In the MMORPG New World (Steam), fans challenged the developers: They should tackle the endgame of the game themselves, in Myrkgard. And indeed, the developers took on the challenge, led by Chief Developer Scot Lane.
What was the challenge:
- At the end of November, a thread appeared in the New World forum where a player demanded that the New World developers should conduct a “Myrkguard Chest Run” and “Portal Run” themselves (via new-world-forum).
- That was just the time when the 1st update in New World had been released, which made the endgame of the MMO grindier and more difficult, frustrating many players at the time.
- The call to play the endgame themselves received a lot of attention in the forum. Today, the thread has 745 replies, 1710 “likes”, and more than 28,000 views.
“We don’t play New World as well as you do, but we play it”
This is how New World responded to the challenge: The developers uploaded a YouTube video on December 20, 2021, showing a run of 10 team members through Myrkgard. Among the 10 members of the group was also Scot Lane. He immediately said with a hint of self-irony:
“Just to clarify: We are totally undergeared. My gear score is 508. By the way, I’m already making an excuse for why I will fail later.”
Scot Lane
The dungeon run showed the game from 4 different perspectives simultaneously. Again and again, useful yet sarcastic tips were displayed like “Follow the group leader and don’t just rush after loot!” or “Stop hoarding your healing potions when you’re about to die.”
The stream ultimately ended with a wipe and the realization: “Hey, you see: We play the game … but not as well as you do!”
Much appreciation for the developers
This is how the run was received: Overall, the stream was well-received; people gave Amazon compliments just for taking on the challenge and really going through with the run.
However, one person said: This is coming a bit late. They were asked to do the run when the scaling in the endgame content was completely off. Meanwhile, it has become significantly easier, but it was still fun to watch the developers.
Overall, the action was really well received. Even though no elite performance was evident, it was said that it was great to see that some of the developers really know the mechanics well and that they appreciate player feedback.
The developers’ action shows a lot of integrity.
What’s behind it: Such actions by the developers are truly a great way to show players: Hey, even if not everything is perfect, we understand you and take your feedback seriously.
That’s generally the vibe coming from New World in the last days and weeks.
It’s said that they were really surprised by the huge rush at release. In their eagerness to fix errors, they rushed many things and made matters worse. Amazon acknowledges this now, has adjusted working methods to focus more on quality and defect defense. Now everyone on the team is working hard to implement the players’ feedback and improve New World in the long run.
The head also said he needs to rein in people on the team so they don’t burn out in their eagerness to improve New World. That wouldn’t help anyone.
Maybe such actions will also make the mood around New World a bit friendlier:
