Torchlight III (formerly Torchlight Frontiers)

[ADL]

Where is my Hellgate London 2 ?

It's called Warframe and it's awesome.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

Where is my Hellgate London 2 ?

It's called Warframe and it's awesome.

I don't really know that game. Can you describe it a bit if it's in the same vein as Hellgate ? Do you have a good gameplay video also ? Thanks.

 

[thesheeep]

Where is my Hellgate London 2 ?

It's called Warframe and it's awesome.

I played both and... not really.

Warframe is way more of an action game. In Hellgate: London you don't hit things by just aiming at them, your character actually has to hit - a bit similar to Morrowind.
Warframe is also defined pretty much entirely via gear, while Hellgate has a full stats & skills system.

I'd also love another Hellgate: London, but Warframe really isn't even close.
Even Borderlands is closer.

 

[Latelistener]

Borderlands, Warframe, Destiny, Division - they're all have the same idea, but may play a bit differently.

 

[Makabb]

looks like diablo 2 gameplay with bad artstyle

 

[thesheeep]

Video

looks like diablo 2 gameplay with bad artstyle

I see you are new to Torchlight.

 

[LESS T_T]

This is now Torchlight III, drops free-to-play scheme, will be playable offline: https://www.torchlight3.com/en/news-article/11350673

ANNOUNCING - TORCHLIGHT III
That’s right, Torchlight Frontiers is now Torchlight III!

If you’ve been following the development of Torchlight Frontiers, you know that we have been talking about the next steps for this title for some time now. We’re proud to announce a major change coming to Torchlight, making it the true successor to Torchlight I & II. That’s right, Torchlight Frontiers is now Torchlight III!

Along with this name change comes a major shift in our design approach to Torchlight III. Torchlight III will be released as a premium title. For one box-price, you will own the game and be able to play the way that you want, online or off. Over the past year, we have gathered massive amounts of feedback from our Alpha testers. After reviewing this feedback, discussing with our internal teams, and receiving guidance from our publisher, we determined that this was the best course for the game. This shift helps bring Torchlight back to its roots and makes it the true sequel to Torchlight I & II that it was always meant to be.

Accompanying this transition to a more traditional release, we will also be moving over to Steam as the platform for PC distribution. Everyone who had played our previous Alphas on Arc can expect to receive a Steam key in their email granting them access to further pre-release testing on Steam.

Alongside these changes to business model and distribution method, naturally there are many other exciting changes coming to Torchlight III.

• The game now follows the classic Act structure from previous titles. Players start at the Imperial Outpost besieged by goblin hordes. They then follow the trail of nether corruption into lands overtaken by Hyvid and finally reach the [redacted] Peaks and their cavernous underplaces ruled by the electrifying [redacted]
• Horizontal progression has been removed, so all Frontier-specific levels, gear stats, and scaling has been removed as well. We are returning our progression systems to better work in tandem with this.
• Most zones are now private by default to give a better play experience. Players can still meet each other in public town levels and form parties to play together in instanced combat zones.
• When creating your character, you can now select Online or Offline Mode. Characters made in Offline Mode do not require an internet connection to play, but will also not be able to participate in multiplayer games.
• We have removed the in-game real-money store.

While this is a huge sea change for Torchlight III, most of what our current players know about the game is still true:

• We will continue developing the game with constant feedback from our community through Closed Alpha (and soon Beta!) testing.
• We will continue releasing updates over the course of testing. Update 10 is coming Wednesday, January 29 at 10am PT. and brings the complete refactor into linear Acts, a third Frontier area, a fourth playable class, and a whole bunch of other new features and content.
• We plan to release the game on PC in 2020 with a console release following shortly after.
• We will continue to support the game with ongoing content updates post-launch.
• The classes, game content, features and collectibles that have been shown in Closed Alpha will all stay in the game.

