There is a long gone Heartlessgamer that would have been happier with today's results, but reality and old(er) age wizened him up. Unfortunately that means today sucks. This one is going to hurt for a while. There is a non zero chance we never come back from this.
The worst part is the truth that has been staring us in the face: this is America. This is who we are. It's time to grapple with that reality and the consequences of it.
Blogger provided number (last 30 days graph so a bit off a full month): 19,800
Note: this is missing the first few days of October where there was a spike in traffic visiting my Hurricane Helene posts. You can see it falling off on the left side.
In other metrics:
October started with no gaming due to the hurricane causing power and internet outages, but towards the middle of the month I was able to get going with Throne and Liberty and that has consumed most of my gaming time. I have two level 50 characters now and am working to max out my main's gear.
I did spend a little bit of time in New World as well.
Last year in October 2023 we got a chance to play The Finals beta and I ended up really enjoying it. It didn't hold me long term but my oldest son is addicted and plays every day. He is pretty good at it too. Every once and a while I hop back on to play with him.
We also got the "mind blowing" Star Citizen video. A year later I am not sure anyone can say the game is any closer to what that video promises.
Oh and New World's expansion, Rise of the Angry Earth, launched. It brought mounts, level 65, level 700 GS, and a bunch of changes to the game. It was light on content and staying power, but feature wise it was great.
Oct 2019 was in the 'not a lot of blogging' era and nothing comes to mind.
In October of 2014 I was getting a chance to play Archage for the first time. I honestly couldn't remember the game all that well so it was good to re-read my initial impressions post. My... uhhh... younger self does come through in the post.
Setting a milestone and trend that continues to this day in October of 2009 World of Warcraft launched cross-realm (aka cross-server) dungeons and thus ended the idea that you were limited to the server you joined in an MMORPG.
For fantasy readers: we received the first Wheel of Time book co-authored by Brandon Sanderson.
We also got the Left 4 Dead 2 trailer; one of my favorite game trailers of all time!
Technically I have 20 named years on my sidebar, but mathematically 2005 is only 19 years ago.
In Oct of 2005 we had hints that Diablo 3 may become an MMORPG. Oh how wrong we were!
We all celebrated Raph Koster starting his blog in 2005! And he is still at it today which is pretty cool as I've gotten the chance to catch up with him over Discord as he works on his new project, Stars Reach!
Oh and I got banned from the World of Warcraft forums for posting a picture of a magazine article. A magazine I physically had in my hands. Ironically this ban stands to this day!
Some screenshots from the Halloween Event in Throne and Liberty. I think the team did a really good job on the visuals here!
 |
| Lots of pumpkins! |
 |
| Halloween dungeon; get in the flying pumpkin! |
 |
| Don't forget to block or enjoy your flight into the abyss! |
 |
| Pumpkin boss mechanic; get in the pumpkin to avoid the wipe! |
 |
| F this pumpkin. If you know; you know. |
 |
| Amazing decorations at Purelight Tower! |
 |
| Obligatory armor skin: the pumpkin helmet |
I don’t usually dive into politics on this blog, but every now and then, something just grabs my attention. If you looked back far enough, you'd probably see that I’ve drifted between the right and left over the years. Since around 2016, though, I’ve found myself firmly on one side—and it happens to be the one where a VP candidate is unafraid to show off his Crazy Taxi skills. Plus a Mountain Dew! Now that’s a candidate I can get behind! Kamala is pretty cool too.
The next Throne and Liberty global patch 1.5.0 is rolling off the assembly line tomorrow (10/31). I spoke into my AI box and told it what I was interested in and it spat out this summary for me:
Throne and Liberty Update 1.5.0 Highlights
Throne and Liberty’s Update 1.5.0 lands October 31, packed with new content and impactful tweaks:
New Battle Pass & Shop Gear
The Phantom Tracker’s Star Battle Pass launches October 31, bringing exclusive emotes, a spooky Amitoi, and new outfits. The Lucent shop refresh also offers themed cosmetics for a festive look.
Big Gameplay Enhancements
- Field Boss Rewards: Boss portals now scale better with player count, offering more spread and better odds for rewards, including new Epic reward chests for selecting your preferred Epic loot.
- Combat Adjustments: Faster crowd control immunity buildup makes getting CC’d less punishing in group fights.
- Dungeon Fixes: Bugs in Death’s Abyss are squashed, and Adventure Codex objectives now award more XP.
UI & Quality-of-Life Tweaks
Extra chat tabs, visible health bar shielding, and a better Guild Points tracker make it easier to stay connected and organized.
Bug Fixes Galore
This update smooths over crafting issues, character movement, and controller function—setting players up for a smoother, more polished adventure.
... and honestly the AI (ChatGPT) did really well here with what I gave it as my interest areas. Specifically I told it my favorite dungeon was Death's Abyss and it picked out a change specific to it. I also mentioned I was interested in epic loot which it used well. I also said to make sure to let me know if there was a new battlepass (which I knew already but wanted to see if the AI would interpret correctly). I also asked if there were any changes to CC / crowd control and it picked them right up!
I am sure there is more I could get out of reading the actual full patch notes but time is limited here and I'd rather play around with my "read the patch notes for me" AI than read actual notes myself :)
RMT (real money trading) is rearing its ugly head in Throne and Liberty, but the developers are pushing back by penalizing players caught engaging in these transactions. When players are caught buying Lucent (the premium currency) from RMT sellers, they’re hit with negative balances in game, which the community seems to find amusingly effective. But it raises a question: Why is the game in this situation when there are better ways to design the systems to minimize RMT?
 |
| A screenshot from Throne and Liberty showing a negative Lucent balance due to a player being punished for buying Lucent off third party sellers. |
Taking a step back first: it's surprising that RMT is this prevalent, especially since there’s no direct player-to-player trading in the game. Player A can't buy items directly from Player B. Instead, all exchanges happen through the auction house, which is restricted to premium currency and a limited selection of items. Even calling it an "auction" system is a stretch, as there’s no bidding—everything is listed at fixed "buy it now" prices, and listings are anonymous, so players can’t see who’s selling what.
This setup makes RMT transactions fairly obvious. For example, if someone buys an item for 10,000 Lucent that typically sells for 10, it's likely RMT-related. While it’s possible players are simply transferring Lucent this way without any real money trading hands it doesn't seem in the "spirit" of the game for players to move Lucent around like this.
Given the lack of player-to-player trading and the limitations on which items can be traded, it seems like Throne and Liberty could benefit from a blind bidding system. In this setup, sellers wouldn’t see listing prices but only the most recent bid or purchase prices. When a player bids on an item, they’d either get a match or be informed their bid is too low. This would eliminate the obvious RMT loophole as players can no longer pick which seller they are buying from.
Blind bidding has worked really well in other games such as Final Fantasy 11 and seems like the obvious design choice in Throne. This blurb from the wiki I linked sums it up best:
In the auction houses of FINAL FANTASY XI, sellers designate an asking price when they put items up for bid. The first bidder to offer a price higher than the asking price gets to purchase the item.
I can't even think of a legitimate reason that any player ever needs to buy something in Throne's auction house at a higher price than the current lowest price which means it is perfect for blind bidding.
While Throne and Liberty’s current auction system limits direct player trading, it inadvertently leaves space for RMT to thrive, impacting the game's economy and balance. The blind bidding system would minimize opportunities for suspicious transactions that are likely RMT. As the developers continue to combat these issues with the negative account balances, it’ll be interesting to see if they consider more structural changes to the marketplace.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI/ChatGPT. The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
I’ve described Throne and Liberty as a “chore” to play, but I keep logging in because my friends are there, and I do find some moments of enjoyment. Since I’m sticking with it, I decided to get organized and establish a daily and weekly routine. Part of that involves visiting specific vendors to buy time-gated items they offer. I came across a helpful image on Reddit that breaks this down, and I thought it’d be useful to share.
Note: The only item I don’t fully agree with is the Rare Parchment. You can earn 33 of these by completing a single contract, so I don’t see much value in spending contract coins on them. Contract coins are hard to come by, so I’d rather save them for other items. However, if there’s nothing else you need from the contract coin vendor, the Rare Parchments could be worth picking up.
 |
| Your Throne and Liberty daily and weekly shopping list; see notes above about Rare Parchment! |
The Packers keep on winning keeping their QBs undefeated streak alive. Backup QB that is. Jordan Love goes down and Malik Willis steps in and just like last week the game comes down to a game winning field goal from our newly signed kicker. You can't make this stuff up! What I can make up though is a combo image!
In my last post, I laid out all the reasons Throne and Liberty drives me nuts—yet here I am, still playing. Why? Because there are moments in this game that are so incredible they make me forget the frustrations, even if just for a while. Throne and Liberty pulls off some things I haven’t seen any other MMO do, and for that, it’s hard to walk away.
