New World, the proven Amazon MMORPG closed beta
New World
How much effort behind New World. Several years after the announcement, high expectations and ambitions and a pedigree for Amazon's video game division certainly not exciting. A title canceled, another released in disastrous conditions and closed in a few days and then the third, the most "big" and interesting, postponed an indefinite number of times.We had already said it exactly one year ago, but this time it seems really official and New World will hit the market on August 31st. To reinvigorate the hopes of all fans we think the first real closed beta "free", which we can talk about without mincing words and of which we also had the opportunity to show you the contents without breaking multimillion-dollar NDAs. A little more than a month after its release, then, what remains of this project as ambitious as it is chameleonic?
Let's find out in our tried and tested New World closed beta.
Requiescat in "Aeternum"
New World is undoubtedly an MMO, and as such it must undergo a whole series of fundamental elements to give continuity to the access of the players, as well as generate that sort of addiction that is at the base of the good sustenance of a project.It often happens that this need in playful terms does not allow the team to build a sensible, in-depth narrative, leaving aside cutscenes and direction to fill the path of the players with dialogues and documents of lore. New World is no exception in this sense, throwing in the player's face a myriad of NPCs with their own personal purposes and their respective demons, embellishing everything with a disproportionate amount of documents. What is really surprising is that everything is not only localized in our language, but even completely dubbed with decent quality, automatically launching New World in a position of primacy that is not indifferent to the genre and the consequent appeal towards Italian players. Finding yourself catapulted to Aeternum, the vast territory where our journey takes place is therefore easier than ever, breaking down a large number of barriers.
New World: an interesting lore for an equally extraordinary land After an excessively unstructured editor, which we do not know if it will be embellished or not for the final release, we get to know an island as splendid as it is dangerous. Death does not exist on Aeternum, but suffering can be much worse than death itself and this is well known by the lost inhabitants of this cursed land.
It only takes a few hours to find yourself embroiled in a power struggle disputed between three different factions: the Marauders, the Union and the Pact. It will be up to us to choose who to join and carry out the conquest in the name of an almost barely known banner. There will be the possibility of changing the flag in the races of the wars themselves, but with specific limits.
We still don't know exactly where the "narrative" of New World will go. However, we remain curious to know the more remote aspects and the worst threats of Aeternum, which releases a remarkable charisma.
A little MMO, a little (less) survival
New World: on a technical and effects level, we are really surprised. The first impact with New World is unsettling, but we talked about it years ago at the time of the first alpha. What years ago was presented with a revolutionary MMO, tends to approach in a frightening way the most recent survival and that genre, already waning, which has characterized the PC landscape of the last five years.From survival resumes a certain way of managing growth, leveling, finding resources and even crafting and its recipes, while avoiding overdoing it and reaching such absolutes such as the need to drink or eat, as well as waiting for biblical times to cook the meat and make an hatchet. The idea of simplifying the survival concept and applying it to an open world constantly filled with players is one of the aspects we most appreciated, even if it is coupled with the inevitable need to spend hours and pickaxe or skin animals.
In this sense, another of the excellent choices of the development path was to eliminate the classic toolbar (also initially taken on board by survival) and replace it with an already defined equipment, where each tool has its own slot and after being equipped it is sufficient to approach the resources that require that specific tool to use it with the simple press of a button.
This whole series of facilitations are the basis of the desire to make life of the simplest and fastest player, so as to be able to devote himself to the growth of the character and go and explore the real body of New World: the competitive one.
New World: managing a city requires wisdom and firmness of purpose If it is true that many things have changed in the course of development, starting from the desire to eliminate the concept of full loot taken from past classics such as Ultima Online, the Amazon game remains anchored to the desire to make group PVP his main source of entertainment. This does not exclude from the equation all those who continue to prefer the cooperative component, requiring the player to enable or disable the PVP within the settlements, otherwise the inability to face the other players on the server.