We’re also taking this opportunity to adjust our approach to Alpha testing. We will be wiping character progress with the release of Update 10 and the move to Steam. At least one more wipe will be coming prior to launch so that all players will start the retail release with a fresh account. This will allow us to streamline our development development and testing methodologies. We’ll be able to release updates on a tighter schedule and our players will be able to more easily jump around the content providing us with greater feedback and deeper testing capabilities. Don’t fear, if you’ve been with us on this journey, any Alpha-exclusive collectibles you earned are being tracked and will be made available to your retail account.

There are many other changes and additions coming to Torchlight III that we are incredibly excited to discuss with you all. Please check out our official blogs and development streams for more insight into everything Torchlight III. We know you still have plenty of questions and ideas to share. Join Max Shaefer, Creator and Executive Producer behind the Torchlight franchise, and other team members on our weekly development livestream to chat about the future of Torchlight III. We’ve also prepared an in-depth FAQ detailing these changes and even more specifics, which we will keep updated as new questions come in from our players. As always, stay in touch with the team over here at Echtra on our official Discord Channel or follow us on Twitter @PlayTorchlight and Facebook for the latest information.

Finally, many thanks to our Alpha testing community who has given us invaluable feedback throughout our development period and helped to shape Torchlight III into the ultimate Torchlight experience. We couldn’t have done this without you. See you on the Frontiers.

 

[Abu Antar]

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/01/tor...ree-to-play-model-launches-for-pc-this-summer

PCPS4XBOX ONE
Torchlight Frontiers becomes Torchlight III, drops free-to-play model; launches for PC this summer
Closed alpha testing begins January 29.

Sal Romano8 mins ago

Publisher Perfect World Entertainment and developer Echtra Games have rebranded Torchlight Frontiers as Torchlight III, the companies announced. While previously announced as a free-to-play title, the action RPG will return to the premium model adapted by Torchlight I and II with a new focus on linear progression. It will launch via Steam this summer, and closed alpha testing will begin on January 29. Console versions will follow “shortly after.”

“When we started developing Torchlight Frontiers, we were focused on creating a shared-world experience,” said Echtra Games CEO Max Schaefer in a press release. “During development, you often discover what type of product a game was meant to be and we found Torchlight Frontiers was meant to be a true successor to Torchlight I and II. Based on this and extensive feedback from our Alpha testers, we decided it was time to take the game back to its roots and model it after the classic Torchlight games that action RPG fans have come to love. We’d like to thank our dedicated player base for supporting us and providing such insightful feedback during early development.”

Here is an overview of the game, via Perfect World Entertainment:

About

When Torchlight III releases on Steam this summer, players will be able to purchase the full game and play however they like (online or off) with access to all playable content. Rather than focusing on horizontal progression, the game shifts back to the familiar linear world structure that was introduced with Torchlight I and II.

Longtime Torchlight fans will be happy to hear that the game features the same mechanics that set the original series apart from other action RPGs on the market. After selecting from Torchlight III’s unique character classes, players will choose a pet to accompany them on their new adventure: a fluffy alpaca, a swift owl or a loyal canine retriever. From there, they will explore forests filled with dangerous creatures and participate in thematic quests to earn powerful rewards.

Key Features

• Travel the Frontier – Explore the wilderness, party with friends, gather materials to craft loot, use magical maps to enter unknown dungeons, or show off your spoils in town! There’s always something to do in the new frontier.
• Build & Upgrade Your Fort – It’s time to rebuild – and that includes you! Enjoy your very own fort, where you can upgrade gear, and renovate your fort to show off to your friends and the world. Build monuments of power, pet stables, and more!
• Collect Epic Gear – Whether it’s armor, weapons, dyes, recipes, ember cores, or even new pets…there’s always more to find as you battle through dungeons and take on dangerous foes. Every randomly-generated area can be replayed over and over again since each instance brings different items. Want even more epic gear? Take on a contract to earn Fame and unlock elite items.
• Pets are Back – Fight your way to fame and glory with your loyal companion! Each species comes in a myriad of colors and styles so don’t settle for the first one you find. Make them stronger by adding skills, equip them with gear to make them hardier, and together battle your way through enemies as a team.
• Build Your Hero – With four classes to choose from, utilize class-specific mechanics to maximize your damage and your odds of survival. Gather epic gear and customize your outfit to work with your hero’s unique make-up.

