Maxroll Ending Support for Torchlight Infinite

Artwork by Casy www.casynuf.com

From the start of our partnership with XD, we made it unequivocally clear there were certain lines you could not cross and keep Maxroll as a partner. Season 8 of Torchlight Infinite came with big promises. XD assured players that a rework of the game's monetization model was on the way. However, as the season progressed, it became clear that these promises were not being kept. Then, over the Christmas holidays, a critical issue arose when XD attempted to introduce a reckless feature to the game.

Because of our intervention, the feature was stopped before going live. Due to both professional courtesy and NDAs we’ll refrain from commenting further. However, this recent incident irreparably annihilated our trust in XD.

In response, we presented XD with two clear options to rebuild the partnership and regain player confidence. Unfortunately, they declined to commit to either path forward. As a result, we have made the decision to end our partnership and cease our support for Torchlight Infinite, effective immediately. 

Broken Promises Before Release

Before Torchlight Infinite launched, we strongly advised XD to release separate versions of the game with tailored monetization strategies. One version would cater to Eastern audiences with familiar features like pets and gacha mechanics, while the other would target Western players, emphasizing cosmetics and a battle pass instead. This approach, widely adopted by other game studios, would have respected the expectations of both regions.

Instead, XD opted for a single global client with uniform monetization and in doing so, broke a key promise from their initial marketing campaign. Early on, XD distanced Torchlight Infinite from Diablo Immortal, claiming it would be free of pay-to-win mechanics and that all microtransactions would be purely cosmetic. These assurances proved false. During early beta tests, players discovered that hero traits (core aspects of character power) were tied to gacha banners.

A Public Backlash and a Philosophy in Question

The monetization model quickly drew intense criticism from the Western community, culminating in a major video from prominent streamer Asmongold. His critique became one of the most widely viewed videos about Torchlight Infinite to date, sparking a broader conversation about the game’s direction. To their credit, XD responded with an apology and sought to explain their monetization philosophy in a developer roundtable:

At the time, this explanation was cautiously accepted, with players hopeful that XD would adhere to their "gameplay first" promise.

Pets and Monetization Collide

However, the situation surrounding Pactspirits, a pet system central to Torchlight Infinite, complicated matters further. As the game evolved, Pactspirits became more than just optional companions. With the introduction of dynamically changing Pactspirit sets, their impact on gameplay became unavoidable, as they were simply too powerful to ignore.

Heading into Season 9, this trend continues. XD has announced the ability to equip up to three battle pets and three loot pets,  to reduce the need for constant manual set-switching to maximize damage and loot efficiency. But alongside this change, a new character progression system called "Fates and Kismets" will be directly tied to Pactspirits.

This move directly contradicts the studio's earlier pledge to keep monetization "detached" from core gameplay. By integrating significant gameplay mechanics with the monetized Pactspirit system, XD has blurred the lines between optional purchases and essential progression, the very issue they claimed to avoid, effectively proving their claims to be outright lies.

Frozen Canvas and the Shift Toward Monetization

The Frozen Canvas season brought slower progression and scarcer loot, amplifying the importance of Pactspirits more than ever before. While there were minor improvements to monetization, such as making more Hero Traits available for free, these changes appeared to be driven by practicality rather than generosity.

However, the most significant adjustment, the ability to earn pets through gameplay, quickly turned into a frustrating retention mechanic in the Supreme Showdown. Rather than empowering players, these changes felt like an attempt to push existing players into spending money, while doing little to attract or accommodate new players.

For newcomers, Torchlight Infinite offered no meaningful way to catch up to veterans who had amassed dozens of legendary pets through purchases. This disparity was glaring in Season 8’s Supreme Showdown content. Completion rates for the ultimate challenge, Floor 20 of Supreme Showdown, were staggeringly low. Despite promises from XD to adjust difficulty if completion rates were too low. Instead, this was not fixed before the end of the season. For most players, all this effort was for a single pet, a stark contrast to top players, who often rely on more than 10 pets, with new additions every season.

Arcana Season and Widening Gaps

As the game transitions into the Arcana season, the monetization trend continues. Instead of needing to constantly swap between 2 Pactspirit setups to gain the effects of both battle and loot pets, players will now be able to use three battle Pactspirits and three loot Pactspirits simultaneously. This change adds convenience but further emphasizes the importance of pets in gameplay. The new seasonal mechanic also introduces a progression system tied directly to pets, further entrenching monetization into the core gameplay loop.

This direction raises significant concerns, as we believe it leaves XD with little incentive to improve monetization when they stand to gain financially by continuing to prioritize and push pets. The gap between free-to-play and paying players is widening, leaving casual players struggling to keep pace. Constant balance shifts have already created challenges for many and the player-driven economy exacerbates these issues. Any advantage, whether in dealing damage, clearing content faster, or acquiring more loot, translates directly into economic dominance.

Internally, we’ve had numerous discussions about these issues throughout every season. Time and again, we provided XD with detailed feedback, addressing player concerns and proposing adjustments. Yet, despite repeated promises of improvement, the studio consistently failed to deliver meaningful changes.

Short-Term Profits, Long-Term Losses

The Western gaming market operates under a vastly different set of expectations compared to the Eastern market. While Torchlight Infinite boasts solid gameplay at its foundation, the game’s monetization strategy has deteriorated over time, alienating a large portion of its potential audience.

