The MMO New World has released new patch notes from the alpha. In January, several adjustments were made, primarily affecting the crafting and combat systems. A new weapon is also included.
What is happening currently in New World? The MMO from Amazon is in an alpha phase. However, this is under NDA, so testers cannot report on the progress.
About once a month, there is a developer update that presents the current development. This was again the case in January 2021. We present you with the most important new features from it.
Anyone who wants to familiarize themselves with New World in general and has an overview of the game content can find our opinion after the first public test here:
Is there anything new about the release? No, officially “Spring 2021” is still considered the official statement. Amazon still lists May 25 as the date.
1. Revision of the Crafting System
What is new in crafting? The January update focuses primarily on adjustments to the crafting system:
- A number of new and rare resources have been introduced.
- There are over 100 new named weapons and 50 new named armor pieces in crafting.
- Many recipes have been adjusted so that general ingredients also work. For example, a general vegetable will suffice instead of carrots to prepare the corresponding food.
- More flexibility has been introduced into the system. Players can decide whether to invest more or less Azoth to have a higher chance of bonuses. You should be able to decide exactly how much of rare materials you invest to have a chance for a higher armor value.
- Unlocking plans has been revised.
- Equipment will no longer become useless and discarded automatically when durability drops to 0.
What changes with buff food? Together with crafting, the buff food has also been revised. From now on, there are two categories that are clearly separated:
- Bonus food that improves your attributes
- Recovery food that quickly restores health
Additionally, the food bonuses now also persist beyond death.
What had changed previously in crafting? Already with the update in November 2020, adjustments were made that allow for better sorting of the inventory and the crafting stations to adapt their appearance with the growth of the settlement.
2. New Weapon Rapier
What type of weapon is this? The January update introduced the rapier. The new melee weapon focuses on stabbing and comes with two weapon trees:
- The blood tree focuses on stacking the bleeding status effect on enemies and then bursting the stack with a final swing for massive damage.
- The elegance tree focuses on dodging, countering, and skillfully wielding the blade.
The rapier is now the third new weapon since the test in August:
- In December, the war axe was introduced
- In November, the spear alongside the new area Reekwater Swamp
3. Adjustments to the Combat System and Only 2 Weapon Slots
What changes in combat? Besides the rapier, there was another change to the weapons. From now on, there will be only 2 weapon slots that can be swapped between in combat. Previously, there were 3. However, the second slot will still be unlocked at level 5.
Additionally, the developers have revised the ranged weapons so that players can now move during animations.
What changes regarding enemies? There were already adjustments to the AI in December, which are now being further expanded. Named enemies from level 15 will use a new elite system, giving them additional attacks and an adjusted characteristic.
Additionally, the difficulty of enemies has been increased, which are significantly above the player’s level:
- There are increased armor and damage bonuses on enemies that are 3-5 levels higher.
- From 6 levels higher, players are killed directly, instead of being brought to the brink of death. They also have a 10-meter increased perception.
- Enemies that are 10 levels higher can no longer be affected by CC.
4. Adjustments to Quests and Groups
Quests were probably the biggest point of criticism during the open test in August. Since then, there have been numerous adjustments and promises that quests will be improved all the way to the endgame.
With the January update, new quest dialogues have been introduced to better characterize NPCs and expand quest instructions. Furthermore, the generic loot has been replaced by “interactive objects.” What this precisely means, we will probably only see in a new test.
Along with these adjustments, group gameplay has also been revised. In the future, it will be sufficient for the group as a whole to deal 15% damage to an enemy for everyone to receive XP, loot, and quest progress. However, the XP will now be divided among all players, instead of granting everyone the full XP as before.
New World is one of the most exciting MMORPGs currently in development and is set to be released in 2021. Generally, it looks like this year will be a good one for MMORPG fans:
