Looking for some tips to get you started with New World? Then look no further. This survival guide will help you get your bearings and get you immediately started on your grand adventure in the world of Aeternum.
Like other MMORPGs before it, Amazon Game Studios’ latest game comes with its own combat, crafting, and faction systems that can be quite daunting for any newcomer to get to grips with.
INTRODUCTION
New World scratches that MMORPG itch with a host of improvements and innovations over an otherwise stale genre that once dominated the PC gaming world with the likes of World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Guild Wars 2. While games in the genre have come and gone – and mostly sputtered out – Amazon’s MMO feels like a breath of fresh air.
Despite a few hurdles with server queues during its launch, the New World experience has been largely seamless thanks to its massive Closed Beta in July, which saw close to 200,000 concurrent players logging in and exploring everything Aeternum has to offer.
If you didn’t have a chance to pick it up during the closed and open beta sessions, understanding some of the game’s mechanics may come as a bit of a challenge as it’s not quite as easy to pick up and play as online games like Destiny 2, Path of Exile, and Warframe.
This guide will help you get your bearings by walking you through with some starting tips for New World by introducing you to the systems the game has to offer.
Attributes and weapons
New World differs from other RPGs’ character-building mechanics with five main stats that contribute to your character’s overall build. Each of these stats is tied into each of the game’s weapon classes and their damage output. For a more comprehensive look at these stats, check out the New World attributes, weapon classes, and character builds guide.
Generally speaking, every character mains two weapon classes and allocates their stat pools to boost the effectiveness of their gear. As a rule, you should make use of both weapon slots and equip your character according to your preferred playstyle. As you use your weapons, you’ll gain mastery levels allowing you to unlock passive and active abilities tied to that weapon. Think about the combinations you’ll want to roll with as you play through the game.
Equipment rarity
Every weapon and armor piece in the game has a rarity level that affects the number of “perk slots” it has available, which confers nice bonuses (i.e. a sword that does lighting damage that arcs between enemies) and sockets. They are as follows:
- Common: Grey background, no perk slots.
- Uncommon: Green background, one perk slot.
- Rare: Blue background, two perk slots.
- Epic: Purple background, three perk slots.
- Legendary: Gold background, set high-end perks.
The higher the rarity of a given piece of gear, the better. Every piece of gear comes with an associated gear score to help you determine how powerful the item actually is in comparison to others. This should give you an idea of how powerful a piece of light armor is compared to a piece of heavy armor, for example.
Weight and encumbrance
While it might make sense to equip armor that confers the most protection to your character, you must also take weight into consideration. There are three weight classes: light, medium, and heavy – each offering their own set of bonuses and modifiers to your damage output, combat movement, and resistance to damage.
Light armor: Light armor allows for the greatest mobility, determining your movement in combat and ability to dodge. It’s suitable for characters who like to hang back and keep their enemies at a distance. You’ll get a 20% damage bonus, making this the go-to choice for ranged damage dealers and skirmishers who can weave in and out of danger. Lightly armored characters also have the best dodge.
Medium armor: Medium armor offers the best mix of mobility and protection with a general damage increase of 10% and 10% bonus to crowd control skills. Your dodge range is much smaller, but still versatile enough to help you avoid getting hit.
Heavy armor: Heavy armor lets you absorb the most damage, with the highest overall resistances to physical and magical damage. It also offers a 20% bonus to crowd control effects, making it worthwhile for tanks intending to take on large groups of enemies. Block stability is also increased by 15%, making it a must-have for Sword-oriented tanks. The trade-off is that your movement is impaired, with dodge being replaced by a sidestep, and your overall damage won’t be as high as medium and lightly armored characters.
Finally, every character has a general encumbrance stat that determines how much stuff you can carry that’s determined by your Strength stat. When you go over the stat, you’ll become encumbered and your movement will slow to a crawl and you won’t be able to use any abilities. Remember to stash your trade resources in the storage. One can be found in every city.
