New World: Aeternum News

Greetings, Adventurers!

Join Lead Seasons Designer Patrick Smedley and Senior Systems Designer Tony Morton for a taste of the changes coming to Cooking and other Trade Skills in Season 5. Look forward to ingredient updates, revamped Cooking progression, Legendary Fish recipe tweaks, the removal of split attribute food, and more. Let’s dive in.

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[h2]SPLIT ATTRIBUTE FOOD[/h2]
From recipes and ingredients to food, buffs, and other items like Dye, Cooking can be complex, especially for players less familiar with the Trade Skill. Let’s start with how we’re simplifying some of the options.

At launch Cooking was front-loaded with an enormous amount of potential combinations for food buffs. We were very much in the discovery phase of understanding how this would impact players throughout their early travels in Aeternum. Now, after millions upon millions of hours played, we have a far better idea of how players structure builds and use consumables.


There are 5 Tiers of food. Almost every Tier offers both split and full attribute options, but most players only use pure attribute food. To simplify things, we’re going to sunset split attribute food in Season 5. This goes for both the consumable food, learned recipes and physical recipes that may be in your inventory.

[h2]INGREDIENTS AND RECIPES[/h2]
The last thing we want is to remove items and wipe them from the player’s inventory. Instead, we’ll swap those ingredients for more desirable options.

Take the Pesto-stuffed Turkey Breast as an example. This Tier 4 food gives players a Strength and Intelligence bonus. When Season 5 goes live, it will be replaced with Clam Chowder, a Tier 4 pure Strength food. In any scenario where an item is being deprecated, we will replace it with the same Tier of item that shares the main attribute. Since the Pesto-stuffed Turkey Breast gave more Strength than Intelligence, we’ve swapped it with a Tier 4 Strength food.


What about recipes? The physical recipes in your inventory will be swapped using that same logic. However, you’ll lose access to any known recipes as they’ll be depreciated.

We will do a pass on our Trade Skill food too. While we enjoy having multiple tiers of Gathering food, the low-level tiers never made a big impact. As a result, they will also be sunset. Any player who is Level 15 in Season 5 can consume Tier 5 Gathering food for a more impactful buff on their Gathering Luck. Any Gathering food or recipes will automatically upgrade to the Tier 5 variant.

[h2]LEGENDARY FISH RECIPES[/h2]

When reviewing all of these items there was a glaring issue that we haven’t been happy with for a long time—many updates and new recipes have rendered Fishing less useful than intended. These changes aim to make Legendary Fish more meaningful.

Upon the release of Season 5, Legendary Fish recipes, like Fried Albenaja will become the most potent food in the game. Here’s an example of how their values will change.

[h3]OLD VALUES[/h3]
Tier 5 Dex Food - Fried Albenaja (+40 Dex)

• Duration 40 minutes
  
• Requires Cooking Level 200 and Player Level 60
  

Tier 5 Dex Food - Chili con Armadillo (+40 Dex)

• Duration 60 minutes
  
• Requires Cooking Level 200 and Player Level 60
  

Tier 52 Dex Food - Banana Pudding (+48 Dex)

• Duration 50 minutes
  
• Requires Cooking Level 205 and Player Level 61
  

[h3]NEW VALUES[/h3]
Re-ordered to show intended progression:

Tier 5 Dex Food - Chili con Armadillo (+40 Dex)

• Duration 40 minutes
  
• Requires Cooking Level 150 and Player Level 45
  

Tier 52 Dex Food - Banana Pudding (+44 Dex)

• Duration 40 minutes
  
• Requires Cooking Level 205 and Player Level 61
  

Tier 5 Dex Food - Fried Albenaja (+48 Dex)

• Duration: 40 minutes
  
• Requires: Cooking Level 250 and Player Level 65
  

[h3]FISHING LUCK[/h3]
To further improve the meaningful impact of Legendary Fish, we changed how Luck works in the Fishing Trade Skill. Legendary Fish will be worth the extra effort to catch given upcoming changes. We’re going to do a full pass on Fishing and give the Trade Skill even more love in a future update alongside another Deep Dive.

[h2]COOKING PROGRESSION[/h2]

We also revamped XP generated from Cooking recipes for even more satisfying progression. Recipes, in general, will generate way more XP than they have in the past. Our goal is to maintain an enjoyable leveling journey and motivate players to craft a little of everything for that First Craft Bonus rather than a ton of one thing.