Many of the most successful games of 2024 were celebrated specifically for prioritizing gameplay over aggressive monetization. For instance, Black Myth: Wukong sold over 20 million copies by focusing on delivering a high-quality experience at a box price. Similarly, Marvel Rivals, a hero shooter developed by NetEase (the same studio behind Diablo Immortal) has seen tremendous success. NetEase appears to have learned from its past mistakes in Western markets; Marvel Rivals launched as a free-to-play title with all heroes available for free. Its monetization aligns with what Torchlight Infinite originally promised: cosmetics and a battle pass, with no gacha mechanics or pay-to-win elements. It’s proof that games can thrive without resorting to exploitative monetization or “mobile game garbage.”

Once trust is broken, however, it is notoriously difficult to rebuild. XD is becoming increasingly associated with gacha and pay-to-win mechanics, thanks to games like Go Go Muffin, Sword of Convallaria, Torchlight Infinite, and Flash Party. This reputation risks undermining their long-term credibility, particularly in Western markets where players have little tolerance for these models.

End of the Partnership

At its heart, Torchlight Infinite remains a solid game. With over 21 Hero Traits, countless synergies between legendary items, and a variety of approaches to farming, it delivers much of what players look for in a loot-based ARPG. However, we firmly believe the game would not only be better but would have seen greater success in the Western market if it had ditched the predatory pet monetization system entirely.

We provided feedback and pointed out the cultural differences between Western and Eastern players to help XD build a stronger reputation in the West. Unfortunately, while there are good people at XD who share our vision for a Western version of Torchlight Infinite, they are not the ones making the decisions. As a result, most of our efforts were met with unfulfilled promises or outright dismissal.

To preserve our partnership, we offered XD two options:

1. Make pets more accessible to new and free-to-play players, closing the gap between them and paying players.
2. Release a Western version of the game that omits pets entirely, instead focusing monetization on cosmetics and a battle pass.

We have been advocating for a separate Western Client since before the game’s first beta. But, we were willing to compromise if XD agreed to address the game’s monetization issues and provide a better player experience. Despite our efforts, XD declined to adopt either solution, cementing their decision to prioritize short-term profits at the expense of long-term growth and trust. This decision means we will no longer provide guides, maintain the builder, or host a dedicated section for the game on Maxroll. 

FAQ

With the news of our decision to end our partnership with XD and cease support for Torchlight Infinite, we’ve seen speculation within the community about the reasons behind this step. We want to address some of the most common questions and clarify a few key points.

What will happen to the builder?

• We understand that the builder is a crucial tool within the Western community, a resource to plan and map out progression, as well as to share builds with friends or the broader community.
• Its loss will undoubtedly be felt by players. In light of this, we offered our builder to XD for free, including the entire source code, comprehensive documentation, and even assistance in porting it to their infrastructure.
• Despite this, they declined.

Why were Leveling Guides sometimes inaccurate?

• Limited Access: We frequently had 3–5 days of Test Realm access before the season, which made it impossible to rigorously test the new content and mechanics before release.
  • There were also times when the Test Realm stopped working for hours or days, giving us even less time to finish the guides.
• Lack of PTR Tools: Unlike other games, there was no dedicated “PTR copy” system to expedite progress for testers, leaving us to grind manually through testing phases.
• Stealth Changes: Frequent, undocumented adjustments to obscure things such as the Support gems given from quests often caught us out on a season start. 

Why did we stop supporting Endgame guides?

• Reasons Above: for all of the reasons outlined in the leveling guide section, we had to discontinue our support of endgame guides.
• Pets and Endgame: Our endgame build guides never recommended pets to players. However, as pets became more prominent it was impossible to talk about the best endgame builds without recommending Legendary Pets that could cost players hundreds of dollars each.

How much power / loot do you think pets add now?

• We don’t have hard numbers, but have some estimates based on our gameplay experience.
• Most legendary drop pets provide ~30-50% more loot. By combining them and taking advantage of the economy, we believe you can get up to 3x more loot.
• Let’s use the newest seasonal pet as an example;
  • Level 1: 24% more loot on average.
  • Level 3: 36% more loot on average.
  • Level 5: 48% more loot on average.
  • Level 6: 76% more loot on average.
  • This is ONLY loot from the Legendary effect at the end of the Pactspirit and has no consideration for the other bonuses granted. The other bonuses are also multipliers to your loot from the Arcana Seasonal Mechanic.
• The worst offender is Kong who has a drastic effect on the economy every time the banner is run.
• We also think Battle Pets are up to 2x normal damage before taking into account the Fate/Kismet system. 
  • This amount varies based on build and archetype support from the Pactspirits. 
• The value can be considerably higher if you have high level legendary pets.
• Using the Frozen Canvas seasonal pet as an example, the average cost to pull 1 Legendary Frozen Canvas Pactspirit is ~$117.38. You could in theory spend $458.27 before getting it, though that is extremely unlikely. This does not include any Jagged Primocrysts, extra costs from needing to do 10 pulls, or top up bonuses.

Would you consider reopening the Torchlight Infinite Branch if change XYZ happens?

• Only if XD releases a separate Western Client without gacha and pay-to-win.

Where can I find Torchlight Infinite Builds now?

• You can find a variety of builds by watching content creators on Twitch and YouTube.
• The Pro Builds feature in the menu and Hero Rankings are ways to find builds within the game.
• Lastly, if you’re willing to do some translation, you can find a lot of builds from the Chinese server on Bilibili.