Titan Quest received a new expansion.....
jjstraka34
Member Posts: 9,850
in Off-Topic
I'm not entirely sure how I missed this, but Titan Quest just released an expansion yesterday that takes the game to a 5th act based on Norse mythology, adds a new class to the mix (Runemaster), as well as implementing many of it's improvements to all the acts. This really came out of nowhere, and you can buy the base game and this at the moment for less than $20. I know especially that @BelgarathMTH is probably going to be interested in this, since he is the major defender and proponent of Titan Quest on this forum. Seriously, I have no idea where this came from. It seems like it dropped out of the sky.
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KEY FEATURES
...
Improved character customization
A wider variety of regional styles and color dyes
Finally: wear pants!
Well, I'd say about time
Anyway, I have bought it. The new Runecaster mastery is kind of curious, it looks like it would need a fairly complex analysis of the rules to get the most out of it.
I'm glad they did because yay more Titan Quest and yay Norse mythology. Wishlisted for now, and will buy next month when I can afford it.
The expansion gives you the option to create a pre-leveled character and go straight into the new Act V, but that's not my style.
I am just past Athens in Greece with a brand new Seer. My intention is to go all the way to the new Act V with this new character and then, when I have my Dream mastery where I want it, I'm thinking of "dual-classing" to Nature mastery and trying the wolf companion skill tree, since I've never tried it before, and also, it seems to fit the "frozen North, IWD-like" theme of the new expansion very well.
Complicating matters is the fact that just as I learned about the new TQ expansion, Beamdog has released NWN:EE Head Start. So, I am dividing my time between my new TQ character and my new NWN:EE OC character. In order to get a bit of connection between my two toons, in NWN:EE, I am playing a Cleric X/Fighter 1 of Lathander, using tower shield and longsword, which resembles my gladius and shield wielding Psionic Touch-Burn Seer for TQ.
This is an amazing year for lovers of old games!
Here's my current build:
The plan is to gradually max Trance of Convalescence, Psionic Burn, and Temporal Rift, as I move through Egypt and Asia. The ToC is needed for added survivability. I still haven't decided if I want to start prioritizing +Health Regeneration equipment to synergize with the ToC. I know from a previous ToC+Health Regeneration build I did that such a build can convey near defensive invulnerability, but at the cost of offense. Any extra points after maxing these things need to go to Lucid Dream and Dream Steal. I'm not sure yet how I want to prioritize among these skills that need to be maxed by the time I get to Typhon and into Hades.
Here's a very lucky drop on an awesome unique bracers for my build that I found pretty early on:
Anyone interested let me know if you want more screen shots and what kind of screen shots might you like to see here.
It's very difficult starting at level 40 anyway, because gear.
Have you tried Runcaster yet? I would be interested in hearing your opinion.
Trance of Convalescence plus extra Health Regen just makes 90 percent of the trash mobs really easy. You still have to be careful with bosses. Some of the dragon people in Mount Wusao can still cut through the build, so you always have to be careful with those regardless of build.
Did they not connect the new expansion to the rest of the game? I was expecting to go to Ragnarok from Hades.
EDIT: Shoot, I just checked, and that new mastery is in fact there. Would you believe I didn't even realize there was a new mastery? I may start a new character just to try it.
Basically I want a left mouse weapon attack tree, a right mouse charge attack, and a high-tier aoe panic button spell that stuns enemies.
For Dream, that would be Psionic Touch/Burn on the left mouse, Phantom Strike/Dream Steal on the right mouse, and Distort Reality/Temporal Rift for the panic button spell.
For the Runemaster equivalents (still learning their exact names) the left mouse attack tree seems vastly superior to Psionic Touch/Burn, with a lot more synergies that go all the way up the tiers. The right mouse charge attack is also superior, because it has a seven second recharge, whereas Phantom Strike/Dream Steal has a sixteen second recharge.
There is an annoyance with Phantom Strike as a charge skill in that it makes you invisible, and when it does that, the bosses start walking back to the center of their threat zone, and the Phantom Strike ability doesn't move fast enough to catch up with them. The Runemaster version avoids that by not making you invisible during the charge.
Where I'm not sure the Runemaster mastery is going to compare favorably is with its high-tier "panic button" ability. I think it's called "Explosive Runes" or something like that. For one thing, I don't know what the recharge is going to be on it, and also the casting time may be a problem. It starts its description with "Take a few moments to place runes on the ground that..." If it takes more than a second to cast, it won't work as a panic button ability.
