Throne and Liberty is a good game that is going to have a hard time fully satisfying PvP or PvE players. I’m going to break down what I noticed about these different aspects of the game during open beta while also going over the various game systems in Throne and Liberty. In the end, whether you are a PvP or PvE player, I think this game is worth checking out as it should keep you entertained for at least a few weeks.
The game is beautiful and the game world feels alive. This creates a good foundation for building a pleasant PvE experience. The player progression is easy, there are fun world activities to participate in, dungeons with challenging bosses, open world dungeons to farm with other players, world bosses, a solo mage tower style experience, and plenty of quests to pick up. The Matchmaking (e.g. group finder) system is cross-server to ensure low queues and the game is classless meaning you can swap your weapons to change your character. There is also a lot of flexibility on choosing your abilities and playstyle. Although I’ll get into PvP content more later I will add that you could play this game and never have to PvP or get ganked assuming you watch the map timers. All of this feels really good from a PvE content perspective.
With that said the end game is supposed to be PvP focused which is where I think the PvE player might lose interest. There are quite a few dungeons but I assume eventually that will feel old quickly and the loot you can acquire daily is capped. There is crafting but not how you normally expect. You can’t craft for friends or guildies, you really just craft for yourself based on mats you have in your bag. I’ve heard that down the road there will be player housing but as the game stands now you may start to get bored after a few weeks because you’ll ask yourself the question “What am I progression towards?” As of now I don’t have an answer to that as there are no real dungeon or raid progression mechanics.
There are really only two ways to engage in PvP within Throne and Liberty. You can head to the arena in Kastleton (or your guild hall) which is basically a free for all or you can participate in timed events. That’s it. To give a bit more context for the timed events there are times of day where control points open and guilds can fight each other, world bosses and world events can be fully PvP flagged, open world dungeons are full PvP at night, and there will also be a scheduled castle siege. The problem I see is this is all scheduled. There is no always-on PvP zone, arena queues, or battlegrounds. The only PvP is on a timer and you just have to hope you aren’t busy at that time. Outside of those timers you’re just playing a PvE game.
Even when you do participate in a timed PvP event you’re going to need to be in one of the largest guilds on the server to enjoy it. I know people will say that’s the point but it doesn’t seem like a good way to build a long lasting game. Inevitably one guild rules the server, other smaller guilds and players don’t have fun and they leave. Soon you have server mergers, player base dwindles, and you have a very small gaming community. If you had other avenues of PvP like battlegrounds for smaller guilds and players to participate in I think it would create a healthier PvP environment. Even if you are in those bigger guilds you have to make sure your schedule allows you to play. All of this feels limiting if you are a really die hard MMO PvP player.
Now it’s time to move onto the systems you’ll experience in Throne and Liberty.
Fast Travel
The game doesn’t waste your time when it comes to traveling around the map. As you explore areas there are waystone’s you unlock by walking towards the giant pillar of purple light and clicking the stone. Once unlocked if you want to return you simply open your map, find a stone icon, then click it. You do have to pay a small fee but it’s worth it. All fast travel is free until level 30 and from what I can tell traveling back to the main city is always free.
Sprint via Morph
Lots of games have a sprint feature. Hold shift and you run. Throne and Liberty has the same but they added a twist that I like. When you sprint you transform into an animal. By default it’s a wolf but you can unlock different looks for your animal. There is also a distinction based on running on land, gliding from up high, or swimming. This adds a depth of personalization to your character which I really enjoyed.
Open World Dungeons
There are quite a few open world dungeons in the game, the first one being Syleus’s Abyss. You will find all sorts of player levels in here (scaled to the content) because guilds grind them for their guild contracts. These zones are fun because you can choose to go in alone or you can find people at the entrance and create your own group to adventure into. As you explore you’ll see skulls on the map which indicate a mini boss for the area. These bosses have better drops and are a good way to farm materials. When the in-game day/night cycle changes to night (90 minutes day, 30 minutes night) then the entrance to these zones locks and all inside and flagged for PvP.
Timed World Events
This is one of my favorite aspects of Throne and Liberty. You can look at upcoming events and plan out your game sessions which really breaks up the normal grinding gameplay experience. The green icons are for PvE events which can be co-op or individually ranked, the red icons are world boss spawns, the sword on the banner is PvP. You’ll also see a dove or crossed swords, this indicates whether the event is peaceful (pvp off) or contested (pvp on). This allows you to avoid PvP if you want or seek it out.
Guilds
Guilds are a big part of the game. You get passive boosts for being in one like exp gains and you can complete guild quests which have good rewards. Since this is also a end-game PvP focused game you want to be in a guild that’s planning on controlling areas and grouping up for world events. There are also private guild raids available in your guild hall that you can do weekly. Make sure you join a guild on day one.
Amitoi
This is your little adventuring buddy. It picks up your loots, occasionally talks to you, and generally just follows you around. I don’t think this adds or takes away from the game, it’s just there.
Matchmaking
The group finder in Throne and Liberty is called matchmaking. It’s cross server which should cut down on queue times which is great. There were some bugs in beta but overall I think this will be a great feature on release. If you don’t like matchmaking there is also an alternative way called Partyboard where you can post your group or join other groups.
Stat Points
The game allows you to distribute stat points any way you like and provides free respecs. This allows you some flexibility in creating a character based on your playstyle. The number of points you have in a particular stat can also provide bonuses.
Classes System
You are what you equip. While this provides flexibility and not having to re-roll a character you do have weapon levels. So while you can automatically unlock all abilities they won’t be as powerful as someone who has been the same spec for weeks. Each weapon has it’s own skill trees that increase effectiveness of stats and abilities that help you become more powerful. Still, it’s nice to be able to pick up a weapon and be able to use those abilities. You can also level up your abilities providing additional bonuses.
Crafting
You’re really only crafting for yourself in this game. You don’t need to gain skills in anything you just need the materials. You can acquire these just by playing or choosing specific contracts (e.g. quests) from NPC’s in town and completing them. This does mean if you enjoy being the guilds crafter or best crafter on a server then this game probably isn’t for you.
Player Settings/UI
The default settings for the game are pretty bad and you’ll need to spend a few minutes making the game feel like a normal MMO. I don’t recall all the settings I changed but showing NPC names, showing enemy mob names, adjusting player nameplates, showing health bars, and a lot of little things like this are disabled by default. This was one of the most common complaints I saw in the beta that I agree with.
Final Thoughts
Throne and Liberty is a free game and it has a lot to offer a lot of different players. If you want to be the best guild on the server, you can do that. If you want to just be in an MMO and experience the game world and never PvP once, you can do that. We’ll see what the future holds for Throne and Liberty but at the very least I think it’s worth your time to try it out.