Throne and Liberty bad?

 RIP Throne and Liberty.  It was good knowing you while you were just an exciting possibility.  I will still give it a try but the video from the beta test in Korea is not looking good.  The game looks like it plays like a decade old game with a fresh coat of current generation graphical paint.

Wayfinder Beta Day 1

 I can barely play this game with the damn watermark text spamming my screen.  I also can't talk about the game because its under NDA.

 But here is a video of someone that was allowed to share the first few minutes of the game:

Wayfinder beta?

 Wayfinder invited me to their closed beta today so will be giving it a go.

New World Paladin

 New World Paladin skins are available in the store!  Go go go!

Exciting New World News

 Big news from New World today! Season 2 is coming and with it a bunch of game changing features: transmog, cross-world OPR, new arena map, raid groups and content, seasonal event, and more!  New World is continuing to deliver on it's road map and make big exciting changes.

 Anyone that was doubting the commitment to New World after the recent Lord of the Rings MMO announcement should not have any lingering doubt.  This next season is jam packed with cool stuff and no doubt many other small tweaks and balance changes under the hood.  I am personally looking forward to this!

 Also hidden away in the announcement was a change that was not on the Road Map.  Some shenanigans will be afoot in First Light.

First Light Retraction

First Light has fallen to the might of Artemis and her Angry Earth horde! The Settlement, Fort, and Trading Post in First Light are now closed. A wall of thorns has erupted along the border, barring all access into the territory until further notice.

    All Housing related items will return to Storage and can be found under the “Old First Light” tab in any Storage shed.

    All Trading Post orders in First Light will eventually expire, but no new orders can be made in the territory.

    Companies controlling First Light at the time of Retraction will be refunded for their losses.

    First Light’s Faction Control Point (FCP) buff has been moved to Weaver’s Fen, and Weaver’s FCP buff has been discontinued for now.

We have big plans for the territory. This is only the first step. Stay tuned for more news about the future of “Old First Light.”

 They are basically wiping out First Light and all citizens housed therein.  This is a pretty big change not to have outlined in any sort of road map.  I am very curious to see where this goes!  Nothing shakes up the mundane like a full-fledged city in an MMORPG being taken out of play!

 There is so much in this update and probably much more hiding under the fine details such as balance tweaks and changes.  For a summary you can dive into the May developer update.

Farming Glyphs in New World

 What am I up to in New World?  Farming glyphs!  Specifically: Above Glyph Stone and Sun Glyph Stone.  Why?  So I can craft some Runeglass Case of Igniting?  Why? So I can make Runeglass Gems of Igniting for my heavy armor Flamethrower build!

 So if you need me I'll be solo inside "The Wall" or Solarium Khepri farming away.  As a note: I both dread the wall for being a maze but also for it's little escape rooms.  There is no feeling like opening the glyph doors, quaffing some potions, and rumbling with a few elites in a room that barely fits the chest you are about to loot.  The best part is when the door locks behind you and either you are leaving in body bag or with the loot.

 What are you up to in New World these days?

New World Arena Win

 Just sharing this sweet scoreboard from a 3v3 arena match in New World.  Playing as my Heavy Armor Flamethrower build.

Idea: Fix to balance New World range DPS in PvE?

New (World) Ideas is a series of posts in which I present small changes that New World could make that would improve the game.

 Ranged damage in New World end game PvE is a problem.  Here's an idea to fix it!

 New World recently changed the Bane perks on ranged weapons to do more % damage than the % damage increase bane gives on melee weapons.  This was meant to "fix" that ranged damage was under-powered compared to melee in PvE content.  This was a poor "fix".

 My idea for a true fix would be to nerf the crap out of melee.  Seriously!

 The reason melee is so good in PvE for the most part it hits multiple targets on normal attacks (light and heavy) while ranged does not.  Ranged hits a single target on normal attacks (yes there are a few upgrades where there is some splash but its not default like it is with most melee).

