New World: Aeternum News

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New World central EU servers are offline while devs investigate weird gold payouts

Amazon Games' New World has been having a rough time, economically speaking. Players have discovered several ways to duplicate gold, and the developers have even gone so far as to shut the MMORPG's economy down at least twice. Now it seems a plan to compensate players for lost gold has resulted in huge, unexplained sums showing up in their accounts, and the studio has switched New World's EU servers into maintenance mode while it gets to the bottom of the issue.

Earlier today, a post in the New World forums claimed that more than 300,000 gold had been added to a player's game account. While other forum users initially dismissed the post as casual trolling, other players reported members of their companies also receiving huge lump sums of gold, between 100,000 and 300,000 apiece.

Pneuma, a New World community moderator, replied to the original post, simply saying "Congratulations!" Shortly after that, community manager Tosch posted an announcement that the EU Central Region worlds had been put into maintenance mode as the dev team investigated "the currently ongoing coin compensation for players".

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New World devs are improving the early and mid-game for solo players

Amazon Games is working on new content to make New World's early to mid-game more enjoyable, particularly for solo players. In a recent interview with PCGamesN, game director Scot Lane points to the MMORPG's earlier stages and endgame when asked what areas of PvP and PvE the team has identified as underdeveloped.

"We know we have some work to do to improve the experience in the early-mid game (especially for solo players) and have already begun working on content to improve that experience," he tells us. "Our goal is to keep responding to what players ask for, and feedback from players will continue to help shape New World's direction."

As for what these kind of improvements could look like, Lane points to the recent introduction of the Varangian Raiders. The new gang of foes was added in the recent Into The Void update, with story-led quests giving you a sense of who they are. "So far, only a few Varangian camps have shown up in the player-inhabited parts of Aeternum, but all indications are that we'll be seeing more of them," he tells us.

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It sure sounds like the New World devs are cooking up a winter festival

In-game seasonal festivals are great, aren't they? Final Fantasy XIV has its Halloween and Christmas-style All Saints' Wake and Starlight Celebration bashes, for example. Assassin's Creed Valhalla has its Oskoreia, Ostara, Yule, and Sigrblot seasonal shindigs. Destiny 2 has events like Festival of the Lost, and - well, you get the idea. They often signal new activities, items, and other good tidings - and it sure sounds like the New World team has something up its sleeve in the way of a seasonal celebration.

In an interview with New World game director Scot Lane, we asked about whether the devs would consider making seasonal changes to Aeternum's map and, beyond this, if the devs have any plans cooking up for some seasonal events. Oh, and - naturally - if he could share any details with us. "Yes, yes, and a little," he tells us. "I think seasonal events are hugely important for MMOs and something we want to do for sure."

Sadly, Lane tells us that he "can't get into specifics" right now, but he does add, "I can say that winter is a great time for festivals!" So, yep - it sure sounds like there's something suitably seasonal and festive on the horizon for the MMORPG's first winter out in the wild.

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New World devs offer context over recent endgame changes

New World got its 1.1 update last week, ushering in a new weapon, enemy type, and various other bits and pieces to the MMORPG. However, shortly after it went live fans started reporting endgame-adjusting changes that appeared to have been added, too, with some raising concerns about a perceived increase to grind and things becoming tougher for solo players. Now, Amazon Games has posted a new dev blog offering some context to the endgame changes rolled out.

"Recently changes were made to the Elite POIs in the endgame zones and it is clear to us that proper context wasn't delivered on why those changes were made," developer Berserker Mike explains on the game's forums. "Our goal is to have a variety of areas that players can go to for crafting materials and gear. But with new gear and equipment, we want players to be challenged.

"Our vision for endgame is multi-faceted, and includes Outpost Rush and Wars, Invasions and Arenas, 60+ Corrupted breaches, 60+ Elite POIs and named creatures, and Expeditions, with more to come in the future," the devs adds, explaining that there won't be one, single source for "best in slot". Instead, he explains, the team's desire is to encourage players to engage with various different activities.

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