Questions for Max Schaefer?

[Flux]

We've seen a ton of media coverage of Max Schaefer lately, mostly about TL xbox version, but there are always some d3 questions mixed in.

I'm going to be interviewing him next week and recording it for podcast presentation. Any questions you want answered? I've got a big list, which I'll have to pare down a bit since we won't be talking all afternoon, but more ideas are always welcome.

I'll talk about torchlight a bit of course, but I will ask him about stuff we're more curious about. What he thought of the leaked BN version of D3 screens, if he has any thoughts on blizz north/d2 being totally ignored in the bliz 20th anniversary thing, etc. Whether he'll be willing to go into detail on that is unknown, but I can at least ask.

Unfortunately the interview is going to be via skype, rather than in person. I'd have liked to meet him in a bar and asked him about the d3 days after he'd had a few drinks. Maybe next time...

[Kiroptus]

Oddly I think I am more interested in Torchlight 2's info. I think we got all of D3's info that is possible but I read very little bout TL2.

How about what is he thinking about the recent Mythos? It was the project that Torchlight replaced after Hanbisoft took it off them and now its on beta by Hanbisoft's hands, incgamers recently gave lots of beta keys.

Of course, mostly about how was the experience on Mythos and how it was applied on Torchlight. They seemed to dear that project a lot since I remember them reading about it was painful to lose it.

[Flux]

i don't think he'll talk much about tl2 yet. he's been vague about it in other interviews, at least. Plus I'll be interviewing some other Runic guys (and maybe Max again also) later this year, closer to the TL2 launch when they'll want to talk more about it.

[jamesL]

Do you have regular conversations with anyone on the D3 development team ?

similar question

There are some people on the d3 team who were also on the d2 team. Do you stay in touch with these people ? Have regular contact with them ? Conversations ? (not "Hey, how ya doing?" when you bump into them at PAX or E3, but more regular interaction and conversation)

Are you on some special VIP list so that you automatically get a D3 beta ?

What mmos are you currently playing ?

What mmos are you most currently looking forward to? GW2 ? SWTOR ? Other ?

Prefer PvP or PvE ?

When was the last time you logged on battle.net and played D2 ?

Is it possible that any of the original D3 plot, storyline, chars, classes or whatever may be reworked and make their way into TL2? (or is that intellectual property that all belongs to blizzard now)

Same with Mythos.
Mythos had some great things. The crafting was superb. The pyromancer class was perfect. Any chance we'll see anything from Mythos in TL2 ? Or is reimplementing a Mythos class in TL2 an IP ownership problem ?

TL2, will it be released before PAX Prime, Aug 26th ?
TL2, will we see a new class announced before E3, June 7th ?

Was BN's version of D3 going to be an mmo or a small multiplayer game like D2 ?

How close was BN's version of D3 to beta ? Less than 3 months ? Less than 9 months ?

Favorite build in D2 ?

Day one buyer of Portal 2 ?

The Runic team hung out with the devs from Path of Exile last year at PAX, even went out for dinner and drinks afterward. POE is currently in alpha. Are you in the alpha for Path of Exile ?

Any thoughts on GrimDawn ?

I assume you own an iPad. Do you play any games on it ? What's your favorite ?

[Turnip]

Ya the only questions I'd have are for torchlight 2, such as how the network play will be implemented. Will it be ported to xbox again. How many people bought xbox 360 torchlight compared to pc.

[slickr]

1. Torchlight 1 levels were pretty similar in that it was always dungeons or the majority and it gets pretty boring during the end, what have you guys done to make the levels more varied and fun?

2. Torchlight 1 story was pretty weak and there were barely any talk with the NPC's other than mostly quest stuff with few lines of overall story, how did you take on the story in Torchlight 2?

3. The hero companion in TL1 was pretty interesting and useful, do you have any plans to improve upon this feature and if yes, how so?

4. Which Diablo design element and experiences have you implemented in the development of TL2?

5. How does the development between torchiligh and diablo differ?

6. What are torchlights biggest advantages over competitive games and be honest and tell what you think are its biggest disadvantages?

[palwe]

does he still love it that hes Schaefer 'ammer?

probably ask him how far he thinks diablo 3 is off release?

what the future will hold for torchlight once diablo 3 is released?

does he enjoy working on the torchlight project less, more or the same as diablo 2?

whats after torchlight and where does he see his future?

how successful does he think diablo 3 is going to be, and what does he think stands out as ground breakingly new about it?

what does he think is bad about diablo 3 in comparison to the previous games in the line?

[FriskyDingo]

I posted this on the Diablo3 forums.

Kimi_ferrari

In a recent article Schaefer said

WoW is the primary reason Runic will avoid a subscription model for its Torchlight MMO. “I don’t think really anyone can do [subscriptions] anymore because pretty much everyone that does subscriptions has one for WoW.”

What impact will F2P have on the security of servers and the online "MMO" part of the future TL game.

and

Was the art direction produced from BN a controversy internally?

[jamesL]

I posted this on the Diablo3 forums.

Was the art direction produced from BN a controversy internally?

if you're asking if the D3 art controversy caused Runic to question its own art direction, then that it a GREAT question

[FriskyDingo]

if you're asking if the D3 art controversy caused Runic to question its own art direction, then that it a GREAT question

I believe he ment BN when they were producing their version of Diablo3.
Either one is a good question though.