Crows Corner Q&A Recap: S3 8-9
Crows Corner is a podcast-like livestream that occurs every Tuesday at 11 PM EST inside Torchlight Infinite's official Discord Server. Its hosts are GG-Lawren (XD Community Manager) and our own Xtra37. Together, they answer questions submitted by the community, the livestream's audience, and even each other! If you'd like to ask XD developers a question about Torchlight Infinite, you can do so here.
For this Crows Corner Q&A Recap, we're covering everything that was asked, answered, and discussed during the 8th and 9th Crows Corners of Torchlight Infinite's 3rd Season: Cube of Rapacity. You can find our last recap which covered the first 7 Crows Corners of Season 3 here!
Discussion Recap
Much of the best information to come out of Crows Corner is unplanned. Below, you'll find everything we've learned from the discussions between GG-Lawren and Xtra37.
Co-Op Coming Soon!
Torchlight Infinite's most requested feature will soon be upon us! Most likely, anyways.
GG-Lawren confirmed that XD has plans to release a Co-Op System in the next Season while answering a question on the subject. Xtra37 had quite a few questions to ask on the matter, here's what we learned:
- While Co-Op is planned to release next Season, development is still ongoing and a delay could happen if a catastrophic problem were to arise during testing.
- GG-Lawren is firm that players should not hold very high expectations for Co-Op's initial release. He warns that its initial implementation will be fairly limited compared to the Co-Op experiences other games offer.
- Co-Op allows up to two players to party and play together, and it will be Cross Platform so that a Mobile player could play with someone on PC. GG-Lawren explains that it is very difficult for them to do more than 2 players because Mobile devices are only capable of so much.
- Co-Op will not have incentives tied to it, whereas many other ARPGs have increased loot and XP when playing in a party.
More "SS2" News in August
As part of their Tap Tap Presents showcase, Torchlight Infinite dropped two mysterious trailers for a Season bearing the moniker of "SS2". These trailers show hints of the next Season's theme and a new hero that will debut alongside it. Xtra37 and many community members were wondering about what "SS2" meant, so GG-Lawren took the time to explain it. While Torchlight Infinite has had 3 Seasons - Dark Surge, Blacksail, and Cube of Rapacity - the game Globally launched in Season 3 which the developers internally refer to as SS1, thus the unnamed 4th Season is internally referred to as SS2.
"SS2" will launch in September, leaving XD with at least a month and a half to prepare. Until then, they're going to go somewhat dark and will have more to share with us about next Season in August.
Community Q&A
Every week, Torchlight Infinite's community submits many questions to ask XD. Every week, XD presents answers on Crows Corner. This section of the article features content from the 8th and 9th Crows Corners of Torchlight Infinite's 3rd Season: Cube of Rapacity. Below, you'll find:
- The Community's questions
- GG-Lawren's answers to those questions
- Xtra37's live commentary
- Editor's Notes that add context when needed.
Note that duplicate questions are not included and that all questions, answers, and discussions are paraphrased for your reading convenience.
Crows Corner Official Transcripts
Can indicators be added to allow normal monsters to appear on the minimap? The Red / Pink / Purple markers present on monsters from special mechanics are great. I think having perhaps a gray marker for normal monsters will help us in navigating maps as we run them.
GG-Lawren: Thank you for the feedback; we will discuss it.
Xtra37: I think this is a great idea, this could be implemented as an optional thing you could enable in the settings.
Can you consider reworking Gemma: Ice-Fire Fusion's Fusion Energy to allow it to be generated by dealing Elemental damage, versus it being generated by using Elemental Skills?
GG-Lawren: We presently have no plans to do this.
Do the modifiers from Hero Traits affect how Sentries scale damage? Other than Erika's Ghost Blade Einherjar interaction.
GG-Lawren: Yes, though it depends on what the Hero Trait specifies. Oracle Thea's (generic) damage modifiers apply to Sentry Skills.
As a new player that has started playing Mid-Season, I find it difficult to justify spending money on a Trade House tab that won't carry over into the next Season. This really demotivates me and makes me not want to continue playing. I'd be far more likely to pay for these tabs if they would carry over, even if the price was raised.
GG-Lawren: While Trade House booths do not carry over between Seasons, most other things do: Inventory Pages, Stash pages, Pactspirits, Hero Traits, and Cosmetics all transfer over.
Editor's Note: Xtra37 and GG-lawren had a discussion over the possibility of adding an alternative Trade House booth purchase option that was permanent, though more expensive.
