What does New World offer in PvE? We asked Amazon

What does New World actually offer besides PvP? This is a question that is often asked after Amazon Game Studios showcased a lot of content related to PvP. While PvE has been talked about, it has never really been the main focus. MeinMMO editor Leya Jankowski talked to the developers about lore, quests, environment, and sights in the game.

New World already has a tumultuous history behind it before its release. Originally, the MMO was supposed to be a sandbox survival game with forced PvP. However, this changed after initial feedback from alpha testers. New World turned itself around and is now an open-world MMO with PvE content. PvP is now optional.

The developers gradually introduced the game through video diaries. PvE was always a topic here, yet there has been little to see until now. Trailers of PvP mass battles were shown extensively. In forums like reddit and also with us on MeinMMO, I often read the question of what there is to explore outside of the battles.

That’s why I asked Amazon to show us a few areas from the PvE and tell us more about this content. They sent MeinMMO a video and offered an interview about it. The questions were answered by Charles Bradbury, the Art Director of New World.

Watch 10 minutes of PvE gameplay here

Before you read the interview, I recommend watching the embedded video here. The video was provided exclusively to MeinMMO by Amazon. Some of the questions build on the video, so you better understand what is being discussed:

The environment is meant to be diverse and inviting for exploration

MeinMMO: You have already told us a lot about PvP mass battles or the AI battles. However, many are now asking what else there is. What exists outside of capturing and expanding territory? I think your game also has a lot to do with discovery. But what is there actually to discover in the world?

Charles Bradbury: Our island Aeternum is huge. Contrast was particularly important to us when creating this world. We wanted to incorporate variety with our locations. As you said, discovery is a big part of the game. We reward players for traveling to all these different places and discovering all the hidden things.

Our different zones also have different figures in them. The game is supposed to be played for hours on end. For players, it should feel new every time they venture into a new area and have something to discover:

We have beautiful meadows flooded with flowers,
swampy marshes,
snowy glaciers and mountain peaks,
deep supernatural forests,
ancient ruins,
large hell-like areas where the world is breaking apart.

All these different forces and groups should come together and change the landscape.

This is New World: The new open-world MMO from Amazon takes place on the fictional island “Aeternum”, located in the middle of the Atlantic. A mineral in the interior called Azoth is said to grant immortality. The settlers are warring over territories and the mineral on the island. There are 3 factions, that players can join and that fight each other. The heart of the matter are forts, which are conquered, expanded, and defended in mass battles. This can be done both in PvP and PvE against AI. An extensive character progression system offers RPG content.
It should be emphasized that there are no classes in the MMO. The equipment defines the class. Furthermore, standout feature should be Player housing with decorations that even grant buffs.

MeinMMO: You sent us a video for the interview that shows different places from your world. I believe many of them were your Points of Interest, which is similar to sights. For example, there is a kind of ruin that the player enters right at the beginning. Can you explain to me what we can expect from these sights? Why is it worth exploring them?

Charles Bradbury: In the video, they enter one of the ancient towers, I believe. It is in an area called Eden Growth, and that is one of our supernatural places. There are different enemy families you will encounter, and one of them is Angry Earth, which has risen from the Azoth. Azoth is a supernatural mineral in the ground that mutates the beings. As a result, they become part Earth, part organic, and part energy. This tower stands in such an area of the Angry Earth, and it is one of the smaller sights. One of your goals there is to search for these key items, which will later lead you to a larger architecture.

You have to explore these small sights to later be able to explore larger ones. Not all sights are set up like this, but this particular ancient tower has a greater significance. Sights should offer a strong variation when you enter them. If you only have 10 minutes to play, you might explore a smaller sight. However, if many of your friends are online, you all equip yourselves completely and tackle a massive sight that’s almost like a dungeon. We don’t have traditional dungeons, but we do have larger sights that also require time to complete.

Find mysterious artifacts to explore the world

MeinMMO: These key items, can I imagine it as following a larger story when I collect them?

Charles Bradbury: Potentially, yes. Some of them are linked to stories, and others are linked to gameplay that leads you to challenging encounters. We have already shown the Spriggan, who is one of our major bosses. We have other bosses that we haven’t really talked about yet. The idea is that you take these artifacts, we call them key items, but they are actually magical artifacts. When you have the keys, they allow you to experience these encounters. So, you can’t always farm these encounters over and over. You need to experience a little journey.

MeinMMO: Ah, ok. So, when I gather these artifacts, I always get something new from the world. This can be something like a boss, an item, or new background information about the story.

Charles Bradbury: Exactly.

MeinMMO: Earlier you spoke about the great diversity of the environment. I noticed that too when I watched the video. There are

ancient architecture,
a pirate ship,
a building that looks like a church,
a place with a white, glowing tree as in a fairy tale.

Can you explain why Aeternum has such great diversity in every corner?

Charles Bradbury: For the most part, this comes from the different AI families you will encounter. The lore has different layers, explaining how these families came to exist. Each has its own backstory about how they ended up in Aeternum and what they are doing on the island. I briefly talked about Angry Earth earlier. This is the family that is directly infused with the mineral Azoth and reacts to the other forces present on the island. But there are many other groups too. You also have the Lost. We have this lore around Azoth that the mineral can resurrect people.

