In January, New World will receive the next major update, which can already be tested on the PTR server. However, many players are currently criticizing it on reddit and in the forums. Although the content itself is not bad, it comes at a completely wrong time.
What’s in the January patch? The upcoming update focuses on bringing new endgame content for dungeons and a new armor tier of 625. New difficulty levels will be introduced, reminiscent of Mythic+ in WoW. Through this and crafting, players will also be able to enhance their armor.
However, the patch is clearly aimed at hardcore players looking for new challenges in dungeons and at players who already possess a full gear with an item level of 600.
But for midgame players, fans of open-world content, or PvP players, there’s nothing in this update. Instead, it focuses on further grinding. This is exactly what many players criticize.
Patch is aimed at “No Lifers” and not the majority of players
What exactly bothers the players? The reddit user ripinpiecez created a thread in which he mainly criticizes the increase of expertise and armor to 625. He writes:
An increase in expertise is the last thing we need right now. I have no idea what they were thinking. Only No Lifers with 750+ hours are at maximum expertise, and now they add even more grind.
This change is aimed at a maximum of 1% of the player base. Really, they shouldn’t even consider raising the item level until summer, in my opinion.
The thread received over 175 upvotes within a short period and a lot of support in the comments. One person even writes: “As a representative of this 1%, I want to say: We don’t want that either. But seriously, I just spent 20,000 coins on a 598 axe yesterday, only to find out today that it will be worthless after the patch.”
In another thread, the user SquirtleSquadSgt emphasizes that the patch will also cause further imbalance in gear. Players who already have the strongest gear can further enhance it. Latecomers, who are just starting now or players who grind less, will fall even further behind.
He also criticizes that the developers didn’t learn anything from the last shitstorm regarding the gear:
Players who are already dominating will experience a quick jump to 625 before the rest of us even reach 600? The developers act as if they have been redeemed and learned from the last shitstorm regarding the downscaling of gear scores.
But this now proves that they haven’t learned anything and only reluctantly made the changes somewhat reversible because their profits suffered more than during a normal week when players stopped playing.
This next patch shows where the efforts are going while the core of the game crumbles before our eyes.
SquirtleSquadSgt via reddit
Old content reheated: While the threads shown above mainly discuss the problems with gear, others are disappointed that rather old content is being reheated instead of getting something completely new.
Several users complain that there is no new area where they can quest or explore. Instead, the dungeons are being pushed further, which many cannot even enter due to missing teammates or the high cost of orbs for entry.
Some users also demand that the current grind should be reduced before new content is introduced. They can hardly keep up with the current content.
What’s actually going on with PvP? In several threads on reddit, it is also criticized that New World is not receiving any innovations for PvP.
- The big patch 1.1 in November brought a new weapon but focused otherwise on new quests, mobs in the open world, and linking trading posts.
- Even in December, the patch 1.2 mainly brought revisions for gear and the open world. Additionally, the winter event aimed solely at PvE players was released.
In January, many players hoped that finally new PvP content like arenas would be introduced. Instead, PvP players are not seeing any innovation with this update. The preliminary patch notes also give no hints about bug fixes or performance adjustments in wars.
For a game that once had a PvP focus, this is not enough, thinks reddit user Cindaquilz (via reddit).
Is everything about the update bad? No, because the fundamental changes are positively received by many players. New difficulty levels for dungeons provide an incentive and boost the PvE community.
However, for many, these adjustments come at a bad time because they believe there are more pressing issues. Additionally, many players wish for a dungeon finder and adjustments to the orbs to gain better access to the instances.
A dungeon finder was even found in data mining:
Lack of roadmap is still a topic
What causes frustration among players? The topic of the roadmap keeps coming up in the forum and on reddit. Because until today, there is no long-term outlook on what New World will receive.
The developers only revealed in 2021 which weapons they are currently working on and that the patch in February will focus on bug fixes.
However, whether and when new areas or PvP content will finally be introduced is not revealed. So far, there are only glimpses that emerged from data miners. They report, among other things, about new dungeons and PvP arenas.
What do you think about the January patch? Are you looking forward to the innovations or do you understand the frustration of players on reddit and in the forums? What does New World need most urgently, in your opinion?
Another point of criticism that has recently flared up are the bots in the game. They are leveling up merrily despite reports:
New World: Farming bots are nearing level 60 and that makes players angry
