HiB came after the GOG version went up, but yeah that was how I finally got a DRM free version of the first Torchlight.

I hope eventually Torchlight 2 reaches a bundle also and I'll get a DRM free version then.

Jesus, I never thought about that! Hmmm well, there is nothing I can do about it now.
I will say this from a personal standpoint, I LOVE this game. It fixes every minor annoyance from the 1st one and adds a bunch of little new touches that make is a real blast. When I bought it back in Dec/Jan I was sitting on a bunch of XMAS and BDay money so I had the $20 to spare if god forbid something went wrong. I made sure the demo was nice and crisp and I went for it. If you are on a budget or just not wild about the series you might want to hold off because even if Runic promises never to go under you still are taking a risk anytime you download a game. Six months ago I forked over $15 for KOTOR2 and it never did work so I had to eat the $15; it happens. You take those risk on GOG and you take it with Runic. I'm guessing in a few years you may even find T2 in here minus the DRM but like I said, I had the money so why wait?

There is quite a big difference, though, which means that wouldn't work in this case. If you were to install a bank machine, and disconnect it from the bank's servers, then maybe it would be able to accept pins from people who already have accounts. Of course, whether it would let you withdraw money without being able to tell the main server to adjust accordingly is another matter, but that's neither here nor there. The thing is, if you then went to the bank and set up an account (equivalent to buying a key for T2), and then went back to the bank machine, without giving it access to the banks' server in the meantime, would you expect it to accept your pin?? Of course not, as it's not had access to find it out.

Now, it could be said that when you download it, it could include a 'list' of all the bought codes, which could be updated whenever someone buys a new code. Not only would that be opening the system to piracy (defeating the original point of the activation, which can be argued as right/wrong/futile if you wish), but it'd mean you'd need an internet connection anyway!

I'm not sure if activations are necessary or not. I haven't played T2, and have very little interest in doing so. I just felt I needed to point out how unreasonable the demands you made actually are.

Oh, and that 'massive security hole' you mentioned, sending personal information about your account across the internet? Has it occurred to you that it could (and quite potentially is, I don't know) just be encrypted to send it? There are a number of methods available that would take a supercomputer several centuries to decode if it had to guess the correct prime number (which is never sent over the internet). I assume you trust those methods as secure, as you've presumably used them to buy games on GOG.

Well, then how did CD keys work before internet activation? We can discuss theory, or we can just point to what was already possible over a decade ago.

I already played through the demo twice (embermage and engineer). I am actually delighted to see, that the game seems to even run a bit better on my laptop than its predecessor. However, I kinda don't want so spoiler myself by watching through gameplay videos so the question is: how is the leveldesigne in general? I liked the first game but was a bit disappointed by the leveldesigne. It started of very diabloresque with the mine/stronghold-library parts and then got a bit less interesting with the 'water levels' and the cave.

That was the answer I was looking for.
Not to mention keygenerators...

A brief new question did rise:

Is the activation method the same for the boxed version of the game?
I cam to notice that I could also get the boxed version around here(Even thought them fuckers put the price stickers directly on the decorative paper-hull...). Does that benefit me in regards of the activation, or does it simply leave me with the same situation pressed on dvd?

I take it I am still dependent on the 10 activations I get from runic games, or?

Edit: found the answer myself, never mind.

Which is...? Don't get me wrong, but I hate when people do that. Others may have that very same question...

It is the same. The boxed edition that is released in Germany comes with the same 10 activations as the runic digital version. It is only the installer pressed on DVD, but aside from that they are the same.