Nope, it's a real offline installer, you simply buy a key directly from them and hit Activate when you're ready (it'll act as the demo until then). The launcher will torrent the game and any patches for you (you can adjust settings to not patch or only download when not in game, if you wish).
Having just barely reached Act 2, Act 1 alone was around 1/2 to 2/3 the journey to get to Ordrakk, so calling it "4 times the size" is probably fair.

It sounds like size is irrelevant to their price point, marketing is where it matters, since they make the same per "box", they just have to nail the marketing. In a way Blizzard handed them around half their marketing with the direction they took Diablo 3. Of course, many will play both TL2 and D3 and even more will never consider anything but D3, but Blizzard's cavalcade of semi outrageous press over D3 left a lot of disaffected looking for the game they used to love, which turned out to be TL2

But is there a limited amount of activations this time around? I got around to playing the demo (from Steam since their site was all sorts of wonky at the time), and I really really like it. I do want to support them.

I disable autopatching in their launcher, you know, on my Steam free version;)
There always was, Runic just used to refund all activations monthly on TL. I obviously cannot promise their exact behavior, but I see no reason it would be different this time around.

Just downloaded a new update. Is it safe to play the game now?

Screw it. I'm not going to pirate this. It was silly of me to even consider it. I may buy it within the next few days.

I'm curious though. Do demo characters remain when unlocking the full game? I would assume so, but I still want to make sure.

Yeah demo is actually the full game just the key unlocks rest of acts so everything stays same.

What kaileeena said, yep, the demo is the full game, you just activate it.

Btw, fucking terrible keymapping in this one, folks. It doesn't recognize Middle Mouse Button or any extra mouse buttons. You cannot rebind LMB, etc.

I can't fathom spending that much time on polish and skipping those details...

First of all i didn`t and won`t play TL2, but there are many points why.

First, i prefer single player RPG`s like Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, Lionheart or Inquisitor. And here it`s the most (from my view) inaccaptable thing: Multiplayer.
Why on earth are Runic Games (and other companies) so focused on making Multiplayer games? Did they forget, that there are still enough players who just want to play a game for their own and don`t wanna share their playing etc with others? Can`t understand this.

Next point, graphic. Why are more and more games so overcolored? I mean, not all players are under 18 or in their mid-twenties and still kiddies. Sometimes companies should take their games more serious (especially when it`s a game like Torchlight, which earlier was also a more gloomy look-alike game).

And last but not least: Beta tests in full priced games. What the hell is this? Are the game makers too lazy for making this work for them selfes or what. OK, TL2 is a multiplayer game...but as i know it also has a single player mode (or am i wrong?). So why have the players / buyers have to do the work of the game makers and are the ones who are doing it getting paid for it, i don`t think so. The only thing what game makers / companies care, are getting releasing as fast as possible and getting money, money and more money. I can`t even remember when the last game, without needing a patch, was released.

To come to an end, i don`t like the way Torchlight 2 is going and what other RPG`s like that will be. Back to where this games began and just making them a bit up-to-date is all what is needed and nothing more.

Torchlight was the last real game released by Runic Games. Their standards have since fallen a long long way from where they once were, as exemplified by this travesty of a launch.

Well, hello there, Mr. Grumpy-Pants. =P

Hey, that itch really needed a good scratching :P

I can't tell if you are joking or serious...

Anyway, the game can be played single player and believe it or not, game developers do not exist to serve you. Some people actually want multiplayer.

Also, I find it funny how you complain about color when gamers so often complain about games being nothing but brown.

their customers asked for Multiplayer, Torchlight 2 is just what their fans were asking for but didn't get in the first Torchlight .

from the Torchlight 2 wiki

Though the original Torchlight received positive reviews, the game's lack of any multiplayer modes was a near-universal criticism of the title by critics and fans alike.[4] Prior to the release of the first game, Runic Games had announced plans to develop a MMORPG set in the Torchlight game world to follow the release of the single player game.[14] However, in August 2010, Runic announced they were developing Torchlight II, a sequel which was conceived not only as a way to give the series multiplayer support, but also to give Runic "more experience with making a multiplayer Torchlight."[

It was a joke. As you may or may not be aware this community met Diablo 3 with a fairly, how shall I say, lukewarm response. At the same time the release of TL2 was being heralded as the second coming of Jesus. All I did was copy/paste from other threads and posts some hyperbole that people said about D3 and changed the terms from D3/Blizzard to TL2/Runic. I guess it was what you'd call a "jab."

Thank you for your time and attention. Let this be a lesson to all of you.

On a serious note though, I enjoyed TL1 quite a bit and will probably pick this game up at some point when there's a little sale / discount. And great to see that they added multiplayer!

I was about to reply to that post of yours, but knowing you (on the forums at least), I had to wait for your response to see if you were trolling. My sarcasm detector is 95% resistant to your posts :P