Classes

• Dusk Mage – An enchanter who harnesses the power of light and dark energy to conjure devastating attacks.
• Forged – A powerful robot who relies on an arsenal of weaponry to build up heat and unleash explosive assaults.
• Railmaster – A locomotive savvy powerhouse who steams into combat with a massive hammer and heavily armed battle train.
• ??? – A brand new class which will be revealed soon!

Watch a pair of trailers below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery. Visit the official website here.

 

[toro]

In other news: shit failed to become something else.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Also, that actually sounds rather good.

 

[vortex]

Will it have story and quests ?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Infinitron abuses his power to retardo my post calling out his fake news

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/necro.131690/

 

[Tweed]

Hopefully won't be as boring as Torchlight 2.

 

[Efe]

why in rpg forum though?

 

[ADL]

Hopefully won't be as boring as Torchlight 2.

It will be. Look at those class descriptions. There's going to be little to no build variety, the gameplay will be babby's first aRPG for the third time in a row and the content will add absolutely nothing new to the genre.

 

[Metro]

Torchlight 2 was great you fucking euro-slav plebs.

 

[user]

If it is more like PoE/Diablo 2 and less like Marvel Heroes shit I am interested.

You know deep inside that there's approximately 0.00001% chance of that being the case.

 

[Bara]

Well the last class is revealed - Sharpshooter

Spoiler

Update 10 - Release Notes - Torchlight III
By SoFech | Tue 28 Jan 2020 08:55:00 AM PST

NDA IS BACK IN EFFECT

Heads up friends - the NDA has changed as of Update 10. Alpha testers may not share media from the game (screenshots, video, streams, assets) in any publicly visible location.

Please continue to write about the game as much as you like, send us your feedback, and chat with other fans online and in our Discord. This is fully allowed and encouraged!


A letter from the Project Lead
It’s like a new game.

In the last 3 months, Torchlight III has undergone some massive improvements. We’ve changed from F2P to premium; removed horizontal progression; supported a new, better story; added new bosses; dramatically improved the character leveling, monster, and environment pacing; added the 3rd Act - Echonok; dressed up the new Sharpshooter class; and so much more. We are so excited to share all of this with you.

This massive wave of changes represents both a ton of new content and several responses to the Alpha feedback. Since the day we announced, we’ve heard concerns about F2P and horizontal progression. Our shift to premium and a linear world structure brings us back to Torchlight’s roots. The new story, lore objects, bosses, towns, and cinematics bring in the narrative and world building that we kept hearing was missing - from you and large parts of our team. Personally, I’m most excited about the pacing changes to character levels, monster variety, monster spawning, and environment variety. The grind is gone. Everyone wanted another character class, and after over a year of work we’re excited to reveal the Sharpshooter - a powerful and nimble ranged character.

Finally, there are dozens of other changes that dramatically improve everything from Relic crafting to gold economy, from map UIs to party play, legendary items, and skill respec. All of this iteration and improvement comes from listening to our fans, playing the game, and doing the hard work. Thanks for your part in helping make it happen.

We still have a bunch of work to do over the coming months. Placeholder content and content holes can still be found in the game. We need to do that challenging “other 90% of the work” that comes after the first 90% of the game is done. There is also a massive horde of bugs to exterminate. Nonetheless, we are excited to share where we are - even if it is rough around the edges.

We’ve said that we hadn’t planned any character wipes, and that’s been true so far: we haven’t done any wipes in the Alpha since March, 2019. However, with the change in business model and massive changes to the game, we have to change our approach to wipes. Having a high quality game at launch is now more important to all of us than keeping our Alpha progress. This makes us all sad, but maintaining our progress while making big game changes takes resources we can’t afford. However, we also know that we need feedback across this large game, and it takes time to play to the end. Shortly after Update 10, we are also going to be providing ways for Alpha testers to jump ahead to higher character levels and later frontiers. We appreciate your patience with this and look forward to everyone’s help and feedback as we improve the game.

