Medierra

Yes, we've tweaked the system a little so that enemies can sometimes drop things that aren't equipped (although we're still trying to keep that semi-appropriate) but if they have a magic item, that item will always drop. If it is just a common item, it can break and you won't see it but bad-ass glowing swords of doom will always drop when equipped.

Haha, thank you! The hidden track was by a band called Bang Camaro that our lead programmer was in. We might actually be able to get them to do a new song for Grim Dawn. ; )

The biggest are mood / atmosphere and combat. I always felt like TQ was a little flat in terms of the atmosphere. There wasn't that sense of mystery and danger that the Diablo games do so well. We've put a lot of effort into developing that more and creating an interesting world with a well-developed history. We've also put a ton of effort into combat and pacing. We've added blood / gore effects, enemy hit reactions, special deaths for some enemies, others ragdoll, zombies can be dismembered, hit sounds are crunchier, blood spatters on the ground and pools under bodies, etc.

There are also a lot of cool new features though. The more open world is something I really enjoy as a player who prefers to ignore the main story and run off exploring. We've also added more randomized elements, dynamic weather, a faction system, destructible environments - really cool busting through doors or blowing up walls to reveal hidden areas.

Haha, yeah Bryn Bennett, he actually left Harmonix (where he ended up after ILE) last year and is working on his own indie game. I'm not sure what the name is yet but his studio is called Eerie Canal.

1) We've sort of considered it but we're at a point where we really need to be careful about what new features we take on with our very limited resources. I also sort of feel like that isn't quite the type of game we're building. To me, ARPG is more about the sort of meta-tactics of laying down synergistic skills, figuring the best way to counter certain enemies, tactical movement to avoid being surrounded / avoid high-damage attacks, etc and of course the strategic aspect of character building.

2) We've changed our health / resource system so that potions don't really play as big of a role. Not only do classes all have health recovery skills but there is a fast-regen that happens when you haven't been hit for a few seconds, similar to many shooters. So, given that and the extra inventory management / display required for different stat potions, we feel like it isn't a good fit.

3) It will most likely start out largely like TQ. We realize closed servers are hugely important to people but they're also hugely expensive to build given that we'd need to convert the game to run with a server-side architecture and build a multiplayer platform. This is something we'd be very interested in doing down the road though if Grim Dawn is successful and we have the resources. 4) Yes definitely, we've even made improvements to the modding tools and will be able to better support the modding community as an indie studio with ownership of the game.