Torchlight Frontiers – Adept’s Path Update and New Skill Progression Live

The currently ongoing closed alpha for Echtra Games’ multiplayer action-RPG Torchlight Frontiers has just received a brand new update. Entitled Adept’s Path, this update introduces a bunch of usual fixes and improvements, but also revamps the game’s skill progression system to closer resemble the older Torchlight games. It also rebalances the game’s leveling speed. Here are the major new features:

“We are really excited about Update 6. The new skill progression system harkens back to TL1 & TL2 as well as our work on Diablo 2. It provides the kind of choices and ownership we have heard you expecting from an ARPG. We also heard loud and clear that our leveling pace was too slow and grindy. Update 6 also does a few things to address that: bosses giving more XP, quests giving XP, monsters pacing improved, and lower leveling costs. Together, we feel like these changes have really made the game feel better. We hope you like it too.”

– Tyler Thompson

FEATURES

SKILL PROGRESSION SYSTEM

Check the recently published skill progression article for further details, we’re super excited with the major changes coming in Update 6.

• Added new Skill Paths for each class: Brawl & Barrage for Forged, Dark & Light for Dusk Mage, and Lineage & Conductor for Railmaster.
• Skills on the various paths can be upgraded and feature numerous synergistic improvements for every point spent.
• Players earn a maximum of 100 Skill Points and can invest up to 12 points into individual skills.

Existing characters will be migrated to the new system during Update 6 maintenance, be sure to check and latest forum post for the specifics of how your character will change while preserving earned progression.

LEVELING REBALANCE

One of the major areas affected by the skill progression changes is leveling speed. We’ve roughly doubled the rate at which players will level up at lower levels. In addition we’ve tweaked a few things along the way:

• Players can now more easily fight above their level at the early stages of the game.
• Bosses, champions, and quests now grant additional XP.
• You can now equip gear that is up to three levels higher than your current Frontier level.
• Levels ranges of the zones within each Frontier now span 1 – 30.

REVIVE OPTIONS

Having to run from the dungeon entrance after being defeated is a chore, and getting stuck reviving at an entryway choked with monsters was even worse. We’ve added a few quality of life elements in this area:

• On death, players now have a choice of where to Revive. Certain choices have a gold cost.
  • Right Here: 10% of current gold
  • At Level Entrance: 5% of current gold
  • In Town: no cost
• After reviving, characters receive a short-duration buff which makes them invulnerable, untargetable, and able to move through monsters.

MORE TRAINS!

We just released the Railmaster with Update 5: Lonesome Whistle, and it’s time to up the firepower! Two new offense-oriented cars have been added to the repertoire:

• Shotgonne Car: (Level 1) Passive: Periodically fire a large blast of fire that hits an area for 100% weapon damage. Active: Shoot a single, large slug that pierces enemies for 250% weapon damage. (This car is mutually exclusive with Shield Car)
• Flamethrower Car: (Level 1) Passive: Adds a flamethrower car to the rear of the train that periodically shoots flaming missiles in 1 sec bursts that deal 10% weapon damage and leaves enemies burning for 6 sec. Active: Make the flamethrower shoot a 3 sec burst of flaming missiles that deal 50% weapon damage per hit and leave enemies burning for 2 sec. (This car is mutually exclusive with Mortar Car)

OTHER NOTABLE ADDITIONS

• Pet movement and behavior greatly improved. Pets now navigate the world without so much erratic skittering, and are a lot better about actively engaging in combat.
• Pets have a tab in the skill menu, and players will see a skill bar for their pet while this tab is selected. This is part of the preparation for eventual pet-skill features.
• Increased player movement speed by one meter per second.
• New craftable wardrobes for all three classes. These are not limited availability – they provide a baseline for all players to be able to craft sufficient wardrobes for exploring across frontiers.
• Loading tips. We got ‘em. Want more? Tell us what you want to see!