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What a weekend!

If you haven’t checked it out, please read the Torchlight 3 Early Access {LINK REMOVED}State of the Game from Tyler. It has some great info about the current state of the game and what is coming up for Torchlight 3 during Early Access.

For those who are just joining us on the Frontier, these might not be as useful for you, but for our former Torchlight 3 testers, this list includes a bunch of fixes and updates from where we left off in Closed Beta.

The Railmaster class is getting an Endurance update. Endurance used to be a skill resource that would empty a set amount when a skill was activated. When you ran empty on Endurance you could not activate skills until your Endurance was replenished. Endurance is no longer a resource to activate skills, but will now activate extra effects. Per Torchlight 3 designer Michael -

“Over the years of iteration on the Railmaster, the Endurance resource had been used in fewer and fewer places. By the end of closed alpha, it was applied to just 5 skills, which in practice meant that builds were wise to just choose one Endurance spender since so many other skills were available that used cooldowns instead. It became apparent that the Railmaster truly favored 'time' as the resource that gated when skills could be used. Endurance, in a practical context, only served as the cooldown for whichever skill you were using as its primary spender.

It became clear that there was an opportunity to improve the Railmaster's gameplay by accepting 'time' as the primary resource, converting the few remaining Endurance spending skills to have their own independent cooldowns instead of having Endurance be the effective cooldown. In doing so, we immediately opened up new possibilities for what Endurance could do for the Railmaster. After some deliberation and discussion, we landed on a mechanic that did not restrict skills in any way, since restrictions are already imposed by cooldowns, but instead offers pure upside bonuses. The Railmaster's resource gameplay becomes about A) choosing which skill's bonus is most important to you in a given moment, and B) trying to improve gains to that resource such that you can get more and more bonuses.

Every time your resource is full, you can make a decision among the skills on your bar in the combat scenario you are in. Do you need a summoned ally, or a big burst of AoE damage, or perhaps a longer-lasting buff effect for sustained benefit? This creates a much more engaging core gameplay flow for the Railmaster than what was available before, and is more in line with the complexity of the Dusk Mage with their Dark/Light charge bars, or Forged with managing Vent skills and heat buildup.”

The Fort now comes equipped with a “Store All” feature, the Sharpshooter has more customization options, and there are a variety of Relic updates/fixes. Alongside some balancing to general gold drops, Fort resource refining times and prop cost have been drastically reduced.

We’ve also patched fixes for a variety of travel issues, skill point bugs, and non-functional items/skills.

Until next time, thank you again for continuing to test and providing your feedback / bug reports at https://tl3feedback.echtragames.com! Visit our Roadmap and Community Info board here for more details.

See you in-game!
- Echtra Bean







GENERAL

• Fixed issue where players would warp into an endless blue void instead of their Fort level.
  
• Railmaster warp pad issue fixed (crossing fingers).
  
• Skill point issues where you could get too many points, or get stuck unable to spend points, are fixed.
  
• Removed map vendors from town (this clears the way for [unrevealed post-game experience] to shine).
  
• Deactivated Contracts - to be unlocked later in Early Access.
  
• Reset settings should also reset video resolution (this is mostly fixed).
  
• Fixed an issue where changing a character's difficulty level to any other level puts the character on normal.
  
• Fixed an issue that made it possible to form a party with a player of another difficulty when inviting them manually using their name.
  
• Updated the following achievement descriptions ("collect" to "equip"):
  • Legendary Set - Equip 7 different legendary sets.
    
  • Celestial Garb - Equip the legendary Celestial set.
    
  • Cosmic Garb - Equip the legendary Cosmic set.
    
  • Woodsbeast Garb - Equip the legendary Woodsbeast set.
    
  • Skittering Garb - Equip the legendary Skittering set.
    
  • Musketeer Garb - Equip the legendary Musketeer set.
    
  • Arc-Powered Garb - Equip the legendary Arc-Powered set.
    
  • Mountain King's Garb - Equip the legendary Mountain King set.
  
  
• Fixed "Legendary Set" achievement to properly count equipped legendary sets.
  
• Fixed issue with “Equip Items with Trait Greater Than" task type does not recognize progress made for required achievement count.
  
• Fixed the following achievements that were not counting legendary set items: Arc-Powered Garb, Celestial Garb, Cosmic Garb, Mountain King's Garb, Musketeer Garb, Skittering Garb, Woodsbeast Garb
  
• Added additional internal statistics to help us track certain player progression points (Fort activity, item drops, etc).

USER INTERFACE

• Updated game start menu with Early Access details and other info.
  
• Updated in-game help menu info.
  
• Added icons for remaining wardrobe fort props.
  
• A non-functional "More Info" button prompt no longer appears on some tabs in the skills menu.
  
• Added Legendarium icon.
  
• Added Legendarium info panel.
  
• Fixed an issue with Players get an alert notification about New Skills Unlocked before they are able to access the feature in the Legendarium.
  
• Fixed an issue where the skill assignment bar could disappear permanently after going to the empty Relic tab or the Legendarium tab.
  
• Added "In Multiplayer " to the beginning of the description for the difficulty selection.
  
• Integrated player badges into the social menu.
  
• Added new lore speaker portraits.
  
• Players can no longer open menus or interact with the UI while the loading screen is up (other than modals that specifically ask to show over the load screen).
  
• Fixed item tooltip message about incorrect class or too-low level overlapping with luck points in the Luck Tree UI
  
• Fixed incorrect class messages not showing up and the item dimmer also not showing up for Forged cannons in the inventory for other classes.
  
• Fixed issue with options menu failing to scroll when selection pointer goes beyond what's shown on screen with a Gamepad.
  
• Fixed quest titles appearing in the wrong color.
  
• Exiting an option screen should now consistently bring the player back to the previous "Main Menu" screen.
  
• Fixed white square that appears in crafting buildings and removed an extra Arc website link.
  
• Fixed issue with incorrect area highlighted in the 'Frontier Map' for current area at multiple locations.
  
• We are removing the Damage over Time section of the item tooltips. While many weapons will give some change of extra damage to things happening, some elements do more indirect things - which isn't really damage over time. We think removing this part of the UI will make things less confusing.
  
• Added the social context right click menu to the party widget.
  
• Added a loading screen tip about the town gambler.
  
• Added loading screen tips about movement skills.
  
• Added loading screens should teach players about our character system.
  
• Fixed Fort props in the Contract screen not previewing the prop.
  
• Fixed an issue where focus could be lost in other screens after opening the Contract menu.
  
• Changed Hide UI keybind to F10 and exposed in the keybindings menu.
  
• Updated the character customization menu to provide more UI flexibility for options with varying amounts.
  
• D-pad is used for social options instead of X and A.
  
• Fixed gamepad with the difficulty panel; tt now gives focus back to parent when it is closed and also plays "hovered" animation when focused on a difficulty widget.
  
• Fixed problem with voice and text chat failing to function.

QUESTS

• Added Movement Skills tutorial at level 10.
  
• Added an account tutorial quest to introduce Gambler NPCs.
  
• Improved story quest rewards. Updated story quests with gear rewards starting after "Unearthed Evidence" to award lifebound versions of the items.
  
• Added an additional required task in "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" to defeat Algramath, Warden of the Falls.
  
• Fixed quest task in "Sadistic Sorcery" to complete after talking to Wolfram.
  
• The player no longer gets stuck casting when double right clicking the quest tracker.
  
• Added optional side quests to Hyvid Hatchery and Crystal Passage.
  
• Updated activating and deactivating tasks so that the Netherbloom can't be interacted with or spawn until players get the task for it.
  
• Quests with tasks for the current area are now sorted in the quest tracker before quests without tasks for the current area.

ITEMS & GEAR

• Smoothed out animations and added glow to the active shield.
  
• Reduced the amount of each gold drop by about 60%.
  
• Reduced how many gold drops that champions and bosses drop to about half of what they were.
  
• Standardized the gold drops from chests to be standard gold drops.
  
• Players now don't automatically pick up gold when the player reaches the gold limit.
  
• Fixed an issue where sometimes one handed weapons were spawning without a damage affix.
  
• Set the starting railhammer to be the Rusty Railhammer instead of some random other common quality railhammer.
  
• Bow remains visible during Targeted Strikes Triple shot.
  
• Increased the duration for Bleed affix at all qualities.
  
• Item affixes that affect the Slammer tree now refer to it by that name instead of Lineage.
  
• Dusk Mage basic Mace attack now progresses cleanly through two swings and Matches timing of all other players.
  
• Railmaster ‘Pistol Equip’ now plays properly.
  
• Forged basic staff attack with treads now progresses through three attacks cleanly.
  
• Fixed wrist click during staff fidgets when ball and snake Forged locomotion are equipped.
  
• Fixed a rare case where when we would attempt to drop rare or legendary armor, it could instead lead to you getting nothing.
  
• Fixed Rare and Legendary shields not being able to drop outside of the gambler (again).
  
• Added the ability to override visibility of armor pieces when another piece of armor is equipped.
  
• The 'Ebon Grasp' Legendary now fires a barrage of Unholy Bolts instead of a single one when Energy Spike is used while Dark Buff is active.
  
