Munderbunny
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I was hoping to get a working version of Uber out by now, but my family have been unwilling to share my time. It'll have to wait until after Christmas. Sorry nerds. For you old-schoolers, I feel your pain, and can offer my condolences. I considered doing an abbreviated version, but it would have the old loot tables, and not include the 30 new affixes in Underlord, which would just suck; let's admit it. I mean, what's the point if you can't get the Withering War Hammer of Insanity?
Was supposed to be out Sunday, but family has been a giant pain in my ass--what with their family events and all. And my father decided to sprain his foot (not his ankle, his FOOT), and needed me to run him around all day yesterday.
So, sorry for delays, but I'll have the patch out tomorrow sometime. This patch will fix the majority of bugs. I'm still doing some testing on a couple of items, but the big changes will be working UI text (including class and race names), as well as the AA/DA math, which will restore the full damage reduction of DA, and make critical hits much less frequent, but far more powerful.
I'm back in the USA, and have internet again--God bless broadband.
This means I'm also back to work on le Mods, but for now here's an update on all things Underlord related:
The guys over at Strategy Informer decided to be awesome and host Underlord 1.2 over in their hood. Check it out here: Strategyinformer.com
Secret Place Contest
2 of the secret places have been discovered, and first places have been awarded.
Zero_X was first on the Blood Cave
Galefury was first on the Dark Forest
Congrats to both players.
The contest remains open as no one has discovered the entrance to Duister. But don't kick yourself if you don't find the entrance anytime soon. It's not obvious, or intuitive. If you're new to Titan Quest, it may be easier for you to find it if you consult a wiser friend who's been in the game from the beginning--maybe they can shed sun light on the mystery.
I've also decided to leave the contest open until someone finds Duister, whenever that may be. Remember, you must send me a screenshot of the entrance to Duister (munderbunny@gmail.com).
Underlord 1.3 Patch
The next patch may arrive sooner than you expect, but it will primarily be a bugfix patch. I've already updated the buglist post Jiaco started in the news section of the Underlord Page (modpages don't have their own blogs). Most of those bugs will be fixed in 1.3. The map bugs will be held over for 1.4, which will likely come out in January. The reason for the delay on those is the map bugs require a lot of map editor usage which is taxing for my laptop (won't be back to my home until January 4th), and creates a large patch file (+250MB). So, I would rather try and accumulate more map-related fixes before I dump another huge update on players. 1.4 will also feature some balancing changes, and a possible addition or two (depending--more info to come later).
The list of hold-overs is:
- Anapaest appear in crystal ante-chamber in non-Uber
- East-most section of Sanctuary reveals unfinished end of map.
- Boss Supremacy showing in Normal where Epic/Legendary-only bosses appear.
- Pathing through impassible areas at entrance to hades palace.
- Chest in ToEL gives legendary equipment in normal difficulty.
Almost all others are easy fixes and will result in a very small patch file. I have yet to consult Yerkyerk about a 1.3 patch installer, but for sure there will be a manual 1.3 patch file, as well as a full Underlord 1.3 manual install package for players who were unable to get the installer to work correctly.
What won't be changed:
Difficulty - the difficulty will not be further reduced. While I know there are newer players to Titan Quest, even today, the mod was developed for players like me, who've already played through TQIT a few times, have played other mods, etc.. While the game may seem balanced your first time through Act I, it is ultimately far too easy. I also won't be scaling up the difficulty to Uber levels, though if you want an Uber preview, just find the Blood Cave. ^^
As malroth said on TQNet:
malroth wrote: These are horrible unholy spawn that are destroying and ravaging everything before them while the people see no possibility of hope. If you want to have any hope of victory over them you have to be smarter than these things that run faster, hit harder and outnumber you. Standing still and trading blows is a tactic which is doomed to failure even from its conception. Strike where they are weakest, escape before they can retaliate. Poisons, chokepoints, reinforcements, terrain advantages, traps, confusing your enemies, returning after healing yourself, use your opponents resorces to your own advantage, strike multiple enemies at once, these are basic tactics that must be mastered when facing a superior force and a failure to learn them will only doom yourself and the people of greece to a horrible death.
