Upgrade for New World: Brimstone Sands is a successful update that paves the way for the future. But it could cause problems in the long run
Whoever is waiting for New World to die will have to continue to be patient: During our last inspection visit of Amazon”s ambitious Buy2Play MMO, we could already notice many improvements compared to the release version. With them, the developers have managed to stop the massive exodus of players before the former army of millions could fall below the critical mark of 10,000.
Since then, interest in New World has picked up again (currently around 40,000 daily players (according to Steamcharts) and the anticipation for the new update called Brimstone Sands was enormously high in the community. Thousands of players have already returned or are planning their comeback for either October 18 or November 2, 2022.
While the brand new and massive Sulphur Sand Desert opens its doors in October, Amazon is ramping up the long-awaited new servers in November, to which no transfers are allowed. A home, then, for all those who want a (new) start without long-established guilds and entrenched economic cycles. In keeping with this, the starting experience up to level 25 has also been completely reworked, which is intended to combat the monotony that has long been one of the biggest criticisms of New World.
In retest numero two, you”ll find out whether these upheavals are in the players” best interests and whether the additional expeditions, vast new territory and greatsword weaponry of Brimstone Sands are worth returning to. But it”s also a question of whether the path taken with this update can be the right one for New World in the long run.
Welcome to Egypt
The biggest draw of the October update is undoubtedly the sulphur sand desert for level 60 characters, inspired by Egyptian and Roman mythology. It is at least twice as extensive as the previous average and is located at the upper left edge of the map.
If you wanted to walk around it, it would take you about two hours. A fact that should increase the desire for mounts in the community. These are actively in development, but at the moment it looks like we”ll have to rely on our walking boots for quite a while yet.
Optically, the desert looks amazing with its jagged rocks, ancient ruins as well as the massive pyramid that sits enthroned in its centre. Unsurprisingly, it houses the brand new expedition “The Ennead” for teams of three to five high-level characters.
The group dungeon with its three mechanically quite interesting bosses is guarded, just like the rest of the area, by corrupted Roman legionaries and heavily engineered Egyptian ancestor guards (including giant scarab robots).
The latter evoke distant memories of the TV series “Stargate SG-1″, while the once again fantastic soundtrack in the expedition with its Arabic sounds goes more in the direction of Disney”s “Aladdin”.
New Flow
The content density of the desert is enormous: New resources, recipes, arenas and the 26 collectible glyphs, which unlock special elite chests and portals, offer plenty of material for exploring, fighting and crafting. Fortunately, the game gently introduces you to the mass of possibilities and only dynamically unlocks further (side) tasks and mechanics in the course of the main storyline.
This is based on a new design philosophy, which is also followed by the extensively reworked starting areas (Immerfall, Wind Circle and King”s Rock) and quest series up to level 25. They now convey a more rounded and altogether more immersive game experience instead of boring you with trivial drudgery.
This includes shortening the walking distances by having quest givers (such as the infamous hermit) follow you to the next area or eliminating the need to consult with them altogether. In addition, the first third of the main storyline has been consolidated after Immerfall.
Overall, more variety than the same “run, kill, collect” pattern is sought, and the growing influence of depravity is illustrated through human fates. Desert walkers can also try their hand at sporadic climbing puzzle interludes.
The developers consider this a pilot project and plan similar reforms for the quest series from level 25 to 60, provided the changes are well received. New players, however, already benefit from a flatter XP curve, which makes it much more pleasant to pull character and crafting levels up to the maximum.
New Weapon
After the Unheilsstulpen and the blunderbuss, the long-awaited greatsword finally joins the ranks as the newest weapon. Since the two-handed sword scales equally with strength and skill, it opens up far-reaching combination possibilities with the existing arsenal.
Its smooth animations make for a wonderfully fluid combat feel, and in terms of play, it positions itself as a ranged damage monster with both an aggressive and defensive talent tree.
As you use the various abilities, you also automatically switch into one of two stances that teammates can read off your character. On the offensive, you sacrifice resistance and stamina for massive damage bonuses, while on the defensive, you earn useful buffs and self-healing with each blocked attack.
As in the past, balance weaknesses are to be expected here, which Amazon hopefully won”t improve again with sledgehammer nerfs. Also, unfortunately, updates continue to cause collateral damage to basic systems like targeting party members or projectile collision detection – so bugs are still a potential liability for players.
New raw materials
This time, the endgame is expanded by three very craft-intensive facets: So-called heart runes occupy a whole new equipment slot on your character and almost function as a kind of third weapon. Depending on the rune, you will gain a new ultimate combat ability that you can recharge in battle by means of damage dealt, healed and taken.
These abilities also include interesting options in PvP, such as removing all negative effects with subsequent immunity or creating a strong area slowdown and debuff. You will receive your first rune from the corresponding quest series and all further runes can be captured from existing and new expeditions. Afterwards, they can be upgraded twice using large amounts of rare materials such as runestones and shadow shards.
The production of the new rune glass, with which you can enrich your polished flawless gems with a second effect, is just as resource-intensive. In addition to new raw materials such as sulphur, there are also golden scarabs to be captured in the desert, with which craftsmen will in future be able to determine two of three properties of crafted legendary armour, weapons and jewels. Crafters can therefore look forward to fewer random influences and thus less frustration.
Everyone else will also benefit from Amazon”s comfort offensive, which has already enormously simplified fast travel, the storage system and registering for PvP. Meanwhile, an excellent group finder helps to organise or join the now freely accessible expeditions.
Friends of the PvP arenas for 6 or 40 players will also be pleased about new matchmaking rules that now only pair soloists with other soloists instead of throwing them against coordinated groups. Also, the armour value of all participants will be raised to 600 to narrow the possible gap to the maximum of 625.
Editorial Conclusion
New World seems to be really moulting a little less than a year after release. The developers are determined to continue to carve out their niche in the MMO market and PvE fans have seen a huge improvement. It still takes time for the entire level experience to reach the same standard of quality, but the beginnings have been made and the end game is also slowly maturing into a well thought-out and varied system.
Only PvP fans have little to gain from the Brimstone update, which screws with fairness but otherwise fails to deliver any new impetus or modes. Likewise, the overdue leaderboards as well as the revision of the faction missions and the equipment change continue to be a long time coming. The prospect of the planned mounts and PvE raids for ten to twenty players makes me optimistic for the future, but New World is also threatened by a certain loss of identity elsewhere.
By wildly mixing Greek, Roman, Egyptian and British mythology, as well as exaggerated to comical depictions, the MMO is changing from a unique 17th-century fantasy imagining to an increasingly wacky theme park. Whether the original fans will follow this path to the end remains to be seen.
