New World: One Year After

Amazon Games Studio released New World on this date, September 28, a year ago. It was a rocky launch: wait queues peaked by the thousands and tens of thousands. The Devs launched more servers on the same day (only to be merged later on). As for us who were fortunate enough to play without a queue, Aeternum welcomed us with a brand new world to explore. Players were running a lot. A lot! It was a running simulator! Hardly an economy existed back then. Companies were scrambling to take the first territory. But the early wars were unplayable. Plus a weird character posted on the global chat could crash the server.

Looking back at launch, I nod that things were bad indeed. I loved some things I could do in New World. And I absolutely hated the CTDs. I know that there are still New World problems to address (such as shell companies, I lost my Barkimedes, etc.). But for the most part, we can say that New World has changed and improved after a year. I certainly don’t want to go back to how it was last year.

Let’s summarize those notable changes to New World after one year.

Weapons and Equipment:

The Void Gauntlet (INT) was the first new weapon in New World and can regenerate mana.
The Blunderbuss (STR) is a close-range shotgun that also has a grappling hook skill.
The Great Sword (STR) will be introduced in October.
Players can now move while performing a Life Staff skill – instead of standing still.
More weapon skills have been added across all weapons.
Buying a higher gear scored item will have a reduced GS based on your average score for that category.
The equipment perk “Sturdy” is replaced with Indestructible. It’s possible to have a set of weapon, armor, and tools that won’t break or get damaged.
- You won’t have to pay for repairs anymore.
Umbral Shards are used to upgrade a 590+ equipment to 625.
Level 60 drops with at least the current GS are no longer guaranteed. More frequently, the drop will have a lower GS. Thus adding a little more grind to increasing GS on Elite trains (loot runs) and dungeon raids.

Gameplay:

Players can run 10% faster on a path.
Switching between weapons has become more responsive.
Server stability during wars is no longer an issue.
Max level is still capped at 60.
Max Gear Score is now capped at 625 (formerly 600).
- +1 attribute on a 620 GS weapon, and 620-623 GS equipment.
Dungeon Mutations add mutator challenges to existing dungeon raids with better loot.
There is a 3v3 PVP arena.
You can check your inventory while moving.
The group finder is introduced, so players can find party members for expeditions in the same server easier.
Orbs are no longer necessary to enter expeditions. Those remaining orbs will be replaced into caches with the respective loot.
- A weekly expedition limit is introduced.
Players enter passive HP regeneration when out of combat (even without a consumable or a regeneration perk).
Winning invasions is the norm.
You can now check the items stored in another settlement on the map.
Completing Faction missions while daily bonus is active now display the actual amount of coin and token rewards. No more multiplying things by 10.

World Changes:

Gypsum kiln can be found on Ebonscale Reach, Reekwater, and outposts.
Gypsum is used to craft special caches called Gypsum Casts to unlock a gear with higher gear score and score an expertise bump (or Umbral shards if the gear is valued at 600 already).
Recall to inn cooldown is reduced to 30 minutes – which used to be an hour.
Player storage chest capacity is doubled (ex. 200lbs to 400lbs from the lowest player storage chest).
You can now move and transfer your items between towns for free.
Voidbents are relatively easier to craft with requiring lesser amount of motes.
Expedition Bosses have new character models.
New Expeditions: Tempest from the Heart of Madness update; Barnacles and Black Powder from the Summer Medleyfaire update.
Fast travel no longer costs a lot of azoth.
- Fast travel costs 20, 10, or 6 azoth depending on who controls the territory and where you’re coming from.
Restless Shore fort offers free fast travel for the faction when captured.
New Mobs: Varangians.

Economy

Property Tax is renamed to Property Upkeep and is now capped at 1%.
Hidden Stashes add another source of coin to players.
- In-game events such as the Winter Festival or Summer Medleyfaire replace Hidden Stashes but provide another source of coins to players.
The market automatically displays goods being sold across all towns – not only the goods in the current town.
You can now find a particular equipment using the UI filters on the market (e.g. show items with perk, attribute).
A workable market exists now. Prices fluctuate according to demand. More importantly, there is a buy order to most raw material, reagents, etc.
Low tier reagents no longer exist. Remaining low tier reagents can be salvaged into top-tier reagents hence streamlining the use of reagents.
- Streamlining the use of reagents removed the possibility of selling low-tier reagents in the market.
Music Skill trade is introduced: a higher music skill trade can unlock buffs such as higher encumbrance, increased gathering luck.
Five music instruments were introduced and you can play as an ensemble with other players.
- Players must collect music sheets from drops and loots.
Tipping musicians activates the buff and it can be another source of coins for aspiring bards.

Afterword

The biggest improvement for me is that maintaining player housing is no longer a highway robbery, moving things between towns, and another source of coinage. Launch players were pioneers as they carved the Aeternum landscape on how they maintain settlements. Also without them, there wouldn’t be a player market. Those buy-orders really do come in clutch.

This is a special article for the year one of New World. I’ve built this article based on our New World: Change Tracker. With Brimstone Sands on PTR and slated to release on October, New World fans can expect more content to come. In fact, we’ve checked it out and saw roads leading out of Brimstone Sands. More importantly, we must expect further QoL improvements, more balance, and game fixes in the future.