With regard to the secret areas, I know a few players are finding them too difficult. If you are dying a lot, go level up and come back later. One thing I debated with Yerky early on was closing the Blood Cave after you entered, so after your first death you would find the entrance blocked off, and wouldn't be able to even teleport back in with a friend in there. In order to get the door open again, you'd have to either beat Typhon, or find the Underlord (never decided). The idea was prevent impatient players, or newer players from trying to battle through it when they weren't ready. I saw this happen a lot with Uber, where players new to TQ would log 60 deaths trying to get out of Helos. I decided not to in the end, since even good players will die at least 2-3 times as they learn the new monsters and how to counter them. And, I knew I would get endless complaints. So, instead I decided against health fountains. It worked well with the original Secret Place, since it was such a long run back that after a few deaths you would give up and return later. The monsters are balanced to be roughly a little more difficult stat-wise as monsters in the surrounding area (tigermen, dragonians, etc.), but are obviously tougher for their skills and combinations. I obviously can't be responsible for how you play, but in general you shouldn't die more than say 5 times. If you haven't even gotten through the Blood Cave and you've logged 5 deaths, you're not ready for it. Be aware it's not part of the main-quest and will not impede your progress; you CAN come back to it later, though it's a bit of a hike. ;) In 1.4 I will be adding a portal to return you to the main path after beating Leinth, and I will be looking at a way to get players out of the Temple without them having to go back so far (right now it sucks).
For those who are unsure if they're ready, here's a little Secret Place primer:
Blood Cave -
Level 35-40.
Can teleport into.
Respawn fountain at entrance.
If you're struggling, go beat Typhon first and get some better gear. Stay away from the river unless you're ready to cross. Only creatures can trigger the bulging vessles. You will need to figure out a way to deal with them to cross the second bridge; face-planting over and over again is a fail-plan.
Temple of Eternal Love
Level 35-40
Can teleport into.
Respawn fountain at entrance.
You will face a multitude of physical attacks here significant enough that armor and shields will be necessary to get through. If you're struggling too much here, just let it go; port out and go level.
Sanctuary of the Bloodborne
Level 40+
Cannot teleport into.
No respawn fountain.
This is a ridiculously long gauntlet of champion Blood Cult. Much like the secret passage, dying far along means a long-ass run back to where you were. This isn't an accident. It will take more than just good gear as well; you will have to use positioning and baiting to make it through without dying. If you struggled to get here, don't even bother trying for at least another 4-5 levels.
Dark Forest, 800x600, Source of all Suffering
Level 45-50
Cannot teleport into.
No respawn fountain.
For reasons obvious to those who've found it, you cannot port in or out of the Dark Forest. This is not an accident. That being said, with great risk comes great reward.
Duister
Level 1+
Can teleport into.
:D
Uber
After the 1.3 patch, I'm going to create an Uber patch for Underlord. I will only be making Uber 1.1 for Underlord, though I will release the working files at the same time. Expect this soon--very shortly after 1.3 release. I'd like to get it into players hands as soon as possible as I'd like to update it after feedback in January when I release the larger patch for Underlord 1.4--balancing is a little trickier with Uber over Underlord, as Uber 1.0 was originally scaled based on vanilla TQ balance.
I'll create a separate modpage for Uber as I have done for Underlord.
Other Mod Integration
Because Underlord is a game patch, other mods can be run on top of it. And, if a mod has a record conflict with Underlord, a simple database patch is all it takes to create a compatible version of the mod, meaning instead of having to download 2gigs of Lilith again just to play with Underlord changes, you can download a 20mb file.
Jiaco has been working on a Lilith patch to allow for Underlord play. You can follow his progress on TQNet. Most mods should not be a problem. Galefury has created an XMAX database for Underlord (you can find it over on TQNet as well). Those of you playing with other mastery mods should be fine. If you're beta testing a mod, like Paths, I recommend you continue to do so over vanilla as that's what they're being balanced against. After they get out of testing, talk about Underlord compatible versions (if necessary) can commence. But, until then, please don't test those mods over Underlord then report bugs to either of us.
Informatics
I am going to try and get as much info online as possible, maybe in the feature section of the Underlord page. This will include a lot of spoiler info, including stats and names on new items and affixes, etc.. I discussed the possibility of an item database with the new items stats with Jiaco a while ago, and he seemed to feel it was very doable and something that wouldn't take him a ton of time, so that is something we'll explore again in the coming weeks. Also I saw some talk on an updated version of the "Occultulator" on TQNet, and possible integration with something Vorbis has been working on--a sort of multi-functional offline item database with the Masteries Calc and the Occultulator built into it. I will update as more information becomes available.
However, full disclosure will have to wait until I return to my home proper and have access again to OneNote (I managed to forget to bring my OneNotes with me) and have only the spreadsheets I used during development.
