A couple of weeks ago, the Korean version of Throne & Liberty got a significant update that applied multiple changes to the MMORPG, among them being a rune socket system for epic level gear that would allow that gear to be improved. Central to this system was the rune hammer item, which is earned by dismantling runes, but earning these runes – and by extension hammers – required a lot of grinding or could be purchased directly, which players argued constituted a pay-to-win system.
However, it looks as if a recent patch to the game has seen some adjustments: Hammer uses to unlock a wanted slot will now be fixed (instead of RNG-based and dependent on a pity system to work), hammers can now be earned from a quest coin merchant or as rewards for completing weekly quests, and rune fragments from dissolving lower-level runes have been increased.
These changes are lauded by some players as the end of P2W for the rune system, though there are some who still point out that grinding is still necessary. It’s also still not entirely clear whether this system or other major portions of the July Jump Update will be arriving here in the west. If nothing else, this at least appears to show that NCsoft is willing to try to lighten the burden.
