A new patch for New World has been available on the official test server since 6 January. It mainly focuses on the endgame.
New World received its last major update in mid-December. Patch 1.2 revised the end game and crafting, among other things. Now, a few weeks later, the next major update is already on the schedule – but first on the official test servers.
Just like before, the January patch will again make a lot of changes to the end game. This time, however, the focus is on the dungeons and the armour cap. We have summarised the most exciting changes for you.
Mutators to spice up dungeons
Probably the biggest adjustment is the introduction of so-called mutators in dungeons. These are special factors and effects that affect the dungeon and its enemies. This makes them more difficult but also more complex.
There will be a total of eight different mutator combinations, which will change randomly during the two-day expedition rotation. You can see which combination is currently active in the expedition interaction menu.
The following mutations are already known thanks to the PTR Patch Notes:
Elementary
- Elemental mutations give enemies in the expedition a specific elemental damage type, increase their resistance to that damage type, convert a large portion of their damage to that type, and give them powerful elemental-based abilities.
- Hellfire: Hellfire imbues enemies with fire, allowing them to incinerate players who resist them.
- Eternal: Eternal imbues enemies with Void and grants them abilities that weaken players or strengthen their Void-imbued allies.
Promotions
- Promotion mutations grant powerful new abilities to creatures in the expedition.
- Wild: Wild enemies apply healing reduction and throw damaging rays.
- Invincible: Indomitable creatures withstand damage with life draining abilities and can summon a phalanx that blocks all incoming player projectiles.
Curses
- Curse mutations exert dangerous effects on players, forcing them to work together to overcome the power of the curse. On the highest difficulty levels, curses become powerful, adding additional tactical challenges.
- Dried out: Dried out players are occasionally burned with elemental energy. When the curse is activated, players must purify themselves by approaching the burning player.
- Censored: Censored players will find that their abilities turn against them. After the players in the group have used a certain number of activated abilities, explosive silence zones appear on all players. When the curse is activated, players lose their natural mana regeneration and must enter the silence zones to regenerate their mana.
If you want to start a dungeon with mutators, you need a special orb for it, which you can craft once a week. Alternatively, the Orb should also be purchasable for tokens or money, as was discovered (on Reddit).
10 new difficulty levels
In addition to the mutations, there are also to be ten new difficulty levels that will make your dungeon life even harder if necessary. Of course, you can’t start directly with the hardest level, but have to unlock it.
You do this via a points system. The more and the faster you kill enemies, the better your score. If you, a team member or the whole group dies, points will be deducted. Depending on how well you do, you may even end up with a few bonus multipliers for taking out all targets or low mortality rates in your team.
Dungeon conditions and increasing difficulty? This whole system may sound familiar to old MMO fans, as its idea and structure is very reminiscent of the mythic-plus system from World of Warcraft. Instead of mutations, there are so-called affixes in the Blizzard competitor and instead of collecting points, you have to level up key stones.
New equipment level and further changes
Of course, you will also be rewarded handsomely for your work in the dungeons. For example, after successfully completing a mutated dungeon, you will receive shadow shards with which you can upgrade your armour from level 600 to level 625.
If you’re not in the mood for hectic dungeon runs, you can also get the Shadow Splitters in two other ways:
- Craft an item with armour value if your experience for that item is also 600.
- Open a plaster cast if your experience for this item is also 600.
You can only use Shadow Shard, however, if your skill for the item is 600 in addition to the armour piece.
Besides the changes to the dungeon system and the armour improvement, a lot of other changes are being tested on the PTR. For example, the fast travel costs will be reduced or balancing changes, as well as some bug fixes. You can read about the changes on the PTR in the (official announcement for the January update).
As already described above, all changes are on the test server so far and may still undergo further changes. When the update will be released on the live servers has not yet been determined at this time.
