Even before the launch of Throne and Liberty in the West, many players are concerned about the monetization of the new MMORPG. At an event in Korea, Korean community members were able to ask questions to the developers, including concerns about Pay2Win and bots.
Where did players question the developers? Content creator and “Throne and Liberty” streamer Kanon recently shared a video on YouTube. The video features an event from Throne and Liberty where he and other community members are allowed to ask a team from Throne and Liberty questions.
The community members did not hold back and asked the developers questions on the topics of Pay2Win and bots.
Here you can watch the trailer that announced the release date for us.
Throne and Liberty is supposed to operate just like in Korea
What do the developers say about Pay2Win? Content creator Kanon confronted the developers with the accusation that many already think Throne and Liberty is Pay2Win in the West.
The bad reputation of NCSoft in the West would also contribute to many being negative about the game (via YouTube). He then asks whether the developers plan to implement the same monetization system for the West as is currently running in Korea.
The developers replied: “As we aim to maintain a global and Western service as one identity, we currently have no plans to operate them separately.
Since we operate two different regions, we are also in discussions with Amazon. At the moment, it can be said that we are combining the Korean service and Amazon’s service as one identity.”
This answer was presumably not enough for the content creator, as he asked again whether the marketplace currency could be designed in such a way that it could only be earned in-game.
The developers replied: “Currently, we plan to continue with the discussed singular model. But as you mentioned, the concerns regarding P2W… or how some might see it as aggressive monetization, or prejudices towards the game and the company, we will continue to discuss and improve this issue. This topic is also constantly criticized and discussed internally.”
How does the system work in Korea? According to content creator Kanon, the auction house currency Lucent can only be obtained by purchasing it. Players who do not want to spend money can only earn the currency by offering items for sale in-game, which other players who have spent real money can buy.
However, he himself views the game as less Pay2Win than other Korean MMORPGs like Lost Ark and Black Desert Online (via YouTube).
The community is divided on how much Pay2Win Throne and Liberty really is
What does the community say about the responses? The community is not particularly happy with the developers’ responses. However, opinions are still divided on how Pay2Win Throne and Liberty is in Korea.
Chemical-Leak420 described the situation in Korea on Reddit as follows: “This is a whale game. It is p2w with a pvp-centered focus. That’s the worst combination, if you ask me. […] It’s also important to note that gear in this game is huge…..A p2w geared warrior can mow down 10 f2p plebs in PVP. Well, a whale will enjoy himself, but those 10 f2p plebs will quit the game.”
However, Ghaith97 disagrees on Reddit: “This just shows that you haven’t really played the game, because that’s simply not true. The size of the zerg is by far the most important factor. The difference between min-maxed gear with perfect stats from the auction house and gear from someone who just played the same amount of time but without spending is minimal.
Sure, you probably lose 9 out of 10 1v1s at the same skill level when you pit a f2p player against a Giga-whale, but you will never play 1v10 against someone in this game, you simply don’t have the cooldowns for that.”
The Reddit user Paintspot mentioned that another question did not even make it into the content creator’s video.
He wrote: “It’s also worth noting that another community member told them that they need to fix botting/hacking as soon as possible because so many people have left the game. NC [editor’s note: NCSoft, the developers of Throne and Liberty] shrugged and said that all games have bots and hacks lol”
That Throne and Liberty will launch with the same monetization model in our region has become more likely. However, the developers can still change their minds in the short term. We recently updated our article with all important information about Throne and Liberty: Everything important about release, classes, gameplay, open beta, price, and platforms
