Titan Quest TQ vs Titan Quest Anniversary Edition TQAE !?

[ovd_masterkey]

I own TQ classic, but never used and then I got TQAE for free on it's release date!!

What game should I play!!

So I read the Reviews and found:

Letande » Reviews » Titan Quest Anniversary Edition:

  https://steamcommunity.com/id/letande/recommended/475150/   

1- Quote: "...........Unfortunately, there's one thing that pretty much ruins all the fun. And that thing is... balance. Makers of this version completely re-balanced the game and oh... my... God, they pretty much ruined it. ........"

2- Quote: "......Remember how fun the original Titan Quest was? At the end of the Normal campaign, your whole inventory was full of blue items and it was fun to find something new and interesting after the every single boss encounter. It was really fun to inspect and compare all that cool loot. Remember that? Now let me give you a simple example. In this version, even when I've beaten the final boss of the new chapter from new expansion / DLC on Legendary (highest difficulty in the game), I've got only... yellow loot. That's right, the most basic yellow loot that's pretty much worthless. After killing the "big and scary" final boss.
Now even on highest difficulty the drop is, like, one hundred times worse than it was on Normal in the original game. Why? Yes, it makes you grind. For hours, for days, for weeks, for months and so on. But the thing is... It was a freakin' 2016 already!!! ....."

• Is the review from Letande True?
  
• What is Your Opinion with balance and loot?
  
  
• I´am now in the point of decision, what I wan´t to play. I´am an absolute beginner and do not know anything of TQ or TQAE. ( I have both games!!)
  I thought playing first TQ. Then, because I don't have the old Immortal Throne, I could take my Avatar to TQAE and play with DLC! Is this a possibility?

Thanks for Help!

Answers:                                                                  What do You think?

Originally posted by The Line Of Epic Heroes:

Answer 1)

Sometimes people play games and they discover some really op builds, then developers change a bit the balance of the game and make the game more balanced by nerfing the op builds so those people start crying and accusing the new versions of those games as unbalanced.
Destroying people's builds is not a good thing but balancing the game is, so whenever you see the word "balance" in critics of individuals, do not take it seriously, each individual have their own idea of balanced gameplay.
You can play just Titan Quest without IT, but the game is much worse because IT brings great things to TQ and also there are differences in all masteries' skills in AE from TQ classic + IT. You should go straight to AE, but if you play first TQ, then you can later transfer your TQ characters in AE. It is fully compatible but remember, when you play AE with your old TQ character, many stats will automatically change in both your skills and probably your items.

Originally posted by W. N. G.:

Answer 2)

I haven't played the old one as much as AE, but from what I know/hear the balance of AE is much better.
The old TQ is somehow easier, because of the absence of caps for reduced cooldown (among other things), and some formulas are different, like the DA.
Many masteries also had some overwhelming (or underwhelming) stuff at that time. The AE made adjustements to provide a more fair experience.

Originally posted by NavFamG:

Answer 3)

I really didn't find any differences in play balance between TQ and TQAE when I did it. If you've played both it might seem like the AE version is easier, but I'd put that down to the fact that you know the game already and generally most things are easier the 2nd time around.
The AE version has both the original TQ and TQ:IT in it. Immortal Throne is just part 2 to the game (with Ragnarok now being part 3). You play the TQ portion, beat the final boss and then it flows into the next dlc which is IT and if you have Ragnarok, you beat IT's final boss and it flows into Ragnarok. At it's base level, Titan Quest and Immortal Throne are the same no matter if it's the Original versions or the Anniversary versions you're playing. The story lines & quests are the same so it's not like you'd get anything at that level different playing one or the other.

Originally posted by kekkuli:

Answer 4)

About balancing..To me what feels stupid is lack of skills in this game. If you level all the way to 85 which is max level in AE (if i'm right?), you can basically max both of your skill trees. Totally kills the idea of builds in the first place.
Another thing is lack of conversion. They added conversion mechanic to the game but now it's basically limited to 1 skill of 1 class. I don't know if there are items that convert damage types (haven't found any) but conversion would work great and open many intresting possibilities if more classes had access to it through skills.
I have no problem finding blue/purple stuff. I'm not at the end of a5 epic and my chest is already full of stuff even though im using the XL caravan mod. To me it feels like i find lot more stuff overall and don't have to run bosses nearly as much as in original TQ.

