In an MMO like New World, the question arises whether it offers epic raids with large dungeons. There is actually a kind of raid. You will encounter bosses in arenas that you can only enter in an instance. Similarly, there are open-world areas that function essentially like dungeons with boss monsters.
Where does this info come from? We from MeinMMO attended a press event at Amazon Game Studios to check out New World. Here I played the MMO and realized that New World could be an enormous MMO on its way.
On-site, the developers gave us a live gameplay tour, showing us a feature in the open world that at least brings epic raid fights into the game, namely arenas. However, there are more features that come quite close to a raid.
New World has no classic raids
Thinking of theme park MMOs like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14, a clear idea of raids comes to mind. There are large raids that lead us into fortresses or caves. These raids are filled with small, nasty opponents that appear in masses and large, even nastier bosses that make our lives hell. At the end, epic loot awaits.
Raids are designed to be particularly challenging and can only be mastered with a larger group of players. Especially the boss is persistent and goes through different combat phases, which players need to memorize and learn well.
New World does not offer anything like that.
The developers at Amazon Game Studios have come up with something different for their world of Aeternum that, however, comes quite close to a classic raid experience.
Engage in mini-raids in arenas
During the gameplay tour at Amazon Game Studios, the developers showed us different parts of the open world. We made a stop at an arena.
Important note: The press event for New World took place in February 2020. The MMO is still under development. It is quite possible that the arena feature will be revised, meaning that the maximum group size may change.
This is how arenas are set up: In an arena, a difficult boss monster awaits, which has mechanics that players must memorize well to defeat it. Arenas can be entered in an instance with up to 5 players as planned. According to the developers, these monsters are so challenging that a player is unlikely to defeat them alone.
The arenas appear in the open world. Once a group is in the arena, they cannot exit. Players outside the arena cannot see the fight. To enter an arena, a key is required. If the group loses against the monster, the key is lost, and a new one must be obtained to attempt the challenge again. If the monster is defeated, glory, honor, and extraordinary rewards await.
The open world has areas like dungeons with bosses
The developers have structured some areas in the open world of New World essentially like a large dungeon. In the interview, it became clear that these areas work like an onion.
“The further you get to the center, the harder it becomes. There you will encounter pairs and groups that are tough to combat as a solo player. You will encounter more named boss opponents that you might prefer to fight with a group.”
Michael Willette, Head of World Experience
This is essentially the classic raid experience, just firmly woven into the entire game world. This way, groups are meant to form organically, and rewards will automatically be shared evenly in the group when playing as PvE players. New World will indeed have a switch that allows players to march through the world as PvP or PvE players.
Mass battles to capture fortresses
Ultimately, PvP mass battles can also be seen as a raid.
In the fortress fights, two guilds compete against each other. One guild attacks the fortress while the other defends it. This plays out as follows:
- One guild declares war. The defending guild, on the other hand, has set specific times when they are ready for battle.
- The battle for a fortress takes place in a contained area. The area is not directly instantiated, but can only be entered by participants of the battle.
- A maximum of 50v50 can participate.
- There are siege weapons for attackers and defenders.
The winner gains or retains control of the fortress. Only through PvP will there be a possibility for fortresses to change owners.
New World also aligns with such systems from great MMORPGs of the past, but modernizes them for today’s player types. For many players today, it is not so easy to find the time to schedule fixed raid times and spend hours in dungeons. Thus, open-world areas that are akin to dungeons or small arenas in between offer an alternative.