• Doompipe Legendary reworded to 'Mortar and Flamethrower always have their Endurance Bonus and do not spend Endurance', and Doompipe's effects becomes the Endurance Bonus.
  
• Shotgonner's Shield legendary reworded to 'Shotgun and Shield always have their Endurance Bonus and do not spend Endurance', and Shotgonner's Shield's effects becomes the Endurance Bonus.
  
• Snecko Stick - Rebuilt to be compatible with Legendarium. The item itself retains its natural ranged attack, but the affix lists only the poison bolts.
  
• Centrifugal Demolisher - Now also grants Hammer Spin some bonus damage.
  
• Berserk Crusher - Now grants an extra charge to Pound and Spike Drive.
  
• Blast Breaker - Now states 'Blasting Charge always gains its Endurance Bonus, and does not spend Endurance'.
  
• Stinging Wing - Now makes Flying Picks regenerate charges twice as fast rather than making it cost no Endurance.
  
• Tome of Zul-Tava - Fixed an issue where this was appearing with Doompipe's affix. The Tome is in development and is now not dropped.
  
• Storm Driver - Fixed this legendary affix never firing its effect.
  
• Fixed cases where the same lore item could drop multiple times in the same area from the "Curious Pneumatic Drum" gadgets.
  
• Fixed being able to get potions into "flippy lock" when you're full up on potions and the potion is at the very edge of your auto pickup radius.
  
• Fixed crash that occurs while attacking with the Snecko Staff legendarium affix slotted.
  
• Fixed problem with some item details showing up with just numbers.

RELICS

• Fixed issue with Relic stash not showing new relic after creating it.
  
• Changed Flaming Destroyer targeting to direction instead of location. It now rotates to orient before activating.
  
• Fixed an issue where Flaming Destroyer's activation smash didn't trigger procs correctly.
  
• Increased Bane active skill damage from 90% to 140% weapon damage, and indicated in the tooltip that it does damage on impact and with poison.
  
• Disabled rotation and get hits on frozen characters.
  
• Shocked no longer has a DoT component, only focuses on the damage. The ElementalDamage for Shock now is what decides the damage the Shock bolts deal, instead of them always dealing 70% Weapon Damage.

FORTS

• Updated default fort with the same layout but with less clutter.
  
• Created 'Clear All' Fort Function.
  
• Traveling to Trevail's Passage will now take you to the party leader's fort.
  
• Fixed an issue where players couldn't load into forts in Act 3 passages.
  
• Greatly reduced the resource refining times to a range of 5 seconds - 1 minute, depending on quantity.
  
• Greatly reduced the resource costs for fort decorations.
  
• Somewhat reduced the gold costs for Magic and Rare quality fort decorations.
  
• Fixed Wardrobe Statues to use normal maps properly.
  
• Fixed strange item behavior from occurring when swapping items from a wardrobe prop to the player.
  
• Fixed an issue where opening the customization menu in Fort for the first time upon entering gameplay causes the menu to close itself immediately after.
  
• Monument polish (textures and UI).

PETS

• Set the minimum level for poison pet defense (primary) affix to level 16.
  
• Set the minimum level for electrical pet defense (primary) affix to level 31.

MONSTERS

• Fixed some infrequent occurrences of spawning a couple monsters at the same time in the same place.
  
• Fixed an issue where Brall wouldn't respawn if the players were defeated in Painful difficulty or higher.
  
• Fixed Brall's Wolf, which hadgained the health bonuses Brall has gained in recent passes, which was unintended.
  
• Brall's health increased ~40%.
  
• Brall's phase changes now happen a little earlier, with her final phase beginning at 50% HP.
  
• Fixed an issue where Brall's illusions sometimes would spawn at full health instead of Brall's health percentage.
  
• Brall's Nether Well Arrow cooldown reduced to 5s (down from 10s), and the hazards it spawns now last 20s (up from 10s)
  
• Boss Health increased to a baseline of 70 (up from 32), +120% from prior. This is mostly as a reaction to Tyler's recent non-act boss videos which shows those like Kronch dying in sub-30 seconds on multiple characters and builds, and on Hard mode. A big swing is warranted. Exceptions to this are: Yapper who remains at 15, and Bruce Killis who stays close to where he was at 35. The 5 named bosses that are not act-end (IE Strongtusk) go up to 100 (up from 70). Brall and Sadista go up to 140 (up from 100). Ordrak remains where he was at 200. Experience is also going up - these had far lower ratios of TTK-XP than normal monsters did. They are now comparable, roughly 1.5x their health curve across the board.
  
• Reduced the minimum range that the Blazing Custodian Automatons need to perform their ranged attack.
  