Crafting and gathering
Make a habit of gathering resources as early on as possible. Leveling up your resource gathering skills will also enable you to loot rare materials from every animal you skin and worldly resource you come across.
While the trade skills don’t see much use early on – with the exception of making food and potions – crafting allows you to make powerful gear as you level up. You’ll be able to outclass your friends and enemies at the same level if you’re invested in crafting instead of depending on random item drops to gear up.
As a rule, you’ll want to make your own potions and food, which you can consume mid-battle. If you’ve specced in Muskets or Bows, you’ll need to make your own ammunition. Finally, you’ll be able to sell anything you make at the Trading Post.
Durability and repairs
Much like the real world, equipment in New World deteriorates through use, so you’ll need to repair your gear if you don’t end up replacing them first. To repair your gear, you’ll need to first salvage equipment for “repair parts” – there’s tons of gear to go around, as the only way to get rid of gear you’re not carrying is to salvage them or trade them on the Trading Post. There is no way to simply sell your gear to a merchant, unlike other MMORPGs.
Fast travel and Azoth costs
As you traverse through Aeternum, you’ll want to start making use of the game’s fast travel options. For starters, you should check in at an inn where you expect to be doing most of your quests at any given moment. Much like the hearthstone in World of Warcraft, you can recall to the inn once every 60 minutes for free, allowing you to shave a lot of time off going from place to place as you do your quests.
Once you’ve visited other cities and locations, you’ll gain access to a fast travel ability that lets you teleport there for a small amount of Azoth. Don’t worry too much about the travel costs – you’ll have more than enough Azoth to go around as you kill enemies, loot chests, and complete quests. Just remember to spend the rest of your Azoth to boost your crafting recipes as there is a maximum cap on how much Azoth you can have on you.
Finally, remember to set up a camp when you’re close to your questing area. Camps serve two functions: first as a mobile graveyard from which to respawn, and second as a place to craft ammunition, food, and basic potions. The last thing you want to do is to have to run a mile to get back to questing, should you fall in battle.
Join a faction
Once you’ve reached a certain threshold in New World’s main questline, you’ll be invited to join one of the game’s three main factions – the Marauders, the Covenant, and the Syndicate. Each of these factions are virtually identical in terms of gear but differ in aesthetics. The faction you join will limit you to the player companies belonging to that faction, so make sure you know who you’re intending to sign up before hitting join, if you intend to participate in your server’s endgame politics. The faction you join will determine what bonuses you get from any location controlled by that faction.
You can only change factions once every 120 days, so make that decision count.
Main quests, sidequests, and faction quests
Following the main story will take you to a variety of locales in Aeternum, and every city has its own set of quests that you’ll want to go through – even if you’ve outleveled the area. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you’re doing quests in a city, consider hitting up the mission board to perform sidequests that you can very easily complete as you go on story missions. These town missions can range from simple resource gathering to killing certain types of enemies that you will come across and kill anyway.
Once you’re in a faction, you can also undertake missions for that faction for experience points and faction-based currency to unlock special gear unique to the faction. Factions also offer PvP quests that you can select if you decide to go up against other players. Choose your missions accordingly.
Territorial standing
The more you do in a location, the higher your renown, the better the benefits. While every location in the game comes with a level limit, it makes a lot of sense to keep doing quests in that location and that location alone for the benefits you get from territorial standing. These bonuses can come in the form of faster salvaging, experience bonuses, and reduced costs for crafting. Once you unlock level 10 in territorial standing, you’ll also be able to own a home in that territory.
Housing
Finally, New World lets you purchase your very own home. Available in a variety of sizes, houses require you to first have level 10 in territorial standing so you’ll want to do some quests in the location before you can move in. Once you’ve enough gold, buying a house is as simple as visiting the available properties in the town, touring it, and signing the deed.
Owning a home offers many benefits, which will prove worthwhile in the late game. It acts as a free recall point, and also comes with its own storage. You can adorn the house in furniture that you can build yourself or find, and deck the halls with trophies you acquire on your adventures. These trophies give you passive buffs.
