New World: Aeternum News

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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New World update adds Void Gauntlet and new enemies

New World is getting a new weapon, enemy type, and oh so many tweaks in a patch later today. One of the MMORPG's moderators confirms on Reddit that downtime for New World's 1.1 update starts at 5am PT / 8am ET / 1pm GMT today (November 18) and is expected to last four hours.

Amazon Games started testing features for the update last week on the brand-new PTR. One of the main standouts is a new weapon called the Void Gauntlet, which allows you to support your allies or attack foes - think of it as a DPS-support hybrid. "It's the first weapon to scale on both intelligence and focus, making it a great pairing with the Life Staff and other magic weapons," Amazon says. "The Annihilation tree focuses on maximising damage at close range and revolves around Void Blade, a summoned blade of corrosive void energy. The Decay tree offers ranged healing and debuffs and revolves around Orb of Decay, a dual-phase projectile that can debuff enemies and heal allies." If you're keen to find out more, check out our New World Void Gauntlet guide for details on the skill tree and best build.

You'll also find a new batch of foes raiding southeastern Aeternum. A Gaul leads the Varangians with a reputation for "brutality and a twisted sense of humour". They're here to seek magical artefacts and arcane lore - no, not the League of Legends Netflix show - left behind by the Crimson Sorcerer to aid Lord Commander Attalus in his conquests.

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Into the Void - New World Update 1.1

New World “Into the Void” Update 1.1 downtime will begin for all regions at 5AM PT (1PM UTC) on November 18. Expected downtime is 4 hours.

Greetings, Adventurers!

Into the Void has graduated from the Public Test Realm (PTR) and is releasing into the main New World game. This update includes the new Void Gauntlet weapon, allowing you to manipulate the powers of the Void to support your allies and debilitate your enemies with this magical DPS/support hybrid. You will also be able to face off against new (and fierce) Varangian Knight enemy type as you ascertain their true intentions and why they’ve arrived in Aeternum.

Into the Void contains hundreds of other changes and bug-fixes, from faster movement speed on roads, to linking Trading Posts, to new quests. You can find the full update notes on the new releases section of our website, where all major updates will be shared.

As always, thanks for your support. We’ll see you in Aeternum!

New World devs have banned over 1,200 players for trade and housing exploits

Amazon Games has permanently banned more than 1,200 players for using a bug to duplicate in-game coin and resources, and for a similar "attack against a different game system" that was used in housing, resulting in items being removed from the economy and trade post listing being cancelled. Community manager Luxendra explains in a blog post that the first wave of bans happened on November 2, which the team estimates eliminated over 80% of duped coin and item value from the MMORPG's in-game economy.

"The remaining duped items have continued to hurt many players' experience," the community manager says. "It didn't affect all players or worlds equally, and also more significantly impacted players who were pursuing end-game goals and gear. We apologise for the impact this has had on some of our most dedicated players. It's disheartening to see others cheat to obtain what you have worked so hard to achieve, while also hurting the economy in the process."

Luxendra says Amazon Games banned an additional 460 players for using the original trade or newer housing exploits on November 15 after the team managed to "unravel and identify" where the items and coin landed. "By doing so, we were able to remove 98% of remaining duped items and coin in the game," they share. "The small amount of duped items that remain were a result of players who stumbled upon the duping issue but did not take exploitive action, and will not be banned."

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New World's economy gets turned off (again) after (another) dupe exploit

New World has been wildly popular since launch - the MMORPG is still the third-biggest game on Steam - and with that popularity has come a tidal wave of players looking to find the exploits in the game's systems. Those exploits have apparently not been difficult to find. After another duplication exploit started circulating over the weekend, the devs at Amazon have once again disabled the in-game economy.

"We are aware of a possible duplication exploit that has been circulating the forums and social media," the devs say on the official forums. "We are disabling all forms of wealth transfer between players (ie. sending currency, guild treasury, trading post, player to player trading) while we investigate. Any player that has engaged in the use of this exploit will be actioned against."

The exploit appears to allow players to duplicate furniture items, and the in-game market has been flooded with trophies since the issue began to make the rounds. As PC Gamer notes, there have been numerous posts about the issue on the official bug report forums, and the devs are still investigating.

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