Torchlight MMO Details Trickle Out in PC Gamer

June 30, 2010 11:50 AM

The new issue of PC Gamer UK (out tomorrow) will have details on the Torchlight MMO project, which is a free-to-play version of Runic Games' awesome action RPG. While you wait for it to hit newsstands, PC Gamer was kind enough to tease out some details from the issue.

Runic's president Travis Baldree talks about the vision for the game:

Our vision is to have an MMO that plays as close to single player as we can get it. It will have the same focus on relatively fast action: carving your way through hordes of monsters with a large number of hugely devastating skills. The game has to be solo-able, but players will have to have skills that make them useful in a party and make them work together.

As the game is free-to-play, it will be supported by microtransactions, but Runic isn't going to sacrifice playability for things to sell. "I will never, ever buy a microtransaction item," Baldree says. "I'm that kind of player. And the game has to be enjoyable for me, too. We don't want our monetisation stuff to offer ways to skip the game because the game is boring."

While the MMO won't be out for a while, the original game is only $5 today on Steam.

Brian Leahy

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Johnnsen

 reply
June 30, 2010 12:02 PM

The whole free to play concept worries me. I haven't found a single one that you could enjoy without shelling out money. I don't mind buying the game, but I hate having to pay all the time for little things.

Hoping the best for the game though, I love Torchlight.
- AhnteisCorazon
  
   reply
  June 30, 2010 12:10 PM
  
  Guild Wars was fine. Of course, there weren't optional additions....
- khindjal
  
   reply
  June 30, 2010 12:13 PM
  
  i would say league of legends is another
- [deleted] 1288022911
  
   reply
  June 30, 2010 12:15 PM
  
  [deleted]
- jad3d
  
   reply
  June 30, 2010 12:30 PM
  
  It's usually not the content that's the problem with free MMO's, but the playerbase. Since theres no need to ask mommy and daddy for a subscription, every 6th grader on the planet will sign up and flood the community with stupidity.
  - DewFuel
    
     reply
    June 30, 2010 12:33 PM
    
    This is completely false.
    - radio_babylon
      
       reply
      June 30, 2010 1:42 PM
      
      what is false is the idea that a monthly fee acts as a barrier to stupid. theres plenty of stupid to go around, most of it from people who can pay their own way.
      - jad3d
        
         reply
        June 30, 2010 1:59 PM
        
        Not so much a barrier to stupidity as it is for maturity. I'm certainly not saying a paid game like WoW is a bastion of mature people; but compare that to a free mmo like runes of magic or whatever and there is a pretty substantial difference.
- icedcool
  
   reply
  June 30, 2010 12:42 PM
  
  Guild wars was awesome. Just bought the game, and every bit of it was fun as hell.
  - Johnnsen
    
     reply
    June 30, 2010 12:58 PM
    
    Thats what I mean, you bought the game. Thats not what I mean. I wouldn't be worried if it was like that with Torchlight, but it seems its free to download as well, and that would mean they need the microtransactions a lot more to make money.
    - x Tempest x
      
       reply
      June 30, 2010 5:53 PM
      
      I'm fairly certain its only "free-to-play", not "free-to-own"... So it will be like Guild Wars and have a standard retail price, but it won't have a monthly subscription fee.
- fffortune
  
   reply
  June 30, 2010 3:22 PM
  
  Micro transitions turn me off as well. Maybe this one will be the first to change my mind, but I doubt it and I've pretty much lost any interest in it, sadly.
  
  Thing is, I'd much rather pay up front for a box/digital copy, and then pay more for expansions, than constantly have to worry about paying for this and that ad infinitum when I'm supposed to enjoy myself and relax.