1781

I’m looking for a shroud as well, I’m close to making my first greater artifact. I’m also in desperate need of archmedie’s mirrors, and some saber claws and turtle shells. I seem to get artifact drops of the items I don’t have.

I think I saw at Eb a deal if you buy the regular game you’ll get the expansion for $10 off.

1782

Right now if they still have stock Circuit City has:

“Buy the expansion for $24.99, get the original game for $4.99” Good through tomorrow (Sat, 3/24)

This is how I got the expansion. I just picked up another copy of the game to send my fiance because, y’know, $5.

1783

Finished the expansion! Hades is a pussy. I died about 10 times throughout the game but not a single time in the final fight. The only critical skill for the Hades fight is being fast so you can outrun his projectiles. Also, he’s a cheapskate. His legendary hidden treasure was the worst pile o’junk in the entire expansion. Finally, I was disappointed that we didn’t get another FMV for the victory. Come on, it’s nearly as bad as “You win! Press Enter to exit.”

I definitely second Dave that an extremely low chance/frequency of activation should be noted in the artifact description. It’s not like that artifact gave any other great bonuses – overall it’s worth less than one of those “lesser” artifacts that were consumed in its creation IMO. Do bonus effects on artifacts always activate that rarely? That makes them pretty much pointless.

Such balancing quibbles aside, I loved the expansion. Dream mastery, artifacts, caravan – all excellent. Great quest design, almost like a “real” RPG, far beyond and above the original game. Some amazing world design and even better graphics, too – although there’s a price in the form of some stuttering that wasn’t in the original game. The new mini-bosses and top-tier regular monsters that are sprinkled throughout the game make the original levels quite a bit more entertaining, too. Most of the new monsters were a bit samey which is probably inevitable at this point, but I did love the hopping frog men. My impression was that item drops were also much better than in the original game, except for (strangely enough) the expansion areas where I mostly got junk.

One question: did I just not find the right passages, or were there lots of inaccessible areas in Hades’ palace that were nevertheless populated? Such as imprisoned souls and monsters patrolling before their prisons. I thought I’d try to free all the souls but apparently that’s not possible.

1784

The Shroud was the second artifact I was able to make and I’m still using it (sorry, guys). I haven’t located a second formula for it yet, either.

I actually enjoyed the Hades battle because it wasn’t the grindfest that other boss fights were, and nothing could compare to that Albino Spider Queen (which killed me four times before I gave up). Besides the one death with the Pale Formicid Captains (that one was my fault), those were the only deaths I had. I can live with the Formicid death, but I’m annoyed at that Albino Spider boss. She needs a good downgrade. I wonder why they never tried adjusting bosses on the fly to better balance with the player’s character? Too often you find one build which can blow by certain bosses and others that are impossible. Personally, I enjoy playing the game and finding the loot far more than dying and retrying repeatedly; the payoff is just not worth the struggle.

Overall, I definitely loved what the expansion brought to the original game. I’m not as keen on the new areas as some, but the latter part of Act IV was better than earlier parts of the expansion areas. I was a tad disappointed that the Hades Treasury quest wasn’t a true puzzle. I spent some time looking at those symbols appearing on the floor thinking that there was a trick to them, or something I had to figure out. Kinda sad that it turned out to be just…doing what I’ve been doing all along anyway.

Yep, Chris, there were a lot of areas inaccessible in Hades Palace, and they were just there for atmosphere from what I gather. I, too, spent some time trying to figure out how to get those souls freed to no effect; if there is one, I haven’t heard it yet.

1785

Damn I just checked CC.com and they dont have that deal listed any more. I was gonna run out this morning and snag it if they had it.

1786

I think the idea is that you should try to have a reasonably well-rounded character, with good resistances all-around and several different weapon options, or else have different equipment for different needs on hand. Auto-adjusting bosses sounds like it would suck the fun out of trying different configurations. I’d rather they reduced the ridiculous amount of HPs that bosses have, and cut back on certain instadeath attacks.

I was a tad disappointed that the Hades Treasury quest wasn’t a true puzzle. I spent some time looking at those symbols appearing on the floor thinking that there was a trick to them, or something I had to figure out.

