After multiple delays and name changes, Throne and Liberty has finally been released, offering us a new MMO in a time of drought. The genre has waned in popularity, and can often seem overshadowed by more standard live service titles, but Throne and Liberty aims to shake things up with creative class design, gorgeous visuals, and an engrossing progression experience. Here’s what you need to know about this new MMO on the block.
Throne and Liberty is a Korean MMO developed by NCSOFT and published by Amazon Games. Set in the open world of Solisium, what was once intended to be a sequel to Lineage has now become a unique property, although maintains the fantasy setting.
It provides PVE fans with a sweeping tale that sees you leveling up, taking on dungeons, and working through a series of intense quests as you seek to face off against a potentially world-ending threat.
If the PVE adventure isn’t enough for you, however, Throne and Liberty is also a very guild-focused MMO with a heavy emphasis on PVP. So if you want to see everything the game has to offer, you’ll be able to join a guild and work together to take on contracts and defeat other players in both massive and small-scale battles.
Throne and Liberty offers a tab-targeting combat system and abides by the holy trinity of design: tank, healer, and DPS—roles that are required to overcome its most challenging dungeons and encounters. Despite sticking closely to that familiar formula, Throne and Liberty shakes things up a bit by offering a shocking amount of freedom in how you can approach classes.
Unlike the average MMO, this game allows you to mix and match two main weapons to create any combination of your choosing. Do you want to wield a greatsword and a staff to become a badass battlemage? Cool! Go nuts slamming foes with your sword between casting fire and ice spells. Do you want to be a ranged DPS that can also heal? Combine the wand and tome with a longbow and unleash a flurry of arrows between casting restorative spells on you and your teammates.
While there are certainly meta combinations that allow for the very best stats for high-end PVE and PVP content, you never have to feel as if your off-meta pick will leave you out of the best parts of the game, as every combination can be a powerhouse in the right hands. Just choose what is most fun to you and go wild.
Like many modern MMOs, Throne and Liberty has adopted a free-to-play (F2P) model. This means you can download the game for free on your chosen platform and play it forever without paying any type of subscription.
However, the game’s F2P design means that NCSOFT has implemented battle passes that can be purchased with real money, as well as an in-game shop where players can buy cosmetics, like outfits and transformations, and leveling passes that drastically improve the leveling experience that would otherwise require you to grind.
With this in mind, some may consider the game pay-to-win (P2W), but it’s not quite as egregious as similar titles. All of the gear and items can be obtained in the game simply by playing, but players who wish to speed up gear acquisition can do so. It’s still possible to move through the process at a reasonable speed without feeling like the game is punishing you too severely for not breaking out a credit card.
Throne and Liberty is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC. Due to the fairly high system requirements of the game, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see it make an appearance on the Nintendo Switch.
Yes, Throne and Liberty offers cross-play. This means you can absolutely play with friends across various platforms. For instance, if you’re on PS5 and have friends on PC, you’ll be able to link up with them in-game with no hiccups.
That being said, you’ll need to be on the same server to play together, so you’ll still want to sync up with your pals before you drop in to be certain you don’t end up having to payreal money on a server transfer.
Throne and Liberty is a gorgeous game that is no doubt graphically a step above the average MMO. If you’re on PC, you may be wondering if the game will run properly with your current configuration.
Here are the minimum PC specs:
Here are the recommended specs according to Can You Run It:
Here’s to hoping your rig is up to the job!
For more on what’s happening in the world of MMOs, check out how ridiculous the price a pet hippo has become in Final Fantasy XIV.
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