In an interview with YouTuber Kanon, Daniel Lafuente from Amazon Games discussed, among other things, the monetization of Throne and Liberty.
What kind of interview was it? The Globalization Design Manager at Amazon Games usually ensures that the player experience of Throne and Liberty is tailored to international communities.
Just before the launch of the MMORPG, Daniel Lafuente takes time for interviews, such as with YouTuber Kanon, who had various questions about the potential problem areas of Throne and Liberty based on his experiences with the Korean version. You can find the entire conversation, unsurprisingly, on YouTube as well as further down in the announcement.
Here is the freshly released story trailer for Throne and Liberty:
The Monetization of Throne and Liberty
What does Lafuente say about the T&L model? According to the Amazon Games employee, Throne and Liberty has “one of the fairest payment models” of all Free2Play MMORPGs. The reasons for his assessment:
- The entire character progression is available to all players.
- No gameplay content is hidden behind a paywall.
- There are no random purchases like loot boxes. You always know exactly what you are buying.
- Amazon Games intentionally wants to be generous, especially regarding loot chances.
During the conversation, Daniel Lafuente adds that they want to keep an eye on how the progression behavior changes for all player types once new content and systems come into the MMORPG (and how quickly new content and systems should come).
The goal, according to Lafuente, is that a large part of the community is ready for new challenges in terms of equipment before they land on the servers. You can find our assessment on the topic here: Is Throne and Liberty Pay2Win? This is how Amazon’s new MMORPG plays when you don’t want to spend money.
When does the first castle siege start, when does Tier 2 come?
All players should have enough time to level characters and try out all content after the launch before the first castle siege starts. According to Lafuente, that should be on the agenda by mid-November, about six to seven weeks after release.
The second tier level of endgame equipment will likely come sometime in the first quarter of 2025. However, the publisher is monitoring how quickly most of the community goes through character progression.
It is also clear: Many main events of Throne and Liberty take place at set times. However, Amazon Games will only reveal what those times will be in detail with the live version.
Bots – what makes Throne and Liberty better than Lost Ark?
Similar to MeinMMO, Kanon also has concerns that Throne and Liberty, with its combination of Free2Play model and real-money currency, could face a significant bot problem. Daniel Lafuente explains that they have learned numerous lessons from New World and Lost Ark that they can now profitably apply to Throne and Liberty.
This includes efficiency in tracking bots, but also the way Amazon Games makes life harder for bot users within the game and how significant their impact on the economy can actually be.
Among the measures is to introduce a trust system for players. Only those who possess this trust status can trade with other players in the auction house.
What other info nuggets are interesting? You can find all further new insights from the interview below:
- Daniel Lafuente has already played through the leveling phase of Throne and Liberty 15 times on internal servers and has also spent various hours with the Korean version.
- AFK macros are not supposed to be allowed in the global version.
- At the launch of the Western version, not all progression systems from the current Korean version will be included. Trait Resonance and runes, for example, will come at a later time in adjusted form and not at the same time.
- Over time, the global version of Throne and Liberty is supposed to increasingly align with the Korean version, and some content is even expected to be released simultaneously in all versions.
- The real-money currency Luzent will also be account-bound in the global version. You can farm Luzent on an early access server and then start on a normal launch server on October 1 and have access to the Luzent you farmed on the early access server.
MeinMMO also had the opportunity to forward some questions about Throne and Liberty to Amazon Games. It was about beta feedback, differences to the Korean version, bots, the mystery of the servers, and more: Throne and Liberty is expected to receive some future features in the West simultaneously with Korea