Our Alpha updates will be coming much more frequently from here on out. So for those ready to continue the alpha adventures, hop back in and continue helping us make this a great game. Thanks to everyone for joining us on this ride and let your friends know that Torchlight III is coming in 2020!

-Tyler Thompson

Project Lead



Update 10 Release Notes

A Better World
The Frontiers have been rearranged sequentially with a new central questing storyline leading through the game start to finish, and almost all quests have been re-written around this story. Each Frontier now has its own town (Act 2 & 3 towns are work-in-progress). Towns and Passages are now the only Public areas by default, and combat instances do not respawn monsters while players are present. Players can still join a party to bring friends along for their adventure anywhere in the game.

Player gear is no longer tied to the Frontier it dropped in. Characters have a single level, with XP and power curves adjusted globally to match the new game structure. Characters should reach levels 46-50 in the main storyline, and the max character level is 100. Area sizes, tiles, layouts, and monster populations have been refreshed to give a more dynamic experience from area to area within each Act. Players will now experience much stronger variety and themes in monsters they’re facing as they travel through each area.

Given the scope and nature of these changes, progression from earlier Alpha testing will not be retained - Alpha players will start with a fresh account in Update 10. After players have put the early Act content through some testing we will add “Skip Ahead” NPCs to the game so that Alpha testers can quickly get to all corners of the content and give feedback on it. We may wipe additional times during Alpha, and progression during the Alpha and other pre-launch testing stages will be wiped a final time before Launch.

Echonok
Act 3 takes place in the mountains of Echonok and is now ready for testing! Continue your quest to put down the Netherim incursion while exploring the ancient halls of the Dwarven Architects. Step carefully as you navigate the craggy peaks where scheming Voltura have made their home, and be sure to grab plenty of new loot!

Sharpshooter
Nimble, cunning, and willing to bend the rules, the Sharpshooter uses incredible skill with ranged weapons and magical trinkets to take on enemies from afar. Most of the Sharpshooter class skills are available for testing now, with a couple more coming soon.

Precision Skill Tree

Destroy enemies from afar with shots from the Sharpshooter’s signature Bow abilities.

Ammo

The Sharpshooter consumes ammo when using Precision skills. Ammo regenerates passively over time, or through mechanics like the Reload skill.

Adventurer Skill Tree

Deploy an arsenal of dirty tricks powered by artifacts collected during the Sharpshooter’s past adventures

Adventurer Skill Buffs

In addition to each skill’s combat effect, Adventurer skills apply a buff stack which grants added power to the next three Precision skills used. These effects are different depending on which Adventurer skill was last used.

Class Exclusive Item

The Bow is a 2-Handed Ranged weapon usable only by Sharpshooter characters.



Other Class Skills
Railmaster

Shocking Rounds: Conductor tree. Causes the Turret Car to conduct electrical energy into its bullets, increasing damage and arcing to nearby enemies. Activating the skill causes the arc damage to hit even more enemies at once.

Forged

Furnace Blast: Brawl Tree. Requires Heat to cast. While channeling this skill, Heat is continually drained to power a jet of flame shooting out of the Forged's chest cannon, damaging all enemies in a line and setting them on fire.

Dusk Mage

Shadowstep: Dark tree. Uses charges. The Dusk Mage teleports to a new location while releasing a blast of energy at the start location. Hitting enemies with the energy blast returns Mana.



Relics
Electrode

Summon violent bursts of lightning and chaotic storms to blast your foes. Upgrades increase your ability to apply Stun and Shock status effects, and trigger bonus Lightning Strikes when attacking Shocked enemies.

Coldheart

Crush enemies beneath the frigid Glacier while your Ice Golem pounds them into rubble. Upgrades cause enemies who attack you to become Frozen, and drop a massive cascade of Ice Spikes during Relic activation.

