Amazon dropped a new dev blog for New World players last night – that is, New World PvP players, as it’s all about the game’s ongoing PvP design and specifically development of the 3v3 mode.
According to the studio, the original design of the arena was too big, which gave ranged players far too much advantage in fights, so the studio shrank it – twice – “to achieve [the] goal of a tight, focused mode that gives neither melee nor ranged playstyles an advantage.” Then the team built in pillars to give interesting line-of-sight angles and the looming corruption cloud and tied it all up in a lore wrapper.
“The New World Design Team wanted combat to shine in a small space where players could outsmart and outplay one another without feeling the need to use weapons in the current meta. Early playtests undermined that intention because the Life Staff felt like a competitive requirement. However, the team’s decision to introduce a healing debuff is more than a simple balance solution. This change helps make Arenas all about playing your game, your way.”
Do note that the mode is also fairly accessible in that players can queue up from anywhere and see scaling bonuses and free consumables for the fight so that they’re not penalized for not already being endgame-ready.
