Runic F2P?

[Webbstre]

Wildman is right, the Flagship Team that built Mythos was smaller, maybe half the size of what Runic is now? It got "relaunched" but it's been a disaster every time it has "been released." To put it mildly, Mythos after Hanbitsoft/Redbana/etc started working on it has been terrible, a mere shadow of its former self.

Also, Zidders, you're forgetting a very important fact: The community feeling you like so much now grew directly out of the Mythos community, which had the same awesomeness but was so much larger. Don't worry about things changing so much.

[hawkn]

The thing is, once they commit to a Torchlight MMO, they are basically saying they will work on that, and only that for years and years to come. I'm sure they are feeling the burnout of the Torchlight franchise at this point.

[amb2010]

Wouldn't they just be able to get it out and rolling and then let PWE handle the "maintenance" and patching side of the relationship which would let Runic focus on another game and just adding content to the MMO (which is something that doesn't need to be done on a daily basis)? It definitely would still be a commitment but not a "We can't do anything else at all for X years" type deal.

[Webbstre]

They can't really turn over the patching and maintenance like that since that's stuff required by the programmers - of which there are only three and Travis (the company president) is one of them.

hawkn's right though, they may want to take a detour before making the MMO. Good thing I didn't name my site "Torchlight Fansite" or something like that

[Omnifas]

That would be a nice domain to have though

[Wildman]

They can't really turn over the patching and maintenance like that since that's stuff required by the programmers - of which there are only three and Travis (the company president) is one of them.

And that is why I mentioned possibly getting a couple of new programers for the next project. Having only 3, and one of which is the pres of the company, makes things really hard. I mean technically they only have 2 full time programers. Nothing against Travis, but he has a lot on his plate, and trying to keep up with modelers, texture artists, writers and who ever else, is going to take its toll.

I'm a modder (no, I haven't released anything for Torchlight, though I do have some cool ideas for TL2), who specializes in script (.ini, .cfg,.vgf, .dlg, some Python), and any other modder will agree...it is a pain in the butt trying to joggle multiple tasks, especially if you are trying to work on just one thing then something gos wrong, because of something else you did.

[Seer]

I just want to come out and say that Runic has just begun building the serious parts of Torchlight with the sequel, and I really don't see how they could burnout when they have barely even started yet. We'll support them anyway though (at least I will )

[Needlehawk]

I, for one, am really, really hoping that they keep the plan to do the MMO. One of the reasons that I'm not around much is that, while I intend to play TL2, my heart is really into the MMO. At the point where posting suggestions for and talking about the MMO become more relevant, I will probably be posting a LOT more.

[amb2010]

They can't really turn over the patching and maintenance like that since that's stuff required by the programmers - of which there are only three and Travis (the company president) is one of them.

I could of swore I heard of another MMO published by PWE getting it's patching and maintenance done by people hired by PWE while the actual developers only did content and other things but I can't seem to find anything about it so I might just be confusing it with something else.

Oh well, I do agree with Zidders though. Once Runic gets out there more I don't see them continuing to be a small team of developers working out too well, especially if they want to make an MMO and still make other games. I just can't picture putting a MMO out there and then making another game on the side working out very well for a small team, even more so if there's only 3 programmers.

[xani]

The thing with mmo's is, a big part of team isn't "development", it's all the support stuff. Someone have to manage servers, respond to help tickets, be GM (and consider thats 24/7 so if you want to have 10 GMs on average you have to hire like ~40 of them, train them etc.

Also, if you want to (and you WANT TO because that is one of things that keep players interested) have difficult endgame contest game must be balanced.
Which never works out of the box in multi games (as some gamers are smart beasts and will figure out a way to use skills/items/combos in OP way) and have to be tweaked a bit every few months, which means another person or 2.

[Vestilence]

I for one hope to see Runic create a sci-fi RPG with this engine.

[carrierx]

I for one hope to see Runic create a sci-fi RPG with this engine.

I just want a sci-fi torchlight 2 ... Massive mod or something .

[Acrylik]

i wouldn't mind paying for an online mmorpg from runic if they took the idea of having a massivley multiplayer online experience - all the wow bs.