Originally posted by Enso Gummiel:

You can NOT fill out 2 entire materies completetly, if you fill out all the way you can onyl get around 1/3 or so of the other one (varies a bit from mastery to mastery combination, as not all masteries have the exact same amount of skills, but they are also not too far off in the amount either

Originally posted by W. N. G.:

You can max out both with a couple of +x to all skills without even being 85.
There are items with conversion, but only a few.
Devs stated they did no changes to the loot drops.

Originally posted by NGDevTwo:

Drop rates of Epics and Legendaries are unchanged.

Since the developpers said they did not touched the loot rates, I say kekkuli had an easier time finding items in AE because he was luckier. I don't think there's another explication...

[darth.crevette]

While it's true that the balance feels a bit ham-fisted in a few areas, and while I *did* enjoy my old 2300+ DA 100% ctap Haruspex a lot myself, there's no denying most of these chances were needed. You just need to get used to not being OP-unkillable anymore.

[Monzcarro Murcatto]

Anniversary edition made the game more balanced but I think there's still a lot work to do.
Definitely TQAE > TQ(IT)

[Aainiikkusu]

I would like to know what changes make you bitter about the AE. As mentionned above, many of the changes were needed to make the game more balanced.

[ovd_masterkey]

Originally posted by W. N. G.:

I would like to know what changes make you bitter about the AE. As mentionned above, many of the changes were needed to make the game more balanced.

Sorry I think i have not explained it wright. So I extended the main question. I´am now in the point of decision, what I wan´t to play. I´am an absolute beginner and do not know anything of TQ or TQAE.
I read the Review and I could follow the explanation of Latande. Is he wright?

[ovd_masterkey]

Originally posted by darth.crevette:

While it's true that the balance feels a bit ham-fisted in a few areas, and while I *did* enjoy my old 2300+ DA 100% ctap Haruspex a lot myself, there's no denying most of these chances were needed. You just need to get used to not being OP-unkillable anymore.

Sorry I do not understand you complete? (ctap?, OP-unkillable anymore?)

If, you where a beginner, would you play TQ or TQAE?

Is TQ the old one without "balancing"?

Can you play the old version coop?

Is there a "classic" Mod to get TQAE with TQ feeling?

[ovd_masterkey]

Originally posted by Monzcarro Murcatto:

Anniversary edition made the game more balanced but I think there's still a lot work to do.
Definitely TQAE > TQ(IT)

Thanks I like that you have a opinion = Definitely TQAE > TQ(IT)

but TQ(IT)?
....but I think there's still a lot work to do.

Sorry to short, do you think it is not balanced enough? Was it better before the balancing?

[The Line Of Epic Heroes]

Originally posted by ovd_masterkey:

Originally posted by W. N. G.:

I would like to know what changes make you bitter about the AE. As mentionned above, many of the changes were needed to make the game more balanced.

Sorry I think i have not explained it wright. So I extended the main question. I´am now in the point of decision, what I wan´t to play. I´am an absolute beginner and do not know anything of TQ or TQAE.
I read the Review and I could follow the explanation of Latande. Is he wright?

Sometimes people play games and they discover some really op builds, then developers change a bit the balance of the game and make the game more balanced by nerfing the op builds so those people start crying and accusing the new versions of those games as unbalanced.
Destroying people's builds is not a good thing but balancing the game is, so whenever you see the word "balance" in critics of individuals, do not take it seriously, each individual have their own idea of balanced gameplay.
Having said that, go with Anniversary Edition, if you buy Immortal Throne you make a HUGE MISTAKE, if you can afford it buy Ragnarok too, it is awesome, it provides more features and much more content, literally thousands of hours of gameplay if you understand the point of this genre of games.

[ovd_masterkey]

Originally posted by The Line Of Epic Heroes:

Sometimes people play games and they discover some really op builds, then developers change a bit the balance of the game and make the game more balanced by nerfing the op builds so those people start crying and accusing the new versions of those games as unbalanced.
Destroying people's builds is not a good thing but balancing the game is, so whenever you see the word "balance" in critics of individuals, do not take it seriously, each individual have their own idea of balanced gameplay.

LOL!

