New World introduces 4 major innovations with June update

New World received a new update in June. This brought not only 1,209 fixed bugs but also new features that many players have eagerly awaited. Amazon has also hinted that this is not the last update before the beta launch in July.

What are the major new features? The update in June introduced the following major new features:

New options for character creation, including new faces, hairstyles, beards, eye colors, skin colors, scars, and tattoos
The distribution of experience points has been adjusted so that the leveling process now takes longer
50 new armor sets and 27 new jewelry items have been added to the game
The member limit in companies has been increased from 50 to 100

This means that Amazon has revised 4 points that many players criticized after the preview event in August 2020. Especially new options for character creation have been long desired. Unfortunately, there are still no pictures for this.

Leveling progress becomes slower but should feel less grindy

What changes are there to the leveling process? The update in May introduced new ways to earn experience points in the game. However, this led to players leveling up too quickly, according to Amazon. Therefore, some adjustments have been made:

All required experience points (XP) from level 7 have been increased by 40%
The breaches, huge events in the open world, give 10 to 20% less XP. They also appear less frequently so players do not have to grind them constantly
PvP missions give 20% less XP
Faction missions give overall less XP, but have been revised to be completable solo

At the same time, however, the experience points from world stories (lore sheets in the open world) and for finding landmarks have been increased. This is intended to enhance the urge to explore.

Changes to key bindings and the UI

What changes are there to the key bindings? Amazon has apparently recognized that most players jump with the spacebar and sprint with SHIFT. Therefore, the key bindings have been adjusted accordingly. Previously, the default binding was exactly reversed.

Adjustments to the UI: In addition to gameplay adjustments, the UI of New World has also been modified:

A symbol is now visible with damage numbers to indicate the type of damage
Added status effects are now communicated with a symbol and a hovering text shown directly above the health bar of enemies
The compass has been revised so that it now displays landmarks with names and only a distance indicator
Tooltips have been reworked to consume less space on the screen
New options for colorblind players have been added

There is also a new character selection screen. There you can directly see the created characters, instead of having to go into the world selection first. However, you can still only have a maximum of two characters per region (EU, NA, etc.) and only one per world.

Are these the only new features? No, as usual, Amazon has published detailed patch notes (via Amazon). There you will find numerous adjustments to combat, balance, and other details that we have not mentioned in this news.

Since November 2020, there has also been a major alpha update every month, which brought among other things the following new features:

The first dungeons, one of which we were able to try out
New incentives for open-world PvP
4 new weapons, including the magical ice gauntlet that can deal damage and freeze opponents
Several new areas, including one with an Asian temple
Fishing as a new activity in the game world
Numerous adjustments to crafting, quests, and the combat system

Overall, New World has undergone significant development in alpha. Much of it has moved towards being a theme park MMORPG. We have summarized it in this column: