Amazon game director Scot Lane, live lead Katy Kaszynski, and creative director David Verfaillie are back in the recording room for another episode of New World’s Forged in Aeternum – episode 40, in fact. This edition is a 11-minute Q&A and therefore a bit of a hodgepodge from all over the gameplay map. The highlights:
- The team is happy with win rates and difficulty on the sandwurm content; the devs think that gearscore creep will allow more players to see it without needing to nerf it.
- Character renaming is being discussed – no plans yet, though. Barbershop features are under discussion – it sounds like it won’t be until the roadmap after the expansion (so probably next year).
- “Conceptually,” the devs love the idea of compact PvP hotspots in the open world, but plans sound very long-term. They do say season three will probably help.
- Azoth salt inflow hasn’t been adjusted, but the devs realize they’ve added more to spend it on, so they’re looking at it.
- No plans for fresh start servers at this point for 2023. It sounds like they might reconsider when the main questline and early experience is fully done (next year).
- On seasonal content vs. permanent content: Amazon knows that some seasonal content is meant to re-engage lapsed players rather than new players, and it’s looking at ways to make seasonal content a little more permanent without taking away its quarterly novelty. But the devs so argue that they’re adding permanent content in seasons already.
- While they think weapon parity is good in PvP, they know there are some issues with imbalance in matchmaking in Outpost Rush – they’re working on it. They’re still thinking about siege weaponry balance, but no definitive plans.
- The debuff bar is being actively worked on.
Oh, and there’s a little tease at the end, so if you’re cheesing with blunderbuss combos, expect a much-deserved nerf.
Source: YouTube