Relic System Changes

• All Relics can now be crafted from the same universal type of Ember Core.
• When a new character completes the quest line to get their first Relic, they can choose to craft any of the available Relics.
• Ember Cores now drop from most end-of-dungeon bosses. Major bosses (Wideload, Strongtusk, Kronnk, etc.) have a chance to drop additional cores.
• Relics are no longer treated as weapon items, and their assets will be changed to look like powerful ancient artifacts reflective of the theme of each Relic. During Activation, the character’s equipped weapon and off-hand item are not swapped out.

Torchlight III is on Steam
Alpha participants who’ve previously gotten the game on an Arc account will have received an email containing a Steam key. Claim this key to add Torchlight III (Alpha) to your Steam Library. <Refer to this FAQ for additional details>.



Additional Features & Content
Gambler
Rahndo the Gambler has set up shop in Town. For a fee, he’ll provide a random item at the player’s current level. This is a convenient way to catch up a gear slot that has fallen behind in levels. Or burn through that extra gold rolling for a powerful drop!

Item Nameplates
Nameplates now appear for items on the ground when players hold the ALT key. Text color indicates rarity of the items. Players can click directly on the nameplate to pick up desired items.

Damage Numbers
Players can turn on Show Damage Numbers in the Options Menu. Great colorful fountains of combat numbers await!

Ally Revive
While in a party, players now enter a downed state after losing all their health. Downed players can be revived by an ally who stands inside the revive ring displayed on the ground. After a period of time, players in the downed state will fully expire and must select one of the self-revive options. The max duration of your downed state is reduced each time an ally revives you, and restored to full after travelling or using a self-revive. Hardcore characters do not enter the downed state and cannot be revived.

Ranged Weapons - Pistols & Rifles
All characters can equip the new Pistol (1 Handed) and Rifle (2 Handed) weapon types. The Sharpshooter can also use their class exclusive weapon, the Bow (2 Handed).

Legendary Gear
All legendary items have been completely overhauled with affixes that add or modify combat mechanics, and many new legendary items are now in the game. Some examples include:

• Frostwall: Activates Ice Armor when you fall to low health, briefly preventing all damage and freezing nearby enemies.
• Ragin Beater: (Forged) Ramming Robot can Vent Heat to cause an explosion at the start and end of your movement.
• Phantom Buffer: (Railmaster) Activating Ghost Train summons a spectral Railmaster to assist you in combat.
• Arc of Light: (Dusk Mage) While Light buff is active, Holy Bolt also cast Absolver for free.

Characters can now benefit from unique set bonuses by wearing multiple items from the same set. Some examples include:

• Celestial Boots: (Dusk Mage) Cast a cooldown skill to regenerate mana for several seconds. 3 Set Bonus: Doubles mana regeneration effect.
• Celestial Boots: (Railmaster) Hit with Basic attack to gain a Seismic Charge. At 10 stacks your Basic attack releases a massive damaging Shockwave. 3 Set Bonus: Gain twice as many Seismic Charges.
• Woodsbeast Wrap: On defeating a Goblin, gain Item Luck and Move Speed. Set bonus: Double the Luck and Speed bonus amounts.

This little bundle of joy is the winner of our first Community Design Challenge. Congratulations to Elve for this victory!

• Holy Icon: Summons angelic alpaca minions to blast foes with holy projectiles.

Armor Dyes
Players can now acquire Dye consumables and use them to customize each of their armor pieces. Dyes cannot be used on weapons. Dyes are currently available as Contract rewards, with additional drop sources coming in the future.

Respectacles
Characters can now earn a small number of Respectacle Points which allow them to refund a Skill Point in order to re-assign it. Respectacle Points are earned every ten levels starting at level 5, or by consuming a Respectacle item. Place the appropriate Class Skill Station in your fort to access use your available Respectacle points (currently any class can use any station. This will become class specific in a future update). Respectacles can also be spent to refund points spent in the Relic Skill tab.

