This article is related to the korean version of TL.
As with many MMO games, many players will want to know if Throne and Liberty is a “Pay to Win” game before giving it a try. In this article, we will take a look at some of the game systems at play in TL, in order to answer the question of whether this game can be considered “pay to win”.
What is Pay to Win?
Pay to Win is a term used to describe games where players can pay extra money to gain advantages or shortcuts, giving them an edge over players who did not pay.
The term means something different to different people. Some players consider any additional monetization beyond the game’s sale price to be pay-to-win, while others think it is fine if you can pay to speed up progress as long as there is nothing that makes your character stronger that is impossible to obtain without paying.
It is worth mentioning that Throne & Liberty is free to play, so there is bound to be some form of monetization within the game.
Is Throne & Liberty Pay to Win?
The answer to this question depends on what you personally consider to be “Pay to Win”.
What we can tell you is that Throne & Liberty has a very time-consuming progression system. Levelling up your character, equipment, skills and passives to eventually make your character as strong as possible is a process that will take you a really long time, since you need to gather a large amount of Marinds and skill books in order to upgrade your skills. Upgrading your skills is a vital part of progression since they will not only do more damage but also unlock entirely new functionality.
Other aspects of progression are also quite a grind, such as upgrading your gear (or the process of farming the optimal traits for your end-game gear). But by and large, the process of upgrading your active and passive skills is the most time-consuming part.
Players can pay to speed up this process significantly by buying the Lucent currency with real money, which can then be spent in the marketplace to buy the required progression items.
It is possible to earn Lucent in-game by selling valuable but unwanted items on the Marketplace, but it will take you much longer to max out your character without spending any money.
There are no items for sale with real money that give you an unfair advantage in combat – for example, there is no super-powerful weapon or armour exclusive to players who swipe their cards. Everything you can buy on the Marketplace can be earned without spending any real money, but spending the money will be a massive shortcut and allow you to progress much more quickly.
So you could say that Throne & Liberty is “Pay to Progress” rather than “Pay to Win“, but again, this depends on what the term means to you personally.
