Torchlight 2 is a MASSIVE incline

[Metro]

Nothing really tanks well on Elite unless the character outlevels the area/monsters. The extreme gear farming is only for people who do NG+ and NG++ etc. on Elite as you can certainly finish a first run on Elite HC without any special gear if you play as ranged. Other than that one time challenge playing on Elite is like getting kicked in the nuts repeatedly, especially when you move on to NG+. Veteran isn't terribly difficult but it ramps up in Act III and gets challenging in NG+ and beyond. A fun kind of challenge where things are manageable without being painfully tedious.

 

[Stabwound]

playing on Elite is like getting kicked in the nuts repeatedly.

That about sums it up perfectly. I've been struggling along with an Elite Berserker, but it really exactly like you say. Every single fight is a struggle, and not in a good way. I'm currently at a miniboss fight where there are 2-3 bosses that repeatedly summon shit. My framerate tanks from all of the things on screen at once, and if I stop moving I die almost instantly.

The only way I've been able to progress this far at all is with the Shadow Burst skill. I basically just spam it to fill health and try to single off enemies to build the berserk bar. Although to be fair, once you berserk you can lay an absolute smackdown in the right circumstances, and most bosses can be taken toe-to-toe by potion chugging and berserking. But when you get too much shit on screen it's nearly impossible.

I'm about level 22 and seriously considering starting a new character on Veteran. This shit is just getting to me. 11.5 hours played and 77 deaths. No shit. Although to be fair, killing bosses is pretty damn satisfying on Elite.

 

[suejak]

It's interesting to see T2 suffer from the same complaints that plagued D3. People claim to want a hard game, but then they got to Inferno and decided that the game was just TOO hard. And they changed their language, too: "It cheats," "It's cheap," "It's just not fun." Well, I guess you don't want a hard game.

Would suck to develop commercial games in today's confusing game market. Everybody tries so hard to figure out what consumers want and give it to them, but then they discover that consumers differ dramatically and generally have no idea what they want.

 

[Mastermind]

Except in Torchlight you can just play on normal or casual. I got one-shotted from full health on casual once so while I've mostly steamrolled through it there is the odd challenge.

 

[Stabwound]

Don't get me wrong: it's a pleasant surprise that the game is actually difficult on the hardest difficulty, especially for a game that's aimed toward a more casual crowd. The problem is that it's taken to an extreme in my opinion. Elite is supposed to be unfair, and it is. I would argue that it's a little too far on the unfair side, but that's not a bad thing really. Torchlight 1 was piss easy even on the hardest setting. But every single fight in TL2 on Elite is like a boss fight if you start with an untwinked character. Maybe it's not even meant to be played with a brand new character without a full stash of items.

Once you get well-versed with the skills and game mechanics it's probably more fun.

 

[sser]

Elite just requires you to level smart. I don't find the difficulty tough unless I've made poor build-decisions and that's just how it should be, IMO.

 

[Metro]

I'm about level 22 and seriously considering starting a new character on Veteran. This shit is just getting to me. 11.5 hours played and 77 deaths. No shit. Although to be fair, killing bosses is pretty damn satisfying on Elite.

Just restart. Getting to level 22 on veteran will probably take no more than four or five hours. Pick a new class so it doesn't feel tedious replaying the same one again. Maybe check out the forums to look at a couple of builds -- not that you couldn't figure them out on your own but the reality is there are several abilities/mechanics that are just flat out broken and not working properly so at least you'll know what to avoid.

 

[Stabwound]

Elite just requires you to level smart. I don't find the difficulty tough unless I've made poor build-decisions and that's just how it should be, IMO.

Only problem is that you have such limited respec options that it's hard to level "smart" without looking at guides, which I don't like doing.

 

[Gurkog]

I am only about level 30 on my elite berserker and until I got good gear I was dying like crazy. I still die in 1 shot to bosses that have massive attacks, but those are usually slow enough to dodge. I have a set that gives 20% health return and that is a HUGE boon. I die a lot less now than before, but I still have to chug pots.

My tankgineer barely takes any damage except from some bosses that almost 1 shot him. He is only around 20 though. I am trying to bump up bulwark and forcefield while also getting the aoe stun move and the passive that deals massive electrical damage to stunned targets.

Overall the game is pretty darn fun and a lot better than the original Torchlight, for sure. I never tried D3 because of the always online DRM BS and I am glad I didn't because with TL2 I don't have time to waste on other ARPGs.

 

[Shannow]

Been playing for awhile now, all Berzerker.

I've got some gripes, but I'll save all except one. The armor mechanics are fucked, but knowing how can help you greatly.

Armor is a flat reduction of monster damage, which means that armor is essentially the same thing as health.

So, for instance, an armor with 30 armor will reduce monster damage by 30 points, while an armor with 10 armor and 40 health points effectively reduces it by 50. This gets especially ridiculous at end game, apparently, as armors max out at, say, 300 armor, while certain gems can give you 1.5k health, meaning the gem has 5 times the effectiveness of the armor itself. It's the same for elemental armor. A piece of equipment with 20 health points will be superior to an armor with 19 of all elemental resists, since they are flat reductions, too.