• Shuffled around some hub boss encounters so that larger bosses have more space to maneuver.
  
• Fixed issue with monsters not immediately gaining the defense buff when spawned within the Hyvid Armor Crystal buff radius.
  
• Fixed issue with Skeletal Archers spawned by Lilly Bonebreaker being nearly immortal.
  
• Fixed Psora boss from being defeated effortlessly when standing outside of the boss arena.
  
• Removed two coils near Shriekbeak spawn so that players are not immediately killed.
  
• Moved Sadista’s Lobby for Arena.

ENVIRONMENT

• Fixed the imperial guard corpse that drops a lore item not appearing in Fields of Unrest.
  
• Fixed NPC animations that restarted whenever an NPC with a quip is clicked.
  
• Removed the problematic infested mapworks dungeon that ends in Frackmaster 2000.
  
• Fixed an issue where cutscene could become unskippable after using the gamepad button toshow in-game menu.
  
• Prevented the unneeded "Earth Ember Deposit" harvesting nodes from appearing in any dungeons.
  
• Refine Ropes for Character Create ship.
  
• Fixed spawn locations to prevent players from spawning under the play area.
  
• Increased the length of Sunken Ruins to get it closer to the target duration and give more opportunities/places for lore gadgets and for things to spread out a bit.
  
• The Gambler needed a better house in Trevail Point. He now has one.
  
• Moved General Graye a bit so it is easier to see her interact icons and rotated her storage chest into a more natural orientation.
  
• Removed playtest NPCs from all towns.
  
• Reduced jittering in player movement.
  
• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck and jitter in an open area where it looks like they should be able to move.
  
• Added swarms of triggered bats and flyers to levels.
  
• Fixed hard edges which were being caused by the player light.
  
• Fields of Unrest polish.
  
• Central Seal polish.
  
• VFX Updates/Fixes:
  • Breakable Shadow Fading fix.
    
  • Large rocks clip through the environment in 'Chop Shop'
    
  • Sharpshooter Skill "Rizzi's Fate" Milestone revisions (work in progress).
    
  • Revised the character select ghost materials so the transparency is a little less grainy.
    
  • Added additional visual to fire hazards to warn players.
    
  • Fixed warp locations in Firebelly Stronghold.
    
  • Fixed a particle sorting issue.
    
  • Fixing issue with leaf shadows.
    
  • The game now renders inexpensive Blob Shadows in the lowest Shadow Quality setting, instead of no shadows at all. This is the default on lower-end PCs.
    
  • Blazing Monster Affix update.
    
  • Reworked Speed Shrine FX / overhead and lighting.
    
  • Fixed extra navmesh is present on the broken bridge asset in Cave of Sorrows.
    
  • Fixed extra navmesh located at the edge of the map in the Lost Woods.
    
  • Clockwork Boss Arena: Converting Translucent floor into parallax mapped opaque material (work in progress).
    
  • Fixed Phase Beast loses its material glow as it begins its death fade.
    
  • Wardrobe Statues no longer have occlusion.
    
  • Corrupted Crystal revisions.
    
  • Fixed issue with overhead VFX can appear before monsters do on certain spawns.
    
  • Texture cleanup on for_2k_locomotion treads.
    
  • Fixed an issue where Harvesting animations would continue infinitely until another key was pressed. They now end when the harvest action is completed.
    
  • Fixed an issue where Railmaster train car tops were offset horizontally from their sockets.
    
  • Removed the train FX above the Railmaster's head when in Lay Track mode.
    
  • Fixed Dusk Mage pop animation when stopping or starting moving when carrying a great weapon.
    
  • Fixed Dusk Mage elbow that pops backwards while idling with a pistol and focus.
    
  • Fixed issue with Sacrifice the Goose having a big orange polygon.
    
  • Fixed idle pose mixes that start and end with walking animation on Forged and Duskmage when holding Great Weapon.

CLASSES

GENERAL

• Fixed client-server sync issues with Nether Wells.
  
• Adjusted all player-facing skills to use a new version of the "as percent" blueprint node, which should eliminate all instances of skills ever having more than two numbers after the decimal.
  
• Fixed other players getting stuck in their casting animation when they finish their portal skill.
  
• Fix for Servo-Driven Uppercut and mace skills (and other skills that are single-target) not hitting sometimes.

SHARPSHOOTER

• Added more Sharpshooter customization options (work in progress).
  
• Fixed issue with Ghost Visage Tier 3 bonus causing the Shasta's status effect icon to be displayed when the skill is used.
  
• Fixed Heartseeker’s Bleed status effect missing mouseover text.
  
