During alpha test events in late 2018, Torchlight Frontiers players expressed concern with the horizontal progression system. The development team has listened to in order to make adjustments going forward. Previously, when a player earned Skill Points, the choice had to be made whether to buy combat skills or to upgrade weapon and armor levels. However, this went over poorly and adjustments have been made to smooth out the process.
It's worth noting that to move from one Frontier to another, a player's equipment has to be upgraded, something that can only be accomplished by spending Skill Points. In effect, players were being asked whether they wanted to move to another Frontier by upgrading equipment or to stay in the same location but be able to fight with different combinations and more efficiently.
However, the new system will present players with a progress bar for each Frontier. "It steadily fills as you slay monsters and complete quests in a given Frontier. As you raise your Frontier level, you'll be able to equip gear of the equivalent level from that Frontier."
The old system also created a situation where players could farm Skill Points in one Frontier and spend them on armor and weapon upgrades in another. This ran counter to the philosophy of Horizontal Progression that Torchlight Frontiers is built around.
Developers are committed to keeping player feedback at the forefront of the development of Torchlight Frontiers and will be gathering more data during future testing opportunities.
Read the full post on the Torchlight Frontiers site.