[h3]INSIGHTFUL INGREDIENT DESCRIPTIONS[/h3]
Ingredient descriptions will now detail where items can come from and be found. Instead of a generic description like “Basil leaves, used to add a bright, aromatic note to cuisine,” players will now find more helpful information such as “Cooking Ingredient. A rare item gathered from Herb Plants found in Everfall, Brightwood and Brimstone Sands.”

[h3]RECIPE DROPS[/h3]

Less items means less recipes to find. After reviewing the possible locations of each recipe, we’ve significantly adjusted their drops rates. While it may take a little longer to find some, there are a LOT less to locate meaning duplicates should appear far less frequently.

[h2]FUTURE REWORKS[/h2]
This is only the first Trade Skill rework. We’ve learned a lot since launch and continue to gain a better understanding of what our players craft and where they allocate resources. Expect more major reworks to just about every Trade Skill, with the exception of newer ones like Riding, in future Seasons.

We look forward to your feedback in the Season 5 PTR. As always, we’ll continue to balance and tune as we see how players interact with these systems. Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.

Greetings, Adventurers!

Learn more about the development of Garden of Genesis through Lead Expedition Designer Darren McKinsey and improve your experience with tips from 3 of your favorite New World content creators: ArsheeTV, TrickTrick, and vXBlackSwanXv. We also compiled key insights like boss stats based on community performance. Let us know what you’d like to see in future analytics articles.

Garden of Genesis was one of our first Expeditions. It helped pave the way for new gameplay mechanics such as defending objectives, exploring optional chambers, and conquering unique boss elements.


[h2]MUTATION GUIDE[/h2]
Whether it’s your first or five-hundredth time entering Garden of Genesis, here are some tips for even more enjoyable runs.

[h3]DPS[/h3]

“This is an Angry Earth Expedition, so weapons like the Fire Staff and anything that deals Slash Damage are preferable,” TrickTrick said. “My recommendation is to have all three DPS players use light loadouts with a combination of Great Swords, Great Axes, and Spears. The Spear is one of the best weapons for Mutations due to its unique utility kit — weakening enemies so they deal less damage (Enfeebling Skewer Perk) while breaking their armor for your team to inflict more damage (Perforate ability).”

“For clumping the mobs, the Great Axe will be your go-to, thanks to abilities like Gravity Well. The Great Axe can make large fights manageable and easy since the mobs won't be spread all over the place.”

[h3]TANK[/h3]

“For tanks, ideally, you want to go in with heavy gear, plus the Sword and Shield and War Hammer.” TrickTrick said. “Make sure you have a Carnelian in both weapons and pick the abilities that taunt enemies. These two weapons will provide an incredible amount of survivability and utility for the team.”

“Remember to hold your AOE Taunts and use them after you are done pulling or when you are ready to fight. If you use them too early, the taunt might run out before the fight starts, creating unnecessary inconveniences. Taunt too late and your DPS or healers may instead aggro the mob, making encounters even more difficult.”

[h3]HEALER[/h3]

“They should go in a light loadout for extra healing,” TrickTrick said. “Life Staff is your primary healing weapon. If you feel comfortable helping with more than just heals, you can use a Void Gauntlet or Flail. You can also use your off-weapon abilities to provide utility and buffs to your team.”

“A Void Gauntlet with abilities like Oblivion can greatly increase your group’s performance through Damage and Stamina support alongside debuffing enemies. As for Life Staff abilities, Sacred Ground is your main healing ability and Splash is amazing since it has a team cleanse. The third ability is up to you.”

[h3]CONSUMABLES[/h3]

“Blight Tinctures are a must for new players since when you are Blighted you’ll have -50% Less Damage, -75% healing reduction and take damage 1.4% HP over time for 3 minutes,” ArsheeTV said. “Incense will help reduce your chances of becoming Blighted.“

“Recommended Consumables: Angry Earth Coating (+15% damage, use in both weapons), Angry Earth Ward Potions (+10% resistance), Honing Stones (+7% damage), Attribute food, and Dessert Sunrise,” TrickTrick said. “Remember to reapply when they run out.“

[h3]DAMAGE MITIGATION[/h3]

“My gear will always include refreshing and weapon Perks for whatever role I am running,” vXBlackSwanXv said. “Mutations have elemental damage that is very easy to mitigate by either carrying around an Amulet or swapping Gems based on the element type.”