Fame & Contracts
Fame points now drop from any champion or boss kill, and whenever any quest is completed (except for Account quests). The weekly fame quest/ job board mechanic has been removed. Mapworks levels can now provide an area quest when the player enters the mapworks, providing a long term source of Fame. Not all mapworks areas have this quest content yet.

The number of levels in the one-time and repeating Contract sections is re-balanced and rewards have been condensed. Fort decor items in the one-time section are replaced with recipes for those items, allowing players to craft as much of that item as they desire after the recipe is unlocked. Additional reward types have been added: Dyes, Respectacles, and Enchanting recipes.

New Monsters
In addition to a wide variety of new monsters found in the Echonok Mountains, Goblin and Hyvid-Infested zones have been populated with new enemies.

Thorned Strider

This hulking treant will make the very ground beneath you a treacherous place to be. Watch for its many patterns of vine-spikes, which adapt on the fly to your tactics.

Burrower

A behemoth-sized, armor-plated insectoid. This beastly bug is tough to bring down, akin to Stone Elementals or Netherim Brutes, and can dig a tunnel into the ground to reposition and protect itself.

Netherim Herald

This one, we’ll let you encounter for yourself. The Netherim have arrived.

Shrines
Shrines needed a power boost. When found, Shrines should make you feel a significant gain in effectiveness and power. In Update 10, Shrine durations are reduced to 20 seconds (down from 45), but each has a more potent effect:

Speed Shrine

Increases movement speed by 30% (down from 50%), but also increases attack speed by 60%.

Healing Shrine

Restores 33% of your maximum health per second, up from 20%.

Skill Shrine

Replaces the Shrine of Energy. Reduces all cooldowns by 50% while active instead of increasing resource regeneration. This evenly affects all characters in an impactful way, rather than resource management which has different mechanics in each class.

Might Shrine

Now raises your Critical Hit Chance to 100% for the duration rather than increasing raw damage.

Smoldering Shrine

Replaces the Fire Defense Shrine. Gives 100,000 Fire Defense and causes Fire Novas to pulse from you every second.

Plague Shrine

Replaces the Poison Defense Shrine. Gives you 100,000 Poison Defense and causes Poison Novas to pulse from you every second.



Other Improvements

• Character Customization: Controls for face, hair, hair color, and skin color have been added to the Character Create flow. A few selections are available for now, with a whole bunch more coming down the art pipeline.
• Overlay Map: Players can now have the area mini-map display in full size over the center of the screen. The default control is [Tab] to cycle the minimap between appearing in the top right of the HUD, or over the center of the screen. The center-screen map display is hidden while your character is moving or attacking.
• Improved the Loot Fountain™ technology: Items spread out better on the ground, spray more gloriously through the air, and are timed better with the death of monsters and chest-opening animations.
• Enchanting Tutorial: There is now a short quest line introducing the Enchanting feature and guiding players to create the required building in their Fort.
• Shock Status vs. Players: Characters afflicted by the Shock status effect cannot activate their Relic or cast their Relic Active Skill for the duration. If these skills are already on cooldown, the cooldown duration is paused while the player is Shocked.
• Pet Behavior Improvements: Pets have universally been sent to doctorate level obedience school, allowing them to better follow the player and engage in combat like the high performers we all want them to be.
• Improved Tethering: Monsters no longer dance at the edge of their tether range and instead return to their spawn location after passing the leash range.
• Player Movement: Tons of work has gone into smoothing player movement and navigation to reduce cases where characters get stuck on edges & corners, or find themselves rooted in place unintentionally.
• Minion Indicators: All player-summoned minions now have a green ring on the ground under them, making it easy to distinguish player summons from enemy monsters.

 

[Machocruz]

They just hire anyone to design characters these days

 

[Metro]

Some similar/additional info from their latest Twitch stream:

* Ability to mod not currently supported, not certain if it will be added.

* Switch version possible/probable.

