As of last night, Amazon has opened up the New World public test realm for players to test… and scope out the changes coming in the next patch. There are several points worth noting in the patch preview.
First, Amazon is adding another endgame feature, this one called “expedition mutators.” Basically, it’s a rotating system that changes up the dungeons and tactics inside existing dungeons and makes them more challenging for players, complete with keys and a scoring system. On the PTR in the short term are mutations for Dynasty Shipyard, Garden of Genesis, and Lazarus Instrumentality. Additional balance changes for regular dungeons are on deck as part of this new feature, including better boss drops.
Second, Amazon is adding a new component dubbed umbral shards that’ll allow players to boost gear from 600 to 625. These shards, naturally, come from mutated expeditions, as well as from high-end crafting and opening gypsum casts.
“The main goal of these changes is to increase the Gear Score of items in the game to 625, so you can handle the difficult challenges introduced by Expedition Mutators,” the studio says in a separate dev blog. “We wanted to increase Gear Score without invalidating all the gear you have worked hard to earn to date, and in a way that integrates with our current systems to give you multiple paths to achieving that gear.”
Finally, the studio is tweaking the cost of brute-summoning, stopping the jump-cancel issue with bows, adding a cool-down to ammo refunding, and reducing some fast travel costs.
“We’ve heard your frustrations with the cost of Fast Travel, and this release includes an update that dramatically reduces the distance factor in the amount of Azoth required for each trip. Accordingly, the Faction Control Point bonus associated with Fast Travel now reduces the distance factor to zero.”