• Onslaught Tier 3 bonus now deals 75% weapon damage with Explosive Arrow detonate.

RAILMASTER

• Fixed issues with the tier 3 bonus on Shocking Rounds.
  
• Blasting Charge now refers to Vulnerability by name, so the tier 1 milestone refers directly to a described effect.
  
• Endurance Update:
  • Endurance becomes not a resource to activate skills, but rather one to trigger extra effects.
    
  • Dealing damage causes Endurance to rise at a fixed rate (still increasing from affixes/items, so itemization hooks remain).
    
  • When Endurance is full, any non-Train skill will consume Endurance for bonus effects. Endurance never decays.
    
  • Skills can still be used as normal without Endurance, spending their cooldowns/charges accordingly.
  
  
• Endurance Bonuses:
  • Pound (2s cooldown, 3 charges) - Endurance Bonus: Gain 50% attack speed and 50% damage with Basic Attacks for 10 seconds.
    
  • Blasting Charge (4s cooldown, 2 charges) - Endurance Bonus: Throws a cluster of 3 charges instead of just one (Legendary that used to do this now states “Blasting Charge always has its Endurance Bonus”)
    
  • Hammer Spin (same as current) - Endurance Bonus: Gain all charges of Pound, Blasting Charge, and Flying Picks.
    
  • Flying Picks (4s cooldown, 2 charges) - Endurance Bonus: Summon an immobile Ancestral Spirit who throws Picks at enemies
    
  • Lantern Flash (same as current) - Endurance Bonus: When the burn duration ends or the enemy dies, they explode for large damage in an aoe
    
  • Torque Swing (same as current) - Endurance Bonus: A whirling hammer is sent forward (slow moving missile)
    
  • Spike Drive (1 charge, does not gain charges naturally) - Gains a charge when you use an Endurance Bonus.
    
  • Ghost Train (8 sec cooldown, 2 charges) - Endurance Bonus: 2 more Ghost Trains are cast following the first one.
    
  • Shield Car Endurance Bonus: Heals you and nearby allies for 100% of maximum HP
    
  • Shocking Rounds Endurance Bonus: Increases Endurance regeneration rate by 50% while active.

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Hey Torchlight Fans,

Torchlight 3 is now available on Steam Early Access.

First off and foremost, we want to thank the community of Alpha and Closed Beta testers who provided incredible support and feedback to our team. Your bug reports and countless hours playing the game continues to make it a better experience for all of the Torchlight community. At Echtra, we believe in listening to our fans to improve the game, and with our tester’s help we made several major changes over the last 18 months - including renaming the game and changing the business model. For those of you who are just joining us and are interested in the game’s development,check out our previous blog posts and Twitch streams.

As we progress through Early Access on our way to Launch, we will provide a regular State of the Game update. This first update is unique in that it focuses less on “what’s changing?” and more on “what is this game?” For many players, this is the start of their journey with Torchlight 3, and we welcome you! Hopefully, this post helps catch everyone up on what’s in Torchlight 3.

Before we go through the content and feature headlines, I want to briefly talk about Torchlight 3’s character system. In many ARPG’s the vast majority of a character’s strategy comes from class skills. Character class skills are important in Torchlight 3, but other aspects play a large role in a character’s power too. Relics, pet skills, legendarium skills, enchanting, weapon type, and legendary items come together to really make a big impact. Relics in particular can be a huge part of a character’s success - with 2 active skills and several powerful passive effects. (Relics will also be getting some significant improvements in our first big Early Access patch.) So make sure to include all 5 skill tabs when looking at how to build your character - the combinatorics are vast.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1030210/

STATE OF THE GAME #1: LAUNCHING EARLY ACCESS
Our goal for Early Access is to continue to improve the game together with you. Here’s what’s in store for Torchlight II players right now:




CLASSES
Torchlight 3 will have four classes at launch: Sharpshooter, Forged, Railmaster, and Dusk Mage. Our goal has been to offer some interesting, new ARPG classes that players will enjoy exploring.

The Sharpshooter strikes with a combination of ranged weapons and magical trinkets that unleash powerful spirits. Nimble, cunning, and willing to bend the rules to acquire the tools they need, they can use bows to unleash a number of special attacks to slay enemies at range. They do not fight alone, either. To boost their attacks the Sharpshooter can activate any one of their magical trinkets they’ve acquired through their adventures to boost their attacks and channel the spirits of beings to battle alongside them.

The Dusk Mage taps the power of Ember by balancing the forces of light and dark. Fleet of foot, mysterious and elusive, the Dusk Mage channels the light with precise ranged attacks, while embracing the chaotic darkness with destructive curses and multi-target missiles. There are big bonuses for alternating light and dark skills, encouraging Dusk Mages to use precision or chaos depending on the situation.