 It seems like the better approach for melee would be that it does high damage to the first target hit but reduced damage to any additional targets hit.  The game has the tech to do this; it already understands first vs additional targets hit for perks like Trenchant Recovery.  

 This would create more value for true area-of-effect abilities instead of the default melee attack being area of effect.  It would also balance damage between ranged and melee as they would both be primarily single target damage.

 And if this sort of approach was taken the response would be apocalyptic from the New World community. Good.  We need a little drama.  If this idea sounds as dumb as you think it does; leave a comment!

Start digging New World's grave?

 The studio behind New World has announced it is starting work on a new MMO set in the Lord of the Rings universe.  The natural question is: who's gonna start digging New World's grave?

 Amazon Games has announced it’s making a new massively multiplayer online game based on The Lord of the Rings. Development is being led by New World studio Amazon Games Orange County. This is an all-new production, separate from an earlier attempt to make a Lord of the Rings MMO that was canceled by Amazon in 2021.

 

 First I want to say my inner geek chafes when these announcements say "Lord of the Rings" when really the setting is Tolkien's Middle-earth.  If the announcement had read "Middle-earth MMO" my interest would have been doubly peaked.  So I am long term hoping

 Of course this announcement hit the New World community with many now jockeying for position to be the first one in line to get a shovel for the grave digging.  Clearly Amazon Game Studios is going to starve New World to focus on this new game.

 Combine this with the "gear reset" fears and we all should just stop playing New World I guess.

 RIP: New World 2021 - 2023

New World Gear Reset?

 New World can't stay out of the crosshairs of the content creators.  This time answers to a Discord Q&A are making the rounds (sorry don't know if/how I can link to Discord posts). Specifically comments regarding the Season 3 road map item around a gear score increase and what that means for player's current gear .  The answer was short and sweet, but lacked clarity on what it really meant so of course the community is taking it as "New World full gear reset! Stop playing now!".

If you want a larger summary of the Q&A along with the tidbit stoking the gear reset discussion watch the video I linked (embedded below as well).

 

The gear reset tidbit is screenshotted below (along with Jay Oddity's spectacular noggin top).

 As I said in the intro: short and sweet, but lacking clarity.  On one hand it is saying 625 (max gear level currently) gear is not upgradeable and then saying some sort of new system is coming for gear progression (which is assumed the Season 3 road map bullet item for "gear score increase).

 At face value a level-headed reader is walking away with "player's won't upgrade gear that is 625".  A less-than-level-headed reader walks away with "625 gear will be worthless! Don't waste time playing the game!".

 Unfortunately MMORPG history is sort of on the side of the less-than-level-headed readers here.  When World of Warcraft launched its first expansion many players (a lot who were brand new to MMORPGs) were shocked to find out that a green item from the expansion trumped some of the best gear gained in original World of Warcraft.  Every expansion since has reset gear in a similar manner so the assumption is this is where New World is headed.

 Personally I take the statement as an indication they are increasing gear score and coming up with a new system for adjusting gear score.  The key word I hit on there is "adjust".  That reads like gear may not be upgraded in the future and may have other methods for adjusting to meet gear score requirements.  I am hopeful this means a more horizontal approach than a strict vertical approach.  Or possibly automated scaling up and down based on other factors which would allow

 New World already has a gearing problem.  There is no real way to ensure you get the gear you need excepting for some farmable named gear sets that have niche use cases (such as the Harbringer gear sets for Angry Earth content; useless elsewhere).  If players want best in slot gear in New World it's basically a lottery system.  Either they get a drop from a high level mutation, an Outpost Rush crate, or through the mystic toilet that is crafting.

 Knowing that there is an underlying gearing problem I am hopeful this statement is AGS taking a good look at the problem and working towards new and exciting solutions instead of bandaid fixes over the top of what we have.  If this is intended to coincide with Season 3 then we are likely to find out more details a few months from now.  And months are like years in MMOs; so if you are questioning if you should play New World and upgrade your gear then all you need to ask yourself "are you having fun?".  If yes; then upgrade away.  If you answered no; stop being a troll and go somewhere else.