First off—and I’ve said this so often that other people are starting to repeat it—the game’s performance is incredible. One standout feature is the seamless transition time. If you press B to recall back to town, you’re teleported almost instantly. Ready for a dungeon with your party? You’re transported there near instantly.
 |
| I'm not the only one impressed by the tech! |
On top of this, the game handles large groups of players remarkably well. I’ve joined open-world boss fights with hundreds, possibly over a thousand players. Sure, it’s a chaotic blur of lights, but the fight remains perfectly playable, allowing players to execute the boss’s mechanics reliably. Seeing a massive zerg of players fighting a giant monster is the essence of what an MMO should be!
After 30+ years (holy crap!) of playing online games, I’ve learned to appreciate technological improvements. Whatever magic Throne and Liberty uses to enable near-instant loading and the ability to support thousands of players in one area deserves praise—it should be the standard!
The game makes full use of these technical feats in its open-world dungeons. These aren’t small caves in the hillside; they’re massive, multi-tiered labyrinths requiring proper groups or careful solo planning to navigate.
Just last night, my group spent an hour descending to the 6th floor of Syleus Abyss, where it felt like we were drilling down to the center of the earth. At the lowest level, we encountered massive lava pools and enjoyed knocking enemies off bridges into them. All the way down, we were flanked by hundreds of other players carving out their own spots in the dungeon. It’s a vibrant and dynamic environment.
 |
| The sixth floor of Syleus's Abyss. Open world dungeons FTW! |
One of my favorite, albeit most frustrating, dungeons is the Sanctum of Desire. It only opens when it rains—which is annoying but also what I love about it! In so many games, content is always accessible with a click. Knowing Sanctum opens only with rain adds excitement whenever someone calls out, “Hey, it’s raining! Go, go, go!” It’s reminiscent of Dark Age of Camelot’s Darkness Falls dungeon, where everyone rushed in when conditions were right.
This leads me to another feature I love: the server’s top players can activate world-changing abilities. One example is the power to make it rain. Sanctum of Desire has a world boss that spawns on a schedule, but if it’s not raining, players can’t get in. The other night, I watched our entire server plead with a top player to trigger rain so we could all rush in to fight the boss.
Another thrilling aspect is that these open-world dungeons turn into PvP zones at night. Nothing beats the tension as two groups of players stand off in the depths of a dungeon, waiting for the clock to hit nighttime. The victor keeps their farming spot; the loser is kicked out. In Sanctum of Desire, if it’s not raining, the losing team can’t even get back in.
Add in the “Eclipse” ability, where players can trigger nighttime across the server, and the stakes go even higher. Just recently, an Eclipse was triggered while hundreds of players waited for a world boss. The guild that triggered it was ready and ambushed everyone. I was frustrated after getting killed, but looking back, all I can think is, “That was freaking cool!”. Players can literally change the world.
 |
| Eclipse! PvP is ON in the open world dungeons! |
I spend a lot of my game time in these dungeons, even though rewards stop once you run out of Abyssal Contract tokens. I really enjoy pushing deeper into more challenging areas and claiming my little farming spot. It’s a truly multiplayer experience that thrives on open-world interaction—and Throne and Liberty delivers here.
Scheduled world events are another highlight. Whether it’s a “kill the most wolves” event or one where you can jump onto the back of a giant flying whale, there’s always something happening. The game even provides a schedule so you can plan for upcoming events.
The game also excels at providing in-game information. Every item has an info icon you can click to see how to obtain it, listing vendors, quests, or other sources. You can click on a map location to see enemy types, then click on an enemy to view their loot drops. Once you learn the system, there’s hardly any need to visit an external wiki.
 |
| Map > Area > Monster Info > Loot Table > Details about the drop without ever having to alt tab from the game! |
In the end, these moments I love—epic dungeons, massive player battles, and real-time world changes—are exactly what make Throne and Liberty’s shortcomings so frustrating. This game has the potential to be truly groundbreaking, with technology and ideas that could set a new standard for MMOs. If only the combat and PvP were tighter, if gearing weren’t such a grind, and if the progression caps weren’t so limiting, Throne and Liberty could be exceptional. For now, though, I’m sticking with it, because there’s still nothing quite like the experience it offers.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI/ChatGPT. The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
I’m still playing Throne and Liberty because my gaming group is, but the game is starting to wear on me. To put it simply, playing feels like a chore, and there are several things I don’t like about it.
Note: this post was edited with the help of AI/ChatGPT. The thoughts are my own. The grammatical correctness is the AI.
