the 1.2 patch has brought all loading times down by 80%. both on my desktop and on my netbook.

The load times still seem excruciatingly slow for me, and I have the Steam version so I know I have the updated one.

You may need this: VC ++ runtime
Maybe the Steam version is borked? I know the patch has reduced the load times for me, although I wouldn't say by 80%, I'd say they were probably around 40% faster now.
However, they borked enchanting completely -- and I'm not speaking of the "nerf" they did thanks to whiny "cheaters"/whiny "anti-cheaters". But there should be a hotfix for that coming soon.

does this game has normal nightmare hell difficulties?like in d2? :>

It has I think Very Hard as the highest and the Hardcore toggle. But being 100% fully moddable, you can set the difficulty to amazingly insane with just some patience and a bit of editing...
And on a related note, the editor should go live this week =D.

Here the loading is a bit slow, but not so much! Maybe is some problem in Steam? (My Torchlight is not from Steam)
What editor?

TorchED, its all the tools Runic used to make Torchlight. Everything you need to create the game is there. You supply the Graphics editor and 3D editor but other then that you have there devkit fully intact.

It has improved things for me but not by so much, I do ave the Steam version however so that may explain it.

I, too, have the Steam version but I haven't really noticed much -- if any -- improvement on load times.

And for all those interested, TorchED has now been released.

Woo hoo! I really want to try that out.

I installed the VC++ distributable from Microsoft but it still crashes, although seemingly less frequently. It is however frequent enough that completing the longer levels is almost impossible.
The error message is "the application has caused the runtime to terminate in an unusual manner" ... could hardly be more vague.

I got it from Runic directly and boy do the improvement is tangible! I noticed the game will revert back to long load times if I installed any mods, maybe that's what is happening to you.

The benefit also really depends on the cpu/disc I/O ratio. The improvement should be most noticeable for those with a fast cpu. Also, generating a level for the first time takes longer than entering it again later.