New World, the tried in view of the review
New World
By now you know how it works: every time we need to express our opinion on a title like New World, which requires hours and hours of in-depth analysis, we try to tell you the best impressions over time, before arriving at a final judgment. In this sense, Amazon's work is probably the worst beast of recent years. With a long and troubled development, it has accompanied us since its very first and singular announcement. Over time, various alpha and beta phases have suggested an immature title, but with great potential. The push to the most extreme PVP, the basis of New World gameplay and on paper a worthy heir of old cornerstones such as Ultima Online, has found itself clashing with a community that is now not used to the concept of full loot. The fear of developers has meant retracing one's steps, reviewing the system, adding a sort of more substantial PVE component and giving everyone the opportunity to choose what they really want to be.After years of work, adjustments and postponements New World arrived on the market with extreme anticipation from players who flocked to the title. Let's analyze New World in detail for one last time, before the review and, therefore, of a definitive judgment.
The arrival in Aeternum
New World: Aeternum has a great story to tell, albeit hidden in the documents The question that many are asking is: what is New World? A WoW clone, an FFXIV contender or a new approach that could convince many and discourage others? The answer lies somewhere in between: Amazon's MMO is the furthest one can expect from the two giants of the aforementioned market. At the same time, however, it is not supported by a revolutionary and new infrastructure. On the contrary, it takes its foundations from the sacred monsters of the past. Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot (recently become free to play) are there, prevailing, to tell us how the developers of Amazon have a great love for the past of the genre.After the creation of their alter ego we come catapulted to an island, Aeternum, the seat of colonization and mystical powers. On Aeternum life flows differently from the classical world. Dying is a simple moment that calls us back to life immediately after and what we would normally consider surreal magic, on Aeternum responds to the name of Azoth. This continent, clearly inspired by the American colonization, is in fact full of this mystical force, contrasted with a corruption that is slowly transforming all animals and humans into monsters thirsty for death.
Several factions move in this decidedly uninviting terrain, three to be exact, which are making Aeternum a fragmented territory managed independently by delegations affiliated to one of the three powers. Union, Marauders or Pact, this is the choice before which we will soon be placed: a choice that will obviously limit a whole series of PVP community activities.
We will not go into the merits of these aspects during this tried and true because we need to deepen some more elements, but you just need to know that the whole experience of New World is divided between PVE and PVP components. From the very beginning of the game it will be possible to decide to take place in clashes with other players simply by enabling the option in any of the cities on the map. It goes without saying that the choice to embark on PVP missions will also require a well-fed group ready for action, under penalty of constant and repeated death at the hands of those who will patrol the territory as a group. Whether it's simple free roaming with the aim of making repetitive assignments capable of increasing the power of our faction (or weakening that of the opponents already in possession of the territory), as well as pitched battles for the conquest of a fort, New World makes community experience its most satisfying basis.
Campaign and leveling
New World: work tables allow you to craft every amenity New World does not have a real campaign . There is no linear narrative and everything responds more to the deepening of the lore of a world as fascinating as it is insidious. From this point of view, the work of the Amazon guys was careful and reasoned and the construction of the world of Aeternum is interesting and capable of stimulating the search for new information and documents.The game world is in fact divided in various regions, each with a level range designed to make progression consistent, and walking around the map means finding a myriad of landmarks. The quests are activated by talking to the numerous NPCs and the exploration is as slow as it is reasoned. Fast travel is only possible at a few designated points, as long as you have enough Azoth to spend, and you don't have the ability to teleport from any area you want (unless you do the classic re-entry to the inn where you registered, maximum once an hour). This leads to long walks on the map to complete and deliver the related quests, an element that could discourage the less accustomed to the genre.
New World: Aeternum can offer great views, albeit often similar to each other As you level up they accumulate characteristic points to be spent on one of the five parameters inextricably linked to a specific category of weapons. To tell the truth, these points seem to be sufficiently superfluous, precisely because it will be the equipment that designates your abilities in the use of a specific category of weapons. The use of a sword, rather than a bow or a staff of fire will determine your increase in mastery for that specific category of weapons and at each passage of mastery a point will be acquired to unlock active or passive skills. Each category of weapon has two very different branches available, one more devoted to attack and one to defense. Once mastery level 20 is reached, special tasks will then be unlocked in order to recover the legendary weapons.
This choice in leveling is essential to allow players to always have malleable characters available and not to route you in a direction that can never be changed again. It is no coincidence that all points, whether of the character or of the masteries, are re-assignable (for free up to level 20 and then spending a small amount of money). This choice has convinced us and we are sure that it will allow players to minimize repetition in completing quests and endgame activities.
New World: choose which weapon to use, but change whenever you want
The grip of the server
Let's spend a few words on the current situation of the game servers, an element that has been discussed more than any other since the launch of the game. New World has seen the highest number of servers launched per dayone for an MMO in history. Also thanks to being an Amazon stock and therefore having AWS - the largest server infrastructure in the world - at home, this choice surprised, but not shocked. However, what was not clarified at the time of sharing this news is that the servers were limited to 2000 active players, very few for the average of this kind. This choice, although justified by a game infrastructure that would make it difficult to reach the populations of a World of Warcraft or a Final Fantasy XIV, led to almost instantaneous congestion of the servers and the consequent queue of hours and hours to be able to log into your own. favorite world. Amazon ran for cover by quickly opening new servers within the same "realms" with the aim of reaching a future union, as well as giving the possibility for the first weeks to migrate to different servers for free. After a little less than a week the situation is struggling to improve, indeed even the new servers tend to fill up and generate queues. On the other hand, more than a million contemporary players have invaded Aeternum, making New World a resounding success in this first phase.A look at the economy and politics
New World: the corruption impregnates Aeternum right into its bowels We do not want to go into too much depth at this stage on the elements of Aeternum's economy and politics. These are details that require several hours to be pitted properly both for us and for the server we are on.To be clear, however, New World bases much of its durability over time on the economic and management aspect of the territories. The companies - the equivalent of the classic guilds - are in fact affiliated to a specific of the three factions and instead of this they can administer a territory. Once a company claims a region, an additional management section opens in the city that allows anyone to complete quests and continue the growth of the city. This involves raising the level of crafting facilities, increasing the quality of purchasable homes, as well as implementing new defenses within the fort, which will be the site of sieges and pitched battles to defend the region's property. both against other rival factions, and against the corrupt managed by artificial intelligence.
In principle this whole section of the game is the real heart, the one on which Amazon has worked hardest since day one and even what, inevitably, can only work as long as the players themselves make it an active part. A good community, close and competitive, will allow the servers to remain populated and lively. As already mentioned this section of the game will take weeks, if not months, to be pitted properly and to understand how much the potential can last in the long term. Currently the possibilities seem many and stimulating, but it will be up to Amazon to expand the features and always give new inputs to the players, an element that will also apply to the PVE activities.
New World has finally arrived on the market and our path towards the review and final judgment has just begun. It will take a few more weeks to really determine its success or its rapid decline. What is certain at present is that Amazon's work is mammoth and damn ambitious. Between PVE, PVP, factions, economics, region management and character growth there is something for everyone. It will be important to see its hold over time and find out how New World will evolve, also given its buy to play business model, which is more unique than rare in this segment. Technically New World is a little gem of MMOs, although it still needs a lot of cleaning and optimization. What is positively surprising, however, is the great scalability that is allowing even non-stellar configurations to run the game worthily.
