In the latest conference call for the second quarter of 2023, Hong Won-joon, CFO of NCsoft, talk about the progress of Throne and Liberty development after the Korean beta.
“I understood that there is a need to improve the combat system and early growth experience after the domestic test of Throne and Liberty in May (…) Therefore, we focused on improving in two areas” he said.
After the player feedback from the Korean beta test in May, it was clear that developers needed to address the issues before launch. Because of this improvements, the release has to be postponed.
Throne and Liberty was originally scheduled for release in the first half of 2023, but was then pushed back to October. NCSoft has now announced in the latest quarterly report that major revisions are pending. This will be followed by a release in Korea in Q4 and a delay of the global release by Amazon.
Changes in the Combat System
So far it’s been a rigid tab targeting and has already received a lot of criticism. Many abilities force the player to stand still and freeze in long animations. In close combat, this even resulted in enemies running away and avoiding damage.
In the future, however, Throne and Liberty combat will become more dynamic. So players should be able to move more with attacks and abilities. However, there are no exact details so far.
Changes in the Progress System
Many testers complained about the level progress, especially from level 20. Improving the equipment is also described as “very complex”. There will be improvements here.
“In order to enhance the fun of growth, we reduced a lot of simple repetitive content and greatly increased the level growth rate”, declared Hong.
Throne and Liberty release (Korea)
Throne and Liberty is scheduled for release in Korea in December 2023. There will then be a global release date for the rest of the world.
Throne and Liberty global release
NCSOFT declared that global release should not take place until 2024. However, no more details where given aboout this statement, and they said that any announcement aboout a global CBT or release will be made by Amazon.
We are all tired of delays, I know, but if this means that the combat and growth system will improve, I’m kind of happy. Honestly, we waited… how many years now for TL? we can wait a few months more for a better game.