The Forged, a true mechanical marvel, has the soul of a genuine hero. Equipped with a chest cannon to take down foes from afar and a host of mighty melee moves, the Forged uses strength, heat, and an indomitable spirit to slide through foes. Whether generating heat to grind opponents to a pulp, or incinerating monsters with vent mechanics, the Forged is a technological tour de force with lots of heart.

As a guardian of the Frontiers, the Railmaster can engineer a solution for every problem. Followed by a literal train of pure explosive destruction, the Trailmaster can pound and blast enemies into oblivion while shielding their party from harm. Friendly, loyal, and always ready to battle, the Railmaster is always on track for action.




DIFFICULTY - There are five difficulty levels in Torchlight 3: Practice, Normal, Hard, Painful, and Ridiculous. In multiplayer, players can show off the lowest difficulty at which you have played this character through their shield. You may only be in a party with characters at the same difficulty level. Lowering your difficulty level will permanently change this character's difficulty shield.




ACT 1: GOBLIN FOREST - Riddled with goblins and fire based mayhem, this forest is home to several locals including the dangerous and murky depths of Lake Gobdunk. Players visiting this landmark might find themselves in the Belly of the Beast, facing off against Strongtusk, a Netherim Thrall. Players can congregate and gather in groups in Trevail Point, a local town known for its simple fare and the presence of General Graye, a commander for the forces on this continent.




ACT 2: INFESTED FOREST - Poison-filled passages full of many-legged creatures await adventurers willing to battle through the Infested Forest. After finding a way through many creepy-crawly caverns of the Twilight Depths, players who dare enter the Netherim Chamber will find themselves confronting Sadista, whose monstrous form now controls the Hyvid through corrupted ember.




ACT 3: ??? - Alpha and Closed Beta testers may notice that Act 3 is currently unavailable, along with some mechanics related to Act 3. We plan to release this Act during Early Access after some final polish and testing. Concentrating players in the first two Acts will also help focus the feedback we’re getting in the first stage of Early Access and allow us to make changes to Act 3 before it goes live.

Because of this, we have also locked some other elements of the game that really belong together with Act 3, including disabling the Contracts system.




CONTRACTS - While currently turned off until the release of Act 3, Contracts provide players with an array of unlockable items including consumables like gold and resources, additional pets and storage, and a huge variety of fort props. Players can complete Contracts by earning Fame, which is gained by completing quests and killing notable monsters.




PETS - It wouldn’t be Torchlight without Pets! From the beginning of your journey you will be able to select from three different pets who can help you destroy enemies in battle. During your conquests you can collect new pets, each varied in visual style and skills, and swap between them via your Fort’s Pet Shelter. Your pets can haul collected treasure from the frontier to town to sell and have their own equipment slots to manage and upgrade.




FORTS - Adventurers on the frontier can reclaim their territory and gather resources to build a customized fort to store their plundered items and gear. Other players can see your fort as they journey through the world and will visit it to do various activities. There are three types of fort props that can be collected throughout the game; functional, storage, and decoration. Functional items include crafting (Enchanter’s Altar, Reliquary, and resource refining), monuments (see below), and skill stations (which allow players to retrain their class skills). Storage props allow players to stash currently unneeded items, pets, and gear away, while decorative items will make your Fort distinctly unique. Fort props can be found as quests rewards and in Contracts (once unlocked) and with hundreds of props to find and build, no one fort on the frontier will be the same as another.




RELICS - Relics are a vital part of a character. Choose wisely! Relics are unlocked and managed through the Reliquary in your Fort. Relics level up as you fight, unlocking new passive bonuses for the players to choose from. Level 5 also unlocks the gold-bordered active skill - which you can place in the action bar alongside character class skills. Additionally, relics have passive mechanics to aid in your character’s build,and a powerful relic activation skill ideal for screen-clearing moments when faced by overwhelming odds.




MONUMENTS - There are many monuments you can build in your Fort including the Luck Tree. These monuments require a sacrifice in order to level-up, but will provide you with powerful bonuses that will aid you on your Torchlight 3 playthroughs. Other people who travel to your Fort can also sacrifice items to gain an additional boost.




LEGENDARIUM - The Legendarium allows additional passive skills to be added to your character’s powers. Select a Slot on the right of the Legendarium screen to browse your available skills. To unlock additional Legendarium skills, find Legendary items in the game and break them down at the Enchanter’s Altar in your Fort. Additional Legendarium skill slots are unlocked as you level up, and you can change your equipped Legendarium skills at any time.




