Torchlight: Infinite
[Dev Blog #25] Trade House Optimizations
In addition to the optimization of the Trade House experience, we will also introduce an important adjustment to the new season—The transaction tax.
The Trade House is a feature that we spent a lot of effort on, so Hunters can trade their items and sell rare loots for a fairer price. But now we have it, the economic system will also have a more profound impact on Hunters' farming experience. Therefore, we will monitor its operation more frequently and adjust the Trade House features more carefully based on its operation during the previous season.
Season 1 is the first time that we included such a huge number of Hunters and kept the economic system running for so long. And because of this, the price of Flame Elementium has gone up significantly and affected Hunters' farming experience in the mid to late season. We expect to slow down the rise in price by introducing a proper tax to make sure that more Hunters can have a better farming experience for a longer time.
Meanwhile, we think it's difficult for Hunters who haven't got the hang of farming to obtain Flame Elementium at the beginning, so we will exempt a certain number of Flame Elementium that Hunters obtained at the beginning from tax.
Based on these ideas, we have formulated preliminary tax rules for the Trade House. In the new season, the Trade House will adopt a phased tax system and collect tax for all revenue generated through sales. The details are as follows.
Rule 1: For every 7 currency items of the same type gained through sales, 1 currency item will be deducted by the system as tax. (The first 100 Flame Elementium are exempt from tax.)
Rule 2: When the total number of one type of currency gained through sales passes 10,000, 1 out of every 4 currency items gained will be deducted as tax.
Rule 3: When the season ends, the revenue data will be cleared and the tax will be calculated from zero again in the next season.
These rules are still under internal evaluation and testing. And we are also very cautious about the Trade House adjustment, so feel free to contact us via the community if you have anything to say about them.
[Dev Blog #24] Season 2´s new skills!
It's always been an ultimate goal of Torchlight: Infinite to offer more build possibilities to our players, and skills are a crucial part of it. Now that the skill development for Season 2 is almost complete, we would like to share some updates about them.
Five new Main Skills will be launched in Season 2, which will start in January.
Haunting Abomination
Skill Tags: #Spell #Erosion #Area #Persistence #Terra
Haunting Abomination is a brand new Terra Spell Skill. Unlike other Terra Skills, Haunting Abomination needs to be released on the designated enemy and inflict Erosion Damage to it before a vile area can be created around the enemy. Enemies within the area take constant damage for a period of time.
The effect of subsequent damage is based on the first Hit Damage, so the first Hit Damage is especially important and needs special attention when developing.
Blazing Bullet
Skill Tags: #Attack #Fire #Area #Ranged #Projectile #Horizontal
As its name suggests, Blazing Bullet is a projectile skill that specializes in penetrating enemies. The projectile of this skill causes an area explosion when penetrating an enemy, and the range of the explosion expands based on the number of remaining penetration attempts.
At the same time, every time the projectile penetrates an enemy, the skill will get an additional damage bonus. So the number of penetrations is also a key development goal.
Thunder Slash
Skill Tags: #Attack #Lightning #Area #Melee #Slash Strike
A typical Slash Strike skill. The Sweep Slash deals damage in a cone-shaped area, and the Steep Strike focuses on a straight line in front. When using Slash Strike, triggering a certain amount of Multistrikes can give you 1 Steep Strike. The bonus to Sweep Slash chance can be converted into Multistrike chance, so it may be a good choice to build Thunder Slash's BD around "Multistrike".
Howling Gale
Skill Tags: #Spell #Channel #Physical #Area #DoT
When you continue to channel Howling Gale, a gust of wind will be generated to attack enemies within range. More channeled stacks equal longer skill duration, wider skill area, higher attack frequency, and faster movement speed.
In the PC version, the gale will be generated at the position of the mouse cursor, and it follows the movement of the cursor when channeling, hitting wherever you aim at. The experience will be slightly different on mobile, where the gale will automatically search for enemies. Regardless of which platform you use, the gale will move toward the enemy by itself when the channeling ends.