Obviously we will have the opportunity to deepen all the competitive part in the review phase, when our progress in the game will have allowed us to reach a sort of endgame. However, what we have been able to notice so far is that there is a fair amount of balancing work to be done to find a solution to the disparities between white, fire and magic weapons. This balance will be fundamental to give the game the right boost towards the players, not only for the classic duels, but also and above all for the real field wars for the control of the territory.
Lo character development
New World: knock knock, we swear to come in peace ... or maybe not! Character development also turns out to be an interesting hybrid. Gaining experience leads to the classic level up and the usual, active and passive perks we all know. Here, leveling up also means earning attribute points that can be spent on five different values. Each of these affects the ability with a specific category of weapons or the constitution of our alter ego. Weapons are one of the most peculiar elements. Each category, be it that of swords, rapiers, hammers or fire suffices, rise to the top with use. This means that the more we use them, the better our ability to wield them will be.
Once you have gained mastery (currently there are twenty for each category) bonuses and mastery points are unlocked to be spent on one of the two corresponding trees dedicated to the specific weapon. Once you have learned an active skill (there are also passive ones), it will become usable in combat, radically changing your approach to clashes. We will obviously have to check the depth of the system and the variety of builds, but for now the idea is functional and interesting.
Conquering Aeternum
New World: fauna requires great attention One of the main features of New World, heavily advertised over time, are those of faction wars for control of Aeternum. This is where the choice that is made in terms of affiliation comes into play. Within each server, all players will be forced to choose a faction to vote for their destiny. This is not an irreversible choice, but in the face of a first painless change, from the second onwards it will be mandatory to always wait at least 120 days between one change and another and it will not in any case be possible to move to the faction of the current "winners" .This system exists in order to try to have a constant turnover and a sensible and correct competition, then forcing the players to carry out any activity in a group (unless it is a simple PVE exploration), with other members of the same faction. For this reason, pay attention to the choice you make and what your friends will make. In addition to the three macro alliances, there is also the possibility of founding companies, the equivalent of the guilds of any other MMO, which will be affiliated by color and belonging to the alliance itself and which for the latter will administer the territories and fight battles for the possession of the same.
Each region - there are currently eleven - has its own main settlement, with houses (we'll talk about housing in the weeks to come), vendors, quests and unique features. These settlements and their forts can be claimed by any of the three alliances through the companies themselves. Fulfilling this PVP serves to increase the dominance of one's alliance in the territory, until it is possible to question the current management and to claim possession.
New World: knowledge brings more knowledge At that point a real war - with its rules, the company that manages the army and the meeting time - during which fifty players per faction will clash in an instant battle for the conquest of the territory. The attackers will have the task of conquering the nerve centers of the structure, while the defenders will have to resist for thirty minutes. This mechanics is at the basis of the turnover and mutation of the equilibrium and of the life itself of the residents of each settlement. Buying and maintaining a house in an area controlled by the Union when you are affiliated with the Pact will therefore not be cheaper and this could totally change the hierarchies and balances of that specific region. Or, on the contrary, to push that owner to change alliance in order to keep his own home and find various advantages.
In short, politics, as well as economy, an element obviously dear to New World and its territorial management system. The advantages and disadvantages are not limited to this, but making a list of all the elements and their consequences would take forever, so we spare that.
We should still talk about the contents, the shipments, the infinity of elements of crafting and knowledge. The technical aspect will also be important, already absolutely more than dignified, especially in terms of the quality / resources required, but which will be judged in its entirety when it is released on the market. For now let's stop at this general smattering, also to give way to learn the fundamental concepts of a deep and multifaceted system. By now it is close and Aeternum will open its gates to everyone, we hope to see you there!
New World seems to be a vast, stratified, complex project. A classic MMO, with all the advantages and implications that this entails. An ambitious project, and for this reason too it struggled to see the light, but which now seems to be finally ready to be launched. Will gamers appreciate what it has to offer? It is still early to say, but there seems to be a lot of meat on the fire.
