The action RPG MMO Torchlight Frontiers has already gone through several alphas and has been significantly improved thanks to player feedback. In an interview with MeinMMO, the Community Manager of Torchlight explains what has changed and what makes Torchlight special.
Who was interviewed? Paul Hobbs is the Community Manager for Torchlight Frontiers at Echtra Games. Previously, he supported the release of World of Tanks, World of Warships, World of Warplanes, and Master of Orion as a CRM, Content, and Community Manager at Wargaming America.
For Torchlight Frontiers, he made himself available for an interview about the game and its development.
How Torchlight Frontiers Has Changed After the Alphas
MeinMMO: The first two alpha tests brought in a lot of feedback from the testers. What has changed based on that?
Paul Hobbs: The perhaps biggest difference between the first two playtests and our latest alpha is the lifting of the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). Sharing testers’ experiences on livestreams and on social media has triggered a true flood of feedback from testers and the community. This is exactly what we hoped to achieve with this step.
Of the two biggest changes that have come from the feedback from Alpha 1 and 2, you have probably already read about in our blog: the front levels, which replace the equipment abilities, and armories, which allow you to manage and switch your equipment sets better.
MeinMMO: What can you tell us about the fronts and their changes?
Paul Hobbs: We have reduced the number of required main quests to progress in the fronts. The list now only includes the “best” quests of the respective region. We made this change based on feedback from Discord.
MeinMMO: How will you change the experience system?
Paul Hobbs: As already mentioned, we made the biggest change to our progression system and introduced the front levels. In the first two playtests, you had to acquire the required equipment ability to wear items.
But based on your feedback, we replaced the front-specific equipment abilities with an experience bar that also increases your character’s health.
There will always be some adjustments required after we receive the statistical data and reports from our players. We don’t want players to be forever busy leveling up before they can afford new abilities, but we also don’t want it to be too easy.
MeinMMO: Are there any other significant changes you made based on alpha feedback? How did the testers react to these changes?
Paul Hobbs: The front levels and the armories were a great success. We are receiving many ideas and suggestions for how we can further improve the armories, add more variations, or implement other features.
As a result, we have worked on redesigning the minimap. It is now a bit clearer and provides useful information.
How Torchlight Frontiers Plans to Compete with Other Action RPGs
MeinMMO: How will Torchlight Frontiers stand up against other major action RPG MMOs? For example, against Lost Ark.
Paul Hobbs: The growing popularity of ARPGs means that many paths to success are possible. And as it becomes such a enduring genre, we can learn from many examples. Torchlight Frontiers is Echtra’s approach to making ARPGs exciting and rewarding while staying true to its origins.
MeinMMO: What makes Torchlight so unique? What is the target audience for Torchlight? Why should we play it?
Paul Hobbs: The communities of Torchlight I & II have long wished for another opportunity to dive back into the universe. Therefore, they are also part of our target audience.
This is the first Torchlight game since Torchlight II from 2012, so we are also counting on a whole new generation of players to dive into the adventure.
The game has a lot to offer both veterans and newcomers: A unique horizontal progression system that will keep the gaming experience challenging and rewarding; customizable forts where you can showcase your epic equipment and creativity, and of course regularly new content, year after year!
MeinMMO: How many more alphas are planned? Will there be a beta? When?
Paul Hobbs: We will never stop implementing player feedback, even after an official release, so testing will never end!
At the moment, we are learning everything we need to know about the art of live service, and we still have a lot of content to implement. We are planning further testing phases, but we cannot disclose any details for now.
MeinMMO: How many classes are in the works, and how many will be playable at launch?
Paul Hobbs: This is probably the most frequently asked question next to “when will you be finished?” Currently, we can only say that we need more than our two current character classes.
A few keen players have already found some hints about another playable character in our footage. Follow our channels to not miss the next big announcement!