“Enchanted Ward is a must on all 5 pieces of armor to reduce damage taken by every type of attack,” ArsheeTV said. “You must Gem toward the Mutation type. If you want to be successful as a team you’ll need over 35% resistance between M1 to M2 and a combination of Rends and Weakening stacks to avoid one shots.“

“Constitution is your friend,” vXBlackSwanXv said. “Do not go into an Expedition with low Constitution thinking your DPS will be incredible. A dead DPS does no DPS.”

[h3]COURAGE AND COMMUNICATION[/h3]

“Remember, everyone starts somewhere,” vXBlackSwanXv said. “You won't be a pro the first time you run a Mutation. Give yourself some credit for having the courage to run it and don't give up. Communication helps immensely. If you can avoid going into an M3 with a random group, do so until you have the mechanics down.”

[h3]TAKE IT SLOW[/h3]

“The game gives you plenty of time to complete Mutations, so take your time, clear the rooms little by little, and collect every gatherable,” TrickTrick said. “They are very important for your score.”

“The optional side chambers were another first for us,” Darren said. “There is something very special about the idea of a secret chamber. It conjures images of mystery and discovery. This opened up a lot off design questions like whether the rewards would be good enough and if players would even discover how to get into the first optional chamber. That sounds silly in retrospect because almost everyone knows about the chamber now! There’s a sense of satisfaction from crafting these secret rooms and knowing players explore them.”

[h3]PROTECT THE SAPLING[/h3]

“The development of objectives for players to defend required a lot of balancing and technology exploration,“ Darren said. ”Getting it to work was a challenge. We were up against launch deadlines but felt defending an objective was a good pace breaker, plus a natural fit for the environment. One of the biggest obstacles was getting enemies to balance their attacks between players and objectives. Do they always attack the sapling? Do they peel off the sapling easily?“

“Make sure the group saves their CC (crowd control) abilities to use on the big mobs before they get to the sapling,” TrickTrick said. “Interrupted or taunted mobs will stop attacking it. Keep the fight away from the sapling at all times.”

[h2]ALLUVIUM MARL, THE CARETAKER[/h2]

“We put a lot of love into Alluvium Marl, the Caretaker,” Darren said. “He was sort of this sad figure to us, an Angry Earth caring for a lost garden which was infiltrated by the Blight. His intro animation and voice over calls this out and the atmosphere of the knee-deep water is amazing.”

“The boss designer really pushed the boundaries of our tech with the cage gameplay—opening up the option for players to go all in. The Caretaker is still a favorite. This player choice really pushes the fun factor. I love watching groups make that choice, especially when success comes down to a tense, last second slash.”

[h3]SPLIT YOUR TEAM[/h3]
“Split your team in two once the Caretaker enters the nature barrier phase at around 60 to 70% health,” TrickTrick said. “The tank should be the only one inside the barrier since they can break his Stamina bar with heavy attacks alone.”

“After the tank has stopped the group wipe, mobs will spawn outside of the barrier,” TrickTrick said. “It's the DPS and healer's job to take care of them. If they don't, the team will be overwhelmed once the barrier comes down.”

[h3]FAVORITE STRATEGY[/h3]
“See if you can defeat Marl before the barrier goes down, but I don’t recommend it for beginners,” TrickTrick said. “If you don't have enough damage, the Caretaker will take care of you.”

“Back in 2021, this boss had 171 player kills (34 wipes) in one Expedition instance, so don’t take it personally if the Caretaker gets the best of you,” ArsheeTV said.

[h2]THE BLIGHTED GREENSKEEPER[/h2]

“The Blighted Greenskeeper is an early example of our team designing harder, instanced content,” Darren said. “We knew that thematically we wanted an Angry Earth boss who had been Blighted and corrupted from her purpose, but how we'd express that through gameplay was less certain. We investigated a number of gameplay elements and really liked the poison angle.”

“Early on in experimentation we also found her boulder drop ability to be really fun, although it presented unique challenges like what to do if she threw a boulder on herself. Pairing that attack with her Blight Bomb wipe ability culminated in a fun encounter that brought out the best of instanced content and New World combat.”

