An important part of the endgame in New World are the battles for territories. These can be conquered by factions and then expanded. In return, they take taxes on trading, crafting, or housing. However, on servers with few players, it increasingly happens that the dominant faction hands out territories.
Who gives away settlements? There should actually be fierce battles for the territories and thus settlements. In 50v50 battles, both factions should give their all; after all, they will be rewarded with control over the area and additional income.
However, this is not so easy on empty servers. Due to a lack of opponents, one faction often dominates and holds most of the areas. This can be so disadvantageous in some cases that some factions now simply give control of the area to the attackers.
MeinMMO reader Chriz sent us a small excerpt from a livestream of his company. There, the marauders are not even defending their fortress; instead, they are dancing together on a small hill.
The victory over the marauders is said to have been agreed upon in advance, as the faction actually dominates Chriz’s server. In general, settlements are supposed to be exchanged regularly. Purple is supposed to control two territories constantly, but they change regularly due to ongoing wars.
However, it is not only Chriz who reports this. On reddit, several threads and comments can be found. We also reported in October on a rare case at that time where diplomacy brought a settlement. But now there are various reasons behind the gifts.
Boredom, high costs, and the fear that the server will completely die
Why are settlements given away? One of the reasons for the donation lies in the costs of maintaining and expanding a settlement. Especially in the outskirts, it is not worth investing in these, as little tax is collected there. Hardly anyone travels to the outposts to build a house or craft. Therefore, there is often not much fighting over these areas.
Another aspect is boredom:
- Some are annoyed that they only get to play the role of the defender and no longer the attacker. They want to increase their influence through open PvP in enemy territory and experience something “new” again.
- Others just generally have no desire for war anymore, because those who control all territories regularly have to fight battles. Therefore, the least attractive areas are simply given away.
However, the main reason for many is the fear that the server will completely die. Because when one faction controls everything, wins all wars, and receives all income, there is a risk that players from other factions will completely stop playing.
This, in turn, would have negative effects on the entire server, such as when forming groups for PvE content, but also in matches in Outpost Rush. Outpost Rush is considered a good and especially lucrative game mode, but requires 40 active players at level 60 to sign up for it. Outside of prime time, this is already a significant problem on some empty servers.
Are the peaceful transfers well received by everyone? No, our reader Chriz is annoyed by this because he wants to experience real wars and PvP battles instead of dancing opponents.
Furthermore, territories are often given to known or allied companies. Those who are not in the “inner circle” will never get a territory.
Declining servers and faction balance issues are to blame
Why are these peaceful transfers happening at all? The majority of these donations occur on servers where the population is already low. Usually, one faction dominates here because they have been able to keep their guilds together, while in the defeated factions, players have stopped playing.
Players are desperately wishing for the server mergers that are already planned.
However, even on fuller servers, it still happens that one faction dominates. This is usually due to large guilds working together. Once the map is controlled, new players usually join the strongest faction rather than one of the weaker ones.
So far, however, there is no real solution for the faction balance. The developers have only reduced the option to switch between factions from 120 to 60 days and prohibit switching from one of the weak factions to the strongest on the server.
What do you think about the handing out of territories? And have you experienced anything like this on your server?
