On May 13, 2025, the new “Season of the Divide” for New World has started. You can expect hardcore servers for the first time, fresh content for the Outpost Rush, a test of a “Capture the Flag” variant, and a new world boss event.
What do I need to know about the hardcore servers? The new season of New World is scheduled to start on May 13, with maintenance planned from 3:00 PM to around 5:00 PM. However, the new hardcore servers are expected to go live only in early June – no exact date has been given yet.
In the official patch notes, the rules for the hardcore experience are documented:
- On the hardcore servers, you will level up noticeably faster. Instead of the main quest line, there are new quests that familiarize you with the progress and crafting cycle of the servers. The goal is for you to quickly obtain endgame gear and artifacts.
- As a result, you will also level up your professions faster and gain early access to artifacts and high-quality materials.
- If your character dies, access to the Set-3 rewards will expire. Create a new character to regain access. For each virtual death, you will receive a bonus to all attributes up to five times (+25 each).
- Those who venture into the hardcore servers can earn two sets of armor through travel. Additionally, a third set is possible if the character with which you complete the journey has not died even once. Furthermore, there are cosmetic rewards, resources for the main server, trophy materials, and more.
The gameplay trailer for New World Aeternum:
What else does the season bring?
- For the Outpost Rush, the mode “Bone Dry” and the map “Coral Divide” are coming. In the new variant, all equipment advantages are disabled and all players are upgraded to the maximum equipment value. Based on community feedback after testing the changes, the devs have announced various improvements.
- In the PvP modes, the available maps are set to change hourly instead of every two weeks in the future. However, at the beginning of Season 8, this only applies to 3vs3 arenas.
- In the new hair salon, you can invest a hair salon token to change every aspect of your appearance. The token is sold for 10,000 luck tokens in the shop.
- A new world boss event is coming, presenting you with legendary expedition opponents that change weekly and lure you with higher quality loot (IL 715–725). Three world bosses have been announced: Mammoth Lord Mahantaram, Scarab Boss Khepri, and Ifrit Fire Naga.
- With the new season, 7 additional artifacts and 5 new survival potions will be introduced.
- Aiming at targets and target assist will be added, allowing players with controllers to aim as well as those with mouse and keyboard.
- Two new types of gems and a series of combat effects will debut this season: Jade gems introduce sickness mechanics, while turquoise gems offer armor and penetration advantages.
- A spectator camera for defeated players in 3vs3 arenas will be introduced. PvP in the open world is set to gain a new level through PvP camps.
All details on the mentioned innovations as well as an overview of all balancing adjustments and fixes can be found in the German patch notes on newworld.com.
“A great patch for PvP fans”
How does the community react to the upcoming season? In the current discussion on Reddit, there are indeed more comments (150+) than “thumbs up” (50+), which is always a bad sign, but there is certainly praise for some of the improvements.
- fadedcurry writes on Reddit: “Am I the only one who thinks this is a great patch for PvP fans? New gems, new OPR modes and maps, BLAST SHOT BLUNDY, Aim Lock Nerf? Sounds great!”
- bluejaymewjay is also looking forward on Reddit: “This will be an unpopular opinion, but I think the main things here look great. There’s a lot here. Capture the Flag is a new game mode […], they finally added a makeover kit […] and the open world bosses offer 700+ items […]. This solves a lot of problems that people always complain about.”
- AlcoholicLimaBean has only one complaint on Reddit: “I like most of this. But 10,000 tokens for cosmetic changes???”
Late-Let-4221 points out under AlcoholicLimaBean’s comment that there will be a hair salon token for free through the new season pass.
The most criticism is directed at various balancing adjustments for weapons as well as effects, as some players cannot understand them. Additionally, some complain that many of the innovations are once again geared towards PvP fans. The focus was already on PvP in the last season, which did not sit well with many players: New World changed its focus from PvP to PvE just before the start of PvP – the new season shows why that was the right move
