss fights and amount of features implemented, I’m gearing up now! @Salan/Epoch: Balancing can take a large portion of a modders/developers time, how did you go about balancing the Necromancer & Ninja class and items compared the vanilla ones?

Salan: Well the mod itself is based on the design decision to CHANGE the balance point away from vanilla. I did this to make the mod different. Because ultimately some of the things added into Synergies are things that could easily be added into the base game as future content I wanted to maintain a different point of balance in case that ever happened, and to give Synergies its own point of contention within its community!

Balance is fickle and subjective. Nothing stirs a crowd like talking about nerfs and buffs and deciding what needs to be done and why. You need to have a base understanding of what everything you are doing does, and how the rest of everything else you have created effects the game as a whole. I’ve always had the ability to see the big picture in things I have done in my life. So far my Intuitions haven’t been too bad, and if they are, I fix it!

I try to extensively test everything I do. But being a one man show in how i patch, things sneak through, and some balance needs to be tweaked after the fact. Notwithstanding is the fact that I am still learning. Just recently we figured out how damaging a simple BOOL entry can be on effects. It has grand reaching issues, that the future stuff will easily avoid, but some of the past might need to be reworked slightly in order to make it not as much of an issue. Most of that won’t be noticed by anyone playing though.

The biggest thing I am going to do going forward is creation of a Test sub-forum and test files. Any big changes to the mod will be vetted through public access to this forum and files. The public will be asked to try to break the game within the direction of the test. And is open to feedback from anyone on how it works, the balance of it, and if it indeed has bugs I need to fix. I found small things are easy for me to do on my daily update routine, the big things, I need a bigger audience before putting it through to find all the potential problems. And so, now I have a test forum and structure!

Epoch: Balancing a class, in my opinion, takes two key steps: The first involves me loading a character and test running everything myself. During this process I spend almost as much time writing notes down that need to be made as I am actually play-testing. This step takes several hours just to make minute adjustments in damage scales, cast speeds, mana costs, etc.

The second step involves community feedback. I never believed the number of exploits or bugs that would slip through the cracks. Without community feedback, there’s no way a new class could be developed in a balanced way.

Incgamers: Kudos for editing like that man, I believe that if Path of Exile’s way of engaging with the community has taught me anything, your forum method should work out fine. Random question Salan, as I like Necromancer classes how many minions in total could one summon with the Necromancer?

Salan: Necromancer total amount of pets is probably way to much at any one time. But this is slightly controlled by skill points. You have 150 skill points in Synergies, and each skill takes 15 points to max and a lot of the summons add monsters at the very end 15 point investment. You could build a build specifically around ONLY pets, but your survivability later in the game would plummet so much that your pets would become inefficient because they die with you.

The Necromancer skill page has the following summons to choose between. Skeletons, Zombies, Death Dolls, Spores, Fiends. Master minions Fury, Spectral Dragon, Shade. Passive summons Faceless Terrors, Infernal Scourges. Bone wall Halfskeletons (no one remembers the bone wall sheds green glowing half skeletons through its lifetime.) And new legendary weapon summon proc Infected zombies (big green glowing bloated zombies). So, 12 completely different types of summons. Each with their own unique twists, no 1 summon skill is the same as another.

SynegiesMOD for Torchlight II: Necromancer summons and pets.

Incgamers: Sold! I’m making a Necromancer now, just got to remember to make a healthy balance. Can you tell us more about the Paladin and Warlock, their current progress, design concepts, gameplay feel etc?

Salan: Well the paladin is pretty well thought out at this point. I have posted a rather in-depth description of how I am going to make this a very unique class in Torchlight 2. It will use combination skills in order to be truly useful. Something to keep the player active and interactive with their environment as they play. Things like a buff that increases your weapon damage while decreasing your critical chances every time you crit was something I was introduced to early in the modding by another modder on the Runic site.

I plan to use self-limiting buffs like this throughout the class and tie them into strong single use abilities that will benefit most from the synergizing design. The paladin will also use a charge bar more like the engineer. Because of this I believe it will take a bit longer, and a bit more frustration in order to complete. I am itching to start, and even have a good basis of his files started, but I have prioritized a new dungeon set first.

The warlock is on paper only. He will be a mage that uses Void, Eldritch Energy and Mana effects as a basis for his spells. I found these styles to be so colorful in Torchlight 2 that they made perfect groupings to build upon!