Moon Strike
Skill Tags: #Attack #Area #DoT #Melee #Slash Strike
Moon Strike is also a Slash Strike skill that offers two attack forms: Sweep Slash and Steep Strike. The skill enters a special buff state after 6 Sweep Slashes. You can make continuous Steep Strikes while the state lasts. Duration of the buff state can be extended by consuming a certain percentage of the Max Mana, and the Mana Cost of this skill is calculated in the percentage of the Max Mana.
This is what sets the Moon Strike apart from other Slash Strike skills. Just like the werewolf will burst with infinite power during a full moon, we hope that Hunters can also find pleasure from the explosive power of Moon Strike.
Therefore, the development of the skill basically revolves around this special state. So try to make the state last longer and ensure the supply of Mana to maintain the explosive Steep Strikes.
In addition, the skill has two special rules: it adds additional Physical Damage by 100% of the skill Mana Cost, and the Spell Damage bonus and additional bonus also affect the Attack Damage of this skill. It'll be up to the Hunters to experiment on how to develop these two rules.
After covering the new skills, let's talk about skill adjustments at the end. Everyone must be keen to know about what balance adjustment we will be making to Whirlwind.
Whirlwind
Whirlwind was a well-deserved popular skill in Season 1, and while Hunters also picked up many other skills later in the season, Whirlwind was definitely the most popular choice in the early stage.
As a Slash Strike skill, the old Whirlwind enjoyed a lot of advantages: It allowed attack while moving and had a 360-degree range of attack... Those two features alone made it the first choice for most Hunters. But it didn't offer rich development in Slash Strike.
To balance the essential experience of Whirlwind and strengthen its Slash Strike features, we have made the following adjustments:
Now the overall Base Area of Whirlwind has been tuned down, the default Max Channeled Stacks for Whirlwind is 8 stacks. When Whirlwind reaches the Max Channeled Stacks, the 360-degree Wind Blade is not always performed. Instead, based on the Slash Strike Chance, a Wind Blade with higher damage will be released to the nearest enemy. The minimum channeled stacks remain essential for the new Whirlwind, and the chance for Steep Strikes has become more important.
That's all the information we would like to share with you about the skills of the new season. But this is not all. We have also adjusted and balanced many old skills in their stats and other aspects. We will keep you updated on those changes through a detailed update log before the start of Season 2.
Limited-time Event: Special Hunter Training
December 08, 2022, 00:00 - December 21, 2022, 23:59 (UTC+8)
-Event Rewards
Jagged Primocryst, Hero Emblem, and Insight Crystal
-Participation Requirements
Character Level≥30
-Event Info
1. From the first day of the event, three special training quests will be refreshed at 00:00 every day. Hunter Medals can be earned by completing the quests, and different rewards are unlocked when you have a certain amount of Hunter Medals during the event.
2. The number of daily quests are capped. At 00:00 each day, 9 additional quests will be available. You can complete 36 quests in total.
3. Hunters can manually refresh the quests up to 3 times a day and replace the undesired quests with new ones.
4. Hunter Medals gained from the first 3 quests refreshed every day at 00:00 are "doubled". Once manually refreshed, you will not get the double rewards.
[Dev Blog #23] Optimizations Coming in the New Season
We are now working on the next season of the game. We expect to introduce new content to you in the following month, which includes new skills, new heroes, season themes, and seasonal gameplay. On top of the new content, we have also focused on optimizing existing features, all with the hope to bring you a better gaming experience.
This blog will cover some of the optimizations we have been working on, most of which will go live in the new season if everything goes well.
Controller Support
We've been offering a PC version of the game since the third closed beta test. We know that everyone is keen to play the game with a controller, so we have added controller support in the upcoming season. You can choose your preferred mode of operation, whether on PC or mobile. However, there may still be some adaptation problems in the game. We'd very much welcome your feedback on the experience, and we will continue to optimize the game!
Robot Training: Invincible No.2
Training robots is quite a popular feature among Hunters. We have noticed from some recent community posts that many Hunters are wondering why we have attached limits to the maximum DPS they can record. Here, we'd like to share our views on that.
The last thing we want is for people to take DPS as the only standard to measure a battle style. It would be much preferred if you don't take it as the only goal in the game, either. We encourage everyone to focus on exploring the game mechanics and character growth while forming a style, and we hope that you will look at a battle style from different angles, e.g., the controls, the smoothness of battles, the survivability, the ability to make AoE attacks and the cost of the builds.
