Questions from a Torchlight newb

[Forbin]

I picked it up on the recent $5 weekend sale, and since I haven't played a game like this since Diablo 1 and I'm a little confused.

Do I get more money from selling items I've identified? It seems I'm always at a shortage on scrolls, so it's not practical to use them on everything. Would it make more sense to use them mostly on Blue+ quality items?

Is there some sort of disadvantage for dual wielding? I found a legendary/unique bow early on, but recently found a blue quality pistol that does far more dps and has better enchantments. But when I switched to pistols I find I'm having a lot more trouble, and my spells don't seem to hit as hard.

Does the shitty wizard give any indication how much gold his enchantment will cost? I wasn't paying attention and nearly lost all my gold to him, but when I tried enchanting another item it didn't seem like the cost was too prohibitive. Does the price scale based on weapon slot/level/number of times you've previously enchanted?

Is there any way to rebind my WASD keys to something useful? I find my hand hovering over them to use shift and 1-5, but if they're not going to be used for movement it'd be nice to provide easy access to 6-0.

[Grippage]

My advice is to you is to play with the second hardest difficulty setting (I think there are 4?) or maybe even the hardest. I forget.

I played for a few days on the normal one and eventually realised that the game was way too easy. I took down bosses in less than a second, and I don't even have any real experience with dungeon crawlers.

I didn't even consider going to The Shitty Wizard after listening to the podcast so I wouldn't know.

[DanJW]

Hi there!

It's been a month or two since I last played the awesome game that is Torchlight, but I think I can answer some of your questions.

Yeah, magical items are basically worthless until they have been ID'd. Make sure you have a decent supply with you, but only use them on stuff you might want to switch to mid-dungeon. Compare it to your current stuff, discard the weaker one in the pet pack and send him to town when full. The rest you can get ID'd when you get back to town yourself. After health and mana, pack space and ID scrolls are the major "budget decision" n the game (if that design terminology means anything to you).

Single-handed weapons tend to shoot faster, but much weaker. Certain powers work better when they are working with a higher maximum damage (since the budget for special abilities is mostly mana, not cast time). Certain skills can make dual wield more worth it, although I never found any point in using two pistols at once, mores the pity. I was hoping it would make shooting even faster, but instead they just alternate at the same fire rate. Still, if you find an ultra powerful pistol combined with a good sword it is well worth it (and the pistols are so damn cool...)

The shitty wizard does indeed tell you how much gold each enchantment will cost, after you slot the item into his window. It increases with the item level and how many enchantments it already has.

Rebinding... I think so, but I'm not sure. But here are a couple of good Torchlight wikis that can answer most question you might have (just resist the urge to look up spoilers).

http://en.runicgamesfansite.com/rgwiki/

http://www.runicfollower.com/wiki/torchlight/Portal:Torchlight_Main

Happy delving!

[Forbin]

Thanks for the responses. One more thing:

I'm using an explosive shot from the ranged talent tree. It says it's based off weapon damage, but will it scale from magic or dexterity? I'm using it way more than my auto-shot.

I find I'm banking a lot of talent points and waiting for gear restrictions to use them.

[Brannigan]

If you have explosive shot you've basically won the game.

[Forbin]

If you have explosive shot you've basically won the game.

Yeah it seems to have pretty much broken the game.