Torchlight 2 had mods. They had 1 developer endorsed mod that was really popular - respec potion.
Then 99% of the other mods where incomplete and conflicted with each other. If you got a rebalance mod, with a new class mod the game was now broken. If you got extended items mod with a level cap mod, the game was now broken.
I think the developers at Crate should do 1 very simple thing that would greatly increase the longevity of the game through mods.
Have Crate Endorsed Mods.
Basically it’s a mod pack - of high quality, compatible mods that Crate has officially gone “Yep these are great mods”. This wouldn’t occur for a while until the community had started finishing its first few mods. Then eventually Crate gathers up the best of the best and endorses them, stickies them, even advertises them (through game client).
This encourages those creators to continue to update those mods, and it gives the user base a “common core” to focus on. The mods are now “official” so instead of feeling like you’re playing in an unlimited sandbox, one is playing in the restricted world that is so important for an RPG.
The mods will be balanced together and accordingly and over time mods will be kicked and new ones added. Hell even just endorsing a great mod every now and then…
Anyone if Crate doesn’t do it I’m sure the community will!
But to be quite honest, none of the TL2 mods went balls deep into changing the game, akin to Median for D2.
My biggest gripes with TL2 were two things: screenwide AoE hits as a main source of death and the imbalance between IAS/FCR skills. Basically IAS was only applicable to basic attacks, while everything else is a “magic” attack, even if the character visibly shoots from a big fucking gun. None of those were touched upon, instead the biggest overhaul decided to focus on Ȕber-dungeons requiring at least 50% damage resistance which means the flat armor system failed to deliver its defensive layer just like GD and new classes, of which only necromancer looked useful, because there is no “minion spam” class in a non-modded game just like GD.
I play-tested torchlight 2. A lot of the things you mentioned could not be well predicted as I only got a small amount of time in the closed beta before release, and they didn’t try very hard to update the balance of things afterward. The bland loot also killed it for me. (GD has such interesting items .)
But a lot of the problems you have mentioned are problems I was worried about and expressed, it was simply not on their agenda to change it, or they felt it was too late to change it. Also the whole flat resists thing was pretty bad. It made 2 handers outclass one handers by far in almost every case. Cannons were ridiculous.
As for flat armor failing to deliver in GD, I think that’s untrue because EVERY other damage type has a resist, and physical resist is possible as well. Tanky armory soldiers that increased their armor absorb and % armor take almost no damage from physical, I find it’s often that the other damage types are what do the most damage. As for the disparity between caster and heavy armor, I am considering increasing light armor and caster armor to not be so wide in how much less armor they provide. Don’t lose hope yet, I think having physical damage be reduced by both %resist and flat armor, while the rest are mitigated by just resists, is interesting. I think we can work with it.
I’m confident Grim Dawn’s current balance can be improved without drastically changing changing the way things work. I only have a few things written down that I’m not sure how to rebalance, the rest is mostly about touching up certain skills, gear, and constellation to better compete with their similar counterparts. Luckily GD’s combat system has depth, thus making it versatile and allowing us to mod a plethora of ways to improve any given item/affix/constellation/proc/skill/monster/etc.
Perhaps it’s just me but I find it really difficult to play content that isn’t “official” or “endorsed” in some way. It’s like that feeling of you be the only one playing a game in the entire world.
It’s like joining an empty server, or playing a game that nobody has played in 10 years.
Again perhaps it’s just a weird thing I do, but I feel like no one else is playing the content, I feel less inclined to play it as well.
That plus, if no one is playing it, you know it hasn’t been well tested and you usually do run into some major bugs - I also hate incomplete mods “Play my new class, only 2 skills!!!”
I have the same feeling. In TQ I only used fanpatch and played Lilith. I actually only take mods with additional content or bug fixing. Not really comfortable with “game changing” mods like masteries because I feel like I don’t play the same game.
Depends… also think of the fact that if the amount of mods is high it’s quite some amount of work to check em. And even then there is no way to force people to build them compatible, as long as the risk of breaking things exists at all. And incompatible endorsed mods would cause even more confusion.
Not to mention the “2-class-society” that would arise.
Imho the way the modding works, in a way of giving the modding tools the capabilities to create compatibility friendly mods, is most important.
There’s a hidden assumption, that GD is somehow threatened to expire soon and its longevity depend on mods. It doesn’t.
Undoubtedly, the mods (and their quality) improve the interest greatly, along with longevity, but they are a just single frame.
TL2 was actually killed by its developers. It was a bland, mediocre aRPG with shallow mechanics, few content, poor itemization, with no spirit, and cartoony graphics on top of it. Once you finished the game and pleased your interest, you felt like forced to play it further. The itch to try this, that and those, was simply missing.
How could a mod, even a passionately designed and executed one, compensate for the lack of developers’ skills and game quality ?
I can’t find the parallels with GD, which will be played for quite long even without any modding, relying on basic content + regular official expansions. Mods are gonna be a thick fat bonus.