Originally posted by The Line Of Epic Heroes:

...............
Having said that, go with Anniversary Edition, if you buy Immortal Throne you make a HUGE MISTAKE, if you can afford it buy Ragnarok too, it is awesome, it provides more features and much more content, literally thousands of hours of gameplay if you understand the point of this genre of games.

I thought playing first TQ. Then, because I don't have the old Immortal Throne, I could take my Avatar to TQAE and play with DLC! Is this a possibility?

But I think you like the new balance!? Immortal Throne is a part of TQAE?

[Aainiikkusu]

The old TQ is somehow easier, because of the absence of caps for reduced cooldown (among other things), and some formulas are different, like the DA.

Many masteries also had some overwhelming (or underwhelming) stuff at that time. The AE made adjustements to provide a more fair experience.

[ovd_masterkey]

Originally posted by W. N. G.:

The old TQ is somehow easier, because of the absence of caps for reduced cooldown (among other things), and some formulas are different, like the DA.

Many masteries also had some overwhelming (or underwhelming) stuff at that time. The AE made adjustements to provide a more fair experience.

Thanks for your answer, but I must know it explicit.
And You like the new balance? You have played the old and new one, and now You prefer TQAE?

[Aainiikkusu]

I haven't played the old one as much as AE, but from what I know/hear the balance of AE is much better.

[ovd_masterkey]

Originally posted by W. N. G.:

I haven't played the old one as much as AE, but from what I know/hear the balance of AE is much better.

Thanks, that is an announcement!!

If You play TQAE, is than Immortal Throne always active? Is there a campaign/quests for TQAE and for TQAE Immortal Throne?

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by ovd_masterkey:

I thought playing first TQ. Then, because I don't have the old Immortal Throne, I could take my Avatar to TQAE and play with DLC! Is this a possibility?

Yes it is. I had just finished the original when the AE version came out. While there's sometimes minor hic-up's in getting your TQ character to transfer to AE, you can (and I did) do it and then continued playing the game.

The AE version has both the original TQ and TQ:IT in it.

I really didn't find any differences in play balance between the two when I did it. If you've played both it might seem like the AE version is easier, but I'd put that down to the fact that you know the game already and generally most things are easier the 2nd time around.

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by ovd_masterkey:

If You play TQAE, is than Immortal Throne always active?

Yes, Immortal Throne is just part 2 to the game (with Ragnarok now being part 3). You play the TQ portion, beat the final boss and then it flows into the next dlc which is IT and if you have Ragnarok, you beat IT's final boss and it flows into Ragnarok.

Originally posted by ovd_masterkey:

Is there a campaign/quests for TQAE and for TQAE Immortal Throne?

At it's base level, Titan Quest and Immortal Throne are the same no matter if it's the Original versions or the Anniversary versions you're playing. The story lines & quests are the same so it's not like you'd get anything at that level different playing one or the other.

[The Line Of Epic Heroes]

Originally posted by ovd_masterkey:

Originally posted by The Line Of Epic Heroes:

Sometimes people play games and they discover some really op builds, then developers change a bit the balance of the game and make the game more balanced by nerfing the op builds so those people start crying and accusing the new versions of those games as unbalanced.
Destroying people's builds is not a good thing but balancing the game is, so whenever you see the word "balance" in critics of individuals, do not take it seriously, each individual have their own idea of balanced gameplay.

LOL!

Originally posted by The Line Of Epic Heroes:

...............
Having said that, go with Anniversary Edition, if you buy Immortal Throne you make a HUGE MISTAKE, if you can afford it buy Ragnarok too, it is awesome, it provides more features and much more content, literally thousands of hours of gameplay if you understand the point of this genre of games.

I thought playing first TQ. Then, because I don't have the old Immortal Throne, I could take my Avatar to TQAE and play with DLC! Is this a possibility?

But I think you like the new balance!? Immortal Throne is a part of TQAE?

-Yes, immortal throne is included in the AE and Ragnarok is a dlc for AE.
-You can play just Titan Quest without IT, but the game is much worse because IT brings great things to TQ and also there are differences in all masteries' skills in AE from TQ classic + IT. You should go straight to AE unless if you can not afford to buy it right now, in that case play TQ and later you can transfer your TQ characters in AE. It is fully compatible but remember, when you play AE with your old TQ character, many stats will automatically change in both your skills and probably your items.