New World is getting a new equipment upgrade system with the January patch. This will allow you to increase the gear score from 600 to 625. However, many players were disappointed because they created their perfect gear with a lower gear score. But you will also be able to upgrade those in the future.
What is this new upgrade system? With patch 1.3 in January, the new Shadow Shards will be introduced. You can earn these through crafting, the new dungeon mutators, and the Gypsum system.
The Shadow Shards are used to raise equipment from a gear score of 600 to 625. You will always need double the shards compared to the previous level – a gear score of 601 requires one shard, 602 then two, 603 then four, and so on.
However, some players were disappointed with the system because they have crafted or found suitable equipment that does not have a gear score of 600. The weapons and armor receive random stats on drops and crafting that do not always match. The only exceptions are items with fixed names, such as the strong Voidbent Armor.
But now, Amazon has good news for players who have strong epic items.
Even gear at level 590+ can be upgraded with Shadow Shards
What has been announced? As the developer Zin_Ramu mentioned in the forum, items with a gear score of 590 can now also be upgraded with Shadow Shards:
We really wanted to keep the value of the legendary 600 high. But I can understand that this can be limiting and discouraging when you have a lot of bad RNG and don’t get your legendary roll.
That’s why we are considering lowering the minimum gear score required for an upgrade to 590. You still need to reach competence 600 to unlock the upgrade via Shadow Shards. But once it’s unlocked, you can now upgrade from 590 to 600, and at moderate Shadow Shard costs. This allows those really good 590-599 rolls to become great weapons with a little extra Shadow Shards.
This change is supposed to be implemented “as quickly as possible”. Whether it will be included directly at the release in January has not yet been confirmed.
However, there is a small catch. Epic equipment items available at levels 590 to 599 will remain epic even after being upgraded beyond gear score 599 (via NewWorld):
- Epic equipment only has two bonus effects
- Legendary equipment, on the other hand, has three
There will be no change in that regard despite the upgrade. This is justified by the fact that legendary equipment should not be devalued and that Shadow Shards should only be used for upgrades, not for generating new legendary equipment.
What do you think about the adjustment to the equipment? Are you happy to keep your epic items, or are you still trying to get legendary equipment in the long run?
We have completely translated the currently provisional patch notes for the upcoming update 1.3 into German:
New World: Provisional patch notes for the major 1.3 update in January
