In March, New World will receive another major update. This brings a new dungeon and the weapon Thunder Rifle. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch tested the new patch together with the developers and shares his impressions here.
The new update in March focuses primarily on two innovations. With “Heart of the Stormwind”, a new dungeon will be released, located in the elite area of Myrkgard, where we will fight against Isabella, a pirate captain who leads the Corrupted.
Additionally, the new weapon Thunder Rifle will be released. This focuses on melee and medium-range combat and comes with strong damage.
I was able to try both contents together with the developer Mike Willette at an event. And I was positively surprised. The new weapon is really fun, and the dungeon is particularly challenging with the last two bosses. But is it worth returning just for that?
However, New World particularly captivated him in the alpha, and he has already spent over 400 hours in it.
New Dungeon for Experienced Endgame Players
What awaits you in the new dungeon? “Heart of the Stormwind” concludes the current story surrounding Isabella and is aimed at players level 60 with an item level of at least 550. In the test, we had gear at level 585, which was sufficient for a large part of the content.
The whole dungeon feels like a twisted dream experienced by Isabella. Grotesquely deformed stones are everywhere, the paths are tangled, and everything is permeated by corruption.
Throughout the dungeon, you hear Isabella’s voice repeatedly telling different memories. Mike Willette explained to me that these memories differ from run to run. Isabella laments her suffering caused by the corruption, but also speaks of her goals and the fight that I will definitely lose against her.
Within the dungeon, we fight against Isabella three times. In the first encounter, we must bring her down to 75% health, in the second to 50%, and finally, she will be the final boss of the instance. However, with each encounter, she has new tricks up her sleeve, including one-shot abilities that you must dodge.
The dungeon itself offers several smaller mini-bosses and numerous small highlights. You can open hidden chests to collect weapons that can later be pinned to statues in a town. Behind that lies an Easter egg.
Additionally, there is a spot where giant monsters shoot at us with laser beams from their eyes. A player must sit at the cannon and destroy the monsters’ eyes. I was honored with this task. In this section, general coordination is very important.
Before the final battle, we encounter the boss Neishatun, a mix of snake and human.
This boss has various abilities and phases, including:
- Tail strikes that knock you off the platform
- A one-shot attack marked with a large red marker
- Giant AoE fields that deal damage when triggered
- Portals that create knockback if not destroyed quickly
- Adds that are summoned at 50% health
We have included a clip of this fight as a video, so you can see the new weapon Thunder Rifle in action:
Overall, the dungeon is quite challenging and difficult enough that we couldn’t complete it in the 90 minutes we had for the event.
What rewards are there in the dungeon? For completion, you receive a guaranteed increase in your expertise, as well as gypsum for another upgrade. The loot table also includes some legendary weapons.
The Thunder Rifle is Strong and Fun at the Same Time
How does the new weapon play? Really well! The Thunder Rifle always has only two shots, but they hit a target multiple times with pellets. If you stand correctly and aim well, you can land several headshots and deal significant damage.
After the two shots, there is a short reload animation.
In the ability tree Encapsulation, you primarily have abilities that allow you to keep the opponent at a distance or jump to them faster:
- With Claw Shot, you attack an enemy and pull yourself towards them while they are simultaneously pulled towards you.
- The Net Shot pushes you back slightly while slowing the opponent for 2.5 seconds.
- In the Shrapnel Explosion, 5 shots are fired in a spread directly in front of you that deal damage.
The ability tree Chaos, on the other hand, is much more damage-oriented:
- With Shrapnel Grenade, you fire a grenade that bounces three times, splits into three small grenades, and then explodes.
- Explosive Shot knocks enemies down and deals damage to them.
- With Mortar Load, you load heavier bullets that deal additional damage for the next 15 seconds or 3 shots.
It scales with the attributes strength and intelligence, so it can ideally be used by melee fighters for pulling and repositioning, but also by mages.
Will the weapon be useful? In the 4 hours I have experimented with the weapon in PvP, it makes a strong impression.
The Shrapnel Grenade and Shrapnel Explosion are ideal for dealing a lot of damage in PvE, while you will mainly use the Explosive Shot and Net Shot in PvP to keep opponents at a distance.
Additionally, with the new patch, you no longer need ammunition to use the weapon. Ammunition will only provide additional damage from now on.
Is it Worth Returning or Starting Fresh?
Not really. Those who previously enjoyed New World will face a new challenge in the new dungeon. Especially the last two bosses are truly formidable, and without knowledge of the tactics and good equipment, they are hard to beat.
Moreover, the dungeon will likely receive mutations in the future, which were introduced in January, thus presenting players with further demanding boss battles.
Also, the Thunder Rifle brings a cool expansion to players who already enjoyed New World.
But both contents are clearly aimed at players who have already played New World intensively before.
Anyone who is completely new or left the game in October/November due to the general gameplay should not expect any miracles here.
While New World has now:
- Improved the leveling phase
- Reworked the endgame gear
- Brought new enemies into the game
- Announced cool small changes for March, such as using the inventory while running
However, the general gameplay remains the same. If you didn’t enjoy it, you probably still won’t after the March update.
For some, the combat system has even worsened due to the queue system in the February patch. Now you can chain two abilities together directly, but it is also difficult to interrupt the use of the second ability. This makes the combat system a bit stiffer and less reactive than it was before the change.
I still have a lot of fun with New World and will play the new dungeon many more times. What I like and don’t like about New World, you can read about here:
I have spent over 400 hours in New World – That’s why I still enjoy it so much
