Get Your Best Possible Start At Smash Hit MMO Throne And Liberty

Throne and Liberty is a feature-rich MMO with potentially hundreds of hours of content and character progression to enjoy. So if you’re the type of person who gets a kick out of running dungeons, farming for loot, and beating down other folks in PVP, this massive Steam hit may just be right up your alley. But since it can all feel a bit overwhelming at first, we’ve got some tips for getting started on your adventure in Throne and Liberty.

Choose your server based on who you plan to play with

You can’t play with players from other servers in Throne and Liberty, so if you’re hoping to jump in with some pals, make sure you all agree to join the same server ahead of time. Of course, if you find that your friends have left you behind somehow—maybe they were distracted by a passing truck, and followed it from state to state, forgetting all about their MMO and friendships—you can always opt to pay for a Server Transfer Ticket—but that costs real money, so just get it right the first time, dammit.

Pick your weapons wisely, and stick with them

Part of the appeal of Throne and Liberty is its unique class system, that allows you to equip any two weapon types at the same time so that you can make use of each one’s passive and active skills simultaneously. But that doesn’t mean it’s a great idea to swap between a bunch of different combinations throughout the game—that is, unless you want to spend a lot of time grinding later on.

While you can certainly choose to swap weapon combos any time you’d like, you should be aware that the time and material investments necessary to level up each weapon type are rather extensive. As such, it’s a good idea to play around at the start, pick the combo you like early on, and stick with it until you’ve made significant progress with your initial weapons. Only then should you consider leveling new ones. Think of it like your stats are attached to the weapons.

You’ll get access to one of each type of weapon from the very beginning of the game, so it’s highly recommended that you spend as much time as you need attacking the target dummies in one of the early areas, trying out each combo until you’ve nailed down something that really works for you.

Every weapon combo is viable, but yes, there’s still a meta

Speaking of your weapon loadouts, you can rest assured that every combination in the game can handle most content, but that’s not to say that they’re all created equal. Indeed, combining these weapons is all about synergy, and not all loadouts will work as well together as others.

Screenshot: NCSoft

Let’s take, for instance, tanking. In this scenario, your two best options will be Sword & Shield + Greatsword, or Sword & Shield + Wand & Tome. The former will let you deal more damage while tanking, and the latter will provide you with plenty of self-healing for sustainability. This doesn’t mean you can’t try other combinations—it simply means they’ll likely provide fewer benefits to you in more demanding content. Bringing something like a staff or longbow along with you as a tank really doesn’t add many useful defensive skills that will aid you in survivability, which can make your job a bit harder (as well as the job of your healer).

Regardless of whether you’re looking to tank, heal, or DPS, you should still absolutely play what you have the most fun with. Just don’t be shocked if you’re occasionally turned down for some of the game’s hardest dungeons and encounters by meta-focused groups.

Complete the early crafting and upgrade quests ASAP

Early in the game, you’ll receive a series of quests asking you to craft various accessories and upgrade pieces of gear. Do these as soon as possible. By upgrading different pieces of gear to Green quality and equipping multiple accessories, you’ll be able to increase your Combat Power (see: Gear Score), which is necessary to access dungeons and other content.

As an example, the game’s first main dungeon is unlocked at level 20, but you’ll need a Combat Power ranking of 600. If you complete the early quests that ask you to engage with this mechanic, you should easily hit that number almost immediately.

You can see your Combat Power in your character screen, directly under where you level up your stats. Continue increasing it as frequently as possible by upgrading and enchanting your gear, or your improving skills.

Keep an eye out for a guild to join

Screenshot: NCSoft

Look, joining any old guild isn’t usually a great call, but you’ll definitely want to look into finding one that suits you—Throne and Liberty is a very guild-focused experience. Being in a guild offers an abundance of benefits, such as access to guild contracts for earning Guild Coins, which can then be used to purchase unique items from a guild merchant. As a guild grows and levels up, you’ll also eventually be able to make use of guild skills that can offer buffs like bonus EXP or Sollant (money), decreased boss damage, or mana regeneration.

These guilds are a core component of the PVP experience, letting you form alliances with other guilds or mark an undesirable guild as hostile. You’ll be able to join together with your guildmates to try to occupy specific spots on the map for unique buffs and opportunities to fight specific raid bosses.

Alternatively, if joining someone else’s guild doesn’t appeal to you, you can always just create your own in the Guild menu—though you’ll want to be certain that you’re interested in recruiting and building a jolly band of guildmates if you want to reap the best benefits of having a guild. It’s going to be kind of hard to take on other guilds as a single person, ya know.

Fast travel to your heart’s content

Fast travel in Throne and Liberty is free until level 30. With that in mind, make sure you’re using the various waypoints across the map to move quickly between areas to turn in quests, or find any enemies or items you’re currently seeking.

Of course, to fast travel to a waypoint you’ll need to have interacted with it at least once previously, so don’t skip out on walking up to those suckers and saying hello with a quick button press—it’s gonna save you a hell of a lot of time.

Now get out there and see everything Throne and Liberty has to offer MMO fans. And if you’re curious about what’s happening in other MMOs right now, well, have you heard about this weird hippo obsession in Final Fantasy XIV? The human race is just… bizarre, man.