TORCHLIGHT 3 TOWNS - Each Act in Torchlight is accompanied by a town full of vendors and NPCs. Vendors are available to sell you potions and basic gear, while the local gambler will tempt your luck in finding that desperately needed Legendary item. When playing in multiplayer you’ll see up to 40 other players in town with you. It is more likely that you will find players in your region, but you can always group up with others by opening the social menu and inviting your friends there.




SOCIAL FEATURES - Want to wander the frontier with friends? You can invite up to three others to join you in a party on the frontier either by using the social menu in-game and inviting your Steam friends directly or by right-clicking on a name in chat to open the social menu. Speaking of right-clicking on chat, this is a good way you can also report abuse and send messages directly to people in-game.




END GAME - A new end game experience is currently in development and will be deployed for player testing in Early Access. This experience will be released after Act 3 is available and is intended to provide playtime/progression for those who have finished the base game.




QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES - The Railmaster has gotten an Endurance makeover, be sure to check out the upcoming patch notes for all the updates to Railmaster since Closed Beta ended. There are several additional quality of life updates that are currently in development or are being planned for future updates. We recommend perusing our Discord or Support Center for more details.




LAUNCH - You can read our Early Access FAQs here. While we don’t have an exact date for launch, Early Access will continue at least for a few months while we release and test additional content. It is important to note that at the end of Early Access there will be a wipe of all character data which allows us to more aggressively test new features, bug fixes, and content during the Early Access. You can review other Early Access FAQs, including questions around Alpha and Early Access rewards, on the Arc support website.




KNOWN ISSUES - You can search and submit new issues on our Support Center. We regularly review this area for new bugs and suggestions with dev responses and comments.

• There are many known issues coming into Early Access; you can review these bugs in the link above, but many of the critical issues that were known towards the end of Closed Beta have been resolved including:
  
  • Blue Void warp bug.
    
  • Skill Point issues (both preventing use and UI issues).
    
  • Fort Travel issues.
    
  • Railmaster Warp Pad problem. (hopefully.)
    
  • Some Legendarium Skills not working appropriately.
  
  
• You may encounter a known crash when playing the Sharpshooter for several hours. While playing at (Painful and Ridiculous) if players die during the Psora encounter she does not properly reset for your next attempt. Players encountering this issue will need to reset the instance to fight Psora again. Hard mode is a little extra hard for the moment!
  
• If you get stuck you can use the /stuck command in chat to move you slightly away from your current area. (You can also use certain escape skills.)
  
• Currently there is no way to reset an instance on command. If a player has not received the correct amount of quest items or has any issues in a particular instance, you will have to wait a few minutes after leaving the instance (10 minutes) before it resets. You can also navigate the character select screen to reset an instance (in parties, everyone in the party should navigate to the character select screen to ensure the instance is properly reset).
  
• Ctrl + D will copy a debug log to your clipboard. You can paste this into tickets submitted to our support center linked above.
  
• You can come chat with our community on Discord about your feedback and bugs. Our community is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about the game and would love to hear about your feelings on “Yapper”.

[/list]




NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) - Unlike our previous testing periods there is no NDA for Early Access. Please stream, create, and share everything Torchlight 3! Content taken from the period under NDA is still under NDA. Please do not share images/videos of content created during this timeframe.

Thank you for joining us in Early Access and we hope we are able to bring you the same joy that the previous games have provided the community for years. We are excited to see the game evolve over the new few months and beyond launch.

Project Lead
- Tyler Thompson

Your Legend Awaits in this Epic Return of the Iconic Hack ‘n’ Slash ARPG Franchise

Announcing: Torchlight III, the highly anticipated successor to the beloved Torchlight franchise, has entered Steam Early Access on PC! For the Early Access price of $29.99, every ARPG fan can now experience this fast-paced and light-hearted dungeon crawler that lets adventurers jump back into the Torchlight universe. Those who embark on this adventure experience the first two epic acts in Torchlight III, and take on a myriad of quests and boss battles across randomly-generated areas filled with over 100,000 powerful pieces of loot to find, including magic, rare, and legendary items. Early Access players can also expect to enjoy even more content as it rolls out over the coming months. 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1030210/Torchlight_III/

“Torchlight III entering Steam Early Access marks the exciting return of the Torchlight franchise that ARPG fans know and love,” said Max Schaefer, CEO of Echtra Games and co-founder of the Torchlight franchise. “Player feedback is incredibly important to us, and we look forward to working with the community as we continue to expand Torchlight III to make it the best Torchlight title yet. With Torchlight III in Early Access, it’s time for all adventurers, including longtime Torchlight fans and newcomers, to gather their wits and brave the frontier!” 