* Pricing: Not $60, but something "reasonable."

* Endgame is currently Mapworks (from TL2) and Contracts

* Contracts are tied to fame and unlock recipes, items, upgrades for your fort, etc.

* Gear has enchantment 'slots' (possibly takes the place of gems?).

* Relics: An item you equip that adds a skill tree with an active and passive abilities; sort of like giving your character a sub-specialty. Recipes for these available at the start and you unlock them with "ember cores" that drop from bosses.

* Character Customization: You can change the head of your character.

* Leveling rate is consistent throughout the game.

* Itemization: sometimes grey/white items of higher level will be better than slightly lower level rare uncommon items.

* Ability to toggle/disable mouse movement so you can move purely through WASD keys.

* Fort has monuments like the Luck Tree that, when leveled, will increase your Luck (magic find) account-wide.

* You can use other people's enchanters/npcs if you visit their Forts.

* "Respec-ticles" an item that allows you to change your skillpoints, will be in-game from the start. Allow you to clear 'early skills' to allot to later skills after you've unlocked them from leveling, etc.

* Hardcore Monument: Still in design, possibly gives you credit for every level earned on Hardcore Characters and spend them on the monument; gives you bonus to Hardcore mode characters.

*Fishing still not in the game. RIP.

 

[ADL]

It's gonna be amusing to see whether or not this is received well considering back when Torchlight 1&2 released, Path of Exile and Grim Dawn didn't exist and the most recent competition in the aRPG genre had been Titan Quest released five or six years prior.

 

[Bara]

I wonder if they don't do modding does that mean they'll actually do expansions this time?

Like I'd prefer to have modding no matter what but their excuse for not releasing any expansions for torchlight 1 or 2 is that the community can make them with mods.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Where is my Hellgate London 2 ?

It's called Warframe and it's awesome.

I played both and... not really.

Warframe is way more of an action game. In Hellgate: London you don't hit things by just aiming at them, your character actually has to hit - a bit similar to Morrowind.
Warframe is also defined pretty much entirely via gear, while Hellgate has a full stats & skills system.

I'd also love another Hellgate: London, but Warframe really isn't even close.
Even Borderlands is closer.

That was the mistake of Hellgate: London that ended up hurting it so much. Those kinds of abstracted for isometric systems done work in first or third person when you also give the playing an aiming reticle, free aiming movement like a modern FPS, and direct control of the character. It should have had a lock-on system for ranged attacks, so you're brain isn't thinking about it funtioning like a FPS but not working like one. It just doesn't feel right when you put your aiming reticle on something, fire, and then don't hit the thing it was clearly on. It's like it's taking how you know video games should work and then telling you it's wrong.

I can't remember, I want to say only the ranged attacked work that way and melee attacks did hit if you hit. They may have also made the ranged attacks more action game like in later versions of Hellgate.

 

[frajaq]

interested to see if this hooks me away from Path of Exile but really doubt it

 

[thesheeep]

That was the mistake of Hellgate: London that ended up hurting it so much. Those kinds of abstracted for isometric systems done work in first or third person when you also give the playing an aiming reticle, free aiming movement like a modern FPS, and direct control of the character. It should have had a lock-on system for ranged attacks, so you're brain isn't thinking about it funtioning like a FPS but not working like one. It just doesn't feel right when you put your aiming reticle on something, fire, and then don't hit the thing it was clearly on. It's like it's taking how you know video games should work and then telling you it's wrong.

Nah, you're wrong.
That kind of aiming worked just fine in Morrowind or Daggerfall (IIRC), for example.
It's simply RPG-combat instead of action combat.
It is fine with first person perspective and requires no changing - though certainly a better explanation would have been welcome. I can see how some would have been initially confused by it.

The mistakes of Hellgate: London have been discussed to death by now. The tl;dr: is that the game was killed by its catastrophic launch, ludicrous business/subscription scheme, technical problems and devs went broke so soon they could barely push out content and patches. Basically everything around the game was botched, but not the core gameplay.