[h3]GUIDE[/h3]
“Go into this boss battle with a solid tank,” said vXBlackSwanXv. “And never, I repeat NEVER stand next to your tank. The Greenskeeper has several mechanics that will wipe everyone but the tank, so best to stay behind this boss. Watch out for:

• The Slam: The Greenskeeper will extend herself and slam the ground, dealing massive amounts of damage. This will almost always hit the tank, so don’t stand next to them.
  
• Poison Tether: The Greenskeeper will tether onto a player at random and give you a few seconds before dropping a massive poison puddle AOE below the tethered player’s feet. Hug the wall quickly, farthest away from the Greenskeeper and your team as the poison puddle will make it very challenging to damage the boss.
  
• Poison Breath: The Greenskeeper will extend herself again, but instead do a scream infused with poison breath as an AOE damage in front of her. Stay behind the boss and you won't have any issues dodging this.
  
• Underground Attack: The Greenskeeper will retreat underground and pop up in random locations. Immediately group up and hold block. She will not hurt you as long as you hold it!
  
• Boulder Drop: This usually targets the farthest player from the boss. Don’t hug the wall when these land because your team will rely on these boulders to dodge her "ultimate" charged attack. Give yourself several feet from the wall to allow ample space for protection."
  

[h3]FAVORITE TACTIC
[/h3]“Go all in with everyone around the Mutated version and bet who will die first,” said ArsheeTV. “Since the boss is fairly easy to iframe/dodge, I like to make it more difficult than it needs to be for an even more thrilling experience.“

[h2]ASK FOR HELP[/h2]

“Garden of Genesis has one of the best healing weapons in the game, the Lifewell Channeler, and remains a fast and fun Expedition,” vXBlackSwanXv said. “Go in with friends or recruit individuals to help you the first time.“

“If you choose to not share that it is your first time, it’ll typically lead to disrespect from other players because many assume you already know everything about the Expedition,” said ArsheeTV. “Feel free to join streams like mine (shameless plugin) and ask questions. We’re more than happy to help!“

[h3]FEATURED GUESTS[/h3]
Make sure to follow each content creator for more guides, tips, and other original New World content:

• ArsheeTV
• TrickTrick
• vXBlackSwanXv

“My enjoyment throughout development reflects the Expedition’s popularity,” Darren said. “We hope players continue to enjoy it.” Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.

Greetings, Adventurers!

This article was updated on March 22: Season of the Guardian will release on Tuesday, April 2. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to resolve issues based on PTR feedback and work together towards even more enjoyable experiences in Aeternum. You can also look forward to the full release notes at the end of next week.

Experience fresh narratives, more quest variety, and a few new surprises as you put an end to Isabella’s campaign of corruption. The final main story quest (MSQ) update will release alongside Season of the Guardian on March 12. Join Senior Narrative Designer Lula Lucent for insight into their development process, philosophy, and more.

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[h2]MAIN STORY QUEST INTERVIEW[/h2]
[h3]WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CHANGE IN THE FINAL MSQ UPDATE?[/h3]

The Angry Earth are my favorite part of New World. Because of their mysteriousness I always wonder how they perceive and experience life. The addition of Phaeris as a new NPC is probably my favorite change. Her appearance is brief, but impactful. We see how she struggles with being different within the Angry Earth Hivemind, balancing her nature with the expectations of the collective. Similarly, the very narrow peek into the mindsets of the Blighted is super interesting, and creates even more mystery.

[h3]WALK US THROUGH YOUR PROCESS TO REVISE THE ENTIRE MSQ.[/h3]

Well, this is a request crying out for an overly-lengthy response. But I can summarize since my design philosophy is strongly wrapped up in what is needed to revise something like the MSQ ending. We knew where our penultimate story arc was happening, Ebonscale Reach. We knew where the absolute ending would be, Shattered Mountain. I worked backwards from our current assets and locations, and sought to give them life and meaning alongside cool new things to do there!

Once that narrative skeleton was approved by our supporting teams, I fleshed it out one piece at a time by asking myself, which NPCs were involved in each quest, what resources did I need to request from others, and how could I turn all the chaotic madness in my head into the artful guise of order? One of those questions remains unanswered to this very day...

[h3]WHAT’S YOUR GOAL OR PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE REVISIONS?[/h3]

Take the best elements we already have, repurpose and lean into them. For instance, Isabella clearly sees herself as the savior of humanity. In her own mind, she is the hero of the story (not the player). I made sure to create moments to showcase her in a commanding position. Not the least of which was making the story arc in Shattered Mountain all about preparing an attack on Myrkgard itself. It simply had to be where the climax to our narrative took place. So that gave me a goal to focus on and build towards through each new quest.