Set in the same universe from Torchlight I & II, Torchlight III for Early Access features all of the franchise’s signature gameplay mechanics, including satisfying hack and slash combat, epic loot drops, and a unique pet system that captured the hearts of ARPG fans around the world. The return of the iconic franchise also introduces new features, including fully customizable Forts that allow adventurers to leave their personal mark on the world. Over the course of the game being in Early Access, additional features, game content, including a new act, and quality-of-life improvements will also be added via periodic updates. 

In Torchlight III, it has been a century since the events of Torchlight II, and the Ember Empire is in decline. Novastraia is again under threat of invasion against the Netherim and its allies. To defeat the Netherim threat, adventurers must choose to party up with three fellow adventurers via online cooperative multiplayer or venture alone to fight their way to find fame, glory and new adventures through a vibrant world filled with hordes of dangerous creatures waiting at every turn. 

Torchlight III Early Access game features include:

• Travel the Frontier: Players can explore the wilderness, party with friends, gather materials to craft loot, or show off their spoils in town! There’s always something to do in the new frontier.
• Build & Upgrade Your Fort: It’s time to rebuild! Players will enjoy their very own account-based fort, where they can upgrade gear, and make renovations to show it off to their friends and the world. The game allows them to build monuments of power, pet stables, and more!
• Choose a Relic: Relics are objects of great power that grant players a suite of active skills and passive skills. Players can craft them, level them up and store them in their Fort. The Relic is an important part of a character's strategy - choose wisely!
• Collect Epic Gear: Whether it's armor, weapons, recipes, ember cores, or even new pets ... there's always more to find as adventurers 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.
• Pets are Back: Players can fight their way to fame and glory with loyal companions! Each of the many species comes in a myriad of colors and styles so adventurers shouldn’t settle for the first one they find. They can also make these pets stronger by adding skills, equip them with gear to make them hardier, and together battle enemies as a team. 
• Build Your Hero: With four classes to choose from, players can utilize class-specific mechanics to maximize damage and their odds of survival. Torchlight III lets them gather epic gear, select your Relic powers, and customize loadouts to create a unique combat style for their heroes.

 
Torchlight III features four diverse hero classes with unique abilities and powers:

• The Dusk Mage is an enchanter who harnesses the power of light and dark energy to conjure devastating attacks. 
• The Forged is a powerful robot who relies on an arsenal of weaponry to build up heat and unleash explosive assaults.
• The Railmaster is a locomotive savvy powerhouse who steams into combat with a massive hammer and heavily armed battle train.
• The Sharpshooter is a powerful and nimble ranged character who uses incredible skill with ranged weapons and magical trinkets to take on enemies from afar. 

 
Torchlight III is the latest successor to the ARPG cult classics, Torchlight I & II, originally developed by Runic Games. This fast-paced dungeon crawler brings fans back to the beloved Torchlight universe to hack and slash their way through a brand new world filled with hordes of goblins, undead and other dangerous Netherim creatures. Adventurers can party up with friends or venture into the vast wilderness alone, where they will find loot, explore dungeons, collect epic gear and build their very own fort to show off to the world. Torchlight III features four unique hero classes (Dusk Mage, Forged, Railmaster and Sharpshooter), plus a myriad of new and familiar combat pets to help players fight their way to fame and glory.

Learn more about Torchlight III at https://www.torchlight3.com/. Follow the game on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates.

"I arrived at Trevail Point several months ago after departing from Red Haven with nothing but General Graye’s blessing to keep me safe. It took some pleading, but the General let me join this expedition through the Goblin Homeland in an effort to complete my Explorer Sprite training..."

Read all Aleph, the Map Vendor's journey on the Torchlight 3 blog here.



Wishlist Torchlight 3 and check out our Discord, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch to get the latest development news and updates.

This week we're sharing some of the Fort frills, features, and facilities that will help you grow characters as you progress through Torchlight III!



Missed the 'Fort Your Way' video posted yesterday? Watch it here:


Wishlist Torchlight 3 and check out our Discord, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch to get the latest development news and updates.

Forts are your personal mark on the world of Torchlight 3. Plant a lush garden, make a monument to your success, or memorials to the thousands of Goblins that stood in your way. Read all about customizing your Fort on the Torchlight 3 blog here.



Wishlist Torchlight 3 and check out our Discord, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch to get the latest development news and updates.

Today we revealed the Sharpshooter's origin and gameplay. Check out the entire blog here and watch our Funday stream on Twitch this Friday to preview the Sharpshooter's skills and gameplay.


Wishlist Torchlight 3 and check out our Discord, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch to get the latest development news and updates.

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.

• The Torchlight III Team