I wouldn't want them to look at Torchlight II the same way that EA looks at the Battlefield series. Same game every year with some slight differences.

battlefield 1942 = ww2
battlefield vietnam = vietnam
battlefield 2 = modern day us vs china
battlefield 2142 = futuristic
battlefield badco = modern/destructable environments
battlefield badco2 = bullet drop/more destructable environments
battlefield 3= everything from bf2 and badco2 plus customization/squads.

think you might be mixing that up with call of duty zid.

[amb2010]

Depends on your view point Acrylik, Battlefield is very much the same core game it is every year. They just happen to change to more "refreshing" settings and add nifty things to the engine such as destructible terrain and physics compared to CoD sticking to pretty similar settings and the same dated engine. Aside from BF3 they only really added stuff to the engine (except in the case of Bad Company and 2142 where they added Rush and Titan gamemodes) so I think that's where Zidder's is coming from. I will say though, Battlefield at it's core is a really solid mechanic so they can't really do too much to change that. They can just tack on new paint to their classic car.

EA and Madden or NCAA would probably fit better for a comparison Zidders. A series that really *should* be changing but EA just throws out a new roster and maybe slightly better graphics and calls it good. (or Acrylik's suggestion)

[gold163]

I'm going to be honest here; I'm so excited about TL2 that I can't think of Runic really doing anything else. Once that game comes out I get the feeling it'll hold me over for a long, long time. Enough for me to not really want another Torchlight for a while to come. I can't think of Runic treating Torchlight as a cash cow. Its gameplay isn't so conductive to being repeatable so frequently in my opinion.

After TL2 comes out Runic can focus on whatever they'd like and I'd support them. I wonder if they're just as torn as we are on what they're going to do next. They probably aren't thinking about it that much at this point.

[Jackalhead]

So far Runic has been spot on in making great decisions within their company, so I will continue to trust and support whatever they choose to do with this franchise. I would prefer a Torchlight 3 over an MMO though. These games are just so great.

[Acrylik]

yeah, i agree amb. but you guys got to remember that people like a game because of what it is. to someone else, yeah it technically is the same shit with slight changes. you run around and shoot people or kick a soccer ball across a field. all that matters is how the player views the changes or what was kept the same.

i'm sure there's people out there that think all action rpg's are the exact same thing. i mean honestly if you look at it that way, most of them point and click for everything, kill large amounts of monsters and pick up shiny items. it's what the player thinks that matters

on topic
like i said above, i hope runic keeps with that core idea and adds in a massively multiplayer aspect rather than "hey lets try to copy some of the other mmorpgs out there". free or pay 2 play depends on what's offered, and that i'm not sure of so i can't comment.

[Arkham]

I would prefer a Torchlight 3 over an MMO though. These games are just so great.

Consider that the primary reason they went for TL2 instead of the TLMMO is because they wanted to do Torchlight with "small-scale" multiplayer.
What major feature would TL3 offer that TL2 isn't offering?
If it's just another game of the same type, with the same general features but "more of them" and with different classes, it seems to me like it would be a bit superfluous. A TL3 should, imo, have to be justified by really filling in a gap the way TL2 fills in the lack of multiplayer for TL1.

[wolfmane]

I would prefer a Torchlight 3 over an MMO though. These games are just so great.

Consider that the primary reason they went for TL2 instead of the TLMMO is because they wanted to do Torchlight with "small-scale" multiplayer.
What major feature would TL3 offer that TL2 isn't offering?
If it's just another game of the same type, with the same general features but "more of them" and with different classes, it seems to me like it would be a bit superfluous. A TL3 should, imo, have to be justified by really filling in a gap the way TL2 fills in the lack of multiplayer for TL1.

Agreed. I don't see them releasing a TL3 immediately after releasing TL2. I use 'immediately' to explain what they did with TL where they started working on Torchlight 2 and announced it in August of 2010 after releasing TL in 2009.

What I could expect is a series of expansions to hone and tune the main TL2 systems while also adding lore and story elements, then rolling into an MMO. Of course they might have some unknown side projects that they'd want to take some time to develop. There's also the question about ports.

[legalize420]

I hope runic game makes a similar game to world of warcraft, how ironic if that happends torchlight mmo would make me play so much, because i think max schaefer could pull off a epic mmo bettter than world of warcraft and the other MMO's that are out there.