[h3]HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE ORIGINAL NEW WORLD STORY AND CHANGES WHEN MAKING UPDATES?[/h3]

Remembering what makes certain locations and characters awesome is one of the best ways. Adiana played a far more direct role in the old MSQ, but that no longer made sense with the changes in MSQ 2.2 — to say nothing of her godhood arc in Brimstone Sands and Elysian Wilds. That meant the avenue of using the Angry Earth directly as allies in the fight against Isabella wouldn’t work, so logical story changes needed to made. Hence Adiana’s current emotional state and the addition of Phaeris in 2.3.

[h3]ARE THERE SELF-IMPOSED RESTRICTIONS OR GUIDELINES YOU FOLLOW?[/h3]

This will sound silly, but just some basic things: don’t use cliches in dialogue, be conscious of overusing certain words, and don’t make the same type of quest two quests running. Essentially, I often remind myself to create a variety of content for players. NPCs and gameplay should both have plenty of depth.

[h3]WHAT’S THE GREATEST CHALLENGE IN UPDATING THE MSQ? HOW DID YOUR TEAM OVERCOME IT?[/h3]

Time is not infinite.

I joke, but it’s true. Pragmatism is really important to pair with ambition. As climactic as the ending to our story is, it was (wait for it) once an even more ambitious design document. Eventually, we had to scope. That might sound like a small defeat, but I never think of it that way.

Part of my process is to scope early, during the stage when we only have ideas and words scrawled on the page/whiteboard/brain-matter. This is the least disruptive time to change course. We work hard to ensure what our final design document looks like is attainable. The second part that keeps me optimistic — content ideas cut today are ideas we can use in the future. No good idea is ever wasted. Eventually we will find the right time and the right place to do it justice, and give players something very cool indeed.

[h3]TELL US A FUN STORY FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MSQ UPDATE.[/h3]

Keep what I said about pragmatism earlier in mind for this one. When we were creating a specific boss fight in Ebonscale Reach, there was an open question on its setting. There were a lot of primo ideas, but unfortunately our top pick turned out to be impractical and didn’t quite fit the motivations of a certain fan-favorite character.

I came up with a workable alternative after discovering an amazing unused art asset. Fast-forward to the next week and the environment artist blew me away by making an entire new POI to house the fight! That was not my initial more humble request, but his ambition paid off in a way that made the western shore near the Imperial Palace super memorable.

[h3]WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU LEARNED DURING THE MSQ UPDATE THAT YOU WISH YOU KNEW WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED WORKING ON NEW WORLD?[/h3]

I would have liked to have had a more intuitive understanding of the scale and composition between Ebonscale Reach and Shattered Mountain. I was familiar from playing the game of course, but looking through the lens of creating new content really makes it clear how different they are. Ebonscale Reach is broad with a lot of verticality, and end-to-end is second in size only to Brimstone Sands. Shattered Mountain is very dense, which creates its own challenges.

The routing of new quests in Ebonscale Reach had to take into account traveling longer distances occasionally, whereas Shattered Mountain needed routing that was not completely linear. As far as the latter is concerned, our solution to route the player through the western side and then come in from the eastern side was an idea I would have valued realizing from the very start of design.

[h3]WHAT’S SOMETHING YOUR TEAM MUST CONSIDER WHEN WORKING ON THE MSQ THAT THE AVERAGE PLAYER MIGHT NOT REALIZE OR THINK ABOUT?[/h3]

Oh! I have a very New World reason for answering that question, which might not apply well to other games. World Trains. The first chest run I went on was the most exciting thing I’ve ever experienced in an MMO. I’m a big fan of Imp and Myrk, so our team took a very considered approach in preserving that gameplay while trying to eke out just the right areas to let solo players experience those locations if they haven’t before. Both zones, Ebonscale Reach and Shattered Mountain, have their own unique challenges when it comes to zone flow as I mentioned before. I think we’ve managed to find the best route for the MSQ, but I’m definitely curious how everyone who regularly runs Imp, Myrk, and elsewhere feels.

