The community scores a victory! After the criticism regarding the new rune system of Throne and Liberty, developer NCSoft responds with meaningful changes.
What was the problem with the rune system? The new key features of the August update for the Korean version of Throne and Liberty faced some accusations from the community.
- The rune system in its original version has a potential Pay2Win/Pay2Progress factor: rune hammers, which are needed to unlock equipment sockets, can be purchased from the in-game shop.
- The element of randomness determines which rune type can be placed in a given socket upon unlocking.
- By investing additional rune hammers, you can re-roll the type of socket, with costs depending on the number of reset attempts (therefore, you will need to use more and more rune hammers for a reset).
- Runes can be destroyed, yielding rune fragments (a level-1 rune gives about one to three fragments). With 100 fragments, you can craft a rune hammer.
- If you want to utilize the best possible rune combinations and synergies on your equipment pieces, you will need to acquire numerous rune hammers and even more runes. Those on a streak of bad luck may quickly become frustrated.
You won’t get far in Throne and Liberty without a guild – the trailer explains this:
NCSoft responds to player criticism
What changes have the developers announced? NCSoft has heard the feedback and announced changes for the rune system (and other areas of the game) that are set to go live on August 7, 2024, in the already released version of the MMORPG.
- The costs for rune hammers to unlock sockets will no longer increase with each re-roll. So, at the first equipment tier, unlocking a weapon socket will cost two rune hammers each time, while for other equipment pieces, you will pay one rune hammer per unlock.
- At the second equipment tier, the costs will double to four rune hammers for weapon slots and two rune hammers for other equipment pieces.
- By destroying low-level runes, you will obtain significantly more fragments, making it much easier to farm rune hammers, especially at the beginning. Higher-level runes will yield slightly fewer fragments upon destruction.
- Weekly missions will reward you with 15 instead of ten units of rune hammers.
- Through an NPC merchant, you can buy up to ten additional rune hammers per week for so-called request coins.
In the current system, a re-unlocking could eventually cost you eight, twelve, or even sixteen rune hammers. The adjustments noticeably reduce the farming effort for rune hammers (thus also decreasing the pressure to spend a lot of money on rune hammers).
What other improvements does the update bring?
- The developers are improving camera controls, as it has felt frustrating to adjust them while moving and in combat.
- If a character dies during normal play (i.e., outside of PvP regions), there will be no experience loss or recovery costs.
- In a group, you can now vote to exclude a fellow player, for instance, if they are “afk” for a long time or disrupt the gameplay experience.
- The stack size of various items has been increased.
- There are numerous bug fixes and balancing adjustments.
What do I need to know about Throne and Liberty? On September 17, 2024, Throne and Liberty will also launch here in Europe. The Western launch is handled by Amazon Games, which has already gained some experience with New World and Lost Ark.
You can expect an online role-playing game that aims to focus on the “Massively” in “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game”. In addition to the usual quests, there will mainly be massive PvP battles, sieges, and guild activities. More details can be found here: Throne and Liberty – All important information on release, classes, gameplay, crossplay, payment model, early access, platforms
