New World: Aeternum News

Greetings, Adventurers!

The first year of New World was filled with major changes for Aeternum. Player feedback accompanied each update and helped us introduce quality of life improvements like the upcoming revamped starting experience. We could not be more thankful for the continued support we’ve received from the community over the last year. Before we dive deeper into what’s next for New World, we want to reflect on some of the game’s highlights from our first anniversary.

[h2]ANNIVERSARY STATS[/h2]
Ever wonder how many fish were caught during the Summer Medleyfaire or how many stolen presents were recovered during Winter Convergence? What about the most popular Faction, Expedition, and Settlement? We created an infographic featuring some of the community’s most requested statistics for the game’s first birthday.


*Data is from launch through August 31, 2022.

[h2]LOOKING BACK AT AETERNUM[/h2]
To cap off year one, we’d like to journey back through some of our favorite videos. Each one can be viewed on our official blog post:

[h3]MYRKGARD DEV RUN[/h3]
Community requests extend beyond updates to some of our content. Take our Myrkgard Dev Run for example. The Development Team came into it looking for treasure, but only left with smiles.



Let us know if you’d like the Team to take on more challenges in the future.

[h3]SCORING AETERNUM[/h3]
Forum feedback frequently praises the Sound Team. Their captivating music continues to make the world of Aeternum far more immersive. Scoring Aeternum focuses on the music at launch, but the team continues to produce jingles for new events such as the Summer Medleyfaire.



Expect even more New World tunes in the Brimstone Sands Release.

[h3]NIGHTMARES OF AETERNUM[/h3]
To celebrate Halloween, we dug up creepy lore from the journals around Aeternum and then recreated them. These videos were also made in part thanks to fans asking for more about the game’s lore. Lore fans can look forward to more direct tie-ins to the story as part of the revamped starting experience.



This year the spooky season will culminate in our Nightveil Hallow event, featuring a unique boss and maybe even a few scary stories.

[h3]NEW WORLD VALENTINE’S DAY GETAWAY[/h3]
The idea of a forever after was a natural fit for the Eternal Isle. The team thoroughly enjoyed crafting this vacation commercial parody.



More alternative takes on New World videos are planned for the future.

[h3]NEW WORLD: SPRING FASHION[/h3]
New World: Spring Fashion was a fun way for us to showcase the new seasonal fashion that came with our spring update. Our favorite pieces of armor typically tie-into seasons like the Winter Convergence.



We will continue to update the Store with new looks for players and their homes moving forward.

[h3]TOURING AETERNUM[/h3]
Touring Aeternum was designed to give players a sense of the unique towns throughout Aeternum. The most difficult aspect of these videos was making each area look just as appealing as the last.



With the revamped starting experience overhauling areas, we might need to start new tours of the eternal isle.

[h3]TALES OF AETERNUM[/h3]
This video series discusses enemies found across Aeternum. Our Lore Team would love to hear which areas of the story you’d like to learn more about.



Tales of Aeternum went on to become a written series expanding on some of the world’s more subtle narratives.

[h3]THE FIRST NEW WORLD TEAM UPDATE VIDEO[/h3]
It’s only fitting to wrap up our one-year anniversary with a throwback to the first New World Team Update video from December 2021.



Communication with players continues to be crucial for New World to grow and evolve. Please keep the feedback coming as we push into year two. We appreciate your support throughout our first year and look forward to introducing even greater experiences to Aeternum!

Greetings, Adventurers!

New World Update 1.6.6 downtime will begin at 11:00PM PT (6:00AM UTC) on September 21.

[h3]COMBAT/AI[/h3]

• Speculative fix for rare cases when a player character dies but isn’t presented with a respawn screen.
  
• Fixed an issue with game mode scoreboards not displaying for players who join an in-progress War or Invasion.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused erroneous invite messages for players who signed up for a War or Invasion at the same time a server crash occurred.
  

[h3]EXPEDITIONS
[/h3]

• Fixed an issue that could prevent Nereid’s encounter from starting in the Barnacles & Black Powder expedition.
  

[h3]ECONOMY/PROGRESSION[/h3]

• Fixed an unintended cube from appearing when next to the to Celestial Rabbit house pet.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from interacting with one side of a bed housing item.
  
• Stained glass housing items will now properly display colors.
  

[h3]WORLD EXPERIENCE[/h3]

• Fixed an issue that caused event lore notes associated with Summer Villages to linger in the world after the seasonal event ended.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Medleyfaire fishing pole rewards from functioning after the seasonal event ended.
  
• Fixed an issue where new characters would sometimes be erroneously placed into a standby queue even if there was ample capacity in the world to accommodate them.
  
• Fixed an animation issue when interacting with the bed housing item.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused fast travel to occasionally fail.
  
• Fixed a rare server crash.
  

