New World has released a new patch on the PTR server that includes many new endgame contents. In addition to the mutators for dungeons, the maximum equipment level is raised to 625. Furthermore, there are adjustments to the Outpost Rush and the Azoth costs for traveling.
What happens in January? The big January patch focuses on dungeons and new endgame contents:
- The dungeons will feature the so-called mutators. These change familiar dungeons and make them harder. Each week, different dungeons should be combined with different mutators. In total, there will be 10 difficulty levels, with the highest one intended only for “true experts.”
- New shadow shards are introduced, which allow you to upgrade your armor from 600 to an armor value of 625.
- In the Outpost Rush, there is a balance change. The cost for the desertling summoning stone has increased from 500 to 750 Azoth essence.
- There are a few balance changes for weapons.
- The travel costs for Azoth are set to be adjusted with the update. Specifically, the distance costs are “drastically reduced.” When traveling to an area of your faction, the bonus ensures that the distance costs even drop to 0.
However, the patch is not well received by everyone:
When will the patch be released? Since January 6 at 11:00 PM, you can already try the patch on New World’s test server.
When the exact release of the update is scheduled is still unknown. However, a release is planned for January. So far, patches have usually been on the PTR server for about 7 to 14 days. You can find more about playing on the PTR server here: New World on PTR: How to participate in the test server.
Mutators in dungeons reward you for playing effectively and quickly
How exactly do the mutators work? The mutators change the normal and named enemies in dungeons, making them stronger at the same time. This should require you to develop new strategies especially for the bosses. There are a total of 10 difficulty levels, with the highest ones requiring both a high armor value and, above all, a lot of strategy.
Each week, there should be a combination of different types of mutators in various dungeons. For the PTR, 8 different mutators are planned for the following 3 dungeons:
- Dynasty Shipyard
- Garden of Origins
- Lazarus Instrumentality
Whether there will be more adjustments on the live server in the end and whether other expeditions will also be changed by the mutators is currently unknown.
If you wish to enter a dungeon with mutators, you need a special orb. You can craft it once a week. Additionally, more orbs can be purchased from the faction vendor for 10,000 tokens and 1,000 gold (via reddit).
What mutators are there? Eight types have already been introduced in the forum:
- Elemental
- Elemental mutators increase enemies’ defenses against specific elemental effects and even convert a portion of their damage into elemental damage
- Hellfire is a special effect that causes enemies to burn you continuously
- Eternal is another effect that causes enemies to utilize the void to impose debuffs on players and buffs on themselves.
- Promotions
- Promotions give enemies in dungeons new abilities.
- Savage: Enemies reduce your healing and cast laser beams around them.
- Indomitable: Creatures withstand damage with life-draining abilities and are capable of summoning a phalanx that blocks all incoming projectiles from players.
- Curses
- Curses are intended to bring dangerous effects for which players must cooperate and develop new tactics.
- Desiccated: Players are occasionally burned with elemental energy. When the curse is activated, players must cleanse themselves by approaching the burning player.
- Censored: Players will find that their abilities turn against them. After players in the group have activated a certain number of abilities, explosive zones appear for all players. When the curse is activated, players lose their natural mana regeneration and must enter the silence zones to regenerate their mana.
Can you immediately run the highest difficulty? No, you need good scores in the unlocked levels of mutations to progress to the next level.
Points are awarded for:
- Time: The better the time, the higher the score
- AI kills: A target score for killing a predetermined number of enemies within the expedition.
- AI Kills: A target score for killing “named enemies” within the expedition.
- Team wipeouts: Each team wipe during a boss fight significantly reduces the score
- Respawns: Each respawn moderately reduces the score
What rewards are there? In addition to better equipment and generally better loot, the new shadow shards await you in the mutators. With them, you can upgrade your armor to 625.
New equipment cap of 625 – Here’s how it works
What is behind the new equipment? With the January update, you can upgrade your existing armor from a value of 600 to 625. For this, you will need the shadow shards. You obtain them through three different methods:
- From dungeons with mutators
- Crafting an item with an armor value of 600
- Opening a gypsum mold for an equipment slot that already has a proficiency of 600
Shadow shards can only be applied to equipment that has an armor value of 600 and for which you also have a proficiency of 600.
How do you level up? Each level doubles the number of shards needed. To upgrade to an armor value of 601, you need one shard, for 602 then 2 shards, for 603 then 4 shards, and so on.
A dungeon run at level 1 in the Dynasty Shipyard yielded 27 shards (via reddit). Harder dungeons and higher levels might yield more shards.
Does the new equipment also work in PvP? Yes, the new armor value of 625 works in all game content.
We will reveal more details about the shadow shards once we have tested the patch more extensively on the PTR.
General changes
With the patch, there are also some general changes to the game, including:
- Proficiency can now be leveled up to level 600 with gypsum. After that, you will receive shadow shards through gypsum to upgrade your equipment to 625.
- Whenever crafters create an item of level 600, they also increase their expertise. This way, crafters can also level their proficiency.
- With the January patch, the alignment between proficiency and armor value applies. For instance, if you buy an item with an armor value of 600 and only have a proficiency of 500, you get the average, which is 550. More about this here: New World is listening to its players and significantly softens drastic changes to equipment for 2022.
- Adjustments to enemy AI
- New perks for equipment suited to the mutators
- The potion for topaz gypsum can now also be crafted at arcana crafting stations
- An adjustment to the damage formula in PvP – The adjustments now correspond to the armor value of enemies rather than your own
What do you think about the changes from the January patch? Are you excited about the new content? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
In New World, there is currently still a winter event happening. We will reveal how you can make money with it:
New World: Here’s how you can earn a lot of coins with the winter event
