Amazon’s New World is currently in Alpha. Our author Alexander Leitsch is actually a player of the MMORPG “Guild Wars 2”. Nevertheless, he had a lot of fun in New World. Because there are also guild wars in New World – although of a different kind.
With this experience, I approached New World: I am a passionate “Guild Wars 2” player and have spent 7000 hours in the MMORPG. Although New World and my favorite are extremely different, I enjoyed the first three hours in the new MMO.
For me, Amazon takes a part from Guild Wars 2 and makes it significantly better. This is the World vs. World mode.
The World vs. World in Guild Wars 2
What is World vs. World? In World vs. World, “Guild Wars 2” servers, called “worlds”, fight against each other. On special maps, they wrestle for fortresses, towers, and smaller camps. For the conquests and defenses, siege weapons can be built and deployed.
Each world has its “own map” with a large fortress and two small outposts on the home maps of the other worlds. Additionally, there is a fourth, neutral world. On each map, about 150 players from each world can play simultaneously.
What are the problems with World vs. World? The game mode was very popular at the launch of the MMORPG, but has struggled with many issues since Heart of Thorns.
Some of the biggest problems include class balance and the distribution of players across the servers. But also the lack of innovations for the mode and some old missteps have influenced the decline in player numbers.
Some problems are meant to be improved by a new system, but almost a year has passed since the announcement.
New World is the better World vs. World
This is what makes New World better than Guild Wars 2: While Guild Wars 2 focuses on other content like PvE, raids, or instanced PvP, New World completely focuses on guild combat.
Anyone who wants to delve deeper into New World will inevitably find themselves in a guild to survive in the world. Guilds control and conquer fortresses on the map and serve to collectively explore the world.
However, fortresses are the endgame in New World, and it will be difficult to build up a fortress alone, let alone conquer one from other guilds. And you cannot defend the fortress alone either.
In Guild Wars 2, it was often discussed that players engage too rarely in guilds. Many just run aimlessly around the map or follow other players without communication. This will be very difficult in New World.
In New World, creativity from players is also emphasized. Fortresses are not just there, but can be built and designed by players themselves.
The way of conquering will also change, as fortresses are not always built the same way. While there may be stronger walls in some places, others are only protected by a simple wooden wall.
This way, Amazon avoids the problem that classes have to be balanced against each other. The balance issues lie only with the equipment and the two special skills that you have on each weapon alongside the auto-attack and blocking.
Drawback: It is only a small part of Guild Wars 2
That’s why New World is still not a replacement for me: I have been playing mainly Guild Wars 2 for many years. I play it because of the good mix of PvE, PvP, and story content. New World, on the other hand, focuses solely on the fight for fortresses.
So if you are mainly interested in that and don’t need quests or a great playable story, you will feel comfortable in New World.
Scouting fortresses beforehand and perhaps first attacking weaker outposts can pay off.
Balance and Guild Sizes
Here is how the dimensions differ: While in Guild Wars 2 guilds can consist of 500 players, but only 150 can compete on one map, Amazon has set completely different standards in New World.
A guild in New World can consist of a maximum of 50 people. These can control several fortresses and may need to expand and defend these simultaneously.
Add to this the huge number of players who can access the world overall. It’s said that on one world thousands of players can play simultaneously. This is made possible by Amazon’s server technology.
So there is a clear contrast:
- In New World, the world is huge, but the guild is rather small
- In Guild Wars 2, the guild is large, and the combat arena is rather small
This is how New World circumvents the balance problem: New World does not rely on classes. To define your playstyle, you just need to equip the right gear and weapons.
If you want to go ranged, you equip a bow and gear with high damage. In melee, it is wise to pay attention to defense in your equipment as well.
This way, Amazon avoids the problem that classes have to be balanced against each other. The balance issues lie only with the equipment and the two special skills that you have on each weapon alongside the auto-attack and blocking.
Drawback: It is only a small part of Guild Wars 2
That’s why New World is still not a replacement for me: I have been playing mainly Guild Wars 2 for many years. I play it because of the good mix of PvE, PvP, and story content. New World, on the other hand, focuses solely on the fight for fortresses.
So if you are mainly interested in that and don’t need quests or a great playable story, you will feel comfortable in New World.