Outro
Thanks to everyone for their kind words and bug reports. I'd like to add that I forgot to mention in the release credits that Yerkyerk was also the mapper who made the Dark Forest and 800x600 maps, and guided me through many challenges I came across with the map editor.
Being the amazing modder that I am, version 1.2 will be coming out today or tomorrow! OMG HOW DO I DO IT?!?
The enormous changelog for 1.2 is:
Fixed broken doorway in Hades Palace.
Reduced difficulty boost for Normal.
And for those of you who were unable to cope with Helos, and the ferocious Satyrs who did 10% more damage and had 30% more hitpoints, be thankful for that broken doorway blocked access to Hades, 'cause there's no way I woulda gone 1.2 for a minor difficulty nerf. ;) Be ashamed. Be very ashamed....
After posting the changelog yesterday, I set the mod to transfer to Yerkyerk. I see this morning that the transfer is complete. As soon as Yerkyerk is done making the installer, he'll send it back to me to test. If it looks good, it will be released. However, this is all mostly in Yerkyerk's capable hands now. Yerkyerk and Jiaco have full access to the modpage now, and you can look to them for updates and tidbits.
As far as the status of the mod--how complete it is, I'll say 99%. I was reminded this morning, doing a quick run through the blood cave, that no matter how hard I look, there's always something I've missed. In this case, I missed a bowl of fruit. It will be obvious to those of you who stumble upon it. This inappropriately placed bowl of fruit was a placemarker that I forgot about, for 4 full months, only to notice it this morning after I already sent the mod off to Yerkyerk. So, over the next few weeks, I expect more bowls of fruit to be brought to my attention.
As far as the 99% goes, that final 1% are things I didn't want to delay the mod over. For example, I have a problem with monster vocalization; I'll call it "chanting." I believe it may be a problem with the randomization, but when you set monsters to have a chance to vocalize, groups of them are more likely to vocalize at the same time. Even with a relatively low chance to activate. This happens a lot with the Machae I notice now, but it's less obvious as they're speaking gibberish. Players will notice this more in the Blood Cave, where monsters will vocalize in English--there's really only one particular area where it's excessive. So, that's the kind of thing that was left unresolved for now. Nothing that will affect gameplay--just a few minor cosmetic issues like that.
Anyway, my work for now is DONE! And I enjoy the sweet comfort of knowing that all the pressure's on Yerkyerk now. :D
What follows is the first draft of the changelog for all changes and additions between Occult BETA 4 and Underlord 1.1. This is incomplete, but I thought I'd put it up for those dedicated players who actually read the changelog. Please note that Underlord is built on top of the latest patch version 1.17a. Yerky says he may make a 1.1 and a 1.17a version of the installer, so those of you going from 1.1 to Underlord 1.1, please read the 1.17a changelog as well.
Changelog for Underlord 1.1
//Section: General Bugfixes
Battle Standard can no longer be mind controlled or have buffs dispelled.
Pulverize animation fixed.
Shield charge animation fixed.
Coredwellor AI controllers fixed.
Trap AI fixed to no longer get stuck on hidden monsters.
Rancor vitality damage fixed across difficulties.
Porphyrion's MI gear droprate has been reduced.
Lamia basic helms now drop in game.
MI Lamia helms now use appropriate affix tables.
Huo Qubong no longer drops in act 4.
Entwined Mark of Calchas now drops in game.
Boarman's MI armbands now show up green instead of white.
//EndSection
//Section: Misc
Dev tools removed from game.
Visual clippers on bonestaves and hex staves fixed.
Crystal ante-chamber to Hades' Throne Room expanded.
Proxy spawns rearranged for performance reasons when running xmax versions of the game.
3 New areas added to the game.
Many new monsters added to the game.
//EndSection
//Section: Items
New monster infrequent items added.
New easter egg items added.
New ultra-rare items added.
New Item Type: Mythic items added.
Can only be acquired through mythic recipe.
Recipe has very low chance to drop from normal recipe sources starting in Epic Difficulty.
Recipe requires other items as ingredients.
Each recipe will require one monster infrequent of a very high quality (determined by rarity and plurality of affixes).
New Item Type: Vitality Staves added.
Can be purchased from new Occult Vendors or found from these monsters:
Abyssal Liche
Bandari
Wraith Heroes
Ichthian Bonecasters
Undead Tyrant Brother Mage
Gilded Spirit Magi and Acolyte
Gilded Warlock
Mummies
Empusa Soul Carver
Keres Witches
Melinoe Blood Witch
Night Stalker Casters
Lost Soul Casters
All set bonuses have been rebalanced and improved.
