Here’s How I Enjoyed Throne and Liberty This Month
I kept hearing about Throne and Liberty, the latest MMORPG from NCSoft which hit early access on September 26, 2024, and went free for everyone on October 1st. Finally, we’ve got something fresh in a genre struggling to keep players hooked, especially after the big hype and sudden drop-offs we saw with games like New World and Lost Ark (both from Amazon Games). After years of waiting for “the next big MMO,” we might just have something worth sticking around for.
This isn’t NCSoft’s first rodeo, either. Throne and Liberty have been out in Korea since late 2023, so the game had a good amount of time to get feedback and tweak things before launching in North America. After putting in around 25 hours, leveling all the way to 50, and trying out dungeons, world bosses, and some PvP, I’m ready to share my first impressions. Does this one have the potential to be a game-changer? Here’s what I think so far.
Story Time: Surprisingly Good for an MMO
If you’ve been around MMOs long enough, you know the typical story experience — forgettable NPCs, repetitive quests, and the urge to skip through every cutscene just to get back to leveling. But Throne and Liberty actually surprised me in a good way. For once, I found myself genuinely interested in the story, something I haven’t felt since I started playing MMORPGs.
The game opens with some pretty interesting questions that pull you in right away: “Who am I in this world?” “What’s this character’s story?” “Is that NPC really as trustworthy as they seem?” The intrigue is real here, and I was more invested than I expected.
The cutscenes were well-done, and even the voice acting felt more engaging than most. It wasn’t just reading endless quest logs — it was more like watching a fantasy series unfold. Props to NCSoft for making me actually care about the NPCs and what’s happening in the world.
Freedom to Play Your Way
One of the best things about Throne and Liberty is the freedom it gives you with character progression. You don’t have to stress too much about where to put your stat points right away. You can reallocate stats anytime without any cost, so there’s plenty of room to experiment.
Maybe you want to focus on offense first, and later switch to a more balanced or defensive build — you can do that. It’s a nice change from other MMOs that punish you if you don’t pick the “perfect” build right from the start.
The same goes for skills. In Throne and Liberty, there’s something called Skill Specialization, which lets you tweak how each skill works. For example, you might want to add a 15% attack speed boost to one skill or make another skill hit a little differently to suit your style.
It’s all customizable, and like with stats, you can reset and change things up whenever you want without penalty. Weapon Mastery points, on the other hand, are permanent, so you’ll want to put more thought into those.
Weapons and Skills: Choose Wisely
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that you’ll want to stick to your chosen weapon pretty early on. If you decide to switch to a different weapon after you’ve leveled up significantly, be prepared for a grind.
Skill books, which are used to level up your skills, are much easier to get while you’re leveling to 50, especially through quests.
But if you hit level 50 and then want to try a whole new weapon type, you’ll need to collect all those skill books from scratch — and that’s no small task. So, ideally, pick a weapon early and stick with it unless you’re up for a grind.
Combat: A Slow Start but Worth the Wait
I’ll be honest — the first few hours of combat weren’t super exciting. For the first 20 levels or so, it felt a bit basic. But that’s only a couple of hours in, and once I leveled past 20 and started unlocking new abilities and upgrades, things started to pick up.
The combat system began to shine as I read through my skill descriptions and experimented with different combos. Instead of looking up guides, I just tried out different skill rotations and figured out what worked for me.
One cool thing about the combat is the “Q” defense skill, which lets you dodge or block certain moves. It’s satisfying when you time a perfect block. Between that and the other elements like skill upgrades, mastery, and specializations, the combat in Throne and Liberty eventually became something I genuinely enjoyed.
Final Thoughts
So, what’s the final word? Throne and Liberty has a lot going for it. The story is engaging (for once!), the combat system has depth if you’re willing to spend some time with it, and there’s enough flexibility in character progression to keep things interesting.
The big question is whether it has enough content to keep players around in the long run. Right now, it’s hard to say if there will be enough incentive to keep improving and optimizing my character.
In an MMO, knowing that your tweaks and upgrades are making a difference is a huge part of the fun. Throne and Liberty doesn’t give you much in terms of feedback on how well you’re doing compared to others, so there’s a bit of a “gut feel” element when you’re trying out different builds or changes.
In summary, Throne and Liberty is a solid addition to the MMORPG lineup, especially if you’re looking for something fresh with a good story and fun combat. Whether it can keep players coming back for months or even years is still up in the air, but for now, it’s definitely worth diving in and giving it a try.
References
Throne And Liberty Review — Amazon’s Redemption
Throne and Liberty’s Beta Is Fun But Doesn’t Do Enough to Stand Out — IGN
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