We will continue to optimize and iterate this function. In future planning, we hope that Invincible No.2 will have more detailed recording functions, such as which skill is the specific source of damage and the exact type of damage of a particular attack... Only in this way can the optimizations help hunters grow. Of course, suppose our assessment indicates that the new season's gameplay has higher requirements for DPS. In that case, we will also assess the upper limit of the record and make adjustments accordingly.
Info Panel
We have been striving to make all kinds of information in the game clearly presented to the Hunters, including the hunter's attributes. So we are optimizing the calculation of DPS to bring a more detailed display to the hunter's information panel:
- Added the display of information on Damage Over Time
- Added the display of Summon Skills
The old information panel mainly calculates hit damage. Now it will show more detailed information about the each builds. Though it may not be 100% accurate, we still hope this could help our hunters visualize your growth.
Others
Besides the key updates mentioned above, there are also optimizations that can greatly improve your gaming experience in details:
- When high-tier affixes appear in the gear crafting process, you will be asked to double-confirm. That will prevent people from accidentally missing out the better crafting results;
- If the random energy happens to be full during gear empowerment, the energy will no longer be further empowered, and the best energy result will be automatically reserved;
- Mini-maps can now be displayed semi-transparent in the center of the screen, which will not get in the way of battles, and the Hunters will not need to open and close them from time to time for navigation;
- Previously, if you saw a great piece of legendary gear in the Trade house, you would need to find out where it came from. The sources of drops will be available for all base items and legendary gear on the Display Panel.
- And finally, for better eye care, you can now customize the brightness of skill effects;
These are some of the recent optimizations we have been working on, and they will all be available to you in the new season if everything goes well. Please feel free to share your opinions and feedback about the game via the community!
We will share more information about the new season with you in December, stay tuned!
Limited-time Boon Event: "Eternal Crown"
November 30, 2022, 00:00 to End of Season 1 (UTC+8)
■ Event Content
The limited-time Boon event "Eternal Crown" will be available during the event. Hunters can select one of the following four Pactspirits to increase their drop rate in this event: when obtaining legendary Pactspirits, there is a 50% chance to get the Pactspirit you picked. If that didn't get you a Pactspirit you picked, the next Legendary Pactspirit you get from Boons is guaranteed to be a Pactspirit you picked.
Legendary Attack Pactspirit - Fog Scorpion, outer ring affix: +20% Attack Speed when only 1 enemy is nearby. +9% Movement Speed When at least 2 enemies are nearby.
Legendary Spell Pactspirit - Starcatcher, outer ring affix: +6% additional Cast Speed per second when Elite enemies are nearby, up to 18%. +3% Movement Speed per second when Elite enemies are nearby (up to 9%).
Legendary Survival Pactspirit - Knight of Pale Blue, outer ring affix: -40% additional Physical Damage taken when only 1 enemy is nearby. -3% additional damage taken.
Legendary DoT Pactspirit - Crossroad Walker, outer ring affix: +13% additional Ailment Damage against Cursed enemies. +23% Curse effect.
*During the event, a Rare or better Pactspirit is guaranteed within 10 Boons.
*Tap "View Details" on the event screen in the game to view more detailed rules.
Torchlight Patch Notes - November 24
Due to the upgrade of the security system, we will update the game client on 24th, Nov. Hunters need to update the entire client before entering the game. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience!
[Dev Blog #22] Dark Surge & Next Season News!
It has now been a month since the open beta of Torchlight: Infinite started. Although there were no extreme or major incidents, a series of small twists and turns and abnormal issues still caught us by surprise. Now that things have settled down in this version, we finally have time to share with you what has happened during this period of time through this developer's blog. At the same time, We will also address some issues that have generated more feedback from the community recently.
Update Principles
After the launching of Torchlight: Infinite, we've followed three principles with regard to the update frequency:
1. We roll out major updates on a seasonal basis, mainly to balance and adjust important systems such as skills, gear, heroes, talents, and drops.
