The subsequent implementation of a PvP opt-in toggle is a contentious issue within the community, so it will be interesting to see how this develops as the community expands through betas and eventually the full release. New World was originally supposed to have a big emphasis on PvP, and it still does, with each of the game’s 12 areas on the map able to be won over by one of the human factions, who can then gain bonuses in those zones.īut in an earlier incarnation, New World was all player-killing, all the time, which the dev team eventually thought led to a toxic and oppressive environment. The only issue there is when players disagree. End-game content like raids and high-level PvP is usually said to be where MMOs are at their best, but there’s usually 100s of hours of drudgery to get there.Īnd without the hook of a grand storyline and sunk-cost fallacy to keep people invested there’s always the risk that if players bounce off your front-loaded best stuff, then they’re probably not coming back.īut unlike Crucible - which feels like it was undermined by a lack of buzz at launch - it looks like New World is gearing up to try and make a good first impression.įirst, by building a pool of alpha testers to gather feedback on things like balance and levelling speed before even releasing a wider pre-order beta, it it seems like Amazon is trying to keep its earliest adopters involved, while using their data to create a validating initial experience for pre-order customers - who can contribute to a bit of a positive word-of-mouth. There’s always a massive tug-of-war between the destination and the journey. New World takes players to the magical island of Aeturnum, where warring factions of humans, ghosts and zombies, and angry earth elementals all contend with the Corrupted and the nigh unstoppable force of The Tempest trying to consume the worlds old and new.īut even with that relatively simple concept, communicating MMOs to new players is very difficult.

With New World, there’s evidence that Amazon Games has tried to learn from some of those mistakes, but that still doesn’t make seeding a brand-new MMO, which costs $40 upfront to play, based on new IP no less, any easier. The fledgling Amazon Games found this out the hard way with its first game, Crucible, a 2020 hero shooter that was shuttered less than six months after it was made publicly available. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. From Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness to Anthem, whether it’s down to an over cynical model, bad management, or an overall weak concept, even the world’s biggest publishers working with some of the world’s most talented developers strike out sometimes - however much money they throw at the problem.

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