[h3]WHAT CAN PLAYERS LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF NEW WORLD’S STORY?[/h3]

I have the best book to tell you to read for our inspiration! It’s actually written by [REDACTED] and called [NARRATIVE DIRECTOR INFO-BLOCK ACTIVATED]. Not bad, huh? So I think players are going to enjoy the unique perspective of that kind of gameplay, plus sneaking around underground areas and mausoleums is always fun even when it’s not Halloween.

Thanks for your support! We look forward to hearing your feedback on the main story quest updates and will see you in Aeternum.

Greetings, Adventurers!

We will upgrade our old combat and animation system to improve performance in areas with many players alongside the release of Season of the Guardian. This new system (which we affectionately call Slayer Script) will also make it easier to improve our combat going forward. We’ve done our best to keep the feel of the game the same, but would love to hear your feedback following these changes. From the development process to challenges, join Tech Lead Kevin Christensen for a deep dive into what this system means for the future of New World.

[h2]SLAYER SCRIPT[/h2]

Slayer Script is a C++ based scripting language. It is natively compiled and dynamically loaded by New World in order to provide excellent performance as well as live updates to scripts. It can cause events (spawn enemies, play sounds, etc), respond to events (if an enemy dies, if a player enters a room, etc.), play animations, control movement, and more. A lot of work can be packed into a few lines of code.

[h3]DEVELOPMENT PROCESS[/h3]

New World has an enormous amount of objects that update frequently, making it difficult to efficiently use traditional scripting languages. A scripting language, for example Lua, is interpreted and cannot capitalize on hardware optimizations. While the execution performance of Lua is good, it would be used for hundreds of objects in New World. The overhead and memory cost was not going to cut it. We needed a solution to be as fast as possible with an acceptable impact to development iteration.

Our original character scripting system ran well during development, but eventually began to struggle with performance, memory, and runtime allocation as New World continued to grow. This led to Slayer Script as an alternative side project. Slayer Script reduced this cost to a few allocations, and its natively compiled code is very compact, which significantly reduced the runtime memory.

The initial idea was to use Slayer Script to control the player. The player is by far the most expensive game object in New World. Much of the design was focused on reading player input and controlling animations. This task was going to take a large amount of time. Turns out, the Expedition Team was the first to use Slayer Script, which didn’t require player input or animations. This is when Slayer Script changed to be a more general purpose scripting language. It wasn’t until recently that Slayer Script was used for its intended purpose.

[h3]GOALS[/h3]

Over 400 actions have been converted into the new system by hand to ensure gameplay remains one-to-one. Our goals were:

• Use natively compiled C++ to be as fast as possible.
  
• Reduce memory cost by decreasing the amount of state that needs to be stored.
  
• Improve scalability by using an architecture that has a smaller impact on execution for new behaviors.
  
• Be hot loadable in order to allow runtime development.
  
• Be easier to debug.
  

Reducing the memory cost turned out to be the easiest problem to solve. Slayer Script was designed to store the state in one location, and all of the behavior was created in a manner that can be shared amongst all instances of a script.

Scalability will be an ongoing task. Even C++ can be used in an inefficient manner. Care must be taken when adding new features, but C++ provides extensive solutions for tracking performance and observing operation execution.

The previous system was difficult to debug. Tools were created to help but being able to step through execution was not possible. Any designer with a debugger can now set breakpoints, inspect memory and step through the script’s execution. Debugging the previous system was a time sink, just due to the process. Debugging complex scripts is still hard but at least the method is easy.

[h3]CHALLENGES[/h3]

The biggest challenge has been to keep iteration fast. Designers need to be able to see the results of their work quickly. With a compiled language, this would normally mean closing the game, making edits, compiling and then running the game again to see the results. Slayer Script is built into a module that can be loaded while the game is running. Dynamically reloading a module can be tricky, so any references to objects within the module must be released before the module is unloaded, and reacquired after the module is reloaded. If this is not handled correctly, the game or tools will crash.

By using C++, the memory and performance cost of the system starts out with great potential. C++ is intended to develop high performance applications and be as efficient as possible. It is a mature language with many tools to help development and measure performance.

Another challenge was hiding the complexities of C++ from the people who will use Slayer Script. C++ can be a difficult language to use, but when used as a scripting language, it doesn’t have to be any more complex than any other scripting language. There is still a lot of room for improvement on this topic. It will continue to be a goal.

We look forward to your feedback in the Season of the Guardian PTR. Thanks for your support and we’ll see you in Aeternum.

Greetings, Adventurers!

