During my earliest hours with Throne and Liberty , I was only able to play alone. The game did get significantly livelier when early access began, and I was able to access the game's multiplayer features. There's an inherent excitement to the early days of an MMO , when the world is full of other players, milling about in their freshly crafted armor and learning the game toget
However, this is still an MMO through and through - so the quests are repetitive. The zones you travel through are fairly interesting though, and mob variety is fine. There are rolling fields, beaches, gnarled watchtowers on top of hills guarded by goblins. Nothing here really screams originality.. But there remains a soothing familiarity to the wayThrone and Liberty begins: when there are hundreds of players grinding scarecrows in a random field somewhere, you know this is a serious
Overall, it’s difficult to give a score for Throne and Liberty based on what I’ve seen so far. I’ve been a bit too quick in the past to judge MMOs based on their leveling experience, where the real game begins when you’ve already invested dozens - potentially hundreds - of hours into the game. As it stands though, I can say that this is a game that I’m excited to play. There’s a real promise in what stands to be a modern successor to one of the all-time greats of the genre, NCSoft’s Lineag
One thing Throne and Liberty does have over most MMOs is a pretty robust system of PvP . There's a spark of brilliance in the chaos of it all, especially the massive guild raids. Being surrounded by 360 degrees of bloody struggle, trying only to stay focused on my own objectives and stay alive, was the most thrilling experience I got out of Throne and Liber
As for the game itself, one of the things that most interested me was the class system. Rather than a standard build of 'Rogue' or 'Warrior' or 'Mage', every character dual wields. You can choose to make this consistent (my preview character was an all magic build of Wand and Staff), or mix and match, pairing Dagger with Staff, Crossbow with Greatsword, Sword and Shield with Longbow, or any combination thereof. This makes playing the game more varied, and offers greater flexibility when approaching dungeons. As far as Amazon and NCSoft are concerned, it might be their ace in the h
The Longbow is a top-tier ranged weapon which delivers high damage output at a range rivaling melee weapons in terms of DPS. It provides the ability to engage enemies from a distance and has skills that allow healing abilities for you and your all
Unfortunately, my excitement didn't carry over into the multiplayer dungeons. I did appreciate that some bosses didn't pull punches when it came to difficulty, but those were rare bright spots in a mostly disorganized system . Classes aren't divided into clear roles; you choose of your own accord whether you're a tank, DPS, or healer before queueing in. While coordinated party synergies occasionally arise by accident, most dungeons just involve large groups of players ganging up on single enemies at a time, then repeatedly dying to a boss until someone accidentally discovers the right mecha
You can, however, buy Lucent. This is an in-game premium currency used at the Auction House. Players can list their high-level gear and sell it for Lucent, essentially generating real-life cash. In theory, players will be able to instantly purchase powerful gear for money. However, having taken a look at the in-game auction house and read about some of NCSoft’s future plans for it, this isn’t really the c
This is a powerful DPS weapon that relies heavily on mana for casting spells. The staff focuses on dealing damage through elemental effects like fire, water, and ice. It is effective at clearing large groups of enemies in the same place, and is a heavy attack weapon giving you bigger bursts. Take advantage of applying and exploiting elemental debuffs to maximize its damage out
Throne and Liberty 's morphing mechanic has a similar problem. Per the lore, certain individuals (mostly the player characters) have the ability to transform into various animals. At the beginning of the game, these are a wolf, an otter, and a hawk, and different species may be unlocked later. Again, this is a lot of fun in concept, but each morph really only amounts to a simple traversal ability - wolves for sprinting, otters for swimming, hawks for gliding. The other animals you unlock at higher levels do improve traversal incrementally, but basically only amount to cosmetic differen
Throne and Liberty Raids and Liberty is part generic fantasy and part weird and wonderful. During the prologue you fight walking trees, transform into a panther (and an eagle), and then it's out into the open world to start slaying goblins, wolves, sentient scarecrows, the whole
Amazon’s track record with MMOs is solid, but also undermined by problems. Both New World and Lost Ark had huge launches with over a million players on day one. New World is of course getting revamped later this year with New World: Aeternum tied into a console release, but its performance on PC has been lacklustre for months. Current player numbers have it hovering around the 5,000 mark. Lost Ark is much healthier, with around 20,000 active players. Those games have given Amazon time to learn the ins and outs of publishing MMOs in the west, but will it be enough for Throne & Liberty to stick the landing alongside its pe