Incomplete equipment sets completed.
New sets added to the game.
Porphyrion's MI gear droprate has been reduced.
Large number of unique staffs changed to vitality base, or vitality mix damage types. New projectile effects and sounds created.
Large number of unique items changed to accord to new masteries.
A few unique items were promoted to Mythic, and thus removed from the game.
Almost all relics and charms have been rebalanced, most improved.
30 new rare affixes added.
//EndSection
//Section: Game Changes
Game difficulty has been scaled up proportionally.
Monster spawning has been further increased.
Boss Monsters now have an aura which removes dodge and deflect immunities.
Potion cooldowns increased from 11 to 16 seconds.
100% Recharge now nearly impossible to achieve.
Game camera can now zoom in 4 units closer.
Min speed values for both players and monsters lowered by 20 and 10 respectively.
Physical Damage now displays as "physical damage" in game instead of just "damage."
Piercing now displays as "Weapon Piercing (Multiplicative)"
Sleep Damage now displays as "Sleep Duration"
Stun Damage now displays as "Stun Duration"
Disruption Resistance now displays as "Reduced Disruption Duration"
Effects that reduce offensive and defensive ability by a percentage no longer display as absolute.
New Retaliation types added to the game:
Reduced Damage Retaliation
Reduction to Enemy Health Retaliation
Reduced Defense Ability Retaliation
Reduced Offensive Ability Retaliation
Resistence to health reduction effects will now display as "Health Reduction Resistance."
3 New Races added to the game:
Diety
Damned
Gigantes
Revisions to mastery class names.
//EndSection
//Section: Monsters
Arachne's Shame
Nerfed.
AI Controller improved to prevent doorway leashing.
Now has dramatic death effect and sound.
Hades
Buffed.
Now flanked by Gigantes Guards that must be killed before Hades form 1 can be killed.
Tigermen Battle Standard has unique skin.
Centar Battle Standard has unique skin.
Ascophogus have new darker skins to better distinguish them from Force of Nature.
Gigantes are no longer "Magical" creatures and are instead race: Gigantes.
Bone Scourge and Bone Fiend are no longer "Demons" and are instead race: Undead.
Crow Heroes enabled to protect liars everywhere.
Skills added/changed for these monsters:
Abyssal Liche
Plague - Acid Rain instead of PGB
Frost - Flash Freeze
Flame - Rain of Fire
Quilvine Barb - chance to sleep.
Centar - Shield Charge
Anteok - Sleep Wave
Melinoe Blood Witch - Summons Blood Demons
Empusa - Sleep
Hero Empusas - New and Restored skills (muy deadly, caution)
//EndSection
//Section: Masteries
//--SubSection: OCCULT
Agility has new icon.
Irregularity
Aggro-pull reduced at lower levels.
Level 20 fidgeting fixed.
Petrify changed to 1 second on death boom.
Death now always triggers chain reaction on other Irregularities in range.
No longer leaves behind invisible bodies that show upon returning to an area.
Calculated Strike cost reduced.
Blade Fury cost reduced.
Breach cooldown reduced and energy cost reduction added.
Toxin Distillation buffed.
Envenom Weapon cost increased.
Aphotic Ichor fragments now explode before poison gas pellets.
Shadow Link
Radius changed to 3 meters.
Now has weapon enchantment visual effects.
Shadow Lore no longer creates a new light-source for the eye effect (performance problem)
Shadow Stalker
Shadow Sprites boomskill fixed.
Sprites no longer drop demon's blood.
Shadow Plague contagion factors reduced.
Default attack projectile visual effect reduced in size.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: SPIRIT
Skeletal Soldiers
Footspeed and durability improved.
New Skill: passive shield attack.
Aggression lowered when set to normal.
Defensive mode reworked to provide better guarding.
Relentless Evil now has a scaling visual effect.
Dark Covenant and Unearthly Power health cost rescaled and lowered.
Spirit Lure
Aggro-pull fixed.
Health, lifeleech, and duration rescaled and improved.
Animation stutter fixed.
Bone Fiend
Scale reduced.
Ground pound visual effect improved.
Body now disappears after death.
Durability rescaled lower at low, higher at high.
Liche King
Default attack rework: now uses staff and all weapon modifiers.
Resistance reduction on Soul Blight reduced.
Soul Blight projectile speed increased.
Soul Blight impact effect improved.
Death Nova improved.
Bone Spire improved.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: DREAM
Psionic Artery rework - improved leeching, adding health reduction.
Dream Surge damage improved.
Psionic Immolation damage improved.
Temporal Flux rescaled, final values 16, 18, 20.
Phantasm
Death animation fixed.
Damage increased.
Trance of Convolescence and Empathy links fixed.
Troubled Dreams
Mana cost fixed.
Vit decay increased.
Resistance reduction duration increased.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: WARFARE
Warwind cost reduced.
War Dance
Damage increased.
Animation fixed and speed increased.
Finesse energy cost reduction added.
Battlerage reworked and buffed.
Ancestral Warriors damage absorption scaled.
Battle Standard can no longer be mind controlled or have buffs dispelled.
Triumph stun resist reduction scaled.
War Horn base increased at higher levels.
Lacerate bleed damage improved.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: DEFENSE
Battle Awareness tree now progressive.
Pulverize animation fixed (screen shake now triggers on impact, not start of animation).
Shield Charge animation fixed (screen shake now triggers on impact, not start of animation).
Collosal Form
Scale reduced.
All values improved by a flat 50.
Adreneline skill tree now progressive.
Hack flat damage removed.
Shield Training now caps at 12 instead of 8.
Iron Will remade - resistences added.
Rally skill tree now progressive.
Heave and Cleave have new sounds.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: NATURE
Thorn Sprites
Cooldown increased to 20 seconds.
New sound effects.
Projectile can now be fired properly when facing downhill.
Body effect no longer creates new light source (performance problem)
Sanctuary link fixed.
Stinging Nettle remake - percentage life retaliation and defense ability reduction.
Plague offscreen crash fixed.
Nymph
AI controllers fixed.
New skill: Nature's Grace - temp regen buff for allies.
Force of Nature
Movement animation now in sync with distance traveled.
Roots now has a visual break effect.
Now has spawn and death sounds.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: HUNTING
Spear Tempest and synergy remade and buffed.
Call of the Hunt link fixed.
Cornered Rage remake -
Duration rescaled.
Stats improved.
Cooldown reduced to 3 minutes.
Eviserate percentage reduction scaling fixed.
Herbalism energy reserve removed.
Hunting Traps are pet-classed creatures. (note missing from beta 1 changelog)
Marksmanship skill tree rebalanced to accomodate double-application bug.
Scattershot damage reduced.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: STORM
Lightning Bolt
Damage improved.
Added small chance to do extreme damage.
Changed stun to paralyze.
Chain Lightning
Damage improved.
Added small chance to do extreme damage.
Chain chance increased to 100%.
Changed stun to paralyze.
Ice Shard tree costs rescaled.
Energy shield chance to activate lowered.
Storm Nimbus skill tree now progressive.
Arctic Shell skill tree now progressive.
Flash Freeze visual effects and sounds reworked.
Squal skill tree now progressive.
Heart of Frost slow lowered.
Thunderball projectile fixed.
Static Nova improved damage and stun.
//EndSubSection
//--SubSection: EARTH
Ring of Fire skill tree damage increased.
Rupture remake - now an attack skill like Ternion.
Volatility now works.
Heat Accretion has round icon to indicate synergy status.
Spontaneous Combustion visual effect improved.
Earth Enchantment cost increased.
Core Dwellor remake -
AI controllers fixed and tweaked.
Added slow resistance.
Fire damage on attack.
Durability improved.
Removed skill: Wild Fire.
New skill: Flaming Boulder (ranged attack, splash damage, mini-stun)
New skill: Fissure (ranged line-attack, damage and stun)
Metamorphisis improved.
Inner Fire improved.
Lava now reduces armor.
Molten Form improved.
Meteor high-levels damage increased.
//EndSubSection
//EndSection
Due to things taking longer than they should, the final iteration of the mod has not gone out for extensive testing as was planned. Underlord is released tomorrow as version 1.1. I expect over the next 3 weeks to compile a list of missed bugs and loose ends found by players, and should have an update patch to bring Underlord to 1.2 before Christmas.
For those eager to get their Uber on, this is something I also hope to have done by Christmas. I will make a new mod page for it in a couple weeks. Something to note about Uber 1.1 is that, unlike Uber 1.0, there will be only one version of the mod, and it will only be for Underlord. As it will be a game patch, it will offer the same compatibility as Underlord will with other mods. I will also be making the Uber source files available to allow other modders to create versions of Uber for their own mod.
