New World Developers and the Community Face Off!

 Props to the New World development team for sitting down and taking some questions from the community in the most recent Forged in Aeternum.  They didn't shy away from the burning questions!  And they fleshed out more of what is coming next for the game.  First watch the video and then read on for my commentary.

 First I do really want to commend the team for sitting down and answering some of these questions; even taking a doozie up front at face value (i.e. reading it off as it was written).  The first questions of course were "what about PvPppppp!" and the lack of PvP focus on the road map which of course must mean the development team is all part time and something something.  Again, kudos for the team taking this on and discussing staffing of the teams (more developers than they had last year) and stating the obvious "we will deliver more than just the main items noted on the road map".

 The team also talked about a few PvP topics and specifically they are working on the territory influence process getting revamped.  Outpost Rush (OPR) was also discussed and the team shot down the idea of more maps coming to OPR.  The team doesn't want to divide the community between OPR maps, but the team does want to improve the current map so are looking to do just that with the cross-server OPR update that is on the road map. 

 I think this is the right approach for OPR and a new map would divide the players even further than they are today.  It is basically the same issue as having too many mutation levels for expeditions.  Fewer is better and in the case of OPR, as it requires 40 players, one is enough.  It is still my favorite game mode and I am no where near tired of the map.  The one thing I'd want is to fix the wide open spaces to give players more of a chance to navigate the map without getting musket sniped. Annnnnd that is my input on the community question that was posed (see screenshot)... basically keep OPR the great game mode it is with some improvements for traveling around.

 Also not on the roadmap but covered in the video was that expedition mutations will be
"squashed" from 10 levels into fewer.  They want to combine this with a grouping of changes for expeditions and mutations.

 Basically this was a polite "please be patient, we are doing a lot of good stuff" message in a community Q&A.  Ultimately the proof is in the pudding and aside from one minor item, Leaderboards, the team delivered above and beyond on the first year's roadmap.  Anyone looking at the past year of the game and saying the team is not delivering is just being  ignorant.  Keep up the great work AGS!