How To Upgrade Gear In Throne And Liberty

• • Updated from unscored Review in Progress to scored Review **
    
    **Throne and Liberty ** , developed by NCSoft and published by Amazon Games in the US, has a bit of a troubled history behind it. Originally announced in 2011, it was intended to be a sequel to the groundbreaking Lineage series, built on decades of immersive online RPGs. But the project was delayed multiple times, eventually splintering off into an original piece of IP, and being rebranded Throne and Liberty in 2
    
    
    However, Throne & Liberty is not really a new game coming out. Though Summer Game Fest was the first time it could be played in the West, the game has been out in Korea since 2023, and maybe some more concrete lessons have been learned there. Amazon is keen to stress that while the West is getting the game later, it's not getting a different game, but the same as the Korean one, made with a "global audience in mi
    
    
    The upgrading, or 'enchanting' system as the game likes to call it, requires various materials each time an item is upgraded. Each of these items can be gathered from various sources, and sometimes also upgraded from weaker versions of themsel
    
    
    A realm of skills, abilities, pets, co-op events, dungeons, huge cities full of players, menial tasks, cooking, fishing, you name it, Throne And Liberty has it: and if it doesn’t have it yet, it might get it in a future update. Large-scale co-op events, both PvE and PvP, are the main focus behind the endgame grind. Before we get into all that though, we have to address something pretty import
    
    
    This is a game that’s definitely best enjoyed with friends, and eventually as part of a guild. Late game activities revolve around guild-to-guild combat and PvE co-operative dungeons. You can tackle these as a solo player - while leveling, progression, and so on can all be achieved solo - but you’ll miss out on a lot of what Throne And Liberty updates and Liberty has to offer. Of course, this is all based on footage that I’ve seen from South Korean servers, as I wasn’t able to try these during the pre-release review win
    
    
    As for the game itself, one of the things that most interested me was the class system. Rather than a standard build of 'Rogue' or 'Warrior' or 'Mage', every character dual wields. You can choose to make this consistent (my preview character was an all magic build of Wand and Staff), or mix and match, pairing Dagger with Staff, Crossbow with Greatsword, Sword and Shield with Longbow, or any combination thereof. This makes playing the game more varied, and offers greater flexibility when approaching dungeons. As far as Amazon and NCSoft are concerned, it might be their ace in the h
    
    
    This is one of the best weapons in the game because it can taunt tanks in both PVE and PVP and crowd-control enemies. It is an ideal choice if you want to simultaneously attack and defend yourself from attacks in the game. You can use your shield for active blocking to prevent incoming damage, use the charge attack to stun an enemy and increase the damage reduction for both you and your pa
    
    
    Each rarity of item will max out at a certain point and no longer be upgraded . When items hit this point, they can then be sacrificed (transferred) to enhance a new item you have of the next tier / rarity. You can also transfer gear even if it hasn't hit the maximum enchanted level. When you transfer a gear piece to another item, the original item will be destroy
    
    
    These will naturally be a pressing question for anyone who might want to try out Throne and Liberty. ‘Pay-to-win’ is a term often thrown about by players, and it’s probably a term used frequently in Amazon’s head offices, too. Pay-to-win is a spectrum . You could place Diablo Immortal very high on the pay-to-win scale, whereas a game like League of Legends has plenty of microtransactions but no pay-to-win elements at all. Throne and Liberty definitely falls on the much lighter side of things. Most purchasable items are cosme
    
    
    
    Already out in South Korea, **Throne and Liberty was released in the US, Europe, and Japan on October 1 ** . However, I was able to check out the single-player campaign a little early, and play through the early access period prior to lau
    
    
    Tomb Raider is currently in the driest spell the series has ever endured since it launched in the '90s, while Blue Protocol was widely expected to be available by now and still has a vague 2024 release date, and Crucible, as mentioned, was released to a poor reception, shoved back into beta, then killed altogether. So it might have eyes on a broader roster, but aside from The Grand Tour Game, MMOs are all Amazon has right now. What has Amazon learned from Lost Ark and New World that it is channelling into Throne & Liberty? That's a topic it's remaining curiously tight-lipped ab
    
    
    Overall, it’s difficult to give a score for Throne and Liberty based on what I’ve seen so far. I’ve been a bit too quick in the past to judge MMOs based on their leveling experience, where the real game begins when you’ve already invested dozens - potentially hundreds - of hours into the game. As it stands though, I can say that this is a game that I’m excited to play. There’s a real promise in what stands to be a modern successor to one of the all-time greats of the genre, NCSoft’s Lineag