Aeternum is an ever-evolving world, and as such, we continue our efforts in providing our players with an assortment of ongoing new features, content, and changes. Similar to the activities leading up to our latest major update, we are approaching the release of Season of the Guardian and would like to once again invite you all to participate in this iteration of our Public Test Realm (PTR)!

Read on for this PTR's features and FAQ.

[h2]PTR[/h2]
The Public Test Realm (PTR) is a limited-availability server-set that grants an early look at upcoming features. These preview builds are snapshots of upcoming major releases and are not final versions — you may encounter bugs, crashes, missing text, or other issues. Between our internal testing efforts and your reports, we hope to catch and resolve all serious issues before they reach the live servers. Hundreds of changes have already been made — with more to come — and the full release notes will be shared on release day. However, not every bug or feedback piece will be actioned on before release — some changes need time to be investigated further, and may arrive in a subsequent patch or two.

To help with the feedback process, all newly created PTR characters will have the opportunity to instantly level to select level-ranges outfitted with appropriate gear and items.

The PTR will officially open on February 15. If you encounter a bug, exploit, or have suggestions to improve a feature or piece of content, we’d love to hear your feedback on our Discord (you can also utilize our in-game feedback tool). We will do our best to address as much of your feedback as possible before the content update makes its way to our live servers. Your participation will help us to deliver awesome content and updates in the future!

During this iteration of the PTR, we look forward to hearing your playtest feedback on the following changes:

• Winter Rune Forge
  
• Season 5 Artifacts
  
• Main Story Quest Update
  
• Controller Support
  
• Upgraded Combat & Animation System
  
• Weapon Balance Updates
  
• Mounts in Outpost Rush
  
• Season 5 Rewards Track
  
• Cooking Trade Skill changes

Check out our release notes for more details.

[h3]PTR CLIENT ACCESS[/h3]
This special preview client will be made available for download through the stand-alone Steam application, “New World Public Test Realm” (which should already be in your Steam library if you own the main game). When the test period is complete and the main New World game is updated with the previewed content, the PTR world will shut down and may be wiped clean. You will continue to see the New World PTR application in your Steam library, but there will not be an active server until the next time we announce a public test.

[h3]PTR BACKSTORY LOADOUTS[/h3]
Upon character creation on the PTR, players will be given multiple caches of special armor and weapons. Each cache has a designation based upon a general build and a main attribute: CON, DEX, INT, FOC, and STR.

To help manage the sudden onset of new items, do not open all provided caches at once, or you’ll risk becoming encumbered! Instead, equip all provided bags and then follow-up with opening each cache deliberately. Any undesired caches can be dropped or deposited into your personal settlement storage.

[h2]PTR FAQ[/h2]
[h3]HOW DO I ACCESS THE NEW PTR?[/h3]
Everyone with a copy of New World will be automatically granted access to the secondary PTR app. The PTR is not compatible with the live game, so you will need to download a separate client (and have the hard drive space required to support it). From there, we will have special worlds available within supported regions. Not all regions will initially be supported. Access is on a first come, first served basis. There may be queues.

[h3]CAN I PLAY WITH OR TRANSFER MY LIVE CHARACTERS TO THE PTR?[/h3]
Unfortunately, no. These are separate ecosystems, so at this time it is not possible. However, to make testing easier, we will occasionally provide our play-testers with special accommodations such as instant levels, special gear, etc.

[h3]CAN I PROVIDE DESIGN FEEDBACK REGARDING WHAT’S INCLUDED ON THE PTR?[/h3]
Preview game builds on the PTR are finished with their core development and are in their final phase of testing and bug fixing. Our main focus at this phase is improving quality, although we will appreciate any feedback you have to share.

[h3]I HAVE A PROBLEM; HOW CAN I CONTACT CUSTOMER SUPPORT?[/h3]
Our policies and Code of Conduct cover the PTR, and in-game moderation will continue to be supported. Unfortunately, due to the temporary and potentially unstable nature of the PTR, general Customer Service assistance through both Live Chat and through the Support Website will not be available.

[h3]I DON’T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PTR, CAN I REMOVE THE APP FROM MY LIBRARY?[/h3]
Don’t worry, no offense taken. Players can manage visibility of the New World Public Test Realm Steam Library entry. Opening up the game options (right-click > Manage) offers the “Hide Game” function.

Thanks for your support and participation! We'll see you in Aeternum.