NCSOFT's Throne and Liberty showcased a wealth of updates and features during G-STAR 2023, tantalizing fans and players with many refinements to their gameplay and world, and content. The presentation highlighted various elements of the updated version that players will see when the game goes live in Korea on December 7th.
During G-Star, South Korea’s largest game show, NCSOFT was proud to show off many of the highlights of their progress since their developer showcase from a few weeks ago. Taedal’s Tower, an individual dungeon where players traverse different floors, each presenting its own boss challenges, was one particularly notable highlight. NCSOFT detailed the mechanics of the 11th and 18th-floor bosses, underscoring the game's depth in dungeon design, and potential difficulty of the encounters??.
The team spoke positively over changes to the UI, incorporating the Q, E, R keys alongside the traditional numeric keys, offering a more nuanced control scheme where players will have far more control over their layout. The skill menu revamp was also detailed, with skills now categorized into active and passive types. This change means to allow players to customize their characters with a selection of 12 active and 8 passive skills, tailoring their gameplay experience to their preferences, and outlining them so that players can easily understand what skills are available to them??.
Throne and Liberty also responded to player feedback by introducing 6-player group dungeons. These expanded dungeons require strategic class combinations and in-depth knowledge of boss combat styles, so you’ll need to take a knowledgeable and cohesive group with you if you intend to beat them??. A new addition that guilds will encounter is the guild boss Tevent. This boss has unique mechanics, with a powerful rush attack and a terrible curse that players can only remove by using water from the boss arena’s surrounding moat??. These are just a few of the experiences that Korean players can look forward to with the game releases next month. Global players should also take heed as it’s highly likely all of these mechanics will transfer over to the Global release when it finally arrives.
The game has evolved considerably since its initial testing, with developers focusing on player feedback to refine gameplay elements. Earlier this month NCSOFT detailed the major changes the game has gone through in a developer showcase, where the team stated that the game's world is crafted as an "endless story" by players, with dynamic weather effects and terrain playing a crucial role in battle outcomes.
The team has removed controversial features like auto-hunting and lootboxes, with a focus on reducing the time required for character growth and rearranging content for a more diverse early-game experience??, due to overwhelming player feedback. Due to these changes, TL the game not only appeals more to the play testers who recommended these changes, but it has also become far more palatable to western gamers as well.
Throne and Liberty is certainly set to be a landmark title in the MMORPG genre, and the updates presented at G-STAR 2023 reinforce that the developers aim to deliver a unique and engaging experience. We look forward to more information as the game is set to launch in Korea early next month.
