Amazon’s MMO New World is no longer set to release in spring, but instead at the end of August 2021. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch believes the delay is justified. The game contained almost no endgame content, which is now set to be added.
What happened? The developers announced on February 16 that New World is set to release on August 31. Previously, there had been talk of “spring 2021”. This date was already based on two delays – from May 2020 to August 2020 and then again to spring 2021.
The delay has received mixed reactions, as many were already looking forward to the release of the new MMO. However, there are also players who welcome the delay.
I belong to the latter group for two reasons:
- On one hand, the release in August is primarily justified by the fact that more endgame content is to be added to the MMO. This has been a major point of criticism so far.
- On the other hand, we have seen several games in recent years that were simply released too early and therefore unfinished. Amazon itself has even experienced this with the game Crucible, which has now even been discontinued.
In my opinion, the delay can only have advantages. Especially when looking at the entire development history of the game. This has largely taken place in secrecy and under a non-disclosure agreement, but it shows the constant change that is still happening.
The focus is now on PvE and instanced battles, instead of open-world PvP
How did New World start? When New World was first presented to the public at gamescom in 2018, the game conceptually resembled the survival MMO Rust:
- Players started naked and without equipment
- There was constant PvP in the open world
- There were no quests, players had to find their own tasks
- Food and drink were necessary to generate health points
- Fortresses could be built relatively freely in certain zones
- The battles for fortresses took place in the open world
Initial alpha tests followed, but no one was allowed to speak about them officially. Nevertheless, there were reports claiming that the combat system and guilds were causing issues. Individual guilds dominated PvP, limiting enjoyment for many.
The switch to PvE: In 2019, the game took a drastic turn. PvP in the open world became optional content, and the battles for fortresses were instanced. Additionally, fortresses received a fixed setup and can no longer be built freely.
In return, quests and a first boss instance were introduced to attract more PvE fans. Moreover, there were numerous “quality of life” adjustments that made New World more beginner-friendly.
However, this major overhaul also delayed the release.
Good approaches at the playtest event, but many contents were missing
What was my impression of New World? In August 2020, the first players could finally get their hands on New World or report on their experiences without breaking an NDA. I also used the playtest event to thoroughly test the MMO.
After over 40 hours of gameplay, I concluded that New World has many good approaches. I found the following positive aspects:
- The beautiful game world.
- The gathering and crafting system.
- The basic combat system.
- The fact that even foreign players could indirectly cooperate and couldn’t take anything from each other.
- The 25v25 PvP battles for fortresses.
However, there were also many aspects I found negative:
- The quest system was one of the weakest overall.
- The combat system needed several adjustments.
- The factions felt insignificant.
Moreover, the endgame did not look promising. The only interesting contents were the PvP fort battles and the associated PvE events. However, they only occur irregularly and for a limited number of players.
Additionally, the instanced boss Spriggan, a potential endgame content, was already defeated by many during the test that only lasted a few days.
Why is this problematic? The lack of endgame content is often exactly what breaks new MMORPGs. Many players are now trying to get through the leveling process as quickly as possible only to see if the game can engage them long-term.
Although an MMORPG is expanded with many contents after release, there must be a certain loop in place that keeps players engaged for the long term.
I have not seen that loop after the event in New World.
New weapons, better quests, and instances in the endgame
What has changed after the test? In the time between September and February, there were several announcements from the alpha introducing new content, including:
- The new weapon spear and adjustments to the XP distribution
- A major overhaul of the quests
- The new area Reekwater Swamp and fishing as a profession
- The new weapon battle axe and an overhaul of the combat system
- The new weapon rapier and an overhaul of the crafting system
With the further delay until August, time is being gained to test new content. And those sound really interesting and could positively change the aspect of endgame.
What other innovations are coming? The first innovation is the area Ebonscale Reach. This is supposed to be a new endgame zone where you will encounter a huge fleet of the Corrupted. The Corrupted already offer interesting events in the open world, which could become great group content in the area.
The announcement I find most exciting is the Expeditions. These are instances where you team up with a total of 5 players to face dangers and learn more about the lore of the game world Aeternum. The description states that the battles are to be challenging and require skill and coordination.
If you enjoy being active in PvP, you can also look forward to the Outpost Rush. In this, two teams of 20 players compete against each other to gain control of fortresses and resources. This is exactly the kind of mode I wished for in our first MeinMMO podcast on New World.
These 3 aspects all sound reasonable and cater to very different types of players:
- The new area targets open-world and quest fans
- The Expeditions target instanced players
- The new PvP mode targets PvP fans who want to bridge the time between fortress battles
Together with the overhaul of the quests and the new weapons, much more replay value is promised than what was present during the test in August 2020. This now only needs to impress in quality. And a little time is good for that.
Since New World is still set to release in 2021, it remains one of the interesting MMO releases of this year. But there are also other exciting innovations that I have summarized here:
11 reasons why MMORPG fans can look forward to 2021
