Hi there, from the strategy guide author :)

[Phillip Marcus]

Figured I'd drop in and say hello. Now that the game is gold and on its way to shelves, the guide is as well, so I'm freed up a bit to interact.

I've been watching the community here for some time, but I thought it was time to start participating a bit more actively.

I'm not here in any official capacity, and I need to remain mum on specific game details awhile longer (until the game is out), but I wanted to let the community know that I'm reading and I'm listening.

The devs answer plenty of pre-release questions anyhow, so that's not my place :) Hopefully I can answer more questions down the road. I can't promise much more than that just yet, but I'll be around more often, and perhaps I can fill in some holes.

So then, greetings :D

[Fletch]

Welcome and hope to hear from you down the road.

[Lyntan]

Hey. I'll be getting that strategy guide, so I hope it's cool! :D

So, how did you find the gameplay/mechanics? All balanced and fun and fantastic? Any particular favourite class? Come on, man! Tell me everything, or shall the hells slice ye up!

[Alefiend]

Welcome, nice to have you here.

I'm more interested in what build of the game you used to create the srategy guide. Also, is it from Brady, Prima, or some other publisher?

[Phillip Marcus]

I'm more interested in what build of the game you used to create the srategy guide. Also, is it from Brady, Prima, or some other publisher?

Brady

Numerous builds, I've been working on it for some time now, from much older early builds, to more recent, much more polished builds.



So, how did you find the gameplay/mechanics? All balanced and fun and fantastic? Any particular favourite class?


Not my place to be writing reviews, I'm not exactly objective after being this close to it for so long ;)

But bet-hedging aside, yes, it's great. I've played every action rpg out there, and Titan Quest is really good. They did a particularly nice job of extending the game all the way through every difficulty level - something you can't see in the demo. You're in for a lot of cool goodies if you play for the long haul.

No particular favorites, part of the process was playing everything, and I have pretty broad tastes anyway. Plus, the skills and masteries went through tweaks and changes as I played - it'll still be interesting for me to play the release version, the final spit and polish always helps every shipping game. I most enjoy cranking stacked modifiers to the max to create crushing characters. That and the equipment, there's always something to look forward to.



Hey. I'll be getting that strategy guide, so I hope it's cool!


I hope so too! :D I'm not here to shill the guide (though I can certainly answer some questions about it), more to talk about the game with fans.

[DaveyJJ]

Greetings Phillip. It's always nice to see the people involved in TQ jumping in, contributing, and listening to our many moods here. Welcome, I'm sure I'll have some questions for you later.

[Batman]

I have never bought a game guide. Do you think I'll need this one?
Is TQ so big that I'll never find everything without a guide?

[Lyntan]

Well you might not need it as such, but it'll be fun to read. :) Think of the times when you can't be playing TQ such as when you're eating, in bed, in the bathroom... If you have a strategy guide, you can read about it instead!

[Arangar]

Welcome aboard man :).

[leth]

welcome to the board! I have always been a sucker for strategy guides. I actually like to sit there and read through some of the more entertaining ones. Do you by any chance have any art from TQ in the guide?

thanks

[Gorkk]

Welcome aboard! Nice to see more and more people involved in the game come here!

[Phillip Marcus]

I have never bought a game guide. Do you think I'll need this one?
Is TQ so big that I'll never find everything without a guide?

Lyntan has it - you don't NEED a guide, no one does, just some people like them :)

TQ is indeed quite big. Even playing all day, it'll probably take most people days to get through it (longer if you play lightly).



Do you by any chance have any art from TQ in the guide?


Yes indeed, although I'll be seeing that very close to the time you do. A guide isn't the work of any one person. Indeed, I'm not the only author (I didn't do any of the single player stuff, though that's sort of a blurry line - no quest/main walkthrough I should say).

The design team is the group that makes it look snazzy, it goes from plain written text (with some indicators of where some art/screens/tables/etc should go) to a finished guide after they get their hands on it.

[Derek Newcastle]

Hi Phillip, I have a question for you. Will all the skills stats and how they work with other skills be discussed in the strategy guide?

[Phillip Marcus]

Hi Phillip, I have a question for you. Will all the skills stats and how they work with other skills be discussed in the strategy guide?

Yes, all Mastery skills are discussed in some detail, and their stats are listed as well. They're covered on a few levels, there's a very basic primer at the start of the guide for newer players or people who haven't played an action rpg before (all two of them), that gives a quick idea of what each Mastery feels like (to help pick your initial Masteries, if you don't know what they're like in your first game).

Then there's a more indepth discussion of each skill (with its attendant modifiers) later in the book, along with stats at low/mid/max level, so you can see at a glance how powerful a skill gets and what modifiers actually change as it levels (some skills increment every effect every level, others have static modifiers that don't change with additional skill points)

There's always the possibility that numbers will change between the printing of the guide and release, but I'm trying to stay in touch with the devs about this, so even if the guide does ship with slightly outdated numbers, I can still update them. Not an ideal situation of course, but that's one of the problems with print media :) I'm also keeping an eye on anything else number related (there are more than a few numbers in the guide, I can say that with certainty ;))

However, barring massive changes, they should still be very close to the release version, even if a few numbers have changed (damage from 1-5 to 2-6 per level, stuff like that)

[Switchblade]

Good to have you about, the community here is growing quite steadily and the input is great, especially when you have people in the know around. :razz:

[Prowlinger]

Thanks for your input and answers to our questions.... maybe you can help answer some of these?

1. Does the guide contain any modding information or charts that would be useful for modding?

2. Can you explain the design decision to not include 2 handed weapons from the developers?

3. Will there be an online "preview" of the guide via PDF? Similar to how 'PrimaGuides' releases teaser pages? This alone is a major selling point...

Thanks again!

[Phillip Marcus]

If you've got any more questions about the guide, please take them over here:

http://www.titanquest.net/off-topic/1212-tq-guide-table-contents.html

Don't want to clog up the gameplay forum :)

(answer to your queries over in that thread Prow)

[sixfoot6]

Bummer, I tried to pick one up at the BB as I grabbed the games, and they didnt have any in yet.

I'd have to say that getting the guide out at least a day or two before (or, c'mon the day *of*) release is very important to your sales, isn't it?

[lucasgarsha]

Welcome Phillip Marcus. Guides are particularly nice reading material for those moments when nature prevents you from sitting at your keyboard. Alot of guides are stuffed with spoilers though, is yours? I like to keep the big in-game scenes for the game, ya' know, but a discussion of builds, strategies, etc. is good to chew on.

[Theo]

Closed, request by Phillip.

Please refer to http://www.titanquest.net/off-topic/1212-tq-guide-table-contents.html