Lastly, I will be exploring the extents of ModDB, and see how well they can serve as a central location for all things related to Underlord. I will look into their features and see if detailed information about the mod can be made available here.
I'd like to apologize to those who've waited a long time for this mod to be released. I've been in your situation plenty of times, so I sympathize. I waited 2 years for Tormentress and Manastream. Tormentress I don't believe will ever be finished, and I've long since given up any hope that Manastream will come out as anything more than 2,000 hours of photoshopped elf boobs. Probably the biggest dissapointment was how long it took for Lilith 1.1 to come out, as it was my last chance to keep my girlfriend interested in Titan Quest just a little longer. After beating the original campain on all 3 difficulty levels, we turned to Lilith, which was fun at first, but by the end was a buggy, jumbled mess that felt more like a compulsive labor than entertainment. When 1.1 one did come out with the necessary fixes to unbreak our Lilith characters, my girlfriend was on to other games and activities, and I lost my number one mod assistant.
Now, during the course of this mod's development, I've been clear that I had fairly high standards. And during this same time, I got a number of repeated requests to just release the mod as is. Even by the time I released the beta, a few people that had been waiting for it had already moved on to other games. But, there were also a good number of new players who were interested in testing the mod.
The mod is done now. It was not done before now. If you wanted to play an unfinished version of the mod, there have been the betas available.
As far as trying to race to completion to beat other games, well, that's sorta silly. I don't make money doing this, so why would I try to compete with any game at all? *cough*Daeger*cough* And let's be clear, this is a mod of Titan Quest, which is still the best D2 clone out there. TQ will die only when Diablo 3 comes out. And while I haven't played Torchlight, I did play Fate, and from watching the gameplay videos, it looks like the exact same game. It's a Diablo clone, not a Diablo 2 clone. It will be an ultimately unsatisfying experience, like Fate was, in its monotony and lack of depth. However, it will give you a good 20 hours of fun before you start to see the endless cycle of it all, and realize just how worthless random dungeons are to re-playability.
Titan Quest is a great game. I didn't make Titan Quest. I made a mod for it. If someone is unhappy with how long my mod took to make, and won't play it out of spite, they're not hurting me. While this mod will be available to them, as it will be for everyone, it wasn't made for them, nor was its development in any way influenced by their personal gaming schedule or preferences.
I'm not out to appease customers, as I don't have any. :) I know that most modders like to pretend they're game developers or something, but I'm not one of those. For me, making this mod was an extension of the game--it's own kind of fun and entertainment. And while I appreciate all the compliments I've gotten on the mod, it's not why I made the mod.
Finally, I'd like to comment on my "obsessiveness": I do not regret waiting to release the mod until it was done, nor do I regret putting the mod work aside for almost 2 months, so close to the finish line, to deal with significant life events and demands. I could have just shoved the mod out the door, and left a lot of the polish off, but as everyone should know by now, I don't do that. Now, there are plenty of modders who don't care about that stuff at all. And, if that's what you really wanted, then you'll be happy to know that there are already plenty of crappy, half-assed mods for you to choose from. And as you play them, I have no doubt you will be able to appreciate how free the developer was from any obsessive need to make everything perfect. But, realize, the truth is, if I hadn't taken all that extra time with the mod, you wouldn't be pissed at all over the delays--you likely wouldn't even be following its development.
About the name change from Occult Mod to Underlord; Occult was one of many working titles I had--one I chose when I realized that I was taking the rogue mastery in a direction just far enough outside of Rogue that the mastery couldn't remain with that name. Since this was the core of the mod, the Occult mod seemed a more fitting title than "Shadow Rogue." However, soon after I began working on the other masteries. I didn't change the name then, because I'd already changed it twice. So, instead of worrying about it, I simply made a personal mandate to stop changing the damn name, and just make the mod and let it be what it was regardless. However, once it became clear what the mod was, and with the end in sight, I knew it was time to find a better name.
Zilla, Yerkyerk, and Jiaco all weighed in with great name suggestions. Truly great name suggestions with names that sounded much cooler as well. However, Underlord just clicked. And, once in place, I knew there was no way I could change it to anything else. Since this project is so much restoration--finishing what the developers started--it was a nice way to rename the game itself as well, allowing the title to reflect the existing plot, and playfully on a number of other levels that players new to Titan Quest won't get. :)
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