I've always handled the demons of Hades with Temporal Rift, so I'll have to play a long time before I'll know if Runemaster compares well. I can always combine it with my favorite, Dream, but that won't help me in Normal level. I don't like to divide my points into a second mastery until I get finished developing the first, which usually takes most of Normal level.
I'm trying to build a hammer and mace wielding, Thor-like character. So we'll see how it goes.
It also includes one passive that enables dual wielding, and another that only works with a shield or staff.
I was wondering if it works with a staff. Good to know it doesn't. I *think* I heard it works with a bow, so the mastery may synergize well with Hunter skills. I found three of the skills that have to be targeted with a crosshairs, and amount to setting traps. The Rune of Fate can be placed over a huge range, but the enemies will only stand there until it explodes if they don't see you. There's another circle of traps where you have to lead enemies to move into them. And there are the Stone Menhirs, which I discovered don't do anything at all but just sit there. I didn't quite max out the mastery to see if their synergy skill that makes them active was worth anything.
All of Stone Menhirs, Runes of Fate, and that other trap skill, have to be targeted somewhere on the ground with either the right mouse or a crosshairs, making them too hard to use and very dangerous to try to use once all Hades breaks loose on the screen.
After an afternoon of trying the new Runemaster mastery, my conclusion is I still like Dream the best. Temporal Rift is extremely powerful and goes off with a single click, without having to be targeted. I also don't like that Runemaster mastery's main defense, the Rune of Life, has a timer on it, and has to be recast every ten minutes. Dream trances stay active forever once you activate one, as do auras like Heart of Oak. With Rune of Life, I can easily imagine a scenario where it's crucial to your survival, and it winks out right when you're surrounded or going toe to toe with a boss.
Runemaster mastery does seem to synergize fairly well for a blunt weapons fighter, so I may come back to it for a Thor inspired toon. Dream is not good for blunt weapons, because the Psionic Touch/Burn is dependent on weapon speed to be good, only activating every fourth strike.
For now, and for my first upcoming experience with the expansion content, I'm going back to my Seer. He's currently at the top of the minotaur labyrinth at the end of Greece.
The menhirs are basically a summon wall ability, designed to block paths, and thus to be used to prevent melee mobs attacking a ranged weapon user, similar to the wall of thorns in nature mastery, but the "upgrade" actually summons three standing stone "turrets".
The ten minute timer on the shield is one of the things that seems kinda odd. It lasts for ages, but every so often needs to be refreshed. Which would get even more tiresome if you have pets. Pre-combat buffing is back.
After experimenting with different builds currently running with a defender and runes build.
You can use a skill point and get a whole new powerful skill or you can add 1% or something more chance for a lower level skill.
For me, I end up doing a lot of experimenting to see what works and that means frequent restarts and guessing what will work. I rarely make it to legendary but I have with a few characters.
On nature side I'm not as familiar. Wolves are the bread and butter. If you get enough +skill points you can get three. Their howl buff can buff you and increase your damage. I've heard nymph isn't great.
I've always found pets a bit unreliable and nature is very pet-heavy.
Maxed dual wield tree, without +skill gear, is +22% for dual wield, and +10% each for the 3 other things.
Altogether, rune + warfare, without + skill gear, 73% of your attacks would be some sort of dual weapon attack. So my understanding is that it would inch closer to 100% with gear that beefs up skills higher.
The wolves can't handle bosses, so you can wind up screwed if you haven't got your character up to snuff. Once your character is good to go, the wolves can make powerful allies that buff you and take aggro off of you.
You don't need Regrowth (healing spell) for yourself. You will take potions. You might eventually want some points in Regrowth so you can heal your wolves. Although, they have an ability that makes them stronger when they fight with low health, so I wouldn't heal them too much.
Nature has a skill that shortens the regeneration time of other skills. That can be useful, but probably helps out a caster more than a melee fighter.
The Heart of Oak tree from Nature gives a good buff for a melee character.
So basically, Nature is a support mastery that buffs another mastery, or other players in multi-player. It is very weak on attack.
Also, on the subject of optimizing, TQ is an action rpg like Diablo, and you have to do at least some optimization in order to survive. It's the kind of game where you will face wave after wave of enemy mobs, with very tough bosses scattered in between. I like to get some roleplaying flavor in my characters, too, but not at the expense of dying so much I get frustrated. Also, I once built a character so badly, he could not defeat the final boss in Act One, no matter what I did or how many times I tried. (It was Defense mastery where I neglected to develop any good attack skills. His damage output was just too small, so I was screwed.)