Torchlight 3 was initially a massively multiplayer online experience as Torchlight Frontiers before shifting towards a more linear approach. The previously envisioned shared and persistent in-game world resulted in an assumption that players would be able to use forts for online trading as players do in say Path of Exile by summoning buyers to their home-base.
Speaking with SegmentNext in a recent interview, developer Echtra Games confirmed that such kind of player-trading was considered at a point during development but never made it past the red tape. Torchlight 3 still offers player-trading but between party members only. As such, there is no marketplace where players can advertise a recipe or item for sale and then have interested buyers travel to a particular fort to complete the trade.
Do note that players of a party can always visit the forts of each other, and players will come across randomly placed forts of other players during their adventures. However, any trading aspects outside of a party will base on the forts players find while questing, if those forts even have something to offer to begin with.
While there currently is no direct or indirect trade in Torchlight 3, players can both visit the forts of party members and find randomly placed forts as they journey through the world. We’ve talked about adding these various types of trade in the past, but it’s never made it to the top of the feature list.
For those unaware, Torchlight 3 will allow players to build and upgrade their very own forts with various structures for gameplay-related buffs and services. Since they will serve as a personal player-hub, players will also be able to decorate their forts in hundreds of ways to call them home. Majority of those props will be free and not locked behind microtransactions.
Torchlight 3 remains in closed beta for now and will officially release for PC via Steam later in the year, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One release following afterwards. Those interested can add the game to their wishlist and be notified when pre-orders start. Despite the rampaging COVID-19, Echtra Games is still confident of a 2020 release window.
Echtra Games has also noted that a next-generation release can be considered but once Torchlight 3 has landed successfully on the aforementioned platforms. Right now, all focus and resources remain dedicated to getting the game ready for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