I've started a new character with this understanding. In the past I would have simply thrown out the 2 armor armor with 20 health for the 5 armor armor. At level 10 I have a chest piece that has 5 armor and 115 health. That's like an armor with, well, 115 armor.

Still having fun, though.

You realize that your conclusions are complete nonsense?
a) 50 armor vs b) 30 armor + 50 hp modifier. You consider the second to be like 80 armor and 80 > 50, right?
Assuming you have 1000 hp and enemies deal 70 dmg on average:
a) 70 - 50 = 20. You get hit for 20 dmg on average--> 1000/20 = 50. It takes 50 hits to kill you (ignoring heals and regen).
b) 70 - 30 = 40. --> 1050/40 = 26,25. It takes 27 hits to kill you (ignoring heals and regen).

And 50 hits before death is much better than 27.

In this excample you'd need a +hp modifier of 1000 to equal out the -20 armor. But of course that depends on enemy dmg and healing, etc. so it's not always as clear as here. But still.

The +hp modifier is nice and can help prevent insta-gibs, but otherwise more armor should always be the preferable option...

 

[abija]

Elite just requires you to level smart. I don't find the difficulty tough unless I've made poor build-decisions and that's just how it should be, IMO.

No, it just requires you to know level scaling magic skills are a lot better than any physical equivalent because the game has retarded mechanics. Build a physical char, no points in focus, then proceed killing bosses with 1 point in cursed daggers without any other supporting skills. That's some really good number crunching from the devs.

 

[sser]

Elite just requires you to level smart. I don't find the difficulty tough unless I've made poor build-decisions and that's just how it should be, IMO.

No, it just requires you to know level scaling magic skills are a lot better than any physical equivalent because the game has retarded mechanics. Build a physical char, no points in focus, then proceed killing bosses with 1 point in cursed daggers without any other supporting skills. That's some really good number crunching from the devs.

Focus-builds are some of the strongest in the game, actually.

 

[circ]

Yeah because someone decided to base some skills off weapon dps, and then an even weirder thing - base simultaneous dual attacks on focus, what? And weapon dps by the way work real weird. I've been under the impression for years that a faster weapon with a higher avg will give you a higher avg, but no sir, Torchlight ain't having none of that.

 

[abija]

No, focus builds are good for the reason I said before, magic damage skills that scale with level and a retarded armor mechanic.

 

[circ]

OH FUCK YEAAAR WITCH HUNTER WHAAAAT?

sadly I dropped my +poison damage outfit for this, and this is all +fire I think, but I don't care. It's pretty decent poison def though, and EVERYTHING in this goddamn place poisons. Outlander is real versatile, well, if you mostly ignore sigil path except for tower and master. Who thought purple bats was cool? Really? And why do people keep telling you to pick rune vault, when burning leap is roughly the same thing - only useful.

Also, why are people crying about rapid fire downgrade, it was garbage. I sadly picked it up but haven't used it since well, getting out of the first area. It's not even good with a shotgun. Or now it's even more garbage? Nice.

 

[Metro]

The shadowling pets are awful. Way too weak to make it worthwhile to mess around with. The level 41 required 'brute' only lasts for like ten seconds, if that.

 

[Rhalle]

The +hp modifier is nice and can help prevent insta-gibs

The armor values you can get on equipment don't even come close to the HP values. It's more like 30 armor and 250HP-- or 40 armor.

And you aren't getting hit 50 times before dying; burst damage is the only way anyone who isn't terrible dies in T2. Everything is fine and then BOOM you're dead.

But you are of course right that it isn't directly equivalent.

 

[Terpsichore]

What kills you are spells.

 

[pakoito]

What kills you are spells.

Onehit act 3 trolls were the ones killing me on Vetaran. I don't think I died to a single boss.

 

[Metro]

Bosses are manageable because most of their attacks are slow/telegraphed and can be avoided with relative ease. You're most likely to get killed in a big cluster fuck of enemies/environmental hazards/spell effects.

 

[circ]

What kills you are spells.

Most of my deaths have not been to big boss mobs at all, but to tiny things you wouldn't expect to even hit you - like a bunch of flaming swords, died almost instantly and just went what the fuck just happened? And the frost bats a few times, for some reason. Ghost bats never.

 

[abija]

The shadowling pets are awful. Way too weak to make it worthwhile to mess around with. The level 41 required 'brute' only lasts for like ten seconds, if that.

There's a passive that buffs duration and damage, ends up quite a beast.

 

[Metro]

Quite possible. Haven't bothered to get an Outlander high enough to fill out those talents.

 

[Multidirectional]

It's better to have one point in Brute and level up Death Ritual first. It won't get additional attack moves per tier, but increased duration is better. And dmg increase is the same +5% percent per skill lvl.

 

[Garmik]

Just got this game, playing a Berserker on hardest diff (that wolf skill that heals me feels kinda OP though, I'm barely using potions), it's fun-ish I guess, but I'm among the many people that are having FPS problems even though my PC should be able to handle it just fine, which really just kills any desire to play. Will have to wait for a fucking patch I guess.