I noticed an inconsistency between the displayed Mana Seal costs of Skills inside of the Skill UI versus the Player UI when additional Skill Level modifiers are present. For example: in the Skill UI, a level 16 Rejuvenation with +1 added Levels displays the Mana Seal cost of the level 16 version of the Skill, yet in the player UI the Mana Seal cost is equivalent to the Level 17 version of the Skill. If the Seal Limit would be exceeded by the difference, the game forcefully disables the Skill when entering a new map. Is this all intentional?
GG-Lawren: We are aware of this problem and are working on solutions for it, we hope to have this entirely resolved next Season.
Xtra37: Wow, my thanks goes to however asked that question. I had no idea why my Auras would just turn off sometimes without cause. Nasty little bug that is.
Can you add a Hero Trait designed around enhancing Sentry Skills for next Season? We already have Heroes for several other mechanics, like Summons, Multistrike, and Elemental damage.
GG-Lawren: We cannot disclose details about the new Hero at this time, though we encourage you to watch the trailer releasing this weekend.
Editor's Note: The Crows Corner where this question was asked was released before the Tap Tap Presents Showcase on July 8th. GG-Lawren was referring to this Trailer which released soon after.
Some players fight endgame bosses just to test out builds, or to practice the fight's mechanics without caring about loot. Invitations for the endgame bosses are very expensive and are hard to find, so many players never experience these encounters on account of them being afraid of wasting something precious in the event that they fail. In the future, it would be nice if we had two options for fighting an endgame boss. Option 1: No loot to speak of, but entry is free. Option 2: Loot drops as expected, and your Invitation is consumed on entry.
GG-Lawren: We appreciate your input and will explore ways to encourage players to face off against our Endgame bosses. Our recent introduction of the Blacksail Returns boss challenge event is an effort to promote participation without burden.
Xtra37: This person has a really good point, I'd love to see this feature. Hopefully its potential implementation is fairly easy considering all the new technology that was developed to support the Blacksail Returns event.
In Season 3, there was a severe shortage of Legendary Divinity Slates, and their affixes were too random, making buildcrafting harder. Even with excess resources on hand, I found it challenging to obtain desired slates from the Trade House. I'm wondering if there will be improvements to this system next season.
GG-Lawren: We plan to make adjustments to Legendary Divinity Slates next Season, and we're also reevaluating the overall strength and accessibility of Legendary Gear and Legendary Hero Items.
How does the modifier "+20% Additional Fire Damage dealt by the next Main Skill every 2 seconds" interact with Sentries? Do I have to resummon it every 2 seconds? Does this bonus damage stay for duration of the Sentry?
GG-Lawren: This modifier does not apply to Sentry Skills, since they utilize their own Skills instead of the Player's, meaning Sentry damage is never considered Main Skill damage.
Can the Skills released by Bosses, Elites, and other Monsters be invalidated after their death?
GG-Lawren: We will attempt to address some abnormal instances of this, but it should be noted that death Skills are intentionally divided into two types: Those that vanish on death, and those that don't. The non-vanishing Skills are designed to apply pressure to players.
Can you buff Projectile Penetration Support so that projectiles with it penetrate Monster protective / defensive shields? As it stands, Projectile Penetration has limited utility.
GG-Lawren: We are evaluating the state of the Projectile Penetration mechanic, we find it to be too weak at the moment.
Xtra37: Oh, that's really good news. Projectile Penetration is currently just a worse Jump, and even overrides it! This should also be great for Blazing Bullet.
In my opinion, current drop rates of genuinely useful items is very low compared to the number of players actually playing this season. Some Legendary items should be made more available. Simply not enough players to supply the demand for new meta builds. Perhaps consider adding some dynamic system that increases the drop rates of items as less of them are in circulation?
GG-Lawren: While we do not plan to implement your particular suggestion, we do plan to make crafting more cost effective and we may make important key Legendary items drop more often. We hope that in the future the supply of build-enabling items meets the demands of most players.
Would it be possible to have full mouse-over tooltip support in all areas of the game? Currently, only items on the ground can be viewed via mousing over them, but I still need to manually click items in my Inventory or Stash!
GG-Lawren: We had added mouse-over support for dropped items this Season. We will continue to make improvements to the UI over time.
Most people ask for better loot, but to me that isn't the biggest problem. As the Season progresses, less and less people play, so less items remain in the Trade House. So increasing the time it takes before items are automatically removed from the Trade House could be a solution.
