This special event for New World: Aeternum transforms the journey from level zero to endgame into an exhilarating, fast-paced adventure. Players can expect to reach endgame readiness in just a few hours, thanks to a revamped progression system. The traditional Main Story Quest has been replaced by a fresh questline, specifically designed to guide adventurers through Hardcore’s unique progression and crafting experience. Gear and Artifacts are now easier to obtain, launching players into the action faster than ever before.
Learn more on the official blog.
To commemorate the launch, Joel Clift, New World Product Owner for Seasons and System Design, discusses the creation of the Hardcore Seasonal World, the inspiration behind the new questline, and to gather expert tips for players eager to dive in. See below:
1. How did the Amazon Games team approach creating a hardcore mode? What goals did the team have in mind?Our approach began with a desire to shake up the overall experience of playing New World: Aeternum. We’ve seen hardcore modes be successful with other games, and wanted to emulate some of that re-contextualization of the core experience. We never really had a specific goal to make a hardcore mode, our major goal was to provide a new way to have fun in New World: Aeternum. Additionally, we wanted to provide a way for everyone to be able to jump in and experience more of the content the game has to offer. Things like the Sandwurm Raid or a War can be difficult to get into a group for, and we’re hoping that with this latest update everyone can have an easier time grouping up to try out more of New World: Aeternum’s content.2. Where did the idea of the “Unfallen” and “Fallen” server concept come from?The Unfallen and Fallen concept came out of a desire to provide an escalating experience for players that’s changing over time, while also largely being more approachable than a standard hardcore mode in other games. Since we didn’t have the explicit goal of just making a hardcore mode, we wanted to make this an experience that lots of players can hop into and find something fun in it. The stacking bonuses on death are a way for us to build a story contextually while also providing some gameplay benefits to players. At one point the concept was a lot more complex and involved (with far more ramifications and mechanics around it but that’s a story for another time), but with the time available to us we needed to cut back a lot of the complexity for the sake of the overall experience.3. Can you tell us more about the new main questline? What exciting things are in store for players?The new main questline is our attempt at really changing the experience of the game. It’s intentionally much, much faster than the standard Main Questline and also much less involved. One of our major goals here was to ensure that you wouldn’t just be doing the same questlines and the same actions as a previous leveling experience, that kind of repetition gets kind of boring. We also wanted to make sure players knew and understood how to get the new Azerite Tailings and how to use these items to gear themselves. Arming players with that knowledge gives us a secondary benefit of being able to send them around to lots of different locations, enemies, or content they wouldn’t normally be thinking about. Plus, rewriting Aelstrom a bit is fun!4. What are a few tips you have for players who would like to try their hand at the new server?Honestly, the best tip I can give you is to not be too attached to your first character if you’re new to the game. Since this is still a hardcore experience, we are expecting you to die (knowledge checks are very real in this type of experience), but we want that to still be fun. Rolling back up to somebody who killed you before, but now you’re stronger, is a pretty enjoyable experience. Don’t hesitate to come back at something a second time with a little more knowledge and a little more power. The other major thing to keep in mind as a new player, is that something we are experimenting with here is providing “rough edges” to the experience. Not everything is intentionally highly polished. We want you (and especially much older players who are more seasoned) to encounter a weird, new type of problem, and then find a way to solve it. And that way to solve it might be to just die and come back, but it could also be to go get a useful item from somewhere else that you know about, or to work together with some other players to crush an encounter through sheer numbers, or to even just go to a different location because you know more about the enemies there. We’re hoping that these kinds of rough edges in the experience are going to push everyone to solve problems in ways they haven’t done before (or at least haven’t done in a while).5. What rewards can players expect from the Hardcore server? Anything brand-new folks can look forward to?The major things we are offering are two of a new crafting material that allows you to craft any artifact of your choosing (up to those released in season 8, this will not be an item you can use for any future artifacts), and a material that allows you to craft any T3 trophy of your choosing. We’re also offering some titles for completing certain milestones in the experience. The artifact materials and the T3 trophy are probably the biggest ones for a new player. Those can really help jump-start you in New World: Aeternum.6. Are there any plans to expand or modify the Hardcore mode based on player feedback during the season?At this time, no. The server is only available for a limited time, and we may not have the amount of time necessary to get changes out for it in the month its available. We’re open to bringing the server back with changes or extending it based on feedback, but we’ll have to evaluate things once it releases.7. What strategies are recommended for players aiming to survive the Hardcore mode?One of the best suggestions I can give you is to find a group to play with. Many hands make for light work as the saying goes, and having a dedicated group to play with will make your experience much more pleasant. I should know because I’ve had to do a lot of solo testing, and it is not easy to do this alone. Remember to appreciate your Healers!8. Are there specific content or areas that are more challenging in Hardcore mode?The major thing that makes this experience more difficult is retaining the Unfallen status. We’re expecting the leveling process to be much faster, but staying Unfallen during that process is not always going to be easy. We’re expecting some larger difficulty spikes when you’re hitting max level, as well as remaining Unfallen during things like The Hive of Gorgons Raid.9. How does the death penalty system work?It’s overall pretty simple. Every time you die, you get a stack of a status effect on yourself, and that status effect gives you 25 in every attribute. But, if you want to earn all the possible rewards, you’ll need a character that is Unfallen. We do have goals for both Fallen and Unfallen characters, but the system is relatively simple. There’s one more caveat here though. When in a War, your status effect will be paused, and a new one is placed on you. This new status effect will only be present in War, and every time you die in a War, you get 20 in your main attributes, 15 in constitution, and a small reduction on your overall absorption. We’re hoping that this way War can feel different to the base experience and be a way for everyone to hop in and try it out. It should be a much more chaotic experience, and since this a time-limited server, we’re also hoping that the Territory Control system isn’t really going to be pushing you to feel like you have to win. We want you to basically run out into the park with foam swords and cardboard tubes, and start bonking each other over the head.
In case you missed it, check out our recent review of Aeternum or our review of the original on PC. For more news on New World: Aeternum, stay tuned to GamingTrend!
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