The new MMO New World (PC) from Amazon is on the defensive: Information about the cash shop has been leaked. There were mentions of purchasable boosters. For many MMORPG players, such items in a full-priced game are unacceptable. While the team justifies itself, criticism comes from Asmongold, the largest WoW streamer on Twitch. He finds New World’s reasoning hypocritical.
What is causing the outrage among players regarding New World? Currently, we only know what Amazon tells us about New World: The game is running in Alpha, but it is still under NDA. All information that leaks out is under the control of the developers – ideally.
However, a leak caused a real stir over the weekend. A player posted an image from the Alpha forum. There were discussions about boosters.
Many consider such items to be “Pay2Win” items because they provide a clear advantage in a game: Those who level up with a booster progress faster than those who do not purchase it. New World, as a “full-priced” title, should not offer such items, many in the MMO community believe.
This is what Amazon says: The New World team attempted to defuse the conflict in a statement on May 15 (via twitter):
- They only want to bring items to the shop that have enough “value” that players want to buy them
- They do not want to introduce items that make players feel they must purchase them to enjoy New World
- Everyone will be able to fully enjoy New World without buying anything from the shop
- Everything is still up in the air; they may also introduce residual EXP or fast traveling, and offer both in the shop or in a way that can be earned in-game
“We want to support players who do not have much time”
This is what New World specifically says about boosters: There are several statements from Amazon on Twitter justifying boosters further:
“MMOs require a massive time investment that not everyone can afford. Boosters can be a way for someone who does not have enough time to make more of their time. They can play the game differently and support the community.”
“It’s not about rushing players to the endgame. It’s about supporting people who do not have as much time to play and helping them reach the endgame, even if they have less time.”
Twitch streamer finds the reasoning hypocritical, calls it “bullshit”
This is the criticism: New World is currently interesting to many WoW players and aims to attract Twitch streamers to their game. However, criticism comes exactly from that corner.
The biggest WoW streamer on Twitch is Asmongold, who believes New World’s argument for boosters is hypocritical.
“What I really hate here is the narrative that they are ‘for the little guy’. They stand with Bill, the 31-year-old miner and dad. His wife is causing trouble, and he only has 2 hours to play New World.
They are shitting on Bill! They just want his fucking money.
And if you use such people as a distraction or as a shield to protect yourself from criticism of this bullshit, I really don’t want to hear it.”
Asmongold
For Asmongold, such boosters hinder the fun of the game. He uses WoW as an example: Just because many players now reach WoW’s endgame faster due to boosters doesn’t mean they have more fun than during the classic leveling process.
Fun and reaching the endgame have no connection with each other.
Do booster shortcuts devalue the time of “real players”?
This is what’s behind it: This is a typical MMORPG discussion around cash shops. What New World offers are so-called “Pay2Progress” or “Convenience” items: They make life easier but are not necessarily required.
While such items are still accepted in free-to-play games, they provoke discussions in full-price titles. Because it devalues the time investment of “normal players” if others reach the same level in half the time just because they spend some euros in the shop.
New World is an interesting alternative for many WoW fans, even if it seems quite far from the MMORPG genre. This phenomenon was explained by Asmongold:
New World is a hit on Twitch because “MMO players are looking for a WoW killer”
