New World’s High Water Mark system revamp and winter festival go live today

If you’ve been trying to log into New World this morning… well, you can’t, but it’s for good reason! Amazon took the game offline at 7 a.m. EST for what was expected to be a three-hour downtime to patch in the promised December update. The marquee feature, of course, is the Winter Convergence Festival, which runs through January 11th, 2022.

“The holiday of Winter Convergence is upon Aeternum! Marked by the appearance of increased snowfall and Northern Lights in the sky this is a time of dichotomy and duality as the Winter Wanderer and Winter Warrior come to the land.Icy winds and the Winter Wanderer bring with them new armors, weapons, furnishings, skins, consumables, and a delightful ‘present gifting’ emote. […] From activities such as Convergence Spirit decorations, lost present recovery, and Gleamite collecting, to danger-filled Ice Caves and festive loot, this event will bring special and limited time content into Aeternum. […] Ice Caves are appearing all over Aeternum due to the Winter Warrior’s desire for a Forever Winter. The rest of Aeternum will look like these Ice Caves if the onslaught of the Warrior is not stopped. These caves will remain behind after the event as scars on the land, sources of wintry magic that refuse to melt even if the Warrior is defeated.”

Today’s patch also adds a modified version of the High Water Mark system revamp following player feedback, adjusts multiple quests, tweaks the PvP damage formula, touches on refining, implements a range of smaller changes to weapons and AI, and even addresses loot: “More feminine armor appearances have been added to the game as world drops.”