Me too! I actually wrote down the symbols in the circle, and the sequence in which the appeared. Oh well.

1787

My problem with needing a “reasonably well-rounded character, with good resistances all-around and several different weapon options” is that it ends up making the different mastery builds turn out the same. I don’t want to create someone focusing in Warfare and end up with all the same skills at the same level every time I use that mastery. In my games, I deliberately choose very different branches and stick with them exclusively so as to make each character very different from the others. I guess that’s why I hate the insta-death bosses, because I know I’m not one to go respec my character into something different just to get by. Then again, compared to most folks, I don’t die nearly as often, it appears, so at least I’m good at my exclusivity, even if it’s annoying that the game lacks the proper balance for that.

That’s where I was coming from with the idea that bosses would adjust to become a challenge for every character, without being a cake walk for any.

1788

It’s in their weekly add (look at the PC games section) so it has to still be valid. It was never valid online though.

My guess is they’re clearing out original game inventory for the inevitable gold pack.

1789

I think I am gonna take a trip over there today and see if they have it in stock.

1790

First time I saw the room I thought you needed to hit each circle with a different element attack. So has anyone else completely exhausted their storage space yet? My assassin is completely out of room with storage and the transfer area. And my first bag is mostly filled up with relics and charms. I’m not going to make the same mistake and get rid of them.

1791

Yep I had filled the entire caravan with relics so resorted to making toons called “relic mule #” and sliding from transfer to their personal storage.

1792

Yep, I filled up my Templar’s caravan storage (and even started selling off Epic/blue items to make more room), both in the regular maximized storage and in the transfer storage area. I’m using the caravan to try and get my first ever complete set, something I have yet to do even though I’ve played TQ extensively with a variety of characters. Now that there’s a legitimate method of transferring items between characters, I’m taking full advantage. I tend to carry around all the charms and relics even though they take up a lot of room. Maybe I should leave those behind, too. Hmmmmmmm.

1793

Would this be considered irony or crappy luck, farmed around 20 turtles and didn’t get 1 shell. Then went to kill saberlions, and on my 2nd one got a claw. Is there a way to transfer gold between characters?

1794

Well I went to CC and they did not have Titan Quest. If I would have thought about it I would have grabbed the ad and ran over to bestbuy but I didnt realize that I could do that until after I was already home.

Oh well I guess I will be waiting for the gold pack.

1795

I have the pattern, if you still want it.

1796

Sure if you haven’t gotten rid of it. Just PM me for when you want to setup a game.

1797

I gotta ask an Immortal Question side quest question. Um, this is the:
Wealth of Ancient Kings
-It’s in the Tsakonian Ruins (sort of near but not so close to Medea’s Grove).
-It’s a fairly complicated one with several keys. Well, I’m missing the Ancient Sun Key and I’ll be damned if I can find the Great Tomb of Aegimius that’s supposed to have it. I can find the final “Tomb of Dorus,” but without the Sun key I can’t complete it. I think I skipped this at normal – the teams I’m on tend to rush through everything and skip this.

Any ideas? This map might help jog the memory. The black square at lower right is the Tomb of Dorus where you complete the quest. To far north is the Grey Temple, but that’s just where you get the Eye stuff for a different quest.

1798

The Sun Key and the Tomb you’re missing are to the northwest in the section south of the map you posted. Go back through the swampy corridor to the next large area of ruins and head NW.

1799

Any suggestions for Earth Mastery?

The two main lines of damage spell (Flame Surge & Volcanic Orb) both seem pretty underwhelming. The mastery description says its great for taking out packs of enemies, but a 3 meter radius on the orb? come on.

1800

I don’t know about Flame Surge since I haven’t used it, but Volcanic Orb quickly becomes very powerful if you put points into the skill and its upgrades. The radius of the explosion expands from the second upgrade, and the orb throws off miniature orbs with the third upgrade, which have minor explosions themselves. It works very well for clearing out large groups after they cluster around the Core Dweller (assuming you’re using him), yourself, or any other pets you have.

Also make sure to level Fire Enchantment eventually. The +x% Fire/Physical damage from the skill and first upgrade (and any +x% damage on your gear) apply to your spells as well as weapon attacks.