TL’s producer, Jongok Ahn, published the fourth part of the Producer Letter (this is the link for the Producer Letter Part 1 in case you missed it). In this opportunity he digs into the details of the monetization system of Throne and Liberty. Below is the complete translation of the new producer’s letter, in which you will find details about Monetization, Collection items and Pvp concerns.
Hello. I’m Jongok Ahn, producer of THRONE AND LIBERTY.
We’ve gotten a lot of feedback since the showcase, both encouragement from people who enjoyed it and development advice. We’re taking all of it in stride, but we’ve also gotten a lot of “I can’t believe it” reactions, especially from people who predicted that development wouldn’t work out the way we said it would. We’re not disappointed that people didn’t believe us, but we know that trust comes from action. Action and trust are our biggest challenges and we will continue to work on them, so stay tuned.
The Throne and Liberty ideal we’re aiming for is “a PC MMORPG that brings people together”. The monetization system and the game’s structure are also oriented towards achieving this goal. As you can probably guess from what we said at the showcase, we have also confirmed with our global partner AGS that we are on the same page with our current direction. We promise that this will not change in either our domestic or global services.
About Collectible Content
We’ve also heard a lot of concerns about collectible content, and we thought it would be good to do a little more than promise, so we’d like to share some additional information that we weren’t able to share in the showcase.
First, we’ve removed the concept of tiers from Amitoys and Transformations – all Amitoys and Transformations are now of the same tier and have the same performance. Since Transformations are mounts replacements, they have features like triggering abilities based on the terrain they’re traveling through, but we want them to feel equally effective. The same goes for “in-game rewards” and “paid items.” Because they’re tiered and perform the same, the selection criteria for purchasing items is based on cosmetic preference. Both Amitoys and Transformations will receive their base objects for free during the gameplay, but you can purchase items if you prefer a certain look.
(Left) Free Amitoy Trainee Riccio / (Right) Paid Amitoy Red Knight Riccio
The existence of collectible content, collection books, and levels of those collections also contributed to the speculation that this would not be a cosmetic product. As we mentioned in the showcase, all collectible content is fully unlockable through in-game acquisition. While paid merchandise can fill in the gaps in collectible content, we’ve set strict limits on how effective it can be. Here are some of the limits we’ve put in place.
- The quantity of items required for the “Collection Book,” where benefits are unlocked depending on the amount of Amitoys owned, is less than the sum of Amitoys you can get from in-game content rewards and pre-registration rewards. For your information, most of the Amitoys we are preparing can be obtained from content rewards (80%) and events (5%). The portion corresponding to paid products such as individual sales and pass rewards is approximately 15%.
- “Matching Collection Book”, which is achieved by combining specific Amitoys, does not require paid Amitoy.
- Free transformations give more than 5 times collection points than paid transformations.
- All Amitoys and transformation products are guaranteed and can only be purchased once, and collection content does not require multiple acquisitions of the same object.
- All collection objects cannot be transformed or synthesized.
The idea behind the existence of collectible content is to reward participation in in-game content. We plan to continue to adjust the quantity and method of distribution without compromising the original purpose, and we intend to keep related paid products in the area of choice. I hope that Amitoy and Transformation will be a satisfying reward when you enjoy the game.
About PvP concerns
Considering the importance of the guild community and competitive content, there was great concern about PvP fatigue. The problem seems to have been caused by using a too broad expression in the showcase: “You can feel the growth of your guild and your own just by playing peacefully.” I’m sorry for not being able to provide a more understandable explanation.
All fields in the world in Throne and Liberty are peaceful areas where PvP is not possible. We chose to temporarily make the hunting ground where an event takes place a conflict zone where PvP is possible. This choice was made to reduce the fatigue that comes from being constantly exposed to PvP situations and to allow you to engage in PvP when you want.
If so, you may be concerned about restrictions on your participation in the event. To compensate for this, for each regularly occurring regional event, two events will be held in a peaceful mode where PvP is not possible. Boss battles will also be held in peaceful mode according to a certain schedule. The same goes for Arch Boss, the strongest boss in the world. In other words, even users who do not prefer PvP can experience all the contents prepared in the world.
In addition, we are preparing alternatives for non-PvP users in various areas. The structure of the game we want is not one in which players are divided into classes. I wanted to create an environment where people could enjoy games the way they wanted and share the benefits with people who shared the same style. However, if results that run counter to our intentions are detected, we will improve the system and correct it before it is too late. As I said before, we are clearly aware that this is an important issue for “a PC MMORPG that brings people together”.
Up to this point, we have summarized the parts that feel deemed necessary to further explanation after the showcase and the details that could not be fully explained. In fact, I know very well that from now on, actions speak louder than words. We will actively talk about the parts we can explain and do our best until the end to show you a game that matches your expectations.
G-Star starts next week. NCsoft has prepared a wealth of content as it is G-Star’s first appearance in a long time. Throne and Liberty also set up a small base within the booth. We plan to give coupons as a gift to those who participated in the pre-registration or subscribed to YouTube, and on the 18th, I will personally go on stage and introduce TL.
We had a lot of discussions about what we wanted Throne and Liberty to look like on stage, and we settled on the concept of a boss fight. We take our identity as a PC MMORPG very seriously, and two of the pillars of that identity are our guild community and our large-scale PVE. While many of you have expressed your excitement for TL’s guild community, we feel that TL’s PVE content is somewhat underrepresented compared to how important we think it is.
So we’ll be showing off a solo boss dungeon, a 6-player party instance dungeon, and a guild raid. If you love raids and are up for a challenge, this will be an exciting time for you. We’ve been working hard on the game, and this is our chance to show it to you in person. We’re looking forward to meeting your expectations.
After Busan, we’re really close to launching. We’ll make sure that we don’t use our busy schedule as an excuse for not being ready for the launch.
Thanks for staying tuned. We’ll do our best to live up to your expectations.
Thank you.
Posted by Jongok Ahn.
Source: tl.plaync.com