[h3]UI/UX[/h3]

• Speculative fix for player achievements and titles not appearing in the UI.
  

Thanks for your support! 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 our next large release and would like to once again invite you all to participate in the next cycle of our Public Test Realm (PTR)!

[h2]PTR[/h2]
The Public Test Realm (PTR) is a limited-availability server-set that will give players 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. 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. Nonetheless, hundreds of changes have already been made — with more to come — and the full release notes will be shared on release day.

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 today. To maximize world population and encourage group play, we will open with two worlds available (“US East PTR 1” and “EU PTR 1”) for this playtest cycle, with them located within US East and EU Central regional datacenters respectively. You may have to change your client regional selection from the main menu in order to discover your intended test world.

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 PTR sub-forum (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!

[h2]MAJOR UPDATES[/h2]
During this iteration of the PTR, we look forward to hearing your playtest feedback on the following changes.

[h3]BRIMSTONE SANDS ZONE
[/h3]
Brimstone Sands is a new zone unlike anything else in Aeternum. Look forward to new enemies to fight, a new territory to control, and new stories to uncover.



Death hovers over the scorched wastes of Brimstone Sands, its thirst still unsatisfied even after centuries of strife and war. The ancient Egyptians first encountered the godlike Ancients here and built monuments and vast cities that were part of a flourishing civilization thousands of years in the past. Their civilization is now long fallen to ruin, and few of those original inhabitants remain except for the mysterious sorcerer Imhotep, with whom players must work with to solve the desert’s mysteries.

The most immediate threat in Brimstone Sands is posed by the deranged remnants of the Roman Empire's 19th Legion. What exactly befell the Romans must be discovered, but they have fallen to Corruption and now besiege the ancient ruins of a mysterious Pyramid known as Ahket. They are certain that within, they will find the secret to their redemption and the long-awaited resurgence of the Roman Empire.

[h3]THE ENNEAD EXPEDITION[/h3]
Players must challenge the Corrupted Legion head-on and delve into Ancient Ruins where they will face the vigilant Anubian Guardians and solve hieroglyphic puzzles to achieve new power.



When the sands settle, players will have explored ancient mysteries with Imhotep, defeated powerful Sand demons, and perhaps, if they persist, restored the rightful ruler who can finally bring order and hope to the region after centuries of chaos.

[h3]HEARTGEM ABILITIES[/h3]
Adventurers can now further customize their playstyle through Heartrune Abilities:

• Detonate: Overload yourself with Arcane energy to detonate and deal significant damage. Players can move and attack while the ability is active.
  
• Grasping Vines: Punch your hand into the ground to unleash vines around you and root all nearby enemies.
  
• Stoneform: Turn yourself to stone and become immune to staggers, knockdowns, stuns, roots and slows. Players can move and attack while this ability is active.
  
• Cannon Blast: Whip out a large, handheld cannon and fire a cannonball that explodes on impact for high damage.
  
• Dark Ascent: Sprout Corrupted wings and fly up into the air, hover briefly, and then slam back down into the ground, dealing damage to all nearby enemies.
  

Players must fully charge their Heartgem to activate an ability. Various combat actions like dealing and taking damage, blocking hits, and healing allies will charge your Heartgem. The charge resets upon use. Experiment with and upgrade each Heartgem to find a favorite.

[h3]REVAMPED STARTING EXPERIENCE[/h3]
We’ve completely redesigned the early levels of New World, so players who start the game or roll a new character will experience brand new stories and quests. Player feedback on quest variety, AI variety, more streamlined questlines with less running back and forth, and improved storytelling in those early stages of the game helped bring about the following changes:

• Quest flow through zones has been optimized, with NPCs who move around and a central story thread that takes players through each region of the game, unlocking side content to pace out the experience.
  
• We’ve added a variety of new quest dynamics, from wave events to tracking and traversal challenges, puzzles in the ruins, unique interactions with the world, and dynamic events players will encounter.
  
• We’ve revised onboarding to stay focused on the central storyline, introducing the legacy of King Arthur in Monarch’s Bluffs and a curse and famine from the sorceress Medea in Windsward. Players will still converge on the Hermit Yonas to start on the path to becoming Soulwardens, but the Yonas quests have all been consolidated in Everfall. The Hermit himself is now more mobile, while the story and quest flow vastly improved.
  
• We’ve also added a lot more character to the zones and settlements in Monarch’s Bluffs and Everfall, new enemies, new major locations, and new challenges in the quests and open world.
  

[h3]GREATSWORD WEAPON[/h3]
Get ready for a new weapon — the Greatsword. This two-handed blade utilizes stances to adapt to different situations. Learn the risks and rewards of each option to survive in battle. Both Weapon Skill Trees feature versatile tactics for varied playstyles:

• The Onslaught tree embodies relentless offense and focuses on defeating enemies before they can take you out.
  