GG-Lawren: We currently have no plans adjacent to that. However, as mentioned previously, next Season we will increase the drop rates of some Key Items, reducing the players' reliance on the Trade House.
Editor's Note: Xtra37 and GG-Lawren held a discussion over the new Key Item classification system, and the differences in problems between the Chinese and International versions of the game. GG-Lawren explained that the upcoming changes should hopefully make the game much less Trade House reliant and more SSF (Solo Self Found) friendly, which would be a huge improvement for both versions of the game.
How does Shock settling work when Shock is reapplied with a lower damage hit?
Editor's Note: GG-Lawren, Xtra37, and some members of the Livestream audience discussed this question. Shock has historically been one of most confusing mechanics, and its deepest intricacies have confused Maxroll members before. This discussion yielded the understanding that applying weaker Shocks will not override the remaining Shock Settlements made by a strong Shock while still resetting the total Shock Settlements remaining to 12. This basically means that strong Shocks are always prioritized before weak ones.
Hi! Mind Focus and Sacrifice seem to have similar overriding effects, but are worded much different. Is this an oversight, or do these two work differently?
GG-Lawren: These effects should be the same, with only the description being inconsistent.
How do modifiers that provide "Additional Physical Damage as Elemental Damage" work?
Xtra37: These modifiers record a percentage of your Skill's Physical damage before conversion, and adds that amount of damage as damage from a random element. For Attacks, this applies to your weapon's local Physical damage and to any sources of added Physical damage you may have. Regarding Spells, this modifier only applies to sources of added Spell Physical damage, or to Spells which innately deal Physical damage.
When will we finally get Co-Op?
GG-Lawren: We plan to introduce a basic online feature in the upcoming Season. Development and debugging of this is ongoing, for specific information please stay tuned to our official announcements.
Editor's Note: GG-Lawren mentioned that players should not hold high expectations for Co-Op. While XD is aiming for a Season 4 release, they acknowledge that this may not happen in the event of a catastrophic problem arising during development.
I hope the developers make Hero Traits free to use after two or three Seasons go by.
GG-Lawren: Players can acquire 100 Hero Emblems every Season to acquire a Hero Trait for Free.
Editor's Note: Xtra37 and GG-Lawren discussed the wording of this outside of Crows Corner. Since 30 of the Hero Emblems obtainable in Season 3 were locked behind an event only available for a month by design, they agreed that its better to say that Players who are active towards the start of the Season can expect 100 Hero Emblems every Season.
I am tired of getting banned for using AHK to hold the left mouse button for me. Without software to do this for me, my finger hurts from having to hold down the button to move.
GG-Lawren: We have always had a negative attitude towards the use of third-party software like AHK. If you use it, you risk being banned. If you'd like to appeal a ban, you can do so by contacting our customer service in-game.
Is there any intention to give players a reason to play on the Permanent Server? Currently the Trade House in there is very empty, due to the lack of players, so it feels like you need to play the Seasonal Server or not at all.
GG-Lawren: As of now, we have no plans to incentivize playing on the Permanent Server, we would encourage players to instead play on the Seasonal Server.
Xtra37: If there's a reason to play on the Permanent Server over the Seasonal Server, than there'd be no reason to have a Seasonal Server at all. Devs can't balance around legacy items, you'd be able to use Infinity and Pedigree of Gods at the same time!
How do you decide what a new Hero comes with? Most character's traits are similar to their alternative Trait, bar Youga going from Cast Speed to DoT.
GG-Lawren: Our Heroes represent a combat style, developing one requires planning and consideration from an overall perspective. We need to account for a new Hero's interactions with all existing Equipment and Hero Relics / Memories. Designing Heroes becomes more difficult as we add more systems that need to be factored in.
Will the Talent Panel rework in the future make building more free?
GG-Lawren: At present, we do not plan to rework Talents, but it may be considered in the future.
Xtra37: What? What did they mean by this? What rework? I am very confused.
Does -5% Target's Cold Resistance effect from this Arcanist Medium Talent stack multiple times? For example, if I have 3 of this modifier via Divinity Slates, will it apply -15% Cold Resistance to enemies?
GG-Lawren: This Talent's effects will stack as you described.
Only More From Us, at Maxroll
GG-Lawren has said that Crows Corner may slow down in coming weeks due to less interest in the game as we all wait in anticipation for the next Season. If you haven't already, head over to our Discord and select the Torchlight Infinite role in #roles to stay up to date with our content development. Keep up the fight, Hunters!
Written by: Xtra37
Reviewed by: Tenkiei
