I made it. After 120 hours or so, I hit level 60 in New World. “GG” says my faction chat. “Congrats.” Except there’s nothing to congratulate me for. New World’s endgame content is completely broken.
I don’t mean this in an, “Oh, this could probably work a bit better,” kind of way, and I’m not just being negative to stir you up, either. I really enjoy New World - I’ve even written about why the open-world PvP is so great and why its rabbit quest is the best in the game.
I’m not exaggerating when I say a huge part of New World’s endgame PvE content simply doesn’t work. You can’t complete any high-level Corrupted portals because the Tier 5 Azoth Staff is bugged. It makes a whoosh-whoosh sound and nothing happens. Sure, no problem, we’ll try Outpost Rush, the endgame PvP. Oh, that’s broken, too. Grind for high-level gear instead? I’ll see you in 200 hours. My company mates sigh. The hardcore players have been dealing with these, and other problems, for the past few days.
Even the stuff that isn’t broken feels really bad right now. You need the Azoth Staff to complete the Corrupted Portals to get the mats to craft the keys to the last two Expeditions, Lazarus and Gardens. Even that sentence was a grind. “It’s okay,” you say. “You get two free keys for the Expeditions by completing quests anyway.” That’s true, except a bunch of my fellow level 60s don’t even want to do the Expeditions. The resource costs to craft the Tuning Orbs are massive. They’d rather save their keys. Why?
Gear watermarks. What the hell is a watermark? Why are they a problem? Your gear score watermark increases little by little depending on loot drops. If an Elite drops a 540 sword, that’s your new gear score watermark. 540 drops will be more common from then on. Gear goes all the way up to 600 in New World, but you won’t be able to get anything close to that. Not for a long time.
There are already 40 level 60s on my server. We all stack into one Elite run in Reekwater. It’s chaos. My fps tanks. We’re all hunting one boss mob. It’s been four hours and I’ve not found anything decent. The more players there are, the less likely you are to get a loot drop. It’s pure chance - RNG. Some players are reporting moving up five to ten gear score after four full days of grinding. This is one of the most frustrating grinds for gear I’ve ever experienced in an MMO. It’s like Destiny’s Light system, but worse.
Amazon is artificially throttling the endgame experience to keep players grinding for hours on end. I don’t want to waste my materials crafting keys for dungeons if the loot is going to be worthless. I’ll grind Elite mobs for another 100 hours instead. Sweet. It’s clearer than ever: not enough content was prepared. Even the content that’s there isn’t working properly or feels designed to waste your time. There is nothing here to get excited by. If you wanted to continue playing New World up to and through its endgame PvE content, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.
It all comes down to balancing different parts of the game, and the developer behind it has struggled. Is this a crafting MMO, a PvE MMO, or an MMO that relies on endgame PvP content? It doesn’t know what its game is. I don’t know what it is either - no one does. Crafting is overpowered but a grindfest, the PvE is terrible and uninspired, and the endgame PvP is fine - when it works. Outpost Rush is still buggy and you might never get picked for a War. In its shotgun-scatter approach, it feels like Amazon hasn’t got much right. The endgame content is hit hardest by this indecision.
The first players to reach level 60 are essentially canaries in the coal mine. When the bulk of the player base catches up in a few weeks’ time, people will see for themselves just how poor New World’s endgame is. The devs have a window of opportunity to rethink the system, but as they’ve made clear so far with New World, planning around eventualities is something this inexperienced studio struggles with.
Grinding for loot is synonymous with MMOs, but New World’s endgame grind is particularly awful. Enjoy the game for what it is. Don’t rush. Dabble in crafting, get lost exploring, and decorate your house. New World is impressive for a 40 quid investment - you’ll get your money’s worth and then some. Just keep in mind there’s not much of a reward for crossing the finish line.