2. We fix general bugs and errors on a weekly basis, which is why we usually have routine weekly maintenance.
3. We locate and fix urgent errors as soon as possible. For example, there was an error with the Ignite-related affixes earlier, which allowed Hunters to enter an abnormal invincible state. After locating the cause of such issues and making sufficient preparations, we will take down the server and implement a solution immediately to avoid giving everyone a bad gaming experience.
These three update principles should help you understand why updates were implemented so frequently around October 21.
- On October 19, we carried out the routine weekly maintenance.
- The event, Savage Shadows, started on October 20.
- An emergency server maintenance was implemented on October 20 to fix the invincibility issue caused by the problems with the Ignite affixes.
- An emergency server maintenance was implemented on October 21 to fix the invincibility issue caused by the problems with the Wilt affixes (similar to the Ignite affix the day before). However, when the maintenance was almost over, we realized that an art resource of the Savage Shadows event had been accidentally lost due to the update. As this would cause the game to crash abnormally, we extended the maintenance time to solve this issue.
- On October 22, some PC players were unable to enter the game. we managed to fix this issue with a 1-hour hotfix.
Upon reviewing the situation, we noted that the routine maintenance and several emergency maintenance events had collided. The frequent server shutdowns and maintenance during this time have obviously affected everyone's gaming experience to a certain extent. In the future, we will devise better plans to fix issues with abnormal affixes and try to implement such fixes in routine maintenance.
With regard to the build balance issues that everyone has reported, we have started working on the adjustments, but we will not implement any changes until the next season when everyone restarts because we don't want to affect the stability of the trading ecosystem in this season and don't want all your efforts so far to be in vain. Of course, we'll verify and tweak all changes internally and in a small beta server first.
Handling of Violations
We've handed out a lot of mutes and bans recently. The main reasons for the bans are as follows:
1. Using third-party botting tools to play the game automatically or earn profit.
2. Using an unauthorized channel to top up or gain unjust enrichment through the rules of third-party platforms (such as by committing credit card fraud by making malicious refunds).
We made the decision to release the Trade feature after many rounds of internal evaluation and with great determination, mainly to facilitate communication between Hunters and build a dynamic and vibrant game environment. However, we firmly disapprove profit-making activities through this feature. Please do not underestimate our determination to crack down on script-based profit-making activities and offline transactions.
Unauthorized channels mainly refer to the "use of stolen credit cards." If you take a little time to learn about this, you will know that the use of such credit cards is regarded as a gray economy practice in most countries and is not protected or supported by law. Topping up in the game in this manner doesn't generate any income for the developer. It's just like buying an item with counterfeit money—the transaction will be terminated and the item will be sent back once the seller receives the counterfeit money. The only people who benefit from this process are those who provide these services. Therefore, we call on all Hunters to not top up through unauthorized third-party channels. Remember to protect your account and property.
Of course, if you have any disputes about a ban, you can contact Player Service to appeal the ban. Our Player Service colleagues will help you as soon as possible.
New Season
Now let's talk about something everyone is probably more interested in --- the new season. We're working hard on the next season's content, and the theme is "pirates" and "plunder" related. We will launch at least one new hero and two new traits for existing heroes, as well as a batch of new skills and Legendary gears.
At the same time, we'll also bring many optimizations to the game. We've received a lot of feedback about the UI of the PC version and have heard everyone's strong desire for the support of controllers. We'll do our best to implement these two improvements in the next season. However, about adding a multiplayer mode, it will still take some time for us to develop.
The last part of this log is a Q&A session.
FAQ
Q: You keep releasing paid events but take forever to implement bug fixes and improvements. Why is that?
A: As paid events have been planned a long time ago, it doesn't take up much of our development time. As long as it is developed and configured in advance, it will automatically start at the configured time. We mostly focus on the production of the new version and improvements for the current version, but as these two things are being carried out simultaneously, many improvements and adjustments involving underlying layers of the game will be launched in the next season, so please rest assured.
Q: What will happen to the players who used the bug to get Flame Elementium earlier?
A: Maybe you've seen a screenshot of an Inventory with many stacks of 999 Flame Elementium. Such images are obviously edited. We have carefully checked all the settings and codes related to drops and can confirm that there are no related issues. If you want to see Flame Elementium dropping everywhere on the ground, you can check out the "Chaos and Invasion" gameplay guide shared by other Hunters. Using a reasonable combination of cards can improve your farming efficiency. Combine that with a little luck and the God of Might will give you great rewards.
