The new MMO New World has announced in a Dev Blog that it will not be a game with a strong PvP focus. This surprised the existing community on reddit. However, some are glad about the change. Now both sides accuse the other party of being just a loud minority that will lead New World to ruin if their version comes true.
This is the situation: The MMO New World was originally presented by Amazon as a PvP-focused MMO with survival elements.
The then Game Director, Patrick Gilmore, stated in January 2019 to digitaltrends :
The backbone of the game is player versus player combat. You will likely be murdered in New World. I was murdered in the first days of the Alpha. I lost a lot and was quite angry […]
So yes, players will be able to freely kill other players, but we will provide some systems to add consequences and drama.
Patrick Gilmore to digitaltrends
It was said that this PvP aspect and the “danger” of the world are inseparable from New World and make the appeal of the game.
However, in mid-December 2019, New World announced in interviews with major gaming magazines, including MeinMMO, that they were moving away from this original idea.
New World was supposed to offer an ‘Opt-In’ system for PvP. Players were to decide whether to participate in PvP or not. There would be no “forced PvP with full loot” as initially assumed. Instead, PvE aspects were to play a larger role.
However, this news did not seem to resonate with the existing fans of New World on reddit:
- Some doubted the information and portrayed it as if journalists had made “any speculations” or misunderstood something.
- To other players, the reporting apparently did not penetrate at all.
In any case, many apparently believed until Friday that New World would focus on mandatory PvP, just as the game was initially advertised.
But now Amazon has published an official Dev Blog on Friday and confirmed the information from December: New World will provide an ‘Opt-In’ system for PvP, as reported by gaming sites.
Every player can decide whether they want to be a PvP target or not.
PvP fans are angry about “sudden” change in direction
This is the reaction: On reddit about New World, the atmosphere is boiling over. Accusations are being made against Amazon:
- they lied to players
- no one wants another “cutesy” MMO, an ESO 2.0
- New World is compared to “WoW” – it is the “new World of Warcraft”
- Instead of a “dangerous new world,” New World is now a boring “safe world” with cute creatures, rainbows, and unicorns
Furthermore, it is said: A small minority of complainers caused the turnaround at Amazon because they had complained about PvP in the Alpha, while “the majority” of players found the old New World fantastic and were looking forward to the game.
It is then said that they do not want this new game, they announce that they want to get their money back and generally PvP fans are bitterly disappointed about the change.
“Ignore PvP fans, they are just a loud minority”
Is this the only reaction? No, on Twitter a comment finds much support, which says:
- Amazon must ignore the whining of PvP players
- The change is now correct
- Every hardcore game where players could gank and grief has failed. It is right to give players the option to participate in PvP.
- If all the PvP fans really played New World, they could all do PvP and everything would be fine
Another comment says: the PvP players are “detached from reality”, otherwise they would recognize that the old system would have no chance against established MMOs
This group says: Those who want full PvP should go back to Rust or ARK.
What’s behind this: The exciting thing is that the original community of New World, who already played the Alpha, expected a completely different game than what is now being shown.
For some, who were put off by the “gankfest” and were not part of the community, New World has now become more attractive, as we see from reactions of MeinMMO readers, of which “New World” was voted the most anticipated new MMO of 2020.
Which side ultimately represents “the majority” and which is just a “loud minority” will be shown by the launch interest in New World.
But one can assume that Amazon has carefully considered the move to lean more towards PvE and has surely evaluated data.