Everyone who comes to Aeternum is somehow connected to the island with their soul. The Lost show what happens when this connection fails and your soul shatters in the process. This can happen when someone dies a terrible death, such as a sailor drowning and being washed ashore. The Lost aren’t truly dead, but they aren’t really alive either. You will also find a lot of shipwrecks when you arrive at the island, but they are all different ships from a lot of different time periods. Among the washed-up sailors, there are also some pirates who somehow managed to survive. They also form their own group that tries to take over the island. They tend to convert shipwrecks into their abodes. They pull the old ships ashore and hang them, for instance, on cliffs.

This creates quite interesting sights. The Lost can also be ghosts that you encounter in abandoned villages. Similarly, you will see farms that are now corrupted by supernatural forces. Formerly idyllic villages are now permeated by death, and you will encounter cultists there. The sights help you understand why these different groups are even on the island.

New World relies on Environmental Storytelling

MeinMMO: The enemy families play a significant role in gameplay. They have different characteristics, and there are differences in how to defeat them. But how do I learn more about their backgrounds regarding lore, outside of looking at sights?

Charles Bradbury: Environmental storytelling plays a huge role here. But quests are also now a significant part of New World. Especially in the early part of the game, players receive a stronger guide on how different systems work. We also integrate lore and story here. Characters you encounter are the only ones who can tell you some of the history.

Otherwise, players will largely piece together information based on the environment. You will also find diaries, letters, and notes. This way, you can experience different experiences and perspectives from people who have already been to Aeternum. This reveals a rather obscure narrative in which you always have to question whether everything the person wrote is true. You only see the interpretation of the characters, and you, as a player, decide for yourself whether you believe the person or if they might have been in delirium.

MeinMMO: What motivation do you give me as a player to dive into the lore and your world? Is there a particularly clever way in which I should explore Aeternum?

Charles Bradbury: We want New World to be a particularly open and player-driven experience. There are a few coherent quests that help you start the game. You get a vague idea of what’s going on here. After that, it’s the player’s decision what parts of the world they want to engage with.

We wanted to appeal to different types of players here. There are those who are like archaeologists. They go into every corner and examine the environment very carefully. For this type of player, there are rewards if they really delve deep into the sights. You can find more than just story and background here.

There are gameplay rewards, so your invested time is rewarded. There are also many other gameplay systems that invite exploration. There are city projects and faction missions. Of course, there are also areas that have little to do with the story. If you feel like expanding the settlement or capturing new territories, you have other motivations than the players driven by story. […] We want players to have different options to find their motivation.

MeinMMO: In the video, there are several places where resources are harvested. Since your last developer diary, it has become clearer that resource gathering and crafting will play a significant role in New World. In that context, I wondered if there are specific resources or items that are absolutely necessary to access certain locations. If there are any restrictions here, can I still explore the entire world?

Charles Bradbury: We talked about the key items. That’s probably the closest thing to restrictions. You need to collect these various objects to have certain encounters. Outside of that, there are no blockades preventing you from progressing further in the world.

Of course, there are areas intended for high-level characters, and you might not want to go there if you aren’t far enough in your character progression. However, no one will stop you from doing so. We have action combat, and if you are really good at dodging and blocking in the system, you can handle tougher opponents as well.

MeinMMO: How big is the part of New World where you deal with quests, exploration, and lore in comparison to PvP, large mass battles, and wars? You decided to transform your game into a PvE experience. I believe players who come for that will be interested in the scope.

Charles Bradbury: I don’t think I can break that down into percentages right now. But there are huge parts of the game that consist of sights and a lot of PvE. We wanted to offer compelling content for players who are not interested in PvP. There are indeed some people who only want to explore and enjoy the world. Nevertheless, PvP remains a significant focus of the game, especially as it approaches the endgame. All settlements can be taken by companies [guilds], and the factions gain influence in different territories.

We wanted to achieve a merge of both playstyles [PvP and PvE]. Even players who only engage in PvE content can have an impact on the larger meta-game regarding wars and territory taking. If they complete missions for factions and towns, that supports the PvP players fighting for the shared territory. Similarly, PvP players influence PvE players by adjusting taxes or how the towns are developed. […]

The endgame for PvE players

MeinMMO: You just mentioned that PvP wars and expanding territory are a large part of the endgame. What would you say is the endgame for me if I have no interest in that?

Charles Bradbury: Then it’s naturally more about the PvE content and crafting. But it also depends on what your focus is. As you said, crafting will be a significant part of the game. You can obtain gear from bosses in the world, but much of the gear traces back to crafting. We don’t necessarily have the best weapon in the game; it’s more about the best gear for your individual playstyle. So, there’s a balance between crafting and PvE drops. Crafting should still be worthwhile even in the endgame. Crafters will thus play an important role in supporting large groups of PvP players.

On the other hand, there’s also something for solo players or small groups who just want to roam through the world. We have something similar to dungeons and bosses; that will be a significant part of the endgame for PvE players. All areas are equally important to us.

Quests can have long story arcs

MeinMMO: I know that you also revised your quests during the alpha. You received feedback that especially at the beginning, the fetch quests were a bit tedious. Following that, you added more substance to the quests. Can you explain to me how the quests have changed? Do you now have extensive storytelling through quest lines?

Charles Bradbury: Especially at the start of the game, we want the quests to be very linear and guide the player through the different systems. At the beginning, the quests are more of a tutorial experience. But after that, the options open up quite quickly. There will still be fetch quests, but also ones that dive deep into the lore. It is important to us that players feel like they are part of the story.

Not everyone finds that interesting gameplay, so questing is not essential for progress. For players who enjoy that, there will still be quests in much later areas. So there are also some endgame quest lines that give you a reason to go to those areas when there are otherwise no reasons for you.