What is New World? Amazon’s foray into MMORPGs

Last Updated on: 28th September 2021, 01:27 pm

On September 28th, Amazon Games will release New World, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game and the company’s first-ever PC game release.

The Basics of New World

In New World, your character ends up in a shipwreck and washes ashore on Aeternum Island: a magical reimagination of the Americas in the 1600s.

After crashlanding, the player must fight to survive in their new surroundings while exploring and conquering the land from hostile forces and rival factions.

The Factions

In New World, players will have the opportunity to align themselves with one of three factions: the Marauders, the Syndicate, or the Covenant.

Each faction has its own distinct background, gear, and quests that will affect the player’s game experience.

The Marauders: the Marauders are a ruthless military force bent on establishing a free nation where the strongest and mightiest will thrive.

The Syndicate: The Syndicate is a group of mysterious scholars who use their intellect and resources to pursue forbidden knowledge.

The Covenant: The Covenant is a religious group that fights with righteousness and justice for struggling souls of all living things.

Players will be able to complete quests, fight against other players, and progress through the game in order to strengthen their faction’s influence over the Island of Aeternum.

New World’s Progression

New World has opted to forego the traditional class-based system found in many MMOs for a simplified attribute system.

The ‘Core Attributes’ system allows players to acquire attribute points that they are able to spend on one of five different attributes.

Strength: The primary way melee weapons scale in power. For heavy melee weapons such as the War Hammer, strength is the only way to ramp up damage. However, lighter melee weapons like the sword, are influenced slightly by dexterity.

Dexterity: Dexterity is the attribute that decides a character’s effectiveness with ranged weapons. As previously mentioned, Dexterity also minimally affects light melee weapon damage.

Intelligence: Intelligence dictates a character’s power with magical weapons. This also includes magical perks that are equipped with non-magical weapons.

Focus: Focus determines the rate a player regenerates mana as well as decides a character’s effectiveness with the Life Staff, New World’s only healing weapon.

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Constitution: Consitution determines the amount of health a character has. The higher the constitution, the more health points.

Alongside the core attributes system, New World also features a trade skills system. Trade skills are a collection of out-of-combat skills that players can master.

There are three separate categories of trade skills: crafting, gathering, and refining.

Crafting: Weaponsmithing, Armouring, Engineering, Jewelcrafting, Arcane, Cooking, and Furnishing

Gathering: Logging, Mining, FIshing, Tracking & Skinning, and Harvesting

Refining: Smelting, Woodworking, Leatherworking, Weaving, Stonecutting

Weapon Mastery

By using weapons against creatures players are able to accrue XP for their weapons. Gaining Weapon XP allows players to earn points that can be used on a weapon’s skill trees.

A weapon has two skill trees. Each tree includes a variety of passive, active, and bonus skills that a player can buy using their points.

However, players cannot unlock every skill on both skill trees which means that players need to be selective and strategic when considering what skills to unlock for their weapons.

The Game Modes of New World

New World will have a variety of PvP and PvE modes available at launch for players to try out. Here are some of the modes expected at launch.

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Expeditions: Expeditions will take teams of five players through deep dungeons to face horrifying enemies and investigate the many mysteries the Aeternum Island has to offer.

Invasions: Max-level players will be called on to defend player-controlled territories from relentless waves of monstrous beings.

War: War is New World’s primary PvP mode. The mode pits teams of 50 faction members against one another as factions attempt to hold and invade key settlements on the map.

Outpost Rush: Outpost Rush is a PvPvE mode where two teams of 20 fight for control over key outposts. Once secured, teams will have the ability to strengthen their outposts with resources they have gathered from around the map.

Conclusion

New World was one of three PC games announced by Amazon Games at TwitchCon in 2016. However, both Crucible and Breakaway have since been canceled and thus, Amazon Games has put the last of its hopes into New World.

And the hopes look to have been well placed, New World appears to be a deep, fleshed out game filled with content for players to discover at launch.

For those interested in playing New World, Amazon Games has priced the game through a buy-to-play model, meaning that players will only need to make a single purchase to play the game unlike other MMOs such as World of Warcraft which force players to pay a monthly subscription fee.

To purchase the game you can click the link here and help support the site.