• The Defiance tree excels at aggressive defense that can survive and deal damage against multiple opponents.
  

The Greatsword scales evenly with Strength and Dexterity, making it a good pair for many other martial weapons.



Of course, that’s not all! You can review all of the upcoming changes for this patch by checking out the full PTR release notes, shared within the PTR sub-forum.

[h2]PTR CLIENT ACCESS[/h2]
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

[h2]PTR BACKSTORY LOADOUTS
[/h2]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.

Greetings, Adventurers,

Due to increasing live server populations, and in anticipation of our Brimstone Sands release, we are preparing to open additional worlds to accommodate the influx of new and returning players. Below, you will find our roll-out plan as well as an FAQ for any questions you may have.

[h2]New Servers
[/h2]
Based on the extended login queues we saw over this past weekend, new purchases, and in accommodation for additional returning players, we are going to open one new world in a new world set for US-East, South America, and Central Europe:

[h3]Central Europe
[/h3]

• Fae will open today at 9:00 AM PST
  

[h3]South America
[/h3]

• Atlantis will open today at 2:00 PM PST
  

[h3]US East[/h3]

• Eden will open today at 3:00 PM PST
  

These will be completely new servers with no existing territory ownership. We highly recommend discussing with any of your friends or company mates to determine whether or not you’d like to take advantage of these new servers or hold dominion on your current world.

As a note, players will be able to choose whether or not to transfer their existing characters or create a new character. Please keep in mind that should you wish to transfer, you will need to use an existing server transfer token on your account or purchase a new one from the Shop page. Normal transfer rules apply.

[h2]FAQ[/h2]
[h3]Are these completely new servers?
[/h3]Yes. Despite the throwback server names, these are completely new servers added to mitigate existing queues. Interested in being the first company to claim a territory or win a war? This is the place to be! The only caveat? Anyone can transfer into these servers.

[h3]Can I transfer to these new servers?
[/h3]Yes, you can. All regular server transfer rules apply. Please find our server transfer instructions and FAQ here: [FAQ] How to Transfer to Another Server or Region 290

[h3]Will you be providing us with a server transfer token?
[/h3]No, we will not be providing any free server tokens. You may purchase one from the in-game shop and learn more with the information provided above.

[h3]Will you be increasing the character limit so we can create a new character on these servers?
[/h3]No, we will not be increasing the character limit at this time. If you only have one character on the region you’ve selected, you may create another one. If you’ve already got 2 in that region, you will not be able to create an additional one.

[h3]What is the maximum population for each server?
[/h3]2,200 is the current maximum population for these servers.

[h3]Will these servers be merged?
[/h3]These worlds follow the normal retail server guidelines, and could undergo a merge in the future to maintain population health as needed.

Thanks for your support! We’ll see you in Aeternum.

Greetings, Adventurers!

New World Update 1.6.5 downtime will begin at 11:00PM PT (6:00AM UTC) on September 6 and includes the return of Instanced Wars.

[h2]AUDIO[/h2]
[h3]Sound effects[/h3]

• Fixed an issue that caused some sound effects to not trigger for various character actions.
  

[h3]Summer Medleyfaire music[/h3]

• Fixed an issue that caused the Medleyfaire performance music "Windsward Inn" and "Path Less Traveled" to not play.
  

[h2]EXPEDITIONS[/h2]
[h3]Garden of Genesis[/h3]

• Adjusted collision to prevent players from entering unintended areas in the Alluvium Marl boss fight arena.
  

[h2]WORLD EXPERIENCE[/h2]
[h3]Notable Fixes[/h3]

• Wars will automatically be rescheduled if there's an issue with the invite phase and the invites do not get sent out.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Outpost Rush items to not auto-equip to empty slots on the player's hotbar.
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from queuing for Arenas because the queue screen said "Waiting for Players".
  
• Fixed a bug that caused players to lose any progress made during their current session after logging off.
  
• Made general technical improvements to the Group Finder feature to improve reliability.
  
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to endlessly spam abilities.
  
• Instanced Wars have been reactivated.
  

[h2]UX/UI/SOCIAL[/h2]
[h3]Trading Post[/h3]

• Fixed an issue that caused the "Avail." column of the Trading Post to incorrectly display amount owned instead of showing the amount available to buy.
  

[h3]Group Finder[/h3]

• The "View Expedition" button in the Expedition map flyout now reads "Find Group" in order to improve the Group Finder’s ease of use.
  

[h3]Expedition[/h3]

• Musical Performance UI no longer remains after players go into an Expedition.
  

[h2]LOCALIZATION[/h2]
[h3]Notable Fixes[/h3]

• Group Finder error messages are now fully localized.
  
• Perks with outdated descriptions now have the correct localization for Polish and Italian.
  

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