Q: When will S1 end? What will happen to the account data after the season ends?
A: S1 is expected to end in January, and the new season is also scheduled to start in January. All your unlocked heroes, hero traits, Pactspirits, and appearances will carry over to the next season. They count as the shared assets of your account, so they can be used by all characters you create in the same account. However, this only applies when they are on the same server. For example, all characters created on the US server can only use assets of the account that are on the US server. Other things like Season Passes and Auction Booth Tabs will expire at the end of the season and will need to be repurchased in the new season. The characters of the Incoming Dark Surge season will be transferred to the permanent server after the new season starts. Hunters will need to create a new character to participate in the challenges of the new season.
Q: Lethal Flash and Frostbitten Heart can be exchanged with Hero Emblems in the next season. Then how can we get Thea, who is unlocked in the Season Pass, in the next season?
A: In the next season, Thea can be purchased with Primocryst. And in the season after that, Thea will be able to be exchanged with Hero Emblems.
That's all for this developer's log. We encourage you to share your thoughts and feedback with us through our communities, especially Discord. Torchlight: Infinite is still in the open beta phase, and we will continue to optimize and improve the game based on your suggestions and feedback. Please help us make it a better ARPG and witness the transformation of Torchlight: Infinite.
Limited-time Boon Event: "Falling Stars"
November 16, 2022, 00:00 to December 6, 2022, 23:59 (UTC+8)
■ Event Content
The limited-time Boon event, Falling Stars, will be available during the event. The following Appearances will be available during the Boon event:
- Advanced Back Accessory: Highland Warrior's Wings
- Weapon Outfit: Sinfire Curve Bow
- Skill Effect: Chain Lightning - Chain of Stars
- Body Effect: Grooving Heart
- Body Effect: Lone Star
*During the event, one of the above Appearances is guaranteed within 10 Boons. You will not obtain the same item twice.
*Falling Stars and the above outfits will not return to be available in the near future after the event ends.
Limited-time Boon Event: "Ember Matrix"
November 11, 2022, 00:00 to December 1, 2022, 23:59 (UTC+8)
■ Event Content
The limited-time Boon event, Ember Matrix, will be available during the event. The following Appearances will be available during the Boon event:
- Advanced Teleport Outfit: Synthetic Evolution
- Weapon Outfit: Sinfire Shield
- Skill Effect: Blizzard - Starfall
- Body Effect: Flame Shimmer
- Footprint: Song of Earth
*During the event, one of the above Appearances is guaranteed within 10 Boons. You will not obtain the same item twice.
*Ember Matrix and the above outfits will not return to be available in the near future after the event ends.
Limited-time Boon Event: "Glistening Water"
November 9, 2022, 00:00 to November 29, 2022, 23:59 (UTC+8)
■ Event Content
The limited-time Boon event "Glistening Water" will be available during the event. Hunters can select one of the following four Pactspirits to increase their drop rate in this event: when obtaining legendary Pactspirits, there is a 50% chance to get the Pactspirit you picked. If that didn't get you a Pactspirit you picked, the next Legendary Pactspirit you get from Boons is guaranteed to be a Pactspirit you picked.
- Legendary Attack Pactspirit - Flower Whisperer, outer ring affix: +16% additional Projectile Skill Critical Strike Damage against distant enemies. +40 Attack Projectile Skill Critical Strike Rating against distant enemies.
- Legendary Spell Pactspirit - The Bone worm's Daughte, outer ring affix: +50 Spell Critical Strike Rating per Ailment on enemies (up to 100). +6% Critical Strike Damage per Ailment on enemies (up to 12%).
- Legendary Summon Pactspirit - Whisperwind Leaves, outer ring affix: + 22% additional damage dealt by recently summoned minions. +50 Critical Strike Rating dealt by recently summoned minions.
- Legendary DoT Pactspirit - Firewing, outer ring affix: +80% Affliction effect on Full Life. +10 Affliction inflicted per second on Full Life.
*During the event, a Rare or better Pactspirit is guaranteed within 10 Boons.
*Tap "View Details" on the event screen in the game to view more detailed rules.