the DevUpdate January for New World has just been released and here is a quick recap of all the important information to remember. If you ever want to check out the developer video, here’s the link which will allow you to watch it directly on the New World channel. On the menu for this evening, the developers discussed future additions, known bugs, the February update and the next additions for PvP and PvE.
Why did you extend the Festival de la Convergence event?
The video started with a brief explanation of the lengthening of the Christmas vent. Scot Lane says the players seemed to really like it and the team realized that some players didn’t get a chance to immerse themselves in the game over the holidays. That’s why they decided to add two more weeks in order to give players a second chance.
As a reminder, remember that the event ends on January 21. Your tokens, gifts and coruscants will be removed from your inventories, so use them to avoid losing them forever.
The reasons are quite simple and there is no real need to dwell on the subject.
Focus on the January update
The mutations
First of all, they re-explain that they will add the mutation of the dungeons (Dynasty, Genesis and Lazarus). These new expeditions will use the codes of classic dungeons, but the difficulty within them will be much greater. “Normal” and “named” enemies will change characteristics, in the sense that they will be much stronger. The mutation dungeons have 10 levels of difficulty and you will have to pass the dungeons in a very specific rank (between bronze, silver and gold) to have access to the next level of mutation. The loot will be greatly increased and it will change from one mutation to another. Even if we know the dungeons by heart, these will be different in the sense that the situations will no longer be the same and the strategies to be developed will differ from what we already know.
Mutation Dungeon Keys Are Universal and can be used for any mutation. In that sense, they are totally different from current dungeon keys, as one key can unlock one of three World Quests, the choice is yours.
The increase in expertise
The hot topic of this update is gear score increases with the arrival of mutations. Level 10 difficulty in Mutated Expeditions will require having 625 Expertise, which is why the latter goes up. The maximum expertise goes from 600 to 625 and it will be possible to increase our expertise by using dark shards. These can be found in mutation dungeons, by crafting an object at 600 GS when your expertise on said object is also at 600 and gypsum casts. You will need to have your expertise leveled up to 600 for you to be able to mount your GS from 590 to 625 on your gear pieces.
Fast travel
The developers will add for the January update 6 shrines so that players can join dungeons much faster and on top of that Azoth reduction needed for fast travel. They have understood that traveling can be daunting from one region to another on foot, which is why they put many more spiritual shrines.
What the developers plan to do
. The developers put the high level dungeons first because the game lacks endgame content, but they also want to mutate the lower level quests so that any player can enjoy this addition. Additionally, they want to revamp the in-group gear score system for mutation dungeons and bring much more information on what they will be changing as soon as the PTR is launched.
. Improved PvP quests are planned, but they are still thinking about it. They do not want a territory to be brought into conflict too quickly, so they are thinking about a solution to this aspect.
. Arenas are planned (3v3 and 5v5), tests will be offered on the PTR and the release will be phased.
Focus on the February update
February will rhyme with bug fixes
This part is likely to interest a good part of the players, because it is at this precise moment that the choices will be made. First of all, February will be a month without adding content. The developers want to take advantage of this month to correct the game from top to bottom. The February maintenance will be colossal and will correct most of the bugs.
Soon the return of character transfers and a new server merger
Also, another interesting piece of information is that‘they will grant a new character transfer token for all players. Those who have already used their tokens can try their luck again on another server. But why ? The developers admit to having made server mergers which were not necessarily ideal in December. Server merges will resume when they resolve the housing issue. They claim to have finished fixing this issue soon and a new fusion wave will be available. The December merges were really just the first step in the server merge.
Statuses on major bugs
. The devs saw that there was a mess in the queue of actions initiated by players, therefore depending on the context the weapon change was not working. The next PTR will test these changes.
. Major fix on all missing perks, recipes, abilities and other ingredients/items.
. Improved banishment system. For example, the more a player is reported, the more likely they are to be banned, especially for bots.
. They made an inventory of banned bots. Since the last update, they removed almost 9,000 bots and 600 more thanks to an investigation.
. Small changes will be made on wars and invasions, but for the moment it refocuses much more on performance and the declaration of war.
Weapons and balances
The devs have claimed that they will be making changes to the weapons, but they will be “light” from what they say. They haven’t given much detail on that aspect, so let’s wait and see in the February update. Desynchronization issues are going to be the subject of several changes. A specific team has been assigned to solve the problem. The February PTR will offer players to try out the weapon swap fix. This will not cancel skills that are already in progress or pending, but it will be queued correctly.
Developers explain that bugs and balancing in combat are their priorities. They are not yet ready to release a new weapon, in particular the blunderbuss, because the tests are still in production.